On the afternoon of March 15, the 17th year of Chongzhen, Wang Chengen, who had not slept for almost two days, was hurriedly called away to see Emperor Chongzhen by one of his god-grandsons.
Zhu Cixiang knew that Tang Bao, who had lost Juyongguan, must have reported to the capital! One day later, the Tang newspaper that Li Chuang's army occupied Changping will also be sent to the capital. By March 17, Li Chuang's army will appear in the northwest of Beijing!
At that time, it will be a dream to trap three or two thousand strong men with one piece of silver and a big piece of meat.
However, even if Zhu Cihong seized a critical time window and gathered the heroes together, they would still be just a ragtag group lacking organization and cohesion. In order for these people to follow Beijing when the city was destroyed, Zhu Cixiang had to work hard to deceive them!
Wu Sanfu had already brought all his servants to the internal training field at this time. There were not many people, there were eighty-three people in total, forty-three of them were elderly uncles, and the rest were all sixteen A seven-year-old boy - serving as a servant is a lifelong job and can usually be hereditary. Using the title of Jia Ding is actually too small, and using the title of Retainer is more appropriate.
Therefore, the counting unit of three thousand servants mentioned by Wu Xiang is not "person", but "household". Since the unit is based on households, the maximum dispatch capacity is not three thousand, and there will be many old servants and young servants who are elderly or have not yet fully grown up.
The servants who are now in their prime are all in Wu Sangui's army. Those who followed Wu Xiang to Beijing are naturally old and young.
Although these servants are not very strong, in Zhu Cixiang's eyes, they are a valuable asset. The old servant is rich in experience, and the young servant who can be educated by Wu Xiang's side must be a young man who can be trained. If you can turn these teenagers into your partners, it will be easy to cultivate direct line armies in the future...
"Young ladies, please pay your respects to the Crown Prince Qiantose!"
As expected, the servants of the Wu family were much neater and more capable than the brave men summoned by Wang Chengen. More than eighty people lined up in eight rows in the lobby and bowed to Zhu Cihong together.
Zhu Cihong's East Palace foreman guard Zhu Chunjie, accompanying eunuch Qiu Zhizhong, there is also a Dongchang tiqi named Zhang Tao, a flag commander of the Yongwei camp named Wang Zhou, a Jingjun commander named Pan Shuchen, They are all in it too. Zhang Tao, Wang Zhou, and Pan Shuchen were all selected by Zhu Cixiang, his accompanying eunuch Qiu Zhizhong, from among the brave men summoned by Wang Chengen.
Among them, Ti Qi's name was Zhang Tao, who had a vicious appearance and was somewhat notorious in Dongchang. He was nicknamed Zhang Yanwang, which shows how good he was as an official.
Wang Zhou, the commander-in-chief of the Yongwei camp, was a firearms soldier. He was tall and had a large pit on his face, which was extremely ugly. They were all caused by the explosion of the gun. It was precisely because of this explosion that he was allowed to stay in the capital to recuperate. Otherwise, most of them would have died in Ningwuguan now.
Pan Shuchen, the commander-in-chief of the Jingjun army, looks much fairer, gentler and gentler, like a scholar. He is also the oldest among the three, about forty years old. He has worked in the Nanhai Zijing Army for more than ten years and has been promoted from an ordinary eunuch soldier to the commander-in-chief. Like Wang Zhou, he was also a firearms soldier, and now he is the commander of the Jingjun firearms soldiers. The firearms soldiers of the Jing Army were assigned to Zhu Cihong in an organized manner, and they were regarded as the most effective troops in Zhu Cihong's hands.
The firearms they were equipped with were all good things, and they were part of the turtle-dove-footed muskets that Zheng Zhilong sent to Dengzhou after the Songjin War. At that time, the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty wanted to transfer Zheng Zhilong to guard Juehua Island, but of course Zheng Zhilong would not go, so I sent a batch of high-quality firearms produced in Guangdong and Macao to Dengzhou to support the anti-Qing Dynasty. Most of these firearms were given to the Guan Ning Army, but some were also shipped to Beijing and were assigned to the Yongwei Camp and the Nanhai Zijing Army. Among them, there were 300 turtle-dove-footed fire cannons in the hands of the Jing army, all of which were used by the fire cannon soldiers brought by Pan Shuchen.
"Everyone, please listen carefully!" Zhu Cixiang's face had become solemn, and he looked at the people standing in the lobby with stern eyes, and said word by word, "Juyongguan has fallen, and the rebellion is about to attack the capital. I, the palace. As the crown prince of the country, in this critical moment, I should step forward and ask Nanxing to stay in the capital for the sake of the emperor. The princes and the governor of Beijing, Wu Xiang, were ordered to go with me to protect Nanxing.
