When leaving Tianjin, Zhou Qingfeng decided to follow the road on both sides of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal from Tianjin to Tongzhou to go to the capital. The main reason is that there are many towns on both sides of the waterway, the road conditions are good, and the supply is convenient. The flat-bottomed barge with a 100-horsepower steam engine could also be used for emergency transportation if necessary.

In order to maintain flexibility, the main force of the northward detachment is the female firecrackers who have recently shone brightly. Infantry, sappers and cavalry were kept only partially, and all rode horses and carriages to maneuver. The rest of the personnel of the 'Beijing-Tianjin Front' still used Dagukou as a base to raid and plunder the surrounding areas of Tianjin. As a result, Zhou Qingfeng only had about a thousand troops around him.

Before setting off at night, the personnel began to diverge.

Zhou Qingfeng looked back at Tianjin City and sighed in a low voice: "I am really murderous, and I will do whatever it takes to achieve my goals. instigated the wolf soldiers to make a rebellion, and it was definitely not only the Tianjin gentry who died, but also the people in the city, and there must have been many innocent deaths. ”

Yin Hu wants to lead the team back to Dagukou, and his safety depends on how big the chaos is this night, and how deep Zhou Qingfeng's hatred is next. He could only remain silent about the chaos in the city. Qin Bangping, who was about to be transported away by boat on a stretcher, mocked: "It's ridiculous that you thieves have mercy on the people here." If it is truly for the common people of the world, you should die. ”

Zhou Qingfeng turned his head and raised his hand to slap Qin Bangping's face, directly stunned the veteran. Then his face turned red, extremely embarrassed, and scolded angrily: "Soldiers can be killed, but not humiliated." ”

......, Zhou Qingfeng slapped him indifferently again, and slapped his right cheek on the left side.

Qin Bangping jumped like thunder, and he was about to get up from the stretcher and fight with Zhou Qingfeng. But Zhou Qingfeng didn't stop, and he slashed his head and face, and the other party had no power to resist, and in the end, the veteran was teary-eyed, crying and scolding: "Dare to erect?" Vertical son dares! ”

Zhou Qingfeng only snorted coldly: "If it weren't for Qin Liangyu, who was a hero among the Han people, with all the tragedies caused by your wolf soldiers marching all the way, I should have imprisoned you, the leader of the army, as a war criminal, and executed him on a later day."

You are now crying because I am unable to resist, and who should the Chinese people who were bullied and killed by your wolf soldiers cry to? I sighed because I felt genuinely guilty in my heart. You are also cruel and self-fattening, but you have a hypocritical and ugly face, what right do you have to accuse me? Be honest as a prisoner of war and accept reform. ”

Qin Bangping was courteous to Zhou Qingfeng, and he just wanted to pretend to be forced to hold his identity as an official and soldier, but he didn't expect to be severely humiliated by Zhou Qingfeng. His old face was red after being slapped by a dozen times, his hair was scattered, and he was stunned on the stretcher. After a while, the migrant workers carrying the stretcher carried him onto the boat. He recalled Zhou Qingfeng's words at the bow of the boat, and cried again.

Zhou Qingfeng led the elite troops to the north, and the maneuver was extremely fast. He first followed the Haihe River into the North Canal of the Tongzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and then followed the canal to Tongzhou. Upon learning that the rampant and domineering 'revolutionary army' was coming, the local officials and gentry were in danger, but no one dared to stop them. These 1,000 or so troops marched on the North China Plain with great swagger, and it was as easy as a tour.

The North Canal is 180 kilometers long, and it took Zhou Qingfeng two days to complete the journey. He was ready for an attack halfway through. But the troops were repaired along the way, and the local gentry not only did not come to trouble him, but sent people to send rice, grain, and money, just begging this group of strong troops not to harass the locality.

For two days, the northward detachment ate well and slept well. There are even many broken households who come to run to the house, just to get something to eat, and also to follow the revolution. There have even been cases of people swindling and deceiving the people in the name of the 'revolutionary army'. Zhou Qingfeng couldn't laugh or cry when he heard these things, but he also arrived in Tongzhou smoothly.

The importance of Tongzhou here is clear by just one thing - Tongzhou is an important storage place for the entire northern Caoyun, storing more than 10 million stones of grain and more than 1 million taels of silver all year round. The bureaucratic system in the north is to function normally, and it depends entirely on Tongzhou to pay for food and wages. Stuck in Tianjin is equivalent to stuck in the neck of the Ming Dynasty. Conquering Tongzhou, the regime in the north of the Ming Dynasty was basically paralyzed.

