Qinglin Temple at the boundary of Qinghe County, Hebei Province, this is a temple established in the Northern Song Dynasty, it has a history of 800 years, after four days of running, Cao Bianjiao escorted King Ding, King Yong came here, the army led by Zu Dale was stationed here, and the army was converging, and Cao Bianjiao's heart was also steady.

"Dashuai, you are finally back, the brothers are worried, they have been hiding here for the past few days, they are all worried, if you don't come back, the brothers are ready to go north to save you!"

As soon as he saw Zu Dale, he was also relieved, with 5,000 people ambushed here, he was also under a lot of pressure, worried that the Dashun army would find them, if they couldn't hold it at that time, Cao Bianjiao would lose the soldiers and horses that responded, how to be good, and the military rations they brought were only half a month, and now it is not much, and if it is delayed, they will not be able to eat, but fortunately, Cao Bianjiao finally returned safely.

"Didn't I come back, this time it's worth the trip, although the prince couldn't be rescued, but he rescued King Yong and King Ding, as long as we take them south to ascend the throne, then we are the heroes of the decision, and this deal is worth it! Da Le, you send people to Chengtianfu and Dingyuan County immediately, let Cao Dingjiao stick to the city, no longer have to fight, and let Weng Zhiqi's sailors immediately rush down the river to Anqing, and send someone to tell Huang Degong of Dingyuan, if he still recognizes me as a big handsome, let him secretly lead his troops to Xuzhou to respond. ”

"I'm going to do it!" Zu Dale also hurriedly went to arrange this matter.

This time to support the new monarch, Cao Bianjiao must be cautious, and if you want to ensure success, you must have the support of force, this is not politics, this is to see whose fist is hard, the mouth can't bear the gun, Cao Bianjiao has nearly 70,000 soldiers and horses in his own hands, plus 20,000 soldiers and horses in Huang Degong's hands, that is 90,000 people, in addition, Zuo Liangyu of Hanyang has a good relationship with him, I believe that Zuo Liangyu will not do anything with him, Zuo Liangyu is now old and sick, and he doesn't have much pride, just wanting a little benefit, It's easy to win over, as long as it goes well, Cao Bianjiao won't worry about anyone, after all, King Yong and King Ding were rescued by him from Beijing City, which was surrounded by thieves, and it was also in line with the general righteousness to support them.

Beijing was lost, the Ming Emperor Zhu Youzhen died, but the Ming Dynasty did not collapse, Li Zicheng wanted to pass on the impossibility of the dynasty, compared with the previous dynasties, the most significant feature of the Ming Dynasty is that it has two capitals. Of course, this is thanks to Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, he retained all the government institutions in Nanjing, which can be used as an emergency national capital at any time, Zhu Youzhen did not want to move the capital, but the ministers were afraid of taking responsibility afterwards, so they did not dare to propose, so Zhu Youzhen missed this opportunity, but even if Zhu Youzhen moved south, it is impossible to reorganize the old mountains and rivers, this is determined by his character ability, he is not the master of Zhongxing, his temperament will drag the Ming Dynasty down step by step, this is the tragedy of his person, but also the tragedy of the Ming Dynasty, The Ming Dynasty died in the country, he is duty-bound, what is not the king of the country, but the luck of the country, that is, a joke.

In late March, the news of the loss of Beijing reached Huai'an, and Nanjing soon learned of this "bad news." The ministers who remained in the city of Nanjing gathered in the meeting hall and raised their eyebrows at each other, but none of them said a word every day, or looked up at the house, and only groaned. Suffering from this chaos, the ministers of the six ministries in Nanjing did not know what to do, because there was no other news except for the fall of Beijing, how the emperor was, whether the prince was safe or not, there was no news, even the king of Qin, who went north, there must be a place, and the emperor is not where he is now.

Since the whereabouts of the emperor and the crown prince are unknown, in order to prevent rumors from spreading and confusing the public, the six departments of Nanjing jointly issued a document prohibiting talking about this matter and strengthened Nanjing's defense.

Because two months ago, the emperor had sent people to inspect and intend to move the capital, they knew that the city of Beijing was in danger and was very likely to be unprotected, and they had already made preparations to welcome the crown prince Zhu Cihong from the sea to Nanjing to supervise the country. They can only hope that the emperor has escaped, at least the crown prince should go south safely, otherwise what to do, they really don't know.

A few days later, the scouts who had gone north to listen to the news had not returned, and a news spread that the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen had gone south by boat, and the prince had also escaped from the intersection. Who knew that the next day and the people who took the south fled came to Nanzhili without warning, and brought the news that the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen was hanged in Wanshou Mountain, and the prince was also caught by Li Zicheng, as soon as the news spread, it was impossible to prohibit it, and the entire Jiangnan was immediately in turmoil, at a loss, the emperor was gone, the prince was gone, what to do with the court in Nanjing, the court had all perished, and Nanjing, as the capital of the Ming Dynasty, naturally became the political center of half of the Ming Dynasty. The ministers in power and in charge here thundered like thunder, and suddenly became a mess, and for them, the top priority was to establish a king.

Since the three sons of Emperor Chongzhen were captured by the Dashun army and failed to escape from Beijing, in the absence of a direct heir to the throne, the ministers, nobles, eunuchs and self-respecting generals in Nanjing and its vicinity started an intrigue dispute over which vassal king to proclaim.

In terms of blood proximity, the sons and grandsons of Emperor Chongzhen's grandfather, Shenzong Zhu Yijun, also include Zhu Yousong, King Hui, Zhu Changrun, and Zhu Changying, King Gui; The sons of the Shenzong brothers have Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu. According to the Lun order, it is natural that King Fu, King Gui, and King Hui should be considered first. Among the three kings of Fu, Gui and Hui, Zhu Yousong is in a priority position, because: first, the Fu domain is the eldest among the three relatives; Second, the two feudal clans of Gui and Hui are one generation higher than Emperor Chongzhen, and it is more appropriate to help the younger brother and successor; Third, the two kings of Gui and Hui are still in Hunan, far away from Nanjing, but King Fu is close to Huai'an. The Fu King Zhu Yousong occupies a clear advantageous position in terms of Lun order and geography. Huaifu Lu Zhenfei's suicide note Nanjing Military Department Shangshu Shi Kefa, said that Lun Xu should be in the Fu King, and it is advisable to determine the head of the society as soon as possible.

However, some of the Donglin Party members in the Jiangnan gentry proceeded from selfish interests and strongly opposed the succession of the Fu Domain, because Zhu Yousong's father, Zhu Changxun, from Wanli to the Tianqi Imperial Court, revolved around the issue of the prince from Wanli to Tianqi The sensational cases such as "Demon Book", "Attack", and "Moving the Palace" were all related to Lao Fu Wang, not to mention that it was precisely because of the efforts of the Donglin Party that Shenzong's attempt to establish Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu, as the crown prince, came to naught. They were worried that once Zhu Yousong ascended the throne and revived the old case, they would lose political power, so Qian Qianyi, the head of the Donglin Party Leader, rushed to Nanjing from his hometown of Changshu twice, and lobbied everywhere in the name of "Lixian", proposing to welcome Zhu Changshu, the king of Lilu. Nanjing Military Department Squire Lu Daqi, Nanjing Hubu Shangshu Gao Hongtu, Youdu Yushi Zhang Shenyan and others are all positive responses, Nanjing Military Department Shangshu Shi Kefa is inclined to the Donglin Party figures, he has some scruples in his heart to support the Fu King, but he also thinks that the descendants of the Shenzong should be welcomed in the order of Lun, and he has always wavered.