All of you are either the servants of Admiral Wu, or are members of this palace or the princes. Are you willing to protect the Ming Dynasty and share the prosperity of Jiangnan with me, princes, and Admiral Wu? "
After saying this, there was a sound of gasping in the lobby.
Juyongguan has fallen, and millions of rebels are about to hit Beijing... Is the Ming Dynasty about to fall?
"We are willing to follow the Crown Prince!"
At this time someone gave the first shout.
Zhu Cixiang cast his gaze over and saw a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old, who was Wu Xiang's servant. He was young but as strong as an ox. His face was covered with flesh. He could tell at a glance that he was a master who did not believe in evil. .
"I am also willing to follow the prince!"
Someone yelled again, and when Zhu Cihong looked again, he saw a short-built boy with thick eyebrows and big eyes. Although he was not tall, he could tell that he had a strong and stocky physique.
"The young Wang Zhou is also willing to accompany His Highness the Crown Prince to avenge General Zhou!"
The third person to stand up and express his position was Wang Zhou, who was born in the Yongwei camp. He was originally a subordinate of Zhou Yuji. His master died in the battle, so he was itching with hatred.
"I am also willing to follow the crown prince and protect Nan Xing."
The person speaking now was Pan Shuchen, who addressed Zhu Cixiang as "Chen", not as a slave. Firstly, it shows that he is not that close to Zhu Cixiang, and secondly, he is a bit arrogant.
Zhu Cixiang smiled at him and nodded, and then cast a cold gaze on his head guard, Zhu Chunjie.
Zhu Chunjie was in shock. He has followed Zhu Cixiang for many years and knows the prince's character very well... He is just a little Chongzhen! He is always well-behaved and a little bit resigned to death. He is definitely a good boy who makes all his parents feel at ease.
But what happened to the good boy today? There was no end to the bad things he did... and he also coaxed Wang Chengen, an honest eunuch, to do bad things together.
And he did this... escorting Nan Xing, and even organized an armed escort himself. Is this something that the prince can do? It is impossible for the emperor to order the prince to do that, so the prince is now acting without authorization, which can be considered treason at worst!
Zhu Chunjie, who was just thinking about it blindly, was stared at by Zhu Cixiang's cold gaze. He suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and quickly expressed his stance: "I will follow Your Highness, even to the death!"
"I will follow you to the death." Qiu Zhizhong also expressed his stance. He was sent by Wang Chengen to the prince's side as a companion, and he actually had the responsibility of surveillance.
But now that Wang Chengen is working with Zhu Cixiang...who else can he snitch to? Going beyond the level to report to Emperor Chongzhen?
The other party is the prince, Wang Chengen, and maybe Queen Zhou... Let's forget it!
"Young ones are willing to follow His Highness the Crown Prince..."
"Young ones are willing to follow..."
Someone took the lead, and more and more people expressed support. Soon, dozens of people in the entire lobby were willing to "follow them to the death."
However, Zhu Cixiang knew that this was empty talk and was just for fun. Fortunately, I am not a provincial expert, and my more than ten years of financial work is not in vain... My ability to analyze and deceive will not be so great in future generations, but now, he should be the best in the country, right?
Thinking of this, Zhu Cixiang waved to the first young man who agreed to him, "Strong man, please come forward and speak."
The young man didn't show any timidity, he stepped forward and bowed again.
Zhu Cixiang waved to the second boy who expressed his stance and called him over.
"What are the names of these two heroes?" Zhu Cixiang asked with a smile.
"Little Sun Fugui." The tall young man replied.
"Little Wang Guoyong." The short and stocky boy replied.
"Both of you are Admiral Wu's servants?" Zhu Cixiang asked, taking two edicts and starting to fill in their names.
"Exactly."
The two teenagers answered together.
"Have you ever seen Lu Chou?" Zhu Cixiang asked again.
"I've seen it."
"I've seen it before, too."
Zhu Cihong asked again: "Is that prisoner ugly and fierce? Is he powerful?"
"sharp!"
"Of course it's awesome!"
Both teenagers answered in the affirmative.
"What about the rogue bandits?" Zhu Cixiang put down his brush and asked loudly, "Have any of you seen the rogue bandits? Who has fought with the rogue bandits? Who has fought with the rogue bandits? Who is more powerful, the rogue bandits or the rogue bandits? Both of them are with me. Tell me."
