Chapter 168: Worshiping the Ancestral Tombs from afar

After the escort division and the soldiers of the Second Army cleared the battlefield, they went to the camp of rogue bandits and started searching. After a while, the sergeant came to report that dozens of girls were found in the camp.

Zhu Cizheng, surrounded by generals, walked towards the rogue camp. Dozens of crying girls were brought over by the militia sergeants. When they saw Zhu Cizhen, the girls all knelt on the ground.

Zhu Cixuan knew clearly that Zhang Xianzhong's bandits were eager to escape and did not have time to deal with these girls. Fortunately, these girls survived.

Zhu Cixuan asked: "Folks, don't be afraid, Thief Zhang has been defeated by our army.

Where are your hometowns?"

Several bolder girls said one after another that they were basically kidnapped from nearby counties and counties by Zhang Xianzhong's troops.

Zhu Cizhen felt pity for these young girls who were like floating ducks in troubled times, and sighed: "In today's troubled times, bandits are doing evil. Now that the bandits have been defeated, you all should go home as soon as possible.

Captain Duan, give each of them 5 taels of silver as a means of getting home."

The girls were so moved that they quickly kowtowed and thanked them. Duan Ruixing, the captain of the guard, immediately took out a bag of broken silver from his arms and distributed it to the girls one by one.

After most of the girls accepted the silver coins, they bid farewell to Zhu Cixuan together with their fellow villagers, and walked together towards their hometowns.

However, five girls refused to accept the money and looked at Zhu Cixuan and said: "Sir, you are kind and righteous, but the women and other family members have been killed by the evil bandits, leaving the women and others homeless.

The daughter of the common people is willing to be your lord's maidservant and serve you, please take me in!"

Zhu Cixuan sighed, knowing how important chastity is to a woman at this time.

Although these girls are victims, due to the trend, even if I want to find suitable families for these girls to marry in Changsha Mansion of Ji Fan, I am afraid it will not be easy.

Zhao Zheng saw that Zhu Cixuan was in trouble and immediately said to the five girls: "My master is so noble, how can I take in maids at will? You should just take the silver and find your own way out."

The five girls burst into tears, stood up one after another, turned around and prepared to leave.

Seeing the timid backs of the five girls, Zhu Cizhen couldn't bear it. He thought: These five girls have lost their families. They are very pitiful. It is better to bring them back to the palace to be maids, rather than letting them wander in this troubled world.

Zhu Cixuan said: "Wait a minute!"

When the five girls heard this, they all stopped and turned around to look at Zhu Cixuan.

Zhu Cixuan said: "Then you will follow the army for the time being. After you return home with me, someone will arrange for you properly."

The five girls were quite happy and saluted Zhu Cixuan. Then, led by the guard captain Duan Ruixing, they walked into the guard team.

Liu Hua, Tang Zhan and others had already thoroughly inspected the rogue camp. They walked up to Zhu Cixuan and saluted: "Your Majesty, the lowly officials have searched the camp and found no body of Zhang Xianzhong."

Zhao Zhengdao: "Your Majesty, it must be Zhang Xianzhong who was among the more than 20,000 cavalry troops who first broke through."

Zhu Cixuan nodded and said with a smile: "This thief is too cunning. As soon as he saw us coming, the army immediately gave up and ran away.

We can only look for opportunities to kill him later."

While everyone was discussing, Yan Rongxuan, the prefect of Fengyang, and Zhu Guoxiang, the commander-in-chief, were overjoyed to see that the Jifan militia had wiped out hundreds of thousands of bandits in an instant at the top of Fengyang City. At this time, they were surrounded by hundreds of officials and generals.

He was accompanied out of the city gate and walked towards Zhu Cixuan and others.

Yan Rongxuan approached Zhu Cixuan and saluted: "I am the magistrate of Fengyang, Yan Rongxuan. Thank you very much for your help in rescuing the siege! May I ask your surname?" Zhu Guoxiang and others behind him saluted together.

Zhu Cixuan said: "Prefect Yan, I am not a member of the government. We are just a private business group. We passed Fengyang on our business trip and saw the rogue Zhang Xianzhong besieging the city.

Thinking that Fengyang is the location of Taizu’s ancestral court, how can we allow bandits to get involved?

Therefore, I led the militia to defeat the rogue Zhang Xianzhong's troops. This is what I should do.

