Thinking of this, Wu Xiang said to Zhu Cixiang and Wang Chengen: "Your Highness, Governor, the emperor's secret order to send dogs to escort Nan Xing has not been issued yet, right?"

Zhu Cihong said: "Not yet. This secret edict is also a central edict. It was not issued through the cabinet and the Ministry of War. I am afraid that General Wu will be in trouble."

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, an imperial edict must have a vote of approval before it can take effect. If there is no vote and only the emperor's approval, it is the so-called imperial edict, which is almost the emperor's personal letter.

If Wu Sangui receives the imperial edict asking him to escort Nan Xing, it is hard to say whether he will carry it out. Because if he carries out the edict, he will offend the cabinet and the civil service group. If he does not carry out the edict, he will offend the emperor. Both parties are difficult to offend, indeed.

This puts Wu Sangui in a bit of a dilemma!

Wu Xiang patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness, I will write a letter to Quan Zi and ask him to immediately recruit 5,000 elite troops and travel to the capital at starry night to support the emperor Nan Xing."

"Okay!" Zhu Cixiang nodded repeatedly, his face full of joy, as if there was really an edict about to be issued soon... Of course there was no edict. Emperor Chongzhen was a wise king, how could he bypass the cabinet and go alone?

But Wu Xiang's autographed letter is still useful! When Li Chuang's army arrives near Beijing tomorrow, Zhu Cixiang plans to take this letter to find Chongzhen. At that time, the situation is imminent, and Chongzhen should break through the bottom line and start using Zhongzhen to mobilize his troops.

.

In this way, when Zhu Cihong breaks out from Beijing, he will be able to get support from Wu Sangui's troops, and his chances of escaping safely will be much greater.

In addition, Zhu Cixiang, holding Wu Xiang's autographed letter, also had the capital to bargain with Emperor Chongzhen - this is called a white wolf with empty gloves!

There was paper and pen in the lobby of the inner campus. Wu Xiang wrote a letter on the spot and handed it to Zhu Cixiang.

Zhu Cixiang carefully collected the letter from his father-in-law, and then smiled and ordered Wang Chengen to prepare wine and food. It was already late, it was almost dinner time, and Zhu Cixiang wanted to continue to fool Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu, so he had to eat while

Fooled while drinking.

It would take a while for the food and wine to be served, but Zhu Cihong and Wang Chengen continued to talk to Wu Xiang and his son. It wasn't just idle chatter, but the conversation turned directly to the army's breakout.

Wang Chengen, an honest man, was quite efficient at doing things. He didn't sleep all night and gathered a group of godsons and godsons all over Beijing to kill people.

Selected 300 strong fire gun eunuchs from the Nanhai Zijing Army (an eunuch army of about 3,000 people). We also called in some veterans of the Yongwei Camp in Beijing - most of them were old and unfit to continue serving in the army.

There are also some generals who are recuperating in Beijing. There are not many, only two or three hundred. In addition, there are Dongchang Tiqi under Wang Chengen's own jurisdiction, and they have also recruited more than a hundred. In addition, there are some miscellaneous

The strong men are the servants of Wang Chengen and his "descendants". Finally, they gathered about 1,000, and now they are all gathered in a corner of the inner school yard, waiting for the meal.

Before Zhu Cixiang arrived, Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu and his son had already gone to see it.

"It's not bad. He's pretty strong. He's much stronger than the soldiers guarding the city gates everywhere."

This is Wu Xiang, who has led the army for many years, and commented on the gang that Wang Chengen temporarily summoned.

Wu Xiang said: "There are many old soldiers among them, and they all have fierce looks on their faces, which makes even the Jingjun Tiqi fear them. They can tell at a glance that they have gone through the killing formation. If I can use my servants as generals, we should be able to organize them."

Wu Chengjun. As long as he has enough armor and weapons, he will be able to fight."

This servant brought by his father-in-law is actually the strength that Zhu Cixiang values ​​the most!

Now it is easy to get soldiers in Beijing, but it is hard to find generals!

Because all the combat-ready troops in the Beijing camp have been transferred out, that is to say, there are no organized elites left.

But there are still many able-bodied men, because these years have been chaotic and chaotic. There are many men who have been on the battlefield and served as soldiers, and for various reasons have come to Beijing to look for food.

Moreover, the base camp of the Yongwei Battalion is also in Beijing, and the established troops have left, but there will always be many scattered troops left behind or old soldiers whose sons and nephews have filled the ranks.

In addition, many officials and noble families in Beijing have tried every means and spent a lot of money to recruit veterans who have been on the battlefield and the best in the Beijing camp to protect themselves. They have also provided jobs for these veterans.

Now as long as Wang Cheng'en can spend a little more money, he can always raise some money. And when it comes to raising money, Zhu Cihong still has some ideas.

