It was August and the locust trees were in full bloom.
In the past, this was the prosperous period between the summer harvest and the autumn harvest, and the food from the south brought a lot of vitality to the city of Beijing.
But, this was the scene four years ago.
Since Shanhaiguan was breached, food from the south has never reached Beijing. Food prices have been so high that even the people in the capital have been greatly inconvenienced.
With the immigration of families from the Eight Banners, the food shortage reached its peak.
"Welcome Master Wang——"
After Li Jizu and Chen Yongfu finished resting, they were blocked halfway, only to see a few dozen people running out of the city. They looked and dressed like scholars.
"A certain person is Li Jizu, the ruler of Shandong in the Ming Dynasty. He was ordered by the emperor to expel the slaves and return the old capital to the north——"
Li Jizu rode his horse, held his head high and said.
"Looking forward to Master Wang is like looking forward to sweet rain!"
The scholar was crying with tears in his eyes, wearing a hat and looking aggrieved.
"Why are there only these people?"
Chen Yongfu on the side felt something was wrong and muttered.
Li Jizu also felt something was wrong: "Why are there only you people?"
He looked up and saw that the bright flag had been erected on the tower and fluttering in the wind.
I picked up the monocular and took a look. There were actually some old, weak, sick and disabled people wearing bright robes standing guard there.
Although the military uniform is made in Ming Dynasty, it does not have a red triangle scarf.
"No, this is not one of ours."
Li Jizu said in a deep voice.
"Control Mingjian!"
At this time, although the leader looked a little embarrassed, he could not conceal his heroic spirit.
I saw him standing up and bending down slightly, cupping his hands and saying, his eyes bright and shining:
"Three or four days ago, Jiannu surrendered the city of Beijing and stationed troops outside the city, but now there is another group of troops temporarily guarding the city."
"Oh?" Li Jizu laughed angrily: "You dare to touch a tiger's tail, aren't you afraid of my 100,000-strong army?"
"Control, forgive the boldness of students, they are really fearless."
Jiang Erxun raised his head and said helplessly.
"Oh? Who is it?"
Li Jizu became interested and bent down slightly.
Jiang Erxun said in a deep voice: "Fu Wang Zhu Yousong——"
"What?" Li Jizu was so shocked that he almost fell off his horse.
Chen Yongfu on the side also tightened the reins of his horse, his expression suddenly changed.
"Isn't the late emperor dead?"
"This is fake and fake."
The two said eagerly.
But Jiang Erxun smiled bitterly and said: "Prince Fu was imprisoned for many days, and he was just released a few days ago. Those former civil servants and generals also knew about it, so it should be true."
"May I have your name?"
Chen Yongfu calmed down at this time, holding the horse's rein tightly and staring straight at the person in front of him.
"Student Jiang Erxun was born in Li County, Baoding. His father was Jiang Fanhua, the former head of the Ministry of Household Affairs. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, his father died for his country because he was a slave and entered the customs."
The young man's face was full of surprise, and he couldn't wait to report on his family.
"It turns out you are from the Zhongliang family. I will report your merits to the court."
Chen Yongfu nodded slightly and said to Li Jizu: "The situation in Beijing is unclear now, so we still have to make plans early."
"No matter what, the city of Beijing can only belong to the imperial court, not to some blessed king."
Li Jizu did not accept this trick. He held his head high and said loudly: "In the city of Beijing in front of me, I have entered samadhi."
"We must advance, but at this time, we must report to Nanjing as soon as possible."
Chen Yongfu said: "In addition, we must first control the false king to avoid being used by others and causing endless disasters."
"you're right."
Li Jizu nodded: "Beijing city doesn't matter, but the false king must not let it go."
With that said, he ignored everyone present and directly ordered the army to seize the nine gates of Beijing City and not let anyone leave the city.
As for him, he led people into the city in a daze, and in front of him was the Forbidden City.
Seeing this, he hesitated.
Chen Yongfu advised: "You are not allowed to trespass into forbidden places. Even if you capture the false king, you will inevitably be impeached."
"I cannot sit back and watch this defile the palace."
Li Jizu gritted his teeth and spoke word by word.
Chen Yongfu was stunned, and then suddenly realized that this was probably the reason why he was deeply trusted by the emperor.
Simply, he gritted his teeth and stamped his feet, and followed closely.
With an order, thousands of people rushed straight into the palace and saw the trembling King Fu.
"Who do you think you dare to break into the palace?"
King Fu Zhu Yousong said tremblingly, losing a lot of weight compared to before.
But at this time, he had no fear at all.
Compared to those Jiannu, the Ming army posed no fatal threat to him.
Regicide is a fatal issue at any time, and no one dares to bear it.
"Your Highness——"
When Chen Yongfu thought that Li Jizu would riot, who knew that he cupped his hands and said politely: "This is the palace. No male is allowed to enter without His Majesty's permission."
"I am the emperor——"
"No, you are not."
Li Jizu immediately shook his head, grabbed it like a chicken, and had someone carry him outside the palace.
All the gates in the palace were sealed, and the palace maids and eunuchs were also imprisoned to prevent theft.
After doing this, Li Jizu breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Chen Yongfu brought him bad news: "That boy was indeed right. Jiannu handed over the city of Beijing to King Fu three days ago. Although it was only in name, everyone in Beijing already knew about it.
thing--"
"Damn-"
Li Jizu said angrily: "Such political methods are difficult for non-literati to achieve."
"In addition, it is said that the former prince Zhu Cihong was also in the hands of Dorgon and was brought to Liaodong."
"What?" No matter how stupid Li Jizu was, he still understood Zhu Cihong's status.
As the crown prince of Emperor Chongzhen, he was the legitimate heir to the throne of the entire Ming Dynasty.
Neither Emperor Hongguang nor Emperor Shaowu had his status.
To put it bluntly, under the stipulations of the eldest son inheritance system, a small sect cannot be compared to a large sect.
"No wonder he let King Fu out. It turns out he still holds the key person in his hands."
Li Jizu murmured.
It's so insidious and vicious.
The impact of releasing Emperor Hongguang and even allowing him to control Beijing for three days is self-evident.
The impact is extremely bad.
That's all. Once the news about Zhu Cihong is released, it will immediately shake the legitimacy of Emperor Shaowu.
In the eyes of those pedantic scholars, the inheritance of the eldest son is unshakable.
However, there are not a few such pedantic literati.
"Control messages."
Li Jizu said in a deep voice: "From today on, no one is allowed to leave the city except for food and other things."
"yes--"
Both of them were in a bad mood.
After taking the city of Beijing, even bigger troubles came.
There are now only about 100,000 people left in Beijing, but all the food they need has been robbed, and most of them are already desperate for food.
The most important thing for the Ming army now is to use its military rations to feed the people of Beijing.