Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 63 I took off my shirt with the general

"Kechen..."

"There is no need to say more, Changbo. You deserve the title of Duke!" Zhu Youjian interrupted Wu Sangui again.

He waved his hand behind him, and two young eunuchs came out carrying the Duke's bestowed robes and golden seal.

Zhu Youjian walked up to Wu Sangui with a smile.

First, take off the imperial sword from his waist to prevent Wu Sangui from taking desperate measures.

Then he took off Wu Sangui's armor.

"Come, I will take off the battle robe with the general."

Watching the armor scales on his body being peeled off piece by piece, Wu Sangui knew that he would not get what he wanted unless he worked harder.

He was neatly dressed in a scarlet dragon robe, with a qilin embroidered with gold thread that was brighter than Zhu Youjian's clothes. He reached out to take the golden seal of the Duke.

Wu Sangui kowtowed deeply, "I thank God for His grace!"

"My dear minister, please stand up." Zhu Youjian smiled and whispered softly, "I heard that Changbo loves the scenery of West Lake the most. After the rebels retreat, I will tidy up the imperial farm near Leifeng Pagoda so that Changbo can rest well."

The imperial edict was issued in court. The emperor's words were golden. If Wu Sangui wanted to argue again, he would be guilty of deceiving the emperor and disobeying his orders. He could not bear such a charge.

After all, his base in Liaodong is also based on court etiquette and laws.

But his efforts in Liaodong were not in vain. Since he could not defend the Guanning Army, he had to defend these 30,000 cavalry!
"Your Majesty, there are still seven lieutenant generals and over thirty thousand households in the Guanning Army. They are all my brothers who have followed me for more than ten years. I hope Your Majesty can treat them well!"

"Don't worry about that, Duke Ji." Zhu Youjian casually tossed the Imperial Sword to Wang Chengen, "I won't treat any meritorious official unfairly."

The matter was done and everything that needed to be said had been said. Seeing that the emperor was indifferent to his threat, Wu Sangui was too lazy to say anything more.

After saying goodbye with Wu Xiang, he left the Qianqing Palace.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the sound of the clappers penetrated the palace walls.

Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui walked out of the Meridian Gate.

The former's eyes were full of regret.

"If I hadn't pushed you back then, you wouldn't have ended up with only the title of Duke."

If it were an ordinary year, Wu Xiang and the others would definitely be ecstatic if they were conferred the title of Duke.

You should know that even when Taizu founded the country and Chengzu quelled the rebellion, the title of duke was only bestowed on less than 20 people.

Being granted the title of Duke would make me die without regrets.

Unfortunately, it is a chaotic time now, and having soldiers is the kingly way in chaotic times.

Wu Sangui looked very confident.

"Your Majesty, do you really think that by transferring me away, you can take control of the Guanning Army?"

"Hmph, that's ridiculous."

"Don't worry, father. His Majesty will come to ask my father and me for help within a few days."

"What do you mean?" Wu Xiang was stunned.

Wu Sangui did not explain and waved his hand to call a personal soldier.

"Immediately issue an order to all camps: All officers above the rank of 1,000 households are prohibited from accepting any…"

The words stopped abruptly.

Fifty steps away, I saw forty or fifty generals walking towards the Jinshui Bridge.

Wu Sangui's eyes went dark and he fell down while holding onto the white marble railing.

He recognized these faces, the cavalry battalion, the firearms battalion, and even the personal guards were among them.

Each person had a brand new bronze badge of governor hanging on his belt.

Everyone walked towards the imperial city in a playful manner, and when they looked up, they saw Wu Sangui with a dark face.

The captain of the imperial guards was stunned, "Master?" "What Master? You should call him Duke!" The captain of the cavalry battalion laughed and hammered at the captain of the imperial guards, then turned to Wu Sangui and said, "Congratulations, Duke, on your honor... ahem..."

Before he could finish his words, Wu Sangui, with an extremely gloomy face, grabbed his neck.

The latter then discovered that this confidant who had followed him for ten years was actually wearing the scarlet official uniform of a fourth-rank military officer.

