After hearing this, civil and military officials such as Li Banghua, the secretary of the military department, Ni Yuanlu, the secretary of the household department, and Zhou Yuji, Ning Wubo, immediately gathered here to Zhu Youzhen.

The officials, who were originally much calmer, panicked again at this time.

Zhu Zhaoming, the right governor, stood up first: "Now that the army is about to arrive in Baoding, Your Majesty, you can't stay in Baoding City anymore, you have to leave quickly!" ”

She is now the emperor's royal sister, so she naturally cares more about Zhu Youzhen's safety than before.

Not only Zhu Youzhao, but Zhou Yuji also hurriedly echoed and begged Zhu Youzhen to leave Baoding immediately.

At this moment, Wang Chengen, the governor of Dongchang, suddenly ran in: "Your Majesty, it is reported that the three counties of Wuqing, Dong'an, and Yongqing have surrendered without a fight, and the army Tian Jianxiu has entered Xin'an Town, less than twenty miles away from Bazhou City!" ”

The officials were even more shocked when they heard this!

He Xin ran directly to the desk without avoiding taboos, took Zhu Youzhen's hand, and said emotionally: "Emperor, let's withdraw!" ”

Zhu Youzhen suddenly slapped the desk angrily, and yelled at He Xin, the imperial horse supervisor: "What are you panicking about!" In case of major events, Emperor Zhang is like this, as the imperial horse supervisor, how to lead the army to fight in the future, although the former Wei Eunuch has a dislike with me, but he is stronger than you in this regard, he is also a minister, learn more! ”

He Xin, the imperial horse supervisor, had no choice but to retreat, only then did he realize that he had exceeded the rules, and he actually pulled up His Majesty's sleeves, and his heart couldn't help but tighten, seeing that His Majesty did not mention this matter, he was grateful to His Majesty for his leniency.

Zhu Youzhen roared like this, so that the officials didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore, and they couldn't help but be silent.

But the look of worry on each of their faces is still difficult to hide.

In the event of a major event without calmness, with a spirit full of loyalty and courage but without the pressure of Mount Tai and indifferent, Zhu Youzhen really didn't know how to evaluate his group of ministers.

Yang Sichang, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting, Yuan Keli, Mao Wenlong, Man Gui and other capable generals have passed away.

In today's Ming Dynasty, there are very few people who can strategize or win thousands of miles.

"I now have 80,000 officers and soldiers, Baoding City is not without a fort to defend, the canal wharf is also in our hands, and there is Tongzhou's grain, even if Liu Fangliang's department and Tian Jianxiu's department gather under Baoding City, they can hold on for several months! Why be so panicked! ”

Zhu Youzhen said a few words loudly and sat down.

Li Banghua, the secretary of the military department, was also calmed down by Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen's yell, and his head was naturally much clearer, and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, according to the news from the front, Liu Fangliang's department should be able to arrive under Baoding City tomorrow, and Tian Jianxiu's department will arrive at Baoding City three days later, so these two troops will not arrive in Baoding City at the same time, and we can make a fuss about this." ”

"Li Aiqing is right, this is a time difference, and it is a two-day time difference!"

Zhu Youzhen also sighed a little after answering, it is better for people to be calm after encountering urgent matters, as long as they are calm, they can be wise in a hurry.

Now, Li Banghua has noticed such an opportunity for a time difference, which can undoubtedly give the Ming army in Baoding City a chance to break through.

At this time, Zuo Zhongyun Li Mingrui saw that many officials were still confused, and when he thought about the time difference mentioned by His Majesty, he directly stood up first:

"Your Majesty, Li Jiantai has already prepared to surrender to Liu Fangliang's army, but the way of heaven has returned, and the traitor Li Jiantai was taken by us before he surrendered to the enemy, but from the perspective of Weichen, Liu Fangliang's department may not know that Li Jiantai's department has been taken by us at this time, so we might as well continue to pretend to be Li Jiantai's department, pretend to surrender, and trick Liu Fangliang into the city to talk, and then take the opportunity to take down this person, then Liu Fangliang's 100,000 army will be self-defeating!"

