In fact, without Cao Yanzhong escorting the prisoners north to Tieling to show off his military might and forcing the Qing army in Tieling to open the city and surrender, the battle situation on this side of the Tieling battlefield was basically close to a foregone conclusion, and the Wu army would win.

On the battlefield of Tieling, the cavalry of the Wu army led by Ding Ruchang once repelled the desperate breakthrough of the Qing army in Tieling, and did not give Ci'an and others any chance to escape first; Then after the Wu army infantry brigade arrived, they quickly built siege fortifications to surround Tieling City, making it difficult for Ci'an and pseudo-Prince Yi and others in the city to fly, and the two siege tunnels dug at the same time were about to be dug under the city wall. Therefore, it is only a matter of time for the Wu army to break through the small city of Tieling, and Ci'an and Wang Ye and others are actually a matter of capturing alive and getting the corpses for the soldiers of the Wu army.

In addition, the Qing army on this side of Tieling is also very fleshy, not only the combat effectiveness is not enough and the weapons and equipment are poor, the morale and fighting spirit are also seriously insufficient, not only did not have the slightest opportunity to protect Ci'an, Cixi and Emperor Kant and morale was high, on the contrary, they did not even dare to shout too loudly the slogan of the death of the city, often because of a little movement under the city and the chickens and dogs jumped, a few days of shock, basically as long as the Wu army soldiers blew down the city wall and rushed into the city, there will be countless Qing soldiers immediately put down their arms and surrender, It is impossible for too many people to fight to the end with the Wu army and die for the puppet Manchu State that has just been established for less than half a year.

In such a situation, after the two Qing army captives at the level of staff generals entered Tieling City with white flags, they cried to the Tieling Qing Army that the main force of the Qing Army in Shenyang and the main force of the Tsarist army had been defeated in front of the Wu army, of course, the Qing Army in Tieling was in an uproar, and there was no determination and confidence to stick to the end, Ci'an, Yi and Cheng Lu, the guard of the Qing Army in Tieling, and others were also struck by lightning, and they couldn't believe that this was true at all. They were tortured and confessed.

No matter how much torture was useless, the two unlucky flag ginseng generals not only did not change their words under the whip, but also cried together aggrievedly: "Queen Mother, Lord Wang, the slave is wronged, the slave didn't say half a lie, Wu Thief really won a big battle on the side of the big stone bridge!" You just need to send someone to inquire about it, and you will know the truth or falsehood, and if you find out that the slave has told us a lie, you can kill us! ”

"That's enough, stop fighting. Take them down temporarily, I have important things to say to the Empress Dowager and the Fifth Master. ”

In the end, it was Cixi who opened her mouth and drank the guards' torture of the two unlucky generals, and asked the guards to temporarily bring down the two unlucky generals who had been covered with blood, Cixi said to Ci'an and the prince: "Sister, the fifth child, it's useless to fight, what those two minions said should not be a lie, otherwise, the reinforcements of Chonghou and the Rakshasa people should have arrived a long time ago." We haven't seen the shadow of reinforcements yet, which basically proves that the two minions are not lying, and the main forces of Chonghou and the Rakshasa have indeed been defeated by the Wu thieves. ”

"Imperial sister-in-law, Chonghou and the Rakshasa people have not sent reinforcements yet, perhaps because they have been temporarily blocked by the Wu thief army." Holding on to the last glimmer of hope, the prince said: "As long as we grit our teeth and hold on for a few more days, we may be able to wait for reinforcements." ”

"But the question is, how many more days can we hold out?" Cixi asked rhetorically, and then asked Cheng Lu, the Tieling guard who was present: "Cheng Aiqing, if the Wu thief launches an attack on the city, are you sure that you can hold it for a few days?" ”

"This ......." Cheng Lu's face was full of embarrassment, and he replied: "Back to the Queen Mother, the situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and the minions really dare not guarantee how long they can hold on. But if there is anything wrong with the city wall, or the Wu thief directly attaches to the city, the minions will not dare to ...... and dare not make any guarantees. ”

"But we can't sit still, can we?" Cixi asked again: "If you were to take all the troops to protect us and break out, how sure would you be?" ”

