The long night had finally passed, and the massive resistance and looting in the city had ceased, and groups of Northern soldiers had blocked the streets. The streets had been cleaned up, the dead bodies had been carried out of the city, the bloody limbs and scraps had been washed away, the broken knives and guns and the waste bricks and tiles had also been cleaned up, and only the billowing black smoke in the direction of the imperial city reminded Nanjing that Nanjing had just gone through a tragic war.

All the people of Nanjing were ordered not to go out and not to make noise, because today His Royal Highness King Yan is going to enter the imperial city, and it seems that the succession to the emperor's throne is only in these days, and it is not good for someone to be shocked.

The large group of men and horses surrounded the Yan King's big canopy and slowly marched in the direction of the imperial city. King Yan rode on a white horse of a divine horse and walked first, this is a black-bearded man, in his 40s, wearing a helmet and armor, wearing a bright yellow coat, like an old pawn.

The commander made Zhu Neng ride his horse to King Yan's side, and reported in a low voice: "Your Highness, the Son of Chongwen has been... It has already returned to heaven in the Fengtian Temple. ”

King Yan immediately shook his head and cried: "Idiot, why should you be like this." ”

Behind him was a bald monk on horseback, none other than Chen Renxiao, the number one adviser of King Yan, wearing a black monk's robe, holding the reins of a horse in one hand and twisting a Buddhist bead in the other. He didn't care about King Yan's performance, his small eyes stared at Zhu Neng and asked, "Are you sure it's Chongwen?"

Zhu Neng said: "I have asked 4 or 5 royal eunuchs to identify it, and it is undoubtedly confirmed. ”

Chen Renxiao's words stabbed at the majestic general Zhu Neng like a sharp blade: "Confirm it, how can you confirm it if it is burned into black charcoal?"

Zhu Neng said: "There is still a piece of beautiful jade left on the crown of Yishan, which is confirmed to be a royal thing." ”

Chen Renxiao asked again: "Where is Queen Ma?"

Zhu Neng said: "I have already committed suicide with white silk in Kunning Palace. ”

Chen Renxiao nodded, shook his head again, and said in a deep voice: "I heard that a lot of people ran out of Nancheng last night, and they killed one of our scout flags?"

Zhu Neng said: "There is such a thing, there are too many refugees fleeing, and our scouts can't stop it in the dark night. Most of the people fled in the direction of Moling Pass, and a small number fled to Jurong. ”

King Yan wiped away his tears and shouted in a low voice: "Pass the order, order the governor Tan Yuan to immediately pursue in the direction of Moling Pass, let him go straight into Lishui, and exterminate the traitor Wang Zengtai there... Ordered the commander to make Zhang Fu pursue in the direction of Jurong and search for Chongwen. Tell them that whoever can capture Chongwen Xiao'er, I will make him a marquis!"

Zhu Neng clenched his fists and replied loudly: "Wow!" turned the horse's head and galloped out with a few followers.

King Yan looked at Chen Renxiao and said: "Master Daoyan, you immediately enter the palace now, detain the inner eunuchs, palace maids, and guards around Chongwen at that time, and all those who escaped must be arrested by me one by one, and interrogated strictly, I want to know everything that happened at that time, and I can't let go of the slightest." ”

Chen Renxiao replied in a deep voice: "Wow!" He beckoned, and a team of guards followed him straight to the imperial city.

King Yan's reign entered the city from Jinchuan Gate, along Yingyufang, Hongwu Street to the south, at the North Gate Bridge to the east, straight to the imperial city of Xi'an Gate. He did not enter the imperial city from the main gate, in order to show that he was in trouble to raise troops, only for the sake of the community, and had no intention of the world.

The civil and military forces of Mancheng had already learned the route of King Yan into the city, and as soon as Jinglu entered Haocheng, he saw hundreds of civil and military officials kneeling on the left side of the road to pick up the car. The victory of the Tianjia Tiger has been decided, and the only way to protect oneself is to change the court. Looking at these courtiers who were bent on their knees, Yan Wangzhi was full of pride for a while. In the past 3 years, how many hardships and desperate situations he has experienced, he has survived, and he has survived until the day when he waved his army into the imperial city, and since then the world is under control, and the glory of men is nothing more than this. It turned out that Emperor Gao was wrong, and the yellow-mouthed child he chose was not enough to rule the world.

