Zhu Gaoyuan has arrived at the elephant room near the Royal Horse Prison.
During the Ming Dynasty, neighboring countries such as Burma, Siam, Korea, Ryukyu and other countries often sent envoys to pay tribute and presented their own rare and exotic animals. Burma, Siam and other countries also paid tribute to many elephants.
In addition to the elephants that were bred as tribute from Burma, Siam and other countries, there were no fewer than twenty elephants in the elephant house.
Looking at the elephants in the elephant room that were well cared for, Zhu Gaoyuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The key to a successful breakout this time lies in these dozens of elephants.
"Long live my Lord." Wang Chengen's breathing came from behind.
Looking back, I saw Wang Chengen trotting over.
Wang Chengen was also holding a set of mountain armor and a dagger in his hands.
"The old slave has gone to the arsenal and looked at it. There are still more than a hundred barrels of gunpowder."
"But there are not many three-eyed blunderbuss, Lumi blunderbuss, bird blunderbuss, etc. left."
Zhu Gaoyuan couldn't help but frown, this was not good news.
"Where are the horses from the Royal Horse Supervisor?" Zhu Gaoyuan asked, "How many are left?"
Wang Chengen said: "There are still a lot of royal horses left, more than three hundred."
While the two were talking, the sound of horses neighing and people boiling suddenly came from the direction of the Royal Horse Prison.
Zhu Gaoyuan immediately put on his mountain armor and went straight to the Royal Horse Prison. From a distance, he saw a group of people gathered on the grass fence south of the Royal Horse Prison.
It's the Prince Consort Gong Yonggu who has arrived.
Gong Yonggu only brought a dozen servants.
Moreover, these servants were all wearing casual clothes and did not have any jackets.
What's more, all he has in his hands are sticks, but he's actually riding a horse.
Gong Yonggu himself only wore a suit of cotton armor and a turban on his head.
Seeing this, Zhu Gaoyuan's face suddenly turned black. It was too much!
There are only a dozen servants in the Prince Consort's mansion? Can't even get a few muskets? I believe you are a ghost!
However, Zhu Gaoyuan also knew in his heart that this was the root of the disaster planted by Chongzhen himself. Chongzhen was extremely jealous and was extremely wary of his clan members raising servants and preparing private weapons.
King Zhu Yujian of the Tang Dynasty brought King Ding Qin of a thousand families with him out of good intentions.
As a result, instead of being able to gain Chongzhen's gratitude, he was placed under house arrest.
Therefore, Gong Yonggu, Liu Wenbing and other nobles were very cautious in front of Chongzhen.
Yesterday, Chongzhen called two people into the palace and asked them to gather his servants to protect him from the siege. They said that we strictly abide by the regulations of the court and do not have too many servants. There is really nothing we can do.
As a result, this incident happened again today, and I was all on fire and still on guard against Chongzhen.
Chongzhen, Chongzhen, how did you become the emperor? Guard against fire and theft, guard against Chongzhen!
Seeing Zhu Gaoyuan, Gong Yonggu knelt down and sang: "I, Gong Yonggu, arrived too late to escort him, it is a death penalty!"
"Get up." Zhu Gaoyuan said with a dark face, "Are there only a dozen servants in the Prince Consort's residence?"
"Yes, these are the only servants in my residence." Gong Yonggu lowered his head and said, "Because according to the regulations of the imperial court..."
"That's enough." Zhu Gaoyuan said impatiently, "Hurry up and take your people to the arsenal to get weapons. You should also choose a set of mountain armor and wear it yourself. Don't make others laugh."
"Yes." Gong Yonggu accepted the order and left.
After a while, Liu Wenbing also arrived in a hurry.
Xinlehou Liu Wenbing was as cautious as Gong Yonggu, and only brought a dozen servants with him, also carrying sticks.
Immediately afterwards, Hui'an Bo Zhang Qingzhen and Xuancheng Bo Wei Shichun arrived one after another. Like Gong Yonggu and Liu Wenbing, they only brought a dozen servants, all armed with sticks.
