Every spring, Beijing is windy, and now the wind is blowing again, although the wind is not very strong, but it makes the shadow of the trees in the courtyard of Chenggan Palace shake, and the bell under the eaves of the main hall is dingdong, which increases the sorrow of the palace maids.

Wei Qinghui knelt down in front of the emperor first, and Wu Wanrong and other palace maids also knelt down one after another. Wei Qinghui said sadly at the emperor's feet: "Please be relieved, please be relieved." ”

After a while, Chongzhen wiped away the tears on his face, and said in his heart to Concubine Tian's empty bed: "Ai Fei, the ancients said, seeing things and thinking about people, I'm afraid I won't have it when I come to Chenggan Palace again!" After speaking, he got up with tears and staggered to the Fengxian Palace.

The eunuchs of Fengxian Hall saw the emperor coming, and they knelt on the ground to greet him. Because Fengxian Hall is the emperor's family temple in the Forbidden City, the courtyard is larger and there are more ancient trees. Tonight, there were more than a dozen crows originally staying in Xicheng, frightened by the sound of cannons, and flew from Xicheng in a panic, and landed on the ancient cypress branches of the Fengxian Palace, because there was a northwest wind, they all turned their heads in the northwest direction, shrunk their necks, and just fell asleep.

Suddenly, a large group of palace maids and eunuchs with more than a dozen lanterns, accompanied the emperor into the courtyard, the frightened crow, suddenly awakened by the footsteps and lights, looked sideways, and screamed a few times dumbly, did not dare to scream again, waiting for movement. Some flew away from the treetops in panic and circled low in the air for a while, but when the night was dark and the north wind was tight, there was nowhere to go, and they fell back to their original places one after another.

Chongzhen entered the Fengxian Palace, first knelt three times and kowtowed nine times before the god of Emperor Taizu, and then knelt three times and kowtowed nine times before the god of Emperor Chengzu, and then fell to the ground and cried bitterly, crying and intermittently saying: "Two emperors, you have experienced a hundred battles, pacified the theft, expelled Hu Yuan, and have a great tomorrow." When he arrived at the grandson, he was incompetent and incompetent, and inherited the maladministration of the past dynasties since Zhengde, although he also tried his best to cheer up, aiming at Zhongxing, but the poor national fortune was not good. The grandson has been struggling for 17 years, there is a heart of prosperity, unable to return to the sky, seeing that the city is about to be destroyed, the family is slaughtered, the mausoleum and the temple are burned by thieves, even if the grandson has made up his mind to die, he is willing to die in the community, but he hates to see the two ancestors in the ground, and he lost his ancestors in the hands of his grandson. ”

Chongzhen couldn't go on, touched the ground with his head, and cried bitterly, shaking the hall, and the pain was even more moving, not only entered the palace of Ganqing Palace, the eunuch Wu Xiang, the housekeeper of the two palaces, Wei Qinghui, Wu Wanrong and the other four palace maids cried with the emperor on the ground, and the many eunuchs and palace maids who knelt outside the hall also cried silently.

Although those eunuchs and palace maids who often waited by the emperor's side had seen the emperor cry silently or whimpering because of difficult state affairs many times, it was the first time that he cried bitterly and poured out his heartfelt in front of many palace maids and eunuchs like tonight. Not only did they come from the idea of being loyal to the monarch, but they also felt the pain of the imminent death of the country, and they thought about the catastrophe in front of them, so they only cared about crying with the emperor on the ground, but no one persuaded the emperor.

Suddenly, from the tall branches of the courtyard came a strange bird's call, like a strange laughter. Wei Qinghui had heard this bird call in the Imperial Garden one night, and an old eunuch who took care of the Qin'an Temple told her that it was the call of an owl. Now that Wei Qinghui heard this voice, she didn't feel terrified, she was worried that the traitors might attack the city at any time, and if the emperor cried at this time, his body would not be able to cope with the changes.

She walked forward on her knees, reached the back of Chongzhen, choked up and persuaded: "Emperor, it's not too early, please go back to the palace." ”

Chongzhen didn't hear her words, and looked up at Chengzu's god card and cried: "Since the end of Wanli, the internal affairs have not been repaired, and the Liao affairs have become thorny, and in the last years of the Apocalypse, the government has become worse, and the natural disasters in the interior have continued, the people have no livelihood, and thieves have swarmed. In Liaodong, the capture is flourishing, the imperial court has repeatedly setbacks in the use of troops, the land is shrinking, but after the grandson ascends the throne, if you want to use troops outside the border, you can't concentrate on suppressing thieves, and if you want to suppress thieves, you can't pacify Liaodong. Domestic and foreign difficulties, the country's fortunes are deteriorating, and there has been no turnaround, so that there is today's disaster. ”

"If you use military generals, you will be arrogant and lazy, and you will not be able to suppress thieves with all your heart, and you will disturb the people and drive them into chaos. Wenchen is almost no official and not greedy, and they build various doors in the court and attack each other, but no one can do solid things for the court and dare to take on important responsibilities when the country is in difficulty. The descendants are not the kings of the country, but the disaster of today's country is because the civil ministers misled the country and the military generals misled the country. ”

Chongzhen cried loudly again, moving the eunuchs and palace maids inside and outside the hall to cry loudly. Since the Yongle period moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, built the temple outside the Forbidden City, and built the Fengxian Hall in the harem of the Forbidden City, there has never been an emperor and a large group of palace maids and eunuchs crying loudly inside and outside the main hall of the Fengxian Palace for more than 200 years. Because of the loud cry, the crows on the branches were once again awakened, and they all screamed and flew away.

