Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 512 Fall
Zhu Shenzhui could not refuse Wang Rong's kindness, although he trusted Hei Yunlong, and would never reveal his identity even if Hei Yunlong really knew it. But Wang Rong was right, even if Hei Yunlong himself was trustworthy, no one could be sure whether Hei Yunlong's subordinates were trustworthy. It was fine before, but now that he was leading troops to defend the king, it would be more appropriate to unite the troops for safety reasons.

In this way, Zhu Shenzhui adopted Wang Rong's suggestion and directly joined forces with Wang Rong's guards. Of course, he informed Hei Yunlong of this matter before the joint forces, and Hei Yunlong did not think much about it, because he had long known that Zhu Shenzhui had a connection with Luzhou Guards. Since the Luzhou Guards' loyal army had arrived, it was natural for Zhu Shenzhui to join forces with Luzhou Guards.

Following Wang Rong were several old people from Wangjia Village. Since Wang Rong took office in the garrison, he had brought some trustworthy old people from Wangjia Village to the garrison one after another. Over the years, he had promoted them through various means and placed them in various departments of the garrison. They could be regarded as his confidants.

In addition, Li Hu from Yangtou Mountain and Lu Yisheng from Zhaowuling also came. The two of them had already held the position of centurions. When they learned that Wang Rong was mobilizing troops to defend the king and that Zhu Shenzhui was now in the capital, Li Hu and the others insisted on coming with him. Wang Rong felt that there might be a big battle when they arrived in the capital. Li Hu and Lu Yisheng were not only his own people, but also brave and good at fighting, so he decided to bring them along.

After joining forces, Zhu Shenzhui soon met Li Hu and Lu Yisheng and was very happy to see them. After a brief meeting and informing them of the current situation, he asked them to temporarily settle the soldiers and reorganize the camp, and the rest would be discussed later.

After working until the evening, everything was finally settled, and Wang Rong was relieved. After a simple dinner, after sending Wang Jinwu and others away, Wang Rong and Zhu Shenzhui were the only two people in the tent. Without outsiders, Wang Rong lowered his voice and asked Zhu Shenzhui.

"Tell your uncle the truth, do you have any other plans for this visit?"

"What plan?" Zhu Shenzhui was stunned for a moment and didn't know what Wang Rong was referring to.

Wang Rong glared at him, wanting to say something but stopping himself. He raised his hand and pointed towards the north, then lowered his voice again and said, "You don't plan to take advantage of the situation to go to the capital to do something, do you?"

Zhu Shenzhui burst out laughing when he heard this, and shook his head, saying, "Uncle, what are you thinking? How can I do such a big thing so easily? Besides, it's impossible for me to do it with the people I have!"

Wang Rong breathed a sigh of relief, and then he said with relief: "It's good that you don't have such an idea. I came all the way here not only because I was worried about your safety, but also because I was afraid that you would get hot-headed and act on impulse."

"It's my nephew's fault. I'm sorry to have made you worried..."

Wang Rong waved his hand and said, "It's natural to worry. I'm your uncle. Your parents passed away long ago. Your uncle is as important as the sky. If I don't take care of you, who else can? You have been sensible and independent-minded since you were young. I know what you have been planning these years. But there are some things that should not be done lightly unless it is absolutely necessary. You have to pay attention to this. Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. If you are not absolutely sure, you have to be cautious in everything."

"When Emperor Taizu started his army, it was during the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Many heroes emerged throughout the world at that time, and there were many heroes who were stronger than Emperor Taizu. Do you know why others failed to succeed in the end and instead allowed Emperor Taizu to seize the world?" Wang Rong seemed to be asking Zhu Shenzhui, but also seemed to be asking himself.

He continued, "Zhu Sheng gave Emperor Taizu nine words back then. These nine words are to build high walls, store up food, and slowly claim the throne! It was because of these nine words that Emperor Taizu was able to defeat his opponents step by step, and eventually achieve his imperial career, which led to the Ming Dynasty today!"

"Although times have changed, these nine words are still applicable today. Over the years, our Ming Dynasty has been in chaos, especially since the current emperor ascended the throne. Rebellions have broken out in various places, and chaos has arisen in the court. Now even the Jian Nu have come to the capital. How can this continue?"

"You are a descendant of Taizu, a legitimate member of the royal family. If you want to achieve something, you must remember these nine words. You must plan everything carefully before you act, and you must not act rashly. Do you understand?"

"Nephew knows. Thank you uncle for reminding me!" Zhu Shenzhui stood up, bowed solemnly to Wang Rong, and answered respectfully.

Seeing Zhu Shenzui's sincere attitude and no evasiveness in his eyes, Wang Rong finally felt relieved and stroked his short beard and nodded slightly.

Wang Rong knew exactly what Zhu Shenzhui had been doing and what his son Wang Jinwu had been doing over the years, and of course he understood Zhu Shenzhui's thoughts. As Zhu Shenzhui's uncle, Wang Rong could be said to be the person Zhu Shenzhui was closest to and trusted the most in the world. Wang Rong also hoped that his nephew could succeed.

But even if you think so, you have to consider the reality. Wang Rong is worried that Zhu Shenzhui will be impulsive, and some things will go wrong if he is impulsive. In fact, Wang Rong's worry is not unreasonable. To be honest, when Zhu Shenzhui brought Wang Jinwu and Li You to the capital, he originally just wanted to take this opportunity to feel the combat effectiveness of Huang Taiji's Eight Banners and the situation of the Ming army, and he didn't have any other ideas.

