Chongzhen heard a burst of crying from the palace maids and eunuchs from inside and outside the queen's bedroom, and knew that the queen had hanged herself, so she burst into tears, and said repeatedly: "Die well, die well." It is worthy of being the mother of a country in the Ming Dynasty!"

He was about to instruct the eunuchs to escort his three sons out of the palace, Wu Wanrong walked into the side hall with a panicked expression, knelt in front of him and said: "Emperor, the queen ordered the slave maid to come to start Your Majesty, she has committed suicide by hanging herself from the beam in accordance with the order, and she was martyred." ”

Chongzhen's eyes widened, looked at Wu Wanrong and asked, "What else did the queen say?"

The queen said, and she took the first step to greet the holy car on the Huangquan Road. ”

Chongzhen couldn't help but hide his face and cry bitterly. The three sons who stood in front of him wept so loudly that no one could lift their heads.

Chongzhen didn't dare to delay much time, he quickly stopped crying, and instructed the eunuch in charge of Zhongcui Palace to quickly send the crown prince and King Ding to the mansion of their maternal grandfather Zhou Kui, Marquis of Jiading, and ordered a reliable eunuch to send King Yong to the palace of Emperor Tian, and ordered the two royal princes to find a place to hide his three sons temporarily, and then flee south out of the city. After instructing the eunuchs, Chongzhen pinned his hopes for the restoration of the country on the prince's body.

He said to the crown prince: "Son, your father has been running the world for seventeen years, respecting the heavens and ancestors, being diligent in government and loving the people, and has not lost his morality, and is not the king of the country. It was all the ministers of the court who misled us and the country, resulting in today's disaster. Son, you are the crown prince, if you don't die, when you grow up, you will restore your ancestors and avenge your parents. A thousand words, just one sentence, my son, you must live! Live! Restore the country!" he wept bitterly twice, and ordered the eunuchs to take the crown prince and the two kings of Yong and Ding out of the palace as soon as possible.

He originally decreed that the women who had been summoned by him, regardless of those with titles and those without titles, would be concentrated in the palace of Qian Xuan's servants, waiting to be summoned to the Kunning Palace for disposal, that is, they were ordered to commit suicide immediately, and those who refused to commit suicide would be killed by him with his own hands, and they must not stay and lose their lives as thieves.

However, it was now nearly five watches, and the roosters fed by the eunuchs who lived in the left and right porches of the Xuanwu Gate began to crow one after another. Chongzhen no longer called the palace dependents who were waiting in the Qian Xuan Palace, he walked out of the side hall and turned around and walked towards the main hall.

Wu Wanrong knew that he was going to take a look at the queen's corpse, so she hurriedly ran in front and informed the palace maids to stop crying and take over. Chongzhen entered the Xinuan Pavilion of Kunning Palace, and looked at the corpse still hanging on the beam, he pushed the corpse with his scabbard, nodded lightly and said, "It's already dead, go first, okay, okay!"

He immediately turned around and withdrew, walked out of the gate of Kunning Palace with one foot high and one foot low, and turned towards Shouning Palace. Some eunuchs and palace maids followed closely behind him, and some people exclaimed in their hearts: "Oh my God, I am going to force the princess to kill herself!"

Hearing the crow of the chickens in the corridor getting thicker and thicker, Chongzhen's heart was very anxious, and he staggered towards Shouning Palace. Although he wanted to stay calm and deal with everything calmly before he died, his mind was already flustered, and he was afraid that it would be too late, and he would go faster and faster, almost making it impossible for the palace maids and eunuchs behind him to catch up.

Princess Changping, who lives in Shouning Palace, is the eldest daughter of Chongzhen and has been deeply loved by her father since she was a child. When she was young, although Chongzhen had every opportunity and the government was worried, she often hugged her and teased her. She was born like a flower and jade, and she was extremely intelligent, much like when the queen was talented. Last year, a colt had been chosen for her, and she was supposed to marry this spring, but it could not be held because of the bad state affairs. At this moment, he was going to see if his beloved daughter had committed suicide and her body was hanging on the beam? His heart suddenly ached, his whole body trembled, and even his legs went limp.

He wanted to cry, but he couldn't cry, and cried out in his heart, "Oh my God, the country will be destroyed...... , how can there be such a tragic thing in the world?"

Princess Changping, who lives in Shouning Palace, is sixteen years old this year, and just now a palace maid in Kunning Palace came to pass the decree and ordered her to commit suicide. She refused, and the palace maids guarded her from letting her commit suicide. Now the palace maids were crying around her, and suddenly when she heard that Banzai had arrived, she hurriedly took the palace maids to the courtyard and knelt down to take the car.

