In order to show that he was bent on saving the car, Zhu Shuren didn't want to fight those small units of the Shun army along the way.

However, the trees want to be quiet and the wind does not stop, which does not mean that Li Zicheng will let him go north quickly.

Li Zicheng has always paid attention to this important opponent and wants to delay the other party to obstruct his beheading operation. If Chongzhen is not held hostage in the end, Li Zicheng will have to finish everything, and it will be difficult to even return to his hometown, and it is very likely that he will be caught by the officials and soldiers on the Hebei Plain, which has no danger to defend.

Therefore, every move of the Zhu Shuren Army has long been reported by the Shun army scouts in time.

Zhu Shuren bypassed Shangqiu from Bozhou County, Fengyang Prefecture to the north, and the Shun army defenders in Shangqiu City actually got Li Zicheng's order, and after the main force of Zhu Shuren's front army passed, they went out of the city to harass and try to cut off Zhu Shuren's grain route.

Because of the sneak attack, the invading army still succeeded in burning hundreds of truckloads of grain and grass, and also caused some other material losses.

Zhu Shuren got this excuse, where could he hold back?

Of course, he told the generals that "if you don't destroy the Shangqiu thieves, our army's food route is unstable, and the rescue troops may also fall into a crisis halfway."

Then, the Zhu Shuren army not only inflicted heavy losses on the Shun army that attacked and harassed the grain-burning army in the field counterattack, but also returned to the counterattack, and took the ruined Shangqiu in five or six days.

The defenders in Shangqiu City are just a lieutenant under Liu Fangliang, a total of thousands of people, and the city defense facilities in Shangqiu have just been breached once two months ago, and they are almost completely destroyed and have no manpower to repair them.

Zhu Shuren's troops have Hongyi artillery to bombard the city, and it is only natural to take it in five days.

Because this Shun army was obstructing the rescue, the crime was unforgivable, and they did not surrender voluntarily before the city gate and wall were breached.

Zhu Shuren also needs to be powerful, and after breaking the city, of course, they will not allow the enemy to surrender again because they are afraid of death in street battles. Even if some of the troops accepted the surrender, after the battle, Zhu Shuren directly beheaded all the thieves who had laid down their arms alive and about 2,000 people.

Some civilian officials felt that the killing of prisoners was unknown, but the number was small, and this unit took the initiative to go out of the city to cut off the grain route and obstruct the rescue, so no one dared to speak.

Killing once like this can also deter the Shun army in other cities along the way in the future, so that they dare not move. At the same time, it also further strengthened the loyalty of the national surname in the minds of the people of the world:

Look, how generous and benevolent the surname of the country is in peacetime, how can he kill all the thieves who were besieged and defeated? This time, these people were really not long-sighted, and they actually obstructed the rescue, and they were completely destroyed by the thunder method!

Shangqiu delayed like this, and Zhu Shuren only passed through Guide Mansion on the 26th of the lunar month, and six days later, on the second day of the first month of the 17th year of Chongzhen, he passed through most areas of Yanzhou Mansion in Shandong.

The troops did not even rest for the New Year, but on Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year, they walked a little less, and only marched 40 miles a day. After the second day of the Lunar New Year, it accelerated to at least sixty or seventy miles a day.

Even if it is a speed of forty miles a day, it is acceptable in ancient times - before the Chenqiao Mutiny, when Zhao Kuangyin left Kaifeng, it was forty miles a day. Obviously, I knew that I would have to come back tomorrow, and if I walked too far, it would be troublesome the next day, so I would only walk forty miles, in order to get a passing line, and not to be honest.

Zhao Kuangyin still sent troops to walk 40 miles on the third day of the new year, and Zhu Shuren walked 40 miles on Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year.

After passing through most of Yanzhou Prefecture, a new problem was put in front of Zhu Shuren: to cross the Jishui and Qingshui (Daqing River) and continue north, there must be enough boats!

Jishui and Daqing River are actually the old ways before the Yellow River was diverted to take Huai into the sea. After the main stream of the Yellow River moves southward, the local precipitation on the North China Plain will still converge into a river that needs a cathartic outlet.

However, the water source of Jishui mainly depends on a small part of Shandong and Henan and Hebei, and the amount of water is not large, and the width and depth are only about one-fifth of the original main stream of the Yellow River.

And Zhu Shuren went north by detour, not by water, and this area was not directly connected to his own Huguang Defense Area, where could he get enough boats?

