Five days later.

On the fourth day of March in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youzhen summoned the ministers again.

It was also the last time to summon the ministers in the Qianqing Palace in the capital in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen.

The news of the loss of Ningwu Pass had reached the capital, and Zhou Boming, the son of Zhou Yuji, was executed by Li Zicheng.

Zhu Youzhen knew that he couldn't wait any longer, and he had to evacuate the capital within a day or two!

This court meeting is not a big deal.

The main purpose is to understand the final preparations for the southward migration.

The first to stand up was Wu Mengming, the commander of the Jinyi Guard who was in charge of raiding the house.

"Your Majesty, the former cabinet chief assistant Wei Zaode's family has copied more than 150,000 taels of silver!

The former military department gave the Heng family 30,000 taels of silver in the middle of the matter!

The former Xiangcheng Bo Li Guozhen's house copied 640,000 taels of silver!

Former Chengguo Duke Zhu Chunchen's house was copied with 830,000 taels of silver!

The former military department secretary Zhang Jinshen's family is 420,000 taels of silver!

The property of the former Jiading Marquis Zhou Kui's family was confiscated with a total of 520,000 taels of silver!

The former left is the royal history of the Dou Ding family, with a total of 240,000 taels of silver!

The former ceremonial supervisor Bingbi Zhang Yin's family has a total of 110,000 taels of silver!

The former master of ceremonies and the former palm print of Wang Dehua's family is 360,000 taels of silver!

The former Like gave Shi Min a copy of 80,000 taels of silver in the matter!

……

A total of 4.36 million in cash! The total value of all kinds of antiques and jade should be more than 10 million taels! ”

After Wu Mengming finished speaking, he presented the account book as thick as the bricks of the city wall.

When the ministers heard this, they were shocked!

"Okay, I begged them to donate money before, and they were all crying poor, but I didn't expect them to be so rich, it can be seen that these traitors are all hugely greedy, do you say it!"

The ministers were silent, quite sad about the death of a rabbit and a fox.

However, Zhu Youzhen asked again: "Could it be that you are all secretly rich like them?" What I said in the court that day was also a deception! ”

Where did the ministers dare to admit that they had also cried poor in front of Zhu Youzhen at the beginning, so they were naturally busy saying that they were really breezy with their sleeves.

Zhu Youzhen did not debunk them either.

After all, officials all over the world are like this, but he, the emperor, still has to rely on their support, so Zhu Youzhen knows that he can't do too much, so as not to completely offend the entire gentry group.

What's more, more than 4 million taels, plus the 300,000 taxes and silver handed over by Dang Chongya, are enough for him to go south to train troops and maintain his rule.

It is better to raise these rich officials first, and it is not too late to slaughter them when the time comes.

Next, there is the recital of Fan Jingwen and Wu Xian.

The two of them worked day and night for five consecutive days, and finally completed the preparations for moving south.

Zhu Youzhen decisively decided to officially evacuate the capital tomorrow, the fifth day of the first month of March!

In order to maintain the order of the evacuation of the capital, Zhu Youzhen specially ordered Wang Chengen's Dongchang and Wu Mengming's Jinyi guards to guard the pass from Donghua Gate to Qihua Gate.

On the afternoon of the 4th day of the first lunar month, the entire street was tightly sealed, and no official or private person was allowed to enter or leave at will.

Although it was the fifth day of the first month of March, he evacuated the capital.

However, the Ordnance Bureau, the Military War Bureau, the Gunpowder Bureau, the Armor Factory, the Wang Gong Factory, and other important military supplies, equipment, money, and grain, which were under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry and the Internal Government Supervision Bureau, began to evacuate from the city on the afternoon of the 4th of the first month.

Admiral He Xin's 50,000 Beijing battalion troops, the Second Guards Army, were responsible for the escort.

Although the Beijing battalion is weak due to lax training, it is naturally no problem to be a transport team.

However, in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of the 50,000 officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp.

Zhu Youzhen still ordered to give five taels of silver to each of the 50,000 officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp, which can be regarded as repaying part of the military salaries that the imperial court has owed to the Beijing camp for several years.

The First Army of the Guards of Zhou Yuji's Department gave each person a reward of ten taels of silver in recognition of their efforts to save the king.

After all, from a certain point of view, it was they who abandoned their families and children and followed Zhou Yuji to the capital that gave them a chance to turn the tables, so they must be rewarded.

In recent years, officers and men have no ideological ideology, and as long as they make enough money, they will be able to win over the morale of the army and arouse their enthusiasm.

Therefore, now that Zhu Youzhen has money and is willing to spend it, the officers and men under him are more active in doing things than before.

Early the next morning.

The sky has just appeared with the white of the fish's belly.

The door of the Tung Wah Gate was wide open.

Ning Wubo and Zhou Yuji personally led 10,000 infantry to immediately divide their troops to guard the street from Donghua Gate to Qihua Gate.

Zhu Youzhen also got up early to meet with Fan Jingwen, Wu Xian, Li Banghua and other important ministers, preparing to retreat south.

