In the Qianqing Palace of the Inner Court, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen stretched his waist, and then continued to review the chapters, his brows wrinkled from time to time, and his face was full of bitterness and hatred.

At the beginning of February, the bandit leader Li Zicheng led his troops across the Yellow River, all the way to the Beijing division to kill, within one day he laid down Fenzhou, Yangcheng, Puzhou three cities, the next day to break through the Huaiqing Mansion, killed the Lujiang King Zhu Zaiyan, a few days later captured the capital of Shanxi Taiyuan, the officials and defenders around the city either surrendered, or fled in the wind, seeing that the capital will also face the invasion of the rogues, fortunately the Shanxi general military officer Sanguan Zuo Du Governor Zhou Yuji was not afraid of danger, led thousands of men and horses to resist desperately, finally blocked Li Zicheng's offensive, but after a battle, Zhou Yuji's whereabouts are unknown, and it is not clear what Li Zicheng wants to do next.

What worries Zhu Youzhen even more is that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has also been cut off by Li Zicheng's men and horses, and the transportation has come to a standstill. In the past few years, there has been a great drought in the north, and the crops have almost been harvested, and everything in Beijing depends on the supply of the south of the Yangtze River.

"Your Majesty, the prince in charge, please see him, and say that there is an important situation to report." , the celebrant and eunuch Wang Lian bowed his waist and cautiously ran to Zhu Youzhen to review the imperial case of the chapter and whispered a report.

Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen was a diligent emperor, often approved until late at night, sometimes all night, the eunuchs of the ceremonial eunuch took turns on duty to serve, today it is the turn of the small leader eunuch Wang Lian to lead the team on duty.

Just now, the eunuch on duty guarding the Qianqing Gate came to report that the chief eunuch Wang Chengen had entered the palace and was asking to enter the palace outside the Qianqing Gate to meet Emperor Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen raised his head in surprise, his face was full of doubts and uneasiness, Wang Chengen had just returned for less than an hour, why did he come back again? Have a major event to report? Is there bad news coming from somewhere?

Zhu Youzhen, who was familiar with Wang Chengen's temperament, knew that if the situation was not urgent, Wang Chengen, a careful old slave, would not enter the palace in the middle of the night to disturb the holy driver.

Recently, what Zhu Youzhen is most afraid of is that he suddenly received news from all over the country, because every report is sad bad news, so Zhu Youzhen is very nervous at this moment, "Quickly open the Qianqing door and let Wang Chengen come in!" ”

The Forbidden City is not only the center of the country's government affairs, but also the home of Emperor Zhu Youzhen, with the Qianqing Gate as the boundary, divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner court. The outer court in front is composed of the central axis and the hall corridor on both sides of the central axis of the Chengtian Gate - the end gate - the noon gate - the Taiji Hall - the middle pole hall - the Jianji Palace, the spirit is magnificent, the planning is rigorous, it is extremely spectacular, it is the place where the major affairs of the state are handled, the back court is centered on the Qianqing Palace, the Jiaotai Palace, the Kunning Palace, the East and West Sixth Palaces are distributed in the east and west wings, it is the place where the emperor's daily office and family members live and live, and the architectural style is full of life.

Since the inner court was inhabited by the emperor's family, it was natural that no other people were allowed to enter at night. Every day after the sun sets, the Qianqing door will be closed on time in accordance with the regulations, no one is allowed to enter without the approval of the emperor, although Wang Chengen is the chief eunuch, the first credible person in front of the Son of Heaven, but go out, and want to come in, naturally to ask the emperor, the emperor does not approve, Wang Chengen can not come in.

Seeing Wang Jinlong behind Wang Chengen, Zhu Youzhen was very surprised, how did Wang Chengen bring in a strange man in the middle of the night? Who is this young man?

This can't blame Zhu Youzhen for being surprised, the palace is the palace, and the reason why the palace has such regulations is that he is afraid that a normal man other than the emperor will enter the inner court, and ordinary people don't like strangers to enter their homes at night, He Kang is the emperor? As long as there is no problem with the brain, just think about it, if other men are allowed to enter and exit at will at night in this palace, the emperor's head is afraid that a large stack of military hats is not enough, in this harem, normal men like the emperor are rare, after all, wolves have more meat and less meat, many people of the opposite sex are hungry and thirsty all year round, it is inevitable that there will be no hunger and hunger, although Lao Wang does not belong to the normal series, but the rules are rules, and they must be strictly followed.

Wang Chengen, who entered the door, directly blasted out Wang Lian and other ceremonial eunuchs, and then plugged in the door bolt of the Qianqing Palace with his own hands, and then, sprinting a few steps to the imperial case, without saying anything, he directly took out a stack of letters from his underwear pocket and handed them to Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen opened it and took a look, the top is the Shanxi General Commander Zhou Yuji wrote the chapter, although the paper is rough, but the handwriting is extremely neat, this handwriting Zhu Youzhen knows, it is clearly the general Zhou Yuji who is rough and ink, the word can be said to be another kind of calligraphy, the size of the big and small uneven, but the stroke is very serious, a few days ago, Zhou Yuji sent a hundred thousand urgent distress letters, the handwriting is written like this, Zhu Youzhen has a deep memory.

