Shenyang Imperial Palace, Chongzheng Palace.

The 7-year-old Emperor Shunzhi sat on the dragon chair.

The eight kings of Dolgon, Daishan, Hauge, and Duoduo sat on both sides of the main hall.

Sitting next to Emperor Shunzhi was Bumu Butai, and she asked softly: "Regent, is the news reliable?" ”

Dolgon said: "Back to the Queen Mother, except for the letter from Wu Sangui asking for help a few days ago, this news has been confirmed from many sources. ”

Hauge said loudly: "In this case, the minister asked for an order to bring 60,000 troops into the customs." It can ensure that I have no worries about food and clothing for ten years in the Qing Dynasty. ”

"Prince Su's little family is angry." Dorgon stood up, "Now that Chongzhen is dead, the battle plan we made last month should all be adjusted. ”

It turned out that at the beginning of March, Jianyu had already decided to go south again.

"Oh? What does the regent mean that after adjusting the plan, he can grab 100 years of wealth? Hauge snapped.

"This king said, Prince Su is angry. At this moment, it is a good opportunity for me to enter the Central Plains! Dolgon said aloud.

As soon as these words came out, the hall was silent.

Occupying the Central Plains has been a long-cherished wish of the Jurchens for many years, and last month, Dolgon also said that it was too early to take over the Central Plains, and he didn't want to change his mind directly.

Bumu Butai leaned forward and asked, "How sure are you?" ”

"Back to the Queen Mother, the minister is eighty percent sure. If Wu Sangui agrees to be the king of Pingxi of the Qing Dynasty, the minister is 100% sure. Dolgon's tone was firm.

"And who leads the troops?" Hauge asked, in a grim tone.

Hauge was the eldest son of Huang Taiji, who was unable to ascend the throne due to Dorgon's obstruction, and hated this regent very much. The tone is naturally cold.

Dolgon glanced at Haug with disdain and said, "Naturally, this king is in command. ”

"How many people do you need?" Haug asked again.

"Still according to the original plan, all strong men over 10 years old and under 70 in the country will be recruited to get 120,000 troops. 40,000 stay, 80,000 on the march! Dorgon looked directly at Hauge.

"The regent boasted of such a Haikou and raised the strength of the whole country to march south, the risk is extremely high, and he dares to make a military order!" Haug stood up and stared at Dolgon.

Duoduo was extremely annoyed, and jumped up directly, "Prince Su, you are too presumptuous!" ”

Dolgon raised his hand to stop Duoduo, "Why don't you dare, as long as our army works together and the government is clear, at this good opportunity, what is the difficulty of entering the Central Plains!" ”

Immediately, in the presence of the bannermen, princes, and county kings, Dorgon issued a military order, and after the dispersal, Hauge laughed twice and walked away.

"Brother, how can you be provoked by Hauge, what kind of military order did you set up!" Duoduo was very angry.

On weekdays, Dorgon never took the brave and unscrupulous Haug in his eyes, and he didn't want to be provoked by it today, which made his brother Dordor puzzled.

"Hmph, Hauge thought he had dug a pit for me, but he didn't know he was in the fire pit. In the future, if he does not obey my commands, this king will ask for his head at any time! Dorgon said harshly.

After hearing this, Duoduo was like an initiation, and his mood suddenly improved.

……

Shanhaiguan.

Chongzhen stood in the hidden place of the city wall, looking out to the east.

There is fertile land there, and there are even more confidants of the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Sangui knelt behind him, holding a letter in both hands.

Wang Chengen took the letterhead and presented it to Chongzhen.

Zhu Youjian glanced at ten lines and said slowly: "Flat." ”

"Thank you." Wu Sangui thought twice before writing this letter and handing it to Chongzhen.

If Chongzhen showed this letter in public, Wu Sangui would be ruined and would die with no place to bury.

"It's very well written, let's send it to someone." Zhu Youjian said.

Wu Sangui took the letter, rolled it up in front of Chongzhen, stuffed it into a bamboo tube, waxed it, and threw it down the city wall.

After a while, a figure burst out of the root of the wall, picked up the bamboo tube, looked around, and after ensuring safety, he went east.

Zhu Youjian saw it clearly, turned around and said to Wu Sangui: "It's quite hidden." ”

After doing this, Zhu Youjian took Wu Sangui back to the conference hall, Li Yutian and the others were already waiting, and when they saw Wu Sangui following Chongzhen, their eyes were a little hot.

