Tianjin Wei, on the east bank of the Lu River, over a town called Zhangjiabao, the red and black flag of King Chuang was already fluttering in the wind at dawn on the 24th of March.
This was a once prosperous town. There were tall rammed earth walls around the town, and there were seven or eight criss-crossing streets within the walls. The houses along the street all have shops, which is a layout of shops in the front and houses in the back. Looking at the size of these shops, you can tell how prosperous the town once was. But now the prosperity is long gone, and most of the shops have been closed for several years. The merchants who once did business here either left far away or moved to Wangqingtuo on the west bank of Luhe River.
However, the oldest wealthy family in Zhangjiabao Town, the Zhang Baihu family who settled here with the Ming army that went north as early as the Hongwu period, still live in this almost deserted town.
In fact, Zhangjiabao was originally a place for hundreds of households, and the position of Baihu was inherited from the Zhang Baihu family for generations. It has been passed down for fifteen generations now!
Nowadays, the military household system has long existed in name only, but there are still many ancestors of hundreds or thousands of families who have become rich in the hereditary territory. The Zhang Baihu clan is such a wealthy family! In the early years when the world was at peace, their family prospered for many years because of their favorable location along the canal. There are also many scholars and scholars in the family, which can be regarded as one of the most scholar-bureaucrats in Tianjin Wei.
By the way, military households and scholar-bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty were not two completely opposite classes. There is no concept of scholar-bureaucrats bullying military households or that military households are inferior to civilian households. Although military households had more restrictions than civilian households when taking part in the imperial examination, the proportion of military-registered Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty to the total number of Jinshi was as high as 30% on average! The population of military households in the Ming Dynasty accounted for far less than 30% of the total population. How could there be so many military households!
Therefore, the middle and upper-level military households and the scholar-bureaucrats are basically a group of people, and there is no such thing as a military-registered Jinshi being inferior to a civilian-registered Jinshi.
In addition to the 30% of military-registered scholars, the middle and upper-class military households also monopolized military positions in the Ming Dynasty for a long time. It can be said that both civil and military affairs were taken into consideration, taking into account both hereditary and imperial examinations. They are the biggest beneficiaries of Ming Dynasty's rule... It is not an exaggeration to say that they are the backbone of Ming Dynasty.
Of course, it is the middle and upper-class military households who have a better life, and the bottom class must be miserable... But in any era, the poor people at the bottom are usually miserable. The middle- and upper-class military households have lost their combat effectiveness due to various reasons, which is the most fundamental reason for the collapse of the world.
If these hundreds of thousands of military households still had the fighting power of their ancestors during the Hongwu period, where would there be any rogues or Donglu? It has been chopped into minced meat a long time ago!
Of course, Zhang Zongbao of the Hundred Household in Zhangjiabao does not have the skills of his ancestors to kill people. Although he has a job in the Hundred Household, he is actually a scholar. Before inheriting the secular position passed down from his ancestors, he also took the imperial examination, passed the scholar's examination, wrote good poems, and was somewhat famous among the scholars of Tianjin Wei.
In addition, he has two cousins who have been elected. One of them is still an official in other places, and the other named Zhang Zongyi lives in Acropolis, Tianjin. He is the Shilin leader of Tianjin Guard!
However, the Zhang family is a hereditary family after all. Even if they give up martial arts and literature, they are still not incompetent scholars. Two brothers, Zhang Zongbao and Zhang Zongyi, were both in their forties and almost fifty, and both could still gallop on horseback.
On the morning of March 24th, the two brothers set off from Tianjin Acropolis, led Tianjin Bingbei Daoyuan Yuzong, Tianjin Patrolman Yang Weihan and dozens of Yang Weihan's servants, and galloped towards the direction of Dashun. Zhangjiapu occupied by the army.
But they are not going to recapture Zhangjiabao, but to visit Zhangjiabao to meet General Hao Yaoqi of Dashun Tianbing!
A huge achievement is waving to them!
Zhang Zongbao welcomed the Da Shuntian soldiers into Zhangjiabao yesterday evening, and immediately got an opportunity to perform meritorious service from Hao Yaoqi! With a letter written by Li Guo, I went to Tianjin Acropolis to meet with Yuan Yuzong, the military commander!
