On June 25, hundreds of civil and military officials in the capital gathered outside Zhengyang Gate to welcome the Dashun Emperor Li Zicheng into Beijing.

At this time, the capital had been controlled by the Dashun army, and calm had been restored.

Not only civil and military officials, but also the people of the capital have flocked to the roadside to watch the excitement, welcoming Li Zicheng, the song of "King Chuang comes and does not pay food" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so that the Dashun army is warmly welcomed by the people wherever they go.

As for the missing Emperor Chongzhen, I'm afraid there is no one in the capital who can remember it.

"It's coming, it's coming!"

While the people were talking about it, a voice suddenly rang out, pointing to the road in the distance and shouting.

"Break the king, break the king, break the king......" The people suddenly became excited, and they raised their arms and cheered, as if they saw a savior.

After all, Emperor Chongzhen's reign has been increasing taxes day by day, and the people's lives have become difficult, which has led to a change in people's minds, and they have pinned their hopes for a better life on Li Zi's body.

Hula, the civil and military officials outside the city knelt down one after another, kneeling to welcome Li Zicheng's arrival, which means that they have recognized themselves as courtiers of the Dashun Dynasty, as for the Ming Dynasty, it has long disappeared with the disappearance of Emperor Chongzhen.

It's also ridiculous to say, because the situation in the capital is too chaotic, although Dashun's soldiers searched every room and possible hiding place in the Forbidden City, they still failed to find Emperor Chongzhen, and they didn't expect Emperor Chongzhen to go to Coal Mountain at all, and thought that he was hiding in someone's house in the capital.

Therefore, the capital is now tightly sealed by the Dashun army, and it is forbidden to enter and exit freely until the Chongzhen Emperor and the crown prince, Yongwang, and Dingwang are found, so as not to escape among the people.

With the arrival of the team in the distance, a burly middle-aged man rode a horse, surrounded by a group of Dashun generals, riding a high-headed horse, with a faint smile on his face, looking high-spirited.

He was Li Zicheng, the Emperor of Dashun, but people still used to call him "King Chuang", a title that used to represent rebellion, but now it is the hope of the people.

"Greetings to Your Majesty, Long live Your Majesty, long live Long live!" When Li Zicheng came closer, the civil and military officials who were kneeling on the ground shouted long live.

"Everyone's family is flat." Li Zicheng glanced at the civil and military ministers who were extremely respectful with their heads touching the ground, a contemptuous smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he smiled and raised his hand upward.

Just more than ten years ago, he still had to look up to these civil and military officials in the court, but now these people are bowing down at his feet, this feeling is really very pleasant.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" After hearing this, the civil and military officials stood up in unison and stood there with their heads bowed.

"Your Majesty, please enter the city." Wei Zaode, the first assistant of the cabinet, stepped forward, bowed down and said, as the first assistant of the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, he is the highest-ranking of the hundred civil and military officials on the scene, and he should take the lead to welcome Li Zicheng into the city.

"Before entering the city, I will make three chapters of the law!"

Li Zicheng did not enter the city, but looked around and then took out the long sword at his waist and said loudly, "No matter who dares to hurt people and plunder people's property and women, there will be no forgiveness!" ”

"Long live King Chuang!" Hearing this, the people at the scene immediately boiled and shouted in unison, so that their safety and interests could be guaranteed.

Then, Li Zicheng inserted back the long sword, and under the embrace of everyone, he entered the inner city and went straight to the imperial city.

"Look, that woman in red is so beautiful!"

"Heroic, she is simply a heroine among women."

"It looks like a female general."

……

Soon, people were followed by a woman in red in a strong suit among the generals behind Li Zicheng, who was pretty and heroic, and was very conspicuous and eye-catching among those men.

"I heard that there is a female general named Red Lady in the Dashun Army, who likes to wear red clothes and is a strange woman with great military achievements, could it be that she is the Red Lady?"

Just as people were discussing in private, a voice sounded in the crowd, pointing out the identity of the woman in the red suit.

"Red lady?" Hearing this, people looked at the woman in red again, but they didn't expect that she was a female general who was crisscrossing the field.

Li Zicheng entered the Taihe Hall surrounded by hundreds of civil and military officials, sat on the dragon chair of the Taihe Palace, and stroked the armrest of the dragon chair with a happy expression.

"Your Majesty, the country cannot be left without an owner for a day, and the minister implores the emperor to ascend the throne as the emperor and take charge of the country." Standing in front of the hall, the ministers of the original Ming Dynasty glanced at each other, and then Wei Zaode, the head of the cabinet, stepped forward and bowed down and pleaded.

"Please ask the emperor to ascend the throne." Subsequently, the civil and military officials of the former Ming Dynasty invariably pleaded.