Zhu Gaoyuan didn't even bother to complain anymore.
These nobles are so deceitful, now they can only count on the civil servants.
Several civil servants who arrived later finally did not disappoint Zhu Gaoyuan again.
Wang Jiayan, the right minister of the Ministry of War who was supervising Deshengmen, brought more than 300 people, including more than 50 servants, who were all strong and brave people recruited from their hometown in Putian.
Wang Jiayan actually brought more than a thousand people with him at the beginning.
Unfortunately, when they heard that they were going to protect Emperor Chongzhen from the encirclement, most of them dispersed on the way. When they arrived at the Imperial Horse Prison, only these 300 or so miscellaneous soldiers were left.
Meng Zhaoxiang, the right servant of the Ministry of Justice who was supervising the Zhengyang Gate, brought more than 200 people.
Taichang Shaoqing Wu Linzheng, who was supervising Xizhimen, also brought over two hundred people.
There were also members of the Ministry of War, Wailang Jinxuan, Zuo Zhongyun, Liu Lishun, Zuo Yu Dema Shiqi, Hanlin Academy to review Wang Wei, supervisory censor Chen Liangmo, Hu Ke to Shizhong Wu Ganlai, etc., who each brought dozens or even hundreds of people.
In addition, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Wang Guoxing, and the commander Li Ruolian each brought more than a hundred Jinyi guards.
By the time of Chenzheng (8 o'clock), the total number of servants, eunuchs, Minzhuang, Jinyiwei and Beijing camp soldiers gathered in the Royal Horse Prison was over a thousand people.
In addition, there are more than 600 horses.
These are all the weapons Zhu Gaoyuan can muster urgently.
It was less than Zhu Gaoyuan expected. He originally thought he could gather two thousand people.
But fortunately, there are fewer people and there are fewer people. At least these are die-hard elements who are willing to follow him to break out.
Zhu Gaoyuan glanced at the faces of Gong Yonggu, Liu Wenbing and others one by one, thinking that without his arrival and if the original historical trajectory was followed, the officials and nobles present would soon die for their country.
At that time, the minister dies for the king, the wife dies for the husband, the son dies for the father, the servant dies for the master, hundreds of thousands of nobles or officials all die, and Beijing will be shrouded in a sad wind and rain.
The Ming Dynasty was the most upright country, and its status in the hearts of the people was almost unshakable.
After the bandits captured Beijing, countless officials and gentlemen died for their country.
There is evidence that nearly a thousand officials, gentry or scholars died for the country!
Even though Zhu Gaoyuan remembered the names of many of the officials, some of them lived in outer cities and could no longer respond to the edict, while others could not find anyone and could not be notified. Of course, there were also those who refused to obey the edict.
Li Banghua, the imperial censor of Zuodu, and Ni Yuanlu, the minister of household affairs, could not be found.
Fan Jingwen, a scholar of Dongge University, refused to obey the imperial edict. The old man probably despaired of Chongzhen.
In short, the only people who can be summoned are the dozen or so officials and nobles in front of me, and these more than a thousand hard-core soldiers.
Zhu Gaoyuan waved to Gong Yonggu, Wang Jiayan, Wang Guoxing and other dignitaries and officials to come closer.
"The strong wind knows the strong grass, and the rough wind knows the honest minister." Zhu Gaoyuan said solemnly, "At this time of drastic changes in our family and country, I am very relieved that you are willing to abandon your family and career to advance and retreat with me and live and die together."
"I won't say any unnecessary nonsense."
"We have gathered you all for one thing, to break out!"
"It is indeed a breakthrough." Wang Jiayan and others were not surprised by this.
Zhu Gaoyuan added: "The capital is no longer defendable, and the north of the Huanghuai River is also in ruins. I am determined to break out of the encirclement and go to the capital to regroup. I will then launch the Northern Expedition to restore the foundation of our ancestors."
Now, Wang Jiayan and others were a little surprised. The Holy One actually changed his gender?
