Looking at the dagger in Zhu Cihong's hand and the resolute look, Chongzhen sighed lightly and stopped speaking, he turned around lightly and came to the battlement, watching this war that was close at hand.

Although this is not the first time Chongzhen has watched the real battlefield, but it is the first time to have direct face-to-face contact with the enemy, and there are constantly Dashun soldiers who climbed up to the head of the city after being cut or injured by weapons and falling down from the city, and the sound of howling after being injured from time to time came into Chongzhen's ears, Chongzhen saw it in his eyes and ears, his body was trembling slightly, not to mention the Empress Zhou and others behind him, one by one snuggled up to each other and trembled.

The desperate resistance of the defenders on the inner city wall was very unexpected by the Dashun army, this situation was quickly reported to Li Zicheng, and Li Zicheng under the shock came to the inner city outside the battle with the generals, and saw from a distance that the defenders on the head of the city were not many in number, but they were all extremely brave, and they actively used all kinds of equipment to defend the city to fight the Dashun soldiers who were climbing to the city wall, causing them huge casualties.

Li Zicheng couldn't help but be stunned when he saw it, and he said to the generals around him: "I can't imagine that there are also people who dare to die in the Ming army, and their bravery will never be under my Dashun army?" ”

Liu Zongmin, who was behind Li Zicheng, also let out a long breath after watching it for a long time, and said: "Judging from the costumes of the defenders at the head of the city, there are many people who are not officers and soldiers, but the young people in the city, but what makes me wonder is how these young people are so heroic, did they all take the wrong medicine?" What do you think, Li Gongzi? ”

In Liu Zongmin's heart, he admires Li Yan's ability to make decisions on the spot, after all, the current military system, training and political framework of the Dashun Army are mainly made up by Li Yan, which also makes Liu Zongmin, who is brave and brutal and rarely convincing in his life, also has to obey, so he is always used to asking Li Yan with his surname when he encounters things.

Li Yan, who had been standing silently behind everyone, slowly put down the clairvoyant mirror in his hand, and after taking a breath slowly, he said word by word: "It's not that they took the wrong medicine, but Chongzhen is above the city." ”

"What?"

As soon as Li Yan's words came out, the people around him immediately let out a burst of exclamation, "Chongzhen is at the head of the city?" ”

"Yes, Chongzhen is at the head of the city!" Li Yan said affirmatively: "In the left front, a person wearing bright yellow clothes should be Chongzhen, and it can only be him, otherwise the soldiers of the defenders can't be so desperate!" ”

As soon as Li Yan's words fell, everyone with a clairvoyant mirror took it out and pointed it at the head of the city, although the clairvoyant mirror in this period was limited by the level of craftsmanship and could not be seen very clearly at a distance of five hundred steps, but it could also be barely seen that there was a person wearing bright yellow clothes standing on the head of the city, and around this person were three or four guards holding large shields.

"Sure enough, it's Chongzhen Xiao'er!" Because Liu Zongmin thought that the clairvoyance mirror was in the way and did not carry it, he was so anxious that he snatched the clairspace from Li Yan's hand and looked over, and after looking at it for a while, he shouted excitedly, "King Chuang, let's hurry up and capture Chongzhen Xiao'er alive, as long as we can capture him alive, then this court will be finished!" ”

Li Zicheng didn't agree with Liu Zongmin's words, but shook his head and sighed: "It's useless, since Chongzhen is standing at the head of the city, it shows that he has made up his mind to die, but I'm afraid that when the city is broken, it will be when he commits suicide, let's still underestimate this great tomorrow!" ”

Speaking of this, Li Zicheng couldn't help but be amazed, he didn't expect Chongzhen to have such a blood surname, and he would personally go to the city to inspire the soldiers to kill the enemy, which is really a very rare thing for an emperor, but Li Zicheng is probably the real reason why he can't dream of Chongzhen going to the city wall, let alone that there is a powerful army that is speeding towards Yanjing City.

However, although Li Zicheng didn't know that Pang Gangzheng, who defeated him in Henan, personally led an army of 100,000 to come, but after ten years of fighting with the imperial court, he naturally would not know the truth of the speed of the soldiers and the quick victory, and since he knew that Chongzhen was in the city, he naturally would not let go of this good opportunity.

