As soon as the hour arrived, the sky was not yet bright, and the night was still shrouded in the entire palace, and the Kunning Palace began to light up a dead wind lamp, and many palace maids and eunuchs began to get busy, some of them cleaned the courtyard with the help of the faint light, and some brought hot water and towels for washing to a dormitory under the leadership of a chief eunuch. I saw that the eunuch who was the leader knocked on the door lightly and shouted in a sharp voice: "Your Majesty, it's time to get up, today is the decisive battle between Lord Lu and the Tartars, and you said that you would personally climb the city wall to cheer for Lord Lulu." ”

After a while, a soft answer came from the bedroom, followed by a thin sound, and soon the door opened, and Emperor Chongzhen walked out with sleepy eyes while yawning, and there was a trace of sleepless dark circles under his eyes. Next to him stood a young woman in a goose-yellow palace dress, slender and jade, plump and beautiful, she was the master of this harem, and she was also the queen of Zhou in the world.

The old eunuch standing at the door waved his hand when he saw Chongzhen come out, and immediately two palace maids came to Chongzhen and knelt down, raised the basin and towel above his head, and said in a coquettish voice: "Please ask the emperor to wash." ”

Seeing this, Queen Zhou took two steps forward, took a towel, soaked it in the basin with hot water, wrung it half-dry, walked to Chongzhen's side, and gently wiped it on his face, the action was very skillful, it seems that Pingyu has done these things less. Chongzhen felt the heat brought by the towel and the expansion of pores, Chongzhen squinted his eyes comfortably, and felt that the sleepiness in his body was swept away.

Chongzhen opened his eyes gently, and after feeling a lot better, he shook his head at Queen Zhou, signaling that he didn't need to wash anymore, and then picked up the cup brought by the palace maid and hurriedly washed it, and said softly to Queen Zhou: "Zitong, today is the decisive battle between Lu Jiandou and the Tartars, I want to summon hundreds of civil and military officials to the city wall to cheer for Lu Aiqing, you can wait for my good news in the palace with peace of mind!" ”

Empress Zhou gently smoothed out a wrinkle on Chongzhen's clothes, and nodded gently: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the concubines are waiting for your good news in the palace!" ”

Chongzhen squeezed out a smile on his face, "Zitong rest assured, my Ming Dynasty is prosperous, and the ancestors and ancestors will definitely bless our army to defeat the Tartars." ”

After speaking, Chongzhen turned around and walked out of the hall, Queen Zhou looked at Chongzhen's emaciated back and the white hair on her head from time to time in her heart for a while, as Chongzhen's wife, she knew very well how much effort and effort her husband had put in for this country since he ascended the throne, but the national conditions of the Ming Dynasty did not become better because of his efforts, drought, famine, rogue everywhere and the threat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty made the empire has become full of holes and crumbling. Chongzhen is like a plasterer, he is lonely and desperately repairing and strengthening this house that has been ventilated on all sides, and there are people inside and outside the house who are digging the corners of the imperial court. He put all his efforts into it, but the result is getting worse and worse, if there is a choice, Queen Zhou would rather her husband be just an ordinary family, and live a plain life with herself, but is there a if in this world? Perhaps

When the time soon came, the sky was already bright, the Taihe Hall was already crowded with civil and military officials, Emperor Chongzhen got off the dragon chariot, slowly walked to the Taihe Palace, the Manchu Dynasty civil and military saw the emperor coming and bowed down in unison and said: "The ministers welcome the holy car!" ”

Chongzhen stopped, looked at the minister kneeling on the side, and said casually: "Everyone loves Qing. ”

"Long live thanks!"

came to the dragon chair and sat down, Chongzhen said: "Everyone, Aiqing, today is the decisive battle between my Ming Dynasty and the Tartars, I have promised Lu Aiqing, the decisive battle is said to go to the city wall to cheer Lu Aiqing, all Aiqing will go with me!" ”

"This"

All the civil and military officials looked at each other, and in the line at the end of the hundred officials, an elderly official walked out and bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Sage Yun: Prevent disasters first, not hurt later." Knowing and acting cautiously, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, and he can ignore it. The emperor is the body of ten thousand gold, the lord of a country, how can he personally get into danger, and besides, the two countries have to ask the lord of a country to cheer on the battlefield, this has become a joke, so the minister implores His Majesty to withdraw his life. ”

Although he is only a five-grade official, he can only be regarded as a small official with a sesame mung bean in the high-ranking Jingshi City, but because he is an old man of the Yamen of the Ministry of War, and he will be a member of the office in a few years, so he has no so many scruples, and he was the first to come out against Chongzhen's decision, and when he spoke out, more than a dozen officials also stood up to echo it.

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

"The ministers also seconded it!"

"Huh? Are you all opposed to my decision? Chongzhen frowned and looked at these officials with some dissatisfaction, and a feeling of dissatisfaction grew in his heart.

