"The Crown Prince said that there are strong men with concerns in Beijing, so he invited them back!"
A group of loud-voiced Jingjun soldiers selected by Wang Chengen left Bei'anmen and shouted loudly while walking along the North Wall Street of the Imperial City.
The strong men who had been waiting in line for a long time started talking after hearing this condition.
"Why do you still have nothing to worry about? How can you care about this when you earn only one day's worth of money? Is it possible that we are afraid that we will die during the battle with Chuangni and there will be no one to take care of us at home?"
"Never mind it! You are a fool if you don't make money if you don't have money... It's only one penny a day! Isn't it time to rebel?"
"That's right! The rebellious guy didn't show up, so why don't we make this money?"
"Yeah, at worst, if the rebellion comes, we won't be able to come out of the cat house."
"That's right. I don't know when Chuangni will come... I heard that when Chuangni comes, the people will have a good life!"
"What a good day?"
"Equal land is exempted from taxes, and no taxes are levied for three years..."
"Really?"
"What are you talking about? Don't you even look at this place? Do you want to make money from the prince?"
"Yes, yes, yes, you can't talk nonsense..."
The strong men here are not Wu Xiang's servants. Each of Wu Xiang's servants owns hundreds of acres of farmland and must be classified as belonging to the landlord class. Of course, they would not agree with "equalizing land", and since they do not pay taxes or grain to begin with, it would not be attractive to them if they did not pay taxes for three years. Most of the able-bodied people in Beijing are working people, and some are farmers who have recently gone bankrupt. The slogan "No food will be paid when the king comes" is certainly attractive to them.
But King Chuang hasn't come yet today... Since he hasn't come, of course Prince Zhu still has to pull out his wool.
As for whether they could come out of Bei'anmen after combing the prince's wool, no one had seriously thought about it.
And after all, Beijing City is at the feet of the Emperor. It is more disciplined than other places in the Ming Dynasty. No one has ever dared to rape a strong man in Beijing City! This is not the first time that Beijing has encountered an enemy. Lu Chou has come and gone several times. When did the imperial court use deception to deceive people into becoming soldiers to fight against Lu Chou?
Therefore, the last opportunity Zhu Cixi gave the "Sandings" to escape was basically wasted.
Zhu Cixiang, who was already standing downstairs at Bei'anmen Gate, saw that there were not many strong men queuing up to leave, so he smiled and said to Wu Xiang beside him: "Admiral, let the general and hundred generals choose their own people."
"Here!" Wu Xiang received the military order, turned around and went to arrange his own servants and select people.
Zhu Cixiang said to Wang Chengen again: "Wang Banban, tell me, what are your plans for escorting the new army?"
Wang Chengen replied: "Reporting to Master Qiansui, Lao Nu and Admiral Wu plan to organize three battalions, nine bureaus, twenty-seven divisions and seventy-two banners. Each banner will have two banner commanders, one from the Wu family's servant and one from the Wu family. The flag commander, who is a servant, also serves as the captain. In addition, each flag selects two people from the pure army or the brave men selected today to serve as captains..."
"One flag does not need two flag commanders," Zhu Cixiang shook his head, "and Tiqi cannot lead troops, so why should he be a flag commander? Take them all back and create a separate war supervisory department."
Wang Chengen reminded in a low voice, "But in this case, the three battalions of Qiantose Master will be completely under the control of Admiral Wu..."
"I have my own sense of propriety!" Zhu Cihong said, "But the most important thing now is to escort him out... Don't ask for trouble."
In fact, Zhu Cixiang was not afraid of trouble, but was afraid that Wang Chengen would control this new army! Wang Chengen is a die-hard loyalist of Chongzhen. If this kind of army is controlled by Wang Dugong's Tiqi, doesn't it mean that Prince Zhu will continue to be controlled by Chongzhen's stubborn "cheat"?
Wang Chengen was also a person who had no opinions, so he immediately said: "Qian Suiye is still thoughtful."
Zhu Cixiang asked again: "If you are brave enough, do you have weapons and armor?"
Wang Chengen said: "They all have it. Both the Jingying camp and the Nanhai Zijing Army have reserves. Especially the Nanhai Zijing Army's warehouses still have many good things. They were all purchased by Wei Ni when he organized the Jing Army. Although most of them were allocated." It's given to Jingying and Guan Ningjun, but we still keep the best guy for ourselves."
Zhu Cihong said to himself: Just say you are not as good as Wei Zhongxian? Now I still have to rely on Wei Zhongxian’s legacy, so I’m really not afraid of embarrassment!”
