About two hundred paces apart, both sides stopped in unison.

This is a safe distance, which cannot be reached by a bow, and ensures that the cavalry of both sides can charge up without being caught off guard by the cavalry of one side.

Then the thief rode his horse to the front of the battle and shouted.

"My family's right military division has something important to meet His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Where is His Majesty the Emperor? My right army division invites you to speak in front of the battle. ”

"Holy one, there will be deceit in it, and you cannot go." Wu Linzheng stepped forward to dissuade him.

Meng Zhaoxiang also advised: "The son of a daughter, if you can't sit down, the saint can't be in danger." ”

"It's okay, Li Yan is still a gentleman." Zhu Gaoyuan said, "If you don't feel at ease, you can let Jin Qing and the vultures go out with me." ”

A few civil servants had nothing to say.

Because Li Yan had already come to the front of the battle, he only brought two servants.

At that moment, Zhu Gaoyuan brought Jin Xuan and Wu Jiaotan to the front of the battle.

"The Holy One is calculating." Li Yan said quietly, "You expected that there would be today, right?" ”

Zhu Gaoyuan smiled slightly and said: "Li Yan, what I said in the Chahar grassland is still counted, and it is still too late for you to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and I promise not to pursue the past." ”

Li Yan said: "You have long expected that Wu Sangui has a heart of disobedience, and Jiannu will also raise troops in a big way, and there will be a battle between my Dashun army and Wu Sangui and Jiannu, right?" ”

Zhu Gaoyuan: "If there is no result in following Li Zicheng, let's get lost." ”

Li Yan said: "You even expected that my Dashun army would be defeated, right? ”

Zhu Gaoyuan: "Only by serving the imperial court can you have the opportunity to display what you have learned all your life and the ambitions in your chest." ”

Li Yan said: "But there is something unclear below, the saint has such a calculation and such a ability to use soldiers, why does the emperor always refuse to drive in person for the seventeenth year?" Otherwise, why would we be today? ”

Zhu Gaoyuan finally answered Li Yan positively this time: "Just before you broke the city, I had a dream, Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Cheng Zuwen taught me their lifelong experience in using soldiers in a dream, do you believe it?" ”

Li Yan smiled and said, "It seems that there are a few people who will believe such nonsense." ”

"Look." Zhu Gaoyuan spread his hands and said, "To be honest, no one believes it." ”

"It doesn't matter if you're telling the truth or not." Li Yan waved his hand and said, "No matter what, the Great Ming Qi is exhausted, and my Great Shun Dynasty Ming is already a fact, so the Holy Lord should stop making senseless struggles." ”

Zhu Gaoyuan said: "If you just want to tell me this today, then it's almost enough, I'm still in a hurry, why don't you leave it at that?" ”

"It seems that I can't persuade the saint to go down." Li Yan shook his head and said, "Then someone else will persuade you." ”

After saying this, he turned around and waved his hand and shouted: "Come on, bring the pseudo-Ming prince, King Ding, and King Yong." ”

"Prince?" Kim Hyun's heart moved, and when he looked up hurriedly, he saw a team of thieves carrying three brocade-clothed teenagers out of the queue.

Zhu Gaoyuan frowned slightly, is this planning to use Zhu Cihong and the three brothers to blackmail him? It's a bit tricky.

When Wang Jiayan and the others in the array saw this, they were afraid that the thieves would be deceitful, so they hurriedly came forward with a team of cavalry, only to find that the three princes and brothers came out of the thief array.

"Prince? King Ding, King Yong! Wang Jiayan was overjoyed.

"Father, sons, and ministers are inconvenient, so they can't bow to you."

The three Zhu Cihong brothers were tied behind their backs, and they could only pay attention to Zhu Gao.

Accompanying Wang Jiayan to the battle were Zhan Shifu Zuo Zhongyun Liu Lishun, and the three Zhu Cihong brothers saluted Liu Lishun and called him master.

Liu Lishun is one of the lecturers that Chongzhen found for Zhu Cihong's brothers.

Liu Lishun returned the salute, glared at Li Yan angrily and shouted: "Li Yan is a traitor, what do you want?" ”

Li Yan didn't pay attention to Liu Lishun, and just said to Zhu Gaoyuan: "Holy Lord, I brought the three princes and brothers to see you today, I don't mean anything else, I just want to tell you that if you surrender to the throne, not only can the father and son reunite, but also the wealth of the Zhu family can be preserved!" ”

"Or else?" Zhu Gaoyuan asked coldly.

Li Yan said: "Otherwise, it can only be a burning of jade!" ”

After a pause, he said: "Not only are the three princes and brothers unable to escape death, but you are the saint, do you really think that you can escape?" You're afraid you're thinking too much about the situation, aren't you? ”

"You're going to win today, and the end result will be the same."

"You might as well tell the Holy Lord, in the lower part of the flying cavalry to inform Liu Fangliang, the general of the left battalion stationed in Baoding, and Yuan Zongdi, the general of the right battalion stationed in Henan, that when the saint's troops arrived at the boundary of Baoding and Henan, the two generals had already led hundreds of thousands of male soldiers to lay a net, and you would not be able to reach Nanjing at all."

"If I can get to Nanjing, I don't have to bother thinking about it." Zhu Gaoyuan stretched out his hand and pointed at the three Zhu Cihong brothers and said, "It's just that my three emperors are really innocent, and I hope to raise my noble hand and return them. ”

Li Yan said: "If the saint returns, the father and son will naturally be reunited." ”

After a pause, he said murderously: "If the Holy One insists on going his own way, not only will the Holy One be unable to protect himself, but the three imperial heirs may also be unable to escape death!" ”

"Presumptuous!"

