Li Zicheng underestimated the enemy's carelessness, but Zhou Shixian did not dare to do so. After the convoy broke through, he immediately ordered the start of a rapid march. The convoy moved forward rapidly with the wheels "creeping" turning.

Along the way south, there were scenes of dilapidation and decay. The entire North Zhili and Gyeonggi region, under the successive blows of the Qing Dynasty, natural disasters, and epidemics, were basically empty. Even the villages that the convoy occasionally passed by were mostly empty.

Only in places where people live and are close to water sources can there be several families.

After all, the Yongding River has dried up. Historically, the drought in the entire north did not begin to improve until around the time of the Jiashen Incident.

But at this time, the Ming court was already seriously ill and on the verge of collapse. Li Zicheng established the Dashun Dynasty in Shaanxi, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty also tried its best to enter the pass and compete for the world.

It can only be said that the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were lucky. The natural disasters and plague that plagued the Ming Dynasty got better after it picked Li Zicheng's peaches. The "Little Glacier" soon ended, and the temperature in various places rose and rainfall increased.

The disease disappeared immediately.

In the seventeenth century, it was obvious that productivity levels were not sufficient to combat natural disasters.

Although it illustrates the demise of the imperial court and the crisis of people's survival caused by natural disasters, the financial crisis of the imperial court is only one of the two important reasons.

But without these, both the civil uprising and the financial situation of the Ming court will be greatly improved. The army's deduction of empty pay will still be serious, but the soldiers will not become "beggars", or in other words, not all will become "beggars".

"Beggars", the border troops will not be so weak.

If so, does the Manchu Qing still have a chance to take over the Central Plains?

Zhou Shixian looked at everything in front of him and couldn't help but think of these questions in his mind.

When he came to this world, he came to change history and change the destiny of the nation. China cannot sink for another three hundred years!

Back in front of us, on the way south, every hour, Zhou Shixian would order the team to stop and rest for two-quarters of an hour to replenish beans and water for the rushing horses. In such a high-intensity march, the endurance of horses is actually far inferior to that of humans.

The speed will also increase first and then slow down.

After a night and a day, the escort team finally arrived at the foot of Yongqing City before dark, and there were no accidents on the way.

Zhou Shixian also left Tangma scouts along the way to ensure that he knew the latest situation of the pursuing troops in the rear. However, what was somewhat beyond his expectation was that the Shun army did not send troops to pursue them.

Then, with the support of the people in the city and the personal intervention of the famous old man Li Banghua, the county magistrate of Yongqing City immediately opened the city gate and greeted the "imperial envoy" holding Shangfang's sword.

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Zhou Shixian would naturally not make a big fanfare at this time and directly use the banner of "Emperor Chongzhen".

Otherwise, even people who originally had no evil intentions, or who were more concerned about doing less than doing more, pretended to be obedient and directly let this heavily armed imperial convoy go, would be ready to take action.

In the current Northern Zhili, there is no force in Li Zicheng's world that can compete with the Dashun Army. Zhou Shixian needs to be wary of the attitude of these county magistrates and officials in various places towards the Shun Dynasty.

After the convoy entered the city, Zhou Shixian immediately arranged for troops to take over the Yongqing County Government Office, and sent Xue Laoer to lead troops on the city wall to guard, while Zhang Hong continued to command the sentries and reconnoiter the military situation.

Chao Chaodong followed Zhou Shixian and was responsible for commanding the escorting imperial guards, while Zhu Maozhen went to deal with the grain, grass and military supplies that Zhou Shixian had hidden in the city early in the morning.

Emperor Chongzhen, Empress Zhou, and the two princesses had all changed into common people's clothes at this time. Those who didn't know might have thought they were Li Banghua's descendants and wives.

This was the first time that Emperor Chongzhen left the capital in more than ten years. Everything he saw along the way was shocking and caused huge waves in his heart.

However, that's all. Now he can't protect himself, let alone what he can do. He just expresses his feelings there with a few accompanying veterans.

After confirming that the Shun army had no pursuers, Zhou Shixian finally let go of his worries, and immediately ordered the escort team to rest in the city for the night, planning to continue the operation early the next morning.

However, in the middle of the night, Zhou Shixian suddenly received a military report from the sentry sent by Zhang Hong to report that a troop of nearly a thousand soldiers and horses were approaching Yongqing County.

Not only that, before Zhou Shixian could gather his troops and prepare to evacuate overnight, five more groups of soldiers and horses were discovered about 20 miles around Yongqing County, with numbers ranging from one hundred to three hundred.

However, Zhang Hong made a new discovery. Those soldiers and horses did not seem to be regular soldiers, but it was not yet clear which side they belonged to, and they did not recognize the flag.

But it didn't seem to matter which side the troops were from. There were unidentified troops from all directions, and it was impossible for Zhou Shixian to risk leaving the city directly.

After all, he only had more than 300 troops. Once he was delayed in the wild, the consequences would be disastrous. Moreover, when the enemy's situation was unclear, Zhou Shixian could not lose his sense of proportion. Once he led his troops out of the city, he would have no room for maneuver.

It's a battle.

Of course, the most important thing is that Zhou Shixian was fully confident that these soldiers and horses had nothing to do with the Shun army.

After all, Shunjun did not send any pursuers at all. Even if there were pursuers, they would not be so fast, let alone come from all directions.

And in the Northern Zhili region, there is only one possibility for such a large-scale army coming from all directions, and whose identity is unknown - the Beijing camp that Li Jiantai took away.

On the 26th of the first lunar month, facing the unstoppable advance of the Shun army, Chongzhen rushed to seek medical treatment for his illness and sent Li Jiantai, the newly appointed Minister of War, to march westward, taking away more than 10,000 troops.

It was at this time that Tang Ruowang was asked to leave Chongzhen by Li Jiantai.

And these more than 10,000 soldiers and horses are the last elite soldiers and horses in the capital camp after the plague, and they are also the only soldiers and horses that can still fight. The remaining 30,000 to 40,000 old, weak, sick and disabled, it would be good to have 3 to 500 elite soldiers.

.

However, the final result was not satisfactory. Li Jiantai's leadership level was really indescribable. Such a good army was wasted by him, and even defeated into a riot.

Zhou Shixian naturally had other thoughts, especially since Zhang Hong and others were from the Beijing camp, and Xue Laoer had a wide network of contacts. If he could recruit some of the reliable officers and soldiers to escort him, the probability of successfully arriving in Nanjing would be greatly increased.

Some.

Otherwise, with these more than 300 soldiers and horses, once they encounter a strong enemy, I am afraid there will be no room for maneuver.

Of course, if these soldiers and horses have already developed alien intentions, or do not know what is good and what is good, Zhou Shixian will also find ways to make them dare not act rashly.
Chapter completed!