"Karala!"

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the blackened sky, followed by thunder and torrential rain.

This rain came so violently, the dense raindrops connected into white lines, pulling the sky and the earth down, and the field of vision immediately became a white expanse, roads, mountains, trees, ......, all invisible, the whole shijie only left endless raindrops.

In the heavy rain, Emperor Longwu and his party were trekking hard, wading in the muddy water with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Emperor Longwu was wearing a shabby hat, I don't know where his guards picked it up, he was wearing only a thin undergarment, and the robe was wrapped around the prince's body.

The crown prince, who had just completed the moon, was held by a guard, closely following behind Emperor Longwu, the prince was tightly wrapped in a silk robe, although he was not wet in the heavy rain, behind them, was Queen Zeng, who could no longer walk, and was barely followed by two guards.

It was the fifth day of the escape.

Five days have passed since the Nanping robbery camp, and Emperor Longwu and his entourage have been fleeing for their lives in the direction of Tingzhou like frightened birds. However, the Qing army always followed closely, and several times a small group of cavalry chased after him, and the guards around Emperor Longwu resisted desperately to ensure that he escaped here.

Just now, the vanguard cavalry of the Qing army caught up again, if it weren't for this sudden heavy rain, Emperor Longwu would probably have been caught. All the Imperial Forest Army has fled, even the horses and mounts have been lost, and now there are only a few dozen people following Emperor Longwu, in addition to the guards, there are only a few ministers such as Guo Weijing, the two Shangshu of the Ministry of Soldiers, the loyal Bo Zhou Zhifan, and Xiong Wei in the matter.

At the end of one's resources!

But everyone did not despair, Tingzhou, the capital of Tingzhou Mansion, is not far ahead!

After walking in the heavy rain for a full hour, the rain finally lightened a little. Emperor Longwu ordered Zhou Zhifan to send guards to Tingzhou Mansion for help, and by the way, check the road ahead.

It didn't take long for Zhou Zhifan to come back in the rain again.

"Shengshang, there is a Guandi Temple in front, let's go in and hide from the rain!"

"Okay, let's go get some rest." Emperor Longwu also knew that this was a bit dangerous, but Empress Zeng couldn't hold on anymore, she had just given birth in middle age and had just been full moon, and it had rained again after a few days of hard work. He was already being dragged away by the guards, and his life would be in danger if he didn't rest.

Everyone came to the Guandi Temple, the small temple was not big, and it could barely accommodate these dozens of people, and the guards cut the offering table into a pile of chopping wood. Raise a fire and let Emperor Longwu and his wife roast it.

On the warm fire, the clothes were gradually dried. Empress Zeng's face regained a trace of blood. Open the package again and take a look, the prince is sleeping soundly, Emperor Longwu is temporarily relieved, looking at the heavy rain outside the window silently.

Unlike other dragon sons and grandsons, Emperor Longwu's life has experienced ups and downs.

In order to compete for the inheritance of the Tang king, Emperor Longwu was imprisoned as a child. His father was also poisoned, and later became the king of Tang by chance, and because he offended Chongzhen, he was imprisoned in the ancestral mausoleum of the Zhu family in Fengyang. One level is eight years. The eunuch who guarded the tomb asked him for a bribe, and when he didn't succeed, he tortured him in every way, almost killing Emperor Longwu, and he was not released until Emperor Hongguang ascended the throne and granted amnesty to the world.

Emperor Longwu has suffered a lot, he pushes others by himself, can understand the suffering of the common people, and his long-term prison life has made him develop a tenacious character, so compared with most of the faint princes of the clan, he is more like a wise monarch.

But this time, Emperor Longwu fell into deep self-blame.

It's too careless!

When fleeing and passing through a county seat, although Emperor Longwu did not dare to stay, he also heard some news, only to know that Zheng Zhilong had already withdrawn the defenders of Wuyi Mountain, and only then did he know that the two prefectures of Jianning and Nanping surrendered without a fight.

Thinking that before leaving Nanping, the prefect of Nanping and other officials still swore that they would be loyal to the monarch and serve the country, but in private they were ready to surrender to the Manchus, and Emperor Longwu's heart was full of hatred.

"Since I ascended the throne, I have worked hard for state affairs day and night, and I have been lenient to civil and military officials, and they will betray me!" Emperor Longwu was very unwilling, he was full of ambitions to revitalize the Ming Dynasty, but he lacked the assistance of loyal ministers and good generals, and he had been on the throne for nearly a year but did not do much, and now he has fallen to the point of fleeing alone.

Unlike Emperor Hongguang, Emperor Longwu is not a direct descendant of Emperor Wanli, he belongs to the collateral clan of the Ming Dynasty, and his subordinates lack a loyal and reliable team, so they are subject to the Zheng Zhilong brothers, and even He Tengjiao disobeys him.

Thinking of Zheng Zhilong and He Tengjiao, he was even more annoyed in his heart, if Zheng Zhilong hadn't withdrawn the defenders of Wuyi Mountain, if He Tengjiao hadn't come to meet him for a long time, how could he have fallen into this step!

"What is Zheng Zhilong going to do?"

Emperor Longwu secretly guessed in his heart, at best, Zheng Zhilong may just be trying to preserve his strength and not dare to fight with the Manchus, which is also common in the Ming army. But at worst, Zheng Zhilong is ready to surrender to the Manchus!

That's not going to work! Zheng Zhilong's command is known as an army of 200,000, especially the naval division is very powerful, there are five or six hundred large building ships, if this army completely surrenders to the Manchu Qing, it will be a fatal blow to Nanming......

"Uncle Zhongzhong, take a pen and paper, I want to write a letter to Zheng Zhilong!"

