In an inconspicuous farmhouse on the edge of Tongzhou Pier, there lives a group of strange people.

Except for a middle-aged man with a white face and no beard and a little girl, the rest of these people are all young and strong.

If anyone pays attention, they will find that they do nothing all day long and just hang out at Tongzhou Pier and around the county town.

In the hall, several people were gathering together and talking.

"Eunuch Fang, a group of intruders suddenly came. There are more than two hundred people. They look quite elite, but they all seem to be women." A man said to the middle-aged man sitting at the top.

"Are they all women?" Fang Zhenghua frowned after hearing this, and immediately said: "Among the intruders, there are only two women leading the troops. One is the Li thief's wife Gao Guiying, and the other is the Henan thief's red lady. Most of them are these two.

subordinate."

Another scholar-looking person asked: "Do you know what they are here for?"

The man said: "Those female soldiers are camping outside the city. They are very vigilant. I dare not approach them."

If you don't dare to get close, you won't be able to find out why they are here.

"Tongzhou is getting more and more dangerous." The scholar couldn't help but said.

A young tall man glared angrily when he heard this and said: "Liu Xiaolian, what do you mean by this? Do you want to leave before you have completed His Majesty's will?"

It turned out that this group of people were Fang Zhenghua, Liu Xiaolian and others who had been ordered by Chongzhen to stay at Tongzhou Pier waiting to meet Zhu Yu'ao.

Except for Fang Zhenghua, none of them are big shots.

In fact, even Fang Zhenghua was only one of the dozen eunuchs who held the pen of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and did not attract much attention.

Therefore, after the Dashun Army invaded the inner city, they each hid themselves. On the days when the Dashun Army had looser checks on people entering and leaving the city, they disguised themselves and sneaked out of the city, and came to the Tongzhou Pier to join together.

It's just that they have been waiting here for more than ten days, but they still haven't arrived.

In addition, Liu Xiaolian and others had doubts about Chongzhen asking them to assist a princess, so they naturally had other thoughts.

For example, Liu Xiaolian suggested that everyone go south as soon as possible, firstly to report what happened in the capital, and secondly to help the south fight against the hypocrisy, and even go to the Northern Expedition to recapture the capital.

Li Ruolian's grandson Li Zhenwu, who later joined the gang, proposed to find the three princes, and then protect the princes to go south and succeed to the throne, and then plan the Northern Expedition to eliminate the hypocrites.

However, Fang Zhenghua, Gao Shengqi and four of Chongzhen's personal guards all believed that the priority should be to fulfill Chongzhen's legacy. Liu Xiaolian and Li Zhenwu did not want to leave this temporary group, so I waited at Tongzhou Pier.

After listening to Gao Shengqi's words, Liu Xiaolian said calmly: "We must fulfill His Majesty's orders, but we should not wait in Tongzhou.

Not to mention how the princess escaped from the camp, even if she could, who knows that she wouldn't end up living somewhere else?

Only by going south and seeking help from the Nanjing court can we find the princess more easily."

Li Zhenwu's temper was not as fiery as Gao Shengqi's. He frowned and said, "We haven't found any of the princesses or princes now. It's really inappropriate to sit here and wait. It's better to risk going to the capital to find out."

Gao Shengqi said stubbornly: "There must be a reason why Your Majesty asked us to wait here with the seal to wait for the princess to contact you!"

Liu Xiaolian sneered, "Your Majesty's arrangement may not be appropriate."

Obviously, Liu Xiaolian was dissatisfied with Emperor Chongzhen.

Fang Zhenghua, who had never spoken until now, suddenly said, "Does Liu Xiaolian want to slander your father?"

The Bingbi eunuchs were equivalent to the most educated group among the eunuchs, and Liu Xiaolian, a judge, was not necessarily his opponent in a debate.

What's more, Fang Zhenghua is responsible for the principles (rituals).

But Liu Xiaolian was not really convinced, and still said calmly: "I don't dare."

Gao Shengqi became angry when he saw Liu Xiaolian like this. He felt that the Ming Dynasty was ruined in the hands of these scholars, and he immediately started to curse.

I heard someone running quickly outside, pushing the door open, and said to everyone with a happy face: "The princess is here!"

The visitor is Li Cheng, one of the four guards who respected Chongzhen's secret edict.

The four guards were responsible for taking turns monitoring the marks they left on the dock, and today it was Li Cheng who was guarding them.

