In a Taoist temple called Xuanyuan Temple in Renshoufang in the inner city of Jingshi, Dong Fuyu calmly hung a sign at the entrance of the temple.

It reads, the country collapsed, today's memorial, will not be accepted.

Xuanyuan Temple was originally far away in Wudang, but Liu Ximing bought this Taoist temple by himself for his own layout, and brought Dong Fuyu to serve as the master.

After closing the gate of Xuanyuan Temple, Dong Fuyu walked straight into the main hall in the escort of the Liu family's personal guards who dressed up as Taoist priests.

The main hall is dedicated to the Ziwei Emperor, Dong Fuyu entered the main hall for a while, walked directly to the right hand side of the main hall, and gently turned a candlestick to the left three times and then to the right three times.

There was a soft sound behind Emperor Ziwei in the main hall, and a large hole with a height suddenly appeared, and a little light shone out inside.

Dong Fuyu bent down and walked into it, and several Taoist priests waiting in the hall to chant the scriptures immediately closed the mechanism again.

After following a few steps, Dong Fuyu entered a rather spacious basement, where the crown prince Zhu Cihong and Princess Changping, who were protected by Jiang Deshen, were among them.

"Your Royal Highness, Princess", Dong Fuyu arched his hand with a solemn face: "Li Zicheng has buried the bodies of His Majesty and the Queen, and allowed the soldiers and people of the old dynasty to worship, Your Highness can rest assured." ”

"Father, mother", Princess Changping shouted sadly.

Zhu Cihong also had a sad face, "I can't kill all the thieves." ”

After speaking, he looked at Jiang Deshen, who was standing on the side, "Jiang Aiqing, when can we leave to find Taifu, I want to raise troops for the Northern Expedition immediately." ”

Jiang Deshen then bowed down with a sad look and said: "Please be patient, now the Li thief can't find a few His Highnesses in the palace, and he is hunting down in the city, and there are eunuchs and palace maids who have seen His Highness at all the city gates helping to recognize people, and it is too dangerous to move now." ”

"What kind of people has my Zhu family raised in three hundred years!" , Zhu Cihong raised his head and sighed.

There was silence in the secret room below the Taoist temple.

At this time, the Jingshi has become a stage for the hundred officials of the Chongzhen Dynasty to flatter the new master, and the officials who shirked and refused to go to the court before the city was broken all went to Li Zicheng with a happy face, and the team could be lined up from Daming Gate to Chongwen Gate.

It's a pity that their behavior is a blind man's show, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others are obstructing it, and Huo Zhaowei is also desperately instigating during the period, Li Zicheng quickly shifted his attention to the huge wealth behind these officials.

From May 20 to the end of May, all the officials of the Chongzhen Dynasty were arrested by the soldiers of the Dashun Army and tortured and raided their homes one by one.

Huo Zhaowei also specially proposed that this data be released to the people, which caused the people of the world to spurn and anger against the Ming officials.

After a combination of punches, the Dashun army barely managed to gain a firm foothold in the Beijing Division.

