It was delayed until three quarters after midnight, and Li Zicheng finally personally led the Chinese army into the city through Zhengyang Gate.
Looking around, I saw that both sides of Zhengyangmen Street were already crowded with welcoming people.
Seeing Li Zicheng meandering on a green horse, the hundreds of thousands of Beijing people and wealthy servants who crowded both sides of the street cheered hysterically.
"Open the city gate to welcome King Chuang!"
"King Chuang is here and he won't pay for his food!"
"Long live King Chuang! Long live King Chuang!"
Amidst the shouts of hundreds of thousands of people's servants, Li Zicheng led Liu Zongmin, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Li Yan and Liu Fangliang and other civil and military generals to gallop forward with great ambition.
It’s almost six hundred steps from Zhengyangmen to Chengtianmen.
[Note: In the Ming Dynasty, 1 step = 5 feet = 1.6 meters]
Li Zicheng and others walked away for more than a quarter of an hour.
A quarter of an hour later, Li Zicheng finally stood under the Chengtian Gate.
I saw Ming Dynasty civil and military officials kneeling on both sides of the gate.
Among them were many first-class officials wearing bullfight uniforms or even python robes.
Li Zicheng looked beyond these demoted officials and looked at the plaque of Chengtian Gate.
Looking at the three gilt characters "Chengtianmen" on the plaque, Li Zicheng was filled with emotion.
In the second year of Chongzhen, when he and his nephew Li Guo killed officials and rebelled, did they ever think that this day would happen?
In the 10th year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang gathered 100,000 troops and defeated the rebel army with the strategy of "four righteousnesses and six corners, and a net on ten sides". When he fled into Shangluo Mountain with only Liu Zongmin and 17 other cavalry, how could he have thought that this day would happen?
Even last year, when he led an army to defeat Sun Chuanting and broke through Tongguan Dingdingguanzhong, he only wanted to break the earth and become the king. Did he ever think that this day would happen?
I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it.
The city of Beijing was really taken.
The glorious Ming Dynasty actually died!
Thinking of this, Li Zicheng could no longer suppress the surging emotions in his heart.
"Bring the bow." Li Zicheng stretched out his hand, and General Dashun Junquan, Ruhou Liu Zongmin immediately offered a carved bow and an arrow with carved feathers.
"Good bow." Li Zicheng weighed the bow in his hand.
"Everyone, let me shoot an arrow through the bright sky!"
Immediately he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, and shot an arrow at the plaque on Chengtian Gate.
Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Liu Fangliang and other civil and military officials all opened their mouths and waited to congratulate loudly, but the words got stuck in their throats before they could say anything.
Because Li Zicheng's arrow was shot low.
Li Zichen originally wanted to shoot the sky.
But in the end it was shot between the sky character and the bottom door character.
It was only a short distance of about twenty steps, but the shot actually missed. It was really embarrassing.
Seeing this, Liu Zongmin and other close generals looked constipated, wanting to laugh but not daring to.
Song Xiance, the left military advisor of Dashun, hurriedly came to Niu Jinxing's ear and whispered a few words. Niu Jinxing immediately said loudly: "The Lord shot an arrow into the sky. It can be seen that it is God's will that the Li family replaces the Zhu family in the world.
"
After a pause, Niu Jinxing emphasized his tone and almost yelled: "Your Majesty is destined by fate, otherwise our Dashun Army would never be able to capture Beijing and destroy Zhu Ming so quickly!"
Song Xiance immediately echoed: "My lord, congratulations!"
Now Liu Zongmin and others also reacted and congratulated Li Zicheng one after another.
Li Zicheng was in a good mood. He looked sideways at Niu Jinxing and said with a smile, "What the Prime Minister says is always right."
After a pause, Li Zicheng threw the precious eagle bow at Liu Zongmin and shouted loudly: "Enter the imperial city!"
Liu Zongmin laughed and yelled: "Come here, send me troops immediately to seal the Forbidden City, the warehouse of the Puppet Ming Hubu Department, and the key vault of the inner court of Chongzhen's son!"
The first two things to do when entering a city are to arrest people and to steal money.
The person to be arrested is Chongzhen, and what is being robbed is the money from the Ming Dynasty treasury and Chongzhen’s internal funds.
However, as soon as Liu Zongmin finished speaking, a fast horse galloped towards Song Xiance.
Li Zicheng frowned and asked, "Commander, is there any news from Chaoyang Gate?"
After Song Xiance heard the report from the sentry cavalry, he immediately bowed and said: "Go back to the Lord, there is news."
"Really?" Liu Zongmin's expression moved slightly and he asked eagerly, "What happened to those loud noises just now?"
Song Xiance solemnly said: "The puppet emperor Chongzhen personally led the imperial army to break out from Chaoyang Gate. Those loud noises just now were made when the puppet imperial army detonated gunpowder."
"Huh?" Li Zicheng felt a little surprised.
How dare Chongzhen's son personally lead the Imperial Army to break out from Chaoyang Gate?
However, Li Zicheng was not too worried about this. Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, except for Wu Sangui's Guan Ning Army, which was barely able to fight, the rest were just local chickens and dogs.
Chongzhen's child wants to break through? Idiot's dream!
Liu Zongmin also laughed and said: "Is Chongzhen's son so anxious to get on the road?"
Outside Chaoyang Gate, in addition to Li You's 5,000 elite soldiers, there were also hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Beijing camp.
Even if so many people couldn't stand still and let Chongzhen chop them down, they would have to wait until the Year of the Monkey and the Horse and the Moon.
"Send orders to General You Might not to harm Chongzhen's life." Li Zicheng specifically warned.
