On the night of March 20 in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when the sky was dark, the section outside the Chengtian Gate until the Daming Gate was brightly lit, from day. On both sides of the wide road, inside and outside the yamen, there were also crowded officials and their families who were preparing to flee.

There are many big and small officials in Beijing, and some of them have run away for various reasons before, but the vast majority of them have not run away. By the night of the 19th, there were several thousand officials in the inner city who had not yet fled. If you add their family members, there are more than 50,000 or 60,000 people.

However, the officials and their servants who have gathered outside Dongzhimen, Chaoyangmen, and Chengtianmen have only reached the top of the sky of more than 10,000 people. In other words, most of the Jingshi officials still chose to stay and wait for the new master.

However, Zhu Cihong's most valued group of nobles, as well as four scholars, and the chief officials of the six ministries and Jiuqing Metropolitan Inspectorate, all chose to follow and evacuate.

In addition, John Tang of Qin Tianjian also took a group of subordinates and believers, and followed the army sent by Zhu Cihong to send Pan Shuchen to the noon gate early in the morning.

In addition to the lights outside the noon gate, the Zhengyangmen urn city south of the noon gate is also brightly lit, and the flag is flying, a group of soldiers gathered, Zhu Cihong's old Taishan Wu Xiang is still guarding there, more than 20 Hongyi cannons are also concentrated on the Zhengyang Gate, Chongwen Gate, Xuanwu Gate three gates of the urn city wall.

At the same time, the holy decree of martial law in the inner city of Jingshi was also issued before nightfall. At this time, the streets and alleys of the inner city were full of soldiers from the Beijing camp carrying weapons on patrol.

The notice of high-priced conscription was also posted in front of the Rong government and several soldiers and horses, as well as in the two city gates of Xuanwu and Chongwen. The price of recruiting soldiers has skyrocketed from one tael of silver a day to three taels of silver a day!

What does this mean exactly? Are the emperor and the crown prince still running away? What a posture of preparing to defend the inner city of Beijing to the end.

The officials gathered outside the noon gate were all surprised and began to talk about it.

"What's going on? Still can't run away? ”

"Xu didn't run away, did he? I heard that the emperor woke up......"

"Awake? The prince ......."

"I'm afraid it's not going to get better!"

"Alas! God forbid! ”

"Be careful! Be cautious......"

"What are you cautious? If he continues to toss, there will be nothing left! ”

"Isn't it?"

"Holy Decree! There is a holy decree ......"

It was just when the officials were talking about it that suddenly people shouted again.

Holy Decree! Not a decree!

The hearts of the officials present sank! However, they still went outside the Chengtian Gate. The major decrees of the Ming Dynasty were issued by setting up floats outside the noon gate to carry the edict, to the Chengtian Gate, read by the proclamation officer, and then the edict was placed in the cloud box by the brocade guard, tied to the dragon pole with a colored rope, and slowly descended. Then the officials of the Ministry of Rites will take over the order.

When the officials flocked to the gate of Chengtian, the proclamator had already finished reading the holy decree, and the holy decree had already been lowered in a cloud box. Qiu Yu, a scholar of Tokaku University who also served as the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, was taking the holy decree out of the cloud box.

Immediately, an official who was familiar with Qiu Yu went up and asked, "Brother Minzhong, what does the holy decree say?" ”

Qiu Yu is a member of the Cabinet, and the officially issued decree has his vote, so naturally he already knows the content.

He sighed: "The Holy One is not leaving!" ”

"Huh?"

"What?"

"What the hell is going on?"

Qiu Yu shook his head, "The Holy Lord has woken up......"

"That prince ......"

All the officials took a breath.

They all participated in yesterday's "palace change......

"The prince went out of the city and supervised Nanjing." Qiu Yu's next words relieved everyone, "Let's also go out of the city as usual, escort the crown prince, Yongwang, Dingwang, and the five princes to Yongping Mansion, and then take the sea route to Shandong." ”

Yongping Mansion is the territory in Shanhaiguan, where the Governor of Jiliao is stationed, and most of Wu Sangui's army is also on the territory of Yongping Mansion.

Therefore, after Zhu Cihong left the city, he should go straight to Yongping to join Wu Sangui......

"The Holy One?"

Qiu Yu said in a tragic tone: "The Holy One must stay in Beijing!" The Son of Heaven guarded the country, and the king died...... The saint is about to go to the Zhengyangmen City Tower to supervise the battle! ”

Are you sure?