However, these practices also led Wu Sangui, who was far away in Shanhaiguan, to officially decide to lead Qing troops into Pingkou, and the war was about to break out.

~~~

May 25, 16th year of Chongzhen, Nanjing.

"Sell newspapers, sell newspapers, today's special issue of Zhongyuan Daily, Li Zicheng led a large army to attack Beijing, His Majesty committed suicide and martyrdom, and all the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty surrendered!"

"Wow"

This shout was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, directly shocking the people of Nanjing City out of their bodies.

Many people couldn't believe it when they got the newspaper, and they kept urging the newsboy, and when they found out the truth, many people cried directly.

In the city of Nanjing, Lu Daqi, Qian Qianyi and others hurried to the mansion of Zhang Shenyan, the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials.

"Ministry, disaster is also a disaster, the Son of Heaven has died!"

Before entering the mansion, Qian Qianyi cried loudly and directly quarreled with Zhang Shenyan.

Zhang Shenyan is 66 years old this year, and when he heard this, his steps suddenly softened and he almost fell to the ground.

"What nonsense, there is no news from the six ministries, where did you come from these things?"

Liu Ximing's fellow villager, Lu Daqi, a native of Suining, Sichuan, raised the Central Plains newspaper in his hand, "This is what the Central Plains newspaper said, saying that Li Thief opened the city gate without a single soldier, and His Majesty had already hanged himself on Jingshan." ”

"Your Majesty!"

Zhang Shenyan let out a sad cry, and two lines of cloudy tears came in an instant at the corners of his eyes.

Qian Qianyi hurriedly helped him up and said hurriedly: "The matter is urgent, Ming Gong should hurry up and cheer up, as the so-called world cannot be without a king for a day, at this time, the candidate for the prince must be agreed as soon as possible." ”

"Who do you mean?" , Zhang Shenyan cautiously looked at Qian Qianyi and the others.

Qian Qianyi glanced at Lu Daqi, who was traveling with him, "I have already investigated, I don't know why, there are really not many remaining vassal kings in the clan at the moment, and there are only King Fu and King Lu in Fengyang." ”

It stands to reason that Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu, is the grandson of Shenzong, and should be established as a king according to his generation and rank, but he has seven major shortcomings: greed, lewdness, alcoholism, unfilial piety, abuse of subordinates, failure to study, and interference with officials. Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu, is the nephew of Shenzong, virtuous and intelligent, and should be made king. ”

Zhang Shenyan had to think about it carefully when he heard this, he had already heard about the virtues of these vassal kings, so he simply nodded: "Okay, just support His Royal Highness King Lilu, this matter needs the help of the Minister of War, Shi Kefa is in Pukou, you wait for someone to contact you as soon as possible." ”

Zhongyuan Daily is an industry under Liu Ximing, and in this era, only he can have such a smooth information channel to complete information transmission.

It stands to reason that he could have claimed in the newspaper that the crown prince Zhu Cihong and others had been rescued, and he only had to arrive in Jiangnan to claim the emperor, but he only said that Chongzhen had died in the newspaper, and did not mention Zhu Cihong and others at all, and his sinister intentions were obvious.

It's just that these thoughts are unknown to the Jiangnan officials, and after getting the information from the Central Plains Daily, the entire Jiangnan officialdom is instantly connected.

Shi Kefa, Zhang Shenyan and others planned to support King Lu, but Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu, contacted Ma Shiying and others through Lu Jiude, the eunuch stationed in Nanjing, and finally arrived in Nanjing first with the strong support of Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, Huang Degong, and Gao Jie, the four towns of Jiangbei.

At this time, Shi Kefa and others could only sit on wax, and a group of people pinched their noses and took Zhu Yousong into Nanjing.

On the first day of June, Zhu Yousong officially ascended the throne in Nanjing and became emperor, changed the name of the year to Hongguang, and pursued the name of Chongzhen Temple Sizong.

The ministers led by Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng led the hundreds of officials of the yamen in Nanjing to shout long live to Zhu Yousong Mountain, officially announcing the continuation of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that Ma Shiying and others patronized the collusion with the military town and the officials in Jiangnan and directly settled the matter, but no one remembered that Huguang was still holding an important minister.

In the Nanjing Imperial Palace, the little fat man Zhu Yousong climbed onto the dragon chair with a proud face.

The first thing he did was to reward the heroes, Ma Shiying, Liu Kongzhao, Ruan Dacheng, Liu Zeqing and others all received a large number of rewards.

It's just that after finally finishing this, a discordant voice suddenly sounded in the hall.

Liu Zongzhou, who once again served as the imperial history of the left capital, came out coldly and said:

"Your Majesty is now succeeding to the throne, and it is reasonable to appease the Quartet, such as the most important person today is the crown prince and the prince, the scholar of the Jianji Palace and the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Liu Ximing, the new Anbo was ordered to supervise the Central Plains, Huguang, Sichuan, Henan and Jiangxi and other places are under his orders, and now His Majesty is full of hundreds of officials, but the ministers have not heard of the reward Liu Wujiang, may I ask Your Majesty what to do?"

As soon as Liu Zongzhou's words fell, the court was stunned.

Ma Shiying had a stool expression on his face, how uncomfortable and uncomfortable he was, he blamed himself and others for enjoying the fruits of victory too selflessly, and even forgot such a big man.

But glancing at the robe of Dongge University on his body, Ma Shiying felt reluctance in his heart.

If you really want to follow Liu Xi's qualifications, Zhu Yousong won't let him be the first assistant in the past?

Not to mention that he still has Cao Bianjiao, Shao Rong and other elite soldiers and horses in his hands right now.

"According to the general constitution, how should this new Amber be appeased?"

Ma Shiying was helpless, so she had to kick the ball back.

Liu Zongzhou smiled and said: "This matter is decided by His Majesty, but as far as the old man knows, Xin'anbo has nearly more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and Huguang, Sichuan, Jiangxi and other places have also carried out official governance reforms, and these places are only at his disposal." ”

"Now that the imperial court is newly built, whether or not the new Amber can be attached is related to the safety of this dynasty. Since ancient times, those who guard the south of the Yangtze River must guard Huguang, to say something unpleasant, if the new Amber does not recognize the Nanjing court, he can raise troops and go downstream, with the name of Cao Bianjiao and other fierce generals in the world, who do you think can resist it? ”

In the Hongguang court, the ministers gasped.