Cao Wenbao was originally the nephew of Cao Huachun, who was adopted by Eunuch Cao. He was born in the second year of Chongzhen. He was the same year as Zhu Cixiang. They were both sixteen years old. He had the rank of Jinyiwei Deputy Qianhu. However, he had never seen any battle formations. Now

Seeing thousands of cavalry approaching in formation, my little face turned pale with fright.

This is a cavalry with everyone wearing a helmet! And the formation is neat and uniform. From a distance, the murderous intent is coming at once!

Eunuch Cao was calm and composed, with no trace of panic on his fair face. After handing the binoculars to his son, he just smiled and said: "Help dad down, they are here for us, wait until they leave."

Once you get close, you will know who it is?"

Cao Wenbao supported Cao Huachun and carefully went down the stairs while asking in a low voice: "Dad, where should our Wang Qingtuo vote?"

It turned out that we had not yet decided where to vote! Although Zhu Cixiang described a bright future for feudalism in the south of the Yangtze River when sending Cao Huachun out of Beijing, Cao Huachun had such a big family on Wang Qingtuo's side that he had to consider carefully before following the Ming Dynasty.

Go towards a road until it gets dark.

Moreover, it is still unclear whether Chongzhen and his son can come out of Beijing!

Cao Huachun smiled: "Let's see and then talk... Our family is just struggling to survive in troubled times, and we don't know which way the wind is blowing?"

Cao Wenbao rolled his eyes and lowered his voice: "Dad, the hearts of the people in this town are with Dashun!"

Cao Huachun snorted: "The human heart? The human heart is sinister!"

As the two father and son talked, they had already descended from the observation deck and stood on the city wall to the north of Wang Qingtuo.

Wangqingtuo is a town that did not have a city wall. It was Cao Huachun who came forward to build the wall after he became prosperous. Because he spent his own money to defend his home, the city wall was very strong. A large number of blue bricks were used, and there was a moat outside the city.

Without the Hongyi cannon, it would not be easy at all to capture this city.

Cao Huachun's brother Cao Huachun was very old, his beard and hair were all white, but he still climbed the city wall.

Now is the time when the Wang Qingtuo Cao family's life is at stake! If you stand in the wrong team, your entire family will be destroyed!

Seeing his fifth brother Cao Huachun coming down from the high platform, Cao Huachun hurriedly asked: "Fifth brother, are they Dashun's troops?"

"Most likely..." Cao Huachun whispered, "Yishui's iron cavalry has a very well-organized formation. There are no such elites in Beijing!"

"Then let's..." Cao Huachun's old face already showed a panic look, "Should we meet King Chuang?"

Cao Huachun sighed.

The Cao family is the largest landowner in Wuqing County and is also engaged in business. Moreover, Cao Huachun and Cao Huayu are both high-ranking officials and have made a lot of money from their positions. Of course, such a wealthy family does not like the King Chuang who "eats his mother and wears his mother"

.

By the way, the Dashun Army's extortion of military pay did not start in Beijing! They have always done this, otherwise why would they be exempted from taxes for three years? The poor people have been exempted from taxes. If they don't plunder from the rich, Li Zicheng

What do millions of soldiers eat? What do they use?

So torturing military pay was not the reason for Li Zicheng's failure in Beijing at all...being defeated by the Manchus was the only reason!

"Don't worry, brother," Cao Huachun smiled and comforted his old man, "I have asked Wenbao to prepare one hundred thousand taels of silver and ten thousand stones of wheat... If the Dashun army comes, donate them immediately, and they can always protect us.

Home is safe."

"That's good, that's good..." Cao Huachun breathed a sigh of relief, "Now we can only lose money to save our lives. As long as our fields are not equal, everything will be easy."

Compared with "forced donation", equalizing the land is even more frightening!

But no matter how terrible it is to be forced to share land, it is still better than being wiped out by Da Shuntian soldiers, right?

While the Cao family was waiting in fear, the armored cavalry in the distance finally approached Wang Qingtuo.

Just under the dim dusk, a pair of royal flags and a large banner suddenly appeared in the telescope held by Cao Wenbao.

"General Commander Ping Xibo of Liaodong..." Cao Wenbao read out the words on the general's flag in a low voice. Cao Huachun standing next to him was shocked.

"Son, what did you say?"

"Dad, the name on the general's flag is 'Liaodong Commander-in-Chief Ping Xibo'."

