In mid-May, under Zhang Mingzhen's repeated urging, Wu Sangui had to lead his civil and military forces to Nanjing.

Even if he personally strangled Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang and his son, and sent his eldest son Wu Yingxiong to Zhang Mingzhen's army as a proton, Wu Sangui was still nervous in his heart. The actual person in charge of the Longwu Imperial Court is Zhu Ping'an, which is well known to passers-by, since the Julu War, Wu Sangui and Zhu Ping'an are incompatible, and the conflict between the two sides is not once or twice. Now Zhu Ping'an is high up, he is the prince of the prison country, but Wu Sangui is a general, the difference in identity is not the same, Wu Sangui is afraid that Zhu Ping'an will raise a butcher's knife to himself because of the old grievances. Therefore, after receiving Zhu Yujian's will, he stayed in Qingyuan Mansion and refused to leave.

What's more, the meaning contained in Zhu Yujian's will is obscure, and he has never expressed a clear attitude towards Wu Sangui's raising of troops to surrender, but only said that he is not to blame for the past, and did not say how to appoint him, which makes Wu Sangui, who is ambitious and full of hope, a little uncertain.

On May 20, the imperial court issued an order again to urge, and Zhang Mingzhen also kept sending people to contact and ask Wu Sangui about the departure date. And Wu Sangui finally learned that Zhu Ping'an was still in Beijing and had never had the intention of returning to Nanjing, so he made up his mind, and after preparing for a few days, he took a group of subordinates to embark on a trip to Nanjing.

What made Wu Sangui a little relieved was that Zhao Quan, the lieutenant official sent by the second imperial court to announce the decree, was his old acquaintance. Zhao Quan first served in the Yangxin Hall in the Imperial City of Beijing, and later served under the command of Gao Qiqian, the imperial horse supervisor, but he had some friendship with Wu Sangui. Wu Sangui met with him in private, sent a lot of gold and silver, and also got a lot of news about Nanjing. It was indeed learned that Emperor Longwu Zhu Yujian had no intention of executing him, and rejected Zheng Sen's proposal to destroy Wu Sangui's entire clan in the court. This made Wu Sangui completely relieved.

Wu Sangui's troops remained in Guangxi to accept Zhang Mingzhen's reorganization, including his descendant Guanning Army. The Guanning army was nearly 20,000 when Wu Sangui descended to the Qing Dynasty, and after these years of southern and northern wars, there are only more than 5,000 people left. Some of the rising rookies in the army, such as Guo Zhuangtu, Li Benshen, Wang Fuchen, Ma Bao, Tan Hong, Wu Zhimao, Wang Pingfan, etc., were all left behind by Zhang Mingzhen with excuses. The only people who followed Wu Sangui into Beijing were a group of old courtiers who had been under his command when he was in Liaodong, such as Yang Kun, Qin Guanglian, Hu Shouliang, Fang Guangchen and others, and the only two exceptions were Luo Rucai and Ji Jue.

The soldiers and horses and the generals under them were swept away. made Wu Sangui feel sorry for Ruosi, but now in order to survive, he can only accept it helplessly. Brought more than 100 subordinates and relatives to embark on the road to the north. Fortunately, only Zhao Quan and others from Nanjing accompanied him along the way, and Zhang Mingzhen did not arrange for soldiers and horses to escort him, which also made Wu Sangui's heart relax a lot.

Along the way, Wu Sangui, who had been nervous, gradually eased up, and through the observation of some details, it can be shown that the Longwu Imperial Court did not intend to punish the crime. Wu Sangui's heart was also secretly glad that he had made a good move, and it was finally under Zhu Ping'an's manipulation and hints. Eradicating the forces of Yuan Jixian and Zhu Youlang can be regarded as leaving a way out for himself. For the career after arriving in Nanjing, Wu Sangui and Fang Guangchen also planned for a long time, Zhu Ping'an's army, Lu Xiangsheng and Cao Bianjiao are all people who can get in touch, and they have been dormant for a few years, and then maybe there will be a chance to recover again, and there will be a few years of time. It is enough for him to try all kinds of ways to ease relations with Zhu Ping'an and plan a way out.

When he went south with the Qing army. Wu Sangui's family except for the eldest son Wu Yingxiong has been staying by his side, the rest of the rest have stayed in Beijing, when the war was raging, the news between the north and the south was cut off, but some time ago I learned from Zhao Quan's mouth that the original Pingxi palace has been taken back by Zhu Ping'an. However, he did not embarrass Wu Sangui's family, and allocated another mansion for use, and the supplies were also allocated in accordance with the regulations of Ping Xibo in the Chongzhen Dynasty, but this news made Wu Sangui even more relieved.

Zhao Quan was not in a hurry, as a lieutenant official. It is rare to come out of the imperial city on weekdays, and this time it has also benefited Wu Sangui a lot, so naturally he has to stop and go, and he has to play everywhere, which makes everyone relax.

In this way, a month later, the group came to the area of Huguang Hengzhou Prefecture. Wu Sangui's identity has not yet been determined, and it can only be regarded as a demotion, so the local state government has no obligation to receive it. Originally, according to the regulations, Zhao Quan should have led him to the post station in Chaling to stay and rest. The magistrate of Chaling also came early to greet Zhao Quan.

But Zhao Quan changed his mind temporarily. Some time ago, when passing through Hengyang, Zhao Quan planned to go to Hengshan to play for some time, but due to the heavy rain for several days, the mountain road was difficult to travel, and had to cancel the trip.