"The Empress Dowager of the West forgives her sins, and the slave is not sure." Cheng Lu replied with a sad face: "Last time, the Wu thief's reinforcements didn't come, so we couldn't rush out, and now that the Wu thief's infantry brigade has come, we are even more hopeless." ”

"Okay, no need to say it." Cixi made up her mind, sighed, and said: "Cheng Aiqing, the mourning family will give you an envoy, immediately go and find some crane top red for the mourning family, just wait for the Tieling City to be broken, the mourning family will eat it, and would rather die than be a prisoner of the Wu thief." ”

Cheng Lu hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, even saying that the slave didn't dare, but Cixi didn't pay attention to him anymore, but turned to Ci'an and the prince and asked, "Sister, old five, do you want to ask Cheng Aiqing to prepare a copy for you too?" ”

The prince didn't dare to say anything, but Ci'an wiped the corners of his eyes and said: "Sister must not say that, until the last moment, we must not think like this." ”

"But I can't do that now." Cixi sighed: "As soon as the city wall is broken, the Wu thief will definitely find a way to capture our sisters alive, and take them to Wu Chaoyue to interrogate and convict the traitor, so that we can be embarrassed, and then Wu Chaoyue the traitor is kind enough to leave us a whole corpse, and the cruel point will make us head in a different place, our women's family, can we still suffer such humiliation?" Now, what else can you and my sister do except prepare to die for the country? ”

Ci'an, who had nothing to do, finally cried out, and the prince and Cheng Lu hung their heads, all of them had nothing to do, but it was An Dehai, the chief administrator of the inner department who fled to Tieling with Cixi, opened his mouth and said cautiously: "The two queen mothers, the slave is foolish, anyway, things have come to this point, why don't you send someone out to talk to Wu Thief and see what Wu Thief means?" If the Wu thief can guarantee to treat the two queen mothers and the prince well, the two queen mothers may wish to learn from the Empress Dowager Xie of the Song Dynasty and open the city to the Wu thief ....... ”

"Shut up!" Cixi opened her mouth to interrupt An Dehai's words, and shouted angrily: "Dog slave who is greedy for life and afraid of death, do you have the right to speak here?" What kind of people are the Empress Dowager and the mourning family, how can they learn from Xie Daoqing, the empress dowager of the Song Dynasty? ! ”

When he was angry at An Dehai, Cixi was of course secretly observing Ci'an's reaction, and An Dehai fell to the ground with a thud, kowtowed and said: "The Queen Mother forgives her sins, the slave is the sin and deserves death, but the slave is really loyal to you before saying these words, if you can really bargain with the Wu thief, and use the surrender of Kaicheng in exchange for the Wu thief to treat you well, how can it be much better than the city is broken and captured!" ”

"Also, the two queen mothers, the minions dare to ask you to think about it." Kowtowing to the admonition, An Dehai also cried and said: "The emperor is still young now, if you are no longer there, what will he do?" The two queen mothers, you don't have to think about yourself, but you have to think about it for the emperor? Your Majesty, he is the only bloodline left by the emperor! ”

Maybe it was the affection between mother and son, hearing An Dehai mention his only son, Cixi suddenly softened like a deflated ball, no longer shouted at An Dehai and wiped her tears, and was ready to fulfill the promise she secretly made to An Dehai at any time, and opened her mouth to save Ci'an when he ordered An Dehai to be pushed out and beheaded. However, what made Cixi secretly happy in her heart was that Ci'an, who had been desperate to the extreme, not only did not reprimand and beheaded An Dehai, but on the contrary, he was obviously a little shaken, and said hesitantly: "Xiao Anzi's words are not completely unreasonable, anyway, the matter has come to this point, it is better to send someone to talk to Wu Thief to see how Wu Thief's army plans to deal with our sisters." ”

Cixi didn't speak, and the prince over there was also a little shaken in despair, and said hesitantly: "Imperial sister-in-law, why don't you really send someone to talk about it, if you can negotiate, of course, it's the best, even if you can't negotiate, we can also take the opportunity to find out the details of some Wu thieves." ”

