[212] Du Xun persuaded him to surrender

When Chongzhen was napping, there was a young general outside the city of Beijing, riding a white horse, galloping, followed by a dozen horseback followers, they went to the shore of the city to rein in the horse, put an arrow on the head of the city, and then shouted to the head of the city in a natural and rhymed language: The soldiers and civilians defending the city should hear clearly! Our Dashun army will be like a cloud, with thousands of cannons, and the capital has been surrounded by a group of people, and the water is impassable. After entering the city, only the corrupt officials were killed, and the people were not harmed. I, Long Live Yongchang, will arrive immediately to watch the outer city. The two kings of Qin and Jin in the Ming Dynasty have surrendered and are accompanied by left and right. You are not allowed to shoot arrows, you are not allowed to shoot cannons, and you are not allowed to make a sound. If you fire arrows and cannons, alarming the holy driver, and all the cannons in our city will fire in unison, you will be severely punished, and you will never be tolerant!

When the Dashun generals, who were immediately on the edge of the city, shouted to the city, the eunuchs and the people who were guarding the city stood up from the battlements and looked down at the city. Their panic was a little better, and they warned each other not to fire arrows and cannons at the city.

People saw that Li Zicheng was a burly man, led by a yellow umbrella, riding on a dark gray horse with a yellow bridle and a yellow saddle. The throne had been moved in front of the tent, and two low stools with red cushions had been placed on the ground to the left and right three feet in front of the throne. After Li Zicheng arrived, he dismounted outside the small pine forest, was taken care of by officials, strode to the front of the imperial tent, sat down on the throne proudly, and raised his eyes to look at the city. The two kings of Qin and Jin sat down on a low stool slightly before the left and right of the throne. Liu Zongmin, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, the Six Government Shangshu and the left and right servants, the scholars of the Wenyu Academy, and a number of important ministers of the new dynasty set up the throne left and right. Officials below the squire also stood in the back rows on the left and right. Du Xun also stood in the back row. Wu Ruyi and Li Shuangxi stood behind the throne because they had to listen to the emperor's call at any time. Li Qiang led 500 archers, standing outside the city, controlling the strings and arrows at the head of the city. If there is a suspicious action or curse on the head of the city, as long as Li Qiang gives an order, these five hundred archers will shoot sharp arrows continuously at the city in an instant, so that the people defending the city can not raise their heads, and with a wave of the red flag in the hand of He Jin, who is standing on a mound, all the cannons from the north to the south of the Tianning Temple from the west to the south of the city will be lit together, and the city tower and pheasant moat will collapse in many places in an instant.

"Look, isn't that Du Xun?" Some of the eunuchs guarding the city recognized the second row standing on the right of Li Zicheng, but they didn't dare to point with their fingers, but only dared to tell each other quietly. The appearance of Du Xun made the spirit of the eunuchs defending the city even more disintegrated.

Everything was very well prepared. Immediately, the general on his horse came to the edge of the city again, first put an arrow into the sky above the city, then put his bow in his arm, held a proclamation by Liu Zongmin in both hands, and read aloud word by word in a thick Guanzhong accent: Liu Yu, the chief general of the Dashun Advocate Righteous Battalion: I would like to follow the holy decree of Emperor Yongchang to tell the soldiers and civilians and ministers in the city. The Ming Dynasty has run out of energy, and you are all my subjects. The righteous teacher entered Beijing and was scheduled for dusk today. I only heard the sound of cannons, and you opened the city gate as soon as possible. The army hangs the people for substitution, and discipline has always been strict. After entering the city, all industries remain the same, and the market is not alarmed; Cloth the new and remove the old, and share the peace. If they dare to resist behind closed doors, and refuse to surrender the city immediately, they will be slaughtered as a sign of severe punishment. Earnestly obey this commandment!

Liu Zongmin's proclamation was repeated three times by the loud generals, and the city was silent.

