CHAPTER XXVI

On the evening of February 18, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the moon had just risen to the glazed edge of the emperor's pole hall.

Emperor Chongzhen was distraught, and the six gods had no master, so he reluctantly read the documents for a while, and suddenly sighed and sulked, walked out of the Qianqing Palace, and wandered on the Danqi. The chill of the spring night invaded his skin, making his swollen temples feel a little refreshed, and then he took a deep breath of cool air, and slowly exhaled the stuffy breath in his chest. He secretly counted the sound of the cloud board coming from the Xuanwu Gate, and heard the sound of beating from the East Yi Long Street, and felt even more anxious, and asked in his heart: "Chen Xinjia has not entered the palace yet?" It's already the second update! At this moment, a eunuch gently walked up to him, bowed and said:

"Emperor Qi, Chen Xinjia is waiting to be summoned in the Wenhua Palace."

"Ah...... Come on! ”

In the morning, Chen Xinjia had been summoned by Emperor Chongzhen in the Qianqing Palace, and asked him about the battle strategy for dealing with the Central Plains and Guanwai. Although Chen Xinjia was shrewd and capable, he had no choice but that the Ming Dynasty had been stuck in the dilemma of fighting on both internal and external sides for more than ten years, with insufficient troops, depleted food and wages, no need for his life, no fighting spirit, and corrupt discipline. Chongzhen was originally impatient, and the more he was suffering and had no solution, the more anxious he was to fidget, and it was easy to explode his temper in the palace, which frightened the eunuchs and palace maids in the Qianqing Palace one by one, and they didn't even dare to come out. Just after dinner, he got a secret recital from Gao Qi, who supervised the army at Shanhaiguan, saying that Hong Chengchou had been besieged in Songshan for half a year, had run out of food, and was in danger, and said that once the Qing soldiers broke through Songshan, they would once again enter the customs in a big way and besiege the capital. Although the fall of Songshan was already expected by Chongzhen, he did not expect that it was already in danger, let alone that the Qing soldiers would soon come south again, so Gao Qiqian's secret music shocked him a lot, and he almost felt hopeless about state affairs. Gao Qi's potential secret recital mentions such a sentence: "Wen Dongyu still has peace and sincerity." If this can be done, it may save the current emergency. State affairs are like this, but the beggar emperor is arbitrary. Although Chongzhen did not like to use the word "peace" in Manchuria, and only said "peace" or "discussion", he could not help but admit in his heart that it was actually peace, so he did not get angry because of Gao Qiqian's inappropriate words when he was at a loss tonight. Regarding the secret peace negotiation with Manchuria, he originally thought that it was an emergency strategy at present, and he was secretly telling Chen Xinjia to carry out it as quickly as possible, and now he received Gao Qiqian's secret music, and unconsciously said in his heart: "Qiqian is my domestic slave after all, unlike many foreign court ministers. He understands my suffering, and is willing to think about my current difficulties! He was very anxious about Liaodong affairs and couldn't wait for tomorrow, so he ordered the eunuch to tell Chen Xinjia to enter the palace as soon as possible and wait for the summons in the Wenhua Palace.

Chongzhen rode to the courtyard of the Wenhua Palace. Chen Xinjia knelt next to Yonglu to pick up the car. Chongzhen glanced at Chen Xinjia, and couldn't help but think of Yang Sichang, his heart was sad, and he secretly thought: "Only he and Xinjia are clear people in their hearts!" The dragon chariot stopped in front of the steps of the front hall of Wenhua. The emperor stepped down, walked into the Dongnuan Pavilion, and sat down on the throne, as if he felt that his mood and body were very heavy, and he had no energy to support him. Chen Xinjia followed, knelt down in front of him, performed the usual courtesy, and waited for questioning. Chongzhen made a look, and the eunuchs immediately avoided it. After a moment of silence, he whispered melancholy:

"I called Qing into the palace tonight to discuss matters outside the Guan. Chuang and Cao two thieves stormed Kaifeng for more than half a month, because Zuo Liangyu soldiers arrived in Qi County, he was afraid of being attacked by the enemy, and had evacuated Kaifeng City on the 15th day of the first month, according to the local Xinjiang officials said that they fled to the southwest. Zuo Liangyu pursued and suppressed later, and Wang Qiaonian also went out of Tongguan to Henan to suppress. The situation in the Central Plains is not a big problem at the moment, and what makes me most worried is the war situation outside the Guan. ”

Chen Xinjia said: "The situation outside the border is indeed extremely dangerous. Hong Chengchou and others have been besieged so far, there is no food and grass inside, and there are no rescuers outside, so I am afraid that they will not support it for long. Zu Dashou had already intended to surrender to the east, but he was afraid of the emperor's prestige and Huaide, and refused to betray him, and he was still defending Jinzhou. If Songshan falls, Zu Dashou will undoubtedly fall. As soon as the pine and brocade were lost, the castles outside the gate would inevitably collapse. The captives are vigorous, or they eat the whales, or they drive south, or they run parallel at the same time, and they are in charge of each other. Our army has recently been defeated, and there is really no good way to deal with it. As a soldier, Weichen can't share his worries on behalf of His Majesty, and he is really guilty of not being punished. ”

Chongzhen asked, "According to Qing, how long can Songshan hold on?" ”

"It's hard to say. Hong Chengchou has received the grace of the country and has been known by His Majesty, so he will do his best to endure the time and wait for rescue. And he has been in the army for a long time, and he is scheming, and the two general soldiers of Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen are his old subordinates, and they are willing to die. In Weichen's view, if there is no internal response, Songshan can still hold on for another month or two. ”

Chongzhen asked: "Is there a way to rescue in a month or two?" ”

Chen Xinjia bowed his head and was speechless.

Chongzhen sighed softly and said, "Now that there are no soldiers rushing to the rescue outside the pass, I have to step up the negotiation and appeasement of Dongyu, so that the situation can be temporarily eased, and Hong Chengchou can also be saved from falling." ”

Chen Xinjia said: "Last time, because the chieftain was picky about the identity of our envoy and the documents he carried, he couldn't go to Shenyang and return. Now Ma Shaoyu and others are ready to leave for Shenyang to discuss Fu. There are a total of 99 people, most of whom have secretly set off in batches, and will meet in Yongping and then leave the customs. ”

"Ma Shaoyu was originally the principal, I remember his hard work and heavy responsibilities, and he has been promoted to the rank of Langzhong, and he is specially given a second-grade crown uniform, hoping that he will live up to this trip."

Chen Xinjia hurriedly said: "Ma Shaoyu must meet the chieftain when he goes, and he will return by agreement, temporarily relieving the emperor's worries about the east, so that the court can concentrate on exterminating the thieves." ”

Chongzhen nodded and said, "Qing's words are very true. It is difficult to take care of both inside and outside. I had no choice but to temporarily impose a restraint on the eastern captives, first to settle inside and then outside. My suffering, but Qing and Si Chang know it! ”

Chen Xinjia kowtowed and said: "The emperor is the lord of my dynasty, and he has a far-sighted plan, which is beyond the insight of a group of ministers. However, after the matter is completed, the border is temporarily secured, the people have to recuperate, and the Guanning Iron Cavalry can be transferred south to suppress the thieves. At that time, His Majesty's grand plan and foresight will be understood by his subjects, and he will be admired by all people. ”

Chongzhen knew in his heart that Chen Xinjia was just sponsoring him to negotiate peace and get through the current crisis, as for whether this matter could really make "all the hearts of the people accept and be praised by all directions", he didn't dare to hope for it, so after listening to Chen's words, he didn't even have a relieved expression on his face, and then asked:

"The monks of Tianning Temple are also going?"

Chen Xinjia recalled: "The monk of Tianning Temple has traveled to and from various parts of Liaodong in previous years, and knows the situation in captivity. And Dongyu worships the Buddha in the sky, is quite pious, and respects the monks and lamas very much, so he lives and follows secretly. ”

Chongzhen asked again: "When will Ma Shaoyu leave Beijing?" ”

Chen Xinjia said: "Just wait for the emperor's edict, and then set off, and I don't dare to delay." ”

"This edict ......"

"If there is no edict from His Majesty, it is useless to go. This time, the emperor must rewrite an edict to bring with him, so that the chief can rely on the letter. ”

Chongzhen hesitated for a moment, and had to say: "Okay, I will order the ministers to send the edict to the Qing family at dawn tomorrow." This matter must be meticulous and not a word should be divulged. Meticulous, meticulous! ”

Chen Xinjia said: "I will obey the edict and never dare to leak a word." ”

"Sir, please."

Chen Xinjia kowtowed and stood up, waiting for the emperor to ask. After a while, Chongzhen suddenly sighed: "Xie Sheng, as a minister, actually leaked the matter of the discussion to the court, causing the official to attack, which is very hateful. I remembered that he had no major mistakes on weekdays, and cut him down. At that time, the secretary talked to him about the affairs of Dongyu secretly, which was too undeserved. However, I still have high hopes for Qing's grace. The past is not to blame, and we must be cautious in the future. ”

As soon as he heard the emperor mention Xie Sheng's matter, Chen Xinjia quickly knelt down again and fell to the ground. He was very aware of Chongzhen's suspicious, fickle, irritable and vicious nature, and although he was trusted by the emperor, he was always worried about misfortune. He understood why the emperor mentioned Xie Sheng to him at this time, felt a chill down his spine, kowtowed again and again, and said:

"Xie Sheng's matter, the minister is really guilty. The emperor was gracious and generous, and he did not punish him severely, but still made his ministers treat the center of crime and serve the work of dogs and horses. In addition to being grateful, Weichen is always afraid and cautious. How important is the matter of sending Ma Shaoyu out of the customs to discuss the appeasement, don't the ministers know? The minister will never dare to divulge a word, and His Majesty Fu Qi can rest assured. ”

Chongzhen said: "Every time I give you an edict to deal with anything, do you immediately burn it in accordance with the order?" ”

"Every time the minister knelt down to read His Majesty's edict, everything about the discussion was immediately burned secretly with his own hands, and he didn't dare to keep even a word in the world."

Chongzhen nodded and said, "The mouth does not say anything about the greenhouse tree, and the party is the style of the ancient minister." Be careful! According to Qing, will Ma Shaoyu's arrival in Shenyang be smooth? ”

"From Weichen's point of view, the captives are prosperous, and there must be too many requirements."

"As long as the Dongyu is willing to obey and sincerely caress him, he can make the soldiers and people temporarily safe, and save the Chengchou back, I will not hesitate to reward him with land and gold and silver at his discretion in the spirit of Huairou Yuanchen. This meaning can be secretly known to Ma Shaoyu. ”

"Yes, yes. I respectfully obey the Majesty's Commandment. ”

Chongzhen instructed again: "It's good to save Hong Chengchou back!" ”

After the call, Chen Xinjia walked out of the Wenhua Gate, and his heart was up and down. He knew that the emperor was very anxious about the affairs of the East Prisoner, but he could not predict any changes in the middle of the peace meeting. Suddenly remembered that Hong Chengchou's family went to his mansion yesterday to ask for a meeting, and asked him if the imperial court had any soldiers to relieve the siege of Songshan, so he seemed to hear the emperor's worried words in his ears:

"To save Hong Chengchou......"

On the same night, it was nearly three watches.

Hong Chengchou took a deputy general of the Chinese army, several personal soldiers and domestic slave Liu Sheng, and boarded the northern city of Songshan. There is no north gate in Songshan, there is a Zhenwu temple at the location of the north gate, the back wall and the temple ridge have long been broken by the cannons of the Qing soldiers, and there are many broken tiles falling on the clay statue of Emperor Zhenwu. Emperor Zhenwu stepped on the turtle and snake, and the raised snake head was also broken by the falling tiles. Guarding the northern city was the troops of the general soldier Cao Bianjiao. When the soldiers saw the Governor coming, they quickly rose from the side of the cannon and from under the broken battlements. Hong Chengchou waved his hand to make everyone casual, and whispered in official dialect with a Fujian accent: "Hurry up and sit down and continue to rest." The frost is heavy and the wind is cold at night, and there is no fire to roast, so you can sit with a few people side by side. When he saw the soldiers sitting down, he raised his head and looked out at the enemy outside the city against the sharp frost wind.

Almost every night, Hong Chengchou had to go to the city to inspect it. In the past years, he led his troops to war, and he was in a good situation, which was completely different from the present, which made him unable not to put aside the majesty of the governor's minister, and try his best to be approachable, and treat the soldiers as if they were his sons. Trapped in a lonely city for a long time, he experienced the harsh winter season in the Kanto region, which changed his habits of paying attention to food for decades. He is familiar with the so-called "sharing weal and woe with the soldiers" of the ancient famous generals, which is a very valuable virtue, and can win the heartfelt love of the lower-level generals and the majority of soldiers, but he has never been able to do it, and he has never planned to practice it. After being besieged in this isolated city, especially since the harsh winter, all the pigs, sheep, cows, donkeys and poultry of the people in the city have been eaten, the horses and mules in the army are almost finished, the food is running out, the firewood and grass are finished, and he generally lives a life of "sharing the joys and hardships with the soldiers". Now he still maintains the special place of the minister, mainly because of the grace, elegance and dignity cultivated over the years, and the generals have not lost their respect in front of him. In addition, he loved cleanliness all his life, and although he was now besieged, his food was exhausted, and the city was in danger of being broken in the short term, and other civil and military officials did not care about their clothing, but his burqa was still washed clean by the servants. The other officials saw him with respect, and talked about him behind his back as a minister of the court, and it can be seen from the fact that he was in a dangerous city, calm as usual, and put life and death out of the way. Tonight, the soldiers of the city were relieved to see that the Governor was still as calm as ever, and that the present situation was critical. Cao Bianjiao's troops were relatively elite in the Ming army in the past, and because they were all from the Guannei, they were all Han Chinese, so they were in this dangerous situation, and they all had a determination to fight to the death. This simplest ideology and feeling overwhelmed the profound contradictions between the officers and men on weekdays, and even the relationship between them and Hong Chengchou became closer.

For several days, the enemy camp was calm and did not fire artillery into the streets. This calm situation made Hong Chengchou feel strange and uneasy. He guessed that the Qing army might be making major preparations, and maybe in two or three days they would storm Matsuyama Castle. Now the enemy is surrounded by layers of Songshan City on all sides, and there is not even a single fine work in the city, let alone the strength to send men and horses to attack the enemy camp, capture the Qing soldiers, and find out the situation. Not only was the city running out of food, but it was also running out of gunpowder and arrows. If the enemy is attacking the city, it will be difficult to deal with it. He did not reveal the worries in his heart, and continued to look out at the enemy camp. In the vast moonlight, he could not see the tents of the enemy camp and the fortresses and trenches in front of the camp, but he could see fire everywhere two or three miles away. For a long time, he stared silently to the north. About four miles away, there was a small hill across it, and there was more fire on the top of the mountain. On the north side of the hill, there is a high mountain attached to it, and there is very little firelight, and the shadow of the mountain is dim, and it is not clear to see. This shallow mountain and high mountain are actually one mountain, that is, pine mountain; Matsuyama Fort got its name from this mountain. Ascending that high mountain, Jinzhou City is all in sight. Tonight, because Hong Chengchou had a premonition that the situation was very critical, it was easier to look at the mountains in this area and make fun of the past of last year's defeat, and he was still sad, and he couldn't help but say with emotion in his heart:

"Alas, I can see the danger and give my life, it's not a pity to die, but what is the overall situation of the country!"

He was about to inspect elsewhere when Cao Bianjiao came to the city. Cao Bianjiao was stationed not far away, and when he heard that the governor had gone to Beicheng, he hurried over. Hong Chengchou saw him and said:

"Your illness is not cured, why do you come to the city?"

Cao Bianjiao replied: "I heard that the adults came to Beicheng, and Beizhen came to wait. I've had a cold for a few days, but I've gotten better today. ”

Hong Chengchou glanced at Cao Bianjiao, saw clearly that his face was still sick, and said, "You hurry down to the city, don't let the wind blow." Tomorrow morning you go to see me, I have something to talk to. The wind is tight in the city, so let's get down to the city. ”

"Yes, yes, I'll go down to town. Tomorrow morning, I will go to the adult's line and listen to the adult's instructions. Your Excellency, you see, the place where the fire was bright is the place where the four princes of the captive chieftains camped last year, and where the enemy siege commander Hauge is now stationed. It's that little hill! In August last year, the fourth prince was stationed at the foot of the mountain in the southwest, and the camp was not stable, and Beizhen had already entered the old camp of the captive chieftain, but unfortunately he was seriously injured and had to return. In a few days, the fourth prince will move to this hill, and our army will not be able to touch his old camp. If there were more than 1,000 elite soldiers going that time, cutting off the enemy's rescue soldiers, and capturing Lao Han's Tartar alive, he would be blind to death. Now, hey! Cao Bianjiao saluted Hong Chengchou, turned around, and walked down the city.

Hong Chengchou walked to the Zhenwu Temple, looked at the silent city, and then looked at the east and south sides of the hill and the fire of the enemy camp under the mountain. The city was full of low, gray-and-white bungalows with slightly curved roofs, and old military tents in the empty space, which were indistinguishable under the moonlight. He then went to Xicheng to make his rounds. The terrain outside the West Gate is relatively open and flat. To Jinzhou in the north and Xingshan, Tacheng and Ningyuan in the south, you have to go out from the West Gate. Accompanied by the chief soldier Wang Tingchen, he stood on the head of Xicheng and watched for a while, looking at the fire on the field. But at present, it is no longer possible to break through.

Walking down the wall, he returned to a private house not far to the left of West Street. This place has been his line since the siege. His jujube horse was tethered to the stables in the front yard. The stables sit west to east, and the moonlight shines on the stone trough and some of the horses. Before being besieged, Hong Chengchou cherished his horses very much, and once said to the guests on the left and right during a gossip after a banquet: "Horses, Meiji, you can't leave for a day." "The shepherd chooses the best groom for this horse, and feeds it with a shiny coat and a full body. There are two Qing scholars who can write poems and a staff member who is from a high background, who once wrote poems and praised this horse; There is also a Qing guest surnamed Cao was originally a Jiangnan painter, claiming to be Cao Ba, for this Ma Gongbi photo, lifelike, can be called expressive, on the title "Shenjun Map". But now, the horse was so thin that its skeleton was high, its loins were collapsed, and its roots and bones were exposed.

Hong Chengchou walked into the stable by the way to see his former beloved. The horse stood listlessly on the edge of the hollow, looked at him with indifference, as if to a stranger, and then lowered his head again. Hong Chengchou sighed in his heart, and after walking out of the stable, he turned back to the shepherd and said:

"It's better to kill it as soon as possible, and let the officers and soldiers eat some horse meat."

The shepherd replied, "Leave this horse for the lord just in case." As long as the groom and I don't starve, we have to find a way to keep it alive. ”

Hong Chengchou had just returned to the backyard and went to the upper room, and the governor Qiu Minyang came to see him. Qiu is a native of Weinan County, Shaanxi, and was promoted to the governor of Liaodong by Ningqian Bingbeidao the year before last, and was stationed in the city of Ningyuan. Hong Chengchou was ordered to aid Jinzhou, and he was responsible for transporting grain and wages. In July and August last year, when the army was defeated, he was with Hong Chengchou, so he rushed into Songshan City at the same time. Hong Chengchou knew that Governor Qiu would have something important to discuss when he came to see him tonight, so he waved his hand to make the left and right relatives withdraw together. He leaned over the table and whispered:

"Brother Changbai, do you have a new military situation?"

Qiu Minyang said: "At dusk today, the hearts of the people in the city are even more fluctuating, there are whispers everywhere, and there are rumors that the captives will break through the city on the first day or two. Where the rumors originated has not yet been clarified. Do you know about the unstable situation of this army? ”

Hong Chengchou nodded lightly and said: "At present, the grain and grass are about to be cut off, and there is no good way to keep the hearts of the army and the people stable. But what the students are worried about is not that the captives are attacking, but that they are turning elbows and armpits. ”

"Your Excellency is also worried about changes in the city?"

"I'm quite worried about this. However, within two or three days, or it doesn't matter. ”

Qiu Minyang leaned his head forward and asked quietly, "Are you worried about the Liaodong soldiers?" ”

Hong Chengchou nodded.

