"you! What guns to grab! ”

"If you don't have any money, get out, don't delay us in shopping!"

"Mother! Where are you?! ”

"It's coming, it's coming!"

On April 16, the fourth day of the siege of the capital, similar to the noise over the capital, the whole capital was in chaos at the moment.

Prices have skyrocketed so much that even some families with hundreds of officials and thousands of officials have a thinner foundation, and they are not doing much better than those of ordinary soldiers.

Military attachés, civil ministers, nobles, royal families, and clans are all looting all kinds of supplies, from river firewood to firewood, rice, oil, and salt, the price of almost all commodities has increased more than fivefold.

In order to survive, the small people had to try to cut down the trees on the official road, but even so, the trees on the official road had long been cut down by the officials under various names.

In the entire capital, except for the trees of Purple Mountain and Qixia Mountain, no one dares to move, and there are almost no trees in the rest of the city.

It is precisely in this way that the smoke of cooking in the capital can be kept rising.

Seeing that the situation was uncontrollable, Zhu Yunwen had no choice but to think of Jinyiwei, and sent several Jinyiwei to sneak out of the capital at night, and ordered the world to write the edict of King Qin......

[I obeyed the orders of the emperor's ancestors, and the heirs served the gods and goddesses, Bohai did not do anything, acted without permission, abused all surnames, and repeatedly raised soldiers to beg. Today, the generals are out of law, the Kou soldiers invade Beijing, with the intention of usurping the rebellion, the Quartet Division, the Political Division, the Inspectorate and the ministers of the civil and military affairs of the prefectures, hearing that the country is in a hurry, each thinks hard and its loyalty and bravery, and leads the people of Muyi and brave people to go to the king of Que Qin, to calm the difficulties of the Kou, to achieve great success, in order to support the sect. 】

[Woohoo! It is not enough to say that I am not virtuous and cause Kou, but my courtiers are willing to abandon me and do not care? Each is the heart, in order to calm the difficulty, then the reward of the ceremony, on the merits and deeds, I have nothing to spare. Therefore, the edict is hereby heartfelt! 】

"The article is not bad, Fang Xiaoru wrote it, right?"

On the ferry crossing of Wanshou Mountain in Yangzhou City, Zhu Gaoxu took this notice of King Qin, which appeared in the counties in Zhenjiang Prefecture, and couldn't help but smile and ask.

"Back to Your Highness, it's ......"

Cui Jun responded with a smile, and also said: "This notice is estimated to have been made by Jinyiwei, but it was cleaned up by the Zhenjiang prefect as soon as it was posted." ”

After that, he looked at Yangzhou in the distance, and then at his own soldiers and horses, and couldn't help laughing: "This Sheng Yong seems to be really incapable of fighting with His Highness, winning without a fight, His Highness has a good hand." ”

"Hehe......" Zhu Gaoxu also followed Cui Jun's gaze, and saw that the camp of the Yangzhou Jianghuai Corps was deserted, and he couldn't even maintain the drill.

This is very normal, a large number of military attachés' parents and relatives are in the capital, and military attaches are unwilling to fight, who can force them to fight?

But they didn't dare to fight, and Zhu Gaoxu had to cross the river.

"The Shenji Battalion is ready to pack up, let's get on the boat!"

Zhu Gaoxu threw the notice into the brazier on the side, looked up and walked towards the ferry.

In order to ensure that there were enough people to resist the surprise attack of the southern army, Zhu Gaoxu finally left behind the Shenji Battalion, and asked Cui Jun to transport the horse to Zhenjiang first.

In this way, the fleet can carry more people.

Even if there are no horses, because there is no need to turn back, it is possible to take a boat directly to Zhenjiang, but the speed is two hours slower.

It's just that for Zhu Gaoxu, two hours is nothing at all, and no matter how slowly he goes to the capital now, there will be no reinforcements to rescue Zhu Yunwen.

"Peng!!"

Almost at the same time that Zhu Gaochu led the Shenji Battalion to board the ship, Sheng Yong also got the news that Zhu Gaochu was crossing the river.

It's just that at the moment, he doesn't seem to have much to do except smash something.

The more than 60,000 people in Jianghuai could not cross the river, let alone stop Zhu Gaoxu.

In the past two days, they did not organize an attack, but they were all repelled by Zhu Gaoxu in the form of baggage carts, artillery, arquebuses, and pikes.

The demoralized army was no longer able to attack, and the overwhelmed baggage wagons hindered the charge of the cavalry in Beijing, making everything they had useless.

They could only watch from here and watch him cross the river.

"If he goes, the capital is in danger......"

