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

Chapter 642 Xuanfu Attitude
After a day of rest, Zhu Shenzui's army officially attacked the capital the next day.

Zhu Shenzui did not besiege the capital. After all, his troops were insufficient. All together, they numbered less than 20,000. Excluding the troops that had stayed in Baoding and guarded the prisoners, there were less than 12,000 troops that could be deployed for combat.

Therefore, Zhu Shencui took the approach of directly attacking Guang'anmen and You'anmen in the outer city, setting up cannons and bombarding the city walls. The Ming army defending the city put up a stubborn resistance, but due to their poor artillery skills, they were no match for Zhu Shencui's artillery fire. In addition, Zhu Shencui adopted a tactic of concentrated firepower attacks. Not long after the battle began, the Ming army was unable to cope with the pressure, and suffered heavy casualties on the city walls.

At the same time, Zhu Shenzhui's cavalry was also not idle, and they roamed around the gates of the capital, accompanied by the new army gunners pulling artillery carts. This unit did not directly engage the Ming army defending the city. When they saw that the defenses on the top of the city were weak, they fired heavy Portuguese cannons on the cannon carts, not to break the city wall, but to shock and kill. After a few shots, they turned around and ran away without waiting for the opponent to react, and their elusive appearances made the Ming army defending the city miserable.

Not only that, Zhu Shenzui also sent a cavalry and new army to bypass Deshengmen and Andingmen to the north. This force did not directly participate in the attack on the capital, but chose a place to wait quietly.

Sure enough, just one day later, news came from the north that Changping General You Shiwei received an order from the capital to lead his troops back to the capital as soon as possible, but he did not expect to be attacked head-on by Zhu Shenzui's troops before he even reached the vicinity of the capital.

Zhu Shencui directly adopted the tactic of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements. He had been waiting for You Shiwei to come. The army in Changping was the closest reinforcement to the capital. Who else could he attack if not him? You Shiwei's 3,000 Ming troops, whose combat effectiveness was not weak, ran into the encirclement. Under the attack of artillery and rifles, the whole army was instantly in chaos. Before You Shiwei had time to reorganize his troops, Zhu Shencui's cavalry arrived. After a charge, You Shiwei was defeated and most of his troops were annihilated. You Shiwei escaped by chance, but his general flag fell into Zhu Shencui's hands.

After killing You Shiwei's troops, Zhu Shenzhui's army retreated and directly planted You Shiwei's flag outside the city for everyone on the city wall to see. Seeing this flag, the Ming army guarding the city was terrified. No one expected that the reinforcements were gone without even seeing them, and even the flag was lost. Could it be that General You Shiwei had died in the battle?

The reinforcements were annihilated, the morale of the defenders in the capital plummeted, and everyone was in a panic. At this time, Zhu Shenzhui's army continued to maintain an oppressive fighting style, and did not resort to a battle to climb the city. Instead, it used concentrated firepower to continuously attack in order to kill and injure.

At the same time, Zhu Shenzui also had people shoot arrows into the city from all directions, and sent soldiers with loud voices outside the city to shout and persuade them to surrender, explaining the reasons for the uprising, and informing them that the captured nobles and eunuchs in the Beijing camp had turned from darkness to light and actively participated in the Jingnan Army. If they continued to be stubborn, they would know the consequences after the city was broken.

That was not all. Zhu Shenzhui also brought several nobles with him, had them put on their horses and put on their armor, and personally took a circle in front of the battle line. The soldiers guarding the city were all soldiers from the Beijing camp. When they saw their superiors riding horses outside the city and following the shouting enemy troops to persuade them to surrender, they were completely upset. Seeing this scene, they all looked distracted and didn't know what to do. Their morale plummeted.

This incident was too big, and the people below didn't dare to report it. After all, if such a thing happened in the Beijing camp, if the officials in the court or even the emperor investigated, they would not be able to explain. For now, they could only keep it secret, but everyone knew that they couldn't keep it secret for long, and the news would eventually get out.

The short three days passed quickly. Although these three days were short, they seemed extremely long to the people in the capital.

Within three days, there was constant artillery fire outside the city, with shells fired from outside the city into the city from time to time, killing and wounding countless people. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui's mobile troops appeared in various cities from time to time, their whereabouts were erratic, and they would suddenly fire a few shells and then run away.

