In the Forbidden City, in the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen is leaning on the stove to review and play.

Under the influence of the continuous cold wave, Beijing also snowed heavily, the weather was extremely cold, and the palace had already built a stove. Because of the large space in the Qianqing Palace, there are a lot of stoves. With so many stoves roasting, it still can't warm up the entire hall, and the palace people who are standing far away from Emperor Chongzhen are still shivering from the cold although they are wearing thick cotton clothes.

History records that in the late Ming Dynasty, the climate belonged to the "Xiaoice River Season", and the winter was extremely cold, the degree of which was once in a thousand years or 10,000 years. Historians have analyzed that the fall of the Ming Dynasty has a lot to do with the abnormal climate. Extreme weather has led to a sharp drop in food production, an increase in the number of people without food and clothing, and a consequent increase in the number of displaced people. The people are not well fed, clothed, and can no longer live, and civil revolts have also occurred.

If there were no extreme climate, the civil uprisings would not be so frequent, the scale would not be so large, and the strength of the Ming Dynasty would not be weakened, and in the face of the invasion of Jiannu, it would also have the strength to resist. Many of the elites of the Ming army were consumed in the battle against Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong's rogues, and even fierce generals like Cao Wenzhao died in the war with the rebels.

In many cases, the Ming army had to fight on both sides. War is the most wealth-consuming, there is no popular uprising, there is no war with Jiannu, and the treasury of the Ming Dynasty will not be extremely empty. If the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is not empty, there will be financial resources to recruit troops and purchase military supplies, the strength of the army will not decline soon, the war with Jiannu will not be lost, and the Ming Dynasty will not perish.

Therefore, the anomaly of the climate was a very important factor in the fall of the Ming Dynasty, which is the conclusion reached by many historians.

Whether this conclusion is correct or not, it is absolutely true that extreme weather was frequent during the Chongzhen period, and the people of the world often suffered disasters because of the abnormal climate. After several heavy snowfalls in a row, disasters followed, and what was piled on the desk of Emperor Chongzhen was full of people who had been affected by disasters and called for help. Emperor Chongzhen's brows were also tightly locked because he had read too many reports in this regard.

Wang Chengen, the eunuch of Bingbi, stood on the side, he looked at Emperor Chongzhen with a frown uneasily, thinking about things in his heart.

At this time, there was a commotion outside the hall, and Wang Chengen did not wait for Emperor Chongzhen's orders, and immediately went out to check the situation.

"What happened?" After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Wang Chengen, who was holding his hands and shrinking his head, reprimanded the little eunuch waiting outside the palace with his head and face, "Your Majesty is in a bad mood these days, and the miscellaneous family has repeatedly told you to be careful, and you dare to make such a loud noise?" ”

"Father-in-law, there is an urgent report from Datong," the little eunuch who was trained, pointed to another eunuch beside him who had just gotten up from the ground, and said very aggrievedly: "Father-in-law Li fell to the ground because of the urgency of sending the urgent report, and the little one wanted to go over and help!"

"Datong Emergency?" When Wang Chengen heard this, his eyebrows couldn't help but pick, his face changed instantly, he didn't pay attention to the little eunuch anymore, and walked directly to the other eunuch surnamed Li who seemed to have been hurt by the fall, and shouted in a low voice: "What about the urgent report?" ”

"Father-in-law Wang, the urgent report is here," the eunuch surnamed Li, who slipped because of the ice on the ground, hurriedly handed over the urgent report, "The urgent report of the military situation of Datong Town Supervisor Zhang, the prefect of Datong, Lord Wei, and the general soldier of Datong, Lord Cao, has just been delivered in an urgent manner of six hundred miles. ”

The six-hundred-mile urgent military report made Wang Chengen's heart sink, and he immediately stretched out his hand to take it, "Give it to the miscellaneous family, you all retreat!"

"Yes, Princess!" After the other little eunuchs saluted, they respectfully withdrew.

After holding a few urgent reports with fire paint, Wang Chengen walked back to the palace quickly, and when he walked back to the palace, he took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, took out a fold in his arms, and put it together with these urgent reports, and presented it to Emperor Chongzhen's case.