Sheng Yong couldn't do anything but sigh in pain.

It's just that he didn't even say this correctly, because before Zhu Gaoxu arrived in Jiangnan, the capital was already completely chaotic.

"The thieves are very heavy to cross the south of the Yangtze River, and there are no less than 30,000 soldiers and horses outside Waiguo City, please withdraw the defenders of Waiguo City and return to defend the inner city!"

"The ministers seconded it!!"

At noon, in the Wuying Palace, when Zhu Gaoxu was still busy crossing the river, the ministers had already staged a stage play for their own benefit.

The more than 200,000 people of Waiguo City have undoubtedly become the target of abandonment, and although they are right, Zhu Yunwen still despairs of his incompetence.

"Those are the people at the feet of the Son of Heaven......"

He looked at the ministers almost in despair, and the ministers also looked at each other, and finally Huang Zicheng stood up and said: "Your Majesty, there is nothing to be done about this matter, only after repelling the thief army, the people will be exempted from paying taxes." ”

"......" Zhu Yunwen slowly closed his eyes, stretched out his hand weakly and waved: "Let Mr. Huang draft the will......"

"Command!" Huang Zicheng responded, and then began to withdraw the defenders stationed in the outer Guocheng to the inner city one by one according to the elite level.

100,000 strong men and 40,000 soldiers and horses, as well as less than 10,000 elite soldiers......

These 150,000 horses seem to be a lot, but they can only be divided equally among the outer cities, but they can only achieve seven or eight thousand people per gate.

Therefore, when the elite and soldiers of the Soldiers and Horses Division began to withdraw one after another, the strong men immediately realized that something was wrong.

The bold began to flee directly, and the timid fled on the way to retreat.

In short, when the drums of the capital sounded at dusk, less than 100,000 of the 150,000 soldiers and horses were withdrawn, and more than half of the strong men fled, even including many soldiers of the Shangzhi and the Soldiers and Horses.

Qi Tai, who was in charge of the defense of the city, had no choice but to arrange the 100,000 people at the thirteen gates of the inner city, and arranged guards for each of the thirteen gates.

Xu Zengshou was in charge of the three north gates of Shence Gate, Jinchuan Gate, and Zhongfu Gate, and the rest of the city gates were handed over to experienced martial artists to garrison.

It's just that when they arrived at the city gate, they looked at the soldiers who were almost like wandering stragglers, and they really didn't know how to defend the capital.

"Sigh the law ......"

In the early morning of the 17th, Zhu Gaoxu, who arrived in Zhenjiang slowly and leisurely, finally arrived at the Qilin Gate outside the capital.

However, at this moment, the Qilin Gate has been taken over by Meng Zhang, and Zhu Gaoxu has also seen many people who are locked in the city gate, looking at his own people.

"It seems that my eldest brother has abandoned the people and defended his capital."

Zhu Gaoxu teased Zhu Yunwen, but he didn't think it was strange, after all, Zhu Yunwen was such a person.

It would be too difficult for him to give up his last hope for the sake of a dozen or two hundred thousand people from the outer city.

"Your Highness, this group of people are all waiting for the ban to be lifted, thinking of going out of the city to cut firewood for cooking."

Meng Zhang explained on horseback, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said, "It's not okay to go out of the city, let them wait one more day." ”

"Yes!" Meng Zhang also smiled and nodded.

The two of them can laugh so easily, because they know that the hearts of the people in the capital are already floating at the moment, and they can't hold it at all.

Not to mention Xu Zengshou, just talking about other city gates, I'm afraid there are many people who are cautious.

"Order the three armies, after entering the capital, strictly abide by our army's 'three armies and eight disciplines', and if there are offenders, they will be dealt with strictly!"

"The last general commands!"

Zhu Gaoxu spoke, and Meng Zhang responded.

Then, he looked at Guo Cheng, who was lying on the side but couldn't see the edge at a glance, and waved his hand in high spirits and ordered: "Enter the city!" ”

Soon, tens of thousands of Bohai navies began to enter the capital through different gates under the news of Tangqi.

They rode the Wuliang Hama of Modong and poured into Guocheng outside the capital like a tide.

According to common sense, Zhu Gaoxu should take the Guanyin Gate in the north, and it is the fastest to reach the Jinchuan Gate directly, but he still took the Qilin Gate, because he had to go to the Purple Mountain to worship Lao Zhu.

Zhu Yunwen gave up Waiguo City, in fact, he abandoned Qixia Mountain and Purple Mountain, that is, he abandoned the imperial tomb.

Zhu Gaoxu went to the Purple Mountain to worship, just to stimulate and stimulate this guy.

