There was a gentle sound of clothes rubbing in the car, and then the curtain was lifted a little, revealing a handsome young man, it was Chongzhen's eldest son Zhu Cihong, he looked at Hou Sui and said with a smile: "Mr. Hou has worked hard all the way!" ”

"Don't dare, these are all Weichen's duties!" Hou Sui hurriedly answered. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Sir is a loyal minister, I know it!" Zhu Cihong nodded: "Let's call Lord Luo!" ”

Hou Sui was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly responded, Zhu Cihong's mouth of Lord Luo was the commander of the Jinyi Guard at that time, because Liu Cheng broke the border, he took Tianjin by himself, and constantly cut off the Cao Yun, and there were many rangers in the south of the Beijing Division. With the respect of Prince Zhu Cihong, if it is out of Beijing under normal circumstances, it must be a guard of honor that stretches for miles and thousands of people, but if so, I am afraid that it will be discovered by the rangers before leaving Beijing for a hundred miles. Therefore, he only had two eunuchs, nurses, and two palace maids around him when he went south this time, and he was escorted by Luo Yangxing with fifty brocade guards, disguised as ordinary merchants who fled south. Chongzhen's arrangement obviously has its special intentions: in case the Jingshi is captured, then Hou Sui will be the future leader of the outer court, and Luo Yangxing will be the person who will lead the Jinyi army and protect the new emperor in the future.

"The minister greets His Royal Highness the Prince!" Luo Yang bowed to Zhu Cihong in the carriage, and since he was not out of danger, his etiquette was actually simplified.

"Lord Luo is exempt!" Zhu Cihong's still somewhat immature voice came from inside the curtain, and then the curtain was opened, and a bright yellow satin pocket stretched out: "There are some golden melon seeds in here, which were originally rewarded to me by my father in the past, and the soldiers have worked hard to protect them along the way, so you will reward them on my behalf!" ”

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Luo Yangxing hurriedly took the pocket, knelt down and kowtowed, got up and took a few steps backwards before turning around. Hou Fangyu heard it clearly on the side, and said in a low voice: "Sure enough, he is a child of the Heavenly Family, although he is not too old, he already has the image of a human master!" ”

"Hmm!" Hou Sui nodded: "The two ancestors have spirits, and the Holy Lord will descend today, and I will have a prosperous day in the Ming Dynasty!" ”

Hou Sui and his entourage entered the city, so they went straight to the prefect's yamen, and after reporting their identities, the prefect hurriedly opened the main gate to greet them. After the guest and host saw the ceremony, the prefect asked: "Old gentleman, Liu thief advocates rebellion, the news from the north and the south is isolated, I heard from the mouth of the merchant that the rebel army has besieged Shenjing, shelled nine gates, and the situation is critical, I don't know if it's true or not?" ”

"There are true and false!" Hou Sui said in a low voice: "Liu Thief is a hungry and tired army, after breaking the border, he waved his army south, first took Tongzhou and Tianjin, and took the resources of Caocang to pay the army, and the imperial court has issued an edict, ordering Guanning and Xuanda Second Army to attack Liu Thief from east to west. However, his soldiers and soldiers are all in a hundred battles, and there are also the remnants of the Eastern Captives, which is really not to be underestimated. Therefore, the Holy Lord ordered me to take the prince south and prepare for the prince in Nanjing! ”

"Nanjing?" The prefect couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this: "Isn't this a self-defeating net? Doesn't the old gentleman know that Nanjing has also fallen into the hands of Liu thief? ”

"Huh?" Hou Sui was taken aback: "Is there such a thing? When did it happen? How could I not know at all? ”

"It's the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it's only four or five days away from the fall of Tianjin!" The prefect smiled bitterly: "That Yangzhou governor Xu Hecheng is a henchman of Liu Thief, that night in the name of admiring the moon, he invited all the officials who stayed in the capital to the Qinhuai River to admire the moon, and went down to Nanjing without much effort, and also cut off the luck. ”

"This, so many days, the defenders of the southern provinces have actually sat back and watched the fall of Liudu?" Hou Sui said angrily.

