At dawn the next day, somewhere on the bank of the Wuqing River in Tianjin.

Wuqing River is the artificially widened section of the canal channel that turns to the south after the Tonghui River passes through Tongzhou and Xianghe County.

After reaching the Tianjin Acropolis in the south, the river flows into the Wei River all the way to the mouth of Dagu and flows into the Bohai Sea.

Zhang Yan didn't know how long she had dreamed, and she once felt that her soul was wandering, and she was about to see the first emperor, and she was unconscious, but in the end, she was awakened by bursts of soreness and vomiting, and instinctively squirted out a few mouthfuls of water.

After being drowsy for a long time, she barely remembered that the carriage in which they were riding was stabbed by her with a sword, and she jumped into the river in pain, and the car was washed away by the river.

The Tonghui River is still a natural river, there is a certain drop, and the water flow speed is okay. After passing through Xianghe County and turning into the Wuqing River in Tianjin, it can be regarded as a complete artificial canal section, the river surface lacks a drop, the flow speed is slow, and the wreckage of their carriage is stranded on the shore that they washed all the way to - of course, at this moment, Zhang Yan does not know all this, this has to be known by those who have opened the eyes of the sky.

Realizing that she was not dead, Zhang Yan immediately came up with a thought, while desperately vomiting, trying to make herself completely sober, and then began to check the wreckage of the crashed carriage, and whether there were any companions who were lucky not to die.

She first found her unconscious niece Princess Kunxing, but she didn't care about her life and death, so she threw it aside and looked for Queen Zhou.

It was easy to drag the sour body and find Queen Zhou, who had already been rushed quite far, at least dozens of steps away from the car's destruction. Zhang Yan tried the other party's snort, and tried her best to pinch it a few times, she didn't know much about first aid, and soon she was exhausted, so she had to give up.

Queen Zhou has drowned, she does not know how to be watery, after the stone fell into the water with the car, she swallowed a lot of river water in a few minutes, and her lungs were flooded too much, and after a small middle of the night, she was naturally unlucky.

Since ancient times, if a person who has drowned has sucked in a lot of water and floated again, he is properly dead, even if the stone in his hand has been lost after losing consciousness, it is useless.

If you want to survive, you generally have to rely on great perseverance to hold your breath and faint when you fall into the water, and then float back to the surface naturally within a quarter of an hour after falling into the water, without inhaling too much river water into your lungs. It is possible for a person to float naturally on the surface of the water without struggling and without inhaling too much water.

This is most likely the case of sailors who fall unconscious and washed ashore and finally wake up.

Zhang Yan saw that Queen Zhou was dead, and she was also sad that the rabbit died and the fox died, and she felt quite guilty: this way to keep her innocence was thought up by her.

In the end, she survived because of her fortitude and determination, and her fate was good. Queen Zhou was inevitably killed due to poor water quality and panic.

If he can live alone in the world in the future, how can he have the face to see his brother-in-law and younger siblings when he goes underground a hundred years later? Can she tell Chongzhen: I didn't die myself, I didn't come down to accompany the first emperor, but I instigated my younger brothers and sisters to come down to accompany you first?

In a panic, Zhang Yan suddenly remembered a thing: the life and death of her nephew Kunxing Princess Zhu Jiao, she hadn't checked yet, at this moment, out of guilt for the death of Queen Zhou, she relieved herself a few times, and then hurriedly crawled over to check it.

After trying her snort, Zhang Yan had a glimmer of hope: Zhu Jiao is still angry! She was supposed to have fallen into a coma when she fell into the water, so she didn't struggle, she didn't inhale too much water, and the stone tied to her belt should have broken when the carriage hit the bank of the riverbed, and floated some distance before coming to the surface.

Zhang Yan hurriedly rescued her, but Zhu Jiao's life should not be extinguished, and she was rescued by the queen's aunt who was not diligent and couldn't do any housework, and she also woke up faintly with a faint breath, and choked out some water by herself.

