The ancient city of Hengyang, also known as Yancheng, is in a very unique and important position in the military strategic position of southern China. Because it is located along the Yangtze River in central China and the coast of South China, the junction of the Jianghan Plain in the middle and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the southwest, it is located at the forefront of the hinterland of the mainland, and the intermediate point from the front line of Fujian to the Sichuan Basin; It is the front of the two lakes in the Central Plains and the rear barrier of the Lingnan Sea Frontier. Therefore, it has always been a battleground for soldiers. And its prosperity is also quite influential. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the most conspicuous building in the city of this important military town is second only to the Forbidden City, the Guiwang Mansion collapsed in the second year of Chongzhen (1629), due to heavy rain, the palace collapsed, Chongzhen three years (1630) to repair, until the ninth year of Chongzhen (1636) to complete the repair, costing hundreds of thousands.

Zhou Renyuan stood in front of the gate of this majestic palace and shook his head, it was really a big waste and luxury, his own cheap Lao Tzu built such a magnificent palace, thinking about the palaces of the vassal kings in various places, it would not be bad, among them, I don't know how much the feudal kings in various places have stripped the people's fat and people's ointment, and the cheap cousin emperor who sits on the Jinluan Palace has no money, and the military salary Chongzhen eats frugally in Beijing Province, and even the clothes inside him are patched by the queen, and the clothes are very slow when he goes to court, and he is afraid that the action will be big, and the patches inside will be exposed, and he will lose the royal face in front of the ministers. And these vassal kings live an erosive and luxurious life, and they can't realize that the Zhu family, the Ming Dynasty, is already crumbling, as long as a straw is added, it will collapse.

"The little prince has entered the mansion!" Mo Zhu saw that Zhou Renyuan had been walking around the door, so he urged. As soon as Zhou Renyuan stepped into the gate of the palace, a person who looked like a housekeeper ran in and shouted: "Mrs. Wang, the little prince is back!" I saw a woman in palace clothes about thirty years ago, accompanied by Yahuan, hurriedly came, and when the woman saw Zhou Renyuan, she hugged him and cried: "My son, you are finally back, but I am worried about my mother!" Boom", Zhou Renyuan's head exploded, his whole body was full of goosebumps, he was twenty-six years old in his later life, his mother was already in her fifties, and now there was a woman in her thirties who called him his son and was still holding him. Who made him Zhu Youlang, now he is only sixteen years old, and it is a question whether to push it away or not. In the end, he gently pushed the woman away and held her shoulder, and smiled, "Mother and child, aren't they back?" As soon as the word "mother" came out, Zhou Renyuan felt a chill, "I hope my mother will forgive me," he said in his heart. Only then did the woman hold back her tears: "Come back well, go and see your father and brother soon, you have not heard from you for more than a month, and they are all in a hurry!" Cough - cough - where is the nut? Where's the hammer?" Zhu Changying, the king of Gui, who was sick, and Zhu Youying, the prince who was also in poor health, led a group of people of all sizes in the mansion to the front yard, and with a "plop" sound, Zhou Renyuan knelt in front of Zhu Changying and squeezed out a few tears: "Father, the king, the child, let you and your brother worry!" The fourth brother should get up quickly, and come back soon. Zhu Youyan helped Zhou Renyuan up. Zhu Changying nodded again and again: "Yes, it's good to come back, it's good to go back to the study and talk!" Zhu Changying's concubine Wang is also Zhu Youying's biological mother, who called his son weak, although he is the son of the world, but the old prince and the whole house regard Zhu Youlang as the backbone, she couldn't help but look at Zhu Youying's biological mother with some jealousy, and just hugged Zhou Renyuan's side concubine Ma who cried bitterly.

