Facing Emperor Chongzhen's cold face like ice and snow, as well as the swords and guns in the hands of the eunuchs, the courtiers had to pinch their noses and sign their names on the edicts in front of them. Huaide collected the edict with his hands and feet, and immediately sent it to the General Administration Department to announce it to the world.

The courtiers were like mourners, and one by one they no longer had the spirit of the past. Taking advantage of the rumbling cannons that sounded outside the city, they slipped away one after another.

In the empty hall, there were only a few figures left, and Chongzhen looked at the few officials still standing at the foot with some curiosity.

"...... you?"

The newly promoted cabinet scholar Fan Jingwen, the household department Shangshu Ni Yuanlu, the left capital imperial history Li Banghua, the deputy capital imperial envoy Shi Bangzhao, the Dali Temple Qing Ling Yiqu, the right attendant Wang Jiayan of the military department, the right attendant Meng Zhaoxiang of the criminal department, and the left Yu Demashiqi did not move.

"Back to His Majesty, His Majesty just said that he wants us to guard the nine gates of the Beijing Division, and the specific responsibilities have not been assigned, how can I leave?" Fan Jingwen, a university scholar, replied.

In an instant, Chongzhen's eyes moistened, and his hands couldn't help but tremble, "I can't imagine that I still have some loyal and brave courtiers ......!" ”

"When the country is ruined and the family is ruined, the ministers are powerless to return to heaven, and it is already a crime in the community. At this moment, it is a great blessing for our courtiers to be able to guard the city gate and palace gate for His Majesty! Everyone said together.

Chongzhen smiled with satisfaction and waved his hand weakly, "The words I just said were all for those silverfish of the country, so far, how can you guard the Jingshi?" Let's go, let's disperse, take advantage of the fact that the thief army has not yet surrounded the Beijing division, and if you are willing to follow the prince to the south, you will go to Shandong with him first, and if you don't want to go to Nanjing, you will take your family out of the city as soon as possible, and stay away from this place! ”

Fan Jingwen and the others looked at each other, and Ling Yiqu replied resolutely: "At this moment, how can there be no courtiers who are martyred for the society, although the ministers are not talented, but they also know that there are eggs under the nest and only say that since His Majesty is determined to defend the Beijing Division, the ministers are willing to die for the country and follow His Majesty." ”

After speaking, Ling Yiqu gave a deep salute, took the lead in turning around and striding away, Fan Jingwen and the others also bowed deeply to Chongzhen and left the Qianqing Palace one after another.

Watching their backs disappear outside the main hall, Chongzhen let out a long sigh, the sigh has not yet dissipated, the inner servant has entered the palace to report, the Guangning Gate garrison troops have dispersed, the guards have opened the door to surrender to the army, and the brigade has begun to enter the city.

Emperor Chongzhen smiled miserably and waved at Wang Chengen, "Companion, go and invite the Empress and Tian Guifei to come to the Qianqing Palace, it's time to hit the road!" ”

Wang Chengen and Zhu Ping'an exchanged a meaningful look, a smile appeared on his face, he walked past Huaide's side, tears couldn't help but slide down, and quietly instructed two words, and then walked out of the palace gate, Zhu Ping'an wanted to persuade again, but Wang Chengen didn't give him a chance at all.

Chongzhen looked at Zhu Ping'an and took the hand of the crown prince Zhu Cihong, "Zhu Ping'an, I will entrust the prince to you, if one day, I can go north to the Central Plains, and when Zhongxing is in the middle of the war, you will be a meritorious minister of Sheji." ”

"Please rest assured, the minister will never give up!"

"Father...... Emperor!" Zhu Cihong bowed to the ground and couldn't cry.

Chongzhen bent down and patted him lightly on the back, "Do it well, you must be stronger than me, I and your queen mother are waiting for you in the capital, and when you lead the king to the north of the Central Plains and recover the capital, I can see the ancestors and ancestors in the underground with peace of mind!" ”

"Go, take King Yong, King Ding, as well as Kunxing and Zhaoren, the eldest brother is the father, and in the future, the younger brothers and sisters will all be entrusted to you!"

Zhu Cihong tearfully agreed, Zhu Ping'an walked up the royal steps and helped him down, at this time, all the subordinates of the East Palace rushed to wait outside the palace. The prince's teachers Li Shichun, Zhan Shi Yao Minggong, Shao Zhan Shi Wang Duo, Xiang Yu, editor Wu Weiye, review Yang Shicong and others all packed up their salutes and waited silently outside the door.

Zhu Ping'an gave Huaide a look, Huaide understood, but in his heart he was reluctant to give up on Wang Chengen, and followed Zhu Ping'an and Zhu Cihong out of the main hall of Qianqing Palace step by step.

A group of eunuchs wearing swords silently closed the door of the palace and guarded the door of the store.

Cao Wuxian, Wang Jinfa, Shen Ke and others who were waiting outside the hall hurriedly greeted them, Zhu Ping'an ordered them to give Zhu Cihong a salute, Zhu Cihong glanced at him coldly, just nodded slightly, and did not speak.

"Your Highness!" Zhu Ping'an didn't speak, so he could only ask directly: "I don't know where His Royal Highnesses King Yong, King Ding, the eldest princess and Princess Zhaoren are right now, so I will send someone to invite them, let's set off as much as possible, so as not to change later!" ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he looked at Zhu Ping'an, "My father entrusted the emperor's brother and sister to the palace, the palace has its own arrangements, and the thief army outside the city is powerful, gathered in one place, in case it is surrounded by the thief army, how can I escape, isn't it my royal bloodline to be captured?" ”

Zhu Ping'an was stunned, but he didn't expect Zhu Cihong to be able to say such a thing, and he vaguely guessed a little bit of the intention, but it made the whole heart cold.

