Seeing the fake Wu Sangui leaving the Chaoyang Gate with more than a thousand fake servants, Zhu Cixiang took a deep breath, and then went with Wu Sanmei to find Chongzhen, Zhou Hou, and Empress Zhang.
The sound of cannons from Zhengyang Gate has already been heard, and it is time for the fake Chongzhen to go up to the arrow tower. This scene probably attracted Li Zicheng's attention... If he doesn't run away now, when will he wait?
Emperor Chongzhen was dressed like a peasant uncle at this time, sitting on a firewood bench, looking in the direction of Zhengyang Gate in a daze!
The sound of cannon fire and repeated calls of long live the mountains were coming from there. Isn’t the long live Ming Dynasty himself? He was kidnapped by his son, pretended to be a farmer, abandoned his ancestral property, and was about to run away in despair... Of course, no one would complain to him!
So over at Zhengyang Gate, it should be the army of rogue bandits cheering, right?
The bandits...are still coming!
When Chongzhen was feeling sad, he suddenly heard the sound of quarreling again. It was a woman quarreling with someone. This woman's voice sounded familiar, as if she was the queen?
He turned his head and saw Queen Zhou, dressed as a peasant woman, scolding a fat official.
"...Brother Chun said, there is no carriage for you! Either throw away your gold and silver, or you stay in Beijing with them!"
Queen Zhou's tone was full of resentment, and her words seemed to have something to do with money. Chongzhen sighed, and suddenly thought of a Tang poem: Poor and lowly couples suffer from everything... I thought that my family was the richest in the world, and it had nothing to do with being poor or lowly. But now think about it, the first family in the world also has the expenses of the first family. Money is never enough. Isn’t that poverty?
"Why are there no carriages and horses? There are so many carriages and horses here, just borrow some from my house..." The fat man was still arguing with Zhou Hou.
Empress Zhou chuckled: "Go and tell Brother Chun to see if he can kill you with one sword! He killed more than forty people outside the Meridian Gate the day before yesterday, and even cut off Xiang Zhanshi with his own hands. neck..."
"This, this, this...it doesn't mean that he is my grandson anyway!"
This fat official turned out to be Zhou Kui, Empress Zhou's biological father. He was the richest among the royal relatives, with a fortune of millions. He had no less than 300,000 taels of silver hidden in Beijing alone.
However, when Emperor Chongzhen asked him to donate military salary a few days ago, he refused to give up any money. Empress Zhou had no choice. After selling some of her gold and silver jewelry, she collected 5,000 taels of silver and asked Zhou Kui to donate it to the court in her own name, as a way of taking the lead. But the abbot actually took out another two thousand taels from the five thousand taels and donated only three thousand taels. Then he took the lead in pretending to be poor, making the bricks and tiles on his house crooked and messy, hiding all the valuables in the house, and then posted a sign at the door of his house that the house was for sale at a low price, and deliberately wore the shabbiest clothes to go to court. He didn't even sit in the sedan chair, but walked instead.
With him taking the lead, other royal officials certainly followed suit. Emperor Chongzhen worked hard for a long time, but only managed to get around 200,000 yuan, which was not as much as Zhu Cihong got from Wang Zhixin alone!
Probably because the family had too much money and was reluctant to donate some to Zhu Cihong, so when Zhu Cihong "sold the city edict" on the 17th, he still didn't get any money and missed the opportunity.
After receiving the notice that his daughter was planning to flee, he was reluctant to spend a lot of money to buy carriages and horses. As a result, when I ran away today, there were not enough vehicles to carry money. I had no choice but to ask my daughter and son-in-law for help.
Just when the father and daughter were arguing after Zhou, Zhu Cixiang had already arrived, holding hands with Wu Sanmei, and came up to greet Emperor Chongzhen with a smile. Chongzhen ignored him, and Zhu Cixiang was not angry and continued to come to greet his mother happily. Seeing the chubby Zhou Yuanwai, he remembered that it was his grandfather and said with a smile: "Grandpa, are you here? Where are the cousins? Why haven't I seen them?"
Zhou Kui is not young, but he is very well maintained. His beard and hair are black and shiny, and his eyes are bright. He looks about the same age as his son-in-law Chongzhen.
He also knew that his grandson had become a bit ruthless, but he still mustered up the courage to make a request - he wanted to borrow hundreds of carriages to load money...
Zhu Cihong had a lot of horse-drawn carriages and mule-carts, but weren't most of them used to carry silver?
