"Hao Yaoqi, what do you mean?" Li Guo opened his eyes wide and looked at the man holding the big flag in front of him. This man's surname was Hao, and no one knew his name. Everyone only knew that he was a flag bearer in the military. Even though he later became the leader, he still liked to carry a military flag with the word "Chuang" in his actions. When going into battle, he waved the flag and took the lead, showing extraordinary bravery. So everyone called him "Hao Yaoqi".
Hao Yaoqi replied: "Master Marquis, the Zhu Thief Emperor has probably left Beijing! Not only did he ask the sentry, he also asked a laggard Zhu family eunuch. It was also the Zhu Thief Emperor who arrived at Dongzhimen yesterday afternoon. By Nanhaizi Jingjun is protecting us. We can leave Dongzhimen at midnight today and head northeast towards Shunyi."
Li Guo took a breath, his thick eyebrows knitted together.
"Master Marquis, maybe the Zhu Thief Emperor has played a trick to escape the golden cicada!" It was Tang Tong who spoke. He followed Li Guo out of Beijing with his 8,000 soldiers and horses, with the goal of capturing Zhu Cihong. Now that he knew that Chongzhen might leave the city, he suddenly became excited.
If Chongzhen could be captured alive, that would be an incredible achievement! In the future, rewards will be based on merit, so you have to be granted a title, right?
Li Guo stroked his beard, glanced at Tang Tong who was eager to try, and thought to himself: Can you be given the title of surrendered general for your efforts in capturing the emperor?
"Laiheng!" Li Guo shouted, calling over a tall and burly young man in his twenties.
"Dad, did you call me?" The young man's name was Li Laiheng. He was Li Guo's son and a captain under Li Guo, that is, a general in charge of a capital. The military structure of the Dashun Army Old Camp is divided into several levels: battalion, capital, brigade, department, sentry, and team. They are all second only to the battalion, usually with two to three thousand people.
Li Guo said with a smile: "Son, you lead our troops to pursue Shunyi in the northeast. If the Zhu Thief Emperor escapes to the northeast, we must capture him!"
"My child has an order!" Li Laiheng agreed loudly.
Li Guo looked back at Tang Tong and said with a smile: "Commander Tang, please send dozens of cavalrymen who are familiar with the terrain in the northeast of the capital to take my son to capture the Red Thief Emperor!"
"I have an order!" How could Tang Tong dare to disobey Li Guo's order? He was the nephew of Emperor Dashun. Then Li Laiheng might be the future Emperor Taizong of Dashun...
Li Guo then ordered Hao Yaoqi to say: "Waoqi, you continue to the east, restrain your troops, don't catch any fat sheep, and don't fight with the red bandit group, just bypass Tongzhou and go straight to Tianjin. Tang Dynasty Commander-in-Chief, you can send dozens of cavalry to follow and wave the flag, and also serve as guides."
"I have the order." Hao Yaoqi received the military order.
Tang Tong asked with a puzzled look on his face: "Master Marquis, Hao Zhang's brigade only has a few hundred horses, and they can't attack the city... Moreover, Tianjin Acropolis is an important town for water and sea transportation, and there is the Wei River next to it that can be used for sea-going ships. What about the Wei River? It is both wide and deep, and cavalry alone cannot block the passage of sea ships. If the crown prince of the Zhu family reaches Tianjin, he will be able to enter the sea and be difficult to pursue."
Li Guo laughed and said: "The great military advisor has already planned this matter. We have Dashun's internal agents in the Tianjin Acropolis. As soon as the flag-waving cavalry arrives, they will start an incident in the city. When the internal and external response comes, how can the Zhu family be harmed?" The prince escaped?
General Tang Bing, you lead the troops to follow us, and we will catch the fat sheep behind the red thieves and chase them at the same time! "
"My subordinates have the order!"
…
Zhu Cixiang, who had a pain in his buttocks, was once again the most dutiful son in the world. He was riding in front of the carriage of Emperor Chongzhen and Queen Zhou, looking as if he was protecting his parents from the thieves.
The west gate of Tongzhou City is right in front. The city gate is open, and there are fully armed Shuntian patrolling officers and soldiers above and below the city. Song Quan, the governor of Shuntian, and Wei Zaode, a scholar from the capital who had arrived first, were standing outside the doorway with a group of subordinates. They both wore long body armor outside their python robes, and they looked loyal to defend the emperor and the crown prince to the death. Son.
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is here!" Wei Zaode's sharp eyes saw Zhu Cixiang wearing a helmet at a glance, and he shouted loudly, "The one riding in front of the motorcade is the Crown Prince of Fujun of the Ming Dynasty!"