However, as the war situation continued to change, especially after Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, Zu Dashou left the capital with the Guanning Army in anger. At that time, Zhu Shenzhui did have an idea in his mind, which was to take advantage of the opportunity to enter the city, and if possible, take over the palace in one fell swoop and replace it.

However, this idea just popped up and was quickly rejected by Zhu Shenzhui because the possibility of success of doing so was too small.

Not to mention whether he could lead his troops into the city, you have to know that even Yuan Chonghuan and Man Gui were unable to lead their troops into the city.

Yuan Chonghuan did ask to lead his troops into the city, but was directly rejected by Emperor Chongzhen. For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen suspected whether Yuan Chonghuan had any bad intentions.

Even if they could enter the city, they would not be able to accomplish anything big with such a small number of people. Even if Zhu Shenzhui's new army and cavalry were very powerful, there were other troops in the capital besides the Beijing Garrison with tens of thousands of people, including the Jinyiwei, the Imperial Stables, the East Factory and other military or paramilitary organizations. The total number of people was not small, and it was impossible to suppress them directly.

Even if they managed to break into the palace and capture Emperor Chongzhen, what would happen? The Ming court was no pushover. Would the civil officials and military officers just give up? If they mobilized the army to counterattack, would Zhu Shenzhu be able to stop them with just a few men?
Furthermore, Huang Taiji was still eyeing the Ming Dynasty covetously, and there were also troops coming from all over the country to support the emperor. Doing this would not only put himself in opposition to the entire Ming Dynasty, but would also give Huang Taiji's Eight Banners soldiers an opportunity to take advantage of the situation and turn the Ming Dynasty upside down.

Therefore, Zhu Shenzhui just thought about this idea, and he rejected it immediately after it came up. Although Emperor Chongzhen was not very good, his legal status as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was undisputed, and the Ming Dynasty was not yet at the point where the gods were angry and the people were resentful. Even if there were wars everywhere and foreign enemies were invading, the Ming court still had control over the local areas, and Emperor Chongzhen's authority as an emperor was still there. Zhu Shenzhui would definitely not be able to succeed if he took action now.

Although Wang Rong knew that Zhu Shenzhui had a steady personality, he still reminded him of this, mainly because he was worried that he would get carried away and act impulsively. Seeing that Zhu Shenzhui really had no such plan, Wang Rong was completely relieved and turned to talk about other things.

A few days after Wang Rong arrived in the capital, many troops from all over the country arrived to support the king. At this time, the battlefield was far away from the capital and moved to the line from Jizhou to Zunhua.

Soon news came from the north that after Huang Taiji dealt with Liu Xingzuo, he led his troops to attack Yongping City. When Huang Taiji's Eight Banners soldiers arrived at Yongping City and began to cut down trees along the river to make ladders to attack Yongping, Zheng Guochang, who was stationed in Yongping City as an inspector, was terrified and hurriedly assembled his troops to resist. At this time, Zheng Guochang finally reaped the fruits of his own action because he had refused Liu Xingzuo's entry into the city, which resulted in Liu Xingzuo having to deal with the Jiannu outside the city and eventually falling into a trap and being defeated and killed.

Now that Liu Xingzuo is dead, Yongping City has no friendly forces to assist in the battle except the city guards. After killing Liu Xingzuo, the Jiannu no longer has any concerns about attacking Yongping. When the Eight Banners soldiers concentrated their forces to attack Yongping, especially the previously captured Ming army deputy general Ma Dengyun who had been surrendered by Huang Taiji, in order to perform better in front of his new master, Ma Dengyun suddenly became the vanguard of the Jiannu. He pointed the knife in his hand directly at his former colleagues, and led his troops fearlessly to attack Yongping first, forcing the defenders of Yongping to retreat step by step.

In less than half a day, Yongping City was in danger. Lieutenant General Yang Chun and Central Army General Zhao Biaozhong were killed in battle on the city walls one after another. Ma Dengyun led the Jiannu troops directly to the top of the city walls. As more and more Jiannu troops climbed up the city walls, Yongping could no longer be defended.

When the news of the fall of the city came, Zheng Guochang knew that the situation was hopeless, and in anger he hanged himself with his family. After Zheng Guochang's death, the fighting in the city did not stop. He taught Zhao Yunzhi to lead his students and the people to continue the resistance. Unfortunately, their resistance did not last long. After Zhao Yunzhi was killed in the battle, this weak resistance was suppressed by the Jiannu.

After the city was captured, Huang Taiji led his troops directly into the city, counted the money and grain in the city, and seized 10,000 shi of military rations and more than 20,000 taels of silver.

In addition, Huang Taiji also looted the city extensively and seized countless spoils, which directly solved the problem of insufficient military rations in the Eight Banners Army.

It's sad to say, just these 3000 dan of military rations were enough to feed more than troops for a whole year, and the troops of Yongping City and Liu Xingzuo combined were only nearly people. According to this number of people, dan of food would definitely be enough to feed them for three or four months. But Zheng Guochang refused to let Liu Xingzuo enter the city, which eventually led to Liu Xingzuo's death.

After Liu Xingzuo's death, Huang Taiji conquered Yongping. Zheng Guochang and his family did not benefit from it, but all the grain and silver fell into the hands of Huang Taiji.

(End of this chapter)