"Long live the Lord, Datong Town Supervisor Zhang An, Datong Prefect Wei Daben Wei, Datong Commander Cao Yue Cao sent a six-hundred-mile urgent military situation report, as well as a secret report sent by Datong Deputy Commander Wu Ming," Wang Chengen took a step back after presenting a few copies of the recital in his hand, and carefully observed the change in Emperor Chongzhen's expression.

"The six hundred miles of urgent military information sent by Datong Mansion?" When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, his face couldn't help but change, he reached out and quickly took the several copies of the military reports that were branded with fire paint, thought about it again, and finally opened the one presented by Cao Yue first.

After opening it and looking at it, Emperor Chongzhen's face couldn't help but change color again.

"Hooray, what's going on?" Wang Chengen's heartbeat on the side also accelerated with the change of Emperor Chongzhen's face, and he couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Is it the Liukou who invaded Datong?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen didn't answer immediately, but quickly opened two other urgent reports that were also branded with fire paint.

"Jiannu is coming. Jiannu actually sent a large army to the south in this weather," Emperor Chongzhen put aside a few military reports in his hand, still frowning, he turned his head to look at Wang Chengen, who looked concerned, and said with a long sigh: "Tens of thousands of Jiannu appeared in a place hundreds of miles north of Datong, and Cao Yue has no way to judge whether Jiannu is preparing to attack Datong or attack Beijing by a detour. ”

Hearing that Jiannu was marching south in this weather, Wang Chengen was also taken aback, "Long live Lord, Jiannu actually sent troops to the south on such a day?" They...... What are they trying to do? ”

It turned out to be not a rogue, but the Jiannu army attacking Datong, Wang Chengen was quite unexpected.

In the second half of last year, the Liukou led by Li Zicheng were frequently active in the Henan area, and his subordinate general Li Yan pointed to Shanxi. Wang Chengen thought that it was the peasant army led by Li Yan who was going to attack Datong, but he didn't expect it to be Jiannu's southern expedition.

"This kind of weather Jiannu is trying to catch us off guard," Emperor Chongzhen's face became more and more pale, and he suddenly got up from his seat, paced back with his hands behind his back and paced two steps, and then said to Wang Chengen: "There is not much difference between Cao Yue, Wei Daben, and Zhang An, and the Datong army and people are already ready to meet the invasion of Jiannu." In an urgent report, they asked the imperial court to order Beijing and the military towns on the nine borders not to be careless, and to be strictly vigilant, so as not to give Jiannu a chance to take advantage of it. Cao Yue also proposed in the urgent report that the Jiannu wall was cleared, and the people and food were all transferred to the strong city, and the Jiannu attacked urgently, and it was impossible to come with sufficient food supplies. ”

After Wang Chengen heard this, he immediately echoed a sentence: "Long live Lord, what Cao Zongbing said is good, in such a cold weather, as long as we don't give Jiannu a chance to rob, they will definitely retreat, maybe they will be frozen and starved to death Many people, the slaves and maids also recognized the strong wall Qingye proposed by Cao Zongbing, although Cao Zongbing is young, he is quite strategic!"

"I also think this is a good discussion," Emperor Chongzhen's brows stretched slightly, and he decisively ordered, "Cheng'en, immediately announce that the ministers of the cabinet and the generals of the five armies will enter the palace to discuss matters, and you must not be careless." ”

"Yes, long live the lord, the slave and maid will go and order immediately!" Wang Chengen said, walked out of the Qianqing Palace quickly, and passed on the orders of Emperor Chongzhen, and soon a large group of palace people rushed out of the palace to announce the ministers that Emperor Chongzhen wanted to see.

When Wang Chengen returned to the Qianqing Palace again, Emperor Chongzhen was reading the secret recital presented by Wu Ming, the deputy chief soldier of Datong.

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen was watching Wu Ming's secret recital, Wang Chengen, who already knew the content of this secret recital, couldn't help but feel a sudden sudden. However, he had already thought of a countermeasure, and stood aside with his hands down, waiting for Emperor Chongzhen's statement.