Chapter 98 Section 8 "Rushing the crown and becoming a beauty"

Wu Sangui's calculations were accurate, and when he was slowly marching on the road of King Qin, on March 19, the peasant army captured Beijing.On Meishan, Emperor Chongzhen used a white silk to put an end to the nearly 300-year rule of the Ming Dynasty. When Wu Sangui got the news, he had just walked to Fengrun, Hebei, which was hundreds of miles away from the capital. He hurriedly withdrew his troops and returned to the bridle (pei), leading the army back to Shanhaiguan. This majestic pass, which is surrounded by mountains and sea, will be the weight he will use in exchange for his future in the rest of his life.The demise of the Ming Dynasty made this Guancheng surnamed Wu. He didn't know whether it was his luck or misfortune.However, he knew that this Guancheng was heavy for both Li Zicheng and Huang Taiji.He has every reason to believe that Li Zicheng will offer a big price for this Guancheng.Li Zicheng will come looking for him.

In April of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (AD 1644), on the tenth day after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng's messenger arrived.He brought the letter of ennobling Wu Sangui as a marquis, 40,000 taels of silver to reward the teacher, and at the same time, he also brought a letter from his father Wu Xiang. Everything came according to Wu Sangui's plan, especially this letter from my father.The emperor is dead, but his parents are still there. This is the reason why Wu Sangui lives in this world majestically.A loyal minister can't do it because he has lost the object of allegiance, but the dignified social role of a filial son can continue to be played, and his behavior can still be recognized by social ethics.Father's letter, how reasonable it is:

... Now you are just playing the role of a soldier, waiting and watching cowardly, so that Li Bing will drive deep, there is no plot to criticize and bully, and there is no power to restrain the situation.The opportunity has been lost, and the destiny is hard to return; my lord is dead, and my father will not wait for a moment! Alas!Those who know the current situation can know how to change the plan... For my own sake, I surrendered this morning, without losing the position of Marquis, and I still have the name of a filial son.If you rely on arrogance and anger, have no restraint, the power of host and guest is different, and the number of widows is invincible, the city will be armored and fortified, and it will be wiped out in one day, so that my father will be killed innocently, his name will be lost, and all his officials will be lost. It's too painful!

Yes, the general situation is lost, the fate cannot be restored, the empire is dead, but the family is still there.His parents' family and Chen Yuanyuan, whom he missed day and night, were all in Li Zicheng's hands. For the sake of his parents' lives, it was understandable and logical to sacrifice his own reputation.In Daming, he was Ping Xibo, and in Dashun, he was the Marquis of Guiming.The bandit killed the emperor, and the bandit became the emperor.Zhu Yuanzhang, who started as a traveling monk, could be the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Then, why couldn't Li Zicheng, who also earned the world with his blood and sweat, not obey the heaven and command the people?

Now, Wu Sangui can finally abandon the "loyal minister" shell that has been concealed on his body openly, but there is also a "filial son" mask inside, which can be used to resist the positive damage of the orthodox value judgment system in society.Forced by fate, Wu Sangui's desire for life is like a shady mollusk, hastily moving from one shell to another. Wu Sangui gathered troops and horses, handed over Shanhaiguan to the Dashun Peasant Army, and embarked on the second westward journey. Fate, but made a joke with him that made him extremely embarrassing. Walking on the road to the west, although Wu Sangui was still a little nervous, his state of mind was very different from the first time he entered the customs.He kept fantasizing about the grand welcome scene he would encounter after arriving in the capital, and he couldn't help feeling a little excited.Li Zicheng may greet him in person, and all the dignitaries of the new dynasty will attend the reception banquet.With the feudal lord building a mansion and the sound of bells, he may have a brighter future in the Dashun Dynasty... After all, the gift he gave to Li Zicheng is not light!

However, on the fifth day of April, when Wu Sangui came to Shaheyi, west of Yongping, he suddenly ran into his family members who had escaped from the capital.The family was like beggars because they fled for many days, and they cried bitterly when they saw Wu Sangui. It turned out that after the Dashun army entered the city, the first thing they did was to recover stolen goods and pay, depriving high-ranking officials and eunuchs of their wealth to solve financial difficulties.Although Wu Xiang had the merit of recruiting his son to surrender, he was no exception.The Wu Mansion, which used to be extremely wealthy, has now been looted to nothing.

Wu Sangui couldn't help but gasped, and fell silent for a long time.He didn't expect Li Zicheng to give him such a meeting gift, it seems that his wishful thinking was not too accurate.However, I have already come here, and there is no turning back. Maybe he can settle things when he arrives in Beijing.Suddenly, he thought of a crucial question: "How is Concubine Chen doing now?" His family told him that Chen Yuanyuan is now a member of Li Zicheng's "General Quan" Liu Zongmin. With a "boom", those beautiful fantasies completely collapsed before Wu Sangui's eyes.Wu Sangui seemed to have been slapped in the face in public, and his fair and handsome face turned blood red in an instant.He felt as if his head had swelled.The thirty-three-year-old Wu Sangui, who is full of vigor, couldn't believe that such a shame and humiliation would fall on him.What a bunch of thieves, he surrendered Shanhai Pass, but they took away his most beloved woman!The rewards for being a Marquis and the money for masters are all perfunctory, they clearly treat Wu Sangui as a plaything!No one has ever insulted him like this in his life!Wu Sangui pulled out the saber from his waist, and with a flash of light, the table in front of him had been split in half.

"A man can't protect a woman, how can he see someone with his face!" Wu Sangui went out of the house and got on his horse, turned the horse's head around.The 30,000 army rushed straight to Shanhaiguan like an angry lion. The peasant army defending the city did not know what was going on, they had been attacked and killed, and Bai Guangen's troops, who heard the news and came to help, had just approached Guancheng, and were also severely beaten, and their entire army was wiped out.Few are his opponents on the battlefield, especially when he's in a rage! After a fierce battle, Shanhaiguan was surprisingly quiet. Wu Sangui sat alone in the hall, and no one dared to come in.He is neither a loyal minister nor a filial son. Fate has torn off all his masks. Now, Wu Sangui is just a man who is furious because of a woman.After the rage passed, he found himself truly homeless.