Today, Dou Meiyi is still as usual, waking up before the fifth watch, she should have gotten up immediately, returned to the Dongnuan Pavilion before the emperor got up, and dressed up. However, after two nights of sleeping alone, she returned to the emperor's couch last night, and she felt very happy.

Although she woke up early, there was something that prevented her from getting up. In Beijing in April, there was still a heavy chill on the fifth watch, and there was no kang in the Renzhi Palace, and she felt warm and happy lying on her side in the emperor's arms. She pillowed her head on one of the emperor's very strong left arms, and when she wanted to get up, she felt that the emperor's other right arm hugged her tightly and did not mean to relax, and she suddenly thought of Bai Juyi's poem with happiness in her heart: "The spring night is bitter and short, and the king will not be early from now on", and she didn't feel a smile blooming from her face.

But Li Zicheng didn't notice Concubine Dou's thoughts. He was thinking with a heavy heart about what news Tang Tong and Zhang Ruoqi might bring today. He thought that a war that he had not expected might be inevitable, and that there would be many difficulties in conducting a big war, but it would not work if he did not fight. Because he was thinking about these military affairs that he was very worried about, he almost forgot about Concubine Dou.

Suddenly, there were two cloud boards from Wuying Palace, and Li Zicheng and Concubine Dou heard them at the same time, and they were not surprised. Li Zicheng gently pushed Dou Meiyi and asked the palace maids on duty outside: "What's the matter, go and ask!"

Dou Meiyi hurriedly got off the royal couch, got dressed casually, and walked towards the East Warm Pavilion. Li Zicheng also got off the royal couch in his clothes. Four maids who dressed themselves, washed, combed their hair, and arranged the couch came in.

Li Zicheng asked, "Where is Wang Ruifen? What is the ringing of the cloud board?"

Wang Ruifen opened the curtain and came in and said to the emperor: "The slave is here!"

Then he took a few steps forward, presented a small envelope with both hands, and said: "This is handed over to the slave by General Li Shuangxi himself, please read it to the emperor." ”

Li Zicheng hurriedly opened a small envelope with a secret character, took out a piece of unveiled post written in block letters, and suddenly his face turned cold, he stomped on it, and then re-folded the unveiling post, put it into the small envelope, and asked in his heart: "There are tens of thousands of troops stationed in the city of Beijing, and such a strange thing happened?"

The palace maids around Li Zicheng didn't know what was going on at night, and they were shocked and quietly exchanged glances. After Li Zicheng washed, combed his hair and got dressed, he took the unveiling post on the imperial case into his arms, waited by several palace maids, and strode to the Wuying Palace.

Dou Meiyi didn't get up two minutes earlier than usual because she occasionally slept at the Spring Festival this morning, so she hasn't finished dressing up yet. A palace maid put a Chenghua year-made pastel phoenix peony porcelain embroidery pier in front of Concubine Dou's dresser, and put a thick yellow satin embroidered phoenix cushion on it, and Concubine Dou sat on it, facing the bronze mirror, and asked an experienced palace maid to comb her hair for her.

Her hair is particularly beautiful, more than the hair of the two palace maids combined. When her hair is loose, it can hang all the way to the ground. At this moment, her hair has been combed, and the palace maid is imitating the hairstyle in the Tang Dynasty palace to comb it for her. Although she didn't know what happened in Beijing at night, the palace ladies around the emperor had already told her that the emperor had a bad face after breaking a seal, and he also stomped on the gold brick.

She also understood that the emperor was very uneasy about the eunuchs of the previous dynasty, fearing that they would have the old master in their hearts, and not only to prevent them from assassinating, but also to prevent them from eavesdropping on secrets. The palace maids were all waiting, and the eunuchs were not allowed to enter the palace of benevolence. If there is an important rush at night, Li Shuangxi will go to the southwest corner of the Wuying Palace, that is, enter the population of the courtyard of the Renzhi Palace, and knock on the cloud board. The palace maid who was on duty in the west wing at night took over the urgent music and handed it to Wang Ruifen, the head of the palace maid in the dormitory, and immediately forwarded it to the emperor.

It seems that what is played in this seal must not be a trivial matter, let alone a good fortune for peace. Dou Meiyi has already made up her mind to be a virtuous concubine of the founding emperor of the Dashun Dynasty, at this moment she is facing the bronze mirror, looking at the palace maid combing her hair, inserting jewelry and palace flowers, thinking of a secret letter sent by Li Shuangxi knocking on the cloud board before dawn, thinking that the emperor seems to have something on his mind in the past two days, and thinking that Wu Sangui's garrison Shanhaiguan has not yet surrendered, she unconsciously asked in her heart: "Can the rivers and mountains of my Dashun Dynasty sit steadily?"

