This matter passed peacefully without letting others know. After all, if word spread, it would definitely arouse some people's vigilance, especially the three generals of Guan Ning Army.
To be honest, this time Zhu Ling clearly saw the atmosphere of the warlord army that Guan Ning's army had. Many people in it were loyal to their masters, but the so-called masters were only the superiors, not the emperor. In this way, even if
The emperor's rewards and official positions still played a limited role.
Of course, Sima Jingru and the others were exceptions. They were only treated as more skilled soldiers and were not given much good treatment. This led to the fact that the eighteen of them were not very loyal to Wu Sangui. On the other hand, they were not very loyal to Wu Sangui.
It's considered a bargain for Zhu Ling.
After Wang Jiayan told Sima Jingru about the three generals, the latter seemed extremely shocked and found it extremely difficult to accept the fact. After all, those people were his superiors. Although they were usually kind, they would never do anything.
Such a shocking thing happened.
But the people in front of him are His Majesty and the Minister of War, and they will not deceive him. However, this news is really shocking, and he needs to digest it.
After Sima Jingru left, Wang Jiayan couldn't help but feel worried and stepped forward: "Your Majesty, will he?"
"Will it be leaked?"
"Exactly, no matter what, he spent a few years in Guan Ning's army." Wang Jiayan's worry is not unreasonable. Most soldiers are like this, two-faced people.
"He won't, I believe him." Zhu Ling said with a tone of absolute confidence that he believed in him. Even if others wanted to raise questions, they would not dare to step forward to speak.
"Let people keep an eye on those generals to see who he comes into contact with and record them one by one!"
…
Here, the Prime Minister Niu Jinxing whom Luo Rucai was waiting for finally arrived. As soon as he received the news of the Prime Minister's arrival, he didn't even have time to put on his shoes, so he stood up in a hurry to greet him.
"My Prime Minister, you are finally here."
"When I got the news that you wanted to see me, I came here without even changing my clothes." Niu Jinxing was also quite sincere and rushed here non-stop without resting for a moment.
"Prime Minister, you are tired. Come to the big tent and rest." Luo Rucai was quite respectful and hurriedly escorted Niu Jinxing into the big tent. But Niu Jinxing obviously knew something about Luo Rucai's purpose when he saw him, so he asked him directly without being pretentious.
.
"How far did the emperor run?"
When the prime minister heard this question, Luo Rucai knew that the matter had been guessed, so he could only sigh and said to him: "I have been running for a day and a half, and the small group of cavalry I sent has not come back."
"Where's Li Guo?"
"His army was ambushed, and most of them were killed. Only more than 10,000 troops and himself were left. But now he is crazy and beyond human."
"This is a serious matter. If the king knows about it, you will all be punished." Niu Jinxing never expected that such a situation would arise. Not only did the emperor escape, but even his own army suffered heavy losses.
"Isn't this asking the Prime Minister to help me out of trouble? It's probably impossible to capture the emperor now, but since he is leading his troops on an expedition, something must be done. Li Guo is already crazy now, no matter how he is punished,
There is no difference in words, but to me, it is harmful." Luo Rucai said sincerely.
"So what are you going to do?"
"Capital!" Luo Rucai said fiercely: "Now that the capital has no emperor, first of all, its military morale has dropped a lot. Furthermore, the Guan Ning Army they were proud of has left, and those guarding the city are just some ordinary people.
We are just soldiers, with no more than five thousand fighting troops at most. If we can capture the capital and rescue you, your Majesty will not only not blame us, but will also be much happier."
After listening to Luo Rucai's idea, Niu Jinxing thought for a moment and felt that it made sense. This approach does not mean atonement for his sins, but it can solve the king's heartache and make good friends with you. It is really a good idea.
"Then what do you want to do? Compared with the city of Beijing, which is tall and solid, it is not so easy to be broken through."
"I heard that the Prime Minister has some internal agents inside. I originally planned to use those days to attack the city, but in the end the peace talks were not used. I would like to ask the Prime Minister to help me this time and use those people as internal agents."
After saying that, Luo Rucai bowed deeply.
"Either way, the capital should be ours. Japan shouldn't negotiate peace on that day, otherwise how could so many things happen?" Niu Jinxing thought for a while and agreed to Luo Rucai's request.
"Thank you, Prime Minister!"
Hearing this, Luo Rucai couldn't help but feel extremely grateful. This could be regarded as saving him once.