As soon as Jinglu crossed the new pontoon bridge, a green-robed minister rushed out from the group of ministers who knelt to greet him, opened his hand to stop the head of King Yan's horse, and said loudly: "Your Highness will pay homage to Linghu first, and succeed to the throne first?"

King Yan reined in his horse, raised his hand to signal the team to stop, looked down at the minister and asked, "Who are you?"

The man knelt down and replied loudly: "Yang Rong, the editor of the Chen Hanlin Academy." ”

King Yan groaned slightly, turned his horse's head and ordered: "After the whole army, turn out of the city and go to Xiaoling!"

5 miles west of Chunhua Town, at noon, the scorching sun of early autumn was still blazing, and a few sweaty men sat cross-legged under a big locust tree, drinking water and gnawing on dry food, it was Liu Li and his party.

They finally fled to Chunhua Town after many difficulties and dangers, and the horses ran to death, and everyone could only walk. Everyone was exhausted, and the burly eunuch Wang Hui was even more pale, the injury between his waist and hip was very serious, and every step was painful, but he didn't say a word, which made people suspect that he was a mute. Emperor Chongwen is still the same, without saying a word, indifferent like a piece of ice.

Li Qiqian asked while nibbling on dry food: "There are still 30 miles away from Jurong, and I'm afraid I won't be able to catch it before dark." ”

Liu Li shook his head and said, "Let's not go to Jurong." ”

Li Qiqian was surprised: "Then what are we doing in Chunhua with all our hard work?"

Liu Li said: "With His Royal Highness King Yan's shrewdness and ability, since he knows that someone broke through the barrier and ran to the east last night, how could he be indifferent? ”

Li Qiqian said: "He entered Nanjing with all odds and dangers, and now he should be busy inheriting the throne and making up the hearts of the people, can he still take care of us?"

Liu Li sneered: "As long as Banzai is not removed for a day, he will not be at peace for a day, his first priority is not to inherit the great treasure, but to confirm the whereabouts of Banzai, unless Banzai is in front of him, he will never give up the pursuit." ”

As he was talking, he saw the west avenue dusty, and a fast horse galloped over. Everyone's faces changed, and they all stood up, their hands on the hilt of their knives. Liu Li pressed down on everyone's blades and said, "It's Lin Yanghao." ”

Sure enough, the person who came was Lin Yanghao, a hundred households of Long Xiangwei, this smart and exposed guy finally did not die in the chaos. He ran to the front and turned over and dismounted, strode to Emperor Chongwen and knelt down, and said loudly: "Long live the emperor when he knocks on my emperor." ”

Emperor Chongwen's face was still unwavering, and he waved his hand to get him up.

Liu Guan rushed forward, gave Lin Yanghao a hard blow, and said with a smile: "I knew that your kid didn't die so easily." Li Qiqian also beat Lin Yanghao, and for the rest of his life, he quickly narrowed the distance between people, and everyone was happy from the bottom of their hearts.

Liu Li asked, "How did you escape?"

Lin Yanghao said: "At that time, we attacked the thief formation, I accidentally fell off the horse, and a large crowd of chaotic people came. I got under a dead horse and narrowly escaped with my life. I know the horror of the trampling of the rebels, and those northern troops have been knocked down and trampled to death, which is unbearable.

By the time the large group of chaotic people poured over, half an hour had passed. I struggled to climb out, the sky was already light, there was chaos all around, there were dead people everywhere, the war horses without the master were running everywhere, I grabbed a horse and chased it down, and finally caught up with you. ”

Liu Guan looked at Liu Li and said, "Lin Baihu can run out, maybe someone else can run out, let's wait." ”

Liu Li said firmly: "No, the chasing soldiers are on the way, and the northern army is fast, so we can't delay for a moment." We are now heading north to Gaozi Town, and to the south of Tangshan is a large lake and swamp pond, which is not conducive to the galloping of the cavalry, and even if they chase after it, it will not be too fast. ”

Everyone sorted out the dry food and blades, and immediately set off to the north, the only war horse was left to Emperor Chongwen, Wang Hui waited for him to get on the horse, and endured the pain of leading the horse to fall.

