Even ants are alive, let alone humans. Zhou Shixian didn't think that Lu Jiude was really willing to die without regrets.

His behavior itself is more of a relief to his regicide and a protection to the blessing king Zhu Yousong.

The conditions and the key to persuasion that Zhou Shixian promised were also in these two points, and they even used the righteousness of the country as a cover to pull Lu Jiude out of the moral dilemma.

Of course, this actually cannot withstand careful consideration, but Zhou Shixian is not debating with others. He just wants to give Lu Jiude an excuse, an excuse to escape the crime of regicide and protect King Fu. It is also an excuse to survive and surrender to himself.

If there were more smart and capable people in Nanjing, Lu Jiude's soldiers were weaker and more vicious, and he would have killed Lu Zhenfei, he would not have been like this. He was a good talent and had a basic moral bottom line. It would be a pity not to keep fighting the Qing Dynasty or killing the Tartars.

Since Lu Jiude has become "Lu Salvation", Zhou Shixian also asked him to choose thirty or forty absolutely reliable people from the surrendered direct line, and then he mixed in the team of the boatman. No one knows what he wanted to do except him and Zhou Shixian.

As for sending people to supervise, Zhou Shixian naturally would not do such stupid things. Lu Jiude just ran away. Where can he go? It would be better to kill him than to throw the thief in the Qing Dynasty!

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

After instructing "Lu to save the country", 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 war to Zhou Shixian.

After taking the report on the battle situation that Wang Chaodong finally verified, Zhou Shixian looked carefully and found that the situation was generally satisfactory.

In this battle, Xue Laoer's troops easily defeated more than 500 troops sent by Lu Jiude to block the battle, and finally arrived in time, which ended the battle early and avoided major casualties from Wu Xingye's troops, Sun Hu's troops, and Li Daxi's troops.

Lu Jiude's troops suffered heavy losses. Except for the 500 soldiers and horses sent to block, more than 200 were killed or injured, the other 1,500 people who were sent outside Qinghe City had surrendered, a small number had been killed and injured, and dozens of them were unknown where they fled.

After Ma Huabao and Wang Hui's two troops were fired by several rounds of muskets from Sun Hu's troops, they were charged by the military formations of Li Daxi's troops, with more than 700 casualties, most of whom were killed by muskets.

Zhou Shixian's injuries were not great, with less than 200 people and more than 3,000 surrendered troops were captured.

The reason is that the musket volley that was beyond the enemy's expectations is indispensable.

However, Zhou Shixian has been behind the formation since the beginning of the battle and has also discovered the problems with the elite troops under his command - insufficient training.

Weapons and equipment and supplies, after Zhou Shixian's "requisition" and plundering in the capital, if it is not considered artillery, it can already be regarded as the most exquisite on this land during this period.

However, the chaos and different paces exposed by the soldiers when they set up their formations and attacked would still make Zhou Shixian feel alert.

His requirements for the army are definitely higher than the general standards of this era, and of course they will not surpass the times.

But what he will focus on in the future to improve through discipline and high-intensity training.

What he wanted was not to defend half of the country, but to restore the Northern Expedition. This required a strong army that was far stronger than the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty. Especially in the absence of war horses, the role of firearms was even more obvious.

However, at this time, Zhou Shixian couldn't make great achievements to these subordinates. He said a few good words and drew a few big cakes. Someone came outside the door to inform him: Lord Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Huaiyang, was here.

After hearing this, Zhou Shixian quickly met the other party. This is also a capable minister with some skills. Of course, he should be more enthusiastic and be able to use it in the future.

Of course, Lu Zhenfei, an old stubborn person, must have come to apologize at the beginning. Zhou Shixian couldn't help but directly exempt him from his crime. Lu Jiude was unaware of it. He didn't want Chongzhen to know that he had secretly conquered a "rebel thief".

So, Zhou Shixian had to say that he knew the other party’s difficulties, and then threw the problem to Chongzhen, and also expressed his obedience and understanding of the rules - it was inevitable that he would be guilty, it was your emperor’s business, but it had nothing to do with my son-in-law.

However, just when Zhou Shixian thought the matter was basically over, outside Qinghe County, Liu Zeqing had already arrived with three other generals and dozens of personal guards.

It was because of Bai Tianfu that he knew that Lu Jiude was doing something behind the scenes, and now he is rushing to apologize.

Although Liu Zeqing made various excuses to not go to the capital to serve the king, Chongzhen came under his nose, and one of his generals did such a thing. How could he dare to delay any further?

After all, most of the people of this era still have natural awe of imperial power.

What's more, Zhou Shixian also showed strong military strength. After Liu Zeqing's estimate, he felt even more panicked.

Then, in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, he did not dare to lead more troops, and in the end he only brought dozens of cavalry. The bet was that Chongzhen was short of soldiers and should not kill him.

Zhou Shixian naturally met the other party. Although he didn't think this waste was of use, he could only do this for the sake of the overall situation. In the current situation, he could not do as he pleased in many things.

As expected, Emperor Chongzhen would never kill anyone who should be killed. He chose to comfort him with kind words, without even any pressure, as if he was afraid that the troops would become rebels.

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

After nightfall, Ma Shiying also came with dozens of personal guards and galloped over. When he arrived at Qinghe, even the horses were exhausted. He was still sending people to monitor him secretly, so he rushed to the scene, and finally he was one step slower.

Gao Jie followed closely. Two hours later, he led his personal guards to outside Qinghe City and asked Emperor Chongzhen for the reception. The successive good news made Chongzhen very happy. It turned out that he had so many loyal ministers and generals under him, and as soon as he arrived, he responded to him!

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

Until the early morning, Liu Liangzuo, who was the weakest in history and later realized it, also came to Qinghe and expressed his loyalty to Emperor Chongzhen.

This shows the faces of the military leaders at the end of the Ming Dynasty!
Chapter completed!