"Holy Lord, the document of scolding the thief has been passed out!" Li Yutian Road.

"It's a good job, you can't just go to the official post, but also send henchmen to post it all over Gyeonggi!" Zhu Youjian said sharply.

Li Yutian shrank his neck when he heard this, this is to provoke Li Zicheng, when his army comes to conquest, I don't know how to deal with the 50,000 people in Shanhaiguan without any support.

Could it be that the emperor has other reinforcements?

Li Yutian was secretly thinking about it, when he saw Chongzhen take out the holy decree and order someone to transfer all the defenders of the Great Wall in Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places to the front line of Shanhaiguan.

"Holy." Li Yutian said, "Most of the defenders in the western section of the Great Wall have defected to the thieves and have left the garrison, and there may be less than 5,000 troops at present. ”

"Yes, I do." Zhu Youjian didn't say much, just instructed some arrangements for the training of the troops, and left.

The Guanning Iron Cavalry changed the previous training form and focused on practicing the offensive and defensive methods of three-person team cooperation.

In the days that followed, Zhu Youjian had no other military arrangements other than to send 2,000 men into the Yanshan Mountains.

He just walked around the barracks every day and met almost every soldier.

Zhu Youjian didn't put on an emperor's stand at all, often chatted with the soldiers, and occasionally fought with the soldiers.

Within two days, the news of the emperor's extraordinary skills spread, which continued to push Chongzhen's status in the hearts of the soldiers.

Just last night, Zhu Youjian even held a party, and the emperor didn't want anything like that. Not only did a few general soldiers look at it, but even Fan Jingwen and the four of them also had a lot of complaints.

But Zhu Youjian still goes his own way.

On this day, there were two generals walking side by side on the city wall.

"General Gao, the big battle is imminent, you said that the saint only cares about training his so-called individual combat strength, and does not mention the matter of strengthening the garrison of the city wall, this is not ...... It's not ......" Li Yutian had something in his heart, but he didn't dare to continue.

Gaudi stroked his beard and did not speak.

Seeing this, Li Yutian sighed deeply and continued:

"I don't know that this Ping Xibo Wu Sangui has been following the saint all day long recently, and it can be said that he is inseparable. Such a conspicuous mistake, he didn't mention it? ”

Gao Si glanced down, leaned to Li Yutian's ear and said: "The saint doesn't know the soldiers, he Pingxi Bo has been in the army all his life, can he still not know?" I'm afraid this is his intentional guidance...... It's for ......"

"What do you mean?" Li Yutian was taken aback, "Could it be ......?"

"Zu Dashou and Zu Dale are his uncles, and Wu Sanfeng is his own brother, and they all hold important positions in Jianyu......" Gao Di stopped and stopped talking.

Li Yutian's face was embarrassed: "I'm afraid this battle is inevitable, you and I had better plan early." ”

At the same time, in the palace, Niu Jinxing, Li Yan and others were reporting to Li Zicheng on the preparations for the enthronement ceremony.

Li Zicheng was very satisfied, and praised again and again, and suddenly Li Yan walked over and presented Li Zicheng with a notebook.

Li Zicheng saw the sudden change in his face and handed the song to Niu Jinxing.

Niu Jinxing instinctively felt that something big had happened, and after reading it at a glance, he was taken aback, read it carefully, and said in a deep voice:

"Wu Sangui is crazy? Father and son don't want both, and neither does the father's family? Openly insulting Your Majesty? Do you want to avenge Chongzhen? ”

Li Yan said: "Things may change! Wu Sangui handed over the surrender table ten days ago, and now that he is rebellious, he must hold it. ”

"Shanhaiguan is a corner of the land, there is no grain and grass inside, and there are no reinforcements outside, what can you hold. Even if he seized the grain and grass that Tang Tong brought, how many days would he be able to support it? Niu Jinxing said disdainfully.

Niu Jinxing and Li Yan are both strategists under Li Zicheng, but Li Yan can be civil and martial, and Niu Jinxing, who is the first strategist, is very jealous.

So the two often scolded each other.

"Otherwise, in case Wu Sangui and others contact the Jiangnan forces, or hide Chongzhen, or even collude with the Jianzhou Jurchen clan!" Li Yan's eyes were like torches.

Li Zicheng laughed, "Shanhaiguan is thousands of miles away from the south of the Yangtze River, and there can be no contact. In addition, Chongzhen is dead, don't talk nonsense, even if he really makes a fake, it won't become a climate. ”

"Besides, the Jianzhou Jurchens, just a group of savages, don't worry.

