In the middle of the night on 28 February, the Zhangwei River was extremely busy, except for the hundreds of captured artillery pieces that were temporarily left, which could not be taken away, and all the rest of the personnel, horses, equipment and food needed to cross the river.

Lifting the curtain and looking at the bright light of the torches moving back and forth on the river, Su Sanniang was anxious, and couldn't help but poke out her head and call: "Wang Feng, how long will it take to cross this?" I'm afraid it's going to be dawn, General Lin and General Li were escorted to Beijing on the 26th, which is equivalent to leaving three days in advance, I'm afraid that I won't be in a hurry, so it's better to send cavalry to pursue. ”

Wang Feng hesitated slightly, then shook his head and said: "Sister Sanniang, Linqing is only more than 800 miles away from Beijing, and it is not a problem to walk 300 miles in three days, and although we have cavalry, there are only a few thousand horses, and we can only match a single horse, and we need to dismount and rest every fifty or sixty miles, so even if we catch up, most of them will approach Beijing."

And in the area of Beijing, the Qing court is heavily armed, and only a few thousand cavalry are alone in the depths, even if they are taken prisoners, they may not be able to retreat in their entirety, I can't joke with the lives of the soldiers, wait, it's almost two hours.

In fact, Sister Sanniang, you don't have to worry, I heard Shengbao say that before killing the captives, Xianfeng needs to inform the people, and needs to worship the ancestors, so it will take two or three days, we should hurry up on the road, and we should be able to get to the city of Beijing in time. ”

"Hey~~" Su Sanniang thought about it, sighed, and retracted her head

Two hours later, the whole army finally crossed, Wang Feng gave an order, marched north, in which every five captives were tied with ropes around their waists and strung into a string, and anyone who had a rope to untie the rope privately was killed. If anyone falls to the ground, the other four will not be killed. All five of them were killed in the same way!

From Linqing to Beijing, although it is only more than 800 miles. But after crossing the Zhangwei River is Zhili, which is the core of the Qing court, on the way you have to pass through the three states of Shenjijing, and then pass through Baoding, and cross the Yongding River to the north in the upper reaches of Baiyangdian, which is really into the scope of Beijing, which is also an important reason why Wang Feng is unwilling to chase with cavalry.

But the whole army went north differently, taking advantage of the fact that the Seng Lingqin Department and the Shengbao Department were completely annihilated, and the Qing court troops were temporarily empty. On average, at a speed of 150 miles a day, the Democratic Alliance army bypassed the Fengtai camp in the southwest of Beijing on the sixth day of the first month of March, and was only more than 20 miles away from the Yongding Gate in the outer city!

The entire battalion was closed with its doors closed, its horns lined up, and it looked like it was waiting for a tight battle, but it was impossible to organize troops to attack in a hurry. It's just that the snowflakes of urgency are sent to Beijing one after another, you know, nearly 30,000 horses, hundreds of cars are not a joke!

It was also due to the fact that the Seng Lingqin Department and the Shengbao Department were completely annihilated. The pace of the march of the NLD army was unusually fast, and the defenders usually sent messengers after crossing the city. But unexpectedly, he was intercepted and killed by the special battle of the Royal Highness, so the people in Beijing did not know the news of the Democratic Alliance army going north. It is still a scene of singing and dancing.

Near noon, Fuxing was holding a bird cage. Shaking his head and singing a little song, and blowing two whistles from time to time to tease the birds, life is leisurely, after he secretly returned to Beijing, he claimed that he was taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the Democratic Alliance, looking for an opportunity to escape, and under the reference of the whole family, he said that he had a nose and eyes, although the court doubted, but there was no evidence, and there was no way to take him.

Xianfeng had issued an order to chase Fuxing as the minister of the guard and the white flag, which is good, the person came back alive, made a big oolong, and asked for an official position, Xianfeng was very reluctant, but the will was made by himself, so he had to adopt a compromise method, and awarded Fuxing to lead the minister of the guard and the deputy commander of the white flag!

Although it is not satisfactory, it can be regarded as a high promotion, and since these days, Fuxing has been walking birds, visiting theaters, and visiting kilns, and the mood is still very good.

"Big young master!" At this time, a servant ran into the garden and said, "There is a man outside who wants to see you." ”

"Who?" Fuxing didn't look back, whistled twice, and teased the bird.

"This" the servant touched his head and said in embarrassment, "I don't know." ”

Fuxing's face sank suddenly, and he scolded: "I don't know what is the rumor? How can a casual cat or dog come in our house? There is no rule, go and go, tell him to get out! As he spoke, he waved his sleeves again and again.

It stands to reason that Fuxing drove people away, so he should go back and tell him that he didn't see him, but the servant received fifty taels of silver from others, and he still had the minimum professional ethics to collect money and do things, so he could only be heartbroken, and said: "Young master, he said that he was from Suzhou, and you will definitely see him." ”

"Huh?" Fuxing mentions fiercely, from Nanjing to Suzhou, the experience of being captured is his lingering nightmare, but also a stain on his life, he never wants to have anything to do with the Democratic Alliance again, but the more he is afraid of something, the more he is afraid of something, just the word Suzhou, it makes him uneasy, and if he doesn't figure out the identity of the other party, I'm afraid he can't even sleep well.

Fuxing's expression remained unchanged, and he called: "Bring him in, don't let others know." ”

"Wow!" The servant gave a salute and departed.

Fuxing was no longer in the mood to walk around, walking back and forth with his hands behind his back, just a few minutes, it was so long for him, and finally a man came in at the entrance of the garden.

