In comparison, Zhu Ping'an's military intelligence department is much weaker in Fujian, and a lot of knowledge about the Zheng family comes from the historical knowledge of later generations in Zhu Ping'an's own mind. In his impression, Zheng Zhilong is a character with strong control and extreme conceit. Including Zheng Sen, that is, many shortcomings in Zheng Chenggong's character come from his father.

Of course, this also stems from Zheng's single-handed hand in the maritime trade business of the southeast coast and East Asia. took over the position of the leader of the sea bandit group from Yan Siqi, and then the "Eighteen Zhi" established the dominant position of the Zheng family, especially Zheng Zhilong, on the sea. In the first year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong took refuge in the imperial court.

Over the past ten years, it has successively exterminated large and small pirate forces such as Li Kuiqi, Yang Lu, Yang Ce, Zhong Bin, and Liu Xiang, and completed the integration and unification of maritime forces. During the period of shun lì Cheng dù, it is outrageous. This also created the character traits of Zheng's father and son, who are empty-eyed and mercenary.

But now it seems that the Zheng family is obviously not monolithic. According to Zhu Yujian, the Zheng family is currently in danger of splitting.

In fact, there are many branches of the Zheng clan in Fujian, among which the most powerful ones are Zheng Zhilong's Ishii Zheng clan and his brother Zheng Cai's Gaopu Zheng clan. Zheng Caiqi did not belong to Zheng Zhilong's "Eighteen Zhi" small group back then, but he was a rising star of the Zheng family. He and his brother Zheng Lian were both born as maritime merchants, and they defected to Zheng Zhilong's war to unify the sea, but they quickly gained a firm foothold, and at the same time continued to expand their own strength within the Zheng clan. At the same time that Zheng Zhilong was named the general soldier of Fujian, Zheng Cai also became the commander of Fujian. Second only to Zheng Zhilong.

Based at the mouth of the Jiulong River, the Zheng clan controlled nearly eighty percent of the trade with Japan, and with this, it also had enough capital to compete with the Zheng Zhilong family.

The Zheng Cai brothers are located in Xiamen, and their strength is getting bigger and bigger, which also arouses Zheng Zhilong's vigilance. The Zheng family in Fujian was originally a group where various Zheng clan families gathered together, and Zheng Zhilong occupied the leading position because of his qualifications and strength. But that doesn't guarantee that his son, Zheng Sen, will continue to wield the same power. The rise of Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian brothers made Zheng Zhilong very jealous.

In his conversation with Zhu Yujian, Zheng Hongkui vaguely raised concerns about the current situation within the Zheng family. The Zheng clan generals are also divided into two camps, and there is a lot of friction on weekdays, and it seems that sooner or later there will be a dragon and tiger dispute between Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Cai.

Zhu Yujian also mentioned that Zheng Hongkui had recently mentioned that the Shi family in Jinjiang, Quanzhou Prefecture, Fujian, was affected in the battle between Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Cai, and the head of the family, Shi Fu, was loyal to Zheng Zhilong and obeyed Zheng Sen's orders, but his brother Shi Daxuan had close contacts with Zheng Cai, and originally worked for the Zheng family in Fujian, regardless of each other, but now they have to be brothers against each other.

A few days ago, there was such a thing in Fujian. Zeng De, a subordinate of Shi Lang, the left-wing vanguard division of the Zheng army, violated military law, but he was once Zheng Sen's personal guard, so he took refuge under the old master, but Shi Lang enforced the law impartially, engaged in military law, and beheaded the public.

It was originally a trivial matter, but it made Zheng Sen furious, mistakenly thinking that this was Zheng Cai's forces provoking him, which also triggered a new confrontation and struggle between Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Cai. With the acquiescence of Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Sen sent troops to arrest Shi Lang, his father Shi Daxuan, and his brother Shi Xian in the name of killing the general, so as to fight back against Zheng Cai. I heard that it has become out of control now. Even Zheng Hongkui's mediation in it had no effect.

The speaker has no intention, the listener has a heart, but Zhu Ping'an is secretly concerned about this matter. Originally, the grievance between Zheng Sen and Shi Lang happened after Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, but he didn't expect that now it broke out in advance because of Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Cai's rivalry, obviously, because of this incident, Shi Lang was going to completely break with the Zheng family. Isn't this Zhu Ping'an's last chance to take the opportunity to recruit Shi Lang, a naval general, here?

