The seventeenth year of Chongzhen, June 23.

On the night of Emperor Chongzhen's rejection of Li Zicheng's proposal, Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the military department who guarded the Zhengyang Gate of the inner city of the capital, took the initiative to open the city gate in the early hours of the morning to welcome the troops of Liu Zongmin, the Dashun army outside the city, into the city, and the inner city officially fell.

After the Dashun army entered the inner city, a fierce battle broke out with the Ming army in the inner city, shouting bursts, the flames soared, although the situation is critical now, but not all the Ming troops are greedy for life and afraid of death, some people are still loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chongzhen had just fallen asleep at this time, and was awakened by the shouting and killing sound in the inner city, and hurriedly put on his clothes and led Wang Chengen out of the Qianqing Palace to check.

"Your Majesty, it's not good, the bandit army has broken through the inner city and is now engaged with the defenders." As soon as he left the Qianqing Palace, an attendant hurriedly rushed over, panting and reporting to Emperor Chongzhen.

"The **** city is broken?" Emperor Chongzhen was taken aback when he heard this, now the inner city is the only barrier of the imperial city, and once it falls, the consequences will be unimaginable.

"Your Majesty, the situation is critical now, you better try to escape quickly."

Without waiting for Emperor Chongzhen to ask carefully, the eunuch turned around and ran after kowtowing to him, Wang Chengen didn't stop even shouting a few times when he saw this, it seemed that he was trying to escape for his life.

"Your Majesty, the situation is critical, please ask the emperor to leave Beijing quickly?" Wang Chengen shook his head helplessly when he saw this, and then bowed to the expressionless Emperor Chongzhen with a nervous expression.

"Go to Coal Mountain!" Emperor Chongzhen's brows furrowed, and he walked towards Jingshan, which was located in the northern part of the imperial city, and the coal mountain was the highest point in the imperial city, and he could see the situation in the inner city at a glance.

Waiting for the coal mountain, Emperor Chongzhen fixed his eyes on the direction of the inner city, and suddenly showed a gloomy look, only to see the inner city fires soaring into the sky, shouting and killing, and the sound of cannons rumbling, a scene of fierce battles.

Seeing this situation, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh, tears fell like rain, it seems that the Dashun army really captured the inner city, which means that it will not be long before the Forbidden City will fall and become the territory of the Dashun army, and the catastrophe of the capital will not be able to escape.

Subsequently, Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly returned to the Qianqing Palace to begin preparations for the future, and personally wrote an edict to the cabinet, ordering Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, to assist the prince of the East Palace and supervise internal and external military affairs.

In other words, Emperor Chongzhen entrusted the crown prince to Cheng Guogong, hoping that Cheng Guogong would escape with the crown prince.

Not only that, Emperor Chongzhen also entrusted the other two sons, namely King Ding and King Yong, to the nobles in Beijing, and personally wrote an edict, hoping that those nobles could escort them out of Beijing and succeed to the throne in Nanjing, so as to continue the orthodox bloodline of the Ming Dynasty.

After writing the edict, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the eunuchs around him to send the edict to the cabinet, which issued it to the selected nobles.

But something unexpected happened to Emperor Chongzhen, and the attendants who went to deliver the edict quickly ran back out of breath, saying that the cabinet was empty and no one was sending the edict.

Emperor Chongzhen's heart suddenly had mixed feelings, thinking of the previous civil and military officials hugging each other, as well as the scene of the ministers kneeling and worshipping, and the mountain shouting long live, and then compared with today's desolation, he couldn't help but burst into tears again.

Since even the cabinet people have run away, then presumably the nobles will not escort the crown prince and King Yong and King Ding out of the capital, so Emperor Chongzhen can only entrust his three sons to their respective grandfathers' families, after all, there is a blood relationship between the two sides, and they will definitely make every effort to ensure the safety of the three sons and continue the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, King Ding was only thirteen years old, and King Yong was twelve years old, and he did not know what was happening in the capital, and he was a little nervous because he was frightened.

Emperor Chongzhen asked the crown prince and King Ding and King Yong to change into ordinary people's clothes, and after carefully admonishing them, he asked the chamberlain to send the three of them away to their grandfather's house.

Before the inner attendant sent the prince and King Ding and King Yong to leave, Queen Zhou hugged the prince and King Ding in her own life and couldn't help crying bitterly, and later held King Yong, who was born to Concubine Tian, in her arms, and the mother and son cried so much that the four of them cried.

"Queen, now that the general trend has gone, you, as the mother of the Ming Dynasty, should commit suicide to avoid the humiliation of bandits."

