Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 22
Li Banghua, Minister of the Ministry of War, Ni Yuanlu, Minister of the Ministry of Households, Ning Wu Bo Zhou Yuji and other civil and military officials gathered here immediately after hearing about it.

All the officials, who were originally in a calm state of mind, panicked again.

The right governor Zhu Zhaoming stood up first: "At present, the army will arrive in Baoding for the Chuangjun. Your Majesty, you can no longer stay in Baoding City. It is better to leave as soon as possible!"

Now that she is the emperor's royal sister, she naturally cares more about Zhu Youjian's safety than before.

Not only Zhu Youzhao, but also Zhou Yuji hurriedly begged Zhu Youjian to leave Baoding immediately.

At this moment, Wang Chengen, the admiral of Dongchang, suddenly ran in: "Your Majesty, it is reported that the three counties of Wuqing, Dong'an, and Yongqing have surrendered without a fight. The city is less than twenty miles away!"

The officials were even more astonished to hear this!

He Xin ran up to the desk without any taboos, took Zhu Youjian's hand, and said emotionally: "My lord, let's withdraw!"

Zhu Youjian suddenly slapped the table angrily, and shouted at He Xin, the imperial horse supervisor: "What are you panicking about? You are so flustered when you encounter major events. As the imperial horse supervisor, how will you lead the army to fight in the future? I have suspicions, but I am better than you in this respect, as both ministers, learn more!"

He Xin had no choice but to back down. At this moment, he realized that he had exceeded the rules and even pulled up His Majesty's sleeves.

Zhu Youjian's roar made all the officials dare not speak nonsense anymore, and they couldn't help being silent.

But the worried look on each face is still hard to hide.

Zhu Youjian really doesn't know how to evaluate his group of ministers who are not calm when encountering major events, and who are full of loyalty and courage but not overwhelming and indifferent.

Yang Sichang, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting, Yuan Keli, Mao Wenlong, Man Gui and other capable ministers and generals have passed away.

In today's Ming Dynasty, there are very few people who can strategize or win a thousand miles.

"I now have [-] officers and soldiers, Baoding City is not without a fortress to defend, the canal wharf is also in our hands, and we have food from Tongzhou, even if Liu Fangliang and Tian Jianxiu's troops gather under Baoding City, they can hold on for several months! Why be so flustered!"

Zhu Youjian said a few words loudly, then sat down.

Li Banghua, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, calmed down after being yelled at by Chongzhen Zhu Youjian, and his head naturally became clearer, and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, according to the news from the front, Liu Fangliang's department should be able to arrive at Baoding City tomorrow. The Xiu Department arrived at Baoding City at the earliest three days later, so the two invading troops will not arrive at Baoding City at the same time, so we can use this to make a fuss."

"Li Aiqing is right, it's a time difference, and it's a two-day time difference!"

After Zhu Youjian replied, he also sighed a little. It is better for people to calm down after encountering an emergency, as long as they are calm, they can be quick-witted.

Now, Li Banghua has noticed such an opportunity of time difference, which can undoubtedly give the Ming army in Baoding City a chance to break through.

At this time, Zuo Zhongyun and Li Mingrui saw that many officials were still in a daze, thinking about what the time difference mentioned by His Majesty meant, so he stood up first:
"Your Majesty, Li Jiantai was already prepared to surrender to Liu Fangliang's army, but God will pay you back. The treacherous minister Li Jiantai was taken by us before he surrendered to the enemy. However, from the point of view of my humble minister, Liu Fangliang's department may not know that Li Jiantai's department has been taken by us at this time. Therefore, we might as well continue to pretend to be Li Jiantai's troops, pretend to surrender, trick Liu Fangliang into the city for a talk, and then seize this opportunity to take down this man, then Liu Fangliang's [-] troops will surely be defeated!"

Zhu Youjian had to admit that Li Mingrui's ideas were very bold, as expected of a younger official who dared to think and act.

But at this time, Ni Yuanlu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, objected to this. He did not want to let [-] officers and soldiers stay in Baoding City to fight against Liu Fangliang's army. The Liu Fangliang who faced him for the first time had [-] soldiers, and the [-] guards shouldered the important task of protecting the emperor Zhu Youjian from moving south, so Ni Yuanlu did not agree to let the [-] guards stay here to take this risk.

Many ministers also echoed Ni Yuanlu's proposal. They only wanted to follow Chongzhen Zhu Youjian to retreat to the south immediately, so that they would not have to worry about facing the pursuit of the Chuangjun.

But Zhu Youjian finally decided to accept Li Mingrui's proposal, determined to implement this plan in Baoding City.

Li Banghua, Minister of the Ministry of War, expressed support for the strategy proposed by Li Mingrui.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian asked him to pretend to be Li Jiantai and hang a Li character banner on the head of Baoding City.

At the same time, Wang Chengen pretended to be Du Zhi, asked Dongchang fanzi to pretend to be his servant, and sent a letter of surrender to Liu Fangliang overnight.

Along the way, there were many surrendered ministers of the Ming Dynasty who voluntarily surrendered to the army, so Liu Fangliang did not arouse vigilance.

What's more, it was a cabinet scholar who asked to surrender this time, which made Liu Fangliang very excited. After all, the cabinet scholar was the top official in the Ming Dynasty.

Recruiting such an official is considered a great achievement.

Therefore, when Liu Fangliang was excited, he didn't think too much about whether there was any fraud in it.

Liu Fangliang didn't know what happened in Baoding these days, so it was even more difficult to imagine that there was more than just a cabinet scholar in Baoding.

Early the next morning, Liu Fangliang's [-] troops had already arrived at Baoding City.

It is said to be [-], but in fact there are only [-] real elite soldiers, and most of them are auxiliary soldiers or soldiers who surrendered from the Ming Dynasty and refugees who were coerced.

Therefore, the [-] troops of the Chuangjun Liu Fangliang were very scattered. When they arrived at the foot of Baoding City, they directly clamored, shouting for the Ming army to open the city gate.

At this time, Li Banghua, the minister of the Ministry of War pretending to be Li Jiantai, appeared on the city wall: "Li Jiantai, the former Minister of Rites of Dongge University of the Ming Dynasty, begged to surrender to the left battalion to rule General Liu. I also hope that the general will treat the officials and people in the city well."

Liu Fangliang laughed immediately: "Of course it is, but please don't worry, I will only kill corrupt officials and not harm the common people. You'd better open the gate of the city quickly, otherwise I will attack the city by force. Then you will be attached to the city." Ming rebels will die without a place to bury them!"

Seeing this, Li Banghua ordered people to open the city gate and unfurled the banner of "Dashun".

Liu Fangliang was very relieved to see the city gate slowly opened and the suspension bridge slowly lowered. He knew that Baoding was an important town for water transport and had always been rich, so now he was already looking forward to entering the city to make a fortune.

Especially, when he thought that Liu Zongmin followed His Majesty Li Zicheng to torture hundreds of officials in the capital to plunder money, but he himself couldn't even have a sip of soup and was ordered to pursue Chongzhen Zhu Youjian in the capital area, he looked forward to being able to do so in the capital. Make more money in Baoding City.

Seeing that the Dashun flag was still hanging on the city wall, Liu Fangliang became more relaxed and hurriedly led the main force of the [-] invading army into Baoding City first.

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(End of this chapter)