What's more, over the years, the two of us have taken care of each other, fought together, and there is no enmity, and it is even more impossible for them to help the Ming Court! ”

"But ......," Li Yanqian continued to discuss.

Li Zicheng waved his hand to stop it, only to hear him say: "Quickly transfer 100,000 soldiers and horses, I want to personally conquer Shanhaiguan!" ”

……

Nanking.

Shi Kefa, the secretary of the military department, knew that the city of Beijing was broken half a month ago. I was always uneasy.

Three days ago, I received a secret report that Emperor Chongzhen had escaped from Beijing and went south by sea, and the prince and others also came to Nanjing from the trail.

He immediately sent the good news to the yamen.

The cadres of the six departments and three divisions of Nanjing were all overjoyed, and immediately sent people to prepare materials, and notified the civil officials and general soldiers in various parts of the south of the Yangtze River, and ordered them to go to Nanjing to pick up the driver.

Who would have thought that only a day later, the news of Chongzhen's burning came again.

Immediately afterwards, it was rumored that the prince was also captured by the thieves, and all kinds of news in Nanjing City were flying all over the sky.

This morning, I heard that Wei Shaocheng, a former university scholar, had escaped all the way from Beijing to here, so he hurriedly sent someone to find it.

The officials who heard the news came to Judge Shi Ke's residence one after another.

In the yamen of the military department, dozens of civil and military personnel in Nanjing were unexpectedly gathered.

Wei Shaocheng received Shi Kefa's letter, hurried over, and was very stunned when he saw a group of people standing up and staring at him.

"Lord Wei, where is the emperor now?" Shi Kefa was anxious and asked in a trembling voice.

Wei Shaocheng didn't know if he was moved by his true feelings, or if he had been in a panic for the past few days, and his eyes turned red instantly.

muttered: "The emperor and the queen are already in Kunning Palace...... ...... in flames Amazing ......."

As soon as these words came out, the ministers present thundered like five thunders, and the wails in the yamen of the military department shook the sky, and it lasted for a whole day.

No one noticed that in the midst of the crying, there were many small servants riding away.

Inside a spacious study.

Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu, looked at the letter sent by Qian Qianyi, looked at the Nanjing Palace from afar, and whispered to a person beside him, "Quickly contact Shi Kefa, Zhang Shenyan, Lu Daqi and other adults." ”

Inside another large hall.

Tang King Zhu Yousong looked at Ma Shiying, who was kneeling in front of him, and asked, "I don't know if General Ma has informed Shi Du?" ”

Ma Shiying took out a letter from his bosom and presented it.

Zhu Yousong was furious when he saw it, and raised his hand to overturn the tea table next to him.

It turned out that this was a secret letter written by Shi Kefa to Ma Shiying. In the book, the Tang King was greedy, extravagant, lewd, unfilial, and abused his subordinates, and the seven sins of Zhu Yousong were degraded for nothing from the level of character.

He also made it clear that he wanted to support King Lu as the new emperor.

Seeing that Zhu Youxiang was angry, Ma Shiying was secretly happy in her heart, and said: "Your Highness doesn't need to be angry, the minister has already contacted Han Zanzhou, the eunuch of the Nanjing garrison, and others, and Nanjing is also ready." ”

"Huh?"

"The minister will escort His Royal Highness into Nanjing today, and the status of the monarch and minister will be decided, and King Lu and King Hui will never dare to make a mistake. And His Royal Highness has this secret letter in his hand, which is equivalent to grabbing the lifeline around Shi Kefa's neck, and he is not afraid that he will not obey. ”

Zhu Yousong's eyes lit up, and he said loudly: "This king is thinking about recruiting five people into the cabinet, there are currently three candidates, can Mr. Ma help this king find two people?" ”

Ma Shiying was overjoyed when he heard this: "The minister must recommend it impartially." ”

Zhu Yousong only took out two cabinet seats for Ma Shiying, one was to make a wish for the official, and the other was to leave a back hand to prevent himself from being vacated by warlords in the future.

After all, the soldiers and horses in the hands of Ma Shiying and Huang Degong are very considerable, and if they are used well, they are sharp swords, and if they are not used well, they are guillotines.

He wrote two words in his hand, handed it to Ma Shiying, and said, "Ma Qing will send it to Nanjing." ”

Ma Shiying took a look at it and saw the word "Hongguang" written on it.

"Obey."

The first emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty in history, Emperor Hongguang, officially embarked on his journey as emperor at this moment!