Chapter 124 I just want to collect my salary, how can you slander me for rebelling?

Zhu Youjian glared at the ground and did not answer.

Two Liao soldiers hit him with the back of their swords and ordered him to answer Marshal Li. But Prince Xin got angry and stiffened his neck, asking the rebels to kill him.

The Liao soldiers around looked at the commander, and Li Hao laughed: "He is just like that. Don't be rude to him. Take him back and put him in the prison car."

Unless Tianqi has created a son in the near future, this is currently the most prominent heir to the throne of the Ming Dynasty. It is enough for him to control some loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty, but it is not the time to kill him yet.

"Traitor Li, kill me now. I will never stay in the same place with a traitor!"

It was rare for Zhu Youjian to speak a complete sentence.

"What traitor? I just brought my brothers from Liaozhen to the capital to collect their salaries. How dare you accuse me of rebellion?"

After Li Hao finished his rebuttal, he bowed to the east and said, "His Majesty the Emperor is still waiting for me to come to the capital to help the Ministry of War collect salaries!"

Upon hearing this, Prince Xin was extremely angry and kept shouting and cursing. When a Liao soldier took off his smelly cloth socks and was about to stuff them into Zhu Youjian's mouth, he finally knew the best and stopped talking.

The Liao soldiers marched for more than ten days and had no time to change their underwear. The cloth sock just swung in front of Prince Xin's nose and the smoke almost made Zhu Youjian fall over.

Even if he had a temper, a prince like him who was raised in the deep palace could not stand the torture of the soldiers.

Li Hao, who was on his horse, laughed so hard that he couldn't stand up straight. "Brother, it seems that His Royal Highness Prince Xin likes your cloth socks. Find a rope and hang them around his neck. Replace them with another pair after a few hours. Let Prince Xin experience the life of our real soldiers."

After being addressed by the commander, the Liao soldier was delighted. After discussing with his comrades, he found several more cloth socks and tied them all around the neck of Prince Zhu.

The cloth socks they picked were naturally taken from the feet of those with the stinkiest feet.

Even though the only light around was torches, the Liao soldiers could clearly see the resentment and hatred on Prince Xin's face, which made the soldiers even more excited.

They are not saints. The Liao people themselves have experienced major events such as Gao Huai's rebellion against Liao and the fall of Liaodong, and they have long lost their loyalty to the Zhu family.

Now they can torture a legitimate prince, who is also the only brother of the current emperor. Many soldiers can't wait to take advantage of the commander-in-chief's inattention and ride on the head of Prince Xin to shit and piss.

Zhu Luopingyang was bullied by the soldiers!

……

Outside Beijing.

Jizhen Governor Yan Mingtai finally gathered enough field troops. All the battalions of troops from the three associations and twelve routes of Jizhen that could arrive quickly had basically all arrived.

The governor therefore moved his headquarters from Miyun City, 160 miles away, to the eastern city wall of Beijing. Following him came Liu Zhao, the governor of Shuntian, Wang Yingzhi, the deputy envoy of Shuntian, as well as deputy generals and lieutenant generals such as You Shiwei, Wu Zimian, Hou Shilu, You Shilu, and Song Wei, as well as their servants and soldiers.

In the central army tent, Yan Mingtai was pointing at the map near Guangqumen, planning how to defend the city in the next few days.

"Lord Sun has taken over the Shanhaiguan camp troops that set out from Guancheng. They are 40 to 50 miles northeast of Tongzhou. Xuanfu reinforcements are also coming soon, led by Deputy General Wang Guoliang. Datong reinforcements are led by General Yang Zhaoji and will arrive within three days. Baoding Governor Zhang Fengyi is stationed near Yongding Gate with Baoding troops.

Li Ni has not shown up for several days, but the Liao soldiers are still building siege equipment. Once the Shanhaiguan reinforcements arrive, we will surround the Liao soldiers' camp. It doesn't matter if we can't defeat them, as long as we use artillery to disperse the Liao soldiers' camp and destroy their equipment, we will be loyal to the country."