But there are only strong men, no officers to organize them, and no military discipline to restrain them. They are just a mob and cannot defeat the insurgent army.

But in his eagerness, where could Zhu Cixi find a group of officers who could actually organize an army? There were many people with the rank of military attaché in Beijing, but how many of them could actually go into battle?

Even if there are some, most of them are unorganized and scattered officers who cannot organize an army within a few days... The army is not standardized these days, and there are no officer schools to train standardized officers. A group of officers from different armies work together and cannot

After adjusting for the previous period, it was impossible to lead troops.

But the servants Wu Xiang brought from Ningyuan were a group of well-organized and battle-hardened people. Among them there must be some old servants who had served as grassroots officers. Moreover, Wu Xiang was their old master and led them to fight for life.

Who has been dead for half his life, and Lao Wu still doesn’t know how capable he is?

Therefore, using the servants brought by Wu Xiang, the strong men hired by Wang Chengen, and suitable weapons, an army can be formed immediately.

We can't fight a tough battle, but with Wu Xiang, an escape expert, leading the way, there shouldn't be much of a problem in protecting Emperor Chongzhen and his family from escaping...

"Wang Banban, how much do you give them per day?" Zhu Cixiang asked Wang Chengen with a smile.

He didn't see the rabble, so the eunuch in charge was probably afraid of being startled, so he asked them to avoid it.

"If I go back to Master Qiansui, except for the people from Dongchang and Jingjun, the old slave will give each of them two hundred dollars a day, and he will also take care of two meals."

Copper coins in the late Ming Dynasty were minted indiscriminately, so their value was very low. Only coins made from high-quality copper materials were more expensive. However, Wang Chengen was not so generous. All he gave out were ordinary small coins. About 5,500 wen could be worth one tael of silver. 200 wen qian.

It's three cents and six strands of silver. If calculated on a monthly basis, it's about one tael. It's lower than the one tael or four cents paid by Guan Ning's army, and it's about the same as the ordinary Ming army soldier's dingyin.

"Let's go and have a look!"

Zhu Cixi didn't know whether it was premeditated or just spur of the moment, but he actually stood up and asked Wang Chengen to lead the way to see the warrior.

…

The so-called strong men don't look like much at first glance. There are three hundred eunuchs from the Pure Army who are disabled and weak in spirit. There are more than a hundred old men from the Yongwei camp, many of whom even have white hair. There is also one

More than a hundred Tiqi from Dongchang are spies. They are elites selected from the Jinyiwei, but they are not expected to fight in battle. Apart from these uncles, pure troops, and spies, there are less than three to four hundred people left who look a little bit like

A bit of a warrior.

When Zhu Cixiang arrived under the leadership of Wang Chengen, these so-called "strong men" were gathering together and chewing noodles hungrily. They were crowded together. Several of Wang Chengen's "grandsons" were still shouting: "

Master Chitose is here, hurry up and greet him!"

The warriors all lived at the foot of the imperial city, and of course they knew that "Thousand-Year-Old Master" refers to Zhu Cihong and several of his brothers. They were all extremely noble people. They stopped eating cakes now, and gathered around with cheers.

Kneel down and salute.

"Young ladies, please pay your respects to Mr. Chitose!"

There was a eunuch with a loud voice who took the lead in shouting, and then everyone followed him, which was quite lively.

Zhu Cixi listened with interest and said with a smile: "Get up, everyone... are you eating? Is there any meat?"

The eunuch with a loud voice immediately replied: "Replying to Master Qiantose, the younger one didn't prepare any meat for them."

"Then hurry up and get ready... These are the strong men who defend our Ming Dynasty. How can they have no meat to eat?"

"Well, I'll take someone outside the palace to buy something." The eunuch answered immediately.

"Wang Banban," Zhu Cixi turned around and said to Wang Cheng'en, "200 copper coins are too little, so give each person one coin of silver.

Wang Chengen was stunned. This prince was so powerful. He was giving him meat and extra money... This was too much of a spendthrift, wasn't he?

"Master Chitose, one penny is worth three taels a month..."

"Give it!" Zhu Cixiang waved his hand, "Wang Banban, go get the money and give it in front of me. Everyone has a share... Jingjun and Tiqi also have a share."

"Thank you Qiansui Master for the reward!"

"Thank you Qiansui Master..."

A group of "strong men" were so happy, and they got a penny and meat to eat without doing anything. Where could they find such good things?

Now I am on duty on the city walls inside and outside Beijing, and I only earn one hundred copper coins a day, and I don’t even care about food!

Wang Cheng'en couldn't resist the order in front of Zhu Cixiang, so he had to ask people to get the silver coins. In front of Zhu Cixiang, ten people were given one tael of silver and asked to divide it among themselves. Of course, everyone was happy for the "strong men".

The person following Zhu Cixiang frowned.
Chapter completed!