Doesn't lending it to Zhou Kui mean that Zhu Cihong throws away his own money and uses the car to store the Zhou family's money?
"Okay!" Zhu Cixiang nodded with a smile, "Grandpa, how much money does your family have? Have you packed it into boxes? Why don't you let the porter transport it to Chaoyangmen first?"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen and Queen Zhou, who were still angry with Zhou Kui just now, suddenly felt sympathy for Zhou Kui.
This cheapskate is going to be fooled! Maybe this bastard Zhu Cixiang will be deceived and bankrupted!
Zhou Kui is just a bit stingy and not very cunning. If he were really cunning, he wouldn't be reluctant to give up money even when he was about to die. His money is not stored in foreign banks, it is all hidden in the cellar of his home. When Li Zicheng came, didn’t everyone belong to others? Why not take it out and let your son-in-law recruit troops to save lives!
How could such an honest and stingy man resist Zhu Cixiang's deception? At that time, he happily asked the housekeeper to follow Zhu Cihong, who sent Zhu Chunjie with soldiers and a hundred or dozens of pickers to his house to pick up silver.
More than 300,000 taels of silver is almost 20,000 jins. Adding the weight of the box, the total is 20,000 jins. If you use pickers to select, more than a hundred will be enough. But the picker can't walk far, nor can he walk fast. Who can carry more than a hundred pounds of silver and walk to Dagokou? It would be great to be able to pick Tongzhou.
Although there is a canal terminal in Tongzhou, there may be water boats available. But it’s not certain whether there is one. Even if there is, the speed of the watercraft is slow and it is easy for the enemy to catch up.
In addition, bearers also move slowly, which cannot be compared with carriages, horses and camels. Therefore, Zhou Kui could not find enough carriages and could not take away so much money by hiring pickers.
But there is no problem in relying on pickers to move the money from Jiading Bo's Mansion to Chaoyang Gate. The Zhou family's mansion is not far from Chaoyang Gate and can be reached in a short time.
Just as the Zhou family's money and family members were being transported one after another, Wu Xiang and Tang Ruowang also disguised themselves and walked along the city wall from Zhengyang Gate to Chaoyang Gate.
The two of them together means that the retreat is about to begin!
"Old Taishan, how are you?" Zhu Cixiang saw Wu Xiang and immediately asked about the situation at Zhengyang Gate.
"The bandits have been frightened," Wu Xiang said with a somewhat proud smile, "They are moving from the Temple of Heaven to Yongding Gate! I guess they will start attacking the city after dawn... Our morale is still high. After all, it is the emperor himself who is conquering the city. , and a reward was given.”
"That's good!" Zhu Cixiang stroked his hand, "Old Taishan, Tang Jianzheng, you go with my father, mother, and Queen Zhang... you go first!"
"Master Qiansui, aren't you going together?" Tang Ruowang asked hurriedly.
"I still have something to do," Zhu Cihong said, "I will chase you after I finish it... My horse is fast, you can catch up."
After saying that, Zhu Cixi turned to Wu Sanmei and said, "Sanmei, you should also go with Lao Taishan."
"Slave and Qian Sui Master are together!" Wu Sanmei shook her head and leaned closer to Zhu Cixiang, "Slave, you must protect Qian Sui Master!"
Quite loyal!
Zhu Cixiang looked at Wu Xiang, and Wu Xiang said to his daughter: "Third sister, you must follow Master Qiansui!"
"Well, my daughter will definitely protect Master Qiantose!"
Wu Xiang smiled and said to Zhu Cixiang: "Master Qiansui, my daughter has been practicing martial arts since she was a child. Although she doesn't have any great skills, she will definitely not miss anything by following you."
"Okay, let Third Sister follow."
"I'm taking the first step!" Wu Xiang didn't hesitate, and immediately went to lead a group of East Palace guards to protect the carriages of Chongzhen, Zhou Hou, Queen Zhang and others as they headed for Chaoyang Gate.
Seeing that his daughter and son-in-law were gone, Zhou Kui wanted to get on the road quickly, so he asked Zhu Cihong, "Brother Chun, where is the carriage you gave me?"
Zhu Cihong smiled and directly gave the order to Zhu Chunjie: "Let the porters carry the silver outside Chaoyang Gate and pile it on the edge of the stone bridge across the moat!"
What's the meaning?
Zhou Kui was stunned for a moment, "Brother Chun, what are you..."
Zhu Cixiang smiled and cupped his hands towards Zhou Kui: "Grandpa, grandson, on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, I would like to say thank you to you!"