The urban layout of Tongzhou is built according to the canal, which has been built since the beginning of Hongwu and has been renovated three times by the end of the Ming Dynasty. The most important thing in the city is a large number of granaries, and the city is only fifty miles away from the capital.

When the thieves arrived in Tianjin, the capital was shocked every day. Zhou Qingfeng led the team to Tongzhou, and it was impossible for the emperor to not know. It's just that Emperor Wanli can only count on the three major battalions of the Beijing Division - the five military battalions, the three thousand battalions, and the Shenji battalion.

In the early years of the dynasty, the three major battalions with a strength of nearly 200,000 were still very combat-effective. It......'s just that now, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, what are the 'hardcore crops' of those banner people in Beiping City, who are good at operating, proficient in gold and stone, and who like to eat opium, are like the three major camps of the Ming Dynasty.

The ordinary Ming army is enough scum, and the three battalions of the Beijing Division are the scum of the scum. According to historical records, when 'King Chuang' crossed Juyong Pass to fight Beijing, the three battalions of the Beijing division went out of the city to resist - 'without a fight, they were defeated when they heard the sound of cannons.' ’

This will hear that the emperor wants to go out to fight the thieves himself, and the men and horses of the three battalions are almost about to rebel. Overnight, tens of thousands of people complained of illness and refused to leave the city. Many of them are still the sons of Xun's old children, and they are related to the emperor's old son, and Emperor Wanli has no way to deal with them. In the end, the only way to do this is to select those who dare to fight to go to Tongzhou to rescue.

"Me? When did I become a warrior? "Ouyang Jun only felt that he was 'doing it at home, and disaster came from heaven'. The last time I followed Marco Shima's father-in-law to fight Dagukou but returned from the camp, he couldn't go out when he returned to the capital. It's just that Zhou Qingfeng arrived in Tongzhou, and he, a person who has been in battle many times, has become a man who dares to fight.

The one who asked Ouyang Jun to come to the army by name to listen to the order was Ma Gonggong. It is said that after returning to the capital, Ma Gonggong learned from the pain and suddenly had a whim to offer advice to the Wanli Emperor - the officials and soldiers of the guard were corrupt and incompetent, and the morale of the soldiers was low, and it was difficult to take on the big responsibility. Please send 100,000 taels of internal money to train 3,000 eunuchs into an army, and the slaves are willing to lead the army to fight and swear to destroy the thieves.

Recently, there have been countless twists and turns to ask for money and strong troops, and Emperor Wanli heard that Ma Keshi opened his mouth to ask for 100,000 taels, and immediately arrested him and scolded him. But the matter of choosing a brave man to rescue Tongzhou still falls on the shoulders of the loyal Ma Gonggong.

It's just that Ma Gonggong has a high position in Dongchang, but he has no soldiers and no generals, so he can only recruit people he knows. This is indispensable for Ouyang Jun and Luo Lie brothers.

Tongzhou is too close to the Forbidden City, and it can be reached in half a day. Ma Gonggong was patriotic, and after collecting thousands of people, he went to Tongzhou. He himself is a heroic man who is 'the wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man will never return', but the morale of the people and horses below is not high, and there are not a few people who want to run away as soon as the war starts.

Ma Gonggong hurried to Tongzhou, and when he entered the city, he saw the grain storage eunuch guarding this place. The other party grabbed Ma Gonggong's hand with a bag of tears and cried: "Ma Gonggong, you are looking forward to our family." ”

Ma Keshi saw that the situation in Tongzhou City was quite stable, and asked with confusion and eagerness: "What about the Zhou family's anti-thieves?" They failed to storm the city? ”

The grain reserve eunuch cried: "The thieves came last night and attacked the city overnight. There were no generals in the city, and the soldiers were even more taken by surprise, and the city was broken. ”

Broken? The city is broken, do you still have time to cry with our family?

Ma Gonggong was even more inexplicable, and he asked again: "Since the city is broken, what about the thieves?" ”

"The thief is gone."

Yes......!

After breaking the city, he actually left, and there are still such anti-thieves in the world?

