"What? There are no large groups of thieves outside Chaoyang Gate and Dongzhi Gate? Then the capital is not surrounded?"
"It is true that they are not surrounded. Looking through the telescope from Chaoyang Gate, we can only see dozens of bandits."
"Where is Tongzhou? Is it still in the hands of the army?"
"Most of them are still in the hands of the army..."
"Great! Two generals, Lao Taishan, and Commander Li, how many troops do we have now? How many of them are capable of fighting?"
"Master Chitose, as of yesterday evening, the number of soldiers and horses in the Beijing camp has exceeded 8,000, and it will definitely exceed 12,000 today! Among them, there are no less than 2,000 elites who can fight."
"Master Chitose, there are now more than 4,000 people in Kenan Camp, organized into five divisions and twenty bureaus. Among them, the Cavalry Division and Fire Gun Division are all capable of fighting, with a total of 1,600 people..."
"Are there so many cavalry and muskets?"
"Because some brave servants were recruited from the noble families, some of whom were able to fight on horseback or carry fire guns. In addition, Tang Jianzheng also brought some disciples who were good at using fire guns. So the number of horse soldiers increased to 800 , the gun soldiers have 400, plus 400 protective guns, the total is 1600..."
In Jiale Palace, in the early morning of the 18th, Zhu Cixiang, who had just taken a nap and had some breakfast, was convening a military meeting. Four people including Wu Xiang, Li Ruolian, Li Guozhen, and Zhu Chunchen were present at the meeting. Bi Jiucheng, who had lost a lot of weight in the past two days, was responsible for recording. The military forces in Zhu Cixiang's hands now include the newly formed Kenan Camp and the expanded Beijing Camp.
Among them, Kenan camp expanded to more than 4,000 people after absorbing some of the servants of the noble family and the strong Catholic men who followed Tang Ruowang. There are also 400 usable fire guns, 400 gun guards capable of melee combat, and 800 cavalry. The strength is quite impressive!
The Beijing camp has more troops, 12,000 people can be drawn out, of which no less than 2,000 are available.
In other words, Zhu Cixiang already had 3,600 elite soldiers ready to fight. If you include the pure troops in the palace, the number of cannon fodder soldiers is close to 20,000!
Zhu Cihong asked: "Since the bandits have given us an escape route, when can we leave?"
"The bandits are surrounding Sanque!" Wu Xiang said, "As soon as we move, they will come to chase us! So we have to prepare for two days... At the same time, it will also give Sangui a chance to get close to the capital, so that he can easily respond."
Li Ruolian shook his head: "Master Qian Sui, there are more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, plus the accompanying nobles, officials, and internal officials...how many people are there? I'm afraid it won't be easy for all the procrastinators to leave, right?"
Zhu Cixiang scratched his head, glanced at Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen from the corner of his eye, and whispered: "Two commander-in-chiefs, your side must be divided into two...Everyone who has paid money must give an account. I can't accept money and do nothing! All men and women who can ride horses will work with me. The rest depends on their own destiny. As for the officials, I will let Mr. Chen and Mr. Lin draw up a plan Good list.”
"I understand!"
"I will work with Duke Cheng and Duke Ying to draw up a list of honorable royal relatives."
Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen immediately understood what Zhu Cixiang meant - it was impossible for tens of thousands of people to run together. Something must be given up to ensure that Emperor Chongzhen and Zhu Cixiang can escape.
Therefore, the breakout team will be divided into two, and the elite troops will escort Chongzhen, Zhou Hou, Zhu Cixiang, as well as some important officials, and the core members of the Xungui family to retreat. The remaining cannon fodder and unimportant personnel are used to attract the attention of the bandit army...
"Master Qiansui, what should I do with the silver?" Wu Xiang asked, "How many millions of taels are there! It must be loaded on at least 1,000 carts or transported by thousands of mules and horses."
"Bring as much as you can! If the carts and mules and horses are not enough, hire more laborers." Zhu Cixiang said with a wry smile, "When you get out of the capital, you will have to live a hard life for a while, so I will only use this little money... In addition, , Sangui also needs to prepare 1 million taels of military pay. If it really can't be shipped, just distribute the remaining money to the soldiers."
"You can also use some of the soldiers from the Kenan Camp and the Beijing Camp who are not very capable of fighting," Li Ruolian said. "In addition, hire some who can push wheelbarrows and transport as many as possible. It will be easier to handle when you get to Tianjin. Tianjin has A single tanker can carry tens of thousands of kilograms, so ten boats were loaded with it."
"Okay, let's do it!"