In fact, if Zhu Shuren wants to do it, of course he can do it, the Shen family is engaged in shipping, and he also undertook the imperial court's transportation to change to sea.

At the beginning of the Cao Yun to the sea, there were no less than 200 large sand ships in the Shen family, and in the past four or five years, the average annual growth rate was about 15 percent, and new ships were constantly built with the imperial court's Cao Yun funds. Now there are more than 800 large sand ships in the sea, and if Chongzhen's seventeen-year shipbuilding plan can still be implemented, thousands of them can be done in the end.

However, the layman was unprofessional, and the Shen family said that "it is not safe for small sand boats to go north along the coast, and large sand boats cannot enter the upper reaches of Jishui", and outsiders cannot find fault with it, so they must let the local generals and civil officials in Shandong be responsible for raising small boats to transport troops on the spot.

This responsibility, of course, falls on the head of Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong, who was already reprimanded by Chongzhen before Beijing was besieged!

When Liu Zeqing was crossing the border with the Shun army, he did not dare to intercept the battle and set up thieves to cross the border, and Chongzhen wanted to severely punish him at that time. Later, it was also found out that Zhou Yanru, the first assistant, received 40,000 taels of gold from him, helped him keep his position as the chief soldier of Shandong for a long time, and held the power to copy the customs of the Grand Canal.

These crimes are placed on Liu Zeqing's head, if Chongzhen can survive and free up his hands to liquidate in the future, he will definitely give Liu Zeqing a felony!

Now, he has added a sentence to his charge: "When other friendly forces were ordered to rescue and transit through Shandong, his troops were unable to provide ferries in time to cross the Yellow River."

Cowardice to avoid the enemy, bribe the first assistant, and delay the rescue of friendly troops when it is unfavorable...... How many heads does Liu Zeqing have enough to cut?

Liu Zeqing's mood was extremely complicated, and his fear was probably second only to Zuo Liangyu, but he had to help raise a warship.

And in order to prove his wholeheartedness, Zhu Shuren also confirmed that Liu Zeqing could not quickly come up with enough ships, so he sent a messenger to return to the rear of Jiangnan, and ordered Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen, the chief soldier of the sea route, to send troops from the sea.

If you can rescue some of the imperial relatives near Gyeonggi and leave a way back, or help the Shanhaiguan officers and soldiers to speed up the return of reinforcements to Tianjin Wei and then enter Beijing, you can adapt to the situation.

It also took three or four days for this order to be conveyed to Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen, and it also took time for the navy to set sail, so even if it was to find the nearest port to set sail, it would take at least half a month to arrive.

And Zhu Shuren did not directly overstep his authority in the early stage to ask the navy to rescue Beijing, which cannot be blamed on him, because the authority of the navy is indeed not in his hands.

The Haidao General Soldier was the sea route guard under the command of his father, Shen Tingyang, the head of the Nanjing household department. Even if it is a father and son, the authority in the officialdom must be clearly distinguished.

As for the naval power owned by the Zheng Chenggong family, it has nothing to do with Zhu Shuren in law, and Zhu Shuren can ask them for help, which is a favor, even if you don't move, it should be.

Previously, Zhu Shuren's own main force was still too far away from the North China battlefield, and if Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Ming were allowed to shake their hands in advance at that time, then with the strength of Zheng and Zhang, they would definitely not be able to defeat Li Zicheng when they went ashore, and they would only give it in vain.

If this navy was only allowed to fight in depth at that time, if it still wanted to succeed, unless it was to directly accept Chongzhen's evacuation from Beijing and flee south by sea - but Chongzhen was too resolute, he never mentioned that he wanted to tour south, and none of the courtiers in Beijing at the last moment persuaded him to give up Beijing, and he was embarrassed to take the initiative to open this mouth, so he missed the window period for the order.

Since Chongzhen did not order the officers and soldiers of the sea route to escort him to escape, it is not good for Zhang Mingzhen to take it upon himself to resist the order in advance and hijack the car, right?

……

However, whether it is Liu Zeqing or Zheng Chenggong's fundraising, it will not be used in the end.

Eight days after Zhu Shuren entered the boundary of Yanzhou Mansion, it was the tenth day of the first month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. The troops had just relied on a shortage of boats to cross more than half of the Yellow River in batches, but more bad news came from the north, saying that Li Zicheng had entered the city of Beijing.

