After learning the news of Gao Jie's violent death, the then cabinet governor Shi Kefa was indeed very sad. He personally rushed to the Gaojun camp to deal with the aftermath, and appointed Gao Jie's son as the Prince of Xingping, his nephew Li Benzhen as the admiral, Hu Maozhen as the Gebiaotang Hall (i.e., the Chinese Army), and Li Chengdong as the commander-in-chief of Xuzhou. However, Gao Jie's wife Xing was worried that her son was young and could not dominate the crowd. She knew that Shi Kefa had no son, so she proposed that her son worship Shi Kefa as his adoptive father. This was originally an opportunity for Shi Kefa to enhance his relationship with Gaobu's soldiers. However, Shi Kefa firmly refused because Gaobu was a "bandit" and ordered Gao Jie's son to become his adoptive father to Gao Qiqian, the eunuch of Jiangbei's military and military affairs. It can be seen from this that Shi Kefa's prejudices are deep and unreasonable. Later, due to Zuo Liangyu's rebellion, Huang Degong's troops were transferred to Taiping Mansion south of the Yangtze River (the government was in Dangtu and governed the three counties of Wuhu and Fanchang), which allowed Gaobu to take a breather. Thanks to Xing's efforts, the high-ranking troops finally integrated the remaining Xu Ding Kingdom troops and recruited troops on the spot, expanding the army to nearly 50,000. However, at this time, the high-ranking officials were acting as a sign of rebellion against Nan Ming. They were eyeing the soldiers and horses of other towns in Nan Ming and were already extremely defensive. So when the Daping Army sent troops, under the auspices of the Xing clan, they surrendered to Zhang Biao's tribe without hesitation, and some of the other high-ranking troops had already surrendered to the Chi Ming tribe who had gone south. And Mrs. Xing is Li Zicheng¡¯s ex-wife. She and Li Zicheng, the ex-couple, are a legend of this era! Therefore, under such circumstances, almost all the Southern Ming army north of the Yangtze River surrendered to the Daping Dynasty. The dispatch of troops went so smoothly. Zhou Xun, Xue Yong, Zhang Biao, Chi Ming and other generals were dumbfounded. And Nanjing has become a ripe fruit, just waiting for the Daping Army to pick it. Until this time, the Daping court saw that the ship was done. Wu Shigong's imperial edict ordering the Daping Army to send troops was spread to the southern armies. At the same time, Wu Shigong appointed Chi Ming as General of Zhejiang and Zhang Biao as General of Southern Zhili. Under the general command of Zhou Xun, they jointly commanded the Southern Expedition. Xue Qiang was awarded the title of General of Henan, where he protected the Daping Dynasty's control areas in Henan and Huguang, and took charge of internal security and suppression of bandits. Under such circumstances, Chi Ming's East Route Army took the lead in carrying out the cross-river battle. On the left, the rebels advanced towards Chizhou. At the critical juncture when Chi Ming's Shandong Army moved south in a large scale, Emperor Hongguang issued the edict of "If the upstream is urgent, then go upstream; if the enemy is urgent, then defend against the enemy." However, this kind of purpose is completely to treat a headache and a sore foot, which is a passive situation. In fact, both Hongguang and his ministers understood that no matter whether they concentrated their forces against any party, Nanjing was in danger of falling. therefore. They secretly made preparations to flee with their troops. And when Yangzhou fell. News of Shi Kefa's martyrdom reached Nanjing, and the Hongguang court suddenly fell into panic. Zhu Yousong and others initially placed hope on the natural dangers of the Yangtze River. However, on the 11th day of the intercalary 6th month, Chi Ming's East Route South Expeditionary Army arrived at the north bank of the Yangtze River. On the 19th, Chi Ming ordered Nanming's surrender general Zhang Tianlu and other troops to cross the river by boat fifteen miles west of Guazhou at dawn. , defeated the Nanming Jiangfang Navy Zheng Hongkui's army at Jinshan. Then he boarded the south bank and occupied Zhenjiang. The subsequent Eastern Route Conquest Army crossed the river one after another. On the 20th of the intercalary month, Emperor Hongguang only consulted with the cabinet¡¯s bachelors and a few eunuchs, without even informing the other ministers of the court, and without making any arrangements, he left the city and fled in the early morning. After daybreak, when the officials, gentry, soldiers and civilians in Nanjing heard that the emperor and the chief academician had escaped, they immediately became confused. Some officials and gentry were imprisoned, and they invited a young man who called himself "Prince Chongzhen" to come out and ascend to the Wuying Palace to ascend the throne. The