Emperor Chongzhen has not had a good time this year, to say that although the trend of erosion in various places in the past cannot be suppressed, at least Emperor Chongzhen still has a sufficient number of soldiers and horses to obey his own dispatch.

But now, Li Zicheng has gone from running around like a headless fly at the beginning, to now having a plan to sweep the Central Plains, and the elites of the five provinces who were pinned on by Emperor Chongzhen did not even hold Tongguan, and ended up with the annihilation of the whole army.

In the final analysis, this result also has a lot to do with Emperor Chongzhen's eagerness and continuous orders to force Sun Chuanting to leave the customs in advance when the war situation is unclear and dark.

Before Sun Chuanting recovered, whether he suppressed Li Zicheng or the old king Gao Yingxiang, he basically succeeded, and the Qin army under his department was simply the predecessor of the Shandong army.

However, this time the Qin army did not continue to write the legend, with Sun Chuanting all the generals and schools at all levels who died in Tongguan, of course, there were many other parts of the generals and generals.

These people are the last defenders of the Ming Dynasty, and they are the last people who are loyal to Emperor Chongzhen and can die for him.

As soon as Sun Chuanting died, no one could stop Li Zicheng's footsteps in the northwest, although the Shandong army had that ability, but it was also difficult to defeat four hands with two fists, and it could not be both.

In Li Zicheng's eyes, the entire Central Plains is like a virgin who has lost her clothes, no matter which province or place, it is at your fingertips.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers divided the road, and everywhere they went, there was a scene of rebellion.

The Ming Dynasty is on the trend of collapse, looking at the world, the only thing that Emperor Chongzhen can rely on is Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan stationed in Shanhaiguan.

Wu Sangui held 20,000 elite Guanning troops, and fought against the Qing army outside the Guanxi all the year round, and was the strongest part of the combat effectiveness of the officers and troops of the Ming Dynasty.

And after the Battle of Songshan, Hong Chengchou was captured, and Wu Sangui fled to Shanhaiguan to collect more than 30,000 defeated soldiers.

The once prosperous Ming Dynasty has now reached such a point of desperation, and only Wu Sangui is the only one who really obeys the orders of the imperial court, and there are only 50,000 soldiers and horses.

A lot of major events have happened this year, one after another, which not only made Emperor Chongzhen often on the verge of being irritable and irritable, but also overwhelmed the important ministers of various ministries and courts in Beijing.

To say that the world shows loyalty to the imperial court and the strongest strength is actually not Wu Sangui's Guan Ning soldiers, let alone Zuo Liangyu, even if he claims to have 500,000 soldiers and horses under his command, it is still the Shandong army.

Wang Zheng swore to the south in Xuzhou, and in the second half of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, he basically controlled all the areas from Jiangbei to Shandong, took Nanjing City with a thunderous momentum, and immediately began to reform.

At sea, Zheng Zhilong dominates the South Seas, but all ships of all sizes that want to do business in Shanghai, as long as there is no Zheng Lingqi, they cannot advance an inch at all.

As early as when Zheng Zhilong was still a pirate, he had already fought a decisive battle with the Fujian Navy Division of the Ming Dynasty, and it was after defeating the Ming Navy Division that Emperor Chongzhen would use Xiong Wencan to preside over the appeasement of Zheng Zhilong.

Until now, Zheng Zhilong has been the governor of the left capital and the chief soldier of coastal defense, and has almost expanded the entire Nanyang to his own control.

On the surface, Zheng Zhilong and Wang Zheng both respected the current imperial court, but they did not have any scruples about what they did secretly, and Wang Zheng changed his usual low-key attitude in the second half of Chongzhen's sixteenth year, and began to move troops south.

When the court heard that Li Zicheng had annihilated the elite of the five provinces led by Sun Chuanting in Tongguan, the people were immediately panicked, and Zuo Zhongyun, Li Mingrui and others had suggested Chongzhen several times, asking him to issue a strict order for the Shandong army to march west against Li Zicheng.

But Chongzhen has a thorn in his heart, and if this thorn is not pulled out, he will always be unwilling to give orders.

In his eyes, Wang Zheng and Li Zicheng are actually the same raccoon dogs, all of them are chaotic ministers and thieves who disturb the world, the difference is nothing more than a cunning and a fearless.

Even at the point where such mountains and rivers are exhausted, although Emperor Chongzhen knew that Wang Zheng would save the Ming Dynasty, he still didn't want to bow his head, so he didn't mean to make an order at all.

The court turned a blind eye, and Wang Zheng just pushed the boat down the river and continued to implement the plan in an orderly manner.

In the south of the Yangtze River, Wangfeng surrendered to the Shandong army, and in the northwest region, the Ming clan was slaughtered by the peasant army, and Li Zicheng swept the Central Plains at a faster speed than Wang Zheng.

In the remaining month of Chongzhen's sixteenth year, the efficiency of the Ming court was the same as in the past, and the ministers discussed only how to deal with the chaos in the south and northwest of the Yangtze River, but they couldn't come up with an effective charter.

Soon, time flew by, and time came to the New Year's Day of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen.

On New Year's Day of this year, Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen went to court earlier than usual, in addition to the close guards and eunuchs, there was only one ceremonial official standing next to the throne holding Jinwu, Chongzhen looked at him in surprise.

The Jinwu official respectfully saw the emperor's inquiring gaze, and immediately bent his body to the soles of his feet, and performed the highest standard of etiquette, and then said carefully:

"Long live the performance, because the ministers didn't hear the bells and drums, they thought that the holy car hadn't come out yet, so they came late."