Sent away Zhu Yujian's father and son, Zhu Ping'an immediately found Yin Shigang and ordered him to immediately send capable personnel to Fujian, trying to find a way to rescue Shi Lang and his son no matter what.

……

On August 22, when the city of Nanjing was noisy and the whole world was celebrating the wedding of Emperor Zhu Cihong, the Dashun army in Beijing also began to move at the same time, and their target was Shanhaiguan, which was 600 miles away.

Liu Zongmin killed Wu Sangui's father Wu Xiang and Manmen, and occupied the family property and female dependents of Wu Xiang, Wu Sangui's father and son's Jingshi Mansion. Li Yan couldn't stop it, so he could only report to Yongchang Emperor Li Zicheng according to the truth.

Although Li Zicheng lingered in the pile of fat powder in the harem, he was also shocked when he heard such news. He was no more reckless than Liu Zongmin, and he knew the importance of Shanhaiguan and Wu Sangui to the emerging Dashun regime. In Li Zicheng's heart, he had not yet treated the Manchu Qing outside the gate as a first-class enemy, he always thought that the battle between the Ming and Qing dynasties was already a matter of the previous dynasty, and the new Dashun was established, and there was no injustice or enmity with the Manchu Qing, so it would not be the time to start the war all of a sudden.

But after all, Shanhaiguan is a barrier between inside and outside the pass, Wu Xiang was killed, Wu Sangui can no longer surrender to Dashun, either to defend the lonely city, to be a loyal martyr of the former Ming Dynasty, or to take refuge in the Manchu Qing, there is no other way. But Shanhaiguan is in the hands of others for a day, and the country and foundation of the Dashun Dynasty are always unstable, and Li Zicheng can still deeply understand this.

Therefore, after more than a month of entrenchment in Beijing, Li Zicheng finally cheered up and decided to drive the expedition in person, pull out Wu Sangui, the last nail left by the former Ming Dynasty, in one fell swoop, and complete the great cause of unifying the rivers and mountains of Jiangbei.

On the surface, the strength of Wu Sangui, who is entrenched in the Ningyuan line of Shanhaiguan, is simply incomparable to the current Dashun Dynasty. After the end of the Battle of Ningjin, the soldiers and horses of Liaozhen lost some of their elites, and at the same time lost the support of the soldiers and horses of Xuanda, which was equivalent to fighting alone.

The Dashun Dynasty had just captured the Beijing Division, and the morale was booming, and the soldiers and horses instantly swelled to a million people, although most of the troops were stationed in Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei, but there were still more than 100,000 people in the Beijing Division.

Therefore, in the eyes of Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin and other Dashun generals, it is really easy and simple to take Shanhaiguan.

Li Zicheng gave an order, and the Dashun army immediately began to act, but in the Beijing division for a month, from officers to ordinary soldiers, they have accumulated a lot of assets, and the military order is below, and there are immediately complaints, and the Dashun army has not experienced a large-scale formal reorganization so far, and the generals of the various departments are in chaos. Therefore, it took five or six days to make a fuss, and then the whole army set out.

He Renlong occupied part of Hebei, Li Zicheng did not dare to ignore it, and He Renlong was unusually domineering, and he had more than 40,000 former Ming troops in his hands, so Li Zicheng would never dare to leave him alone in Gyeonggi.

After Xu Yi's high-ranking officials were Houlu, He Renlong was still unmoved, Li Zicheng had to grit his teeth and promised to divide Shanxi as He Renlong's future fief and crown him as the king of Jin, and He Renlong reluctantly agreed to send troops.

Most of the Ming troops under He Renlong were border troops, and many of them participated in the battles outside the pass, so Li Zicheng asked He Renlong to send the general Tang Tong as the deputy vanguard, and cooperated with his general Zuo Guangxian to lead the vanguard army to guide the way for the army.

