In Hebei, Lu Xiangsheng's army only had about 30,000 infantry troops, most of which were unusable. The only elites in their hands, that is, the generals' servants, were sent to Texas to harass Dorgon's troops on their way back to the north.
At this time, with the few eliminated troops in hand, only a few hundred soldiers had horses, and the rest were infantry. In fact, it was really impossible to fight. Even if he was as brave as Lu Xiangsheng, he could face more than 10,000 Yue Tuo. The Jianlu army did not dare to leave the city they were relying on. Lu Xiangsheng knew this very well.
"It would be much better if there were enough sidecars." Lu Xiangsheng sighed and said, "Now is the time for Jianlu to divide his troops. It is the best opportunity and the greatest certainty to defeat them one by one. At least, we can also rescue many. What a pity for the people of Ming Dynasty."
When Wang Chengen heard this, he comforted him and said, "Didn't Gong Lu already send a memorial to the emperor asking for help? Maybe the emperor will think of a way and send reinforcements."
Hearing this, Lu Xiangsheng's eyes lit up, and then he shook his head and said: "It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. To put it bluntly, now that the army is building strong forces, the armies everywhere don't want to fight with strong enemies, so they are all If we don’t arrive for a long time, where can we send reinforcements?”
"Hey!" After hearing this, Wang Chengen couldn't help but sigh, and then said angrily, "I don't know what those people think about eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor. If we look at it, we should kill them all. Clean!"
When he came from the capital, he really didn't hear any news about the arrival of King Qin's army. They were all talking about delays here and delays there, but they were still on the way anyway. Now that Lu Xiangsheng said this, he felt that maybe it was true that those people were waiting for the Jianlu army to leave the customs before rushing to the capital.
Lu Xiangsheng heard this and was about to say something when suddenly there were rapid footsteps outside the tent. A guard stepped inside and reported, "Your Majesty, a messenger from the Qin army has arrived."
"Qin soldiers?" When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he immediately stood up with surprise and said quickly, "Quick, please invite me!"
The most famous army of the Ming Dynasty that can fight is the Qin soldiers. Suddenly hearing the news, Lu Xiangsheng forgot what he had just said and became very happy.
After a while, a travel-worn messenger entered the tent under the polite guidance of his guards. Without waiting for Lu Xiangsheng to ask questions, he clasped his fists and reported: "According to the emperor's decree, Mr. Hong, the governor of the three sides and Mr. Sun, the governor of Shaanxi. I am rushing from the capital, follow your master's overall plan, and fight against the Jianlu army together to save the people of Ming Dynasty!"
After he finished speaking, he reached into his arms, took out a letter, and presented it with both hands.
Without waiting for the bodyguard to forward the report, Lu Xiangsheng strode over, took it in his own hand, and immediately began to read it.
What the letter said was almost the same as what the messenger said, but there were some details, such as the emperor's reception of them, and the emperor's inspection of the troops outside the city, etc. Finally, both Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting asked Lu Xiangsheng for instructions. The armies they led arrived immediately. They asked Lu Xiangsheng to come up with a charter on how to act.
Lu Xiangsheng was very excited to read it. After reading it in one breath and reading it again carefully, he handed the letter to Wang Chengen who was stretching his neck beside him, and then strode to the military map hanging on the side. Before that, I thought about it nervously based on what was said in the letter.
Wang Chengen also quickly finished reading the letter. He patted the letter and said with a smile: "Look, you know the emperor has a solution, right? The emperor issued a strict decree and ordered the troops from all over the country to arrive as soon as possible, which also inspired the Qin soldiers. Morale, haha, I think we can win this battle!"
While he was speaking here, Lu Xiangsheng had already made a decision. He immediately turned around and walked towards Shuai An, picked up his brush and started writing a letter. It didn't take long for a letter to be written.
He put down his brush, blew on the ink, and then said to the messenger: "I am here to attract the attention of Yue Tuo's troops. You go back and report to Governor Hong and Governor Sun, and ask them to launch a surprise attack on Du Du's troops and rescue the prisoners there. There are 200,000 Ming people nearby. If we arrive in time, we can come and attack Yue Tuo's troops together. I have already written the details of this battle in the letter."
When the Qin soldiers came, even Lu Xiangsheng didn't know about it, let alone the army. In this way, we can be sure to rescue those Ming people who are about to be taken away to Liaodong. There are 200,000 people. You don’t know how many people will die on the road. Once you save them, it will be a great merit!
The matter was so important that the messenger did not bother to rest and returned immediately under the escort of his entourage.
