Listening to the rumbling cannon sound from the north, Emperor Chongzhen, who was sitting on the dragon chair of the Jianji Palace, had a solemn face.

He knew that it was the army under the command of the thief Li Zicheng who was bombarding the city.

Emperor Chongzhen sighed slightly, his brows furrowed, he turned his head to look at the three imperial relatives of His Royal Highness, and then waved his hand in despair, signaling them to retreat.

Despair, of course!

Moreover, since he ascended the throne, in the past 17 years, the situation inside and outside the customs has deteriorated day by day, and the Tatar Qing and the Liukou have taken turns to fight, and the court has almost no civil and military generals who can turn the tide.

In February of the previous year, Li Zicheng's peasant army defeated the Ming army in Xiangcheng, and Wang Qiaonian, the governor of Shaanxi, was defeated and killed.

In March and April, Songshan and other cities outside the pass were successively broken by the Qing army, and the superintendent Hong Chengchou was captured and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and the last elite field army of the Ming Dynasty was destroyed.

And last year, with Sun Chuanting's death in Tongguan, Shaanxi, the entire Shaanxi was immediately occupied by the Liukou.

In the first month of this year, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an and established political power, and the Ming Dynasty was actually on the verge of extinction.

Now, Shanxi, Beizhili is in the hands of the enemy, Li Zicheng's army of more than 100,000 has surrounded the capital, and he and the prince are still in the city, and the only remaining more than 10,000 soldiers in the Beijing camp have been taken by Li Jiantai to the west, Emperor Chongzhen has no escape, and moving south is even more nonsense.

In such a critical situation, the eunuchs in the palace have already begun to find another way to make a living, and even many of those who have been sent to the major city gates to supervise the army have already colluded with the Shun army inside and outside, and when the time comes, they will open the city gates to welcome the new emperor.

It can only be said that the situation has collapsed so far, this Ming Dynasty, I'm afraid it's really going to die!

After the three of them exited the Jianji Palace, they walked out of the palace from the majestic Donghua Gate of the Forbidden City, everyone was full of sadness, sighing, and the atmosphere was very solemn.

"Yonggu, in the current situation, what can you do to protect Your Majesty's thoughtfulness?" It was Emperor Chongzhen's cousin, Liu Wenbing, the Marquis of Xinle, who spoke at this time, and he was also worried.

"Eh, the matter has come to this point, the rogues are already in the city, what else can be done? If it was half a month ago, I'm afraid there would still be a glimmer of life! "Emperor Chongzhen's brother-in-law, Zhou Shixian's senior, Gong Yonggu, the commander of the horses, is like a dead man." At that time, Beizhili was still under control, even if there were one or two thousand soldiers and horses, they could also escort His Majesty south. ”

"Yes, now, how can you and I turn things around with those few family members under you and me?" Liu Wenbing shook his head in despair.

In such a situation, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty can only sit and wait to be killed, and where can the two of them, who have no power, no soldiers, and no strategy, be reversed?

While the two were talking, they shook their heads and sighed, and only after they sighed did Gong Yonggu remember Zhou Shixian, who was walking with them.

He originally wanted to ask the other party if there was any way, but when he thought that Zhou Shixian was just a seventeen-year-old child, he simply gave up - they couldn't think of a way, so why bother with a child?

"Shixian, you have to be careful these days, especially at night. Recently, the capital has been chaotic, and last night Chen played Lord Chen's house, and he was attacked by thieves, both hands were cut off, and finally he was hanged alive on the beams of the house. ”

"Eh, Yonggu, what are you doing, it's going to scare the child for a while." Liu Wenbing immediately interrupted the other party, and after Zhou Shixian was selected as a concubine, the two regarded him as their own person, and they were usually very protective.

"How could there be such a cruel thing under Lang Lang Qianming?" Zhou Shixian looked frightened and asked incredulously.

Seeing this, Gong Yonggu sighed, patted him on the shoulder and said, "What a simple and kind child, it's a pity that he was born at the wrong time." ”

When Liu Wenbing heard this, he didn't ask anything anymore, but sighed deeply, with tears in his eyes: "The country is in danger, and the situation is so far, it's sad and lamentable, it's sad and lamentable." ”

"Wenshan, don't say it, let's all go back to guard the city gate, it can be regarded as doing our last bit for Your Majesty and Daming. If you can defend the city and die, it will not be considered to live up to the emperor's grace. Gong Yonggu's face turned sideways, and he said resolutely.

Zhou Shixian watched the two of them turn over on their horses one after another, whip away, and couldn't help but shake their heads in his heart. He knew that these two people were not reckless in their words, nor were they pretending, but in troubled times, loyalty and courage alone were far from enough.

Subsequently, he also received his embroidered spring knife from the eunuch guarding the door, hung it on his waist, and then immediately turned on his horse and headed east.

Zhou Shixian has been preparing for so long, naturally he will not accompany them to stay here to die, his plan has reached the most critical time, after having more than 20,000 taels of silver and more than 10,000 taels of gold looted from Chen Yan's mansion, there is naturally no shortage of military salaries to recruit warriors and break out of the city.

Not far to the east of the Forbidden City, there is the red wall and green tile, the grand scale of the Ten Princes' Mansion, which is a place for adult princes to temporarily live before leaving Beijing to become a vassal. The current Emperor Chongzhen lived here when he was still King Xin.