It was not until August 27 that the Dashun army began to slowly set out from Beijing. Li Yantong led the rear battalion of 15,000 men and horses to retreat, watching the bloated but chaotic army march at a speed like a turtle crawling, many of which were carrying packages of different sizes, obviously looted in the Beijing Division, and they were not at ease when they were placed in the Beijing Division, so they had to carry them on their bodies.

"Although Wu Sangui's department is only 50,000 people, they are all the elite of the former Ming border army, and they have been in battle for a long time, not to mention, there is also the Guan Ning army in charge, and the combat power cannot be underestimated. With such a situation of our army, I am afraid that it will be difficult to win completely for a while! A middle-aged scribe beside Li Yan said worriedly with a worried face.

This person's name is Shen Ce, the word Deming, born in Nanzhili Shangjia, in the early years, when Yang Fu was mixed in with horse thieves, he was once saved by him. When Zhang Xianzhong was crisscrossing Nanzhili and Jianghuai, Shen Ce's industry was burned, and after learning that Yang Tuo was working for the Shun army, he came to join him. Li Yan saw that he was familiar with history and military affairs, so he kept him by his side to counsel military affairs. Shen Ce did not live up to expectations, and the internal and external affairs of the military camp were well organized on weekdays.

At this time, Li Yan was also frowning. In Shen Ce's words, the current Shun army is chaotic and demoralized, and there are many people who just want to stay in Beijing to live a stable life, and the Dashun army that has just crisscrossed the mountains and Shaanxi and approached the Beijing division is not the same. What's more, now everyone in the Beijing division is in danger, from the high-ranking officials and nobles to the common people of Limin, there are many complaints about Dashun, and the main force of the Dashun army is leaving at this time, so it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no chaos. With Niu Venus and the 20,000 old, weak, sick and disabled people who remained, I am afraid it will be difficult to control the situation.

"General, it is better to invite Your Majesty to requisition the vast army of Shanxi, Shanxi and Hu to come for reinforcements. Now Jiangnan is not very peaceful, the seventh battalion came to report, the former Ming prince Zhu Cihong and the blessed king Zhu Yousong are vying for the throne, I am afraid that it will not be stable for a while and a half. It is better to gather all the departments and attack Liaodong together, so that the odds of victory can be greatly increased! ”

Li Yan smiled bitterly. Regarding the transfer of troops and horses from various places, he had already told Li Zicheng that the current strength of the Beijing Division was really a little weak, and the millions of people of the Dashun Army were scattered all over the place, but the first line of the Beijing Division was slightly weak, and in case of unfavorable war, it would be difficult to hold the first line of the Beijing Division. But helplessly, Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin and others were full of confidence, and they didn't take Li Yan's reminder to heart at all, which made Li Yan faintly feel that what Song Xiance said was true, and Li Zicheng's attitude towards himself really changed subtly.

Shen Ce also sighed, "General, it's not the students who are alarmist. Wu Sangui was born in that wealthy family, and now most of the original wealthy families in Liaodong have taken refuge in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The ancestral family and Wu Sangui secretly came and went frequently, which is no secret in Liaodong, and when Huang Taiji was alive, he tried to woo Wu Sangui many times. Now, Wu Xiang has been killed, and if Wu Sangui jumps over the wall in a hurry and leads the Qing soldiers south, it will be a big mistake! ”

"Huang Taiji is a tyrannical pawn, now that the two kings of the Manchu Qing Dynasty are competing for the throne, they may not be reckless at this time, right?" Li Yan was still holding on to a hint of luck, although he knew in his heart that what Shen Ce said was very likely.

"The general must be guarded!" Shen Ce couldn't help but be a little anxious, "Once the Qing army suddenly enters the customs, it will not be able to stop it with the current soldiers and horses." And between Shanhaiguan and Jingshi, it is a horse and a flat river, which is conducive to cavalry attack, in case of a setback in the war, the Beijing division will also be in danger! ”

Shen Ce saw that Li Yan didn't speak, so he simply proposed his own proposal, "The general might as well make some plans as soon as possible, on the one hand, ask the Song Army Division to send the seventh battalion to explore the movements of the Qing army, and on the other hand, make preparations, in case the Qing army suddenly arrives, we will not mess up, we can always resist one or two, disrupt the rhythm of the Qing army, and fight for opportunities for the army!" ”R1152