On the first day of the first month of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, in the city of Nanjing.

The brigade of the flag bearer guard, holding the bright and dazzling flag of the Son of Heaven, came out of the palace in the west garden. Now that the national disaster is at hand, everything is simple, so after the Son of Heaven raises the banner, there are the wrestlers and the officers and soldiers of the guards, who are guarding Emperor Chongzhen who is riding a white horse, and they burst out.

After Emperor Chongzhen, there were also a large number of nobles who rode in cars or on horseback. Most of the people in the car are first-class concubines and princesses of Emperor Chongzhen, and the number of people is much more than when he was a Ming monarch in Beijing! The one who rode the horse was the prince of the Ming Dynasty. The thirty-three kings in Beijing all wore the regular clothes of princes and county kings, and followed behind the princess of the queen concubine.

Although everything is simple, there are not many people who follow - many people have already followed Zhu Cihong to Xiaoling first - but the flag bearer guard and honor guard around Chongzhen are guarded, and there are five or six hundred eunuchs and palace maids who follow. There were also dozens of noble relatives of the Heavenly Family who followed behind, each with their own entourage to escort them. Seventy-seven-eighty-eight in one place, that's three or two thousand people!

Such a team came out of Xipu and walked on the streets of Nanjing, which is already a huge pomp rarely seen in 200 years!

From the west garden is the wide East Pailou Baoyuan Street, along this bustling and lively street to the northeast, on Taipingli, across the Dazhong Bridge, through Tongjimen Street, you will enter the central Ming Dynasty Yamen and the Imperial City is located in the "core area" - now the Imperial City is under construction and renovation, but the various Yamen in the south of the Imperial City have been renovated and put into use.

After entering the "core area" of Nanjing, it is West Chang'an Street, Chang'an Right Gate, Chang'an Left Gate, East Chang'an Street, East Huangcheng Gennan Street, and then Chaoyangmen Urn City. Out of Chaoyang Gate, you can go directly to Xiaoling Tomb along the street outside Chaoyang Gate.

Now from the East Pailou Baoyuan Street to the Xiaoling Xiamafang streets, all the city gates, all the soldiers of the new army have been transferred to guard along the streets. The soldiers of the New Army, whose morale was high, all changed into brand-new Red Army uniforms, wore red hats on their heads, and carried spurted bird guns on their shoulders. These were the elites of the four "all-fire associations" under the jurisdiction of the New Army, and more than 4,000 people were dispatched to guard the streets through which the Son of Heaven's car was about to pass.

By the way, in the sequence of the new army that has reached 150,000 people, the real elite, that is, the four association fire guns and the two association iron cavalry, are now all concentrated in Nanjing.

The five foreign general regiments headed by the German foreign general Shi Ruien will soon all be in place, and Zhu Cihong will sign a contract with all five teams in Chinese and French, of which four foreign general regiments are each responsible for the training of a "model regiment" -- the so-called "model regiment" is equivalent to a "cooperative", but the establishment is slightly different, adopting the formation organization method of the Dutch Morris phalanx. The most basic combat unit is a battalion of 500 men, and a "model regiment" has four battalions, excluding auxiliary forces, for a total of 2,000 men.

There was also a regiment of foreign generals composed of artillery officers, and according to the contract, they were to train Zhu Cihong a standard field artillery regiment in the manner of Swedish artillery—consisting of eight artillery companies, an engineer company, and a baggage company. Six of the artillery batteries were armed with a total of 24 bronze three-pounder field guns purchased from the Macau Bugarao Cannon Foundry, while the remaining two companies were armed with 12-pounder Hongyi cannons.

At present, the four "model regiments" and one "artillery regiment" have not yet been formed, but the corresponding personnel have been concentrated in the Daxiaochang barracks in the southern part of Nanjing, and they are working overtime to train in the queue.

So what can be pulled out today to defend Emperor Chongzhen and Zhu Cihong is the 4 Fire Gun Association and the 2 Cavalry Association.

On both sides of the street guarded by the officers and soldiers of the Fire Gun Association, of course, there was a sea of people.

The people of Nanjing haven't seen such a grand event as the Son of Heaven leaving the palace for many years! And just yesterday, there was a rumor that the Son of Heaven had fallen into the water, and there was still a strong smell of conspiracy, as if there were rebels who couldn't wait to usurp the throne...... The southeastern scholars who gathered in Nanjing, waiting for Kaunke, also had no intention of reading the books of the sages. Today, I heard that the emperor was going to worship in the filial piety tomb, and they all went to the street to see the emperor - although yesterday the emperor climbed the Sanshan Gate once.

But it was late at that time, and the emperor was high, and the people below couldn't see it clearly - of course ordinary scholars and ordinary people didn't know Chongzhen, but there were still many officials in Nanjing who were idle and elected, and some of them had been court officials, and they all knew Chongzhen.

If they think that the emperor is fine, then the scholars can naturally go to the Ministry of Rites with peace of mind, otherwise...... You have to think about it, can a rebel son who killed his father and usurped the throne really be the master of the Ming Dynasty?

Now it is the Ming Dynasty of "filial piety and loyal ministers ruling the world", and this kind of thing of killing the monarch's father is a great rebellion to the extreme!

At this time, the sound of the mountain shouting long live, one after another, began to sound on both sides of the street where Emperor Chongzhen's car passed. There was also a loud chamberlain riding a horse in front, shouting as he walked: "The saint has arrived, and the officials and the people are one!" ”

The people of the Ming Dynasty were to kneel when they were driving, but at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the rules were not strict, just kneel, you don't have to crawl on the ground, you can watch the emperor happily, and some retired officials who have been elected have already prepared, and now they have taken out a monocular, and they have begun to reconnoiter from afar.

"It's the emperor! Still riding a horse and looking good......"

"Thank God, the emperor is doing well!"

"It's good that the emperor is still here, Da Ming is saved......"

"It seems that someone still doesn't dare to risk the world's condemnation......"

"The emperor is here, hurry up!"

"Greetings to the Holy One, long live, long live, long live!"

Seeing Chongzhen coming, everyone subconsciously held their breath and bowed deeply, and at the same time burst out with the sound of long live the mountain.

The cry shook the sky, making Emperor Chongzhen, who was riding a horse, tremble. The human heart seems to be still there! Doesn't it say that if you win the hearts of the people, you can win the world? The people's hearts are still there, does it mean that his emperor can still be the emperor?

......

At this moment, the crown prince Zhu Cihong and the pavilion guys, Shangshu, Shilang, Wei Shuai, and the princes and uncles in Beijing have all arrived at the palace outside Xiaoling Xiamafang in advance - outside Xiamafang, there was already a palace for the emperor and princes and ministers to bathe and change clothes, which had fallen into disrepair and was very dilapidated.

Therefore, after Zhu Cihong arrived in Nanjing, he ordered someone to expand and renovate it, and also wrote the plaque of "Siguo Palace" in his own hand, which was hung at the gate of this palace...... This "thinking palace", as the name suggests, is a good place to think behind closed doors?

I don't know who is going to think about it here?