But what Zhu Youzhen didn't expect was that after he asked, the entire hall was silent!

These civil officials looked at each other, either you look at me, or I look at you, and no one dared to come forward to answer Zhu Youzhen's question.

"What, are you all dumb?"

Zhu Youzhen was a little unhappy, and his expression was very serious.

Although Li Zicheng's soldiers are pressing, and the Ming Dynasty is in danger, he is still the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Ninth Five-Year Emperor.

These people don't even dare to answer their own questions, is it possible, they are all ready to surrender?

At this time, Wu Xian, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongkaku University, stood up.

Zhu Youzhen could see that this person was obviously a little scared.

The hand holding the elephant wat was shaking, as if he was going to kill his whole family in a moment.

"Your Majesty, Weichen has something to do!"

After Wu Xian said this, he handed over the note, and Zhu Youzhen took it: "Could it be that Wu Aiqing has thought of a good strategy to retreat from the enemy?" ”

"No, Weichen just wants to say that Weichen is old and infected with old diseases, so I hereby submit my resignation, I hope Your Majesty will return to his hometown!"

Wu Yu knelt down as he spoke, his legs and feet still trembling.

His purpose was obvious, that is, he wanted to resign from his position as a non-commissioned officer at the Cabinet University now, and then flee back to his hometown in the south.

Zhu Youzhen naturally guessed his thoughts, so he held up his recital and said, "Is there anything else you want to ask to return to your hometown?" ”

"Minister, Sun Shilun, the right attendant of the military department, please return to his hometown when he is sick!"

"Minister, Tang Xiangtai, the young secretary of Dali Temple, please return to his hometown when he is sick!"

"Minister, the household department has asked Wu Aoning to return to his hometown when he is sick!"

……

Zhu Youzhen looked at the row of officials of all sizes kneeling in front of him, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

Husband and wife are birds of the same forest, and they fly separately when disaster comes;

This is still the case between husband and wife, let alone between kings and ministers.

"Hmph, it's really time for you to get sick!"

Zhu Youzhen threw the cabinet scholar Wu Xian's performance directly to the ground.

Although, Zhu Youzhen understands that these officials are unwilling to stay in the capital because they are afraid of death.

But since these people are afraid of death, they are only afraid that they are not honest and honest officials, and they have no loyalty.

If I let them go back to their hometowns, I am afraid that they will still harm the townships, further provoke the people's uprising, and let the south also have a people's uprising.

But Zhu Youzhen didn't want to kill these ministers.

After all, these officials at least just wanted to flee the capital, and they didn't want to sell their own king to Li Zicheng.

However, in this court, there are still many officials who are ready to surrender to Li Zicheng, and Zhu Youzhen himself knows that several of them will later surrender to Li Zicheng or Jiannu.

Even Wei Zaode, the first assistant of the cabinet, will surrender to Li Zicheng on the day Li Zicheng breaks the city.

There are also Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, and Li Guozhen, the Bo of Xiangcheng, the three figures who control the real power of the army in the capital, all surrendered to Li Zicheng in the future.

In other words, the current Zhu Youzhen no longer has military power.

"I hate that I have no soldiers to control now, otherwise I can directly kill these traitors in the Qianqing Palace now!"

Zhu Youzhen decided to forbear for the time being, and took the initiative to ask Wei Zaode: "Wei Aiqing, you are the first assistant of the cabinet, what good plan do you have?" ”

Wei Zaode walked forward tremblingly, and did not dare to look up at Zhu Youzhen.

He naturally knows that it is almost time for the world to change the dynasty, and as the head of the cabinet, he is afraid that he will not be able to return to the sky.

If you want to return to your hometown, I am afraid that Your Majesty will refuse or even kill you directly, after all, you are the first assistant of the cabinet.

If he refuses to stay in the capital with His Majesty, it will inevitably make His Majesty cut off the last trace of hope for the ministers.

What's more, Wei Zaode himself was not willing to return to his hometown to retire like this, and he had only been the first assistant of the cabinet for a few months.

In his opinion, if he surrenders to Li Zicheng at that time, he is afraid that he will still be the first assistant of the cabinet.

After all, although Li Zicheng is powerful, he is a thief in the end, and no scholar has surrendered to him, if he surrenders to Li Zicheng, he will inevitably be valued by Li Zicheng.

Therefore, Wei Zaode has another layer of thoughts for staying in the capital, that is, waiting for Li Zicheng to attack the city, and then become the head of the cabinet of the Great Shun Dynasty himself!

However, the cunning Wei Zaode understood that now was the time for him to keep a low profile, and he couldn't behave too well, because then he would be relied on by His Majesty, and His Majesty would let himself stand in front, so that he was afraid that it would be difficult for him to surrender Li Zicheng.

So, Wei Zaode deliberately replied: "Your Majesty, Weichen is stupid and has no good plan. ”

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but shake his head, he could see that even this cabinet chief assistant was no longer with him.

was stupid in front of himself, just waiting for Li Zicheng to attack the capital and surrender directly to become Li Tianzi's minister.

Zhu Youzhen, who couldn't help but be a little angry, now wants to kill Wei Zaode directly, and directly cut off his idea that he wants to betray himself to Li Zicheng as a lackey!

However, at this time, Fan Jingwen, a scholar of Dongge University, stood up: "Your Majesty, now the only way to order Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Liaodong, to speed up his entry into King Qinqin is the best policy!" ”

For Wu Sangui, Zhu Youzhen naturally knew about this person, after Li Zicheng occupied the capital, he first surrendered to Li Zicheng, and then surrendered to Jiannu Dolgon because Li Zicheng killed his father and took his concubine, led the Qing army into the customs, and became the vanguard of Jiannu to pacify the Central Plains, and finally hanged the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongli, who can be described as a sinner of his own Ming Dynasty!

Zhu Youzhen wasn't sure if he really let Wu Sangui come to the rescue, even if he repelled Li Zicheng, would he be suspected of luring a wolf into the house.

After all, now he has almost no troops in the capital, and the Ming Dynasty is in danger, if he Wu Sangui is really this hero, I am afraid that he will not be willing to be the eagle dog of the last emperor!

At this time, Li Banghua, the imperial history of Zuodu, stood up again and said:

"However, Your Majesty, Wu Sangui has already sent an envoy to say that the Guanning army is short of soldiers and horses due to the fight against the Tartars, and if the soldiers want to fight bravely and serve the king, they urgently need 1 million taels of silver and 100,000 stone grain and grass to go out of the customs to aid Beijing."

One million ringing silver and 100,000 stone grain and grass?

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but sneer when he heard this, he naturally heard that Wu Sangui was asking for a sky-high price, ostensibly because he was unwilling to send troops to save him because of the lack of food and salary, but in fact, he was afraid of losing the main force of his Guanning army in a decisive battle with Li Zicheng's army, so that he had no money to take care of his family.

At this time, the Ming Emperor could no longer command these warlords.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but sigh, but he still wanted to ask these officials who had filled their pockets for some money for future military training, so he asked in an almost pleading tone:

"But now the treasury is empty, Taicang has no half a penny and silver, all of you Aiqing are loyal ministers of my Ming Dynasty, can you donate your furniture to make up a million military salaries to reward Guan Ningjun, in order to relieve the siege of the capital and protect my Ming Dynasty?"