"General Commander Ping Xibo of Liaodong...Wu Sangui!?" Cao Huachun was startled, "Why is he here Wang Qingtuo?"

The old man Cao Huachun on the side was also a little surprised, "Lao Wu, isn't the commander-in-chief of Liaodong stationed in Ningyuan? Why are they here in Tianjin?"

Cao Huachun said: "Brother, on March 6, the Holy One ordered Wu Sangui to abandon Ningyuan and go to Beijing to serve the king."

"But we are 150 miles away from Beijing. Why did he come to us?" Old Man Cao still couldn't figure it out.

However, his nephew Cao Wenbao was clever and interjected: "Wu Sangui must have felt that Li Zicheng was too powerful and did not dare to go directly to relieve the siege of Beijing, so he led his troops to move to Tianjin."

Cao Huachun frowned, "That's how it should be... Oh, so is Wu Sangui. He can't go anywhere, so why did he come to Wang Qingtuo?"

Cao Huachun asked: "Lao Wu, do we want to welcome him?"

Cao Huachun frowned and sighed: "Can we not pick up Wu Sangui when he comes? Wu Sangui's Guan Ning army is more than a thousand people, and they have tens of thousands of soldiers! We can't afford to offend him!"

The cavalry arriving now should be Wu Sangui's personal soldiers "Yiding Tuqi"... They are a thousand people selected from the three thousand Wu family servants. All of them have iron helmets and armor, and are highly skilled in martial arts. They are especially good at five

A team of ten men mounted an assault.

Among the 40,000 Guan Ning troops, the only ones who could really go head-to-head with the elite Manchu troops were the 1,000 Yiding cavalry.

Regardless of the fact that Wang Qingtuo has nearly 3,000 brave men here, if he were to go out and fight the Yi and Ding cavalry, he wouldn't need a thousand men to join them. He would be able to overwhelm them with a single assault of fifty cavalry.

Even if we hold on to the castle, when the rear of Guan Ning's army arrives, won't it be a piece of cake to break Wang Qingtuo?

When that time comes, one branch will be wiped out! So even if Cao Huachun dares to be sorry to Chongzhen and Zhu Cihong, he would not dare not to welcome Wu Sangui, a great warlord!

"Wenlu!" Cao Huachun called the 26-year-old Cao Wenlu, the eldest son of his second brother Cao Huayu, to him.

"Fifth Uncle, what are your orders?"

Cao Wenlu was a Confucian scholar with a reputation as a scholar. He had been admitted to the Imperial Academy and was now a prominent figure in the Cao family.

"Bring some delicious food and drink to greet him," Cao Huachun paused, "If it is really Wu Sangui, call someone to report it immediately. I will go out of the city to greet you."

"My nephew takes the order."

…

"Master Chitose, it seems someone has come out to greet us!"

Wu Sanfu, who was standing on the stirrups and looking ahead, turned and asked Zhu Cixiang beside him: "Do you want me to continue pretending to be my second brother?"

"Pretend! Keep pretending!" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "until you enter Wang Qingtuo!"

"Master Qiansui, don't you believe Cao Huachun?" Wu Sanmei, who was following Zhu Cixiang on horseback, interrupted and asked.

"Haha," Zhu Cixiang still laughed, "I am willing to believe in Cao Huachun...that's why I have to use the banner of your second brother."

"Oh..." Wu Sanmei didn't understand at all, but she was absolutely impressed by what Prince Zhu said.

"Sanfu," Zhu Cixiang said to Wu Sanfu again, "it's not convenient for me to show my face, so it's up to you to deal with it later. Remember, you will make mistakes if you talk too much...Cao Huachun will not go so far out of the city, it must be him

My nephew. So don’t talk too much, just insist on going to the city to rest. As soon as we arrive at the gate of the city, Cao Huachun will definitely come to greet us. When I show up again to control him, he will naturally become a loyal minister of my Ming Dynasty!"

"I understand!" Wu Sanfu received the military order and immediately rode forward. Following Zhu Cixiang's instructions, he went to the front of the team to fool the grassroots of the Cao family.

Zhu Cixiang, the prince of the Fu army who had become a bereaved dog, was extremely cautious. If it weren't for the thousands of people who ran out of Beijing and walked for nearly 150 miles for a day and a night, he would have been extremely sleepy, and there would be a pimple on his buttocks.
Chapter completed!