It has reached this point, the resentment against Zheng Zhilong can only be put aside, and the state affairs must be the priority, Emperor Longwu wants to try his best to dissuade him, as long as he does not surrender to the Manchus, everything is easy to discuss.

Loyal Uncle is Zhou Zhifan, in charge of the seal of Emperor Longwu, he still has a set of paper and pen in his arms, took it out and presented it to Emperor Longwu, Emperor Longwu stretched out his hand and was just about to take it, and suddenly there was a commotion outside the temple of Emperor Guan!

"Zhu Yujian, Zhu Yujian come out!"

"Zhu Yujian come out!"

Zhu Yujian is the real name of Emperor Longwu, and the one who dares to call him that can only be the Qing army!

"Holy Lord, the Tartars are here, they have surrounded the Guandi Temple, let's go through the back door!" Xiong Wei rushed in in a hurry, but no one expected that the Qing army would catch up in the rain.

"Holy Lord, take care!" Zhou Zhifan took out the jade seal seal from his arms, handed it to Emperor Longwu, and then took off Emperor Longwu's robe from the crown prince, indiscriminately threw a batch of it on himself, and walked towards the front door with a few guards.

"I am Zhu Yujian, the son of tomorrow!" Zhou Zhifan shouted loudly, which immediately attracted a rain of arrows from the Qing army.

Xiong Wei, Guo Weijing and others surrounded Emperor Longwu and his wife, and escaped from the back door of Emperor Guan's temple, and a miserable scream of Zhou Zhifan was heard from afar.

Come on!

More than a dozen monarchs and ministers fled for their lives, and a guard ran away with Queen Zeng on his back, but gradually fell farther and farther, and the sound of the Qing army's horses' hooves came from behind him.

"Your Majesty, take the crown prince away......" Empress Zeng shouted loudly, Emperor Longwu turned around to pick up the prince, and more than a dozen cavalry of the Qing army had already chased after him.

"The emperor should put state affairs first, and Weichen will save the queen and the prince!"

Xiong Wei rushed forward with dozens of guards, Guo Weijing waved his hand, and the other guards set up Emperor Longwu, and fled all the way......

Escape!

Tingzhou City is just ahead!

In the heavy rain, Emperor Longwu and his entourage fled for their lives, and finally saw the Tingzhou city wall from a distance, and when they were just relieved, they saw a small group of cavalry galloping on the fork in the road next to them.

"The Tartar cavalry has made a detour!" Emperor Longwu's heart was cold, and finally he still didn't escape, he stopped and drew his sword, and just waited for the cavalry to rush up and raise his sword to kill himself.

"Is it the current emperor in front?"

The cavalry general led by him shouted loudly, and Emperor Longwu and the others listened to it in their ears, but it was like a heavenly sound......

Wang Meng!

Wang Meng had been waiting outside the city for two days, and finally received Emperor Longwu, and after a few brief conversations, he heard that Empress Zeng and the crown prince were in danger, and immediately rushed to support with cavalry.

Come as you say, leave as you go, Wang Meng's troops are not many, and they did not divide their troops to take care of Emperor Longwu, and Emperor Longwu and others did not care, thinking that they were reinforcements sent by Tingzhou Mansion.

"I can't imagine that a small Tingzhou Mansion has such elite soldiers!"

Guo Weijing has two positions, both the secretary of the ministry and the secretary of the military department, he knows a little bit about military affairs, and has also reviewed Zheng Zhilong's troops, in his opinion, although this young general named Wang Meng has only a few dozen cavalrymen, but they all have a fierce spirit, which is not worse than the elite under Zheng Zhilong.

It must be the guards of Tingzhou Mansion who have led the troops in a good way, and it is safe now!

"Yunji (Guo Wei Jinghao), can they rescue the queen and the crown prince?" Emperor Longwu didn't dare to report too much hope, although the vanguard cavalry of the Qing army only had dozens of Tartars, they were all elite Eight Banner soldiers, and the Eight Banners soldiers were always one as ten, or even one as a hundred, Wang Meng was definitely not their opponent.

"Although the emperor can rest assured, he will definitely be able to rescue the queen and the crown prince." Guo Weijing was also not optimistic, but at this time, he could only try to comfort Emperor Longwu, and he urged Emperor Longwu to enter the city as soon as possible to avoid other accidents.

The city wall of Tingzhou is in front of you, Emperor Longwu and others came to the city gate, and the soldiers guarding the gate came up to ask, and when they heard that the Ming Emperor was coming, they were all suspicious. It's no wonder that Emperor Longwu and others fled all the way, embarrassed, how could they have the majesty of an emperor.

"You take this and hand it over to Wu Decao, just say that I am being chased by the Qing army, let him hurry out of the city to meet him."

Emperor Longwu took out a small jade plaque from his bosom and handed it to the officer guarding the city, asking him to go to the prefect of Tingzhou. The officer took it in his hand and saw it, and knew that it was a valuable treasure, and then looked at the other people who followed Emperor Longwu, although they were embarrassed, they all had an official spirit, and they had already believed seven or eight points in their hearts.

Seven or eight points is enough, if you offend the emperor, you will move if you don't have a good head.

"Weichen doesn't dare, Weichen doesn't dare, please follow me into the city......" He ordered the soldiers to let them go quickly, and no longer check the identities of Emperor Longwu and others, Emperor Longwu felt that something seemed inappropriate, but when he was tired and hungry, he was also happy to enter the city directly, without care.

"There are Tartar pursuers in the back, and the gates are closed." Guo Wei commanded, and the gatekeeper agreed repeatedly, and ordered the soldiers to close the city gate. (To be continued......)