Just as Yu Qian was worried, if something so big happened, it would be impossible to keep it a secret in Beijing. After noon, the Northern Expeditionary Army collapsed near Tumubao, and the news of the annihilation of the whole army was well known, and for a while, the entire capital fell into unease and panic.

Even the Son of Heaven will be defeated by those Tartars, how terrible are these fierce foreigners? Will they stop when they win? If they take advantage of this to invade the south and kill directly at the city of Beijing, what can we do?

You must know that the defending force of the capital is quite weak now, and the elite of the three battalions of the original nearly 100,000 people have been taken to the north by the Son of Heaven, and they have been folded in that faux pas, can Beijing City, which is only three or five thousand ordinary soldiers and horses guarding the city, be able to hold it?

Together, all kinds of arguments are even more uproar. There are those who bluntly say that they are fierce and invincible, and there are also those who propose to abandon the city and flee for their lives. What's more, the rumor that the Son of Heaven has been captured and beheaded by the Mongolian people is still spreading there, which makes people's hearts even more panicked.

In fact, if you really think about this kind of statement, you will definitely be able to see the flaws in it, but the people of the current capital have long been out of proportion, how can they distinguish the truth from the false? In the past hundred years, the Ming Dynasty has never suffered such a big loss in the hands of the Mongolian people, and now when it suddenly encounters this change, it is difficult to accept it at the same time, it will naturally turn from self-confidence to inferiority, and the Ming officials and soldiers have completely lost confidence.

In the face of such a scene where rumors are flying all over the sky and people are panicking, the yamen in the capital, especially the Shuntianfu and the two county governments of Daxing and Wanping, naturally want to do their best to refute the rumors and calm the people. However, even though they kept sending people to preach and put up notices at the same time, under the instigation of some ill-intentioned people, the people still did a lot of outrageous things out of fear because of fear, and there were even vicious incidents of people robbing grain stores.

In the face of such changes, the imperial court naturally could no longer deal with it lightly, and immediately struck hard, and the relevant yamen sent a large number of people to arrest those who violated the law or spread rumors at will, and interrogated them strictly.

For a time, the atmosphere in the entire capital became more serious, and several yamen prisons were also overcrowded, and in just three days, no less than 300 prisoners of all kinds were imprisoned. In the end, in desperation, they had to send some of the prisoners to the prison of the Criminal Department for temporary detention.

You know, this prison of the Ministry of Punishment is not something that any prisoner will accept. Only those court officials who are not guilty of minor crimes, or heinous murderers, are eligible to be thrown into the prison, so they have always been idle. Unexpectedly, this time, it was also lively.

Lu Jin, who was already in it, was also a little surprised when he saw a large number of prisoners in ordinary clothes being escorted in on the first day, just that there was some rebellion near the capital. As a result, after listening carefully, I understood the reason, and then I was surprised to learn the news of the defeat of the army.

Although he had already predicted this result in his heart, after confirming this amazing news, Lu Zhen still fell into silence for a long time, which was actually the last thing he wanted to see.

Since traveling to this era, what he Lu Zhen has fought for is to hope that he can change the tragedy that led to the sharp turn of the Ming Dynasty with his own efforts. But as a result, after several years of hard work, the original history was still obtained, which made him feel sad and powerless.

Sad, because he knew what such a result meant. After this war, the Ming Dynasty can no longer occupy the military superiority over the northern ethnic groups as it did a few decades ago, so the miserable life of the people in the north is about to begin. From then on, whether it was the Mongols at this time or the Jurchen tribes later, they would continue to exert strong pressure on the northern land, until more than a hundred years later, the Ming Dynasty completely disappeared.

And the powerlessness is because it was only at this time that he knew that the general trend of history could indeed not be forcibly reversed by himself. Even if he is a traverser who knows the direction of history, even if he has done everything he has, the wheel of history that flows like rivers and seas has not changed at all. It will only completely engulf itself in its way, but it will not even bubble up.

The strong negative emotions tormented Lu Zhen for a long time, and it was not until he heard the constant crying from the nearby cell that he pulled out of his thoughts. But a few prisoners were crying about how miserable their situation was—

"The third child of my family was originally a soldier in the Fifth Army Camp, but because he followed His Majesty to the north, he ended up in an uncertain end...... I just wanted to go to the Yamen to ask for an explanation, but they said that I had ulterior motives and wanted to disrupt the stability of Beijing and lock up the old man. I've been wronged......"

"Yes, the court really wronged us, didn't I just want to leave the capital before the Tartars called, but they were accused of being a spy......"

