The seventeenth year of Chongzhen, March 17.

At dawn, there was a strong wind covering the dust clouds, and when it was almost noon, it was raining, and the whole capital was shrouded in a dark and solemn atmosphere.

The four coyotes in the capital are smoking, that is the Shun army is searching for the manors of various officials and nobles outside the city, and around Gyeonggi, more than 200 years of accumulation, all belong to Dashun.

There are many rumors in the city, some people say that the thieves are still a hundred miles away, and some people say that the thieves have infiltrated the capital.

However, the military department sent scouts out of the city, and rarely returned, and even if there were probes in return, the information displayed was disorganized.

In the chaotic atmosphere, only the icy capital stood at the foot of Yan Mountain.

Since the nineteenth year of Yongle Ming Chengzu set the capital here, the capital continues to expand and reinforce, from the inside to the outside, there are palace city, imperial city, inner city and outer city are divided. The inner city and the outer city, one north and one south, stand in Lu.

The circumference of the inner city is forty-five li, and the circumference of the outer city is twenty-eight li, and there are six out of ten city gates.

However, since ancient times, the big city has been difficult to defend, and those who know the soldiers, everyone knows that the defense of the capital is like a fictitious.

The light rain was pervasive, Wang Chengen climbed the city wall accompanied by several brocade guards, and walked on the upper floor of Chaoyang Gate, now Chongzhen has entered a state of hysteria, in his eyes, Xungui is weak, everyone should be killed, and only the inner prison can be trusted by him.

Wang Chengen covered the rain curtain with his hands and looked eastward, his eyes full of anticipation, but after all, he still did not expect the reinforcements he and his master wanted.

He inspected the city defenses, the walls of the capital were high and thick, and there was a moat, but the Beijing camp he saw in front of him made him feel worried.

Most of the soldiers lazily gathered up and down the city wall, or sat on the ground, or in groups of three or five, gathered together, laughing as usual, and some of them were playing with money with their fists, not at all.

And those noble-born generals of the Beijing camp, who were lazily watching from the sidelines, did not care, and saw from a distance that there were internal supervisors patrolling, some shouted two voices, restraining discipline, and more people secretly ran away, so as not to embarrass the red man in front of the emperor.

The squad soldiers in the Beijing camp were all ragged and tattered, not like soldiers, but more like rough labor.

Wang Chengen's face was extremely ugly, and he asked who the commander of the city defense here was, and a certain nobleman hiding in the arrow tower saw that he couldn't hide, so he said a few words in the ear of his own soldiers.

After a while, someone shouted: "The father-in-law in the inner palace is here, long live the lord to reward him." ”

Immediately, thousands of people poured in, surrounded Wang Chengen, and reached out to ask for money, many people began to play brutal, set up the human wall, did not let them leave, pushed and shoved many times, Jinyiwei squeezed open a crack, and Wang Chengen fled.

In the Forbidden City, the early dynasty is still the same, and Emperor Chongzhen's diligence is persistent even in this situation of collapse and collapse, and he never quits the dynasty.

He convened the civil and military forces to discuss the strategy of defending the city, but the ministers all bowed their heads and did not dare to say a word. Chongzhen's sorrow came from it, and he cried like rain.

Officials from the Ministry of War kept coming to report, but they were all bad news.

Tongzhou lost ....... The thief cavalry had approached the capital for thirty miles .......

In the afternoon, the smoke and dust around the capital are like dragons, above the plains, the army is coming around, when the Shunjun brigade wearing red tassels and yellow uniforms appeared in Wang Chengen's field of vision, he had no choice but to return to the Qianqing Palace.

Chongzhen watched Wang Chengen come in, wiped his tears, and looked at him with hopeful eyes, hoping that he could give an answer that rekindled hope.

Wang Chengen said: "Emperor, when the army of thieves arrives in the city, I am afraid that there are hundreds of thousands of people, and there are thieves all over the world." ”

"What about Qin Wangjun? What about Shen Youlong. ”

Wang Chengen said: "Looking south and east, I don't see the figure of Qin Wangjun, nor does I see the trace of Lord Shen. ”

At this time, outside Miyagi, I remembered the rumbling of cannons, which became the only sound in this world.

The main force of the Shun army besieged the city, Chongzhen lay on the ground in a dejected manner, and shouted in his mouth: "Wenchen is misleading the country, Shen Youlong is misleading!" ”

In the inner palace, the queen held her child and trembled.