Qiu asked, "What's the best idea?" ”

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said helplessly: "At present, the most worrying thing is Xia Chengde's team. He is a native of Quang Ninh, and the land and graves are all in Quang Ninh. Many of his own families, relatives, and fellow villagers surrendered and were taken prisoner; Most of the soldiers under his command are from Liaodong, and most of them are from Guangning. When the enemy lures him in, he will surely attack him. Since he was besieged, I have tried my best to win him over, but at present, it is difficult to expect him to remain loyal and sacrifice his life for the country. In addition, a person like Zu Dale, although his men and horses have long been dispersed, there are only a few family members and personal soldiers around him; However, he is still the general soldier, and he is the brother of Zu Dashou, and he is quite prestigious among the generals of Liaodong. There are a lot of generals with their surnames Zu, and their family property and grave are in Ningyuan, and when they collapse outside this pass, it is inevitable that they will not have two hearts. Although Xia Chengde is not his general, the two of them have a close past and rely on each other, so I can't help but doubt it. Just imagine, there is no rescue outside, no food and grass inside, there will be two hearts, no fighting spirit, how many days can this lonely city be supported? ”

Qiu sighed: "My lord is extremely worried. At present, this lonely city is indeed difficult to defend, and Xia is the most worrying. We have no good law to control it, and we must not startle the snake, so we have to let nature be. ”

Hong said: "Striking the grass and startling the snake is not only useless, but it will prompt it to descend quickly and give up the city." I plan to summon Zu Dale, Xia Chengde and other generals to the old camp tomorrow to discuss matters, to stimulate them with loyalty and gratitude, so that this projectile lonely city can be guarded for the imperial court for a few more days. If the city unfortunately falls, I, as a minister, will receive the grace of the country, and I will be known by the present and the present, and I will have a heavy responsibility, but I can only repay the emperor's favor with a death! ”

Qiu Minyang stood up and said, "Since being besieged, Minyang has only waited for death. The dignified minister of the Ming Dynasty has no reason to steal his life. Minyang will meet with the platform underground, report the emperor's grace with blue blood, and be the loyal soul of the Ming Dynasty! ”

Hong Chengchou said: "My generation has read the books of sages since childhood, and it is within the scope of his life to promise the country and kill himself to become a benevolent. ”

After sending Qiu Minyang away, Hong stood in the courtyard for a while, listening from all sides, and couldn't hear any special movements inside and outside the city. He went back to the house and went to bed with his clothes, but he couldn't sleep for a long time. Although he is very clear about the minister's death festival for the country, and he has long put life and death out of the way, he still can't help but worry about it at this moment. It turned out that it was not the old mother's old age, nor his wife, nor his adult children who felt unbearable in his heart (he understood that when he was martyred for the country, the emperor would give his family a special favor and a generous blessing). However, for the young and beautiful concubine Chen who stayed in the Beijing mansion, he couldn't leave it in his heart. He stared at the moonlight on the window, as if he saw her jade appearance, beautiful eyes, and radiant brilliance. His heart suddenly moved, and the phantom disappeared immediately, and he sighed softly when he thought of the end of the day.

In the afternoon of the same day, near dusk, the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji returned to Shengjing from Yehe. He had gone hunting in Yeh thirteen days earlier. Although it was not a big hunt, it also drew 2,000 cavalry from the Eight Banners, and another 300 red and white armor Bayala guards the emperor in front and behind. When he went, Huang Taiji went out of the small north gate of Shengjing, went straight to the tomb of his beloved concubine Borzigit, that is, the concubine of Guan Ju Palace, and entered the hall to pay tribute to tea and wine, and wept loudly, and the sound reached the outside of the hall; After a while, he came out and got back on his horse and headed for Yehe. When I came back today, I passed by Concubine Chen's grave again, dismounted and wandered for a while, full of sorrow and sorrow. When they arrived outside the city, two thousand hunting cavalry returned to their respective banners, leaving the kings, Belle, Beizi, Gong, Gushan Ezhen and other relatives and nobles, as well as Bayala, to escort them into the city. After entering the ground, the Qing Emperor ordered the prince of Joseon to return to the museum to rest. So Li Wai, the prince of Joseon who went out hunting, dismounted, and was welcomed into the palace by the nobles and civil and military ministers who knelt on both sides of the royal road. With Zhengchen on his eyebrows and leather boots, he first went to the Chongzheng Hall to receive an audience from his relatives and ministers. His eyelids were slackened and his eyes were tired. Because of Concubine Chen's death, his heart was often painful and depressed, so he had to use hunting to kill his sorrows. This trip to the Yeh area for hunting was originally scheduled for twenty days, and he carried enough food and necessary items. But as soon as he left Shengjing and went north, he was worried about the news of the war in Jinzhou and other places, especially the military situation of the siege of Songshan. Four days ago, he received in the enclosure a secret performance from Wang Haoge of Duoluosu County, who commanded the Qing troops in the Songjin area, explaining that Xia Chengde, the deputy general guarding Songshan, had taken a tofu seller surnamed Lin down the city wall at night, and that he was willing to surrender. After receiving the secret music, he hurriedly stopped hunting and galloped back to Shengjing. When the court was finished, he asked the kings, dukes, and ministers in Manchurian:

"Is there any news from Matsuyama?"

Fan Wencheng, a scholar of the Inner Academy, knelt down and replied in Manchurian: "There is no report from Songshan yet. ”

Huang Taiji no longer asked, secretly worried that Xia Chengde's surrender of the city would encounter twists and turns. He instructed the princes, the princes, the princes, Baylor, Beizi, and the princes to stay, and wait for a while to go to the Qingning Palace, and then walked down the throne and went to the harem.

The scale of the harem is very small, and together with the not spectacular Chongzheng Palace, it is a simple and complete building complex, which is not as magnificent as the mansion of the big bureaucratic landlord in Jiangnan. It turns out that the family of Aixin Jueluo Nurhachi is only one of the Jurchen tribes in China, although it has been receiving the title of the Ming Dynasty since the Yongle period, but its strength has declined, and it is only more than 30 years of history from the rise of Nurhachi to the present. It was only 17 years since the capital was moved from Liaoyang to Shenyang and renamed Shengjing, and the simplicity of the palace architecture reflects the characteristics of a culturally backward nation in the founding period of the country. In earlier times, the Manchurians did not understand that this larger complex should be called a royal palace or imperial palace. They have been in contact with the Han people for generations, and they think that the place where they manage state affairs and rule the people is called Yamen, and this building complex occupies a larger area and has more power than the general state and county yamen, so they call it "Da Yamen". However, under the influence of Han Wenchen, all the main buildings were named after Han palaces. The first gate of this complex is called Daqing Gate, which is modeled after Beijing's Daming Gate, and the gate of the inner palace is called Phoenix Tower, which is from the Tang Dynasty. The Phoenix Tower is a simple courtyard courtyard, with no carved beams and painted buildings, and no curved sill corridors. The main building that sits north to south is the place where the emperor and empress lived and worshiped the gods, called Qingning Palace, like the Kunning Palace in Beijing. The two wings on the east side are called Guanju Palace and Yongfu Palace, and the two wings on the west side are called Lintoe Palace and Yanqing Palace. These four palaces are inhabited by the four concubines of Huang Taiji with high status, and the rest of the so-called "side concubines" and "concubines" are crowded to live elsewhere.

This Qingning Palace is commonly known as the Middle Palace, the first one in the east occupies a quarter of the area of the whole palace, it is the place where the emperor and the queen live, and it is divided into two rooms before and after, each with a big kang. The remaining three-quarters of the area is dedicated to the gods. The palace gate opens at the southeast corner. There are two large iron pots in the north and south, and pork is boiled all year round. Then the cauldron is a big kang. According to Manchurian customs: the god seat is on the west side, and the south side of the seat is up, and the north side is down. The antler circle chair on the south kang is prepared for the emperor to sit, and the antler circle chair on the north kang is for the queen to sit. The large kang on the west gable is a place for the gods, and various objects for worshipping the gods are placed. There is a small wooden board on the gable, with a yellow silk curtain, called the god board. On the kang in front of the shrine board is a black lacquer seat with a backrest, and on top of it sit two puppets dressed in clothes, which are said to be Mongolian gods. On the walls on both sides of the shrine are colorful scrolls: the statue of Shakyamuni, the statue of Manjushri, the statue of Guanyin, the statue of the seven fairies (that is, the fairy Buddha Kulun who swallows the fruit of Zhuguo is in the middle, and the two sisters and other fairies are sandwiched between the left and right), and there is also the statue of Guan Fama with a red face and squinted eyes. The scrolls of the statues of the gods are rolled up when they are not sacrificed and packed into yellow or red lacquered wooden cylinders. There is also a magic arrow hanging on the wall, the arrow is pointing downward, and a wisp of linen hangs from the tail; On the other side hangs a yellow Goryeo cloth bag of Sheng Shenso. There is a stone seat not far from the southeast outside the gate of Qingning Palace, meet the day of worshipping the sky, the day before on the top erected a wooden pole of one zhang and three feet long, called the god pole, there is a wooden bucket. Today is not sacrificed to the sky, so the stone seat is empty, and there is no god pole.

When Huang Taiji passed through the Phoenix Tower and entered the harem, the concubines of each palace bowed their knees to him on both sides, and there was a five-year-old boy beside Concubine Zhuang of Yongfu Palace, that is, his youngest and most beloved son, whose Chinese name was Fulin. Because Huang Taiji had something in his heart, he just glanced at him and walked over, and was welcomed into Qingning Palace by the queen.

The sun went down completely. Many candles were lit at Qingning Palace. Some butter candles are as thick as mallets and painted red on the outside. Cigarette smoke, candle smoke, firewood smoke under the stove, and water vapor coming out of the large meat pot are mixed together, making the atmosphere in Qingning Palace appear hazy, mysterious, and solemn. Huang Taiji has heard the queen say that the two pure black pigs selected today are particularly fat, tied the front and rear legs, carried them into the Qingning Palace, and helped them towards the god case, standing like people with their hind legs. When Sama had jumped and poured hot wine into his ears, he struggled to move, shaking his head and waving his ears, showing that God was pleased to receive it. Huang Taiji was looking forward to the good news of Songshan, and when he heard the queen say this, he felt happy in his heart. He washed his hands, walked out of the east room with the queen, and began the evening sacrifice. The time of the festival was supposed to be before sunset, because it was too late to wait for the emperor to return from hunting.

Facing west, he knelt down and bowed before the idol. Then the queen saluted. After they saluted, they sat down in the antler-ring chairs on the big kang. Five-year-old Fulin was also called to salute. Then, Sama wears a hat with feathers on his head, a waist bell is tied around his waist, he shakes his head and swings his waist, and his hands hit the leather drum, and the bell and drum sound all the time, and he dances and recites the blessing:

Son of Heaven. The god of tin of the year. An Chun. Ayala. Muli. Muriha. Nathan. Dai Hui. Narhui. Xuan Chu. Ndumile. Sanggu. Worship. Zhang Jing. Nathan. Willuri. Endu. Mont Elle. Katun. Noyan. ……

Sama recites the prayer to the tightest place, as if mad. The faster you chant and the harder you dance, the faster the bells and drums will sound. After a while, when the prayer was finished, Sama was drunk, as if God had reached her, and staggered backwards, as if she could not stand, and wanted to fall backwards. Two maidservants of the palace supported her from the left and right and sat on the chairs. She was suddenly quiet, pretending to be blinded. The maidservants quietly removed the leather drum, the divine hat, and the waist bell for her, and did not make a sound. After another moment, Sama opened her eyes and pretended to be surprised, making it clear that she thought it was rude to sit in front of the throne and in front of the emperor and queen. She quickly kowtowed to God, then to the emperor and queen, and then respectfully withdrew.

Huang Taiji and Empress Borzigit saluted the gods again, and then ordered the prince, the prince of the county, the beylor, the bezi, and the prince who were waiting outside to come in.

Those who were called in tonight were all of the more prominent members of the nobility. They came in one after another, saluting first to the gods, then to the emperor and empress. The guards gave each of them a piece of felt and told them to spread it on the ground. After they had sat down on the felt, the guards placed a plate of white meat, a glass of wine, a bowl of white rice, and a bowl of broth in front of each of them. At that time, rice was not produced outside the Kansai area, and the rice was extorted from the Lee court of the Joseon state. Every man took his knife from his loin, and cut and ate the pork from his plate. Although the nobles regarded it as a great honor for the emperor to give him meat, the fat and greasy white pork was unpalatable after all. Fortunately, the royal guards quietly placed a small paper bag of minced salt in front of each adult and asked them to sprinkle it on the meat, and naturally they had to spend a lot of silver afterwards.

After eating the meat, the nobles thanked and withdrew. Huang Taiji and the Empress returned to the east room where they were staying. He had been out hunting for more than ten days, and he was tired, so he should have gone to bed early; But just as he was about to go to the kang, he suddenly sent Haoge's urgent secret music from Songshan, saying that Xia Chengde's surrender and dedication of the city had been negotiated, and the city was scheduled to be broken on the fifth watch on the 18th. Huang Taiji suddenly jumped up and shouted in a loud voice: "Sain! Zachisain! ("Good!") Wow! He immediately issued an instruction: After the city is broken, if Hong Chengchou is caught, he must leave his life behind and send it to Shengjing no matter what. He didn't have time to think about the disposition of a large number of other civil and military officials in the Ming Dynasty, and asked Haoge to wait for his future edicts. After the envoy set off, he was still very uneasy. Because it took two days for the flying envoy to reach the Songshan military camp, it would be a pity if Hong Chengchou was killed.

Nearly three watches, Xia Chengde, the deputy general of the Ming army defending the southern city of Songshan, personally took care of his younger brother Xia Jinghai and his seventeen-year-old son Xia Shuyi down to the city. A few days ago, after the old Lin who sold tofu secretly communicated to the Qing camp, Xia Jinghai went out of the city three times at night to directly negotiate with the head of the Qing camp on the terms of surrender and the method of surrendering the city. Qing Fang was afraid that in case of a trick, he asked Xia Chengde to send his own son as a hostage. Now the time to dedicate the city to the Qing soldiers is approaching.

After Xia Jinghai escorted his nephew Xia Shu down the city, he crossed the moat not far and walked towards a stone stele. One of the Qing camp's Niu Lu Ezhen led four soldiers to wait by the stone tablet, and then escorted them to the Duoduo camp three miles away. Hauge, the king of Dorosu, Adali, the king of Doro, and Luo Luohong were all waiting in the camp of Duoduo. Xia Shu's uncle and nephew knelt down and kowtowed to the king of Manchuria and Baylor and others, very respectfully, for fear of being doubted, and the surrender would be torn back. Duoduo asked Xia Shu's age and brother's line, and there was no mistake; He also called a Ming soldier who had been captured and surrendered in August last year. He was originally under Xia Chengde, and he met Xia Shu, which proved that he was the second son of Deputy General Xia. Then they were brought into another felt tent, protected by a few Qing soldiers, and given them something to eat. It was at the time of the third watch that the Qing army began to act.

The Qing soldiers originally prepared a ladder and soldiers to climb the city not far from the moat, but now taking advantage of the clouds in the sky and the moonlight is unknown, a ladder on the left wing and a ladder on the right wing walk in front, and eight ladders of the Eight Banners follow closely. Ten ladders quietly approached the southern city. Xia Chengde and his soldiers guarding the city looked down and did not make a sound. The Qing army was always afraid of the scheme, so they selected two warriors who were not afraid of death in advance, and after relying on the ladder, they climbed to the top of the city first. They turned around and beckoned downward, and the crowd used ten ladders to go up to the city, and quickly went up more than 1,000 people, occupying a small section of the southern and eastern cities defended by Xia Chengde, while the large army continued to go up the city. Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen's garrison began to notice it, but because of the small number of people in the city, and they were all hungry for a long time, they were very weak, and they resisted in a hurry, and could not withstand the Qing army's rush to kill. The eastern city was quickly occupied by the Qing army, and the east and south gates were opened, and the two Qing troops that had been prepared swarmed into the city. Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen heard the shouts of killing at the head of the city, hurriedly mounted their horses, led their respective subordinates to fight in the streets, and at the same time informed Hong Chengchou to flee from the west gate quickly.

Hong Chengchou heard the sound of killing, knew that the Qing soldiers had entered the city, and hurriedly rode on his scrawny mount, and rushed to the street surrounded by a group of personal soldiers, generals, staff and family members, and happened to meet Cao Bianjiao and the people sent by Wang Tingchen to urge him to flee from the West Gate. He had already considered the issue of martyrdom, so at this time, he was able to keep his composure aside. He asked, "Where is Qiu Futai now?" Left and right couldn't answer, but they heard the sound of killing all over the city. He immediately took a moment in the middle of the street outside the gate of Xingyuan, looked east, and saw Cao Bianjiao desperately resisting the Qing soldiers. He knew that he might not be able to escape, and the thought of killing himself flashed through his heart. Suddenly the king's courtiers came to him and said in a loud voice:

"Master Taiwan, hurry up and get out of the West Gate! Simon is still in our hands, and we must not delay. Cao Shuai and I are fighting to the death to meet the enemy here, please leave quickly! ”

Hong said: "I am the minister of the state, and today I can only fight to the death with all the kings and die in this city!" ”

"My lord is an important minister of the country, if he can escape, he can still ......"

Before Wang Tingchen's words were finished, he saw that Cao Bianjiao could no longer resist the enemy, and the Qing soldiers came from several places like a tide, and at the same time, chaos began to occur in Xicheng. He shouted, "My lord, go away!" Then he led the soldiers who were with him to shout and rush to the enemy soldiers who came near. Hong Chengchou's immediate place also began to be chaotic, he was surrounded by his own soldiers and generals and ran towards the west gate, and most of his staff were scattered. A group of Qing soldiers suddenly rushed out of an alley to seize the West Gate. One of Hong Chengchou's generals led more than a dozen brothers to rush forward, and at the same time, some of the soldiers of the royal courtiers also hurried to meet the enemy, and a melee broke out not far from the West Gate. The servant Liu Sheng saw that his master's horse was very weak, so he slapped the horse on the buttocks.

When the soldiers guarding the west gate saw the governor coming, they quickly opened the west gate and let Hong Chengchou out of the city. They no longer closed the West Gate, but also slaughtered the Qing soldiers who came to seize the West Gate, and threw themselves into the whirlpool of melee in the nearby streets.

Out of the west gate of Songshan City a few zhang away, the terrain suddenly lowered, forming a steep slope. After Hong Chengchou ran out of the West Gate, unexpectedly, the emaciated jujube horse weakened his front legs when he ran down the steep slope, and he fell down, falling to the ground. The servant Liu Sheng picked him up from the ground, and just after running a few steps, the Qing soldiers who were lying in ambush nearby shouted out, rushed forward, hacked Liu Sheng, captured him, and killed the few soldiers who protected him from breaking through. The enemy recognized him then and uttered a cry of victory in Manchurian:

"Caught! Caught! Hong Chengchou has been caught! ”

CHAPTER XXVII

Shortly after the afternoon of February 21, suddenly the eight gates of Shengjing beat the drum, and the sound shook the whole city, and it was heard more than ten miles away from the city. Immediately, the soldiers and civilians of the whole city knew that Songshan City had been broken before dawn on the 19th, and all the civil and military officers of the Ming Dynasty such as Hong Chengchou were captured.

After Huang Taiji received a joint report from the army from the army, such as King Haoge of Dorosu County, King Adali of Doro County, Dorobelle Duoduo, and Luo Luohong, who were besieging Songshan, Huang Taiji immediately called one of the leading officials named Antai to the Qingning Palace for questioning, and at the same time ordered someone to spread the drum at the Eight Gates to report the victory to the whole city. He inquired in detail about Xia Chengde's surrender and the destruction of the city, and re-read the Manchu text report sent to him, and was satisfied in his heart. He was originally worried that Hong Chengchou would be killed in the melee or commit suicide when the city was broken, but now he knew that not only Hong Chengchou was captured alive, but also Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Tingchen, Cao Bianjiao, Zu Dale, the guerrilla Zu Daming, Zu Dacheng, and Bai Liangbi, the son of the general soldier Bai Guangen, were all captured alive. After the Qing soldiers entered the city, they killed one member of the Ming Dynasty's military station, ten deputy generals, more than 100 guerrilla and general officers, and 3,063 soldiers. These officers and soldiers fought in the streets after the city was broken, and they were brave and unyielding; Later, after failing in street fighting, they scattered to various residences, continued to put up sporadic resistance, and refused to surrender. Some of them were seriously wounded, and after being captured, they continued to curse until they were killed. In addition, more than 1,000 city civilians, including children and children, were killed for resisting with the Ming army, but the report only mentions it lightly, and mentions that 1,249 women were captured. Huang Taiji erased the Manchu recital with a red pen about the Ming Dynasty's soldiers and civilians fighting in the streets and refusing to surrender, and then asked:

"After Hong Chengchou was captured, did he intend to surrender?"

