On the official road from Kunming to Anning, the crying and shouting shook the sky, and tens of thousands of people chased after the convoy of the Son of Heaven with the old and the young. They didn't know where it was safe, they only knew that it might be safer to follow the Son of Heaven, after all, the Son of Heaven was escorted by an army, but as for where the Son of Heaven went, they didn't know anything. In order to catch up with the Son of Heaven, the people struggled to catch up, and the bottom of the foot board was blistered.

The retreat was extremely hurried, the Yongli Imperial Court did not send people to organize the people to retreat at all, and the King of Jin only ordered the people to evacuate in the city, and did nothing else, causing the retreat of Kunming City to fall into panic and extreme chaos at the beginning. Jin Tongwu, the chief soldier accompanying the escort, only focused on guarding the car of the Son of Heaven and ignored the people, and as a result, after a large number of Kunming people chased after the holy car from Xicheng, the entire retreating procession, including the guards and horses, fell into chaos.

No one knew how to solve the chaotic scene in front of them, and no one stood up to maintain order, everyone was desperately running westward, and in some crowded areas, there were even tragic scenes of people trampling on each other. The carriages and mule carts of some wealthy people in Kunming collided with the carriages of the Son of Heaven in the night, and as a result, more than a dozen carriages overturned on the road, making the procession even more chaotic. In the chaos, there were scoundrels who took advantage of the fire to rob the market, and the howls and cries of the women who had been robbed of their burdens made all the people feel related to each other, and the wails were all over the field.

The carriage of the Son of Heaven consisted of more than 100 carriages, and the emperor Zhu Youlang himself sat in the largest carriage in the middle of the convoy, followed by the carriages of the Queen Mother and the Queen Wang, followed by the carriages of the crown prince and others. Some of the inner court eunuchs and palace maids with status will also squeeze a carriage together with the convoy slowly moving forward, the inner eunuchs and palace maids who have no status can only drag the carriage with their hands and follow forward, no matter how slow the carriage goes, the palace maids and eunuchs have walked for so long, and their physical strength is also unable to support it, and some people continue to let go of their hands in despair and squat on the side of the road crying, begging for the passing vehicle to pick them up, but no one pays attention to them.

Of the hundreds of carriages, only about 20 were really distributed to the inner court, and the rest of the carriages were allocated to the accompanying officials, among which Ma Jixiang, the first assistant of the cabinet, alone accounted for 17 carriages, the Ma family sat in five or six, and the rest were all loaded with Ma Jixiang's corruption and bribery gains in recent years. Large and small boxes filled the wagon, causing the wheels to roll on the ground and make deep marks. The celebrant Wang Kun also had six carriages, which were also filled with what he had earned in the past few years, and his disciples and grandchildren, like those ordinary palace maids and eunuchs, could only follow the carriage closely.

University scholar Fugang and Lei Yuelong, Liubu Shangshu, Shilang and other officials all had carriages to ride, and their families were taken care of and assigned to the carriage to accompany them, but more officials could only follow the team with two legs, and I don't know how many officials angrily took off their official robes and threw them on the road, and then left the holy car without looking back. They are really desperate for the emperor and the Ming court.

The eldest princess of Changle, Queen Meng, also got a carriage to travel, and sat in the car with the three palace maids who served her, looking at the scene of escape in front of her, and her heart was miserable. She thought of the scene in Guangzhou ten years ago, when she was only seven years old, and she was carried by her nursing mother and ran out of the city in a panic, and there were screaming crowds everywhere along the way

"Your Highness, where are we going? Can we ever come back? ”

Cui'er is the youngest, she is a native of Kunming, she has only been in the palace for more than a year, where has she passed such a scene of escape, she is choked in a low voice, she is really afraid and worried, she is very afraid that her father and little brother have not escaped from the city, she is afraid that she will never see her relatives again.

The other two palace maids are surnamed He, the oldest, in their forties, and they are the old palace maids who followed the holy car all the way from Zhaoqing, and they all call her Mother He in the palace. There is also a palace maid surnamed Qin, 19 years old, who is also a native of Kunming like Cui'er.

Mother He had experienced the nightmare of the emperor's escape from Zhaoqing, and she was old, so she was not as scared as Cui'er and Qin'er, she just sat there and watched out silently. Qin Er was also afraid, but she didn't cry, and looked at Her Royal Highness the princess like a frightened rabbit.