Zhu Cixiang asked again, "Are the carriage, driver, horse feed, and dry food ready?"
Horses, carriages, drivers, horse feed, and dry food are all prepared for escape!
Wang Chengen replied in a low voice: "Reporting to Master Qiansui, I have sent people to prepare."
"Everything must be prepared tonight!" Zhu Cixiang warned, "If you want to enter the imperial city, put it in the inner school grounds and let the Jingjun send people to guard it... You must not make any mistakes!"
"I understand, I will arrange everything properly. Please rest assured, Mr. Qiantose."
Wang Chengen has the ability to do things, otherwise he would not be in his current position. His problem is that he has no decision-making ability and dare not make the decision on anything. Now that Zhu Cihong had made the decision, he immediately took action and asked his close eunuchs to collect horses, stablemen, carriages, and prepare dry food and horse feed.
On the 15th and 16th, Wang Chengen's army had not yet arrived outside Beijing. Naturally, Wang Chengen was still a powerful figure, so this little thing could definitely be handled well. However, after the 17th day, the authority of Wang Chengen and Chongzhen will decline rapidly. By the 19th day, the sky will not respond, and the earth will not work.
Zhu Cixiang was far more thoughtful than Wang Chengen, so he ordered Wang Chengen to prepare yesterday.
"There are also city gates!" Zhu Cihong said, "The Chaoyang Gate and Dongzhi Gate that open eastward in the inner city must be under the control of reliable people."
Wang Chengen is now the admiral of the Nine Gates. The so-called Nine Gates refer to the nine gates in the inner city of Beijing. The inner city of Beijing is not surrounded by the outer city, but the outer city is to the south of the inner city. There are six gates on the east, north and west sides of the inner city that can lead directly to the outside of the city.
The Chuang King's army must have come from the northwest, so it would be difficult for Zhu Cixiang to escape from the west and north city gates. Only Chaoyang Gate and Dongzhi Gate could escape.
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang must let reliable people control these two city gates, so as not to be unable to open the door or escape.
"I asked my godson to guard these two gates!"
"No." Zhu Cihong shook his head, "Let your godson go to Dongzhimen, and let Wu Sanfu go to Chaoyangmen."
Compared with Wang Chengen's godson, Zhu Cixiang still believed in Wu Xiang's biological son more.
He paused, "If my father doesn't leave tonight, then order people to block all the inner and outer city gates except Dongzhimen, Chaoyangmen, and Zhengyangmen! Dongzhimen, Chaoyangmen, and Zhengyangmen The area around the gate must also be guarded by the Pure Army."
The circumference of Beijing City is forty-eight miles. The city wall is tall and solid. The base of the wall is seven to eight feet wide and four feet high. It is made of rammed earth and covered with bricks, which is very strong. Such a strong city defense cannot be destroyed by the red cannons in the hands of the Chuang army or the Qing army. Moreover, Li Zicheng arrived in a hurry and could not bring heavy artillery.
Therefore, the intruders also entered the city and had no choice but to climb the wall or seize the city gate. In history, Li Zicheng's army relied on officials and eunuchs in Beijing to offer gates to enter the city. So Zhu Cixi simply blocked the city gate!
After the city gate is blocked, even if someone wants to sell the gate, it will be much more difficult and they will have to dig for a long time. If the earth and masonry blocking the door were not dug out, Li Zicheng's army would have to climb the wall. You have to build at least many ladders that are more than four feet tall, and you have to build a large number of them, which is very laborious. It’s also troublesome to climb up the wall, and it doesn’t look good. Li Zicheng didn't want to ride a big horse and show off his power into Beijing, he had better climb in!
Zhu Cihong paused and then said: "The Imperial City and Forbidden City must also arrange for manpower to block the city gates, and we must delay it as much as possible!"
If Zhu Cixiang wanted to break out of the encirclement together with Chongzhen, he would have to deploy manpower in Beijing to delay the attack, and the Imperial City and the Forbidden City were the last fortresses.
"I understand," Wang Chengen replied, "I will do it now!"
After Wang Chengen turned around and left, Zhu Cixiang set his sights outside the city. At this time, the servants sent out by Wu Xiang had already led Zhuangyong, who didn't know he was "trapped", into Bei'anmen and towards the inner school grounds.
Zhu Cixiang let out a breath and said to his left and right: "Let's go to the lobby of the inner school... we are going to be busy today."
What are you busy with? Of course it's a lie! Then continue to cheat, and you have to make those guys who are trapped believe that Daming still has "investment value". They are not trapped, but "value investments", and there will be huge returns in the future...