Antai replied, "King Han! You don't have to think about him surrendering, he won't! When the servants heard that he had been caught, they brought him before the prince of Dorosu, who was arrogant and a tough man, and would rather die than kneel; He didn't answer, he just scolded indiscriminately. The governor surnamed Qiu, the chief soldier surnamed Wang, and the chief soldier surnamed Cao were all like him, they were not afraid of death in front of the prince, and they scolded endlessly. Both of these generals were caught after suffering several serious wounds and falling to the ground. I also heard that Mr. Cao was sick, and the horse was weak, so the horse fell first, and he fought on foot for a long time before he fell. ”

Huang Taiji waved his hand to make An Tai, who was kneeling in front of him, withdraw from the palace, and said in his heart: "Fortunately, the generals of the Ming Dynasty are not all like Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao!" ”

Regarding how to deal with Hong Chengchou and the others, Huang Taiji couldn't make a final decision in his heart for a while. If Hong Chengchou is left behind according to his original idea, then what will Qiu Minyang and Wang Tingchen, Cao Bianjiao and others do? He summoned Fan Wencheng and several other ministers, but there was no unanimous opinion, so he temporarily sent someone to pass on the kings of Songshan: the captured goods will be distributed to the soldiers as appropriate, and the weapons will be stored in Songshan City, and Hong Chengchou and others will be temporarily detained in the army and waited.

On the fourth day of the first month of March, Huang Taiji received a report from the army from the army that the king of Dorowuying, who was besieging Xingshan, and knew that the peace envoy sent by the Ming Dynasty was coming, and Xingshan and Jinzhou would soon surrender. put to death the governor of the Ming Dynasty, Qiu Minyang, the chief soldier Wang Tingchen, and Cao Bianjiao; Put Zu Dashou's other two cousins, Zu Daming and Zu Dacheng, back to Jinzhou, reunite with their wives, and persuade Zu Dashou to surrender quickly. Sure enough, on the tenth day of the first month of March, Zu Dashou sacrificed Jinzhou to surrender, Xingshan also surrendered, only Tashan did not surrender, after a heroic and hard battle, the whole city of soldiers and civilians, including women, almost all were killed or captured and killed.

On March 10, although the report of Jinzhou's surrender had not yet arrived in Shengjing, Huang Taiji knew that Jinzhou had agreed to surrender on the 10th day of the first month, so he ordered the imperial court to make preparations immediately and choose to go to the hall tomorrow to pay tribute and thank God. On the 11th day, Huang Taiji led the Prince of Li, Daishan, Dorao Yu Belle Abatai, the prince of Joseon, the prince of the Joseon Dynasty, the prince and the ministers of civil and military affairs, out of the Fujin Gate, to a temple located in the south of the Great East Gate. Outside the gate of the hall, Han ministers, princes of Korea, the maharaja and their courtiers, and ordinary civil and military officials of the Manchu nationality were not allowed to enter, and only a few relatives and Manchu ministers who had been allowed by the emperor to enter the shrine were allowed to accompany the worship. This is the temple that preserves the ancient customs and primitive religion of the Manchu people the most, because the Han people and ordinary subjects cannot go in to see it, so it is considered to be the most mysterious place in the religious life of Manchuria, and there are various speculations and legends about what gods are worshipped. In fact, now the Qing Dynasty emperor led a small number of Manchu relatives and nobles into the place where there are only two buildings, a square building in the north, called the temple of the gods, facing south, is the place where the emperor rests when the temple is sacrificed, and stores all kinds of objects to worship the gods; The other building is on the south side, facing north, and is circular, called the Circle Hall, which is the so-called Tangzi. The sacrificial hall is in the temple, and there are no clay idols in it, nor are there any wall charts of those gods in Qingning Palace. In the south courtyard of the temple, there is a stone seat that erects a god pole in the middle, and then there are six rows of stone seats, which are used for the sacrifice of the prince, the king, and Baylor.

Huang Taiji stopped at the shrine for a while, and the ceremony of the shrine began. Manchurian and Mongolian conch and painted horns chirp in unison, and those musical instruments imported from the Han are not used. Huang Taiji entered the palace in the sound of conch and painted horns, praised by the praise officials, knelt three times and kowtowed nine times facing the south, and a small number of Manchu relatives and noble ministers who accompanied the sacrifice bowed their heads and knelt behind him in two lines on the left and right. Although the use of the praise ceremony and the three kneeling and nine prostrations are all influenced by the Han culture, the special customs of the Manchurian tribe in Changbai Mountain are maintained by facing the southern worship gods, which is not only different from the Han people, but also different from the customs of the general Jurchen people. After he saluted, the four male Sama wore divine hats, wore divine robes, and hung brass waist bells around their waists, while dancing, singing ancient greetings in Manchurian, and at the same time playing the three strings, or clapping the god board, or raising the knife to point to the painting, and a string of small bells rang on the back of the knife, which was very lively and the rhythm was not chaotic.

After worshipping the hall, Huang Taiji walked out of the palace, for his martial arts Xuanhe, once again won a great victory, facing the south to worship the Yellow Dragon Daxu. Although the royal flag is yellow and embroidered with a dragon-shaped pattern, which is the influence of the Han people, the sacrificial flag does not need to be praised by officials, and it is still prayed with Sama, which is also an old Manchu custom that has been passed down from generation to generation.

After the worship is completed, Huang Taiji is still led by the guard of honor and preaching, and returns to the palace. After entering the Fujin Gate, the prince of Joseon and the maharaja received the edict and returned to their pavilion.

The next day, Doro Rao Yu Bel Abatai led the Gulun Ebu Qi Tat, Baya Si Hurang, and the prince of Joseon Li Zhong. On the one hand, Huang Taiji ordered the ministers to draw up an edict on his behalf, using Manchu, Mongolian, and Han languages together, greatly exaggerating the martial arts of Song and Jin Dajie, and telling the Korean king Li Liang and the Mongolian kings and Baylor to know, and on the other hand, he ordered the Han ministers to try to persuade Hong Chengchou to surrender quickly. But two days later, the effort to persuade Hong Chengchou to surrender failed. Since Hong Chengchou entered Shengjing, he has been crying and insulting, demanding that he be killed as soon as possible. After three days, Hong went on a hunger strike. Huang Taiji wondered in the heart of Qingning Palace, how could he make Hong Chengchou not to go on a hunger strike, nor to be like Zhang Chun to stay in detention for a lifetime, and not to surrender. What method did you use to make Hong Chengchou change his mind?

Hong Chengchou concluded two or three months ago that the imperial court no longer had the strength to send troops to relieve the siege of Song and Jin, and the fall of Songshan was clearly inevitable, and his best efforts to hold on were only for the imperial court. Because he knew that the lonely city could not be defended for a long time, he had already had the determination to die and die. When the shouts in the city and in the streets were everywhere, he was about to commit suicide by hanging a beam, but he did not hesitate for a moment, but was surrounded by a group of pro-generals, pushed and helped him onto his horse, and later rushed out of the west gate surrounded by pro-soldiers and pro-generals. Before the horse stumbled, he also had a glimmer of hope in an instant: if he could escape, he would run back to Shanhaiguan to collect the remnants and continue to fight the enemy. After being captured, he deeply regretted that he did not commit suicide quickly when Matsuyama fell, and ended up as a prisoner like today, with only one way to be humiliated. Before being sent to Shenyang, he and Qiu Minyang were imprisoned in a tent, and both of them were able to put life and death aside and encourage each other with loyalty. Some time later, in early March, when Haoge sent a Manchurian general to announce that the Qing emperor had sent an edict to send Hong Chengchou to Shengjing and put Qiu Minyang to death, Qiu Minyang was calm as usual, and slowly said to the Qing general:

"Got it." He turned his head and smiled indifferently at Hong, and said, "Lord Zhangtai, Minyang is one step ahead." When you go to Shenyang, you will definitely reflect Wenwen Mountain before and after, illuminating the annals of history. Although the people could not accompany the northward journey and scolded the court, they hoped that the loyal soul would not be extinguished and welcome the adults underground. ”

Hong Chengchou said: "My generation has self-bound and received books, and I know the word loyalty. As a minister of the imperial court, he unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy, and he did his best for the country, and he took it for granted. In addition, the student Emperor Tehe knew that the heavenly grace was generous, and he should sprinkle the blood of his neck on the court, and he would never regret death. ”

Qiu Minyang ignored the urging of the Qing generals, straightened his head, straightened his clothes, knelt down and kowtowed three times to the southwest, bid farewell to the Ming Emperor, got up and bowed deeply to Hong Chengchou, and then went with the Qing generals. After Hong Chengchou saw Qiu Minyang being escorted away, he praised in his heart:

"What a Governor Qiu, he gave orders in danger, regarded death as home, and really did not dishonor the court and the monarchy!"

On the way to Shengjing, Qing Wei committed suicide by falling from his horse when he was afraid that he would encounter a cliff, so he sat on a three-horse sedan with felt tents. In front of the car, on the left sat a soldier driving a carriage and horses, and on the right sat Niu Lu Ezhen, who was in charge of guarding him. There were about 300 Manchurian cavalrymen walking in front of and behind the car, and when he looked at the flag, he understood that it was a man with a yellow flag. Hong Chengchou did not speak to the Niu Lu Ezhen and the soldiers who drove the car, and they were ordered not to be rude to him. Most of the time, Hong Chengchou closed his eyes, as if he was recuperating, but in fact, his mind stopped moving for a moment, sometimes like a turbulent wave, sometimes like a deep undercurrent; Sometimes the gods of the homeland, the heart of the court, sometimes can't help but think about the things after arriving in Shenyang, and can't help but be emotional. Of course, he also thinks of his family, his mother (who taught him at an early age to "do his filial piety for his sons and loyalty to his ministers"), his wife and children, and other relatives. What is particularly strange is that on the way to Shenyang to die, he not only thought of one of his concubines many times, but also often thought of two servants, one was Liu Sheng, who was killed by Qing soldiers outside the west gate of Songshan, and the other was Yu'er, who died in the chaos in August last year. Every time Yu'er's delicate and beautiful face fluttering in his heart and his gentle temperament that is good at being considerate of the master's heart, I can't help but feel melancholy. However, all these distractions could not be sustained for long, and were weighed down by a thought and feeling of imminent generosity.

Since he got into the prisoner car, he had already decided in his heart: after arriving in Shenyang, if he was taken to the front of the fourth prince of the captive chieftain, he would not bend his knees, and second, he would not surrender, and he would also scold the captive chieftain, but seek quick killing. He imagined that the captive chieftain might be enraged by his invective, knocking out his teeth, cutting out his tongue, and then killing him, just as An Lushan did with Zhang Xun. He thought that if he did that, he would sacrifice his life heroically, and he would not live up to the grace of the country and be deeply known today. He also thought that perhaps the captive chieftain would not kill him immediately, nor force him to surrender immediately, but would temporarily detain him, as the Mongols did with Wen Tianxiang, and wait for a long time before killing him. If this is the case, he must always have a determination to repay the country with death, and salute to the south every time he sees and looks, indicating that he is a minister of the Ming court. Sometimes he opened his sorrowful eyes and looked forward from the horse's head, and saw that spring had come to Liaodong, the river ice had begun to melt, the earth and mountains had turned gray and green, the weeds on the sunny side of the road had begun to wake up, and the willows were full of leaf buds on the soft branches, and some had bloomed sharp goose yellow leaves. After a long autumn and winter siege, Hong Chengchou suddenly saw some spring colors of the earth, and a ray of joy of life was born in his heart, but this joy was extremely incompatible with the cold reality of his defeat and capture, and he was about to be a generous martyr, so after a while, he felt that the mountains were bleak, the wind was miserable, and the earth was infinitely desolate. He closed his eyes again and sighed inwardly:

"This vast ancestral mountains and rivers are now broken everywhere, and that's it!"

The city of Jinzhou has surrendered, and the cannons of both sides can no longer be heard. Before the surrender of Jinzhou, the Qing Dynasty brigade did not dare to pass by the main road within two or three miles of the city, for fear of artillery in the city, and also for fear of hitting mines by mistake. Now the 300 cavalry and a carriage escorting Hong Chengchou passed over the ice of the Xiaoling River, bypassing Jinzhou and continuing to advance. Because he knew that he was passing through Jinzhou, an important city that he had been ordered to lead a large army to rescue, he couldn't help but open his eyes. He saw the majestic irregular city wall, the arrow tower that was slightly damaged by artillery fire, and especially the octagonal ancient tower of the Liao Dynasty that towered in the sky, with layers of cornices, was vividly visible. Suddenly, a cold wind blew, and a faint bell rang out. He was stunned for a moment, and then understood that this was the bell from the tower, and felt that every sound contained the sorrow of vicissitudes.

After passing Jinzhou, the prisoner car continued to gallop forward. His mood was very monotonous and melancholy, and he always remembered Qiu Minyang's calm demeanor and a few words to him before his execution, and he always boasted of Wen Tianxiang in his heart. When he was most depressed, he silently recited Wen Tianxiang's poem "Crossing the Zero Ding Yang", and the more he recited it, the more generous and passionate his heart became. Although he was not a poet, like all scholars living in the Tang and Song dynasties, he learned to write poetry since he was a child in order to cope with the imperial examination, and used poetry to engage in social entertainment and romance. Therefore, when it comes to writing poems, not only is he not an amateur, but he can also avoid reading rhymes for poems that are more difficult to memorize and generally not make mistakes. After reciting the poem "Crossing Zero Ding Yang" a few times, he took advantage of the fact that the prisoner car was fine, and his feelings could not be suppressed, and he chanted a poem of the seven laws of "The Prisoner Car Crossing Jinzhou" in his heart:

Thousands of miles of gloom and clouds pressure the car,

The feudal territory is full of long boos.

The king has lost his lonely ministers,

The land is in trouble, and there is blood and tears.

The fog is vast and dead,

The mercy face is miserable and leans on the village.

Millennial Liaodong crane,

Fly over Yanshan and love the emperor's residence.

After walking for four days from Songshan, I saw the head of Shenyang City. Since seeing Shenyang, his mood has become more calm, and he has only one thought: "I am the minister of the Celestial Empire, and I am deeply known to the emperor, and I will not humiliate the country and my body by coercion and temptation in every way!" He judged that the emperor would temporarily detain him and refuse to kill him, and ordered the ministers to take turns to persuade him to surrender, and even personally persuade him. He also understood that it was easy to die generously since he came to the battle, and it was difficult to live calmly and calmly, so he had to die as soon as possible. In order to do his best for the country as soon as possible, he decided that once he arrived at the Shenyang detention center, he must take three countermeasures: one is to insult him, the second is to ignore it, and the third is to go on a hunger strike. After thinking about it like this, he sneered in his heart and said:

"Let you use all the coercion and temptation methods, don't think about me Hong bending his knees!"

Huang Taiji was not in a hurry to see Hong Chengchou, and did not agree with the suggestion of some Manchu and Han ministers to kill Hong. He ordered Hong to be detained in the Sanguan Temple outside the Great Qing Gate, to be fed good food, to prevent him from committing suicide, and at the same time asked several civil and military officials among the Han people to take turns to persuade Hong to surrender. Three days later, he knew that the method of persuading Hong Chengchou to surrender would not work, no matter who went to talk to Hong, Hong either insulted, or closed his eyes and ignored him, without answering, and sometimes said that he was unfortunately defeated and captured, and he was deeply grateful to his emperor for knowing the favor, but begged to kill him quickly. When he mentioned his emperor, he often wept bitterly, was overwhelmed with grief, and was particularly harsh in insulting the Han people who persuaded him to surrender. At this time, someone suggested that Huang Taiji kill Hong to set an example for the Ming ministers who refused to surrender in the future. Huang Taiji laughed at such a suggestion, and sometimes scolded in his heart: "Stupid! On the fourth day, Hong Chengchou saw that the guards were very strict and had no chance to hang himself, so he began a hunger strike. No matter what delicious dishes were sent to him, sometimes he only glanced at them, and sometimes he didn't even look at them. After a long siege and lack of nutrition, his body was already very weak, so by the fifth day, after only a day of hunger strike, his spirit had already appeared quite sluggish, and he could not get up from lying on the kang.

Hong Chengchou went on a hunger strike for three days in a row, which made Huang Taiji very anxious. Since he succeeded to the throne of Nurhachi, he has greatly advanced the credgling state of Manchuria. He conquered Korea by force and subjugated the Mongol tribes by both civil and military means, and the next goal was to expand his empire within the Great Wall to the Yellow River Valley, and restore the size of the Jin dynasty at its peak. The name of the country established by Nurhachi was originally Houjin, but in the first year of Emperor Taiji Chongde (1636), the name of the country was changed to Daqing. The Qing and Jin Yin are similar, but they avoid stabbing the national feelings of the Han people. This incident can also show the depth of his intentions. In order to achieve this grand plan, he very much needed to absorb the culture and talents of the Han people. With his previous experience, he knew that the military generals of the Ming Dynasty were easy to surrender, but it was not easy to make the Wenchen surrender. In the past, he had surrendered Geng Jingzhong and Shang Kexi, and now he has surrendered a large number of Ming Dynasty generals such as Zu Dashou from the general army and deputy general to the Ming Dynasty generals who participated in and traveled, and he is also stepping up to recruit Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan in the Ming Dynasty. He had already issued a secret message to the kings and Baylors stationed in Jinzhou, telling them to quickly select some loyal and reliable people from Zu Dashou's subordinates who had parents and brothers in Ningyuan, and put them back in Ningyuan. Zu Dashou is a native of Ningyuan, and now his wife is also in Ningyuan. There are three living generals of the Zu family, and there are more than a dozen people from the deputy general to the staff and You, all of whom have surrendered, so sending a group of people from their subordinates back to Ningyuan will have a great effect on recruiting Wu Sangui and Wu's generals. He planned to personally send an edict to Wu Sangui to persuade him to surrender soon, and he also called Zu Dashou and other military generals who surrendered to Wu Sangui to send letters to persuade him to surrender, and it seemed that Wu Sangui's submission was only a matter of time. However, if there were no important civil servants of the Ming Kingdom who surrendered, it would not be easy to restore the old business of the Jin Dynasty. What's more, if Hong Chengchou was on a hunger strike for the Ming Dynasty and was praised by the Ming court and praised by the whole country, it would greatly encourage the Ming Dynasty's civil servants to become enemies of the Qing Dynasty, and military forces alone would never be able to conquer and govern the land and people of the Ming Dynasty. The more he thought about it in Qingning Palace, the more anxious he became, and he felt that there was nothing he could do about Hong Chengchou. Although his health has not been as good as before, and today he feels very tight in his chest, and sometimes there is some pain on the left side of his chest, which should be to lie down and rest or ask Sama to perform a mantra, but he endures the pain and does not tell anyone. In the evening, after touching the weather, he ordered someone to call Fan Wencheng, a scholar from the Inner Courtyard, to meet him.

Soon after Nurhachi began to establish the country, he paid attention to recruiting and appointing some Han people to work for him. When Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, more attention was paid to the use of talented Han Chinese. Tonight, because Hong Chengqian had been on hunger strike for three days, lying on the kang and waiting for death, his spirit was very compromised, so Huang Taiji considered that only Fan Wencheng could solve this problem among the Han Chinese Wu Qunchen, so he called him into the Qingning Palace overnight.

