On the night of April 24 in the third year of the Ming Dynasty, in the yamen of the former Guilin prefect, the military department, the official department of the Yongli Imperial Court, and the pavilion Lao Qu Shiyun were sitting on the main hall.

Now the entire city of Guilin has become an empty city, after the last group of Qinwang's army was destroyed in Pingle on the tenth day of the fourth month, Guilin was like a beautiful woman without clothes in front of Zhu Hongsan. And Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang, like his predecessors Zhu Yousong and Zhu Yujian, immediately handed over all the government to Qu Shiyun after receiving the news of the defeat at the front and appointed him to stay behind. And the emperor himself, with the queen mother, concubines and children, opened the east gate as early as April 11 and ran away.

Qu Shiyun organized the last 20,000 troops to defend the city, and originally planned to break the net with Chu Zhi. The generals who knew that these pampered generals under him had become frightened birds and had no fighting spirit. On April 15, Zhao Yinxuan, the founding prince of the People's Republic of China, sent a report from Yangshuo Tang, saying that the Tang soldiers set up in Yangshuo had been swept away, and Chu was about to approach Guilin.

Qu Shiyun was taken aback, and hurriedly urged Zhao Yin to lead the troops to strangle the defense. Zhao Yinxuan saw that the Ming army in Guangdong was strong, and he cowered, and that afternoon, he and Hu Yiqing, Wang Yongzuo, Pu Ying, Yang Guodong, and Ma Yanglin led their troops to protect their families and fled west from Guilin, and the city was suddenly in chaos.

Qu Shiyun saw that the generals fled without a fight, beat his chest and said: "The imperial court baited this generation with high lords, and the people raised this generation with anointed blood, so why do you end up like this?" In desperation, he decided to stay and live with the city, and sent Xu Gao, a Chinese army, to return the imperial seal to the Yongli Emperor.

On April 24, the vanguard of Zhu Hongsan's army was less than 20 miles away from Guilin City, and the defenders in the city had already dispersed, and the guards either fled to or went out of the city to vote for a new master, after all, Zhu Hongsan was still Zhu Ming's blood no matter what he said, so these guys regarded surrender as the second battle of Jingjing, anyway, the emperor was in power and had to use these guys, and it might be better to live there.

Late at night, it was raining heavily outside the house, and the main hall of the Guilin prefect's yamen was brightly lit, but only Qu Shiyun sat alone in the huge yamen, and a pot of old wine was placed in front of him, and it seemed that he was drinking.

At this time, a person came in from outside the yamen of the prefect's yamen, a middle-aged literati. When Qu Shiyun saw this person, he sighed and said, "Don't be a mountain, as a governor, not a land guard, why don't you leave?" ”

The person who came in was Zhang Juzheng's great-grandson, Zhang Tongchang, the governor of Guangxi, and Zhang Beishan.

Zhang Tongchang is Zhang Juzheng's son Zhang Jingxiu's grandson who committed suicide, Zhang Juzheng's house was raided after his death, because the interrogators tortured him, Zhang Jingxiu left a desperate letter, committed suicide in indignation, leaving his wife Gao and son Zhang Chonghui. Gao's suicide failed, so he was disfigured to raise his orphan son to grow up, and this Zhang Tongchang was Zhang Chonghui's eldest son.

In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the country has been dilapidated, and at this time, some ministers in the DPRK suddenly remembered that Zhang Juzheng who would be trampled on by them after his death was 10,000 feet, and then they raised Zhang Juzheng's identity, hoping to produce another such first assistant to lead them through the crisis of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the emperor issued an order to recover Zhang Jingxiu, the head of the Ministry of Rites and restore Wuyin, and awarded Zhang Tongchang, the grandson of Jingxiu, as a scholar in the middle school.

And Emperor Chongzhen was also sick and went to the hospital at this time, he hoped that this Zhang Tongchang could have the ability of his ancestor Zhang Juzheng to control the turmoil, so Emperor Chongzhen decided to let this new Zhongshu Sheren go to Jiangnan to recruit troops, hoping that Zhang Tongchang could take the army to the north of King Qin.

