5

When Zhou Yuji came to Ningwu City in embarrassment, there were only more than 200 remnants of soldiers left around him. The sergeant called to open the door and claimed that General Zhou was coming, but Ning Wu had already been captured by Liu Zongmin's army. After the city gate was opened, Liu Jia, Lin Yuan, Ye Yang, and Qiu Guang led five hundred soldiers out of the city, Zhou Yuji thought that he was coming to meet him, and hurriedly got off his horse and walked forward, and suddenly found that the general was wearing the armor of the Dashun army, and he didn't know each other, he was shocked, drew his sword and pointed at Ye Yang and asked, "Who are you?" Why are you wearing a thief's costume? Ye Yang didn't answer, he flew over, Zhou Yuji was shocked, and was about to flee, but was blocked by Lin Yuan and others.

Liu Jia threw a person's head on the ground and shouted: "Zhou Yuji, Ningwu is already a great shun, you are now exhausted, those who descend will not die, and those who resist will be beheaded." ”

Zhou Yuji saw that the head was the head of his nephew Xia Quan, and saw that his men and horses had been surrounded, and he knew that only by fighting to the death could he survive. Zhou Yuji estimated that Liujia was the leader, so he raised his knife and took Liujia directly, but was stopped by dozens of righteous soldiers behind Liujia. Ye Yang was bent on catching Zhou Yuji, and the sword was chopping, Zhou Yuji was fighting with the sergeant, and when he saw Ye Yang coming, he turned back to meet Ye Yang.

At this time, Lin Yuan and Qiuguang led the crowd to kill with the officers and soldiers, there were many volunteers, and they waited for work at ease, their fighting spirit was high, the number of officers and soldiers was at a disadvantage, and they were exhausted and demoralized all the way, and they could not defeat the rebels at all, and after fighting for less than a moment, they were killed and abandoned their armor, more than 100 people were killed and wounded, and more than 100 people were wounded and captured.

Zhou Yuji was a strong opponent of Liu Jia and Ye Yang, but the more he fought, the more courageous he became. Qiuguang was busy directing the sergeants to tie up the captured officers and soldiers, Lin Yuan came to Zhou Yuji's side and shouted: "Zhou Yuji, you have become a general without a pawn and a commander without soldiers, what else can you do, why don't you surrender early to avoid death?" Zhou Yuji looked back and saw that his men and horses had been killed or captured, and he couldn't help but be furious and said: "I am favored by the country, how can I surrender to the thieves!" Lin Yuan said angrily: "That is the case, fulfill you," and also fought with a knife.

No matter how brave Zhou Yuji was, he couldn't defeat the three of them, he was beaten back step by step, he was stabbed a few times, and was kicked over by Liu Jia, Lin Yuan took the opportunity to put the knife on Zhou Yuji's neck, and asked, "Still fighting?" Zhou Yuji sighed: "I, Zhou Yuji, fought with the Qing army for three days and three nights without defeat, I didn't expect to die in the hands of three thieves today, the sky is also the sky, and the life is also the same!" ”

Zhou Yu Jining was unyielding, Liu Jia saw that he was brave, and he couldn't bear to kill him, so he stopped Ye Yang, who was wielding a knife to kill, and said: "This person is loyal and brave, but he can be bound to see General Liu." Lin Yuan also said: "What I said is to see how General Liu decides." Ye Yang saw that Liu Jia and Lin Yuan were not allowed to kill, so he had no choice but to give up.

At this time, the blood flowed outside the city of Ningwu, and everyone tied up Zhou Yuji and more than 100 officers and soldiers into the city. Liu Zongmin laughed and said: "The king often praises the generals under General Tang for their high skills and courage, I still don't believe it, this time I captured Ningwu and captured Zhou Yuji, which opened my eyes to Liu Zongmin." ”

Liu Jia said: "General Liu, how to deal with Zhou Yuji." Ye Yang said: "This guy doesn't descend, and he still speaks wildly." Liu Zongmin patted Zhou Yuji's face and said, "Don't fall?" Believe it or not, I'll pierce you through the heart? Zhou Yuji laughed and said, "Grandpa is looking forward to being cold." Liu Zongmin was furious: "Come on, hang it on the city gate, and let the brothers practice the target." The sergeants received the order, tied Zhou Yuji's hands, hung the people on the city gate, and then shot a series of arrows with bows and arrows, and in the blink of an eye, a generation of famous generals were shot into arrowmen.