Li Zicheng turned his head to Liu Zongmin and said, "Jiexuan, you immediately order your rear camp to prepare and strive to capture the inner city today, can you do it?" ”

When Liu Zongmin heard this, he immediately patted his chest and said: "No problem, King Chuang just rest assured, Lao Liu, I will definitely capture the inner city before dark, catch that Chongzhen child in front of you and let him kowtow to you to make amends!" ”

"Okay, worthy of our Chief Sentry Liu!" Li Zicheng laughed and patted Liu Zongmin's shoulder and said with a smile: "You go, pay attention to be careful!" ”

"Yes!"

Liu Zongminxing hurriedly led several lieutenants to mobilize troops and horses.

After a meal, there was a burst of gongs and drums outside the city, and the thousands of Dashun soldiers who were originally besieging the city retreated like a tide, and the soldiers guarding the city on the city wall did not have time to be happy, only to see a group of soldiers in gray-brown armor rushing up to the city wall, and the first batch of soldiers who attacked the city were different, this group of soldiers was more brave and more numerous.

They were divided into five groups and took turns attacking the city, and another 2,000 archers kept firing arrows at the city head to try to suppress the defenders of the city, and the situation at the city head began to be urgent for a while.

Seeing that the situation at the head of the city was not good, Chongzhen hurriedly asked Wang Chengen, who had been leading a few guards to protect him, "Big companion, the thief army is strong, do we still have capable soldiers and horses?" ”

Wang Chengen shook his head sadly and said: "Your Majesty, there are only 3,000 chamberlains and some young men who returned to the inner city this morning, as well as some young and strong soldiers who have left in the Beijing camp, and there are no more soldiers and horses in the city. ”

Chongzhen poked his head out of the battlement slightly, saw the enemy soldiers coming like ants below, gritted his teeth, and walked to a cauldron that was boiling gold juice, regardless of its stench, he reached out and picked up a big spoon, scooped up a scoop of gold juice and walked to the head of the city and poked his head out, aimed at a cloud ladder and splashed down, only to hear a few screams, two Dashun soldiers who were about to climb the city fell down screaming.

Seeing Chongzhen's actions, the people around him were stunned, no one could have imagined that a dignified genius would pick up the golden juice to defend the city regardless of his identity, and he didn't care about the stench of the golden juice. Others don't know that they know very well, these gold juice is mixed with human dung, human urine, and horse dung, cow dung and some poisonous weeds mixed and boiled, the person who is poured will not only have the skin and flesh open, and the wound is burned by the gold juice after the whole person is poisoned, howling and dying in pain, in this era there are very few people who can survive after being poured by the gold juice, the power of the gold juice is so great, but the taste of the gold juice after boiling is also very vicious, and the smell can almost smoke people to death.

Huang Lei, a hundred households in Beijing, was not far from Chongzhen, and after seeing such a scene, he couldn't help but shout: "Brothers, the old and young masters of Yanjing City, the emperor can personally scoop gold juice to kill the enemy regardless of his identity, we can not go behind, brothers kill thieves!" ”

Seeing Chongzhen's actions, and was encouraged by Huang Lei, a hundred households, the morale of the defenders at the head of the city, who had been a little low for a long time, began to rise again, and they poked their heads out to use the weapons in their hands to give the siege of Dashun soldiers a major injury, and some soldiers even used forks to push down the ladder on the city wall again, and for a while the defenders at the head of the city became more and more courageous.

"Bastard, press it all on Lao Tzu, press it up! Lao Tzu wants to skin that Chongzhen child's cramps! ”

Liu Zongmin under the city saw that the offensive he launched was beaten back by the Ming army, and when did he suffer such a famous army in recent years, when did he suffer such a famous army, he couldn't help but be angry for a while, and kept urging his subordinates to launch an offensive forward.

"Hurry up, you fools, hurry up and take down the city, the first to attack the city will be rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver, and five beautiful girls!"

