Beijing, Qianqing Palace partial hall.

Emperor Chongzhen summoned his courtiers here. Because Chongzhen has been sick in the past few days, the Chang Dynasty has stopped for a few days, and he is an extremely diligent emperor, so as soon as his health is better, he summoned his courtiers.

Speaking of illness, it was because he was too anxious after getting the news that King Xiang was killed and Xiangyang City was broken. When King Fu was killed, he went to the Taimiao Temple to cry and apologize to his ancestors. But within a month, King Xiang was also killed, which was really a big blow.

These are all dragon sons and dragon grandsons, and two vassal kings were killed one after another in less than a month, which makes the people of the world, as well as the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, what do they think? This incident made the entire royal family lose its prestige and sense of sacredness, and only fueled the arrogance of thieves and bandits, making the world more turbulent.

Chongzhen was also frightened. The so-called "ordered by heaven", his uncles and uncles were killed by thieves one by one so easily, is this God's blame? God doesn't like him Zhu Youzhen, so isn't this Ming Dynasty going to be dangerous?

In order to seek God's forgiveness and show his mercy, Chongzhen ordered an amnesty to the world and stopped this year's execution. I don't know if the medicine he took worked, or if God forgave him, in short, his illness got better. So early in the morning, he summoned the important ministers and the imperial history of Kedao.

After the ministers finished bowing, Chongzhen said with a haggard face: "Disasters in various places have caused the people to be hungry, hungry people everywhere, and bandits are rampant, so that they have fallen into the Fu and Xiang two domains. My benevolence is not good, and it causes the wrath of the heavens, and it is a disaster. ”

After saying that, he himself felt wronged. In the years since he ascended the throne, he first eradicated the eunuch party and revitalized the dynasty. Then forge ahead in order to recover the lost territory in Liaodong and restore the strategic advantage over the Jurchens. But the use is not human, Yuan Chonghuan will only talk big and destroy the Great Wall, and the peace negotiation will be attacked by the Qingliu in the court. Disasters do not go alone, Shaanxi and Shanxi began to suffer from a major drought, and thieves attacked the city and plundered the land, and since then it has been out of control.

He reviewed the recitals every day until late at night, and there were only nine concubines in the palace. Even Zhang Xianzhong, who burned down the imperial mausoleum, was merciful and forgave him and accepted Zhang Xianzhong's surrender. He was really wronged, how could God condemn an emperor like him who was diligent, thrifty, benevolent, and enterprising? Thinking about it, tears flowed out unconsciously.

When the ministers saw the emperor, they all cried, the lord was worried about the humiliation of the ministers, and the lord humiliated the ministers to death. One by one, they all knelt down and pleaded guilty to themselves: "Your Majesty is benevolent and virtuous, and his guilt lies in the ministers." ”

When Chongzhen heard the ministers' words, he felt better in his heart. He raised his hand and said, "All the Qing family should get up." ”

Ran Xingrang, the captain of the horse, bowed down and said: "The death of the two feudal clans of Fu and Xiang is really a number of qi, and it has nothing to do with Your Majesty. Please don't worry, Your Majesty, take care of the dragon's body. ”

Chongzhen frowned and said, "Really?!" It's really just gas numbers?! There is no personnel?! ”

During the matter, Li Yan immediately came out and said: "Your Majesty, Supervisor Yang Sichang has supervised the soldiers and thieves for more than a year, and only Agate Mountain has a victory. Now I am afraid that the veteran soldiers of the division are tired, so I ask Your Majesty to choose another person to assist Inspector Yang. ”

Originally, Chongzhen wanted to ask about the resettlement of displaced people in various places, even if there were disasters in various places, but all counties should also strive to stabilize the place. But now that there are people everywhere and thieves are rampant, those officials are also responsible! But no one took his stubble at all, and directly pointed the finger at Yang Sichang. Yang Sichang is his confidant, if it weren't for Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong, who were arrogant soldiers and fierce generals who didn't listen to the dispatch, Zhang Xianzhong would have been punished and awarded the head a long time ago!

