When Jin Zhijun entered Wolong City with his nephew from Chengguofu who received him, he discovered that the so-called Wolong City and Phoenix City were actually connected into one.
These two castles are actually two parts of a multi-story castle. Wolong City was rebuilt on the basis of the original forbidden wall castle. It is a "polygonal castle" (bastion). To the north, there are two tall "composite city walls" - covered with sandbags. The internal support structure of the brick wall connects Wolong City to the southern foot of Fenghuang Mountain.
All the trees that originally covered the slopes at the southern foot of Phoenix Mountain have been cut down, and there are construction sites everywhere on the slopes. Countless civil servants were busy up and down, either leveling the ground, digging foundations, driving piles with thick timber, or building walls.
Jin Zhijun, dressed as a businessman and wearing a hat to cover his braid, passed between these construction sites. He observed carefully and found that the green bricks used by the craftsmen to build the wall were all ridiculously large. At a glance, he knew that they were the "old bricks" obtained from demolishing the towers and walls of Fengyang Old City and Fengyang High Wall. They were very Sturdy.
The buildings built with these "old bricks" look like either a government office or an official's residence.
Although most of these buildings have not been completed, they can all be seen as strong and easy to defend... Every building can be regarded as a fortress!
The horse path going up the mountain is also paved with "old bricks" from Fengyang City. It is very wide and wide enough for horse racing, but there is no unnecessary decoration.
In addition to being sturdy and durable, it is only a bit cold.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, Jin Zhijun's legs and feet were so painful that he finally arrived at the gate of a mountain city. He panted and looked up, and saw a city gate building with a slope built on the surface, standing impressively. The thick wooden city gate was open, and ten soldiers wearing armor spliced together with iron sheets were divided on both sides, all carrying bird blunderbuss with thorns on their shoulders, looking intently.
The nephew of Cheng Guofu turned around and smiled at Jin Zhijun: "Shopkeeper Jin, please wait a moment."
Jin Zhijun was a secret envoy who drove dozens of Mongolian horses into the country as a businessman. It was also because of these horses that he came into contact with Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo.
Today's trip to Fengyang was made possible thanks to Zhu Chunchen's arrangement.
I just don't know how long he will have to wait to see Zhu Cixiang, the prince of Fujun in the Ming Dynasty, as a second minister or Jiang Gan.
Prince Zhu did not let him, an inconvenient "worker" wait too long, and asked the newly appointed Fengyang guard eunuch Tian Shuchen to go to Fenghuang Gate in person to take "Boss Jin" to Longfeng Pavilion where he lived - Longfeng. The pavilion is an ancient building that was built during the Hongwu period. It was originally a residence for the princes stationed in Fengyang. However, because it had been uninhabited for many years, by the time Zhu Chunchen was stationed in Fengyang and was ordered to build additional Fengyang Fortress, it had already fallen into disrepair and was in a state of disrepair.
Zhu Chunchen took a fancy to the site occupied by Longfeng Pavilion and began to build Phoenix City based on it. Phoenix City has not yet been completed, but Longfeng Pavilion has been renovated, so it became the palace of Zhu Cixiang who was stationed in Fengyang.
After the Dragon and Phoenix Pavilion was completed, Zhu Cixang moved from the dilapidated Fengtian Hall in "Wolong City" at the foot of the mountain to the Dragon and Phoenix Pavilion on the mountain. They also brought Wu Sanmei and Zheng Chagu from Nanjing to Fengyang City for a reunion. They also asked Wu Sanmei to bring her daughter Fengjiao, who was working hard to learn to crawl, to Fengyang. The family of four was enjoying themselves happily.
At the same time, Zhu Cixi also asked Emperor Chongzhen, who was "camping personally" in the Jiangbei camp, to return to the Imperial City of Nanjing - where he "killed" Qiu Beileye Hauge, the Qing Dynasty minister, and shattered the Qing army's plan to excavate the Fengyang Emperor's tomb. After the conspiracy (the Qing army was wronged!), Zhu Cixiang was no longer afraid of any changes to seize the door.
Who thinks that he is more powerful than Hauge and the 20,000 Eight Banner Heavenly Soldiers under Hauge, even though he can come and take it!
And he himself continued to garrison Fengyang Mansion. On the one hand, he was holding high the banner of the Northern Expedition to aid Confucius; on the other hand, he was supervising the construction of Fengyang Fortress and the deployment of defenses in Huaibei and Xuhai... Of course, these two things are not inconsistent!
