On 15 March, Li Xin's independent battalion broke through the border wall and rushed to the outside of Juyong Pass, where Tang Tong, who had just arrived at Juyong Pass, had already set up at various gates, and although he did not know how long he could resist it, he did not want to have the grace of God.

Li Xin asked the soldiers to set up camps in the west and north, and he personally led two regiments of soldiers to the city, wanting to try to attack the city, even if it could not break the city, but also to spy on the deployment of troops in the city.

What he really didn't expect was that as soon as the Mandate of Heaven Army came to the city, the west gate opened.

Li Xin knew that the opportunity could not be lost, whether it was the Ming army or the Han and Qing bureaus, as long as the city gate was wide open, first seize the city gate, and then say, since the Heavenly Mandate Army entered Shanxi, there have been many incidents of taking the initiative to open the city gate, and it is no wonder for a long time.

When the soldiers of the two regiments entered Juyong Pass, Li Xinfang knew that it was Du Zhizhi, the eunuch of the prison army, who opened the city gate.

Tang Tong originally wanted to defend against the danger, but the Heavenly Mandate Army had already entered the city, and the officers and soldiers had lost their geographical advantages, so they surrendered and handed over the city to Li Xin.

When the army of the Mandate of Heaven arrived at Juyong Pass, the independent battalion had already rested for a day, and Li Xin handed over the affairs in the pass to Li Zicheng, and he led the independent battalion to advance to Changping.

Li Zicheng learned that it was Du Zhizhi who offered the pass, and he smiled secretly in his heart, Zhu Youzhen asked the most trusted eunuch to supervise the army in various places, but he didn't expect that it was the eunuch who betrayed him, Du Xun of Xuanfu and Du Zhizhi of Juyongguan......

If Du Zhizhi was not a eunuch, he really wanted him to be a civil official.

Li Zicheng left a regiment of soldiers, asked the former Ningxia chief military officer Fumin to guard Juyong Pass, and took Tang Tong and the army to the south along the pipeline and went straight to Changping.

Out of Juyong Pass, there is already a smooth road ahead, and there is no more dangerous pass.

Recalling that since the dispatch of troops to Shanxi, except for Zhou Yuji, who caused a little trouble in Daizhou and Ningwuguan, the rest of the prefectures, counties, military towns, etc., basically did not fight, even as an independent battalion as a vanguard, and did not encounter many large-scale battles.

Is this the general trend?

Da Ming is indeed exhausted, otherwise why are there not many loyal people on this road? As soon as Juyong Pass was lost, the Jingshi had lost its barrier, and the South Road army was approaching, and the current Jingshi was almost a lonely city.

No matter how thick the walls of Jingshi are, can a lonely city last?

Li Zicheng was already full of longing for the Jingshi not far ahead, as long as he won the Jingshi, the Ming Dynasty would be finished.

At this time, the South Road army had arrived in Baoding, Guo Zhongjie, who accompanied the scholar Li Jiantai on the expedition, opened the city gate, Baoding was broken, the prefect He Fu was captured, Li Jiantai attempted suicide, and was also captured by the Mandate of Heaven army.

As Li Zicheng expected, although Changping was the location of the imperial tomb, the battle was not fierce, the Ming army was defeated by Li Xinbu's independent battalion with one blow, and Li Shouhua, the chief military officer stationed there, was killed by his subordinates.

Li Zicheng's army also drove straight in, and on the 16th passed through Changping and arrived at Shahe, by which time the rangers of the independent battalion had reached the outside of the city.

Strange rumors suddenly circulated inside and outside the Beijing Division, saying that "Li Gongzi" had arrived and was going to give five taels of silver to each of the poor, so the attitude of the people in Beijing changed to "looking at the thief as if looking at the year".

On the 17th, the two Heavenly Mandate armies from the north and south arrived at the Beijing Division successively, surrounded the gates of the Beijing Division, and the soldiers set up camp on the one hand, and began to bombard the city with mountain artillery on the other.

At this time, Zhu You's prosecutor knew that Changping had missed, and he scolded Zhang Xuanyan, the secretary of the military department, and asked Wang Chengen to organize civil and military forces to go to the city and defend the imperial capital division with all his might.

However, most of the three battalions outside the city have been dispersed, and the garrison at the head of the city is only 20,000, and these soldiers have not received their salaries for eight months.

