nanming man

Chapter 248 Crisis
On the road from Beijing to Tianjin, more than a dozen ragged people walked on the road covered with weeds.

North Zhili, the fertile North China Plain, was originally a fertile land of the Ming Dynasty, with a large population and prosperous commerce. However, due to the Qing army's invasion several times, it was dilapidated and could not provide Beijing with any materials and supplies.

As the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing relied entirely on materials brought in from the south to support it.

In Beijing, you can still see a little vitality, but when you go out of the city, you will see thousands of miles of barren land, with desolate and dilapidated scenes everywhere. The entire land of Hebei is full of ten rooms and nine empty spaces, and there is no chicken crowing for thousands of miles.

Beijing was finally captured by the Chuangjun. Emperor Chongzhen left the posthumous edict "When I die, I will see my ancestors in the ground without a face. I will remove my crown to cover my face. Let the thieves split my corpse and don't hurt the people alone." Yu Jingshan hang himself.

Surrounded by the army, Li Zicheng entered Beijing, and the city was full of rebellion. The officials and gentry happily welcomed the new emperor into the city, wanting to throw themselves into the embrace of the new dynasty, but they didn't want a disaster to befall them soon.

At this time, Wang Yan, Gao Wencai, a thousand households of Jin Yiwei, and several other men had already escorted the crown prince, several princes and princesses, and fled outside the city.

It was getting dark, and there were dilapidated villages on both sides of the road. Everyone was a little tired after a long journey, especially the princes and princesses, who had never suffered such hardships, and their faces were already pale.

"Gao Qianhu!" Wang Yan called out anxiously, "It's okay for us to walk for two consecutive days, but the prince and the others can't stand it. Find a place to spend the night and let the prince rest."

Looking back, Gao Wencai also noticed that the faces of several princes and princesses had turned pale.

He straightened up and looked around, and saw a dilapidated village in the distance, so he said: "Okay, let's go there to rest first, but it can't be too long, we must meet with Governor Gao as soon as possible."

Gao Wencai licked his chapped lips, turned around and saluted the prince, "Your Highness, let's go over there to rest!"

Gao Wencai belonged to a thousand households of Jinyiwei. Historically, after the city was broken, all seventeen members of his family were martyred.

The prince nodded with a pale face, "Everything is arranged by the Qing family."

At that moment, everyone got off the official road and went to the village. On the way, Gao Wencai stopped and said to Wang Yan: "Governor Wang, you lead the prince and the others to rest. I just went to check the news."

Wang Yan nodded. He had absolute trust in Gao Wencai. He was definitely a loyal person who could leave his wife and children behind to escort the crown prince to Nanjing.

"Gao Qianhu be careful!" Wang Yan said solemnly, and then he, the prince and others, headed for the dilapidated village.

The Qing army entered the Kou Pass six times, and the number of people abducted each time was hundreds of thousands. Counting the people who were killed, Beizhili can be said to be empty.

Now except for the large number of people living in the capital, the population in other places is pitifully sparse.

The village that everyone came to had been deserted for some time, and there were waist-high weeds everywhere.

Together with several people, Wang Yan cleared out an open space. Skulls and white bones were scattered among the weeds. A mouse ran out of the skulls, scaring the princes and princesses.A Jinyi guard caught the mouse in great joy.

This Jinyiwei is none other than Fang Jiayu from the Jinyiwei Elementary School who had some contact with Gao Yicheng in Shandong back then, but he is now a member of a hundred households in Nanzhenfu.

After the place was cleared, Wang Yan asked the prince and others to eat some dry food and rest.

Wang Yanze, two eunuchs, and two Jinyi guards stood guard on the ruined walls around them to prevent wild animals and thieves from approaching.

It was already dark at this time, Wang Yan leaned against the broken wall and heard a few sobs, it was Princess Kunxing and several princes weeping softly, the prince was very calm, and kept his brothers and sisters around him safe.

Suddenly there was a rustling sound around Wang Yan, he raised his head vigilantly, but saw Fang Jiayu appearing in front of him suddenly stepping on the weeds, made a silent gesture, and then pointed out of the village.