Chongzhen saw that the princess was still alive, and he was anxious and angry: "Daughter, why haven't you died yet?"

The princess took him by the clothes and cried and said, "Daughter...... Not guilty, Father......"

Chongzhen trembled and said, "Don't say it again! You are unfortunate enough to be born in the royal family, you are guilty!"

Princess Changping was about to speak again, when Chongzhen's right hand trembled and slashed with a sword. She ducked and slashed her left arm instead of her neck. She screamed in utter terror and fell to the ground, unconscious. Chongzhen saw that the princess was not dead, and raised the sword again, but his arm trembled more fiercely, he had no strength, and his heart softened, and after he barely raised the sword, he saw Fei Zhen'e pounce on the princess, crying and shouting: "Emperor, cut it!

Chongzhen's wrist was even softer, the sword couldn't be cut, he sighed, turned around and walked out of Shouning Palace, and walked to Yikun Palace, where Concubine Yuan lived. After Chongzhen left, the palace maids in Shouning Palace and the princess's nurse were still crying around the princess. He Xin, the eunuch in charge of Shouning Palace, hurriedly found medicine to stop bleeding from the imperial pharmacy, and instructed the two older palace maids to carry the princess on the couch to give medicine and bandage the wounds of the princess, but there was no other way.

The princess was still unconscious, neither silent nor weeping. Because the queen is dead, the emperor is killing people in the palace, and there is something very wrong in Shouning Palace, and the eunuch He Xin and the nurse Chen Mama don't know how to deal with the unconscious princess. Fortunately, at this time, Wu Wanrong, who was loved by everyone, came.

It turned out that after Wu Wanrong and the emperor walked out of Kunning Palace, she didn't let the eunuchs interfere, and worked together with several more sensible and bold palace maids in Kunning Palace to remove the queen's body from the beam, place it on the imperial couch, slightly adjust her dress, close an eye that was not closed for the queen, and cover the body with a yellow satin quilt embroidered with dragons and phoenixes. She knew that the emperor was coming to Shouningguan, but she didn't know whether the princess was alive or dead, so she ran after the emperor.

Wu Wanrong saw that although the princess was cut off her left arm, because the emperor's hand was weak, he did not cut off the bones, let alone hurt the fatal place, and she would recover after recuperating for a few days after waking up. She called He Xin to the front porch of Shouning Palace, avoided everyone, and asked in a low voice, "Grandpa He, how do you plan to save the princess from the palace?"

He Xin said: "The princess is already unconscious, if I send the princess out of the palace, the princess dies on the road, and my sins will not be atoned for." ”

"No, Grandpa Ho. As far as I can see, the princess's unconscious consciousness was caused by the extreme fright just now, and she will definitely not die. Why don't you take advantage of the dawn to take no one with you, carry the princess out of the Xuanwu Gate alone, and escape to the palace of Emperor Zhou?"

He Xin's heart suddenly understood: "Just do it, good idea!"

Fei Zhen'e had already come out, heard their way to save the princess, and pleaded in a low voice, "Let me follow to serve the princess?"

He Xin said: "No! If there is one more person to follow, it will be easy to reveal the news!"

The people of Fei Palace turned to the housekeeper of Kunning Palace: "Sister Wanrong, am I willing to sacrifice my life to protect the princess, let me go?"

Wanrong said, "You stay in the palace." Let Gonggong He quietly escape with the princess on his back, which is your loyalty to the princess. ”

"But I will not be insulted by thieves!"

"I know that. Or what I said to you the day before yesterday, we all have to be innocent martyrs and never be humiliated. Once the traitor breaks the inner city, you come to Kunning Palace to find me, and we will all do our best with Wei Qinghui to repay the emperor's deep kindness. ”

Wu Wanrong hurried away because the palace people in Kunning Palace couldn't do without her. She had a good relationship with Emperor Yuan's concubine, and she wanted to see Concubine Yuan's end, but she didn't have time to go, and said sadly in her heart: "Yuan Niangniang, you are not guilty, you don't deserve to die, but this is called the death of the country." ”

In fact, Concubine Yuan did not die at this time. As the imperial concubine, of course, she had to die with the emperor when the country died, so she was completely mentally prepared for death in the past three days. When the emperor committed suicide after urging Zhou in Kunning Palace, she committed suicide without hesitation, but because she was more generous to her subordinates on weekdays, the palace maids deliberately tied a half-decayed silk silk for her on the painting beam. As a result, before she could lose her breath, the silk silk suddenly broke off, and she fell to the ground and slowly recovered.