After the three princes were sent away, Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Empress Zhou, whose eyes were red from crying, and said expressionlessly, if Empress Zhou was defiled by the soldiers of the Dashun Army, then Daming's face would be gone, and it would be difficult for him to explain to his ancestors and ancestors.

"Your Majesty, if you listened to the concubine's advice to move south to Jinling that day, how could you end up in such a field today, it is difficult to disobey the mandate of heaven, it is difficult to disobey the mandate of heaven!"

Empress Zhou wiped the tears on her cheeks when she heard this, bowed to Emperor Chongzhen and said, "Today's concubines can die for Daming Sheji, although there is no regret in death, the emperor will take care and see you in the next life." ”

After speaking, Queen Zhou cried and went back to Kunning to hang herself, she is the Empress of Daming, and she will die in Kunning Palace.

As early as when the Xuanfu Ming army surrendered to the Dashun army, Empress Zhou advised Emperor Chongzhen to move south, but Emperor Chongzhen refused.

It's a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world, and Queen Zhou also complained a lot about Emperor Chongzhen for a sentence or two, which didn't help.

"The imperial city will soon be breached, and you, as a concubine of the Ming Dynasty, cannot fall into the hands of thieves, in order to preserve the honor and the etiquette of the ancestors and ancestors."

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the departing Empress Zhou with a gloomy expression, and a sense of apology floated in his heart, and after secretly sighing, he asked the chamberlain to bring some white silk, waved his hand to Yuan Guifei and the concubines who were crying beside him, and said, "Kill yourself!" ”

"Take care, Your Majesty!" Hearing this, Yuan Guifei cried and took a piece of white silk from the hand of the inner servant, bowed to Emperor Chongzhen, and left with the white silk in her hand.

The rest of the concubines also cried and walked away with Bai Aya, and went to find a place to commit suicide, how could they be **** by the bandits?

"Alas!" Emperor Chongzhen sighed, then his eyes flashed cold, and he gritted his teeth and said to Wang Chengen on the side, "Go, summon the princesses!" ”

"Your Majesty, the princesses are still young, it's better to mix them out of the palace among the palace maids, maybe you can save your life." Wang Chengen was shocked when he heard this, he had followed Emperor Chongzhen for many years, so he naturally knew what Emperor Chongzhen wanted to do, and wanted to stop it.

"As royal people, they must not fall into the hands of bandits, rather than being **** for a long time, it is better to die happily." Emperor Chongzhen's face changed when he heard this, and finally shook his head, drew the sword in his hand and said with a cold expression, "I will personally give them a ride." ”

Seeing this, Wang Chengen knew that Emperor Chongzhen had made up his mind, so he could only shake his head helplessly and then order the chamberlain to bring a few princesses.

"By the way, you send someone to tell Empress Yi'an that the imperial city will be broken, and let Empress Yi'an preserve her name." Looking at the departing chamberlain, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but order Wang Chengen.

The "Empress Yi'an" in his mouth refers to Zhang Yan, the empress of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, Zhang Yan still lives in the palace after Emperor Chongzhen ascends the throne, and is the sister-in-law of Emperor Chongzhen, and Emperor Chongzhen respects her.

Although Zhang Yan is nearly forty years old, she still has charm, she is a rare beauty in the world, once she falls into the hands of the soldiers of the Dashun Army, the consequences are unimaginable, so Emperor Chongzhen must let Zhang Yan die.

Wang Chengen waved his hand, and an attendant rushed to deliver the edict to Zhang Yan.

Half an hour later, Emperor Chongzhen, who was covered in blood, changed into civilian clothes, and led Wang Chengen and twenty or thirty attendants in civilian clothes to ride out of Donghua Gate, ready to break through at night.

The blood on Emperor Chongzhen's body belonged to his concubines and princesses, and he personally killed them in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the bandits.

Considering that it was Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, who was guarding Chaoyangmen, Emperor Chongzhen decided to break through from Chaoyangmen, and it was easier to get rid of the pursuit of the Dashun army if there was Zhu Chunchen leading the army to escort him.

However, to the shock of Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Chunchen claimed that he was a fake after learning of his coming, and let the Ming soldiers on the city gate tower shoot him back with arrows.

Only then did Emperor Chongzhen understand that Zhu Chunchen had the intention of surrendering the Dashun army, so he would not let him go, if it wasn't for Zhu Chunchen's scruples, I am afraid he would have ordered him to be captured.

Seeing that Chaoyangmen could not get out of the city, Emperor Chongzhen turned to Andingmen and wanted to go out of the city from Andingmen.