"Old man, you also know that the elite soldiers of this dynasty are all on the nine sides, and the interior is already empty, let alone the southeast. There are already thousands of elite soldiers under the command of the Xu thief, and they refuse to defend Stone City, it would be good if the governors of the provinces could protect themselves, where can they still ask for thieves! ”

When Hou Sui heard the prefect say this, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded, and only after half a sound did he sigh: "I am innocent, I have just leveled the thieves and the eastern captives, and Liu Cheng has given birth to a rebel who has never been seen in ancient times!" ”

"Old man!" The prefect said in a low voice: "Since Nanjing can't go, we have to quickly prepare a place for the prince to stay." Besides, after the fall of Liudu, the southern provinces have no leader, and a person who can lead the provinces must come out, and the old gentleman has an unshirkable responsibility! ”

"That's what the prefect said!" Hou Sui nodded, as the prefect said, thanks to the highly centralized political structure of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Cheng waved his army south, and after the north and south were isolated, the central government in Beijing was actually unable to effectively direct the actions of the southern provinces. Originally, the backup government located in Nanjing, the capital of Liudu, should have taken on this responsibility, but it didn't want to be brought to the trouble by Xu Hecheng, so that in fact, the southern part of the empire and the Central Plains were actually in a state of "brain death". It's just that people are not as good as heaven, but Wen Tiren's proposal to send the prince out of Beijing had an unexpected effect - with the banner of the prince, Hou Sui could quickly establish a new organization to command the kings of the provinces.

"Your Excellency, where do you think you should choose?"

"I think Kaifeng is good, first of all, Kaifeng is complete, there is a garrison, Taizu has supervised here, more than 100,000 households, there are assets to support the army, the river canal is gathered, the transportation is convenient, it is conducive to the mobilization of the troops of the provinces, whether it is to go north to Qinwang or go south to restore and stay are very convenient!"

"Well, good, good!" Hou Sui nodded, showing a satisfied look, the prefect actually has an unspoken reason, Hou Sui's hometown is Shangqiu, adjacent to Kaifeng, in fact, Kaifeng can also be said to be his hometown, with this place as the line, there is a geographical advantage, plus the name of righteousness, who can compete with him?

Guo Yuanli.

"Your Excellency!" Zhao Wende walked to Liu Cheng, who was sitting on the desk, and said in a low voice: "It's not too early, if you don't explain it to your subordinates, go and rest first!" ”

"Oh! It's almost done! Liu Cheng finished writing the last few lines without raising his head, put down the quill in his hand, and shook his sour wrist: "Let someone send this letter to Cao Wenzhao tomorrow, no way, it's better for me to write this kind of letter myself!" The war is going to start the day after tomorrow, try again at the end! ”

"Or do you want to persuade you to surrender?" Zhao Wende was stunned when he heard this, and then said in a low voice: "Please forgive me for being blunt, although Cao Wenzhao is known as a good general, but today's situation is not irretrievable by manpower, there is not much more than him, and there is no less than him, and the adults have already written letters to him, dissecting the interests and disadvantages, since he wants to be a loyal minister of the great tomorrow, you will fulfill him, and it is a good thing to bury him at most!" ”

"Don't I know that the big picture is decided?" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Even if Cao Wenzhao wins me here, he can't reward a thousand gold, the official can't be the governor of Zuodu, and the knight can't wait." But if my side wins, all the generals under my command will be the founding heroes, not to mention the wealth of seven or eight generations, and his side will lose because of this. I just don't want a good guy like him to die here! ”

"Oh?" Zhao Wende was so clever, he immediately heard what Liu Cheng said, and asked: "Could it be that after the Lord pacifies the world, he will still use troops abroad?" ”

"The world? Hahaha! Liu Cheng suddenly laughed: "Mr. Zhao, do you think that Daming is the world?" ”

"Naturally not, there are also Liaodong, the north and south of the desert, and the western regions!"

"That's all!" Liu Cheng smiled and shook his head: "If you say that the land in the world is ten, and Da Ming doesn't even have a point, it is too arrogant to call himself the world." And I haven't even taken a cent now, the heroes of the world are the most precious things to me, how can I let them die in such a place in vain? What's the point of writing a few words for all this? ”

"Your Majesty understands, why didn't the lord repair the book and persuade Lu Xiangsheng to surrender to him?"

Liu Cheng smiled slightly, but didn't speak, just handed the letter to Zhao Wende, and Zhao Wende had to take it and retreat. Looking at the backs of his subordinates, Liu Cheng's gaze became complicated, in fact, the reason why he repeatedly recruited Cao Wenzhao but did not surrender Lu Xiangsheng, who had all the power and official positions on him, was very simple - Lu Xiangsheng was born as a Jinshi, belonged to the feudal scholar class, and was the enemy that Liu Cheng planned to destroy next. If Liu Cheng only changed the dynasty and became the emperor, the first thing to do after taking Beijing was to sacrifice Confucius and open the branch to take scholars, and recognize the vested interests of the scholar class, the so-called imperial examination system is actually a political contract - the emperor recognizes the political and economic interests of the scholar class, and the scholar class recognizes the sanctity of imperial power, and the two take what they need.