Unable to resist Cixi's repeated hints and guidance, there was really nothing to be done, Ci'an thought about it, or decided to send someone out of the city to contact and negotiate with Wu Jun, and put forward the conditions of taking the initiative to open the city and surrender, in exchange for Wu Jun's kindness and guarantee not to hurt himself and the prince. Cixi, who was in the middle of her arms, wiped her tears and kept silent, but after Ci'an made up her mind, Cixi sobbed and asked, "Sister, who will you send to negotiate with Wu Thief?" ”

Ci'an hesitated again, and subconsciously went to see the prince, seeing that the prince was shrinking his neck and didn't dare to say anything, Ci'an also understood what he meant, and turned his eyes to see Cheng Lu, the Tieling guard with the title of admiral, but Cheng Lu did not have a fearful look, and was not afraid to risk in the Wu military camp, but Ci'an was a little unable to believe him, and second, he was afraid that there would be no one to defend the city, so he continued to move his gaze down and turned to An Dehai who was kneeling on the ground......

Fortunately, Ci'an is not stupid to the extreme, although he didn't think for a while that An Dehai and Cixi were singing double reeds, but they still didn't dare to rest assured that this important task would be handed over to An Dehai, who had always stood firmly on Cixi's side, especially Wu Chaoyue, who had already made it clear in the Northern Expedition that he would not pursue Cixi's crimes. So after hesitating for a moment, Ci'an turned to Chen Fu, the chief eunuch of the East Palace, who had been waiting beside him, and asked, "Xiaofuzi, do you have the courage to go to the Wu thief's camp?" ”

"The slave is willing to go to the soup for the queen mother."

Chen Fu was a little bold, and immediately agreed, although Cixi over there was slightly disappointed, but he didn't dare to recommend An Dehai to leave his tracks, so he immediately praised Chen Fu's loyalty to Ci'an, and also thought that Chen Fu was the best candidate to serve as a negotiation envoy, and at the same time said in his heart: "No matter who you send, in order to take Tieling as soon as possible, Wu Thief's side must have any conditions to discuss, and then the mourning family will fan the flames again, and there is hope to persuade Ci'an, a bitch, to agree to surrender Kaicheng." Otherwise, when Tieling City is broken, Ci'an, the bitch, forces the old lady to commit suicide and martyrdom with her, and the old lady will be in trouble. ”

In this way, in the afternoon of the same day, Ci'an's henchman eunuch Chen Fu went out of Tieling City with a white flag, ran to Wu Jun and took the initiative to identify himself, and asked to meet Jiang Zhongji, the main general on the Tieling battlefield, and then with the help of Wu Jun soldiers After crossing the moat that had been led away from the river, Chen Fu quickly took it to the Wu army camp and met Jiang Zhongji, Deng Siyuan and Ding Ruchang, three important generals of the Wu army.

was expected by Cixi, in order to take Tieling City as soon as possible and turn around to fight Shenyang, Jiang Zhongji really agreed to treat Ci'an, Cixi and Wang Ye and others well, promised to treat each other with courtesy, and also promised to send Ci'an and others to the capital to Wu Chaoyue in person without letting Ci'an and others suffer any humiliation. Chen Fu was not greedy enough, and asked Jiang Zhongji to guarantee that Ci'an and Wang Ye and others would retain their titles and titles, and continue to enjoy the glory and wealth, but Jiang Zhongji did not dare to be the master, shook his head and said: "Gonggong Chen, I'm sorry, I don't dare to guarantee you this, this is something that only the king of Zhennan can decide." I can only promise to say a few good words for you in front of our king of Zhennan, and try to get him to agree to your conditions for you. ”

"Then Jiang Futai, can you give us ten days to think about it?" Chen Fu retreated, and said: "Within ten days, don't launch an attack on the city, let the two queen mothers think about it carefully?" ”

"No way!" Jiang Zhongji shook his head resolutely and said: "Gonggong Chen, I know your thoughts, I want to delay a little more time to see if there are any reinforcements to save you, I was not afraid that you would use delaying the army, but I still have to rush back to Shenyang to fight the siege battle, so I can't agree to this." Whether you are willing to surrender the city or not, I will attack the city at any time if I am willing. ”

"Jiang Futai, such a big matter, can our two queen mothers and the prince make up their minds immediately? Or, five days? How about five days? ”

