When Luo Hu and Zhang Nai arrived near Zuo'anmen, it was already getting dark.

In the distance, you can faintly see that on the rivers and official roads leading to Tongzhou, the lights are flickering and the voices of people are boiling.

"Huzi, while they are busy fleeing for their lives, let's transfer the team up, I'll bombard it with cannons first, and then you can rush up with the team!"

Behind the two, the soldiers of the artillery battalion drove thousands of mules and horses, dragging dozens of cannons to hurry, and the infantry cavalry of the Zhenshan battalion was quietly guarding on the side. Except for the occasional neighing of horses, the entire Quake Camp was silent. It's not as lively and noisy as the artillery battalion.

Luo Hu was quite calm, "Brother Naizi, don't panic!" Let's figure out the situation first! Brother Gu Ying has already suffered a loss, the emperor is afraid that he will miss a big event so he sent the two of us here, if he also rushes forward recklessly, and then loses the battle, not to mention the loss of soldiers and horses, I am afraid that he will miss the emperor's big event! ”

The emperor's major event they said in their mouths was the hexagram calculated by Song Xiance to Li Zicheng a few days ago, and the city could be broken at a certain day and at a certain hour, but if it couldn't, it would need to be postponed for a few days. The emperor entered the city by mistake and officially destroyed the Ming Kingdom, no one can afford such a big crime!

Zhang Nai listened, but he could only grit his teeth and look at the lights in the distance, "Then you and my brother will take someone to look in that direction and go to the sentry again!" ”

The two uncles of the Dashun Dynasty each trotted all the way north in the direction of Dongbianmen with their own soldiers, but fortunately, the people and horses here were noisy and noisy, and the movements of hundreds of people were not very clear, and even if they heard clearly, they would be mixed in the crowd.

Under the illumination of the lights, I saw that there were no less than tens of thousands of people gathered between Dongbian Gate and Chaoyang Gate, countless vehicles of all sizes, and many flags, honor guards and other things. In the dark, it was difficult to see the official title on the flag, and I didn't know who was here.

Without any hints from Luo Hu and Zhang Nai, Luo Hu's personal soldiers immediately turned into characters who did not collect at night, quietly rushed to the hidden place near the Dongbian Gate, took a chance, and captured a sentry officer of the new army to interrogate.

With the help of the lights lit by his corporaries, Zhang Nai and Luo Hu carefully looked at the sentry officer who was tied up and thrown off his horse like a zongzi.

The sentry officer was also a tough man, he was thrown from his horse to the ground that was as hard as iron and his nose was bruised and his face was swollen, but he didn't snort in his mouth, he struggled to stand up, and looked coldly at the people in front of him who looked like leaders, and his mouth was even more vibrating.

"Hey! Copper wire glazed horse lantern, you guys are really wide! Such a precious and rare thing can be afforded. It's really the founding of the country, and it's no longer a thief! ”

The tone of movement and quiet speech was the tone of the noble disciple of Jingshi Xun, whom Luo Hu was quite familiar with.

The accent and tone are familiar, but the body shape and appearance are also somewhat familiar.

"Come on, raise the lights higher, and let us see this good man in Beijing." Luo Hu ordered the lights to be brightened, so that he could take a closer look at the captive sentinel in front of him. After the lights were turned on, Luo Hu carefully looked at the sentry officer who was captured by his own soldiers, and the captured sentry officer was also carefully looking at the leader of the thieves in front of him.

"This, this general, are you Master Luo?" After a while, the sentry officer was a little suspicious, but his speech changed a lot.

"Uncle, I think this guy is also a little kind, haven't we dealt with each other?" Luo Hu's two right-hand men were also a little puzzled.

"Luo Ye, you are really Luo Ye! Hi! It's me! We're flooding the Dragon King Temple! The sentry leapt to his feet, and his mouth was filled with ecstasy.

"Master Luo, you are Master Luo of the Volunteer Battalion, and I am Luo Fat of the 3,000 Battalion! We can't write two characters with one pen! ”

This sentry surnamed Luo was Luo Mingzu's brother and one of his cronies who was brought to Shandong. On that day, Luo Hu and Wang Long led the Dragon and Tiger Battalion formed by the troops of the two Chuang Cao families, and it was this Luo Sentinel Officer who was familiar with it. The cooperation between the 3,000 Battalion, the Shenji Battalion, and the Dragon and Tiger Battalion was very prosperous, and there was a feeling of hating each other for being late.

