His face changed, and he scolded Zhang Luofu for being incompetent, thousands of soldiers and horses could not break through Fenxi County, and he was defeated by Ling Jingyang The main force, not only Lin Leer's whereabouts are unknown, but the main general Mei Shifeng was also captured.

Zhang Luofu was scolded by Zhu Youzhen so much that he couldn't raise his head, he was thinking, when he followed Ling Jingyang in the past, he had wins and losses in the battle with Jiannu, how could he follow His Majesty, the combat effectiveness of the army became so low, Lin Erle and Mei Shifeng were both fierce generals in the army, and they were like straw bags in front of Ling Jingyang, and they were easily defeated.

He didn't know that Zhu Youzhen was no longer the cold-blooded and ruthless king who didn't understand human feelings, and Zhu Youzhen then asked Zhang Luofu to go to Zezhou to preside over the soldiers and horses, so that he could stay away from the center of power.

After Zhang Luofu left, Zhu Youzhen discussed with Wang Chengen, and planned that half a month later, he would personally lead hundreds of civil and military officials, as well as 6,000 soldiers, to Fenxi County to meet with Ling Jingyang, and exchange Mei Shifeng with Wang Bao and others, so that Mei Shifeng could be grateful to him and become his number one minion.

But before returning to Mei Shifeng, Zhu Youzhen also did one thing and asked Ximen Zhu to appease Lin Erle.

After Ximenzhu came back from Qinzhou, he did not complete the task given to him by Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Youzhen was lukewarm to him, and this time he asked him to appease Lin Erle, which was to give Ximenzhu a chance.

Ximen Zhu took a group of talents to draft more than 1,000 official notices overnight, and let officials spread them in various places, which means that the court soldiers who were defeated by the rebels, the court did not hold them accountable for the defeat, and returned to Yicheng to report within half a month.

After the officials from all over the country spread the news, he took his subordinates to Pu County in the south of Fenxi County, wanting to find Lin Erle here, Pu County is very close to Fenxi County, the imperial court did not dare to garrison troops here, Ling Jingyang's troops were not enough, and he also gave up this place, Pu County at this time belonged to the borderless land.

Ximen Zhu and his entourage of four people came to Pu County, where there was no one around, Ximen Zhu walked around the county seat of Pu County, there was no one figure, and went to the countryside near Pu County, in an unknown village, saw more than ten court stragglers.

"The Legend of the Fairy Tree"

After the stragglers saw Ximen Zhu and his party, they unexpectedly revealed their iron knives, wanted to kill people and kill them, and slaughtered Ximen Zhu and others.

In the face of more than a dozen stragglers, Ximen Zhu was not afraid, and loudly reprimanded them for being wolf-hearted and dog-hearted, as long as they returned to the imperial court, they could still continue to be soldiers and eat salaries, why should they fall into the grass?

One of the stragglers sneered: "You officials, you only know how to let Lao Tzu go to death, and let us attack Lingdudu, and we were beaten into dogs by Lingdudu, and you are embarrassed to let us go back?" ”

The stragglers approached step by step with big swords, and Ximen Zhu and his subordinates said: "I cover you, you quickly retreat." ”

The subordinates couldn't bear to watch him go to death, and asked them to cover Ximenzhu's retreat, Ximenzhu scolded: "Don't you listen to me, right?" ”

Seeing that the skirmishers were getting closer and closer, and if they didn't leave, they would be dumplings by the stragglers, and suddenly, a sharp arrow fell from the sky and was nailed to the temple of a skirmisher, and the skirmisher fell to the ground.

The other stragglers were frightened and looked nearby, and a group of more than a tattered general, surrounded by a general, came out of the mountain forest.

Ximen Zhu saw that it was Lin Erle, after Lin Erle was defeated by Ling Jingyang, he fled south, gathered hundreds of remnants on the road and defeated generals, he wanted to retreat to Yicheng with his troops, but he could think of His Majesty's ruthless eyes, so he didn't dare to go back, and took the remnants of the soldiers to rob the house, and survived secretly.

After Ximen Zhu came to Pu County, some subordinates reported to him, seeing Ximen Zhu and others coming to Pu County, he also heard the news that officials from all over the country were scattered all over the place, he was not sure whether it was true or false, so he asked a general manager he was not used to seeing on weekdays to intimidate Ximen Zhu,

After intimidating Ximen Zhu, he shot this general manager with an arrow, and those stragglers who were with the general manager were also shot mercilessly, and then pretended to rush out to save Ximen Zhu's life.

After he saw Ximen Zhu, he pretended to be pitiful.

"Lord Simon, I've frightened you."

"General Lin, don't kill the villain, I have His Majesty's dictation here, as long as General Lin returns to the imperial court, he can still lead the army, and I also ask General Lin and the lower officials to go back to meet Your Majesty."

Lin Erle was still not sure, and said to Ximen Zhu: "Lord Ximen, the general of the defeated army, where do you dare to go back, even if you go back, you are sorry for the dead soldiers." ”

As he spoke, Lin Erle shed tears, making Ximen Zhu, who didn't know the truth or falsehood, kind, and Lin Erle repeatedly affirmed that His Majesty was magnanimous, and when there was a shortage of people in the army, General Lin would not be killed when he went back, and he would be reused.

Lin Erle then took the troops back to the court, in order to go back to look better, he secretly ordered his subordinates to pull Zhuang Ding along the way, whether it was a man or a woman, as long as it was a person, they were forced to give a set of military uniforms, and then divided a weapon, and when he returned to Yicheng, there were more than 4,000 people in the whole army.

The procession consisted of men and women, gray-haired old men, pregnant women, children, disabled people and beggars. When the people near Yicheng saw this strange team, they all burst into laughter.

