Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 17 Defrauding Baoding City

Zhu Youjian just paid homage to Zhang Lun of Bingbei Road and the people of Tongzhou in Bazhou City.

As a result, the officials and the people were united, and their loyalty to the emperor reached the climax.

Unexpectedly, at this time, it was reported that Li Jiantai, a majestic cabinet scholar, knew that the emperor was coming, but he wanted to surrender to the thief.

Therefore, when the officials knew about it, they all strongly suggested that this traitor should be killed!
Even Ni Yuanlu, Minister of the Ministry of Households who was a good friend of Li Jiantai on weekdays, cut off his robe immediately to express his severance with Li Jiantai.

Zhou Yuji even knelt in front of Zhu Youjian, and asked to lead troops to capture Baoding City immediately and kill Li Jiantai!

"Your Majesty, although withdrawing to the south is the top priority, but if Li Jiantai's traitor is not eliminated, it is not enough for the common people to be angry!"

Li Banghua, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, also remonstrated from the sidelines.

Zhu Youjian was very pleased that these ministers were really excited because of him for the first time.

As the emperor, he is also very satisfied. The current retreating team finally has the same hatred as the enemy.

But in fact, Zhu Youjian did not react so violently to Li Jiantai's blatant defection to the enemy.

Perhaps, for them, Li Jiantai, as a cabinet scholar, is the highest-ranking official who has surrendered to Li Zicheng so far (Han Yan is the elder of Zhishi Pavilion).

Therefore, the stimulation to the officials was great, and both emotionally and rationally felt that this person could not be eliminated.

But Zhu Youjian, as a person of later generations, was already mentally prepared that Li Jiantai would surrender to the enemy, so he didn't react so strongly.

However, Zhu Youjian also believes that Li Jiantai cannot be eliminated, and Baoding City must also be controlled in his own hands.

At least in the next half month, he must control it in his own hands, so that he will have enough energy to deal with Liu Zeqing's troops when he goes south.

"What all the lovers said is true, Li Jiantai must be eliminated!

Baoding City cannot be handed over to treacherous ministers!

But Baoding City is stronger than Tongzhou City. We only have [-] soldiers and horses, and we need to serve as the foundation for going south to revive the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, capturing Baoding City can only be achieved by outsmarting;

Now that Li Jiantai has defected to the enemy, and Liu Fangliang, the trespasser, has reportedly entered the territory of Zhending Mansion, we might as well pretend to be the trespassers and recruit Li Jiantai's tribe in Baoding. If Li Jiantai believes, we can easily capture Baoding City without spending a single soldier. Kill the treacherous officials with one pawn! "

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he asked, "What do you think, all loves?"

The ministers suddenly realized and praised His Majesty for his wisdom.

Zhu Youjian smiled slightly. He knew that although the group of courtiers he led were loyal and commendable, there were really few capable ministers who could turn the tide.

Therefore, he cannot expect these officials to come up with better strategies for him.

Fortunately, Li Banghua, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, is not a completely useless civil servant. After Zhu Youjian said, he hurriedly added suggestions:
"Li Jiantai has always been cunning and suspicious, and is not easy to be deceived by others. I have heard that most of the intruders are from Qin. The guards brought by Uncle Ning Wu are strong and brave from Shanxi. I don't know how many Qin people there are under Uncle Ning Wu. You might as well They pretended to be the troops of the intruders, first tricked Li Jiantai into opening the city, and then our army rushed into the city."

"Please don't worry, Chief Sima. Most of my subordinates are from Qin, so it's easy to pretend to be a thief!"

Zhou Yuji said so.

Zhu Youjian asked Zhou Yuji to immediately take a thousand cavalry and a thousand infantry to Baoding City pretending to be trespassers.