The Dragon and Tiger Battalion made a windfall in Shandong, and the 3,000 Battalion and the Shenji Battalion were all over the place, otherwise, there would not be so much money to raise horses and train soldiers!

After returning to Beijing, Chongzhen raised money and food to train the new army in Beijing, and this Luo sentinel also followed Luo Mingzu to train the new army and was promoted to a sentry officer. Today, I don't want to meet my old friends in Shandong here.

Since they are acquaintances, they are naturally treated differently. Luo Hu immediately ordered someone to loosen the restraints of Officer Luo and let him sit down and talk.

In the wilderness, everyone can only spread the saddle and mattress cover on the ground and sit down to talk.

"During the day, it was a misunderstanding between you and Gu Jiangye?" Zhang Nai pondered the words on the side for a while, and then asked slowly.

"That's right. During the day, everyone was following the emperor's order to load the classics and documents in the palace and the six ministries on a ship and transport them away, but the Gu general rushed up from the oblique thorn, God knows what he did? Our two uncles led us to have a fight with him, but they didn't lose our face. ”

"Uncle?" Luo Hu hesitated.

"Master Luo, don't you know, after our brothers in Shandong returned to Beijing, the emperor promoted us. As soon as you opened the country and ascended the throne, the emperor here couldn't sit still. In previous years, if you wanted to be crowned, you had to have the ability to make trouble in the Heavenly Palace, but now the emperor can't take care of it, as long as you are a general with troops and have military merits, you can be crowned with a knighthood. Our two adults, Luo and Tan, are now uncles! ”

"Then, please go to Chaoyangmen to meet your brother, and the big talker, just say that the old people in Shandong are here, and plan to drink with them to catch up with the old days, I don't know if they are willing to come?"

Luo Hu ordered someone to bring a horse to Officer Luo, returned his waist knife and everything to him, and ordered him to send a letter to Luo Mingzu and Tan Qirui.

After about half an hour, there was a faint sound of horses' hooves in the distance, but in the ears of the experienced Zhang Nai and Luo Hu, the faint sound of horses' hooves at this time could only have the effect of wrapping thick cloth or felt on the horse's hooves.

"What about Brother Luo Hu? Where are the Luo Hu brothers? But I want to kill your old brother! ”

Luo Tan's loud voices began to shout loudly a few feet away, calling Luo Hu affectionately. After seeing Luo Hu from afar, Tan Chery grabbed it with an arrow, hugged Luo Hu, and looked carefully up and down, left and right. This move is like a brother seeing a young brother who has been away from home for a long time.

After some politeness, the four guys whose identities belong to two diametrically opposed camps began to confess, find out, and negotiate with each other.

"Brother Luo, what are you doing here?"

"The emperor put us on the front line of Chaoyangmen, guarding the road between Beijing and Tongzhou, and in the past few days, the documents and classics of the palace and the six departments have been shipped out, either loaded on ships, or gone south to Tianjin by land. Looking at this meaning, the emperor is going to give up the Jingshi. ”

Luo Mingzu also knew everything, but Zhang Nai, who was on the side, sneered, "I just remembered it at this time, I'm afraid it's too late, right?" ”

"What is this general's name? If you are not convinced, you might as well start the fight tomorrow! The families of the old men are here now, defeated, you go into the city to find the emperor's bad luck, if you are defeated, hehe! I'm afraid there will be a few more flags on this pier! ”

For Zhang Nai, talking about Chery is not as polite as it is to Luo Hu. A few words choked with a gun and a stick, and Zhang Nai rolled his eyes.

Although the results of the battle were not big, only two or three thousand thieves were killed, a lot of armor and weapons were captured, and more than a thousand war horses were captured, but it was enough to appease the panicked hearts of the city officials and the emperor. At dinner, it is said that Chongzhen made an exception and drank two glasses of wine to celebrate.

Luo Mingzu and Tan Chery defeated Gu Ying's forwards, which immediately increased the arrogance of the nobles in the city several times. The nobles led by Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, and Li Guozhen, the Bo of Xiangcheng, have threatened that in the past, civil officials such as Er relied on the forces of the rebel Yu Qian to ignore our nobles after the civil engineering, and there were many humiliations at every turn, so what about now? The same traitor besieges the city, can you wait for a strategy to break the enemy?

