King Gao Yingxiang ordered Zhang Xianzhong to take people to fight the garrison of the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum, Li Zicheng didn't think that he would bring people to Fengyang City, and couldn't help but be surprised: "Eight kings, the officers and troops guarding the tomb have been destroyed?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong smiled on the horse, and said triumphantly: "Then Zhu Guoxiang is not up to the matter, let's burn the ancestral tomb of the Dog Emperor with a fire." Then he raised his whip and shouted to the city: "Dog officer, open the city and surrender, let's leave you alive, otherwise when the city is broken, the chickens and dogs will not be left!" ”

When the city heard that the thieves had burned the imperial tomb, and then saw the fire in the southwest, who dared to doubt that in the chaos, there were really timid officers and soldiers who opened the city gate, and the thieves rushed in.

Seeing that the general trend had gone, Wu Zhenying fled home and led the whole family to hang herself

Zhu Guoxiang, the chief soldier of the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum, was a drunkard, when Zhang Xianzhong led the thief army to kill, he was still holding a wine jar, and when he heard that the thief soldiers were killed, he left the wine jar in a panic and organized the soldiers to resist, the thief army came very quickly, and the mausoleum guards were in a hurry to meet the battle, where was the opponent of the thief. A part of the soldiers followed Zhu Guoxiang to break through outside the camp, and the thieves surrounded them under the command of Zhang Xianzhong. Zhu Guoxiang was brave and brave, and successively slashed and killed more than a dozen thieves with his sword, but was finally killed by the thief army because he was outnumbered, and shouted "Kill the thief, kill the thief!" before he died. ”

As soon as Zhu Guoxiang died, except for hundreds of officers and soldiers who fled in the chaos, the rest of the officers and soldiers guarding the tomb lost their fighting spirit, laid down their weapons and knelt down to beg for mercy from the thieves.

Zhang Xianzhong brought these thousands of mausoleum guards into his command, and then led the thieves to kill the imperial mausoleum, set fire everywhere, and the imperial mausoleum was a fire after a while.

In the fire, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to Fengyang.

……

In the Fengyang Mansion, the prefect was sipping tea and leisure, accompanied by a maid. There are all kinds of lanterns in the house, and the whole house sits around to enjoy the lanterns, but it is also a peaceful season. Holding the newborn son and having fun, an errand officer outside panicked and reported that a thief army was attacking the city.

Yan Rong was shocked, and hurriedly asked the messenger to go to the imperial tomb to ask the chief soldier Zhu Guoxiang to send troops to suppress the thieves. I didn't want the errand to hesitate for a moment, and then ran away without turning around, his face was stunned, and before he could react, the small officials who had been around him before also ran away.

The ladies in the house were all panicked, and their faces were noisy and they had no regulations, so they took off their official robes in a hurry, and they couldn't take care of their wives and children, so they escaped from the mansion by themselves. The street was very chaotic, there were panicked crowds everywhere, Yan Ronghuo followed the crowd for a while and suddenly stood still, thinking that I can't run with these chaotic people, I have to find a place to hide, well, yes, hide in the prison, after the thieves come in, they will definitely open the prison and release people, I happened to mix in the prisoners and took advantage of the chaos to escape.

The prefect Yan Rongxuan, who was in a hurry, immediately rushed into the prison, got the key from the porter, entered a cell and opened the cell door to hide among the prisoners.

Yan Ronghuo guessed well, after Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng broke Fengyang, they immediately ordered someone to release the prisoner in the prison, Yan Ronghuo followed the prisoner and wanted to get out, but was pointed out by several prisoners at the door of the cell.

A prisoner grabbed Yan Ronghuo and shouted at the thieves: "This guy is Yan Ronghuo, the prefect of Fengyang, he is not a prisoner!" ”

Several other prisoners also chimed in: "Yes, yes, he is noisy, and he is the prefect of Fengyang, not a prisoner!" ”

After a small leader of the thief army looked his face up and down, he couldn't help laughing and said: "Look at your thin skin and tender flesh like a prisoner, go, escort me away, see the leader!" After speaking, the two thieves set up Yan Ronghuo on the left and right.

Seeing that the prefect who had been in good spirits in the past kept begging for mercy, the prisoners laughed loudly, and then cheered to join the thief army.

Hearing that the Fengyang prefect was captured alive, Zhang Xianzhong didn't talk nonsense, and directly asked someone to drag him out of the gang and beat him to death.

After Gao Yingxiang and other thieves entered Fengyang, in addition to sending people to dig the emperor's mausoleum, they also asked people to burn the Longxing Temple where Emperor Taizu became a monk when he was a teenager, and also played the banner of "Guyuan Zhenlong Emperor", and the thieves were monstrous for a while, and the world was shaken

Thousands of miles away in Beijing, the young Son of Heaven is summoning the talented Liu Zongzhou in the Wenhua Palace, and the first assistant Wenti is also waiting for inquiries in the palace.

After Liu Zongzhou went to the palace to salute, Chongzhen glanced at Wen Tiren, and then asked Liu Zongzhou directly: "Liu Aiqing, I heard from the cabinet officials that you are very knowledgeable, I came to ask you that you are now suffering from internal and external troubles, and I really want to hear Liu Aiqing talk about the way of using soldiers." After speaking, he looked at Liu Zongzhou expectantly.

