Chapter 57: The Fall

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Besides, my VIP has been opened, but I still release public chapters in the past few days, because I promised in advance that I would ask the public to pass 200,000 words.

Next week, I will pass the VIP at midnight, and I hope you will subscribe to support it at that time.

I'll talk about it in a single chapter in the week.

By the way, I would like to thank my friends who have always supported me, and especially my sub-version of Xiao Li.

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"Kaimei, how many times has it changed?"

In the dark night, except for a few large white lanterns hanging from the castle tower, there is a moonlight that can be illuminated. It's just that this moonlight is like a thin veil, hazy, so that people can't see it really.

On the Chaoyang Gate, more than 400 people were divided into three shifts, Li Banghua and Wang Jiayan were old, and everyone lined them up in the first shift when arranging shifts, and after being on duty for an hour, they were coaxed by their nephews and subordinates to sleep in the city tower.

Of course, these two old men in their sixties can't sleep...... It's not that the bedding is not good, the juniors and subordinates take care of them as much as possible, the thick straw mat is covered with a thick quilt printed with blue cloth, lying inside, the night wind is howling outside the empty window on the city tower, but the body is warm and very comfortable.

They can't sleep, they really have a heavy heart on their minds...... Both of them are big people with deep minds and profound knowledge, one is the imperial history of Zuodu, Taibai Zongxian, and the other is the deputy of the army, deputy manager Rong Zheng.

are all the top figures in the political axe cabinet, at this critical moment of the world's Ding Revolution, how can they really sleep peacefully?

"Oh, Elder Meng, wait a minute." Wang Jiayan answered, got up and looked at it, and waited for a while before he smiled: "I'm used to seeing the hours of the Taixi people, and it's really difficult to count the hours." ”

"Tessie's clocks are indeed convenient, our timekeeping methods are not as good as others, not as good as people, we have to admit that if people are good, we will use other people's, which is nothing." Li Banghua also half lay up, and said happily: "What is the state of civilization in my Ming Dynasty?" It is to at least have the mind to admit that it is inferior to others...... Kaimei, then talk about Tessie's hour! ”

Wang Jiayan waited quietly for him to finish, his eyes were also shining, and he didn't know what he was thinking. The grandfather clock in front of him was small and exquisite, and I don't know how much more convenient it was than the rougher and larger grandfather clock at that time...... However, this was not introduced by Taixi, but imitated by craftsmen in the Jiangnan area, and the size of the table clock was reduced.

Not only to bring it, but also more exquisite, beautiful, and stronger craftsmanship!

"It's three o'clock in Taixi's table clock...... Wang Jiayan replied first, and then said with a smile: "The student's casual remark provoked Meng Lao to talk about it...... I think, Meng Lao may have more than that, right? ”

"Yes!" Li Banghuasuo sat up in his cloak and sat up, his eyes were blazing, he looked at Wang Jiayan, and said, "I'm thinking, the emperor doesn't know if he is willing to move south!" ”

"Probably not." Wang Jiayan said: "The emperor still thinks that this city can be defended...... has been a minister for many years, and he still knows the emperor's temper and surname students. Now that he is persuaded to leave, the emperor is afraid and wants to leave, but on the other hand, he feels that he is not desperate, and it is too embarrassing to escape...... In hindsight, whoever persuaded the emperor to leave might be unlucky. ”

"Yes, yes!" Li Banghua nodded again and again, then lay down again, and only said: "The prince will not fail to see this, but the prince lives in a dangerous city, what will he do if he waits until this time today?" Alas, in the future, state affairs will be in the hands of the crown prince! ”

"It would be nice if I could do it in the hands of the crown prince." Wang Jiayan knew that the other party had unfinished words, so the surname Suo said it for the old man in front of him, and said angrily at the moment: "The south is really the Donglin Party, and it is also the territory of the Restoration Society...... I know that the prince is the true lord of the world, Yunwen Yunwu, resourceful, and persevering......" In the end, Wang Jiayan only smiled bitterly, and only said: "I have been desperately advocating that the prince is too young, but fifteen, and he is ten ** years old, I am afraid it is much better......"

"Alas, don't talk about it, don't talk about it!"

Speaking of this, the two important ministers were a little depressed, and the room was silent for a while, and it just so happened that footsteps sounded outside.