"Eunuch! took so much of our silver, but still refused to stop, eating and drinking our food along the way, but refused to stop for a moment, what is there to see in the barren mountains and mountains? Qin Guanglian, Hu Shouliang and other veterans under Wu Sangui immediately complained. Several people were martial artists, and their voices were not ordinarily loud, and they reached Zhao Quan's ears in an instant, but Zhao Quan was not angry, smiled faintly, and ignored them at all.

Wu Sangui and Fang Guangchen hurriedly stopped, and said a lot of words with a smiling face, and then they hurriedly hugged Zhao Quan and the others in the direction of Yunyang Mountain.

Yunyang Mountain is a famous summer resort near Huguang Heng Mountain. Every July, before the people go to Hengshan to make incense, they always have to go to Yunyang Mountain to worship, so at this time there are already many people who come to worship in the mountain.

Zhao Quanyou was very interested, walking and stopping along the way, and even the karst caves in the mountain seemed to be drilled into it to find out, so the speed of everyone climbing the mountain was not very fast.

In the afternoon, seeing that the sun was about to set, the guide of the accompanying tea tomb suggested that he might as well go to Xiya Academy to stay overnight. At the time of the war, Yunyang Mountain was not affected by the war because of its remote location, and a large number of people and scholars and Confucian scholars had taken refuge in the mountains. Xiya Academy was founded in the Zhengde period, and the houses and courtyards have accumulated a certain scale, and many people were admitted to take refuge at that time. Now, the world has been reunited, and the state government yamen has renovated the academy, but now it is an excellent place in the mountains.

The road is not difficult to walk, nor is it far away, half an hour later, everyone came to the eagle's beak cliff near the west cliff, which is relatively remote, but what is surprising is that there are more and more people near the mountain road, and the figure dressed in ordinary people's clothes appears in the forest next to the road from time to time, which makes people have more doubts in their hearts.

Zhao Quan's face did not change, he still talked and laughed as usual, although Wu Sangui was a little apprehensive in his heart, but seeing his appearance, he couldn't guess what was hidden behind this.

In a short period of effort, the outline of the West Cliff Academy has appeared in the field of vision, and the manor surrounded by white walls and blue tiles is simple and quiet.

The gate had already been opened, and the servants of the academy welcomed everyone into the main hall of the courtyard. The main hall was not spacious, and it could not accommodate so many people, so Wu Sangui and Zhao Quan's servants were led into the side hall.

By this time the sky had darkened, and the lights had been lit in the main hall, and as soon as everyone entered, they found that there were already two people waiting in the main hall.

The two of them were dressed in white, one was sitting on a wooden cart, and the other was standing next to them, and their ice-like eyes suddenly stared firmly at Wu Sangui, who had just entered the door.

At this time, another figure came out from behind the screen in the main hall, standing beside the two white-clothed men. Zhao Quan walked a few steps, came straight to the man's side, knelt down and saluted: "Slave Zhao Quan, fortunately, I have brought people here, please check my father-in-law!" ”

The candle flame flickered, and one of the man's faces gradually revealed, but it was a man who was not very old, he nodded with satisfaction, and then bowed to the two white-clothed people in return: "Your Highness, Cao Gong, the people have arrived, how to deal with it, it is all up to the two orders!" ”

The two of them didn't speak, and they didn't even look at him, and the standing man in white pushed the wooden cart and slowly walked to a place ten steps away from Wu Sangui and stood still.

Seeing the faces of the two people clearly, Wu Sangui's eyes were dark, his heart was beating violently like a drum, and the words squeezed out of his throat were no longer coherent, but the people around him could hear them clearly.

"Eldest Princess! Cao is not hurt! ”

Everyone was taken aback, Qin Guanglian, Yang Kun and others hurriedly pulled out their blades to protect him, but Fang Guangchen was inexplicably surprised, standing in place in a daze, unable to believe his ears for a while.

At this time, Luo Rucai and Ji Jue walked out quickly, took a wooden box from the hands of their subordinates and walked in front of Cao Wuxian and Zhu Yujiao, "The head of Li Zicheng is here, and Luo Rucai is here!" ”

Cao Wushu took the wooden box, and Luo Rucai hurriedly said: "Li Zicheng has been dead for a long time, although the minister pickles his head with lime and spices, it is inevitable that it will be corrupt and unsightly, so please be careful with the two nobles!" ”

Cao Wuxian smiled, looked at Zhu Yujiao beside him, and patted the wooden box twice with his hand, "Don't look at it, the young master once said that Luo Rucai is quite cautious in handling things, and he will not cheat because of this, so he should take it back and enshrine it before the spiritual seat of the first emperor!" ”

Luo Rucai let out a sigh of relief, and only then did he retreat behind them after receiving the permission of Huaide and Cao Wuxian.

Now, only Wu Sangui and seven or eight other people were left in the entire lobby standing there stunned. In the courtyard, I don't know when it has been densely covered with figures, and there are figures swaying on the window lattice from time to time.

Wu Sangui looked at Zhu Yujiao's murderous face, and was heartbroken for a while, muttering to himself: "I still fell for Zhu Ping'an's plan, from beginning to end, I have been played by him in the palm of my hand!" ”

The sound of a sword unsheathed suddenly sounded, and before everyone could see clearly, a long sword had appeared in Cao Wuxian's palm.

Zhu Yujiao stared at Wu Sangui's face deadly, "I am the change of Jiashen in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen is in trouble, there are two sinners, Li Zicheng has been awarded the head, and the other is you Wu Sangui, who sacrificed Shanhaiguan to the Manchu Dynasty, causing my Ming Dynasty to almost fall into the hands of foreign races, you know, I have been waiting for this day!" (To be continued......)