In the study, Zhou Renyuan told Zhu Changying and Zhu Youying the reason why they had been missing for many days, and when the two heard that he almost died to save the two girls, Huang Quan jumped up from the chair in shock, and when they heard that he and Mo Zhu were rescued by Fan, they immediately sighed. Of course, Zhou Renyuan skipped the reunion between Li Zicheng and himself and Wang Wanting, he didn't want to have more complications, after all, he still needed to adapt to Zhu Youlang's new identity. "Lang'er don't worry, the batch of silver in Xiangyang Qianzhuang has set off from the waterway half a month ago, and it is estimated that it will enter Hunan in a few days, and fortunately, it will be transferred early, it is said that now Xiangyang, Hubei is occupied by Li Zicheng!" What the? Li Zicheng went to Hubei again, shouldn't he be in Sichuan?" Zhou Renyuan was shocked, in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, he should still be fighting guerrillas in the mountains and forests of Sichuan, and it was not until the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642) that he left Sichuan to attack Hubei, and then entered Henan. It's all those governors and generals, everyone cleans the snow in front of the door and refuses to move. Li Zicheng hid in Sichuan not long ago, the general soldier Cao Wenzhao said that the cavalry could not enter the mountains to suppress bandits, and asked Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides in Shanxi, to send troops, but Hong Chengchou said that the water could not solve the near fire, and the road was too far, and Cao Wenzhao suggested that the imperial court send Zuo Liangyu, who was sitting in Shaanxi, to send troops, who knew that Zuo Liangyu said that he was now fighting Zhang Xianzhong and had no troops to send. Huang Taiji outside the gate is said to have signs of moving troops again, and the emperor also transferred Cao Wenzhao to Xuandafu. Zhu Changying explained the current situation to Zhou Renyuan. Cao Wenzhao is not dead? So—what about Lu Xiangsheng, is he still alive?" Zhou Renyuan hurriedly asked, according to history, the fierce general Cao Wenzhao should be dead, and Lu Xiangsheng was martyred in the battle with the Qing army in Julu, Hebei in December last year, Lu Xiangsheng is Li Zicheng's nemesis, the Tianxiong army led by him once beat Li Zicheng to only eighteen people, and these eighteen people are the eighteen generals of Li Zicheng later. I don't know if it caused the butterfly effect by his arrival, and in September last year, the Qing soldiers did not bypass the Guanning defense line and attack Miyun: "Oh, you said that Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the five provinces, of course he is alive, it is said that now in Beijing, it is possible for the emperor to let him go to Liaodong to serve as a supervisor to resist Huang Taiji." Zhu Youyan interjected. The Qing soldiers have not yet launched an attack, so there is still a glimmer of hope. Zhou Renyuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, Ming history Zai Chongzhen 12 years (1639) September, the Qing soldiers bypassed the Guanning defense line and attacked Miyun in three ways, in December, Lu Xiangsheng was in danger, and was ordered to lead 20,000 Ming troops and 50,000 Qing soldiers to fight fiercely in Hebei Julu for several days, Lu Xiangsheng only left 5,000 remnants to ask for help from the eunuch and the prison army, Gao Qiqian army was only fifty miles away from Julu, but refused to send troops, Lu Xiangsheng could not help but continue to fight, and finally killed dozens of people with his own hands, 4 arrows and 3 blades in the body, and died on the ground. His personal soldier Yang Lukai lay on Lu Xiangsheng's body to protect his body, and was killed by 24 arrows. In this battle, Lu Xiangsheng's department was almost wiped out, and only a few people such as Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei were able to get out. This is the first highest-ranking general to die as a supervisor since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, and the world is shaken. Since the Qing army has not yet attacked Miyun, Sun Chengzong, the most outstanding strategist at the end of the Ming Dynasty, should still be alive. "What's wrong with you, Hammer? There's something wrong with you when you come back from this trip, why do you keep asking some generals if they are dead?" Zhu Changying was full of worry. Zhou Renyuan suddenly said sadly: "Father, brother Wang, I went out this time to see me, the Ming Dynasty is really full of holes, thieves are everywhere, the people are mourning and displaced, the bones are exposed, the hungry people are actually changing children, and the internal troubles are not peaceful, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty is eyeing me outside the gate, I am afraid - I am afraid that our Ming Dynasty, the Zhu family, will soon perish, and we will die and have no place to be buried!" Speaking of this, Zhou Renyuan cried loudly, and this heavy historical pressure finally broke out for the first time.

