The power of the Taiping Sect rapidly developed and expanded throughout the country, and the common people gradually knew that there was a Taiping Sect in this world who acted for the heavens, and the leader of the sect was a holy lord sent by God to the mortal realm to save all the people in the world and create a peaceful and prosperous world. This matter also quickly attracted the attention of the local governments, but the officials in various places saw that the Taiping Sect was only a good deed to help the poor and the weak, and did not oppose the government, and also helped the government to pacify the displaced people and organize militia groups, while officials at all levels were considering their own way out, so naturally it was better to have more than one thing and one thing less, so they didn't care about him. Some people in the government were secretly developed into congregations.

Chongzhen also got the news of the rise of the Taiping Sect from various sources, but now he has no time to take care of these, and there is only one enemy in his eyes, and that is Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng waved his troops south last year to take control of the vast area of Hubei, and at the beginning of this year, the bandits conquered Xiangyang and annihilated the main force of the official army in the south, and the contingent achieved unprecedented development and growth. At the same time, Li Zicheng established political power in Xiangyang, set up officials and divided posts, changed the long-term fighting style of wandering, and became a situation of fighting against the imperial court. Now Li Zicheng waved his army north again, attacking Shaanxi, Shanxi and Gansu, and the imperial court only had more than 100,000 remnants of troops led by Sun Chuanting in the northwest, and was unable to stop the bandits. Zhang Xianzhong has also captured most of the state capitals in Sichuan and attacked Chengdu.

Chongzhen felt that the general situation was not good, and began to plan for the future. On the one hand, he ordered the establishment of a small imperial court in Nanjing, modeled on the regulations of the imperial court, set up six ministries and nine secretaries, reappointed officials at all levels, and used Nanjing as the command center to organize and train new troops in the southern provinces. In addition, in order to calm the people's hearts and prepare for the unexpected, Chongzhen decided to establish a reserve.

Chongzhen has been working in government affairs all the year round and does not love the harem, so the heirs under his knees are withering, and he now has only two princes, one is the third son Cijiong born to Concubine Li, and the other is the fourth son Cihuan born to the queen, and the other sons have died early. (Note: Chongzhen had a total of seven sons in history.) Among them, Empress Zhou gave birth to three sons, Tian Guifei gave birth to four children, Chongzhen seventeen years (1644), the crown prince was 16 years old, the third son of the emperor was 14 years old, the fourth son of the emperor was also more than ten years old, and the other four sons were dead. The author has tampered with history here for the sake of the plot. ）

On this day, Chongzhen stood in front of the window of the south study and looked at the peach trees full of pink flowers in the garden outside, a few butterflies were busy flying among the peach blossoms, it was already the season of spring flowers, but he couldn't feel the slightest warmth in his heart. The situation forced him to make the decision to establish a prince immediately, and he frowned, pondering his two sons. The third son of the emperor Cijiong is five years old, sturdy, smart and clever, but too naughty and unwitting, and the nature is evacuated, all day long, he is reluctant to sit in a sedan chair in and out of the palace, but he likes to ride on the neck of the eunuch to walk, sometimes ride on the neck of the eunuch to pee, just five years old, he learned to change the punishment of the eunuch and the palace maid in the palace, so that everyone is afraid of him, he is busy with government affairs and has no time to discipline, Concubine Li also pampered him and let him do whatever he wants. Thinking of Cijiong's naughty appearance, Chongzhen couldn't help but chuckle: "This child has no shadow of calm and diligence on his body, and he does not have the steady and supple temperament of Concubine Li, how did I give birth to such a son!" Hehe, it's still too small, it's good to be bigger. ”

Chongzhen thought of the fourth son of the emperor Cihuan again, and couldn't help frowning. This child is only two years old, because the queen was depressed all day long when she was pregnant with him, and she didn't think about tea and dinner, so this child was congenitally deficient, his body was weak, and he was sick at both ends for three days, and he still couldn't walk, and he couldn't speak.

