On March 16th, at the 17th year of Chongzhen, at the time of Chen, the outer city of the capital, Chongnanfang, and Wulitun.

Lu Yuanda, who had not been asleep for almost a night, looked pale when he walked out of the hut.

According to the previous arrangements and arrangements, he should enter the palace today. He must meet Prince Ding Zhu Cixu, Princess Changping and Princess Zhaoren, and if possible, he must also meet the emperor. However, Shi Minghui's reminder yesterday made Lu Yuanda hesitate and confused. He finally had to face a terrible reality, that is, to abandon the emperor and follow His Royal Highness the Prince. Of course, after the capital was captured by the thief Li Zicheng, it was almost impossible for the emperor to leave the capital. Then, the Prince, who was in Nanjing, would definitely become the next emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Lu Yuanda, who had been in the palace for a long time, had almost fixed his mind, that was, he was completely loyal to the emperor. It was unlikely to change it in a short period of time. Moreover, when Lu Yuanda left the capital and went to Nanjing, his duty was to monitor the crown prince. If the crown prince had any abnormal movements, Lu Yuanda could take out the emperor's secret order and escort the crown prince directly to the capital.

If it weren't for being impressed by His Highness's demeanor and wisdom, Lu Yuanda would never have followed His Highness.

When he accepted the mission and went to the capital, Lu Yuanda had other ideas. When he understood the mission assigned by His Royal Highness the Prince, he immediately thought of the emperor. At that time, Lu Yuanda didn't believe that the thief Li Zicheng could truly attack the capital. After all, there were a large number of troops deployed in Northern Zhili, and he even felt that His Royal Highness the Prince was thinking too much.

When the cruel reality was in front of him, Lu Yuanda experienced the most painful choice in his life.

It is impossible to rescue the emperor from the capital. If it is not done well, everyone will be left in the capital. Moreover, after being in the palace for a long time, after hearing and witnessing it, Lu Yuanda also knew the emperor's temper slightly. The emperor with a strong personality was unlikely to surrender to the thief Li Zicheng, and the emperor who could not escape from the capital would choose to burn both jade and stone.

Lu Yuanda understood Shi Minghui's thoughts very well, and he thought painfully overnight. At dawn, he suddenly realized that if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could revitalize the Ming Dynasty, then he and Shi Minghui and others would be heroes of the Ming Dynasty, and it is very likely that they will be famous for their lives. On the other hand, if the capital is captured by the thief Li Zicheng, the first thing Li Zicheng thought of was to capture the emperor.

Lu Yuanda, who understood, had the first thing he did was to take out the emperor's secret decree and burn it. He had always carried this secret decree with him, and did not hand it over to His Royal Highness, nor did he tell anyone about it.

While burning down the secret decree, Lu Yuanda also made up his mind completely.

When the sound of horse hooves sounded in front of him, Lu Yuanda shook his head vigorously, making himself as clear and courageous as possible.

Longzushan quickly dismounted, handed the reins to the sergeant who came to meet him, and trotted to Lu Yuanda.

"Report to the Lord, General Tang Tong, General of Changping, and Supervisor Du Zhizhi have surrendered to the treachery Li Zicheng. The army led by Li Zicheng has all set out today and is heading towards the direction of the capital. It is expected that it will be dark today. The bandit army led by Liu Fangliang in the south also set out from Liangxiang and rushed towards the capital. The subordinates predict that Li Zicheng will launch an attack on the capital tomorrow."

"All the soldiers in the Jing camp entered the outer city and were stationed at Yongding Gate, Guangqu Gate and Guangning Gate respectively. The subordinates received news from 50% of the soldiers in the military and Masi. The capital city would close all the gates of the outer city and inner city before noon."

"The news that the thief Li Zicheng attacked the capital seemed to have spread early this morning, but the situation in the capital was still stable. My subordinates believe that the people in the capital may not believe that Li Zicheng can attack the capital. As for the powerful people in the capital, some of them did not believe that Li Zicheng could attack the capital. The rest of the people who knew the exact situation did not make any noise..."

After Long Zushan reported, Lu Yuanda had a sneer on his face.

"I know, even if the powerful people in the capital want to leave the capital, there is no chance. Li Zicheng's troops are divided into two groups to attack the capital. The south and north are large troops under Li Zicheng's command. If these powerful people fled from the capital with money, they may not have gone far. At that time, their lives cannot be saved and their money cannot be saved. It is better to stay in the capital and act according to the opportunity. Think about it, are there still fewer people who surrender to Li Zicheng? The powerful people in the court are also thinking, if Li Zicheng captures the capital, they surrender, they can save their lives and money..."

Long Zushan nodded and watched Lu Yuanda speak again.

"Mr. Lu, my subordinates think that they will take action soon. If it is too late, it will be too late."

Lu Yuanda shook his head and his expression became firm.