Back at the mansion, Liu Zongmin held a banquet to celebrate, and when he was drunk, Liu Zongmin said to Liu Jia: "Brother, make good contributions, wait for us to seize Beijing, rob the Jinluan Treasure Palace, where there is gold everywhere, there are palace maids everywhere, glory and wealth, and enjoy inexhaustible!" Haha......"

After Liu Zongmin finished speaking, dozens of generals under him also laughed wildly, only Lin Yuan, Liu Jia, and Lu Qi didn't like it. Liu Jia said: "General, Ning Wu has been down, Zhou Yuji is dead, and it is time for my four brothers to go back and restore their lives." ”

Liu Zongmin said: "Brother Liujia, don't worry, your general has gone with the king to besiege Datong, and the king ordered the four of you to follow the general to conquer, and when you arrive in Beijing City, your eighteen brothers will naturally get together." ”

6

In the following month, the rebel army captured Datong and killed more than 100 members of the family of Zhu Chuan, the acting king. In accordance with the order of King Dashun, Tang Hai allocated 10,000 horses to the mighty generals Zhang Tianlin and Zhang Heiyan to guard Datong, and then successively transferred tens of thousands of troops, respectively, to assist the mighty general Liu Jin to defend Yangyuan, to assist the Guoyi general Ji Hong to guard Yanggao, and to assist the Ming Dynasty general Tang Gang to guard Huai'an. Then, the righteous army went down to Xuanfu, seized Juyong Pass, occupied Changping, and approached the Beijing Division. Along the way, the people greeted each other, and the Ming army defending the city was attached one after another. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, on March 17 of the first year of Yongchang, Li Zicheng, the king of Dashun, led 300,000 troops to the outskirts of Beijing.

When the people outside Beijing saw the Dashun army coming, they knew that the Dashun army would not kill people and avoid levies, so they were in an uproar and burned incense to welcome them.

King Dashun sat in Shahe, north of Beijing, and ordered Liu Zongmin to be the commander-in-chief of the siege, dispatch the generals, and Tang Hai led 30,000 troops to guard the Changyi Gate and Xuanwu Gate.

There was a panic in the Forbidden City, and Emperor Chongzhen convened hundreds of civil and military officials to discuss the strategy of retreating from the enemy, but only seven or eight people came in a hurry, and all of them had no opinions, and everyone panicked. The emperor was furious and scolded: "You and other ministers who have misled the country and can't share your worries for me, what's the use of raising you?" ”

Wang Chengen reminded softly: "Your Majesty, in the past, there were more than 100 people in the previous dynasty, but today the thieves are attacking the city in a hurry, and the real ministers are busy packing up the gold, silver and jewelry at home and preparing to escape." ”

The emperor woke up and muttered to himself: "You can come here today, all loyal ministers!" Suddenly, he grabbed Wang Chengen like crazy and asked, "Where is my Jinyi Guard?" Where's my East Factory? What about my Divine Machine Battalion? ”

Wang Chengen knew that Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and Shenji Battalion had long since disappeared, but he didn't dare to say it directly, but Wu Ludao, the minister of the palace, said: "Your Majesty, Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and Shenji Battalion bullied the people on weekdays, but when they encountered Li Chuang's thief army, they were already frightened. ”

The emperor looked back and saw that it was Wu Lu, as if he had suddenly seen a savior, and couldn't wait to ask: "Wu Aiqing has a way to break the siege?" ”

Wu Lu said: "Your Majesty, the army that can be deployed by Li Guozhen, the governor of the Beijing camp, includes the Tengxiang Four Guards Battalion, the Warrior Battalion, the Internal Eunuchs, the Guards on the Straight Army, the Imperial City Guards, and the Capital Patrol Battalion, about 100,000, but these 100,000 are only imaginary numbers on the chapter, including a lot of impostors who eat empty salaries, and the actual number is only more than 50,000, and most of them are old and weak, less than a war. After thinking hard for a few days, he thought that the situation was critical and that there was no other way but to use two strategies. ”

The emperor asked eagerly, "What about the two strategies?" ”

