Chapter Fifty-Three: Pounce

  These officers and men are so arrogant and domineering, but the people present dare to be angry but not dare to speak.

  Only a few of the regular Jingying soldiers were left, scattered at various city gates. Without orders from the Minister of War and Governor-General Zhang Jinyan or Vice Governor-General Wang Jiayuan and General Wu Xiang, no one could mobilize them.

  These troops who are causing trouble here are actually the newly recruited soldiers by Xiangcheng Bo Li Guoquan in the city, so there is no discipline to speak of.

  Li Guozhen, this dandy, boasted in front of Chongzhen that he would lead the army to fight against the bandits, but now the Guan Yin Pass has already fallen into the hands of the bandits. Changping will be captured today at most. The Grand Scholar Li Jiantai claimed to have spent all his family's wealth to recruit soldiers to fight against the bandits, but in fact, he was attacking his own side's city... With the country in such a state, it is rare to have a noble like you come out to lead the army and fight against the enemy. Chongzhen is naturally very pleased!

  Chongzhen spent all his might, gathering several tens of thousands of silver coins to give to Li Guo as military pay, and also gave him nearly half of the artillery from the Divine Engine Battalion. The entire country's strength was poured into this endeavor, entrusting everything to him, so that this young Earl of Xiangcheng would not disappoint the remaining prestige of his ancestors' bloody battles, and come out of the city to put up a good fight!

  Beijing city is high and deep, with a population of one million. Chongzhen thought that as long as the blood bravery of the meritorious officials and royal relatives was inspired, everyone would work together to defend the city, and it would be absolutely impossible for the Li Zicheng's army to break into the city!

  The idea is correct, but the current situation... The supreme Tianzi in the nine layers of heaven probably wouldn't have thought of it either?

  Li Guozhen recruited all the rascals in Beijing, without humanity, who would bully men and women, and kick three feet at the air. From Zhengyang Gate to Xizhimen, five or six thousand newly recruited "Jingying soldiers" were so arrogant and disturbing the streets... Wang Jiayan and others were also at the city gate, while the usual civil officials in charge of maintaining order had disappeared... At this moment, Li Guozhen was naturally allowed to be reckless.

  "Plenty of grain and fish, can't fight without food!"

  Marquis Xiangcheng Li Guozhen rode on a tall sorrel horse, loudly shouting orders.

  He wore a black gauze hat, with a qilin-shaped ornament on his chest, and his legs were clad in shiny black boots. In his hand, he held an ivory-handled whip that he constantly cracked and played with. Before him, scenes of tragedy unfolded: countless passersby were robbed clean or beaten to the ground, their teeth scattered everywhere. Yet this noble gentleman seemed oblivious, as if nothing had happened at all.

  "It's really a case of 'the old turtle stirring up the pond', and all sorts of shrimp soldiers and crab generals are crawling out..."

  Huì Méi was furious on one side, her fingertips were pinched white with rage.

  But with so many unruly soldiers ahead, she herself had to be cautious and stay far away. Just now, several middle-aged women who passed by were molested, and if a beautiful young woman like her fell into the eyes of these camp soldiers, unless she was willing to fight back and kill them, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.

  ……

  ……

  At the moment when Hui Mei dodged, several people also hid their figures and hid in the counters of several shops. In such a chaotic world, many shops have also been boarded up and will not make money for these few days. Some particularly bold ones still operate as usual. On this day, before the rebels arrived, they were first suffered at the hands of the Beijing camp soldiers.

  This is a silk shop, the silk fabrics inside have been looted clean, not even a single piece of coarse cloth was left. The shop owner and his apprentices are squatting together, each with tears all over their faces. The shop owner's face is ashen, except for still having breath, he is no different from a dead person.

  Just then a group of soldiers rushed in, and the shopkeeper rushed forward desperately, but was beaten with the handle of a knife, his head and face covered in blood, and there were also signs of kicking on his chest. The corner of his mouth had fresh blood stains, apparently he had been beaten until he spat up blood.

  "Li Guozhen is such a scoundrel, this kind of trickery is really vicious..."

  A few people hiding under the counter, in the middle was a man in his thirties, not very tall, slightly thin and weak, with a pale yellow complexion, and no beard on his chin, looking rather unimpressive.

  It's just the occasional flash of sharpness in his eyes, and the air of superiority on his face that only those who have long been in a high position can possess. A discerning person can see it at a glance - this middle-aged man hiding in the silk store is by no means ordinary in terms of identity and status.

  Even if the Beijing garrison soldiers in front of them were smashing and burning guns, the soldiers with swords and guns came back and forth. Although this middle-aged man dodged and avoided them, his eyebrows and eyes showed that he didn't take these camp rascals seriously. Even Li Guixun, the Earl who presided over the matter, was just an ordinary person in his eyes, who could be hung on his mouth and talked about casually.

  "Your Excellency, this is not right."

  The middle-aged man's attendant frowned and said, "With such a lawless act, the touring censor would not dare to intervene, but Wang Jiaoyan, that stubborn old man, has always been strict, how could he turn a blind eye?"

  "That's right!" Someone also said: "And there is Gong Yonggong, this young imperial son-in-law and cavalry commander?"

  The "ambassador" they referred to was none other than Du Xun, the eunuch in charge of the imperial kitchen who was stationed outside the city. He too seemed to have an epiphany and stroked his smooth chin thoughtfully, saying: "If someone from one of the nearby city gates came down to take a look, it wouldn't cause such a big commotion!"