At that time, the etiquette of the Qing Dynasty was far less strict and cumbersome than the complete study of the Han people after entering the customs. After Huang Taiji waited for Fan Wencheng to kowtow, he ordered him to sit down opposite, and asked worriedly in Manchurian:

"Hong Chengchou will not return, and he has been on hunger strike for three days. What do you think of this? ”

Fan Wencheng immediately got up and replied in fluent Manchurian: "Please Your Majesty don't be too anxious. Although Hong Chengchou was already weak and went on a hunger strike for three days today, his condition was not good, but he drank boiled water several times a day, and it seems that he will not die in a day or two. It seems that there is nothing he can do to persuade him to change his mind. ”

Huang Taiji asked: "Everyone else went to persuade him to surrender, why didn't you persuade him?" ”

Fan Wencheng said: "A few days ago, everyone who went to persuade him was rudely abused by him, and the minister violated His Majesty's will and did not go. ”

Huang Taiji was unhappy in his heart and asked, "For the sake of state affairs, why do you bother with him scolding you?" ”

Fan Wencheng bowed down and smiled and said: "The minister has opened up the country for His Majesty, and he has not hesitated to break his bones, so he naturally doesn't care about Hong Chengchou's insults. But the minister is the minister of the Qing State, and he will not see him for the time being, and he will not be insulted and despised by him, so he can leave a room for turnaround. According to Wei Chen, the time for this turn is coming. ”

"If you can make Hong Chengchou change his mind and return to my court, it is my wish. Recently, I have been reading a lot about Daikin Taizong's book, thinking that it is not difficult to establish Taizong's career, and the important thing is to be good at using talents. Hong Chengchou is a rare talent among the ministers of the Ming State, but the Emperor of the Ming State is not good at using it, so he fell into the end of defeat and capture. Now that he's been on hunger strike for three days, how do you know he'll be able to change his mind? ”

Fan Wencheng replied: "Your Majesty uses soldiers like a god, and the minister will analyze Your Majesty a little with the principle of using soldiers." Hong Chengchou was really unwilling to surrender to our country, and he would inevitably regard his liberation to Shengjing as the last battle. When the ancients talked about the way of warfare, they once said that the soldiers in battle were often exhausted in one go, then declined, and then exhausted. When Hong Chengchou first arrived in Shengjing, he either insulted the ministers of our country who went to persuade him to surrender, or closed his eyes and ignored them. This is his blow. Later, knowing that His Majesty would not kill him, he began a hunger strike. However, it is well known that hunger strikes and death are 100 times more difficult than hanging oneself and swallowing gold. Because the hunger strike was very difficult, Hong Chengchou went on a hunger strike until the next day, and drank water several times a day, and drank more water today. In the past, there were many people who went in to take care of it, and Hong occasionally looked at it, with hatred in his eyes. Today, when I look at it occasionally, my eyes are already mild, but I am afraid that I will not give water to drink. It's a further decline. At this point......"

Huang Taiji hurriedly asked: "Can you persuade him to change his mind at this time?" ”

Fan Wencheng shook his head and said, "At this time, it's best not to send someone to persuade you." At this time, if he is in a hurry and forces him to surrender, or provokes him for other reasons, he will pluck up his courage again and would rather fight to the death. ”

"So ......"

"In the humble opinion of the minister, at this time, he should invest in his life's favor and arouse his desire to survive. When he has the idea of survival, he doesn't want to die and he can't turn around, and then I go to turn around for him and persuade him to surrender. ”

"Do you know what was the best thing about his life? Gold, silver, jewelry, antiques and jade, brocade clothes and delicacies, I am willing to give him anything, and I will never hesitate. ”

Fan Wencheng smiled and shook his head.

Huang Taiji asked again: "He has been commanding troops and fighting for many years, maybe he likes horses like Lu Xiangsheng?" ”

Fan Wencheng smiled and shook his head.

Huang Taiji pondered for a moment and said anxiously:

"Fan Zhangjing, what is this person's favorite hobby in his life?"

Fan Wencheng replied: "Among the civil and military officials captured in Songshan, there were many of Hong Chengchou's cronies and old subordinates, and some of them came to Shengjing who were willing to surrender. From their mouths, the minister learned that Hong Chengchou had only one problem in his life, that is, he was lustful. He not only likes beautiful concubines, but also has a good male style. ”

"What?"

Fan Wencheng tried his best to explain the term male style in Manchu so that Huang Taiji could understand it, and then continued: "In modern times, the Ming Guoshi doctor is not ashamed of his penchant for male style, but he thinks that life is elegant and interesting, and he does not shy away from taboos among friends. Fujian Province is more prosperous, and it is the first in the country. Hong is a native of Fujian, especially good. He led the troops out of the customs last year, took a handsome servant named Yu'er with him, and died in the chaos in August. Since then, the Hong family has been under siege, and there is no way to get close to the beauties and children. At present, Hong Shen is suffering from a hunger strike, and the two thoughts of life and death must fight in his heart. At this time, if he sees beauty, he will be moved, and he will have the idea of being in love and afraid of death. At that time, it will be easy to turn around for him, like a ripe melon. ”

Huang Taiji asked, "Are there any beautiful women?" ”

"The minister is sending someone to secretly search for it today, but he has not yet found it. At this time, it is not to reward Hong Chengchou with a beautiful woman and serve him on the pillow seat, but only to arouse his desire to live. ”

Huang Taiji said: "There are tens of thousands of Manchu and Han subjects in Shengjing, and there will be no beauties." In addition, there is a team of singing and dancing girls who came to the king of Korea last year, and there are also good births. ”

Fan Wencheng said: "Although it is not difficult to find a beautiful woman, this matter must not be known to the subjects, let alone the DPRK." This is a temporary plan to lure Hong Chengchou to immortalize, if it is publicized and spread to the subject country, it will lose the national system. ”

"Why don't you pick a prostitute? If a prostitute goes, he will not lose the integrity of the country. ”

"The minister also thought of using prostitutes. But Sihong Chengchou was born in a famous family, a young eunuch, a scholar, and saw a lot of beautiful women. The prostitutes in Shengjing are not comparable to the famous prostitutes in Beijing and Jiangnan, and their demeanor is frivolous and their language is vulgar, which can only make Hong Chengchou annoyed when he sees it. ”

Huang Taiji said: "Hong Chengchou has been besieged in Songshan for a long time, and his body is already weak and cannot withstand a hunger strike for several days. Tomorrow he must find a way to change his mind, or it will be too late. ”

Fan Wencheng bowed down and replied: "The minister must try his best to avoid delaying tomorrow." ”

Huang Taiji pondered for a moment, told Fan Wencheng to retreat, and then sat down for a moment with a tired and worried look, remembering Concubine Zhuang's Borzigit. Since the death of her sister Guan Jugong Concubine Chen, she is considered to be the most beautiful among the concubines and the most favored by the emperor. She can speak Chinese, know a little Chinese characters, behave elegantly, and have the vigor of the grassland people in her gentleness, so Huang Taiji always takes her with her every time she goes out hunting recently. Tonight, Huang Taiji originally wanted to stay in Qingning Palace, but because of his boredom, the queen of the middle palace did not have much fun for him, so he went to Yongfu Palace, where Concubine Zhuang lived.

In the morning, the weather was mild, and the sun shone on the white paper south window. Hong Chengchou woke up from a groggy semi-sleep, looked at the window, and knew that it was almost noon, and it was a sunny day. He stared out the window and felt that the sunlight on the window had never been so lovely. He thought that it was late spring in Guannai, and he couldn't help but think of the famous gardens in Beijing, and the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, thinking that he was now doing his best for the emperor, and how happy those people who grew up in the south of the Yangtze River were! Today, he felt weaker and more mentally depressed, and he was probably about to die. Yesterday, he often felt hungry and his stomach was very difficult, but today is the fourth day, and the pain of hunger has subsided, and the most prominent feeling is weakness and dizziness. He had heard that the average strong man would starve to death after six or seven days, and that his body, which had already suffered from the siege, might not support it for another day or two. So he sighed softly in his heart:

"Am I going to die like this?"

Because he thought that he would starve to death soon, he felt a little sad in his heart and regretted it. But a dizziness, and a sudden burning of sadness in his stomach, prevented him from thinking about any regrets. When the dizziness had passed a little and his stomach was no longer so sad, he looked at the window again. How he wanted to see more of the sun in the window! After a while, he heard soft footsteps and human voices outside the window, but no one came in for a long time. He wanted to persuade him to eat on the first and second days after his hunger strike, but he closed his eyes and did not answer. Yesterday, three ministers also came to his kang to persuade him, but he still closed his eyes and did not answer. In the past three days, every time the food brought by the captives who guarded him was more abundant than before, although he was hungry and unbearable, he closed his eyes ruthlessly, and sometimes glared at the captives and angrily reprimanded: "Take it! Hurry up and take it! He wondered why no prisoner had brought him food on time today, and had not come to ask him if he needed water. Why didn't anyone persuade him to eat? Suddenly it dawned on him in his heart, and he said to himself:

"Ah, that's right, the captive chief has seen that I am unyielding, and I swear to the Ming Dynasty to be a minister, and I no longer plan to persuade me to surrender."

He thought about his unyielding loyalty since he arrived in Shenyang, and he was satisfied, thinking that he had lived up to the emperor's kindness, as long as he supported it for another day or two, he would finish the minister's festival, and he would leave a reputation of loyalty and righteousness in the history of the Qing Dynasty, and it would be passed on for thousands of years, and the court would definitely give sacrifices, give sacrifices, set up shrines, build workshops, and shade his descendants. Thinking about it, he couldn't help but recite Wen Tianxiang's poem in his heart:

Read the books of the sages,

What did you learn?

And now and then,

It's almost worth it!

After reciting, he meditated for a moment, masturbating that he had achieved "no deserving". He wanted to sit up and leave a desperate poem to pass on to future generations while he had the last bit of energy left. But he had barely struggled to sit up when he felt a wave of vertigo that caused him to lean against the wall immediately. Fortunately, he had been lying in his clothes for a few days, so he didn't feel very cold when he leaned against the wall of the kang, and the slightest chill refreshed his mind. Next to the kang is an old red lacquered table with drawers, with pens, ink, paper, and inkstones, and the dishes he brings to him every day are also placed on this table. He glanced at it and saw a layer of dust on the table, as well as dust on the paper and inkstone, and he felt a sense of disgust. He has always loved cleanliness, even close to cleanliness. In normal times, he would have been angry with his servants, but today he just glanced at him indifferently. He no longer intended to touch the pen and paper, and turned his eyes elsewhere. There was still charcoal in the brazier, but it was clear that it was about to be extinguished. He thought that his life was like a little ember that would be extinguished, and no one would come to ask him. He thought that after his death, although the imperial court would praise him and proclaim his life's exploits and the loyalty and martyrdom of hunger strike to the history of the country, his soul would return to Huangquan, and the underworld must be desolate, cold, and a strange land, terrible loneliness. He had a little regret about entering his career early, rose to the top, became a minister of the court, and ended up like this. Suddenly, a wisp of cobweb-covered dust fell from the old ceiling and landed right on his quilt. He glanced at it, thinking that he was a dying man, and he didn't care.

Hong Chengchou thought about what was behind him wildly, and fell into a state of semi-sleep in a groggy state. He seemed to hear the whispers of Manchurian women in the courtyard, and seemed to hear someone coming in, but he did not pay attention, did not open his eyes, and continued in a semi-sleepy state, waiting for death. It seemed that after a long time, his spirit was a little better, and he slowly opened his eyes, feeling strange, not believing that this was true, and asking himself in his heart: "Could it be a dream?" He looked at the two girls in flag costumes with astonished eyes, one high and one low, with delicate faces, standing quietly inside the door, clearly waiting for him to wake up. Seeing him open his eyes, two women hurried to curtsy him, and the slightly taller woman immediately walked up to his kang and asked in gentle, unskilled Chinese, "Does the gentleman want to drink water?" ”

Although Hong Chengchou's mouth was dry, as if his throat was on fire, he was determined to die quickly, and without answering a word, he also avoided her eyes and looked around the house. He found that the floor had been cleaned, the table had been cleaned, the four treasures of the study had been rearranged neatly, and charcoal had been added to the brazier. His eyes inadvertently swept over the quilt he had covered, and he saw that the wisp of dusty cobwebs was gone. Before he could guess what this meant, the woman standing in front of the kang said in a coquettish voice:

"Mr. has suffered a lot in the past few days, and he is really a loyal minister of the Southern Dynasty. Even if the gentleman refuses to eat, won't he even take a sip of water? ”

Hong Chengchou concluded that the chieftain had nothing to do with him, so he had to use the beauty trick. He thought it was ridiculous and simply closed his eyes. After a while, Hong Chengchou heard the two Manchurian women walking softly, and only then did he open his eyes. The charcoal in the basin had been lit, and it made him feel warm; There were still shadows of them in his heart, and that polite attitude and gentle eyes made him feel a warmth in his heart. Since he was captured, the Qing soldiers who guarded him had been sometimes rude, and sometimes they did not dare to be too rude, but they also made him feel disgusted. Today was the first time he had seen someone who did not disgust him. He knew that there were no palace maids in the Qing Palace, only palace maids, and guessed that they must be palace maids sent by the chieftain, but after thinking about it carefully, it didn't look like using a beauty trick to lure him to eat again. The two women did not persuade him to eat again, but simply persuaded him to drink water, and did not persuade him much, and did not show any deliberate flattery in front of him. He asked in his heart:

"What does this mean? What other articles are below? ”

Although he could not guess the intentions of the enemy, he concluded that there must be something new to be done. Thinking that he was already weakened, and that he would be able to complete the Thousand Autumns Festival in a day or two, and that he must not fall into the enemy's tricks, he sneered in his heart and said:

"Hmph, you have a thousand plans, I have a purpose, but I only go on a hunger strike to the end!"

In order not to fall prey to the beauties of his enemies, he made up his mind: if any more women came in, he would insult them and tell them to get out of the house at once.

Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps at the door of the room, and he saw the palace maid who was a little short and had a particularly white and tender face just now opened the door curtain and brought a beautiful Manchurian young woman in, followed by the slender palace maid who was slightly taller just now, holding a small thermos. Hong Chengchou was going to insult the words, but there was no outlet; He wanted to close his eyes and ignore them, but a strong curiosity made him unable not to look at what appeared in front of him, and there was a special irresistible force that made him want to look at the Manchurian young woman who came in. Although the young woman who came in was also dressed as a palace maid, she had a noble aura, and did not curtsy to him, but walked directly to his kang with light steps, and said in Chinese, which was not very proficient:

"Mr. is the minister of the Ming Kingdom, unfortunately defeated and captured, determined to be loyal to the emperor of the Ming Kingdom, hunger strike and death, so that I admire it very much, specially sent a pot of warm boiled water, please Mr. to drink, reduce the pain of dry mouth." She took the kettle with her own hands, sent it to Hong, and said, "This warm boiled water can't save my husband's life, it can only slightly reduce the pain before death, please drink it quickly." ”

Hong Chengchou resolutely ignored it and closed his eyes. There was a moment of silence in the room. The smell of precious fat powder and the warm smell of the woman rushed into his nostrils and penetrated his heart and lungs. He wondered in his heart: "She is not like a palace maid." Who's this? Then he admonished himself: "Ignore her! Don't fall for the tricks of the chieftains! Suddenly he heard the crisp and gentle voice again, and asked:

"Isn't Sir going to be a loyal servant of the Southern Dynasty?"

Hong Chengchou did not speak, nor did he open his eyes. And the charismatic voice said:

"I am willing to help my husband become a loyal martyr of the Southern Dynasty, so I have come to persuade him to drink a few sips of water and clear his mind a little, so that he can do what you should do before he dies. Why is the gentleman so ignorant? ”

Hong Chengchou opened his eyes, and wanted to scold her with angry eyes to get out quickly, but when his eyes met hers, and when he saw her eyes and the corners of her mouth with a noble, gentle and slightly contemptuous smile, his heart moved, and the anger in his eyes suddenly disappeared, and he unconsciously changed to a gentle look. The Manchurian woman went on to say:

"It's not today, it's tomorrow, and the time has come for you to finish the festival for the Southern Dynasty. If you do not surrender, you will starve to death or be killed, and you will never live again. You are a Jinshi and a minister, so you shouldn't die in confusion. I advise you to drink a few sips of water, so that you can cheer up your spirits and leave a desperate poem or a few words now, so that the Ming government and the opposition and future generations will know how you have done your best for the country. Maybe there are important things waiting for you that need to be strong. Drink water, sir! ”

Hong Chengchou hesitated, stretched out his pale, weak, slightly trembling hands, then warmed the pot, took a sip, swallowed his throat, and immediately felt extremely comfortable. He took another sip, and was suddenly startled, and wanted to vomit, but he was really thirsty, and his throat was as dry as fire, and he was very sad, and finally swallowed, and then pushed the pot out. The Manchurian woman did not take the pot, and asked with a smile:

"Why doesn't the gentleman drink anymore?"

Hong Chengchou said simply: "There is a taste of ginseng here. I don't want to live! ”

The Manchurian woman smiled, and in Hong's eyes she was solemn and charming. Unwilling to fall into the scheme, he avoided her eyes and waited for her to catch the thermos. She didn't take the pot, but took half a step back and said:

"This is indeed ginseng soup, please Mr. drink a few more sips, so as to end the festival for the Southern Dynasty. I heard that His Majesty King Han will see you tonight or tomorrow. If he insists on not surrendering, he will be killed. When you come to His Majesty King Han, if you are very weak and powerless, others will not say that you are on a hunger strike, but that you are cowardly and afraid of death, paralyzed as mud, and you dare not even speak out loud. If you drink ginseng soup and have energy, you can make a generous statement in front of King Han and persuade the two countries to strike and repair, and you have done a good thing for the Southern Dynasty and have done your loyalty. I heard that the envoys of the Southern Dynasty and a group of ninety-nine people carrying the edict will come to Shengjing in a few days. If your emperor is not very anxious, how can he be so solemn? Besides, if you refuse to surrender and be killed, and you don't have the energy to die when you die, how can you walk to the execution ground and calmly accept righteousness? After a pause, she saw that Hong Chengchou had no intention of refusing her words, and then urged: "Drink, don't hesitate!" ”

Hong Chengchou seemed to be about to go to righteousness generously, drank the ginseng soup in one gulp, returned the warm pot, leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and said in a categorical tone:

"If you see Lao Han, you only want to die!"

He heard three Manchurian women begin to leave his room, and he couldn't help but sneak his eyes open a crack to look at their backs. When they had fully walked out, he opened his eyes completely, and felt that the lingering fragrance of fat powder still seemed to be left in front of the kang. He wondered in his heart, as if in a dream, he asked himself:

"Who is this beauty?"

He felt that he really had the spirit, and thought that he should write a desperate poem on the wall at this moment, so as not to be called by the old man and killed, and it would be too late to leave a few lines in the hurry. But after he got off the kang, his mind was very confused, and he only thought about the first three sentences of the desperate poem he planned to write, so he couldn't continue to meditate and think about it. After sitting in the chair for a while, he returned to the kang and thought about it until he fell asleep when he was tired.

Until late in the afternoon, no one came to see him, as if the enemies had forgotten about him. Ever since he was captured, he has always waited for a quick death, always closing his eyes to the enemy, or looking at him with a cold eye. Now that no one came to see him, he felt lonely in his heart. When it was time to apply for the card, the "beauty" he praised in his heart came with the two palace maids who came in the morning. She looked at it with gentle eyes, clearly bringing a trace of warmth to his heart. But he hadn't forgotten that he himself was a minister of the Celestial Empire and was about to serve the country, so he maintained an indifferent look on his face. The dignified Manchurian young woman took the pot from the palace maid's hand and handed it to Hong Chengchou, with a smile on the corner of her mouth, and said:

"Sir, life or death, tomorrow will be known, please drink a few more sips of ginseng soup."

Hong Chengchou didn't say a word, held the warm pot, and drank the ginseng soup. The Manchurian young woman was satisfied, and ordered a palace maid beside her to catch the pot with her eyes. There was a bit of mockery in her eyes, but her demeanor was solemn and subtle, and it didn't hurt Hong Chengchou's self-esteem at all. She asked:

"His Majesty King Han really doesn't want Mr. to die. Do you have something to say to me, sir? ”

Hong Chengchou replied: "There is nothing else to say, but to die." ”

She smiled and nodded, "It's fine." These are the words of a loyal servant. Then he said, "Sir, since he is in his senses, I will not come again." From tonight onwards, a servant will come from the Han Army Banner to serve you until you are generous to the Southern Dynasty. ”

Hong Chengchou asked, "Who are you?" ”

The Manchurian woman replied coldly: "You don't have to ask more, it's not good for you." ”

After looking at this noble woman walking away with the two palace maids, Hong Chengchou felt more and more strange. After a while, he thought that this woman might be a female official in the palace, and he thought that he might not be killed, so Lao Han ordered the three palace women to send ginseng soup twice to save him. But tomorrow when I see Lao Han, he will never bend his knees and surrender, what will happen in the future? The more he thought about it, the more uncertain he felt about his future. After this hunger strike, he was sent by three women to save his life, and the idea of wanting to live suddenly arose, but he couldn't help but think about the minister's famous festival, the emperor's kindness, and the future situation of his mother and family. He thought about it, his heart was like numbness, and he couldn't help but sigh. After a while, he felt mentally tired and closed his eyes to recuperate. As soon as he closed his eyes, he remembered the "beauty" who persuaded him to drink ginseng soup. He remembered her eyes that were as bright as paint, and he hadn't seen them since the Inspector had been out. He remembered that when she brought the pot to him, he peeked with his half-closed eyes at one of her wrists hidden in his sleeve, with fair skin, wearing a red gold bracelet with delicate openwork and several oversized pearls. He thought that Manchurian women did not bind their feet, like this "beauty" just now, with a light gait and vigor, unlike the Han beauties in modern times who are often weak and can't help the wind, so he unconsciously remembered Cao Zijian's famous poem describing Luoshen: "Flying like a frightening Hong, graceful like a dragon." He was leaving the major question of the Dead Festival, and he was wandering about the impression left by this "beauty", when he suddenly heard the sound of the door curtain, and then saw a beautiful face flash, and then hidden outside the curtain. There was a whisper outside the door, and then a young man dressed as a Manchurian servant came in.