While several people were discussing, they saw one of Wang Chengen's godsons, a young eunuch named Wang Bao, walking in with Qiu Zhizhong.
Zhu Cixiang looked up and saw Qiu Zhizhong's anxious face, so he asked: "Qiu Banban, what happened?"
"Master Chitose, this is terrible," Qiu Zhizhong said, "Someone in the court is impeaching Admiral Wu this morning!"
"Who is impeached?" Zhu Cixiang was stunned.
"Admiral Wu!" replied the young eunuch who had followed Qiu Zhizhong, "President Wang asked the young eunuch to report that it was Guang Shiheng from the Military Department who took the lead in impeaching Admiral Wu for offering his daughter to him..."
With a bang, Zhu Cixiang slammed the table, startling several people present, including Wu Xiang.
"Bastard Guang Shiheng, how dare you interfere with my concubine affairs!" Zhu Cixiang's face was quite gloomy.
"This Guang Shiheng is the worst thing!" Zhu Chunchen also gritted his teeth and cursed, "If he hadn't taken the lead to stop the southward migration, we would have arrived in the capital for many days!"
Li Guozhen also hummed and said: "Your Highness, if you don't let him know how powerful he is, I'm afraid he will jump out again in two or three days to stop the southward migration!"
"But how can we let him know how powerful he is? He is a civil servant, and there may be some elders instigating him behind his back." Wu Xiang shook his head and said guiltily, "Besides, it is true that the little girl has entered the palace. It is indeed a bit arrogant, and the little girl is Rough sex, weak appearance..."
Zhu Cihong once again set his sights on Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyiwei, and now both Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen have expressed their stance. Wu Xiang's thoughts were obvious, and nothing he said counted. So among the people in front of him, he was the only one who didn't express his position. Whether they were confidants or not, they were just waiting for his word.
There was silence in Jiale Hall. Everyone turned their attention to Li Ruolian. Li Ruolian frowned deeply, as if he was thinking hard, and after a long while, he slowly said: "When it comes to matters in the court, you have to plan for the worst! I have been a Jin Yiwei for more than ten years, and I stayed in Fusi, Beizhen. In the past ten years or so, we have seen too many methods of court struggle. If you want to defeat a big boss in the court, you will often start from the smallest to the largest, and first find some trivial things to impeach a disciple and an old official, in order to test the holy will. , and at the same time shake the foundation of this big boss and make other followers panic. If the holy family of this big boss is really gone, then people's hearts will be in chaos. Once people's hearts are in chaos, the position will be in chaos, and the opponent will be able to take advantage of the victory and pursue it. Trivial matters kept getting bigger and bigger, and finally turned into a big uproar. In the previous court disputes, there were quite a few cabinet ministers who fell like this!"
"How is that possible?" Zhu Chunchen shouted, "Who is Guang Shiheng? Dare to point the finger at His Royal Highness?"
Li Guozhen also shook his head repeatedly, "This is a national dispute! Does he dare?"
Li Ruolian snorted: "Guang Shiheng is just a stand-up guy, the real scary thing is the person behind him!"
"Behind him? Wei Zaode?" Zhu Chunchen looked contemptuous.
Li Ruolian laughed and said: "How is that possible? Why is he targeting Master Qiantose? Before, he opposed the move south just because he didn't want to bear the crime of abandoning the land. Now that Master Qiantose is moving south, there is no need for him to take responsibility, so what else is he going to do? "
"It's not Wei Zaode, that's..." Zhu Chunchen's expression changed drastically.
Li Guozhen shook his head repeatedly, "Impossible, impossible..."
Zhu Cixiang said in a gloomy tone, "If it's impossible, the decree should be issued!"
"What should we do?" Wu Xiang's voice was shaking a little. He is now caught between Chongzhen and the prince! Although the prince has soldiers and money, his foundation is not deep enough! Chongzhen was the emperor for seventeen years, and Zhu Cixiang had only been in power for a few days?
Zhu Cixiang sneered: "This is so easy to handle! Old Taishan, is your wife at home now?"
"exist……"
"Okay!" Zhu Cihong turned to look at Li Ruolian, "Commander Li, go call the people from the Gun Bureau to accompany me to snatch the bride!"
"Robbing a bride?" Wu Xiang's eyes widened, "Your Highness, who are you trying to rob?"
"Of course I'm going to steal your daughter!" Zhu Cixiang said with a smile, "Now it's not you who wants to seduce you, but I'm robbing the daughter of an official! If Guang Shiheng has the guts, come and impeach me!"