Wang Chengen didn't dare to deceive, so he had to report to Zhu Youzhen truthfully.

Zhu Youzhen didn't have a good way, he thought about it for a long time, so he had to take out the donation from some time ago, and all the soldiers who went to the city to defend against the enemy had five dollars of silver every day.

There were not enough manpower and could not recruit troops for a while, so Zhu Youzhen organized the three thousand eunuchs in the palace and reorganized them into the Yongwei Battalion, which was controlled by Cao Huachun, the eunuch of the ceremony, and guarded the Xuanwu Gate.

After lunch, the Mandate of Heaven launched a fierce attack on the city gates inside and outside, Li Zicheng personally led the sixth battalion to storm the Xizhi Gate and Fucheng Gate in the west of the city with artillery, and the rest of the battalions also used superior firearms such as mountain running and rifles as much as possible.

At this time, Zhu You's prosecutor believed that the Jingshi would not be able to defend it, but when it came to this desperate situation, he had no backhand, so he just sent a little eunuch to constantly inquire about the city gate.

The messages sent back from the various cities made Zhu Youzhen's heart even more cold, and in only half a day, the strong city wall was already crumbling, and the capital division was not even as good as a small county town.

Zhu Youzhen shook his chest and sighed when he looked up to the sky: "The ministers inside and outside are mistaken!" Mistakenly...... "All night, just a long sigh."

On the morning of the 18th, Li Guozhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng, asked to see Zhu Youzhen, but was stopped by the little eunuch Zhang Yin.

Zhang Yin saw that Li Guozhen was aggressive, so he didn't dare to step forward, and Zhu Youzhen, who was inside, heard the voice, and hurriedly got up and asked, "Who is it?" Is there a message from the city? Seeing that it was Li Guozhen, he was taken aback, "Xiangcheng Bo didn't bring soldiers to guard the city, what did he do in Qianqing Palace?" ”

"Your Majesty, Xizhimen has been broken by thieves, and the Jingshi can't hold it," Li Guozhen gasped, paused for a moment, and said: "The emperor is going to go, and the ministers are guarding the emperor out of the city!"

Zhu Youzhen was stunned for a moment, and muttered for a long time: "Why can't you hold it, the soldiers guarding the city?" It's only been a day or two......"

"The soldiers defending the city have long since dispersed," Li Guozhen said loudly: "If you don't leave now, you won't have a chance again......"

Zhu Youzhen's eyes suddenly became hollow, paced twice, and said: "I don't leave, I have lost the world, I have no face to see my ancestors and ancestors, what face do I have to live in the world?" ”

"The Emperor's ......"

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and asked Li Guozhen to go down, Li Guozhen kowtowed to Zhu Youzhen, "The minister will fight to the death to protect the Beijing division and protect the emperor," and after getting up, he said: "People are in the city!" Then he turned around sharply and ran out of the palace.

Zhu Youzhen pondered for a moment and said, "Pen and ink are waiting, I want to make another edict!"

"Slaves obey!" Zhang Yin hurriedly took pen and paper.

Zhu Youzhen thought about it for a while, and wrote the white paper:

"I have been guarding the Hongxu for seven years, deeply remembering the power of God's surrender and the weight entrusted by my ancestors...... I am the parents of the people, I can't be the wings, the people are my children, I can't be swaddled, I sit on the Qinyu hills, the rivers and Chu are filthy, the shame of the sect, the guilt of Qianli, the crime is not bowed, who is responsible? Therefore, the people are in trouble with the edges, the water and fire, the violets are measured into gullies, and the remains are piled up into mounds, all of which are the faults of me. So that the people lose the donkey and save the chest, live and send off, add a lot of artsless signs, pre-levy has the pain of the loan, and I am also wrong. So that the people's room is like a hanging rock, the field is polluted, looking at the fireworks but there is no door, crying and dying in the wind, and I am also wrong. The sun and the moon of the people are fierce, the drought is surviving, the division and brigade are located, the epidemic is in trouble, the sum of heaven and earth is dry, and the grievances of the family in the lower cong room are also wrong. As for being a minister and being lawless, using a minister but not being honest, speaking in front of an official and not being able to discuss clearly, and a military general being arrogant and cowardly but not doing anything, all of them are inappropriate to be controlled...... Loyal and patriotic, people have one heart, shame and evil, who has no public indignation!