You actually proposed moving south yourself? You weren't afraid of being accused of abandoning your land for no reason?
Unfortunately, at this juncture, even if you are willing to bear the infamy, it is too late.
Hundreds of thousands of thieves have already surrounded Beijing. How can the more than a thousand soldiers in front of them want to break through? It's simply a matter of ignorance.
Holy lord, you woke up too late.
Wang Jiayan, who knew soldiers well and was upright by nature, said directly: "Your Majesty, it's too late to think of breaking out of the siege at this time. It's impossible to break through the siege of thieves with just the mob in front of you."
Wailang Jinxuan, a member of the Ministry of War who also knows the military, said: "Yes, it's too late."
Gong Yonggu, Liu Wenbing and other dignitaries and officials also looked sad.
Obviously, they also felt that the possibility of breaking out was very slim.
"Is it too late?" Zhu Gaoyuan said lightly, "I don't think it's too late at all."
"Your Majesty, the bandits at this time are no longer the bandits of the first year of Chongzhen, and the soldiers in the capital at this time are not the soldiers in Taizu, Chengzu or Renzong, or the soldiers in the capital at the time of Xuanzong. These servants, Minzhuang and Jinyiwei in front of me, oh also
There are middle-ranking officers who have never received any training and have no combat experience at all. We can't defeat them." Wang Jiayan shook his head like a rattle.
Gong Yonggu and others also sighed, how can a ragtag group of people defeat a powerful force that has fought hundreds of battles?
"We don't have to defeat the bandits." Zhu Gaoyuan said, "We only need to defeat the three major camps."
"Can you defeat the three major battalions?" Gong Yonggu, Meng Zhaoxiang and other distinguished officials were all confused.
Only Wang Jiayan and Jin Xuan looked moved: "The Holy One's intention is to break out from the front of Chaoyang Gate?"
"Yes." Zhu Gaoyuan said in a deep voice, "After the three major battalions surrendered to the rebels, they were not dispersed and integrated. Instead, they were still placed outside Chaoyang Gate. As long as we defeated the three major battalions, the scattered rebels would be overwhelmed.
The thieves' main formation, the thousands of thieves outside Chaoyang Gate alone cannot stop the hundreds of thousands of troops from the capital camp from crumbling!"
"And the dispersed rebels can provide us with excellent cover."
"At that time, facing hundreds of thousands of fleeing rebels, the bandits will not know where to pursue them."
"This way we will have enough time to calmly go south, or go east to join Guan Ning's army."
Upon hearing this, the eyes of Wu Linzheng and other officials suddenly lit up. This strategy seemed feasible.
Only Jin Xuan shook his head and said: "Although the three major battalions are too weak to fight, there are hundreds of thousands of people. With just a few thousand of us, it is no more than a fool's dream to defeat them."
Zhu Gaoyuan smiled slightly and said: "Who said we only have more than a thousand people?"
Wang Jiayan asked with a look on his face: "Is it Guan Ningjun who has arrived outside the city?"
"It's not Guan Ning's army." Zhu Gaoyuan shook his head and said, "I have prepared another surprise army."
"Strange soldiers?" General Meng Zhaoxiang, the right servant of the Ministry of Justice who was supervising Zhengyang Gate, said doubtfully, "If so, we can break out of the encirclement quickly. If the thieves are too late to enter the city, the big thing will be over."
"What You Sikou said is absolutely true." Taichang Shaoqing Wu Linzheng said, "Although I have people blocking the Xizhi Gate, there are no soldiers guarding the Xizhi Gate at this moment. I am afraid that the thieves have already invaded the city. I leave you, my king and my ministers time.
I’m afraid there aren’t many.”
"It doesn't matter." Zhu Gaoyuan said extremely calmly, "I predict that the thieves will not enter the city before Sichu."
Well, this is not a prediction, but a historical record that the Dashun Army waited until Sichu before entering the city in large numbers.
Even if the Dashun army rushed into the city before this, they could only control the city gate.
Zhu Gaoyuan smiled again and said: "We still have at least half an hour."