Although she instructed the palace maids to tie the rope for her again and help her hang herself, the palace maids all knelt on the ground and cried around her, and no one would obey. Chongzhen came in and knew that she had hanged herself because the rope was suddenly broken, so he slashed her with a sword and injured her arm. Because his arm trembled, and there was a cry in Yikun Palace, he didn't cut again, paused, and said, "You die by yourself!" turned around and walked out.

He ran to the palace of Qian Xuan's servant. All the attendants, beauties, and unnamed women were gathered there. These women, who do not have the opportunity to meet the emperor on weekdays, all belong to the emperor's group of concubines, and some are still palace maids, they have no relationship with the emperor, but they are waiting for the emperor's punishment with a kind of palace resentment and anxiety about the future that the emperor is left out in the cold.

When Chongzhen hurriedly arrived, they were so frightened that their faces were as pale as earth, and they trembled and knelt down to take the car. Chongzhen ordered them to commit suicide as soon as possible, without delay. They all kowtowed together and replied in a trembling voice, "Slaves and maids obey!"

When several women withdrew outside, there was a palace maid with a stubborn expression, named Li Cuilian, who couldn't help but sigh hatefully, and whispered: "The slave and maid obey the order, but they don't look away!"

Chongzhen drank and asked, "Come back! Why don't you die?"

The stubborn Li Cuilian turned around and knelt down again, and boldly replied: "I am fortunate to have been summoned by Your Majesty, and I have not seen Your Majesty again for two years, and I cannot call myself a concubine in front of Your Majesty, I am still a slave." Because they are not given a name, neither father nor mother can receive grace. Today, although he deserves to be martyred, he is not yet famous in the palace, so he will not be blind to death. ”

Chongzhen was hit by this, and he was furious, only to hear a snort, he pulled out half of his sword, and stared at the palace maid kneeling in front of him. But the palace maid was not afraid, she was prostrate on the ground, and when she heard the sound of the sword unsheathed, she suddenly knelt straight, and at the same time straightened her neck, lowered her head, and held her breath, just waiting for her head to hit the ground. No one knows how Chongzhen changed his mind, but when he saw that he returned the half-drawn sword back to the sheath, he whispered sadly.

"Your fate is not good, you were unfortunately elected to the last palace ten years ago. Now that the Ming Dynasty is dead, you are different from other palace maids, because you have been called by me, so you must not lose yourself to being a thief. Seeing that you have a strong temperament, I will not kill you, give you your own moderation, hang yourself calmly, and leave a whole corpse. Go for it, the sooner the better!"

Li Cuilian kowtowed and said, "Slave and maid receive the order!"

After Li Cuilian left, Chongzhen knew that the sky was about to dawn, and he didn't dare to delay, seeing that some women were very reluctant to do the festival, he stomped on his feet, swung his sword and cut down two, regardless of whether they were dead or alive, left in a cry, and ran back to the Ganqing Palace. Before he was martyred, there was another thing that made him most sad and couldn't decide, and that was the problem of Princess Zhaoren. Now he's ruthless.

He has a little daughter born to the queen, who is six years old this year, and is very good-looking, lively and lovely. Because he liked this little princess very much, he asked the nurse and a few palace maids to serve the little princess to live in the Zhaoren Hall of the Ganqing Palace, on the left side of the main hall of the Ganqing Palace, only separated by a sandwich road. Because the princess is still young and has no title, the palace calls her Princess Zhaoren.

For three days, he had been thinking about the few things he had to deal with in the palace before he was martyred, including the little princess. Now the few things that should be dealt with have been dealt with, and only Princess Zhaoren remains.

He hurried back to the Ganqing Palace. After passing the Jiaotai Palace, he was about to enter the Rijing Gate of the Ganqing Palace, and he said in his heart as he walked: "My little daughter, it's not that my father is too cruel, it's because you are born with golden branches and jade leaves, and you shouldn't die at the hands of thieves, and you shouldn't grow up and live among the people." Son, you died in the underworld and complained that your father was unkind to you......"

Chongzhen entered the Rijing Gate, did not return to the main hall of the Ganqing Palace, and directly ascended to the Danqi of the Zhaoren Palace. The little princess's nurse and the palace maids were crying together, waiting for the catastrophe to come, when they suddenly heard that the emperor had arrived, and they all hugged the little princess out and knelt down to take the car. The little princess was already learning the etiquette of the palace, and shouted in a very cute and immature voice: "Long live the emperor!"

As soon as her words fell, Chongzhen gritted her teeth, raised her sword and fell, and the little princess fell to death in a pool of blood before she had time to cry. The nurse and the ladies of the palace cried together.