Zhu Cihong did not believe that Emperor Chongzhen would be able to escape from his palm. According to his understanding of the palace and the pre-reading of historical scripts, there was only one Wang Chengen who was still by the emperor's side at the time of the Jiashen Change. Many people didn't even know whether the emperor was dead or had escaped, and various theories were confusing until the emperor's body was found the next day.

In this case, only two guards are enough to take Chongzhen away, not to mention that there is a team of eunuchs and female officials arranged by Liu Ruoyu in the palace, all of whom are willing to follow Huang Ming. These people are mainly responsible for taking away the seals, accounts, national treasures and other necessities in the palace, otherwise it is completely not enough to be persuasive just by saying that the imperial power is in me. At least the Manchus did not recognize this set, they vigorously searched for the Ming clan, saying that they would carry out the sacrifice, and once they found it, they would be killed on the charge of "impersonation".

The key question focused on what to do after the emperor had been held hostage.

If it is a minister, it is natural to coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes, from the prime minister to the king, and then to concede. If it is the crown prince, there is also a precedent for Tang Suzong to follow.

Zhu Cihong knew that the throne was a huge aura, and once he ascended to the throne, loyal officials like Cai Maode would definitely be consciously loyal to him. However, this aura also attracts thieves, Manchus, and pig-like teammates - you can't get rid of them yet, or you'll be a dumb tyrant. Even if the whole country is recovered, it will be blackened by all kinds of anecdotes and anecdotes made up by these literati.

If you don't care about your posthumous name, then all kinds of harassment and shackles during your reign will also distract most of your energy. It doesn't hurt to be peaceful and prosperous, just play politics with those bureaucrats slowly. In today's troubled times, there is a risk of destruction at every turn, and there is really no energy to waste on balancing the game.

And there is a hidden contradiction that has been ignored by many people throughout the ages:

As long as Zhu Cihong does not ascend to the throne as emperor, the East Palace system has a common interest, and all internal contradictions can be transformed because of this.

If you ascend to the pole and become an emperor. From the time the dragon's work is allocated, the goal of joint efforts disappears. At that time, these civil servants and military officers in the East Palace will inevitably fall into endless struggles again for their reputation and family.

Zhu Cihong's relationship with these subordinates has also changed from a monarch and a comrade-in-arms to a simple relationship between monarchs and ministers.

This is also after the founding of many dynasties. Instead, there will be all kinds of confusion.

"Ruling the king with the minister, and controlling the father with the son, I won't do this kind of disorder!" Zhu Cihong justly ruled out the option of "ordering the princes of the narrow heavens". He immediately said: "The foundation is not stable, rashly claiming to be the emperor, and leading a group of thieves to attack me, I can't do this kind of stupid thing." ”

Wu Fu looked through Shi Ce, and all he saw was these two actions, and he didn't know if Zhu Cihong had a third way out in his chest.

"I really can't think of a way, so I don't want to think about it yet." Zhu Cihong sighed. He is not just a mortal after all, and he inevitably hovers between good and harm. Moreover, this kind of matter related to the great fortune of the nation is not something that can be decided in a short period of time. He then said, "How should I write a reply to the Holy One?" ”

It's certain that you won't go back, but you can't even go back to the previous one.

When Zhu Cihong left the palace, Emperor Chongzhen was still a normal person, but these days he has lost Luoyang, Tongguan, Shanxi, and the Yellow River one after another...... It is estimated that he has fallen into paranoia and is close to madness.

Without waiting for Wu Fu and Sun Chuanting to reply, Zhu Cihong had already shook his head and said, "Forget it, just ignore it." Time is limited. We have to take Shandong first, we can't wait any longer. ”

In any case, Beijing will fall no later than March. When the time comes, there is such a major event as the fall of the Jingshi, and no one will pay attention to their small mistake of ignoring the holy decree. Judging from the stimulation that Li Zicheng is receiving now, maybe he will arrive in Beijing faster than the original historical script.

"Your Highness, are you going to lead the army into Lu?" Sun Chuanting asked.

"Indeed, this is the fastest way to do it." Zhu Cihong said: "Even if there is no Shang Fang and Dragon Festival, can my guard battalion still not listen to me?" ”

"But if it's a Shandong official...... Don't know the general situation? Wu Fu asked.

Zhu Cihong was also worried that there were still many "Feng Shikong" waiting for him in Shandong, and he had already made arrangements. Zhengse said: "It depends on whether they can hold Shandong." I received a secret report that an army of about 5,000 thieves marched eastward along the Yellow River at the end of last year, and it must have reached Shandong by the end of last year. ”

Wu Fu was still thinking about whether the thief army could capture Shandong, but Sun Chuanting was stunned in his heart, and said secretly: If there is such a thief army. Why don't you go directly to Baoding to besiege Jingshi, but go to Shandong? After Li Thief won Pingyang Mansion, why did he order Liu Fangliang to lead the people of Zuoying to the east along the Yellow River?