The grain storage eunuch pulled Ma Gonggong to the east of Tongzhou, pointed to a collapsed city wall and said: "Last night, the anti-thieves attacked the city in a hurry, and after breaking through the east transportation gate, they brought tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder, and directly blew up this place. The commander of the town guard in the city only committed suicide by hanging himself in the official office when he was defeated. Our family wanted to fight to the death and serve the emperor, but ......, the thief ran away. ”

I can't believe it at all. The possibility of blowing down the city wall also shows that the combat strength of the 'revolutionary army' is terrifying. But it's strange that they don't go into the city and occupy it. At the end of the grain storage eunuch, he pointed to a wooden sign erected outside the city and said: "This sign was erected here this morning, but I am afraid that it was left by the thieves." ”

Marcose looked at it, and the wooden sign read, 'Prepare five million stone grain, one million taels of silver.' If there is a delay, this wall is an example. ’

This is clearly showing off his might, running to the emperor Lao'er to blackmail.

The grain storage eunuch had a sad face, and the thousands of people who came with Ma Gonggong were even more dumbfounded. However, Ouyang Jun was overjoyed, and whispered to Luo Lie, who was traveling with him: "It's easy to do now, the thieves don't want to fight, they are here to make money and food." Thankfully, we were saved. ”

Luo Lie had many contacts with the 'Revolutionary Army' and knew that Zhou Qingfeng himself was powerful, but it was also the first time he had seen the strength of the 'Revolutionary Army' combat engineers, and he was deeply shocked by the gap in the city wall more than ten meters wide in front of him. Hearing Ouyang Jun say this, he pointed to the ruins of the city gate and said, "It's all blown up like this, and you still say that the thieves don't want to fight?" ”

Ouyang Jun said calmly: "My father said that the bigger the stance, the more ruthless it is, but there is definitely something to ask for." The 'revolutionary army' is big enough and ruthless enough that no one is afraid of it. But they came all the way but did not occupy the city, they must have asked for something. He stretched out his hand and pointed to the wooden sign inserted outside the city, "What you want, they have already written." ”

Ma Keshi was still asking about the whereabouts of the thief, but the grain storage eunuch in Tongzhou couldn't tell clearly. They were about to send people to investigate, but there was another puff of smoke and dust from the south, and it was obvious that a large group of men and horses had killed them.

The grain storage eunuch suddenly had a weak leg and almost collapsed. Ma Gonggong hurriedly arranged manpower to prepare to defend the city. But as soon as he turned around, more than a thousand people who had entered the city with him ran away seven or eight hundred in the blink of an eye. When he felt that he was going to die in battle today, he was loyal to the emperor here, but a group of officers and soldiers came from the south, and the general soldier of Juniper Du led a team of 3,000 horses appeared panting.

"What about the thief? Where are the anti-thieves? "General Du's eyes are red, and one of his subordinates is counted as one, and they are all tired - Zhou Qingfeng's northward detachment also ran nearly 200 kilometers, but he has a plan and rhythm and grasps the initiative. Although Juniper also traveled on horseback, King Qin ordered him to run nearly 200 kilometers without resting, and the horses were tired to death.

When Juniper arrived in Tongzhou, he saw the collapse of the East Gate, and thought that this was broken, and Tongzhou was really broken. But he was happy in his heart, feeling that he had finally caught this gang of thieves and could have a decisive battle - but when he arrived outside the bombed Tongzhou City, the thieves did not see it, but saw a white-faced and bearded eunuch.

"Where is the thief?"

"I don't know. Our family is the East Factory Marcos, and we are here to rescue by the emperor's order. The thief must have fled because he was afraid of the military might of the chief soldier, and asked the lord to send more people to investigate and clear it immediately. ”

Ma Gonggong understood the reason why the thieves did not occupy the city as the large force of the Ming army in front of him came to help, but General Du shook his head and said: "This official led the troops to run for a day and a night, I can stand it, but my family can't stand it." My family can stand it, but my family's horses really can't stand it. Today it must be repaired, and there can be no more fighting. ”

Where is Ma Gonggong willing to let Juniper rest? He grabbed Juniper's arm and said bitterly: "General Du, the anti-thief is good at firearms, and he has the ability to blast the city. If they go to the capital and disturb the saints, you and I are both capital crimes! Please also ask General Du not to hesitate, hurry up, and quickly suppress the thief. ”

Juniper also knew that the stakes were high in the capital, and the slightest mistake would be the death of his head. He could only grit his teeth and stomp his feet, raise his head and sigh: "Oh......, why do these thieves like to run around so much?" Aren't they tired? It's just that, chase it, and you have to chase it if you fight for your life. Du is going to be tired this time. ”