"Quickly move the army to the foot of the capital, and then I will dispatch a part of the capital camp to surrender. If King Chuang asks for the reason, I will say that the army needs to be mobilized to defend one side." Niu Jinxing said thoughtfully, unhurriedly.
Organize your thoughts.
"Those siege equipment must be prepared. This time we must fight quickly and we must not waste time."
"Understood, Prime Minister!"
Luo Rucai didn't waste any time, and immediately went down and started arranging the siege. This time he must not be defeated again. If Li Guo's two defeats were added to his one defeat, it would really be a bit embarrassing.
"Every battalion is ordered to go down and tell people to start building siege equipment today, no! The more the better, the cavalry will sweep away the surrounding Ming troops in the next few days to ensure that there are no Ming troops around Beijing!"
Roar after roar, one after another, instantly made the intruders who were in a calm state become agitated, and everyone started to take action. And Liu Ming finally smelled a breath.
He knew that Luo Rucai was finally going to attack the city, and the opportunity he had been waiting for finally came. In his eyes, Li Guo was just a mediocre general, and Luo Rucai also had the demeanor of a famous general.
"General Luo, what do I need to do?"
"you?"
Looking at Liu Ming in front of him, Luo Rucai sneered and said to him: "Take your 10,000 troops and go for a walk under the city of Beijing. I want the people there to know that the city of Beijing is still surrounded.
Surrender or die!"
"As you command!"
At this time in Beijing, Meng Zhaoxiang led a group of people to the Zhao Prison of Jinyiwei. Looking at Liu Zongmin who was imprisoned in the Zhao Prison, his body was covered with bruises, his hair was messy, his clothes were in tatters, and the area under his feet was full of rats.
It was infested with insects and rotten.
Even though Meng Zhaoxiang was a general, he couldn't help but cover his mouth and nose when faced with such a bad situation.
"Liu Zongmin, are you willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty?"
Faced with repeated questioning, persuasion to surrender, and even lucrative inducements, Liu Zongmin has always turned a deaf ear. He has almost never responded, even though the pain in his body makes him feel like a knife every day.
Seeing Liu Zongmin's tenacity, Meng Zhaoxiang also admired him very much. He thought that he was just a rebel and would be tempted by interests, but he never expected that he had such a strong will.
Seeing that the attempt to persuade him to surrender failed, Meng Zhaoxiang turned around and left without giving any hope. These days, in order to guard against spies in the capital, he had replaced a large number of imperial guards, including soldiers guarding the city.
This act was all carried out by his newly recruited soldiers from the capital camp, and people were killed almost every day. It was not said that the entire capital was bloodbathed, but the entire prison was bloodbathed.
Some officials of the Military and Horse Department of the Five Cities were killed, and the Jinyiwei and the soldiers from the Beijing camp came directly to raid their homes. Moreover, Meng Zhaoxiang even took the decision without authorization, supporting an aspiring Jinyiwei to take over, temporarily taking charge of the Jinyiwei who stayed in the capital, and vigorously sweeping away
The paralytic man hiding among the people.
"How are the traitors and traitors of the intruders doing in the past few days?" In the lobby, Meng Zhaoxiang closed his eyes and rested, speaking some plain words, but they were extremely intimidating.
There was a person kneeling down in the hall, wearing a flying fish suit, with a very respectful expression.
"Reporting to your lord, those who are hiding among the officials are fine, but those who are hiding among the common people are extremely difficult. Moreover, the Jinyi Guards are short of manpower, and the capital is too large to cope with it."
“If we don’t have enough manpower, we’ll recruit more.”
Meng Zhaoxiang was quite dissatisfied, and his tone immediately increased a bit, saying: "The intruders may attack the city at any time. If the traitors hiding in the capital are not eliminated in time, and if they act as internal agents once the city is besieged, the capital will be attacked at any time.
If you attack, you know the consequences."
"Yes, sir! I will go down now and intensify the search!" He knelt on the ground. Although his expression could not be clearly seen, his tone was a bit trembling.
"Go ahead."
Meng Zhaoxiang was extremely nervous these past few days. He didn't even want to take off his armor. He was afraid that one day the intruders would attack him and he would be very tired. However, there was nothing he could do. Your Majesty left such a big stall to him and he had to defend it even to death.
Capital.
"Report to your lord!"
A messenger came in a hurry to report, even a little unsteady. He cupped his fists and said: "An intruder has appeared outside the city!"