The young servant who came in was no more than eighteen or nineteen years old, with a slender figure and a feminine tenderness and shy expression. He walked to Hong Chengchou's kang and knelt down, kowtowed, stood up with his hands down, bowed down and shouted softly: "Master! "It speaks northern Mandarin, with a slight Suzhou accent and a Shandong accent. Hong Chengchou glanced him up and down and asked, "Are you singing?" ”

"Yes, sir."

"Where did you originally sing?"

"When the villain was nine years old, Jinan Dewangfu sent people to Suzhou to buy a class of boys and a group of girls to learn drama in the palace, and the villain went to the Dewangfu. The soldiers broke Jinan, and the villain was captured in Shengjing and placed in the Han Army's Qigushan Ezhen Mansion. Because the troupe was dispersed, the northerners didn't understand Kunqu opera, so they didn't sing anymore. ”

Hong Chengchou looked at him for a while, and saw that he was indeed delicate, with red lips and white teeth, and although the corners of his eyes were smiling, they were clearly sorrowful. Looking carefully at his cheeks and delicate skin, he couldn't help but think of Yu'er who died in the chaos last August. He asked again: "Are you singing Xiaodan?" ”

"Yes, sir. The master's eyesight is really accurate! ”

"What are you doing here?"

"The lord of the court here wants to choose a slave from the Han people who can serve the master, so he sent the villain."

Hong Chengchou sighed and said: "I am a person who is about to become righteous, maybe I will not be in the world tomorrow, and I don't need a servant." ”

"Words can't be said like that. If the old man is not killed for a while, daily life must always be taken care of by servants. Besides, the lord is a minister of the Ming Dynasty, even if the festival ends tomorrow, he must have a slave to take care of him before the festival. Being unkempt like an adult is not a minister of the Southern Dynasty. If adults don't comb their hair, I'm afraid that lice and lice will grow a lot. How about the minion comb the adult's hair first? ”

Hong Chengchou's scalp was already itching, thought for a while, and said, "It's okay to comb it." If I can die tomorrow, I will go south and bid farewell to my king. What is your name? ”

"The villain's surname is Bai, and his name is Ruyu."

Hong Chengchou let out an "ah", and a sense of melancholy rose in his heart.

Ruyu went out for a moment and took a box with grooming utensils. He took off the hat and net towel for Hong Chengchou, tied the bun, combed and grate, and grated a lot of snow skins, lice, and lice. Every grate makes Hong Chengchou feel pleasure. He thought to himself: If he doesn't die, he will stay in the enemy country for a long time, like Zhang Chun, and spend the rest of his life. But suddenly he said in his heart:

"I am an important minister of the Ming court, I am favored by the country, and I am deeply aware of today, which is different from Zhang Chun. Tomorrow I will see the chieftain, but I will only die, and I should not think about it. ”

After Ruyu grated for him, she brought a basin of warm water and waited for him to wash the dirt on his face and neck. A refreshing feeling that penetrates the heart and spleen. Ruyu went out again to fetch him a few clean underwear and a half-worn blue silk burqa, all of which had a round neck and wide sleeves in the style of the Ming Dynasty, and said to him:

"Please change your underwear, and I also changed this burqa. The burqa was so dirty, and there were two blood stains on the back placket. ”

Hong Chengchou said sadly: "It was outside the west gate of Songshan when I planted the horse, several personal soldiers and domestic slaves rushed to the rescue, and were killed by the captives on the spot, and blood was splashed on my robe. This is the blood of the loyal ministers and righteous men of the Ming Dynasty, and I will never forget it. Just wear this burqa and don't need to change it. I myself will sprinkle my blood on this robe, but in a day or two. ”

Although the lord said so, from the point of view of the slave, the lord did not have to wear this burqa if he wanted to do his best. The old man is the secretary of the military department and the governor of Jiliao, how noble his identity is, why should his blood be sprinkled with his own soldiers and slaves? Please change it. I heard that Master Fan of the Inner Courtyard University is going to come to see the lord in the future. Although the master is a prisoner, his clothes must not lose the dignity of the ministers of the Southern Dynasty. ”

"Don't you want to take me to meet Lao Han?"

"After the villain heard that Master Fan came to see the master, the next step is to see King Han."

"This is Fan Wencheng you're talking about?"

"It's this lord, sir. He obeyed the words of King Han in the foreword, and there was no Han minister in the Qing Kingdom who could compare with him. Tomorrow he will come in person, just to persuade him to surrender. When you see him, half of the life and death of the lord will be decided. Please don't be like in the past few days, when you see people coming to persuade you to surrender, you will scold or close your eyes and ignore them. ”

Hong Chengchou glanced at the servant sternly and scolded: "You don't have to talk too much!" He is not only the minister of the enemy country, but also a bachelor of the inner court, I have my own way of coping, why use you to tell the master! ”

"Yes, yes. The minions didn't dare to say anything more. ”

Ruyu waited for him to change his dirty clothes, and said that tonight he would make a charcoal fire in the house, boil hot water, and wait for him to take a bath. Hong Chengchou didn't make a sound, but he felt that this servant's gentleness was not as considerate as the dead Yu'er. After a while, Ruyu brought dinner, which was porridge made with the finest Korean rice, and two other vegetarian side dishes. Hong Chengchou hesitated slightly, thinking that he would have to deal with Fan Wencheng tomorrow, and then he would have to deal with the four princes of the chieftain, so he picked up the bowl and ate. He thought about it while eating, and asked in his heart:

"How do you speak to Fan Wencheng?"

CHAPTER XXVIII

There is a popular saying: Misfortune does not go alone. This is not superstition, but often a variety of specific factors at the same time that contribute to different bad things happening at the same time. On the surface, it seems to be accidental, but when you think about it, it is not accidental. Chongzhen would never have even dreamed that on the same day, he received two flying letters in the Qianqing Palace: in the morning, he received a report from Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, that Wang Qiaonian, the governor of Shaanxi and the three sides, was defeated in Xiangcheng, and Li Zicheng broke through Xiangcheng on February 17, captured Wang Qiaonian, and killed him outside the city. In the afternoon, he received a flying performance from Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan, saying that Songshan City was lost on February 19, and Hong Chengchou's life and death were unknown, and it was rumored that he died in a street battle, and he committed suicide.

A few days ago, Chongzhen knew that Zuo Liangyu and Li Zicheng were holding each other in Yuncheng, and Wang Qiaonian was going to Xiangcheng to attack Li Zicheng with Zuo Liangyu. I didn't expect him to fail so quickly and die. I don't understand: Where did Zuo Liangyu go? Where did Wang Qiaonian's men go? Was the battle in Xiangcheng broken up? In previous years, he would have been shocked to receive this recital, and after being shocked, he would have gone to the Fengxian Hall to cry bitterly. However, since Yang Sichang's death, he has become accustomed to the blow of defeat in the civil war, and only feels discouraged, depressed, and worried, and no longer cries. When he got the news of Fu Zonglong's killing a few months ago, he didn't cry. In addition, Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian, the two governors, have a light weight in his mind, and they cannot be compared with Yang Sichang and Hong Chengchou at all.

When he got Wu Sangui's flying performance, he cried. He immediately ordered Chen Xinjia to try to find out the whereabouts of Hong Chengchou's life and death, and he himself gave Wu Sangui an edict to find out Song Ming quickly.

Since the news of the loss of Songshan reached Beijing, the Beijing government and the opposition have been concerned about Hong Chengchou's whereabouts, and there have been different legends for a while. Some say that he broke through on horseback when Matsuyama was lost and died in the chaos. Some say that he led Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen generals to fight in the streets, and was wounded several times, but he still supervised the battle, and the left and right were killed and wounded, and he was about to commit suicide, when the enemy flocked to him, unfortunately he was captured, and his life and death are unknown. A few days later, new news reached Beijing, saying that Qiu Minyang, Cao Bianjiao, and Wang Tingchen had all been killed, and the rest of the more than 10 superintendents and hundreds of generals and generals had been killed in battle, and some had been killed after being captured.

The imperial court ordered Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan, to "send Hong Chengchou to Shenyang to find out the truth of righteousness and find out the truth", and at the same time, Chongzhen also asked the high rise of the supervising army in Shanhaiguan to find out whether Hong Chengchou was really unyielding and had been righteous.

By the end of April, Wu Sangui and Gao Qiqian had received reports one after another, and Hong Chengchou had received faster news from his mansion in Beijing. First of all, a soldier in Hong Chengchou's old camp, who fled from Shenyang after being captured, said that when he escaped from Shenyang, he did coax Hong Chengchou to die of hunger strike among the Han residents, and he was a great loyal minister. Later, he played a secret recital, saying that Wen Hong Chengchou had indeed attempted to hang himself, and then went on a hunger strike and died in Shenyang.

Wu Sangui sent a secret report to the Yamen of the Ministry of War, saying that after Hong Chengchou did arrive in Shenyang, he scolded the Manchurian officials who persuaded him to surrender, and every time he mentioned the emperor's kindness, he wept bitterly and begged for a quick kill. Tang Bao concluded:

Governor Wen Hong has been on hunger strike for several days, and the enemy has tried every means to persuade him, but he just ignores it, closes his eyes and waits for death. The captives were very tightly guarded and did not allow the news to spread outside. Whether Governor Hong was dead or not is a matter of variety. Once you continue to explore the truth, you should report it again. Those who must report to the pond!

The people of Beijing have been talking in the streets for several days, and they all think that Hong Chengchou will definitely die. Those who had a little knowledge of history compared him to Zhang and Xu today; Even children and teenagers know that Hong Chengchou is a loyal minister who does his best for the country. Above the court, there were many discussions, all words of approval. Some people said in the courtroom: "Alas, when the world is a minister, strong and sensitive and daring, strong and strong, martyrdom, who is like the Hong family!" Those who had impeached him on the weekdays, or who were fond of talking about his shortcomings because of their opinions, all changed their tones and said in unison:

"The ancients said that the coffin was closed, and there was no loss in the nine major festivals of Hongheng, and it can be said that he died well!"

At this time, Chen Ying'an, the housekeeper of the Hongfu, and others were boiling because of the boiling of the government and the opposition in Beijing, and the old protégés of the Hongfu were all concerned about the glory of the imperial court, and the eldest young master had not yet returned to Beijing, and the matter could not wait any longer, so they jointly gave the emperor a recital, stating that Hong Chengchou had indeed been righteous, and there were such touching words:

The battle was defeated in August last year, and the head of the family was trapped in Songcheng. There was no food in the city, horses and soldiers were killed, and hunger was guarded. Unintentionally, Xia Chengde secretly threw himself into Hulu and opened the door to dedicate the city. The head of the house, Judah supervised the soldiers fighting in the streets, shouting to kill the enemy, and the sleeves of his robe were stained with blood; The head of the family was seriously wounded, and he died on the left and right, but he kowtowed to the south, saying "The king of heaven is sage, and the minister's strength has been exhausted." After being executed, he scolded endlessly, but he wanted to die quickly. Later, the captive soldiers defended very strictly, and they could not hang themselves, and they went on a hunger strike. has always been righteous and fierce, and he has never been as good as the master of the courtier's family!

Emperor Chongzhen read this recital twice and sighed deeply. Wei Qinghui, the housekeeper of the Qianqing Palace, gently opened the half-old embroidered dragon yellow satin door curtain and walked into the warm pavilion, originally had something to play to him, but when he saw him looking sad in front of the imperial case, his eyebrows were furrowed, and tears were in his eyes, so he was so frightened that he took half a step back, did not dare to make a sound, and did not dare to withdraw. After a while, Chongzhen turned his head, looked at her, and asked:

"You just came back from Chengqian Palace?"

Wei Qinghui bowed down and replied, "Yes, my lord, the slave maid has just returned from Chengqian Palace." ”

"How is Tian Niangniang's condition today?"

Tian Niangniang still has a low-grade fever every afternoon after Shen Shi, and often coughs at night, with blood in her sputum. She felt weak and didn't want to get out of bed. She often thinks that her illness will not be cured, and misses the five princes, and she is always depressed in her heart, and often sheds tears. As the day goes on, the condition will only worsen. ”

Chongzhen scolded: "The imperial doctors consult every day and consider the prescriptions, but they are so incompetent, they are all rice buckets!" ”

Wei Gongren said: "Although the imperial doctors carefully treat Tian Niangniang's illness, I hope that Tian Niangniang's phoenix body will heal as soon as possible and relieve the sacred heart as soon as possible." But they can only put their minds on menstruation, clearing the spleen, moistening the lungs, dissolving phlegm, and relieving cough, and they have used all the medicines they can use, but they have no effect on Tian Niangniang's illness. Now Tian Niangniang's illness is indeed not light, menstrual blood has not come for several months, and people are getting thinner and thinner day by day. From the point of view of slaves and maids, they can't rely on the imperial doctor, but also need to pray and pray. ”

Chongzhen nodded, and ordered the palace maid to withdraw with his eyes. Immediately, a eunuch in front of the palace came in, and Qi Yue said that Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, was summoned to the palace and waited outside the Qianqing Gate to be summoned. Chongzhen asked melancholy:

"Is that Zhang Zhenren still in Beijing?"

The eunuch in front of the emperor replied: "I heard that Zhang Zhenren begged the emperor to send down Long'en, and according to the example of Yan Shenggong, he changed the real person to the second grade of Yulu, and gave an official residence in the capital. This matter has not been approved by the emperor, so he still stayed in Beijing, lived in Changchun Guanzhong, and never returned to Longhu Mountain. ”

Chongzhen said: "The two things he requested, I have instructed the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites to discuss them in detail. Later, according to the repetition of the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites, there is no such story in this dynasty, and it is difficult to agree. The meaning of the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites is very much, why is Zhang Zhenren still stranded in the capital? Alas, regardless of these little things, you will pass on the decree for me today: order Zhang Zhenren to build Jiao in Changchun Guanzhong and pray for the imperial concubine's illness. You will then pass on the monk and Taoist Division, and the Beijing teachers have their own famous temples, and they must chant and pray for the imperial concubine for three days. The monks in the South Palace, as well as the Yinghua Palace, the Dagaoxuan Hall and other places, whether it is a famous and virtuous teacher, or a Buddhist palace maid who practices Taoism, will chant and pray for the imperial concubine for seven days from tomorrow. ”

The eunuch prostrated and said, "Yes!" ”

Chongzhen thought that state and family affairs were so unfortunate, he couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, and then ordered Chen Xinjia to come in. He has been very dissatisfied with this military secretary because of his recent defeat in the war against Li Zicheng, but he has only looked at the courtiers, and there is no one who is more capable than Chen Xinjia, and he is relying on this person for the secret peace negotiation with the "Dongyu", so his dissatisfaction has not been revealed. After Chen Xinjia came in and bowed three times, he looked at the military department Shangshu who was kneeling on the ground and bowed his head and waited for questioning, and asked:

"Hong Chengchou is the matter of the country's end, does the secretary have any other news?"

Chen Xinjia replied: "There is no new Tang newspaper in the minister's department. Chen Ying'an, a member of Hong's family, went to the minister's headquarters yesterday to see the ministers, saying that Hong Chengchou had indeed done his best, and his words were conclusive and seemed to be quite credible. ”

Chongzhen said: "I also saw Chen Ying'an and other scripts, so I called Qing into the palace to discuss. Since Hong Chengchou is a rare loyal martyr, the court should be praised and compassionate to him. Do you know what relatives Hong Chengchou has in the capital? Where is his son now? ”

Chen Xinjia said: "Hong Chengchou's eldest son was originally in the capital, but he left Beijing a month ago due to an incident. Yesterday, according to Chen Ying'an and other ministers, he had rushed back in the starry night, and he would be there in about a day or two. How the Hong family will be mourned in the capital, how to pay tribute, and how to be hanged are all ready, just waiting for Hong Chengchou's eldest son to return to Beijing to preside. ”

Chongzhen's thoughts had already turned elsewhere, and he was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked, "Has Ma Shaoyu arrived in Shenyang?" ”

"According to the date, it may have arrived in Shenyang by now."

Chongzhen sighed and said: "At present, the thieves have not been extinguished, and the Central Plains are erosive. To the north of the Yangtze River, locusts and droughts are everywhere, hungry people gather everywhere, and thieves and bandits are everywhere. All these are well known to the central responsibility of the Qing Dynasty. It is inevitable that it will no longer be plugged. Internal and external difficulties, such as helpless! ”

Chen Xinjia knew that the emperor was going to talk about peace, so he quickly kowtowed and said: "As a soldier, Weichen can't be safe for His Majesty, and he really deserves death." However, the situation has evolved so far, and it can only temporarily negotiate with the Eastern Prisoners, seeking peace for a while, so that the imperial court can make every effort to deal with the crisis in the Central Plains and exterminate the thieves. There is no better way to do this. Ma Shaoyu has gone to Shenyang, and he will be able to break through the court and live up to his mission. I hope that the emperor can wait with peace of mind, and there is no need to be anxious. ”

"What I am worried about has not been slowed down, and the Central Plains is out of control."

"On the Henan side, Weichen has complied with the order to urge all armies to rush to aid and suppress. As for the Dongyu, I am afraid that the reward will be too extravagant. The minister has secretly instructed Ma Shaoyu that in front of the chieftain, he should not only promote the emperor's virtue and prestige and enlighten his heart, but also consider the overall situation of our country at present, and may as well make a little compromise. The minister also told him that the emperor meant that as long as the people of the land did not lose too much, he could act cheaply in Shenyang; Once there is a decision, quickly report it to the ministers to release the holy thoughts. ”

Chongzhen said with a heavy heart: "I hope that Ma Shaoyu will deeply understand my hardships and handle the matter well; I also hope that the chieftain will not gain an inch, and he will be insatiable, and he will grow branches. I want to be the lord of the Ming Dynasty, not the cowardly king of the Song Dynasty. If the captives demand too much, I will never agree. As long as the loss of the people of the land is not much, it is advisable to make a decision quickly, submit it to me, and then put it into the oath and abide by it together, so that our subjects outside the customs can temporarily relieve the suffering of the army. ”

Chen Xinjia said: "Yes, yes." The Emperor Shengming! ”

"If Ma Shaoyu comes to Beijing with a secret report, he must not leak a word."

"Yes, yes. Such matters are kept confidential. ”

"I have repeatedly instructed that every time I give an order to the secretary, I will pay Bingding after reading it. Don't be negligent! ”

Chen Xinjia said: "The ministers are blunt, and the grace of Hemeng knows the encounter, but I hope that the emperor will become the lord of Zhongxing, so all such secret decrees of the emperor will be burned at any time, and not even a word will be left in the world." ”

"Sir, get out. If there is news outside the customs, even if I know! ”

Chen Xinjia said "yes" repeatedly, and then kowtowed and resigned.

A few days later, the Ministry of Rites' various praise and honor ceremonies on Hong Chengchou had been inscribed to the emperor, and he was ordered to hurry up. These honors include the gift of loyalty, the gift of the crown prince, the sacrifice of nine altars, and the establishment of ancestral halls in the Fujian hometown of Beijing and Hong. After the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry consulted, the emperor was played together, and the ancestral hall of the capital was built in the east of the moon city of Zhengyangmen. The Ming Dynasty worships Guan Yu the most, the Emperor of Xietian, the emperor temple is everywhere in the country, and the Guan Emperor temple built in the west of the moon city of Zhengyangmen is very famous in the capital. Now it is enshrined to build a "Zhaozhong Temple" in the east of the moon city, which clearly has the meaning of matching Guan Yu with the Hong family.

