When the city gates in the four directions of Beijing City were in chaos, Li Guozhen, the mayor of Xiangcheng, who was in charge of Rongzheng affairs, was anxious, and rushed to the noon gate of the palace as soon as he rode to the palace gate.

Li Guozhen was so angry that his lungs were about to explode, and without waiting for the eunuch to ask, he couldn't help but roar angrily: "When is this?" How many more times can the monarch and his ministers meet? ”

However, the eunuch did not move like a mountain, posed as if the old god was there, and asked in a fluttering scream: "Uncle Xiangcheng, do you have anything important to see the emperor?" ”

At this moment, Li Guozhen was full of anger, rushed straight up, and scolded secretly in his heart: "Stupid thing, I didn't see Lao Tzu sweating profusely, I was in a hurry to look like this, you still ask this sentence, do you have a brain?" Do you have long eyes? ”

In the end, Li Guozhen still held back, pressed the anger in his chest, calmed down, and knew deeply that if he couldn't get past the current hurdle and didn't explain it clearly, he wouldn't be able to see the emperor at all, let alone solve the problem.

Therefore, Li Guozhen had to say patiently: "The guards defending the city almost did not obey the order, they were almost in a state of abandonment, all of them lay on the ground and could not get up, and one person was whipped up, and the other lay down again. ”

Seeing Li Guozhen's change in attitude, it was not bad, and after hearing this answer again, the eunuch did not dare to stop him anymore, and walked inside with Li Guozhen.

"Come with me~!"

Soon, Li Guozhen was brought to Chongzhen, and the former recounted what he had just said, and added anxiously: "Your Majesty, because the three major battalions have not retreated to the city to assist in the city defense, the city defense forces in the city are obviously insufficient, and there are few people on the city wall. ”

At this moment, Chongzhen's anxiety was fully expressed, and he could no longer hide it, and shouted to Xu Gao next to him almost without thinking: "Immediately pass on my holy decree and go out, all the attendants in the inner courtyard of the palace are gathered, except for some brocade guards, all of them will go with Xiangcheng Bo to guard the city gate!" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the slave obeys the order!"

Xu Gao left in a hurry, but Li Guozhen said again: "Your Majesty, if you want to solve the problem fundamentally and alleviate the crisis in the capital, the only way to encourage the morale of the soldiers and let them take the initiative to resist the enemy." ”

"Uncle Xiangcheng, why don't I understand this?" Chongzhen replied with a sigh, suddenly reacted, his heart suddenly moved, he had a glimmer of hope, and asked excitedly: "Do you have any good strategies to raise the morale of the soldiers?" ”

"Your Majesty, it's still the old way, only by letting the soldiers see the military salary can we raise their morale."

Hearing this, Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen suddenly showed the appearance of being in a hurry to go to the doctor, turned his head to look at the eunuch behind him, and ordered: "Spread my will, take out all the gold and silver things in the palace and hand them over to Xiangcheng Bo!" ”

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Youzhen looked at Li Guozhen again and ordered: "Uncle Xiangcheng, you go to the cabinet and ask them to draft a holy decree and post it in the whole city, and those who donate more money and materials will be awarded the position of Jinyi Wei Qianhu!" ”

Li Guozhen can't manage it so much, the society is in turmoil, and he urgently needs money and food as military salaries, so as to encourage morale, according to the impulse in his heart, and does not point out the shortcomings in the holy decree, once it is implemented, a large number of generals will appear.

Under the Zhengyang Gate, in the inner city, Li Banghua, the imperial history of the left capital, and Zhang Jinyan of the military department were talking anxiously, his words were full of anger, and his trembling voice was drowned in all kinds of noise, only the two of them could hear it.

"Li Yushi, how is the situation on your side? Did it go well? ”

"Hey, didn't you see it too, Lord Zhang?" Li Bangguo sighed, and then continued: "Those eunuchs didn't let their officials get close to Zhengyang Gate at all, let alone climb the city wall to inspect and inspect the guarding situation. ”

Speaking of this, Li Bangguo's words paused, and then asked, "Lord Zhang, how is the situation on your side?" What is the situation of the city defense in several other places? ”

"Hey..."

Zhang Jinyan also sighed, and couldn't help shaking his head again and again, and then slowly replied: "Li Yushi, just like what happened to you, when this official inspected the guarding of the various city gates, he was also blocked by those eunuchs, and he couldn't climb the city wall at all. ”

"I really don't understand what the emperor thinks? At such an urgent and critical moment, those eunuchs who had no talent and no virtue were asked to guard the gates of the city and be responsible for the guard of the capital division. Aside from them, the other officials had no way of knowing the real state of the defense. ”

Hearing Zhang Jinyan say this, Li Bangguo showed helplessness, and could only follow up: "Master Zhang, if you continue like this, there is no way. If these eunuchs were allowed to toss like this, the capital would not last long. For now, the only way to do this is to find Yang Sichang, the secretary of the military department, and report the matter to the emperor, so that the saint can understand the dominance of these eunuchs. ”

"It seems that this is the only way to go." Zhang Jinyan echoed, and then his eyes were shining, his face was full of determination, he looked straight at Li Bangguo, and continued: "Master Li, let's go, you and I will go to see Yang Shangshu together and tell him the situation at each city gate." ”

However, Li Bangguo did not move at all, but grabbed Zhang Jinyan, and suddenly turned around and said: "Lord Zhang, let's go alone, you wait for news in the house first." ”

"Master Li, what does this mean?" Zhang Jinyan let the other party pull his sleeves, but his eyebrows were slightly raised, his face was puzzled, and his forehead frowned and asked.

"Master Zhang, why did you forget? Just this year, not long after Yang Sichang took office, you once participated in his book, if you ......"

Although Li Bangguo did not finish speaking, his words were full of meaning, Zhang Jinyan suddenly understood in his chest, and couldn't help but think of Yang Sichang's personality, narrow-minded, personal grievances to override the overall situation, and he went to the door by himself, even if it was for official business, but it was also boring for himself.

As soon as he thought of this, Zhang Jinyan showed a sudden expression, his expression softened, he didn't continue to insist, nodded lightly, and said in a deep voice: "Okay, Master Li, thank you for your kindness, this official is here to listen to the news, and he will not go home." ”

"yes, okay."

Li Bangguo agreed, looked at the other party deeply, didn't persuade him to say anything, turned around and left in a hurry, and went straight to Yang Sichang's mansion.

Qianqing Palace, not long after Li Guozhen was sent away, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to have lost the strength of his whole body, and sat on the dragon chair in despair, surrounded by desertion, except for two eunuchs, there was no fourth person.

At this moment, Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, hurriedly walked in, quickly looked around, and without waiting for Zhu Youzhen to speak, his face showed puzzlement, and he asked first: "Your Majesty, has something big happened in the palace?" Weichen walked all the way, except for some palace gates guarded by guards, he hardly saw anyone, and almost all of them were Gong E on duty. ”

"Hey..."

Zhu Youzhen sighed helplessly, slowly raised his leader, revealing his lost expression, and then said weakly: "Yang Shangshu, do you know, Xiangcheng Bo just came to report, the city gates are in an emergency, and the troops defending the city are insufficient, so I can only send more than 2,000 chamberlains and guards in the palace to the city wall to resist the attack of the chaotic army. ”

"I see!"

Yang Sichang suddenly responded, and then his face showed a look of brilliance, and he said loudly: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of War has sent a good news, as soon as your holy decree was posted, an old man in his sixties responded and donated his life savings, although it was only four hundred taels of silver, but Weichen felt that he should still give a reward in order to encourage others to donate silver and food." ”