In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, after Li Zicheng killed Luo Rucai in Xiangyang, he created the central power and called the king of Xinshun, which is officially called the king, and this royal title represents a feudal regime, which is different from the title of King Chuang.

"Sit down, sit down, and tell me about your palace. He was not used to using the word "", but asked them to talk, so his tone was cordial.

Li Yan and Wu Ruyi did not sit down, but stood respectfully in front of him and told him a brief description of the situation in the palace. When Empress Wu Ruyi had hanged herself before the fifth watch and was buried in Kunning Palace, Li Zicheng couldn't help but be moved and said softly: "Actually, the queen doesn't have to die." If she doesn't die, I will treat her with courtesy and take care of her for the rest of my life. ”

He said to Wu Ruyi again: "You ask the eunuchs, there must be a good coffin in the treasury of the palace, and order the palace maids to decorate the queen and protect her body carefully." Where's the imperial concubine?"

Li Yan replied: "The minister went to Yikun Palace when he came out of Kunning Palace, and the imperial concubine Yuan was also ordered to commit suicide before the fifth watch......

Li Zicheng asked, "Is it an order?"

Wu Ruyi said: "I heard that Chongzhen ordered the palace maid to pass the decree and told her to commit suicide quickly. Before she could breathe, the rope suddenly broke. She wanted to kill herself, but the palace maids all cried around her, and no one was willing to tie a rope for her, so she didn't die. ”

Li Yan asked, "Your Majesty, what should you do with Concubine Yuan?"

Li Zicheng said: "Chongzhen's concubines, all those who have not died and whose mother's family lives in Beijing, will send them back to their parents' homes. Have you found the Queen of the Apocalypse?"

"After the minister came out of the Yikun Palace, he broke up with General Ruyi, and he was led by the eunuch to the palace of Princess Changping, and the minister went to the palace of Empress Zhang. Empress Zhang is not dead yet, she is crying bitterly, and the palace maids are also crying around her. The minister stood at the foot of the main hall of Ciqing Palace, and passed His Majesty's message through the curtain that if she is willing to live, our court will treat her with courtesy and give her a lifelong preferential; if she is willing to temporarily return to the palace of Emperor Zhang, the minister will send soldiers to escort the queen out of the palace. The minister also said that when the queen left the palace, she could bring four palace maids and two eunuchs to wait with her. Jewelry can be carried out of the palace by the queen at her discretion to show the favor of our dynasty. ”

"What did she say?"

"This Empress Zhang is really extraordinary. She had no fear, and said through the curtain: General, this palace is the widow of Emperor Tianqi, the sister-in-law of Emperor Chongzhen, and her honorific title is Empress Yi'an. Now that the soldiers in the capital are in a panic, please send the general to escort the official to the palace of Emperor Zhang of Taikangbo, so that the palace can calmly commit suicide, and you can also say goodbye to your parents. Today, the country of our dynasty is not guaranteed, and the palace is about to return to Huangquan, so why carry jewelry when leaving the palace. ”

"She suffered this tragedy of the country, and she didn't cry to you?"

Her voice was quite generous and calm, but slightly hoarse, and it was clear that she had been crying with the palace maids for a long time before the ministers arrived at Ciqing Palace. ”

"You have already sent someone to send her to Zhang Guoji's mansion?"

Li Yan knew that Li Zicheng usually talked about Empress Yi'an's upright position in the Tianqi Dynasty, not affiliated with the guest and Wei traitors, and had respect for her in his heart, so he would find five sedan chairs from the palace, the larger one was sat by Empress Zhang, and the four-passenger sedan chair was sat by four palace maids, and sent troops to send the queen and the four palace maids and two guardians who served with him to Emperor Zhang's palace, and planted a flag outside the gate of Zhang's mansion, strictly prohibiting soldiers from entering and harassing him.

After Li Zicheng heard this, he nodded and said, "Well done, well done, does Empress Zhang know that you are also from Qi County?"

Li Yan was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Back to Your Majesty, Weichen is not for the friendship of fellow villagers. Although Empress Zhang died in the country, her attitude was still very noble, and she never asked the name and place of origin of the minister. The minister himself did not utter a word. ”

Li Zicheng turned to Wu Ruyi and asked, "What else do you want to talk about?"

Wu Ruyi first said how Chongzhen went to Shouning Palace to slash Princess Changping, and the princess was carried out of the palace by the eunuch He Xin and sent to the palace of the imperial prince Zhou Kui to live temporarily, and then said that Chongzhen killed the six-year-old princess with a sword in front of the Zhaoren Hall of the Ganqing Palace.

Li Zicheng said: "Chongzhen is too ruthless!"

He also inquired about other situations in the palace, and knew that the total number of palace maids was about 10,000, more than 30 people committed suicide by throwing themselves into the water at Xihuamen, and about 300 escaped. There are a total of seven or eight thousand people who stayed in the palace, Xiyuan and Beihai palaces, and the rest were scattered in the imperial tombs in Changping and the royal tombs in the western suburbs to wait for incense, and most of them were older women.