"Your Majesty, everything is ready, dare to ask who is better to stay in the capital?"

Fan Jingwen asked.

At the same time, Li Banghua also stood up and suggested: "With such a mighty momentum, Weichen dared to suggest that Your Majesty may retreat south in the name of the crown prince, so as to deceive the thieves and spies in the city." ”

"You don't have to send someone to stay, now that the capital is empty, why add people's lives in vain, and you don't have to retreat south in the name of the prince, I just want to tell the world that I am not dead, and the Ming Dynasty is not dead!"

Zhu Youzhen said this, and the ministers had to obey orders.

In fact, Zhu Youzhen also knew that there must be Li Zicheng's spies in the city, and it was impossible to hide the thieves from the thieves about his retreat to the south.

Maybe it's better in the name of the crown prince to paralyze Li Zicheng.

But now the enemy is not only Li Zicheng, but also Jiannu, and Wu Sangui and other warlords who may rebel.

If he goes south in the name of the crown prince, he will inevitably give them the truth, deliberately saying that he, the emperor, has died in the capital, and take the opportunity to make trouble.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen felt that he had to retreat south with great fanfare.

Tell the world that you, the emperor, are still alive!

For this will alarm Li Zicheng's troops, and may even make Li Zicheng give up attacking the capital and lead the main force to chase him.

Zhu Youzhen was not worried.

Most of the current Li Zicheng's main force is still stranded in Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places, and the main force of his attack on the capital has been fighting all the way, and there have been countless losses of money and grain, and it is impossible for the soldiers not to enter the city and loot after the soldiers come to the capital, as a reward for the battle all the way, it is impossible for him Li Zicheng not to sit in the Forbidden City.

What's more, through the understanding of the original history, Li Zicheng is not the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, with a narrow vision, he still can't escape the habit of a bandit leader, and he will not look down on himself as a lonely emperor, he should now be more focused on competing for the world with Jiannu.

Of course, if Li Zicheng really had the foresight to leave the city of Beijing and go directly after him.

Zhu Youzhen didn't feel that there was anything to be afraid of, as long as he left Beijing City, he could flee at will, and as long as he, the emperor, and the officials and people of the Ming Dynasty who still controlled most of the land, had the backbone, he could still resist Li Zicheng's troops.

Before leaving, Zhu Youzhen also asked Wu Xian, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, to write a letter to the people and post it all over the capital.

In order to show that the emperor had to leave the capital and abandon the helplessness of the northern people, and at the same time said that after the army withdrew, the gate outside the capital would be directly opened, and the people would choose to stay or leave.

Not only that, but in order to further show his love for the people as an emperor.

Zhu Youzhen also asked Wu Zhu to write a book against Li Zicheng, warning Li Zicheng not to slaughter the people, otherwise it would be the wrath of the gods, and said that if Li Zicheng could restrain himself from the precipice and tie himself to the emperor, he might be able to surround his life.

Not only the people of the capital and Li Zicheng, Zhu Youzhen also ordered someone to pass the news to Wu Sangui, crowned him as Ping Xibo, and guarded the Shanhaiguan, not to surrender Jiannu and Li Zicheng, so as to wait for his own army to go on a northern expedition and implement the effect of a north-south attack.

Zhu Youzhen wasn't sure if Wu Sangui would listen, but as the emperor, he still had to make a statement when it was time to make a statement.

However, Wu Sangui's father Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui's concubine Chen Yuanyuan had been ordered by Zhu Youzhen to retreat south together, and informed Wu Sangui on the grounds that he could not bear the martyrdom of the hero's family.

As long as Wu Sangui dares to surrender to the Manchu Qing Dynasty and be a traitor, Zhu Youzhen doesn't mind killing his father to sacrifice the flag, nor does he mind occupying Chen Yuanyuan, so as to calm the anger in his heart!

Wait until three o'clock.

Wang Chengen first led 500 Dongchang Fanzi to ride horses and march at the front.

Immediately after that, there was a large yellow-covered cart, pulled by six horses.

This is the chariot of the Son of Heaven.

However, in order to deceive the Dashun army spies in the city, Zhu Youzhen himself was not in the car.

At this time, he only pretended to be a Dongchang Judge and followed behind Wang Chengen.

The princes, princesses, and concubines followed in five carts, escorted by Madame Liu's 3,000 women's army.

Along with the princes, princesses and concubines, there were thousands of palace ladies and eunuchs who were willing to follow His Majesty the Emperor.

They were all on foot, but Zhu Youxiao was also extra kind, and Fan Jingwen allocated three carts to load their personal supplies.

Next were the officials and scholars who were willing to accompany them.

Because of the shortage of means of transport, only the first and second rank officials and old ministers over the age of seventy were allowed to ride horses.

The rest of the officials had no choice but to walk.

Wu Mengming led the Jinyi guards to the rear, and was also responsible for maintaining order and protecting the hundred officials and scholars.

Zhou Yuji's 3,000 personal horsemen guarded the left and right, and they should be safe.

Behind him were the 10,000 infantry of the 1st Guards Army.