He had better know shame and find a way to die himself, lest he be infamous for killing the emperor.

"Stop!"

Ten miles into the capital, Zhu Gaoxu arrived at the foot of the Purple Mountain and saw Shinto.

He turned over and dismounted, and walked towards the mountain with only Meng Zhang, Ta Shi and others.

Most of the Xiaolingwei were evacuated by Zhu Yunwen, and half of the last more than 10,000 elites in Beijing were them, leaving less than a thousand people.

Seeing Zhu Gaochu coming, they simply surrendered, so Zhu Gaoxu's road was unimpeded, and soon walked through landmark buildings such as Sifang City, Stone Statues, Weng Zhong, Wenwu, Jinshui, etc., and finally arrived at Xiaoling Ming Tower.

"Wait outside."

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and gave a command, and finally stepped into the Ming Tower, walked on the gold brick, and looked at the portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang hanging high, which was the same as the portrait of the full moon face in later generations.

"Grandpa, my good grandson has come to see you."

Zhu Gaoxu's words revealed ridicule, and at the same time, he took out the incense used in the sacrifice from the side and lit it, bowed respectfully five times and bowed three times, and finally inserted the three incense sticks.

"You see your grandson coming in a good mood, right?"

Zhu Gaoxu's smile couldn't be suppressed, and he couldn't wait to pick up his beloved pipa and sing a song.

From the winter of the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu to the summer of the thirty-third year of Hongwu, God knows how many years he waited for this day.

Well, now, I've finally got what I wanted!

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't stop feeling good, walking in this bright building humming a little song, walking around to see what was more than when Lao Zhu brought him here.

But after looking at it specifically, it didn't matter much, after all, Lao Zhu's last wish was a simple burial, Zhu Yunwen was selectively obedient at this point, and he really didn't bury any valuables, and the valuables were left to him for his own defeat.

"Grandpa, wait for my father to come back to see you in a few days, and my grandson is gone."

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and left, this appearance made Meng Zhang and the others very surprised.

They had never seen their Royal Highness look like Meng Lang, and they were very happy in their hearts.

"Meng Zhang!"

"The last general!"

Descending to the Sifang City, Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and instructed Meng Zhang: "Rest for the night, wait for the artillery to arrive early tomorrow morning, and prepare to take over the city wall." ”

"The last general commands!" Meng Zhangzuo responded, and Zhu Gaoxu also found an empty courtyard to live in a town not far from Xiaoling, and at the same time wrote a letter to Zhu Yunwen in the capital.

The meaning of the letter is simple, Zhu Gaoxu first mentioned some of the things that Lao Zhu said to Zhu Yunwen before his death, and then mentioned how Zhu Yunwen promised him, but how he did it.

Secondly, Zhu Gaoxu mentioned that Zhu Yunwen issued treasure money without authorization, causing the treasure money to collapse again, and he forced his uncle to death and abolished five uncles.

Of course, in the end, Zhu Gaoxu still gave Zhu Yunwen a little face, and helped him explain that the people who bewitched him were Qi Tai, Tyrant Zhao, and Huang Zicheng, and if he was willing to get rid of the ministers and issue an edict against himself, he would still be a 'Ming Jun'.

At that time, as long as Zhu Di goes south, he, as a son, will also choose to listen to his father's words and withdraw the army.

At the end, Zhu Gaoxu also added, saying that he went to Purple Mountain.

Among them, the mausoleum of Emperor Taizu Gao is well maintained, but the tomb of Emperor Xingzong Zhu Biao is not very good.

As a nephew, he personally helped Zhu Yunwen pull out some weeds around Zhu Biao's mausoleum, so that it would not become barren.

The first half of this letter is basically true, and the later about Zhu Biao's mausoleum is Zhu Gaochu deliberately teasing Zhu Yunwen, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that Zhu Yunwen is no exception.

"The erector is rude!!"

"Bang!!"

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yunwen, who was wearing a middle coat, looked like crazy, knocked over the candles on the table in the dark night, and lit the firelight.

Li Quan and the palace maids beside him hurriedly came to extinguish the fire, and Queen Ma hugged Zhu Wenkui, who was frightened, and coaxed him softly.

Five-year-old Zhu Wenkui didn't know what disaster was happening to his family, so he could only hide in his mother's arms and cry vigorously.

Listening to the cry in his ears, Zhu Yunwen sat paralyzed on the ground, looking at the burned songs, and his heart was extremely desperate.

He had hundreds of thousands of troops, but he did not see a single one who came to the rescue of King Qin.

Na Sheng Yong took 60,000 people, but he couldn't even stop Zhu Gaochu from crossing the river, so he asked Zhu Gaochu to humiliate himself outside the city in person.

