As the days passed, the tension in the capital became more and more obvious, and with each passing day, there would be many more rebel troops outside the city, both Li Jiajun and other rebel armies that had joined Li Zicheng.

Three days later, although the Li family's army had not yet arrived, nearly 500,000 people had gathered outside the capital, and there were at least 100,000 troops in each direction.

However, this trend has not stopped, it is still continuing, more and more Li Jiajun or other rebel armies are gathering around the capital, showing the trend of Mount Tai pressing the top, and the capital is like a flat boat in a night in a stormy wave, which may be overturned at any time.

Although there was still a kind of order in the city, the people were already panicked, there were few voices of discussion, few people walked on the streets, and the fear in their hearts was almost extreme.

At this moment, on the Fengtian Hall of the Forbidden City, there are a large number of civil and military generals, Chongzhen is even more unfolding, in a quick browsing, with the expression of the scholar Li Jiantai below, the anger on his face is becoming more and more obvious, faintly annoying.

"Your Majesty, there are more and more chaotic troops outside the city, and there is a tendency to boil, taking advantage of the fact that their encirclement has not yet been fully formed, Weichen feels that he should move the capital as soon as possible, and ......move to the south under the cover of all the armies in the city."

Listening to Li Jiantai's painstaking persuasion, although Chongzhen was moved, he was bitter in his heart, although he had the heart to do so and move the capital to Nanjing, but he knew that it was too late, and the best time had been missed.

100,000 Qing troops were wiped out and died at the hands of Li Jiajun, which was tantamount to a thunderclap on the ground, which shocked Chongzhen to the outside and tender inside, and he felt desperate, and there was no luxury to move the capital at this time.

Not to mention that the defenders in the city are less than 100,000, even if there are enough 100,000 people, they can't be compared with 100,000 Tartar elite iron cavalry.

The Tartars with strong combat effectiveness are not the opponents of the chaotic army, not to mention the defenders in the city, most of them are still old, weak, sick and disabled, and their combat effectiveness should be halved and evaluated.

At this time, Li Mingrui stood up and loudly echoed Li Jiantai's point of view.

"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, stay in the green mountains, don't worry about no firewood, although Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Beizhili fell into the hands of the rebel army, but the imperial court still has the great rivers and mountains in the south of the Yangtze River, as long as you clean up, regroup, and take advantage of the unstable foothold of the rebel army, you can completely recover the lost territory."

To everyone's surprise, Chongzhen did not pay attention to the words of the two, but asked the ministers again and again: "The monarch died in Sheji, where will I go?" Gong Zhen taught the prince to go to Nanjing first, what do you think? ”

At this time, Chen Yan, who had always opposed the southward move, suddenly made a look and motioned to the military department to give the matter to Shiheng, who immediately understood, nodded lightly, in response, and then showed a stern condemnation, and abruptly threatened: "Your Majesty, if you don't kill Li Mingrui, it's not enough to calm the people's hearts!" ”

Suddenly, a stone stirred up a thousand waves, everyone's hearts were shocked, Chongzhen had a trace of displeasure, frowned slightly, and was about to say something, but was interrupted by the high-pitched voice that Guang Shiheng followed.

"The ancestors have clouds, do not get along, do not pay compensation, do not cut the land, do not pay tribute, the Son of Heaven guards the country, and the king dies!"

As soon as these words came out, all the back roads of Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen were blocked, and there was no longer the possibility of peace talks and moving south.

When things developed to this situation, Zhu Youzhen pretended to be annoyed, and had to say with a straight face: "You usually run the portal and plan for future generations, but if the country has something to do today, do you want to abandon this south?" If the city is broken, then the society will die, what is the reason for moving south? ”

After hearing this, none of the ministers dared to say anything more, so they had to leave separately.

Li Guozhen, the commander of the three major battalions, stayed behind, looking at Emperor Chongzhen, who looked uncertain, hesitated, but still had to say in a deep voice: "Emperor Qiqi, you also know that most of the defenders in the city are old and weak soldiers, and the morale of the army has long been unstable. ”

"Urge, you know urge, I don't know how to spell, I can't conjure up rice and money."

Zhu Youzhen said angrily, the depressed breath in his chest was vented, and he suddenly felt better, and at the same time realized that his reaction was too aggressive, and he shouldn't be angry with Li Guozhen, so his tone eased: "Can't you let the soldiers endure for two more days?" I have already launched a fund-raising campaign with hundreds of officials, and in two days, as soon as the silver is received, I will distribute it to the soldiers to pay the money and buy food. ”

Hearing this, Li Guozhen showed bitterness on his face, shook his head in his heart, and had to say: "The salary can be delayed for a while, but the food needs to be raised as soon as possible, so that the soldiers can eat and drink enough." Otherwise, the capital will not be able to hold on for even a day. ”

Chongzhen had regained his senses, gradually calmed down, nodded frequently after listening, and then asked, "Uncle Xiangcheng, do you have any good ideas to get food as soon as possible?" ”

"Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that it is impossible to buy grain, the treasury is empty, and the silver collected from hundreds of officials has not yet been put in place, and now he can only collect rice and grain from those princes. After all, those princes and ministers have a lot of fiefs and granaries, and if they are willing to donate some, it should be enough for the soldiers who defend the city to support them for a while. ”

"Well, well, that's all there is to it, and this matter will be left to you."

Chongzhen waved his hand, signaling that Li Guozhen could leave, however, Li Guozhen was motionless, bowed and saluted: "Your Majesty, if you want to promote this matter and raise rice grain, you still need a handwritten decree or will from you, so that Weichen can supervise this matter." ”

......

After a night, Li Guozhen stood in front of dozens of carriages, looking at the stacks of sacks of grain, but his face was full of gloom, and he couldn't be happy at all, and a small colonel next to him said worriedly: "My lord, these donated rice are less than 500 stones, and they are too little to be distributed to all the soldiers, and they are barely enough for the garrison to drink porridge for a few days, and they can't fill their stomachs at all." ”

"Hey... There is no way, those kings and nobles are waiting, once the silver raised by the emperor arrives, they all want to sell the grain in the granary to the court at a high price, how many people are willing to donate to the court for free? ”

Li Guozhen sighed, asked rhetorically, then beckoned, and continued helplessly: "It's better than nothing, hurry up and send these grains to the city defense camp, it can support one more day, hurry up~!" ”

"Yes, my lord, I will do it!"

The colonel agreed, glanced at Li Guozhen, a strange look flashed in his eyes, turned to leave, beckoned the soldiers nearby, pulled a carriage of food, and went straight to the direction of the city defense camp.

Soon after, on the various walls of the capital, some soldiers squatted on the ground, holding rice bowls in one hand, drinking porridge, looking at several copper plates in the other hand with disdain, muttering full of indignation.

"Damn, I'm about to die in battle, and I actually gave Lao Tzu porridge!"

"Made, Lao Tzu worked hard for the court, guarded the city wall, resisted the rebellious army, and was coming, full of enthusiasm and loyalty, and in the end, his life was only worth these copper plates!"

"Day, I am aggrieved, this treatment is not as good as that of death row prisoners? Before the death of the condemned prisoner, there is also a meal of wine and food with a severed head, let's pour it, the war is imminent, and it is possible to die at the hands of the rebel army at any time, and he actually gave the porridge to drink. ”

......