Li Zicheng got up, left the imperial tent under the command of the ministers, and returned to the palace from the gate of Baiyunguan Mountain. When he arrived outside the gate of Baiyunguan Mountain, Li Zicheng ordered Liu Zongmin and the civil and military officials to go back to the station to rest, and he was happy for a while, leaving Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and Li Yan to go into Baiyunguan with him to have a look. After dismounting, Li Zicheng looked around and disappeared Du Xun, and asked Song Xiance, "Where is Du Xun?" “

Song Xiance bowed down and replied: "Just now Du Xun asked Weichen to play His Majesty, he has already gone to Pingzemen, and wants to go to the city from Pingzemen and enter the palace to persuade Chongzhen." “

Niu Jinxing bowed down on the horse and said: "When resting in Shahe Town today, Du Xun once said to his ministers that he is willing to enter the city tomorrow, meet Chongzhen, and work hard for Chongzhen to give way, but please Your Majesty will not kill Chongzhen and his palace dependents, and treat each other with courtesy." ”

Li Zicheng asked Song Xiance: "Does the military advisor know about this matter?" ”

Song Xiance said: "The minister said to the minister, and the minister also asked Du Xun at that time, and saw that Du Xun was indeed out of loyalty to the new dynasty, and did not mean to deceive His Majesty. ”

"Will Chongzhen kill him?" Li Zicheng said with a smile

Song Xiance said: "The minister is also worried about this, but Du Xun said that he is willing to risk his life, and he will also enter the palace to work hard and give way to Chongzhen." ”

Li Zicheng asked with a smile: "Prime Minister, is this matter feasible?" ”

Niu Jinxing smiled: "I thought I might as well give it a try." If Du Xun is killed, but he dies in the ear of a eunuch, I will not be harmed. If Du Xun sees Chongzhen's persuasion successful, then His Majesty will be able to win the world with Zen after success, which is also a good name for the ages. ”

Liu Zongmin, who was on the side, obviously did not have hope for Du Xun's persuasion, and he said: "Please rest assured, the emperor." The minister and the military division are ready, tomorrow is March 18, first break the outer city, and then break the inner city on March 19. A few months ago, many of our army had entered the outer city, pretending to be all kinds of people in the rivers and lakes, small merchants and hawkers, small craftsmen, nailing plates and bowls, repairing iron pots, and they had many secret contacts with the poor people in the city, and they also had a series of connections with the Hui Hui who lived in the Guangning Gate. Break the outer city first, everyone in the inner city will be afraid, and the eunuchs who defend the city will also sacrifice the city gates. Du Xun is willing to persuade Chongzhen to give way and let him go, in fact, this is like catching a rabbit on the first day of the New Year, celebrating the New Year with it, and celebrating the New Year without it. ”

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Chongzhen saw Du Xun, and his heart was mixed for a while, before Juyongguan fell, Tang reported that Du Xun was martyred. Emperor Chongzhen decreed that Du Xun was the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi, and his nephew was a hereditary brocade cloth. Now, Du Xun not only did not die, but also came as Li Zicheng's envoy to persuade him to surrender, Chongzhen felt that he was not only fooled, but also seriously insulted

"Du Xun, aren't you afraid that I will kill you?" Chongzhen said coldly

Du Xun replied: "I'm afraid, the slave has a younger brother and a nephew's family living in Beijing. When the emperor was angry, he would not only kill the slave and the servant, but also kill the slave and the servant's entire family of ten. However, the ancients said: 'If you don't enter the tiger's den, you will get the tiger's son.' 'The slave and maidservant are bent on gaining the reputation of the world for His Majesty, and they are willing to risk the disaster of breaking their bones and killing their whole family. ”

"Hahaha~~" Chongzhen laughed bitterly: "You are still so clever." Okay, let's talk about it, what does the thief want? ”

