Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 331 Convergence
Shi Kefa couldn't help but worry.

When Zhao Kang, Yang Chao's personal commander, brought Yang Chao's Flying Pigeon letter to the military department to look for him, he was naturally shocked when he saw it for the first time, but he couldn't help being surprised when he came back to his senses. Chao's series of actions seem to be all directed towards the north.

It seemed that Li Zicheng had already guessed that Li Zicheng would attack Beijing. A general with a heavy army in his hand tried every means to enter the capital. As a civil servant, if he didn't have a little sense of crisis, he would be remiss.

So Shi Kefa didn't believe this biography at the first time, which is too coincidental, it's normal for Yang Chao to escort Wang Chengen back to Beijing, so it's normal for him to be a military officer fawning over eunuchs, but why did he bring pigeons?Why did Lai stay in Huai'an, why did he insist on sending his men to Beijing? A series of doubts caused Shi Kefa to worry about Yang Chao.

If Yang Chao had ulterior motives, Shi Kefa didn't want to believe it, but he could tell that he was going to Beijing with all his heart.

On behalf of Yang Chao, Zhao Kang asked Shi Kefa to issue a document immediately, dispatching Yang Chao's army to the north to serve the king, and by the way, to bring the [-] civilians to the north.

With 2 civilians and [-] elite soldiers, Yang Chao has more than [-] people under his command. Although the civilians were never considered soldiers, the information Shi Kefa received indicated that when they were in Zhejiang, each of these civilians held Weapons, obviously they can also fight.

Bringing 5000 people into Beijing, even though Shi Kefa didn't want to believe that Yang Chao had bad intentions, he had to guard against it.

So at the first time, he was superior and did not publish the article.

Because everything is just Yang Chao's one-sided opinion. Shi Kefa has neither received the imperial edict from Beijing nor received any news from other directions. The latest news shows that Li Zicheng is still fighting fiercely with Zhou Yuji in Shanxi. Who dares to say that Li Zicheng is still in Shanxi? Rush out of Shanxi and hit the city of Beijing.

He couldn't give orders just because he believed Yang Chao's one-sided words.

So Wang Pu didn't receive the order to send troops for a long time, knowing that the news came one after another, especially the secret order issued in the name of Chongzhen, which made Shi Kefa have to worry.

Perhaps the emperor was really in distress.

Even if it is a rumor, people have to believe it three times, let alone something that is true and completely logical.

At this time, Shi Kefa became anxious. If the emperor was really in danger, but he sat in the south of the Yangtze River and did nothing, then he would be a sinner through the ages. As a loyal minister, Shi Kefa could not accept this.

Only at this time did he relax and issued the dispatch document, but he refused to dispatch civilians to go north. Wang Pu could only take [-] elite soldiers to the north. There were no civilians to transport supplies, which obviously slowed down his marching speed. He was not like Yang Chao. , can get the full support of the Wang family, he can't persuade the Wang family by himself, and with Wang Pu's character, he didn't ask anyone.

He continued to be harsh on his soldiers along the way, ordering them to march quickly, but various problems along the way made it difficult for him to deal with. Various supplies and supplies could not be obtained from the local cities at all, and he did not dare to plunder. He had to stop when he was in Yangzhou. One day, waiting for supplies from Yangzhou.

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, the guest army had to receive supplies on the second day, so no consideration was given to the rapid march.

As a result, when Yang Chao had returned from the south of Tongzhou, Wang Pu had not yet arrived in Huai'an, but the soldiers under him were exhausted.

Seeing all the complaints, Wang Puqian was angry and had nothing to do, especially Li Wuliu's strange words made him even more depressed, but there was nothing he could do.

Wang Pu was a brave general in battle, but he never thought that marching would be more difficult than fighting.

After leaving Huai'an, Wang Pu was extremely annoyed by the successive routs on the road, and there was still no way to deal with them. These routs were not effective in combat, but they ran very fast. Let alone cavalry, they were infantry. Wang Pu found that he was wearing heavy None of A's soldiers could catch up.

It was a torment along the way, and the speed of the march was nothing compared to when Yang Chao was there. It was nothing but ridicule. Wang Pu made up his mind that he would never do this kind of mission next time. Who would love it? Whoever does it, Wang Pu is desperate to charge, and he can't do fine work.

Finally made it to Linqing with great difficulty, and after passing Linqing, he was almost on the ground of Gyeonggi, Wang Pu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It was already May at this time, and more than a month had passed since Wang Pu set off from Nanjing at the end of March.

What made Wang Pu even more relieved was that when he arrived in Linqing, he received news from Yang Chao. He quickly reported that Yang Chao had arrived in Dezhou and was resting in Dezhou.

Wang Pu didn't say anything else, so don't go ahead, he personally brought a thousand headquarters to Dezhou.

Finally saw Yang Chao's face, after talking for a while, Yang Chao suddenly became strange.

"Why are you so embarrassed along the way. Shouldn't the Huangfeng Mansion help you with the logistics?"

To be honest, Yang Chao is not much special compared to Wang Pu. The reason why Yang Chao leads the troops smoothly is that on the one hand, he has enough manpower;

Yang Chao remembered that Huangfeng Mansion originally followed him, and after he left Huai'an, he left Huangfeng Mansion to sit in town, with the purpose of receiving Wang Pu's backup, but after Wang Pu went all the way north, Huang Feng Mansion did not follow him, which made Yang Chao So strange.