Wu Lu said: "The first strategy: the emperor rode the dragon chariot, got up and drove the royal car, went to the palace of the prince and minister, gathered the men over the age of thirteen in each family and room, practiced a little, and ordered Shangcheng to kill the enemy. Then release the prisoners, let them defend the city, and make meritorious atonements. It was ordered that all the officials and officials of the capital's government should stop working, and they should all go into battle with weapons to guard the Beijing division. According to the minister's rough calculation, in this way, you can get 40,000 or 50,000 people, although you can't defend the city for a long time, but if you can hold out for ten days and a half months, the reinforcements of the king of Qin from all walks of life will definitely come in a pour, and then the thieves will retreat, and the urgency of the capital can be solved. ”

Emperor Chongzhen was groaning, and Wang Chengen said angrily: "Lord Wu is ridiculous, the emperor is a body of ten thousand gold, how can he go to the palace of the prince and minister to beg for soldiers?" Besides, once the prisoners in the prison are released, won't they take the opportunity to make trouble, how can they go to the city to kill the enemy? ”

The emperor stopped Wang Chengen and asked Wu Lu again: "What about the second strategy?" ”

Wu Lu said: "I heard that last year, the regent of the Manchu Dynasty, Dolgon, had sent a letter to Li Zicheng, inviting me to attack the Ming Dynasty and divide the world together. Chen guessed that there must be a gap between Dolgon and Li Zicheng. The minister had to report that Dolgon had gone out of Shenyang and crossed the Liao River to the west in order to fight for the world, wanting to capture Datong from Mongolia, and then sweep the Central Plains, peeping into the imperial power, and Datong had been occupied by Li Thief, so there must be a battle between Li Thief and Dolgon. The imperial court can send a man who can speak well to talk about the Li thief, and he will warn him that the praying mantis catches the cicada and the yellow finch behind. The minister thought that the imperial court could crown Li Thief as the king of the Northwest and reward him with a million silver, so that he could guard the Northwest for my Ming Dynasty and resist the Manchu Qing Dynasty. ”

Emperor Fu groaned, Wang Chengen couldn't help it again, and scolded: "Seal Li Thief as the king of the northwest? Wu Lu, are you the opposite? ”

Wu Lu saw that the eunuch was rude, and said angrily: "The monarch and the ministers discuss national affairs, why are the ministers so tongue-in-law? ”

Wang Chengen was speechless, Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand at the two, and the two did not dare to say more. Wei Zaode, the first assistant of the Emperor's Cabinet, was quite talented, and asked, "Lord Wu's two strategies to retreat from the enemy, what does Lord Wei think?" ”

Wei Zaode's mouth is like a river, and his eloquence is outstanding, and he is deeply loved by Emperor Chongzhen. But this person has no other strength except for that mouth, so Wei Zaode didn't dare to discuss Wu Luzhi's two strategies, so he had to worship on the ground and not say a word. Emperor guessed that he was afraid of responsibility, and encouraged: "Aiqing but it doesn't hurt to say it, Aiqing's words today are not acceptable." Wei Zaode remembered that many ministers who had advised Emperor Chongzhen in previous years, once they failed to plan carefully, they would be beheaded, because of his secret thoughts: The emperor is capricious, and today's decision is right, if there is a mistake in the future, he will definitely die without a place to be buried. Therefore, Wei Zaode was sincerely frightened and never dared to speak up.

The emperor was furious, kicked Wei Zaode and scolded: "Mistaken ministers, misguided ministers, get out, get out of me." ”

Wei Zaode and the ministers sweated profusely and withdrew from the palace tremblingly.

The emperor returned to the dragon chair and sat down in a trance, and said after a long time: "Wu Aiqing's two strategies for retreating from the enemy are very good, but Wang Chengen is right, the prisoners in the prison are thieves, how can I rely on thieves to kill thieves?" I will, the next holy decree, order the whole city to go to the city to kill the enemy, the princes and ministers are all delicate, let them give two pieces of silver, all the soldiers who defend the city, the people kill one thief, reward one hundred taels of silver. As for Feng Li becoming the king of the northwest, Rong Zhen thought about it carefully. ”