It is inevitable that my lord will go out of the city to fight with the rebels, in order to slightly dampen his arrogance, and then, when the army of Liang Guogong arrives, all the traitors of this generation can be turned into powder!

That's not all, in order to be able to show the spirit of Lao Tzu's heroes, the nobles seem to have made an appointment, and they all set up their honor guard flags, and take their respective slaves to Chaoyangmen Wharf and Guangqumen to help in the war! (Of course, in addition to being able to get a piece of the pie in the post-war merit book, whether it is a wide place and close to the dock, once defeated, it is convenient for us to pull out and slip away.) ）

"If you can win a game against General Zhang Nai, I'm afraid that Long Live Luan will go out of the city to cheer for the drums in Xia!" Luo Mingzu knocked on the corner and followed up again.

This is not false, Zhang Nai's name is much louder than Gu Ying's name in the court. Uncle and general, not to mention, he still grew up as an adopted son in front of Li Zicheng, and not long ago, he was personally appointed by Li Zicheng and his wife to marry the same adopted daughter to him. This glory and status are almost comparable to Mu Ying, Li Wenzhong and others when Taizu founded the country!

How can that Nai, a good match? How many good tempers are there for those who lead troops to war? He is also young and vigorous, and he has long looked down on this group of gentlemen in the Beijing camp in his heart. I secretly said in my heart, it's just some ghost at the bottom of the kettle, who won by chance for a while, but what are you showing off here? It's better to return to my Dashun early! Hearing Luo talk about the two of them with such mockery, even if they were ready to attack.

"Brother Naizi, don't have a cold temper!" Luo Hu hurriedly persuaded Luo Hu in northern Shaanxi dialect, and asked him in a low voice: "Brother Naizi, do you think that if the team of Brother Gu Ying, Uncle Han Ju and others fights with my Zhenshan Camp, which one will win?" ”

"Does that need to be said? It's you, naturally! Zhang Nai was puzzled.

"The team of these two guys was taught by a master of mine in Shandong. Chongzhen has spared no expense in the past few years to provide them with training, if they are not regulated, my Dashun army and horses will inevitably suffer heavy losses! ”

These words left Zhang Nai speechless.

Since the formation of the Zhenshan Battalion, the generals of the camp have privately compared this team with their own team, but, no matter who it is, in the end, they have to admit in frustration that purely in terms of combat effectiveness, the Zhenshan Battalion can single-handedly take on the most elite part of the Chuang Battalion personally led by Liu Ye and Liu Zongmin, and it is at least 30% of the casualties of Liu Ye's department, while the Zhenshan Battalion can basically be established and retreat completely. Even the old camp pro-army may not be able to bargain. Now hearing Luo Hu say this, Zhang Nai changed his attitude and talked to Luo about the two of them becoming friends. His starting point is also very simple, so that the Dashun army can take Beijing without blood.

As for recruiting Luo Mingzu and Tan Chery, let them continue to fight for the new dynasty, just like Tang Tong and others; It's better to open an opening and let them lead their troops south, and then find a way to clean them up later, it's a matter of improvisation.

The same mapping and negotiation, buying and selling, are carried out at Bali Bridge, not far from Tongzhou.

There are three important bridges on the traffic arteries around Beijing, one is the Lugou Bridge outside Wanping City in the southwest of Beijing, the second is the Chaozong Bridge in Changping Prefecture in the north of Beijing, and the third is the Yongtong Bridge in Tongzhou in Jingdong.

Yongtong Bridge is commonly known as Bali Bridge because it is located on Tongzhou Bali Road. This arch bridge spanning the Tonghui River in the grain transportation channel, because the main arch hole is tall, can allow the grain sailing ships to pass under the bridge very smoothly without having to drop the sails, and it has the reputation of "Bali Bridge does not fall mast". On the bridge deck, the road paved with bluestone slabs several zhang wide forms a traffic artery that separates the main road, auxiliary road, and up and down respectively with the ash road under the bridge, and is used for mules and horses to transport goods.

At this moment, inside and outside the Dragon King Temple on the west side of the Bali Bridge, there were dense police posts, and hundreds of armor-clad armor soldiers surrounded the Dragon King Temple. In the Dragon King Hall in the temple, Gao Yigong, the chief general of the Chinese army in Dashun, Wu Ruyi, the head of the imperial camp, and Lin Wenbing, the shopkeeper of Longsheng, sat opposite each other across the offering table.