Then, except Li Banghua, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, Wang Chengen, Admiral of Dongchang, and Mrs. Liu, the right governor, stayed in Bazhou with the royal family and hundreds of officials;

Emperor Zhu Youjian personally led the [-] Beijing battalion troops of He Xin, the imperial horse supervisor, to follow behind Zhou Yuji's troops, ready to break into Baoding City at any time!
Li Jiantai, a scholar of the Dongge University and the leader of the Ministry of Rites, the right servant of the Ministry of Military Affairs, was originally allowed by Zhu Youjian to leave the capital to recruit soldiers on the grounds of his own recruitment.

Li Jiantai originally wanted to go back to his hometown of Shanxi and use his own money and food to recruit soldiers, but after hearing that Shanxi was occupied by Li Zicheng, he backed down, afraid to go to Shanxi again, and retreated to Baoding City.

Now, seeing that Li Zicheng is powerful, he has the idea of ​​taking refuge in Li Zicheng.

Li Jiantai is not afraid of Zhu Youjian, who is about to become the king of subjugation.

In his opinion, Zhu Youjian is now a bereaved dog, and the Ming Dynasty of Nuoda can be made like this by him. It is obvious that there is no chance of re-emergence, so he resolutely decided to surrender to the new dynasty.

But he didn't dare to take it lightly, for he was afraid that Zhu Youjian would directly attack Baoding City and kill him in a fit of anger.

Therefore, Li Jiantai now only hopes that the thief Liu Fangliang will arrive in Baoding City as soon as possible, so that he can surrender directly, so that he will not worry that Zhu Youjian will come to attack Baoding City.

Just when Li Jiantai was looking forward to the robbers, Du Zhi, the eunuch accompanying the army, hurriedly informed Li Jiantai of the news of the army of robbers appearing outside the city.

Li Jiantai couldn't help being overjoyed after hearing this, but it was true as Li Banghua said, he didn't dare to take it lightly and let Liu Fangliang's army of thieves enter Baoding City rashly.

And when he thought that he was a majestic scholar at any rate, it would be embarrassing to rush to surrender directly, so he deliberately pretended to be sick and asked Du Zhi to go out of the city to see the intruder and ask for surrender.

In this way, in the history books, it can also be said that Li Jiantai was forced to surrender due to illness.

"Eunuch Du, you must be careful when you see General Liu. Ask them how to deal with us. You need to respond to everything first. In addition, listen to their voices more. It is best not to make mistakes. Now the war is in chaos. , who knows who is the real thief."

Li Jiantai asked.

"Don't worry, Mr. Ge!" Eunuch Du Zhi said and left Baoding City.

Not long after, Du Zhi came back and reported to Li Jiantai that the intruder was correct, and that he spoke Qindi's mouth. To Li Jiantai.

Li Jiantai couldn't help being overjoyed after hearing this, so he ordered the army to open the city gate to welcome the intruder Liu Fangliang.

The intruder disguised by Zhou Yuji arrived outside Baoding City smoothly.

And Li Jiantai also took off his black hat, and brought a group of civil and military officials to appear in front of Zhou Yuji and knelt down on one knee: "Li Jiantai, the former Ming Dongge University scholar, begged to join the Holy Dynasty, and I hope the general will take him in!"

"Hmph, get out of here!"

Zhou Yuji deliberately imitated the appearance of a thief general, cursed rudely with a Qin accent, and then led the army into the city.

But Li Jiantai and Du Zhi still followed in with obsequious smiles.

"The general is exhausted all the way, and the younger one has prepared food and drinks at the government office. I hope the general will show you the honor, and I have also prepared one or two pretty maids for the general. It can also relieve the boredom. I wonder if the general can move?"

Li Jiantai had just finished speaking.

On this side, Zhou Yuji suddenly shouted: "Come here, take these two traitors down immediately!"

Li Jiantai couldn't help feeling very surprised, and asked Du Zhi what was going on.

Du Zhi didn't understand either.

At this time, Zhou Yuji had already ordered the firing of cannons to inform His Majesty Zhu Youjian that Baoding City had been captured, and a bright flag was officially erected on the top of the city.

Seeing this, Li Jiantai suddenly realized, and shouted: "It's been tricked!"

(End of this chapter)