The sacrificial tent is set up outside the Chaoyang Gate, near the Dongyue Temple, and is half a mile away from the north of the road. Facing Dongguan Road, many slum houses were demolished, which was very lenient. Linda Road with pine and cypress branches and plain paper flowers to tie a memorial arch, hang a yellow silk banner in the middle, on the book "Qin give a sacrifice". There are three gates in the memorial arch, the middle gate is the royal road, and the emperor comes to pay tribute, so the ground is paved with yellow sand. From the memorial arch to the sacrificial tent a stone's throw away, there are many poles erected on both sides of the road, and two rows of white silk flags and the couplets sent by the central yamen are hung. Four white cloth tents were erected on both sides of the road, two on each side, three for the chief priest of the Ministry of Rites and the officials accompanying the priests of the yamen to rest temporarily, and one for the Hong family to stay and rest. There is also a small cloth tent for the musicians, which is set up in front of the altar, facing each other on the left and right. The rest of the deacons, as well as two smaller tabernacles, were behind the sacrificial tabernacles. A yellow satin plaque is hung on the door of the sacrificial tent, and the four sides are inlaid with white satin, and there are four big characters inscribed by Chongzhen's imperial pen: "Loyal soul is immortal". Inside the sacrificial tent is the mourning hall, which is very solemn and solemn. In the middle of the mourning hall, there is a plain white six screens, the front of the screen is provided with a long several, white satin plain flower curtain, put the spirit card of Hong Chengchou, Gong Kai wrote "Therefore, the Ming Dynasty military department is still in the book, the governor of Jiliao, the prince Taibao, the spirit of the martyr and the prince of Hong". In front, there is a pair of tall tin candlesticks on the left and right, and in the center is a white copper incense burner. Next to the Lingji is an offering table with a white curtain. The four walls of the mourning hall are hung with banners and couplets. There are couplets on both sides of the door of the mourning hall and the gate of the pine and cypress branches, all of which are written on white silk and fine white kudzu cloth. All couplets and elegiac couplets praise Hong's loyalty and patriotism and heroic sacrifice. After all, the capital is a place where literati gather, and when the emperor gives sacrifices to the martyred ministers, all the large and small yamen, the old and old Hong's life, and the colleagues of the DPRK and China, who have no one-sided relationship, and the famous gentlemen, all send the couplet, and they will not do the couplet on their behalf, so they ask others to do it on their behalf, each with their own talents, each showing calligraphy, it is really dazzling, beautiful. Let's look at the couplets of the middle door of the archway, although it is not stable, but it writes the mood of the government and the opposition at that time:

Ten years of sweat, half a lonely city, generous and loyal to the king,

The old minister's life is absolutely in his heart;

Thousands of miles back to the soul, thousands of miles of sad wind, swaying to mourn the elders,

The Holy Lord's mercy is profound.

Now let's put down the "sacrifice" place outside Chaoyang Gate and don't go into details, let the tip of my pen turn to the very lively Zhengyang Gate. In Zhengyangmen Moon City, construction is being started day and night to build an ancestral hall for Hong Chengchou. This project was approved by the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites and submitted to the Ministry of Industry for approval, and then the Ministry of Works' Yamen was in charge of the construction and completed within a time limit. The company's original work service was used for other purposes, and it was happy to hand over the project to the contractor who had the most face and was willing to give more kickbacks to undertake the construction, and took the opportunity to share the fertilizer together. Despite the exploitation, carpenters and masons barely starving, and a large number of apprentices working for nothing, have never been more energetic than ever. The legend of Hong's "heroic martyrdom" deeply touched everyone's hearts, and even people who like to be lazy on weekdays are embarrassed to be lazy. Because this ancestral hall was "built" by the emperor and was built in the moon city of Zhengyangmen, there are many people who come to watch it every day. Some people were excited after reading it, and after returning home, they recited poems and lyrics, one praising Hong's loyalty, and the other to express their indignation. It is said that there are many excellent works, all of which were written by famous literati, and later they all burned their manuscripts themselves, and none of them were included in the anthology, and even the poems that were once written were secretive.

The fourth day of the fifth month is an auspicious day of the zodiac, and it is also the day when the main hall of the Zhaozhong Temple is selected. At midnight, a burst of firecrackers was set off in the moon city of Zhengyangmen, and then drum music was played, and the Yamen Battalion Department of the Ministry of Industry sent a seven-grade civil official to salute and offer incense, and another eight-grade official knelt down to read Shangliang Wen, and then incinerated it. Although the soldiers and horses of the five cities sent soldiers to suppress and drive away the crowded crowd, the people who watched still surrounded the roadside. Many elderly people, thinking that in the past, several ministers who ran Liaodong, such as Wang Huazhen, Xiong Tingbi, and Yuan Chonghuan, all ended up being killed by the imperial court, but now Hong Chengchou is trapped in a lonely city, the city is broken and captured, scolding the enemy for not yielding, and dying on hunger strike, and can't help but whisper and praise.

When the Zhaozhong Temple was on the beam, Emperor Chongzhen was summoning the ministers on the platform. He sat on the throne, his face sad, his brow furrowed, and his white eyes bloodshot from staying up all night. The ministers saw that his feet were constantly moving under the imperial case, and knew that he was often like this when he went to court because of his anxiety, so everyone pinched a handful of sweat, held their breath, and waited for questioning. He picked up and put down a stack of military intelligence documents on the imperial case, and shouted softly: "Chen Xinjia! ”

Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, immediately replied, walked to the imperial case, knelt down and kowtowed. But Chongzhen didn't ask questions immediately, and called the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry to kneel down in front of him. There were several important things that he had to ask the ministers, but his mind was very confused, and he didn't know which one to ask first. After a pause, he called Tobe Shangshu to kneel down in front of him. He glanced at the documents on the imperial case, and then asked Chen Xinjia:

"Since Wang Qiaonian's defeat in Xiangcheng, in the past two months, the thieves have broken many states and counties in central and eastern Henan, and even the Guide Mansion has been broken, and it is rumored that they are going to besiege Kaifeng. What is the strategy of the secretary of state? ”

Chen Xinjia kowtowed and said: "The minister has urged Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue, the two governors, to command Zuo Liangyu and other general soldiers, about 200,000 people, to work together to help suppress them, so that the thieves will not succeed." ”

Chongzhen didn't believe in the talents of Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue, nor did he believe that Zuo Liangyu would fight solidly, sighed, and asked:

"If the reinforcement is unfavorable, can there be any soldiers to be transferred?"

Chen Xinjia replied: "Your Majesty understands that at present, there is a shortage of soldiers and salaries, and there is really no soldier to adjust. As a last resort, he had to transfer Liu Chao, the chief soldier of Shanxi, and Zhou Yuji, the general soldier of Ningwu, to rush to help Henan. In addition, His Majesty released Sun Chuanting from prison and ordered him to be the governor of Shaanxi and the trilateral military affairs. He had already arrived in Xi'an a month ago, and was collecting money and grain and stepping up military training. If tens of thousands of elite soldiers can be trained in a short period of time, Kaifeng can also be rescued. ”

Chongzhen turned to Fu Shuxun, the new secretary of the household department, and asked: "The salary is urgent, what is the good plan of the secretary department?" ”

Fu Shuxun replied tremblingly: "At present, there is a famine everywhere, war everywhere, and destruction everywhere, and everywhere I ask for relief, salary, and ...... everywhere."

Chongzhen has been familiar with such words for several years, and he didn't want to listen to them, so he asked Liu Zunxian, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry: "The place where Hong Chengchou is sacrificed can be completely arranged?" ”

Liu Zunxian replied: "It was completely ready a few days ago. Because His Majesty will come to give sacrifices in person, he will demolish the dilapidated houses of several poor people in the vicinity, widen the royal road, and pave the yellow sand. ”

Chongzhen asked again: "The Ministry of Destiny built an ancestral hall for Hong Chengchou in Zhengyangmen Moon City, how is the project going?" ”

"The project is progressing very fast, and it is now on the beam."

Chongzhen turned to the Ministry of Rites: "The festival will start tomorrow, and I will go on my behalf." In a few days, I will come and pay tribute. The son said, 'The sacrifice is like there'. "The Book of Rites" cloud "sacrifice to the Lord". Wangqing and the ministers accompanying the sacrifice must fast and bathe, be sincere, offer sacrifices, and feel loyal to the soul. Yesterday, I saw the deeds of Chengchou engraved by Chengchou's son, and described Chengchou's martyrdom in more detail. I watched it twice and was deeply moved. Chongzhen burst into tears, his throat was congested, he paused for a moment, and then said: "I am the lord of a country, and I have not been saved from inheriting the domain, so I have today!" ……”

The emperor suddenly burst into tears and couldn't stop crying. The ministers all bowed their heads, and some of them also wept with the emperor. After a while, Chongzhen wiped away his tears and asked everyone:

"What else do you have to say?"

The Ministry of Rites Shangshu Lin wanted to play quickly: "The sacrificial text prepared by the minister on behalf of His Majesty has been submitted for two days, I don't know if it is in harmony with the Sacred Heart?" If it does not conform to the Sacred Heart, how to change it, beg for instructions. ”

Chongzhen said: "I was so sad in my heart that I almost forgot about it! The sacrificial text prepared by the secretary of the ministry uses four words in rhyme, so as to be elegant and beautiful, but it is really a fly in the ointment to not be able to say what I want to say in my heart. I will personally prepare a memorial text today and submit it to the secretary for tomorrow. ”

Lin Xiangji kowtowed and said: "The ministers are dull and mediocre, and the proposed sacrificial text fails to rely on the holy heart, and I feel guilty. Your Majesty has all kinds of opportunities, eats and wears clothes, and works hard all over the world, how can your Majesty be troubled by this sacrifice? There is no shortage of capable people in the ministry, so please prepare another draft for the ministry and submit it to the imperial review. ”

Chongzhen said, "No need. Cheng Chou is grateful for the grace of my acquaintance, and he is brave in the face of difficulties, martyrdom, and the name of the festival illuminates the annals of history. I personally prepared a sacrifice for him to show my special kindness, and it is also right. ”

Chen Xinjia said: "Your Majesty's preparation of a memorial for your loyal ministers is a special grace unprecedented in the Kuang Dynasty, and it will surely inspire the loyal and patriotic people of the world." ”

Chongzhen didn't speak again, and drove back to the Qianqing Palace.

After the second watch, Chongzhen sat in front of the imperial case of the Qianqing Palace to change the sacrificial text. At that time, there were many capable scholars in Hanlin, and there were one or two eunuchs in the palace who could draft the manuscript on his behalf, but he did not trust others on weekdays, and was accustomed to "doing everything himself", although he had to deal with many important documents, he still wrote the manuscript of the sacrifice himself. He had already written the manuscript before dinner, and after dinner, Cao Huachun, the eunuch of Dongchang, came into the palace to tell him some things, including some courtiers' family trivial matters. Through Cao Huachun's secret performance in person, he knew that the Hong Chengchou line engraved by the Hong family was widely distributed in the capital, and some people had nothing to do with the Hong family and were not qualified to receive the line, so they also wanted to borrow a copy and copy it. Cao Huachun also said that because the subjects of Jingshi heard that the emperor and general would write a memorial text and come to the eastern suburbs to pay tribute, everyone was moved, and they called it Shengming, and they all said that there was such a holy monarch, so there were loyal ministers like Hong Chengchou. Chongzhen usually thinks that he is a wise lord, and he doesn't fully believe in Cao Huachun, but tonight he believes in his secret sentences. After Cao Huachun left, he was already very tired, but he refused to rest, and spread the sacrificial manuscript on the imperial case for final revision. He first recited it silently, his mind focused, his mood agitated, and his tiredness disappeared.

This memorial is not long, and it has been revised twice after it was written in the afternoon, so now it has only changed a few words, and it is final. In front of this revised manuscript of the sacrifice, he choked back tears and read it in a mournful whisper:

In May of the fifteenth year of the reign of Wei Daming Chongzhen, the emperor sent an official to pay tribute to the spirit of the old military department Shangshu, the right capital of the Imperial History of the Imperial Palace, and the governor of Jiliao, Hong Chengchou, and said:

Alack! The red sheep of the catastrophe, the yellow dragon of the deep disaster. Inside and outside, rely on the ministers. Haotian doesn't hang, fold my humerus. I am thin and decent, and I am peeled off here, and Linxuan spills tears, and the pain is as good!

The young calf wreaked havoc in the Central Plains, and the bronze horse was rampant in the west, and it was ordered to supervise the Qing Governor's Brigade and sweep Qin and Shu. Thousands of miles away, the world knows the hard work of the generals; After three years of hard work, the imperial court relieved the worries of the territory. The atmosphere of the thief is clear, and the sun shines in Jing and Wei; The captives rode into the offense, and the beacon fire burned all over the secluded and swallows. Kisuke ravaged, and Jingshi was under martial law. I had no choice but to edict King Qin, and the starry night came north. The platform summons and consults on strategies. Jiliao Governor leans on Gancheng. The sea is swinging, and the monarchs and ministers share the feeling of weal and woe; There is erosion outside the gates, and the government and the opposition lack a strategy to defend it. Qing was ordered to aid Jin and bow to the line; If he did not make meritorious contributions, he would become a national martyr. Woohoo hurts!

Ziqing was besieged for more than half a year. The lonely city hangs far away, and it is difficult to hope for the help of a soldier; Stick to it on an empty stomach, and fight for the festival of a thousand autumns with a naked heart. Generous oath, the soldiers heard it and were strong; Beating drums to supervise the battle, Yidi was terrified of it. It is rare for a minister to be so resolute since ancient times. Suiyang righteousness is comparable to it. Helplessly, the strong man dug the rat, Mo saved the three armies from hunger, and the rebel generals sacrificed the city, and finally collapsed. Ran Qing still supervised the street fighting, shouting to kill the enemy; The weak horse is hit by an arrow, followed by a foot fight; The blades of the hands are counted, and the sleeves of the robe are full of blood; Wounded twice, he rose again; Just as he was about to kill himself, the captives flocked to him, and he was executed. At this time, too, the war drums are in unison, the stars and the moon are dark, the sky is dark, the wilderness is sad, the light rain is flickering, and the water is not stopping, Gai is loyal to the heavens, and the heavens and the earth are sad and crying!

After Wen Qing was executed, he was unyielding, unkempt, and scolded. The car went north, and the day was close to the court, looking back at the south from time to time, and crying loudly. When they entered Shenyang, they went on a hunger strike. The captive chief tried every means to lure him, but he didn't move. The delicacies are listed on a few, but the eyes are closed and ignored; Yan Ji stood in front of the couch, and Qing Wei turned her back and scolded angrily. The ancients said: It is easy to die generously, but it is difficult to be righteous calmly. Generosity and calmness go hand in hand. Wen Qing went on a hunger strike for several days, his breath was dying, and he couldn't rejuvenate his illness, so he drummed up his spare strength, sat up, knelt southward, and shouted "Your Majesty!" Your Majesty! Choking on tears, silent, falling to the ground and dying, still blind. A gentleman becomes benevolent, yes? Woohoo hurts!

For more than a year, the famous cities have been trapped, the ministers have been mourned, and the heavens have punished them, and the crime is bowing. Build an ancestral hall and build a workshop, and the state has a code of praise; Discuss and discuss, and I have the heart of merit. The achievements of the Qing Zhijie have been declared to the History Museum. Alack! Although Qing is dead, he is immortal. Death is heavier than Mount Tai, and the pride turns into a long rainbow; Enjoy the beans in the hundred generations, and the name of the herald is in the ten thousand years. The soul is back, and it is still feasting!

After Chongzhen changed the sacrificial text, he couldn't help but recite it repeatedly in a low voice, with a sad tone and tears. As for how Hong Chengchou fought in the streets, was wounded and captured, and how he died on a hunger strike, he took the lines carved by the Hong family, but he wrote them in a particularly emotional way. Because of the "subtext" of some of the words in the memorial text, when the writer himself recited, he was more moved than others. For those passages that touched his feelings, he often read them with soreness and wept silently.

The Xuanwu Gate drum has played three watches. A palace maid brought a bowl of white fungus soup and a plate of tiger's eye socket silk candy on a tray and put them in front of him, bowed down and whispered:

"Emperor, it's been three watches. Please rest after a snack, and I'll have to go to the court tomorrow morning. ”

Chongzhen asked a eunuch to send the sacrificial text to the celebrant in the duty room of the celebrant to transcribe it overnight, and send it to the Ministry of Rites at dawn. After drinking the white fungus soup, I went to sleep in Yangdezhai. But not long after he fell asleep, he had a murderous dream, and called out repeatedly:

"Sichang! Inherit the domain! ……”

He woke up suddenly, but he didn't know if it was a real illusion, and listened outside the window, and from the eaves of the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, there was an iron martindon. A eunuch on night duty hurriedly came in and bowed down and persuaded:

"Emperor, you dreamed of Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang again. These two ministers have been faithful to the country and cannot be resurrected. I hope that the emperor will not mourn too much and hurt the Holy Communion. ”

Chongzhen sighed and waved his hand to order the eunuch to withdraw.

On the second day after Hong Chengchou began to eat, Fan Wencheng went to see him in the Sanguan Temple. Fan Wencheng talked with him a lot about the success or failure of ancient and modern times, explaining that all kinds of maladministrations in the Ming Dynasty were bound to decline day by day, and persuaded him to surrender. But he rarely answered; Speaking occasionally, he still said that as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, he would never surrender, but only seek a quick death. In order to maintain the minister's system, he did not welcome Fan Wencheng when he came, and did not send him when he went. Although Fan Wencheng didn't care about his arrogance and rudeness, he was very uncomfortable in his heart. After meeting with him, Fan Wencheng went to Qingning Palace to meet Huang Taiji, and played the result of persuading Hong Chengchou to surrender.

Huang Taiji asked: "Hong Chengchou still wants to die quickly, I naturally won't kill him." You see, would he have killed himself in some other way when the guards were not strictly guarded? ”

Fan Wencheng said: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty. In Yichen's opinion, Hong Chengchou will not die. In the future, you don't have to be very strict, let him be free. ”

Huang Taiji smiled and asked, "How do you know that he won't kill himself again?" ”

"After Hong Chengchou was captured, he was unkempt and did have the heart to die. Eating and drinking a little last night meant to survive. When the minister talked to him today, although he was arrogant and rude to the minister, he still said that he was deeply favored by the emperor of the Southern Dynasty and wished to die quickly, but when the dust on the beam fell on the sleeve of his robe, he immediately dusted the dust off. Hong Chengchou still cherishes the cleanliness on the sleeves of his robe so much, how can he not spare his life? ”

Huang Taiji laughed and said, "Okay, that's true! After thinking about it, he said, "He will definitely come down, but don't push him too hard, don't urge him to shave his head." Let's take a break. ”

A few days later, Hong Chengchou had already expressed his willingness to surrender. The Qing Dynasty government placed him in a house with two courtyards, in addition to the gentle and considerate servant Bai Ruyu who had accompanied him in the Sanguan Temple, and made him feel satisfied, he also sent him two servants, a groom, a maid who did laundry and needlework, a cook who was very good at cooking, and a servant who did rough work. He doesn't have to worry about all the expenses. Officials also came to see him every day, but he avoided paying his respects because his identity was undecided. He sometimes thinks of his mother and many relatives in the family, his homeland, the graves of his ancestors, and especially Emperor Chongzhen, and he feels ashamed, bitter, and faintly stinging in his heart. But recently, in normal times, when Manchurian officials came to see him, he talked and laughed freely, and did not show any worries. Sometimes the heart of loyalty and the sense of sorrow disturbed his peace of mind again, but he forced his face to be happy and did not want to show this feeling in front of the Manchurian ministers. He gradually became more particular about his diet and almost completely regained his habit of cleanliness.

