Travel back in time and become Chongzhen, watch me turn the tide

Following Lou Guangxian's order, the soldiers behind him instantly went on alert, bowstrings were taut, swords were unsheathed, and the scene suddenly became tense, as if the air had frozen.

The Feng family's retainers were naturally not to be outdone. Although they were fewer in number, they had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and each one was an elite soldier. They stood tall and straight, their eyes resolute, and they didn't take the soldiers guarding the city seriously at all.

"Lord Lou, you have such great authority!" Feng Yuanyang said in a calm tone without changing his expression, but a hint of disdain flashed in his eyes.

Feng Yuanyang was a man of integrity and integrity, and he always despised those who curry favor with the powerful. Although he was ill and had not been involved in military and political affairs for a long time, his inherent arrogance had never dissipated.

"Why, do you want to attack me?"

"Sir Feng, it's not that I want to attack you! But if you insist on leaving, I will offend you..." Lou Guangxian bowed, with a fierce look flashing in the corner of his eyes!

"Zhang Qian, Gao Yan, do you two think so too?" Feng Yuanyang did not respond to Lou Guangxian's words, but turned his gaze to the two captains behind him and asked.

"Sir, I... dare not!" The two captains named by Feng Yuanyang had complicated expressions and bowed their heads slightly.

Although these two captains were not Feng Yuanyang's confidants, Feng Yuanyang was grateful to them for their help. Moreover, they knew Feng Yuanyang's character very well and had both respect and some fear for him.

"Are you two going to disobey orders?" Seeing the hesitation on the faces of the two men, Lou Guangxian's expression suddenly darkened. He turned to look at the two captains behind him, with a hint of threat in his tone.

"General, Lord Feng just wants to go home. I think we should let him go..." Zhang Qian pondered for a moment and advised.

"Yes, please help me, General!" Gao Yan also echoed and advised.

The two men were actually somewhat dissatisfied with Lou Guangxian's insistence on stopping Feng Yuanyang's convoy. At this time when disaster was imminent, people did not want to surrender to the Dashun Army and just wanted to return to their hometown. Why did they have to stop them?

Moreover, Zhang Qian and Gao Yan were veteran generals in the army, and they had loyal soldiers and generals under their command, so they had no fear of Lou Guangxian.

"This..." When Lou Guangxian heard the two of them say this, his expression became uncertain and he was secretly calculating in his heart.

Feng Yuanyang was the governor of Tianjin, in charge of Tianjin's military and political power. However, he had been in poor health in the past two years and had been submitting letters of resignation to return home due to illness. Only then did the military power fall into their hands.

Zhang Qian and Gao Yan were originally Feng Yuanyang's subordinates, and they still have respect for Feng Yuanyang. And these people are not people he can easily command...

In fact, the reason why they did not want to let Feng Yuanyang leave was that neither he nor Yuan Yuzong wanted to be blamed for surrendering to the Dashun regime.

Although it was destiny, surrendering to the Dashun Dynasty was not a glorious thing after all.

The two of them planned to drag Feng Yuanyang into the water. After all, he was a civil official. If he was criticized by those scholars in the future, Feng Yuanyang could take the blame for them.

But in the current situation, he had to keep Feng Yuanyang, and a fight was inevitable. If Zhang Qian and Gao Yan did not support him, the soldiers under his command really could not beat Feng Yuanyang's elite servants!

"Since the two captains have guaranteed it, I will become a sinner if I insist... Open the city gate and let them go!" Lou Guangxian looked at Zhang Qian and Gao Yan, said with a smile on his face.

"Thank you all for your help!"

This was not the time to talk about friendship. Feng Yuanyang bowed to Lou Guangxian, nodded to Zhang Qian and Gao Yan, and led the way out of the city.

Only when they were far away from Tianjin City and met up with the people waiting outside did Chongzhen feel relieved.

"I'm sorry to have frightened Your Majesty..." Feng Yuanyang looked at Tianjin City in the distance, sighed, and said, "Now that they've heard something's happening in the capital, these people are already plotting a way out. How hateful!"

"A scholar dies for his remonstration, a warrior dies for his battle, the Son of Heaven guards the country's gates, the King dies for the nation's sake. This is the Ming dynasty's adherence and bottom line." Chongzhen sighed and said, "It's a pity that I haven't lived up to it since the beginning. What reason do I have to ask you, my ministers?"

After hearing Chongzhen's words, Feng Yuanyang was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but secretly glance at him.

You have to know that this is not the character of Emperor Chongzhen in the past. Now he can actually say such words. Could it be that the fall of Beijing has changed him? If so, it is a blessing for the Ming Dynasty!