Liu Zongmin has no culture, and there is no other means to motivate the soldiers, only the naked interests, but the soldiers only eat this set, isn't this what they pin their heads to the waistband of their trousers? This is what the so-called people die for money, and birds die for food, so when Liu Zongmin's bounty was announced, all the Dashun soldiers had red eyes, and they screamed and pounced straight up.

In the face of the dense Dashun soldiers, whether it was the inner servants who retreated to the inner city, the Beijing camp, or the young men who were recruited to the city wall, they all gritted their teeth and resisted desperately. I have to mention here that the capital is the capital after all, and the city wall of the inner city is indeed built not only firmly and abnormally, but also very tall, the city wall of six zhang high and four zhang wide allows the artillery of the Dashun army to hit the city wall only to make a shallow concave print, and all kinds of equipment to defend the city are relatively complete.

After half a day of fighting, the defenders on the city wall also killed the blood surname, not only did they gradually fight more and more tenacious, some people also moved out of the treasury a lot of equipment to defend the city, such as wolf tooth slap, rolling wood, stone and other materials were continuously moved from the city head and the city to the city wall. Chongzhen, who was so killed, even threw rocks and logs at the city himself, although this was also done under the strict protection of several guards.

With today's personal demonstration, these remnants of the original morale almost completely withstood the attack of most of the Dashun army, but after all, the defenders at the head of the city were too few after all, and when Tianyang was about to set down the mountain, the defenders at the head of the city were already scarred, and there were less than a thousand people left.

Chongzhen, who had been moving stones for a day, looked at the Dashun soldiers who were still dense under the city, and couldn't help but feel a sense of despair in his heart.

At this time, Huang Lei, who was covered in blood, came over, he walked to Chongzhen's side and cried: "Your Majesty, our people have been killed and wounded, and we are about to be unable to hold it, so you should hurry down to the city and let the villain cover you to escape!" ”

Chongzhen looked at the hundred households whose faces were gray and black, and the armor on his body was already bloodstained, and glanced at the city gate tower next to him, Queen Zhou and the crown prince were on it, and he laughed miserably: "Aiqing Xiu wants to comfort me, now that the inner city has been surrounded by thieves, where can I flee to?" I don't want to be captured by thieves on the way away, it will bring shame on my ancestors! ”

Chongzhen's tone was sad and helpless, and when he heard that Wang Chengen and Huang Lei around him were in their eyes, Wang Chengen choked up, "Don't worry, if the emperor is a martyr, he will definitely follow the emperor." ”

Huang Lei also said loudly: "Your Majesty, there are villains, and villains are also willing to follow the emperor." ”

"Good! It's hard for you! Chongzhen gently patted the shoulders of the two, and his eyes were red: "I didn't expect that I would have so many civil and military ministers, but in the end, there was only a small hundred households and eunuchs with me, what a providence made people!" ”

Chongzhen's tone revealed a sense of desolation, which made others feel sad.

After Chongzhen finished speaking, he walked to the corner of the wall, and wanted to lift a stone weighing about ten catties, but he was exhausted and moved a few times or couldn't move, looking at Chongzhen's struggling appearance, Wang Chengen wiped his tears, and also walked over and Chongzhen worked together to lift the stone to the side of the battlement and threw it down, only to hear a "pop", a ladder was smashed into two sections.

After smashing the stone down, Chongzhen and Wang Chengen walked towards the pile of stone in the corner, a gust of wind blew, blowing Chongzhen's hat to the ground, revealing the white hair of his sideburns, looking at the pale sideburns of the big tomorrow and a pale old eunuch is still trying to carry the stone, Huang Lei's tears could no longer hold back the tears, roared and ran to the battlement with a waist knife, at this time there happened to be a Dashun sergeant who climbed up to the city, Huang Lei ran to him is knife, and cut off the head of the soldier.

"Kill!"