  Du Xun came in at this time, which was an unexpected surprise.

  The prince's cavalry stationed at Guyuan Pass to Changping has been causing trouble for the rebels for two days! With over a hundred men and several hundred horses, the rebel cavalry is only a few thousand strong, with the most elite troops guarding Li Zicheng in the Imperial Camp. How could they possibly spare a large force to pursue this small group of cavalry?

  A large number of rebel soldiers came over, and the Donggong cavalry led by Wei Yue immediately retreated far away. Whenever they encountered infantry or a grain team, it was a great opportunity to make a fortune, with knives slashing, axes chopping, guns firing, and arrows shooting. This hundred or so men had many horses, wore strong armor, moved swiftly, and had good military discipline. The combat effectiveness of individuals and teams was incredibly powerful. In just two days, several hundred rebel soldiers were killed at their hands, and several grain transport teams were dispersed!

  Causing such a big commotion, the Dashun King was also extremely enraged. Now, Tang Tong, the general of the Gongyuan Pass, has received strict orders to mobilize the garrison and coordinate with the Dashun army to pursue and suppress this group of reckless cavalrymen everywhere. After several intense battles, they did not gain much advantage.

  For a time, the vanguard of the army was advancing, but it was slowed down by this small cavalry team like flies.

  Of course, the beginning and end of this matter have nothing to do with Du Xun, the eunuch, but now the Li Zicheng's army and the Ming dynasty's surrendered troops are all attacking the Donggong cavalry, and as a result, these surrendered eunuchs were ignored by everyone.

  Tang Tong and others surrendered to Wu Guan, who was more trusted because Li Zicheng was shocked by the fighting spirit and martyrdom shown by Zhou Yuji of Wuning at this time. If Tang Tong and others had the same determination and combat power as Zhou Yuji, the rebel army would not have been able to advance with less than 100,000 troops and would have had to retreat back to Shaanxi.

  And near the capital, another powerful cavalry appeared, riding horses like a storm, drawing swords to hurt people. The vanguard cavalry had clashed with this small cavalry team several times before, and each time they fought, it would take ten or more casualties to exchange for one of their light injuries. This kind of exchange ratio reminded many generals from Shaanxi who had been bandits for over a decade of the situation when they first started the uprising.

  At that time, the government soldiers had armor and strong troops, while among the bandits there were even those with only hoes. The scene of several thousand government soldiers chasing after tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of bandits running all over the mountains was not uncommon.

  At this point, the vanguard had become a powerful force with high morale and sufficient combat strength. Unexpectedly, they encountered such a team, which made the Shun army extremely vigilant. The importance attached to Tang Tong and other surrendered generals was naturally greatly increased.

  They certainly did not know that each of the one hundred and twelve cavalrymen under Wei Yue was bought with a large amount of silver!

  The last bit of family property left over from the great Ming dynasty was used up on these cavalrymen!

  Du Xun, who was often underestimated, now had a crazy idea in his mind... He himself felt that the possibility of success was too low, but the new dynasty had just been established and would definitely strictly suppress the power of the eunuchs in the future. They could surrender to preserve their lives, but it would be extremely difficult to preserve the wealth and power they had obtained.

  The only plan for now is to establish a great merit that no one can erase or suppress... Only in this way can Du Xun himself be preserved, and at the same time, the power and status of the eunuchs' small group in the new dynasty can also be preserved!

  The eunuchs of the Great Ming, this interest group that clings to imperial power and sucks blood... In the twilight of this empire, they are also struggling with all their might.

  Du Xun's "Unparalleled Achievement" is actually very simple... it means persuading Chongzhen to surrender.

  As early as in the Yongchang Edict, Li Zicheng had advised the Emperor to surrender early. When he encountered a setback at Wuning, he once thought of offering a price for Chongzhen to seal him as king and give him Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and other places to guard the frontier for the Ming Dynasty forever.

  Of course, it is unknown which of the three village scholars' staff came up with this plan, and by now Li Zicheng himself was too embarrassed to mention it... The current situation, of course, was that Chongzhen surrendered, and Li Zicheng made Chongzhen a king, choosing a good place to raise him, the Ming dynasty's ancestral temple gods, were able to be preserved, and the people of the world could also enjoy the blessings of peace.

  Du Xun himself thought that this was a pretty good outcome. As a senior eunuch, he also came from the Imperial Study and had read extensively in history, so when he looked around, he saw that it was common for dynasties to rise and fall overnight. Why did Emperor Yuanshun get the character "Shun" (meaning "obedient")? Wasn't it because he obeyed Heaven's will and didn't die in the capital of Yuan, but instead fled to the desert when things looked bad, and was still able to live out his days in peace? And what about the Song dynasty emperors of the Zhao family? Except for one small child who was carried by Lu Xiu and jumped into the sea, which one didn't surrender? And going further back to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period... there were too many examples to count!

  A king who has lost must admit it, what can be done by insisting on not accepting defeat?

  This speech, Du Xun had been reciting it back and forth in his heart many times. He had met Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing before, and this time he infiltrated the city as a special envoy officially appointed by the new dynasty. As long as he found the contact person and entered the palace to meet Chongzhen, success or failure would depend on this transaction!