After receiving Xu Ping's order to go to Nanjing to meet him, Li Chengdong was a little hesitant, and recently rumors have spread in the army, saying that the north has been rotten, Li Chengdong does not think that the situation in Shunting is so bad, but the terrible thing is that suspicion has appeared in the Shun army. A large number of northern pre-Ming troops defected to make many generals of the Shun army shocked and angry, and some people have already said that all generals who surrender are unreliable, and they should be removed from military supervision.

Of course, this kind of remark did not come from the mouth of King Wu, but Li Chengdong didn't know if King Wu would be affected by this emotion, and he was not the only one who was summoned by Xu Ping, such as Liu Liangzuo, who planned to take a look at it first under the pretext of military tension. There are also people on Li Chengdong's left and right who pretend to be sick first, and now there is a fire in the backyard of Shunting, that is, Xu Ping will not use force to solve it no matter how worried he is, and listening to the tune or not listening to the announcement is the only way to settle down in troubled times.

However, Li Chengdong thinks that he has made great achievements since his surrender, and if he follows the old path under the rule of the Ming court at this time, making Shun Court and King Wu suspicious will make his previous hard work in vain. Just when Li Chengdong was hesitating, someone reported that Wu Sangui immediately handed over military affairs to the adjutant general after receiving the order, and rushed to Nanjing in the starry night.

"Wealth and wealth are in danger, and now when I am employing people, I have made so many military exploits, and the general should explain some military affairs." Although it was not clear what the secret military affairs were to go to Nanjing to receive the order in person, Li Chengdong finally decided to meet Xu Ping.

When he was about to arrive in Nanjing, Li Chengdong caught up with Wu Sangui, who also only brought personal guards, and the two went to the general side by side to receive orders.

"The two generals came just in time," Xu Ping looked very happy after seeing the two of them, and he was most concerned about the morale of the army at present: "How is the morale of the army?" Without waiting for the two of them to speak, Xu Ping added: "To tell you the truth, I know that rumors have spread in the army recently, saying that I am going to be unfavorable to you, and even if I plan to withdraw from the army, some people do not agree to let you guard the rear. ”

"Is the general going to retire?" Li Chengdong was not surprised, now tens of thousands of Funing troops are gathered on the border of Fujian and Zhejiang, and now the retreating troops are easily pursued by the other side, in Li Chengdong's heart, it is best to let the north try to resist it, at least concentrate on solving the problem of Fujian first, and then consider the withdrawal of troops after defeating the main force of the Ming army.

Wu Sangui also has a similar idea, and he also hopes to make meritorious contributions by pacifying Fujian and Kwantung, so as to win the qualification of splitting the soil and sealing the king: "General, I can't hide that the morale of the army is indeed unstable now, and the soldiers are coaxing Beijing to be lost. ”

"There is indeed a possibility that Beijing will not be protected, and if we don't return to the master, I am afraid that the Lord will retreat to the south of the Yellow River." Xu Ping said bluntly.

"If the lord is willing to give in for the time being, then it is better to give up Beijing to the interpolator first," Wu Sangui only cared about his merits, and said busily: "When Fujian and Guangdong are leveled, it will not be too late for us to worry about the Northern Expedition." General, if the Lord really thinks about it, our forces in the north are now too scattered, like a palm spread on the table, so that it is not painful to hit someone, if you retreat and gather, you can clench it into a fist, and then hit it hard. ”

"If it was in the past, General Wu was right, but now it is different from the past, our army relies on a large number of firearms and gunpowder, and it is no longer a few decades ago as long as there are knives and guns, Beijing's current gunpowder production accounts for half of our military needs, and Zhejiang's production does not know when it will be restored, and we must not lose Hebei."

"As long as Fujian ...... is taken" Wu Sangui still needs to be said, relying on the previous capture, the front-line troops will not worry about running out of supplies for a while, he feels that as long as the Funing army is defeated and Fujian is captured, it will not suffer a loss even if Beijing is lost.

"What if I can't beat Fujian? Besides, if we are to defeat Fujian and Guangdong, will we continue to fight southward then? If we don't fight Qi Guogong, we will still counterattack Fujian. Plugging in the door to pick this juncture, just to think that our main force is confronting Qi Guogong in the south, with the idea of competing with the snipe and the clam for the benefit of the fisherman, wouldn't it be cheaper for us to fight for both defeats? Xu Ping felt that since the opposite side was already in charge of Huangshi, no matter how fierce the army was, it had little to do with the people, but it was completely different when the northern captives entered the customs, and the people were bound to suffer heavy casualties wherever they passed, and he did not forget the agreement with Li Zicheng: "The Lord is raising the righteous soldiers, and the people are being relieved of the upside down, how can it be said that if you give up Hebei, you will give up Hebei?" ”

Seeing that Xu Ping had made up his mind, Li Chengdong had no choice but to ask stupidly: "What does the general want the general to do?" He estimated that Xu Ping was nothing more than to win over the hearts of the people and appease the surrendered army so that he could return to the division smoothly.