Throughout the night, Zhu Yunwen was helped up from the ground to sitting on the couch, he didn't know how he spent it, and he didn't even listen to how Queen Ma comforted him.

It's just that the next day, what woke him up was not the morning bell and dusk drums of the capital, but the fierce and heavy cannonballs.

"Boom, boom—"

The cannon roared like thunder, coming from the east and west.

Miyagi, which is only a mile away from Chaoyang Gate, can clearly hear the dense cannon sound, and the cannon sound also urges Zhu Yunwen to change his clothes and walk towards Wuying Palace.

The morning bell was muffled by the sound of cannons, and the whole capital became a pot of porridge, and everyone hid at home and did not dare to come out.

From the Yangtze River and land, the Bohai Navy launched naval artillery, field artillery, and siege artillery strikes from east to west.

These cannonballs were not very lethal to the bluestone inner walls, but they were enough to break the battlements and expose the defenders behind them, so that the defenders did not dare to take the lead.

Of course, the more important significance of the shelling is to make the entire capital feel the oppression under the end of the world, forcing more people to think about surrendering.

At midnight on March 18, under the sound of cannons, Zhu Yunwen came to the golden platform in front of the Fengtian Hall and sat down, but the ministers who appeared in front of him were only about 100 people, only one-tenth of the usual day.

"Your Majesty, please make peace with the king of Bohai County, and the imperial court can grant Henan and Xuzhou to the Bohai Kingdom."

In the crowd, Huang Zicheng did not run away, but continued to stay by Zhu Yunwen's side, stubbornly admonishing.

"The thief army has already arrived in the city, I'm afraid they won't agree."

Storm Zhao's face turned pale, and Qi Tai was not here, he was in charge of defense.

However, Fang Xiaoru was entrusted with an important task by Zhu Yunwen, and he recommended his disciples to be appointed as officials, but he did not come to participate in this court meeting.

"The capital has been besieged and it is difficult to get out, so what is the point of discussing peace at this time?"

After last night, Zhu Yunwen saw a lot, and he said to the ministers: "The monarch is dead, and the righteousness of righteousness is also ......."

"Your Majesty!!" Hearing Zhu Yunwen say this, more than 100 courtiers knelt down in fright.

But Zhu Yunwen can still show a smile on his face: "I am wandering on my deathbed, and I can still be accompanied by my courtiers, and I am not lonely." ”

"Your Majesty, please think again! The imperial court still has a chance! ”

Huang Zicheng was hoarse, but Zhu Yunwen shook his head: "I am determined!" ”

With that, he stood up and staggered to the inner court.

"Your Majesty!!" Huang Zicheng and the others wept and kowtowed to his departing back, and scattered after a while.

Everyone knows that the capital may not be able to hold on.

They began to flee for their lives, trying to evade the Bohai Navy.

At the same time, Li Zhong and Zhang Guang, the guards of Chaoyangmen who were shelled, were beaten so that they could not raise their heads, so they could only hide at the base of the city wall, and they had to hold their shields to prevent being hit by the falling stones on the city wall.

"How to fight this! The Bohai Navy is attacking us two miles away, what are we going to fight?! ”

Zhang Guang held his shield and cursed, and at the same time looked at Li Zhong with a bitter face on the side: "I remember that you have a very good relationship with the King of Bohai County, so it is better to vote for him at this time." ”

"I ...... But at the gate of the city there was a king's commanding envoy. Li Zhong hesitated, but Zhang Guang directly pulled out his knife when he heard this: "Master go and help you ask, if he doesn't want to, I will do it for you, if you are promoted and promoted, don't forget my good brother." ”

"This, this, this ......" Li Zhong didn't expect Zhang Guang to have such a big temper, but before he finished speaking, Zhang Guang took his hundred or so people and walked towards Chaoyang Gate.

Seeing this, Li Zhong hurriedly gathered his brothers and followed closely.

It's just that when he ran to Yongdao, Zhang Guang had already slashed the commander Wang Ke and was wiping the knife with a coarse cloth.

"Open the gates! Don't fight! ”

"Mother, send a bunch of treasure money, you can't afford firewood, hit your mother's head!"

"Open the gates!"

In the sound of cannons, the Chaoyang Gate slowly opened, and Li Zhong and Zhang Guang took off their armor and walked out of the Chaoyang Gate shirtless.

"Stop shelling!!"

"Beep-"

On the battlefield, when Meng Zhang, who was holding a telescope, saw the Chaoyang Gate open, he immediately blew the wooden whistle in surprise.