On March 18, the Shun army besieged for a day, and in the afternoon, someone opened the city and surrendered, and the outer city was immediately broken.

The east gate of the inner city was broken first, and in the face of the swarming of the Shun army, the right attendant of the military department who was in charge of the defense of the city here jumped off the city wall and was martyred.

When the Shun army entered from the Dongzhi Gate, the nobles who defended the Chaoyang Gate and the Zhengyang Gate and the Shangshu of the Military Department opened the city gate to surrender, and there were also eunuchs who opened the Xuanwu Gate to surrender.

The Shun army entered the city, and the sky collapsed.

The Ministry of Industry Shangshu went on a hunger strike for three days, and heard that the thieves entered the city, knelt down three times and bowed to the Forbidden City, hanged themselves to death, and were accompanied by concubines to go to Huangquan together.

There are 13 members of the family of Hubu Shangshu, and they are full of martyrs.

Jinyiwei's commanders and commanders were martyred one after another, and all of Jinyiwei's family were martyred.

Among the nobles, 16 members of Xinlehou's family committed suicide by throwing themselves into a well, and the emperor's grandmother, more than 90, also committed suicide.

Gong Yonggu killed the horse and burned the knife, set fire to the mansion, and threw himself and his children to death.

On the 19th, the army and horses invaded the Forbidden City, and there was chaos in the palace, and hundreds of eunuchs threw themselves into the river and died.

At noon, Li Zicheng wore a felt hat, rode a horse into the Desheng Gate, turned the Daming Gate into the Forbidden City, and went to the West Chang'an Gate, seeing the Chang'an archway, Li Zicheng said to the civil officials around him: "If I shoot the word An, then the world is peaceful!" ”

Li Zicheng thought that he would hit a hundred shots, but when an arrow was shot, it was shot on the corrugated and missed the archway.

Song Xiance said: "Shoot in the ditch, with Huai as the boundary, and the north and south are safe." ”

When he went to Chengtianmen again, he saw the four characters of Chengtianmen, and Li Zicheng said: "If I can shoot in the middle, I will be the co-master of the world." ”

However, God did not bless, Li Zicheng bent his bow and shot the arrow, and Niu Jinxing said with a smile on the side: "The arrow is under it, which means that the world is divided!" ”

Li Zicheng laughed, entered the Qianqing Palace, saw a few maids on the ground, and a girl broke her arm and cried herself, Li Zicheng asked the surrender eunuch Wang Dehua, and called the palace maid eunuch, saying that Emperor Chongzhen killed the queen's daughter and went to the coal mountain, and then asked the prince and the kings where they were, and the answer was to send Xungui's house.

Li Zicheng immediately ordered someone to go to the coal mountain to capture it, but he had to worship Zhen's corpse and hang it on a tree with a crooked neck.

"Emperor Ming is so strong, it is very commendable, and he is buried with a royal ceremony. Command the whole city to find the kings, and treat them well. Li Zicheng looked at the corpses all over the ground, with mixed feelings, and said with a sigh.

The Shun army besieged the capital, and the Beijing division was broken on the second day, and the news that the Son of Heaven died in Sheji immediately spread to all directions.

Li Zhaoji, who was far away in Shanhaiguan, heard the news on 20 March.

"Can you be sure that this news is true?" Li Zhaoji grabbed Xu Changge's shoulder and asked seriously.

"Some soldiers from the Beijing camp fled and said, and I saw Lord Shen hear the news with my own eyes, and I cried constantly." Xu Changge said.

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly and said, "So, it can be determined." ”

"Is it March 20th?" Li Zhaoji asked.

"Absolutely." Xu Changge said.

Li Zhaoji nodded: "You immediately take twenty people, take the Xunying to Yuntai Mountain, wait for Tang Mu's news, answer him, once you arrive, bring everyone to Juehua Island, Tang Mu knows what to do, go quickly." As he spoke, Li Zhaoji pulled out a gold-handled dagger he carried with him and handed it to Xu Changge.

After arranging these things, Li Zhaoji went to the public office to meet Shen Youlong.

The yamen were in chaos, the soldiers and servants were discussing with each other, sticking their heads out and not knowing what to do, Song Bao was anxious, and when he saw Li Zhaoji arrive, he hurriedly grabbed him and said: "Shopkeeper Li, you are here, the master and Mr. Zhao are crying endlessly, they want to die or live, but how can it be good, crying hurts the body, the little one ........" ”

Li Zhaoji didn't pay attention to Song Bao's chatter at all, he strode into the main hall, but saw Shen Youlong and Zhao Wenhe hugging and crying, Li Zhaoji ran over, dragged it away, pushed Shen Youlong to the chair, and scolded loudly: "The capital has fallen, the Son of Heaven has died, you don't think about the way to break the thief, don't plan to help, cry like a woman here endlessly, what kind of minister is it."