I bow down with contempt, inherit the inheritance of the ancestors, and descend to hundreds of millions of trillions in all directions, seven out of ten in the future. If the government is not repaired, the chaos will come. Or is the saint in the lower position? As for the wrath of the heavens, the resentment of the people, the naked son became a thief, and the fertile land turned into hazelnut; The mausoleum was shocked, and the prince slaughtered. There is nothing worse than this in the disaster of the country. Now besiege Jingshi and break into the outer city. The sect and society are in danger, and there is no room for it. There is no tart felling, He Shen Guowei! I personally led the six divisions to discuss, and stayed in the east to supervise the country, and the important affairs of the state were all taken care of. Tell your subjects, if you have the ability to work hard and be loyal and brave, or help with food, grass, equipment, mules, horses, boats, and carts, and listen to them before the army, so as to destroy the ugly. Divide the reward of the soil, and never break your word! "Yunyun. Chongzhen's words are deep enough to be sincere and sincere, and he really has the sincerity of guilt and repentance, but the world is erosive, the enemy army is pressing, the army is discouraged, and the general trend has collapsed, everything is too late!"

After the edict was completed, Zhu Youzhen personally checked it and felt very satisfied, the anger and unwillingness in his chest had been vented, so he handed it to Zhang Yin and asked him to go to pass the decree.

Message? To whom? Zhang Yin couldn't figure out what Zhu Youzhen meant for a while, but he didn't dare to ask, so he had to hold the edict and go out of the Qianqing Palace first.

Zhu Youzhen wrote the edict, and suddenly felt a lot more relaxed, his guilt for the ancestors and ancestors, and his hatred for the military generals seemed to have disappeared with the departure of the edict.

He stood up, listened to the rumbling cannons in all directions, and no longer had the heart to review the recitals.

Zhu Youzhen doesn't know if there will be any opportunities to review the chapters and hold a court meeting in the future, and he must first keep the Jingshi.

Just now Li Guozhen told him that the Xizhi Gate in the west was broken by thieves, and he already deeply felt that these were not thieves, they were going to seize the Ming Dynasty, and they would take their own lives!

As soon as the inner city is broken, the imperial city will be in danger, directly under the cannon of the rogues, I don't know if Wang Chengen, Li Guozhen, and Wu Xiang can take the inner city back.

Thinking that the city was full of crooked melons and cracked dates that had been hungry for months, Zhu Youzhen felt a chill in his heart, expecting them to drive the wolf-like rogues out of the inner city, it was better to expect the sow to go up the tree!

Now I am afraid that the only thing I can count on is Cao Huachun's Yongwei Battalion, which is composed of elite eunuchs, all of whom are their own close attendants, and there is no need to doubt their loyalty and courage, but unfortunately the number is too small!

Zhu Youzhen walked out of the Qianqing Palace, and he didn't know where to go, so after a little contemplation, he decided to go to the Qinqin Palace to see Zhang Yan, when people are desperate, they always want to talk to the person they trust the most.

Just turned to the left and got on the avenue leading to the Qingong Palace, he met a eunuch who was walking in a hurry, the eunuch lowered his head and almost crashed into Zhu Youzhen's arms.

Zhu Youzhen kicked the eunuch away, and drank in his mouth: "If you don't go to the city to guard, what are you running here?" ”

Seeing that it was Zhu Youzhen, the eunuch hurriedly saluted, turned sideways to get out of the way, and then hurriedly ran away, muttering in his mouth: "The imperial city is about to break, what are you still angry about?" I still think I am the emperor......"

Zhu Youzhen strutted forward, took more than ten steps forward, turned the Tai Palace, and suddenly saw Wang Dehua coming from the imperial garden, behind him, there was a little eunuch, and he was surprised: "Dehua, you are not in the city, what do you do when you return to ......the palace" I felt that the little eunuch behind him was a little familiar, "You are ......"

The little eunuch took two steps forward, turned over and knelt on the ground, "Slave Du Xun, knock on the emperor!"

"Du Xun?" Zhu Youzhen thought about it, and unconsciously pointed at his nose with his finger, "Didn't you descend the rogue in Xuanfu?" You still have the face to come back......"

Wang Dehua hurriedly bowed down and said: "The emperor is angry, the slave is coming back this time to ......" hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "I want to have a secret meeting with the emperor......"