Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 274 The palace is burning

"I'm going to kill you! What gun are you trying to grab!"

"Go away if you don't have money. Don't delay our shopping!"

"Mom! Where are you?!"

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

April 16, the fourth day of the siege of the capital, was similar to the noise above the capital. The entire capital was in chaos at the moment.

Prices have soared so much that even those families who have been promoted to official positions of hundreds or thousands of households, if they have a lower financial foundation, are no better off than the families of ordinary soldiers.

Military attachés, civil servants, nobles, royal families, and clans were all plundering all kinds of supplies. From firewood to firewood, rice, oil, and salt, the prices of almost all commodities had increased more than five times.

In order to survive, the common people had no choice but to try to cut down the trees on the official roads. However, even so, the trees on the official roads had long been cut down by officials under various names.

In the entire capital, except for the trees in Purple Mountain and Qixia Mountain, no one dared to touch them, and there were almost no trees in other places.

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

Seeing that the situation was out of control, Zhu Yunwen had no choice but to think of the Jin Yiwei, and sent several Jin Yiwei to sneak out of the capital at night and send the edict of King Qin he wrote to the world...

[I have been entrusted with the royal ancestor’s treasured orders, and I will continue to serve the gods above and below. Bohai is unethical, and engages in warfare without permission, torturing people of all surnames, and repeatedly raising large armies to attack. Today, all the generals have lost their law and invaded the capital with the intention of usurping rebellion. When you hear that the country is in danger, you, the governors of the four directions, the chief ministers, the envoys, and the civil and military ministers of the various governments, all want to mobilize their loyalty and courage, and lead the loyal and strong men. A brave man goes to the King of Qin to defeat the invaders, achieve great success, and support the clan. 】

【Alas! It is unspeakable that I was not virtuous and led to the banditry, but my ministers are willing to abandon me and ignore it? Everyone has done his best, and in order to overcome the difficulties, he will be awarded a reward, and he will do it based on his merits. I will not be stingy. Therefore, I hereby edict that your body should be in your arms! 】

"The article is pretty good, was it written by Fang Xiaoru?"

At the ferry across the Yangtze River at Wanshou Mountain in Yangzhou City, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but laugh and ask while holding this notice from King Qin that appeared in the counties within Zhenjiang Prefecture.

"Back to Your Highness, exactly..."

Cui Jun responded with a smile, and also said: "This notice was probably made by Jin Yiwei, but the Zhenjiang prefect sent people to clean it up just after it was posted."

After saying that, he looked at Yangzhou in the distance, then at his own troops and horses, and couldn't help but smile: "It seems that Sheng Yong is really incapable of fighting with His Highness. He can win without fighting. Your Highness is playing well." .”

"Haha..." Zhu Gaoxu also followed Cui Jun's gaze and saw that the camp of Yangzhou Jianghuai Corps was deserted and could not even maintain its drills.

This is normal. A large number of military attachés’ parents and relatives are in the capital. If the military attachés are unwilling to fight, who can force them to fight?

But they didn't dare to fight, because Zhu Gaoxu was about to cross the river.

"The Shenji Battalion is ready to pack up, get on the ship!"

Zhu Gaoxu threw the notice into the brazier aside, raised his head and walked towards the ferry.

In order to ensure that there were enough people to withstand the southern army's surprise attack, Zhu Gaoxu left behind the Shenji Battalion and asked Cui Jun to transport the horses to Zhenjiang first.

This allows the fleet to carry more people.

Even without the horses, since there is no need to turn back, we can take a boat directly to Zhenjiang, but the speed will be two hours slower.

But for Zhu Gaoxu, two hours was nothing. No matter how slowly he headed to the capital, no reinforcements would appear to rescue Zhu Yunxu.

"Peng!!"

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

But right now, there seems to be nothing he can do except smash things.

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

It is not that they did not organize attacks in the past two days, but they were repelled by Zhu Gaoxu with baggage trucks, artillery, matchlocks, and spear arrays.

