Zhou Hou's sudden death made Zhu Cihong, Zhu Yuluo and others extremely sad. The young Princess Zhaoren was even more inseparable from Zhu Yuanzhang, even if she fell asleep crying, she would hold his hand tightly.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but recall the scene when Queen Ma and Zhu Biao died. He felt quite uncomfortable, but he still dared not relax.
Until Fei Zhen'e knelt in front of Zhou Hou's spirit for three days, she also committed suicide and followed her.
Brother Li Wu contacted the person lurking around Wang Dehua through the contact information left by Zhou Hou, and he relaxed a little after the other person said he could destroy the handwritten letter at any time.
And the reason why he didn't ask the man to destroy the handwriting immediately was because the timing was wrong.
Because although Zhou Hou and Fei Zhen'e have passed away, they may still have back-up plans. If he orders people to destroy the handwritten letters at this moment, it may cause trouble.
Furthermore, because Zhou Hou had previously made Wang Dehua suspicious of Lu Jiude, and he also wanted to use Wang Dehua to cultivate relationships with Zuo Liangyu, Mr. Zou Da and others, he hid it without revealing it.
Of course, there is another point, that is, he can't bear it, and hopes that he can leave with peace of mind after Zhou Zhou.
Because in the past few days, he thought about various situations after his rebirth, and found that he was full of fatigue and loneliness, and there was no joy at all.
Only when getting along with Zhou Hou, Zhu Cixiang and others, did I feel a little relaxed.
But this week, in order to eliminate his suspicion and protect Zhu Cixiang and others, Zhou Hou died by suicide, which made him feel guilty and regretful.
So whenever he saw Zhu Cixiang and others, he couldn't help but feel a sense of indebtedness in his heart.
Especially when the young Princess Zhaoren called Queen Zhou in her sleep, it made him feel even more uneasy.
Fortunately, Tian Shuying was quite smart and could give him some comfort.
It's just a drop in the bucket, because Zhu Yuanzhang has too many regrets and guilt in his past and present lives, and he is too deep.
When the two came together, it was unbearable for the iron-blooded emperor who always valued his family.
But the reality is very cruel, and Zhu Yuanzhang is not even willing to give him any time to grieve.
While they were preparing for Zhou Hou's funeral, another urgent report came from Huang Degong, saying that Liu Fangliang had broken through several lines of defense and asked the court to send troops for support immediately.
It turned out that after Wang Chengen fought to the death, he had already reversed the defeat and regained Bazhou and other places.
However, when the news spread that Zhu Hengjia was on Qingjun's side, people in the military were panicked.
Fortunately, Huang Degong had always had prestige, and he successively killed more than a dozen people who were craftsmen and spread rumors, so he temporarily stabilized the morale of the army.
However, although Huang Degong calmed everyone down, the soldiers had no fighting spirit. Liu Fangliang took the opportunity to attack again, and some rogue bandits responded, causing Huang Degong to retreat one after another.
Fortunately, at this time, Baoding's prefect He Fu, fellow prefect Shao Zongxuan, squire Zhang Luojun and others came out of the city to harass Liu Fangliang's rear, which gave Huang Degong some breathing time.
It turned out that Liu Fangliang was eager to join Li Guo and besiege the capital. However, due to the hasty attack and lack of troops, he placed most of his elite troops in the front, leaving only a few thousand troops to bluff in Baoding.
His plan had long been seen through by Zhang Luojun and others. Because the situation was not critical at the time and Gu Kecheng was in charge, Baoding officers and soldiers remained stationary.
When the news about Zhu Hengjia's Qing Dynasty spread, some bandits and lawless people in Hebei rose up in rebellion one after another. However, because they were independent of each other, they often attacked each other for petty gains.
Liu Fangliang was short of troops at the time, and seeing that Baoding was unable to retreat, he asked Gu Kecheng to conquer the rebels.
After Zhang Luojun and others got the news, they immediately led their troops to attack.
When Gu Kecheng heard that Baoding soldiers and horses were leaving the city, he immediately led his troops back, but he didn't want to be ambushed by Fang Zhenghua and Zhang Luofu along the way.
Fortunately, Zhang Neng, who was traveling with him, fought tooth and nail to protect him and was able to escape. However, Zhang Neng was beheaded by Fang Zhenghua on the spot.