"What's going on? Didn't you say that the fourth prince was in Jinchuan Gate in the north? Why did Chaoyang Gate open first? ”

Standing beside Meng Zhang, Xu Sheng asked three questions in a row, but Meng Zhang couldn't answer any of them.

"Go and bring them up and see what it means."

He commanded a group of cavalry to come forward to inquire, and soon Zhang Guang and Li Zhong, who were shirtless, were brought to the front of the battle.

Facing Meng Zhang, the two explained why they opened the city gate, and then Zhang Guang began to use Zhu Gaoxu to give Li Zhong a lot of money to build a relationship.

"My brother Li Zhong has received a little favor from His Royal Highness, although His Highness is generous, he may not remember my brother, but my brother always remembers, so I am here today to repay the kindness."

Zhang Guang pulled out Li Zhong, and Meng Zhang also looked at him in surprise: "How can His Royal Highness my family favor you?" ”

"When I was promoted to a hundred household officials, I was given a lot of money, and I asked me to invite the brothers to have a good meal." Li Zhong said this with a red face, but in Meng Zhang's ears, this was not what His Royal Highness liked to do most when he was in the capital.

"Go and ask Your Highness if you remember a person named Li Zhong and tell Your Highness about here."

Meng Zhang explained to Xu Sheng, Xu Sheng was not ambiguous, turned the horse's head and went to ask Zhu Gaoxu after the battle.

Zhu Gaoxu sat in the back, still wondering why the cannon had stopped for so long, but he saw Xu Sheng galloping over.

Due to the slippery land, the war horse almost stumbled after slipping, but fortunately, Xu Sheng stabilized the war horse.

"Your Highness, the Chaoyang Gate was opened by two thousand households, and those two said they knew you, one was named Li Zhong, and they said that they had taken your money to repay their kindness."

Xu Sheng grinned, originally they were going to bombard the eastern and western cities to attract attention, and then use cavalry to go north to take over Jinchuan Gate, but now it seems that there is no need for this.

"Li Zhong ......"

Zhu Gaoxu frowned and got up, rubbed his eyebrows before saying, "It seems that there is such a person." ”

"Do you want to go straight into the city?" Xu Sheng was overjoyed when he heard this, after all, one mile after taking Chaoyang Gate was the Forbidden City.

"Send a team of brothers to try the way, and I will teach you?"

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Xu Sheng, then walked to the side of the soldier to take the reins of the horse, and turned over on the horse.

Not long after, he took Xu Sheng back to the front of the battle, and also saw Zhang Guang and Li Zhong shirtless.

Only then did he recognize who these two people were.

"I remember, you two were in charge of entertaining me to Longjiang Shipyard at Jiangdongmen, right?"

"The cheap name has entered the ears of His Royal Highness, and His Royal Highness still remembers it, and I am ashamed ......"

Zhang Guang can speak well, although Li Zhong on the side can't speak, but Zhu Gaoxu has a deeper memory of him.

"They are all brothers, and there is no such thing as a lowly one."

He comforted the two, and then spoke: "Although I remember you, whether you really have the heart to offer Chaoyangmen is another matter." ”

"I will send you a hundred men now, and after a quarter of an hour nothing will happen, I will send a large army into the city to credit you two for their first merit."

"Your Highness Xie's trust!!" Zhang Guang and Li Zhong hurriedly made a fuss, and they also remembered that Zhu Gaoxu didn't like people to kowtow.

Not long after, the two of them entered Chaoyang Gate with more than 100 Bohai soldiers and began to take over the most important city gate and tower.

It was not until a quarter of an hour later, after making sure that nothing had changed, that Zhu Gaoxu let Meng Zhang and Xu Sheng command the army into the city.

The news of Chaoyangmen's influx into the Bohai Navy was seen by some people, and the news began to spread.

By the time it reached the Forbidden City, it was already half an hour later.

In the entire Forbidden City, there are countless palace maids and eunuchs who have snatched the royal treasures, except for a small number of loyal people who are still with Zhu Yunwen, the rest of them have already found their next home.

It's just that after a while, I don't know where the fire is in the palace, and a smell of fire smoke spreads in the palace, adding another color to the chaos in the Forbidden City.

"Bohai Chronicle": "The fire in the palace is on fire, and the emperor does not know what to do." The emperor was sent to the fire."

"Ming Shizong Record": "Then the palace burned itself. Seeing the smoke rising in the palace, he hurriedly sent the envoy to the rescue, but it was too late, and the envoy took out his body in the fire, and it was white, and he cried and said: 'Brother Qingjun's side is to save his brother, why is my brother also'"

(End of chapter)