The demoralized army was no longer able to launch an attack, and the concatenated baggage trains coming across hindered the charge of the cavalry in Beijing, making everything they did was in vain.

They could only watch helplessly here, watching him cross the river.

"With his departure, the capital will be in danger..."

Sheng Yong could do nothing but sigh in pain.

But he didn't even say this correctly, because before Zhu Gaoxu arrived in Jiangnan, the capital was already in complete chaos.

"The bandits are very heavy to cross the south of the Yangtze River. There are no less than 30,000 soldiers and horses outside the outer city. Your Majesty, please withdraw the garrison from the outer city and return to defend the inner city!"

"I second the proposal!!"

At noon, in the Wuying Hall, while Zhu Gaoxu was still busy crossing the river, the officials had already staged a self-interested stage play.

There is no doubt that the more than 200,000 people in Waiguocheng have become abandoned objects. Although what they said is right, Zhu Yunwen still feels desperate for his own incompetence.

"Those are all the people under the emperor's feet..."

He looked at the ministers almost in despair, and the ministers also looked at each other. Finally, Huang Zicheng stood up and said: "Your Majesty, there is nothing we can do about this matter. We can only exempt the people from paying taxes after repelling the rebel army."

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

"I accept your order!" Huang Zicheng bowed in agreement, and then began to withdraw the garrison stationed in the outer city back to the inner city one by one according to their elite level.

One hundred thousand strong men, 40,000 soldiers and horsemen, and less than 10,000 elite elites...

These 150,000 men and horses seem to be a lot, but when divided equally into the outer city, they can only have 7,000 or 8,000 men per gate.

Therefore, when the elite and military officers from the Army and Horses Department began to withdraw one after another, the strong men immediately realized that something was wrong.

The brave ones began to flee directly, while the timid ones fled on the retreat road.

In short, when the evening drums in the capital sounded, the 150,000 soldiers and horses withdrew less than 100,000, and more than half of the strong men fled, including many soldiers from the Shangzhi and Bingma divisions.

Qi Tai, who was in charge of the capital's defense, had no choice but to place these 100,000 people at the thirteen gates of the inner city, and assigned guards to each of the thirteen gates.

Xu Zengshou was in charge of the three north gates, Shence Gate, Jinchuan Gate, and Zhongfu Gate, while the other city gates were left to experienced warriors to garrison.

But when they rushed to the city gate, looking at the soldiers who looked almost like stragglers, they really didn't know how to defend the capital.

"Sorry..."

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

However, the Qilin Gate at this moment has been taken over by Meng Zhang, and Zhu Gaoxu also saw many people locked in the city gate, looking at him eagerly.

"It seems that my eldest brother has abandoned the people and gone to defend his capital."

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

It was really difficult for him to give up his last hope for the sake of the tens or hundreds of thousands of people in the outer city.

"Your Highness, these people are waiting for the ban to be lifted and want to go out of the city to cut firewood for cooking."

Meng Zhang explained on horseback, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "We can't leave the city, let them wait one more day."

"Yes!" Meng Zhang also nodded with a smile.

The two of them could laugh so easily because they knew that the people in the capital were already in a state of flux and could not hold on.

Not mentioning Xu Zengshou, just talking about other city gates, I am afraid there are many people who are careful.

"Instruct the three armies to strictly abide by our army's 'Eight Disciplines of the Three Armies' after entering the capital, and any offenders will be dealt with severely!"

"The last general takes command!"

Zhu Gaoxu spoke, and Meng Zhang responded.

Then, he looked at the outer city of the capital, which was lying there but could not be seen at a glance, and he waved his hand vigorously and ordered: "Enter the city!"

Soon, tens of thousands of Bohai troops began to enter the capital through different city gates under the message from Tangqi.

They rode the Wulanghama from Modong and poured into the outer city of the capital like a tide.