Zhou Dongtian's opposition made Xu Ping rethink his decision, indeed as he said, there is a danger in the rear of the descendant army, and after he left with two battalions of soldiers and horses, Nanjing was empty, and the general knew that the north was in danger, maybe he would have some thoughts. But it is even more dangerous to let the three battalions of the avant-garde and other battalions drag back to defend the town, and the army will feel that the Shun army is letting them die after being cut off, and when the Funing army rushes out, even if they don't turn away immediately, as long as they break up and flee, it will make the entire Jiangnan chaos, and this territory Shunting has just established its rule, and it can't withstand the toss at all.

"I have already promoted General Li as the king of Sichuan and General Wu as the king of Liao, and the lord has agreed." Xu Ping took out a forged letter from Li Zicheng to the two of them, and he made a similar request to Li Zicheng, but now that the situation is critical, Xu Ping has the right to fake Li Zicheng's letter: "It's just the fief of the two generals, one is still in the hands of the northern captives, and the other is precarious, so it's really a little hard to take it." ”

Xu Ping smiled at the two surprised and delighted generals: "The lord's letter made it very clear that the fiefdoms of the two generals must wait until they are recovered before they can be officially feudal vassal, otherwise it will not be empty words." ”

The forged letter did not specify the location of the feudal domain, but only vaguely stated that Wu Sangui would be sealed on the eastern Liaodong frontier and Li Chengdong on the Sichuan side, which would depend on the specific situation and merits after repelling the northern captives and recovering the lost territory.

"The Lord is wise, and the ministers are deserved." Li Chengdong and Wu Sangui hurriedly bowed to the north, neither of them expected that they could be ranked with Xu Ping, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and other heroes.

The two upstarts immediately became high-spirited, but the two of them also knew that since King Shun had invested such a large amount of money, he would definitely ask for a reward that would not be very light: "What is the Lord's will?" ”

"I will let the avant-garde, the rear guard, and the third battalion of the sharpshooter stay on the border to guard against the Funing army, the guards battalion will be transferred back to Nanjing to guard, and the armored battalion will be stationed in Zhejiang, in case there are thieves who are not dead and try to find an opportunity to cause trouble." Xu Ping planned to leave all the elites of the Southern Expeditionary Army in Jiangnan, and now there are more than 30,000 soldiers and horses in the five battalions, which is enough to ensure the loyalty of the other armies and stabilize the hearts of the people in the newly surrendered areas in Jiangnan: "I remember that there are 40,000 soldiers and horses of the two generals, follow me back to the north." ”

"The last will obey."

"The last will obey."

Li Chengdong had 15,000 soldiers and horses under his command, and was the most effective in the Jiangbei Army. Wu Sangui currently has more than 20,000 Guanning troops, and he has obtained an extremely considerable amount of military resources from Emperor Chongzhen, and the equipment is even better than that of the Jiangbei Army. Although the number of troops was reduced from 40,000 to 20,000, the combat effectiveness was improved, and it was much stronger than the troops of Yu Dong and his ilk.

"Don't make a big deal about this matter," Xu Ping instructed the two not to publicize the will of King Shun revealed to them, and the army should be transferred back to Nanjing as soon as possible and as quietly as possible, and prepare to return to the north: "I have prepared a stagecoach along the way, I will leave tomorrow to return to Beijing first, and the two generals will return to Shandong along the canal north as soon as possible after returning to Nanjing, and I have asked General Zhou to arrange the affairs here in Nanjing, and Zhong Defense in Shandong is also raising grain and grass for the two generals along the way." ”

"Is the general going to return north alone?"

"Yes, the Lord urgently summoned me to Beijing to discuss the defense of the Yellow River and the counterattack on Shanxi, and don't spread this matter yet, the two generals know it."

After sending the two away, Xu Ping immediately took a few guards as planned, and galloped north along the official road back to Beijing without showing any traces or banners all the way.

……

When passing through Fengyang, Xu Ping asked his subordinates to change horses, and he took the time to rush to the Song Palace.

Seeing Xu Ping suddenly, Zhu Ci R was startled, and seeing Xu Ping dressed normally, he knew that he didn't want to attract attention, so he hurriedly led him to the inner room.

"Are you okay with Your Highness? I wanted to come to visit His Highness again after pacifying Fujian and Guangdong, but I didn't expect it to come in such a hurry. After breaking through Nanjing, Li Zicheng asked Zhu Ci R to guard his ancestral tomb in Fengyang, and the palace people and eunuchs who were willing to go with him were all released. Xu Ping was worried that someone would bully the deceased prince, and he had always wanted to come and take a look for himself, but this time he came to see it in person.