Feng Yuanyang was deeply loyal to the Ming Dynasty and had always longed for a wise ruler to lead it out of its predicament. At this moment, he saw that Chongzhen seemed to have changed, and a glimmer of hope ignited in his heart.

Tianjin City is more than a hundred miles away from the seaside. Because of the Feng family's family members, they did not walk fast. Even if they tried their best to hurry, it would take at least a day to reach the seaside.

Fortunately, Lou Guangxian did not want to make things difficult for them. Seeing that Tianjin City was already out of sight in the distance and no one was chasing them, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lord Feng, how long does it take to travel from Tianjin to Nanjing by sea?" Chongzhen asked.

"If we don't encounter bad weather, it will take at least ten days, at most twenty." Feng Yuanyang thought for a moment and said, "In times of peace, people usually traveled to Nanjing by land and water along the Grand Canal. This sea transport was mainly used for grain transport, so I haven't traveled this sea route many times..."

"The 20th..." Chongzhen frowned.

The fall of Beijing took place on March 19th.

Historically, Fengyang Governor Ma Shiying and the four commanderies of Jiangbei, Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, Liu Zeqing and others went to Huai'an to welcome Prince Fu Zhu Yousong on April 26th.

Of course, as long as Prince Fu did not ascend the throne, if Chongzhen appeared, the Ming Dynasty would still be his emperor. This is the advantage of being orthodox.

But once Prince Fu ascends the throne, things will be hard to say... It hasn't been long since our ancestor Zhu Qizhen's "Change of the Gate"!

But now it seems that there is still time to return to Nanjing and stabilize the court.

However, if we want to stabilize the situation militarily, the next period of time is very important!

Historically, because of Wu Sangui's rebellion, Li Zicheng personally led his troops to attack Shanhaiguan. However, with the help of the Qing army, Li Zicheng was defeated at Shanhaiguan on April 25, and then began to retreat all the way.

After failing to pursue Li Zicheng, the Qing army returned to Beijing. However, they did not take the opportunity to launch a full-scale attack. Instead, they expanded their territory by recruiting surrenders and rebels. It was not until July that they began to make tentative advances southward.

So between May and July, the area between Beijing and Nanjing became a no-man's land.

First, officials from Dashun took over. After Li Zicheng was defeated, the Qing Dynasty sent people to persuade him to surrender. In a panic, local officials were wavering, waiting for the right price!

However, during this period, most local officials were still loyal to the Ming Dynasty. After all, the Ming Dynasty was the orthodox one.

It is a pity that the Southern Ming court in history was in constant internal strife over who should be the emperor, and after the establishment of the Hongguang court, it was even more internally consumed, wasting the best time. It did not manage the defense line to guard Nanjing well, and when the Qing army went south, it naturally had no power to fight back!

So the first thing to do when arriving in Nanjing was to arrange officials to go north to recover lost territory.

Just when Chongzhen was thinking about what to do next, suddenly a burst of rapid horse hoof sounds came from the front!

Chongzhen was startled and looked up, only to find that a team of more than 50 cavalrymen were galloping towards him from a distance.

"It's the bandit's cavalry!" Li Ruolian shouted in a low voice from the side.

The invading knights were all wearing red arrow clothes, covered with leather armor, and white felt hats with red tassels on their heads. They were obviously cavalrymen of the Dashun Army!

"Why are there bandits here?" Chongzhen asked in confusion.

"I think they're scouts from the rebel vanguard!" Li Ruolian said after a careful inspection. "They all ride two horses each. They must be elite scouts from the rebel army. It looks like they're heading for Tianjin City..."

"That's not right. If they were heading for Tianjin City, they shouldn't have come here..." Chongzhen shook his head and said, "Can you tell whose subordinates these are?"

"The leader is Li Laiheng," the dog that followed Chongzhen suddenly said, "He's Li Guo's adopted son. He's brave in battle and often personally leads his troops deep into dangerous areas..."

"Li Laiheng?" Chongzhen's eyes lit up when he heard the name. He looked at Gou'er and asked, "How did you know it was him?"

"I work under Li Guo. Li Laiheng is one of Li Guo's most valued adopted sons. Of course I recognize him." Gou'er said with a pout.

"I see." Chongzhen knew that Gou'er was a cunning young man, full of tricks and cunning minds, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to sneak into the logistics camp at such a young age. He said he knew him, so of course he was right.

Li Laiheng! This was one of the most famous anti-Qing generals in the Southern Ming Dynasty. It took a Qing army of 100,000 to completely destroy him. In the final decisive battle, Li Laiheng refused to surrender, and his entire family was martyred, shedding his last drop of blood for the Ming Dynasty.

"Can you capture this general?"