"Imperial Aunt? Where is this? Father's ...... Well, what about the queen mother? When Zhu Jiao mentioned the word father, her expression couldn't help but be sad,

She was fascinated by Huhu and recalled that the last scene she saw before she was stunned was her father's head, which was directly smashed by the fierce thief with a mace. Zhu Jiao, who has never seen the world since he was a child and has never been bloody, how can he withstand this kind of psychological shock? Of course, I was directly stunned.

Zhang Yan was asked like this, and sighed secretly: "Aunt is sorry for you, your mother has been martyred, in order to prevent humiliation, we all committed suicide by throwing ourselves into the river......"

Then she concisely explained the cause and effect, and did not repeat it. Zhu Jiao was shocked for a long time before accepting so many drastic changes, and a moment of sadness came from it.

Zhang Yan encouraged her, saying that now is not the time to be sad, she should quickly figure out where this is, and try to escape as far as she can.

They searched briefly again, but did not find other royal relatives and daughters alive, only found an unconscious palace maid, and asked the palace maid to help carry the body of Queen Zhou, trying to transfer, thinking that one day burial. It's a pity that the palace maid is as weak and weak, and she can't carry half a mile on her back, so she can only drop it, and casually dig a pit to bury Queen Zhou hastily, Zhang Yan just made a little mark, and tried to come back and find it one day.

After all this, the sky was already slightly bright, Zhang Yan relied on looking at the direction of the rising sun to identify which side was the east, and the group only dared to find as tattered palace maid clothes as possible to put on the outside, and walked along the canal in a roughly southeastern direction.

When you see a crowd, you have to dodge, and try to smear river mud on your face to avoid exposing your face and being coveted.

A group of female streamers were already frail, and they had to be afraid when they went out day and night, and they only walked thirty miles lightly after hiding and stopping for a whole day, and Zhu Jiao was already tired and paralyzed and couldn't stand up, and she was still hungry and thirsty.

As pampered queens and princesses, they don't dare to drink the raw water in the canal directly like the homeless people for the time being, and when night falls again, a few people who are too tired can only find a straw stack to shelter in the deserted village by the canal where the people have long escaped.

After two whole days of starvation, just when they felt that they had to die in the end, there was finally a chaotic movement outside.

This day was the twelfth day of the first lunar month, and it was also the early morning of the fourth day after the city of Beijing was broken.

Zhang Yan and Zhu Jiao, who had not eaten a grain of rice since the day after the city was broken, heard the sound of cavalry galloping outside the deserted village, and trembled with fright, and did not dare to move at all.

After a long time of soldiers and horses, Zhang Yan asked the surviving palace maid who looked safe, painted her face with black mud, and went out to investigate, but she came back after a long time and still found nothing - the people nearby had almost fled, and there was no woman to be found. And no matter how ugly the palace maid is, she doesn't dare to talk to the man to investigate, lest this soldier is in chaos, and the other party will not choose to eat, but will invite trouble.

Zhang Yan had no choice but to continue to dodge and wait for the opportunity.

They also missed the opportunity, and they had no way of knowing that the rogue cavalry that passed in the morning was actually the 20,000 elite iron cavalry sent south to meet Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong and Zhu Wenzhen sent by Zhu Shuren.

……

Zhu Shuren learned about the latest situation in Beijing only two days after Beijing was breached, and more than a day after Chongzhen was killed, and sent Cao Bianjiao and others to the north to investigate.

Now another two days have passed, and the cavalry of the Zhu Shuren has arrived at the junction of Hejian Mansion and Shuntian Mansion, about the time between Tianjin Wei and Baoding Mansion. And Li Ziren himself has returned to Beijing, he doesn't want to have a hard battle with Zhu Shuren's army immediately, so he divided the cavalry to go south to spread the news of Chongzhen's "suicide and martyrdom", hoping that Zhu Shuren will not go into the army alone in vain.

Otherwise, the main force of Zhu Shuren is still in the Linqing and Qinghe areas, and only 20,000 cavalry are alone in the depths, if they are really surrounded by hundreds of thousands of main forces of the invading army, these 20,000 cavalry are elite and good at fighting, and in the face of more than ten times the enemy, it is inevitable that they will suffer heavy casualties.