During this year, Marshal Li's tactics had already spread to the northern military towns of Ji, Xuan, and Da. Yan Mingtai knew very well that if he destroyed that special catapult, the reinforcements could be reported to the Ministry of War and the Cabinet in the city.

As long as the Liao soldiers failed to attack the city walls, the civil officials leading the troops could get away with it.

At most, they would be impeached by the dignitaries in the city because the reinforcements failed to protect their farms.

Yan Mingtai had been in Liaozhen and Jizhen for a long time. His proposal took into account the combat effectiveness of the Jizhen soldiers. The generals agreed with this, but there was a small problem.

Who will hold back Marshal Li?
Obviously, according to the strategy of soldier against soldier and general against general, it should be the brothers You Shiwei, Wu Zimian and other generals with higher status who should entangle the Liaodong cavalry and their Marshal Li.

But when Yan Mingtai looked around, he found that there was not a single brave general who stepped forward to challenge Li Ni.

"Brothers of the You family, you two are from the military families of Yulin. In the face of this national crisis, you must not bring disgrace upon the Yulin You family."

The eldest brother of the two brothers of the You family, You Shigong, died in battle outside the city of Shenyang in the first year of the Tianqi reign.

The governor of Ji-Liao who promoted You Shigong was named Yuan Yingtai, from Fengxiang, Shaanxi. The leading civil official at that time was Yan Mingtai, from Luzhou, Nanzhili. The battle also started under the big city, and the opponent was also the Liaodong cavalry.

You Shiwei and others felt that this was a bad omen, not to mention that Marshal Li was notorious and no one wanted to confront him head-on.

Therefore, he said nothing and did not even dare to look the Governor in the eye.

The rest of the people, such as Wu Zimian, Song Wei, etc., were slightly lower in status than the You brothers, not to mention Hou Shilu, who came from a military family of Yulin Hou. It was not their turn to rush to Marshal Li and die, and they did not express any opinions.

As for other civil officials, such as Liu Zhao and Wang Yingzhi, one was worried because he was born into the eunuch party, and the other's brother joined the Liao army, so they didn't want to make any wrong suggestions.

The atmosphere in the military tent became quite strange, and it seemed that whoever spoke would die.

The governor had no other choice. If the generals were pushed too far, they would take their servants with them and the civil officials would not be able to lead the soldiers who were short of food and pay to fight the Liao soldiers. "Then suspend this discussion. Wait until Marshal Sun arrives, or if there is another military order in the city before discussing it."

As soon as the governor said this, the generals in the tent breathed a sigh of relief, the atmosphere changed, and the generals heatedly discussed how to destroy the Liao army camp.

……

At 3 p.m. in the afternoon, General Li, who was escorting Zhu Youjian back to the military camp, had to face a very messy situation.

"During the days when godfather was away, the capital sent a minister of rites to say that he wanted to confer a higher title on godfather, and his name would be Prince Yong, and he would rule Liaodong for generations."

"But the mobilization of troops near the capital has not stopped. To our west is Yan Mingtai and five or six deputy generals. Their strength is probably over 20,000, which is considered the elite of the Central and Western Alliances of Jizhen.

To the northeast are reinforcements from Shanhaiguan, led by old acquaintances Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan, and the general commander seems to be Man Guiman Shuai. The number of troops is unknown, but at least 15,000. To the southwest are Baoding troops, led by Baoding Governor Zhang Fengyi, with about 10,000 troops. They are stationed close to the southern wall of the capital. Which one should we attack first?"

Shang Kexi reported the nearby military intelligence to his godfather.

"Prince Yong? Who are you trying to fool? If I had been crowned a prince two months ago, I would not have been so embarrassed to lead my troops to Beijing to demand payment. At most, I would have gone to Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to collect payment. Now it's a bit late to crown me a prince. I have to pick the weak ones first, so I will naturally attack Zhang Fengyi first. Let's start cooking now and rush to the south wall in the evening to attack the city directly."

After a brief thought, Li Hao decided on a strategy for attacking the city tonight.

