Cao Wenbao was originally Cao Huachun's nephew and was adopted by Eunuch Cao. He was born in the second year of Chongzhen. He was the same year as Zhu Cixiang. They were both sixteen years old. He had the rank of Jinyiwei Deputy Qianhu. But I haven't seen any battle formations. Now I saw thousands of cavalry coming in formation, and my little face turned pale with fright.
This is a cavalry with everyone wearing armor! Moreover, the queue was neat and orderly. Looking from a distance, the murderous aura was coming at once!
Eunuch Cao was calm and composed, with no trace of panic on his fair face. After handing the binoculars to his son, he just smiled and said, "Help Dad go down. They are coming for us. When we get closer, we will know who they are."
Cao Wenbao supported Cao Huachun and carefully went down the stairs, asking in a low voice: "Dad, where should our Wang Qingtuo vote?"
It turns out I haven’t decided yet where to vote! Although Zhu Cixiang described a bright future for feudalism in the south of the Yangtze River when sending Cao Huachun out of Beijing, Cao Huachun had such a big family on Wang Qingtuo's side that he had to think carefully before following the path of the Ming Dynasty and ending up in trouble.
Moreover, there is no doubt whether Chongzhen and his son can come out of Beijing!
Cao Huachun smiled: "Let's take a look and talk... Our family is just struggling to survive in troubled times, and we don't know which way the wind will blow?"
Cao Wenbao rolled his eyes and lowered his voice: "Dad, the hearts of the people in this town are with Dashun!"
Cao Huachun snorted: "The human heart? The human heart is sinister!"
As the two father and son talked, they had already descended from the observation deck and stood on the city wall to the north of Wang Qingtuo.
Wangqingtuo is a town that originally had no city walls. It was Cao Huachun who built the walls after he became prosperous. Because they spent their own money to defend their homes, the city walls were built very strongly. A large number of blue bricks were used, and there was a moat outside the city. Without the Hongyi cannon, it would not be easy at all to capture this city.
Cao Huachun's brother Cao Huachun was very old, his beard and hair were all white, but he still climbed the city wall.
Now is the time when the life and death of the Wang Qingtuo Cao family hangs in the balance! If you stand in the wrong team, your entire family will be destroyed!
Seeing his fifth brother Cao Huachun coming down from the high platform, Cao Huachun hurriedly asked: "Fifth brother, are they Dashun's soldiers?"
"Most likely..." Cao Huachun whispered, "Yishui's iron cavalry has a very well-organized formation. There are no such elites in Beijing!"
"Then let's..." Cao Huachun's old face already showed a panic look, "Do we have to meet King Chuang?"
Cao Huachun sighed.
The Cao family is the largest landowner in Wuqing County and also engages in business. Moreover, Cao Huachun and Cao Huayu are both high-ranking officials and have made a lot of money from their positions. Of course such a wealthy family doesn't like King Chuang who "eats his mother and wears his mother".
By the way, the Dashun Army's torture and plundering of military pay did not start in Beijing! They have always done this, otherwise why would they be exempt from paying taxes for three years? The poor people are exempted from taxes, and if they don't plunder from the rich, what will Li Zicheng's million-strong army eat? What to use?
So torturing military pay was not the reason for Li Zicheng's failure in Beijing at all... being defeated by the Manchus was the only reason!
"Don't worry, brother," Cao Huachun smiled and comforted his old man, "I have asked Wenbao to prepare one hundred thousand taels of silver and ten thousand stones of wheat... If the Dashun army comes, donate them immediately, and they can always protect us. Home is safe."
"That's good, that's good..." Cao Huachun breathed a sigh of relief, "Now we can only spend money to save our lives. As long as our fields are not equal, everything will be easy."
Compared with "forced donation", equal land is even more frightening!
But no matter how terrible it is to be forced to share the land, it is still better than being wiped out by the Da Shuntian soldiers, right?
While the Cao family was waiting in fear, the armored cavalry in the distance finally approached Wang Qingtuo.
Just under the dim dusk, a pair of royal flags and a large banner suddenly appeared in the telescope held by Cao Wenbao.
"General Commander Ping Xibo of Liaodong..." Cao Wenbao read out the words on the general's flag in a low voice, and Cao Huachun standing next to him was shocked.
"Son, what did you say?"
"Dad, the name on the general's flag is 'Liaodong Commander-in-Chief Ping Xibo'."