For a while, many people said that the city of Beijing must be hopeless, and the city has been broken by the breaking army, even if it is still in chaos for the time being, it is impossible to fight street battles for several days. And the news reached the Shandong territory, it has been two days since the pioneer broke the door, and the ghost knows how much the situation will deteriorate in the past two days?

As for His Majesty's life and death, no one knows at present.

Zhu Shuren's army was shocked overnight, and all the generals and staff needed him to take an idea.

"Your Majesty! It's a step too late! Zhu Shuren first cried bitterly, very sincerely,

Then he was persuaded by Gu Yanwu and asked him to focus on the overall situation, now the situation is still unclear, don't despair first.

Zhu Shuren cleaned up his emotions for a while, and then he made two preparations very persuasively:

"The rear army stopped crossing the river! Lest we lose ground, we don't have enough ships in the first place! Let Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong, and Zhu Wenzhen lead all the cavalry in our army to quickly intersperse with Shuntianfu, and bring the food with them, without thinking about the grain route, and inquire about more accurate news along the way!

If it's just that Beijing has fallen, and His Majesty may still be alive, then for the purpose of saving the driver, I will rescue people and tour Nanjing or Fengyang in the south! If it is confirmed that His Majesty is unlucky, then there is no point, and the army will turn back immediately!

Beijing City should not be able to quickly counterattack and take it back! The city of Beijing is so strong, it didn't even last 20 days to defend the city? Your Majesty, the minister is too late! Danchen has done his best! ”

The generals were also in a heavy mood, each with their own worries, and after sighing for a while, they also obeyed the order.

If His Majesty is really gone, there is obviously something more important to do than to take back the city of Beijing immediately - the world cannot be left without an owner for a day. To discuss the recovery of Beijing, it must also be established that there is a new monarch, and the restoration is under the leadership and order of the new monarch.

If the name is not right, the word will not be good, and if the word is not good, the thing will not be accomplished, and the name of righteousness will always need to be finalized more than force.

……

It no longer matters how Zhu Shuren sent Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong, and Zhu Wenzhen to try to break through to Beijing and confirm the situation with pure cavalry.

The timeline goes back three days, back to the day before the army broke through the inner city of Beijing.

Perhaps because of the butterfly effect, Chongzhen in this life, until the last moment, was still very resolute in his will to resist. After the outer city of Beijing was broken through on the eighth day of the first month, although most of the city of Beijing had entered street fighting, chaos, burning, killing and looting, the inner city could still support a little more.

Chongzhen is not like the same period in history, directly ignoring defense, and only thinking about finding a crooked neck tree to hang.

Instead, he personally patrolled the city, inspected the defense of the inner city, and then summoned a few henchmen of the prison army eunuchs, trying to personally supervise the first army to defend the battle in the name of "royal driving and personal conquest", but in fact, he wanted to take advantage of the fact that the outer city was not completely controlled and tried to break through.

Chongzhen's mentality can change so much, of course, because he sees hope in this life-

It's not that Daming can't completely defeat Li Zicheng, in the south, the country's situation is improving, and he only hates that this improvement came too late! It's too late to spread to the north!

didn't run away before, first, for the sake of face, no minister was willing to put forward this plan.

The second is that he is overconfident in Beijing's city defense, and feels that it is not too risky to hold on for at least a few months, and to hold on to help.

But now it's different, the problem of face, at the last moment of life and death, can be flexibly loosened, it's a big deal to say that the emperor is driving a roundabout counterattack! They all led the troops directly, and they discussed with those civil and military ministers!

He also rang the bell in the bell tower in the Forbidden City, and when he tried to summon the civil and military forces, there was no one to escort him, and it was those civil and military who were disloyal and unjust!

As for the problem of "overconfidence", at this moment, when the outer city is broken, Chongzhen's overconfidence is of course cured without medicine, and he completely recognizes the reality.

It's a pity that if you want to break through, it doesn't mean that you have the ability to break through.

At the last moment, Chongzhen only gathered hundreds of people from Jinyiwei and Dongchang, led by Wang Chengen and Luo Yangxing, changed their clothes, tried to escape from the north gate, turned to the east to see if they could escape to the seaside of Tianjin Wei, or rendezvous with Wu Sangui, who came from the east to support.

Because he had not planned to commit suicide and martyrdom, he certainly would not kill his wife, Empress Zhou, nor would he kill Yuan Guifei, his two daughters, and his widowed sister-in-law, Empress Zhang (the empress of the Emperor of the Apocalypse), these female scrolls were arranged by Chongzhen to get a few simple but sturdy carriages, and let the eunuchs of Dongchang and the Imperial Horse Prison drive, trying to break through with them.

