Emperor Chongzhen lay on the bed and turned over again.

It was only on the afternoon of the 15th that he received a report from Wang Yongji, the governor of Jiliao, that he learned that Juyongguan had fallen and that Tang Tong had rebelled.

This news is actually not surprising, because before Juyong Pass, there were two important towns of Datong and Xuanhua successively attached to the rebel thieves. The Ming Dynasty already had the potential of an avalanche. In this case, it is not strange for Tang Tong to attach a rebel to the thief, it is a strange thing to be like Zhou Yuji to stick to the end.

However, after Emperor Chongzhen learned that Tang Tong had surrendered to the thief, he still had a feeling of falling into an ice cave.

If you don't consider Wu Sangui's department, which is still in Shanhaiguan, Tang Tong's 8,000 people are Chongzhen's last hope to hold the city of Beijing. On the issue of how to use Tang Tong's department, Chongzhen hesitated for a while, and finally chose Juyong Pass, a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and close to Beijing City, for Tang Tong to defend.

I don't really expect Tang Tong to stop Li Zicheng, but as long as Li Zicheng is forced to make a detour, it can be regarded as completing the task.

Because Li Zicheng only had to waste a little time by making a detour to break through other places along the Great Wall, and the city of Beijing would also gain a little precious time. Moreover, after Li Zicheng broke the Great Wall, Tang Tong's troops could also quickly return to help and continue to hold on to Beijing City.

With two delays like this, it should be possible to wait for Wu Sangui's reinforcements to arrive. With Wu Sangui's army of 40,000, the defenders of Beijing City were as many as 50,000 or 60,000, and they were quite elite.

At that time, there should be no problem in holding Beijing and repelling Li Zicheng. The problem is only the captives outside the gates, relying on the soldiers and horses of Wu Sangui and Tang Tong alone, it is impossible to defeat Li Chuang and Juchou at the same time, so the southward move must be implemented after all. After repelling Li Zicheng, he will be able to manage to advance the southward move again...... But now, the wishful thinking has completely failed, and the city of Beijing is about to be besieged by the rebel army.

And the preparation for moving the capital to Nanxing has not been done at all, if he flees in a hurry, he will be alone, and when he arrives in Nanjing, can he still command the world like now? The edict he issued in Beijing didn't listen to the people who met him, otherwise why would Da Ming be like this? If you lose the mausoleum of your ancestors, lose the honors of hundreds of officials, and go to Nanjing in a miserable and panicked manner, will you not be discredited?

Emperor Chongzhen rolled over and sighed heavily.

The eunuch on duty outside suddenly woke up, tiptoed close to the curtain, and listened to the movement inside. It's the end of the 16th, and it's time to prepare for the morning pilgrimage. Compared with those emperors who did not fall in love with the court, the current Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty is really too diligent, since he ascended the throne, he has been diligent every day, and the early dynasty that began before dawn has not been broken, and most of the time he arrived at Fengtianmen earlier than his courtiers. After going to the court, I have to criticize the chapters, listen to the lecturer talk about the great principles of Confucianism, summon internal and external officials, and ponder the strategy of suppressing bandits and Pingliao, and I have to be busy until the end of the day before I can go to bed, and I don't know if I can sleep for two hours every day? It's really iron-beaten, and King Kong can't stand it! But this son of heaven has persisted for seventeen years!

That's really a lot of hard work day and night, day and night! Looking at the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, probably only Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Cheng Zuwen are so diligent, right?

But what is even more rare is that under the conscientious governance of this emperor, the Ming Dynasty has actually reached the point of stormy and imminent destruction...... For the sake of this Ming Dynasty, the thirty-three-year-old Son of Heaven even had a lot of gray hair, but he couldn't stop the rout in all aspects!

God can't open his eyes!

Emperor Chongzhen got out of bed and coughed lightly.

"Hooray, do you want to drink water?" The eunuch on duty lifted the curtain lightly, pinched his throat, and asked Chongzhen in a soft voice.

Emperor Chongzhen nodded. When I was in bed just now, I was dazed and couldn't sleep at all, and now when I sit up, I feel dizzy and weak.

The eunuch on duty at night hurriedly brought white water and handed it to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen drank it all and asked, "What time is it?" ”

"It's the fifth watch." The eunuch replied.

"It's time to go to the court......" Chongzhen sighed.

He already vaguely felt that the big thing was going to be bad, and he didn't know how many days there would be in this early dynasty?

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen was so sad that his tears were about to fall.

The eunuchs on duty didn't know how to comfort Chongzhen, so they had to call the other attendants on duty to light the lights, and at the same time personally help Emperor Chongzhen put on shoes and socks and robes. After a while, the Qianqing Palace was brightly lit, and the palace maids and eunuchs were busy walking along the corridor silently in the early hours of the morning, as if the drastic changes that were taking place outside the palace had nothing to do with them.