After Li Zicheng worshiped the sky on the Danqi of Wuying Palace, he entered the Xinuan Pavilion, sat down on the dragon chair, and immediately called Shuangxi, who was waiting in the corner of the Danqi, in, and ordered the palace maids to avoid. The palace maids all know the rules, not only all the palace maids in the palace have to quit, but even the palace maids standing outside the window have to be avoided, and no one is allowed to eavesdrop.

Li Zicheng asked Shuangxi: "Do you know the two things played in the unveiling post?"

"Around the time of the fourth watch, an official from the Military Division's Office went to Donghuamen to seal and unveil the post. It happened that Erchen inspected the police situation in the Forbidden City and came to the Donghua Gate, so the officials of the General's Office were put into the Donghua Gate and asked him if he knew what the post said. He said that he knew both things, and told his sons what had happened. ”

"How was Du Xun killed?"

"Last night, Du Xun came back from a friend's banquet. He rode a horse and followed two servants with lanterns. Not far from his home, passing by a secluded place, four uninhabited houses, a wood, and a small uninhabited temple. Suddenly, several people jumped out of the shadows of the trees, stopped the horse's head, hacked Du Xun to death with a random knife, hacked another servant to death, and another servant was stabbed, and fled with all his might. ”

The Assassin cut off Du Xun's head, hung it on a branch in front of the small temple, and wrote a sentence on the wall of the small temple: "Punish the slaves for the first emperor." Du Xun's family soon went to the military advisor's mansion to report the incident. The military division government sent troops to search for the murderer, but there was no trace for a long time. ”

Li Zicheng thought silently: "I didn't expect that the people of Beijing City would not forget the Ming Dynasty?"

Li Shuangxi saw that he didn't make a sound, and then said: "Turning west in Chongwen Gate, on the wall of Jiangmi Lane, one of my patrols saw someone posting a headless post on the wall after the second watch, saying that Pingxi Bo Wu Sangui would personally lead 100,000 elite soldiers to the west in the near future to exterminate ......."

"Just say it plainly!"

"The unveiling post said, eliminate the traitors, restore Shenjing, mourn for the first emperor, help the prince to ascend the throne, and revitalize the Ming Dynasty. ”

Li Zicheng asked, "Who dares to be so bold?"

"When the patrol saw the post, the paste was not dry, but the person who posted the post did not. The patrol team immediately tore down the post and went to the general's palace to report. Liu Ye ordered to arrest more than a dozen men from nearby households and torture them overnight, but no one confessed. Liu Ye ordered all the beheadings and hung the heads in the place where the headless donation was made. These people were about to be pushed to the crossroads of Chongwenmen to be executed, but it happened that Song Junshi arrived when he heard the news, and bitterly advised not to kill innocent people, and to release them on bail after dawn, so as to appease the hearts of the people. Father, two major events happened so coincidentally, on the same night. ”

Li Zicheng is a person with a deep personality, although he thought more, he didn't say a word, only called the palace maid to come in and ordered the food to be served.

After a simple breakfast, Li Zicheng told Concubine Dou that he would first go to the Wenhua Hall to summon the minister, and then go to Zuoshun Gate Tower to watch the ceremony by the window. Dou Meiyi said with a gentle smile: "It's a pity that the concubine is a woman, if she was born as a man, how good it would be." ”

Li Zicheng smiled and asked, "Why does Qing have such an idea?"

Concubine Dou said: "The emperor's enthronement ceremony is a grand event through the ages, and the concubines are in the harem, and they can not participate in the ranks of the ministers, bow to the grand ceremony, kneel down and worship the mountain, and even the emperor's gate ceremony can not be watched, so I said this, and I beg Your Majesty to forgive the concubines for the crime of ignorance and vain." ”

"This is easy to do, I instructed Shuangxi, the soldiers are not allowed to go up on the right shun gate, and Qing Ke led the palace maids to watch the ceremony on the right shun gatehouse. Just don't open the window, just poke some small holes in the window paper. ”

Dou Meiyi was overjoyed, and immediately knelt down and said: "Thank you for the emperor's grace!

The first bell rang at the noon gate. The bell spread leisurely into the distance, all the people in the capital listened to the bell with different moods, and many people quietly talked about Li Zicheng's imminent accession to the throne, and also talked about Wu Sangui's refusal to surrender to Dashun, and vowed to avenge Emperor Chongzhen and restore the Ming Dynasty. There has always been a strange phenomenon that every time there is a major change in the situation, there are more and more news from the people than there is from the official one, and there are inevitably many rumors, but some of them have been proven to have reliable sources after the fact.

Before the headless unveiling post appeared in Chongwenmen last night, there were constantly rumors about Wu Sangui's determination to raise troops to fight against thieves, and the headless unveiling post was also found in the eastern suburbs of Beijing, calling on the people of Li to rush to make white cloth filial piety scarves, and prepare to mourn Emperor Chongzhen when Wu Sangui's people arrived. Although there are not many uncovered posts found, through the days of the common people, one spread ten, ten to hundreds, and quickly spread throughout the capital, suddenly disturbing people's hearts.

