In the big tent of the Chinese army in the new army's personal guard camp, Chen Xinjia looked at the big tent that was already empty, everything had been packed, and he was immediately overjoyed, and said to Liu Yan: "Lu Guogong can send troops in time, it is really loyal, even if he fails to save Hong Ge Lao in time, Your Majesty is also considerate of Lu Guogong." ”

Liu Yan said: "Didn't my father say that he would send troops to rescue Xinzhou? ”

"What?"

Chen Xinjia said suspiciously: "But now that Li Zicheng's army is so rampant, why didn't Lu Guogong ask for it as soon as possible, and he had to stay in Gyeonggi." And I see that Lu Guogong is already packing his bags, and the soldiers in the battalion are also pulling out the camp, where is this going? ”

Liu Yan laughed, handed a picture to Chen Xinjia, and said, "This father will go first, and this soldier will go back to the city directly." ”

Chen Xinjia unfolded the map suspiciously, and after looking at it for a while, he was shocked and changed color, and when he rushed out of the Chinese army's tent to chase Liu Yan, Liu Yan had already stepped on his horse and went out of the gate accompanied by the guards of the brigade.

"Lu Guogong, don't do this!"

On the same day, Liu Yan led more than 100,000 soldiers of the new army and garrison army to set off from outside the Desheng Gate, and the army was divided into several roads and rushed to all parts of Beizhili.

A few days later, Zhending House.

Chen Xun led the front battalion of the new army to arrive at Longquan Pass in Zhending Prefecture, and the soldiers of various departments began to deploy defenses in the pass.

Zhang Xun, Guo Mingxu, and Shen Donglai followed behind Chen Xun and were drawing inside and outside Longquan Pass.

"General Town, can thieves still enter Beizhili from here in Longquan Pass?"

Chen Xun glanced at Guo Mingxu, who was asking, and said: "Be prepared, didn't Zheng Yi also take the second battalion of the garrison army to the Jingcheng Pass in the south, Lu Guogong just wants to block Li Zicheng."

Enter all the main roads of Beizhili, first stabilize the imperial court, and then send troops to quell the rebellion. ”

Shen Donglai nodded and said: "It's still Lu Guogong's determination, if it weren't for the pressure of the imperial court, now we would have to fight to the death with Li Zicheng's million-strong army hungry like Hong Chengchou's department." ”

Chen Xun said: "It's not going to be hungry, the day before yesterday, the supply money and grain from Shandong have already arrived, and the supplementary soldiers trained by the Shogunate Military Department have also arrived, and our Shogunate now has money and food." It's just that if you don't stabilize the court first, it's hard to guarantee that those Donglin Party members won't stab them in the back. ”

Several nodded in agreement.

At this time, all the battalion officers of the New Army had been promoted to chief officers and made earls, and the commanders of all battalions of the garrison were promoted to deputy generals, and the rest of the guerrilla generals were also promoted to generals.

According to the list submitted by Liu Yan to the Ministry of War for approval, Chen Xun was named Yanzhou Bo, Wang Yue was named Dengzhou Bo, Zhang Yi was Feng Laizhou Bo, Wang Bo was Feng Jinan Bo, Shen Tuo was Feng Dongchang Bo, Miao Shao was Feng Qingzhou Bo, Xu Ming was Feng Guangping Bo, Qian Jian was Feng Shunde Bo, Xun Jingyun was Feng Zhending Bo, Wu Guojin was Feng Hejian Bo, Chen Xinjia directly reported to Emperor Chongzhen for approval, and everyone was already the earl's chief military officer at this time.

Of course, as for the specific location where everyone opened the town, it has not yet been determined, after all, Liu Yan's current top priority is to stabilize the imperial court and control the central authority first, and other things can only be postponed for the time being.

At this time, Zhang Xun, the general of the left department, said worriedly: "General, now we are stationed at Longquan Pass, the second battalion of the garrison army is in Jingcheng Pass, the middle battalion of the new army went to Baoding Mansion Baoding Pass, the left battalion of the new army went to Bauhinia Pass in Baoding Mansion, the right battalion of the new army went to Juyong Pass, and the rear battalion of the new army went directly to the mountain

Customs, said that it was going to take over the defense of Shanhaiguan Town. ”

"In addition, the third and fifth battalions of the garrison army Jingnan Fengtai, the new army's personal guard battalion, cavalry battalion, and artillery battalion went to Tongzhou in the east.