Although Li Zicheng hated Chongzhen to the core, he did not want to bear the infamy of regicide. Moreover, in order to strengthen the legitimacy of the Dashun Dynasty, it was best to force Chongzhen to abdicate, so he could not be allowed to die.
…
There was no need for Li Zicheng to show mercy, because Chongzhen had already led his army to break out of the siege.
Zhu Gaoyuan reined in his horse and turned back, looking at the majestic archery tower of Chaoyang Gate in the distance, Zhu Gaoyuan was a little lost in thought.
Zhu Gaoyuan expected that there would be a great chance of breaking out, but he never expected that it would be so smooth. The entire process of breaking out encountered almost no decent resistance.
There were more than 600 cavalry before the breakout, but after the breakout, there were more than 700 cavalry.
Because many soldiers robbed or picked up war horses abandoned by bandits on the battlefield, although the number of soldiers was small, there were more than a hundred more horses.
Gong Yonggu and other distinguished officials even felt as if they were in another world.
Escaped? They actually escaped amid hundreds of thousands of bandits?
Wang Chengen pinched his thigh hard to determine if this was just Huang Liang's dream?
Confirmed that it was not a dream, Wang Chengen couldn't help but shouted in surprise: "Your Majesty, we have broken out of the siege!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Wang Chengen's voice also woke up Wang Jiayan and others, and they all burst into tears with joy: "Taizu Taizong has a spirit in the sky, the saints bring blessings to the sky, the Ming Dynasty is saved, the Ming Dynasty is saved
It’s saved! Haha!”
Looking at the distinguished officials crying with joy, Zhu Gaoyuan felt no emotion in his heart.
"Don't be too happy yet." Zhu Gaoyuan said coldly, "Breaking out of the siege is only the first step. Next, the bandits will definitely send out large groups of cavalry to search the mountains and seas to hunt down you and me."
The faces of Wang Jiayan and other distinguished officials immediately fell.
Then they suddenly remembered that the bandits claimed to have 600,000 cavalry.
The 600,000 is definitely fake, but the 60,000 cavalry is probably real.
Since the establishment of the political power in Xiangyang, the bandits have won many battles on the battlefield and snatched a large number of horses from the Ming army. It is not impossible to build a cavalry of 60,000 people.
Thinking of the overwhelming 60,000 cavalry chasing after them,
A search was launched against hundreds of them.
Wang Jiayan and other distinguished officials once again felt desperate.
Could it be that, after all, he still cannot escape the outcome of being captured?
Zhu Gaoyuan gave a small beating, and then said comfortingly: "However, everyone should not be discouraged. Hundreds of thousands of thieves have surrounded the capital, and we can easily break out."
"The pursuit and suppression by tens of thousands of rogue cavalry is not a problem."
"What's more, the bandits won't be able to determine our whereabouts in a short period of time."
"So at least for the next few hours, we are safe."
Hearing these words, Wang Jiayan and other distinguished officials breathed a sigh of relief, and a high level of hope arose deep in their hearts.
These noble officials were completely unaware that Zhu Gaoyuan influenced their emotions with just a few words and easily took command of the army.
If they obeyed Zhu Gaoyuan before this, it was just because he was the emperor.
So now, they are willing to obey Zhu Gaoyuan because of his leadership.
Wang Jiayan and Jin Xuan, who knew soldiers well, were particularly impressed. They really didn't expect that the Holy Sage had never experienced a battle before, but he actually had such sophisticated commanding skills.
I'm afraid Yang Sichang, Sun Chuanting and other supervisors are nothing more than this, right?
At that moment, Wang Jiayan asked: "Your Majesty, are you going to Tianjin Guard next?"
"No, we are not going to Tianjin Wei." Zhu Gaoyuan shook his head and said, "That is a dead end."
"Then take the dry road to Zhuozhou." Wang Jiayan said with deep understanding, "The dry road is safer than the water road."
"We can't go to Zhuozhou, that is also a dead end." Zhu Gaoyuan said with a flash of his eyes, "Let's go to Changping!"
"Ah? Going to Changping?" Wang Jiayan wondered if there was something wrong with his ears. The bandit army came all the way from Xuanfu, Juyongguan to Changping. Going to Changping is not a sheep falling into a tiger's mouth?
Taichang Shaoqing Wu Linzheng also said: "Since the Holy Emperor wants to patrol the south and stay in the capital, wouldn't it be the opposite direction to go north to Changping?"
"It's okay to go in the opposite direction. It's just taking more wrongdoings." Wang Jiayan said, "The problem is that Changping has already fallen into the hands of thieves. Isn't this going to be a trap?"
Jin Xuan frowned and said: "If we go directly south, it is indeed easy for the bandits to understand their intentions and send cavalry to intercept them in advance. But even if we don't go south directly, the Holy Master can go to the Yongping area to join Ping Xibo's Guan Ning Army."
"Yes." Wang Jiayan said with deep conviction, "Ping Xibo still has 40,000 cavalry under his command, and Guan Ning's army is unparalleled in combat power. If we can march eastward to join them, we should be able to protect the Holy Cavalry."
When Zhu Gaoyuan heard this, he just smiled.
Go to Yongping to find Wu Sangui? Do I think I have a long life?
This is a master who can strangle Emperor Yongli with a bowstring, a true regicide!
Even if the Wu Sangui of today is not the Wu Sangui of twenty years later, he may still have some attachment to the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Gaoyuan does not dare to take this risk. He is not afraid of ten thousand in everything, just afraid of the unexpected.
After all, Wu Sangui had already transformed into a warlord at this time.
How can you expect a warlord to be loyal and patriotic? Nonsense!
At that moment, Zhu Gaoyuan said: "I have made my decision, please don't say more."
Wang Jiayan and others could only shut up and follow Zhu Gaoyuan northward.