But it is a pity that Liu Cheng could not do this, it was also the oppression of the peasants, and the scholars turned the squeezed wealth into gardens, utensils, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, Yangzhou thin horses, and countless silver ingots in the cellar; The capitalists turned it into factories, sea vessels, cannons, and armies. The latter can turn landless peasants into workers and create a thousandfold wealth, while the former only allows wealth to continue to accumulate and become some kind of glorious living fossil. If the Mongols and Jurchens can still find their place in Liu Cheng's future blueprint as mercenaries, the scholar class as a whole has been sentenced to death - the reason is very simple, since ancient times, being a mercenary for the emperor of the Central Plains has been a legitimate occupation for the barbarians on the frontier, and in Liu Cheng's blueprint, it has only become a mercenary for the capitalists; But the scholars of the late Ming Dynasty could not live in a country without the imperial examination system, on which their very existence depended, and Liu Cheng could not have signed that political contract - because the future belongs to capital.

It was late at night, and the soldiers gathered around the campfire, gossiping. Excitement and nervousness were on everyone's faces – tomorrow morning would be the fateful moment. There was no doubt about victory - the batteries had been built at noon, the sound of artillery had not stopped, and the discerning soldiers could even see the effect of the artillery bombardment - the occasional fire over the enemy's camp. The artillery of the Ming army was also returning fire, but neither the range nor the power could be compared with the eighteen-pounder guns on the battery, and most of the shells did not even touch the outer wall of the battery.

There was a sudden burst of cheers in the camp - Liu Cheng was dressed in an old woolen robe and a fur hat, dressed like an ordinary cavalry officer, patrolling the barracks surrounded by personal guards. His demeanor was very relaxed, and from time to time he stopped to call out the name of a soldier by the fire, and said a few words to him, whether it was praise, or ridicule, or reminder. He has an excellent memory and is able to remember someone's name only once or twice. The soldiers whose names were called were excited, and their companions around them looked at the lucky ones with envy. As Liu Cheng walked through, more and more soldiers stood up, and the dense crowd formed a long alley. Han Chinese, Mongols, Jurchens, Japanese, Beggars, Kazakhs, and warriors from all ethnic groups all looked at their leaders with excited eyes.

At this time, a Mongolian stepped out of the ranks, bowed to Liu Cheng with one hand on his chest, and said, "Lord Jinong, do you remember me?" ”

"Of course!" Liu Cheng looked the other party up and down, and said with a smile: "Your name is Hassan, right?" Follow Min Min to follow me, under Yinchuan City, you were the first to break through the enemy formation, and also captured Lin Dan Khan's camp! Speaking of this, Liu Cheng pulled the other party over and hugged him: "You're doing okay now!" ”

"Okay, very good, I'm already a thousand-commander, and my eldest son is in your cowardly team!" Hassan's eyes flowed with tears of excitement, he broke free of Liu Cheng's arm, turned around and pulled out a sturdy young man from the ranks: "Lord Jinong, this is my second son, also under your banner!" ”

"Young Eagle, let me take a good look at you!" Liu Cheng pulled the young man who was a little embarrassed over, looked him up and down, and smiled at Hassan: "Hassan, your son is much more beautiful than you!" ”

"It's all thanks to you!" Hassan laughed, "I used to starve before I followed you, but now he can wear wool and eat mutton. Speaking of this, his face suddenly became serious: "I can watch my children and grandchildren be rich and honorable, what else can I worry about as a father?" Lord Jinong, even if you die on the battlefield tomorrow, you will be swept away from the enemy! Banzai! Banzai! Liu Cheng Khan! ”

Hassan's words seemed to be a signal, and the surroundings fell silent for a moment, and then the cheers were like an erupting volcano, and the soldiers pulled out the burning branches from the campfire, and while cheering loudly, they waved the torches in their hands, and the cheers and the light of the fire merged into an unstoppable torrent.

Ming military camp.

Like Liu Cheng, Lu Xiangsheng, as the commander of the Ming army, has not yet slept, and he is afraid of the enemy's night attack after a long battle, and he is also inspecting the night sentry. War and worry left deep marks on his face, and he looked more melancholy and grim from the outside.

"Listen!" Lu Xiangsheng suddenly stopped and tilted his ears in the direction of the enemy camp: "There seems to be movement over there in the Liu thief's camp!" ”