Someone pushed the door in, bringing in the cold air outside the house, Wang Jiayan didn't have time to ask, the person had already reported: "Lord Qi Rongzheng, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and several princes are here." ”

"Oh, yes, yes!" Wang Jiayan hurriedly agreed, but fortunately he didn't take off his clothes, and Li Banghua hurriedly got up, but Zhu Cihong also went to the city.

"The minister knocks to see His Highness."

"What kind of etiquette is this kung fu?" Zhu Cihong's expression was quite depressed, he looked at the two old ministers in front of him, shook his head and said: "My father refuses to leave, and I have received information that the thieves have sent elite cavalry to Beijing and may arrive at the city at any time. ”

When they were answering each other, somehow, the two ministers had a thought in their hearts, that is, to stay here and die here.

Listening to Zhu Cihong's words, both of them laughed, and then shook their heads together.

Wang Jiayan said with a smile: "If the emperor is personally recruited and the ministers go with the king, then there is no need to say anything." Since the emperor is not leaving, he is willing to die, and he can't leave no matter what he says. ”

"Yes, the old minister is also willing to defend this city, just right, and help His Highness get out." Li Banghua obviously smiled on his face, and said happily: "If His Royal Highness doesn't get away, the old minister will not be blind when he dies, His Royal Highness is gone, and the old minister will die with the emperor, what a happy thing!" ”

"Well, I don't advise you!" Zhu Cihong also saw the true meaning of the words "literati style" in the two ministers in front of him, and just nodded at the moment, and then turned around and went downstairs.

At his feet, King Yong and the fifth son of the emperor also passed through the city gate and began to move towards the darkness of the south.

More than thirty miles to the south, out of the suburbs of Jingshi, there is a contact point, with replaced horses and more than 100 guards, and Feng Kaizhang is also there.

When he went out of the city, Zhu Cihong looked back, but saw that Wang Jiayan and other ministers had already knelt on the left side of the city gate, kowtowing to see him off.

"That's it, that's it."

He urged the cart and baggage to go first, and he personally led the cavalry of more than 200 people in two bureaus to walk within a range of several miles, and the sentinel was on guard.

In any case, it was out of the capital, and the efforts of more than half a year were not in vain.

……

……

Just when Zhu Cihong and the others went out of Dong'anmen and marched towards the Chaoyangmen area, in the dark night, under the clear glow of the moonlight, there was also a large number of cavalry troops galloping under the moonlight.

The movement of thousands of cavalry marching is very terrifying, the sound of horses' hooves, straight like thunder, if it is daytime, it will rise up so that people can not see the mist and smoke pillar, is in this boundless dark night, thousands of people are a torch every few people, when running, the terrain is high and low, if you look down at the heights, it is an unstoppable rush, if you look back in front of you, it is a rushing waterfall!

No, this is an out-and-out iron stream, thousands of horses galloping, and the elite horsemen in iron armor and spears in hand seem to be almost crowded together! The neighing of war horses, the sound of hooves rolling like muffled thunder, and even the sound of pine oil burning on hundreds of torches can be heard clearly, and under such a big movement, there is no human voice to hear!

Everyone is planning to step off the war horse, galloping according to the established speed of each team, all of them are partners who have cooperated for a long time, around everyone's side, front and back, are familiar partners and commanders, they are the knights in Li Chuang's team, the most elite soldiers, and the best in this army of thieves, but also from hundreds of thieves in more than ten years of hard fighting to now, the more and more refined, the more brave the essence of the embers of a hundred battles!

"Brother Huzi, your soldiers and horses are getting stronger and stronger, it seems that I am a good man in the imperial camp, and I may not be stronger than your troops!"

Li Shuangxi, like Zhang Nai, is Li Zicheng's righteous son, but Li Shuangxi is in charge of the imperial cavalry and is also Li Zicheng's guard leader, so he is usually very arrogant, and ordinary generals are not taken seriously by him at all.

But like Zhang Nai, he is very convinced of Luo Hu. When it comes to martial arts, Luo Hu is a first-class hero in the camp, and when it comes to the ability to fight, it is even more to boost the morale of the young generals, and looking at the current ability to lead troops, the three thousand iron cavalry are like this, and they are really not under the soldiers and horses of the imperial camp, so it is no wonder that this Li Shuangxi has a tone of envy and jealousy.