According to common sense, Zhu Gaoxu should take the Guanyin Gate in the north. It would be the fastest to go directly to Jinchuan Gate. However, he still took the Qilin Gate because he had to go to Purple Mountain to worship Lao Zhu.

When Zhu Yunwen abandoned Waiguo City, he actually abandoned Qixia Mountain and Zijin Mountain, which also meant he abandoned the imperial mausoleum.

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

It would be better for him to know his shame and find a way to die on his own, so as not to get the bad reputation of killing the emperor.

"stop!"

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

He got off his horse and walked towards the mountain with only Meng Zhang, Ta Shi and others.

Most of the Xiaoling Guards were withdrawn by Zhu Yunwen. In the end, half of the more than 10,000 elites in Beijing were them, leaving less than a thousand people.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu coming, they simply surrendered, so Zhu Gaoxu had an unimpeded journey. He quickly passed through Sifang City, Stone Statue, Weng Zhong, Wenwu, Jinshui and other iconic buildings, and finally arrived at Xiaoling Ming Tower.

"You guys just wait outside."

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

"Grandpa, my dear grandson is here to see you."

There was ridicule in Zhu Gaoxu's words. At the same time, he took out the incense used for sacrifice and lit it. He bowed five times and kowtowed three times respectfully, and finally put the three incense sticks in place.

"Do you think your grandson is in high spirits?"

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't hold back his smile and wished he could pick up his beloved pipa and sing a song.

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

Well now, I finally got what I wanted!

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help being in a good mood. He walked in this bright building and hummed a little tune, walking around to see what was more than when Old Zhu brought him here.

But after looking at it in detail, there wasn't much. After all, Lao Zhu's last wish was to be buried simply. Zhu Yunwen was selective and obedient in this regard. He really didn't bury anything valuable with him, so he kept all the valuable things for himself.

"Grandpa, my father will come back to see you in a few days. My grandson is gone."

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and left. This appearance surprised Meng Zhang and others.

They had never seen His Highness look like this before, and they thought they were very happy in their hearts.

"Meng Zhang!"

"The general is here!"

When they got down to Sifang City, Zhu Gaoxu turned around and told Meng Zhang: "Rest overnight, wait for the artillery to arrive early tomorrow morning, and prepare to take over the city wall."

"The last general takes orders!" Meng Zhangzuo bowed and agreed. 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 was simple. Zhu Gaoxu first reiterated some of the things that Lao Zhu had said to Zhu Yunqi during his lifetime, and then mentioned how Zhu Yunqi agreed to him and how he did it.

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

Of course, in the end, Zhu Gaoxu gave Zhu Yunwen some face and helped him explain that the people who bewitched him were Qi Tai, Bao Zhao, and Huang Zicheng. If he was willing to eliminate sycophants and issue edicts to punish himself, he would still be a 'wise king'.

At that time, as long as Zhu Di goes south, he, the son, will choose to listen to his father and withdraw his troops when it is time.

At the end, Zhu Gaoxu also added that he had visited the Purple Mountain.

Among them, the tomb of Emperor Taizu Gao was well maintained, but the tomb of Emperor Xingzong Zhu Biao was not so well maintained.

As his 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. The second part about Zhu Biao's mausoleum is that Zhu Gaoxu deliberately teased Zhu Yunwen. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that, and Zhu Yunwen is no exception.

"You are so rude!!"

"Bang!!"

In the Palace of Qianqing, Zhu Yunwen, who was wearing Chinese clothes, seemed to be crazy. In the dark night, he knocked over the candle on the table and lit the memorial with the fire.

Li Quan and the palace maids beside him rushed to put out the fire, while Queen Ma hugged the frightened Zhu Wenkui and coaxed him softly.

Zhu Wenkui, who was only five years old, didn't know what disaster his family was encountering, so he could only hide in his mother's arms and cry non-stop.

Listening to the crying in his ears, Zhu Yunwen slumped on the ground, looking at the burned memorials, feeling extremely desperate.