Du Xun said: "The emperor is a saint through the ages, please listen to the advice of the slave and maid. Li Zicheng personally led 200,000 elite troops to attack the Beijing Division, and hundreds of thousands of horses were still behind to respond. Although Wu Sangui is related to the Yongbian soldiers and is known as the elite, there are only tens of thousands of people, and they are far from being the opponents of the thieves. Now that he heard that the thieves had surrounded Beijing, he would inevitably stay between Shanhaiguan and Yongping to wait and see, and did not dare to venture forward. The slave maid heard Song Xiance say that the subjects of Jingshi were looking forward to Wu Sangui's rescue and only wished to quench their thirst. The slave and maid heard the legends among the thieves again...... "Du Xun didn't dare to say it directly, he was frightened, and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Chongzhen's face changed greatly, his heart beat wildly, he looked at Zhuang Xun angrily, and shouted: "What a legend! Don't spit out, play it quickly! ”

Du Xun said: "Please forgive the slave and maid for the capital crime, the slave and maid dare to say it directly." ”

Chongzhen said angrily: "You say, tell the truth!" ”

Du Xun said to Chongzhen: "Li Zicheng invaded the capital, but he has no enmity with the emperor......"

"Nonsense, I am the lord of the people, he is a traitor who kills the people, what does it mean to be innocent!"

Du Xun said: "As far as the slave knows, Li Thief still respects the emperor to this day and does not say a bad word about the emperor. He knew that the emperor was also a holy monarch, and the state affairs were bad in the court, and the ministers were not good, and he mistook the emperor and the country. If the ministers are powerful, the emperor will be a wise lord. When Li Zicheng left Xi'an, he issued a notice and posted it along the road, and the Xinjiang ministers and the military department must have reported to the emperor, and the announcement made it very clear, why didn't the emperor believe it? ”

Li Zicheng's Northern Expedition proclamation is also a text, although Chongzhen had seen it, but after reading the first two sentences, he was very angry, immediately threw himself to the ground, trampled on it with his feet, and was immediately picked up by the eunuchs of the Qianqing Palace, and took it out and burned it to ashes. Now after being reminded by Du Xunyi, he immediately asked, "What does the traitor's proclamation say?" ”

Du Xun's cultural accomplishment was originally very low, and there was an allusion in Li Zicheng's "Northern Expedition Essays" that he didn't understand, and he couldn't remember clearly, so he had to casually recite nonsense, but some of the words were roughly the same: "The slave and maid don't remember very accurately, but I only remember a few sentences that seem to be written like this: 'The king is very wise, isolated and blinded a lot; Ministers do their best to do their own thing, and they are less loyal to the party than the party. There were many more words that the slave and maid could not remember. The emperor, even Li Zicheng's proclamation praised His Majesty for his wisdom, saying that His Majesty is often deceived by his subordinates, and his political affairs are all because of his subordinates. ”

Ha ha~! Chongzhen laughed and asked the first minister, Wei Zaode, "What does the first assistant think?" ”

Wei Zaode lowered his head, squeaky and speechless

"Get out~" Chongzhen was too lazy to get angry, and just said in a faint voice

If Wei Zaode was granted amnesty, he hurriedly slipped away

"Then Li Zicheng pretends to be a Qingjun?" Chongzhen teased

Du Xun said boldly: "Please don't be angry...... King Shun really asked the slaves and maids to enter the palace to persuade and persuade the emperor...... Let go of the country. He said that this is a gift to imitate Yao Shun Chan. He also said that as long as the emperor gave up the country, he swore to ensure the safety of the officials and gentry in the city, and the emperor and the royal family would continue to enjoy glory and wealth. He will honorifically call the emperor as... Let the emperor still enjoy the blessings of the emperor. He said......"

