At the end of June, the news from all over the country flew to Beijing like snowflakes, Yizhou, Dingzhou, Bauhinia Pass and other places were lost one after another, and on the third day of the first month of July, Baoding fell, Tongzhi Shao Zongyuan was killed in battle, Li Fengxiang, the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi, and the eunuch Chu Xianxian, Zhang Guoyuan and others were martyred, and the military eunuch of Baoding, and the seal of the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch Fang Zhenghua broke through under the protection of the guards and returned to Beijing. The defensive line to the west of the Kyoshi completely collapsed.

Chongzhen's edict of King Qin issued more than ten copies, but there were very few provincial governors and military attaches who responded. Ma Shiying's Nanzhili soldiers and horses cowered on the front line of Guide Mansion, Wu Sangui's Liaodong men and horses marched no more than 20 miles a day, cowering, and Zhu Ping'an of Shandong did not have a single news coming.

Although the Jingshi is known as the Nine Gates of Martial Law, the officers guarding the city are making a fortune from it, and thousands of people escape from the gates every day. The scene of the end of the dynasty seems to be becoming clearer and thicker.

There are also people in the capital who are panicking, the price of food rises three times a day, most of the yamen at all levels are empty, and even the daily security has become a problem. A large number of ruffians are entangled together, smashing the rich and robbing the wealth, but no one cares. In the end, Chongzhen had to appoint Wang Chengen as the commander of the Nine Gates, supplemented by Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, which temporarily calmed down the chaos.

The magnates, wealthy families, and relatives in the Beijing division are busy sending their wealth and family children to the south of the Yangtze River, but a big mansion in the Shuanghean Hutong of Fucaifang is deserted, and the door has not been cleaned for a long time, and there are fallen leaves and dust everywhere to poke out the wild grass, and the lanterns hanging under the corridor are also crumbling, and when the wind blows, it turns around, revealing a word "Sun" that has faded a little.

At noon, two carriages with the mark of Sihai Warehouse drove into Shuanghean Hutong, the carriage slowly stopped in front of the mansion gate, and several people who looked like them surrounded a black-faced young man in a soap robe to the front of the mansion.

"This is Governor Sun's mansion?" Looking at the situation in front of the door, the black-faced young man couldn't help but be a little puzzled.

A chief retinue replied, "Great treasurer, this is indeed Governor Sun's mansion. However, after the battle of Tongguan, Governor Sun was defeated, and he did not know whether he was alive or dead, but the emperor thought that he had lost his teacher and humiliated the country, and he may have taken refuge in the rogue, so he ordered him to be removed from his position and reward, and now only his family members live temporarily in this mansion. I'm afraid they're ...... by now! ”

Chang Sui's words were not finished, but the black-faced young man understood what he meant. Sun Chuanting was defeated in Tongguan, and his whereabouts are unknown, according to the temper of Emperor Chongzhen, it is already considered merciful for his subordinates not to raid his family and exterminate the clan. Sun Chuanting has an upright temperament, and he has offended many people in the court in the past, and after the defeat and disappearance this time, many people took the opportunity to come to the door to find trouble, and fortunately he had already received the orders of the master.

Chang Sui stepped forward to knock on the door, and after a while, there was an old family member who came to answer the door, it seems that he was very familiar with the long follower who often came to the door, and he was extraordinarily enthusiastic when he met, and opened the door of the house, and let everyone and the carriage to the house.

The carriage was loaded with some daily necessities such as grain, meat, and cloth, and there were not many people left in the Sun Mansion, and these things were enough to use for more than half a month.

After receiving the report from the old family, Sun Ruoxuan hurriedly came out of the backyard. After Sun Chuanting's disappearance, the news came, and the whole house was suddenly confused, Mrs. Sun was in a hurry, the old disease recurred, and now she is still sick in bed. Sun Shirui was trembling, and he didn't have any accurate ideas, so he could only be cautious in the yamen. Sun Shining is still young, so naturally he can't be the master, and Sun Shikang is far away as an official in Shandong, so the affairs of the family can only fall on Sun Ruoxuan's shoulders.

In the past, it was the guys from the Sihai Warehouse who came to deliver money, food and other things, but today, I heard the old family say, but it was the big shopkeeper of the Sihai Warehouse in the Beijing Division Branch who came to the door in person, but Sun Ruoxuan's heart was alive, and the hidden feelings for Zhu Ping'an in his heart couldn't help but sprout hope again.

When the Sun family was in trouble, it was rare for Zhu Ping'an to still take it to heart, and ordered his subordinates to take care of it up and down, and also sent money and food regularly to help the family get through the difficulties. If you want to say the same, your appearance, family background, and talent are a few points higher than Mu Yuling, and it seems impossible to say that Zhu Ping'an is not moved.

Sun Ruoxuan hurriedly came out with the maid, and the black-faced young man Ah Da turned around and hurriedly saluted, after all, there was a difference between the inner family, Ah Da just said a simple greeting and planned to leave.

Sun Ruoxuan was a little disappointed, and hurriedly stopped Ah Da, "Dare to ask the big shopkeeper, Da Shuai, he, is he okay?" ”

Hearing this, Ah Da immediately frowned. Although Ah Da and others belonged to the Military Intelligence Department, they were promoted by Cao Wuxian and carefully taught, and they were also the earliest backbone of the Military Intelligence Department. Sun Ruoxuan's things in Dengzhou have long been familiar with them. Ah Da and the others have followed Cao Wuxian's side since they were in Fengyang, and when they heard about it, they naturally only respected Mu Yuling, the main mother.

