With the surrender of the defenders of the various gates in the Forbidden City, a large number of cavalry of the Far Eastern Army also rushed into the Ming Palace with murderous violation. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoThe defenders in the Forbidden City have long lost the heart of resistance, and they are kneeling everywhere.

Facing the Far Eastern cavalry roaring back and forth in the Forbidden City, the eunuchs and palace maids in the Forbidden City were even more frightened to run and hide in all directions, and the cries and wails were endless.

After the troops of the Far Eastern Army entered the Forbidden City, they quickly occupied all the main positions of the palace, and then the troops were divided into pieces, and they swept house by house, room by room, and drove the defeated soldiers, eunuchs, and palace maids hidden everywhere to various squares to be guarded.

Li Ming, Song Tao and others dismounted and walked all the way to the square in front of the Imperial Palace. At this time, the defeated soldiers, eunuchs and palace maids in the palace were being escorted here by the Far Eastern Army, which seemed extremely chaotic.

Everyone looks at this huge and empty Huangji Palace Square, compared with the Forbidden City in modern society, standing here in this era, they can better appreciate the majesty of the Chinese emperor, and even subconsciously have an urge to worship.

"I've been to the Forbidden City in Beijing a few times before, so why does it feel different from today." Song Tao stood in the middle of the square with his hands on his hips and looked around, and said with a puzzled face.

Lin Hua next to him said with a smile: "At that time, your mood was to travel and sightseeing, but now you are entering the Forbidden City with the mentality of a conqueror, of course the feeling is different." ”

Li Ming also said with a smile: "The former Forbidden City in Beijing has been deposited for more than 100 years and has become a cultural relic and historic site, but now it can be regarded as the real Forbidden City." Since the Yongle period, the emperors of the daimyo have lived here, and there will be some imperial atmosphere. ”

Song Tao thought for a while, and suddenly asked, "What do you say Emperor Chongzhen is doing now?" According to the attack speed of our Far Eastern Army after entering the city, I estimate that Chongzhen will not be able to get out of the Forbidden City, so even if he hangs himself, he will not be on the crooked-necked locust tree in the coal mountain. ”

As soon as his words fell, several Far Eastern cavalry in the distance quickly rushed here, turned over and dismounted more than 100 meters away from Li Ming, and ran in front of Li Ming in a hurry.

The leader was a battalion commander of the cavalry division of the Far East, West and North Army, and he said breathlessly: "Report to the commander, when our department was searching the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City, we found Emperor Chongzhen......"

Song Tao next to him, without waiting for the battalion commander to finish speaking, asked eagerly, "Have you caught anything alive?" ”

The battalion commander shook his head and said with a wry smile: "When we found him, he was already hanging from a tree. After repeated identification by the eunuchs in the palace, Chongzhen's identity was finally determined. When we arrived, we had the hygienist give him first aid, but it was too long and we couldn't save him. There was another person next to him, according to the eunuchs in the palace, who was Chongzhen's most trusted eunuch Wang Chengen. ”

Li Ming listened to the other party's words, and inexplicably felt a trace of melancholy, and felt a little empty in his heart.

He sighed, and then said in a deep voice: "It seems that Chongzhen still hasn't changed his fate, order the troops to mobilize a group of eunuchs and palace maids in the Forbidden City, and organize them to bury Emperor Chongzhen's body...... Thick burial ......"

Song Tao next to him smiled and said: "Brothers, I want to go and see the last remains of Comrade Chongzhen now, do you want to go, do you want to go together......

Li Ming glanced at the excited crowd, shook his head and said, "Go ahead, I don't want to go now......"

Listening to Li Ming's words, Song Tao, Lin Hua and the others hurriedly turned around and rode on their war horses, and excitedly rushed towards the imperial garden in the depths of the Forbidden City.

Looking at their backs, Li Ming shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Although Chongzhen was a dead emperor, the evaluation of Emperor Chongzhen by later generations was not low. Even if he does not have the wisdom and eloquence of Tang Zong Hanwu, and has many shortcomings such as impatience, meanness, and self-righteousness.

However, it is undeniable that Comrade Chongzhen is indeed an emperor who wants to govern the country well, but he has never undergone systematic imperial education and suddenly took over a huge empire that is already riddled with holes.

If he was born in a prosperous era, and several famous ministers have devoted themselves to teaching since he was a child, it is still possible to be a good emperor who keeps his success. It's just that he was born at the wrong time, although he has ambitions, although he has the heart of a strong country, the desire to prosper, and he is diligent and thrifty, but he has neither the ability to strengthen the country, nor the wisdom of others, nor the love of the people, and he is destined to be a tragic character.

After a while, someone came to report that in the harem of the Forbidden City, all the concubines of Empress Zhou and Chongzhen were found to have committed suicide collectively. In addition, hundreds of palace maids and eunuchs who committed suicide were found all over the Forbidden City.

When Li Ming heard the news, he shook his head helplessly and said, "Let's bury Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou together, and the other concubines and palace maids should also be buried thickly." Ordered the troops to try to appease the emotions of the eunuchs and palace maids in the Forbidden City. ”

There was a sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and Song Tao and Lin Hua returned. They turned over and dismounted and came to Li Ming's side.

Song Tao said with a gloomy face: "I originally thought that Chongzhen's clothes were patched, but it was just nonsense. Who would have thought that Chongzhen's cuffs were really patched, and he couldn't bear it in his heart, the dignified emperor was actually mixed into this bear, this guy's life was bitter enough. Look at the scholars and doctors under him, all of them are full of brains, and their families are as rich as the country. is paralyzed, no wonder Li Zicheng wants to recover the stolen goods. ”

In the afternoon, the Far Eastern Army led a group of eunuchs in the palace to set up a large-scale mourning hall for Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty outside the Donghua Gate. Emperor Chongzhen has been buried, placed in a good coffin, transported to the mourning hall, and also made a ritual on a group of Taoist priests in the capital.

When the carriage pulling Chongzhen's coffin passed through the Huangji Hall Square, the countless eunuchs and palace maids who were being held here all knelt on the ground and cried at Chongzhen's body.

Li Ming walked over, organized the beating of these eunuchs by the Far Eastern Army, and then looked at the eunuchs and palace maids in the square. In fact, they are all hard-working people.

In order to ensure the chastity of the emperor's wives and concubines, there were eunuchs. Among the thousands of eunuchs in the palace, the powerful eunuchs who leaned towards the government and the opposition and had prominent power were very few after all, and the vast majority of them were low-level small eunuchs, who worked hard all day long, and most of them left the palace in their twilight years, and they never saw the emperor. Once he lost the ability to serve, he was expelled from the Forbidden City, and his old age was very miserable.

The fate of the palace maids was not much better, and only a very small number of those who served the queen or queen mother were favored. The lives of the vast majority of court ladies are miserable. From the first day they were selected to enter the palace, they were like entering prison, losing their personal freedom, and they were not allowed to leave the palace until they were 25 or even 30 years old.

(To be continued.) )