"Huh?" Du Zhizhi shouted out of his voice.

He lay on the ground with a pale face and kept kowtowing: "Your Majesty, the slave and maid are wronged, someone must have framed the slave and maid." ”

"The slave is His Majesty's minister, and she swears to be loyal to Your Majesty!"

Seeing that Chongzhen didn't speak, Du Zhizhi turned his head to look at Wang Chengen.

"Prince, I was brought out by you, and I will never betray Your Majesty, please check it out!"

Wang Chengen frowned, the emperor had no evidence, it was a secret letter written by Feng Yuanyang.

Killing Du Zhizhi was nothing more than appeasing Tang Tong.

After thinking about these truths clearly, Wang Chengen snorted coldly: "Du Zhizhi, you have fornicated with thieves, the evidence is conclusive, what are you arguing about?" Come on, take down Du Zhizhi's rank, and push it out to listen to the fall! ”

After hearing the order, the two brocade guards pushed the door in, one left and one right controlled Du Zhizhi, and dragged him out without saying anything.

Du Zhizhi was completely panicked, he struggled to look around, and his eyes fell on Tang Tong.

At this time, he couldn't take care of much, and shouted loudly at Tang Tong: "Lord Tang, help me beg Your Majesty, I really don't have an affair with a thief." ”

Tang Tong snorted coldly and pretended not to hear.

Du Zhizhi is desperate!

Seeing that he was about to be dragged out of the hall, Chongzhen stretched out his hand to ask the two brocade guards to stop, and he looked at Tang Tong with a smile: "Ding Xibo, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, what should be the crime of fornicating with thieves?" ”

Tang Tong's heart was shocked, and he immediately understood Chongzhen's intentions, and he said in a deep voice: "Deal with it according to military law, and behead." ”

"Du Zhizhi, as a prison soldier, knows the law and violates the law, since the crime has been verified, let's deal with it according to military law."

Tang Tong couldn't help but look up at Chongzhen, he couldn't understand what this Ming Emperor was doing.

He was the one who sent Du Zhizhi to supervise the army yesterday, and he was the one who wanted to cut Du Zhizhi today.

Could it be that Du Zhizhi really fornicated with thieves?

No... No way!

No one has the purpose of fornicating with thieves, but the eunuchs do not.

The old ministers of the previous dynasty can be used to change the dynasty, and there are also examples of marrying concubines of the previous dynasty, but there is no precedent of using the eunuchs of the previous dynasty.

What is Du Zhizhi's fornication thief?

"Tang Tong, Du Zhizhi fornicated with a thief, didn't you cut him down for me?"

Tang Tong didn't have time to think about it, so he knelt down and kowtowed respectfully: "Minister, obey the order." ”

With that, he stood up and came to Du Zhizhi's side, grabbing the other party's neck and collar.

The moment he turned around, he could no longer hide the ecstasy in his heart, and dragged Du Zhizhi out of the hall with a cruel smile.

"Your Majesty, the slave is wronged!"

"Wronged!"

"Wrong..."

After a while, Du Zhizhi's voice begging for mercy stopped abruptly.

Tang Tong returned to the main hall satisfied, and his previous dissatisfaction with Chongzhen also disappeared with Du Zhizhi's death.

The only thing that isn't certain is who the next overseer will be.

"Your Majesty, the execution of the minister has been completed, Du Zhizhi is dead, I don't know who Your Majesty will send to supervise the army."

"There are no overseers." Chongzhen smiled slightly.

Tang Tong was stunned, "Your Majesty, the minister didn't understand. ”

"Dingxi Bo is the pillar of the Ming Dynasty, I believe in you, so I don't need to supervise the army."

"Wang Chengen, go to the internal treasury to withdraw 20,000 taels of silver from Xibo, and I will find a way to make up for the rest of the money."

Looking at Emperor Chongzhen, Tang Tong's eyes instantly moistened.

The grievances and distrust that I had received before disappeared in this instant.

He bowed to the ground and said, "Your Majesty, the ministers must guard the gate and not let the thieves go forward." ”

"No, you can't hold on!"

Tang Tong was stunned.

Your Majesty is killing people and giving money, isn't the purpose just to let yourself die for him?

Just said that he would stick to it, why didn't His Majesty agree?

Chongzhen shook his head slightly: "Li Zi divided his troops into two ways to attack the Beijing Division. His general Liu Fangliang has now occupied Baoding Mansion, once Li Zicheng is blocked, Liu Fangliang will definitely support, then Juyong Pass will be attacked from both sides, and Xibo will be in danger. ”

"It's... Minister... Ministers are not afraid of death! Tang Tong said stubbornly.