Now because the princes are still very young, and the crown prince is only sixteen years old, the Ten Princes' Mansion has been vacant, and only a few eunuchs will be sent here to clean and care on weekdays, and there are guards.

The current situation is that the eunuchs in the Forbidden City are almost finished, and the ten princes' mansions are even more uncared for. As a result, a huge "Ten Princes' Mansion" became a secret stronghold for Zhou Shixian to gather soldiers and horses.

Zhou Shixian quickly rode his horse to the Ten Princes' Mansion and dismounted at the corner on the west side of the palace gate.

The four elite brocade guards guarding the door saw that the horse master was coming, and immediately greeted him, one respectfully took the reins from his hand, one took the embroidered spring knife, and the other two arched their hands and hugged their fists:

"Horses, everyone has already arrived, there are a few thorns in it, Xue Zongqi is about to be unable to suppress it."

When Zhou Shixian heard this, his face did not fluctuate, and after making a glance at the two brocade guards in front of him, he immediately strode towards the palace.

He had expected such a situation for a long time. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, who have a little ability, which one is not arrogant?

But under his subordinates, no matter how great their ability, they have to be ordered to prohibit it, and Zhou Shixian will personally clean up these soldiers and ruffians today.

He walked briskly through the large courtyard of the Ten Princes' Mansion, which was densely lined with more than 30 brand-new Wupeng carts, all of which were hung by two horses, and more than 30 elite brocade guards were on duty.

Zhou Shixian has accomplished many incredible things with them in the past two months, and everyone is convinced by this young horse master. The Jinyi guards in the capital who have a little ability have all been collected by him, but there are only more than eighty people.

After passing through the courtyard, Zhou Shixian walked directly to the main hall, only to see eight brocade guards on duty at the door, and more than thirty heavily armed brocade guards on the side.

In front of them, there were fifty or sixty Ming soldiers with incomplete armor and old weapons, but they were still a little bit good, at least not like those on the city wall, sloppy to the point of being called Huazi.

After these brocade guards saw Zhou Shixian, they immediately pushed the door of the main hall inward with a "whoosh", and the Ming soldiers on both sides of the aisle looked forward to it one by one, showing curiosity.

Zhou Shixian stood tall with his head held high, stepped on sonorous and powerful steps, and walked inside, as far as his eyes could see, on the ground of the wide main hall of the Ten Princes' Mansion, there were more than 20 tall and tall officers, who were surrounding Zhou Shixian's henchman Xue Lao Er, one by one, with teeth and claws, without the appearance of an officer.

These military leaders, who are arrogant and domineering in the barracks on weekdays, are now gathered together, where can a mere Jinyi Wei General Banner be suppressed?

Xue Lao Er does have some means, and he is a capable subordinate, but without some training, he still doesn't know how to deal with the bigger scenes.

And Xue Lao Er saw that his boss was coming, originally because of the noise of these soldiers, he was at a loss, and he looked helpless, but now he was simply reassured, and shouted loudly: "The horse has arrived, don't you hurry up to greet it!" ”

As Zhou Shixian walked into the hall, the door of the hall of the Ten Princes' Mansion was slammed by the brocade guards guarding the door, and it was closed again, and everyone's eyes in the hall converged on the front of the main hall.

"Subordinate Xue Changfu, see Master Horse." Xue Lao Er immediately knelt on one knee and hugged his fist.

Under his leadership, some of the soldiers in the room knelt down, but some were unmoved.

Zhou Shixian quickly stood in front of the main seat of the hall, and then looked around, his face was gloomy, his brows were slightly furrowed, and the oppressive force was even worse, and said: "Why, in this world, don't you salute when you see the first-class horse captain?" Yes! ”

Such a question, especially the louder volume at the end, calmed down the soldiers who were still standing, and one by one knelt on one knee and gave a military salute to Zhou Shixian.

The officers who can gather here today, in addition to wanting silver, are probably loyal to the Ming Dynasty in their hearts and are unwilling to be thieves.

These people are all the lists that Zhou Shixian asked Xue Laoer, the old fritter in the brocade guard, to be carefully selected. Otherwise, Zhou Shixian's official authority may not have such power.

"Get up." Zhou Shixian looked at these people in front of him, then turned his head to look at Xue Lao Er and asked, "Are all the people here?" ”

"It's all here, colt!" Xue Lao Er replied immediately, still respectful, bowing his waist and clenching his fists.

And those officers who had just stood up looked at each other one by one, and couldn't help but be shocked in their hearts, and those who knew a little bit about the door couldn't help but be secretly shocked in their hearts - Xue Lao Er is a ruthless character, and he is so respectful to this young horse, I am afraid that the power behind the other party should not be underestimated!

Zhou Shixian looked at these Beijing camp officers in front of him, and he clearly remembered that tomorrow, that is, the night of March 18 in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, would be the time when the city of Beijing was broken, and Emperor Chongzhen killed his wife and daughter and hung himself on the southeast branch.

It's just that I don't know if this escort army that he worked so hard to find can make him, a great Ming horse, change his life against the sky, escape, and even reshape the Chinese and restore the style of the Han and Tang Dynasties!