Even his three sons, he chose the three caves of the cunning rabbit, the crown prince Zhu Cihong is already fifteen years old, and he can bear a little fatigue, so he personally took him with him, trying to break through and escape.

Dingwang Zhu Cijiong and Yongwang Zhu Cijiong are still young, only eleven and ten years old respectively, he is like the original historical inertia operation, thrown to the house of the national abbot Zhou Kui, let Zhou Kui hide.

In this way, whether there is an accident on the way to break through, or an accident on the way to hide on the spot, you can still leave another spare tire.

In the same way, the two daughters who were not killed by him were also disposed of by Chongzhen separately, Princess Kunxing was sixteen years old and could be transferred with the prince's younger brother, Princess Zhaoren was only six years old and couldn't be transferred, so she hid with the third and fourth brothers to her grandfather's house (Chongzhen's second son died early, and the two younger sons who survived were ranked third and fourth).

Chongzhen just asked people to give an extra order to the old man: If he is really found out, he can't save it, so he will kill his six-year-old granddaughter to avoid humiliation.

……

Chongzhen made all the arrangements that could be made, and in the middle of the night he crossed the coal mountain and broke through the inner city from the north through Jishuitan (Shichahai).

The street fighting in the outer city is not over yet, and the invading army is still looting wildly.

The Ming soldiers and civilians did not have much will to resist, purely to prevent being robbed and killed, and had to do so for their own interests and safety, and did not dare to lay down their arms for the time being. It is always necessary for Li Zicheng to restrain military discipline before these Ming officials and soldiers dare to completely lay down their arms.

This kind of chaos allowed Chongzhen to be confused for a while, and Jishuitan was the northernmost unloading dock of the ancient Grand Canal, which was connected by the Tonghui River to Tongzhou and Tianjin.

Therefore, after arriving at the pond, you can break through through the Caochuan waterway. There are few rebels in the water gate, and after some chaos, Chongzhen was really mixed out of the city.

However, Chongzhen's good luck ended here, hundreds of people took a boat out of the city, this kind of thing could not be hidden, the thieves did not have time to stop it at that time, but there were also thieves on both sides of the Tonghui River, who witnessed all this and immediately reported it.

But in half an hour, Li Zicheng personally led the elite cavalry of his descendant line and concentrated all his strength to chase after him.

Chongzhen and his entourage first escaped along the Tonghui River for a while, and when they saw the dust behind them, Chongzhen also knew that they were discovered, and they thought that the boat was slow, so they immediately abandoned the boat and went ashore, unloaded the horses and carriages, and galloped wildly.

After escaping for dozens of miles, after all, because these Jinyi Wei and Dongchang people were not skilled in martial arts and were not fast, Chongzhen himself was not used to riding horses, so he could only take a carriage, and he was still caught up by Li Zicheng's cavalry outside Tongzhou City, surrounded by regiments.

"Those who descend will not be killed! Hurry up and put down your weapons! ”

Of course, Chongzhen refused to surrender, and a bloody battle broke out between the two sides, and the last few hundred brocade guards and eunuchs were soon killed more than 100 people, and the rest saw that the general trend had gone, and they surrendered while fighting.

"I am the son of tomorrow! Who dares to kill me! Chongzhen was full of unwillingness, and personally stood on the carriage brandishing his sword, waving left and right, but he also killed two or three thieves in his blindness.

Those dead were not weak in martial arts, but they were also unprepared for a while, they didn't expect the emperor to fight in person, and they wanted to capture him alive, but they were suddenly killed by Chongzhen. After all, the people next to him were intimidated by the emperor's prestige, and stared at him curiously and nervously, and did not dare to step forward for a while.

Even if he has killed officials and rebelled, and has lived a life of licking blood for many years, the identity of the emperor is still very sacred and mysterious in the eyes of ordinary soldiers in ancient times.

Li Zicheng, who was in the distance, was overjoyed when he heard the movement here: The emperor is really here!

He hurriedly stepped forward with one eye on his head, and stepped forward in a strange shape, surrounded by elite guards on the left and right: "Lonely is Li Zicheng, the king of Dashun!" Chongzhen, are you convinced now! Two months ago, Lone returned the book to you, as long as you admit that I am in the northwest of Dashun Yongzhen and do not offend each other, Lone will continue to recognize you as Zhengshuo, and it is okay!