Li Zicheng instructed: "There are many eunuchs in the Forbidden City, some have fled, and those who have not escaped are allowed to go home." None of the palace maids were allowed to leave the palace, but they had to find the roster, wait for a few days, roll call according to the book, and distribute rewards to the meritorious soldiers. In this Forbidden City, there are thousands of households, you have to continue to investigate in the afternoon, and I will also go everywhere in the afternoon, and it is enough for Shuangxi to follow. You've been working hard for days, so go rest and eat. ”

Li Yan and Wu Ruyi said "Command!" and bowed respectfully to him, and then withdrew. Although Li Zicheng understood that kowtowing and kneeling was the proper etiquette of any courtier to the emperor, he was still a little unaccustomed to it, and unconsciously returned the salute to them.

Two palace maids who led Li Zicheng to the dormitory came to him, and the older one asked, "Does the emperor want to sleep on the imperial couch for a while?"

Li Zicheng nodded, yawning unconsciously. As soon as he took off his felt hat, he was immediately held by a palace maid with both hands and put it in a large cabinet with red lacquer and gold, Li Zicheng wanted to take off his arrow sleeve robe, and the older palace maid immediately untied the silk silk for him, unbuttoned it, helped him take off his robe, folded it up and put it in the cabinet.

Li Zicheng was very satisfied with the careful service of the two palace maids, and then sat down on the edge of the bed, intending to take off his boots. The two palace maids did not wait for him to do it himself, and immediately knelt on the ground, and one took off one for him. Li Zicheng smelled a fragrance from their bodies, and asked with a smile, "What are the names of the two of you?"

The elder replied: "Back to the emperor, the slave maid is called Wang Ruifen, and her name is Li Xianglan." ”

Li Zicheng asked again: "Are you from the Qing Palace, or from the Kunning Palace?"

Wang Ruifen replied: "The slaves and maids are called from other palaces. Almost all the people in the Ganqing Palace and Kunning Palace committed suicide by throwing themselves into the water, and a few people who did not throw in the water also fled with other people from the capital out of the Xihua Gate. ”

Li Xianglan added: "There are still four palace maids left in Kunning Palace guarding the queen's body. ”

Li Zicheng stopped asking questions and lay down on the couch. He was reaching out to pull open the yellow satin embroidered dragon quilt stacked in the imperial couch, and Wang Ruifen, with an intoxicating fragrance, quickly pulled the quilt for him and covered him. From the embroidered dragon quilt, there was a faint wonderful fragrance that Li Zicheng had never asked, and he looked at Wang Ruifen and asked, "What kind of fragrance is this quilt smoked?"

Wang Ruifen bowed and replied: "Back to the emperor, General Wu, who came into the Qing Palace this morning, selected the palace maids to come to the Wuying Hall and the Renzhi Hall to wait for the emperor, and also picked the slaves and maids. The quilts, mattresses, pillows, and tents on this royal couch could not be used by the emperor of the previous dynasty, and all new ones were taken out from the inner treasury of the imperial prison. This embroidered dragon has been kept in the warehouse for several years, and after the slave maid takes it out, it is placed on the smoking cage and smoked with the spices of foreign tribute, so it is not an ordinary aroma. ”

"What spices are paid by foreign countries?"

"Legend has it that this is a kind of dragon in the sea, sometimes basking in the sun on uninhabited islands, and the saliva in its mouth flows on the stones, and when it dries, it emits a strange fragrance that lasts for a long time. The natives came to the island to fetch spices and present them to their kings. The king offered it as a tribute to the emperor of China, so this spice was called ambergris. A few years ago, the queen rewarded Tian Niangniang, the imperial concubine of Chenggan Palace, but it has not been used up. The slave maid is a dragon quilt smoked for the emperor with ambergris. ”

Dragon birth incense, sperm whale lives in the ocean near the equator, it has a sick secretion in its stomach, it is stone-like, floating on the water, sometimes washed by the wind and waves on the sea, can be made into a very precious stone, the aroma is long-lasting, named ambergris.

Li Zicheng smiled and nodded, glanced at the palace maid again, and then closed his eyes. When he first entered the palace today, he had not yet been congratulated by hundreds of officials, let alone held an enthronement ceremony, and he already knew the dignity of being an emperor. The furnishings in the palace are rich, and the palace maids around him are beautiful, gentle, and courteous, and serve him carefully and thoughtfully. He thought about his glorious martial arts, his great victories, his future life as emperor, and thought of him falling asleep with a satisfied smile.

After Shen Shi, Li Zicheng was woken up by the palace maid. Wang Ruifen took the three palace maids to completely follow the rules of serving Emperor Chongzhen, knelt on the ground to put on boots for Li Zicheng, one palace maid brought warm water in a golden basin and asked him to wash his face, the other palace maid held a blue flower imperial kiln teacup with red lacquer painted gold dragon and phoenix tray, holding half a cup of warm tea, and asked him to rinse his mouth, and the other palace maid knelt on the side, holding a white jade-like porcelain small gargle with a cloisonne plum blossom tray, and accepted him to spit out the warm tea that he had gargled through.

