Li Zicheng arrived at Diaoyutai in the western suburbs of Beijing on the afternoon of the 17th, and according to the plan formulated by Song Xiance, he should have rested in the Diaoyutai Palace for one night, and then sent troops to attack the city tomorrow morning.

But at this time, Li Zicheng was in extreme excitement. The final victory seems to be grasped as soon as you stretch out your hand! But if you think about it carefully, the final fruits of victory are under the protection of the world's strongest city......

So the excited and apprehensive Li Zicheng changed his plan and launched a "battle to attack the heart" of Beijing in advance.

On the way to Diaoyutai, he ordered Liu Zongmin, who came to greet him, to first go to the west of the Jingshi City to find a suitable place to set up the formation, and at the same time set up a huge yellow felt tent.

After Liu Zongmin was ordered to rush back to the west of Beijing, he first made some observations, and then set up a formation in the open space outside the Fucheng Gate.

The reason why he chose to go outside Fucheng Gate was because he found six dragon flags and a three-army command flag on the tower of Fucheng Gate. The six dragon flags belong to Zhu Cihong's crown prince's guard of honor, and the three military commander's flags are the main flags, symbolizing the location of the Chinese army commander's tent.

Zhu Cihong originally wanted to set up the Chinese army in Xizhimen, but after discovering that Li Zicheng would use Diaoyutai as his station, he moved the Chinese army to Fuchengmen, which was facing Diaoyutai.

After Liu Zongmin saw the dragon flag and the three army flags, he thought that Emperor Chongzhen had gone to Fuchengmen, so he came to a "king to king" and placed Li Zicheng's Chinese army outside Diaoyutai and in the open space facing Fuchengmen.

Just after the seventeenth, Li Zicheng, the emperor of Dashun who had finished his lunch, arrived at the huge yellow felt tent in the midst of the shouts of 30,000 or 40,000 Dashun soldiers, surrounded by the imperial guards led by his righteous son Li Shuangxi.

In addition to Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Gu Chengen and other civil and military generals of the Dashun Dynasty, as well as Tang Tong, Wang Chengyun, Du Xun, Du Zhizhi and other generals who surrendered to Dashun before, as well as Zhu Cunji, the king of Qin of the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Xianxuan, the king of the Ming Jin Dynasty, who surrendered after being captured.

Li Zicheng sat in front of the felt tent by himself, let his civil and military ministers and his ministers be on the left and right, and let the two kings of Qin and Jin sit on the ground in front of him on the left and right, which was really unpleasant!

Just when Li Zicheng was proud, Du Xun and Du Zhizhi, the two eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty who had surrendered to him in Xuanhua and Juyong Pass, came over at a trot. The two eunuchs each held a monocular, which was used to observe the situation on the upper floor of Fuchengmen City.

After one look, the two eunuchs thought that something was wrong with their eyes!

Because what they saw was the crown prince's dragon flag and the three armies division flags placed together! What does that mean? The crown prince left the palace to raise the army? Impossible, right? The Ming Dynasty had a prince who oversaw the army, but there was never a prince who raised the army. And now the prince is only sixteen years old, a child, how can he raise the army? Even if Emperor Chongzhen was whimsical and asked his son to lead troops to defend the city, the Manchu Dynasty civil and military would not agree! Someone proposed to let the prince go to Nanjing to supervise the country before, but now if the prince wants to raise the army, then there must be no quarrel?

But the problem is that the two eunuchs looked at it again and again, and it was clear that the prince's six dragon flags and the three army flags were together!

Isn't this the crown prince Fujun? And the prince not only went out of the palace to raise the army, but also went to the city tower of Fuchengmen!

This prince is too bold, isn't he?

"Your Majesty, the minister looked at it with a clairvoyant mirror and found ...... It was found that there were six dragon flags of Prince Ming and the flags of the three armies on the tower of Fuchengmen City. ”

Du Xun first reported to Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng looked at this mighty-looking Da Jue, but he and Wang Chengyun, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, went out of the city for thirty miles to meet the surrender, and his thick eyebrows frowned slightly: "Could it be that the prince of the Ming Dynasty went up to the city tower?" ”

Du Zhizhi, who surrendered with Tang Tong at Juyong Pass, interjected: "Your Majesty, Zhu Ming's crown prince is only sixteen years old this year, and he will not dare to go up to the city tower to face my Dashun Xiongbing. Hanging the banner of the prince on the city tower is a bluff. ”

Li Zicheng squinted his right eye and snorted: "You can kill people at the age of sixteen, and your godmother Li Shuangxi will kill people at the age of fifteen!" ”

Du Zhizhi said: "His Royal Highness is a young and heroic warrior, how can the prince of the Zhu family compare?" ”

Du Xun also said: "Yes, the prince of the Zhu family is raised in the deep palace, so he knows that eating, drinking and having fun is useless at all." ”

Gu Junen came out of class at this time and said: "Since the prince of the Zhu family is a useless person, His Majesty just uses a heart-attacking strategy against him...... On the one hand, he told the soldiers and civilians defending the city to open the city gate and surrender quickly, and on the other hand, he sent envoys into the city for peace talks. ”

After a night of thinking, Gu Junen's "heart attack" was a lot more thoughtful. It is necessary not only to use tactics against the Ming Dynasty officials in the Jingshi City, but also to the generals who defend the city.

