Even though an ant was still alive, let alone a human being, Zhou Shixian didn't think that Lu Jiude was really willing to die without regrets.

His behavior itself was more of a relief from his own regicide and a kind of protection for the blessed king Zhu Yousong.

The key to Zhou Shixian's promised conditions and persuasion was precisely these two points, in which he used the righteousness of his family and country as a cover to pull Lu Jiude out of his moral dilemma.

Of course, this cannot withstand careful scrutiny, but Zhou Shixian is not arguing with others. He just wants to give Lu Jiude an excuse to escape the death penalty of regicide and protect King Fu. It is also an excuse to live and rely on himself. excuse.

If there were more shrewd and capable people in Nanjing, and Lu Jiude's soldiers were weaker and his man more vicious, and Lu Zhenfei was killed, he wouldn't be like this. He would still have a useful talent. It would be a real pity if we don't keep the basic moral bottom line to attack the Manchus and kill the Tatars.

Since Lu Jiude has become "Lu Jiude", Zhou Shixian also asked him to select thirty or forty absolutely reliable people from the direct descendants who surrendered, and then mixed them with the trackers' team. Apart from him and Zhou Shixian, no one knew what he wanted to do specifically. People learned about it.

As for sending someone to supervise, Zhou Shixian would naturally not do such a stupid thing. Lu Jiude just ran away. Where could he go? It would be better to kill him than to surrender to the thieves!

Taking these dozens of people to save King Fu? Then Zhu Yousong really thanked him.

After giving orders to "Lu Jiuguo", Xue Laoer, Wang Chaodong, Zhang Hong, Wu Xingye, Sun Hu, Li Daxi and others also completed their respective tasks and returned to the city to report the situation of the battle to Zhou Shixian.

After receiving the battle report that Wang Chaodong finally verified, Zhou Shixian looked at it carefully and found that the situation was generally satisfactory to him.

In this battle, Xue Lao'er's troops easily defeated the more than 500 troops sent by Lu Jiude to block the attack, and finally arrived in time, which ended the battle early and prevented Wu Xingye's troops and Sun Hu's troops from returning. There were heavy casualties among Li Daxi's troops.

The losses suffered by Lu Jiude's troops were not heavy. In addition to the 500 soldiers and horses sent to block the attack, more than 200 were killed and injured. Most of the more than 1,500 soldiers and horses invested outside Qinghe City had surrendered, and a few died in battle. They were injured, and dozens of them fled to who knows where.

Ma Huabao's and Wang Hui's soldiers and horses suffered several rounds of musket fire from Sun Hu's men, and then were charged by Li Daxi's army. They suffered more than 700 casualties, most of which were killed by musket fire.

The damage on Zhou Shixian's side was not great, with less than 200 people, and more than 3,000 surrendered troops were captured.

The reason for this was that the enemy's unexpected volley of musket fire played a major role.

However, Zhou Shixian had been observing from behind the battle since the beginning of the war, and he also discovered a problem with his elite group - insufficient training.

Weapons, equipment and supplies, after Zhou Shixian's "requisition" all the way and plundering in the capital, if not counting artillery, can be regarded as the most sophisticated in this land during this period.

However, the chaos and inconsistent steps revealed by the soldiers when they were setting up and attacking still made Zhou Shixian wary.

His requirements for the military are definitely higher than the common standards of this era, and certainly will not go beyond the times.

But those things that can be improved through discipline and high-intensity training are what he will focus on implementing in the future.

What he wants is not to hold on to half of the country, but to revive the Northern Expedition. This requires building a strong army that is far more powerful than the Eight Banners soldiers of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. Especially in the absence of war horses, the role of firearms is even more obvious.

.

However, at this time, Zhou Shixian couldn't show off his ambitions to these subordinates. After he said a few good words and drew a few big cakes, someone came outside the door to announce that Lord Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Huaiyang, was here.

.

After Zhou Shixian heard this, he quickly met with the other party. This was also a capable minister with some abilities. Of course, he had to be more enthusiastic, as he would need it in the future.

Of course, an old stubborn like Lu Zhenfei must have come to plead guilty in the first place. Zhou Shixian could not just absolve him of the crime. Lu Jiude was so unaware that he did not want Chongzhen to know that he had secretly conquered a man.

"Rebel".

So, Zhou Shixian had no choice but to say that he knew the other party's difficulties, and then asked the question to Chongzhen, and also expressed his obedience and understanding of the rules by the way - to avoid guilt, it is your emperor's business, and it has nothing to do with my consort.

ah.

However, just when Zhou Shixian thought that the matter was basically over, Liu Zeqing arrived from outside Qinghe County with three other general soldiers and dozens of personal guards.

Naturally, it was because of Bo Tianfu that he knew what Lu Jiude was behind the scenes not long after the war ended, and now he hurried here to apologize.

Although Liu Zeqing had various excuses not to go to the capital to serve the king, but Chongzhen came under his nose, and one of his general soldiers did such a thing, how could he dare to delay it any longer?

After all, most people in this era are naturally in awe of the imperial power.

What's more, Zhou Shixian also showed strong military strength. After Liu Zeqing made some estimates, he became even more panicked.

Then, in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, he did not dare to bring more troops and horses. In the end, he only brought a few dozen cavalry, betting that Chongzhen was short of troops and would not kill him.

Zhou Shixian naturally met the other party. Although he didn't think this waste was of any use, for the sake of the overall situation, it could only be done temporarily. In the current situation, there were many things that he could not do as he pleased.

As expected, Emperor Chongzhen would never kill those who deserved to be killed. He chose to comfort him with kind words, without even a hint of coercion, as if he was afraid that his troops would also turn into rebels.

Coincidentally, it was not just Liu Zeqing who came to express his loyalty tonight.

After nightfall, Ma Shiying also came galloping with dozens of personal guards. When they arrived at Qinghe, seven of the horses had died from exhaustion. He had been sending people to spy on him, so he hurried and hurried slowly, but after all, he still had to run.

Take a step slowly.

Gao Jie followed closely. Two hours later, he led his personal guards to the outside of Qinghe City and asked for an audience with Emperor Chongzhen. This series of good news made Chongzhen extremely happy. It turned out that he still had so many loyal ministers.

A good general, as soon as he arrives, he responds to everything he calls!

Zhou Shixian looked at these "loyal ministers" and felt funny in his heart. If he lost today, maybe the place where they gathered tonight would not be Qinghe, but Huai'an.

And until early in the morning, Liu Liangzuo, who was originally the weakest in history and was late in realizing it, also came to Qinghe to express his loyalty to Emperor Chongzhen.
Chapter completed!