On Lu Xiangsheng's side, in order to cooperate with the Qin soldiers' actions, he immediately began to move and made a gesture of wanting to move south.
Yue Tuo heard Tan Ma's report in the camp and stepped forward to observe the formation in person. He couldn't help laughing and said: "It seems that Lu Xiangsheng is really anxious. Even these old and weak soldiers want to go south to rescue Jinan Mansion, haha!"
His men all laughed after hearing this.
They all understood that if Jinan fell and the Ming vassal king was killed or captured, Lu Xiangsheng would not be able to escape the blame. It would be strange if he didn't rush! Therefore, they didn't think much about it.
In fact, in fact, King Qin's troops from various places, including Sun Hong's two Qin troops, did not arrive in the capital until February.
In this plane, due to Emperor Chongzhen's repeated urging, and even his tone became more and more severe, the Qin soldiers, including the Yongwei camp, speeded up and came to King Qin. And Emperor Chongzhen changed his person and his way of doing things. Even if they killed these Jianlu leaders, it was impossible for them to think of it.
"Come on, send an order to the front, let them out." Yue Tuo immediately began to give the order, "Let them stay away from the city. Without the support of the city wall, defeat them in one fell swoop. Whoever can kill Lu Xiangsheng will be rewarded heavily!"
Upon hearing this, his men all howled. They had been fighting against each other for so many days, and they knew the strength of the army on the opposite side very clearly. As long as the Ming army left the city wall and the Qing Dynasty attacked them, it would be like a wolf among the sheep. Don't fight too easily. So what if Lu Xiangsheng can fight again? You can't support yourself on your own, just wait for death!
However, what they didn't expect was that the Ming army moved for a long time, seemed to have discovered their intention, and actually retreated before dark, making them stare with anger.
The next day, Lu Xiangsheng's subordinates began to perform again, trying to attract the attention of Yue Tuo's subordinates, which was to bully their news disadvantage of fighting away in the pass.
However, on Emperor Chongzhen's side, he discovered the eavesdropping seeds in Fan Yongzheng and returned very important information.
It turned out that the troops and horses led by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting arrived outside the capital city, and the emperor left the capital after personally inspecting the situation. The news was so great that it quickly spread throughout the capital. Most of the people rejoiced and reinforcements finally arrived. But Fan Yongzheng was frightened. The sudden arrival of Qin soldiers was so unexpected. It was too late to report this matter to his brother, so he decided to send someone directly to report the news to the Qing army.
Regarding this kind of thing, how could Emperor Chongzhen let him do it, so he urgently sent an order to the Jinyiwei commander Li Ruolian to take action.
Since the Manchu and Qing troops entered the country, the capital has been under martial law. Except at certain times, only powerful people can act more conveniently. As for these city gates in the capital, access will be strictly restricted. Of course, this is not absolute. Some daily necessities, including collecting firewood, hauling coal, fetching water, etc., will be released after inspection within a specific time.
No, in broad daylight, there are quite a few people queuing up under the city gate. They look like they are waiting to leave the city. The soldiers guarding the gate checked one and let the other pass.
At this time, suddenly, three knights came flying, which immediately attracted everyone's attention. Turning around to look, there were three people dressed in fine clothes and mink fur, who looked like they were from wealthy families.
These three people didn't even bother queuing, and just rushed under the city gate. The poor people queuing didn't care. In this day and age, rich people have privileges, so there's nothing surprising.
The soldiers guarding the city also changed their expressions towards the rich man on horseback. He smiled and did not dare to scold him. He asked with a very good attitude: "May I ask which house you belong to and where you are going?"
When the leader heard this, he just sat on the horse, held his head high and said, "We are from Liu Yushi's house. We are out of the city on business. Get out of the way quickly!"
In the past, the gatekeepers would have let him go as soon as they heard this. But at this time, after they glanced at each other, the leading soldier continued to ask: "Is this Liu Meicai from Liu Yushi's house?"
Immediately after hearing this, the slave was stunned for a moment, came to his senses, and shouted with a somewhat ugly face: "How can you call my master's name? Why don't you open the door quickly? It's delaying my master's important business. I'll fix it later." I will take care of you ruffians!"
Although the censor is of low rank, he has great power. Not to mention their responsibilities, anyone can be impeached by them, and the censor also has the duty of patrolling the city, which actually directly manages the army. Therefore, on weekdays, no matter who he is, no matter how big the official is, he will sell face to the censor.