They were also discussing the two assets of the Beijing City behind them and the Chongzhen Emperor in the Forbidden City, Beijing City is a fixed asset, and Emperor Chongzhen is the treatment of intangible assets.

"The Guibao and your owner have a great merit in helping me at the end of the road. When the two of us came, His Majesty specially issued an edict that if your host is willing to obey the heavens and return to Dashun, he should be rewarded with the feudal territory of the territory. ”

Gao Yigong's remarks were not all polite diplomatic rhetoric. The camp that came out of Shangluo Mountain was full of weapons, baggage, medicines, and armor. If it weren't for the luck of encountering Chen Guoxi's caravan, I am afraid that it would not have been so smooth to arm tens of thousands of hungry people who had returned to him, and at the same time, turn the captured gold, silver, soft and even useless tattered paper paintings into much-needed food, cloth, salt, gunpowder and other things.

In a way, Long Shengxing was a doctor who gave blood transfusions to Chuang Ying, a patient who was extremely weak at the time. For now, however, each is in charge of his own affairs.

Regarding the kindness released by Gao Yigong, Lin Wenbing also accepted it with a smile. However, as a backbone member of the Nanyue Army, he also has his own interests. At this time, in the city of Tianjin, not far away, Li Peiting was tasked with taking over the outstanding encirclement of Chongzhen's family.

"But what I can't figure out, why can't Guibao and your owner see it clearly in the general trend of the world? My Emperor Yongchang of Dashun, since Chang'an issued a crusade against the Ming State, invincible, the banner of the army everywhere to look at the wind and accept the surrender, but your army in my army when the city of Beijing intended to accept Chongzhen south, what does it mean? ”

"I am a merchant below, and I have taken the capital and goods of my lord to walk all over the world with the lord's capital and goods, in order to be a good word." Lin Wenbing struck a Tai Chi punch and closed the high hat of Gao Yigong. At the same time, with the help of strength, the Nanyue Army's own requirements were put forward.

As long as the price you give is right, we can talk about anything!

"Shopkeeper Lin, if you have something to say, please speak out!" Gao Yigong is also a battle-hardened veteran, as long as you are willing to offer conditions, according to Wang Po's words, this matter will be four points away!

"Did Uncle Gao ever know that my lord once had a rescue agreement with the Ming Court?" Sure enough, Lin Wenbing came up and threw out practical questions, can you ensure the special interests of our Nanyue Army in those treaties we signed with the Ming Court?

The so-called rescue agreement is Li Shouhan's aid plan to the imperial court that year.

The so-called bailout was done in three parts. Compared with Nanzhong, Liangguang, Fujian and other places, the reason why the Ming Dynasty is in a mess at present is that there are three fundamental problems: water conservancy is not repaired, mergers are serious, and laws are not working.

Therefore, the first batch of 10 million silver dollars was rescued to improve water conservancy in Shandong, Guangdong, and Fujian.

The second batch was anti-annexation assistance, which was first piloted in Shandong, where land was purchased from the gentry with money, and then sold to farmers for cultivation at a low price. This money, about 20 million silver dollars.

The third, also amounting to about 20 million silver dollars, was used to establish a judicial college in Guangzhou to train judges for the Ming government to ensure the implementation of the relief agreement.

All loans were borrowed in the name of the Ming court, and Emperor Chongzhen guaranteed it in the name of the Son of Heaven, and stamped it with a big treasure, that is, a jade seal, on the agreement. The annual interest is six cents, and the use of funds is controlled by Nanzhong Trading Company to ensure that the funds are not embezzled. Repayment can be deferred appropriately, but interest must be repaid on time.

Li Shouhan's rescue agreement, on the surface, is a life-sustaining Laoshan ginseng soup for the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it is a bit like Pan Jinlian's decoction, whether you eat it or not, you will die.

However, at this time, Lin Wenbing, together with Gao Yigong and Wu Ruyi, brazenly proposed that Dashun recognize the legitimacy of this loan and continue to implement this agreement, which made Gao Yigong a little angry.

Most of the money and food raised in the so-called relief agreement were used to pay for the military salary with my Dashun. Now you want me Dashun to admit this loan, and let me Dashun continue to repay the principal and interest for the Hades account that Chongzhen made with us back then, and travel all over the world, where does it make sense? ! (To be continued.) )