Wang Yan Shunzhi looked at him, and saw more than a hundred cavalrymen with torches passing quickly on the official road not far away.

The other people in the deserted village were also startled, and each of them looked extremely nervous as they watched the cavalry pass by.

"Are you here to chase us?" Wang Yan couldn't help asking nervously when the pair left.

Fang Jiayu shook her head, "I can't say for sure, but the intruders will find out the problem sooner or later. I can see from their posture that they are probably chasing us, and want to go ahead and set up a trap to intercept us!"

When Wang Yan heard this, his heart sank, "I don't know, where did the Gaofutai troops go?"

As soon as we were talking, there was another group of cavalry in the distance, passing through the official road.

Wang Yan felt a little scared, "What should we do now, should we move?"

Fang Jiayu shook his head and said: "It's dark now, it's best not to move, so as not to bump into bandits, we'll wait for Gao Qianhu to bring back the news, and then make a decision."

Wang Yan nodded, that's all he can do now.If Chuang Jun really found a problem, he would definitely send people around to chase him, and he would act rashly, which would lead to danger instead.

After a sleepless night, Wang Yan was in fear until dawn, when Gao Wencai came back with a wound on his body, and the three Jinyi guards who went with him had disappeared.

Seeing Gao Wencai's appearance, Wang Yan's heart sank, and he knew that the others were probably in misfortune.

"Gao Qianhu, what's the situation?" Wang Yan rushed to greet him, Fang Jiayu supported Gao Wencai to sit down, quickly tore off the wound's clothes, checked the wound, and then bandaged him.

Gao Wencai's expression was serious, "The investigation is clear. The soldiers of Governor Gao were blocked by the bandits Liu Fangliang in the south of Jinghai County. It is very difficult for us to pass now."

The trespassers were divided into three roads to march eastward, among which the North Road and the Middle Road converged in Xuanda, and then marched through Juyongguan to Beijing.This is the army that attacked Beijing, and there is another route, the South Army led by Liu Fangliang, marched along the north bank of the Yellow River, fought all the way to Daming Mansion, and then went north to capture Baoding, intending to cut off Beijing's connection with Shandong and Nanzhi.

Gao Mingheng's men met Liu Fangliang's army.

Wang Yan's heart tightened when he heard this, and he hurriedly asked again: "Last night, several teams of cavalry passed through the official road overnight. Did the intruders find the prince going south?"

Gao Wencai said with a gloomy face: "The intruder claimed that His Majesty, the prince, and the princes all died in Beijing, but the pair of cavalry set up checkpoints near Jinghai County. I suspect that the intruder knew that the prince had gone south."

"It's broken!" After Wang Yan heard this, his heart shivered. The crown prince lived in the palace. Except for the close maids, eunuchs, and teachers who could know him, the other ministers didn't know the crown prince at all.Li Zicheng insisted that the prince was dead, so he could quickly stabilize the north, but at the same time shake the hearts of the people in the southeast and hit the morale of the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Yan suddenly became serious, "Gao Qianhu, we must send the crown prince to Nanjing as soon as possible. The crown prince has a token in the palace. As long as he arrives in Nanjing, he can identify his identity and then ascend the throne quickly to stabilize people's hearts. Something went wrong."

Gao Wencai frowned tightly. Now Chuangjun said on the surface that the prince was dead, but in fact he stepped up his investigation. It is difficult for a group of them to escape Chuangjun's search.

"Governor Wang, the few of us, each with a prince, act separately. In this way, even if we are captured by intruders, the whole army will not be wiped out." Gao Wencai deployed: "After we separate, if you have the opportunity, go south If there is no chance, wait for the opportunity, as long as someone along the way arrives in Nanjing first, Daming still has hope."

Wang Yan was silent for a while, gritted his teeth, and nodded heavily, "Okay, let's split up. Those who arrive in Nanjing first must explain the real situation in Beijing to the minister."

·······
(End of this chapter)