Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 6
The current situation is extremely dangerous, and Zhu Youjian also knows that Guang Shiheng and other officials have long regarded him as the emperor in their hearts.

So, he can only endure now!

He could only accept Guang Shiheng's proposal and suspend his two sons from going to the south to become a feudal clan.

Zhu Youjian could see that these officials wanted to trap themselves in Beijing!

Not only trapped himself, but also trapped his son in the capital!
But now Zhou Yuji's army is still in the future, and he doesn't know if Zhou Yuji can reach the capital before Li Zicheng.

But as the emperor, he had to prepare for the worst.

There are not many people he can trust now.

He didn't even dare to summon Fan Jingwen and Li Banghua and other ministers who were still loyal to Ming Dynasty.

Because, he can guess that his every move will be known by the ministers.

Zhu Youjian summoned all the concubines, eunuchs, court ladies and others in the palace to the platform.

Although most of these people are women, they are all their own family members.

It is impossible for Zhu Youjian to abandon them, and it is impossible for these people to abandon themselves. They are almost facing the same fate as themselves.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian explained to these people at the end.

"Everyone must have noticed that the capital is about to collapse, and half of my country is about to disappear. Soon, this Forbidden City, every tile and every brick here will not belong to me."

As soon as Zhu Youjian said this, the people below began to sob.

Even Queen Zhou and Concubine Yuan Gui could only look at Zhu Youjian in silence.

Under the gloomy sky, no one is not trembling, not sobbing.

"Why are you crying!"

Zhu Youjian yelled directly, the remaining prestige of his generation of emperors is still there, at least these people in the palace are still afraid, they all raised their heads and looked at the vicissitudes of life of the emperor Zhu Youjian.

"It's just half of the country. If it's gone, it's gone. It doesn't mean that my country will perish!"

As Zhu Youjian spoke, he ordered: "Now I'm going to take you to Nanjing to regroup in the south. Now go back and pack up your gold and silver, take as much as you have, and pack it up and come to my Qianqing Palace. Let's live together and wait for the opportunity to escape!"

"have you understood?"

Zhu Youjian asked loudly.

All the palace people answered "Understood" one after another, and immediately ran back to their respective residences to collect the gold and silver.

Three days later, except for those who had already decided to take refuge in the new dynasty to welcome King Chuang, hundreds of people from the palace gathered in Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youjian found that Wang Dehua and Zhang Yin, the two eunuchs who were in charge of the ceremony, did not come.

It can be seen that these senior eunuchs have also betrayed themselves.

However, Zhu Youjian doesn't care much now, but fortunately there are still dozens of eunuchs, big and small, staying here.

Although these people don't have the parts to reproduce, they were once men's bodies after all, and their physical strength is stronger than this palace full of concubines and maids.

At that time, Zhu Youjian will have to rely on these people if he wants to escape.

Zhu Youjian checked the names and found that there were 35 eunuchs in total, and the highest official among them was He Xin, Shangyi Supervisor.

"He Xin, from now on, you will be the eunuch of the imperial horse and the eunuch and the admiral of the Beijing camp, but I don't have any soldiers for you now. You can only be the commander of these 34 eunuchs, and take them to the warehouse to find weapons. Now the whole thing starts, and my safety is entrusted to you!"

Zhu Youjian patted He Xin on the shoulder.

He Xin nodded: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will surely live up to Your Majesty!"

In the following days, Zhu Youjian ate and slept with He Xin and other 35 eunuchs, and even ran and practiced every day, and sent people to check the situation of the officials and the defense situation of the capital.

Zhu Youjian was no longer as frugal as before, he almost took out all the fish in stock and ordered everyone in the palace to eat as much as he could to accumulate energy.

……

"What, Chongzhen and the people in the palace are packing up the gold and silver, and they still want to escape?"

Guang Shiheng couldn't help asking the little eunuch who came forward to report the news.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Wei Zaode, couldn't help but sneered after hearing this: "I still want to escape, the world is so big, there is no place for him to stay for Emperor Chongzhen."

"He can't escape! Now the defense of the palace city is in the hands of our Jinyiwei. If Wu Mengming, the eunuch guarding the Nine Gates, insisted on refusing, the officials would have ordered Chongzhen and Zhou Hou to be imprisoned, so as not to cause trouble!"

The commander of Jin Yiwei made Luo Yangxing hurried to Wei Zaode and said.

At this time, Dou Ding, the imperial censor of Zuoqin, also stood up and said with a smile: "It is reported that King Chuang has already fought in Shanxi, and now he will be able to come to the capital in half a month, or a month later, when the country will change hands, When the dynasty is changed, as long as we donate Chongzhen and other family members, we can still be officials in this beautiful country, wouldn't it be great!"

These officials who were plotting to take refuge in the new master Li Zicheng couldn't help laughing after hearing this.

Zhang Jinyan, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, remained silent for a while, and asked after everyone's laughter stopped, "Have our people contacted Chuangwang?"

"I have already contacted Prime Minister Niu, who is under King Chuang's command. King Chuang has promised that as long as we open the city gate and surrender, we will all be promoted to a higher level. Yuanfu, you will directly become the first minister of Dashun!"

The eunuch Zhang Yin, the supervisor of ceremonies, said with a smile.

Zhang Jinyan, Minister of the Ministry of War, has the power to deploy troops, and at this time he can be regarded as the only civil official in the capital with military power.

But it's just that Zhang Jinyan has chosen to rely on Li Zicheng, so Zhu Youjian may also rely on him.

At this time, Zhang Jinyan nodded after hearing the answer from the eunuch Zhang Yin, the supervisor of ceremonies and Bingbi, and said:
"Now we must quickly let Li Guozhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng who is in charge of the capital camp, guard the gates inside and outside the capital. At the same time, let Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Cheng, guard the imperial city. The king is ready, if anyone finds out that someone is trying to break into the palace to rescue Chongzhen, he will directly use the forbidden palace to try to hold the emperor hostage and kill him for the people!"

At this time, the Marquis of Jiading, the father of Queen Zhou, Zhou Kui also stood up: "I don't care what you do with my son-in-law, but you have to hand over my third grandson to me so that I can dedicate it to King Chuang. To kill relatives in a righteous way may save the family business that the old man has accumulated for decades."

……

Zhu Youjian also knew that he was in deep trouble now.

From the Beijing camp to the soldiers and horses of the five cities, there are also the imperial guards guarding the imperial city and the Jinyi guards guarding the palace city.

Zhu Youjian doesn't even know their loyalty and treachery now, but he is sure that most of them are already waiting to join Li Zicheng.

Now it is Wu Mengming who controls the safety of the emperor himself.

The commander of Jinyiwei guarding the palace city and the governor of the North Town is in charge of the prison and the defense of the palace city,

But this person is a well-known corrupt official, and he is famous for accepting and accepting bribes. Zhu Youjian doesn't know whether this person will still stand by his emperor in such a critical moment.

However, according to the current situation, Wu Mengming did not take any action against him, which means that he is still hesitating and has not completely chosen to join Li Zicheng.

Of course, even so, Zhu Youjian didn't dare to rely on him as his confidant, he could only continue to wait for Zhou Yuji's arrival.

Just ten days later, Wang Chengen finally appeared in front of Zhu Youjian in a hurry:

"Your Majesty, Zhou Yuji's troops have been ordered to arrive in Beijing, and they are now outside the Chaoyang Gate!"

(End of this chapter)