Until he entered the territory of Lingbao, Luo Rucai's head was still a mess, and he still didn't figure out why Zhu Ping'an wanted to let himself go. But every word Zhu Ping'an said was deeply engraved in his mind, and he kept chewing it repeatedly every moment. This is the first time that he is so close to death, but he escapes so lightly, which makes Luo Rucai feel very unreal.

Ji Jue and the five soldiers didn't dare to ask more questions along the way, breaking free from the hands of death, it was also an unforgettable experience for them to escape from death, and the seven of them walked out of the distance in silence, without talking, only the sound of horses' hooves under their crotches could be clearly heard.

For Zhu Ping'an before, Luo Rucai only stayed in the impression of the Battle of Hebei. The bloody battle of the giant deer, the heavy damage to the Tartars, this battle, not only made the whole world look sideways, but also had a good reputation in the Liukou army, to put it simply, everyone is Han after all, and they repelled the Tartars, which makes people inevitably feel proud in their hearts.

But today's brief meeting gave Luo Rucai a more intuitive understanding of Zhu Ping'an, although he still didn't understand why Zhu Ping'an let him go, but for Luo Rucai, who was good at seizing opportunities, he vaguely felt that Zhu Ping'an wanted to make friends with himself, but for what purpose was he befriending himself? One is the chief soldier of the imperial court, and the other is the leader of the rogue, what is the purpose of these two people who are not related, or even stand on opposite sides?

Although Luo Rucai was born in a reckless background, he also clearly felt that it was time to get rid of the old and establish the new. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, there may be a possibility of continuation, but in the past two years, with the erosion of the situation, more people have realized that the moment of changing the dynasty is inevitable.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong undoubtedly have such strength, especially Li Zicheng, who has both civil and military skills, and has put forward clear goals and slogans, and has been supported by the majority of displaced people and some official eunuchs.

And Luo Rucai's role is inevitably a little embarrassing. Could it be that Zhu Ping'an saw this and deliberately wooed him, but seeing that the general trend of the Ming Dynasty has gone, is there any point in this kind of wooing?

Luo Rucai was puzzled.

The sky is getting brighter, and the gallop in the middle of the night also makes everyone tired, and a deserted ancient temple appeared not far ahead, Luo Rucai reined in the reins, turned to look at everyone, and inadvertently flashed a trace of haze in his eyes, and said loudly: "Everyone go to the ancient temple in front to rest, and then go straight to Lingbao to meet with the brigade!" ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and they all rolled the saddle and dismounted, there was a well outside the ancient temple, and the soldiers fetched water, asking Luo Rucai and Ji Jue to quench their thirst.

After that, everyone entered the dilapidated hall of the ancient temple, the monk in the temple had long been gone, and they picked a fairly clean side room, and everyone found a dry place to sit down and rest. The days of running and frightening had brought everyone to the limit of their physical load, so in less than a moment, there was a snoring in the room.

Ji Jue was sore all over his body, as a literati, his body was not as good as those soldiers who fought all day long, so as soon as his body touched the ground, his eyes suddenly fought up and down.

In a trance, Ji Jue felt that someone walked to his side, patted his arm gently, and barely opened his eyes, but it was Luo Rucai standing in front of him.

Luo Rucai didn't seem to be tired, made a silent gesture, and then bent down and slowly pulled out a sharp dagger from his boots without making a sound.

Ji Jue was startled, and his body involuntarily shrank back, but Luo Rucai cast his eyes on the five pro-soldiers who were sleeping soundly.

He slowly moved his steps, walked to the nearest soldier, slowly put the dagger around his neck, pounced on it, covered the mouth of the soldier, and the dagger in his right hand slashed at his neck, blood sprayed out silently, the soldier's eyes widened, but he couldn't make any sound, his feet kicked hard for a moment, and finally there was no movement.

Ji Jue's eyes widened in fright, and he wanted to escape, but his body was as soft as cotton, and he didn't need the slightest strength, so he watched Luo Rucai cut the necks of the four cavalrymen.

The last soldier seemed to hear something and opened his eyes, but he was startled by the scene in front of him, and the alertness of the long-term battle made him jump to his feet, "General, ...... are you?" ”

Luo Rucai smiled hideously, didn't answer, and rushed straight to the pro-soldier with a dagger, the pro-soldier screamed, pulled out his legs and fled out, Luo Rucai was a little old after all, and he couldn't catch up, so in a hurry, he pulled out his saber and threw it hard, hitting the vest of the pro-soldier.

The soldiers fell down with a scream, and Luo Rucai rushed forward, pulled out his sword, and stabbed him a few times in his vest before returning the sword to the sheath.

After doing this, Luo Rucai's body felt like it was instantly emptied, and he sat on the threshold of the wing room and gasped for breath, and after a while, he calmed down and turned around to look at Ji Jue.

Ji Jue seemed to have been pricked by a needle, and suddenly fell to the ground, "Dashuai, spare your life!" ”

Luo Rucai smiled bitterly, "Don't worry, I won't kill you." Zhu Ping'an reminded me that there must be Li Zicheng's meticulous work lurking around us, and this time the army was all lost in Tongguan, and Ru Liang was gone. If Li Zicheng learns about our capture of Zhu Ping'an, you and I will not be able to escape death, and it will cause suspicion among other battalions, and then it will be the end of a group attack. So, several of them have to die! ”

Only then did Ji Jue come to his senses and let out a sigh of relief.