Lin Erle didn't blush, he was stationed outside the city with his troops, Zhu Youzhen had already seen Lin Erle, a madman, on the city wall, and he brought him such a tattered army, he was furious, but he was still smiling on the surface.

Without waiting for Lin Erle to be in the capital, he brought hundreds of civil and military officials to the outside of the city to greet Lin Erle, which greatly shocked Lin Erle's heart, is this still the cold-blooded Majesty?

He was still in a trance, Zhu Youzhen had already come to him, took his hand, and said to him with tears in his eyes: "Aiqing, this day is cold and windy, and you and the soldiers are suffering outside. ”

"It's not bitter, it's not bitter, Your Majesty, it's all the minister's incompetence, the minister asks Your Majesty to give it again, let me set foot in Fenxi County for Your Majesty, and raise Ling Jingyang's head to Your Majesty to make a night pot."

Zhu Youzhen endured his nausea and said to him: "Aiqing has this heart, and I have hope." ”

Lin Erle's heart seemed to be really moved by Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Youzhen returned to the city with Lin Erle under the gaze of everyone, and held a court meeting.

In the imperial court, Zhu Youzhen made a new personnel appointment, Lin Erle was the right attendant of the military department, and also told the minister that there will be various righteous troops gathering in Shanxi these days, and most of them are the regular army of the former Ming Dynasty.

In fact, the ruthless Minister Ou had long known that the various departments of the Dashun Army stationed in Shaanxi and other places, especially the generals of the Ming army before, led their troops back to Shanxi to support the Zhu dynasty.

Among them, the army led by Sun Shoufa and Wu Dading had the strongest combat effectiveness, and they led the troops to break away from the Dashun army and rush to the Chongzhen court.

Hu Xiangchen gathered tens of thousands of righteous troops and also came to the south of Shanxi, and at the end of January 1645, soldiers and horses from all walks of life gathered in Pingyang

house, so that Zhu Youzhen's confidence doubled.

The leaders of the rebels from all walks of life came to Yicheng and were received by Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Youzhen was a hundred officials, Sun Shoufa was the secretary of the military department, Wu Dading was the secretary of the household department, Gao Youcai was the left servant of the household department, Hu Xiangchen was the right servant of the household department, and other righteous generals who came to Yicheng were also reused.

Sun Shoufa and Wu Dading are all iron-blooded generals, with a group of soldiers there, Zhu Youzhen is not worried about the Hongguang court, the Qing army and the Dashun army attacking,

And he was very confident that the Dashun army would not attack Shanxi, and with the Qing army in Datongfu, Li Zicheng did not have the strength and did not dare to launch a campaign to attack Shanxi.

This time Zhu Youzhen's conjecture was very accurate, a large number of Ming troops who had surrendered to Dashun went back, Li Zicheng dispersed one-fifth of his troops overnight, Li Zicheng complained bitterly, but it was not without benefits, that is, there were fewer troops, the territory was smaller, and the grain and grass were enough.

Li Zicheng made up his mind to carry out changes within the army, some generals with two hearts were either killed, or placed under house arrest, the Ming army surrendered to the army and the veterans of the Dashun army were mixed, and each city commander was a veteran of the Dashun army.

He dared to conclude that there must be a battle between the Hongguang court and the Chongzhen court, and the only thing to do was to beware of the surprise attack of the Qing army, and wait for the Hongguang court and the Dashun army to divide the victory and defeat, that is, the day when the Qing army went south again, he had to hold Shaanxi before this, as well as the northern area of Huguang, to prepare for future wars.

Unlike Li Zicheng, Emperor Hongguang in Yingtianfu entrusted all state affairs to Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng and others, eating, drinking and having fun all day long, drafting girls, and building palaces.

Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng controlled Chaogang, and after Shi Kefa crossed the river, the two actually asked the troops to withdraw from the river, on the grounds that the soldiers and horses of Zuo Liangyu in the Huguang area were ready to move, and there were only Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo near Yingtianfu, and these two soldiers and horses were also left over by the Dashun army, and their combat effectiveness was that they were rogue in the coat of the official army.

Zuo Liangyu was very dissatisfied with Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng and others above the imperial court, he sat on dozens of prefectures and counties in Huguang, and commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, he thought that the Hongguang Imperial Court should have his place, but he was excluded from the imperial court, how could he swallow this breath?

In 1645, after the New Year's Day, Zuo Liangyu finally sent troops, the army went down the river, the target was directed at Ying Tianfu, in the face of the menacing Zuo Liangyu, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing retreated to Yangzhou, and confronted Zuo Liangyu near Yangzhou, the two armies fought for dozens of days, Zuo Liangyu lost his troops and lost his generals, and still did not break through Yangzhou.

Not only did he not break through Yangzhou, Zuo Liangyu's troops left behind in the Huguang area were defeated by the Bai Wang Department of the Dashun Army, Zuo Liangyu could not attack Yangzhou forward, and the rear was prepared for a sneak attack by the Dashun Army, and he couldn't afford to fall ill in an emergency.

His son Zuo Mengeng was forced to lead the troops to withdraw to Huguang, as soon as he retreated, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing went out of the city to pursue, killing the left army and defeating it, and after Zuo Liangyu withdrew to Huguang, there were tens of thousands of soldiers and horses left in the south, and the rest of the soldiers and horses were either killed or surrendered to Erliu.

After Zuo Liangyu returned to Wuchang, he commanded the battle while sick, barely stabilized the defense line in the central part of Huguang, but he was also more sick, and finally couldn't afford to get sick, and gave the army to Zuo Mengeng.