Chen Xun said: "Don't worry, Lu Guogong will take care of it." Now Hong Chengchou's department is buying time for us, and Li Zicheng has annihilated Hong Chengchou's department, and it also takes time to rest, we still have time. ”

"Yes."

"Send out the night and go out fifty miles to investigate."

"Yes."

A few days later, Shanhaiguan South.

Wang Yue led the rear battalion of the new army to arrive outside the city.

"Look, the town, Marco's boss is at the head of the city, and he has sent people out."

Soon, a guerrilla general led a group of men to the front of the army, and then dismounted and saluted.

This person Wang Yue has also seen that during the Battle of Jinzhou, this guerrilla general followed Ma Ke to Liaodong and had several encounters with Wang Yue.

At this time, the guerrilla general said with a smile on his face: "Hehe, the lower official has seen the general, but I don't know what happened when General Wang suddenly led the army to visit?" ”

Wang Yue frowned slightly, and directly whipped the guerrilla general's face, and then said: "Lao Tzu is now the Dengzhou Bo of the imperial court, the rank of chief soldier, what are you scared of!" ”

The guerrilla general was beaten to a confused point, and I don't know if you were born an official, didn't you have time to change the flag?

It's just that the guerrilla general didn't dare to say anything, but he just said: "It's the lower official who has eyes and doesn't know Mount Tai, please don't blame Uncle Dengzhou." ”

forthwith

Wang Yue said with an arrogant expression: "This town is ordered by Lu Guogong to lead the army to take over Shanhaiguan, and at the same time rectify the soldiers and horses of Shanhaiguan Town, and let Ma Ke come out to greet him!" ”

Although Ma Ke is the chief military officer of Shanhaiguan Town and the uncle of Beiguan, he is more noble than Wang Yue, the chief military officer who does not have the general's seal, but behind Wang Yue is Liu Yan, the Duke of Luguo, who is an elite army of more than 100,000 Shandong, let Ma Ke come out to greet him, and the guerrilla general did not dare to say anything, so he hurriedly rode back to report the news.

Wang Yue waited outside the gate for a long time, and saw the Shanhaiguan soldiers and horses of the brigade driving out of the gate, and then Ma Ke rode out of the pass and came to Wang Yue's side.

"Haha, Mr. Wang, we haven't seen each other for a long time, I really want to kill me!"

The smile on Wang Yue's face became thicker and thicker, and he said: "Let's catch up here with the old days, let the soldiers enter the city first, this way, the soldiers are almost frozen." ”

"Okay, come, let the brothers of the new army enter the city, warm up!"

Ma Ke spoke to Wang Yue with a flattering face, and there was a stammering between his words, obviously knowing what happened in the capital a few days ago, and wanting to take refuge in Liu Yan's side.

Wang Yue chatted with Ma Ke with a match, and the two sat on the war horse, although the cold wind was gusting, but Wang Yue had no intention of entering the city, which made Ma Ke start to mumble in his heart.

"Mr. Wang, let's go into the customs, I'll let people prepare a banquet, let's eat and drink for a while, and when we have a rest, it's not too late to get busy with business."

When Ma Ke first heard Wang Yue's intentions, he was also shocked and angry, but Ma Ke, who was good at speculation, was able to settle down quickly, so he decided to use the method of actively cooperating with Wang Yue to win

Liu Yan's appreciation.

Wang Yue smiled, pointed to Guancheng and said, "Don't worry, let the soldiers enter the city first, and we'll enter later." ”

"Hehe, it's fine."

Ma Ke tightened the cloak on his body, cursed in his heart, and then asked: "General Wang Bing, I don't know what happened to Lu Guogong now, is the imperial court going to recruit Lu Guogong to fight Li Zicheng?" ”

Wang Yue said with a smile: "These are all important matters in the imperial court, let's just obey the dispatch, and don't ask anything else." ”

"Hey, yes, don't ask, don't ask."

"That's right."

Wang Yue suddenly pulled Ma Ke to his side, and at this time the two of them all dismounted and talked in a sheltered place, Ma Ke thought that Wang Yue had something big to say, so he came over with a smile.

