In the Qianqing Palace, candles are lit on the imperial case full of documents, the antique Xuanyao blue and white folded branch flower candlestick, the eleventh layer of blue and white ornaments are overlapped, the painting is fine and beautiful, and the lines are beautiful and clear. Chongzhen on the throne took a document and looked at it carefully, his haggard face full of shock and excitement.

After Zhao Zhixian returned to the county government from the general's mansion this afternoon, he immediately wrote a good news, and along with an innocuous ordinary official document, he added a heavy reward and sent a capable person to the capital on a fast horse. Before leaving, Zhao Zhixian repeatedly told that after arriving in the city of Beijing, he must ask the facts, if there is really a great victory in Leifa as Yang Ming said today, then the good news will be presented together, if there is no such victory, then only report the ordinary official documents. Zhao Zhixian expected that this kind of shocking victory, tens of millions of eyes on the city wall watched, it must be a sensational event that everyone knows, and it is impossible not to ask.

And this time the good news arrived in Beijing, the officials naturally did not have to be in a dilemma like the last time they received the good news of the Battle of Shunyi, and immediately put it as an urgent military situation at the top of the entire stack of official documents and presented it to the imperial front.

Under the candlelight, the neat small block letters on the official document read, "I heard that the Beijing master captured the police, and the ministers wanted to split, so they urgently told Yang Ming, knew the righteousness, and urged him to cast the spell." Ming went to the altar and tried his best to cast the spell for a day and night, then the thunder roared, the whole city shook, and the captives of his Yunjing division Bocheng were killed and wounded, and fled in panic......"

This Zhao Zhixian is still very authentic, in addition to his own merits, he did not forget to brag to Yang Ming.

Chongzhen read this official document several times, and couldn't help but be surprised and happy in his heart. After getting the city report in the morning, he personally went to the city to see, and at a glance, the Jin army was really full of corpses, and the defenders who went out of the city cut their heads for more than an hour, and two troops fought because of grabbing the heads, and more than a dozen people were killed and wounded. Chongzhen has been severely reprimanded for this.

According to the court's reward, the head of a Houjin soldier is fifty taels of silver. In the past, the Ming army and the Houjin army fought many times, and occasionally there were several so-called victories, and the heads were often in single digits, and today there were three thunders under the city, and there were more than 1,000 heads in an instant, which was simply picking up money, and it was no wonder that the defenders who usually shrank in the city and did not dare to go out of the city gate would go out of the city and rob them madly.

In any case, the Houjin soldiers under the city finally retreated, and the danger in the capital was lifted, Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly felt hungry, and then he thought that he hadn't eaten all day.

There was a sound of gentle footsteps coming from the back door of the Qianqing Palace, and a slender figure walked from the dark to the front of the imperial case, lowered his eyebrows and lowered his head to put the dinner plate held in both hands on the table.

"Zitong, why are you?" Chongzhen asked with surprise.

The woman in front of the royal case raised her head, the candlelight swayed, reflecting the white and jade-like face of the eighteen-year-old girl, and the plain face without fat powder with a beautiful and gentle smile.

Zitong is the emperor's name for the empress, and the woman who delivered the meal was Chongzhen's Empress Zhou.

"Please forgive your majesty for trespassing on your concubines." Empress Zhou said softly, "The concubine is really worried about Your Majesty's dragon body...... Your Majesty, you haven't eaten for a day......"

Since the Houjin invasion, Chongzhen ordered the concubines not to come to the Qianqing Palace to disturb him to deal with the military aircraft.

Chongzhen looked at the queen's face in front of him, thinking that during this time, he had been working in the Qianqing Palace and almost never returned to the harem, and the queen not only did not have a word of complaint, but also took the lead in the harem to reduce food and clothing, and cut all kinds of expenses to support herself. The 170,000 taels of silver he used to recruit Shen Fu last time was part of what Empress Zhou saved in her own and her harem. Chongzhen couldn't help but feel sour in his heart, reached out to hold Queen Zhou's hand, and said warmly: "Zitong, you have also worked hard, come, sit down and dine with me." ”

Empress Zhou's face turned red, and her body twisted delicately, "Your Majesty, the concubines have already eaten, please hurry up and have a meal." ”

As she spoke, she placed the chopsticks, spoons and plates neatly one by one, wrapped a sky-blue napkin around Chongzhen's chest, and picked up a porcelain bowl with white rice and presented it to Chongzhen.

