In the twenty-eighth year of the Great Yuan Dynasty, 1368 A.D., the seventh month of the leap month.

Yuan Dadu.

These days, the people of Yuan Dadu are also as restless as the hot and dry weather. People are silently waiting for a moment to come, some are afraid, some are unwilling, some are looking forward to a miracle, and most are full of longing for a new era.

Among them, the most fearful, fearful, and helpless is Emperor Zhizheng (Emperor Yuan Shun). As the supreme ruler of the Yuan Dynasty, he has not lived a peaceful life for more than a year. Since the first month of last year, there has been a steady stream of ominous and terrible news almost every day. First of all, Zhu Yuanzhang was proclaimed emperor in Yingtian (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) in the first month of the twenty-seventh year of Zhizheng (1367), and the country was named Ming, Jianyuan Hongwu, and the Lima family was the queen, and the prince was marked as the crown prince. Next, I heard that Zhu Yuanzhang sent Tang He, Liao Yongzhong and other fierce generals Kefuzhou, Ping Yanping (now Nanping, Fujian), to punish Chen Youliang. Soon, the Ming Dynasty soldiers captured Guangdong, settled in Henan, and opened a school in Fuzhou County...... Next, the Ming general Xu Da and others captured the Hebei Zhudi, defeated the Yuan soldiers in Hexi Wu (today's Jinwuqing Northwest North Canal West Bank), Ketong Prefecture (now Beijing Tongxian). At present, on the 23rd day of the seventh month of the 28th year of Zheng (1368), the Ming army arrived in Zhigu, and on the 26th, the Privy Council of Buyan Timur went out of the capital to meet the Ming army and was captured. The Ming army marched all the way, like a bamboo, unstoppable, and the next target was Yuan Dadu, which was already embattled and in danger.

What to do? What to do?

"Thirty-six plans, go for the top plan". It's better to evacuate the capital as soon as possible and go north to the capital for the coming day.

Emperor Zhizheng arranged for his confidants to quietly prepare for evacuation, and even collected the tablets of the Taimiao Temple, and planned to take them away together when they fled.

A few days ago, Zhu Yuanzhang sent an envoy to surrender. For this Brother Zhu, Emperor Zhizheng was angry, afraid, and helpless. In the face of Brother Zhu's surrender letter, he had a lot of thoughts, and wrote a poem "Answer to the Lord" and politely refused:

The envoy of Jinling crossed the river, and thousands of miles of wind and smoke opened together.

The king's spirit is sometimes self-contained, and the grace of God is everywhere.

I believe that the sea is returned to the Lord, and I also like that there are talented people in the south of the Yangtze River.

Returning to the sincere annoyance, the spring breeze came to Phoenix Terrace first.

That's right, thirty-six plans to go up!

On the 28th, Emperor Zhizheng hurriedly came to the Duanming Palace, summoned the ministers, and arranged the relevant matters after he went north to Shangdu.

"What?!"

Hearing the news that Emperor Zhizheng was going to retreat north, the ministers looked at each other and couldn't believe that this was true.

"How can this be?!"

Prime Minister Zuo Cheng lost the martyr's door and knew the Privy Council's affairs Hei Di and others took the lead in asking: "Great Khan, the Ming army is coming to the city, at a time when the survival of this country is in danger, you should encourage the soldiers to stick to the capital and persist until the Qinwang righteous army in Shanxi, Mobei and other places comes, so that the siege of Dadu can naturally be solved." At this time of great crisis, we monarchs and ministers should be united, how can you abandon the fundamental land of the country so rashly? ”

Not only did the military generals persuade Emperor Shun to stick to the capital, but even the eunuch Boyan Buhua also kowtowed: "Your Majesty, you must not give up the capital and go." No matter what, we must be determined to stick to Kyoto. The ministers are willing to recruit soldiers and civilians, go out of the city to fight, and never give up! ”

In the face of the heated discussion among the passionate ministers, Emperor Zhizheng couldn't help but lament: "Do you think I want to leave? There's no way around it! Tell me, what is the fundamental place of the country? How many days has Kyoto been stable in recent years? First Polo committed driving, and then expanded the outline and created chaos, Kyoto has been empty for a long time, how can you say you can hold it?! ”

Boyan didn't spend any time crying: "Today's Dayuan's world is the world laid down by the original ancestors, how can Your Majesty abandon it?" Even for the sake of the ancestors of the underground emperors, they also have to defend the city! ”

Emperor Zhizheng shook his head and sighed: "Foolish and loyal to the Lord! Foolishness and devotion to the Lord! You still read too little and don't remember the fate of the Southern Song Dynasty Shihui and Qin Erzong? How can I become a captive king? I have made up my mind, needless to say! ”

Boyan didn't spend time and again to cry and admonish, and the ministers were emotionally agitated. Seeing that he couldn't convince these granite-like elm heads, Emperor Zhizheng was so angry that he flicked his sleeves and returned to the palace with a blue face.