Li Zicheng believed that Zhu Shuren just wanted to save Chongzhen, not to fight him alone. As long as Zhu Shuren sees that there is no point in marching north immediately, he should know the difficulty and retreat.

Even Song Xiance maliciously speculated in private, and said to Li Zicheng: Zhu Shuren may just want to put on a loyal appearance to save Chongzhen with all his might.

As for whether he really wants to rescue Chongzhen, Song Xiance is not optimistic at all. But Li Zicheng didn't dare to completely trust Song Xiance's judgment, and he was still not as open as Song Xiance in terms of maliciously speculating on the enemy's lower limit.

Both sides had their own thoughts, and this cavalry contact battle near Baoding ended hastily in a way that was close to farce. The two sides only engaged in a short and fierce battle, and then the army spread all kinds of propaganda that Chongzhen had committed suicide and martyrdom, and hit the morale of the rescue officers.

Among the generals of the official army, Cao Bianjiao has the most experience in fighting with thieves, and he has also fought with Tartars in Liaodong for many years, and his temper is also the most hot. But since Hong Chengchou defected to the enemy and Cao Bianjiao was rescued by Zhu Shuren, he has also reined in, and he has an account in his heart, knowing that the interests of the small group surnamed Guo should be the most important. heard that Chongzhen was dead, so he didn't insist too much on fighting to the death.

In contrast, it was Huang Degong who was the most fearless, and when he heard that the emperor was dead, he just became more and more angry, clamoring to kill all these king-killing thieves. In the end, it was Zhu Wenzhen, the most confidant under Zhu Shuren, who grabbed him and persuaded him like this:

"General Huang must not be reckless! The Governor has told us that this time we are not desperate to fight the thieves, but to try to save the driver! Since the driving can't be saved, it's better to think long-term! Our army is now underarmed, and the rear army has not kept up. There is nowhere to raise food for a long time in the Chidi of Hebei, so it is better to slowly figure it out! ”

Huang Degong's eyes were split: "As a minister, the monarch's father was killed without revenge, and he was in vain!" Although the thieves are powerful, how many soldiers and horses can this thief army have in front of them? Can he still twist hundreds of thousands of people into a rope? Since you hit it, take the opportunity to destroy one of them, and it's okay if it hurts! ”

Zhu Wenzhen pulled again: "Have you forgotten that before leaving, the Governor Governor's deduction and analysis?" Now that the capital has been completely washed, the north will inevitably be shaken, and it will not be able to recover overnight! Wu Sangui of Shanhaiguan may not be able to defend and carry the thieves and Tartars at the same time. If the Tartars enter the customs, they will inevitably have to fight with the thieves!

The Governor also knows the general righteousness of the nation, and will not join the capture of the Emperor, but he will never ignore the death of the monarch and the Emperor of the Emperor. Now the only way to do this is to defend the provinces that are still stable, and wait for the Tartars and the thieves to kill each other in a wave, and after each of them is damaged, then collect the Kou Ping!

The Governor has already said that if His Majesty is dead and Li Zicheng is alive, it will be impossible to pardon the rest of the thieves. But in the future, as long as Li Zicheng dies, the court can only punish the first evil, pardon the rest, and let them make meritorious contributions for the sake of national righteousness! Now we're killing them all ourselves, and we're helping the Tartars lighten their loads! ”

Zhu Shuren did explain these words before the departure of the three generals, and I have to say that his prediction was a bit excessive, completely iron-clad, and a bit out of line.

But Zhu Shuren also felt that these people were his own people, and he could speak openly. Zhu Shuren's prophecy has always been very good, and if he has to say this, others will be suspicious of it.

Huang Degong calmed down again and again, and then gave up, and after a small battle, they each led their troops to retreat.

Although they did not immediately cause huge damage to the invading army, in fact, they also indirectly opened up a gap, so that in the three or five days after Chongzhen's death, the main force of the invading army in the Tongzhou and Xianghe areas would be transferred south to plug the leakage if the enemy was in the south, and other directions would be further relaxed.

……

Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong and others went back to restore their lives and reported Chongzhen's death to Zhu Shuren.