"General Zhou is still alive?" , Zhu Youzhen raised his head in surprise.

"Yes, Your Majesty, General Zhou is not dead, the letter was sent by this young man, his name is Wang Jinlong, it was he who saved General Zhou and the general's wife, the key is the letter below, the old slave asked the emperor not to get angry after reading it."

What kind of character Zhu Youzhen has, Wang Chengen knows best, he has an impatient temperament, and sometimes he explodes like a flame.

Zhu Youzhen opened the two letters behind him, and was stunned after reading them, he was uncharacteristically not angry, but that appearance was more terrible than anger, in Lao Wang's memory, it seems that he has not seen Zhu Youzhen like this.

Wang Jinlong stood motionless at the door, the rules in the palace were strict, he knew that without the emperor's summons, he could only stay at the gate, and he couldn't move casually, otherwise, it would be a great disrespect to the emperor.

After a long time, Zhu Youzhen woke up from the shock, stared at Wang Jinlong and said, "Come here!" ”

Although Wang Jinlong lowered his head, he also knew that the emperor was calling him, and the matter was clear, and it was time for the emperor to ask him next.

So, Wang Jinlong took two steps and knelt down in front of Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen with his head bowed and looked very respectful. Or is it like when I first met Wang Chengen, I claimed to be a student? Or directly call the ministers, subjects, subjects, the common people are also the emperor's courtiers, a small show is nothing, but it is also a meritorious figure, maybe it is more appropriate to be a minister in front of the emperor.

So, Wang Jinlong came to a combination of two into one, no, to be precise, three into one, "Wang Jinlong, a member of Shuozhou, Shanxi, has seen my emperor, long live my emperor, long live long live!" ”

Zhu Youzhen, who was stunned, indignant, and fearful, didn't hear that there was something wrong with what Wang Jinlong said, but Wang Chengen, who was standing on the side, heard it, thinking that this kid was still a scholar? How can you claim to be so mixed? Are you a minister? is still a grass people, although he feels very funny in his heart, but Wang Chengen's face has no extra expression at all.

This is kung fu, the kung fu cultivated by staying by the emperor's side for a long time, and all kinds of emotions are not exposed.

Perhaps, when Wang Jinlong saw Wang Chengen's appearance, he would scold Wang Chengen for being a dead eunuch with a yin and yang face.

"You brought all these letterheads?" , The doubts on Zhu Youzhen's face are very clearly visible.

Wang Jinlong, who was kneeling on the ground, arched his hand and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

"Where did you get these letters?" , Zhu Youzhen then asked, he couldn't help but ask about such a major matter.

"Your Majesty, General Zhou Yuji made the situation clear in the letter, Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin's letter to Li Zicheng was intercepted by the grass people and others, I know that this situation is a bit appalling, it is hard to believe, is it true? Won't the emperor check his handwriting? ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded, he felt that what Wang Jinlong said made sense, and he also believed that these letters were not forged, because this young man named Wang Jinlong did not know Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin, and he could not imitate the handwriting of the two people, and there was no need to go all the way to the capital to frame Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin.

What Zhu Youzhen couldn't understand was why Jiang Jiu and Wang Chengyin betrayed the imperial court and went to Liukou Li Zicheng?

This is one of them.

Second, the young man in front of him seems to have known that Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin were going to take refuge in Li Zicheng, so he specially intercepted these letters on the road, how did he know that these two things that were eating inside and outside were going to take refuge in Li Zicheng?

Wang Jinlong looked up at Zhu Youzhen, "Your Majesty, I know that there are a lot of doubts in your heart, the Emperor must want to know how the grass people know that Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin want to take refuge in Li Zicheng, these things are easy to explain, but it is difficult to make the emperor believe, how about the grass people tell the emperor a story?" ”

Wang Chengen had already read these letters in the mansion before, to be honest, there were the same doubts in his mind as Emperor Zhu Youzhen, hearing that Wang Jinlong was going to tell the emperor a story, Wang Chengen felt that there was something wrong with Wang Jinlong's head at this moment, and quickly explained the coming and going. What story to tell?

"Your Majesty, in the distant future, about nearly four hundred years, it is also this season when the spring flowers are warm and cold, many people gathered on the side of the Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River, they are all coming to see the waterfall falling, at this time there is a thick but loose ice surface on the edge of the river, two children who broke free from the hands of adults suddenly jumped up, they just wanted to step on those ice cubes, but they didn't expect that the ice surface was not flat, it had obviously drooped inward, just like that, the two children slipped into the boiling river, A young man jumped in desperately, and after several attempts finally pushed the two children to the shore, but he did not come up because he had exhausted his strength. ”

"Not long after, in a bandit cottage called Mo'er Mountain in Weinan Weinan, Datong, Xiucai, who had a high fever for a few days, finally woke up, but this Xiucai has forgotten his past, he only remembers that he once saved two children in the tumbling Yellow River, and also remembers that his name is Zhang Ping, but he doesn't know why others call him Wang Jinlong."