He had hundreds of thousands of troops, but not one of them came to King Qin's rescue.

Sheng Yong led 60,000 people, but he couldn't even stop Zhu Gaoxu from crossing the river, so he even asked Zhu Gaoxu to go outside the city in person to humiliate him.

Zhu Yunwen spent the whole night from being helped up from the ground to sitting on the couch. He didn't know how he spent it. He didn't even listen to Queen Ma's attempts to comfort him.

But the next day, what woke him up was not the morning bells and evening drums in the capital, but the fierce and heavy sound of cannons.

"Boom boom boom——"

The sound of the cannon was like thunder, coming from east and west.

Miyagi, who was only a few miles away from Chaoyang Gate, could clearly hear the intensive sound of cannons, which also urged Zhu Yunwen to change clothes and walk towards Wuying Palace.

The sound of the morning bell was masked by the sound of cannons, and the entire capital was in chaos. Everyone hid in their homes and did not dare to come out.

The Bohai Navy launched naval guns, field guns, and siege guns from the east and west from the Yangtze River and land.

These iron cannonballs were not very lethal to the bluestone inner city walls, but they were enough to knock down the battlements and expose the defenders behind them, making the defenders dare not take the lead.

Of course, the more important significance of the bombardment is to make the entire capital feel the kind of depression under doomsday, forcing more people to consider surrender.

At midnight on March 18, Zhu Yunwen came to the golden platform in front of Fengtian Hall and sat down against the sound of cannons. However, there were only a hundred or so ministers in front of him, only one-tenth of the usual number.

"Your Majesty, I request you to negotiate peace with the Bohai County King. The imperial court can grant Henan and Xuzhou to the Bohai Kingdom."

Among the crowd, Huang Zicheng did not run away, but continued to stay by Zhu Yunwen's side, giving stubborn advice.

"The bandit army has already arrived at the city. I'm afraid they won't agree."

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

On the other hand, Fang Xiaoru, who was entrusted with important tasks by Zhu Yunwen and recommended all his disciples to be appointed as officials, did not come to attend the court meeting.

"The capital has been heavily besieged and it is difficult to escape. What is the point of negotiating peace at this time?"

After last night, Zhu Yunwen became more open-minded. He said to the ministers: "When the king dies in the country, justice will be upright..."

"Your Majesty!!" Hearing Zhu Yunwen say such words, more than a hundred ministers knelt down in fright.

On the other hand, Zhu Yunwen still had a smile on his face: "I am lingering before my death, but I can still have my courtiers with me, so I am not lonely."

"Your Majesty, please think twice! The court still has a chance!"

Huang Zicheng shouted at the top of his lungs, but Zhu Yunwen shook his head: "I am determined!"

After that, he stood up and staggered towards the inner court.

"Your Majesty!!" Huang Zicheng and others cried and kowtowed towards his departing back, and soon they dispersed.

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

They began to flee for their lives, trying to escape the Bohai Navy's search.

At the same time, the Chaoyang Gate guards Li Zhong and Zhang Guang, who were under shelling, were beaten so hard that they could not lift their heads. They could only hide at the base of the city wall and had to hold up their shields to prevent them from being hit by the gravel falling from the city wall.

"How to fight! The Bohai Navy is attacking us two miles away, what should we use to fight?!"

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

"I...but there is an envoy from the king at the city gate." Li Zhong hesitated, but Zhang Guang immediately pulled out his sword after hearing this: "I'll help you inquire. If he doesn't want to, I will deal with him for you. If you get promoted After being promoted, don’t forget this good brother of mine.”

"This, this, this..." Li Zhong didn't expect Zhang Guang to be so tempered, but before he could finish speaking, Zhang Guang led his hundreds of people towards the Chaoyang Gate Corridor.

Seeing this, Li Zhong quickly ordered his brothers and followed closely.

But when he ran to the corridor, Zhang Guang had already killed the commander Wang Ke and was wiping the knife with a coarse cloth.

"Open the city gate! No more fighting!"