"You talk to the emperor, and you can also come out and lead the troops." Luo Hu smiled slightly, and said to Li Shuangxi: "It's hard work to lead the troops, are you afraid?" ”

"Hey, you have to work hard with the royal battalion."

"That's different!" Luo Hu's posture on the horse is also very beautiful, controlling the reins and galloping, are very relaxed and casual, and the body shape is also integrated with the horse body, so when the horse jumps and gallops, he does not need to use waist strength, galloping for more than 100 miles, it still looks very relaxed and casual.

He shook his head at Li Shuangxi and said with a smile: "The imperial battalion has Brother Li Qiang, as well as General Wu, and many people are in charge. Did you get up at night and patrol the camp? Have you ever asked about the food? Soldiers are often trained, can you keep an eye on them all the time? The army is unstable, do you just whip with a whip, or look at what the brothers are thinking? ”

This set of decisions, of course, is also some of Luo Hu's comprehensions after leading the troops for a few years, although there are few words, but they are to the point, so Li Shuangxi was very convinced when he heard it.

At the moment, he said with a smile: "Brother Huzi, in terms of the ability to lead soldiers, at your age, I'm afraid no one can match you!" ”

"Not necessarily. The soldiers and horses of Deputy Military Division Li are also very strong. ”

"Oh, he'......" Li Shuangxi doesn't like Li Yan, after all, he is a foreign general, not his own family. So he only pouted, but he didn't agree with Luo Hu's words.

Seeing him like this, Luo Hu had to say a few words, but a personal soldier rode over behind him and said: "General, there is Diaoyutai ahead, and not far ahead, there is Xuanwu Gate and Yanyi Gate, as well as Xizhi Gate." ”

"Oh......" Luo Hu was just about to arrange the siege, not far away, Du Xun was hurrying over, although this person was a eunuch, but this time he also gritted his teeth and followed, a ruthlessness, but also admirable.

As soon as he saw Luo Hu, Du Xun split his head and said: "General Luo, if you want to capture the Ming Emperor and the princes, don't care about the soldiers and horses here in Diaoyutai, and don't care about the gates in the west, now lead the troops to go straight to Chaoyangmen!" ”

"What a stupid thing you said!" Li Shuangxi saw that this eunuch was unhappy, and said coldly at the moment: "Near Diaoyutai and Yanyi Gate, there are still Li Guozhen's remnants stationed under the city, if we don't defeat the enemy in front of us, how can we go around Chaoyangmen?" ”

Du Xun was stunned for a while, but he still insisted: "If you don't go to Chaoyangmen, I'm afraid that the Ming Emperor will go straight to Tianjin from there. ”

"That's reasonable, let's take a walk."

The instruction that Luo Hu received was to besiege the city and spread the cavalry on all sides, and the direction of Chaoyangmen was of course also the top priority. However, seeing Li Shuangxi's disapproving face, he had to compromise and say: "Let's take a look first." ”

……

This look is unusually smooth.

As soon as the outpost arrived, Li Guozhen's department was defeated, and the rebellious soldiers were directly driven to the vicinity of Yanyi Gate and Xuanwu Gate, and the firearms of countless Shenji battalions were also thrown down by the defeated soldiers.

"Good fellow, I can't see that much." Li Shuangxi said: "I'm afraid that there are dozens of guns, so many cannons, we don't have the benefit of firearms, and we are cavalry, so it is impossible to break the city." ”

"There aren't many people in the city...... Luo Hu also said with regret: "If there are ladders and shield cars and rushing cars, you can also give it a try." ”

The two were lamenting, but they saw that the guards at the head of the city were beating gongs and drums vigorously, and they were in a mess, and when they looked at it from a distance, they looked like red and black ants.

Li Shuangxi and Luo Hu were shocked at each other, Li Shuangxi laughed and said: "What kind of ...... is this?"

Luo Hu frowned and didn't answer, but he heard a few people in the city, then dozens of people, and then hundreds of people and thousands of people shouting together: "Don't attack the army, I will surrender on the orders of Wang Xiangyao, the eunuch guarding the town." ”

These words were extremely long, and Luo Li and the others listened to them a few times before they understood.

"Surrender?"

The two of them were in doubt, but they saw that the city tower was running back and forth, and when they looked again, the tall and thick door of the ceremony had slowly opened, and many soldiers poured out of the city, and the first ones seemed to be wearing flowered clothes and black gauze hats.