"General Commander Ping Xibo of Liaodong...Wu Sangui!?" Cao Huachun was startled, "Why is he here at Wang Qingtuo?"
The old man Cao Huachun on the side was also a little surprised, "Lao Wu, isn't the commander-in-chief of Liaodong stationed in Ningyuan? Why are they here in Tianjin?"
Cao Huachun said: "Brother, on March 6, the Holy One ordered Wu Sangui to abandon Ningyuan and go to Beijing to serve the king."
"But we are 150 miles away from Beijing. Why did he come to us?" Old Man Cao still couldn't figure it out.
However, his nephew Cao Wenbao was clever and interjected: "Wu Sangui must have felt that Li Zicheng was too powerful and did not dare to go directly to relieve the siege of Beijing, so he led his troops to move to Tianjin."
Cao Huachun frowned, "That's how it should be... Oh, so is Wu Sangui. He can't go anywhere, so why did he come to Wang Qingtuo?"
Cao Huachun asked: "Lao Wu, do we want to welcome him?"
Cao Huachun frowned and sighed: "Can we not pick up Wu Sangui when he comes? Wu Sangui's Guan Ning army is more than a thousand people, and they have tens of thousands of soldiers! We can't afford to offend him!"
The cavalry arriving now should be Wu Sangui's personal soldiers, the "Yiding Tuqi"... those were a thousand people selected from the three thousand Wu family members. All of them have iron helmets and armor, and are highly skilled in martial arts. They are especially good at attacking on horseback with a team of fifty people.
Among the 40,000 Guan Ning troops, the only ones who could really go head-to-head with the elite Manchu troops were the 1,000 Yiding cavalry.
Don't look at Wang Qingtuo's nearly 3,000 brave men. If they were to go out and fight the Yiding cavalry, they wouldn't need a thousand men to join them at all. They would be able to defeat them with a single assault of fifty cavalry.
Even if we hold on to the castle, when the rear of Guan Ning's army arrives, won't it be a piece of cake to break Wang Qingtuo?
When that time comes, all of them will be wiped out! Therefore, even if Cao Huachun dared to be sorry to Chongzhen and Zhu Cihong, he would not dare not to receive Wu Sangui, a great warlord!
"Wenlu!" Cao Huachun called the 26-year-old Cao Wenlu, the eldest son of his second brother Cao Huayu, to him.
"Fifth Uncle, what are your orders?"
Cao Wenlu was a Confucian scholar with a reputation as a scholar. He had been admitted to the Imperial Academy and was now a prominent figure in the Cao family.
"Bring some good food and drink to greet him," Cao Huachun paused, "If it is really Wu Sangui, call someone to report it immediately. I will go out of the city to greet him."
"My nephew takes the order."
…
"Master Chitose, it seems someone has come out to greet us!"
Wu Sanfu, who was standing on the stirrups and looking ahead, turned and asked Zhu Cixiang beside him: "Do you want me to continue pretending to be my second brother?"
"Pretend! Keep pretending!" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "until you enter Wang Qingtuo!"
"Master Qiansui, don't you believe Cao Huachun?" Wu Sanmei, who was following Zhu Cixiang on horseback, interjected and asked.
"Haha," Zhu Cixiang still smiled, "I am willing to believe in Cao Huachun...that's why I have to use the banner of your second brother."
"Oh..." Wu Sanmei didn't understand it at all, but it was definitely that Prince Zhu's words were unpredictable and admirable.
"Sanfu," Zhu Cixiang said to Wu Sanfu again, "it's not convenient for me to show my face, and it will be up to you to deal with it later. Remember, you will make mistakes if you talk too much...Cao Huachun will not go so far out of the city, it must be him My nephew. So don’t talk too much, just insist on going to the city to rest. As soon as we arrive at the city gate, Cao Huachun will definitely come to greet us. When I show up again to control him, he will naturally become a loyal minister of my Ming Dynasty!"
"I understand!" Wu Sanfu received the military order and immediately rode forward. According to Zhu Cixiang's instructions, he went to the front of the team to fool the grassroots of the Cao family.
Zhu Cixiang, the prince of Fujun who had become a lost dog, was extremely cautious. If it weren't for the thousands of people who ran out of Beijing and walked for nearly 150 miles for almost a day and night, they would have been extremely tired, and there were many pursuers following them. They had to have a safe place to rest. day. He would never come to Wang Qingtuo to find Eunuch Cao...