Emperor Chongzhen, as in the past, cleaned his hands and face, used some refreshments, and soon sat down behind the bookcase in the Dongnuan Pavilion. On the bookcase, there is a holy edict that was approved last night, all of which were personally approved by Chongzhen Yubi. He is a Ming Jun, of course he will not let the eunuch of the celebrant do it for him. However, these approved holy edicts still have to be taken to the court by the celebrants.

The palm print eunuch Gao Yushun and the second eunuch Wang Zhixin have already arrived, and after saluting Chongzhen, they began to pack up the holy decree to be issued today.

"Wang Chengen didn't come?" Emperor Chongzhen asked, and before the words came out, he had already remembered, and replied with a wry smile, "By the way, he went to defend the city......"

It is a bit of a fool's mind to let Wang Chengen be in charge of the defense of Beijing City, that is, Emperor Chongzhen can think of it.

In fact, the internal service system of the Ming Dynasty was also divided into civil and military, with the Wen eunuch controlling the celebrant and the Wu eunuch controlling the imperial horse eunuch. The Imperial Horse Supervisor has always been in charge of the army, so those who can rise to become a great master in the Imperial Horse Supervisor system have certain military experience. And Wang Chengen is a eunuch with no military experience.

The city of Beijing is in great trouble, let a eunuch Wen who doesn't understand anything be the commander of the city defense, can there be a good result?

"Long live the lord," asked Gao Yushun, the eunuch who held the seal of the celebrant and the eunuch, "Do you want to call Wang Chengen to serve?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen shook his head, the matter of defending the city is important, let Wang Chengen be busy now. Seeing that Gao Yushun and Wang Zhixin had finished cleaning up, he stood up and walked out of the Qianqing Palace to Fengtianmen.

A few steps out of the gate, I saw a eunuch wearing a big red python robe walking towards him, and almost collided with Wang Zhixin, who was opening the way in front.

As soon as Wang Zhixin wanted to open his mouth to reprimand, Emperor Chongzhen had already recognized that person as Tian Cunzhi, the admiral eunuch of the Imperial Horse Prison.

Although this guy is a eunuch, he acts like a martial artist, his physique is also very burly, his face is a little hideous, his skin is dark and rough, and he is a fierce Zhang Fei when he sticks to his beard.

Because of his rough appearance, he was sent to the Yongwei Battalion from the first year of Chongzhen. In the past ten years, most of the time I have been on the front line, and I have developed a style of wind and fire.

"Is it Tian Cunzhi? Come forward and speak. Emperor Chongzhen beckoned to Tian Cun and told him to step forward.

Tian Cunzhi stepped forward and saluted, and then said in a voice with a little surprise: "Long live the lord, good news!" When the minister entered the palace, he saw thousands of people queuing up on the north street of the imperial wall, and after asking, he realized that they were all righteous people who had come to join the army to serve! ”

According to the old rules, eunuchs are not allowed to leave the house. However, this kind of rule has long been abolished, such as Tian Cunzhi's level of Dajue, not only has a foreign house, but also has a wife and concubine, and the family wealth is even more thousand.

Therefore, Tian Cunzhi, like the court officials, entered the imperial city early every morning to be on duty. However, the eunuchs did not go through the Daming Gate when they entered the imperial city, but took the Bei'an Gate. That's why I saw the brave men in the capital who were fooled by Zhu Cihong waiting in line on the North Street of the Imperial Wall.

Emperor Chongzhen almost didn't believe his ears, and looked at Tian Cunzhi in a daze, "Really? Are there really thousands? ”

"Really, long live the lord, the minister dares to guarantee his life!" Tian Cunzhi said with certainty, "There are thousands of them early in the morning, and they will definitely be more than 10,000 by night!" It seems that the people of Beijing are still interested in the Ming Dynasty! ”

Chongzhen exhaled: "Thank God, it's all the kindness of the ancestors...... Da Ming is saved! There is salvation! ”

……

"Chitose Lord, Da Ming is saved! Saved......"

At the same time, Zhu Cihong, who had just gotten up, also heard the same news, it was the bureau of the Donggong Dian Pharmacy, the old eunuch Li Jizhou brought him the news.

Because Zhu Cihong was "sick", Li Jizhou should have been waiting left and right, but the prince who was sick yesterday spent a day outside Duanben Palace. So Li Jizhou had to get up early in the morning today and came to the palace to block Zhu Cihong. And when he entered the palace, he also saw the long queue on the north wall of the imperial city.