When Chongzhen heard this, he slapped the imperial case hard, and pushed it violently, almost overturning the imperial case, and then suddenly stood up and grabbed the Longquan sword that was placed on the imperial case, and there was a cold light flashing in front of everyone's eyes. The eunuchs standing on either side of him and behind him were all pale, and they stopped breathing. The ten Jinyi Banner School standing at the foot of the stairs all thought that Du Xun would persuade the emperor to give up the country for the traitor, and he would be killed, so he immediately became nervous, held the hilt of the sword tightly, and was ready to climb the steps at any time to push Du Xun out of the noon gate and behead him. But the emperor didn't have an edict, so they could only stand and wait, staring angrily at Du Xun who was lying on the ground trembling and kowtowing, but his body did not move at all, and he did not dare to disobey and draw his sword out of the sheath. The young eunuch standing behind the throne and holding a yellow umbrella was worried that Du Xun might suddenly jump up and stab at the emperor with a hidden weapon, so he pressed the umbrella handle mechanism in an instant, and the yellow umbrella brush pulled down, revealing a sharp spear tip half a foot long at the top of the umbrella handle.

"You get out too~" Chongzhen threw away the inspection report dejectedly and walked straight to the Dongnuan Pavilion

"Your Majesty~" Du Xun looked at Chongzhen's back in the distance, knocked his head three times, and then sat on the bamboo basket and went out of the city. Less than an hour after Du Xun left the city, before the time had passed, the eunuchs and people guarding the Changyi Gate opened the city gate, and the Xibian Gate also opened. Thousands of Shun troops entered the outer city in whole formations, occupying various intersections and important streets, and the other gates of the outer city were also opened.

Several of Du Xun's slaves and eunuchs such as Chang and Promise had been waiting for a long time on a high slope about three miles away from the city in the western suburbs. Because they didn't know if Du Xun would still come out of Changyi Gate City, or if he would change his mind and come out of Fucheng Gate City nearby after leaving the palace, they chose an appropriate place that could take care of the two city towers. At that time, the western suburbs were sparsely populated, mostly open land, with undulating hills, and it was not difficult to choose a high fu where you could see the area from Fuchengmen to Changyimen. They were on a high house, waiting for Du Xun to come back from three o'clock in the afternoon, and the more they waited, the more anxious they felt, the more frightened they became, thinking that Du Xun had been killed by the emperor when he entered the palace. It wasn't until the time of handing over the application that I saw people coming out of the city near the Fucheng Gate, and many people stood at the head of the city to see them off.

The people who were waiting on the high fu were suddenly overjoyed, and they ran down the mound and ran to the edge of the city to meet them, and Du Xun met with his servants and eunuchs at a distance of a mile from the city, and were surrounded by the crowd, and asked him long and short questions. Du Xun's subordinates told him that a table of banquets had already been prepared in the temporary mansion at the gate of the city, and asked him to go back to the mansion to rest and eat first, and then go to the Diaoyutai to pay homage to the new master and enter the palace. Du Xun said: "Nonsense! This eunuch Qin obeyed the holy decree of the new emperor, and entered the palace to persuade the emperor Chongzhen to give way, the emperor is in his body, how can he go back to his mansion to rest first! Let's go, first go to the Diaoyutai Palace to meet the new monarch, and then go back to the city gate to rest and eat! ”

Du Xun originally thought that he risked his life to enter the city to persuade Chongzhen to let the country, whether it succeeded or not, he would definitely be appreciated by the emperor and ministers of Dashun, but it turned out that his hot face was pasted with a cold ass

Liu Zongmin saw Du Xun and sneered: "Two people from the Chongzhen Xiao'er faction sent an edict to Song Youliang, urging Song Youliang to come to Beijing as soon as possible, and caught our army in Tongzhou, hum!" No matter whether he Chongzhen is willing to give up the country, we will enter Beijing on time! When you entered the city, I said to the saint: Now that the big thing has been decided, send Du Xun to persuade Chongzhen to let the country go, in fact, it is six fingers scratching the itch, one more piece! Chongzhen didn't kill you, just come back with your head, hurry up and rest. ”

Song Xiance attributed all the credit for the breakthrough of Beijing City to his own clever calculations, and he didn't even look at Du Xun, let alone comfort him.

Du Xun's heart suddenly became eight points colder