Half an hour later.

"You little thief is very good at running!"

Li Zicheng said to Yang Qing with a smile.

"No matter how much you can run, it's futile after all, it's nothing more than a fish in the net, you can still jump when the net is confiscated, and when you close the net, you can only wait to get out of the pot."

Yang Qing said sadly.

"Ha, ha, then I'll cook your fish today."

Li Zicheng said with a smile.

"There are rumors that Your Majesty cooks the King of Fu, and he also cooks it with the deer for the Fu Lu feast, I don't know if it's true?"

Yang Qing asked very ignorantly.

"Isn't that dirty with a deer?"

Li Zicheng sneered.

In fact, he didn't do that at all, after King Fu Zhu Changxun was killed by him, he worshiped Cui Sheng and cried to him for the corpse, and finally got a coffin to bury, and then Cui Sheng committed suicide in front of King Fu's grave, as for the Fu Lu banquet or something, it was just a story made up to confirm his brutal image, Li Zicheng is not a good person but he is not at the point of heavy mouthing, as he said, wouldn't it stain a deer that was originally delicious.

"I feel the same way!"

Yang Qing nodded and said.

After speaking, he followed Li Zicheng into the walk, and Li Laiheng also followed.

At this time, the banquet was really set up in the room as he said just now, which was sent by those soldiers, mainly because Yang Qing was indeed hungry, after all, he was like a wild cat who only sent qing, and he didn't stop for a whole afternoon and half a night, Li Zicheng obviously felt that this was more in line with his identity, so he sent the banquet very happily.

And Chongzhen sat in the center with an expressionless face, Wang Chengen stood aside, and those internal exercises surrounded him.

Li Zicheng didn't look at it at all, he walked straight to Chongzhen and sat down, Li Laiheng stood behind him, Yang Qing stood aside as a waiter, and there was no one else, what surprised him was that Li Zicheng didn't even bring Niu Venus and the like, just him and Li Laiheng, anyway, they didn't worry about what tricks Chongzhen played, the outside had already been surrounded, and there were hundreds of thousands of his little brothers in the city, what qualifications did they have to play tricks here?

Let Yang Qing hold Li Zicheng hostage?

Then they are tantamount to suicide.

After sitting down, Li Zicheng and Chongzhen looked at each other.

The two of them also met for the first time, and they both looked at each other with some curiosity at the moment, for Chongzhen, this is a thief who ruined his family, of course, for Li Zicheng, Chongzhen was also the ultimate boss on his way to fight, and now they are sitting at the same table, a few feet apart, and no one can remember what to say for a while. Li Zicheng had already entered the palace at this time, and he didn't find a few taels of silver when he searched the treasury, but found a bunch of patched clothes in Chongzhen's bedroom, and the original image of the desolate faint monarch had also collapsed, after all, the clothes in an emperor's box were not even as good as those local tyrants and inferior gentry he copied, which was too ruined.

The atmosphere at the moment is a little awkward.

"Your Majesty, why don't you two have a drink together?"

Yang Qing said cautiously.

"Why are you opposed?"

Chongzhen ignored him, looked at Li Zicheng and said.

"I was originally a post man, His Majesty cut the world post station, I was laid off because of the loss of official documents, this is also to blame, I have no complaints, I can only go back to the countryside to farm, but the drought locusts in the northwest have been one after another, and the food grown can not even support my family, and naturally I have no money to pay taxes to the imperial court. I knew that I couldn't escape the taxes, so I had to borrow the usury of the Ai Ju people to pay the taxes, and after the expiration of the Ai Ju people's forced debts, at this time the northwest was still a big drought and people ate people, and the children who were abandoned by their parents and starved to death in the ravines were everywhere, how could I grow food to pay off the debts. As a result, I was sued by Ai Juren to the county office, and then the county order put me in a flail and was entrusted by Ai Juren to use me to kill chickens and monkeys, and kill other debtors in prison to deter other debtors, and my nephew robbed the prison and rescued me. At that time, in a fit of rage, he simply went to kill Ai Juren's family, and then fled to Gansu to join the army as a soldier to eat the imperial grain, but unfortunately the imperial food was not eaten, and the officials drank the blood of the soldiers and greedy for the military salary, and we were almost not full of food when we were soldiers, Chongzhen was transferred to fight the Jurchens in the second year of the Gansu border army, which was to make us desperate, but even if we were to go to the army, we were not paid, we simply mutinied and killed the generals, and never looked back. ”

Li Zicheng drank a glass of wine and said.

"It's not that I don't want to be a good citizen, but who is willing to rebel if there is food and drink? But this world doesn't let me be a good citizen! ”

He continued.

Chongzhen was silent.

"What about you?"

Yang Qing asked Li Laiheng.

"My whole family starved to death, and there was only one left, why do you say I rebelled?"

Li Laiheng sneered.

"Your Majesty, you are indeed not a faint monarch, but unfortunately, you can't feed the people, the Chinese military officials are all corrupt and bend the law, the local tycoons and inferior gentry take and seize by force, the people are starving all over the wilderness, the grass and trees in Shaanxi and Gansu have eaten all the soil, the hungry people have even eaten up the flies, the father and son and husband and wife are cannibalistic, since starvation is death, rebellion is at most one death, then why don't we rebel, is it really like the officials and old men said to be an An An and starvation?"

Li Zicheng said.

"This, this is all a natural disaster, how can you blame Your Majesty."