Chongzhen walked back to the bookcase and sat down, looking at the recital of the ministers of the court, all of them were ordered to recommend the prince, and most of the old ministers of the court recommended the fourth son Cihuan, the reason is that the fourth son was born to the queen, and the mother and son are noble, Chongzhen knows that this is caused by Zhou Kui, the father of Queen Zhou, in secret series, since the queen gave birth to a son, Zhou Kui has spared no effort to establish his grandson as the prince, and has tried his best to win over the important ministers of the court, in order to please Wu Xiang's father and son, he did not hesitate to give the courtesan Chen Yuanyuan to Wu Sangui. Chongzhen had already heard about this, that Chen Yuanyuan was the woman he loved, but he couldn't get it, and he didn't want to cheapen Wu Sangui. This Chongzhen is the most petty, what he can't get, he doesn't want others to get! When he was employing people, it was not easy to punish Wu Sangui clearly, but he did not let him feel better, Wu Sangui asked him to enter Kyoto several times and let him find a reason to refute it, so Wu Sangui went to Shanhaiguan for more than two years, and never set foot in the capital. There are only two pieces of music recommended for the third son Cijiong, one is Hong Chengchou, and the other is Lu Xiangsheng, and the reason for the recommendation of the two is very simple, that is, to stand tall and not young.

Chongzhen was not decided, got up and walked in the study, he was unwilling to establish Cihuan as the prince in his heart, he was too young, his body was weak, and he had not yet grown up, if he ascended the throne, he would definitely be held hostage by the queen, this queen was vicious and vicious, and there was no virtue in the world, how could he educate the prince well. It is also inappropriate to set up the third son Cijiong, Concubine Li has a gentle temperament and is not good at trickery, once she goes west, Concubine Li is not the queen's opponent, and the queen has a lot of foreign aid, even if she takes the throne, it is also possible. It's a pity that Wang Qiang has become a sleeping person, otherwise with Concubine Li being his old master, and with him assisting Cijiong in the court and balancing Zhou Kui and others, he would be able to sit back and relax. He occasionally thought of Wang Qiang, and couldn't help but sigh again.

Finally Chongzhen figured it out, the prince was only established to stabilize the court situation, he was only in his thirties, and he died so soon, no matter who was set up as the prince, there was room for turnaround, since this is the case, it is better to conform to the courtier's heart and establish Cihuan as the prince, so that the queen and their courtiers will give their lives to themselves, and the most important thing is to keep the Ming Dynasty.

The next day, Chongzhen issued a decree that the fourth son of the emperor Cihuan was named the crown prince, and the third son of the emperor Cijiong was the king.

When Empress Zhou saw that her son was made the crown prince, she was even more arrogant, and she felt that she had finally compared to Concubine Nali, and her son would be the emperor in the future, and she would be the queen mother, and she would be extremely noble and enjoy the glory all her life. Concubine Na Li has long since lost this mind, after giving birth to a son, she had moved to fight for her son's thoughts, and pinned the hope of foreign aid on Wang Qiang's body, every time she heard the news of Wang Qiang's meritorious service abroad, she was excited, but since she heard the news that Wang Qiang was injured and unconscious, her thoughts gradually stopped. She watched her son grow up day by day, and his lively and naughty appearance was a little son, and she missed and remembered Wang Qiang more and more, but she had a trace of disgust for Chongzhen, who was gloomy and sad all day long, and she didn't want to invite pets anymore. After hearing the news that the emperor appointed the fourth son of the emperor as the crown prince, Concubine Li felt lucky, she no longer wanted her son to be an emperor, because from Chongzhen, she saw that being an emperor was not a good errand, she just hoped that her son could grow up happily, she even fantasized that Wang Qiang could wake up, take herself and her son to find a clean place, and live a free and easy life like ordinary people, she knew that this was just a dream after all, in the dead of night, thinking of Wang Qiang, every time she cried tears.