A few days ago, he heard that Zhang Cunren had given a notebook to the old Han of the Qing Dynasty, suggesting that Zu Dashou be beheaded and kept for him. Later, someone showed him Zhang Cunren's original copy, and said the following about retaining him:

Although Hong Chengchou did not stand up and surrender, the emperor stayed with him for a living, because he was born to understand the current situation. …… Since Hong Chengchou is fortunate to be alive, he must think of serving our country, and it seems that it is not appropriate to be detained for a long time. The hair should be shaved quickly, and the appointment should be increased as appropriate, so that the lord of the Ming Kingdom will be chilled when he hears it, and the courtiers will be angry when he hears it. The emperor opened a life path for those who returned to obedience. And Hong Chengchou is a scholar and raised in my country, like a lonely sheep in the threshold well, and the fly has no power to fly a hundred steps. What can I do? What is the use of the ban? This grace should not be thin.

Zhang Cunren's words fully illustrate the Qing side's deep intention to make him surrender, that is, to set an example for the Ming Dynasty ministers to be favored and reused after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. He was ashamed that he had read the books of the sages since he was a child, and that he had been taught by loyalty and righteousness, and that he had fallen into this fate, and he could not help but let out a cry of hatred and sighed constantly. However, the strange thing is that if he has the intention to commit suicide at this time, it is easy to "become benevolent" for the country, but he no longer has the idea of committing suicide at all.

Shortly after lunch today, when Chongzhen was writing a memorial for Hong Chengchou in the Qianqing Palace, Fan Wencheng sent an official from the Secretariat to meet Hong, telling him that the emperor would summon him to meet his ancestor Dashou and others in the Dazheng Palace tomorrow morning, and asked him to shave his head today, and said that he should use clothes and hats as needed, and then send them. Although this was something that Hong Chengchou expected, he still couldn't help but shake suddenly in his heart. The official congratulated him deeply, saying that he would be highly regarded by the emperor. He hurriedly returned the salute, the expression on his face was like a smile and a cry, and he couldn't answer a word. As soon as the official was sent away, a coat, a hat, boots, and shoes were brought, and a young shaver with neat clothes and big braids came. The shaver kowtowed to Hong Chengchou and said:

"The university scholar Fan ordered the villain to shave the adult's head."

Hong Chengchou was silent for a moment, waved his hand, and said, "Got it." You go out and wait! ”

After the shaver withdrew, Hong Chengchou sat in his chair and did not move, and after a long time, his eyes were still staring straight at the wall. Although he had decided to surrender, the shaving of his head caused him deep mental pain. Such contradictory feelings and pain may be relatively rare among generals like Zu Dashou. He read the "Book of Filial Piety" in his childhood, and memorized the words "the body is skinny, and the parents dare not destroy it". If it is a martyrdom for the country, this sentence of the ancient sage can not be said, but only "loyalty is filial piety". But now he is a traitor, and shaving his head is betraying the system of the ancient sages and kings, betraying the habits of China, and betraying his ancestors and parents. Once the head is shaved, how will you see the old genus in Manchuria again? How can I see my ancestors again after death? However, he knew in his heart that since he had surrendered, it was impossible not to follow Manchurian customs, and the slightest resistance in this matter would be regarded as having two hearts and might lead to death. He was weighing the benefits and disadvantages, and Bai Ruyu came to his side, leaned close to his ear and whispered:

"Sir, shave your head. I heard that Lord Fan was coming soon, and discussed with the master about meeting King Han tomorrow. ”

Hong Chengchou snorted and nodded. Bai Ruyu lifted half of the curtain, poked her head out, and made a gesture of her hand. Immediately, the Manchurian shaver brought in the basin shelf and placed it in a brighter place. This shelf, with a wooden shelf below, has four legs, all painted red; On top is an iron furnace shaped like a jar, with a door under it, burning charcoal, and a brass ring about half a foot high on top. He brought a polished brass basin with hot water and placed it on the brass ring. Behind the basin is a vermilion shelf with a sword cloth hanging from it, and a bronze mirror hanging in the middle. Originally, the shaver also had a special stool, which was combined with a basin shelf to form a load, which could be carried by a flat pole. Because Hong Chengchou had a more comfortable chair in his room, he never moved the stool into the house. The shaver placed a chair in front of the basin rack, invited Hong Chengchou to sit down, bent down, and slowly washed his hair and beard with hot water. Hong Chengchou was completely unfamiliar with shaving his head, so he had to be at the mercy of the shaver. After washing, the shaver moved the basin frame a little farther back, took out the knife, swung it on the knife cloth a few times, and began to shave Hong's head. The knife was so fast, only to listen to the brush twice, the hair on the forehead has gone a piece, revealing a blue scalp. Hong Chengchou saw it in the mirror and quickly closed his eyes. The shaver shaved the hair around the bottom of his skull, shaved his temples and cheeks, shaved his face, trimmed the beard on his upper lip and chin, and then combed the hair left by Hong Chengchou into a braid and coiled loosely on his head. Hong looked at the bronze mirror and felt as if he was ten years younger than the original, but he couldn't help but feel sour, and quickly avoided the mirror, and sighed secretly:

"From now on, 'be born as a man of another world, and die as a ghost of a foreign land!'"

Hong Chengchou was about to get up, and the shaver whispered, "Please sit down for a while." Then the young man gently massaged his eyebrows outward with two thumbs, and then with his loose fist, he turned to his back and struck his back and shoulders. After thrashing for a while, he squatted down and beat his legs, stood up and beat his arms. The shaver's two hands are very light and skillful, sometimes with a solid fist, sometimes with a hollow fist, sometimes empty and one solid, sometimes into a nest palm, sometimes with a fist, sometimes into a vertical fist. Due to the change of hand posture and the change of speed and slowness, the rhythm of the hammering sound changes pleasantly, and the body and limbs of the person being hammered feel relaxed and comfortable. Hong Chengchou thought that he had finished beating, but the shaver straightened each finger of his right hand, pulled it violently, and bent it again, making each finger make a sound, and then bent his little arm up, straightened it, and pulled it violently, which also made a sound. Then bend the little arm up, and pinch it at the crook of the elbow, so that the arm is suddenly sore, and then it returns to normal, and there is a special pleasure in the soreness. He fiddled with Hong's left hand and left arm in the same way. The shaver saw Hong Chengchou smiling, his eyes half-open, as if he was sleepy, knowing that he felt comfortable, so he simply put him down on the back of the chair, hugged his waist and lifted him up, so that his waist socket and lower spine also felt soft, and then helped him to sit up straight, lightly beat him on the shoulder a few times, and used his right thumb and index finger to gently pinch the acupuncture points under his chin. Hong Chengchou was suddenly dizzy, his whole body shook, and he woke up in an instant, feeling refreshed and bright. The shaver carefully plucked out his ears again, and then bent his right knee to him, and said with a smile:

"Sir, please. In a few days, the villain will come again to shave the master's head and face. ”

As soon as Hong Chengchou got up, Bai Ruyu rewarded a red paper envelope to the shaver. When the shaver received it, he guessed that it was one or two pieces of silver, and quickly knelt down and kowtowed to Hong Chengchou, saying:

"Thank you, sir! If it weren't for the first time the lord shaved his head today, the villain wouldn't dare to accept the reward. This is to please an auspicious person, and also congratulate the master. The old man is blessed with a great life, and every evil turns into good fortune; Since then, the auspicious stars are shining brightly, and the future is bright; Bathing in the emperor's grace, wealth is boundless. ”

After Bai Ruyu and the other shavers left, they wrapped the long hair that had been shaved off with a silk handkerchief and a net towel that would not be used in the future, put it into the small box at the head of Hong Chengchou's bed, and then waited for the master to change his clothes. Hong Chengchou usually thinks that he grew up in the "state of clothes and cultural relics", and he despises Manchurian clothes and hats, and calls them Yidi's clothes. He often scolded the Manchurians for dragging a dolphin tail behind their hats and making the sleeves of their robes horseshoe-shaped, all of which pretended to be beasts. Now he dressed himself, looked in the mirror, showed a wry smile, and was about to change into his old clothes for the time being, when the servant outside came: Master Fan, a scholar of the Inner Academy, arrived. Hong Chengchou hurriedly ran out of the second door to greet him, and said in his heart:

"Fortunately, I changed into a Manchurian coat and hat!"

Hong Chengchou was about to go out of the gate, but when he saw that Fan had already entered the gate, he grabbed Fan in front of him and made a deep gesture and said, "I don't dare to be humiliated!" Fan Wencheng hurriedly returned the favor and said with a smile: "The ninth elder is a senior, and he will learn a lot in the future, so why be too humble." Walking side by side to the foot of the second door, Hong made another gesture and said, "Please!" Fan returned the favor and climbed the stairs to get started. When he got to the upper room and the bottom of the stairs, Hong was equally polite; After going up the steps, he went to the door and asked Fan to go first, and when he arrived at the main room of the upper room, Hong made another gesture and asked Fan to sit down in the east guest seat and himself to sit down in the west main seat. After the servant offered tea, Hong Chengchou owed a little bit of himself, and said with a smile:

"The students have not come to the door to pay their respects because of their guilt, so please ask your Excellency Haihan."

Fan Wencheng said: "Don't dare, don't dare." When the old gentleman came to Shengjing, the government and the opposition attached great importance to it. The emperor was gracious, treated each other politely, and put his heart into his heart, eager to reuse. After tomorrow's summons, the old gentleman will be the minister of the emperor and the Qing Dynasty, and he will have to show his wealth. ”

Immediately, he instructed Hong Chengchou about the etiquette of tomorrow's court. While he was talking, a servant hurriedly came in and said to Hong Chengchou:

"Please take the order quickly!"

Hong Chengchou didn't know what was going on, his heart was pounding, and he hurried out to greet him. Fan Wencheng took advantage of this time to avoid standing aside. There was a royal guard, holding a yellow satin bag, and walked into the upper room proudly, standing in the middle facing south. When Hong Chengchou followed up and knelt on the ground, he said in stiff Chinese:

"The emperor's dictation: Hong Chengchou is here alone, there are still a lot of clothes unprepared, and my heart is always in my mind. At present, although it has been handed over in May, there will be cold air outside the customs. Today, Hong Chengchou is given a mink fur horse coat in case of cold from time to time. ”

Hong Chengchou, who was kneeling on the ground, shouted: "Thank you! He kowtowed three times in a row, then took the burden with both hands, got up respectfully, put the burden in the middle of the table behind the table of the eight immortals, and bowed again.

The imperial guards did not stop, and then returned to the palace. Hong Chengchou sent off the imperial guards, returned to the upper room, and said to Fan Wencheng:

"The emperor is really the lord of the world!"

That night, Hong Chengchou's mood was extremely uneasy, and he sat under the lamp for a long time, thinking about how to say his guilty words when he knelt outside the Daqing Gate tomorrow morning, and then was led to kneel in front of the Dazheng Palace, what might the Qing Emperor ask, and how should he answer. Although he has been an official for many years, is in a high position, and is familiar with dealing with it calmly, but tomorrow he will face the new lord as a subordinate, and he can't say half an indecent word, let alone say something wrong. When he repeatedly considered and memorized some important languages, although he didn't know that Emperor Chongzhen was choking and weeping repeatedly reciting the revised sacrificial texts, and finally fell to the court and wept, he understood that the Ming Emperor and the government and the opposition must think that he had been generous, so he felt ashamed and hated in his heart. Bai Ruyu applies fat powder every night, which is called "makeup" for people like them, and others are not surprised. At this time, he gently came to Hong Chengchou's side and whispered:

"Master, it's not early, go to bed and rest, you have to go to court tomorrow."

Hong Chengchou sighed and stripped to bed under Bai Ruyu's service. But he leaned on the pillow, remembered a matter on his mind, opened the small box at the head of the bed, took out the manuscript of the desperate poem written on the "threshold car", burned the lamp, and took out the small bag wrapped in the net towel and hair, handed it to Ruyu, and said:

"You take it out and burn it quietly now."

Ruyu said: "Master, don't you leave a souvenir?" ”

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said in a heavy tone: "What thoughts!" From now on, with the homeland, with the monarch, with the ancestors! The past is like yesterday's death! ”

When Bai Ruyu returned to the bed and sat down, Hong Chengchou had already blown out the lamp, but he was still leaning on the pillow and thinking nonsense. Ruyu knew that his heart was sad, and whispered comfortingly:

"Master, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty values you very much, and it is also a rare honor to reward you with a mink fur coat today. The lord should be happy. ”

Hong Chengchou grabbed one of Bai Ruyu's soft hands and whispered, "Yu'er, you are not sensible. The old Junen has not been forgotten, and the new Junen is coming again, how can I not be distraught? ”

"Yes. The old man is a scholar and has been a minister of the Southern Dynasty, so it is not surprising that he has this mood. After a period of silence, Ruyu said again: "In a few days, the master can play the emperor and secretly send someone back to the Southern Dynasty to let the family know that you are safe and sound." ”

"Nonsense! Now the whole family thinks I'm done, and that's the best. If the Southern Dynasty knew that I was not dead, it would not be good. In the past, after Zhang Chun was captured, he swore not to surrender, and was called a loyal minister by the Southern Dynasty. Later, Zhang Chun wrote a letter to persuade the court to negotiate peace, which was originally a good intention, but it caused an uproar in the whole court, and some people impeached him to surrender to the enemy, and the king was disloyal. The imperial court sent Zhang Chun's second son to prison and died in prison. How can I be careless and endanger my family? ”

Bai Ruyu said again: "I heard that the old lady lives in her hometown in Fujian and is already old, if she thinks that the old lady has died at the end of the festival, won't she die of sadness?" ”

"No, you don't know the old lady's temperament. The old lady is knowledgeable and reasonable, and has a strong temperament. I started reading when I was three years old, and it was the old lady who taught me. At the age of four, he began to recognize the word loyalty and filial piety, and the old lady repeatedly explained. If her old man knew that I would not die if I was defeated, and that I would be the second master, she would definitely die of anger. Alas, alas! ……”

Hong Chengchou couldn't help sobbing when he thought of his mother. After a while, he gently pushed Bai Ruyu, meaning that he wanted him to go to sleep on the small kang. Bai Ruyu wiped away the tears on his face with a silk sweat towel, stood up and said:

"The matter has come to this, please don't feel too sorry for the old lady. Good students rest overnight, and get up early tomorrow to freshen up and dress. The first time I saw the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, it was very important! ”

CHAPTER XXIX

The next day in May Duanyang, when the Chen Pai was outside, just outside the Chaoyang Gate of Beijing City, the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Rites Shangshu Lin Xuqi on behalf of Emperor Chongzhen, together with the Ministry of Military Affairs Shangshu Chen Xinjia and hundreds of civil and military officials, in the solemn and sad mourning music to Hong Chengchou's spirit card when the sacrifice was held, in the city of Shenyang, 1,470 miles northeast of Beijing, a grand surrender ceremony was held, for a time the eight doors beat the drum, and a burst of drums and horns sounded outside the Daqing Gate. Then from the Great Qing Gate came the music of the emperor's court. With the sound of music, the Manchu and Han ministers, the Mongol princes in Shengjing, the two Korean princes and the Dajun brothers who were hostages, and several of the prince's courtiers, all went to the front of the Dazheng Palace, saluted the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji who was sitting in the Dazheng Palace, and then returned to the place prescribed on weekdays. Outside the gate of the Qing Dynasty, kneeling with the Ming Dynasty's Jiliao Governor Hong Chengchou led by the Song and Jin ministers, there are the chief soldiers Zu Dashou, Dong Xie, Zu Dale, the general soldiers who have been dismissed, and the deputy generals Xia Chengde, Gao Xun, Zu Zeyuan, etc., bowed their heads and waited for the summons. At that time, the Honglu Temple Yamen of the Qing Dynasty had not yet been established, and a Han official of the Ministry of Rites proclaimed loudly to the ministers of the Great Qing Gate:

"Hong Chengchou and other civil and military ministers will see you!"

Hong Chengchou kowtowed and said loudly: "The minister is the commander of the Ming Kingdom, and the 130,000 soldiers came to Songshan to help Jinzhou." There have been several battles and offended the military prestige. As soon as the holy car arrived, the soldiers were defeated. The ministers were trapped in Songshan City, the food and grass were cut off, and everyone was cannibalistic. The city was broken and captured, and he deserved to die. The emperor was merciful and did not kill his ministers but supported him. See you today. The minister knew that the crime was serious and did not dare to enter, so he first made a complaint. Whether to admit or not is to be decided. ”

After the official of the Ministry of Rites transferred Hong Chengchou's words of pleading guilt to the Qing Emperor in Manchu, Huang Taiji said a few words in Manchu. Immediately, the official of the Ministry of Rites shouted loudly:

"The emperor's edict: Hong Chengchou's words are very true. But at that time, you and our army were at war, each for its own master, how would I mind? The reason why I am so good is because I defeated 130,000 horses of the Ming Kingdom in a battle and won the cities of Song and Jin, all of which are the will of heaven. The way of heaven is good, and if you can support people, it is in line with the way of heaven, so I act according to the will of heaven and leave your life. But I remembered my nurturing grace, and tried to repay it with all my heart, and all the sins I had committed in the past were forgiven. I caught Zhang Chun in front of the battle in the past, and I also gave birth to him. It's a pity that he can neither die for the Ming Kingdom, nor serve me, he accomplished nothing and died in vain. Don't be like him! ”

Hong Chengchou prostrated to the ground and said, "Obey the holy oracle!" ”

Zu Dashou then played loudly: "The sinner ancestor Zu Dashou plays!" The sins of the ministers are different from those of Hong Chengchou. The minister deserves death for several crimes: in previous years, he was besieged by His Majesty in the Daling River, the army ran out of food, ate people, and was about to starve to death, and there was nothing to be done, so he had to beg the emperor to surrender. The emperor did not kill, but raised his ministers, and ordered his ministers to recruit wives, brothers, and clans to surrender and send them to Jinzhou. After the minister arrived in Jinzhou, he not only turned his back on Hong'en, but also repeatedly confronted the enemy. Now it is besieged in Jinzhou, the food is exhausted, and the hardship is helpless, so he goes out of the city and returns to Shun. The sin is so great that he deserves death! ”

Immediately, the official of the Ministry of Rites sent out the emperor's dictation: "Zu Dashou's statement can be regarded as reasonable." Er's back to me, one is for your lord, and the other is for Er's wife and clan. But I will never kill you after I get you, I have long cherished this intention. I often said to the ministers of the inner court: 'Zu Dashou will not be killed, and when he is besieged again, he will still bow down and surrender.' As long as he is willing to surrender, I will always remain immortal. 'You can't regret what happened before, so forget it.' ”

Zu Zeyuan, the deputy general of the Ming Dynasty, also knelt outside the Daqing Gate and played: "The guilty minister Zu Zeyuan played His Majesty the Emperor: The minister was also released back from the Daling River by the emperor, and the minister's sin is the same as Zu Dashou, and he should die!" ”

The official of the Imperial Taiji Ministry of Rites and Rites said: "Zu Zeyuan, you are an uninformed person. The reason why you didn't come to surrender after you were let go was just to watch your lord act on your ancestor's birthday. In the past, when I went to inspect Xingshan, not only did you refuse to open the door to welcome the surrender, but you even knew that it was me, but you deliberately fired at me, isn't it a great betrayal? How many people can you injure with a cannon? Regardless of the fact that Xingshan City is very small and there are not many soldiers, let's just say Hong Chengchou, who brought 130,000 horses and repeatedly fired cannons, how many people were injured? Hum! …… I was so treacherous that I talked about it. I have seen people on weekdays, and I have told them clearly, and I will never remember their old evils, and I will investigate them afterwards. Shall you be alone? It's your ancestor who is respected in status, and he still keeps it, but he is a villain, why kill you! You are in the prime of life, and from now on, whenever you encounter a battle array, it is good to work hard for me. ”

Zu Zeyuan and his uncle Zu Dale were both grateful, and said in unison: "The emperor's words are extremely true! ”

All the ministers of the civil and military new surrenders kowtowed to thanksgiving, then stood up, entered the Daqing Gate, arrived in front of the Chongzheng Palace, and performed three kneeling and nine kowtowing in the drum music. Happy, Huang Taiji summoned Hong Chengchou, Zu Dashou, Zu Dale, Xia Chengde, and Zu Dabi into the hall. After they finished kowtowing again, the Qing Emperor ordered them to sit on the left side, give them tea, and then rely on an official of the Secretariat to translate and ask Hong Chengchou:

"I see that your lord has turned a deaf ear to the capture of the clan; As for the generals who lead their troops to fight to the death, or are captured before the battle, or are exhausted, and submit to our court, they must kill their wives, or they will be confiscated into slavery. Why? Is this the old rule? Or is it an emerging approach? ”

Hong Chengchou understood that what the Qing Emperor asked was a mistake based on hearsay, so he had to kneel down and reply: "There was no such case in the past. Today, because there are many civil servants, Taiwan admonishes and disputes, and what Chen has seen and heard is above, so this is the case. ”

Huang Taiji continued: "Today, there are many Wenchen in the Ming Kingdom, and they talk about it when they encounter problems, but in the past, were there few Wenchen? The reason is only that the king is secretly hiding now, so he killed many people in vain. How can people who have been captured in such a desperate battle, and those who have been forced to surrender, kill their wives and children? Even if they are in an enemy country, they can redeem them with silver, which is also what the court should do, why not put their wives and children in prison and kill them to confiscate the army? The Ming court acted like this, and there were too many innocent people who were wrongfully killed. ”

Hong Chengchou was obviously moved by Huang Taiji's words, and kowtowed with tears and said: "The emperor's edict is really the most holy and benevolent words!" ”

On this day, the general Zu Dashou and others offered many precious items, including red and white coral trees, various beads made of amber, coral, pearls, etc., as well as bead hoops, bead flowers, agarwood, jade belts, red gold jewelry, jade pots, as well as large and small cups and plates made of jade, rhinoceros horn, glass, agate, gold, and silver, and various exquisite silverware; There are sables, lynxes, leopards, heavenly horse skins, etc., as well as satin, plain satin, python clothes, all kinds of yarn, luo, silk, satin clothing, gold and platinum, red carpets, red felt tents, horses, carved saddles, bows and carved arrows, tiger skins and leopard skins, delicate glass lamps and bright corner lamps, all kinds of precious porcelain, all kinds of fine wood furniture, gilded armor, Miao knives inlaid with precious stones, and so on. Huang Taiji ordered Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou to sit outside the gate of the Qing Dynasty and read the things offered by the generals. Hong Chengchou was captured because he broke through in a hurry, so he had nothing to offer. But he understood in his heart that Huang Taiji wanted him to take a look at the sincerity of Zu Dashou and many other generals, and he didn't care about things.