The fragrance of hot rice grains came to his nose, Chongzhen sandwiched a handful of green vegetables and ate it with rice, and the food was in the mouth, and he suddenly felt that the taste was very delicious.

"Zitong, you made this meal again, right?" Chongzhen asked as he ate.

Queen Zhou was born in poverty, she is a native of Loutang Town, Jiading, Suzhou, her father Zhou Kui, and her mother Ding are Zhou Kui's stepfamily. After Zhou Kui moved to Beijing, he made a living by watching fortunes in the downtown area of Qianmen Street, and the young Zhou family took care of the housework at home, lighting a fire and cooking. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse (1626), when the then King of Xin, Zhu Youzhen, was married and selected as a princess, Zhou was selected as the concubine with her beautiful appearance, gentle personality and virtuous and thrifty character. After Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne as Emperor Chongzhen, the Zhou family was promoted from Princess Xin to Empress.

When she married Chongzhen, she was only 15 years old, Chongzhen was the same age as her, married and married, and she was very gracious. At that time, Chongzhen was just a poor prince, and his family's life was not even as good as that of ordinary big families. Although according to the regulations of the imperial court, the monthly money and grain of the vassal king were still very rich, but with the financial situation of the imperial court at that time, these money and grain were just a piece of paper and almost never distributed. Although Chongzhen is the younger brother of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, life is not easy, and he often has to rely on the Zhou family to do some embroidery work to subsidize the family. Emperor Tianqi was only 5 years older than Chongzhen, and no one thought that a year later, Tianqi died, Chongzhen ascended the throne, and Zhou became the queen.

After Chongzhen entered the Forbidden City and was promoted to the queen, the Zhou family still did not change his true character of diligence and thrift. She cut the use of the harem, abolished all kinds of extravagant expenses, wore cloth clothes, ate vegetarian food, and even cooked on the fire herself, sewed and mended clothes, and also led the palace maids to spin and weave cloth, and to set an example for the harem to be in good order, and she was a rare thrifty and virtuous queen in Chinese history.

"Chongzhen Palace Ci" has a poem as evidence:

The palace has been cut at all costs

It has long been called King's Day

From this home to rest and hope luckily

The times are difficult and only for the common people

When Empress Zhou heard Chongzhen ask if the meal was made by her own hands, her face froze, and then she replied calmly:

"Your Majesty, the meal is indeed made by the concubines. The concubine poured goose juice in the vegetables just to add some umami so that His Majesty could eat a few more bites......"

Chongzhen was silent when he heard this.

Due to the frequent disasters in various places over the years, and the invasion of Houjin, Chongzhen on the one hand in order to save palace expenses, on the other hand, to show that he shared the suffering with the people, announced that he would cut off meat food and become a vegetarian, and Queen Zhou did this dish, which was suspected of violating the will.

"Your Majesty, your dragon body is important, if you don't eat well and your body collapses, who will preside over this Ming world?" Empress Zhou looked at Chongzhen calmly, "If Your Majesty wants to blame, the concubine is willing to be punished." ”

"Zitong......" Chongzhen wanted to say something, but tears fell, and tears dripped onto the rice in the bowl.

"Your Majesty...... It's all the concubines who are not good, and the concubines can't share the worries for His Majesty, but ......" Queen Zhou saw Chongzhen shed tears, and in a hurry, she confessed her mistake repeatedly, and the tears fell down like pearls with broken threads.

Suddenly, Chongzhen seemed to think of something, put the bowl down, and said loudly:

"Zitong, why be sad? Today is a great news! ……”

As he spoke, Chongzhen picked up the official document on the table and handed it to Queen Zhou.

"Zitong, look, what a victory! I have loyal people to serve the country, why do you and I worry that the soldiers will not retreat, the world is uneasy, and the people will not be able to live a good life? ! Chongzhen said that he was excited, and his arm waved violently, and a blush appeared on his pale face.

The ancestral family law, the harem is not allowed to predict political affairs, but the emperor is happy, this official document can be shown to whoever you want, who can manage it?

Today, Yang Ming Lei Fa retreated from the enemy, Queen Zhou has heard of it in the palace, but the rumors are too bizarre, all kinds of exaggerated and absurd words are endless, Queen Zhou borrowed food to find Chongzhen this time, a very important reason is that she wants to ask in person, but she has not had the opportunity to raise it for a while.

After Chongzhen's words, Queen Zhou had no scruples, and unfolded the official document and looked at it carefully.

"It turns out that this is true...... This Shunyi city is forty miles away from the capital......" Empress Zhou muttered with surprise in her eyes.

