In a blink of an eye, it was December of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen.

In December, the military bureau in the palace will build an archway in front of the steps of the Qianqing Palace, and fireworks will be set off during the day every day.

The holy car enters the palace and releases one, and the holy car goes to the outside to face upward, and the cannon will also be fired.

At the same time, a large scene and lantern will be set up in the palace, and the inner supervisors will begin to change the clothes of the lantern scene, up and down, and begin to create a happy atmosphere before the New Year.

However, the end of this year is really not happy.

Li Zicheng broke through the Tong Pass in early October, occupied Weinan, and then conquered Xi'an by mid-October, clearing the boundaries south of the Yellow River. But Lao Li did not rest, many years of horse fighting career made him strong and strong, not afraid of hardships and dangers, plus Gao Jie in northern Shaanxi...... This master has enough hatred for Li Zicheng, because Li Zicheng's original wife asked this brother who rebelled together to abduct him, and this hatred was unforgivable at that time...... Of course, it is also an unforgivable sin in later generations, so after knowing that Gao Jie fled to northern Shaanxi, Li Zicheng personally ordered an army, about 70,000 people, and did not take Liu Zongmin, but brought a tiger Li Guo and others, and began to chase Gao Jie across the river.

In November, history changed a little at this time...... Sun Chuanting, the second marshal of Qin Zhong and the only important minister available to the Ming Dynasty now, did not die in Weinan, nor did he go to Xi'an, let alone supervise the troops alone.

On the contrary, he took his 2,000 governors and horses and caught up with Gao Jie all the way.

At the beginning, Gao Jie was also startled, thinking that Sun Chuanting was going to bring him to justice...... After all, when he was in Tongguan, he fled first, and then Bai Guangen's house also fled, leaving Sun Chuanting behind.

Of course, this is also forced by the times, Gao Jie knows that anyone can surrender, but he has no way to surrender. If the Ming Dynasty dies and Li Zicheng gains power and becomes the founding emperor, then he can't say that he can't keep his surname, and it is doubtful whether the ancestral tomb of his old Gao family can be saved...... Therefore, he is the most diehard general of the anti-water rebel army except Li Guoneng, and his subordinates also have thousands of loyal and brave soldiers, which is quite worthy of a battle.

But if you really can't beat it, you can only run away, and Gao Jie really has some thoughts about how to escape.

After all, he has been a thief for several years, and Gao Jie is far stronger than ordinary officers and generals for this kind of thing.

When he knew that Sun Chuanting was coming to find him a partner and preparing to escape together, Gao Jie was also quite moved...... Sure enough, it was Sun Junmen, the capable can do anything, how did he know that I planned to flee all the way to Xu and Huai?

Under Li Zicheng's fierce pursuit and fierce attack, Gao Jie and Sun Chuanting fled shamelessly, first from northern Shaanxi to Shanxi, then from Shanxi to Hebei, and then from Hebei to Henan, and then through the traditional Caoyun route, from Linqing all the way south, and finally arrived in Xuzhou.

——— is finally safe.

Gao Jie in history was like a dog and a rabbit by Li Zicheng, fleeing all the way from northern Shaanxi to northern Jiangsu, although thousands of miles away, the chicken and dog who ran away, but the miracle is that the basic strength is still there, after being repaired in Xu Huai and other places, it has become the strongest town among the four towns in Jiangbei......

As for now, there is still Sun Chuanting in Gao Jie's army who has preserved his strength...... History finally changed the established trajectory because of the existence of Zhu Cihong, a little butterfly.

However, there has not been much change on Li Zicheng's side, although Sun Chuanting is very fierce, he is not as attractive to Li Zicheng as Gao Jie, and the two together have made Lao Li chase for more than 300 miles.

I really can't catch up, so that's it.

Later development is still the same as recorded in history, Li Zicheng went north, seized his own Mizhi hometown, returned to his hometown, and then attacked the state and plundered the capital, except for the resistance of the Ming army generals such as the retired general soldier You Shiwei under the city of Yulin, the rest of the states and counties were without a fight, and the officers and soldiers along the way either went or surrendered, and there was no enemy.

In mid-December, Li Chuang returned to Xi'an, patrolled everywhere, and watched the soldiers' school parades and drills every day.

It's just that Li Zicheng already has his imperial battalion officers and soldiers behind him, and he has already asked for the yellow sand to pad the road, and when he walks, there is also a small yellow umbrella behind him...... Although he is not called the emperor, he is already the actual emperor's honor guard.

At this time, there were already rumors that King Chuang would officially set the name of the country on the first day of the first month of the new year, but he would not be able to enthrone the throne for the time being...... As for where to ascend the throne...... Ahem, do you need to say more?

The overall situation is like this, seeing that the Ming Dynasty is about to slip away, people's hearts are originally uncertain, but the rumors in the city have suddenly surged, and the folk songs are also being sung day by day. This thing is actually the embodiment of folk gossip and people's hearts, so all dynasties and dynasties still attach importance to folk songs. In the past, when Li Chuang was still struggling in Henan, there were some words of "eighteen sons, the main artifact" came out, but now it seems that it is about to come to fruition, and the prestige of the factory guards in the Beijing division is not as good as it was back then, so this rumor is getting more and more.