I only heard Wang Yue lower his voice and said: "I heard that the imperial court requisitioned Ma Zongbing to rescue Tongguan with Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu, but Ma Zongbing fell and was injured and didn't succeed, but is there such a thing?" ”

Ma Ke immediately looked like he was beating his chest, and said: "Yes, I really didn't expect it, I thought that I would heal my injuries, so I immediately led the army to Tongguan to participate in the battle, but I didn't expect that General Yang Bing, General Cao Bing, and Sun Duchen couldn't hold on, and they all sacrificed their lives for the country!" ”

"Alas!"

Ma Ke sighed and said: "I originally thought that after my injuries were healed, I would lead the army to Tongguan, and then apologize to Sun Duchen, Yang Zongbing, and Cao Zongbing in person, but I didn't have this opportunity. ”

Wang Yue suddenly laughed and said, "Don't be discouraged by Mr. Ma, there is still a chance." ”

"What?"

Ma Ke looked at Wang Yue in a daze, only to see Wang Yue say: "Lu Guogong asked me to come over and take over Shanhaiguan Town and rectify the soldiers and horses."

, and one more thing, is to send the general army on the road! ”

As soon as the words fell, the two New Army guards directly pressed Ma Ke down, Ma Ke fell to his knees with a scream, and the surrounding family members were also subdued by the guards of the rear battalion of the New Army who surrounded them, and all of them were disarmed.

"Mr. Wang, what are you doing!"

Ma Ke's face turned pale with fright at this time, and he said loudly: "I am the chief military officer of Daming Mountain Customs Town, Uncle Beiguan, why did you kill me!" ”

Wang Yue pulled out his waist knife and moved it back and forth on Ma Ke's neck, making Ma Ke tremble in fright: "Eh~ eh!" Wang Zongbing, if you have something to say, spare my life, there are more than 700,000 taels of silver in my house, all of which are yours! ”

Wang Yue said coldly: "When you get down, go and apologize to Sun Duchen, Cao Zongbing, and Yang Zongbing." ”

After speaking, Wang Yue swung his knife hard, and Ma Ke's head rolled to the ground with a thud, blood spurted all over the ground, and the heat was bubbling in the cold wind.

Wang Yue glanced at Ma Ke's head and muttered, "Kill you, the silver in your house is still mine!" ”

"Chief, what about these people?"

Wang Yue looked at the dozen or so family members and said, "Send them on the road, and accompany General Ma along the way." ”

"Yes!"

Immediately, in a burst of screams, more than a dozen family members also turned into fallen ghosts.

From this day on, Wang Yue began to rectify the soldiers and horses in Shanhaiguan Town, and it took only half a month to dismiss tens of thousands of old and weak soldiers and oil, and then concentrated on the remaining soldiers and horses that could be used for training and replenished them into the rear camp of the new army.

On the last day of December, the city of Beijing.

On this day, Emperor Chongzhen stood in the square in front of the Qianqing Palace, no matter how the cold wind blows, he did not waver for half a minute, his eyes

is full of grief and indignation.

Wang Chengen on the side had been kneeling for a long time, and he was still crying at this time, persuading Emperor Chongzhen to hurry back to the palace to recuperate, and not to get cold in the cold wind.

"Big companion, why is Liu Yan like this?"

Liu Yan divided his troops to occupy all the important places in Beizhili, took Shanhaiguan, and killed Ma Ke, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan Town, and annexed more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Shanhaiguan Town.

These news also hit Emperor Chongzhen very hard, and he, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, no longer had any weight in front of Liu Yan, and people did not obey the order at all.

At the beginning of the period, when Emperor Chongzhen received Chen Xinjia's report, he was still full of disbelief, thinking that the map submitted by Chen Xinjia was fake, or that Liu Yan deliberately presented it to himself through Chen Xinjia in order to threaten the imperial court, but in fact he would definitely not do so.

After all, this kind of thing is tantamount to committing chaos, how could Liu Yan really dare to do it?

But Liu Yan really did this, and the location of every garrison was the place marked on the map, and every place was not bad, and every place seemed to be slapping Emperor Chongzhen's face.

"Your Majesty! Come back to the dormitory, the dragon body is the best! ”

At this time, Wang Chengen's forehead was already bleeding, but Emperor Chongzhen said: "Great companion, if only Hong Chengchou was still in the court now, at least someone can check and balance Liu Yan and not let the situation deteriorate like this!" ”

"I don't know how Hong Chengchou is now?"