He had an impression of the name Zhang Fengyi. According to historical records, after failing to resist the invasion of the Eight Banners, Zhang Fengyi, who was given the title of Minister of War, committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

This person is really weird. He is not afraid of committing suicide, but he is afraid of dying on the battlefield.

All the generals took orders and left, but Wang Xiucai stayed behind to advise: "General, what should we do after we attack the city? If the name is not right, then the words will not flow, and if the words are not flowing, then the matter will not be accomplished. It is better to take the opportunity to capture the capital and directly..."

He made a gesture of putting on a crown.

Li Hao stared at him with great interest until the man became shy.

"I remember that you were a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty. Why did you think of persuading me to take a higher position?"

Wang Yingjun raised his head with a serious face, "I have been walking in the countryside for many years, calling myself a knight-errant. But when I encounter bullies who bully men and women and run rampant in the local area, I am powerless to do anything. I can only use my brother, the deputy envoy, to deal with them. The commander-in-chief is clear about rewards and punishments, and treats tenants and poor people well. He will surely achieve great things."

What he didn't say was that he was disappointed with the Zhu emperors. The current Emperor Tianqi favored Wei Zhongxian, and the next Zhu emperor would most likely be the third son of Emperor Wanli, Prince of Fu Zhu Changxun.

Prince Fu's notoriety was even worse than that of Emperor Tianqi. The people of Henan were miserable because of his misfortunes. All they liked was women's singing and dancing. Wang Yingjun really felt that the Zhu emperors were hopeless.

"I know my own limits on this matter. I haven't entered the city yet today. We'll talk about it after we enter."

Before conquering the elite troops of the eight frontier military garrisons, the Ming Dynasty cannot fall down. During these few months, it needs to raise the banner of the Zhu family to prevent bandits from causing chaos and harming the people.

Wang Yingjun wanted to persuade him again, but was driven away by Li Hao.

"My brother is also dissatisfied with the eunuch party in the court. If the commander-in-chief is interested, he can call me to contact my brother."

Mr. Wang finally suggested.

After finishing their meal, the Liao soldiers, along with more than 5,000 militiamen, marched southwestwards, and after advancing 12 or 13 miles, they reached Zuoanmen at the southeast corner of Beijing.

On the way, they were harassed by a small group of Jizhen soldiers stationed near Guangqumen, but did not encounter their chariot soldiers.

The shape of Zuoanmen is not much different from that of Guangqumen. The tower is five bays wide and three bays deep. From the corner of the wall to the top of the tower, it is nearly eleven zhang high, or 35.2 meters.

But the city wall is only three zhang high, almost nine meters high.

"General, the southern wall of the capital was built by Yan Song. Yan's party embezzled a lot of money from it. The quality of the southern wall is much worse than the northern walls. You can order the civilians to dig the wall at night, which is much faster than you rushing up alone to kill the soldiers."

Mr. Wang made this suggestion before the Liao army deployed their siege weapons.

The city wall of Zuoanmen is a square platform, thirty zhang (about ninety meters) long from north to south, and twenty-six zhang (about eighty meters) wide from east to west.

Horses can run inside the circle of the city wall. Even if Li Hao breaks in, he can only occupy one city gate. He cannot occupy the city wall gate and the main entrance at the same time because the space is too big.

The previous tactic of attacking the city by one man was also not applicable to top cities like Beijing. Without tens of thousands of elite soldiers and even more civilians, it would be impossible to occupy the sixteen gates of the capital.

"Okay, I'll do as you say. I'll go up to the city to kill the Beijing camp's firearms soldiers, and you take the opportunity to dig open the city wall."

Anyway, it is a night battle. No matter how many firearms and cannons the Beijing soldiers have, they are like a blind cat catching a mouse at night. It only counts if they meet by chance.

When everything was ready, Marshal Li climbed to the top of the city wall with the help of a catapult. The Liao soldiers below urged the militia to force their way to the foot of the city and began to chisel at the shoddy city wall built by Lord Yan.

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(End of this chapter)