Although the lethality is not great, those who are hit will be seriously disabled if not killed, and doing so is particularly disgusting. To put it in one sentence, the harm is not great, but the insult is extremely strong.

In order to change this situation, the defenders thought of ways to deal with it. On one occasion, they even made arrangements in advance and took the initiative to attack in an attempt to disperse the roaming enemy troops outside the city.

But Zhu Shenzui had already anticipated this. He had made preparations in advance on the periphery of the roaming army and deliberately showed weakness to lure the enemy into a trap. When the Ming army in the city left the city, the army behind joined forces with the roaming troops to directly counterattack. In no time, they beat the enemy and forced them to flee back into the city with most of their losses, and never dared to show up again.

The war made the defenders of the capital very frustrated. Even when Huang Taiji was at the gates of the city, this kind of fighting style was not so difficult to deal with. In the palace, Emperor Chongzhen was even more anxious, especially when he heard that the reinforcements in Changping had disappeared. Emperor Chongzhen was furious and cursed You Shiwei for his incompetence, urging all departments to urge the troops from all over the country to come to the rescue as soon as possible.

But even so, it would be impossible for the troops to arrive in a short time. Even if the nearest Xuanda army arrived, it would take at least ten days or half a month. Counting the time from the issuance of the decree to now, the decree to the king has just arrived in Xuanda, and as for those farther away, they are probably still on the way.

As the situation worsened, the mentality of the civil and military officials in the court also changed. In particular, when those officials who had read the manifesto learned that the people who started the rebellion were actually members of the Ming royal family and were under the banner of "pacifying the rebellion", they had different thoughts in their minds.

Some people still insisted on defending the city, some suggested sending people out of the city to negotiate, some people saw an opportunity in it, thinking that this might be a chance to rise to fame overnight, and some people scolded Zhu Shencui for being a disloyal minister and a traitor. There were many different opinions, but one thing was certain, that is, the situation was already very unfavorable.

Xuanfu is an important town among the nine frontiers, and it is also the closest town to the capital among the nine frontiers of the Ming Dynasty.

In the general's mansion, Hei Yunlong, the general of Xuanfu, was sitting upright, and on his left and right were his two sons, the second son Hei Mingde and the third son Hei Mingren.

Hei Yunlong had seven sons. The seventh son, Hei Minglian, was still young. The eldest son, Hei Mingdao, was in his hometown in Shanxi. The fourth and sixth sons served in the army in Datong Town. In addition to the second and third sons, the fifth son, Hei Mingzhong, who was his most beloved, was also in Xuanfu with him.

There was a sound of footsteps. Hei Yunlong looked up and saw Hei Mingzhong walking in quickly.

"Father!" "Have you arranged the people?"

"Father, everything has been arranged." Hei Mingzhong bowed.

"Please sit down." Hei Yunlong waved his hand, and Hei Mingzhong sat down below his second brother Hei Mingde on his left, with his hands on his knees, sitting upright.

"There are no outsiders here, only the four of us, father and son." Hei Yunlong said after Hei Mingzhong sat down.

The three sons perked up and listened to Hei Yunlong speak.

"The imperial court has issued an order to send troops to the capital as soon as possible to help the king and relieve the siege of the capital. What do you think of this?"

After these words came out, the three people had different expressions. The third oldest, Hei Mingren, was the first to speak. He said, "Since the imperial court has issued an imperial decree, father should obey it and dispatch troops to the capital as soon as possible to relieve the siege of the capital."

"What about you? What do you two think?" Hei Yunlong remained expressionless and turned to ask the second and fifth brothers.

The second brother, Hei Mingde, said solemnly, "Ordinarily, we should do as Third Brother said, but we received news the day before yesterday that General You Shiwei of Changping was badly defeated, and most of his troops were killed. Even You Shiwei was almost trapped in the battle array and barely escaped. Now the capital is in danger, and the enemy army is different from ordinary ones. You Shiwei is also a fierce general. Even he was defeated so easily. I'm afraid the siege of the capital is not so easy to resolve. Although my Xuanfu troops are much stronger than the Changping troops, I am not completely sure. In my opinion, it is better to wait for the Datong troops to arrive and then send troops together, which will be more certain."

