The news that Zhu Hongsan had won the victory in the southwest was on 25 December, and he was still sent to Beijing from Yunnan with an expedited change of horses and men for 800 miles, and he ran like this for half a month. Shushu.com is the fastest update, so when Zhu Hongsan's edict arrived in Kunming, Yunnan, it was already February of the eleventh year of Shenwu, and the Qincha had been gone for two months.

Zhu Youlang had been living in Kunming for more than three months at this time, and the past three months were really terrifying. The Southern Ming Dynasty is a very strange dynasty, the end of other dynasties is the emperor is incompetent, the civil officials are corrupt, the military generals are greedy for life and afraid of death, and finally the whole dynasty is rotten, and then the country is destroyed.

But the Southern Ming Dynasty started from Hongguang these emperors did not have a particularly bad emperor, although Hongguang himself is lustful and loves to listen to dramas, but the government is not confused, all government affairs rely on the old bureaucrat Ma Shiying, and the military relies on the four towns of Jiangbei.

Emperor Zhu Yujian of Longwu was even more diligent, and when he heard that the soldiers and civilians who were forced to shave their heads by the Qing Dynasty were often killed by the officials and soldiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he issued a special edict that "some people are obedient to the people, and no people are refugees", and it was strictly forbidden to indiscriminately slaughter.

This Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang is also like this, although he is a little timid and afraid of death, but he is never confused about major matters, and he cultivates the Chu Party and the Zhejiang Party in the cabinet to contain each other. If it weren't for the fact that Zhu Youlang fought with Emperor Shaowu in the early stage, and was picked up by Li Chengdong and retreated to Yungui, which is vast and sparsely populated, if Zhu Youlang occupied the rich Guangdong, or if Hongguang's blessing occupied the entire Jiangnan, Zhu Youlang had Li Dingguo in charge of military affairs outside and professional bureaucrats such as Ding Kuichu, Lu Daqi, and Qu Shiqi in charge of government affairs, it is very likely that it would really be successful.

Although Zhu Youlang is not highly educated and a little timid, he is definitely not stupid, he knows that none of the last emperors in history have a good end, not to mention that he also fell into the hands of his clan relative Zhu Hongsan, and his own people have always been able to clean up their own people. Therefore, although Zhu Youlang did not worry about food and clothing in the past three months, and he did not have the fear when he was in Myanmar, he was really miserable.

However, this kind of day soon came to an end, on the fourth day of the second month, the guards sent by Lu Daqi to Zhu Youlang came in to inform that the emperor's holy decree was coming!

As soon as Zhu Youlang heard that this day had finally come, he hurriedly asked the eunuch to bring his wife and children, including the old lady Empress Dowager Ma, out to kneel to meet the emperor's holy decree.

It was an elderly eunuch who came to announce the decree, and he was also the eunuch in the palace of Zhu Changying, the king of Guiduan, Zhu Hongsan, in order to appease Zhu Youlang's heart, specially found this old eunuch in Nanjing, and asked him to pass the decree to Zhu Youlang.

Zhu Youlang was overjoyed when he saw that it was an acquaintance, and asked, "Grandpa Zhang, why are you here?" "This old eunuch's surname is Zhang, he was just an ordinary eunuch in the palace of King Gui in Hengyang, and now Zhu Youlang calls this eunuch for his own life with the word you.

The old eunuch saw that it was Guiwang Zhu Youlang in front of him, but Zhu Youlang was just a prince back then, and now acquaintances are really full of emotion.

The old eunuch surnamed Zhang looked at Zhu Youlang's gray hair and wrinkled face, if he didn't know, he thought that it was an old man of fifty or sixty years old who was kneeling in front of him, you must know that Zhu Youlang was born in the third year of the Apocalypse, and he was just thirty-six years old this year.

The old eunuch sighed and said: "King Gui, after Hengyang was broken by the Liukou, the old slave went to Guangdong with the fleeing crowd, and it happened that the Shenwu Emperor recruited the diaspora eunuchs in Guangzhou, and the old slave entered the palace. "The older eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty had no children, and they generally grew vegetables in Fengyang, and they were buried by the state after their deaths, which was regarded as a little welfare for the Ming Dynasty to dedicate their lives.

When Zhu Youlang heard this, he hurriedly shouted long live, and then knelt on the ground and shouted: "Zhu Youlang, the nephew of the Gui Domain, with his biological mother Ma, his wife Wang, and his son Zhu Cixuan, respectfully invite Sheng'an!" Zhu Youlang didn't know what was written in the holy decree, so he lowered his posture and said directly that he was Zhu Youlang of the Gui Domain, and as for the title of the queen mother of the old lady Ma, he didn't dare to mention it at all. At the same time, he didn't dare to mention the name of King Gui, and even claimed to be his nephew, you must know that according to the genealogy, Zhu Youlang is Zhu Hongsan's uncle.

The old eunuch nodded and said, "Saint Gong'an!" Then he opened the holy decree and read it aloud: "Fengtian carrier, the emperor said: Gui King Zhu Youlang, perverse against the heavenly soldiers, after I have already invaded the old capital in the north, I also led the army to entrench in the southwest, originally I should have killed you, but I thought and Zhu Youlang you fought against the Manchu Qing Dynasty, or my imperial uncle, I really can't bear to fight in the same room, so I spare your life, take your mother, wife and children to Beijing to retire!" Chin this! "This decree is written in the style of Zhu Hongsan, it is all vernacular, although it is not the same as the specifications, but Zhu Youlang breathed a sigh of relief in his heart when he heard it, and it seems that his life has been saved.

After the old eunuch finished reading, he helped Zhu Youlang up and said: "Prince, congratulations, the emperor still calls you King Gui, it seems that the title has been kept!" ”

Zhu Youlang nodded again and again, now he still dares to ask for this, as long as he can spare his life.