On the same day, Sun Ruoxuan designed to harm Mu Yuling, these things made Ah Da and others already dissatisfied, and they were instructed by Zhu Ping'an to take care of the Sun family these times, but for the sake of Sun Chuanting's face, he deliberately pointed out that he wanted to guard against Sun Ruoxuan, a woman, who seemed harmless, but in fact, he was secretly scheming and had to be guarded against.

Ah Da arched his hand, "I don't dare to be called Miss like this, the villain is a fatherless and motherless person, fortunately Cao Gong is included in the door, so he follows Cao Gong's surname, and Miss calls me Cao Da." The money and food were all ordered by the commander of my family, and the villain just did it. The marshal once said that Governor Sun is the pillar of the country, and the fault of this defeat is not him, and the marshal and Governor Sun have known each other for a long time and admire his bearing and talent, so this is to take care of him in many ways, and there is no other reason. ”

Sun Ruoxuan was stunned for a moment, but Ah Da continued to take care of himself: "The Beijing division is chaotic, these days, please also ask the young lady and her family not to go out as much as possible, and the villain has arranged manpower protection around the mansion." If the army of Kou is approaching Jingshi, the villain will send someone to escort the young lady's family to Nanjing for temporary refuge. The marshal also sent someone to inquire about the news of Governor Sun, what is the matter, he will always give the old lady an explanation! ”

"That's ......! I! Sun Ruoxuan didn't know what to say for a while.

Ah Da looked a little impatient, "The handsome man also has a word first, please Miss do it herself." Miss is a famous family, there will always be a good match in the future, the handsome self-proclaimed is just a martial artist, should not be so affectionate and generous, please Miss do not pretend to be smart, so as not to mislead others and herself! ”

After speaking, Ah Da bowed down, no matter how Sun Ruoxuan's face changed, he was about to leave with someone.

Sun Ruoxuan stood in place in a daze, and what Ah Da said just now was like a few resounding slaps in her face in public. She never expected that she would be like this in Zhu Ping'an's mind. From childhood to adulthood, although my father and mother were very strict with my brother and younger brother, they were pampered and cared for in every way, and everything I wanted to get would fall into my hands without exception, but it was this Zhu Ping'an who wasted himself to throw away the shyness and reserve of the little woman, and frequently showed affection, but in the end it was in exchange for such a result.

Sun Ruoxuan only felt that her whole body was extremely cold, and she couldn't feel a trace of warmth in the afternoon sun, and her face that had just turned red was now pale, but a fire in her heart ignited in an instant.

Before Ah Da went out, he had already heard a faint rumbling sound in the distance, his face couldn't help but change, and before he could ask, a subordinate had stumbled in outside the door, "Shopkeeper, it's not good, the vanguard of the army has arrived at the periphery of the Beijing Division!" ”

Ah Da was taken aback, the news he got a few days ago that Li Zicheng's army was still attacking the city in the area of Zhending Mansion, how could he come to the vicinity of Jingshi in such a short time, this is a little too unbelievable!

It turned out that Li Zicheng took He Renlong as the vanguard, Tang Tong and Jiang Hao as the deputy generals, and killed all the way to the east, but he fell in the wind along the way. Qiu Maoze, the Taishou of Zhending, and Li Jiantai, a scholar, successively surrendered to Zhending and Baoding. Du Xun, the eunuch guarding the town of Changping, opened the city gate and surrendered to the Dashun army, and led the way for the He Renlong Division, all the way to the city of Jingshi. Li Zicheng's army then arrived and began to bombard Xizhimen, while He Renlong led his troops to storm Pingzemen.

Jingshi, who finally calmed down, suddenly fell into irreparable chaos. The people of Jingshi have been peaceful for a long time, even when the Manchu army went south and threatened Jingshi before, it was not as difficult to clean up as now, everyone knows that this Ming Dynasty has really exhausted its qi.

The people could no longer care about what to clean up, and they all ran to the southeast with their families, including a large number of merchants, wealthy households, magnates and officials, and many soldiers who defended the city also joined in, taking the opportunity to rob the rich and rob the money, and then broke out of the city.

Vaguely, it seemed that the bell of Jingyang Palace was ringing, but at this moment, no one would pay attention to it anymore.

Ah Da didn't expect that the situation would deteriorate so quickly. Thinking about it quickly, he immediately made up his mind, and immediately arranged for someone to help the Sun family out of the city, Sun Ruoxuan was like a wooden man, at the mercy of the dumbfounded, and after a while, some family members quickly ran to inform Sun Shirui to come to meet him, and the rest of the family members packed their luggage messily with the help of Ah Da and others. Anyway, there are still two carriages to use in front of me, which saves a lot of effort.

Even Mrs. Sun, who was ill, was helped up, and Ah Da ordered someone to arrange a carriage, put on a thick bedding, and helped Mrs. Sun into the carriage.

Sun Shining held a short wooden knife in his hand, and shouted loudly for his family to collect sticks and blades for self-defense on the road.

Half an hour later, Sun Shining returned home in a wolf bèi, even the shoes on his feet were missing, which showed how chaotic it was outside, at this time, the Sun family had also packed up, divided into two carriages, and hurriedly squeezed into the surging crowd outside the mansion.

In the distance, there was a sudden shout, and one after another shouted one after another, "The army of King Qinwang of Shandong has entered the city!" ”R1152