An hour later, the cavalry of the brigade advanced eastward through the big locust tree, and the cavalry of the northern army rushed into the villages next to the avenue, searched for all the people who had escaped from Nanjing, and tortured and interrogated.

The general colonel of the Northern Army of the brigade is surrounded by a young general, and there is a banner with the word "chapter" behind him, which is Zhang Fu, the general of the Northern Army. Zhang Fu is the son of Zhang Yu, the first general of King Yan, in the Battle of Dongchang, Zhang Yu rushed into the camp of the Southern Army to save King Yan and died in battle. King Yan was very deplorable, and especially favored Zhang Yu's son Zhang Fu, who was already a commander at a young age, with 5,000 subordinates.

Zhang Fu also lived up to King Yan's expectations, and made great achievements for King Yan to enter Nanjing, and this time King Yan handed him the heavy responsibility of searching for Emperor Chongwen. Clear-eyed people can see that this is an opportunity for King Yan to give Zhang Fu a marquis.

But Zhang Fu didn't think so, he thought that it was unlikely that Emperor Chongwen would escape from Nanjing, and even if he did escape from Nanjing, he would go south to Lishui County to join Wang Zengtai, and there was little hope for him to pursue in this direction.

Since King Yan arranged for him to pursue him eastward, he had to do his best, and he understood that the stakes were high, and he couldn't be too careful. The Zhang family has long been tied to King Yan, if the throne of Emperor Yan is unstable, the Zhang family will not talk about fame and wealth, and the whole family will fall to the ground in the near future, the biggest threat to the throne of King Yan is Emperor Chongwen, how dare he be sloppy.

In Chunhua Town, he carefully interrogated the refugees who had escaped from Nanjing, and sensed that something was wrong.

A man who looked like a merchant knelt in front of him, his clothes were in tatters, his face was bruised and swollen, and his face was covered with blood, and the guy cried: "I am telling the truth, general, I am telling the truth." ”

"Nonsense! In such a dark night, can you see someone slashing the general banner of our Northern Army with one sword?" Zhang Fu asked viciously.

Shang Jia said: "At that time, the sentry of the Northern Army was carrying torches, and the murderer was only 5 zhang away from me, so I couldn't see clearly. ”

"How many people are on horseback? ”

"About 5 or 6 of them, all fierce men, who can't see their true faces in the dark. ”

"Where do they accent?"

"Nanjing accent, I can hear it clearly. ”

Zhang Fu paced back and forth a few steps, this thing was indeed a little weird. If it was a rioter, in the face of a dense rain of arrows, it was impossible to have the courage to rush up, it was someone who carried them and risked their lives to rush towards the group of scouts, it was those guys on horseback. With such courage and such knife skills, he is either a Jiangyang thief or a battle-hardened soldier.

If these guys are big thieves, take advantage of the chaos to rob rare treasures, and desperately kill out of Nanjing, it will be said in the past. But there is no doubt that those people are from Nanjing, and he has already checked a few confessions, if it is said that there are Jiangyang thieves who killed people and goods in the capital under the rule of Emperor Gao, he can't believe it.

Those guys who were carrying the refugees into battle were more likely to be the soldiers of the Beijing camp, but why did these soldiers fight to the death to get out of Nanjing? Their families were all in Nanjing, so they should find a way to protect their families, so how could they risk their lives to run out of Nanjing regardless of the safety of their families? Are they afraid that King Yan has reached such a point? Don't they want their own lives, and the lives of their family members?

This doesn't make sense. Unless they have a mission, or go out of the city to rescue soldiers, or escort some big man to escape for his life. Why couldn't they be able to escort Emperor Chongwen to escape for his life?

Since there is this possibility, he can't give up, he stood up suddenly, and ordered loudly: "Pass the order, immediately pull out the camp, and march towards Jurong." ”

The subordinate general loudly agreed: "Oh!"

"Wait! Ordered Zhang Yu and Sun Cheng to search in the direction of Gaozi Town and Longtan, and ordered Wang Gou'er and Chen Tie to search in the direction of Maoshan and Donglu Mountain. Give me an inch-by-inch search, and I will hold all those who have escaped from Nanjing, and I will not let go of a single mouse.

"Whoa!"