Don't cry soon, if you cry again, not only will the Son of Heaven die, but the Ming Dynasty will also perish. ”

The servants and the soldiers all stretched out their heads to look at the excitement, they had been by Shen Youlong's side for a long time, but they had never seen anyone talk to Shen Youlong like this.

And Li Zhaoji said something in Shen Youlong's ear, Shen Youlong immediately wiped away his tears, and said to the people around him: "The Son of Heaven died, the Ming Dynasty was in trouble, and you didn't want to repay the results, but watched here, and didn't return to the position quickly, and did your duty."

Songbao let everyone retreat and put Mr. Zhao into the study. ”

After a while, the three of them gathered in the study, and after Shen Youlong saw Li Zhaoji arrange everything to come in, he asked, "Zhaoji, what you said is true, is there really an abnormality in Liaozhen?" ”

Just wiped what Li Zhaoji said in Shen Youlong's ear: Liaozhen is in turmoil, and I am afraid of thieves.

Eight words, the frightened Shen Youlong couldn't even care about being sad.

"Does it matter if there is one, do you think that he Wu Sangui is a loyal person?" Lee asked.

Zhao Wenji listened to the conversation between the two, and also realized that the matter was big and no longer sad, he thought for a while and said: "Wu Sangui is a person who has only three points of loyalty, but seven points of filial piety. But students are afraid that seven points of filial piety is true. ”

The three of them are reminded of the old things when Wu Sangui was young, and once again, Wu Xiang, the father of Wu Sangui, accidentally fell into the enemy formation, Wu Sangui led thirty people to break into the enemy camp in order to save his father.

But the problem is that now Wu Sangui's father and his family are trapped in the capital, if Wu Sangui's filial piety overwhelms his loyalty and surrenders to the thief, it is inevitable.

"If Wu Sangui really has a rebellious intention, Dong Weng is in danger." Zhao Wenji said immediately.

"Therefore leave at once. Everything in this yamen is like this for the time being, and when I call a few people in, and when I go out again, you pretend to be my personal entourage and go out with me, and I will immediately arrange carriages and horses to send you to Ningyuan, and then go to Juehua Island. Li Zhaoji immediately expressed his fear.

Shen Youlong nodded: "While Wu Sangui has not yet made up his mind, it is appropriate to get out now." It's just that as soon as the old man leaves like this, doesn't Wu Sangui know that we are suspicious of him, and he will surrender to the thief? ”

Li Zhaoji laughed: "No, even if Wu Sangui wants to surrender, he will not just save his family, but will also negotiate some terms with the thieves." After all, Shanhaiguan is in his hands, Wu Sangui still has chips, and the asking price will certainly not be low.

Moreover, I will also stay and deal with him, and the two of you will go to Juehua Island, and when the main forces of the Cantonese army and the vassal army arrive, whether it is peace or war, you will have to rely on. ”

Zhao Wenji was worried about Li Zhaoji's safety: "Zhaoji, how do you deal with him?" ”

Li Zhaoji said: "This is not simple, I do not object to him surrendering to the thief, but persuade him to sit on the wall and watch."

Wait and see the attitude of the thieves, the Manchus and the Ming Dynasty, whoever gives the conditions is good and the future is high, he will vote.

And after the two of you go back, don't just wait for the soldiers and horses, but also contact Jiangnan, now if the son dies today, it should be the time to establish a new dynasty, the new dynasty will be decided, and the conditions for Wu Sangui can be set, and both soft and hard can be used to hold him.

The Cantonese army and the vassal army were hard, and the imperial court's reward was soft. Only by controlling Wu Sangui in Liaozhen can the Ming Dynasty have the possibility of favoring the south of the Yangtze River. ”

"But if he insists on surrendering to the thief, aren't you in danger?" Zhao Wenji said.

Li Zhaoji laughed: "What danger do I have, it's a big deal to surrender with him, I am not a loyal minister and filial son of the Ming Dynasty, why did he kill me?" ”

"Oh....... Alas, it is like this, and it can only be like this, you can arrange it. Shen Youlong secretly stepped on Zhao Wenji's foot under the table and motioned him not to say more.

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