Luo Rucai stood up with a sword and pestle, "Let's go, there is still some distance from Lingbao City, in order to avoid accidents, it is better to get on the road as soon as possible!" ”

Only then did the two of them stagger to their feet, supported each other on their horses, whipped their horses, and galloped away in the direction of Lingbao.

They walked for about a cup of tea, but a few riders came outside the ancient temple, and when they saw the corpses in the courtyard of the ancient temple, several people turned over and dismounted, hurriedly ran in, and entered the wing room to investigate carefully, and a person suddenly shouted: "Come quickly, there is still a living mouth!" ”

……

The next day, Zhu Ping'an's whole army marched to Tongguan, this long-distance attack, the soldiers were also exhausted, fortunately, Luo Rucai was a cavalry, but he got a lot of war horses, plus Zhang Yaoxian's capture, roughly there were 5,000 war horses, so Zhang Yaoxian and Zhu Ping'an joined the division after the soldiers all got the war horses to ride, which is a luxury in today's years. After the corruption of the Ming Dynasty, especially the fall of the Hetao horse breeding area, the Ming Dynasty cut off the source of war horses, so the cavalry was even more expensive.

Although Shandong has the support of sea trade, but the cost of transporting horses from overseas is high, so although some excellent stallions have been introduced, but not a few years, the number of war horses can not grow, so the cavalry has been maintained at only the number of 3,000 people, this time so many war horses were captured, although the quality is uneven, but it is an extremely precious supplement for the Shandong army.

After Niu Chenghu and Zheng Jiadong joined Fenglingdu, they only cared about snatching the baggage and equipment left by Luo Rucaijun, and they also made a small fortune, so when they saw Zhu Ping'an, these two people were also extremely respectful, but they did not have the arrogance to treat Zhang Yaoxian.

Although Shen Ke and Zhang Yaoxian had doubts about Zhu Ping'an deliberately letting Luo Ru go, they carried out the order to the letter, and did not ask much.

Zhu Ping'an has his own plans. The rogue is not a monolithic plate either. Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai also have deep contradictions, the three of them are incompatible with each other, and in the end, Li Zicheng did not be able to sit on the throne of Jinluan in Beijing.

If Li Zicheng dies, Li Guo, Liu Zongmin and others will inevitably not be able to preside over the overall situation, and will inevitably fall into a situation of fighting for themselves, which is good news for the Manchu Qing Dynasty who is about to enter the customs, but it is not good news for Shandong and Jiangnan. But this also depends on whether his reminder to Luo Rucai when he parted can play a role.

Luo Rucai is a person who is exquisite, swaying with the wind, but the kung fu of judging the situation is unmatched, as long as he is facing a strength stronger than himself, he will immediately surrender to the sincerity, but there is no Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's persistence, therefore, Zhu Ping'an believes that with the change of the times, Luo Ru will choose a path that is beneficial to himself. Besides, his military talent is average, although he can unite all the subordinates, but conquest is not his forte, such a person is easy to win over and control, and it is easier to eliminate.

Within the customs clearance, Wang Qiaonian had already set up a celebration banquet, waiting for Zhu Ping'an, Zheng Jiadong, Niu Chenghu and other departments to return, Yang Tinglin and Sun Shikang waited outside the north gate of Tongguan early in the morning to congratulate Zhu Ping'an and others. In this battle, nearly 10,000 Liukou were annihilated, countless ordnance and baggage were seized, Tongguan civil and military were all jubilant, Wang Qiaonian's merit was folded, and the big guys had to add officials to the knighthood, so all the officials were respectful to Zhu Ping'an and others.

And Zhu Ping'an's extermination of the right merchant Jia of Jiexiu Mountain is even more fruitful, the Fan family and the rest of the merchants have accumulated in the Jiexiu nest over the years all the gold, silver and jewelry were sent to Tongguan by Zhu Ping'an, a simple estimate, the value is around two million taels of silver, in addition to the one who wants to be sent to Beijing, Wang Qiaonian can not avoid the vulgar deduction of half, but Zhangjiakou's assets are all sent to the capital. After all, the Jinyi Guard was on the side, and Yuan Min had already gone from Jiexiu to catch up with the Jinyi Guard Brigade who went to Beijing in advance.

The celebration banquet was set up in Wang Qiaonian's office, and Wang Qiaonian specially invited Zhu Ping'an to sit next to him, which also aroused the jealousy of Niu Chenghu and Zheng Jiadong.

But before the banquet began, there was chaos outside the government office, and two soldiers stumbled in with a dusty, bloodstained Ming officer.

When the officer saw Wang Qiaonian, he immediately broke free of the soldier's support, knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.

Wang Qiaonian was shocked, "You are not under the command of Inspector Fu, why did you come back first, isn't there something wrong with the front line in Henan?" ”

"Returning to Lord Xianxian, our army was defeated, and the Inspector was captured alive by the thieves, and he has already died a heroic martyr!" R1152