After a day and night of rapid marching, at dawn the next day, Zhou Hao and several others were not far from Huai'an City.

Zhou Hao thought that he was about to meet Lu Jiude, and he had successfully completed the task of connecting the commanders of the two towns in Jianghuai, and in his excitement, he really wanted to sing a song and sing a pop song, if it weren't for this group of ancients, Zhou Hao would really have been able to sing a song loudly on horseback.

Today is a good day, everything you want can come true......

Zhou Hao chirped while enjoying the beautiful scenery, fresh air, blue sky, clear river, how beautiful everything was......

In less than five days at most, he went south to Nanjing, and I don't know what kind of official His Royal Highness who risked his life to rescue can make himself, at least he should be an earl, from this time on, he and Nanming's fate are tied together.

Soon, the majestic Huai'an city wall appeared in everyone's eyes, a high corner tower, Zhou Hao knew that Lu Degong and King Fu were in the marching barracks outside Gaojie City, so he went directly to the barracks.

The guards with knives saw thousands of horsemen coming towards the barracks, and immediately went to the tent to report to Gao Jie, at this time Gao Jie was discussing political affairs with Lu Jiude, and when he saw the guards coming to report, the two walked out of the tent, and sure enough, an army was coming towards them.

Gao Jie was shocked, could it be Li Zicheng's subordinates, in the past few days, Li Zicheng's subordinates have looted in the Huai'an area, and the army has long been very guarded, Gao Jie immediately ordered the army to be ready to fight at any time.

Lu Jiude looked at it for a moment, shook his head and said, it is not like a bandit, the situation is gentle, and it is recommended that Gao Jie not take the initiative to attack first, if it is a friendly army, so as not to hurt the harmony.

Gao Jie was about to give an order, when he saw a horse galloping towards the barracks, and in a moment he arrived in front of the fence outside the camp. Zhou Hao saw that dozens of soldiers drew their bows and arrows, aimed them at him, and hurriedly said: "I'm Zhou Hao, I'm here to report the news." ”

As soon as Lu Jiude heard this, he asked Gao Jie to order the evacuation of the archers.

Zhou Hao approached the gate, turned over and dismounted, saluted Lu Jiude and Gao Jie, and said, "I have invited General Huang Degong and General Liu Liangzuo, and they agreed to support His Royal Highness King Fu." ”

When Lu Jiude heard this, he was overjoyed and said, "Invite them into the camp and treat them warmly." ”

Zhou Hao saw that Zhu Yousong was gone, so he said, "What about Your Highness?" ”

Lu Jiude said: "Your Highness is greedy for fun, and is fighting crickets with the soldiers at the back of the battalion." ”

Zhou Hao shook his head helplessly, he tried his best to win over the warlord for him, but he was idle and elegant.

In a moment, Huang Degong and others also went to the front of the barracks, dismounted and everyone met, and after making noise with each other, they walked straight into the account.

Zhou Hao, led by a soldier, went straight to the back camp, and several fierce dogs tied to iron locks barked violently when they saw strangers coming, and the barking of dogs did not stop until a beast trainer scolded a few times. It was the first time Zhou Hao saw such a ferocious dog, and his fangs were exposed, which made people frightened.

Zhu Yousong was hugging several soldiers and shouting: "Come on, little black!" Come on, Blackie! ”

Zhou Hao went over and said, "Your Highness! ”

Zhu Yousong was very happy when he saw Zhou Hao coming back, and said, "Brother Zhou, you are back, I'm worried about death, have you seen Mr. Huang?" ”

Zhou Hao said: "See, Your Highness, you will be in Nanjing in a few days." ”

After hearing this, Zhu Yousong felt that he was really going to become an emperor, he was both excited and a little nervous, and said emotionally: "Brother Zhou, you saved my life, I will definitely make you a big official when the time comes, I will seal you whatever you want." ”

Zhou Hao waited for this sentence, and then said: "Your Highness, I have a few private words to say to you, let's go, let's go to a place where no one is around." ”

