Wang Shengde took the opportunity to see Wang Fuzhi off and secretly observed the situation outside the house.
Although he didn't see anyone watching, he still felt uneasy.
Therefore, after he ordered the soldiers to be on strict guard, he pulled Zu Zerun, who was about to go back to his room to rest, to the study room, and said solemnly: "Young Master, I feel that Chongzhen is already suspicious of you, so you'd better leave tonight. go!"
Zu Zerun heard this and said with some dissatisfaction: "Steward Wang, you are too worried. We have not done anything wrong to Chongzhen. Why should he be suspicious?"
"And even if he is suspicious, Wang Fuzhi will defend us. As you saw just now, Zhang Dabiao treats him respectfully. It can be seen that the impact of Wu Tao's incident is not big, so we don't need to worry too much!"
Wang Shengde shook his head and said, "Young Master, you think too simply!"
"I thought about it carefully just now. Wu Tao was originally from the Anyu Camp, and according to Wu Sangui, he had handed over part of the forces of the Anyu Camp to Wu Guogui. So Wu Tao is most likely to be under Wu Guogui's control. Instruct."
"If this is the case, then the beauty trap we planned to use may not only fail to make Chongzhen change his mind, but may also lead to death for you."
When Zu Zerun heard this, he immediately changed his expression and said, "How dare he, he is a bitch slave, if he really dares to plot against me, let's see if I don't skin him!"
After he finished speaking, he said with some confusion: "Isn't Wu Guogui in prison now? How could he do these things?"
Wang Shengde smiled bitterly and said: "Old slave, I hope he did this. Although he has a deep mind and the strength of the Dark Feather Battalion under his command is not weak, he is in prison after all at the moment, so it is not convenient to deliver the news."
"Furthermore, Wang Euzhi knows what happened at Dark Feather Camp and will keep a close eye on him. If he wants to plot to harm you again, it won't be as easy as before."
"Actually, what I'm most worried about is that there is still a force in Shanhaiguan, and I don't want you to rescue me!"
When Zu Zerun heard this, he was a little surprised and said: "Is there another force?"
Wang Shengde nodded and said: "Everyone in the world thinks that Ningyuan, Shanhaiguan and other places belong to the Zu and Wu families, but they don't know that there is always a third party in Shanhaiguan, and that is the merchants from the north and the south."
"merchant?"
Zu Zerun looked doubtful and said: "Do they have this ability?"
Wang Shengde saw Zu Zerun's expression and said in a deep voice: "Young Master, don't underestimate those businessmen!"
"Do you know why Guan Ning's cavalry can be called the best cavalry in Guan? Do you really think that you can build such an invincible cavalry just by relying on those fields?"
"You must know that the cost of setting up a cavalry is extremely high. The horses and equipment of Guan Ning's cavalry are all specially made and are of great value. In addition, the costs of training and settling in are difficult to estimate."
"When I was in Liaodong, even with their help, it took a lot of effort to train more than 10,000 cavalry. But after Wu Sangui took over, he had to reduce the number of troops repeatedly because he could not maintain the high cost. ..."
Zu Zerun listened to Wang Shengde's story and said with some confusion: "Since those businessmen have been funding us, why do they want to prevent my father from coming back?"
Wang Shengde said: "Businessmen are all profitless. They support me in this way. In addition to taking the opportunity to expand their power, they also want to use me to do trade with the Jurchens. Therefore, they have a lot of information in my hands." "
"If this was really their fault, they saw that Chongzhen had already killed many wealthy people, and they were afraid that when the master came back, he would reveal what happened before, so they carried out this murderous act."
Zu Zerun frowned and said, "If you go by what you said, wouldn't it mean that my father won't be able to come back?"
Wang Shengde sneered and said: "That's not necessarily the case. Although they have a plan, the master also considered the possibility of failure before sending troops this time. He once ordered the old slave to contact a friend in the south and asked him to send a merchant ship north, so that the master can hide there. , stole back to the south."
Zu Zerun was overjoyed when he heard this, and then worried: "But now that my father is captured, how can he get on the ship?"
Wang Shengde said in a deep voice: "Now that Chongzhen is unwilling to send troops, we will have to implement the second plan."
"Second plan?"
Zu Zerun looked confused and said: "What second plan? Why didn't father tell me?"
A flash of embarrassment flashed across Wang Shengde's face, and then he bowed and said, "The master doesn't know about this matter. The slave and the man discussed it privately because they were worried that today's situation would happen."
Zu Zerun was originally a careless person, and after hearing that there was a way to rescue him, he was so happy that he did not notice anything strange about Wang Shengde. He just said excitedly: "Tell me, what is the method?"
Wang Shengde said solemnly: "The old slave has been operating in Shanhaiguan for many years and has secretly cultivated a group of dead soldiers."
"The old slave is going to let them create some chaos in the city tomorrow and create an opportunity for Dorgon to seize Shanhaiguan."
"You must know that the Jurchens have been defeated one after another and must be eager to save face. The reason why they are holding back now is because they have no chance of winning. If there is turmoil in the city, he will definitely lead his troops to attack. Then you can take the opportunity to rescue me."
Zu Zerun heard this and said with some worry: "If Shanhaiguan is really breached by the Jurchens, wouldn't it be..."
"Young master, those who achieve great things don't stick to trivial matters. And the more broken the mountains and rivers are, the easier it will be for you and me to achieve great achievements?"
After Wang Shengde interrupted Zu Zerun, seeing that he still looked reluctant to give up, he comforted him and said, "Young master, you don't have to worry too much!"
"This old slave will know how to measure. And judging from yesterday's battle, Chongzhen is good at strategy, and with the help of Zheng's navy, Shanhaiguan may not fall..."
Zu Zerun was silent for a while and said, "In order to save my father, I have to do this!"
As he spoke, he thought of Wang Fuzhi again, and warned him, "Wang Fuzhi is very angry with me. Even if you use tricks, don't hurt him!"
Wang Shengde was stunned for a moment, said a few perfunctory words, and then took Zu Zerun to a utility room.
After removing the debris, he opened a secret door and said, "Young Master, I'm afraid there's someone watching outside the house at the moment. You should be able to avoid their eyes and ears by taking this secret passage."
Zu Zerun nodded and was about to go in when he stopped and said, "Steward Wang, did you say that Chongzhen summoned me to discuss sending troops?"
"When we were on the city wall earlier, I felt that he still wanted to fight. Why don't we wait until we meet Chongzhen tomorrow? Otherwise, once Shanhaiguan falls, my father will lose his roots..."
Although Wang Shengde had already formulated a second plan, he had been hesitant because he felt that this method was too costly.
The reason why I decided to act in advance just now was because of the panic in my heart after being intimidated by Zhang Dabiao.
At this moment, I saw that Zu Zerun's words were strong and reasonable, and he was not a person with big plans, so he couldn't make up his mind for a moment.
Just when Zu and Wang were hesitant, Dorgon, who was outside Ningyuan City, also looked hesitant.
Because after the Jurchens' successive defeats, not only the various Mongolian ministries were ready to take action, but there was also turmoil within the Jurchens.
Especially after many real women were infected with the plague, the situation became increasingly difficult to control.
Fortunately, Bumbutai reached out to help in time and worked with him to stabilize the situation.
But he also knew that this was only temporary peace. If they could not save their face this time, the next situation might be very passive.