After the decree, the next step is to prepare for the north. Although most of Zhu Youlang's family members died in Myanmar, more than 20 survived. At the same time, because the emperor did not cut off Zhu Youlang's prince, it still took some effort to prepare this carriage and horse.

Lu Daqi prepared for three days, because there were really no four horses of the same color in Kunming, so he had no choice but to prepare four donkeys, which was reasonable.

After the preparation was completed, Lu Daqi saw off Zhu Youlang outside Kunming City, Zhu Youlang held Lu Daqi's hand and said: "Master Lu, the student is gone, this farewell will probably not be seen in the future, take care, teacher!" ”

Lu Daqi listened to Zhu Youlang's sadness, took Zhu Youlang's hand and comforted: "His Royal Highness King Gui, this time you must go to Beijing to keep a low profile, and never let outsiders seize the handle, and King Gui is going to meet His Royal Highness the Prince, the prince is benevolent, and he will definitely be able to protect King Gui's safety in front of the emperor!" By the way, and Qu Qitian is now a cabinet elder, he will definitely be able to protect His Highness's safety! ”

Zhu Youlang nodded, and Lu Daqi said in a low voice at this time: "Your Highness, don't take a boat along the way, it's best to take a car all the way!" ”

Zhu Youlang's originally somewhat stable heart came up again when he heard Lu Daqi say this, and Zhu Youlang hurriedly asked in a low voice: "Teacher, you said that someone wants to harm me?" But didn't the emperor save me from dying? ”

Lu Daqi smiled bitterly and said: "Your Highness, there are many parties in this Shenwu Dynasty, and I am afraid that that person will want to achieve his goal and assassinate His Highness, so please be careful!" However, His Royal Highness can rest assured, the old minister has sent 3,000 soldiers to accompany him, and the leader is the old minister's henchman, Your Highness can rest assured! ”

Zhu Youlang nodded apprehensively when he heard Lu Daqi say this, and then got into his donkey cart and set off for Guangxi. At the same time, there were also a hundred brocade guards sent by Beijing, these people were obviously protecting Zhu Youlang, but who knew what orders they had secretly, so Lu Daqi was the most worried about these people.

The quickest way to get from Yunnan to Beijing is to take Guangxi, enter Huguang, then take a boat from Dongting Lake to Nanjing, and from Yangzhou to Beijing by the Grand Canal. But Lu Daqi was afraid that something would happen to Zhu Youlang, so he didn't dare to take the boat and go directly by land. That is, from Guangxi into Huguang, and then all the way to Wuchang, from here across the Yangtze River into Henan, from Henan to Beijing by land. Although this road is slower and has to pass through the uninhabited area of Henan, it is much safer after all.

Zhu Youlang was originally timid, but after Lu Daqi said this, he became a frightened bird, and he was far away from those brocade guards in the first half of the journey, for fear that they would kill him.

However, after walking for half a month, Zhu Youlang found that these brocade guards were very respectful to him, and at the same time, there were many opportunities to start along the way, but these brocade guards did not do it, so Zhu Youlang also put his mind at ease.

This way to Wuchang, that is, Zhu Hongsan's hometown. When he got here, Zhu Youlang went to the mausoleum of Zhu Hongsan's parents in order to pat himself on the back, and used the salute of his children and grandchildren to meet his brothers.

Huguang was the place where the Zhu Youlang group and the Qing army fought a tug-of-war, so the damage in the Wuchang Mansion and Yuezhou Mansion was very serious. But now the war has been over for five or six years, and Wuchang is located here in the thoroughfare of nine provinces, in recent years, the imperial court has also moved a large number of people from Huguang and Jiangxi into Sichuan, so Wuchang, as a transit station, has already restored its old style, and the wharf is full of people and merchant ships.

The current governor of Huguang is Liu Sijiao, who has long received news that Zhu Youlang, the king of Gui, is going to cross the Yangtze River in Wuchang, but in order to avoid suspicion, Liu Sicheng did not appear, but only sent a lieutenant officer from the governor's palace to send supplies and prepare ships.

There were a total of five ships sent, all of which were big merchant ships on the Yangtze River, Zhu Youlang took his son Zhu Cixuan and his mother Ma Shi to sit on the first boat, Zhu Youlang's wife Wang Shi sat on the second boat with a few remaining nobles, and Mu Zhongxian, the only remaining son of Mu Tianbo, the Duke of Qianguo, sat on the third boat with his sister Mu Yunying. These two people are what Zhu Hongsan wants to see by name, after all, Mu Ying is the founding marquis and the godson of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and they are all relatives, so Zhu Hongsan still admires Mu Tianbo who died for Zhu Youlang. In order to commend loyalty, Zhu Hongsan ordered Mu Tianbo's son Mu Zhongxian to inherit the title of Duke of Qianguo, and his sister Mu Yunying was named a nobleman and went into the palace to sleep with Zhu Hongsan.

In fact, there was nothing to do with Mu Yunying, but Zhu Hongsan knew that Mu Tianbo still had a daughter alive, and remembered the little county lord Mu Jianping in the Lu Ding Ji, Zhu Hongsan's celebrity collection desire came up again, so he canonized Mu Yunying as a nobleman.

After the group got on the boat, Zhu Youlang stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the Wuchang Wharf in the distance, looking at the crowd above, as well as the merchant ships coming and going on the river, Zhu Youlang sighed in his heart: Although this Zhu Hongsan is not a good thing, but there is indeed a set of governance, Zhu Hongsan only occupied a place in Guangdong back then, with less than 100,000 soldiers and only four strategists, so he can break through such a big career, it seems that he is still not good, this Zhu Hongsan is not a fluke!