Zhu Youzhen had to admit that Li Mingrui's ideas were very bold, and he deserved to be a young official, who dared to think and dare to do.

But at this time, Ni Yuanlu, the head of the household department, objected to this, he did not want to let 80,000 officers and soldiers stay in Baoding City to fight against the army Liu Fangliang, in his opinion, even if the time can take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to defeat the army, but this time the face of Liu Fangliang's army is 100,000 people, and the 80,000 guards shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting the emperor Zhu Youzhen's southward migration, so Ni Yuanlu does not agree to let the 80,000 guards stay here to take this risk.

Many ministers also echoed Ni Yuanlu's proposal, they only thought of following Chongzhen and Zhu Youzhen to retreat south to the south immediately, so as to save themselves from facing the pursuit of the intruding army with fear.

However, Zhu Youzhen finally decided to accept Li Mingrui's proposal and was determined to implement this plan in Baoding City.

Li Banghua, the secretary of the military department, expressed support for the strategy proposed by Li Mingrui.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen asked him to pretend to be Li Jiantai and hang the Li character banner on the head of Baoding City.

At the same time, Wang Chengen pretended to be Du Zhi, asked Dongchang Fanzi to pretend to be his own family, and sent a surrender letter to see Liu Fangliang overnight.

Along the way, there were not many Ming Dynasty ministers who took the initiative to surrender to the army, so Liu Fangliang did not arouse alarm.

What's more, it was a cabinet scholar who asked to surrender this time, which made Liu Fangliang very excited, after all, the cabinet scholar was the top official in the Ming Dynasty.

Recruiting such an official can also be regarded as a great achievement.

Therefore, Liu Fangliang was excited and didn't think much about whether there was fraud in this.

Liu Fangliang didn't know what had happened in Baoding in the past few days, and it was even more difficult to think that there was more than just a cabinet scholar in Baoding City.

Early the next morning, Liu Fangliang's 100,000 troops had arrived at the city of Baoding.

said that it was 100,000, but in fact, there were only 20,000 elite soldiers in a hundred battles, and most of them were auxiliary soldiers or soldiers surrendered by the Ming Dynasty and exiles who came from it.

Therefore, the 100,000 troops of Liu Fangliang's army were very scattered, and when they arrived at the city of Baoding, they shouted directly and shouted that the Ming army would open the city gate.

At this time, Li Banghua, the secretary of the military department who pretended to be Li Jiantai, appeared on the city wall: "Li Jiantai, the secretary of the Shili Department of the former Ming Dongge University, begged to surrender to the left battalion to control General Liu, and hoped that the general would treat the officials and people in the city well." ”

Liu Fangliang immediately laughed: "That's natural, but please rest assured, Ben will only kill corrupt officials and corrupt officials, not the common people, you had better open the city gate quickly, otherwise Ben will definitely storm this city, and then you and the rebel ministers will have to die without a place to bury!" ”

Seeing this, Li Banghua ordered someone to open the city gate and unfurled the banner of "Dashun".

Liu Fangliang saw that the city gate began to open slowly, and the suspension bridge was slowly lowered, he was also very pleased, he knew that Baoding was an important town of Caoyun and had always been rich, so now he has begun to look forward to entering the city to make a windfall.

In particular, when he thought that Liu Zongmin followed His Majesty Li Zicheng to torture hundreds of officials in the capital and loot money, but he himself couldn't even drink a sip of soup and was ordered to pursue Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen in the Gyeonggi area, he looked forward to making more money in Baoding City.

Seeing that the Dashun flag was still hung on the city wall, Liu Fangliang was even more lax, and hurriedly led the main force of 20,000 troops to enter Baoding City first.