When the emperor was crying on the ground in the Fengxian Palace, Wu Wanrong sent two palace maids to accompany him, with a yarn lantern, to run back to Kunning Palace and start the queen. Empress Zhou knew that the emperor went to Fengxian Hall to cry this time, not to beg for the blessing of the ancestors, but to go to the temple, so after getting the palace maid's performance, he immediately cried with Concubine Yuan in Kunning Palace. There are many palace maids and eunuchs in Kunning Palace, and some women are originally palace maids, but they already have the title of female officials, and everyone cried with the queen and the imperial concubine.

Late at night, the moonlight is dim, the north wind is tight, the shadows of the trees are shaking, and the iron horses between the eaves are tinkling...... , all of which added to the atmosphere of sadness and despair in Kunning Palace.

Chongzhen cried bitterly for a while in the Fengxian Palace, and after the persuasion of Wei Qinghui and Wu Wanrong, he kowtowed to the gods of Taizu and Chengzu respectively, and stood up from the worship mat. But the purpose of his coming to the Fengxian Hall tonight was because he clearly understood that the country was dying, and he himself was going to follow the ancient precept of the "Spring and Autumn Period" of the monarch's death and martyrdom, and now he came to the temple to quit the temple, so he went to each previous emperor, that is, the so-called Liezong's god card, and kowtowed three times, but he bowed in front of the god card of Emperor Xizong, and did not kowtow.

Coming out of the main hall, he went to the side hall again, some of the gods bowed in front of the cards, and some of the gods just walked in front of the cards, and they didn't even worship. When he came to his mother's altar, he knelt down on the mat and bowed three times, and wept bitterly, but he endured it with all his might, and did not cry out loud. In one corner of the side hall, he saw three large black-kneeled cabinets, locked with large brass locks.

He knew that there were two chests containing spare sacrificial vessels, and a third large cabinet containing the armor, swords, and other relics of the Yongle Emperor, which were never to be opened. When he was a child, he once heard an old eunuch in the Fengxian Temple say that this large standing cabinet was guarded by the gods, and if it was opened casually, disaster would befall him. When he walked to the front of this big cabinet, he suddenly thought of a mysterious story about Emperor Jianwen's kingdom, and he didn't dare to think about it, so he walked out of the palace.

On the way back to the Ganqing Palace, he couldn't help but think of the huge black cabinet and the mysterious story of Emperor Jianwen. Legend has it that when Emperor Yongle led his men and horses into the Jinchuan Gate in Nanjing, although Emperor Jianwen set fire to the palace and burned down the palace, he himself did not die in the fire. Grandpa Yan knew that he would be in danger of losing the country before driving, so he left him a small box and ordered it to be kept well, and it could only be opened as a last resort.

After Emperor Jianwen caught fire in the Ganqing Palace in Nanjing, he was about to throw himself into the flames, when he suddenly remembered the small box left by his grandfather, which had always been hidden in the Fengxian Palace, and he quickly ordered the eunuch to take the small box, and the keyhole was filled with iron juice, and the small box could not be opened. He and a few loyal ministers who were about to come out of the flames of death split the small box with axes, and saw a razor, a robe, and a piece of yellow paper with the names of the deceased ministers written on it.

Emperor Jianwen immediately shaved his hair by his ministers, and the ministers also shaved each other's hair, everyone changed their robes, escaped from Nanjing from Shuixi Gate, and since then they have lived an uncertain life in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Xiangxi, evading the detection of Emperor Yongle and getting a good death. Chongzhen secretly thought, Yongle Ye is a very wise emperor, and there are many strange ministers under him, did he foresee that his descendants would lose the country, and also left him a small box, which was placed in the third black cabinet?

He wanted to return to Fengxian Palace, and ordered the eunuch to open the third black cabinet to see if there was a small box left by Emperor Yongle. But he still had a glimmer of hope for Wu Sangui's rescue, and he was really tired, so he no longer went to Fengxian Palace.

When he returned to the Ganqing Palace, he was already very tired, so he dismissed everyone, waited by Wei Qinghui and other palace maids, bypassed the main hall of the Ganqing Palace, and returned to Yangdezhai to rest. The palace maid who stayed in the Ganqing Palace brought warm water, served him to wash his face, and brought a small bowl of ginseng white fungus soup and a cup of fragrant tea. While drinking ginseng and white fungus soup, he thought about the mysterious black cabinet, and was afraid in his heart, and asked himself: "Could it be that when the traitor comes in, I will set myself on fire in the Ganqing Palace?"