Why do we need to know each other before we meet? Master Yan and General Zhu Shen only need to report to the court that you led the defenders to defeat the rogue bandits. Do not mention us."

Yan Rongxuan and Zhu Guoxiang were extremely surprised. It was unexpected that they could not live without such great achievements.

The two of them invited Zhu Cixuan several times, but Zhu Cixuan always ignored him.

Seeing that it was still early, Zhu Cixuan said: "Prefect Yan, General Zhu, and the bandits just did not attack, maybe they have a conspiracy.

I guess that spies may have been sent to sneak into Fengyang City."

Zhu Guo seemed to have realized something and saluted: "Thank you for reminding me, sir. I will send someone to investigate in the city."

Zhu Cixuan nodded and said: "That's very good. I will stay here to pay homage to the Fengyang Ancestral Tomb and then lead the team to leave. You two will say goodbye."

Zhu Cizheng bowed his hands to the two men as a gift, and led Zhao Zheng and other 40,000 troops toward the city. Yan Rongxuan and Zhu Guoxiang hurriedly saluted each other.

After Zhu Cixuan and others walked away, Yan Rongxuan was secretly happy at the thought of being able to take over all the great achievements, and said to Zhu Guoxiang: "General Zhu, I see that this gentleman is wearing a golden battle armor and a mask. He must be a noble man.
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Since this noble man does not want to reveal his name, we can only follow his wishes."

Prime Minister Zhu Guo had already prepared to die in the city. Looking back at it now, it was as if he was in a dream, and his words to Yan Rongxuan were nothing but pleasant.

Zhu Cizhen walked into Fengyang City and saw that people were coming out of their homes one after another to inquire about the city defense news.

Thinking that it would be inconvenient for the five girls to move in the army, Zhu Cixuan asked Duan Ruixing, the captain of the guard, to buy a luxury carriage of sixteen fours for the five girls to ride on.

When I didn't want to come to Taizu's ancestral mausoleum, there were hundreds of eunuchs and soldiers guarding the mausoleum. No one except Emperor Chongzhen or those sent by him could enter.

Zhu Cizhen had no choice but to avoid the people guarding the mausoleum and worship at a distance at the foot of the mountain. The whole army knelt down with Zhu Cizhen and kowtowed nine times.

When worshiping, Zhu Cixuan said in his heart: "Taizu, my son will inherit your legacy of expelling the barbarians and destroying the slaves! Protect our Ming Dynasty and protect our Chinese orthodoxy!"

When you come down the Zuling Mountain Road, you see a large number of high-walled houses not far away on the right.

Zhu Cixuan smiled and said: "This should be the Zongren Mansion Prison!" He couldn't help but remember that when he first came to this time and space, what he was most worried about was being imprisoned in the Zongren Mansion by the current emperor Chongzhen.

After stopping and watching for a while, Zhu Cixuan took the lead and the whole army walked out of the city.

The people on the road and the soldiers of Fengyang Prefecture all saluted each other.

After ten miles of journey, he saw that it was getting dark, so Zhu Cixuan ordered to prepare food and discuss the departure and departure in the commander's tent with his generals.

Tang Zhan said: "Your Majesty, our army defeated Zhang Xianzhong's troops, but the rogue Gao Yingxiang's troops still captured Huoqiu, which is not far from here. The threat of Fengyang has not been completely eliminated."

Ren Xian said: "Zhang Xianzhong must be frightened to death this time. He was almost wiped out by our army twice. He will never dare to come to Fengyang again in the future.

When Gao Yingxiang heard about it, he knew that he could not compete with our army, and would be like the battle of Kuizhou, thousands of miles away."

Zhu Cixuan listened to the discussion of the generals and thought to himself: "This time, Zhang Xianzhong is a treacherous man. As soon as he saw me leading his army, he immediately ran away. The cavalry was so fast that our infantry could not catch up.

It seems that I need to form a cavalry army as soon as possible. But what weapons should I equip them with?"

Naturally, I don't want a cold weapon, but the Chongzhen No. 5 is not suitable for the cavalry in the gallop because it is too difficult to aim.

After thinking for a while, I couldn't figure it out, so I thought I'd better wait to discuss it with Wang Zheng after returning home.

Zhu Cixuan said: "It's more than a hundred miles away from Huoqiu. Our army has been marching for nearly ten days and will camp here to rest today.

Tang Qianhu waited until night to go to Huoqiu to inquire about the news, and then decided on his whereabouts."
Chapter completed!