At dusk, Emperor Zhizheng separately summoned the eighty-three-year-old Huai King Timur Buhua and Prime Minister Qingtong into the Great Interior, and made a straightforward decision: to make Huai King Timur not spend the prison country, and Qingtong was supplemented.

Timur Buhua and Qingtong saw that the holy order had been decided, and it was really not good to advise anything, at this time, if you talk more nonsense, it is clearly to show that you are greedy for life and afraid of death, and you dare not stay in Kyoto, so you are speechless and stumbling out of the palace.

Emperor Zhizheng did not dare to wait until dawn, and in the middle of the night, he quietly opened the Jiande Gate, and took more than 100 ministers, including the concubine, the prince and the left prime minister, Zang Jianu, the right position, the governor Ha Hai, the Hanlin bachelor, the Li family Bainu, the Privy Council, and Wang Hongbo, who knew the Privy Council, went north in a panic and went out to Shangdu.

The people of Yuan Dadu are paying close attention to Emperor Zhizheng's every move, their fate is closely tied to Emperor Zhizheng, and they touch their future from Emperor Zhizheng's eyes and words. Pingzhang Dehuan is undoubtedly such a person.

This night, Tuhuan couldn't sleep no matter how he slept.

He stared at the dark roof for a while, and then out of the dark window, anxious. He had a hunch that something unexpected might happen tonight.

"Bang bang - bang - "

At the fourth watch, half-awake and half-asleep, he heard someone knock on the door.

A grunt rolled up, lifted the knife pressed against the side of the bed, hid behind the door, and asked quietly, "Who?" What's up? ”

"Master Pingzhang, it's me, Tie Muhua."

It turned out to be the dark line of the inner palace that he bought.

Tuhuan opened the door, and Tie Muhua said breathlessly: "Master Pingzhang, at the third watch, Emperor Zhizheng took the prince and other hundred and ten people out of Jiande Gate, and went north and up. ”

"What? It's true? ”

"Indeed!"

"Is it too late to catch up?"

"There are many people in Emperor Zhizheng, and he won't go too fast, and he will only be fifty or sixty miles in an hour, and if nothing happens, he can catch up."

"Good, good! You've worked hard. Tuohuan took out the two taels of silver he was carrying, sent Temuhua back, and then hurriedly woke up his sleeping wife and children, as well as a few cronies and subordinates, fortunately, preparations had been made in front, and everyone did not dare to speak loudly, so they hurriedly packed up their belongings, opened the door gently, walked to the backyard, took out the horses that had been prepared, and quietly came to Jiande Gate.

Without the emperor's decree, the guards refused to let him go,

Tuhuan said that he was ordered to go to Shangdu with Emperor Zheng.

The guards didn't believe it, but fortunately, a hundred households guarding the door recognized it, so they opened the door and let them go.

In this way, Tuhuan took his wife Ma, the concubine, and three sons: the eldest son A Shidu, who was more than ten years old, the second son Gong Bu Shijie, who was seven or eight years old, and the concubine who had just learned to walk, and dozens of people from his subordinates rushed north.

It turned out that Tuhuan was a descendant of the Yuan royal family, the fourth grandson of Genghis Khan's sixth son, Kuo Liejian, and the great-great-nephew of Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, and was once named the king of Anding. He has successively served as the Governor of the Council, the Pingzhang Political Affairs and Zuo Cheng.

To get rid of joy is to hate the dictatorship of the powerful, and also to oppose the practice of Emperor Zhizheng who is obsessed with tantra and does not want to make progress. Seeing the Yuan Dynasty's rivers and rivers going down, the sun setting in the western mountains, and the country's demise, I was deeply worried. His only hope is that as a descendant of Genghis Khan and a courtier of the Great Yuan, he will swear to die with the emperor at the critical moment when the country is ruined and the family is ruined. This time I decided to follow Emperor Zhizheng in order to do the last of my courtiers.

Tuhuan and his entourage originally thought that they would be able to catch up with Emperor Zhizheng before dark, but they didn't expect to rush to the dark and didn't see the shadow of Emperor Zhizheng and others. Asked all the way, but no one saw or heard the news of Emperor Zhizheng. The group was very depressed, and the children were young and sleepy, so they gradually filled their feet.

