Ants are still stealing life, let alone people, Zhou Shixian doesn't think that Lu Jiude is really willing to die without regrets.

His act itself is more of a relief from his act of killing the king, as well as a protection for the blessed king Zhu Yousong.

And the key to Zhou Shixian's promised conditions and persuasion is precisely in these two points, among which Lu Jiude was pulled out of the moral dilemma under the cover of the righteousness of the family and the country.

Of course, this can't stand up to careful scrutiny, but Zhou Shixian is not debating with others, he just wants to give Lu Jiude an excuse, an excuse to escape the death penalty of killing the monarch and protecting King Fu, and it is also an excuse to live and take refuge in himself.

If there are a few more shrewd and capable people in Nanjing, Lu Jiude's soldiers are weaker, more vicious, and Lu Zhenfei is killed, he will not be like this, a good end, a usable talent, still has a basic moral bottom line, and it will be a pity not to keep fighting the Manchus and killing the Tartars.

And since Lu Jiude has become "Lu Saving the Country", Zhou Shixian also asked him to select thirty or forty absolutely reliable people from the surrendered lineage, and then mixed in the team of slender men, what he was going to do, except for him and Zhou Shixian, no one knew.

As for sending someone to supervise, Zhou Shixian naturally wouldn't do such a stupid thing, Lu Jiude just ran away, where can he go, it's better to kill him if he surrenders to the thief!

Take these dozens of people to save the Blessing King? Then Zhu Yousong really thanked him.

After ordering "Lu to save the country", Xue Laoer, Wang Chaodong, Zhang Hong, Wu Xingye, Sun Hu, Li Daxi and others also completed their respective tasks and returned to the city to report the situation of the war to Zhou Shixian.

After receiving the battle report that Wang Chaodong had finally verified, Zhou Shixian took a closer look, and the situation was generally satisfactory to him.

In this battle, Xue Lao's second division easily defeated more than 500 men and horses sent by Lu Jiude to block the attack, and finally arrived in time, which made the battle end ahead of schedule, and also avoided heavy casualties in Wu Xingye's department, Sun Hu's department, and Li Daxi's department.

The losses of Lu Jiude's troops were not heavy, except for the 500 soldiers and horses sent to block the attack, more than 200 were killed and wounded, and most of the more than 1,500 men and horses who were invested outside Qinghe City had surrendered, a small number of them were killed and wounded in battle, and dozens of them did not know where to flee.

The two soldiers and horses of Ma Huabao and Wang Hui suffered several rounds of musket volleys from Sun Hu's department, and then were charged by Li Daxi's army, with more than 700 casualties, most of whom died in the musket volley.

The damage on Zhou Shixian's side was not large, there were less than 200 people, and more than 3,000 surrendered troops were captured.

The reason for this was the unexpected volley of muskets from the enemy.

But Zhou Shixian observed behind the battle from the beginning of the war, and also discovered the problem of this elite under his command - insufficient training.

Weapons and supplies, after Zhou Shixian's "requisition" all the way and looting in the capital, if you don't count artillery, you can already be regarded as the most sophisticated in this period of this land.

However, the chaos and inconsistency of the soldiers when they were arranging and attacking still made Zhou Shixian vigilant.

His requirements for the army are definitely higher than the general standards of this era, and certainly will not surpass them.

But what can be improved through discipline and high-intensity training is what he will focus on implementing in the future.

What he wants is not to hold half of the country, but to rejuvenate the Northern Expedition, which has to create a strong army that is far stronger than the Manchu Eight Banners, especially in the absence of war horses, the role of firearms is even more obvious.

However, at this time, Zhou Shixian was not good at showing his ambitions to these subordinates, after he said a few good words and drew a few big cakes, someone outside the door came to report: Lord Lu Zhenfei of Governor Huaiyang is here.

Zhou Shixian listened, and hurriedly met with the other party, this is also a capable minister with some ability, of course he has to be enthusiastic, and he will use it in the future.

Of course, Lu Zhenfei, an old stubborn, must have come to ask for guilt at the beginning, and Zhou Shixian couldn't directly exonerate him, Lu Jiude was unaware, and he didn't want Chongzhen to know that he secretly subdued a "traitor".

So, Zhou Shixian had no choice but to say that he knew the other party's hardships, and then threw the question to Chongzhen, and by the way, he also expressed his obedience and understanding of the rules - to avoid sin, it is your emperor's business, but it has nothing to do with my concubine.

However, just when Zhou Shixian thought that the matter was basically over, outside Qinghe County, Liu Zeqing had already arrived with three other general soldiers and dozens of personal guards.

Naturally, he was because of Bai Tianfu, and soon after the end of the war, he knew that Lu Jiude was behind the scenes, and now he hurried to apologize.

Although Liu Zeqing did not go to King Qinwang in the capital under various excuses, but Chongzhen came under his nose, and a general soldier under his command did such a thing, where did he dare to delay it any longer?

After all, most of the people of this era are still naturally in awe of imperial power.

What's more, Zhou Shixian also showed strong military strength, and after Liu Zeqing made an estimate, he panicked even more.

Then, in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, he didn't dare to bring more soldiers and horses, and in the end he only brought dozens of horses, betting that Chongzhen lacked soldiers and should not kill him.

Zhou Shixian naturally met with the other party, although he didn't think that this waste was of any use, but for the sake of the overall situation, it could only be done temporarily. In the current situation, he can't do a lot of things as he wants.

And Emperor Chongzhen, as expected, would never kill the person who should be killed, and chose good words to appease, without even a little coercion, as if he was afraid that this army would also become a rebel.

Coincidentally, it wasn't only Liu Zeqing who came to show his loyalty tonight.

After nightfall, Ma Shiying also galloped with dozens of guards, and when he arrived at Qinghe, even the horses were tired and seven died. He has been sending people to spy on him, hurrying and hurrying, after all, he is still one step slower.

And Gao Jie also followed, two hours later, he led his guards also rushed to the outside of Qinghe City, asking for the reception of Emperor Chongzhen, this succession of good news can make Chongzhen happy, it turns out that he still has so many loyal ministers and good generals, as soon as he arrives, it is a hundred responses!

Zhou Shixian looked at these "loyal ministers", and only felt funny in his heart, if he lost today, maybe the place where they gathered tonight would not be Qinghe, but Huai'an.

And until the early hours of the morning, Liu Liangzuo, who was the weakest in history and realized it later, also came to Qinghe to show his loyalty to Emperor Chongzhen.

The faces of the military leaders at the end of the Ming Dynasty can be seen from this!