"Mom, I'll give you a bunch of money. I can't even buy firewood. I'll hit my mother on the head!"

"Open the city gate!"

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

"Stop the 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 Young Master is at the Jinchuan Gate in the north? Why did the Chaoyang Gate open first?"

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

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

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

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 drop of money to build relationships.

"My brother Li Zhong has received some favors from His Highness. Although Your Highness has been generous, he may not remember my brothers, but my brothers will always remember him, so I am here to repay my kindness today."

Zhang Guang pulled Li Zhong out, and Meng Zhang also looked at him in surprise: "How can my Highness be so kind to you?"

"When I was promoted to the official position of 100 households, I was given a small amount of money to treat the brothers to a nice meal." Li Zhong said this with a blush, but to Meng Zhang, it sounded like this was what his Highness liked to do most when he was in the capital. Things.

"Go and ask His Highness if he remembers a man named Li Zhong, and tell His Highness what happened here."

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

Zhu Gaoxu was sitting in the back, still wondering why the sound of cannons had stopped for so long, but he saw Xu Sheng coming at a gallop.

Due to the slippery ground, the war horse almost stumbled as it slipped. Fortunately, Xu Sheng stabilized the horse.

"Your Highness, the Chaoyang Gate was opened by two thousand households. Those two people said they knew you. One is named Li Zhong, and he said he took your money to repay your kindness."

Xu Sheng grinned. Originally, they planned to bombard the east and west cities to attract attention, and then use the cavalry to go north to take over Jinchuan Gate. Now it seems that this is not necessary.

"Li Zhong..."

Zhu Gaoxu frowned and stood up, rubbed his brows and then said, "It seems there is such a person."

"Then we want to go directly to the city?" Xu Sheng was overjoyed when he heard this. After all, the Forbidden City is one mile behind the Chaoyang Gate.

"Send the brothers from the team to try the road. Do you still need me to teach you?"

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Xu Sheng, then walked to the soldier beside him, took the reins of the horse, and got on his horse.

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

At this glance, he recognized who these two people were.

"I remember that you two were responsible for entertaining me at Jiangdongmen when I went to Longjiang Shipyard, right?"

"Your Highness has received a bad name. Please remember it, Your Highness. I am ashamed..."

Zhang Guang was eloquent. Although Li Zhong on the side couldn't speak, Zhu Gaoxu had a deeper memory of him.

"We are all brothers, there is nothing mean to say."

He comforted the two of them, and then said: "Although I remember you, whether you really have the intention to dedicate Chaoyang Gate remains to be seen."

"I will send a hundred men to you now. If nothing happens in a quarter of an hour, I will send a large army into the city. You and I will be credited with the first contribution."

"Thank you for your trust, Your Highness!!" Zhang Guang and Li Zhong bowed quickly. 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 a hundred Bohai soldiers and began to take over the most important city gates and towers.

It was not until a quarter of an hour later that Zhu Gaoxu asked Meng Zhang and Xu Sheng to command the army to enter the city after confirming that nothing had changed.

The news of the influx of people into the Bohai Sea from Chaoyang Gate 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.

Throughout the Forbidden City, there are countless maids and eunuchs who are robbing the royal treasures. Except for a few loyal people who are still with Zhu Yunwen, the rest have already found their next home.

But not long after, a fire broke out somewhere in the palace, and a smell of fire smoke spread in the palace, adding another color to the chaos in the Forbidden City.

　"Bohai Chronicles": "A fire broke out in the palace, and the emperor didn't know where he ended up. The emperor's corpse was buried in the fire."

　　"Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty": "Then the palace was closed and burned. When the superiors saw smoke rising from the palace, they hurriedly sent the envoys to rescue him, but it was too late. The envoys took out his body in the fire, but it was still in vain. The superiors cried loudly when they saw it. Said: 'My younger brother, Qingjun, is trying to save my brother. Why is my brother here?'"

　　

　

(End of this chapter)