Originally, it was a stormy apocalyptic scene, coupled with rumors all over the city, so although it was close to the New Year's Festival, the entire Yanjing City had no taste of the New Year at all.

The streets were full of people with a miserable face, as well as officials whose prestige had been greatly reduced, and as for the originally arrogant and domineering imperial relatives and internal supervisors, they were like rats crossing the street, although no one dared to fight, but they consciously slipped away from the wall and did not dare to cause trouble again.

As for the officers and soldiers of the Beijing battalion, they can slip the number and slip the number, but they really don't leave, that is, they want to pay a military salary of 100 copper a day...... Anyone who has a way will never eat this bowl of severed head rice that may lose his head!

The situation is already so sinister, but it is not just a rumor, ordinary people do not know much, but the slightest news channel is heard about the invasion of the army and the torture camp...... The first one to suffer was the Fan family of the Great Jin Dynasty, then the family of Emperor Tian, and then several merchants, big officials, and relatives...... I'm afraid there are dozens of families in total, and of course the big families who have been robbed will not take the initiative to publicize their affairs, after all, everyone has a tradition of pretending to be poor, but the subordinates of each mansion don't have such a strict mouth, and they blow this group of high-rise, and the army that comes and goes without a trace is amazing, and with the increase in the strength of the big family's nursing home, there seem to have been several large-scale conflicts...... Several families, especially the mansion of Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, have moved out more than 20 corpses at one time.

This kind of thing naturally can't be hidden, but the magic is that no family chooses to report it to Shuntianfu or Jinyiwei to know, so the official face is also happy to pretend to be stupid, and there is no need to do much.

Who knows when the army will be able to hit Yanjing, and at this time, if you meddle in this kind of thing, is it that the birthday star hanged himself, and he is afraid of a long life?

So there is only an undercurrent surging in the city, how many people come and go, or lurk in the dark, and stage one brilliant drama after another, but for many people, it is just rumors and rumors from the heart, except for a few people and insiders, I am afraid that no one knows......

……

……

The day was dark, God didn't know what was upset, and he didn't smile all day. In the evening, it was the scene of four o'clock on the Western clock, and there were already some losers lighting up the lights at home.

The guards at the city gate are also lazy, on such a cold day, who the wants to stand at the city gate, the masters don't wait! The day's salary is barely enough for the family to chew grain, and the Chinese New Year is approaching, and I can't make up the money to buy some snacks for the children and redeem the padded jackets in the pawnshop for the adults in the family...... In addition to being a madman, I'm afraid that anyone should be listless.

It's just a mess......

As soon as it was dark, regardless of the hour, the door was closed on time, and at this moment, a guard clasped his hands and suddenly said, "Hey, something is surprising, you see, a group of people are coming to the city gate." ”

They are guarding the Yongding Gate in the outer city, and these are the only ones who see the caravan of horses, horses, and mules going south, dragging their families and bringing them to the small, and moving their families. But it's the first time in these days that the whole team has come to Jingshi.

Even the caravan that must have arrived in previous years to deliver southern goods is nowhere to be seen, but where did this team of more than ten people come from?

"Wait until you get closer...... Good guys, it's been a few days since the market opened! ”

All the guards are gearing up, and it is no wonder that now the caravan is rarely willing to go north, Henan has lost most of it, and Shandong also has a small group of rangers and thieves.

If no one comes, there will be no oil and water to fish for the city gates...... Compared to the hordes of caravans, those little people only have a few big bucks!

Seeing his subordinates like this, the garrison officer who led the team only laughed, the Beijing camp used to be an iron-clad rice bowl, and no one could lack them, but now it is also difficult, the military attachés have not been paid for several months, and there is no surplus food at the garrison family.

"Yo, it's Wei Ye!"

"Lord Wei!"

"Brother Wei!"

The gatekeeper who was about to do a lot of work suddenly made a noise, and the garrison officer was shocked when he heard the sound, and when he looked back, it was indeed a big man wearing a six-grade military attache who rode over from the city gate, but this person was Wei Yue, the commander of the Beijing camp, and his official position was not high, but the errand was important, and there were eight people in the entire five military camps of the commander. There is nothing to say about martial arts, and he is also bold, so he is very popular in the Beijing camp, and when he is coming, the guards along the way are nodding and bowing, and they are busy coming forward to say hello.

"Big brother, it's you."

The garrison also had a friendship with Wei Yue, stepped forward to grab the saddle, and said with a smile: "What, what has alarmed you?" ”

"Pick someone up." Wei Yue only smiled, jumped off the horse, and just looked outside the city gate, he nodded, and said, "Feng Gongzi is a believer, and he said that it was this hour, and sure enough, this is coming." ”

"Hey, the brothers originally wanted to open a good market, but it turned out to be an acquaintance of the eldest brother."

"Okay," Wei Yue took out a small piece of silver ingot, and said with a smile: "Recently, a brother has made a fortune, and the brother has a friendship of wealth...... I have some silver on hand, and there are always seven or eight taels here, so I can buy some food and wine for my brothers. ”

"Okay, okay." The guard smiled and couldn't see his eyes, took the silver, and had nothing to say, and asked, "Who is it?" ”

"The son of the governor of Tianjin, I came to Beijing to do business, I was favored by his uncle and father back then, so I came to pick it up, irrelevant ......" Wei Yue replied casually, and when he saw that the cavalry was approaching, he strode forward to meet him.