"Cousin...... Zhu Ci R saw Xu Ping frowning and waving his hand, so he changed his title: "His Royal Highness King Wu, does King Shun know your background?" Or is this King Wu just a coincidence? ”

"The Lord is magnanimous." Xu Ping nodded and admitted: "It's just that outsiders don't need to know about this matter, and I hope His Royal Highness will keep it secret for me." ”

"Brother Wang, don't worry, the younger brother didn't even say anything about the concubine. It's just ......" Zhu Ci R paused and said, "Why did Brother Wang tell King Shun?" ”

"That's fine," Xu Ping guessed that the other party might be regretting that he had no objection, and he didn't bother to care about the salutation: "The lord treats me very kindly, not to mention that the role of the monarch and the minister has been decided, and I don't want to bully the king." ”

"Brother Wang's hurried return to the north this time is for the sake of Shanxi?" Zhu Ci R asked again, and seeing that Xu Ping didn't mean to answer, he asked him to wait. After leaving for a while, Zhu Ci R turned back and handed him a list: "Brother Wang, after learning that the northern captives have entered the Kou, the concubine Niangniang and the younger brother have prepared these things, and plan to donate them to King Shun as a military agent." ”

Xu Ping took the list and looked at it, it was all soft jade, when King Shun allowed Zhu Ci R to leave Beijing, because he had a good impression of Emperor Chongzhen, he was allowed to pack some things from the harem and take them away, many of the valuable collections on this list are the ancestral heirlooms of the Zhu family.

"Brother Wang, the ancestors won the world by expelling the Tartars, although they lost it once, but all the descendants of the Zhu family cannot sit back and watch the Mongolian soldiers enter the customs again."

Xu Ping nodded lightly: "What His Highness said is very true, and I also think about it, but this time I am in a hurry to return to Beijing and can't carry it, so Your Highness should hand it over to Nanjing." Your Highness, rest assured, I will not only expel the Tartars from the customs, but also plough the court and sweep the caves, leaving no trouble. ”

After speaking, Xu Ping was about to leave: "Since Your Highness is safe, then I will leave." ”

"Brother Wang, there is one more thing," Zhu Ci R said again: "The white feather on the head of the fire camp was given by Brother Wang's father and the emperor to reward them for fighting blood outside the gate to resist foreign insults, thirty years have passed, and the latecomers have forgotten the origin of this white feather." The younger brother thought that the royal brother should take back this white feather, so as not to let the royal brother be disgraced by his father. ”

Xu Ping thought for a while and said, "Your Highness, don't worry, no matter whether the firefighting battalion surrenders again when it is at the end of the road, I will not leave the name of this battalion in the world, and the white feathers on their heads, of course, do not want to keep it." ”

……

The prefectures and counties that entered Hebei were all like facing a great enemy at this time, and they were frightened three times a day, and there were rumors of the Mongol army attacking everywhere, and the gentry and wealthy families fled to Shandong with their families and mouths. When Xu Ping arrived at the crossing of the Yellow River, he noticed that the north bank was already overcrowded, and countless people held gold and silver in their hands and waved them at the boat, but they still wanted a ferry boat but could not get it.

The ferry boat Xu Ping took was the official ship of Shunting, and the flag on it clearly stated that this boat would never carry passengers, but before Xu Ping and his party got off the boat, there were people rushing here in the distance, pushing and shoving the officers and soldiers who maintained order around and desperately squeezed to the side of the boat.

The person who grabbed the front tried his best to get in between the arms of the officers and soldiers, and raised his hand to Xu Ping and his entourage to shake the jewelry in his hand to attract attention: "Master, this is a villain's family heirloom, worth a thousand gold, let the villain's family cross the river." ”

This person, like everyone else, was stopped by the soldiers of the Shun army, and watching the official ship sail back to the south bank, this person suddenly lost all his strength, fell to the ground and hugged his head and cried: "I have been in this field for several days, why is there no boat?" I'm old and young, what should I do when the Tartar comes? How is it that this world is not too peaceful? ”

The wilderness on the north shore is full of people sleeping in the open, and young people set up simple tents in the cold winter for the elderly and children to live in temporarily. Passing by the crowd on the side of the road, Xu Ping could hear bursts of panicked noise from time to time:

"King Shun has left Jingshi!"

"The Tartars have broken through the Bauhinia Pass!"

"The Tartars are coming along the river, and Baoding has been lost!"

The soldiers and magistrates of the Shun army had given up their efforts to pacify the people, and Xu Ping also saw the panic on the faces of the officers and soldiers of the reception station, and they did not know whether the Shun court would hold on to Hebei or retreat to the south of the Yellow River and let the Mongol army ravage the area.

"Full speed to Beijing." Xu Ping ordered, so far the Shun court has not made a clear statement, passing through Shandong, the defense envoy Zhong Guinian began to prepare for the imperial court to Jinan.

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