You have to kill more than 100,000 soldiers to have today's end! If you are willing to surrender now, Lone can still spare your life, as long as you give an order to let the Zhu Shuren not be allowed to invade the north! ”

"Daydreaming! Thief! You are a dog-like thing, and you deserve to be called a lonely person? I will guard the country tomorrow, and the king will die. I will die today, and within ten months, Zhu Aiqing will definitely kill you to avenge me! Expect me to be as spineless and delusional as Emperor Yingzong! ”

Let's try it soon, everyone. 】

Chongzhen was covered in blood (other people's blood) and scolded with his sword.

Li Zicheng was furious and wanted to surrender, but Song Xiance next to him was panting and secretly said, "King! The matter has come to this point, this is a complete tear of the face, counting on controlling Chongzhen to balance Zhu Shuren and let him, I am afraid it will be difficult to control.

Fortunately, their group has been surrounded by our legion, what will happen here in the future, how will outsiders know? Why don't you take the chance...... Then he only claimed that Chongzhen committed suicide, and then let's choose a cowardly young son of Chongzhen to coerce Zhu Shuren, and it is okay! ”

Li Zicheng raised his eyebrows, thinking that this method was good.

In fact, in history, he also left Chongzhen's crown prince Zhu Cihong, and when he went to Shanhaiguan to fight with Wu Sangui, he also took it with him, trying to use Zhu Cihong's name to trick Wu Sangui into giving up resistance.

It's just that Wu Sangui had already joined forces with the Tartars at that time, and a kidnapped Chongzhen son was useless at all.

But today's Zhu Shuren is different, Zhu Shuren is in the south, it is impossible to take refuge in the Tartars, he needs to set up a new lord to define the name of righteousness.

Leaving a cowardly son who is a minor in Chongzhen is not better controlled than Chongzhen's tendons?

Li Zicheng's eyes flashed with a hint of fierceness, and he ordered Liu Zongmin beside him: "Go, capture Chongzhen alive, if you are afraid that he will resist, it is okay to knock out and capture alive."

Then take everyone down, and ask where the sons of Chongzhen are. If all the sons are there, then they can't be killed indiscriminately, and if there are still sons who are not there, then they will be detained first and placed under secret house arrest, and when they find the other sons, they can kill those under house arrest today! If you can't find the other sons, you'll have to use what you caught today. ”

Li Zicheng has already figured it out, among the hundreds of people present today, if there is Chongzhen's son, then the other party will witness the death of his father, and it will be difficult to control it in the future, at least there is a risk of leakage.

But if Chongzhen's son is not here, and he can find it in the future, things will be much easier to do - as long as the moment he finds Chongzhen's other sons, he can wipe out all the imperial relatives and eunuchs present today, and there is no proof of death.

When the time came, it was announced that Chongzhen was martyred before the city was broken, and the prince was convinced that Dashun surrendered voluntarily, and no one could find counter-evidence.

After Liu Zongmin received the order, he didn't say a word, and rode his horse to Chongzhen with a mace.

"What a nameless thief! I am the son of tomorrow! Who dares to kill me! Uh-a-ah......"

When Liu Zongmin took Chongzhen directly with a mace, Chongzhen wielded a sword to resist, he didn't know martial arts, he didn't know how to defend, he just stabbed the opponent's vital point.

Because Chongzhen has never thought about the need for "defense" in his life, as the emperor, only he wants to kill, how can anyone dare to resist? And those who know a little bit about martial arts, at this time, they must dodge and block, and they will judge that "when I haven't stabbed Liu Zongmin, Liu Zongmin's mace can already kill me first."

Liu Zongmin was originally full of anticipation that the other party would block, and then he could change his move to knock the opponent's weapon into the air and then smash it unconscious, who knew that Chongzhen would be stunned and stunned to exchange his life, if Liu Zongmin stopped, he would be stabbed by Chongzhen.

Liu Zongmin was immediately enraged, his brain was hot, and he didn't have time to change his moves, the mace was strengthened, and he directly covered his face with a "poof", smashing Chongzhen's head like a watermelon.

Chongzhen's body fell straight down, and there was no eye to see—his two eyeballs had already splashed out long way when his head was smashed.

Li Zicheng frowned, but he didn't blame Liu Zongmin too much: "How did you do it?" That's it, kill all these eunuchs and brocade guards! Only said to the outside world that Chongzhen committed suicide and martyred the country! ”