Wu Lu knelt on the ground and admonished: "Your Majesty, as early as two months ago, there were rumors in the city, saying that 'open the door to meet the king, not bad, not to pay food.'" The whole city has been waiting for the thieves to enter the city, so how can they be expected to defend it? Although there is no shortage of criminals in the prison, there are more loyal patriots, they are all framed and imprisoned by Jinyiwei and Dongchang, if the emperor opens the grace of heaven and forgives them for their crimes, how can they not give up their lives to serve the country? Don't say anything else, let's just say Cao Yin, he is the main advocate of practicing the law, loyal to a piece, although he is in prison, he is always concerned about the safety of the Ming Dynasty, let him out to kill the enemy, why not? ”

As soon as he heard Cao Yin, Wang Chengen couldn't help but shudder, it was Wang Chengen who helped Li Banghua and others to give advice, and then went forward to slander the emperor before sending Cao Yin to prison, and now Wu Lu proposed to release Cao Yin, how could he not let Wang Chengen be empty-hearted?

"If Cao Yin had been ordered to practice the law and make every effort to rectify the dynasty, things would not have come to this," Chongzhen muttered to himself with a blank face.

Wang Chengen saw that the emperor seemed to have remorse for not using Cao Yin at the beginning, and was worried that he would order the release of this law idiot, so he quickly changed the topic and said: "Your Majesty, since the people are unreliable, then issue an order, order all the officials of the yamen and the princes and ministers to gather, and line up to the city to kill the enemy. ”

Wu Lu said: "The princes and ministers have their own selfish intentions, the government officials are greedy for life and afraid of death, if the emperor does not go to supervise in person, only with a holy decree, the ministers are worried...... The minister was worried that no one would obey the order. ”

"How dare they?" Wang Chengen was furious: "The emperor is still the lord of the world, who dares to resist the decree and destroy the nine clans." ”

The emperor listened to the argument between Wang Chengen and Wu Lu, his face was full of dementia, and he said: "Don't say it, Wang Aiqing is right, how can I take my own humiliation and go to the courtier's house to beg for soldiers?" Wu Aiqing is not wrong, the princes and ministers have their own selfish intentions, and the government officials are greedy for life and afraid of death, who obeys the order? The king is not the king of the country, the ministers are all the ministers of the country, no matter what, no matter what, no matter what, the holy decree is not issued, I am waiting here for the traitor, and you will fight to the death with the thief. ”

Wang Chengen knelt and hugged Emperor Chongzhen's feet, and cried bitterly: "When the thieves enter the city, they will be ashamed of my lord, the emperor, give an order, a holy decree, you can also gather tens of thousands of people, and you can still hold on for ten days and a half months, and the Ming Dynasty can be protected!" Wu Lu also knelt down and said: "The emperor is not willing to go to supervise the army in person, and he is unwilling to give an order, please issue an edict, and the minister has an edict, and he is willing to go to the various prefectures to recruit troops to defend the city." ”

Emperor Chongzhen thought for a long time and said: "Okay, according to Wu Aiqing's intentions, let the civil and military officials of the yamen in the capital, the yamen, the soldiers and horses, the princes and ministers, their families, and the eunuchs in the palace all go to the city to kill the enemy, kill one thief, reward one hundred taels of silver, and kill ten people to be crowned." ”

After Chongzhen finished explaining, he lowered his head, was weak, and sat on the dragon chair.

Wu Lu kowtowed and bowed: "The minister's order!" "That is, hurriedly out of the palace.

Emperor Chongzhen muttered to himself: "The people welcome the thieves into the city? No, it's impossible, I'm the true dragon emperor, and the people are my people......" Fu grabbed Wang Chengen and said: "Wang Chengen, I appointed you as the commander of the nine gates of the capital, and you mobilized the people of the whole city to kill the enemy, I am not afraid, I still have hundreds of thousands of people in the capital, they are all my people." ”

Although Wang Chengen's face was full of helplessness, he could not disobey the holy will, so he had to kneel down and say: "The minister's decree." He bowed to the ground three times and slowly withdrew from the main hall.

Emperor Chongzhen was demented, and slowly chanted: "Obviously below, Hehe is above." There is no difficulty, it is not easy to maintain the king......"