The officials present were stunned!

The emperor is so great! stayed behind to block Li Zicheng and let his sons and courtiers flee for their lives...... This is a good emperor!

The officials who were about to run away were actually a little guilty, and they all felt that they had been fooling the emperor in the past and taking bribes, which was really undeserved...... After going to stay in the capital, you must be a good official, strive to be less greedy, and don't be greedy for the Ming Dynasty!

Just when the big guy was moved, the originally closed Chengtian Gate suddenly creaked open, and I saw that the inside was also brightly lit, and a team of brocade guards holding torches lined up from inside. Behind these brocade guards were the chamberlains who carried swords and spears.

This is...... Did you go on the expedition? Just these brocade guards and eunuchs? Can you keep Zhengyang Gate?

The officials thought as they flashed to the sides to get out of the way. As soon as he stood firm, he saw Emperor Chongzhen's Son of Heaven honor guard. The honor guard was not as grand as in the past, and there were not many Han generals with golden helmets and armor to protect it.

The emperor himself wore a helmet and armor, rode a high-headed horse, and slowly walked out of Chengtianmen under the escort of Luo Yang, who was wearing a flying fish suit, and Gao Yushun, who was wearing a red python robe. The crown prince Zhu Cihong also wore armor and rode a horse, walking behind Emperor Chongzhen.

The officials couldn't believe their eyes, was that really a big tomorrow? I can't see it clearly, and I don't have a torch lantern to shine on......

"Chen Qiu Yu, congratulations to the Holy Emperor for his personal expedition! I wish my emperor a victory, a great break of the thieves, long live my emperor, long live, long live......"

Qiu Yu, a scholar of the Eastern Pavilion University and the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, took the lead at this time and knelt down, and then sent the emperor off on the expedition in a loud voice.

Seeing him kneeling down and kowtowing, the other officials didn't dare to stand, so they all knelt down and bowed to the mountain and shouted long live.

Emperor Chongzhen, Luo Yangxing, Gao Yushun and others went out of Chengtianmen and Damingmen in this piece of mountain shouting long live, and went towards Zhengyangmen Urn City.

However, Zhu Cihong did not follow them, but stopped under the Daming Gate. Qiu Yu, as well as Wei Zaode, Fang Yuegong, Fan Jingwen and several other scholars got up one after another and walked towards Zhu Cihong.

Seeing the officials coming, Zhu Cihong immediately raised his voice and said loudly: "Everyone, please bring your family and come with the palace!" ”

Boom Boom Boom ......

Just when Zhu Cihong was feeling guilty and preparing to go to Jiangnan to be less greedy after the Ming officials went east along Chang'an Avenue, on the towers of Zhengyang Gate, Xuanwu Gate, and Chongwen Gate, more than 20 Hongyi cannons roared at the same time!

It was Tang Ruowang and several of his students and subordinate officials who were in charge of aiming, and the target aimed at more than 20 cannons was the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Mountains and Rivers, which were less than 3 miles away from Zhengyangmen. The Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Mountains and Rivers are both big targets, almost catching up with the two cities. And only three miles is a very close distance, as long as it is loaded and aimed according to the standard, it is almost impossible to miss.

Therefore, more than 20 solid shells, all of which hit in the first round, fell within the range of the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Mountains and Rivers. It didn't cause much damage, but it startled Li Zicheng, who had just entered the Temple of Heaven.

One of the shells landed near the Temple of Heaven where he lived tonight! This needs to be more accurate...... It's a dirty face again!

"Hooray! Banzai! Long live ......" Immediately after, the sound of the mountain calling long live came from the direction of Zhengyangmen.

"Report ......"

Soon, the leader of the old battalion of the Shun army, who was responsible for monitoring Zhengyangmen, reported: "Report to the emperor, Emperor Zhu Thief personally drove the expedition and went to the arrow tower of Zhengyangmen!" ”

"What!? Emperor Zhu drove the imperial expedition...... Also on the Arrow Tower? ”

"The emperor came out on his own?"

Not only did Li Zicheng not expect it, but even his army division Song Xiance and Du Zhizhi, who had defected from Emperor Chongzhen, did not expect that Chongzhen would have such courage and personally go to the city to supervise the battle.

This ...... I'm afraid the battle of Beijing will not be easy to fight!