Song Quan was a Jinshi during the Tianqi period. He was less than fifty years old this year. He was a bit short, with high cheekbones, small eyes, a high nose, and neatly trimmed sideburns. He looked majestic and shrewd.
In the past few days, he had met many officials and nobles who had sneaked out of Beijing with the prince's decree. He also heard about Zhu Cihong's various deeds from them. He himself also received a letter asking him to arrange for the emperor to escape. of the decree.
Before meeting Wei Zaode, he did not believe that this series of actions were all done by Crown Prince Zhu Cihong, and thought that Emperor Chongzhen was guiding the chess game behind his back. But this morning, Wei Zaode, who saw Pegasus approaching and stood in front of him, learned that Chongzhen "slipped and fell into a coma" when he went to court and that the prince took charge of the overall situation by pacifying the army. Song Quan didn't know what to do.
The prince... seems to have initiated a palace coup!
These are traitors and traitors!
But he also felt that the prince had done something wrong. Emperor Chongzhen was too stubborn. The enemies had already invaded the outer city. You still didn’t run away. You still wanted to guard the inner city and wait for Wu Sangui to rescue him... That guy Wu Sangui is still in Yongping. Woolen cloth! Can you get close to Beijing in three to five days?
Even if he comes, can he defeat such rogue bandits? There are at least tens of thousands of rogue bandits gathered near Beijing. How many people are there in Wu Sangui? How many people can be brought? Tens of thousands of elites are marching from the top of the sky. How about a dozen of them each?
Therefore, breaking out before Li Zicheng's army surrounded Beijing was really the only way for Emperor Chongzhen to survive...
In order to save his father, the son did something disobedient to his father. This cannot be said to be unfilial, right? Could it be that the father is confused and wants to jump off the Meridian Gate wall, so the son has to follow him?
After thinking about it, Song Quan felt that Zhu Cihong was a great filial son, a great filial piety, not a small filial piety! Moreover, in such a short period of time, he collected so much soldiers, horses, and money from the city of Beijing. This ability seemed to surpass that of Chongzhen.
The revival of the Ming Dynasty can probably only be counted on this prince.
Thinking of this, Song Quan and Wei Zaode hurried forward, knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Cihong and the motorcade behind him, and loudly said: "I Shuntian, Governor Song Quan, respectfully welcome the Holy Master!"
Wei Zaode and Song Quan's entourage also kowtowed together and said: "I respectfully welcome the Holy Master!"
"Get up!" Before Chongzhen in the carriage could say anything, Zhu Cixiang spoke first, "Wei Zaode and Song Quan came forward to speak! Is Feng Kaizhang here?"
"Here, my minister Feng Kaizhang is here." A young man in his twenties, short in stature, with dark skin, speaking a Zhejiang accent, and with very energetic facial features walked out from among Song Quan's subordinates and quickly walked to Zhu Cihong's horse. .
This young man is the son of Feng Yuanyang, the governor of Tianjin, and the nephew of Feng Yuanbiao, the former Minister of War. He has the rank of Jin Yiwei Baihu. However, he was not wearing official uniform today, but was dressed like a businessman, dusty and dusty.
On March 10, he went to Beijing on the order of his father Feng Yuanyang and secretly reported to Emperor Chongzhen his preparations for escaping by sea from Tianjin - of course his father Feng Yuanyang was also a loyal minister who cared about the country and the people! Taking advantage of the power of the Tianjin governor to supervise shipping, he had been preparing a retreat for Emperor Chongzhen early in the morning.
However, Feng Kaizhang's trip to Beijing had no results. On March 14, the day Zhu Cixiang "slept for a long time", he left Beijing and returned to Tianjin. As a result, before he returned to Tianjin, Wang Zhixin brought Zhu Cihong's order.
Feng Yuanyang immediately recognized the prince's power to supervise the army and governor-general to direct military affairs - and immediately sent his son to Tongzhou to meet him.
Wei Zaode, who was at the front station, had already seen him, and then sent his family to report to Zhu Cihong, so Zhu Cihong already knew that the Ming Dynasty still had responsible loyal ministers like Feng Yuanyang and Feng Kaizhang.
"Feng Baihu, there is no need to salute." Zhu Cixiang asked in a low voice, "How many sea boats have your Lord prepared? Where are they?"
"Prince," Feng Kaizhang didn't say much and went directly to the topic, "My father has recruited Shen Tingyang, the shipping manager, and Su Guansheng, the Denglai patrol officer, to Dagu. They also brought with them more than 100 sea boats and water boats. The division has dozens of warships and 2,000 naval officers and soldiers. In addition, Shen Tingyang also has 2,000 sailors, 1,000 guards, and a thousand turtle-dove-footed fire guns! Enough to protect the Holy Emperor and the Crown Prince as they go south!"
