Through the faint light, you can vaguely see that on the walls of each street entrance, there are notices of martial law in Beijing. In the narrow and long alleys of the capital, there are often three-person watchmen, who carry small lanterns, bang gongs or watch bangs, and wander through the streets and alleys.

The shadows of these people shrank from time to time, and then continued to pass away into the darkness, and the slightly chilly sky above the capital, the remaining slow and listless sound of gongs and bangs, and these sounds gradually faded away and disappeared in the gradually increasing wind.

The castle head of the capital division is very quiet, and there is a lantern on the battlements not far away. Since the Qing army had already passed through Tongzhou and arrived at the west bank of the canal almost without hindrance, the defense of the Ming officers and troops in the direction of Dongzhimen and Chaoyangmen became more and more tight, and the lanterns of various lighting in this direction were also more dense.

The soldiers standing on duty at the head of the city could see that there were many fires outside the city, and the sky in the dark night was also reflected in the firelight into a purple and black, like velvet soaked in blood; from the farther east, you could hear the rumbling of cannons from time to time, rolling in the sky like thunder, as if the thunder and lightning mother in a different place a few days ago made a movement when she came to the capital.

Most of the people living in Jingshi City could not get the real situation of the war, they did not know whether it was the artillery set off by the officers and soldiers or the Qing soldiers, and many people felt a little calm in their hearts because it was probably due to the sound of artillery from the officials and soldiers.

Since the attack from Chongzhen's ascension to the pole, in the past 11 years, the Qing soldiers have entered the fortress four times, and three of them have approached the city of Beijing. Therefore, despite the rumbling of cannons outside the eastern city and the fact that the people in the city could see the skyrocketing fire, most of them did not panic much.

At this time, there were soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty patrolling the streets in the capital, and even in the dark of night, they did not worry about the criminals taking advantage of the chaos to rob, so the people in the courtyard of the deep house were still drunk and dreaming, perhaps they wanted to squander the fear in their hearts.

In those mansions that were closer to the imperial city, most of them lived in the important ministers and relatives of the imperial court. In order to prevent the palace from hearing their voice, they did not sound gongs and drums, did not use silk and bamboo, and only let the singers and concubines gently tap the board with sandalwood or tooth beats, and the dancers and singers whispered gracefully; at very low times, the singing voice was as thin as a strand of hair, and it continued to curl in the hall, hovering endlessly on the exquisitely painted roof beams, and then suddenly pulled, and the wisp of swan song swept away in the endless night sky.

The host and the guests alike paused their glasses in their hands, their toes tapping on the ground, and the world's most connoisseurs of art listened attentively, barely stopping to breathe as the dancers and singers murmured.

When the gentle singing stopped, the guests and hosts nodded in appreciation. Then everyone began to interact happily with each other, some of them persuaded wine and vegetables, some guessed boxing, and some ......; While they were entertaining, few people would notice the rumbling cannons outside the city and the unconcealable firelight, and no one would think about what plan they should offer to the court to quickly defeat the Qing soldiers. However, those cranes who lived idly on the ancient cypress of Taimiao were disturbed by the continuous sound of cannons, and from time to time they flew up in flocks, hovering over the eastern city and looking around, sending out a sad cry to the Forbidden City.

In the past two days, more than 100,000 people have fled into the city from Tongzhou and the eastern suburbs, so that the largest city in the world has nowhere to accommodate these refugees, and many of them sleep under the eaves on both sides of the street, and people are afraid of freezing to death in the cold night of early spring, so everyone is huddled into a pile.

The men and women shivered, groaned, and grumbled in the biting cold wind of the Kyoto Division. The men sighed quietly because of their helplessness, the women whispered to the Lord of the Heavens, and more people wept mournfully.

The children shrunk into their mother's arms, and almost the same word was squeezed out of their hoarse voices, "I'm cold, I'm hungry......" In the dark night, a "shallow chant" that was almost desperate tore the hearts of adults.

However, whenever the patrol soldiers sent by the Five Cities Terracotta Division approached the crowd, even the young children who were crying and crying were temporarily patient and did not dare to cry.

Since the martial law in Beijing and the assassins killed by Dasuo, hundreds of refugees have died silently every day, and many times, two or three hundred corpses can be carried from the city to the Zuojiazhuang farm.

Although there are porridge factories in all five cities, the death rate of refugees is getting higher and higher, especially the elderly and young children. Tonight, despite the sad prayers of the women, the northeast wind blew again, and the weather in early spring was terriblely cold, or people were wondering, "I wonder how many corpses, large and small, will be carried to the mass graveyard tomorrow morning?"

Tonight, Emperor Chongzhen dined with his favorite concubine Tian in the Chengqian Palace. The days of war had made him feel melancholy, his cheeks, which had been white, now pale and haggard under the countless bright palace lamps, and the young emperor's little eyes were already covered with a few deep crow's feet, and his eye sockets were a little dark.

Since he was assassinated by the Red Clan, he has not slept well for several nights, so he specially increased the guards and recalled a few old eunuchs who were released from the palace. Today, because of the Qing army's entry into the court, he went to court with five drums, tired for most of the day, and spent the afternoon in the Qianqing Palace reviewing documents.

When his grandfather and elder brother were emperors, they did not go to court all year round, did not read the concerts of the ministers, and handed over all major state affairs to the eunuchs who were close to them. When he Zhu Youzhen inherited the unification, he summoned himself to rectify this evil, and almost did everything himself; but the more he tried to make the Ming Dynasty a good emperor in these years, the more he seemed to be powerless, and he simply achieved nothing

Seeing that the situation of the country is becoming more and more difficult, the court is also in chaos day by day, and all kinds of concerts, documents, and newspapers that transmit military information sent into the palace every day are like snowflakes falling all over their imperial cases. Because there were too many documents, he was afraid that he would not be able to read them, and he would miss the important ones, so he often went to bed after the third watch, and sometimes he was busy all night and stayed up all night; just today, he spent the whole afternoon and never left his imperial case at all.

At this time, while eating, Chongzhen asked a eunuch standing next to him, "Is Gao Qi sneaking?"

(End of chapter)