"Thieves dare!"

Wang Jiayan and Liu Lishun were furious.

"Father, please listen to your son."

In the midst of the noise, the voice of the crown prince Zhu Cihong suddenly sounded: "Sima Gong said that people are inherently dead, or heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than Hongmao, and they tend to be different in their use." ”

"Compared with my Daming Jiangshan Sheji, Erchen is like a feather."

"Please ask my father to go south quickly and stay in the capital to reorganize the rivers and mountains, and there is no need to think of his sons."

Hearing this, Wang Jiayan, Liu Lishun and other ministers just sighed that the prince knew the overall situation, but Li Yan and Zhu Gaoyuan changed color, and they had already heard the prince's farewell.

The prince is only fifteen years old, at such a young age, how can he have such courage?

"Beware!" Li Yan immediately shouted, "Don't let him kill himself!" ”

Before Li Yan's words fell, Zhu Cihong had already slammed his neck into the blade of the thief general beside him.

Fortunately, the thief reacted quickly enough, and suddenly withdrew the knife when he couldn't make a move, and finally avoided Zhu Cihong's neck, but it still left a blood on his face, and the blood flowed like an injection in an instant, which was extremely terrifying.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?!" Wang Jiayan, Liu Lishun and other ministers almost went crazy on the spot when they saw this.

"The father doesn't have to think about his sons, and his sons say goodbye!" In the chaos, a loud roar suddenly sounded again, and everyone looked at it urgently, but it was Zhu Cijiong, the king of Ding, who crashed headlong into the thief blade next to him.

Fortunately, this time the thief general had taken precautions, and reached out to hold Zhu Cijiong's little head.

Zhu Cijiong's eyes widened angrily, and he struggled and shouted: "Father doesn't have to care about us, go quickly!" ”

Seeing this, Yongwang Zhu Cizhi cried with a wow, he was only an eleven-year-old child after all.

There was a chaos in front of the thief formation, and Wu Jiaotan and Jin Xuan immediately wanted to rush up to grab people, but Zhu Gaoyuan stretched out his hand to stop them.

At this time, you can't act rashly, otherwise it will easily cause a scuffle, although the Ming army has 4,000 horsemen, but it is okay to bluff people, but if you really fight, you may not be able to fight.

Even if he can fight, Zhu Gaoyuan doesn't want to fight.

Because he has such a small number of troops at hand, he can't afford to consume them.

What's more, if they really want to fight, they may hurt Zhu Cihong and them.

Perhaps it is possible to put moral pressure on Li Yan to release him, and then persuade him to withdraw from the army.

It wasn't until the thief Langzhong stopped Zhu Cihong's bleeding and then bandaged the wound that Zhu Gaoyuan said: "Li Yan, last time you told me in Hara Hetao that the gentleman's Ze was beheaded by the fifth generation, it can be seen that you have also read Mencius's chapter and sentence, in which there is a sentence 'Those who love others will always love him', have you ever remembered?" ”

Li Yan said: "Mencius said: A gentleman is different from others, and he is also thoughtful. A gentleman is benevolent and courteous. The benevolent love others, and the courteous respect others......"

"That's enough, you don't have to carry it any more." Zhu Gaoyuan said, "Let me ask you, what you say and do today, do you have a little bit of benevolence?" Can there be etiquette in the eyes? Is this also the work of the king? Won't you be ashamed if you keep saying that you will be a gentleman? ”

Li Yan was silent, and his face really showed shame.

In fact, it was not his intention to bring Zhu Cihong and their brothers to blackmail Chongzhen.

Li Yan's original intention was just to tell Chongzhen that his three sons were safe and sound, so as to forgive Chongzhen's heart and urge him to surrender with confidence, but it turned out to be the current situation.

At this time, Zhu Cihong shouted again: "Father, my sons are determined to go on a hunger strike today, and threaten their father's thoughts with thieves!" ”

"The prince can't!" Liu Lishun was shocked.

Wang Jiayan also said: "The prince is the foundation of the country, and he must not be killed!" ”

"It doesn't matter." Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "My father is only thirty years old, and he is in his prime, so he will choose a few palace concubines after he arrives in the capital, why worry about not having a new imperial heir?" ”

As soon as the words fell, Zhu Cijiong, the king of Dingwang on the other side, also said: "Father, the same is true for the sons!" ”

Only the youngest Zhu Cizhi is still crying.

Looking at this human tragedy of father and son's farewell, Li Yan finally couldn't get over it on his conscience.

In the final analysis, Li Yan was a traditional Confucian student, and morality and etiquette were deeply rooted in his thinking.

But it is impossible for him to let go of Zhu Cihong and the three of them, if he really lets go of Zhu Cihong and his brothers, his Li Yan's personal integrity will be preserved, but it will damage the interests of the Dashun Dynasty, and the righteousness of the monarch and ministers between him and Li Zicheng will be defaced.

At that moment, Li Yan said solemnly: "The saint is right, he is wrong, but it is impossible to return the prince, the king and the king of Yong, but I can assure the saint that no matter whether my Dashun army and the Ming army are victorious or defeated in the battle today, I will definitely ensure the safety of the three princes and brothers, and I will never be angry." ”