Wang Chengen said.

"Acts of God? Why not relief? Is there a famine in all the world? Is there no surplus grain in Jiangnan and Sichuan to help the victims? Even if there is no relief, even if it is exempt from taxes, it will give the people a way to live, but why not tax exemption and tax reduction but tax increase? Does the imperial court only know how to collect money and food from the people, and does not care about the lives of the people? Even if the shepherd knows that the sheep can't starve to death! Besides, why don't the gentry even have to pay the tax increase by the people? Profiteers hoard Juqi, why is there no one to take care of a stone of grain sold for several taels of silver? Your Majesty is the lord of the world, and all the people of your majesty should be treated equally, so why sit back and watch some fish and meat others? Since you don't give us a way to live, then we won't give you a way to live, and if you want to die, we will drag you to die together! ”

Li Zicheng sneered.

"If so, you are not extremely vicious."

Chongzhen said slowly.

"Vicious? Your Majesty should see how those officials and gentry are urging food and donations, and then you should understand who is the most vicious. ”

Li Zicheng sneered.

"What will you do to me?"

Chongzhen asked.

"Chen Yan and Zhu Chunchen just gave me a letter of persuasion, since this is the case, I won't let them down, but don't worry, after I ascend the throne, you will be a king, and I won't embarrass your family with your patched clothes, your father and son are living honestly in this Jingshi!"

Li Zicheng said.

"That, King Chuang, although I am also a soft-spoken person, there are some things I still want to say."

Yang Qing said cautiously.

"Say."

Li Zicheng said.

"Have you ever wondered who your worst enemy will be in the future?"

Yang Qing said.

"Jurchen!"

Li Zicheng said.

"Well, Chuang Wang Yingming, if the situation is very clear today, the north of the Huai River is yours, the south of the Huai River is still the Ming Dynasty, but outside the pass is Jiannu, Wu Sangui has been ordered to abandon Ningyuan and withdraw to Shanhaiguan, before His Majesty has received information, Dolgon led an army of 80,000 to the south, the purpose is to reap the profits, when you and Your Majesty are both defeated, break the two in one fell swoop and then he enters the Central Plains, Wu Sangui has not stopped him along the way after withdrawing from Shanhaiguan, so it will not be long before he will knock on the Great Wall.

I congratulate you on your ascension to the throne.

But I also want to remind you that as the emperor of this land, you also have to shoulder the duties of the emperor.

Next, you have to prepare for a decisive battle with the 80,000 Eight Banners Iron Cavalry at Shanhaiguan, otherwise your title to emperor will be short-lived at best, and then you will be driven out of Beijing by Dolgon, and then he will keep chasing and killing you, it is useless for you to withdraw to Guanzhong, the Jin merchants have been hooking up with Jiannu all these years, they will not hesitate to sacrifice Shanxi, you don't think a broken Guanzhong can resist Dolgon, right?

You can only stop him at Shanhaiguan.

As soon as he enters the Shanhaiguan, the magistrates and gentry will welcome Dorgon like a pauper, and you should know that they want you to die, but you are the one who robs them of their money, their land, and even kills them.

Including these in the city of Beijing.

They can even betray the Son of Heaven for 300 years, let alone you?

You won't believe they're loyal to you, will you?

Therefore, you must keep Dolgon out of the pass, so that they have no chance to betray you like betraying Your Majesty, otherwise once Dolgon enters the pass, everything you are now will be destroyed in an instant, and the key to your blocking Dolgon's entry is Wu Sangui's army, if he surrenders to Dolgon, then Shanhaiguan will be self-defeating, if he holds Shanhaiguan for you, and then your army goes north to reinforce, then you are the victor.

And whether Wu Sangui will surrender to Jiannu or not, in addition to whether you treat him preferentially, and whether His Majesty is safe and sound.

He remained faithful to His Majesty.

But Your Majesty will not surrender to you. ”

Yang Qing said.

"The descendants of Taizu, I'd rather die than surrender to the enemy!"

Chongzhen said slowly.

Then he took out his dagger and put it on the table in front of him, looking at Li Zicheng proudly with a scoundrel demeanor, he now understands Yang Qing's purpose, although this is very unbelievable, but it is indeed the only way to survive, otherwise he will not be able to escape from Beijing no matter what, no matter how much Yang Qing can fight, he can't protect a burden from hundreds of thousands of people.

"What do you want?"

Li Zicheng looked at Yang Qing with a smile and said.

"It's very simple, let's make an exchange, Your Majesty will give Wu Sangui, Wang Yongji, Song Quan, and Li Yutian a handwritten holy decree, they will surrender if they are willing to surrender to you, and if they are not willing to surrender to you, they will never be allowed to surrender to Jiannu, otherwise they will be punished by the nine clans. Wang Yongji is a native of Gaoyou, Wu Sangui's family is in Beijing, Song Quan's family is in Shangqiu, Li Yutian is a fellow villager with you, they surrender to Jiannu then they will punish the nine clans, and then they must defend the Shanhaiguan and the Great Wall and wait for your army to take over. And in exchange, you must let us go, the prince can stay with you as a hostage, but Your Majesty you must let go, we will board a ship in Tianjin to go to Nanjing, Your Majesty can also come to a gentleman's covenant with you, and in the future, the Ming Dynasty and the Great Shun will not invade each other with the Huai River as the boundary. ”

Yang Qing said as he nibbled on the chicken legs.