"Father, this is Taigu County. It's very safe." Li Guo held Li Zicheng's hand and said while holding back his grief.
Taigu? Li Zicheng was startled for a moment, and then he came to his senses: "It's good to take the east road, but it's not advisable to stay for a long time. You should leave quickly to avoid the officers and soldiers chasing after you..."
"Father, there is no need to worry. There are no pursuing troops within twenty miles, and there is Queen Luohu in the rear. Father can rest in peace!" Li Guo consoled him.
After hearing about the Luohu Palace, Li Zicheng felt relieved. At this time, all the troops fled in confusion and were exhausted. The only ones who could maintain their combat power and confront the officers and soldiers were probably the well-trained and disciplined Zhenshan Camp.
"There are no officers and soldiers chasing after them, which means they are also exhausted, but they cannot be careless. They need to leave quickly after handling the affairs here," Li Zicheng said calmly.
"General Liu is mobilizing the wealthy households in the city to donate food and money. After that, we will leave early tomorrow morning," Niu Jinxing whispered from the side.
The so-called mobilization means torture and looting.
"Father, between sons and ministers, why should we care so much at this time? Let's just massacre the city! Otherwise, it will be difficult to understand the hatred in our hearts." Li Guo suddenly said bitterly.
Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others were silent. Li Zicheng's eyes flickered and his breathing became heavy.
"No, Your Majesty, it's absolutely impossible." Li Yan stood up and said, "My Lord, if we massacre the city, our many years of hard work will be in vain. Once word spreads, we will undoubtedly have no way out in the future!"
"Just massacre the small town, and God knows who knows who will spread the word!" Li Guo roared. In fact, when Taigu was captured, he proposed to massacre the city, but Li Yan and Gu Junen resisted, and had to wait for Li Zicheng to wake up and express his position.
"There is no impermeable wall in the world. If you want others to know, you have to do nothing yourself." Li Yan's expression was firm. He and Li Guo were usually on good terms, but he knew that he was being stabbed now.
"Lord, we don't need more than food and grass, so let him donate it. Why do we have to massacre the city and make the world angry and resentful? What good will it do to us?" Li Guo saw Li Zicheng vacillating and knew that he also had hatred in his heart, just like Li Guo. , the father and son have the same thoughts.
"Your Majesty, what General Li said is absolutely true. You should think twice." Gu Junen stepped forward and raised his hand to agree.
Li Zicheng raised his head and glanced at Niu Jinxing. Niu Jinxing looked at Song Xiance. The two of them took a long breath: "My lord, there is no need to go too far."
"Pass an order to the people of Taigu to use all their resources and troops. Those who remain will be killed without mercy. After the incident is over, the city will be burned and we will set out early tomorrow morning." Li Zicheng's tone was calm, but his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
Li Yan took a long breath and sighed slightly in his heart. Although Li Zicheng gave up the massacre, plundering the people's property and burning their homes was no different from massacre. However, he could only do this one step.
Is this still the rebel who holds high the banner of righteousness and provides a way for the people to make a living? A voice quietly sounded in his heart.
After walking out of the room and into the yard, he was blown by the cold wind. Li Yan looked up at the sky. There were no stars under the dusk. It should be around Xu Shi (7 p.m.) and it should be just after dinner, but there were sudden cries everywhere. With a howl, he knew Liu Zongmin had taken action, and tears fell instantly.
Yesterday's battle, the bandits abandoned their helmets and fled in all directions, with numerous casualties and casualties. In the end, only over 50,000 people fled to Taigu to gather, and most of the original officers and soldiers surrendered. As for the rest, they were either killed by the officers and soldiers, or fled to They became stragglers in the mountains or other places.
With such heavy losses, Li Zicheng was of course in urgent need of replenishment, but not troops. Too many troops would be a burden to him. What he needed was food, grass, gold, silver and jewelry.
Therefore, he wanted to take advantage of the pursuit by officers and soldiers to plunder Taigu, Qixian County and Pingyao to the south, and then burn them all.