This man dressed as a gentry of the Qing Dynasty, in his twenties, walked into the garden without hurry, and arched his hand: "Lord Fu, don't come unharmed?" Li Dingguo, the messenger of the Democratic League, came to pay a special visit. ”

Fuxing's complexion could no longer control the drastic change, and he looked left and right like a thief, making sure that there was no one else in the garden, and then he shouted: "How dare you come to Beijing?" Aren't you afraid that the official will break your body into ten thousand pieces? ”

Fuxing is obviously lustful, and he has always had a ghost in his heart who was grabbed by the pigtail, and he is not afraid of extortion, but he is afraid of repeated blackmail, which will never end.

Sure enough, Li Dingguo said in no hurry: "Our Commander Wang is outside Beijing, and I won't see Li return to the team within half a day, hehe~~ That's hard to say." ”

"What?" Hearing that Wang Feng was coming, Fuxing's legs were weak and he almost fell to the ground, but it took a long time to calm his mind and say angrily: "What are you going to do?" Is there an end? Our family owes a lot of debts and we don't know how to pay them back, where is the silver again? ”

"Don't worry!" Li Dingguo smiled slightly: "Our Democratic Alliance Army is the most trustworthy, since we have received the money, we will naturally not embarrass Lord Fu, this time I have something to ask Lord Fu for help, and our Commander Wang has a handwritten letter to you." After speaking, he took out a letter from his bosom and handed it over.

Fuxing didn't say a word, took the letter and shook it open, and his face turned pale in an instant!

Wang Feng explained the cause and effect in the letter, personally led the main force to help, and annihilated more than 40,000 people from the Monk Greenqin Department and the Shengbao Department under the city of Linqing, and captured more than 4,000 people from the two Mongolian princes of Mianyu, Seng Greenqin, Shengbao, Zhelimu and Zhuo Suotu and the following bannermen, please Fuxing immediately present Ming Xianfeng, and exchange the prisoners for Li Kaifang, Lin Fengxiang and other Taiping soldiers, located outside the Yongding Gate!

Fuxing took the letter, his heart set off a storm, he couldn't speak for a long time, he didn't think that Wang Feng was bragging, this can only show that the military might of the Democratic Alliance is unstoppable!

"Fuku-sama, how's it going?" Li Dingguo saw that Fuxing was silent, and shook his hand in front of his eyes.

"Huh?" Fuxing came back to his senses and said in a reluctant voice: "No, the long hair is scheduled to be cut at the entrance of the vegetable market at three o'clock at noon today, among which Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang are late, I'm afraid I won't be able to catch up!" ”

Li Dingguo's face sank, and he urged: "Now there is still an hour before three o'clock in the afternoon, Commander Wang asked Li to bring a word, as long as Lord Fu does this well, the Democratic Alliance will never disturb Lord Fu, please Lord Fu hurry up and enter the palace to meet Xianfeng!" ”

"I'll do my best!" Fuxing could hear the threat in Li Dingguo's words, that is, if he couldn't do it well, he could only have no choice but to respond.

"There is Lord Laofu to bother, take your leave!" Li Dingguo arched his hand and walked away quickly.

Fuxing didn't dare to delay, immediately changed into court clothes, rode his horse and went straight to the Forbidden City, he was the minister of the guard, and he could directly enter the palace to face the saint.

Because of martial law in Beijing, there are not many people, which happens to be convenient for Fuxing, at the same time, Xianfeng is also very leisurely, and Prince Gong Yixun and Prince Xian Yiyun are drinking tea, which are his sixth and seventh brothers.

Two days ago, the Chahar Green Battalion and the regimental training escorted more than 4,000 bandits led by Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang into Beijing, and brought the good news that they killed the rest of the 20,000 bandits, and that Seng Lingqin and Mianyu were besieging Su Sanniang's department trapped in Linqing with nearly 50,000 troops in Shengbao.

"Brother Huang!" Yi Xun arched his hand: "It is expected that in a few days, the monk and the prince will escort the bandits into Beijing again, this is really my Qing Dynasty!" ”

"Eh~~" Yi Xun waved his hand: "Seventh brother, don't be careless, send the bandits to go deep alone, the defeat is determined early, it's just a matter of time sooner or later, I'm only worried about the south, Hong Yang Er's rebellion occupies Jiangning, and the Western Expeditionary Army is connected to Anhui and Jiangxi, what is even more worrying is that it is the short hair that is entrenched in Su Song, this is the big trouble, in recent months, the income of the court has plummeted, and the treasury has been unable to make ends meet!" ”

To maintain the operation of a regime, money and grain are the foundation, in the past, the taxes of Suzhou alone accounted for one-tenth of the income of the court, this part of the money is gone, plus Songjiang, Changzhou, Taicang, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou and Jiangning, which were occupied by the Democratic Alliance and the Taiping Army respectively, only these six state capitals, the Qing Dynasty lost 20% of the tax, and Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, these three provinces have to account for at least 10% and a half!

At the same time, the impact does not stop there, due to the cut off of trough transportation, the tax of Zhejiang Liangguang can only be changed to the sea route, but the sea route is strong and turbulent, and the court cannot collect enough sea ships in a short time, which affects the transportation efficiency.

And there are great loopholes in the sea route, the sea is endless, not more than the width of the canal is thirty or fifty zhang, the ship can not be found at all when it goes out to sea, since this period of time, there have been many incidents of the sinking of the boat on the sea, and the loss of tens of millions of taels of silver.

In fact, what is going on, the court is clear, the money and grain are greedy for the officials in charge, but there is no proof of death, how to salvage the ship when it sinks into the sea? There is no way to make the shortage of money and food in the court even worse! (To be continued......)

ps: Thank you for the two monthly passes of the speculator~~~~