Militarily speaking, unless Li Zicheng draws his brain, he will not make this kind of decision, and even if he wants to include Shandong, he will divide a partial division in southern Jinan.

5,000 people......

Sun Chuanting's eyes lit up: The Sichuan soldiers lost in Xi'an are exactly 5,000 people!

Although the Sichuan soldiers are no longer as brave and good at fighting as Qin Liangyu's white pole soldiers back then, generally speaking, their combat effectiveness is still better than that of the Central Plains soldiers, not inferior to the border soldiers. The reason why the crown prince took a fancy to Shandong was precisely because there was no strong town stationed in Shandong. Although Liu Zeqing's subordinates also claim to have 50,000 people, in fact, everyone knows that 5,000 is already very remarkable.

And Zhu Cihong has never looked down on Liu Zeqing, he once carefully examined the war history of this chief military officer, and the only time that can be regarded as not cowardly the enemy's rout and escape is the Battle of Kaifeng.

At that time, Liu Zeqing led 3,000 people to cross the river, camped behind the river, and diverted water to surround it, hoping to wait for the veterans of Li Zicheng's division to be tired before attacking. As a result, Li Zicheng directly besieged it with artillery on three sides, and Liu Zeqing's troops rushed to cross the river and escaped, suffering heavy casualties. It is definitely a model of the incompetence of the main general and the exhaustion of the three armies.

The reason why such a person can sit in a town is purely the result of his ability to stand in line and understand the drill camp, and it is simply impossible to talk about fighting. As long as the generals of the Sichuan soldiers are not too stupid, it is no problem to take down a few county seats.

……

"Lao Tzu is dizzy!"

"You're dizzy all day long." Xu Dian was accustomed to the mantra of this Sichuan barracks officer.

Luo Yukun sat in the county government hall, and when he saw Xu Dan, he scolded him: "Lao Tzu is an officer and soldier!" The brothers are all here to serve the country with loyalty! You said you take care of food and shelter, why are we attacking the city all the way! Also under the banner of a thief! Ge Laozi's ......"

"Don't scold yet." Xu Dian pulled over a chair and said calmly: "It is said that it is a siege of the city, but in fact, it is a real fight in Xinxiang, so don't you use your people to go out." ”

Speaking of this, Luo Yukun was even more dizzy. He received the secret decree of the East Palace, came out of Xi'an, made a detour across the Yellow River, and entered Henan under the name of bandits. It's really not going to know, and I'm scared when I go. originally thought that Henan was robbed by the imperial court and thieves, but who knew that along the way, he encountered dozens of thieves.

These thieves are not Li Chuang's subordinates, and they also raise various banners to occupy states and counties. They saw that Luo Yukun and the others were under the banner of breaking into the king, or they were entertained with good food and drink, or they wanted to join the gang, or they ran away from them, but none of them wanted to fight them.

In this way, under the care of the "brothers" all the way, Luo Yukun recruited the elite among the refugees as auxiliaries, not only changed into winter clothes, but also ate a lot of wine and meat. The further east they went, the bigger the shili of the officers and soldiers became, but these officers and soldiers did not dare to provoke Luo Yukun at will, and obediently offered the ransom money to the "army" to leave the country. There are also some small county towns, I heard that the vanguard of the king is coming, and they really prepared enough wine and meat, and opened the city to welcome the king.

Luo Yukun was still at a loss at first, and under the guidance of Xu Dan, he also learned the two skills of "recovering stolen goods" and "opening a warehouse and releasing grain", and no one would suspect that they were officers and soldiers.

When I entered the boundary of Shandong, it was even more unbearable than Henan!

Henan can still see people, Shandong is simply a thousand miles of red land; The county seat of Henan surrendered, and Luo Yukun had to be prepared with sufficient military funds; The county seat of Shandong also fell in despair, but it begged Luo Yukun to take out military rations to relieve them.

However, once Luo Yukun played the banner of officers and soldiers, all the county towns he passed through were like facing a great enemy, and he would rather die than open the city gate.

Not to mention Luo Yukun, even Xu Duan was "dizzy".

"Let's stop in Yanggu County first," Xu Dian didn't have much military experience, "and we'll fight wherever His Highness tells us to." ”

"Yanggu County can't afford to support so many of us." Luo Yukun didn't have a good airway.

"How many of us are there?"

"Counting those who came to join the army today, 30,000 will be zero." (To be continued......)

PS: Hey, hey, you need a ticket if you're late!