"Ah——!h Zhu Changying and Zhu Youyan's faces turned pale, and Zhou Renyuan's words hit their hearts like a bolt of lightning: "Fourth-fourth brother, isn't our family okay?" Zhu Youyan said reluctantly. At this time, Zhou Renyuan's mood had eased up, wiped his tears and said: "Brother Wang, once the country is broken, do you still have a home, don't forget that our surname is Zhu!" The surname Zhu is, we are the descendants of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, this country is our family, the country is ruined - the family is ruined! Zhu Youyan's face turned even more pale when he thought of these words, "Then the third brother, how do you say we should save this family-" And Zhu Changying also had mixed feelings in his heart at this time, he didn't know this truth, he also knew the current situation of the imperial court, but the first thing he thought of was how to defend this family, so he spared no expense in the past few years to recruit soldiers and give them the best weapons and equipment, and now he has an army second only to the imperial court, 20,000 inchmen and 5,000 cavalry, each city gate in Hengzhou is equipped with four Hongyi cannons, as well as a 400-person Shenji battalion and a 600-person bow battalion, and he also has the right to mobilize the 2,000 troops stationed in Hengzhou by the imperial court. The ministers in the court all said that he supported the army and respected himself, and I didn't support the army and respected himself, and he was killed by the thieves like King Fu in Luoyang. As for the extermination of bandits and resistance to the Manchu Dynasty, that is the matter of the nephew emperor sitting on the Jinluan Palace. However, today, Zhou Renyuan's words are still full of excitement for him, if the country is gone, will the king of Gui still exist? Either killed by the thieves or killed by the Tartars. Zhu Changying looked at Zhou Renyuan, who was still a little childish on his face, but he didn't expect that my son, who had only turned sixteen, used to be brave and ruthless, and he used to cause trouble, but now he has such a strong passion for serving the country, and the ancestors have spirits in the sky!" Tell me, your brother just asked you, what are we going to do?" Zhu Changying retracted his thoughts, took a sip of tea and asked. Zhou Renyuan saw that Zhu Changying and Zhu Youying were moved by what he said, and hurriedly said: "I want to enter Beijing to meet the emperor!" What the? You want to go to Beijing?" Zhu Changying took a sip of tea and squirted out of his mouth, and Zhu Youyan next to him felt like he was going to faint. "Yes, father, I want to enter Beijing, I want to meet the emperor and talk to him, I want to point out a way out for the Ming Dynasty." Zhou Renyuan replied calmly. Zhu Changying suddenly felt as if he didn't know his favorite son, could it be that he had an adventure when he went out this time? When he met Zhuge Reincarnation, the master could make his son have a powerful technique to turn the tide in his chest? Or did this son say such reckless words in a moment of anger?" Son, foreign vassal kings must be approved by the emperor to enter Kyoto, although I am said to be the emperor's uncle, unless the emperor has a special edict, even I must have a reason to enter Beijing, don't say that you are just the son of a prince. Zhu Changying persuaded. Father, what if I can let the emperor send me a special edict to enter Beijing?" Zhou Renyuan blinked. "What? Let's talk about it!" Zhu Changying said curiously, Zhu Youying also came over suspiciously. "Father, king, brother, what is the emperor the most now?" Soldiers!" Zhu Youyan immediately replied: "My God, fourth brother, you won't take the soldiers of Hengzhou to the emperor!" Zhu Changying couldn't help but be shocked when he heard Zhu Youying's words, these soldiers were not saved by him, and they couldn't be given to Chongzhen as a gift. "No-" Zhou Renyuan shook his head, "I still want these soldiers to defend Hengzhou, it's money-what the emperor lacks most is money!" Zhu Changying and Zhu Youying slapped their foreheads, and suddenly realized: Now it is said that the court is poor, and it is no problem that even the military salary cannot be paid, but there is no problem for King Gui to be not short of money. The next thing is how to arrange, Zhou Renyuan first asked Zhu Changying to write a fold and tell Chongzhen Guiwang Zhu Changying to see that now the country is in trouble, as a member of the Zhu family, he is willing to donate 100,000 taels of silver to the imperial court, and has written a letter to inform the vassal kings everywhere to donate to help the imperial court tide over the difficulties. And the 100,000 taels of silver were sent to the capital by the fourth son, Zhu Youlang. I hope the emperor will approve it. Finally, there is also a cloud of loyalty. It was sent to Jingshi through 800 miles in an expedited manner. After Zhu Changying finished doing this, he felt that this little son had really grown up, and his clever means made him, the old man, also admire it, this 100,000 taels of silver was sent in the snow, and he wanted the emperor to show that he was a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, and he wanted Chongzhen to refuse, and there should be no problem for his son to enter Beijing. Second, he said that he had notified the vassal kings in various places to donate, if any vassal king did not donate, it meant that he was not worthy of being a descendant of the Zhu family, so that the emperor could see the faces of these vassal kings, and if he did, it would also be the credit of Zhu Changying, the king of Gui. The so-called three birds with one stone is not a loss, it is my family's thousands of miles of horses!