Zhu Youzhen's act of directly killing 23 lives of Wu Sangui's family can be regarded as completely cutting off the illusions of hundreds of officials about Wu Sangui.

It is also a sign that he, the emperor, has completely broken with Wu Sangui.

Zhu Youzhen's move was not a momentary move, nor was he really willing to be so cruel.

Rather, in this turbulent situation, he has to do it, he has to show an attitude, and he has to act decisively for that attitude.

Zhu Youzhen just wanted to use this to tell the hundred officials that he could not tolerate a traitor like Wu Sangui who betrayed the interests of the Han people.

And the officials who followed him, Zhu Youzhen, could only agree to choose to break with Wu Sangui, and stop fantasizing about Wu Sangui, and devote more energy to strengthening themselves.

And in this way, in the days to come, these gentry-born bureaucrats will also be able to accept the outcast-born thieves and generals.

will even have to change his attitude towards the thief Li Zicheng.

From the time Wu Sangui surrendered to Jiannu and introduced Jiannu into the customs, it marked a change in the situation of the whole world.

The main enemy faced by the Ming Dynasty was no longer Li Zicheng, the breaking army who captured the Ming Jingshi, but the Jiannu Eight Banners and the Han scum who took refuge in them.

The actions of the military aristocracy formed by these people are barbaric and backward.

Zhu Youzhen must make his bureaucrats realize this.

Now Zhu Youzhen has recruited 70,000 troops from Liu Fangliang's army, coupled with Zhou Yuji's previous recruitment in Shanxi, so half of his three guards are from ordinary people.

From a certain point of view, the composition of the southward retreat team led by Zhu Youzhen is not simple.

Zhu Youzhen also wanted to strengthen the communication between the gentry and Li Shu, and through himself, to unite them into a collective with common interests, and thus restore the social order of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youzhen also tried to mobilize the enthusiasm of the gentry and Li Shu on the way to the south.

As an emperor, he was willing to be this kind of chelating agent, so that the Ming would have enough strength to deal with foreign enemies, rather than let the entire court still fall into endless internal strife.

Because Jiannu entered the customs, the time for the southward retreat was more urgent, so the southward retreat army was now on the road day and night.

Although it was a retreat of 150,000 people to the south, they also arrived in Jinan City within three or four days, and officially entered the center of Shandong's boundary.

Entering Shandong means that it is not far from Jianghuai.

After Jianghuai, it is Jiangnan, and then there is no need to worry about the danger of the army pressing the border in the next year.

It's just that from Jianghuai to the south of Shandong, it is the territory of Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong.

Zhu Youzhen now has an army of 150,000, so he is not afraid of Liu Zeqing, but as he thought before, he doesn't want to have too much infighting with a warlord like Liu Zeqing, so as not to damage the vitality of Daming to fight against Jiannu in the future.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen hopes to solve the problems of Liu Zeqing and the other three towns in Jiangbei once and for all.

Although Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, and Huang Degong, the commanders of the four towns in Jiangbei, are uneven, and they have their own hearts, they are also the army of the Ming Dynasty in the end.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen did not want his southern retreat army to fight with him Liu Zeqing.

This will not only cause unnecessary losses to their own army retreating south, but will also have one less army to resist Jiannu.

However, Liu Zeqing can't help but get rid of it!

If Zhu Youzhen's memory is correct, Liu Zeqing will voluntarily surrender in the face of Jiannu's southward movement.

Although Zhu Youzhen had already beheaded 23 lives of Wu Sangui's family, he warned the military officials in the world not to surrender easily.

However, Zhu Youzhen still could not guarantee that Liu Zeqing would not surrender, and even at this moment, he had no contact with Jiannu, and intended to kill himself in Shandong.

From how to face Jiannu's southward march to how to face Liu Zeqing, a warlord who was about to hinder the southward retreat, these anxious things had to be decided by Zhu Youzhen.

Therefore, as soon as the southern retreat army arrived in Jinan, he immediately held a dying court meeting.

This time, Zhu Youzhen wanted to make his Daming have a correct and clear strategic guiding ideology.

"Now that Wu Sangui is a dog and a traitor leading the Qing army into the customs, it marks the change of our enemy, although the thief Li Zicheng is unforgivable, but at the critical moment when Jiannu is waiting for the opportunity to take away my Han people, both I and you have to put aside their hatred and focus on dealing with Jiannu, for the thieves, we can even appease them if necessary and provide help!"

When Zhu Youzhen said this, the ministers couldn't help but talk a lot, and their choice to follow Zhu Youzhen south instead of taking refuge in the thieves had something to do with the fact that they were more stubborn gentry, otherwise many of them would have directly chosen to take refuge in Li Zicheng.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen said at this time that he would consider appeasing Li Zicheng and even forgiving his sins, which was naturally difficult for the ministers to accept.

In fact, after recruiting Liu Fangliang and letting Liu Fangliang lead a guard army alone, many officials were disgusted, but because Zhu Youzhen insisted on reusing Liu Fangliang to break the heart of the thief army, the officials had to accept it.

Zhu Youzhen had no choice but to continue to explain, and if he really couldn't explain, Zhu Youzhen simply dismissed him from his post.

After all, as an official in the center of the Ming Empire, if he still limits his thinking within his own class, then there is no need to rule the world.

Under Zhu Youzhen's explanation and strong authority, the ministers finally accepted the idea of first attacking the outside and then securing the inside.

It is precisely because of this proposition that the team retreating south finally has a common purpose, that is, to revive the Ming Dynasty and eliminate the Jiannu!

Liu Fangliang and other people who were born as homeless people and gentry and civil officials such as Li Banghua and other scholars and doctors can naturally be better united.

Zhu Youzhen knew very well that the terrible thing about Jiannu was that they had a clear political and strategic direction, and all banners and ministries had a common goal to occupy the world.

What Zhu Youzhen has to do is to let himself and his people have a common political goal, so that he can unite the forces of all classes and change the trajectory of history.

However, just when Zhu Youzhen was in Jinan to clarify his political goals of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui received 23 heads from his father and other family members and Chen Yuanyuan's letter of renunciation.

"Your Majesty, after Wu Sangui saw the head and the letter, he just scolded Li Zicheng, and immediately put on linen and filial piety, and even threatened to break the body of Li Zicheng, who killed the twenty-three relatives of his family, into pieces! It is precisely because of this that Wu Sangui took the lead in attacking Fengrun for Jiannu, forcing Li Zicheng to retreat to the capital! ”

After Zhu Youzhen learned the news, he sighed helplessly: "This Wu Sangui is really shameless, I killed your whole family, you still want to hide your hatred for me, and you also poured dirty water on Li Zicheng, are you really bullying people Li Zicheng is from a peasant background, people are killed by me, your concubine is also in my hands, you have the ability to rush to me, why be so hypocritical!" ”