Huang Lei only felt a nameless fire burning in his chest, he slashed hard at the head of the city, and the strength that had gradually disappeared seemed to return to his body, until the arrow that had been flying from nowhere pierced his neck, and this Jingying Baihu covered his neck and slowly fell down

Looking at the sparse resistance, Chongzhen's mood at this time was very calm, he looked at the soldiers who kept climbing through the ladder to the city wall, but his heart was indifferent, "Perhaps, I am going to die here today!" I have been an emperor for thirteen years, I am tired, I am really tired, and today I am finally free! ”

And standing in the city gate tower looking out, Queen Zhou, Concubine Yuan and the crown prince naturally also saw the current situation, Queen Zhou took out a pot of wine out of nowhere, slowly took out seven wine glasses, put the wine glasses on the simple city bricks, poured wine for the wine glasses one by one, and said to everyone calmly: "Sister Yuan, Ci Hong, Ci Jiong, you have also seen the situation outside, the thieves are about to attack the city, your father is determined to martyr the country, we as the people of the Zhu family naturally can't live alone, here are a few cups of poisonous wine, Take a drink from each of you! ”

When everyone saw such a scene, they knew that they could not be spared, and they all cried, but everyone was Kunxing Princess Zhu Yujiao also picked up the wine glass in front of her, her little face was unusually calm, she picked up the wine glass and said to Queen Zhou: "Queen Mother, the child has been raised by you for more than ten years, and there is no way to repay it, let the child repay you when he goes to Jiuquan!" ”

After speaking, just as she was about to put the wine glass in her mouth, there was a passionate drum beat from the outer door, and soon, the drum was getting closer and closer, and it was getting closer and closer, and soon there was a dull sound of fire.

Although these firecrackers are dull, they can spread far away, and even the inner city can be heard clearly, when the sound of firecrackers comes, not only the remaining defenders at the head of the city are stunned, but even the Dashun army outside the city are surprised to look back, but Yanjing City is too big, and they can't see the outer city from their point of view.

"What the hell is going on!"

Although the siege battle of Shicai was not smooth, Li Zicheng never showed a trace of anger or annoyance, because he understood that no matter how brave and tenacious the defenders on the opposite wall were, their numbers were too small, and the fall of the inner city was only a matter of time, even if it could not be captured today, it would inevitably fall into his hands tomorrow.

Therefore, he looked like an old god was there all afternoon, neither sent someone to urge Liu Zongmin nor scolded his mother, and as the sun went down, the resistance of the city gradually weakened, seeing that the siege was promising, Li Zicheng was more calm, but the gunshots from outside woke him up.

"Oh no, these firecrackers are coming from outside the city!"

Li Zicheng and the generals on the battlefield looked back one after another, although they couldn't see the situation behind, but out of the intuition of a battle-hardened leader, Li Zicheng knew that it would definitely not be a good thing.

Li Zicheng turned his head to his righteous son Li Shuangxi behind him and said, "Shuangxi, you immediately send someone to see what is going on outside the city!" Is it that our people have gone crazy! ”

"Yes!"

Li Shuangxi answered, and was about to turn his horse and run backwards.

"Wait!"

Suddenly, Li Yan called out to Li Shuangxi, at this time Li Yan's expression became a little panicked, and he asked Niu Jinxing loudly: "Prime Minister Niu Cheng, did you close the city gate today?" ”

Niu Jinxing shook his head: "No, our army has just captured Yanjing, so many materials and things have to be transported in, and the soldiers have to go out, where can we close the city gate?" It is not yet time to close the gates, and the gates are still open! ”

"Not good!"

After listening to Niu Jinxing's words, Li Yan's forehead immediately oozed beads of sweat, and he shouted to King Chuang: "King Chuang, please immediately order the city gate to be closed, and all the troops in the city will immediately go to the city wall, if the students estimate it is good, it must be Pang Gang's army has arrived!" ”

"What, Pang Gang's men have arrived?"

Everyone was startled at first, and Niu Jinxing immediately doubted: "It's impossible, if that Pang just arrived, our spies should have known about it a long time ago, why haven't there been any news until now?" ”

"You"

Stuck to Niu Jinxing still suspicious of him, Li Yan was so angry that he wanted to report to him to wake him up with an old fist, but he found that he soon found that he didn't have to work hard to convince them, the sound of fire outside the city was higher than a while, and he soon thought about the whole city, and at the same time, a cavalry named Da Shun Army also rushed to report, and the overwhelming army of the Great Zhou Army was found outside the city, and the banner headed by the big "Pang" was written on it!

(To be continued)