Therefore, in the process of the envoy entering the city to negotiate with Chongzhen, he had to send people to the city to shout and persuade him to surrender.

"On what terms will peace be negotiated?" Li Zicheng asked.

Gu Junen glanced at the two eunuchs kneeling in front of Li Zicheng, and smiled: "All conditions are deceitful, the important thing is to let the envoys in, and then come out unharmed, and it will be delayed for a few hours." So that our soldiers have plenty of time to shout to the city! ”

Li Zicheng nodded. Now that the soldiers are already in the city, are you still talking about fart? It's just a heart-to-heart strategy.

However, if we want to use peace talks to attack our hearts, we cannot put forward conditions that the other side must refuse. Otherwise, as soon as the negotiating envoy goes up, he will be slaughtered, how can he use the strategy?

"Then ......" Li Zicheng thought for a while and said with a smile, "Then tell the son of the Zhu family, he doesn't have the intention of seizing the world of the Zhu family, he just wants to split the land and divide the king, if he can defend Qin and Jin, he will not enter Beijing, and he can lead a large army to conquer Liaodong." If the son of the Zhu family likes it, then send a few officials out of the city to discuss it in detail. After the agreement, the oath to the heavens, the son of the Zhu family issued another edict, proclaiming the four seas, and the world heard about it. ”

After speaking, he glanced at the two eunuchs kneeling below with one eye, "Which of you two is going to go?" ”

"Chen Duxun is willing to make this contribution!" Du Xun hurriedly spoke.

"The rank of the minister is also willing to enter the city for His Majesty!" Du Zhizhi's reaction was a little slower, but his desire to make meritorious contributions to Dashun was no less than that of Du Xun.

Li Zicheng laughed, "You have to go both, but you only need one, Jun En, who do you want to go?" ”

Gu Junen said: "Rong Chen asked them a question. ”

"Okay." Li Zicheng nodded, "Ask." ”

Gu Junen asked, "How can the two of you ensure that you can get to the top of the city?" Don't let the defenders of the city shoot an arrow to death. ”

This question stopped Du Zhizhi, but Du Xun's brain was relatively easy to use, and he immediately had a countermeasure.

He pointed to the two kings of Qin and Jin who were sitting on the ground, "You can take these two hostages!" The son of the Zhu family likes to sell his reputation and reputation, so he is the king of the domain, and it is an unforgivable crime to trap the domain. As long as there are two kings as hostages, the defenders of the city will not dare to kill the ministers. ”

"Good plan!" Li Zicheng nodded with satisfaction and said to Du Xun, "You eggless eunuch is still quite clever...... When you enter the city of Beijing, you will be the ...... Master of Ceremonies! However, the ugly forehead is said to be in the front, and the eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics here, do you know? ”

Du Xun was overjoyed when he heard this, and kowtowed again and again: "The slave and maid obey the order, and the slave and maid will serve Your Majesty honestly in the future!" ”

"Go, go." Li Zicheng waved his hand, and then asked his son Li Shuangxi to bring two hundred personal soldiers, escorting the frightened Qin and Jin two vassal kings and Du Xun, who was alive, to Fuchengmen.

……

"You and other gunners have listened to this palace, this person standing next to this palace is the head of the artillery art invited by the imperial court from the Western Roman State, you all listen to his command, there must be no mistake! Whoever dares to make the trick slippery, let the palace know, and immediately cut it down! ”

Zhu Cihong was already on the front line at this time, standing under the arrow tower of Fuchengmen, that is, on the city tower outside Weng City, talking to a group of Beijing gunners. There was also a blonde and blue-eyed old foreigner standing beside him, wearing the official uniform of the Ming Dynasty and wearing a black gauze hat, which was none other than Tang Ruowang, the supervisor of Qintian.

John Tong was no ordinary missionary, but a very learned scholar and missionary. He is proficient in mathematical astronomy, and is also keen to introduce Western science and technology to China. He has successively written or translated "The Theory of the Telescope" (introducing the Galileo telescope), "Kunyu Gezhi" (translated from the "Complete Book of Mining and Metallurgy" by the German mining and metallurgist Agricola), and also participated in the compilation of the "Chongzhen Almanac".

In addition, he also knew a lot of knowledge about casting cannons and operating cannons and guns, and helped firearms expert Jiao Mian compile a book dedicated to artillery, muskets, and gunpowder, "Ze Kelu", also known as "Fire Attack and Essentials" - this book was later buried because of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, and 200 years later, because of the Opium War, it was re-emphasized, and a "Supplement Ze Kelu" was also published, and after the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, it attracted the great attention of Emperor Xianfeng, and this book published in the last years of the Ming Dynasty was printed and sent to the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers to study......

This number one international friend and foreign expert in Beijing, who can still shine in 200 years, has now been pulled by Zhu Cihong to help command the red-coated cannon under the arrow tower of Fuchengmen.