Seeing that Chongzhen was a little dissatisfied, Bao An was also a little scared in his heart, but after he looked at several colleagues around him, he still gritted his teeth and said: "Exactly, Weichen knows that the emperor is unhappy, but Weichen still wants to say that the march and battle will naturally be handed over to the generals in the army. ”

"Humph!" Listening to Bao An's words, Chongzhen snorted dissatisfiedly, "According to what you say, I can't go anywhere except stay in the palace?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen's words are a bit heavy, let me ask you a courtier who dares to restrict where the emperor can go and where he can't go, what is this, do you want to imprison the emperor?

Bao An also suddenly had a white hair and fine sweat on his back, but since he stood up like this, he naturally couldn't just be so soft, otherwise what would his colleagues think of him, so he had to stand up to it and said in a trembling voice: "Weichen doesn't dare, Weichen just plays according to the truth." ”

"Tell the truth!" Chongzhen was finally furious, stood up and pointed at Bao Anyi and scolded loudly: "I see that you have ill intentions, my Ming soldiers are about to bathe in blood for the country at this moment, and as the Son of Heaven, I don't even have the right to cheer for the soldiers, what kind of heart do you have?" Hum his heart can be punished! ”

"It's broken!" The hundred officials in the Taihe Hall knew that it was a bad dish when they saw Chongzhen say this, and this brother Bao Anyi, who wanted to be in the limelight, was only afraid that he would be unlucky today.

Sure enough, Chongzhen immediately continued: "Come on, drag him out, strip him off his official clothes, and he will never be hired once he is in the end!" ”

As soon as Chongzhen's words fell, two brocade guards immediately came up outside the main hall and dragged Bao An, who was already paralyzed on the ground, out of the Taihe Hall like a dead dog.

"Humph!" Chongzhen, who was still angry, snorted coldly, glanced at the hundreds of officials with sharp eyes and asked, "Is there anyone else who wants to persuade me now?" ”

The officials were speechless for a while, Your Majesty, you have killed chickens to show the monkeys, which of us dares to hit the muzzle of the gun by ourselves, just go up to the city wall to watch others fight, is it so serious.

In the end, Yang Sichang stood up and said: "The emperor can go to the city wall to cheer for my Ming soldiers, that is the blessing of my Ming soldiers, the minister thinks that if the emperor can come to the city wall to cheer for the soldiers, the soldiers will have to knock on the face of the army will be greatly inspired, so that the soldiers are all fighting to kill the enemy, how can I be invincible?" ”

Yang Sichang is worthy of being the person who is the best at figuring out Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts, and the horses were photographed to make Chongzhen feel a lot more comfortable, and his mood was greatly relaxed, looking at Yang Sichang's face and saying softly: "Look, Yang Aiqing still understands the general sense of righteousness!" ”

"The minister doesn't dare, the minister just plays according to the truth!" Yang Sichang heard Chongzhen praise himself, but his face did not show arrogance, and he still respectfully bowed to Chongzhen.

All the officials in the palace are secretly pouting desperately when they see this situation, and look, it is another "play according to the truth", Bao An also said so, Yang Sichang also said so, but the results of the two are completely opposite, one emperor praises him, and the other loses his official position and resigns, this is the result of figuring out the holy will. No wonder Bao An has also been in the Ministry of War for nearly 40 years and is still a foreigner, and then look at Yang Sichang, who has been working for less than 20 years, he became the secretary of the Ministry of War, this is the result of whether he will be a sycophant.

Chongzhen saw that Yang Sichang was still so humble, and his heart was even more satisfied, he opened his mouth and was about to say something, but he still heard a few cannons outside, and then the cannons rang out more than ten times in a row, although the sound came from a distance, it was still clearly transmitted to Chongzhen and the ministers.

Yang Sichang's face changed slightly, and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this is a gathering of soldiers, and they are about to go to war!" ”

"What, there's going to be war?" Chongzhen was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Hurry up, drive the "Xibian Gate", I still have to cheer for the soldiers!" ”

After speaking, Chongzhen hurriedly stood up and hurriedly walked outside the hall, and when he arrived at the Taihe Palace, more than a dozen eunuchs brought the dragon chariot to invite Chongzhen to go up, but Chongzhen waved his hand and reprimanded loudly: "Ridiculous, I am going to the expedition this time, not to the garden, what are you doing, hurry up and bring the horse!" ”

"This"

The little eunuch on the side couldn't help but hesitate, is this horse so easy to ride? No matter how docile the horse is, he is also at risk, what if the emperor falls off the horse and falls?

Chongzhen raised his eyebrows when he saw this: "Well, don't you listen to my words anymore?" ”

At this time, Wang Chengen, who had been standing silently behind Chongzhen, quietly made a color to the little eunuch.

"Yes, the slave and maid will go and bring the horses." The little eunuch saw Wang Chengen behind Chongzhen and nodded slightly, then turned around and ran backwards

(To be continued)