"Big brother, now that the Ming Court is gone, this world is yours." Seeing that those officials of the former Daming Dynasty opened their mouths to persuade them to advance, a thick man standing in front of the generals of the Dashun Army suddenly laughed and said to Li Zicheng in a loud voice.

The person who can call Li Zicheng "big brother" on this occasion is naturally his fellow brother Liu Zongmin, Li Zicheng's most trusted and relied on subordinate, and the commander of the Dashun Army.

"Please King Chuang ascend the throne and inherit the throne." With Liu Zongmin's statement, the generals of the Dashun Army spoke one after another.

However, not everyone agreed with Li Zicheng's accession to the throne, and a young scribe in white standing behind Liu Zongmin and standing side by side with the red lady frowned and did not echo the matter.

"Now that the number of Da Ming Qi is not exhausted, this matter will be discussed later."

Li Zicheng's eyes lit up for a moment, and then he waved his hand to everyone in the main hall, and said loudly, "You have worked hard these days, I have already asked people to prepare a banquet, let's not get drunk tonight!" ”

Hearing this, the white-clothed scribe couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, after all, Li Zicheng's mind was still sober and he did not rush to the throne, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.

Speaking of which, including Li Zicheng, the officers and men of the Dashun Army did not expect to enter Beijing when they swore to the east, but only wanted to stabilize the power of Dashun in the southwest.

Who wanted to go all the way, but the Ming troops along the way surrendered without a fight, so that the Dashun army entered Beijing in a daze.

Although he entered the city of Beijing, this does not mean that Li Zicheng is in charge of the world, now there is a Manchu Qing in the north of the Ming Dynasty, and there are tens of thousands of soldiers in Shanhaiguan, which is a stone's throw away from the capital, and the south is still under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and Li Zicheng must solve these troubles if he wants to sit in the world.

Therefore, before this, Li Zicheng should not be called emperor, otherwise he will be violently resisted, and the gains outweigh the losses, and even if he is called the emperor, it will be difficult to sit firmly.

In the final analysis, Dashun's strength is not strong enough, its foundation is in the northwest, although the eastern expedition has captured a lot of land, but has not really been controlled, these are all hidden dangers.

The white-clothed scribe felt very relieved in his heart, if Li Zicheng ascended the throne in the Taihe Hall with a hot brain, then he would definitely become the target of everyone.

In the evening, Li Zicheng held a banquet in the palace to entertain the generals of the Dashun Army, Wei Zaode and other important ministers of the Ming Dynasty as accompaniment, and he looked like he was submissive and groveling.

"Sister, I heard that you are not going to stay in the Taishi Mansion, so it is better to give it to Brother Liu!"

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Liu Zongmin, who was already a little drunk, thought of something, came to the red lady's wine table with a wine glass, and said to the red lady with a smile.

"Brother Liu, the Taishi Mansion can't be moved, Taishi Li is not only in charge of the Daming Water Division, but also in charge of overseas trade affairs, if it can be recovered, it will be of great benefit to my Dashun."

The red lady smiled slightly when she heard this, picked up the wine glass and touched it with Liu Zongmin, then drank it all and politely refused Liu Zongmin's request.

"My Dashun is now strong and strong, does he have any other choice?"

After Liu Zongmin drank all the wine in the wine glass in his hand, he burped and said to the red lady with some disdain, "Sister, you think too highly of that Li Hongyu, it's just a sour Confucian who was lucky enough to win a few battles, what's the big deal, if he doesn't submit to our Dashun, Brother Liu will let him move his head!" ”

Hearing this, the originally lively scene quieted down in an instant, and people looked at Liu Zongmin, Wei Zaode and other important ministers of the Ming Dynasty curiously, and their faces showed embarrassed looks.

Li Hongyu has made a lot of achievements in the southern and northern wars since he stepped into the official career, and his prestige in the eyes of the people is very high, and he is the head of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, so neither the generals of Dashun nor the important ministers of the Ming Dynasty dare to despise Li Hongyu.

"Zong Min, you're drunk." Li Zicheng naturally disagreed with Liu Zongmin's statement, and after pondering for a while, he said to Liu Zongmin, "There are so many mansions in the capital, except for the Taishi Mansion, you can choose one." ”

"Brother Xie." Liu Zongmin also realized that he had lost his words just now, so he smiled and bowed his hand to Li Zicheng, resolving the embarrassing atmosphere at the scene.

After the banquet, everyone dispersed in groups of chatting and laughing.

"Sister, why did you send someone to protect the Taishi Mansion?" The white-clothed scribe walked a few steps quickly to catch up with the red lady, and asked with a smile, he was puzzled by this.

