The "siege operation" was much smoother than planned, Xue Lao Er and Sun Hu did not continue to ambush, Wang Chaodong and Zhang Hong acted immediately, escorting the holy car and twenty carts of gold and silver into Lujiazhai.

By the time his two thousand soldiers and horses had returned to the village, Zhou Shixian had already asked Zhu Maozhen and Kong Tao to bring all the things needed by the convoy onto the ship.

Zhou Shixian naturally didn't want all the nearly 10,000 stone grain, but the two thousand soldiers, nearly 800 war horses and the grain and grass needed for the 15th, and the 110,000 taels of silver in Lujiazhai, except for a fraction, he naturally would not be polite.

As for weapons and equipment, Zhou Shixian only asked Wu Xingye to collect more than 50 pieces of armor, half of the gunpowder, and the rest of the broken copper and iron, which was not uncommon.

Moreover, in such a troubled era, these things are dispensable for Zhou Shixian, but for the people of Lujiazhai, they will lose the right to live without them.

This is nearly 3,000 people, Zhou Shixian is ruthless to corrupt officials, thieves and tartars, and deserters, but for these women and children, there is no need to kill people in disguise.

And such a consideration was also unanimously appreciated by Li Banghua, Ni Yuanlu, and Wu Linzheng, and after Emperor Chongzhen knew it, he was full of praise.

Maybe Chongzhen doesn't really care about the life and death of the people in his heart, but as the emperor, he still has to have this attitude, otherwise his "legitimacy" as the Son of Heaven as the father of the people will be gone.

This may not be much in the peaceful and prosperous era, but now on the way to escape, "legitimacy" is the foundation of Emperor Chongzhen's power, and it is what he must defend.

Of course, in addition to these ministers and Emperor Chongzhen, Zhou Shixian naturally had to go to Empress Zhou to receive some "education". This is naturally someone in the name of Queen Zhou, who wants to see Zhou Shixian.

Zhou Shixian was very knowledgeable this time, and swore directly to the sky that as long as he encountered danger, he would definitely turn around and run, and then Princess Kunxing nodded with satisfaction, and told him that it was not for this, she just wanted to see him.

Zhou Shixian naturally understood that when he rescued Princess Kunxing, who was on the verge of dying, and Daming, who was on the verge of dying, what kind of position and image did he have in the heart of this beautiful and unparalleled fiancée who was raised in the deep palace and was very simple.

However, now is not the time for me to be in charge, and Zhou Shixian quickly returned to his position.

After all the soldiers and horses under his command returned to the team and all the materials to be taken in the village were moved to the ship, he did not delay at all, and symbolically solicited the will of Emperor Chongzhen, and immediately readjusted the army.

Although there were more than 180 boats, except for the dozen or so large ships that escorted grain, grass, gold and silver, and guarded the ministers of the Heavenly Family, most of the rest were small boats, and under the condition of ensuring speed, it was naturally impossible to load all the 2,000 soldiers and more than 800 war horses together, especially those war horses that were jumping around.

Moreover, even if it can be installed, with the width of the canal, there is no cavalry escort along the way to cover it, it is definitely a big taboo. Once encountered, the consequences are unimaginable.

Therefore, the escort army must be divided into two parts, one part of the man and three horses, divided into two shifts, carrying only one day's grain and grass, closely following the fleet along the canal south, and the other part is escorted by boat, and the two sides rotate regularly to maintain the physical strength of the soldiers and horses.

The soldiers and horses on the shore were naturally led by Xue Laoer and Zhang Hong in turn, consisting of Jinyi Guard, the old Beijing camp and the "Wu/Wei Battalion", and the ships specially responsible for supplying them with grain and grass would also keep pace with them.

Although Zhou Shixian no longer doubts the loyalty of Sun Hu, Weng Dajie, and Kong Tao, the cavalry, like the musketeers, is the key to his resistance to the Shun army at a critical time, and it must be in the hands of his henchmen.

After all, if your henchmen can't be reused, who will sincerely work for you?

And after Zhou Shixian's grace and might, Sun Hu, Weng Dajie, and Kong Tao didn't dare to think about it anymore, not to mention that now that the boat was in hand, the southward movement was almost half successful.

As long as they arrive in Nanjing, they are the ministers of the dragon escort, and they know very well what this means. Victory is at hand, and the fool defected at this time!

Wang Chaodong still led the other half of the brocade guards to guard around Emperor Chongzhen, while Zhou Shixian took more than 100 guards from the old Beijing camp to the front and rear, including more than 80 musketeers.

Sun Hu, Weng Dajie, and Kong Tao's soldiers and horses were deployed in the front and rear sections of the fleet, and Zhou Shixian also divided the more than 50 armor bodies equally among the three people, instead of continuing to arm the "Wu/Wei Battalion".

As long as Cangzhou and Dongguang are passed, they will soon be able to enter Shandong, Li Zicheng has not sent troops into Shandong to take over the place at this time, and although Liu Zeqing has led his troops to flee south, Shandong is still nominally the territory of the Ming army.

Of course, this is not the most important thing, the most important thing is that the armor and military supplies, grain, grass and silver levied in Shandong, Nanzhili and other places in previous years were stranded at the key passes on the side of the canal because of the turbulent situation.

Zhou Shixian knew that those magistrates must have made plans to swallow these things, but they were definitely not so fast.

Therefore, as long as the fleet enters Shandong and captures the warehouses of several important canal towns, the problem of army equipment will probably be solved.

Before dawn, Zhou Shixian's team had already assembled, and all but the cavalry boarded the boat and sailed out of the waterway leading to the canal in Lujiazhai.

At this time, with Pang Lun as the guide, Gu Kecheng, the forward general of the Shun army, personally led 5,000 soldiers and horses, and had pursued from the capital to the county of Dacheng, and successfully discovered the traces of Zhou Shixian's escort army.

Pang Lun still took his more than 100 soldiers and horses, although he boasted of Haikou and lured the Shun army to send a large number of men and horses to pursue for thousands of miles, but he had no bottom in his heart, and now after having clues, he was finally relieved.

Originally, he didn't know that Emperor Chongzhen was in the convoy, but Li Zicheng had almost turned over the capital, but he still didn't find anyone, so he naturally had doubts in his heart, and under the comparison between the two, things naturally became a lot clearer.

However, Pang Lun didn't dare to admit such an important matter directly, and Li Zicheng was just guessing, and he didn't want to startle the snake, Chongzhen escaped from the capital, the political impact of this matter was too bad, and he had to deal with it quietly.

Moreover, according to Pang Lun, the other party is only two or three hundred elite cavalry, and even if the defeated troops are collected, they are only more than a thousand soldiers and horses in uneven armor, which is not enough to fear.

So, Li Zicheng sent his henchman Gu Kecheng to lead 5,000 elite pursuits, and at the same time asked Gu Kecheng to send someone to inform Hao Shaoqi of Jinghai County, so that he could lead his troops south to Qingxian County, Cangzhou intercepted, and more than 10,000 elite soldiers and horses attacked before and after.

It's just that, if nothing happens, it will inevitably happen.

Hao Shaoqi is not a descendant of Li Zicheng, and Gu Kecheng, as a descendant of the Dashun Army, is not willing to take the first credit of intercepting Emperor Chongzhen.

Within the Shun army, there are also many factions, but they are all military generals in power, and they are all subordinate to Li Zicheng, and the infighting is not serious.

So, under Gu Kecheng's operation, the four scouts who went to deliver the letter accidentally got lost, and Hao Shaoqi, who was supposed to have appeared in Qingxian County, had just left tonight, just too late for Gu Kecheng.