Liu Zongzhou just Jin Zuodu imperial history, quite famous, also arrogant, heard the emperor asked, immediately to Shi ambition, Yang Yang said: "Back to the emperor, the minister thought that the stability of the state lies in the cultivation of the government, the internal affairs of both the cultivation of the distant people self-submission, the ancient Shun had a Miao rebellion and Shun self-cultivation of the Wenli dance sacrifice to the sky, the Miao people naturalization is an example. ”

Chongzhen listened, smiled, was noncommittal, and only asked Wen Tiren: "Elder Ge, what do you say?" ”

Wen Tiren did not answer Chongzhen, but said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that firearms are needed to deal with the Liukou, and the Westerner Tang Ruowang is good at knowing firearms, so it is better for him to come to see the emperor." ”

Wen Tiren didn't support himself, but said what firearms, and even asked the Westerner Tang Ruowang to go to the palace, which was tantamount to saying that he Liu Zongzhou was talking nonsense on the spot, Liu Zongzhou was furious, and said angrily: "Your Majesty, the ministers said that the ministers thought it was impossible, and the only way to use soldiers was Tang Wu's benevolence and righteousness, followed by Huanwen's moderation, and it was not what was discussed. Don't worry about people and rely on the prestige of the country, so the day is also, Tang Ruowang advocates heresy and admits chaos on the road, which is no longer allowed in the world of Yao Shun, and now it is used as a kit to confuse the king's heart, and its sin is beyond refuge, and the emperor begs the emperor to let John Tang return to his country forever and never pagan! ”

Chongzhen's attitude was the same as Wen Tiren's, he said: "Liu Aiqing's truth is right, but firearms still have to be used." ”

Liu Zongzhou saw that the emperor could not listen to his opinion, and hurriedly said: "The minister thinks that firearms are not beneficial to success or failure, and the emperor should change his course from the beginning, instead of using firearms to remedy it." The minister thought that the government was about using good people, and the civil officials did not love money and the military generals were not afraid of death. ”

After Chongzhen heard this, he sighed secretly in his heart, but there was a smile on his face: "Liu Aiqing, I have heard your proposal, you should go down first!" ”

"The emperor" Liu Zongzhou wanted to say more, but when he saw that Chongzhen didn't look at himself at all, he couldn't help but be disappointed, and he couldn't help but retreat from disappointment. When I arrived outside the hall, I was blown by the cold wind, and secretly thought to myself that the Son of Heaven was young and didn't know how to govern the country, but he could still know the way and ask me for advice, which was still good.

After Liu Zongzhou retreated, Chongzhen said: "Pavilion Elder, what do you think of Liu Zongzhou's words?" ”

Wen Tiren shook his head: "Back to the emperor, the minister thinks that Liu Zongzhou has more than enough science and lack of talent, and likes to use the past to slander the emperor's shortcomings and promote his strengths, which is not what a courtier should do." ”

"We need to listen to the big truth, but what we need more is how to solve practical problems. I have observed Liu Zongzhou for many years and lost on the outside, because he has some connections, and it seems inappropriate for me to plan to reuse him. ”

"Your Majesty."

"You have heard what Wen Aiqing and Liu Zongzhou said, when the country is employing people, I thought that Liu Zongzhou was erudite and talented, but he was actually stupid, and he could solve it by dancing when he used soldiers.

Wen Tiren smiled: "Liu Zongzhou has his name and no truth, the emperor is sage!" ”

"I have been selecting talents for the country, there are hundreds of officials above the court, but there are very few talents who can govern the country and the country."

The two gentlemen and ministers discussed the selection of talents again, but the celebrant received a document of 600 miles to step up

The eunuch Wang Dehua, the eunuch of the master of ceremonies, got the emergency documents of six hundred miles, Fengyang was trapped, the ancestral tomb was burned, he was stunned for a while, he stumbled all the way to trot, his heart was pounding, and he didn't pay attention to Ma Yuancheng, the steward of the Qianqing Palace, and Wei Qinghui, the palace maid, and others to ask for peace, thinking about how angry the emperor would be when he knew it. Reporting good news to the emperor and reporting to the emperor are two different things, Wang Dehua didn't want to report to the emperor in person, but the stakes were very high, so he could only enter the palace to report it.

After entering the palace, he saw that the emperor was discussing state affairs with the first assistant, and he thought that he was happy about it, and the monarch and ministers had smiles on their faces. Seeing this, Wang Dehua was even more worried, he didn't dare to report it directly, but handed the six-hundred-mile urgent document to Wen Tiren without saying a word, Wen Tiren was stunned, took it and looked at it, his face changed greatly, and he didn't dare to say it directly, so he cautiously stepped forward and handed the document to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen was puzzled in his heart, took the paperwork and read it, it was like a thunderbolt exploding above his head, and he stood up suddenly, and then seemed to be unable to support it, and fell on the couch in despair, speechless, and his hands trembled. Such silence was much to Wang Dehua's expectation, and he was so frightened that he fell to the ground and didn't dare to look up. After a long time, I finally couldn't help it, my heart was pounding and I peeked at it, and saw Chongzhen's face pale, his eyes were closed, he couldn't stop crying, and persuaded in a trembling voice: "The emperor, the emperor is angry, and you still need to cherish the dragon body!" ”

"Anger? Something so big happened, how can I be angry! You, all of you are out of the woods, and you are far away, and I do not want to see you! Chongzhen slowly opened his eyes, his tone was a little angry, but he was still very stern.

Wang Dehua hurriedly waved his hand to the eunuchs and palace maids serving on the left and right, and carefully retreated. After Wen Tiren left the palace, he hurriedly returned to the cabinet to convene a cabinet meeting to discuss how to deal with the fall of Fengyang.

After Wang Dehua left the hall, he turned back uneasily, and only when he arrived at the eaves of the corridor, he heard the emperor's howl from the hall: "Ancestor" He was so frightened that he took three steps and made two steps, and peeped in against the crack in the door.

I saw stacks of documents scattered around the imperial case, and a few pieces of shredded paper fell from the air, Chongzhen stomped his feet and cried: "Ancestors, ancestors, children and grandchildren are not filial, children and grandchildren are not filial, shame and shame, shame and shame."