He couldn't help but roar, "Who allowed you to leave the camp without permission!?"

The captain was a little stunned by the scolding, "No... didn't the Lord order us to come to the Forbidden City to receive the reward?"

"When did I..." Wu Sangui was so angry that he almost hacked everyone to death on the spot.

But when he thought about it, even he himself didn't expect that the emperor would set up a trap, so it was even more impossible for his subordinates to think of it.

But he didn't expect the emperor to act so quickly, and even his own generals were trapped by the emperor.

That... is bad!
A very bad premonition came over him, and he looked at the captain and hurriedly asked, "Where are the 30,000 cavalry now!?"

"Everything has been settled," the captain shuddered. "The Beijing camp has divided into twenty camps, saying they're 'stationed and defending each other'."

A gust of spring breeze blew by, and Wu Sangui let go of his hand weakly.

The emperor was really good at using tactics. In just half a day, he split up the 30,000-strong army, turning him into a mere duke in name only.

"Look, father!" Seeing Wu Sangui frowning, his adopted son Wu Guocheng raised the gilded silver plate like a treasure and said, "The Ministry of War has filled the position of Lieutenant General of Xuanfu for me! When the time comes, I can join..."

"Shut up!" Wu Sangui raised his hand and slapped the silver medal, which flew out and hit the incense burner on the side of the road.

"Get out! Get back to the camp!" Wu Sangui kicked the captain to the ground.

The generals knelt hurriedly, shouting, "Duke, calm down."

But the word "Duke" sounded so unpleasant to Wu Sangui's ears.

"Get out of here! As long as we can get back to the camp, we will immediately take control of the army. No one is allowed to enter the camp. Everything must be done according to my orders! Hurry up!!!"

Because of the long-term power, no one dared to disobey, and they crawled back.

Only after the last captain disappeared from the official road did Wu Xiang pick up the transfer order left on the ground.

The words "allocated to Jizhen" and "redeemed to Datong" were written all over the rice paper.

"It's all over." Wu Sangui hunched his back, and his official hat had tilted to his ears without him noticing.

If it turned out as he expected, by the time the generals rushed back to the camp, the army had already been taken over by people appointed by the emperor.

Wu Xiang was still a little bit unconvinced and couldn't help asking, "Aren't our main forces still rushing to Tianjin? Quickly send orders over there, telling them not to accept the imperial decree!"

Wu Sangui shook his head. "It's too late. Not to mention whether our personal guards can leave the city, even if they can, do you think that if the emperor can give orders to the cavalry in my name, he can't give orders to the main force?"

"I'm afraid there are already fast horses leaving with a note asking the Guanning Army to support the capital."

……

Just as Wu Sangui guessed.

After Wu Sangui returned home, Zhu Youjian implemented multiple operations and sent fast horses to order the Guanning Army to support the capital.

The 30,000 cavalrymen in the city, from the rank of centurion and above, were replaced by candidates with better performance in the new army.

The commander of the army was Cheng De, the head of the Ministry of War, who had performed outstandingly in defending the city last night.

After Duke Yingguo Zhang Shize recovered from his injury, Zhu Youjian planned to let the two of them jointly command the 30,000 new troops.

Zhang Shize is brave, Chengde is wise, and they are both loyal, which makes them a perfect match.

With these 30,000 cavalry, plus 10,000 elite soldiers and 50,000 new troops, the capital has managed to gather an army of 100,000!
Although it is still far behind Li Zicheng's 700,000-strong army, the actual combat effectiveness is not much different.

Not to mention the 400,000 to 500,000 refugees among the rebel army, they can be defeated with just one charge from the cavalry.

After a series of battles, the 200,000 surrendered soldiers were captured by Zhu Youjian, leaving only 150,000 to 160,000 soldiers at most.

If we can give the new army some combat power attributes, we should be able to hold it off.

Only the most critical 50,000 soldiers from the old camp are the focus that Zhu Youjian needs to consider!
(End of this chapter)