Knowing that the Shun army was approaching Juyong Pass, the guard general Tang Tong felt that he could not resist with his soldiers and horses, and sighed to the left and right: "There are soldiers outside, and the inside dares to fortify the wall." In this way, the imperial court has no soldiers, and it is a dead end to be trapped in the city of sorrow. ”

Seeing that many of the subordinates around him had their lips trembling slightly, Tang Tong rushed before them and shouted: "I don't know that the Ming Dynasty will die without a day, but my family will ...... the door for generations" Although Tang Tong was very hesitant, he finally decided to fight for the Ming Dynasty: "This battle is more auspicious and less, no, it is fierce and unlucky, if you can't let go of the old and young in the family, you can leave by yourself." ”

The army's heart was scattered, and Tang informed that Juyong Pass could not hold on for a few days, so he left Juyong Pass with those cronies who knew that the future was uncertain and were still willing to follow him, and marched to Beijing: "When the country is ruined and the family is destroyed, I died in front of the imperial city gate, and it is not in vain that my Tang family will be planted for hundreds of years." ”

After Tang Tong commanded the last few thousand men to arrive in Beijing, a eunuch rushed to the camp in the evening and shouted: "There is a grace order! ”

"I heard that when the general left Beijing to fight, the emperor would summon him from Lantai, give a banquet and encouragement, and even personally go to the city tower to see him off." Tang Tong hurriedly went to greet the angel, thinking in his heart: "These honors have never been heard of, but it has never been my family's turn, no matter what, my family has been loyal to the Zhu family for hundreds of years, there is a beginning and an end, although it is late, but in the end, there is still no lack of my family's share." ”

Now what supports Tang Tong to serve Daming to the end is only the honor of the family.

"Tang Tongzhong is loyal to love the monarch......" The holy decree expressed that Tang Tong was very satisfied with the king of Qin, and Emperor Chongzhen was very happy about this, so "Reward Tang Tong with thirty taels of silver." ”

"Minister, thank God."

Then a team of people and horses entered the camp, and the leader was a eunuch who was a eunuch and a messenger sent by Emperor Chongzhen.

"The last will meet with the ambassador."

The servant behind the ambassador was holding a brocade box wrapped in yellow thickness, Tang Tong looked at the brocade box in a daze, knowing that this was a token for the envoy of the prison army: there would be a holy decree clearly written on it with his name written on it, and the envoy of the prison army had the right to invite him out and kill himself in public.

The envoy of the prison army was arranged by his subordinates to rest, and Tang Tong was still standing in front of the incense stand that had been set up when he received the order, and the incense that had been lit to welcome the angel just now had been extinguished in the cold wind.

"A certain family has guarded the border for the Ming Dynasty for generations, and the martyrs in the clan are countless," after several cronies came to report that the imperial envoys had been arranged, they heard Tang Tong suddenly say in a loud voice: "Today, a certain person intends to be loyal to the Son of Heaven and sow a loyal blood in front of the imperial gate, but there is no summoning or feasting...... There was only a decree to kill my head, and these thirty taels of silver. As soon as Tang Tong let go of his hand, the gift of thirty taels of silver that he had just received fell to the ground.

"Back to Juyongguan!" The fluttering grace fell to the ground, Tang Tong no longer had the intention of picking it up, he shouted loudly: "The whole army will pull out the camp and return to Juyong Pass!" ”

"Dashuai, what are we going back for?" The heart of the Juyong Guan army has been dispersed, and many soldiers and horses have gone to surrender to Li Zicheng after Tang Tong left, and the soldiers and horses who stayed in the pass are just waiting for Li Zicheng to arrive to surrender to the Shun army.

"Go back and surrender to King Shun!"

……

Tang Tong rebelled out of Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen of course had no way at all. Not only for the border soldiers, but also for the Praetorian Guard Chongzhen has lost control, and Li Jiantai, a bachelor who fled to Baoding, neither went south to resist Liu Fangliang, nor returned to King Qin, the capital of Beijing. After Chongzhen asked several times, Li Jiantai hid in the imperial court in Baoding: "The minister is willing to go to Nanjing with the crown prince." ”

Seeing this recital, Chongzhen was so angry that he almost kicked over the imperial case, and now he has to think about the emperor's safety! Not the crown prince's.

Emperor Chongzhen planned to let the crown prince stay in Beijing, and he went to Nanjing to try to regain his strength, but he was worried that if the prince succeeded in holding Beijing, he would become Emperor Ming of Tang and would be overthrown as the emperor; Letting his son go to Nanjing also had a similar problem, and it was even more risky, so Chongzhen made up his mind that he must keep the prince by his side, so as not to give him the opportunity to seize power.

Now that it seemed that it was becoming less and less likely to hold the Jingshi, Emperor Chongzhen once again considered escaping south, but he needed a reliable army to escape, promising not to betray him to the army of the Shun army.