But Zhang Tongchang is a scholar, and he can't govern the country, let alone lead troops. Before the Jiangnan soldiers were recruited, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in Beijing, and the Ming Dynasty was destroyed.

And Zhang Tongchang met Qu Shiyun in Nanzhili, Zhang Tongchang admired Qu Shiyun's literary brilliance, so he worshipped him as a teacher. At this time, Nanjing fell again, and Zhang Tongchang received an order from Emperor Zhu Yujian of Longwu, who then sent Zhang Tongchang to Hunan to fight against the Qing army. On the way, Zhang Tongchang learned that Tingzhou had fallen and that all of China, except for the southwestern half, was in the hands of the Qing army. So Zhang Tongchang relied on He Tengjiao to establish a foothold in Wugang first.

After Zhu Yujian was captured, Zhu Youlang, the king of Gui, officially ascended the throne in Guangxi, with the year name Yongli, and Zhang Tongchang transferred to Guangxi to join Zhu Youlang after getting the news. Zhu Youlang was awarded a bachelor's degree in Hanlin Academy because of Zhang Tongchang's "poetry and writing, and the aid of the pen".

At this time, Zhu Hongsan of Guangdong rebelled against the sky and captured Nanjing in the second year of Shenwu. However, Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang coveted the wealth of Guangdong and wanted to take advantage of Zhu Hong's three main forces in Nanjing to attack Guangdong.

How do you know that Zhu Hongsan didn't grow up eating salt, and when he got the news, he returned to help him thousands of miles away, and defeated Emperor Yongli's 240,000 army outside Guangzhou. When the defeated army sent the news back to Guilin, Zhu Youlang, as the most capable emperor, immediately thought of escaping. Zhu Youlang handed over Guilin to Qu Shiyun, and Zhang Tongchang was also appointed as the squire of the military department of the Yongli regime and the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, and the governor of all walks of life in Guangxi because of the recommendation of his teacher Qu Shiyun.

Zhang Tongchang's official position is very large, but where can he order those Qiu Ba in the army as a scholar, after losing the last bit of capital in the battle of Pingle, Zhang Tongchang also returned to Guilin with the defeated army.

Zhang Tongchang returned to the city and saw that the city was in chaos, and after learning that only Qu Shiyun had not retreated, Zhang Tongchang immediately rushed to stay at the yamen, preparing to live and die with his teacher.

Zhang Tongchang walked into the house and saw Qu Shiyun and asked: "Teacher, now that the defenders in the city have run away, they either fled to Guizhou or went out of the city to join Chu Wei, what should you do, teacher?" ”

Qu Shiyun said: "I am left behind, and I have the responsibility to guard this place, 'the city survives and survives, and the city dies and dies'." Today, to die for the country, to die brightly. You're not staying, why don't you leave? ”

Zhang Tongchang listened and said: "Teacher, Fang Xiaoru was punished by the ten clans during the Battle of Jingjing, how can the teacher make up enough for the ten clans without disciples?" After saying that, he sat down on the chair next to him and drank with Qu Shiyun.

At this time, the sky gradually brightened, and the noise of people in the city had stopped, and now the surroundings of the prefect's yamen were quiet like ghosts. At this time, there was a sudden sound of footsteps outside the door, and a group of Guangdong Ming soldiers wearing crimson military uniforms rushed in.

The first one was a company commander, who was ordered to search for the fleeing civilian and military generals in the city, but he didn't expect that there were two people here, and the level of official uniforms was still very high.

The company commander smiled and said: "Haha, I didn't expect that there are two big rats here, they should be made meritorious service and come here!" Tie these two guys up and escort them to Jingjiang Wangfu outside the city! ”

A few soldiers under him came up and were about to make a move, Zhang Tongchang stood up and said, "Slow, do you sergeants know who it is at this time?" This is the old Qu Pavilion of the cabinet, Guilin stayed, how can you Qiu Ba insult it! ”

The company commander is a rough man and doesn't study, so he doesn't know what official position he is left behind, but the elder still knows. And the emperor has a military order, so he is better for these stinky old nines.