If we don’t manage the headquarters of Confucianism in the Southeast, how can we safely save the tomb of Saint Confucius? It doesn't matter if the great cause of rescuing the tomb of Confucius is delayed because of the construction of Fengyang Fortress and the defense of Huaibei and Xuhai.
You know, over there in the West, Christians are waging wars one after another in order to liberate the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem!
So it doesn’t matter if the “Holy Tomb” of Confucius is lost. As long as Kong Yinzhi, the Duke of Yansheng, is “famous”, he can encourage scholars who go to the southeast to join the army and save the “Holy Tomb” together...
Besides, the situation in Qufu is pretty good now. Duduo still did not have the power to siege the city, but built a Yishui camp near Qufu. Shi Kefa sent troops to fight several times, but his head was bruised and bloody. It seemed that he had no ability to take out this Qing army camp.
However, because Qufu City was not besieged, some supplies could still be obtained and some old, weak, women and children could be evacuated, so the situation could still be maintained.
For Zhu Cixiang, there is nothing wrong with this situation. Taking the risk of sending troops to attack the Yishui camp, you might just fall into Dorgon's footsteps... To send troops from Xuzhou, you have to walk more than 300 miles north to Qufu. Based on the normal marching speed of the infantry, it would take five or six days. If the harassment and delay of the Qing light cavalry were taken into account, ten days would be normal.
With these ten days, Dorgon could mobilize heavy troops from all sides and conduct a decisive battle around Qufu. We can also temporarily abandon the Yishui camp, retreat to Yanzhou or even Jining and Dongping, and engage in a protracted battle with Zhu Cixiang in which the enemy advances and we retreat.
And how long can Zhu Cihong stay in Shandong? There are still many things waiting for him to take care of in the south!
Just when Jin Zhijun was trembling and being brought by Tian Shuchen, Zhu Cixiang was frowning and reading the memorial sent by Zhu Chunjie, the commander of the Jinyiwei - Zuo Liangyu was critically ill and might have died! In short, he has not shown up for many days. It is very possible that Zuo Menggeng died, but Zuo Mengeng kept the news of his death secret without announcing his death...
"Master Qiansui," Tian Shuchen's voice interrupted Zhu Cixiang's thoughts, "I have brought shopkeeper Jin here!"
Then came Jin Zhijun's voice: "Jin Zhijun, a grassroots citizen, respectfully invites His Royal Highness the Ming Dynasty Prince Jin An!"
Zhu Cihong reported to the direction and glanced at the kneeling Jin Zhijun, "Are you the regent's secret envoy?"
"The grass-roots people were sent by the regent of the Qing Dynasty..."
"Oh." Zhu Cixi nodded, "How is he? He must be very happy, right?"
"This..." Jin Zhijun hesitated, "The common people, the common people heard that the regent's eyes were swollen from crying."
Zhu Cixi sneered: "You can pretend! Tell me, how is he going to thank me?"
Thank you...Jin Zhijun felt wrong when he heard this, and it became even more wrong when he thought about it!
"The regent has promised to marry Gege to Master Qiantose..." Cold sweat was dripping from Jin Zhijun's forehead!
There seems to be an inside story about this matter. Will he be silenced when he returns?
"Marry?" Zhu Cixiang looked at Jin Zhijun, "Did you hear what he said clearly? Marry? Not a gift?"
"This...is what you mean." Jin Zhijun wiped the sweat on his forehead, took out another envelope, and handed it to Tian Shuchen with both hands, "Master Qiantose, this is a letter written by the regent. ..."
There was no name on the envelope or paper of the autographed letter, only the words "well-known but not known".
Zhu Cixiang opened the letter and read it. He was smiling at first, but his face gradually darkened halfway through. At the end, he actually slapped the table, scaring Jin Zhijun below. But he didn't dare to ask anything, he just trembled down there.
I don't know how long it took before I heard Zhu Cihong say: "Go back and tell Dorgon that if Dong Gege reaches the age of thirteen, I will send someone to Beijing to pick her up... From now on, Dong Ge will be in my palace There will never be hardship here.”
Jin Zhijun became even more confused after hearing this... Dorgon had agreed to send his daughter, so why was Prince Zhu still upset? Being so moody, Dongguo Gege's life in the future will not be good!