6

On this day, Tang Hai summoned Xiaolong, Duan Qi, Shan Yong, Hong Shi'an, Tang Xi, Zhang Chuan, Jinzi, and Wang Yu to discuss the matter, Tang Hai said: "Two months ago, 1,200 spies of the righteous army have mixed into the city, and they have already understood the military and people's feelings in the city, and warned the people to open the door to meet the king, not to pay money or food, the people are happy, and they all hope that the righteous army will enter the city as soon as possible. The king planned to attack the city tomorrow, and once the city was broken, he saw the house with the word "Shunmin" hanging at the door, indicating that the family was willing to submit, and the soldiers were not allowed to trespass, let alone kill the people in the house. In addition, after the city was broken, Tang Xi, Wang Yu, and Jin Zi led 5,000 troops to rush to the prison of the Metropolitan Procuratorate with me and the military advisors, so as to rescue Lord Cao. ”

As he was talking, Peng Yong, a personal soldier, came to report: "General, General Liu's messenger asks to see." Tang Hai said: "Please." Peng Yong brought the messenger into the account, and after the salute, Tang Hai asked, "What is General Liu's general order?" The messenger said: "General Liu said, according to the spy newspaper in the city, the enemy guarding Xizhimen and Deshengmen are all old and weak, and the defenders of Changyi Gate and Xuanwu Gate are the elite of the Ming Dynasty warrior battalion. ”

Tang Hai said with a smile: "Since I am a feint here, I don't need many troops, General Shan Yong and General Xiaolong are fierce generals who are not suitable for ten thousand people, and they can go together to assist General Li Guo, and the annoying messenger will tell General Liu that Tang Hai will dispatch it immediately tonight." ”

The messenger was overjoyed and commanded to withdraw.

Shan Yong asked in surprise: "Big brother, we are all gone, what should you do?" ”

Zhang Chuan scolded: "What does Liu Zongmin mean by this? Repeatedly transfer our men? ”

Duan Qi said with a smile: "Seeing that we have grown, don't worry." ”

Xiaolong said angrily: "I don't listen to him, don't go." ”

Tang Hai looked at Duan Qi: "What does the military advisor think is wrong?" ”

Duan Qi smiled slightly: "The general's decision is the best decision. ”

Tang Hai said to Xiaolong, Shan Yong, Shi'an, Zhang Chuan, and Wang Yu: "The five brothers should not complain, the enemy is at present, and the unity of the whole heart is the most important. ”

When the five of them saw that Tang Hai had decided, they couldn't say any more, they were all depressed, and there were ten thousand reluctances in their hearts.

On the night of the same day, the six generals led 10,000 rebels to take advantage of the darkness to move to Deshengmen to help in the battle.

Early the next morning, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, in the early morning of March 18 in the first year of Yongchang, the righteous army officially attacked the city. In the afternoon of the same day, the Changyi Gate guards were defeated, so they had to open the door and surrender, Tang Hai was overjoyed, so that the army broke into the city, and took the opportunity to break through the Xuanwu Gate, and tens of thousands of soldiers rushed in. The Ming Dynasty, which lasted for two hundred and seventy years and six years, was attacked like a mountain by the peasant rebels, like the remnants of the wood to block the cattle, the blazing fire, the decay of the wall to the flood, the stinky flies to the wind, and suddenly broke into pieces, burned into residue, turned into mud, and collapsed......

Another once-powerful dynasty was wiped out in an instant, leaving future generations to sigh endlessly......

Tang Hai immediately watched from afar, saw that the officers and soldiers had abandoned their weapons and knelt on the ground, his heart was overjoyed, and he saw the corpses inside and outside the city gate, and the blood was red into a river.

The Ming Dynasty is unclear and the world is dark, and the idiot imitates the ancient Pangeng.

Pangeng Xing Commercial Bank Tang Zheng, Chongzhen restored the Ming Dynasty and abandoned the virtuous ministers.

The virtuous ministers were worried and worried, and Li Shu was angry.

Yin Xun wanted to see the seven tricks, and burned himself on the firewood building.

The country has always been coquettish, and the ancient kings did not have mercy.

The drums and horns rang up, and nine out of ten lives were killed.

The finches in the snow look forward to early spring, and the seedlings look forward to the rain in June.

The hero raised his sword in anger to save the suffering people of the world.

On March 18, Yongchang, a strong man held a sword and swept the world.

The wind is sweeping the world, and spring is full of China.

The male lord ascended to the pole and all the people were safe, and Qianli looked up to the sky and was happy.

Yao Tianshun is now again, and Hao Hao is returning to benevolence in the world.