"The guy surnamed Huang has gone bad for a while, and he spends his days drinking with a bunch of people in Huai'an for fun."

Wang Pu complained a lot about Huangfeng Mansion.

Yang Chao is very curious. Yang Chao has never been able to see through the Huangfeng mansion. He came from a humble background, but he is not greedy, diligent and conscientious in his work, never afraid of difficulties, and never complains. He is conscientious and conscientious. Very good, the soldiers all thought he was a decent scholar.

How come Huaian changed?Become pleasure-seeking?
Yang Chao couldn't help asking: "Did the Huangfeng Mansion tell you anything?"

Wang Pu thought for a while and said, "No. Before I left, he said he would follow up right away. But then he disappeared, probably because he was greedy for pleasure in Huai'an and refused to suffer."

Yang Chao was even more surprised.

Suddenly thought of something, and hurriedly asked: "Who does Huang Feng's mansion associate with in Huai'an?"

Wang Pu said: "Who else can there be, isn't it just those sour literati. By the way, there is also a eunuch."

"A eunuch?"

Yang Chao was even more puzzled.

"Where is the eunuch?"

Wang Pu thought for a while and shook his head. This guy couldn't provide enough evidence at all. Yang Chao thought that the eunuch might be the problem.

This eunuch is called Lu Jiude, and he is definitely a powerful person.

After Wei Zhongxian's downfall, all eunuchs who were not defeated had two brushes.

This Lu Jiude is one of the best. Not only has he not been implicated, but he has been promoted all the way. The reason is that he really has real skills, and he has done practical things all year round. As a eunuch, there is only one position to do practical things, and that is the eunuch military.

Lu Jiude has been supervising the army in the army all year round. He didn't provoke the civil servants and eunuchs to get along with the eunuchs like in other armies. Instead, he was able to unite the generals. , with Ma Shiying.

As a result, after the news of the fall of the capital, the death of the emperor, and the disappearance of the prince came from the north, Lu Jiude immediately rushed to Huai'an. Why did he go to Huai'an, because Huai'an has several vassal kings and is the closest to Nanjing.

Especially one of the feudal princes, named Zhu Yousong, feudal prince Fu Wang, is the grandson of Emperor Wanli, the cousin of Emperor Chongzhen, and has the closest blood relationship. If the emperor and the prince are gone, this Fu Wang is the most qualified to succeed him. select.

Coincidentally, when he was working in the palace in the past, Lu Jiude served Zhu Yousong's old man, Zhu Changxun. , insisting that the eldest son Zhu Changluo succeed to the throne, because of this, Emperor Wanli had a very tense dispute with civil servants, and his absence from court for 30 years also has something to do with this.

So the bad news from the north immediately made Lu Jiude think of the issue of King Fu's succession, which not only saved his friendship with the old King Fu, but also won him the most favorable position in the future.

So he immediately went to Huai'an, found Fu Wang, told the whole story, and started to help Fu Wang operate.

At this time Nanjing also knew the news from the north, Shi Kefa felt so guilty, he secretly cursed himself that he should not suspect Yang Chao, ruined the country's affairs, was disheartened for a while, and almost gave birth to the idea of ​​resigning, but at this time the emperor was gone, As a minister of the Ministry of War, he asked someone to resign, and all the Donglin Party members came to him, urging him to immediately support a new monarch and ascend the throne in Jiangnan.

But who will support it?

The answer given by the Donglin Party is Lu Wang Zhu Changxiao. According to the distance, the Fu Wang Zhu Yousong is well-deserved. The other rival and grandson of the Wanli Emperor is Gui Wang Zhu Youlang, but it is a pity that Gui Wang is far away in Guangxi.

Therefore, Fu Wang Zhu Yousong is the best candidate, but the Donglin Party dare not appoint him.

The reason is very simple. During the Wanli period, it was the desperate struggle of the Donglin Party that prevented King Fu from becoming the prince. Now that Feng Shui has changed, King Fu deserves the right to inherit, but they dare not make King Fu the emperor.

So I chose Zhu Changhao, the king of Lilu, and Zhu Changhao happened to be in Huai'an at this time. He fled to Huai'an with Zhu Yousong. To be precise, Zhu Yousong fled with him.

Li Zicheng fought back and forth in Henan, the cities of King Fu and other vassal kings were breached, the old Fu Wang was eaten by Li Zicheng's cooking, and Zhu Yousong fled to Zhu Changhao's place, but after that, Wei Hui, where Zhu Changxiao was, was also attacked by the peasant army. , They fled to the south of the Yangtze River again. Along the way, there were King Zhou and King Chong who were also fleeing vassal kings. Later, King Zhou died on the ship during the journey.

Zhu Yousong and Zhu Changhao fled to Huai'an and finally settled down.

But soon he became restless again. Beijing fell, Chongzhen was martyred, and the prince disappeared. It is not good for him, because if Zhu Changhao ascends the throne, it is obvious that he is not legal, so will the new king kill the grass and eradicate the roots?

At this time, Lu Jiude came to the door to help Zhu Yousong with advice, and Zhu Yousong immediately obeyed.

(End of this chapter)