It's March, and it's the season of spring.

But there are still no farmers in the misty fields.

You can even see wild dogs infesting the forest, their eyes glowing green, staring at Zhu Youzhen in military uniform and the officers and soldiers behind him.

Occasionally, you can see starving people who have fallen to the ground in the barren fields.

The one who is being bitten by a wild dog.

After several raids and rebellions by the Jiannu in the south, even the land of Gyeonggi has become so desolate.

Zhu Youzhen did not know what the situation was like in Henan, Shandong, and other places where the war disaster was more serious.

He couldn't help but clench the sword in his hand.

At this time, the front sentry came to report that Baoding City had been taken.

When Zhu Youzhen heard this, he immediately ordered the army to march quickly, and he himself took the lead and galloped on the official road.

After a while, I saw the county seat of Baoding hidden in the one-person-tall artemisia grass.

What was once a canal town, a prosperous place with flowers and willows, is now just a fortress abandoned in the wilderness.

Even the official road leading to the city gate is overgrown with weeds, which shows how traumatic the war has brought to the world.

Zhu Youzhen entered Baoding City.

Under the mottled city walls, there are still traces of the blood of the old battles.

When the officers and soldiers of the First Guards Army saw that it was His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Youzhen entering the city, they stood aside energetically, and the spears in their hands were lined up straight.

Riding through the streets of Xiao Suo, Zhu Youzhen could see from the rows of houses how prosperous Baoding City was in the past, as an important commercial town, it should not be this deathly silence with him, but the noise one after another.

"The city should have suffered a ransack, many houses have burned traces, some places can still see bloodstains, the eyes of the people can hardly hide the hatred of the officers and soldiers, since the Chongzhen two years of rebellion, Baoding City has fallen into the hands of the enemy?"

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but ask Li Banghua, the secretary of the Ministry of War.

Li Banghua replied: "Back to Your Majesty, Baoding City has always been an important town of Caoyun, related to the lifeline of the Ming Dynasty, so it has never fallen into the hands of the enemy, and now it is so dilapidated, I am afraid that it is caused by officers and soldiers, and the soldiers have always been bandits, burning and looting are even more ruthless than bandits, Li Jiantai is only afraid of sacking Baoding City after entering Baoding. ”

"Bastard! With such officers and soldiers, I can not lose the hearts of the people, and the dilapidated state of the country to this day has something to do with this group of people who don't want to love the people and be loyal to the monarch! ”

As Zhu Youzhen spoke, he saw that Zhou Yuji was already standing in front of the government office in full armor waiting for him, and next to him were Li Jiantai, a cabinet scholar who was tied up, and Du Zhi, a eunuch in the supervising army.

Li Jiantai, a cabinet scholar, did not expect that he would be in the hands of Zhu Youzhen, nor did he expect to become a prisoner of the Ming army at such a time.

You must know that just two hours ago, he was still a cabinet minister in Daming, with a high official rank and a number of officers and soldiers, even in troubled times, he could still be clothed and fed.

But unexpectedly, just when he was about to bet the rest of his life on the greater Dashun regime, he became a prisoner of the Ming army, and he had already told him without scruples that he wanted to take refuge in the thieves, so he couldn't find a reason to fool Zhu Youzhen now.

But as soon as he saw Zhu Youzhen appear, in order to get a glimmer of life, Li Jiantai couldn't help but kneel down and cried: "Your Majesty! Weichen Li Jiantai is guilty! I beg your Majesty's forgiveness! ”

Li Jiantai cried like a woman, crying so much that his liver and intestines were broken.

He knelt down directly, moved to Zhu Youzhen, kept kowtowing, and explained:

"Your Majesty, Wechen didn't intend to surrender to the thieves, but when he saw that there were rebellious soldiers, in order to maintain the safety of Baoding, he had to pretend that he wanted to surrender to the enemy, and now that His Majesty has appeared, Wechen is willing to be a cow and a horse, for His Majesty to drive, to assist Your Majesty in reviving the Ming Dynasty, and I hope Your Majesty will be forgiving!"

Li Jiantai no longer has any principles, he only hopes that this will allow Zhu Youzhen to spare his life, as long as he can spare his life, it doesn't matter if he is dismissed.

Li Jiantai even glanced desperately at his former friend Ni Yuanlu behind Zhu Youjian, but Ni Yuanlu directly waved half of the sleeves of his robe and stared at Li Jiantai with disgust.

This made Li Jiantai very stunned, he didn't know what kind of ecstasy soup His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Youzhen poured into these officials, why they all stared at him with hatred like the people in the city, and even his expression was even angrier than that of Emperor Zhu Youzhen.

I betrayed the Zhu family dynasty and not you, why do you hate me so much!

Li Jiantai couldn't figure it out, so he could only continue to kowtow and beg for mercy.

Zhu Youzhen snorted, too lazy to deal with Li Jiantai.

And at this time, Du Zhi, the eunuch of the prison army, also knelt down, tears flowing:

"Your Majesty! The slave and maid were forced, and when the slave and maid heard that His Majesty had left the capital, they wanted to come to His Majesty's side as soon as possible to serve, but Li Ge Lao did not allow the slave and maid to go out of the city, and hoped that His Majesty would see it! ”

Du Zhi, the eunuch of the prison army, also kept kowtowing.

Li Jiantai, a cabinet scholar, glanced at the eunuch Du Zhi with disdain, this person was the first to suggest surrendering to the thief, but now he threw the pot to himself, and sure enough, the eunuch didn't have a good thing!

"Zhou Yuji, immediately go back to Bazhou to bring the queen and others to Baoding, He Xin, quickly send people to build a high platform in the city, Li Banghua, gather the people in the city, I want to interrogate these two traitors who poisoned the people and failed the grace of the king in front of the people of the city!

Not being late is not enough to anger the people, not enough to calm the evil spirit in my heart! ”

As soon as Zhu Youzhen's words came out!

Li Jiantai immediately shut up when he heard this, and stayed where he was, not knowing what to do.

He didn't expect that Zhu Youzhen finally decided to execute himself, and it was Ling Chi!

What he didn't expect was that none of the officials stood up against it, and they were even happy.

Li Jiantai couldn't help but think to himself, is he really so hateful, good birds choose trees to perch, isn't this a rule recognized by everyone?

are all scholars and doctors who work for the emperor's family, is it necessary to have a deep hatred because of the pursuit of differences, even if they really surrender to the thieves, isn't there still everyone's affection, and maybe they will surrender to each other in the future.

Why, none of these officials stood up to save themselves today.

Li Jiantai was very indignant!

Li Jiantai saw that Zhu Youjian did not reply, and seeing that none of the civil officials stood up to intercede for him, he also knew that he had no hope, so he simply tore off his disguise and scolded directly:

"Zhu Youzhen! Don't think that if you kill me, you can do it to keep this Ming country, you look at which of these people around you can keep this Ming country for you, don't dream, haha! ”

"Da Ming will die! The Ming Dynasty will die! ”

Li Jiantai screamed hysterically.

He even longed to provoke Zhu Youzhen and the others with this, so that they could directly kill him in a moment of anger, so that he might be able to avoid Ling Chi's pain.

"Slap his mouth, beat him until he can't speak, but don't beat him to death!"

Zhu Youzhen gave an order to a soldier.

The soldier hurriedly rolled up his sleeves and struck the cabinet scholar in the face with a big fist, so that Li Jiantai's mouth was not his mouth and his nose was not his nose.