Judging from the performance of Li Jiantai's Praetorian Guard, Chongzhen felt that it was difficult for the other party to take on such a heavy responsibility, although the Beijing camp was all under the control of the emperor's relatives, but Jinyi Wei secretly reported that the group of people who commanded the Beijing camp were also secretly discussing the surrender of Li Zicheng. Although this matter is not known to be true or false, such a rumor is enough to shake Emperor Chongzhen's determination to leave the capital under the protection of the Beijing camp.

Yesterday there was bad news again, after Tang Tong surrendered to Li Zicheng at Juyong Pass, Li Jiantai and the governor of Baoding also surrendered to Liu Fangliang, and the Shun army had approached the Beijing division from the north and south.

Emperor Chongzhen asked the Beijing camp to urgently mobilize and prepare for battle. Theoretically, the Beijing battalion still has 200,000 troops - in reality, only God knows how many. The main force of the Praetorian Guard has been destroyed in Baoding, and Emperor Chongzhen has no choice but to pick and choose in the Beijing camp, put a more reliable part of the troops into the city, and hold the Beijing division with the remaining Praetorian Guards. The remaining more than 100,000 people, under the command of the dukes, held field positions outside the city, preventing the Shun army from coming into contact with the impregnable Jingshi City Gate.

Although the courtiers in the court discussed very enthusiastically today, the more Emperor Chongzhen listened, the more he felt out of tune.

For example, the elders of the cabinet unanimously recommended Feng Quan, who was a vassal of Wei Zhongxian in the past and put the Donglin Party to death, out of the mountain, saying that he was experienced and proficient in side affairs.

Experienced? Didn't you keep saying that the Wei Party brought disaster to the country and the people? Why did the stalwarts of the Wei Party suddenly become more experienced? There is also a proficient side matter, the current situation, the first is not a side matter, the second is that there is no army to resist, it has never surrendered without a fight, even if Zhuge Wuhou is invited out of the mountain, what can he do? Not to mention that Feng Quan is far away in the south, if he can get there safely, then what else does the surname Feng do? Wouldn't it be enough to go straight to Nanjing?

Dipping his fingers in the teacup, Chongzhen quickly wrote a line of words on the imperial case with the tea in his hand: "Wenchen can be killed." ”

After reading it, Emperor Chongzhen quickly wiped the handwriting on the table with his sleeve, stood up and said, "I can't keep the community, I can die the community." ”

Chongzhen's words made a big stone fall to the ground in Wei Zaode's heart, and he hurriedly took the lead in kneeling down and crying, and there was also a sound of grief behind him, but everyone had a heart, and there were infinite praises mixed with the grief, trying their best to praise the emperor's high wind and bright festival.

After retiring from the dynasty, Wei Zaode felt that his pace was much brisker, and he seemed to be ten years younger all of a sudden, and the faces of his colleagues around him were full of happy and relaxed expressions.

After returning home, Wei Zaode hummed a rare tune and returned to his bedroom with three shakes.

Seeing her husband's expression, Mrs. Wei also guessed the general situation of the matter: "The emperor is not leaving?" ”

"I'm not leaving!" Wei Zaode laughed. Since the emperor is not leaving, Li Zicheng has a head for injustice and a debtor, and he will not have nowhere to get out of his belly and harm the innocent civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty. These days, no matter what Emperor Chongzhen said, the ministers tacitly formed a united front, and persuaded the emperor to stay in Beijing.

Their main reason was that, after all, there were still some reliable troops in the Jingshi, and once Emperor Chongzhen left, it would be very unsafe in the wilderness, and a mutinous soldier might be easily tied up and dedicated to Li Zicheng.

This argument is not completely unreasonable, although Emperor Chongzhen hated his courtiers, he also had to admit that the possibility of what they said did exist.

……

"How are they?" In the depths of the Forbidden City, Emperor Chongzhen asked through gritted teeth.

"Long live the lord, after the dispersal of the dynasty, these thieves are all elated." Wang Chengen replied.

"These dog thieves!" Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he slapped the back of the chair again, and his performance today probably reassured them. Emperor Chongzhen pondered that someone had already reported his decision not to leave to Li Zicheng, but fortunately, in addition to these people, Emperor Chongzhen still had one or two people available.

First of all, his brother-in-law Gong Yonggu, Chongzhen felt that at this time, this kind of relative could still be counted on.

After seeing Gong Yonggu, Emperor Chongzhen asked straightforwardly: "How many people can Aiqing muster, and can he escort me to Nanjing?" ”

This question made Gong Yonggu stunned immediately, and after half a ring, Gong Yonggu knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly: "Ancestral system, relatives and ministers do not hide armor, and it is difficult for ministers to fight thieves with their bare hands." ”

Hearing that Emperor Chongzhen cried loudly, Wang Chengen said angrily on the side: "Isn't there a family of horses?" ”

Gong Yonggu was so anxious that tears flowed out, and he cried and responded: "The horse is not allowed to recruit family members, this is the ancestral system, just like the prince is not allowed to go out of the domain privately, and the violator is a rebellious crime." ”

Previously, because the officers and soldiers fled in addition to burning, killing and looting, the Tang King tried to lead the palace guards to suppress the rebels, but as soon as the troops were dispatched, they were arrested by the imperial court and sent to the Fengyang high wall, and the army recruited by the Tang Wangfu was disbanded on the spot. Unexpectedly, this stupid brother-in-law really abides by the ancestral system and does not recruit any family members, Emperor Chongzhen has no choice but to let him retreat.