However, even though the noble slave scolded him at this time, the gatekeepers did not move out of the way. The leader quickly squeezed out a smile and said: "It's not a villain who dares to stop you, but someone from your mansion is waiting for you." .”
The person immediately turned out to be Fan Fu, the shopkeeper of Fan Ji Bank, and he was slightly surprised when he heard this. Of course he is not from Liu Meicai's family, but he always uses Liu Meicai's name to do things. Including this time, he wanted to leave the city directly after Fan Yongzheng's instructions, and did not need to go to Liu Meicai to say hello. However, Liu Meicai's people were waiting for him here. How could he not be surprised and confused?
Although he was doing bad things, he had never encountered anyone who would cause trouble against Fan Ji Bank, so he just wondered, how did Liu Meicai know that she was going out of the city and sent someone to stop him? Could it be that there was a major change in the court?
Considering that the governors of the three sides and the governor of Shaanxi had just left, and the emperor had personally gone out of the city, I doubt the news was related to this.
Thinking this way, he became a little impatient and immediately got off his horse and asked hurriedly: "Where is the person?"
The leading soldier quickly led the way to the temporary resting barracks under the city, and stretched out his hand to signal: "This way, please!"
The three of them followed the soldier into the barracks. They looked up and saw that although there were some people in civilian clothes in the barracks, Fan Fu didn't recognize any of them. They were surprised when they saw the leader, who suddenly waved his hand and shouted: "That's right, come on, take them down."
Just such a word, before Fan Fu could recover, several people in casual clothes sitting nearby pounced on them like tigers, skillfully throwing Fan Fu and the three of them to the ground, cutting their hands behind their backs and starting to tie them up. stand up.
Fan Fu's face was pressed to the cold ground, and he was very frightened. Such treatment was something he had never encountered before. He shouted hurriedly: "Who are you? What do you do? Do you know who I am?"
"Haha, aren't you Fan Fu, the shopkeeper of Fan Ji Bank?" The plainclothes man at the head was happy that he had caught the target, and replied with a smile, "I am Liu Yue, the general banner of Jinyiwei, and I have been ordered to invite you to the prison to drink. A cup of tea!"
As soon as he heard this, Fan Fu's heart sank immediately. Recognizing him meant that he was definitely not wrong. They were here for him. When he thought of this, he remembered his purpose of leaving the city this time, and suddenly, cold sweat broke out on his back. He was a little confused. Could it be that Jin Yiwei knew something? It was also ordered, so even the emperor knew about it?
Fan Fu couldn't imagine it. When he was about to say something, he saw a smelly piece of cloth, and he didn't know what it was. He was forced into his mouth and blocked his mouth, making him unable to speak anymore.
When Liu Yue saw that everything was done, he smiled and said to his subordinates: "It seems that the surveillance of the past few days is still useful. At least I have become familiar with him. Haha, I can report to the commander!"
That's right, after Emperor Chongzhen heard Fan Yongzheng's explanation to Fan Fu through eavesdropping seeds, he immediately sent an urgent order to the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Li Ruolian, asking him to immediately send his henchmen to block Fan Fu at various city gates and secretly arrest him. Of.
At this time, after waiting for a long time, the three big rice dumplings were moved to a covered carriage and left quietly after the people who had seen Fan Fu and the others at the city gate were estimated to have left the city. This side of the city gate.
Even the soldiers guarding the gate didn't know what was going on. They thought it was really someone from Liu Meicai's palace who called the people back.
Soon, Fan Fu and the other three were taken into the Jinyiwei Prison and secretly detained. The commander, Li Ruolian, interrogated them personally. He didn't even care about their claims of injustice. He just said to them: "Explain the good deeds you have done so that your flesh and blood will not suffer. Cooperate well and deal with only the first culprit later. You can get out alive."
Fan Fu was naturally not stupid enough to carry a letter, so he still had luck in his heart. He just didn't do anything and pretended to be stupid. Jin Yiwei was also unambiguous, and he was punished.
At the same time, the matter of Fan Fu's capture was immediately reported to Emperor Chongzhen.
Emperor Chongzhen felt relieved after hearing this. At this moment, he hadn't thought about arresting Fan Yongzheng. With that eavesdropping seed, he could learn more things. This case of Shanxi merchants is destined to be one of the biggest cases since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. If they don't move, they will be killed. If they move, they will be like thunder and catch them all in one fell swoop.
At the same time, he learned more information through the eavesdropping seeds on Chen Xinjia.
It was Fan Yongdou who returned to Jin and met Chen Xinjia.
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