A group of Jin Yiwei accompanied Zhu Ling, who was ahead of them some distance away. The mighty group of people rode their horses and rolled up the dust all the way back to the outside of the palace city. They reined in their horses and stopped. The Jin Yiwei behind them also stopped immediately.
He immediately scanned the surroundings and saw that Fan Jingwen and Ni Yuanlu were nowhere to be seen. Even his family members were not here, so Zhu Ling immediately asked.
Immediately, a banner school officer came out and came to Zhu Ling. His fear suddenly rose and he immediately knelt down: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Scholar Fan and Shangshu Ni just insisted on returning home. They said that it was because of the cold here that their bones were broken."
They couldn't bear it. They asked me to tell His Majesty that there was no need to send anyone to the house, and that even if His Majesty came in person, he would not step out of the house."
"Your Majesty, why don't I send someone?" Wang Guoxing keenly noticed Zhu Ling's unhappy expression and asked tentatively.
"No, since they have no intention of leaving the capital, just follow them. They are ministers of the imperial court, so there is no need to be too harsh on them." Although Zhu Ling was displeased, he did not punish the two for their offense.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were only a few ministers who served the country and the people. If they were killed again, it would be no wonder that the Ming Dynasty was exhausted.
After this incident happened, perhaps these ministers' impression of themselves has not changed, and they may still think that His Majesty has never changed his willful and self-willed temperament. In other words, they are even more worried about His Majesty's capriciousness in their eyes.
It’s no wonder that during the seventeen years of Chongzhen’s reign, he repeatedly replaced as many as fifty academicians in the cabinet, and more than a dozen courtiers were beheaded. In addition, he was suspicious by nature, because he repeatedly issued decrees to disrupt the generals’ military strategies. The most tragic incident was
It was the Battle of Jinzhou and Sun Chuanting's defeat at Tongguan. After losing these two battles, the Ming Dynasty was destroyed in just one day.
The purpose of sending a letter to Wu Sangui to redeem his father Wu Xiang and his concubine Chen Yuanyuan was to let him defend Shanhaiguan to resist the slaves. If the rectification of the capital camp is effective, and there are tens of thousands of defenders in the capital, it might be possible to fight against the intruders.
If this plan is successful, we can take advantage of the chaos to withdraw from the capital and go straight to Tianjin Wei. There is no need for big ships. Some small boats can go straight down the river to Shandong. At this time, Shandong has not fallen.
Although the Shandong General Soldier had been delayed in getting out after receiving his order to visit the Queen in Beijing, and finally walked dozens of miles, he claimed that his foot was injured and could not walk. Such a shameless reason, even for the civil servants in the court.
After hearing this, they also thought it was extremely ridiculous.
Chongzhen had no choice but to send someone to reward him with two hundred taels of silver as the cost of treatment. However, he never expected that this person would directly choose to ignore the order to send troops. Later, he went to Nanjing to defect to Emperor Hongguang and became even more domineering. In the end, he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, but was beheaded.
fate.
Zhu Ling had already made plans to send Li Ruolian to Shandong in advance, take control of the Jinyiwei Yamen there, and assassinate him on the same day as soon as he arrived, thus eliminating a hidden trouble for the Ming Dynasty.
But now he must hold on for two days and wait for Wu Sangui to reply before he can make a decision. Wu Xiang and the historically famous Chen Yuanyuan are already in his hands. Although he is not sure whether Wu Sangui will definitely be loyal to him, there is no other way.
As long as the Beijing camp is stronger than the Chu army, Zhu Ling can personally lead the three armies out of the city to fight. However, the three major battalions led by Wu Xiang a few days ago collapsed when faced with the Chu army.
Even if Zhu Ling has three lives, he is probably going to fall into a trap.
"Just leave when you leave. At worst, I'll tie you up when you leave."
Zhu Ling casually said a few words, then rolled up his sleeves and left. These words immediately made the bowed Jin Yiwei listen carefully, his eyes were stunned, and his image of Zhu Ling changed in his heart.