"Now is the time for the imperial court to employ people, and I can't put you in danger. You only need to hold on to Juyong Pass for a few days, and before Liu Fangliang's army surrounds Juyong Pass, you can take everyone and withdraw to Beijing. ”

"It's... The minister must live up to the emperor's grace! ”

Wu Mengming and Wang Zhixin looked at Tang Tong's distant back, and felt a little uneasy in their hearts.

Tang Tong was very dissatisfied with the behavior of Chongzhen to send Du Zhizhi to supervise the army yesterday.

Today, the emperor only killed one eunuch, and he redeemed Tang Tong's loyalty.

Although it is impossible to tell whether it is true or false for the time being, the emperor's ability to buy people's hearts is undoubtedly revealed.

After pacifying Tang Tong, Chongzhen sat on the dragon chair and thought about his next plan.

It stands to reason that the soldiers will block the water and cover the earth.

The problem is that now he has no soldiers, and he has no generals.

Under the influence of the Ming god of war, the emperors of the late Ming Dynasty did not have military power.

There are 26 guards in the Beijing camp, of which 21 are more or less under the control of the military department.

The only ones he can mobilize alone are Jinyiwei and Tengxiang Siwei.

Tengxiang Siwei was later reorganized into the Yongwei Battalion, which belonged to the elite of the elite.

Unfortunately, Huang Degong and the elite of the Yongwei battalion were sent by him to hunt down Zhang Xianzhong, who was fighting thousands of miles away in Anhui at this time.

Far water can't quench your thirst!

Even if there is military power, there is no one to use in the Jingshi.

In that case, you can only use all or nothing!

"Wu Mengming, the heart of the king." Chongzhen closed his eyes and said.

"The minister is here."

"How many people are in Beijing from Jinyiwei and Dongchang?"

"Back to Your Majesty, there are more than 3,000 Jinyi Guards."

"Back to the emperor, there are 2,000 people in the East Factory."

Chongzhen silently calculated in his heart.

The three major battalions, Jinyiwei, Dongchang, the forbidden army, and the soldiers and horses of the five cities all add up, and there are about 38,000 people available in the Beijing Division, and only 36,000 people can be mobilized except for the necessary guards of the imperial city. Li Zicheng's army is claimed to be 500,000, but it is actually 20. After leaving Shaanxi, it was divided into two routes, and it was necessary to garrison along the way, and about 1120,000 people attacked the city of Beijing. Although the number is not as large as imagined, half of them are the elite he brought out from Shaanxi.

A one-to-four ratio.

The old, the weak, the sick and the disabled against the elite?

No play!

Of course, this is just his wishful thinking, and if you want to hold Beijing, the most important thing is money.

There are not enough people to recruit soldiers, and recruiting soldiers requires more money.

The relationship between the emperor and the soldier is like that between the boss and the worker.

If you have money, you don't have to work hard, and if you don't have money, you definitely don't sell your life.

Those who were soldiers were not well fed and clothed, so why did they desperately protect the emperor who sat firmly in the Jinluan Palace?

Where the money went and how it didn't have it has nothing to do with them. As long as the soldier does not get the money, he will think that it is the emperor's reason.

Chongzhen is well aware of this.

Moreover, in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the combat strength of the Ming army was not low, and there was a saying that spread widely: the Ming army was not satisfied with the salary, and the full salary was invincible.

"How many months of wages you owe?" Chongzhen closed his eyes and continued to ask.

Wu Mengming and Wang Zhixin glanced at each other, and at the same time were speechless. They were embarrassed to speak, for fear of exposing the bottom of the Ming Dynasty and embarrassing the emperor's face.

Chongzhen's face sank, "Tell the truth!" ”

"Yes, Jin Yiwei owes five months' salary."

"The East Factory is also five months."

Chongzhen sighed, wanting to scold people and didn't know who to scold. As far as he knew, Jingshi's Jinyiwei and Dongchang were the least in arrears.

"Calculate for yourselves, make up for the previous arrears, and give each person another five taels of silver to defend the city, how much is needed in total?"

Wu Mengming's eyes lit up, he didn't care where Emperor Chongzhen got the silver, as long as he gave the silver.

After a while, the two of them reported the total to Chongzhen, "Emperor, Jinyiwei and Dongchang need a total of 75,000 taels of silver. ”

"Well, do you know how much the three battalions owe?"

Wu Mengming frowned, as the number one person in Jinyiwei, this kind of news is still known. The governor's three battalions were Li Guozhen, the governor of Xiangcheng, and he didn't want to offend the other party.

The king's heart was also afraid of offending people, so he kept silent.

"Wu Mengming, you can say whatever you know, it's all like this, there's no need to hide it."

"Yes, the three battalions are basically in arrears for eight months."