After Wei Qinghui served him to rinse his mouth, she bowed down and invited him to rest on the imperial couch. He asked, "Which one is on duty tonight?"

"Slaves and maids are on duty all night. ”

"Ahh

"The country is unfortunate, and at this time, others are on duty at night, and slaves and maids cannot rest assured. ”

"Alas, I can't bear to work so hard for you. Okay, you go wash your hands. ”

Wei Qinghui didn't know what the emperor's intentions were, so she quickly went out to wash her hands, re-entered, and waited for orders. Chongzhen asked her to write a random word, and he would split the word to kill her. Wei Qinghui is an extremely smart person, she wants to write an auspicious word, and the most auspicious thing at present is that there is hope for saving the soldiers, and Beijing is saved, so she knelt on the stool, took a pen from the imperial case, and wrote a word.

Chongzhen looked at the word horizontally, and suddenly shook his head and sighed. Wei Qinghui was taken aback, and quickly knelt on the ground and asked, "Why is the emperor sighing?"

Chongzhen said, "You stand up, I will show you." ”

Wei Qinghui got up from the ground, watched the emperor lift the red pen and took apart the characters and wrote them, and suddenly said: "Look, the big is not big, the Ming is not the Ming, the Ming is over." ”

Wei Qinghui heard the emperor's explanation of the characters in this way, her face was as frightened as earth, she quickly knelt down and kowtowed, and said in a trembling voice: "Slave and maid are guilty of capital crimes! Slaves and maids should not write this word!"

Although Chongzhen looked sad, he did not shed tears, nor did he sigh again, he put the ivory tube wolf pen on the pen holder of the agate mountain, and said in a calm voice: "This is the will of heaven, don't do your writing." I am not the king of the dead country, but if I am like this, there is nothing I can do. It's late at night, and I'm going to rest. ”

At this time, there were three rings of cloud boards from the Xuanwu Gate Tower, and Wei Qinghui seemed to have heard three drums just now, because everyone was crying bitterly in the Fengxian Palace, and they didn't pay special attention. Now when I hear the three rings of this cloud board, I suddenly understand that it is already three watches and three o'clock. She served the emperor to take off her clothes, and after sleeping on the royal couch, she retreated to the outer room and slept with her clothes.

At this time, the sound of beating the wooden bang went from south to north from the west long street outside the Yuehua Gate of the Ganqing Palace, and at the same time there was a hoarse voice of the old eunuch: "The world ...... Taiping...... World...... Taiping ......"

After Chongzhen slept on the pillow, he calmly thought about how he would be martyred if the city was broken tomorrow, and it was best to set himself on fire before the traitor entered the palace, so as not to fall into the hands of the traitor. He also thought that the best way was that he should pass on a decree and order the queen to lead the concubines to set fire to themselves in Kunning Palace, and he set himself on fire in Ganqing Palace, and did not leave the body to the thief, so as not to be humiliated after death.

But he also thought that many palace maids could have been immortal, and let them howl to death in the flames of the two palaces, and he felt unbearable. Suddenly, I remembered the story of Emperor Jianwen, and remembered the row of black lacquered cabinets in the side hall of Fengxian Palace......

Wei Qinghui was very tired, but because of the emperor's word test just now, she was shocked and couldn't sleep for a long time. She was elected to the palace at the age of eleven, and at first served the queen in the Kunning Palace, and read and wrote in the inner study hall. Later, because the emperor needed a smart and careful person around him, she was transferred to the Ganqing Palace, and at the age of seventeen, she was promoted to the housekeeper's wife and became a powerful palace man by the emperor's side. She was not very beautiful, but she was also handsome, with red lips and white teeth, elegant manners, and a light body.

Originally, she hoped that if she had a bright future in the palace, she could play the emperor and send someone to the countryside of Jinghai County to bring her parents to live in Beijing. Although the palace is strictly forbidden and she cannot see her parents often, as long as her parents can not suffer from hunger and cold, her wish to honor her parents in this life will be satisfied. Now not only can not fulfill her filial piety, but even she herself has to do her best for the royal family. Wei Qinghui was afraid of alarming the emperor, so she tried her best not to cry, but the hot tears that kept flowing quickly wet her embroidered pillow.

She didn't know how long she cried secretly before falling asleep, and when it was almost the fifth watch, she was suddenly awakened by the sound of crying, and when she opened her eyes and listened, she understood that the cry was not from elsewhere, but from the emperor. She quickly got dressed, put on embroidered shoes, ran into the room, stood beside the imperial couch and pushed the emperor repeatedly, and called out repeatedly: "The emperor wake up, the emperor wake up, the emperor wake up!"

Chongzhen was still crying bitterly, but his eyes were already half-open, and he cried to Wei Qinghui and said, "Look at the portrait! Look at the portrait!"

The people of Wei Palace said in horror: "Emperor, what portrait? There is no portrait? Wake up! Wake up!"

Chongzhen's eyes were all opened, and he sighed softly: "It turned out to be ...... I had another terrible dream......"

"Don't be afraid, what kind of dream did the emperor have?"