"Your Majesty, although Thief Li's army has retreated, there may still be remnants of rebels around. It is still dangerous to leave the city at this moment. Your Majesty, please do not go into danger personally!"
Wu Mengming on the side suddenly heard that Zhu Yuanzhang was leaving the city, and immediately knelt down to dissuade him.
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, with the eighteen cavalry guards chosen by you and Li Qing, we have nothing to fear!"
Having said that, it’s time to move forward.
Seeing this, Wu Mengming knelt forward again, blocked in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, although the Eighteen Cavalry are brave, their number is too small. Your Majesty, please think twice!"
As he spoke, he looked at Shen Zhanran for help.
Because after he took over Zhu Yuanzhang's escort work, he asked Li Ruolian for advice. Li Ruolian told him that Shen Zhanran was a kind man and was trusted by Zhu Yuanzhang. If he was in trouble, he could ask Shen Zhanran for help.
In fact, Shen Zhanran had already guessed that Zhu Yuanzhang would leave the city when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang in ordinary clothes.
Moreover, he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was resolute and courageous and disliked people disobeying him. Seeing that Wu Mengming had displeased Zhu Yuanzhang, he smiled and tried to persuade him: "Your Majesty, Wu Tongzhi is also loyal, and there is indeed no peace outside the city."
"You might as well wait here for a while and wait for Wu Tongzhi to dispatch his men before leaving the city. It will be safer this way!"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he glanced at Wu Mengming again and remained silent.
It turns out that the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly asked Wu Mengming to accompany him was because he wanted to take the opportunity to see his talents.
Because he currently lacks good generals, Li Ruolian is the best choice regardless of loyalty or intelligence, so he intends to let Li Ruolian lead the army.
However, the position of commander of the Jinyiwei is also very critical. Originally, it was most appropriate to promote Wu Mengming. However, because he led Bai Guangen and others to attack Li Zicheng, which led to the rebellion of Bai Guangen and others, Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that his talents were insufficient.
That's why he was asked to accompany him as a guard, so that he could secretly observe his talents and whether he could shoulder the heavy responsibility of being the commander of the Imperial Guards.
At this moment, seeing that although he was commendable for his loyalty and bravery, he was lacking in mind. After sighing secretly in his heart, he said to Wu Mengming: "Forget it, we are waiting for you here. Go and get ready!"
Wu Mengming heard this, bowed and saluted, and then hurriedly walked down the tower.
Zhu Yuanzhang turned back to Zhang Dabiao, the leader of the Eighteen Cavalry, and said: "Zhang Dabiao, you go to the shops in the city to buy coarse cloth clothes for the bodyguards. After changing, follow us out of the city!"
"By the way, bring some clothes for Mr. Jiang too!"
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that although Jiang Dejing was in regular clothes, he was too conspicuous, so he added another sentence.
Zhang Dabiao was stunned when he heard this, then he bowed respectfully and ran down the tower with three or four people.
Seeing this, Jiang Dejing was about to step forward to dissuade him, but was stopped by Shen Zhanran, who said in a low voice: "Sir Jiang, don't worry. His Majesty asked Ping Xihou to set up warnings at key points yesterday. There will be no danger."
After Jiang Dejing heard this, he followed Zhu Yuanzhang down the tower.
Zhu Yuanzhang and his party rode for more than ten miles, but saw only abandoned farmland, dilapidated villages, and no life at all.
Thinking that this was the outskirts of the capital, and that the scene here was even more desolate than when he visited the south after the founding of the People's Republic of China, his heart sank again.
As if to vent his anger, he tightened his legs and galloped forward.
When Shen Zhanran and others saw this, they also hurriedly chased after him.
"Hey, there is smoke over there. I think there is someone's house there. Let's go and have a look!"
Zhu Yuanzhang walked forward for more than ten miles and saw some smoke rising from a village on the left. He smiled and said to Shen Zhanran and others.
After that, he drove his horse slowly and galloped towards the village.
As soon as they reached the entrance of the village, they were surrounded by a group of villagers.
Fortunately, Shen Zhanran stepped forward and explained that they were business travelers coming from the south. They encountered thieves and fled here in a hurry because they were sleepy and lacked horses. They came here to ask for water, so the villagers could relax a little.
"Erhu, since they are all miserable people, let them enter the village!"
At this time, an old man about sixty years old came forward with a cane and shouted to the strong man in the lead.
After hearing this, the strong man waved the villagers to disperse and let them enter the village.
Upon seeing this, Shen Zhanran hurriedly stepped forward to thank the old man and took the opportunity to ask about the situation.
It turns out that most of the people in this village have the surname Zhang, so they are called Zhangjia Village, and the old man's name is Zhang Liuqi, who is the patriarch of the Zhang family.
Originally, all the people in their village wanted to go up the mountain to take refuge, but Zhang Laoliu's old wife, Xu, was seriously ill and could not move. In addition, the family had no money left, so they were not afraid of the rebels robbing them.
Therefore, he only asked his daughter Zhang Qiyi to go up the mountain to take refuge with everyone, while he stayed at home to take care of his old wife.
Originally he was determined to die, but he didn't expect the rebels to see that they were old, weak, and useless, so they didn't give him any trouble.
Because his daughter Zhang Qiyi missed her parents and heard that the rebels had retreated, she secretly went down the mountain with Zhang Erhu and others to visit her parents.
Unexpectedly, by chance, they met several drunken officers and soldiers. When the leader saw Zhang Qisheng's handsomeness, he immediately became lustful and wanted to snatch him away on the spot.
Fortunately, they were drunk at the time, and Zhang Erhu and others also had brute force, so they were able to fight them off.
Zhang Erhu and others wanted to take the opportunity to escape up the mountain, but Zhang Qiyi refused to go up the mountain again for fear of injuring his parents.
Zhang Liuqi and his wife tried hard to persuade each other, but Zhang Qiyi refused.
While everyone was arguing, the previous general came with another group of people, captured Zhang Erhu and others, and dragged Zhang Qiyi into the house.
Just at this moment, another group of officers and soldiers entered the village. Not only did they stop the atrocities committed by the previous group of officers and soldiers, they also comforted Zhang Liuqi and others.
Before leaving, one of the leading generals gave them a few taels of silver, saying that he was bringing the previous officers and soldiers to make amends.
How could Zhang Liuqi and others dare to accept the money from the officers and soldiers? They refused repeatedly, but the general left the money after leaving it.
Although the matter calmed down, Zhang Erhu looked angry when he saw him leaving. He was worried that he would cause trouble again, so he went up the mountain and called a group of friends to guard the village.
After listening to Zhang Liuqi's story, Zhu Yuanzhang vaguely guessed that the person he was talking about might be Gong Yonggu, the Marquis of Pingxi.
What puzzled him was why Gong Yonggu only drove the other party away instead of arresting him and punishing him.
"Da da da......"
Just as he was meditating, there was another rush of horse hooves outside the village, followed by a loud noise.
Zhu Yuanzhang followed the sound and saw a group of officers and soldiers surrounded by Zhang Erhu and others.
The leader had a deer-headed head and rat-like eyes, and a wretched look on his face.
At this moment, he sat upright on his horse, glanced at Zhang Erhu and others with disdain, and then shouted loudly: "Zhang Liuqi, if you are interested, please send your daughter up quickly."
"For the sake of your daughter, I will spare your life and accept you as my servants. From now on, you will have no worries about food and clothing."
"If not, I will burn this village with fire and make you disappear from now on. You have to think clearly!"