Many of the prisoners began to complain of their suffering, mixed with a few cries in between, which made the prison extremely noisy. But at this time, the guards here did not intervene, as if they had not paid much attention to their duties and were thinking about other things.

Seeing this, Lu Jin's mood was even more depressed, and he sighed deeply while sitting on the ground: "In this case, can Da Ming still cheer up again?" When this question rose from his heart, another voice also sounded: "Of course Daming will rise again!" Although I have not been able to change this history after all, there are still people who will stand up in this time of national crisis and save the world from peril. As long as Yu Shilang is in the court, Beijing will definitely be able to hold it, and the Tartars who come to attack will definitely be repulsed! ”

Turning this thought, Lu Jin's gaze returned to hope. Because he not only thought of Yu Qian, but also thought of Zhu Qiyu, the future tomorrow. In fact, I still have a chance to change history, so let's start with this young man who is about to become the new son of heaven.

It's just that it's too early to say all this, and now for Lu Jin, the most important thing is how to get rid of the crime, and then get out of this prison safely. However, he believed that with the change of Tumubao, the capture of Zhu Qizhen and the death of Wang Zhen, the opportunity for the rebirth of the Ming Dynasty was close at hand.

It's just that he doesn't know, in fact, Yu Qian has no bottom in his heart at this moment. This is not only because of the increasingly chaotic situation in the capital - now not only the people have the desire to flee, but even many officials have the idea of abandoning the official and fleeing for their lives, or even moving the capital. It's just that they don't know who to talk about it to at this time.

In addition, what made him feel even more tormented was that after a few days, there was still no news of the Son of Heaven ahead. If His Majesty can return safely at this time, with him in charge of the overall situation, he will naturally be able to calm the hearts of the people in the world. Even if he did die on the battlefield, it would only be sad. But once he falls into the hands of the blinds, the threat to the great tomorrow is too great.

Almost every day, after Yu Qian arrived at the Yamen, he would first rush to find the documents on whether there was any whereabouts of the Son of Heaven, but three days had passed, and there was still no relevant report ahead. In this way, his heart became more and more uneasy, and a faint feeling was already born—perhaps the Son of Heaven had become a prisoner of the Tartars, as he least wanted to see.

And what made Yu Qian feel even more entangled was that he could only passively wait for the news, but he couldn't even do anything, this sense of powerlessness was too torturous.

In fact, among the officials in the entire Beijing City, it is not Yu Qian who is most concerned about the whereabouts of Zhu Qizhen, but another group of people - the celebrant supervisor, and the relevant people of the factory guard.

As early as after receiving the news of the defeat of the army, Cao Rui, the master of ceremonies, had already hurried to the book to ask the factory guards to quickly send a large number of people to the north to find the Son of Heaven and Wang Zhen's whereabouts. As long as you find them, you will pay any price, and you must escort them back to the capital safely!

Because whether it is Cao Rui or Ma Shun, they all know one thing very well in their hearts, the Son of Heaven or Wang Zhen is the biggest and only backer they can stand on this court.

Don't look at them, these people seem to have great power on weekdays, even the six Shangshu and the cabinet auxiliary ministers are not taken into account by them, but everything is actually only played by parasitic on the imperial power. Once they are without the protection of the Son of Heaven, they are nothing, and they will fall from heaven to hell in an instant.

They are very aware of how many perverse things they have done on weekdays to offend the officials of the imperial court. Because they represent the emperor, the ministers will dare not speak out against them, at most they will be impeached, but it will be difficult to hurt them in the slightest.

But once the Son of Heaven is lost, those officials who have been victimized by themselves, or their colleagues and friends, will definitely retaliate as quickly as possible. At that time, regardless of their status or eloquence, they will all fall into a comprehensive disadvantage, and what awaits them will inevitably be a great reckoning. At that time, I am afraid that even death may be light......

It is precisely because they know how serious this consequence is, so after learning the news of the failure of the Northern Expedition and the disappearance of the Son of Heaven, the people of the factory guard have left everything in Beijing behind, and tried their best to send the elite to the north, especially in the Datong area, to find the whereabouts of the Son of Heaven. I only hope that God will bless me and allow me to bring the Son of Heaven back safely.

Although Yu Qian and the factory guard's starting point is public and private, the purpose is exactly the same, they all hope that Zhu Qizhen can return safely.

But this wish was completely shattered on the twelfth day of the seventh month. At the same time that a military report from the border pass arrived in the capital, another secret letter from Jinyiwei also came to the Yamen of the Zhenfu Division.

After dismantling and looking, Yu Qian's face changed greatly, and at the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. But Ma Shun was dumbfounded and completely panicked: "This ...... But how is it a good ......?"

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