Chen Fu continued to plead, and when Jiang Zhongji was about to continue to refuse sternly, he never thought that someone outside the tent suddenly came to report, saying that it was Guixiang, the younger brother Gui Xiang who had been sent by Cixi to contact Wu Jun, and asked to enter the account to see him. Jiang Zhongji was puzzled when he heard this, and said, "When did I send someone to pass Guixiang to see me?" ”

"Jiang Futai's forgiveness was sent by me to pass it on." Deng Siyuan, a veteran of the Wu army, opened his mouth and said: "This matter is too big, we have to find out whether this Gonggong Chen is the personal chief eunuch of the Empress Dowager Dong, so I will call Gui Xiang to identify it." ”

Although he felt that Deng Siyuan was a little troublesome, but Deng Siyuan's qualifications and status in the Wu army were placed there after all, Jiang Zhongji still nodded and said, "Okay, since this is what General Deng meant, please invite Guixiang Gui Gongzi in, and let him identify this Chen Gonggong." ”

The order was issued, and Gui Xiang, who had already been led to the door of the big tent, was immediately invited in, but what surprised Jiang Zhongji was that after Gui Xiang, who was dressed in silk and satin, entered the tent, he asked Deng Siyuan inexplicably: "Uncle Deng, you asked your little nephew to come here, what's the matter?" ”

"Nothing." Deng Siyuan pointed at Chen Fu with his hand and said, "Virtuous nephew, take a look, is this Chen Fu Chen's father-in-law?" ”

Gui Xiang was stunned, turned his head to look at Chen Fu, Chen Fu also looked at him blankly, his eyes met, Gui Xiang suddenly felt a little weak, hurriedly avoided Chen Fu's surprised gaze, turned to Deng Siyuan and nodded and said: "Uncle, it's him, he is Chen Fu, the chief eunuch in the palace of the Empress Dowager Dong, I have met him twice when I went to the palace to meet my sister." However, how did he get here? ”

"It's just him." Deng Siyuan didn't answer Gui Xiang's question, just nodded, and then ordered: "Go down and rest, or in a few days, your sister and brother will be reunited." If you need anything to eat and wear, just open your mouth to my soldiers. ”

Gui Xiang left in confusion, while Chen Fu kept looking at his back, thoughtful. And Jiang Zhongji over there also opened his mouth, and once again categorically rejected Chen Fu's previous five-day request, making it clear that he would not stop the siege of the city, but only promised to accept the surrender of Ci'an and the prince at any time, and promised to fulfill his promise to treat Ci'an and others well. Chen Fuze, who had something in his heart, was resigned, and promised to bring Jiang Zhongji's words with him in a panic, and then refused Jiang Zhongji's kind invitation to let him have dinner, and asked to return to the city immediately to report it.

In order to facilitate the abduction and stealing of chickens and dogs, Wu Jun has never had a tradition of detaining and harming envoys, and Chen Fu's request was naturally allowed by Jiang Zhongji. However, after sending someone to escort Chen Fu back to the city, Jiang Zhongji asked Deng Siyuan again: "General Deng, why did you ask Gui Xiang to identify this Chen Fu in person just now?" Even if you doubt his identity, you can let Gui Xiang hide there and identify him quietly, right? Why do you want to draw a snake like this and ask Gui Xiang to identify it in person? ”

"Hiding in the shadows and quietly identifying?" Deng Siyuan's expression was a little demented, and then he gently tapped his head and complained: "I didn't think of this method just now?" It's me who adds to it, and it's too much. ”

After that, Deng Siyuan said to Jiang Zhongji again: "Jiang Futai, I was reckless just now. Please don't spread the word about it, and don't let anyone else know, or I'll be too embarrassed. ”

"Don't worry, I'm not the kind of woman with a long tongue and won't talk nonsense....... Anyway, don't worry, I won't let anyone else know about this. ”

Jiang Zhongji had an obvious slurring when he said this, and the tone of the last few words was obviously different from the casual tone in front of him, because when he was swallowing, a terrifying and terrifying possibility suddenly flashed in Jiang Zhongji's mind, and he said secretly: "Deng Siyuan, this guy, should it be ......?" ”