Hei Yunlong nodded slightly. He had to admit that his second son was better than the third son, and his military judgment was much more stable. A general is not afraid of anything else, but he is afraid of not being cautious and not considering things comprehensively. Going to war with passion alone is just reckless courage. Fighting is not about personal force. Once you go wrong, you will be doomed.

"What about the fifth son? Tell me." Hei Yunlong looked at Hei Mingzhong with expectation in his eyes. This son was the one he favored the most and the one who was most like him.

Hei Mingzhong did not express his opinion like his two brothers. Instead, he asked, "Father, what do you think if we do nothing?"

"Fifth brother! Are you crazy?" As soon as the words fell, the third brother Hei Mingren could not help but said, "The imperial court has issued an order for our troops to rush to the throne and not to move. How dare you say this? Do you know that this is disobeying the imperial order? If the imperial court investigates, not only will you be held accountable, but even your father will not be able to escape responsibility, and my Hei family will be even more..."

"That's enough!" Hei Mingren was interrupted by Hei Yunlong before he could say anything. Hei Yunlong didn't look angry at all, and instead asked Hei Mingzhong why he asked to keep the troops in place.

Hei Mingzhong spoke frankly and said immediately that this time the army attacking the capital was different from the previous ones. Not only was it led by a member of the Ming royal family, but it also raised the banner of clearing the court and pacifying the national crisis. Moreover, this army was extremely powerful. It first easily captured Baoding, then annihilated 30,000 Beijing troops, and then launched a fierce attack on the capital. It was able to withdraw a part of its force and forced Changping General You Shiwei to flee in a panic in just half a day. The entire Changping army suffered heavy losses.

Although the Xuanfu Army is stronger than the Changping Army, its strength is limited, and the number of troops in Xuanfu is not large. Hei Yunlong can only dispatch about 5,000 troops for rescue. Whether these 5,000 people can rescue the capital when they arrive is not to be discussed for the time being. If a real fight breaks out, they may not be the opponent.

Moreover, the current situation is very delicate. To put it bluntly, the Zhu family is struggling. It will take at least five or six days to rush from Xuanfu to the capital. If the victory or defeat of the capital has been decided by the time they get there, Hei Yunlong will be in an awkward situation. Should he fight? Or retreat? Or something else? None of them are easy to deal with.

From Hei Mingzhong's point of view, he agreed with his second brother's plan. At least they had to wait for the Datong Army to arrive before they could send troops together. Even so, they would still face the problems mentioned above. After thinking about it, it would be more appropriate to keep the troops in place for the time being and wait and see what happens in the capital.

In addition, Hei Mingzhong had something else to say, that is, he and his father Hei Yunlong had already received the letter sent by Zhu Shenzhui. Zhu Shenzhui's messenger arrived two days earlier than the angel of the court. When Baoding was captured and the main force of the Beijing Camp was annihilated, Zhu Shenzhui's messenger was on the way.

Zhu Shenzui's letter was very clear. He not only told Heilongyun and his son his true identity, but also told them the reason for this uprising. In addition, Zhu Shenzui also hoped that Heilongyun and his son would not obey Chongzhen's orders, join his camp, join forces with him to raise an army and cut off the main road leading to the capital.

As long as he did this, Hei Yunlong would have done a great deed after the success. With their years of friendship, he would definitely be reused. Even if Hei Yunlong was worried that Zhu Shenzhui could not do it, as long as Hei Yunlong delayed the time or slowed down the pace of the march, Zhu Shenzhui would be grateful.

The second and third sons were unaware of these things. Only Hei Yunlong and Hei Mingzhong knew about the situation between Hei Yunlong and Zhu Shenzhui, and the other sons kept it a secret. When they received the letter, Hei Yunlong and his sons were shocked. They never thought that Zhu Shenzhui would do such a thing, and it would get to this point.

Hei Yunlong had guessed about Zhu Shenzhui's identity before, but he had doubts but never confirmed it, and he never thought about the royal family. But today, he finally knew who Zhu Shenzhui was. In addition to being shocked, he couldn't help but admire him.

(End of this chapter)