"King Yong, the palace has arranged a special person to protect, he will secretly go out of the city, go south along the way, and meet us in Nanjing, you will send someone to pick up the two imperial sisters and King Ding, and you don't need to arrange the rest!"

"...... this?"

Seeing that Zhu Ping'an was a little hesitant, the prince's lecturer Li Shichun snorted coldly, "Zhu Ping'an, the prince has a life, do you dare not obey?" This is for the sake of Jiangshan Sheji, and it is easy to disturb the sight of the thief army when they disperse to Nanjing, don't you even understand this? ”

Prince Zhu Cihong's arrangement has made the hearts of everyone present bright. Yongwang Zhu Cizhi was born by Tian Guifei, and it was rumored in the palace earlier that Tian Guifei had worked hard in front of Chongzhen, and what she wanted was to replace Zhu Cihong's position as the prince with her son Yongwang. Fortunately, Chongzhen was not confused in this matter, so he avoided repeating the mistakes between Emperor Taichang and King Fu again. The crown prince Zhu Cihong did this to exclude King Yong from his core, and to put it mildly, he wanted to kill people with a knife. lest there be some hidden thoughts or Hetian Guifei and his party eyebrows come out with different thoughts.

Zhu Ping'an had no choice but to agree, Cao Wuxian on the side was already waiting, so when he saw Zhu Ping'an nodding, he immediately rushed to Zhu Yujiao's Kunxing Palace with the eunuchs in the palace.

Zhu Ping'an and others surrounded Zhu Cihong and his entourage to Chengtianmen to make peace with the ministers, and at this time, Gong Yonggu had also rushed to Chengtianmen with his children and a group of families. Dingwang Zhu Cijiong also came to meet his brother Zhu Cihong, but unexpectedly, Zhou Kui did not come to Chengtianmen to meet as agreed with Zhu Ping'an, and he didn't even have a family member who came to report the news.

After waiting for half an hour, Zhou Kui had no news at all, but the news that the city gates of the capital division had been lost one after another kept coming, and Cao Wuxian and others were also gone when they entered the inner palace, which made Zhu Ping'an very anxious. He Renlong's department was the first to enter the city, and now it must be storming in the direction of the imperial city, Li Zicheng's army should have begun to enter the city at this time, if these two large armies break through the already weak direction in the city and come to the vicinity of the imperial city, then their thousands of people will suddenly fall into a heavy siege.

Zhu Cihong was extremely angry, and urged Zhu Ping'an several times in succession, but when he saw that Zhu Ping'an's department did not move, he was immediately furious, "Zhu Ping'an, why don't you pull it out?" Do you want Hongu to fall into the hands of thieves? ”

There is no way, Zhu Ping'an is worth sending Shen Ke to pick up Cao Wushu and the others, and order him to go out of the city immediately after seeing Cao Wuxian, and make peace with the army according to the predetermined route, or simply go directly to Tianjin to board the ship.

Shen Ke agreed, took a few subordinates, found two eunuchs to lead the way, and went straight to Kunxing Palace. And Zhu Ping'an and the others slowly pulled out, ready to leave the city.

Shen Ke traveled all the way, and finally found Kunxing Palace, but he didn't see the eldest princess Zhu Yujiao, and even Cao Wushu was nowhere to be seen. Cao Wuxian is naturally accompanied by protection, and he does not dare to leave the left and right.

Shen Ke suddenly had a black line, crying bitterly, saying that he didn't expect that at this time, such an accident would happen, but there was no way, so he could only send someone to send a letter to Zhu Ping'an first, and he himself immediately rushed to King Yong's bedroom.

At this time, in the palace of King Yong, it was chaotic and abnormal. The eldest princess Zhu Yujiao first found her youngest sister Princess Zhaoren, at this time Princess Zhaoren was only six years old, under the chaos, naturally she was crying, Xing Yuan couldn't persuade her, so she could only hold it in her arms, and followed Zhu Yujiao and Cao Wuxian to rush to King Yong's bedroom in a hurry.

Zhu Yujiao's heart was depressed, and the excitement of learning that she was going to Shandong had long since disappeared, replaced by the sadness and depression that her family and country were about to perish. The joy of seeing Cao Wuxian had come to naught at this time, and he learned from Cao Wuxian's mouth that his imperial brother Zhu Cihong did not plan to bring the Yongwang Zhu Cizhi and the Spirit King Zhu Cihuan, which made Zhu Yujiao unacceptable no matter what. Why did the good brother become what he is now, his parents have to stick to the Beijing teacher, but why is the brother so cold-blooded and cruel?

As soon as the seven-year-old Yongwang Zhu Cizhi and the five-year-old Spirit King Zhu Cihuan saw their eldest sister Zhu Yujiao, they immediately rushed to Zhu Yujiao's arms crying as if they had seen the backbone of the Lord. Let Zhu Yujiao's heart be like a knife.

"Quick, follow me!" Zhu Yujiao couldn't care about coaxing them anymore, and immediately pulled them away together.

"Your Highness, slow down!" A few people dressed as guards in the East Palace on the side blocked the way of Zhu Yujiao and the others.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has an edict ordering us to escort His Royal Highnesses Yongwang and King Ling to the south, and we dare not disobey the order, and ask Her Royal Highness the Princess to fulfill it!" R1152