"I personally went to the city today to see it, and the corpses of the Tartar soldiers are all over the field, can there be fake?" Chongzhen's expression became more and more excited, "Come here, pass on Sun Chengzong!" ”

Empress Zhou knew that the emperor was going to summon ministers to discuss military affairs, so she had to step back, hurry up, Empress Zhou said to Chongzhen:

"Your Majesty, tomorrow will be the Chinese New Year's Eve, and the palace people's money and new clothes have not been distributed yet......"

Chongzhen hesitated for a moment. In the past two months, he has been in charge of the previous dynasty, and the affairs of the harem have long been forgotten, and even he has forgotten that the New Year will be tomorrow. Two months ago, he gave Shen Fu 170,000 taels of silver to recruit soldiers, and he had almost emptied the entire family of the inner treasury.

Empress Zhou saw Chongzhen's embarrassment, and she had a plan in her heart.

"Your Majesty, this new dress can be left undone for the time being, but you can't save money. The concubine has discussed with Sister Yi'an, Sister Yi'an took out some jewels and jade jewelry, and the concubine's wedding ceremony also has some ......"

Chongzhen's face froze, hesitated for a moment, stepped forward and stretched out his hands to hold Queen Zhou's hand.

"I have wronged Zitong, I will definitely pay you back in the future......"

The sister Yi'an that Empress Zhou said was Zhang Yan, the empress of the Emperor of the Apocalypse. Emperor Tianqi is the eldest son of Zhu Changluo of Mingguangzong, he became emperor at the age of 16, reigned for only seven years, and died of illness at the age of 23, when Zhang Yan was only 21 years old. When Tianqi was seriously ill, his nurse Keshi and Wei Zhongxian arranged for the pregnant palace maids to enter the harem, and Tianqi told Zhang Yan that Wei Zhongxian told me that two palace maids were pregnant, and that they would become emperors if they gave birth to men. Zhang Yan objected, believing that he should establish the letter to Wang Zhu Youzhen earlier, and finally Zhang Yan persuaded Tianqi to pass the throne to Chongzhen. Before his death, Tianqi entrusted Empress Zhang to Chongzhen and said: "The middle palace has been with me for seven years, and I have benefited a lot from Chang Zhengyan's advice. In the future, young and widowed, good and pitiful, good deeds in the palace. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he also respected the imperial sister-in-law very much, and called Zhang Yan "Queen Yi'an".

Tongzhou, the northern starting point of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. After Beijing became the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Guo Shoujing was ordered to dig the Tonghui River in the capital city and the Huitong River in Shandong, making the canal truly a major artery connecting the north and south of ancient China. In the Ming Dynasty, there were about 10,000 grain ships going back and forth between Beijing and Jiangnan every year, and almost every day, there were whole ships of grain, silk, salt, iron, bricks and wood and other goods from the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River and hoarded on the wharf. When the Later Jin army first came to Beijing, it intercepted the water transport and burned down the wharf and more than 1,000 boats here.

In the evening, the water surface of the Tongzhou Canal was as silent as death, and occasionally birds flew across the water and let out a mournful cry. On the east bank of the canal, the layers of tents could not be seen at a glance, and after the tens of thousands of Houjin troops of Huang Taiji retreated from the city of Beijing, they crossed the Tongzhou River and camped here.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, several torches were lit, and Huang Taiji sat in the middle of the tent, looking at Dai Shan, Mang Gurtai, Sakhalian, Abatai, Dudu, Azig, Dolgon, Duoduo, Haoge, Yue Tuo and others standing on both sides with gloomy and stern eyes. There was silence in the big tent, everyone standing on both sides did not dare to make a sound, the light of the fire flickered brightly and dimly on their low faces, and the whole big tent was shrouded in a dull and solemn atmosphere.

"Mang Gultai!" Huang Taiji called the name of Sanbeile, not loud, but full of majesty.

"Great Khan-" Mang Gurtai stood in front of Huang Taiji with his hands bowed, his forcibly calm face couldn't hide a little panic, and he lost all the prickly energy that he used to try to fight with Huang Taiji.

"Sanbeile Mang Gurtai did not receive the order, acted without authorization, and mistook the military plane, so he immediately went to Heshuo Belle to be titled, demoted to Dorobelle, cut five oxen, and fined 10,000 taels of silver." Huang Taiji announced coldly to everyone, not even glancing at Mang Gurtai.

Mang Gurtai's face turned red, his lips pursed, and he didn't dare to say anything after all.