When did His Majesty become so casual?
"Your Majesty, you are finally back." At this time, the sky was already hazy and the cold was getting worse. Queen Zhou, who had not prepared any cotton-padded clothes, was trembling slightly, but still did not complain. Seeing Zhu Ling return, she hurriedly got out of the chariot and left.
Be concerned about those around you.
Suddenly, a report of urgent military information reached Wang Guoxing's ears. He immediately shook his body and his pupils were exaggerated to the limit. Although he saw His Majesty talking to the queen, he was really anxious about the military information, so he walked quickly behind Zhu Ling regardless of the offense.
, knelt down and said: "Your Majesty! Urgent military situation! There seems to be signs of intrusion into the military palace outside Xizhimen! Your Majesty, please make a decision quickly!"
Xizhimen?
Before Zhu Ling spoke to Queen Zhou, his face suddenly changed slightly, and the hair on his body suddenly stood up. Li Zicheng's army appeared at Xizhimen? Such a large-scale movement, and the defenders on the city were so unhurried, if they found the army at this moment
I am afraid that I am close to the city gate, and things suddenly become serious.
Since the end of the court meeting, some courtiers have been gathering here for several hours, and it lasted from the afternoon to the evening. Most of the officials came without carriages, and gradually the coldness began to rise. They had to use clothes as a cushion and sit on the ground regardless of their manners.
On the ground, most people followed suit and sat down one after another. The palace gate, which had always been deserted in the evening, now became a little lively.
However, a few hours later, several senior officials from the court had left, but there was still no trace of His Majesty. Until His Majesty arrived at this moment, and the next second they suddenly heard that an intruder outside the city was about to attack the city, everyone immediately became commotion.
Some expressions were frightened, some were frightened and angry, and most of them were calm and calm. After they learned that His Majesty had negotiated a peace with the intruder, they expressed their dissatisfaction with Zhu Ling's move many times. The reason why the intruder
They are called thieves because they do not uphold benevolence and righteousness, and kill without mercy. It is naive of Your Majesty to expect a group of thieves to keep their promises.
Therefore, when they heard that the intruders seemed to intend to attack the city, they just felt that it should have been done long ago. The peace talks were just delayed for some time. It made no difference to them whether they died earlier or later.
"The consort Gong Yonggu took over the city defense of Xizhimen, Hui'an Bo Zhang Qingzhen took charge of Fucheng Gate, Xuancheng Bo Wei Shichun took over Chaoyang Gate, Minister of War Wang Jiayan took charge of Desheng Gate, and Xinlehou Liu Wenbing took charge of Anding Gate."
Nowadays, there is no such thing as nobility, no ministers and generals, but those who have dedicated their lives for the Ming Dynasty should be promoted and promoted. At this moment, we feel the difficulty and shortage of personnel. Just from the memory of those ministers who died for the country, there are only more than twenty people.
In the entire capital, there were hundreds of courtiers and thousands of other low-ranking people. Only 20 people were recorded in the history books. It can be seen that before Li Zicheng broke the city, a large number of court officials were extremely disappointed with his majesty and also had little regard for what they had learned.
Confucian benevolence and righteousness have been completely forgotten. If the ministers were not slaughtered, they would be strongly opposed and resisted by others, which would even lead to an early mutiny.
Those traitorous court officials should all be killed!
"Also, let the brothers of Jinyiwei work hard tonight and help the soldiers and horses on the city tower to patrol the night. If they find someone with mysterious movements at the city gate, they will be arrested directly without reporting. In addition, all
The city continues to implement a curfew, and allocates some soldiers and horses to distribute food to each household. The food is discounted to half the usual price. Remember, it must be delivered to each household before Xu time."
After giving the order, he felt an overwhelming pain in his head, and his body immediately became unsteady. With the help of Queen Zhou, he slowly sat down on the car. Wang Guoxing saw that Zhu Ling was feeling uncomfortable, so he stopped asking about the follow-up matter. However, the situation
It was urgent, so he signaled to Zhu Ling and immediately sent someone to deliver the message.