However, the intrusive army on the opposite side did not dare to completely believe that Zhu Shuren's troops would retreat so easily, so they still remained vigilant in the Baoding area for several days, and they were also dragged a considerable number of troops.

And the day after Cao Bianjiao retreated, there was a sudden new change in the direction of Tianjin Wei.

An army of officers and soldiers coming from the sea suddenly landed at the mouth of Dagu and took advantage of the situation to enter the old canal.

The generals who led the official army were, of course, Zhang Mingzhen, the chief soldier of coastal defense in the Ming Dynasty, and Zheng Chenggong, who came to make a cameo temporarily.

Nearly half a month ago, they traveled north by sea from Huai'an and other places in Jiangbei. When Zhu Shuren gave them an order, even if it was good, they would definitely not have time to save Chongzhen, so they gave them the order so as not to be self-defeating. All Zhu Shuren hoped was that they could take a part of the Ming army from Shanhaiguan after Chongzhen's death and before Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, so as not to cheapen the Tartars.

The defenders of the intruding army near the mouth of Dagu were of course caught off guard, and they were unable to organize effective resistance at all, so they directly broke up and returned to obedience-

In fact, the Chuang army had not sent many descendant troops in this direction at Dagukou before, at most it only sent a brigade to receive it.

Because Li Zicheng, who has always been thinking about land power in the northwest, where would he think that these harbor towns have any military and economic value? Even Tianjin Wei did not block the road on which he entered Beijing, so Liu Fangliang, who broke into the South Road, was killed from Baoding to Beijing at the beginning, and Tianjin Wei was directly ignored.

Later, Beijing was besieged, and the Ming army on the side of Tianjin Wei was directly weak-boned, and sent people to contact and was willing to surrender, Li Zicheng did not pay attention to it, and directly asked a brigade to bring a small number of men and horses to take over the territory.

Therefore, the troops stationed here, at least more than eighty percent of the number, were still the official army of the Ming Dynasty only a few days ago, and they had just changed banners, and now they encountered the attack of the Ming Dynasty again, of course, they had no intention of fighting, and they directly re-surrendered.

In particular, the Ming Dynasty implemented the reform of Cao Yun to the sea, which had been carried out for the fifth year, and Dagu Pass was the end point of the sea route after the Cao Yun was changed to the sea. The grain from the southern sea had to be unloaded at Dagukou and reloaded into small boats in the inland canal, and then transported all the way from the Wuqing River to the Huihe River to the Jishuitan in Beijing.

Therefore, the defenders of the Ming army left in Dagukou and Tianjin Wei originally belonged to the protection system. Zhang Mingzhen led the team to fight them, which is equivalent to a genuine old boss coming to the door, who is willing to resist?

To use an inappropriate analogy, it was as easy as having Napoleon with a shipload of Elba guards face the Fifth Division, which had come to encircle and suppress the "monsters of Corsica".

The brigade that Li Zicheng left in Dagukou was directly killed in the chaos, and a small number of old thieves were also submerged and extinguished.

It's just that they came by sea, which is equivalent to a full half a month of news blockage, so when they first landed, they didn't know the situation on the mainland, and they didn't know that Chongzhen was dead, so it seemed that they landed at Dagukou and entered Tianjinwei, just to find out the news to see if they could save the emperor.

Zhu Shuren never expected them to save the emperor, but they couldn't say it explicitly before they set off, so they could only let them try and make mistakes themselves a little - if they were directly forcibly ordered to land at Shanhaiguan instead of Tianjin Wei, then everything would be a goof, and the world would know that Zhu Shuren had expected the emperor to die.

Zhu Shuren can only believe in Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong's improvisation, and accept it when they see the bad.

——

ps: The above is 4,500 words...... The quality is not very good, and I mixed it up with the full attendance in December...... I'm sorry......

may rest for a few days, people are fat and sick, and they want to lose weight in the future...... The middle state is good, and it can be changed occasionally, and it will be completely restored after January 5 at the latest. It's impossible to get the full attendance award in January anyway, and it is estimated that the sheep will be herded for a few days during the New Year......

For so many years, I never dared to herd sheep during the New Year with good results, but this time I had poor results.