It turned out that Yuan Yuzong, whose hometown was in Puzhou, Shaanxi Province, had already secretly submitted to Dashun because his biological mother, Lei, was acquired by Li Zicheng, and Xu Wei agreed. He was originally an insignificant internal agent, but when Dashun was sweeping the world, he was simply an inconspicuous existence. But a great achievement that no one expected actually hit the heads of Yuan Yuzong and others.
Prince Zhu Cixiang of the Ming Dynasty and perhaps Emperor Chongzhen may have escaped from Beijing and are heading to Tianjin!
If Yuan Yuzong can help Dashun Tianbing capture Chongzhen and his son, it will be a great achievement, and he may be able to become a marquis!
Although the two brothers Zhang Zongbao and Zhang Zongyi were not qualified to be crowned nobles, they were quite sure to succeed in their official career and become officials of either a big or a small size.
This is really a blessing from our ancestors...
…
At the same time, the sound of hoofbeats could be heard outside Wang Qingtuo's city wall. The servants of the Cao family who were on duty on the city wall subconsciously widened their eyes. They had not slept all day and night, and now they were sent out to defend the city. I should be extremely tired, but I don't feel sleepy at all. Because the Emperor of Heaven and the Prince of Fujun are in Wang Qingtuo City at the moment.
For the Wang Qingtuo Cao family, taking in the emperor or prince in distress was tantamount to a huge gamble!
If the bet is won, the Cao family will be the first-class nobles in Jiangnan!
If you lose the bet... you will be exterminated!
Moreover, because of Zhu Cihong's methods, there is no chance that Wang Qingtuo and the Cao family will not gamble!
Several hundred "Yiding Tuqi" from the Guan Ning Wu family entered the city yesterday evening. Cao Huachun also had to take more than 2,000 Cao family soldiers to follow Zhu Cixiang to meet him. On the 24th, the escape brigade led by Zhu Cixiang finally arrived. Even if Wang Qingtuo's Cao family completely boarded Zhu Cixiang's pirate ship, they would have no choice but to follow... Whether they will become rich or wealthy, or the whole family will be wiped out, they can only leave it to fate.
What else can the Cao family think about after boarding the pirate ship? If you can still fall asleep, you must be too worried, right?
So when Zhu Cixiang and others were fast asleep, the Cao family was either quietly packing their things and preparing to leave, or they went to the city to stay on guard, waiting in fear for the arrival of the Dashun Tiantian soldiers.
Just when the Cao family on the city were frightened by the knights approaching from far away, more than ten knights were already galloping outside the city. It's not the Dashun army in white hats and Tsing Yi, but the Ming army wearing mandarin duck war coats.
The first one rode to the city and shouted loudly: "I am a servant of Mr. Cao Town in Tianjin. I am here on the orders of the General Town. Please speak to the steward of Eunuch Cao's house!"
Cao Wenlu, Cao Huachun's nephew who was on duty on the city wall at the moment, heard that Cao Zongzhen of Tianjin had sent someone, and immediately talked to them on the top of the city wall. After asking about his purpose, Cao Wenlu flew down the city wall and headed straight for Cao Huachun's mansion.
Cao Huachun's house is now occupied by Emperor Chongzhen, Empress Zhou, Empress Dowager Zhang, Li Xuanshi, and several concubines of Chongzhen. It can be regarded as the place where the Holy One resides! Cao Huachun also returned to his post, put on the python robe of the great eunuch again, and came and went.
Because Chongzhen and others were traveling in carriages, so when they were tired, they could relax in the carriage for a while. Therefore, they were not as tired as those who came on horseback or on foot, and Chongzhen did not feel sleepy at all after settling down. Instead, he summoned several confidants, including Zhou Kui, the old emperor's relative, Tian Hongyu, the father of Concubine Tian, Gong Yonggu, the prince-in-law, Liu Wenbing, the marquis of Xinle, and Wang Shide, the commander of the Jinyi Guards. Not plotting anything, but drinking with him instead.
Just when I was feeling suffocated from drinking, the sound of rapid footsteps suddenly came from outside, and it wasn't just someone who came!
Emperor Chongzhen and those who drank with him were shocked, thinking they were the prince's people! When he was feeling frightened, Cao Huachun's voice came.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am so happy. Tianjin Governor Feng Yuanyang and Tianjin General Town Cao Youyi have led their troops to welcome us!"
Emperor Chongzhen's face suddenly flashed with surprise, and he blurted out: "Okay! Feng Yuanyang and Cao Youyi are loyal ministers!"