Fortunately, Zhu Ling called all the twenty or so people and their families in advance, so it was much easier to find someone. He only had to shout his official name in the crowd, and someone would respond immediately.
Soon, there were all the people who had served the country, not to mention the nobles or courtiers. They immediately received the oral instructions and set off, followed by several banner guards in uniforms and His Majesty's personal troops accompanying them, which is enough to prove that this appointment was His Majesty's intention.
However, Xuancheng Bowei Shichun frowned and sighed slightly from the corner of his mouth. Wang Guoxing expressed his kindness and asked, "Do you have any questions, Xuancheng Bowei? You might as well tell me."
When Wei Shichun saw the newly promoted commander Wang Guoxing stepping forward to show concern, he smiled bitterly and told the truth: "Commander Wang is unaware of something. I haven't held any actual post for a long time. I have been having fun in the house for a long time. Although I have the intention of serving the country.
But there are many talented people in the imperial court, and I know that I don’t have much talent that can be of great use. Your Majesty suddenly promoted me, I must be happy, but..."
"Uncle Xuancheng, you don't have to be like this. You can come and listen, and then I can make it clear to Your Majesty."
Wang Guoxing cupped his hands and said, the person in front of him is a distinguished person, but in fact, he is just a noble person given by His Majesty, which means he has some wealth.
With the degree of suppression of the ancestral relatives by civil servants today, in terms of real power, even one Jin Yiwei could not have the weight of a thousand households. It is no wonder that Uncle Xuancheng looked embarrassed and was reluctant to leave.
"That's not necessary. I just want to ask, are the salaries of the soldiers who defend the city distributed on the city tower? Let's not talk about morale and soldiers for the moment. If the salary is delayed, no matter how many and skilled soldiers are, it will not help. We can learn from the past.
Don’t ignore it.”
Wei Shichun finally revealed all the problems in his heart. This time when he went to take over the city gate, he naturally needed a logistical guarantee, and this guarantee was only related to whether the soldiers' pay was distributed. The leader should first reassure himself before
If you can lead your troops, you will be able to defeat them later.
"Brother Xuancheng has thought too much. I won't tell you, but you actually know what happened today. Not one tael of that much silver went into His Majesty's internal treasury, nor did it go into the national treasury. Except for the taels of silver that were negotiated with the intruders,
, and the rest were sent to the capital camp and the city wall. Of course, my yamen took some with your majesty’s permission.”
Wang Guoxing smiled, and a few words calmed Wei Shichun's uneasy mind.
I heard that His Majesty's move was all for the Ming Dynasty's army. As a result, even if the military morale is not enough to fight the intruders, if it is to defend the city, it has some confidence, but it is not enough to collapse at a touch.
Wei Shichun was also aware of His Majesty's thoughts, and he couldn't help but feel a little emotional for a moment. It has been seventeen years since His Majesty ascended the throne. He has been working on state affairs day and night, and he is still running around today. If the Ming Dynasty dies, it will only be God.
It's his fault, and there is no fault of His Majesty.
There seemed to be tears hanging out of the corners of his eyes. Seeing that Your Majesty was exhausted, he just saluted in that direction, mounted his horse, turned around, and rode towards Chaoyang Gate. At this moment, Your Majesty was no longer an Honorable One, but a sharp knife for Your Majesty.
.
At this moment, Liu Zongmin led three thousand cavalry and arrived only a mile away from Xizhimen.
"I once heard that the people in the book were full of nonsense, saying that the city gate of the capital was a hundred feet high and so majestic that even the most elite Yuan people's cavalry had to be defeated. I never believed it. Since I finally got here today, then
I just want to see if the walls of the capital are really impregnable!"
"There is no need to attack the city. Everyone carries a bow and arrow, rushes to the bottom of the city and shoots arrows upwards. Let's see how cowardly these officers and soldiers are! Brothers, charge for me!"
[Author's digression]: Thank you for your banknotes. I also want to thank you for your three tickets...
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