After seeing the valuable things contributed, an official sent an edict: "All the things offered by Zu Dashou and others show loyalty." I don't accept any of them, so take them back with you. Zu Dashou and other generals quickly knelt on the ground and pleaded repeatedly: "The emperor will not accept anything, and the ministers are really uneasy." I hope to give you a little acceptance! "Huang Taiji thought that they were very sincere, and ordered the Internal Affairs Office to accept one or two pieces, and return the rest.

Drumming and playing music in front of the main hall, Huang Taiji got up and returned to the palace. The official of the Ministry of Rites instructed Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou to wait and rest, but they could not stay away. Half an hour later, an edict came out from the palace, giving Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou a banquet in the Chongzheng Palace, and ordering Dorobelle Duoduo, Gushan Beizi Bolo, Luotuo, Nikan, and the Minister of the Interior Turge to accompany him. After the banquet, Hong Chengchou and others bowed to the ground to thank him and withdrew from the Qing Dynasty. Suddenly, Huang Taiji ordered the scholars Xifu, Fan Wencheng, Ganglin, and Luo Shuo to chase them out, and preached to Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou:

"I summoned you today, but I didn't wear the clothes of the previous court, and I didn't give you a banquet in person, I didn't mean to treat you slowly, but because the death of Guan Jugong Min Huigong and Concubine Yuan was not yet the anniversary."

Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou kowtowed and said: "The holy grace is excellent, the ministers are really ashamed, and there is no regret even if they die!" ”

Back at the mansion, Hong Chengchou's heart couldn't be calm. Since yesterday, he has shaved his head and changed his Manchurian coat and hat; From today on, he met with the Qing Emperor and officially became a Qing minister. Although Huang Taiji comforted him with warm words and gave a feast, the heart of right and wrong and the thoughts of shame had not completely disappeared in his body, so he couldn't help but be secretly painful. In the afternoon, several officials of the Inner Court came to see him and congratulated him on the courtesy he had received from the emperor and would undoubtedly be reused. He forced a smile on his face, made concessions with his new colleagues, and said many words of gratitude to the emperor. At night, when Bai Ruyu served him to strip and go to bed, he saw that he was depressed, deliberately snuggled against his chest, and asked softly:

"Master, from now on, you will make great achievements, establish great causes, have good luck, and have prosperous official fortunes. Why are you upset again? Am I messing with my master? It's ...... me."

Hong Chengchou sighed, and almost said that he was "living a good life", but he quickly swallowed the words as soon as he reached his mouth. In the years when he was the governor of the Southern Dynasty, he was often cautious, fearing that he would have the eyes and ears of Emperor Chongzhen on his left and right, so he reported what he said casually to Dongchang or Jinyiwei and played the emperor; Now that he has come to the Northern Dynasty and is in a place of suspicion, he has to be more careful from time to time. Although this Bai Ruyu is his beloved servant and sleeps in the same bed, he can't help but be vigilant and never confide in the important words in his heart. Bai Ruyu couldn't wait for the master to answer, and realized that the master was in an unspeakable mood, so she wanted to use other topics to dispel the knots in the master's heart, and said:

"Master, I heard that the imperial court is going to reward you with a large mansion and many things, as well as a few beautiful women, and I want you to do things for the emperor happily. I heard that you like beautiful women the most...... sir."

Suddenly, a doorkeeper stood outside the door and shouted: "Master Qiqi, just now the inner courtyard sent someone to inform you, please wait outside the Daqing Gate tomorrow, there is something in the Yamen." ”

Hong Chengchou was startled, raised his head from the pillow and asked, "What can happen in the palace tomorrow?" ”

"The person from the inner courtyard refused to explain, so he only passed on that sentence and left."

Hong Chengchou couldn't help but suddenly have a lot of suspicions, pushed Bai Ruyu away, and sat up in his clothes.

Before the next day, Hong Chengchou rode to the gate of the Qing Dynasty. Some of the Manchu and Han officials had already arrived first, and the rest had arrived in just a few moments. After the drum sounded, the officials of the Ministry of Rites called out: Manchu, Mongol kings, Beile, Beizi, Gong, Inner Court scholars and bachelors, and six ministers of politics all entered the Daqing Gate and stood in a row in front of the Daezheng Hall, and the princes, maharajas, and courtiers of the Joseon Kingdom also stood solemnly on the left side in front of the Daezheng Hall. The Ministry of Rites finally summoned Hong Chengchou and several surrendered chief military officers of the Zu Dashou clan to also enter the Daqing Gate, and the lower-status ministers were still standing and waiting outside the Daqing Gate. Hong Chengchou had just stood still, and the drum beat again outside the gate of the Phoenix Tower, and the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji took his five-year-old son Fulin, a group of Manchu relatives and nobles, and walked out of the Phoenix Gate and came to the Great Palace. He did not enter the temple, and the guards removed a chair with antlers from the hall and placed it under the eaves. He sat down in the circle chair and called Fulin to his right hand. The civil and military ministers in front of the Daezheng Palace, including the prince and the prince of the Joseon Kingdom, knelt down and kowtowed to him three times along with the praise of the Ministry of Rites. He swept the ministers with slightly sleepy eyes, especially on Hong Chengchou's body, a smile appeared in the corner of his eyes, and then said something to everyone, which was translated into Chinese by an official:

"Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou have surrendered, and the four cities of Songshan, Jinzhou, Xingshan, and Tashan are all owned by our country. Thank you to God and the Buddha for bless our country, and once again we have achieved a great victory. Last month, I had already gone to the church to worship the heavens in person. Today, I want to lead you to Shisheng Temple to burn incense and worship the Buddha. The government of the Ming Dynasty was corrupted, and the people were in turmoil everywhere, and it was difficult to protect the country. Our country is getting stronger day by day, like the sun rising in the east, invincible, invincible. With the blessing of Heaven and the Buddha, and your civil and military ministers working hard, it will not be difficult for me to rebuild the great cause of Dajin Taizong. When you go to burn incense and worship the Buddha today, you must be very pious. After lunch, you still came to the front of the Dazheng Hall and accompanied Hong Chengchou to watch a hundred plays. I will also be there to watch and rejoice with you. ”

Hong Chengchou prostrated to the ground, shed tears, and bowed and shouted: "Thank you for the emperor's grace!" Banzai! Banzai! Hooray! ”

Huang Taiji looked at Hong Chengchou and was sincerely grateful, his heart was grateful, and a smile appeared from the corner of his eyes again. Immediately, he led the Manchurian and Mongolian nobles and the civil and military ministers of various ethnic groups to ride horses to the Shisheng Temple outside the west city of Shengjing to burn incense and worship the Buddha. He and the Manchu and Mongolian ministers all took off their hats and prostrated to the ground according to their own national customs, while the Han ministers and the princes of Joseon, the maharaja and their courtiers followed the ancient Confucian system and saluted with neat crowns. On this issue, Huang Taiji was open-minded and did not require all to abide by Manchurian customs. After the Buddha is finished, he returns to the city, and at noon, Huang Taiji returns to the palace. The civil and military ministers of the Manchu, Mongolian, and Han ethnic groups, as well as the princes of Joseon, sent him outside the Qing Gate, dispersed together, and returned to their own yamen or pavilions.

Soon after the afternoon, the civil and military ministers of all ethnic groups in the DPRK and China, the Manchu and Mongolian nobles, the princes of the Joseon state, the maharajas, and the courtiers all arrived at the Daqing Gate and sat down in the designated place, leaving the middle court. Although Hong Chengchou had no official position at this time, he was designated to sit with the scholars of the three inner colleges. Not long after everyone sat down, they heard the sound of drums coming from the Phoenix Gate, and quickly stood up, bowed their heads, and were silent. Suddenly, Hong Chengchou heard a paging: "Arrived!" Almost instinctively, he knelt down and kowtowed with others, and then got up with others, still not daring to look up. In an instant, he remembered the old king who had been betrayed by him, and he couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart, and he was also ashamed of his bowing down to the Manchurians. But as soon as his mind swirled, he heard a cry: "Sit down, ministers!" Because it is not a paging "to sit", the ministers do not need to be grateful. Hong Chengchou sat down with everyone, took the opportunity to peek in front of the main hall, and saw that Lao Han was already sitting in the middle, with two women sitting on the left and right. At that time, the Qing Dynasty's court rituals were far from learning the old rules of the Ming Dynasty after moving the capital to Beijing, and it became so complicated and strict, so the ministers could sit down and look at the emperor casually, and they could also look at the queen and concubine. However, Hong Chengchou was not accustomed to the etiquette of the Qing Dynasty, and secondly, he had not yet extinguished his shame as a subordinate, so he lowered his head and did not dare to look at the steps of the Dazheng Palace, and did not see the faces of the emperor, the empress and the concubine clearly.

In the courtyard of the Dazheng Palace, gongs and drums opened, followed by a lively instrumental ensemble, and the traditional instruments of the Han nationality were mixed with Mongolian and Manchurian national instruments. Le Zhi began to play the "Hundred Opera", it seems that in order to symbolize the emperor's "holy bow and recreation", the first program is the dragon dance. This show was supposed to be played at night and was called "Playing the Dragon Lantern". Now that it is played during the day, the lights in the dragon's belly are no longer needed. Hong Chengchou has been familiar with this game since he was a child, and when he was in the army, he had nothing to do during the New Year's Festival, and he also watched the soldiers come to Yuanmen to play with lions and dragon lanterns. Now that he is watching this show for the first time in a foreign country, he is still interested, and his heart is depressed. The gongs and drums are deafening, and a long dragon has scales and claws, flying and jumping, stretching or bending, hovering in the middle of the courtyard, very lively and vigorous. But he happened to realize that the dragon of the old country, whether it is painted, carved, clay sculpture, paper-tied, woven, embroidered, or played, the shape and spirit of the dragon's head are all thick and solemn, unlike the dragon head image seen today. A comment popped up in his heart: "The wind of Yidi! But the thought took him by surprise. Ever since he decided to surrender, he has constantly warned himself in his heart: he must do his best to destroy his feelings for his homeland, otherwise he will inadvertently cause great trouble. He looked at the dragon dance with his eyes again, especially at the dragon head that kept turning low, and forced a very satisfied smile, and at the same time solemnly admonished himself in his heart:

"This is not 'Hu Feng', but 'national customs'! We must remember clearly, and praise 'national customs' everywhere! Manchurian dialect is 'Chinese', and Manchurian script is 'national book'. Remember! Remember! ”

Next up was the lion dance. He also saw the fierce "national customs" from the shape of the lion's head. He didn't dare to be picky in his heart, and his colleagues on the left and right happily admired the "lion rolling hydrangea". He began to be a little bolder, peeking at the throne under the eaves in front of the main hall, and saw the emperor sitting in the middle, with a happy expression. He didn't have to ask others, he understood in his heart at a glance: the middle-aged woman sitting on the left side of the emperor must be the empress, and the young woman of Peugeot sitting on the right must be the favored concubine of Yongfu Palace. He continued to watch and play with lions, and once again sighed in his heart that the Qing Kingdom was indeed a country that still maintained the customs of Yidi and was not a civilized country of etiquette and music. According to the Ming system, the concubine will never leave the deep palace, and even the ministers who are close to her will not be able to see it. Even if the queen mother is young and occasionally comes to the court, she must hang a bead curtain three feet away in front of the throne, which is called "hanging the curtain to listen to the government". She can see the ministers in the curtain, and the ministers can't see her, how can she be like Manchuria! He didn't dare to think about it, and warned himself in his heart that he must praise the "national customs" and never have the idea of valuing the man and ignoring the complacency, which would lead to the disaster of death.

There are many shows in the following, including various juggling, wrestling, and dancing. Hong Chengchou saw Mongolian men's dancing for the first time and felt very strong and fierce, but he didn't like it; Some of the Manchurian dances resemble dancing gods, and some simulate hunting, and he thinks that he has not escaped the nomadic style, and he does not like it even more. Later, he saw a group of North Korean women entering the arena, wearing long skirts, light steps, and graceful postures, which made him unconscious. He also saw a beautiful dancer with a long body who was doing a back-to-back spin movement, and twice secretly sent eye waves to the prince of Joseon who was sitting in the west, and there seemed to be tears in her eyes. His heart was shocked, and he thought, "She also has the sorrow of her homeland!" When this show was over, the Korean woman's mind was not noticed by the Qing Dynasty emperor and the ministers, and Hong Chengchou was no longer worried about her.

The Korean dance apparently pleased Huang Taiji and ordered it to be repeated. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Hong Chengchou looked slightly boldly under the front eaves of the Dazheng Palace, and unexpectedly met the gaze of Concubine Zhuang of Yongfu Palace. Concubine Zhuang immediately turned her gaze to the Korean woman who was dancing again, and she didn't seem to see him, and her demeanor was very noble. Hong Chengchou peeked again, but he felt familiar and wondered in his heart. After a while, he took the opportunity to peek again, and suddenly understood: it was she who went to Sanguan Temple to save him with ginseng soup! He was still puzzled at first glance, thinking that it was impossible for the Qing lord to order his favorite concubine to do this, but then he thought that this was different from China and North Korea, and this matter was not suspicious. He peeked at Concubine Zhuang again, and saw that although the outfit was different, her face and demeanor were indeed her, but the eyes were more arrogant than charming, solemn than gentle, only the bright brilliance, handsomeness and intelligence of the eyes were still the same. Hong Chengchou thought that although he had been a subordinate in this life, he had been so favored and valued by the Qing lord when he had not surrendered, and so secretly made his favorite concubine go to the prison twice, personally hold the soup, and persuade him to drink softly, which is really a rare blessing in a thousand years, and he should really be grateful for the picture. However, he thought about it again, the Qing lord ordered Concubine Zhuang to do this must be extremely secret, and if he leaked it in the future, or if he was slightly disloyal to the Qing Dynasty, he would definitely die; Moreover, if Lord Qing and Concubine Zhuang regret this matter in the future, he will also have unforeseen disasters. Thinking like this, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his back, and he didn't dare to look up at Concubine Zhuang anymore.

Hong Chengchou was glad that he had lived in a suspicious dynasty for many years, and he had been in charge of the army for a long time, and he had developed the habit of being meticulous, so for a month, he never asked who the woman who gave him ginseng soup was. Although Bai Ruyu served him gently and thoughtfully, shared the bed with him at night, was careful and considerate, and could also talk to him in a more intimate private language, he was always wary that this servant was someone sent to him by Fan Wencheng and others, and might be ordered to spy on his thoughts, words and deeds, and second, he had always treated people like prostitutes and prostitutes as playthings, thinking that they were born with Yang Hua and the most unreliable, so he kept his mouth shut and did not ask Bai Ruyu who the woman who gave the ginseng soup was, as if that had never happened in the world.

Hong Chengchou continued to watch the play, cranky and restless. Later, the day sank, the "hundred operas" stopped, and all the civil and military ministers only waited to kneel to send Lao Han back to the palace, but the drums did not sound, and everyone stood solemnly. Suddenly, Huang Taiji looked at Hong Chengchou and said a few words with a smile, and an inner court official standing on the side translated it into Chinese:

"Hong Chengchou, today I will show you a hundred operas, the monarchs and ministers will enjoy together, and release the arms of your detention and travel. Look, Er is an official in this dynasty and an official in the Southern Dynasty, how is the bitterness? ”

Hong Chengchou bowed to the ground and kowtowed to thank him, choked up and replied: "The minister is a death row prisoner, but fortunately he has been reborn." In the Southern Dynasties, the upper and lower levels were congested, and the monarch was suspicious; The subordinates were treated with severe punishment and strict laws, and the ministers deceived the monarch with perfunctory. When the ministers went to the court, they were afraid and fearful, but they were afraid that disasters would happen, and they kept their mouths shut with righteous people and villains committed treachery, making the government increasingly corrupt and uncontrollable. The sinner is fortunate to meet the master, sideways to the holy pilgrimage, like withered grass in spring, moistened by the rain and dew, sunshine, and the wind blowing. Today, the emperor is blessed with the grace of heaven and gives him a view of the 'hundred operas', and the ministers are not wood and stone, how can they not be grateful. The minister is blunt, and swears to serve His Majesty in his lifetime, and he will not give up! ”

No one knew whether Hong Chengchou's words were true or false, but when he saw that he was really whimpering, he couldn't make a sound, and he kowtowed again and again. Huang Taiji nodded with a smile, said a few words of comfort to him, and got up to go back to the palace.

Hong Chengchou returned to the mansion and changed his clothes and hats under Bai Ruyu's service. He ate very little for dinner, and he only felt that his heart was very chaotic and ruthless, as if he didn't know where he was. When he was about to go to bed, Bai Ruyu saw that he was in a slightly better mood, and whispered to him:

"Master, the peace envoy of the Southern Dynasty is about to arrive."

Hong's heart moved, and he was silent for a moment, and asked, "When will it arrive?" ”

"I've heard that it's only in the last few days. The envoy headed by the envoy is Lord Ma Shaoyu in the Ministry of War, can you know the master? ”

Hong Chengchou didn't want to say that Ma Shaoyu had been in his army with Zhang Ruoqi for several months, so he replied casually: "He went to see me when he was in Beijing, and he had not yet been promoted to Langzhong. I have only one relationship with him, and I have no other dealings. ”

Bai Ruyu asked again: "After he comes to Shengjing, does the master plan to see him?" ”

"Nope. Missing. ”

Hong Chengchou suddenly had no intention of going to bed, flicked his sleeves, walked out of the door, and wandered in the patio. Bai Ruyu followed and stood at the bottom of the steps, trying to persuade him to go back to the house and rest early, but he didn't dare to make a sound. He is accustomed to observing words and colors, guessing and understanding the master's thoughts, and now he is standing at the bottom of the stairs, and he is also secretly guessing. He thought that the master was so uneasy, maybe he was worried that this group of ministers and envoys would report the master's surrender to the Southern Dynasty, and the Hongfu would suffer a disaster? Maybe Hong was afraid to meet with this group of envoys, and he felt ashamed in his heart? Maybe Hong is worried that after the two countries make peace, they will return to China and then punish him? Maybe he saw that the Qing soldiers were strong and prosperous, and wanted to try to promote peace from the side, so as to repay Emperor Chongzhen's kindness to him? Maybe since he surrendered to the Qing state, he hoped that the peace agreement would not be successful, so that the Qing troops would capture Beijing? ……

Bai Ruyu couldn't guess what was going on in her master's mind, and sighed softly. The courtyard is completely dim. He looked up to the southwest, and the crescent moon had already fallen.