It turned out that after the Dashun army invaded the inner city, the Red Lady's subordinates protected the Taishi Mansion to avoid being affected by the war.

"Brother Li, I can't hide it, Master Li has a great kindness to my parents, and I can't watch it suffer." The red lady groaned for a moment when she heard this, and slowly told the truth.

"I see." The white-clothed scribe bowed slightly when he heard this, and it could be explained at this time, and Li Hongyu had done a lot of good deeds, and it was not unusual for the parents of the red lady to receive favors.

"Brother Li, I heard that Emperor Chongzhen has transferred Taishi Li to lead the water division into King Qin, will we fight with him?" Then, the red lady slowed down and asked the white-clothed scribe with concern, she didn't want to fight Li Hongyu.

"The world is unpredictable, Taishi Li has always been loyal to Daming, and it is difficult to get along with our Dashun." The white-clothed scribe groaned for a moment when he heard this, and said helplessly, he didn't know how the situation would develop, because he couldn't understand Li Hongyu's mind at all.

The red lady couldn't help but fall silent when she heard this, Li Hongyu is a good official recognized by the Ming Dynasty as a good official for the country and the people, and she is her benefactor, so she is naturally unwilling to fight Li Hongyu to the death.

The next day, an unexpected thing happened in the capital, Li Zicheng suddenly ordered the execution of Zhu Chunchen, the duke of Chengguo, who had surrendered, without the slightest warning beforehand, on the grounds that he intended to rebel.

It turned out that Li Zicheng's personal guards found a holy decree in the Taihe Palace, which was drafted by Emperor Chongzhen himself, and asked Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, to assist the prince of the East Palace.

Li Zicheng was greatly annoyed after receiving the holy decree, and couldn't help but doubt Zhu Chunchen's motives, after all, Emperor Chongzhen, the crown prince, the king of Ding, and the acting king are still missing, and it is likely to be related to Zhu Chunchen.

Therefore, Li Zicheng ordered the arrest of Zhu Chunchen, and after severely tortured him, he did not get the slightest information, so he executed him to set an example.

Poor Zhu Chunchen originally thought that he would be reused after taking refuge in Dashun, after all, he blocked Emperor Chongzhen who tried to carry him away from Zhengyang Gate, otherwise Emperor Chongzhen would have run away, no matter what, he would never have imagined that he would have such a tragic ending.

At the same time, Li Zicheng posted a notice throughout the city, and anyone who hid Emperor Chongzhen, the crown prince, the king of Ding, and the acting king would be immediately beheaded once verified.

As the Dashun army stepped up the search of Emperor Chongzhen and the crown prince, the atmosphere in the capital became a little tense again, and the Dashun soldiers searched door to door, and the homes of those Daming nobles were the focus of the search.

As a result, not long after Li Zicheng's notice was posted, Zhou Kui, the father of Queen Zhou, and Tian Hong, the father of Tian Guifei, successively handed over the crown prince, King Ding and the acting king who were hiding at home.

Li Zicheng did not kill the crown prince, the king of Ding, and the acting king, but put the three under house arrest for later use, which was a deterrent to the generals and local officials who commanded the army in the Ming Dynasty.

Just when Li Zicheng had the intention of Emperor Chongzhen to escape, someone finally found the body of Emperor Chongzhen who died on the coal mountain, and there was a letter from Emperor Chongzhen in his clothes, which read:

"In the seventeenth year since I ascended the throne, although I bowed down to the bandits, and the heavens were angry, all the ministers mistakenly obeyed, causing the rebels to approach the Jingshi. When I died, I saw my ancestors in the ground without a face, and I took off my crown and covered my face with my hair. Let the thief divide the corpse, and don't hurt a single person. ”

In order to distinguish the identity of Emperor Chongzhen, Li Zicheng removed the coffins of Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou from the palace and displayed them in Donghua Gate.

As a result, there were 30 people who cried and worshipped in the courtiers of the original Ming Dynasty, 60 people who worshipped but did not cry, and the rest of them all looked at them, looking quite indifferent, which made Li Zicheng secretly sigh at the warmth and coldness of human feelings.

Judging from the performance of those courtiers who cried and worshiped the corpse, the generals of Dashun could determine the identity of Emperor Chongzhen, and at the same time, the death of Emperor Chongzhen was officially announced to the outside world, which would be a serious blow to the morale of the Ming army.

It is worth mentioning that Emperor Chongzhen's Zigong was temporarily housed by the river in the north of the Forbidden City, and after Li Zicheng was defeated and fled the capital, the local people buried him in the tomb of Tian Guifei, and later the Manchu Qing Dynasty moved his coffin to Siling.

(End of chapter)