Then the palace ladies served him carefully and swiftly, putting on his boots and hat. Although Li Zicheng felt cumbersome about the service of the palace maids, he did not ask for exemption, but accepted it comfortably in a very unaccustomed manner. From poverty and hardship to being a Yinchuan post soldier, to the uprising, after 15 years of arduous and warlike career, he entered Xi'an in October last year, and he began to think that it was a great success.

Change Xi'an to Chang'an, on the one hand actively prepare for the establishment of a new dynasty, on the other hand, lead 10,000 horses, build bridges and practice palaces, imitate the Han Gaozu to return to his hometown, return to his hometown with the imperial style to worship his ancestors, and close relatives of the royal family, and on the other hand, he is preparing to conquer Youyan in the east and seize the Daming rivers and mountains of Chongzhen.

However, the fly in the ointment is that he occupies the Qin Palace's palace in Xi'an, and everything is hastily created, there are no eunuchs, and there are no palace maids who understand royal etiquette. Those temporarily selected folk girls, although they have the name of palace maids, are neither literate nor understand royal etiquette. In his opinion, those women can only be regarded as rough maids in the nouveau riche family, and they cannot be compared with the palace maids of the Ming Dynasty.

In the short time after waking up in the afternoon, the pink necks, peach cheeks, and cloud temples of the palace maids who bowed their heads and knelt in front of him appeared in front of him, as well as the light posture of walking, the gentle and tactful Beijing accent when speaking, and the wonderful fragrance of fat powder and the quiet fragrance on the clothes. He is different from Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai's personality, for many years for the cause of righteousness, he tried his best to suppress the relationship between men and women, and was praised by people as not greedy for sex, not loving money, and having great ambitions. Now that he has entered Beijing and entered the Imperial Palace, his feelings have changed dramatically in the midst of a great victory. Although he is very serious on the surface, he can't help but move the love between men and women in his heart.

Ruifen, the queen of the palace, played to him, Li Shuangxi had come just now, because he saw that the emperor had not woken up, he did not dare to disturb the holy car, and returned to Wuyingmen to wait. After Li Zicheng heard this, he immediately left the dormitory and came to the Xinuan Pavilion of the Wuying Hall with the attendants of the palace maids. Immediately called Li Shuangxi in, he glanced at the palace maids standing left and right, and everyone withdrew solemnly.

"Is there a whereabouts for Chongzhen?" asked Li Zicheng to Shuangxi.

Shuangxi knelt on the ground and replied: "Father Qi, the Qing palace soldiers have been looking for all over the imperial city, and the notice to find Chongzhen has also been posted throughout the city, but there is no news so far. But the crown prince and the second king have been found. ”

"Found it? How did you find it?"

"They were all sent to the palace of the Zhou emperor by the eunuchs, and soon after the notices were posted in the streets, the Zhou emperor and the other royal family did not dare to hide them and sacrificed them. ”

"Where now?"

"Now in the custody of Wufeng Tower, Uncle Ru Yi and General Li Yan are asking the prince about the affairs of the palace, waiting for his father to summon him. ”

"Tell the propagandist to go to the noon gate to deliver the decree, and Li Yan and Wu Ruyi will quickly bring the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty and the two kings of Yong and Ding to see me. ”

After a while, Li Yan and Wu Ruyi brought the crown prince and the two kings of Yongbo to Li Zicheng. Wu Ruyi asked the prince and others to kneel down quickly, but the prince stubbornly refused to kneel. Seeing that he would not kneel, neither would his brothers. Li Zicheng said to Wu Ruyi with a gentle attitude: "If you don't want to kneel, you don't have to be reluctant." ”

He asked the prince in an elegant tone, "Why did your father die?"

The prince was confident that he would die, and generously replied: "My father is diligent in government and loves the people, and he is indignant and trying to govern the country, and he has not lost his morality, but because the ministers have misled the country, he has lost the country." ”

"Do you know where your father is now?"

"I was escorted out of the palace by my ministers before dawn, and I didn't know anything about the harem. ”

"You don't have to be afraid. You are still a teenager, and you are not the lord of the country. All kinds of maladministration in the Ming Dynasty are not your fault. Every time I read history books, I see that after three generations, when there is a change of dynasty, the successor and founding lord can not be lenient and benevolent, and the royal family of the previous dynasty will not be killed, even the children will not let go. I don't think so, and sometimes I sigh when I cover my book. I want to emulate the three generations of holy masters, so after breaking Xi'an and Taiyuan, I will not kill the two kings of Qin and Jin and his family and clansmen, and they will be nurtured as one. Now the two kings of Qin and Jin have come to Youzhou with me, do you know?"