reign title was still called Chongzhen 17th year. However, Nanjing's garrison minister Xincheng Bo Zhao Zhilong and his ministers decided to surrender and sent people to the Daping military camp to contact them. In the afternoon of the 20th, dozens of Daping Army vanguards arrived at the Hongwu Gate. Xincheng Bo Zhao Zhilong and Baoguo Gong Zhu Guobi surrendered from the city wall to the Qing camp to negotiate the surrender. On the 21st, Chi Ming led the main force of the Eastern Route Conquest Army to the outside of Nanjing. Zhao Zhilong and Zhu Guobi, together with Wei Guogong Xu Jiujue, Longping Marquis Zhang Gongri, university scholars Wang Duo, Cai Yichen, Minister of War Ruan Dacheng, Minister of Rites Qian Qianyi, More than 30 high-ranking officials and dignitaries, including Li Zhan, the imperial censor of Zuodu, and Lu Jiude, the eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremonies, opened the city gates and went out to welcome them in the suburbs. After the Daping Army entered the city to search and warn, Duduo entered Nanjing on the 23rd. Jinling City fell into the hands of the Daping Dynasty. As mentioned above, according to the two-capital system after Yongle in the Ming Dynasty: the three people who hold real power in Nanjing are the Minister of the Ministry of War of Nanjing, the garrison ministers of Nanjing, and the eunuchs garrisoning Nanjing; the other ministers, the six ministries, and the ministers of the Metropolitan Procuratorate are just illusory. its name. "And when Emperor Hongguang fled, those who were left behind in Nanjing, whether they were civil servants, military generals, or distinguished eunuchs, were like grass on the wall and were turned around by the wind, with hundreds of officials vying for their titles. Let¡¯s take a look at the subsequent experiences of some of them: The fake prince: After he was taken to Beijing, Wu Shigong ordered him to be reunited with the real prince Zhu Cixang.?Sent to Fengyang Shouling. It's really a bit of black humor. I wonder if the real and fake prince will perform a full martial arts show when they meet in Fengyang? Hou Xun: Despite repeated invitations from Wu Shigong, Hou Xun refused to go to Beijing to join the cabinet. He returned to Germany to take care of his old age on the grounds of old age and frailty. For this reason, Wu Shigong summoned his son Hou Fangyu to Beijing to serve as the teacher of the East Palace. After Xue Chenglin came to the throne, Hou Fangyu became the prime minister. Ruan Dacheng: He, Wang Duo, Cai Yichen, Qian Qianyi and others all entered the cabinet of the new dynasty. Later, he was re-elected for four terms and has been the prime minister of the cabinet, but he has never been the first or second assistant. He can be called the tumbler of the Qiongyuan Dynasty. Qian Qianyi: After repeated invitations from Wu Shigong, he went to Beijing to join the cabinet. However, he resigned a year later and returned to Jinling City to live in seclusion. Liu Zongzhou: He has been teaching in Jiangnan since he could not be summoned repeatedly. Jinling University was established in Nanjing during the Later Qiongyuan Dynasty, and Liu Zongzhou served as the chief minister of Jinling University. On the night of leap June 20th, after Zhu Yousong and others escaped from Nanjing, their original intention was to avoid Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Unexpectedly, when passing through Lishui County, they were intercepted and plundered by local soldiers. In the chaos, the Yongwei soldiers rushed to Taiping Mansion (the government was in Dangtu), surrounded by Emperor Hongguang. However, the Taiping Mansion officials did not know what was going on. He refused to accept him, and then moved to Wuhu to seek refuge with Huang Degong, Duke of Jingguo. Chi Ming, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route South Expedition, learned that Emperor Hongguang had fled, so he naturally refused to let him go. After entering Nanjing, Liu Liangzuo, who had just surrendered, was ordered to lead his troops to act as guides and lead the troops in pursuit through Taiping to Wuhu. Under Liu Liangzuo¡¯s inducement and with the Daping Army pressing heavily on the territory, Huang Degong¡¯s generals Tian Xiong and Ma Degong decided to surrender. But Huang Degong didn't know that the morale of the army had changed, so he killed the envoy Liu Liangzuo sent to recruit him and led his troops to fight. On the fourth day of July, the rebels took advantage of Huang Degong's unpreparedness and secretly fired an arrow, hitting Huang Degong in the throat. Knowing that he was seriously injured and unable to escape, Huang Degong committed suicide. Emperor Hongguang was captured alive by Tian Xiong and others and presented to the Daping army. The Hongguang Dynasty of Nanming was destroyed! (To be continued)