But even if he was the emperor, he didn't dare to immediately deal with Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong, two fierce generals with heavy troops, and could only arrest Wang Shaoyu, who had few soldiers. His elite troops are now all transferred to Liaodong to deal with the Eastern captives. The bandits in the Central Plains still depend on generals like Zuo Liangyu. After his army of tens of thousands of people defeats the Jurchens, he will be able to transfer these elites to suppress the thieves, and at that time, a military general with different ambitions like Zuo Liangyu will be of no use!

Chongzhen said coldly: "Inspector Yang is in Sichuan, thousands of miles away from Henan Mansion, how can he control the Henan generals?" You have to put yourself in their shoes, don't wait for your heart, love and hate as you like! ”

Li Yan bowed and said: "What the minister is worried about is that some of the Yang Pavilion are lacking in skills and are not easy to shake all over the place, so the minister asks His Majesty to send another adjutant." ”

Chongzhen nodded and said lightly: "I have already let Zhu Dadian go, so there is no need to mention this matter again." ”

After that, Fan Fucui said: "Your Majesty, there are more and more displaced people outside the city, please allocate relief money to Henan to let the displaced people return to their hometowns." ”

"There is no need to drive away, when the wind and rain are good and suitable for farming, they will naturally go back." He has just given 100,000 domestic funds to help the victims of Shandong, Henan, Baoding, and Zhending, and now the household department is still raising food and salary for Liaodong, where is the money?

After that, he talked about the prince of Fuwang. The prince Zhu Yousong was escorted by the officials and captains of the palace to cross the Yellow River and go to Meng County, Huaiqing Prefecture.

In the matter, Zhang Jinyan also had a chapter of the Imperial History Gao Mingheng, and asked for a generous burial for King Fu.

Chongzhen commanded: "Quasi-play." With the commander of the horses, Ran Xingrang, together with the governor of the Jingying Chamber, the eunuch Wang Yumin, expressed his condolences to the prince of Fuwang, the relatives of the procurators and the martyred officials and people. ”

Ran Xingrang bowed and said, "The minister obeys the order." ”

Huguang, Jiangling County, Shashi Town.

Yang Sichang led his troops to Huguang, and Zhang Xianzhong conquered Fancheng County, Dangyang County, Jiaxian, Guangzhou and other places one after another. And it was also here that Yang Sichang received the news that Li Zicheng had broken through Luoyang and killed King Fu.

Yang Sichang instantly fell into panic and despair. He is a cabinet minister and supervisor, in charge of the affairs of thieves in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, Sichuan and other places. At once, in his jurisdiction, two vassal kings and several county kings died, and his sin was great. Even if the emperor trusts him, the ministers in the court will not let go of this opportunity to attack him.

Yang Sichang was furious, a mouthful of blood spurted out, and then fell to the ground with a thud.

"Cabinet Department! Master! Yang Sichang's servant immediately stepped forward, lifted Yang Sichang's head up, and screamed nervously.

"Someone, go get a doctor! Doctor, please! Yang Sichang's other family members and relatives also ran over in a panic, and then began to ask people to ask for a doctor.

Yang Sichang slowly opened his eyes, looked at the roof vacantly, held his breath, and said, "Zuo Liangyu misunderstood me!" After saying that, he fell unconscious again.

After waiting for a while, I finally invited a doctor. It was pinching again, and it was acupuncture again, and finally woke Yang Sichang up. The doctor checked the pulse and prescribed medicine, and then Yang Sichang's family immediately went to grab the medicine and suffer, and they didn't dare to delay for a moment.

But Yang Sichang was already determined to live and die at this time. He knew very well that if he died now, he would still be able to leave a good impression in the emperor's heart. If he waits until he is impeached by the ministers of the court, he may be Ling Chi at that time. So he decided to go on a hunger strike and gave up his life so as not to affect his children and grandchildren.

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