Reliable people don't have soldiers, so they have to rely on those who have soldiers.

Although he announced with the courtiers that he was going to die, Chongzhen knew that he still had a way out, so he said to Wang Chengen: "Quickly send a secret decree to the governor of Tianjin, and ask him to send troops quickly." ”

Previously, the governor of Tianjin, Emperor Chongzhen, said that he could send a thousand absolutely reliable soldiers from Tianjin Wei to protect Emperor Chongzhen's escape from Beijing to Tianjin, and then board a ship from Tianjin to escape to Nanjing. The governor of Tianjin demanded that the emperor keep this absolutely secret, so as not to let the ministers in the court and the court know about it, and not even to tell the empress and the crown prince. As soon as the soldiers of Tianjin Wei arrived, Emperor Chongzhen should have escaped from Jingshi with lightning speed, rushed to Tianjin Wei before all the others could react, board the ship and go to sea.

Wang Chengen looked at Emperor Chongzhen with a stupid expression and did not answer.

"Let's go." Emperor Chongzhen urged again.

Wang Chengen knelt down in front of Emperor Chongzhen with a thud, and said in a mournful voice: "Long live the lord, those thousand soldiers are indeed absolutely reliable to Feng Yuanbiao (the governor of Tianjin), but not necessarily to the long live lord. Jin Yiwei sent a secret report the day before yesterday that Feng Yuanbiao had already summoned his subordinates to discuss the surrender of Li Chuang, long live Lord, Feng Thief is going to kidnap His Majesty and betray the country and sell the king. ”

A reliable man has no soldiers, and a man with soldiers is unreliable.

Except for Zhou Yuji, the Jin army surrendered without letting go of a shot; Juyong Pass has fallen, Bauhinia Pass has fallen, Baoding has fallen, Tianjin is plotting to surrender, and even the Praetorian Guards of the Ming Dynasty have surrendered without letting go.

In the past, although Emperor Yuan Shun was unable to resist the heroic division of Ming Taizu's Northern Expedition, he still had a Praetorian Guard army that would not betray him, so even if he couldn't defeat the Ming army, he could at least escape. And now Emperor Chongzhen lacks such an army - as long as there is an army that does not need to fight, only will not surrender, Chongzhen can get out of danger.

After a period of silence, Chongzhen spit out five words: "Xuan Xu Ping entered Beijing." ”

"Yes!"

That night, Wang Chengen came to see Emperor Chongzhen again: "Long live the lord, that thief insisted on refusing to use the courtier's gift to meet the long live lord." ”

"I have already said that I can see him with the courtesy of a foreigner, not necessarily to force him to see me with courtesy from courtiers, and if he really doesn't want to, don't force it." Chongzhen said angrily: "Haven't I said it clearly enough? ”

Wang Chengen knelt on the ground and just kowtowed silently, Chongzhen stared at him for a while, and sighed mournfully: "Don't you even refuse to give him the gift of a foreign courtier?" Does he have to see him with the gift of the enemy? Li Zicheng didn't even claim the title of emperor, he just called him the king, Li Zicheng is my people, that is, Xu Ping, wasn't he also my courtier before? Chongzhen's voice was full of anger: "Don't you leave any face to me?" ”

Wang Chengen still kowtowed vigorously, but never spoke.

With one heart-wrenching sigh after another, Chongzhen watched Wang Chengen knock his head on the stairs and bleed, and finally said slowly: "Talk to him again." ”

"Yes, long live the Lord." Wang Chengen got up, bowed down, and then trotted all the way to the celebrant supervisor.

Shoufu Wei Zaode and the other pavilion elders and Shangshu were waiting in the celebrant eunuch, waiting for Emperor Chongzhen's final decision.

"Long live Lord agreed," Wang Chengen nodded at the prime minister and vice ministers of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the ministers and vice ministers: "The emperor agrees that Xu Ping will meet him as an envoy of the enemy country." ”

"Your Majesty." All the courtiers shouted in unison.

"Let the Ministry of Rites go to discuss the ceremony," Wang Chengen said to the Ming ministers in front of him, "How long will it take to arrange for Xu Ping to meet him." ”

"It usually takes seven ......days to discuss the ceremony" Seeing Wang Chengen's face change, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites hurriedly changed his words: "Actually, five days is almost enough......

Seeing that Wang Chengen's face was pale, the Ministry of Rites Shangshu came out to play a round: "I am really anxious to follow the power, and the officials will see it for three days." ”

"No," Wang Chengen shook his head, the blood on his forehead hadn't had time to wipe off, and his voice was full of exhaustion: "Just one day!" Tomorrow, you will set the ceremony of the audience, and the day after tomorrow, Long Live Lord will see Xu Ping. ”

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