The company commander was just about to let his subordinates not have to tie ropes, but who knew that Qu Shiyun had spoken: "You take me to see Zhu Hongsan, the old man wants to meet him!" ”

This sentence can stab the hornet's nest, Zhu Hongsan has a very high prestige in the army, these grassroots officers are all from the Praetorian Guard Division, and they regard Zhu Hongsan as a reborn parent, and now they hear this old guy call the emperor by his name, the company commander scolded: "You stinky old nine, you dare to disrespect our Majesty, come here!" Shut these two guys' foul mouths for me, and escort them away to your majesty!" ”

With the commander's order, his soldiers rushed up, regardless of the two who were scolding, and tied up the master and apprentice. Zhang Tongchang was young and wanted to struggle, but he was dizzy by a soldier who came up to the front two mouths, and then was tied up and taken away.

At this time, Zhu Hongsan did not enter the city, but was stationed in the Jingjiang Palace.

King Jingjiang was one of the twenty-two vassal kings named at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, but the first king of Jingjiang was not the son of Zhu Yuanzhang, but Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew Zhu Shouqian.

This Zhu Shouqian's father is a powerful figure, he is one of the most capable generals in the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Wenzheng, his father is also Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest brother Zhu Xinglong. Zhu Wenzheng sat in the lonely city in the defense of Hongdu and resisted the attack of Chen Youliang's 600,000-strong army, which can be called a miracle in military history, and his military achievements were outstanding. Because of his dissatisfaction with Zhu Yuanzhang's reward after the war, he fornicated with Zhang Shicheng, and was placed under house arrest after Zhu Yuanzhang learned about it, and finally died of depression.

After Zhu Wenzheng's death, his son Zhu Shouqian was named the king of Jingjiang, and his fief was in Guilin, Guangxi. This generation of Jingjiang King is called Zhu Hengjun, although he is older than Zhu Hongsan, but according to the genealogy, he is Zhu Hongsan's nephew. Zhu Hengshu was benevolent and loyal to Emperor Yongli, and did not flee after the fall of Guilin, but stayed in the palace and was captured by Zhu Hongsan, who entered the city.

Zhu Hengjun is the first vassal king captured by Zhu Hongsan, and he is also the king of Jingjiang, one of the twenty-two kings of the founding of the country, so Zhu Hongsan attaches great importance to him, because if this king of Jingjiang is loyal to him, then his legitimacy will definitely be consolidated again.

So when Zhu Hongsan saw Zhu Hengyu coming in, he quickly got up and said with a smile: "It turns out that the emperor's nephew is here!" Fast! Come! Untie my nephew! Grab another chair! ”

Zhu Hengshu is fifty-four years old, much older than Zhu Hongsan at thirty-six, and it is very ridiculous for a young man to call an old man a nephew.

On the side, a brocade guard came up to untie Zhu Hengshu, and brought up a chair for Zhu Hengshu to sit down.

Zhu Hongsanpi asked with a smile: "Imperial nephew, how is it?" I heard that the traitor Zhu Youlang treated you very badly and put you under house arrest in the palace? What else does this Zhu Youlang lack of virtue, the imperial nephew, you talk to me, I will give you anger! ”

Zhu Hongsan means that you Zhu Hengyu understands something, and you buckle the shit basin on Zhu Youlang's head, and it is best to say that Zhu Youlang is a bastard. You play on the spot, make up some ugly things about Zhu Youlang scolding the crippled and dumb, and picking up the old lady's pants, and then you will definitely benefit King Jingjiang.

How do you know that Zhu Hengshu said: "King Chu, let me ask you, at the same time, Taizu and Miao, why don't you use your strong army to go on the Northern Expedition, but turn your guns to deal with your own brothers?" ”