Just as the scouts of the Dashun Dynasty set out from the capital and rushed to various places for 800 miles to spread the important news that Chongzhen was dead, Zhou Shixian's fleet had safely left Dongchang Prefecture and headed for Jining Prefecture.

Because the notice he left successfully aroused Li Zicheng's alertness. In order to avoid the emptiness of the defense in the capital, Guo Sheng, Zhao Yingyuan, Dong Xueli and other departments who should have been sent to Shandong in history to take over the prefectures and counties were stranded in the capital for half a month, and now they can continue to move south.

This made the entire Shandong Province, after Liu Zeqing's troops flee south, temporarily in a state of vacuum. Except for the few Ming troops in Jiaodong, other places were only operating according to inertia, or were occupied by local bullies like Texas.

The gentry and landlords in these places are constantly inquiring about the news so as to change their courses in time and avoid being tired of being the enemy.

However, under such chaos, there are many different opinions on the people who fled from the north. No one knows what is going on in the capital at present, and even whether the thieves have entered the city or whether Emperor Chongzhen has already had an accident, there are several versions of rumors...

However, all of these gave Zhou Shixian sufficient convenience. He led his two thousand soldiers and horses all the way south. He also collected the strong Cao army that was still stationed in various prefectures and counties along the way under the banner of Emperor Li Banghua, and the troops were quickly expanded to more than two thousand.

As the economic lifeline of the Ming Dynasty, there were naturally not many canal troops left behind in prefectures and counties along the canal, but Zhou Shixian only had those elite troops, so he only selected more than 200 people in the end.

Of course, in addition to the Cao army, the most important thing about these canal hubs and the places where the cash gates are located is the materials in the treasury.

The silver in the Chaoguan Treasury has naturally been removed by those corrupt officials, but in such a large Shandong, the weapons, food and ammunition in the treasury in the Yanhe Treasury are still enough to equip hundreds of people.

Zhou Shixian naturally would not leave these supplies to the Shun Army. In addition to requisitioning official ships from various prefectures and counties and transporting and rewarding the seizures of each army, he directly distributed other things to the local people.

In the past decade, Shandong has experienced the "Wuqiao Mutiny", and the Qing Dynasty's entry into the border was affected by bandits and natural disasters. The population has dropped sharply and the economy has been greatly damaged. The existing people are simply on the verge of despair.

Zhou Shixian now saw it and held the food and grass in his hand, so he naturally would not watch them starve to death. This is the difference between him as a later generation and most people in this era.

Soon, Zhou Shixian's fleet arrived in Jining Prefecture. At this point, the entire trip to the south had been halfway through, and the boats were sailing day and night. It was impossible for the main force of the Shun Army, far away in the capital, to catch up with it.

When Guo Sheng, Zhao Yingyuan, Dong Xueli and other troops led their troops into Shandong, Zhou Shixian's fleet had already entered Xuzhou Guard.

However, after Guo Sheng, Zhao Yingyuan, Dong Xueli and other troops entered Dongchang Prefecture, they did not continue to go south, but went directly to Jinan Prefecture and Qingzhou Prefecture in the northeast, preparing to recruit thousands of Ming troops left behind in Jiaodong area and various prefectures in Shandong Province.

Li Zicheng no longer had the hope of catching up with Zhou Shixian. He sent troops south, and more to occupy Shandong and prepare for the subsequent southern expedition.

Wu Sangui and the so-called Manchu Tatars have now been left behind by Li Zicheng. Even Zhang Xianzhong from Sichuan is threatened by them in the hearts of the senior officials of Dashun.

It can only be said that the failure of the Dashun Military Group in its original history was not just a coincidence. The lack of overall strategic vision and even ignoring the powerful force of the Qing Dynasty all led to the Shun Army's strategy irreversible sliding into the abyss of failure.

The decision of a huge military group could not be changed by Zhou Shixian in just a few words. Perhaps the only thing that could be changed by his butterfly wings was the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty where he was.