Zhou Hao pulled Zhu Yousong's hand and walked out of the soldier. Zhu Yousong said to the soldier who was fighting with him: "Put Xiao Hei in the bamboo cage first, and then I will play with you when I come, and put a little more grass in the bamboo cage." ”

When there was no one, Zhou Hao said to Zhu Yousong: "When you arrive in Nanjing a few days later, you must order the establishment of the Shenji Battalion and order me to serve as the commander of the Shenji Battalion." ”

Zhu Yousong said: "It's the Shenji Battalion that makes firearms, okay, Brother Zhou, rest assured, I will definitely order the imperial court to set up the Shenji Battalion." ”

Zhou Hao knew that the headquarters of the Shenji Battalion was in Beijing, and the Shenji Battalion had been destroyed long after Li Zicheng invaded Beijing.

Zhou Hao walked outside the tent, knowing that the bigwigs inside were all deliberating, and he couldn't participate in the grass people, no matter what they were talking about, King Fu's accession to the throne was basically an ironclad thing.

……

The night shrouded the city of Beijing like thick ink, and there was not a trace of stars in the sky, giving a very terrible silence to the race.

Li Zicheng had already made all preparations for withdrawing from Beijing, and at this time he still wanted to take one last look at Beijing, and silently wished in his heart: "I will definitely come back." ”

Hundreds of people placed bundles of firewood under the Wuying Hall and the major palaces, because Li Zicheng ordered himself to see these palaces in ruins before he withdrew from Beijing, and he understood that the reason why Dolgon sent his pursuers to follow him closely behind him was not to give himself time to clean the imperial city, and finally to leave an intact imperial city after the Manchus entered Beijing.

"I can't let your ideas succeed." A grim smile overflowed from the corner of Li Zicheng's mouth, thinking about the grand occasion of entering Beijing on 19 March, and in less than two months, the situation had changed so quickly, it really felt like a dream.

He began to regret that he did not listen to the advice of Song Xiance, Li Yan and others, not to capture Beijing, but to first consolidate the occupied Huguang, Shanxi, Henan, and other areas, and now he hastily occupied and hastily withdrew.

Li Zicheng was pondering, Li Yan came over with Concubine Dou, and Li Zicheng suddenly saw Concubine Dou, looking much haggard.

As soon as Concubine Dou saw Li Zicheng, she lost her voice and became painful, pulled the corner of Li Zicheng's clothes tightly, and said, "The concubine will follow you all the way, don't stay in Beijing." ”

Li Zicheng's heart was sad, and he forcibly held back the tears that were about to burst out of his eyes, and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely come back." He turned his head to Li Yan and said, "Have all the good hiding places been arranged?" ”

Li Yan said: "Your Majesty, rest assured, this is the minister's personal responsibility, and the thief army will not be able to find it when they come in." ”

Li Zicheng said: "Then I'll rest assured, you can go." ”

Concubine Dou still pulled the corner of Li Zicheng's clothes and refused to let go, and was finally sent a green sedan chair by two girls in Tsing Yi.

Li Zicheng looked at Concubine Dou's sedan chair in the distance, and a knife-like pain welled up in his heart.

At this time, a fast horse came to report, saying that Shanxi was very unstable, and the officials who had originally defected to Dashun had plotted to mutiny, and Jiang Huang, who was guarding Datong, was likely to have defected to Wu Sangui.

Li Zicheng was shocked when he heard this, once Shanxi is lost, Dashun will lose its roots, and I am afraid that it will never be able to turn over again.

At this time, the generals around Li Zicheng said one after another, Your Majesty's time is not early, and it is time to withdraw from Beijing.

Li Zicheng reluctantly glanced at the imperial city again, sighed, rode his horse and whipped, and headed towards the city gate.

At this time, the flames on the palaces such as the Wuying Hall rose into the sky, illuminating the dark night sky of Beijing.

Li Zicheng glanced back at the flames that rose into the sky, and a trace of regret flooded in his heart, maybe he would really come back, why did he burn these palaces.