In a battle outside Guangqu Gate this morning, his blue flag array was accurately hit by a second high-explosive grenade, and more than 700 elite soldiers were killed on the spot, and many of those who retreated in panic were wounded. At that time, Mang Gurtai was in the front row of the array watching the artillery bombardment of the city, if it weren't for Yang Ming's pursuit of combat efficiency and setting the landing point of the grenade in the center of the array, as long as the landing point was a few tens of meters forward, I am afraid he would not have been able to come back today. Rao was like this, but there was still a piece of shrapnel flying far away, piercing the iron armor of the horse on which Mang Gurtai sat down, and deeply embedded in the horse's belly, and the horse that had followed Mang Gurtai for many years was killed on the spot.

Now, Mang Gurtai's Blue Banner combat power is basically gone, and he no longer has the capital to call out to Huang Taiji.

"Great Khan, today's third brother rushed to attack the city first, it is really the courage of flesh and blood, although it violates the military order, but its loyalty and courage are commendable, it seems that it is not appropriate to punish him heavily." It was Dai Shan who spoke. He is the second son of Nurhachi, the first of the four major beylers, with two banners of red and red, and his sons Yuetuo, Shuotuo, Sakhalian, and Wakda, are all fierce generals who support the army and are good at fighting. And Dai Shan is quite aware of advance and retreat, when Huang Taiji ascended the throne, Dai Shan, Yue Tuo, and Sakhalian have the merit of supporting.

"Da Baylor's words are not unreasonable, but in today's battle in the city, the Zhenglan Banner suffered the largest casualties, which is caused by Mang Gurtai's disobedience to military orders, if he is not heavily punished, how can he comfort the army?" Huang Taiji said lightly.

"The Great Khan said I didn't obey military orders? I would like to ask the Great Khan, but Dolgon obeyed the orders of the army, and there were fewer people who died with his white flag? Mang Gurtai saw Dai Shan come out to defend himself, and the panic in his heart disappeared by half, and that brute strength came out again.

Dolgon's white flag retreated with the tightest ranks, which was said to be a sign of the army's well-trained and strong fighting power. But they didn't expect to face the third grenade shotgun, and at once they were killed by the rain of arrows fired from the volley explosion.

Standing on one side, Dolgon's eyes stared at Mang Gultai, and the muscles on his face twitched a few times, but finally he couldn't hold back his voice.

Hearing Mang Gurtai's words, Huang Taiji's eyes suddenly flashed with light, and his face showed anger, and a thunderstorm was coming.

"Great Khan, I really can't blame the third uncle for today's defeat, it's all because that barbarian Lei Fa is too powerful......" Yue Tuo came out to speak.

Haoge, who had been keeping his head down and not saying a word, quietly raised his head to look at Yue Tuo, with a hint of schadenfreude on his face. After he came back from Shunyi, he justified the responsibility for the defeat on Yang Ming's Lei Fa, which was too powerful, but how could everyone believe this kind of statement? Especially this Yue Tuo, he was even more sneering at him. It seems that after the battle under the city of Beijing today, Yue Tuo saw it with his own eyes, and he had to believe it. In the morning on the battle array, Hao Ge used Lei Fa to persuade Huang Taiji to withdraw the army, and was angrily reprimanded by Huang Taiji, and now Yue Tuo mentioned Lei Fa again, he happened to see Yue Tuo's jokes.

To Haoge's surprise, as soon as Yue Tuo's words came out, Huang Taiji pondered for a moment, but the anger on his face gradually dissipated.

"Since Yue Tuo also interceded for Mang Gurtai, then forgive Mang Gurtai for violating the order for the time being, keep his title of Heshuo Belle, cut five cattle records, and a fine of 10,000 taels of silver is inevitable."

Yue Tuo is the eldest son of Dai Shan, and his temperament is upright, brave and resourceful. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse (the 11th year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven, 1626), Nurhachi died on the afternoon of August 11, and the ministers carried his coffin to the Shenyang Palace at the beginning of the night. In the early morning of the next day, Dai Shan led the Great Beile, including Huang Taiji, convened a meeting of Zhu Beile, and Dai Shan proposed to establish Huang Taiji as Khan.

At the beginning of Huang Taiji's ascension to the throne, his prestige was not high, and the other three Baylors were still trying to sit on an equal footing with him, and Yue Tuo actively assisted Huang Taiji in strengthening the centralization of power, attacking and weakening the power of the three Baylors, and Huang Taiji had always been very tolerant of Yue Tuo. As for the later Huang Taiji's position was stable, he blamed Yue Tuo at every turn and repeatedly belittled him, that is a later story.