Suddenly, a jingle collision sound of throwing anchor chains sounded on the deck, and the hull shook with a formation, and then slowly stopped. Zhou Shixian, who was standing at the bow of the ship, looked at Xuzhou City in front of him, and finally smiled on his face: "Xuzhou City has finally arrived."

On the dock of Xuzhou City, Xue Laoer had already led the cavalry to wait for a long time, while Zhang Hong followed Mr. Li Banghua into the city.

Li Banghua, holding the Shangfang sword, and the hundreds of elite soldiers and horses closely followed, were enough to open the gates of every city under the control of the Ming court officials.

In the next few days, Zhou Shixian did not continue to go south, but lived in Xuzhou City. He was not clear about the situation in Nanzhili and did not dare to go straight to Nanjing.

You should know that in addition to the Shun Army and the Qing Army in the north, there are also the Fu Wang Sect and the Lu Wang Sect in the south. If you accidentally, Zhou Shixian and Emperor Chongzhen will become "rebel traitors" who pretended to be the Tian family.

Therefore, Zhou Shixian had no other choice but to send scouts to inquire about the news, send messengers to contact Huaiyanglu Governor Lu Zhenfei, Nanjing's Minister of War Shi Kefa, and blockade Xuzhou City, and had no other choice but to wait quietly.

In the original history, because he misunderstood the news that "Chongzhen had already taken a boat to the sea and went south, and Prince Zhu Cilang also escaped", Shi Kefa, who had already led his troops across the river and was preparing to go north to serve the king, stopped to go north again.

In Nanjing, those officials who were useless and only knew how to attack each other believed it, expressed their joy, and even ran around to tell each other.

After all, once the rumors are true, they, the backup officials who stay in Nanjing, will be able to turn things around from now on.

However, on the second day, news came from the north that Chongzhen committed suicide in Coal Mountain, and it was confirmed by the Grand Secretary Wei Xucheng who escaped from the capital in a hurry.

So, the officials in Nanjing began a new round of power struggles with profit and struggle openly and secretly, completely ignoring the covetous Shun Army in the north.

The most active one was Qian Qianyi, a veteran of the Donglin Party and the Minister of Rites. This former official of the Ministry of Rites who had retired, lobbied everywhere in the name of "List of the Wisdom" and proposed to welcome the King of Lu Zhu Changqing.

However, this proposal was immediately opposed by African Donglinists in the Nanjing court, and a party struggle began.

At this time, Shi Kefa, the most powerful minister of the Nanjing court, should have made a quick decision and established authority in the chaos.

However, Shi Kefa lacked decisiveness, stubbornness, and lacked courage, so he showed it all at this critical moment. He did not turn the tide, but instead made a lot of tricks.

In order not to offend all parties, he finally proposed a compromise method to support King Gui, and personally contacted the governor of Fengyang Ma Shiying in Pukou, hoping to get the support of the other party.

But when Ma Shiying returned to Fengyang from Pukou, he suddenly got news that the eunuch of Fengyang's garrison Lu Jiude colluded with Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo and others in the Southern Zhili Territory to support King Fu Zhu Yousong.

So, this first leg had just reached an agreement with Shi Kefa. Governor Fengyang, who supported King Gui, became determined to join the camp of King Fu Zhu Yousong.

After all, although Lu Jiude was a eunuch, he led troops to fight for many years and had courage and decisiveness. He was also a confidant eunuch of the old Fu King Zhu Changxun, and he had a high prestige in the army.

In other words, such people came forward to contact Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong, and Liu Liangzuo, and were naturally very convincing. Ma Shiying didn't think he could fight these five people.

How could Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong, and Liu Liangzuo refuse to face the opportunity to win the "decisive contribution" and become a "responsible minister"?

These are the things that Zhou Shixian is most worried about. Of course, he didn't think that these military leaders would not support Chongzhen, but he just didn't know where their transaction with Lu Jiude had reached an irreversible level.

If so, the mediation and differentiation and grasp of the degree of interest exchange will be crucial.
Chapter completed!