The defenders of Andingmen had fled in all directions by this time, and there was no one left, but they did not open the gates to join the enemy, and Andingmen was firmly locked with iron chains.

Although this made it impossible for the Dashun army to break through the city gates, Emperor Chongzhen could not get out, and the chamberlains could not open those chains by all means, and it was useless to use axes to force them.

After this toss, it was already dawn, and the sky was already bright.

"Go back to the palace!"

Emperor Chongzhen glanced at the morning light on the horizon, knowing that the general trend had gone, and now he had lost the cover of the night, that is, he split the city gate, so as long as they left the city, they would be discovered by the Dashun army outside the city, so he gave an order with a gloomy expression.

Wang Chengen was also disappointed, Emperor Chongzhen still had a chance to survive when he left the capital, and now he was trapped in the city, so he would definitely die, and he couldn't help hating Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, Emperor Chongzhen treated him well, and he didn't think that he would cut off Emperor Chongzhen's way of life.

"Go to the Taihe Palace!"

After entering the imperial city, Emperor Chongzhen, who was supposed to return to the Qianqing Palace, thought of something on the way, and turned around and galloped away after pulling the reins of the horse.

"Taihe Palace?" Wang Chengen suddenly showed a look of surprise when he heard this, and he didn't know what Emperor Chongzhen's move meant.

Waiting in front of the Taihe Palace, Emperor Chongzhen climbed the Jingyang Tower, personally rang the Jingyang Bell, according to the custom, the Jingyang Bell rang the civil and military officials in the early dynasty.

As it happened, Emperor Qi was still a little reluctant to give up today, and wanted to summon the civil and military officials in the inner city to come to the Taihe Hall to discuss the matter of breaking through, and maybe he could escape this catastrophe.

However, to the disappointment of Emperor Chongzhen, no official came to the Taihe Hall until the third pole of the sun.

"The ministers are mistaken, the monarch is dead, and in the world of two hundred and seventy-seven years, once it is abandoned, it will be mistaken by the traitorous ministers, so that it is so."

Emperor Chongzhen, who was sitting on the dragon chair in the Taihe Palace, knew that no one would come, and closed his eyes with a painful expression, and those courtiers who had been talking about serving the country all day long were now hiding at home one by one and did not dare to go to the court, it was ridiculous to think about it.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was already in despair, and walked out of the Taihe Hall with a blank look, moving forward aimlessly, along the way were full of palace maids and chamberlains who fled everywhere, with large bags of property stolen from the palace, and ran away after seeing Emperor Chongzhen.

Although the situation is critical now, Emperor Chongzhen is also the son of heaven of the Ming Dynasty no matter what he says, and those chamberlains and palace maids are naturally afraid.

Where is Emperor Chongzhen still in the mood to care about this kind of thing, staggered out of the Forbidden City, and unknowingly climbed the coal mountain.

When Emperor Chongzhen came back to his senses, he was already in the Shouhuang Pavilion on the top of the coal mountain, his long hair was scattered, his expression was depressed, and he was embarrassed.

At this time, the only people who followed Emperor Chongzhen were his personal servant Wang Chengen, and the rest were nowhere to be found.

Looking into the distance at Shouhuang Pavilion, you can clearly see that the war in the inner city has ended, which means that the Dashun army has taken control of the inner city, and now he can't escape with his wings.

Moreover, what made Emperor Chongzhen particularly ironic was that the coal mountain that was built to symbolize the eternity of the country turned out to be his burial place, and I am afraid that the ancestors and ancestors under the nine springs would not have thought of it.

"The relationship between you and me is over today, run for your life!"

After a long sigh, Emperor Chongzhen reached out and untied his coat, tied it to the branch of a dead tree under the Shouhuang Pavilion, and then said to Wang Chengen, who was following him.

Wang Chengen immediately knelt down when he heard this, and the old tears were in his eyes, he naturally knew what Emperor Chongzhen was going to do.

Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Wang Chengen and shook his head, and then hanged himself, now that the capital has been broken, he is naturally going to die and martyr the country, is he going to become a prisoner of the Dashun army, he can't bear this humiliation.

"Your Majesty!"

When Emperor Chongzhen's body gradually stopped moving and became stiff, Wang Chengen cried and untied him from the tree, lay down and placed it in the Shouhuang Hall, and then hanged himself on another tree to follow Emperor Chongzhen.

The Ming Dynasty, which had ruled the world for more than 200 years, finally could no longer support it and collapsed, opening a new chapter in history.

(End of chapter)