Luo Hu was silent for a while, and then shook his head and said to Li Shuangxi: "Since the outer city has been broken, I will wait for most of the people to enter the city, and then rush to the inner city to control the Jingshi." Double happiness, you take two thousand imperial camp elite horsemen to Chaoyangmen to inquire about the actual news. If the Ming Emperor has fled to Tianjin, it is up to you to decide whether to control the city gates or pursue them. ”

"I'll chase it!"

Li Shuangxi nodded arrogantly on the horse, turned his horse's head, and said to Du Xun: "You come with me!" ”

He is just a young general of about twenty, and his status in the army is not high, but he is a slave who yells at Du Xun, Du Xun is furious, and his face is also cloudy, just looking at the situation in front of him, he has to take a deep breath, and honestly follow Li Shuangxi to the direction of Chaoyangmen.

Luo Hu led his own soldiers to the direction of the city gate first, but dozens of horses came from the ground, and around the city gate, thousands of Ming troops all bowed their heads, and the timid ones even began to tremble.

"Slave and maid, pseudo-Ming Si ceremonial eunuch Wang Xiangyao, knock to see the general!"

As soon as Luo Hu approached, Wang Xiangyao took the lead, and hundreds of eunuchs, civil officials, and military generals kowtowed together, and the head wearing a black gauze hat knocked heavily into the soil, making a neat muffled sound.

When he came down, all the officials held their hands high and scrambled to say: "The deputy chief soldier of the minister's puppet Mingshenji battalion knocked on the general......"

"The minister and the head of the Ming Military Department, an official knocked on the general's ......"

"Knock on the new general!"

"The Great General is mighty!"

Luo Hu felt dizzy for a while, and in front of him was a crimson and turquoise, or a scarlet robe, or a green robe, hundreds of officials and generals in military uniforms knelt on the ground together, holding up the big red handbook, first roll call, and then a big sycophant.

In front of the entire gate, it was like a noisy bazaar.

Just behind this farce, hundreds of people have been running to tell each other, spread information, along the streets, there have been many people lighting incense and candles, pasting yellow paper on the door of their homes, and writing the word "Shunmin".

In less than two hours, Xuanwu, Xizhi and other city gates also surrendered, and the west of the entire outer city was almost in an instant, and it was declared lost.

After hearing the news, the Zhengyangmen tower finally raised three white lights, which is a symbol of the thief soldiers have entered the city, at this moment, in the city, in addition to a few people ready to surrender, a few people are ready to martyrdom, more people are just indifferent to each other, the hearts of the small people, but occasionally can think of the slogan of "welcome the king, do not pay food", although it is the enemy soldiers into the city, but in the city, willing to resist to the death, willing to die with the old dynasty, there are really few.

……

"Dang, dangdang, dangdang......"

In the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen ordered someone to ring the Jingyang bell outside the noon gate and urgently convened a court meeting. But he has rarely held an early dynasty recently, and today is not a regular dynasty, so there are very few officials on duty, and the more real reason is, of course, that the hundred officials are no longer willing to serve this emperor.

Not long after Li Zicheng entered the city, more than 800 officials of the old dynasty came to sign up for the service, and the pomp was unprecedented, and at this time, in front of Chongzhen's eyes, except for the eunuchs who were sparsely lala, even the shadow of an official was not seen.

At this moment, in Chongzhen's mind, there is only the word "despair" left!

"Report to the emperor," at this time, Wang Chengen was much calmer, and he said: "Wang Dehua has rushed to the outer city to surrender, and Zhang Jinyan, who guards Zhengyangmen, is also unreliable...... If the emperor wants to be martyred, the slave thinks that it is not appropriate to delay any longer. ”

"Martyrdom...... Haha, martyrdom! ”

Chongzhen was already full of madness, his eyes were red, he looked around blankly, and after half a ring, he suddenly saw the imperial Longquan sword used by Emperor Chengzu hanging next to his imperial case.

He held a sword in one hand, and his face was already full of murderous anger: "I want to be martyred, but before I die, I must also take care of the inner palace clearly!" ”

"Emperor," Wang Chengen shook his head and said with a smile: "It's too late, Empress Zhang, the two concubines, Queen Zhou, Concubine Yuan, and the prince and the princes have all left the city for Tianjin before last night." ”

"What?"

Chongzhen's hand was weak, and the sword in his hand "snapped" and fell to the ground.