Besides, until Emperor Zheng slipped away in the middle of the night, the main force escorted north, this vast "extra" quickly spread throughout the capital, and the soldiers left behind in the city heard the news, who still has the confidence to defend the city to the death? As a result, the whole city was immediately chaotic, and Timur, the king of Huai, did not spend this old "prison country" and had no country to supervise in an instant.

On the afternoon of August 2, Xu Da and others marched into the Yuan capital, arrived at Qihua Gate, and the soldiers filled in the trenches and entered the city.

There are a total of eleven gates in the capital, which have always been guarded by the "cowardly Xue" in the Yuan army in turn. "Cowardly Xue" is the protector of Emperor Yuan, and most of them are nobles and meritorious heroes, and their positions are hereditary. The "cowardly Xue" who guards the gate of the capital is called "Eight Thorns Hachi". But at this time, the "cowardly Xue" army had already followed Emperor Yuan Shun out, and only some old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers were left to defend the city. The general guarding the gate sighed in the face of these soldiers under his command: "The state affairs have come to this, and we can only survive with this gate." ”

In fact, few of these soldiers really wanted to fight, they either hid or fled. The Ming army quickly occupied the city gates without much effort. There was no decent resistance, let alone the expected fierce street fighting, and those who had long been ready to surrender needless to say, even the hardcore loyal ministers of the Great Yuan Dynasty gave up resistance

On the other hand, in the Ming Army, the officers and men were united in their hearts and minds, and their momentum was like a tiger. Xu Da, who took the lead, personally climbed the Qihua Gate Tower and captured alive Timur Buhua, the Huai King of the Great Yuan Sect, and Taiwei, the left prime minister Qingtong of the Zhongshu Zuo, Pingzhang Diebi lost Pu, Sai Bu, the right prime minister Zhang Kangbo, and the imperial history of Cheng Manchuan and others. The attitude of these prisoners of war was asked on the spot: surrender and avoid death, and give them a way out, and those who have made new contributions can also be trusted and reused by the new regime. To say that these people are really admirable: in the face of the butcher's knife, they all regard death as home, and they would rather lose their heads than resolutely allegiance to the Dayuan royal family! Xu Da's persuasion was ineffective, so he had to order: Then cut it! Even the impassioned eunuch Boyan Buhua in the Duanming Hall behaved like a "gentleman" and committed suicide in the palace without hesitation.

However, the real royal clan does not have such courage. The Ming army captured six princes including Xuanfu, Zhennan, and Weishun. The princes had a docile attitude and enjoyed Xu Da's special preferential treatment: only two jade seals and one jade seal of Chengzong were confiscated, and the Dayuan public property and treasury books were seized.

In order to completely eliminate the scattered remnants of the Yuan regime left in Dadu and quickly calm the hearts of the people in Dadu, Xu Da made a public announcement: "All the ministers of the Yuan Dynasty are ordered to be sent to the official and signed in the civil register, and those who violate it will be punished." ”

On the contrary, many Han Chinese officials who served in the Yuan court could not trust their own compatriots. Like Yuan Hanlin waiting for Huang Yinshi to commit suicide by throwing himself into the well, the loyal servant desperately stopped him, this Huang Hanlin nodded and agreed: "Okay, death does not make life." However, how to solve this shameful face? Simply, you get the old wine in the jar, and I will borrow wine to cover my shame, and I dare to go out to meet people after I get drunk. The servant was a real person, and he really went to the market to buy a jar of old wine for Huang Hanlin, but when he returned home, he found that Huang Yinshi had already jumped into the well and died for a long time.

This is probably a common problem of traitors, and what they are most afraid of is being punished by the liquidation of their fellow clansmen. Ding Jingke, the left minister of the Yuan Court, and Guo Yunzhong, the chief manager, also committed suicide to apologize to the world.

The next day, Shunde's generals Ji Youcheng, Hu Shenzheng, and Zheng Shenzheng all came from Xishan. Wu Dewei Military Academy was awarded the former Le'an fugitive general Yu Sheng, Nan Shenzheng and Zhang Langzhong. Xu Da then sent his generals to Yingtian to achieve victory, and on the one hand, he ordered Xue Xian, Fu Youde, Cao Liangchen, Gu Shi, etc., to lead troops to patrol the ancient northern passes, and on the other hand, he ordered Hua Yunlong to manage the old Yuan capital, build additional city walls, and wait for Taizu to patrol the fortunate. Xue Xian, the right Cheng, and Fu Youde, who participated in politics, led Feng Xiang and other five guards to march 30,000 out of Gubeikou to chase to Emperor Zheng. On the eighth day of the first month, Zhixing Road, not obtained. Emperor Zhizheng took the east road, and Fu Youde's army chased after him from the west road, so he couldn't catch up. But Fu Youde was not without gains, and the gains were quite large, he encountered Uighur vehicles on the road, and returned with all his detention, and obtained 100,000 cattle, sheep and horses.