In addition to the rumors that Wu Sangui was going to raise troops to fight, there were also rapes and robberies by the Dashun army in the city of Beijing, which spread more and more, and the real news and exaggerated rumors were mixed together. The matter of torture and looting and the rape of arson soldiers was originally a hot topic among the people of the capital, but now new news is coming out every day, and it is rumored that the families of the marquis, uncles, and ministers have been robbed everywhere and have been tortured to death on a certain day after handing over tens of thousands of taels of gold and silver.

As for the rape of women from good families, it is rumored that more than 370 women died hanging from a beam or throwing themselves into a well overnight in Anfu Hutong, and although this number is extremely unreasonably exaggerated, it is still widely rumored throughout the city of Beijing. At the same time, it is also rumored that women are often dragged to the north city wall**, and some young girls are ** killed, and their bodies are thrown outside the city. Due to the growing hatred of the residents of the capital for the Dashun army, the absurd rumors about the rape of women by the Dashun army spread more and more, and people even believed it to be true, and then added schools and leaves, and rushed to spread them.

The Jiangnan Cao Yun in Shandong has been out of service since last winter. The firewood, coal, and charcoal supplied to the capital all came from Xishan, and now they can no longer enter the city. Although the Dashun army strictly forbade the price of grain and all daily necessities in the capital, it did not rise openly and secretly, and the supply in the market became more and more scarce day by day.

Although the capital is commonly known as being under the emperor's hub, inhabited by princes and eunuchs and wealthy merchants, the common people and poor families are in the majority after all. This group of poor and poor people living in the lower strata of society, living in Beijing, originally had orthodox ideas that have been passed down from generation to generation, and they are accustomed to regard Li Zicheng as a thief.

After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he did not immediately abolish all kinds of harsh policies of the Ming Dynasty, nor did he announce an important new policy for the beginning of the reform with the people, and what is even more puzzling is that he did not open a warehouse for the small people living in poverty like he did when he entered Henan. Therefore, although the policy of torture and loot and stolen goods carried out by it seemed to be only a severe blow to the bureaucrats, imperial relatives, princes and nobles above the sixth rank in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, it caused the Dashun regime to lose the support of the majority of small and medium-sized officials, scholars, merchants, and lower-class poor people.

The people of Beijing knew a few days ago that this morning, hundreds of civil and military officials of the Dashun Dynasty would perform a ceremony at the Huangji Gate to prepare for the new emperor to hold an enthronement ceremony on the sixth day of the first lunar month. According to common sense, the three days from today to the enthronement ceremony are the days when the whole country carnivals and celebrates together, but today's situation is very abnormal, only the civil and military officials of the Dashun Dynasty rejoice, and all kinds of people in Beijing, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, are in a heavy mood, watching coldly, waiting for the development of the situation.

When the bell on the noon gate spread to all parts of the five cities, the people, whether they lived in the courtyard of the deep house or in the shallow and narrow house, secretly shook their heads and sighed, and asked in their hearts: "Can this Li Zicheng really sit firmly in the country?"

At the moment before Li Zicheng rang the bell on the noon gate, while the noon gate was not opened, he was already escorted by 20 soldiers led by Shuangxi, passed through the right gate and the left gate, and came to the Wenhua Palace.

A short time after Li Zicheng drove from the Wuying Palace, Dou Meiyi first came out of the Renzhi Hall as the emperor's bedroom with the incense burner held by the four palace maids, and also ascended to the Youshun Gatehouse. Then Wang Ruifen took a group of palace maids with flowers and branches, with a fragrance of fragrance, and climbed the Youshun gatehouse. Dou Meiyi's face and phoenix eyes couldn't hide the festive smile in her heart everywhere, and she sat down facing the window, while more than a dozen palace maids stood on her left and right.

Li Zicheng had already sat down on the dragon chair in the Xinuan Pavilion of the Wenhua Palace, with a heavy expression. The Manchurians were preparing to raise troops to invade the south and Wu Sangui wanted to defend the Shanhai Pass and refused to surrender, and these two military intelligence reports reassured him the most. Since yesterday afternoon, he has been secretly thinking about the strategy of last resort. But he still had some hope for Wu Sangui's surrender.

He thought about it repeatedly, since Chongzhen has died and the country has changed hands, it doesn't make much sense for Wu Sangui to be loyal to protect the Ming Dynasty, and there is no future, not to mention that Wu Sangui's family has become hostages, and the life of the whole family depends on whether he surrenders or not.

He sent Zhang Ruoqi and Tang Tong to send 40,000 taels of silver and 10,000 taels of gold to the army, and promised to still crown Wu Sangui as an earl, hereditary replacement, such a favor should make him fall into obedience. Therefore, although Song Xiance and Li Yan both thought that Wu Sangui had many elements of resistance, he always hoped to avoid fighting and save the vitality of the Northern Expeditionary Army of Dashun to deal with the Manchurian invasion without seeing the sent envoys return.