Hearing this, everyone else was stunned, but Fang Zhenghua had already stood up and asked urgently: "Did you see the contact mark or the princess herself?"

"I've seen them all!" Li Cheng said, "I watched the princess add a joint mark next to the mark we left! But... there are several women accompanying the princess, carrying swords, bows and crossbows, which is not like ordinary people."

Gao Shengqi said: "What's so strange about someone protecting the princess? Why didn't you take the princess over?"

Liu Xiaolian said: "It would be better for him not to contact the princess - everyone, with all due respect, the princess was stuck in the camp before. Even if she came to contact us, she still doesn't know what kind of situation she is actually in.

If she reveals His Majesty's arrangement to the intruders and is kidnapped to meet with us, and we show up rashly, I'm afraid we will fall into the hands of the intruders."

At the end of the sentence, he looked at Li Cheng sharply.

Through these days of getting along, Li Cheng knew that although Liu Xiaolian was a scholar, he was quick-minded, calm, and even cold, and had become the second-in-command of their group.

Therefore, seeing Liu Xiaolian's view, Li Cheng immediately said: "I was also worried that the princess would be kidnapped, so I came back to tell you all without showing up."

No one wants to fall into the hands of a burglar.

So even Gao Shengqi, who had a relatively strong and impulsive temperament, frowned and fell silent for a while.

After a while, Fang Zhenghua spoke up and said: "Since the princess is here as promised, it is not an option for us not to meet. In this way, our family will contact the princess to understand her situation.

If the princess is really kidnapped, please don't show your face and just look for opportunities to go south."

"What about the princess and father-in-law?" Zhang Sheng, the leader of the four guards, asked with a frown.

Fang Zhenghua said: "Our family and the princess are not ordinary people after all, and we should be able to survive in the hands of the intruders. Our family will stay with the princess and take care of her. Maybe we can find an opportunity to help her escape in the future."

Obviously, even in Fang Zhenghua's mind, Kunxing Princess Zhu Yuluo was just a royal girl without any abilities. She couldn't even take care of herself when she fell into the hands of intruders.

After hearing this, everyone was silent again.

Because they knew that if they also fell into the hands of intruders, as long as they did not surrender, Fang Zhenghua would have a greater chance of surviving as an eunuch, and it would be easier to take care of Zhu Aona.

Fang Zhenghua asked Li Cheng: "Where did the princess go after leaving the mark?"

Li Chengdao: "We entered the Sifang Inn not far away."

"We understand." Fang Zhenghua nodded, then clasped his fists at everyone, "Everyone, please take care of me!"

After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the courtyard quite gracefully.

Although the literati and military men of the Ming Dynasty had a bad impression of eunuchs, they all admired Fang Zhenghua and others.

On the one hand, Fang Zhenghua has culture and martial arts, and can be both civil and military. Such people are rare among ordinary people, let alone among eunuchs.

Secondly, Fang Zhenghua has the highest official position among the people and the most knowledgeable one.

Even Liu Xiaolian, who was a civil servant, was inferior to them all.

Now that Fang Zhenghua is risking his life to fulfill Chongzhen's last wish, how can he not be admired?

But it was said that after Fang Zhenghua left the courtyard where the gang was hiding, he did not hesitate and went straight to the street to find the Sifang Inn.

Entering the inn, he asked the shopkeeper, "Are there a group of women staying at your hotel?"

The shopkeeper looked at him without saying a word.

Fang Zhenghua took out a dime of silver and handed it over.

The shopkeeper suddenly laughed and said: "Yes, I am looking at the house in the backyard. I don't know if I will stay tonight."

Fang Zhenghua understood and immediately went to the backyard.

He knew that there was no other way to get close to the princess except taking risks, so he simply went there.

When he arrived in the backyard, he noticed seven or eight women with swords and bows. As Li Cheng said, they looked unusual. They must have been on the battlefield and killed people.

Then he saw two women and the waiter walking out of a room.

The tall girl among them did look very similar to Princess Kunxing in his impression.

He walked over immediately.

Two women immediately stopped him with knives drawn and stared at him with scrupulous faces.

Zhu Yuluo has only seen Fang Zhenghua a few times in recent years, and her impression is rather vague.

But in this era, middle-aged men without beards were extremely rare, and they were usually eunuchs.

So after taking a look at Fang Zhenghua, she felt that this was probably the person who wanted to contact her.
Chapter completed!