"Tomorrow, the whole army will rest here for a whole day, and each flag will prepare more wine and food, so that the soldiers can have a good year. On the first day of the new year, the army marched eastward! After disposing of Mang Gurtai, Huang Taiji commanded everyone again.

Tomorrow is the thirtieth month of the second year of Chongzhen, the Chinese New Year's Eve, and the Houjin people will also celebrate the New Year. At that time, not only the Central Plains, but also Korea, Mongolia, Houjin, Vietnam, Ryukyu, and Japan all celebrated the Spring Festival.

A cadre of people waited for the chanting to withdraw, and in addition to the personal entourage, only Huang Taiji and Haoge were left in the tent.

"Father Khan, this Mang Gurtai has always been rude...... "Hauge finally had a chance to speak, and immediately fell into the well for Mang Gurtai.

Huang Taiji glanced at Haoge and ignored him, but commanded in a low voice to his relatives: "Bring that person up!" ”

Two personal entourages grabbed the people of Huang Taiji's important people between their arms and put them into the tent. I saw that the man was dressed in a handlebar style, with a yellow face, and a pair of triangular eyes rolling around, and when he saw Huang Taiji sitting in the big tent, he immediately knelt down on his knees with a bang, and kowtowed.

"Little Wu Er, I've seen the Great Khan. Long live the Great Khan, long live long live......"

Since the straw tent bragging was broken by Xu Ying that night, this black second child was in a panic, and finally seized an opportunity for Jin merchants to enter the city to drag goods, and made up his mind to vote for Jin merchants to escape. Those Jin merchants were originally the economic forces supported by the Later Jin, in addition to smuggling grain, grass, materials, and ammunition for the Later Jin, they also shouldered the task of spying on the economic and military intelligence of the Ming Dynasty. Since Shunyi City fell into the hands of Yang Ming, it has always been the focus of Huang Taiji's intelligence work, and when he encountered Wu Lao Er, such a goods delivered to his door, the Jin merchant Liu Zhang's team was naturally overjoyed, and immediately changed Wu Lao Er's handlebar clothes, and sent it to Huang Taiji's army with the convoy hauling gunpowder from Shunyi City.

"You are the sergeant under Yang Ming?" Huang Taiji asked coldly.

"Yes...... The little one is the one who is ...... man," replied the second er.

"What is the origin of Yang Ming, do you know?"

"That'...... That Yang Ming knows Lei Fa, the little one has already defected to the Great Khan, and was robbed by that guy halfway......" Wu Lao Er said, a pair of triangular eyes looked secretly, only to see Huang Taiji on the seat looking at him coldly, his eyes were cold and sharp, as if he wanted to see through his internal organs.

"Small...... What is the origin of that guy, the little one really doesn't know ......" this question doesn't dare to talk nonsense.

"How many people are under Yang Ming?"

"There are more than 800 people and more than 100 horses." Wu Lao Er replied honestly.

"Why did you run away?" Huang Taiji snorted slightly, and the cold voice made Wu Lao'er's whole body smash the spirit.

"Small...... The little one has already defected to the big sweat ......" Wu Lao Er's face oozed beads of sweat the size of soybeans, "That Yang Ming lewd the little wife and daughter...... The little mother-in-law was still holding the child who had been nursing for several months, and the girl refused to let go, and took the little mother-in-law into the tent and raped her all night......"

"Oh?" Huang Taiji's gloomy face showed a hint of mockery, I don't know if he was mocking Yang Ming or Wu Lao Er.

"Great Khan, the little one and that Yang Ming don't share the sky!" Wu Lao Er climbed down the pole, "This guy is greedy and lustful, and he has collected many women in the house......"

"A woman's family went to the house to ask for someone, and the woman was pretending to be benevolent and righteous, and openly agreed, but secretly I don't know what means to appease those family members...... None of the women in this house were released......"

"The little mother-in-law is still in that house with her child, and life is better than death......"

Wu Lao Er cried, with a lot of snot, but there were no tears.

"Ask the Great Khan to be the master of the lesser...... The little one is willing to follow the army of the Great Khan, enter the city of Shunyi, and slash that ......"

"Your mother-in-law, is it the lady surnamed Xu who is in charge of the Shunyi guerrilla general's mansion?" Huang Taiji finally couldn't help laughing.

Wu Lao Er collapsed to the ground all of a sudden, whimpering in his mouth, but he couldn't say a word.