That night, it was said that the fire in Taigu County could be seen ten miles away. I don't know how many families were destroyed that night.
Chang Yu came out of the yard and went straight to the military camp in the north of the city. This military camp was the largest military camp in Taiyuan City and where his silver car was located. However, the ground was wailing because there were too many wounded.
Master Fu Qing was leading a group of doctors who were very busy. It was said that he had hardly rested from morning to now. Although Cai Maode mobilized all the doctors in the city to come for voluntary treatment, there were still many wounded soldiers.
After Chang Yu arrived at the military camp to express his condolences, he went to the northwest corner of the camp. Several barracks here were where the silver carriages were located and where his men's dormitories were located. Hu Ling, who was seriously injured, was recuperating here.
Hu Ling had woken up, but his head was injured and the swelling was so severe that he could not speak for a while. After Chang Yu carefully checked him and comforted him for a few words, he called for a meeting.
There were no outsiders present, they were all brought by him from the capital, including the Fujun Guard Tang Poshan, the Tengxiang Guard Cheng Ming, the four commanders of the Jinwu Guard, and of course the Tu Yuan and Jia Waixiong whom he single-handedly promoted, as well as his confidants Tiezhu and Fan Jiaqian.
"Let's report the casualties first." Chang Yu flicked the oil lamp, seemingly absent-minded, but in fact he was extremely nervous.
"Mr. Factory, we have two hundred and thirteen brothers left." Tie Zhu held back tears, his eyes red, and Fan Jiaqian lowered his head and sobbed.
Chang Yu closed his eyes and his breathing became heavy. One-third of the more than 300 strong men he carefully selected from the palace had lost nearly a hundred lives!
Later, the Fujun Guards and Tengxiang Guards each reported damage, and both suffered a lot of losses. The only thing that surprised Chang Yu was that the Jinwu Guards, who were newbies out of the city, actually suffered the least losses.
Is it true that the Royal Cavalry cannot be underestimated, or are newborn calves really awesome?
"Our family can guarantee the pensions for these brothers after their death." Chang Yu opened his eyes and let out a breath: "Not a penny will be lost, and there will be no deductions."
Everyone said nothing.
"We should be returning to Beijing in a few days," Chang Yu said again.
Everyone was shocked and looked at each other with joy on their faces.
"Has the emperor summoned us back to Beijing?" Li Tiezhu was extremely happy.
"How can it be so fast?" Chang Yu smiled: "The emperor will not know about the Taiyuan victory until tomorrow morning at the earliest, and the imperial edict will not arrive until the day after tomorrow at the earliest."
Everyone suddenly realizes
"Why is the factory supervisor so sure that we will definitely return to Beijing? How can we guarantee that the emperor will not issue an order for us to pursue the traitor army?" Tang Potian touched his short beard on his chin with a solemn expression.
Chang Yu shook his head gently: "Feeling"
This feeling is well-founded. Chang Yu has been away from Beijing for nearly a month, and so many things happened during this period. Every single thing can cause shock to the government and the public, although he almost all sent it in the form of secret letters. He reported it to Chongzhen as soon as possible, but he believed that Chongzhen would definitely let him return to Beijing to explain everything in detail face to face.
In addition to tracing the source of the matter itself, there is also Chongzhen's suspicion.
Everyone chatted for a while and then dispersed.
Chang Yu had slept all day and was not sleepy at all. He wanted to go on a patrol in the city, but suddenly something occurred to him, so he asked someone to notify Tu Yuanjia and Xiong and others to gather together. He wanted to patrol the streets.
According to the usual practice, Chang Yu has at least thirty people on his side when traveling, led by a confidant. On weekdays, there are iron pillars. Thousands of people from the Fan family are on duty. Later, Tu Yuan also joined the ranks. Later, after the assassination, Kuang Ren's bow and arrow The team is also around.
However, Chang Yu was going to patrol the streets at this time, but he did not bring a Dongchang fanzi or eunuch confidant, but Tu Yuanjia Waixiong and Cheng Mingtang Potian, and even Duan Wuhu and Zhou Tianpeng came.