Emperor Chongzhen snorted and began to proclaim unhappily:

"Then ring the bell at once, open the east and west doors and let them in at once!"

The person holding the gold nodded, bowed again, and then rushed down to deliver the decree.

After a while, the bright bell rang throughout the Forbidden City, and the two doors that Wen Dongwu and Xilieban entered were also opened by the eunuchs in turn, but after waiting for a while, none of the civil and military officials came in.

Emperor Chongzhen looked a little restless, and said to Wang Chengen, the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch Bingbi beside him:

"Let's go, go to the temple first, and then come back to receive congratulations!"

This is the routine etiquette on New Year's Day every year, Wang Chengen is beating the drum like Emperor Chongzhen in his heart, and on New Year's Day, he does not see a single official, which is really unlucky, and he should indeed find a step down.

The little eunuch sent by Wang Chengen to deliver the edict outside the Chang'an Gate did not take long to run back, panting and reporting that the Luan Yu driving horse and the more than 100 horses of the honor guard needed for the royal drive to go out were still in the imperial stable and were not ready.

After saying this, the eunuchs in the hall all faced each other, and the emperor had already issued an edict to go to the temple first, as soon as Chrysostom came out, how could he wait?

So, Wang Chengen improvised and ordered the eunuchs to drive the horses ridden by the civil and military courtiers outside the Chang'an Gate to the Dragon Boat Gate, intending to temporarily replace the imperial horses.

Even more absurdity happened, for the horses had their own masters, and were completely untrained, neighing and jumping around, and not at all restrained by the eunuchs.

The eunuchs of the celebrant had no choice but to reply with a hard head, saying that for the safety of the emperor, they still had to wait before going to the temple.

Such a situation has never happened, but since this is the case, Emperor Chongzhen has no other way but to change his will again, or to accept the court first and then to the temple.

Not long after, Emperor Chongzhen and his group of intimate little eunuchs returned to the Taihe Hall and sat on the throne in the middle of the main hall.

Emperor Chongzhen waited for a long time, and even dozed off a little, I don't know how long it took, Wang Chengen patted him a few times, and said excitedly:

"Your Majesty, the ministers are here!"

Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly sat upright, and asked Wang Chengen to tidy up the dragon clothes for him, and then quietly waited for the ministers to enter the palace.

Even if Emperor Chongzhen saw the scene that happened next every day, when he saw it again, he still frowned slightly and looked helpless.

He witnessed with his own eyes the hundreds of civil and military officials with brilliant crowns, in the continuous sound of bells, patrolling in from the east and west gates, kneeling down in a hurry, and making a mess.

However, today is a little different from usual, although the chaos in the past was common, but it was not obvious, but this time it was completely chaotic into a vegetable market stall, and the noise was abnormal.

The ministers were like headless flies shuttling back and forth in the queue, looking for their own position, and every time they bumped into each other, even the eunuchs of the celebrant were full of disgust.

After some tossing, the emperor had completely lost patience with the New Year's Day celebration ceremony, which did not show the slightest joy, and was about to speak, but was interrupted by a sudden gust of wind.

The wind is howling, the yellow sand is blowing, the sky is dark, and it is difficult to even open his eyes, Emperor Chongzhen is really unlucky to come to his home today, and in the end he can't even go to the Taimiao, so he can only directly announce the retreat from the dynasty.

On New Year's Day, Emperor Chongzhen, who was the supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty, was full of worries, and he groped his way back to the palace in the wind and sand, with only the loyal little eunuchs beside him.

After returning to the palace, Emperor Chongzhen dismissed his concubines and eunuchs, and according to the practice of rebellious times in recent years, bathed and changed clothes, burned incense and prayed, and sincerely asked the gods and Buddhas in the sky to come down to the altar to instruct state affairs.

This is the seventeenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, and the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen spent the morning of the last New Year's Day in his life.

It may seem unorthodox, not like the state of a dynasty that has been in existence for more than 200 years, but compared to March 18, less than a hundred days later, these are nothing.

On the day of the Jiashen national disaster in history, when the advance of the Dashun army had broken through the outer city of the Beijing Division, Emperor Chongzhen hit the bell in the same place and at the same time as today, but no one from the beginning to the end of the civil and military officials came.

In modern terms, these people didn't even bother to play at that time, and when Emperor Chongzhen rang the bell, they might be nervously dressed in the palace, waiting for the summons of the new master, Li Zicheng.

On the other hand, three days after Emperor Chongzhen rang the bell for the last time, that is, on March 21, Li Zicheng, the king of Dashun, captured Beijing and entered the Forbidden City.

When the sky was bright, and the bell had not been struck by the Dashun soldiers, they rushed forward to be the first to compete for the first place to congratulate the new monarch.

It's ridiculous to say, because there are too many people, scrambling to be the first is too anxious, this group of princes and generals were also driven out of the door by the Dashun soldiers who guarded the door, and afterwards the soldiers muttered mockingly, saying that this group of important ministers and nobles was like a beggar who saw steamed buns.

In less than 100 days, in the imperial palace of the Forbidden City, the same scene, the same characters, appeared in such different performances, this is the so-called "change of dynasty" in the year of Jiashen.

Of course, these are Li Zicheng's words after he obtained the northwest.

From the current point of view, there is a great variable of Wang Zheng, and it is unlikely that the Dashun army will lead troops north without any scruples as it did in history.

In the eyes of many people, these two are obviously the best candidates to compete for the world in the future, as long as Li Zicheng does not have his brain in the water, he will not do such a stupid thing as going north to dig his own grave.

But what exactly are Li Zicheng and Wang Zheng's plans, who can say clearly?