Although the officers and soldiers of Baoding had such a great victory, due to insufficient soldiers, Liu Fangliang transferred back three thousand elite troops, and Gu Kecheng also gathered more than ten rebel groups, they had to retreat into the city again...
After reading the battle report, Zhu Yuanzhang had to cheer up and think about countermeasures.
However, he had ordered Jin Xuan and Wu Laoliu to lead their troops to support Shen Zhanran two days ago. Although there are still more than 20,000 people in Beijing,
But the fifteen thousand people were all the previous Beijing troops.
Although they did not participate in the rebellion, they did not take the initiative to put down the rebellion. Most of them were ruffians and their loyalty was not high.
If they were forcibly brought to the battlefield, it would be counterproductive if they defected on the battlefield.
As for the remaining six to seven thousand people, half were the cavalry who returned with him from Shanhaiguan and Jizhou, and the other were the elite of Jin Xuan's army.
Although there was no problem with the loyalty and combat prowess of these two groups of people, he could not take them all away, otherwise the safety of the capital would not be guaranteed.
In addition, he also has no suitable person to lead the army.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it over and over, and it seemed that the only way he could do it was by the imperial chariot himself.
Firstly, he really has no generals available. .z.
Furthermore, rumors about Zhu Hengjia's attempt to seize the throne were spreading. If he could not quickly deal with Liu Fangliang and go south to pacify Zhu Hengjia, he would probably cause a lot of trouble if he allowed the other party to gain power.
And now there are rumors that Zhu Youju, the king of Anren who is recuperating in Guilin, has instructed Zhu Youlang to raise troops in Hengzhou to support Zhu Hengjia.
If this is true, the Huguang area will definitely be affected by the war, and the war in the north will also change again due to food and salary issues.
Because the food in Huguang and Guangdong and Guangxi accounts for a large proportion of the food in the south, once the war spreads, the self-sufficiency of the south of the Yangtze River will not be enough, and there will be no time to take care of the north.
Although potatoes and other things have been planted near the capital, when Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the capital this time, he found that there were no people in the suburbs of Beijing, and the fields were even more barren. It was no longer possible to be self-sufficient this winter as Jiang Dejing had said before.
Therefore, if there is no support from Nanliang, there will be tragedy all over the country, and it is inevitable that refugees will riot or rebel.
Secondly, there has been no news from Wuchang and Xi'an for a long time, especially since it was previously rumored that Li Ruolian and Du Yinxi had conquered Xi'an, but Jin Yiwei had not confirmed it, which made him quite worried.
You must know that Wang Dehua has already caused unrest in the capital, and in Xi'an there are not only Li Zicheng and others who are eyeing him, but also Zuo Liangyu and Gao Jie's more than 100,000 troops with ulterior motives.
If Li and Du really conquered Xi'an, they would probably lose their troops without backup.
As for Zhang Huangyan in Wuchang, Zhu Yuanzhang was even more worried.
In addition to his high regard for Zhang Huangyan, Wuchang was a military center and was of great significance to him in pacifying the south of the Yangtze River.
But now Zhang Huangyan is not only surrounded by enemies, but Zuo Xianmei, Li Zushu and others who are facing him are all cunning people.
Zhang Huangyan may be trapped and killed if he is not careful at all.
But even though Zhu Yuanzhang had this idea, he did not dare to move forward rashly.
There is still no peace in the capital once he arrives. If he leaves suddenly, Zhu Cihong may not be able to control the capital.
If something unexpected happens to Zhu Cihong again, not only will his military supplies be affected, but he may also find it difficult to securely sit on the throne and return to the capital.
Moreover, the rebels and Jurchen troops had not yet retreated, so he was worried about the fighting in these two places.
Especially for the battle of Shanhaiguan, news should have come out long ago, but now more than ten days have passed, but there is still no battle report.
Of course, he also has another worry, that is, he is afraid that there will be a back-up plan later in the week.
Although judging from various signs, Zhou Hou only wanted to protect Zhu Cihong and others and had no intention of harming him, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not dare to relax at all.
Because he knows that if a person who even counts his own life takes action again, it will be a shocking blow.
So even though he had repeatedly deduced it, he still couldn't make a final decision.
While he was meditating, a young eunuch came in to report that Jiang Dejing and Huang Nilu were outside seeking an audience.