The demise of the Yuan Dynasty, for the people of Middle Earth, no matter how to celebrate, is not too much, the so-called "four episodes of Acura in the group, a hundred years of pollution." ”

Besides, Emperor Zheng took more than 100 men and horses, out of the Deshun Gate, like a frightened bird, galloping from the east road to the west, everyone was eager to give birth to two wings under their armpits, and flew to Shangdu in one breath. Walking and walking, people were sleepy and tired, and at this time, they did not dare to take the main road again, for fear of being discovered by the Ming army, so they chose a sparsely populated remote path to move forward. One day, at dusk, everyone was in a hurry, and suddenly there was a loud bang in front, and everyone panicked and fled, thinking that they were surrounded by the Ming army. After a long time, there was no Ming army, everyone came to their senses, slowly stopped, and sent a few vigorous soldiers to visit, it turned out that a hill in front of them collapsed and slid down, and everyone's panicked hearts were slightly calmer.

On the afternoon of August 5, a confidant hurried to tell Emperor Zhizheng that most of the capital was broken by Xu Da on August 2. Emperor Zhizheng screamed, spitting blood from his mouth. The crowd hurriedly settled and rested. After a while, Emperor Zhizheng came back to his senses, didn't say a word, walked up to a small mountain bag in front of him alone, burst into tears, and sang in Mongolian—

O precious and magnificent capital city of mine, built of all kinds of treasures,

Comfortable summer and living in my upper capital of Kaiping Kuer City,

In the summer camp of the ancient saints, I lost the Lama Tara (i.e., the Golden Lotus River) in the upper capital,

In that year of Wushen, when everything was withered and yellow, I lost the great power by mistake!

Nine colored treasures decorated into my magnificent capital,

But I can hold ninety-nine white horses, and I am all even,

Widely benefited me, the blessing of the two ways of politics and religion,

Called the Lord of the world, my pity name,

Rise early and look into the distance, the smoke is swirling, the front and back look at the view, the scenery is pleasing to the eye,

Regardless of winter and summer, live worry-free and happy,

It is the treasure city capital established by Emperor Xue Chan at ease!

O vast and magnificent capital of my ancestors,

I have gathered together all my princes, prime ministers, and subjects,

Not listening to and ignoring the prime minister's clear words is my resentment,

Listening to the rebel Zhu brother officials, it is my ignorance!

Mistakenly killed the wise master of Tokhtar,

It is my sin to return to the Great Master.

Pity the reputation of the Emperor of my Lord of All!

It's a pity for the joy I enjoyed!

Emperor Xue Chan, who has divine power, built in many ways,

My great capital city where Fu Lu gathered!

It was taken over by the Han Zhu Ge officials!

The infamy has fallen on me, the Timur!

On August 15, Emperor Zhizheng and his entourage finally arrived in Shangdu.

After arriving in Shangdu, Emperor Zheng worked hard day and night, summoned his ministers, and inquired about the plan for recovery, often in the middle of the night, and had a posture of reinvigoration. At that time, Harazhang asked Emperor Zhizheng to order Timur to come to his aid, and Emperor Zhizheng agreed. Timur lived up to the hopes of Emperor Shun, and at the beginning of October of the 28th year of Zhizheng (1368), he fought a beautiful victory with the Ming army in Handian. Emperor Zhizheng was carried away by this victory, and his confidence doubled for a while, and he named Timur the king of Qi and ordered him to wave his army south to recover the capital. Not wanting the Ming army to take the opportunity to sneak attack, Timur was defeated, and fled with only eighteen horsemen. After that, Emperor Zheng was depressed again, and his health deteriorated, and when he congratulated on New Year's Day in the twenty-ninth year of Zheng (1369), he couldn't get sick, and then he often stayed in the court due to illness. At that time, the Yuan army was defeated in successive battles, and on June 13, the twenty-ninth year of Zheng (1369), Emperor Zheng abandoned the capital to Ben Yingchang, during which many ministers advised to rush to Ben and Lin, but Emperor Zheng did not adopt it. In the thirtieth year of Zhizheng (1370), Emperor Zhizheng was seriously ill, and the crown prince Aiyu was aware of the affairs of the general military state of Lidala. On April 28 of the same year, Emperor Zhizheng died of dysentery in Yingchang at the age of 51. Taiwei finished, the court envoy Guanyin slave was buried in the north of Zigong. After his death, the temple name Huizong, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang gave the honorific title of "Emperor Shun" with his "knowing the destiny of heaven and retreating".