Changle turned his head to look at Cui'er, who had tears on her face, and shook her head slightly: "I don't know if we can come back." ”

When Cui'er heard this, her tears fell even harder, and she sobbed while saying very aggrievedly: "Your Highness, didn't Scholar Guo say that the soldiers of the horses are very capable of fighting, and even the Manchurian Tartars have not beaten him, why didn't he come to save us?" ”

Changle was stunned, he didn't know how to answer Cui'er's words, thinking of the husband in Guangdong who had not yet met, Changle's heart hurt for no reason, his nose was very sore, and there was only one thought in his heart: Does he know me?

"Where is General Jin, where is General Jin, King Jin has an edict!"

Zhu Youlang, who was in the car with his eyes closed and recuperating, suddenly heard the shouts of soldiers outside, saying that Jin Tongwu was escorted by the king of Jin, he couldn't help but open the curtain and look out, and found that Jin Tongwu saw the hand of the king of Jin and suddenly led people to beat the horse and turned back, Zhu Youlang couldn't help but be shocked, and hurriedly sent the inner servant Qi Er over to ask what happened.

After Qi Er inquired, he came over and said: "Emperor, General Jin received an order from the King of Jin to burn all the grain depots in Kunming, so as not to raise the enemy, so he took people to prepare to go back to burn grain." ”

As soon as he heard that it was the King of Jin who wanted Jin Tongwu to burn the grain reserves in Kunming, Zhu Youlang suddenly frowned, and said very dissatisfied: "How can this be done?" If the Qing army enters the city and finds that there is no food, isn't it going to harm the people? Spread my will, Kunming's grain reserves must not be burned, and it will be left to the Qing army. ”

"Your Majesty, this?"

Mu Tianbo, the prince of Qianguo, who was guarding on horseback, listened to the emperor's decree and was so frightened that he almost fell off his horse.

Qi Er was also stunned, no matter how ignorant he was, he knew that the grain could never be left to the Qing army, but he didn't know why the emperor had to leave the grain to the Qing army. He was stunned, not knowing whether to give the decree or not. Yongli saw that he didn't move, and said angrily: "You slave, I said that the grain left for the Qing army can't be burned, why don't you hurry up and pass the decree!" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the slave and maid will go to deliver the decree."

Seeing that the emperor was angry, Qi Er had no choice but to respond, and trotted all the way over to tell Jin Tongwu the holy oracle. Jin Tongwu, who was about to take people back to burn grain, also frowned after listening to the emperor's dictation, and finally sighed and obeyed the emperor's will.

When the scholar Fugang heard that the emperor was not allowed to burn the grain storage in Kunming, he was shocked, and said to Lei Yuelong, the scholar who was crowded in a carriage: "Your Majesty, this is the benevolence of a woman, Guizhou is barren and the people are poor, and it is extremely difficult for the Qing army to raise grain along the way. Without grain and grass, the Qing army would not be able to gain a foothold in Kunming, let alone pursue the holy car with victory. It's good now, the emperor didn't let the grain be burned, but left all the grain to the Qing army, isn't this so that the Qing army can eat and drink enough strength to chase us? ”

Lei Yuelong shook his head and said with a bitter face: "The emperor has made a will, what can we do?" ”

"No, the food must not be left for the Qing army, let's hurry up and advise"

Fu Gang couldn't help but say that he was about to pull Lei Yuelong to speak, but he heard the exclamation of Emperor Yongli in front of him: "Where is my great treasure, where is my great treasure!" ”

Dabao?

Fu Gang and Lei Yuelong both changed color, the big treasure is the jade seal, is the jade seal lost!

"How did you slaves and maids clean up for me, and you actually left my great treasure behind, aren't you damned!"

Emperor Yongli, who found that the jade seal was lost, was so angry that his face turned blue, Wang Kun rushed to the front and said when he heard the news: "Your Majesty, why don't you send someone back to find it?" ”

I didn't want Emperor Yongli to shake his head, and Yi Xing said: "That's it, if you lose it, you will lose it, and when you get to Yongchang, you can ask someone to re-engrave it." After saying that, he added, "Re-engrave one with gold." ”

"The old slave knows."

Wang Kun answered, but in his heart he scolded the people below for what to do, and actually lost the emperor's jade seal, if this is for the Qing army, it will be repaid!

In the distance, Fu Gang and Lei Yuelong looked at each other, and the two sighed at the same time, and they turned back and got into the carriage together, never mentioning the burning of grain again

Bones have been really busy and tired lately, and I don't dare to say much about the update, but I promise that it will never break. (To be continued.) )