"I don't think I have to be too anxious. Wait a minute. When Li Zicheng leads his army to surround the capital, it's time to act. Longzu Mountain, you continue to investigate the news. Remember to report the news once in an hour."

Long Zushan was a little surprised. In his opinion, if Li Zicheng's army surrounded the capital, wouldn't the entire capital be in a mess? By that time, the imperial city must have closed all the gates. How could Lu Yuanda and others enter the imperial city?

Longzu Mountain is just an ordinary Jinyiwei and does not know the secret passages in the palace.

Longzu Mountain had just left, and Shi Minghui came over.

Lu Yuanda looked at Shi Minghui, and the expression on his face was a little complicated.

"Mr. Shi is here, go and have a seat in the house."

Shi Minghui clasped his fists at Lu Yuanda and spoke.

"It's better to obey your orders than respect. I'm just talking about something, but I still want to talk to Lord Lu."

When entering the hut, Lu Yuanda instructed the soldiers guarding outside the Jinyiwei Soldiers not to disturb him.

Close the door, Lu Yuanda looked at Shi Minghui.

"Mr. Shi, I just got the news that the army under the thief Li Zicheng may be attacking the capital tomorrow."

Shi Minghui nodded and looked at Lu Yuanda.

"So, Lord Lu has made up his mind."

Lu Yuanda snorted softly, nodded, and did not speak.

Shi Minghui didn't care about Lu Yuanda's attitude and continued to speak.

"Are Lord Lu ready to enter the palace within today?"

There was a hint of anger on Lu Yuanda's face.

"I am not going to enter the palace today, and I will talk about it until Li Zicheng surrounds the capital."

Shi Minghui smiled slightly and nodded again.

"Mr. Lu is thoroughly thoughtful, and I admire him very much. I can understand Lord Lu's mood. In my opinion, the task assigned by His Royal Highness this time is a task of reaching the sky and a task that must be completed. If you do it well, His Royal Highness will earn merits for us. If we don't do it well, we will not be able to return to Nanjing. Therefore, I will explain a lot of words and ask Lord Lu not to blame him."

Lu Yuanda waved at Shi Minghui, his face slightly better.

"No need to say these words, Mr. Shi, I understand your feelings, but you are different from me..."

Shi Minghui shook his head and his expression became serious.

"Mr. Lu, your words are inappropriate. When you decided to follow His Royal Highness the Prince, we were the same. Nothing different. His Royal Highness asked His Royal Highness to go to the capital and lead us to complete this task of ascending the sky. This is the greatest trust. Let me say offensive words. Since I have made a choice, I cannot hesitate at all. There is no hesitation at all."

Lu Yuanda's face was slightly red. He knew that Shi Minghui had already grasped the right position in his words.

"Mr. Shi, I understand. I thought it very clearly last night. I won't say much about other words. It is very difficult to complete the task assigned by His Royal Highness. Do you have any suggestions? Let me tell me."

Shi Minghui clasped his fists at Lu Yuanda.

"Mr. Lu, I have some ideas, please decide."

"When Li Zicheng besieged the capital, the palace must be very chaotic, so we must first find His Highness Yong, His Highness Changping and His Highness Zhaoren. We might as well tell them directly about our purpose and we must get their cooperation."

"Of course, Lord Lu wants to meet the emperor. If necessary, I will follow him to pay homage to the emperor. What does the emperor say? Let's just listen. I think the purpose of our trip is not required to report to the emperor."

"We cannot stay in the palace for a long time. We must leave as soon as possible. We must leave before Li Zicheng surrounds the palace, otherwise no one can save us."

Lu Yuanda nodded frequently, his expression calmed a lot.

"Mr. Shi, your thoughts are similar to mine. In fact, what I am most embarrassed about is to pay homage to the emperor. I don't know what the emperor will say, whether he will say something unfavorable to His Highness the Crown Prince, or even make extreme actions, so that it will be difficult for us to control the situation. And the gang of masters in the Forbidden City will not be able to grasp how they should deal with it if they encounter them."

Shi Minghui smiled coldly.

"Li Zicheng surrounded the capital, and the adults in the court had been in chaos for a long time. I'm afraid they were thinking about their own way of retreat, so they would not care about the emperor. Even if they saw Lord Lu, they would not care. If they were not tactful and wanted to make trouble, then we would not give them the chance to make trouble."

Lu Yuanda widened his eyes and looked at Shi Minghui.

"Mr. Shi, what do you mean, make it clearer."

"Mr. Lu, there are 34 people in Wulitun. My suggestion is to leave ten people to guard and respond outside, and all the others will enter the palace. There are many people and great power, and you can deal with many unexpected problems. Besides, escorting Your Highness Yong, Your Highness Changping and Your Highness Zhaoren to leave the palace also requires a large number of people. The distance from the inner city to Wulitun is not short. There are too many things to deal with in the middle, so there cannot be any omissions."

Lu Yuanda closed his eyes and thought for nearly a minute.

When he opened his eyes again, his expression finally became firm.
Chapter completed!