Han ride

Chapter 381 The Boiling Capital ([-])

However, at this moment, a black smoke rose into the sky, drums sounded, and the complexions of several monarchs and ministers in Xinuang Pavilion changed drastically. This was a warning from the capital, indicating that an enemy was coming.

"I am incompetent. The land of Gyeonggi suffered from repeated military disasters. It is I who is incompetent." Emperor Chongzhen's face was pale, and he fell down on the dragon chair, his eyes were straight, and he stared at the crowd blankly.

"Your servant will die forever." Wen Tiren and the others looked at each other, then knelt down on the ground and said something that would never be wrong through the ages.This sentence can be said no matter what the situation is.

"If ten thousand deaths can solve the current matter, I will also be ten thousand deaths." Emperor Chongzhen was very depressed. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it was probably during the time of his ancestor Yingzong Dynasty. The enemy's soldiers and horses have killed the city of Beijing. , but it was only once, not like now, plus this time, there have been three times, the enemy has killed the city of Beijing, which makes Emperor Chongzhen really feel ashamed.

"Li Xin is a thief, and he has committed a heinous crime. Your Majesty, I thought that the whole city should be mobilized to defend the city, and ordered the imperial forest army to prepare to attack. Together with Hong Chengchou, they jointly attacked and wiped out Li Xin under the city of Beijing." Hou Xun's eyes were red, full of angry flames, He said loudly: "A thief is like Li Xin, the world should kill Li Xin. The emperor's old ministers are willing to lead the army to kill Li Xin in order to protect the safety of our emperor."

"I am very pleased with Qing's loyalty." After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen nodded again and again, with a look of relief on his face.Only Hou Xun can say this here.Hou Xun served as the right servant of the Ministry of War in Chongzhen for three years and supervised Changping.He once inspected the border, and last year Hou Xun took the place of Fan Wenjing, the military servant, in Tongzhou.Although this person is a civil servant, he also knows some military affairs.No wonder you can say this.

"The Imperial Forest Army has not practiced for a long time, I am afraid it will be difficult to deal with the enemy. It is better to increase the defense with the Shenji Battalion." Wen Tiren said softly.Others don't know what the Imperial Forest Army in Beijing is like, but Wen Tiren knows it. These soldiers look tall and handsome, and the weapons and armor in their hands are all excellent, but only insiders know. These are show items, just embroidered pillows.I think the imperial forest army will be treated well, and it will be stationed in the capital on weekdays, and there will be no wars or the like. This is a good place to pan for gold, and it has long been occupied by those honorable children in the capital.These honorable children are spoiled and spoiled on weekdays, so they don't train seriously, and it's already pretty good to have a form on weekdays.When it comes to fighting, it's a lot worse.One hundred thousand elites are actually useless at all.

"Then let the Shenji Battalion go up to the city wall. I also want to see how Li Xin's Northern Conquest Army is doing?" Emperor Chongzhen was taken aback, but he didn't care so much, and this is not the time to care.Mainly in his opinion, Li Xin will not attack Beijing city yet, because he is a cavalry soldier.It is extremely difficult for the cavalry to attack the city itself, let alone this is Beijing.Attacking Beijing is even more difficult.The reason why Emperor Chongzhen was in a hurry was because this was Beijing, and the capital was always being attacked like this, and he couldn't face it.

"Just now the first smoke rose from Xizhimen, and Li Xin's army must have gathered at Xizhimen." Hou Xun said quickly, looking into the distance.At present, the city of Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, is divided into four parts, namely the outer city, the inner city, the imperial city, and the palace city.Each city has its gates, and there is a saying of "inner nine outer seven imperial cities and four".The inner city is also called "capital" and "big city".The city wall is three to six to four feet high, six feet thick at the bottom, and four feet eight at the top, on which horse-drawn carriages can run, and there is also a female wall on the city wall.There are nine city gates, four turrets, three water gates, 170 enemy towers, and more than 1 battlements.There is a moat tens of feet wide outside the city.As for the city gate, there are more.With such a defense, not to mention cavalry, even if a lot of siege equipment is prepared, it is difficult to attack.

Li Xin's army appeared at Xizhimen, a place Chongzhen was very familiar with. Jiannu's first attack on Beijing was at Xizhimen where he fought against Yuan Chonghuan. The second time he attacked Beijing, he harassed the imperial army at Xizhimen. Yes, this is the third time now, and Li Xin's army also appeared here.Of course, if you count the situation a hundred years ago, Ye Xian and his like had also appeared in this vicinity, and it is simply unimaginable that such a small place bears the fate of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, when Li Xin's army came to Beijing, the soldiers stationed in Beijing were shocked.The same is the cavalry, these soldiers have seen the cavalry of Jiannu, covering the mountains and plains, almost like the trend of dark clouds.The same is true of Li Xin's cavalry, but unlike the Jiannu cavalry, the Jiannu cavalry is restless, extremely arrogant, and arrogant.But Li Xin's cavalry was different. They stood there quietly. Except for the occasional neighing sound from the horses, there was no other sound. These soldiers were like stones, silent. The sound, and then there was such a team, but it made the soldiers on the top of the city very nervous, and some timid soldiers even kept swallowing and smearing.The dragon was soaring above the heavens, and amidst the ups and downs, it was actually hiding a fatal blow.Stillness is like a rock, and movement is like a storm.Waves of murderous intent rose slowly, and the evil spirit filled the sky.

Black armor and black flags are different from the fiery red of the Ming army, but black is oppressive, black is dull, and black is noble.Under the Xizhi Gate, the breath was heavy and oppressive, making it hard to breathe.

But soon, there were bursts of cheers from the top of the city, and the sound of long live was continuous, and then the canopy of Huang Luo appeared on the top of the city. This was the arrival of Chongzhen.In the era when the monarchy was supreme, the emperor was the sky, and no one would change it.

"My lord, Chongzhen is here, what should I do?" Gao Meng also swallowed. He used to be just a servant of Li Xin's family, but the biggest official he had ever met was Li Xin's father. Dorgon, and Huang Taiji, but in the eyes of everyone, these are just some people who can't stand on the stage.But Chongzhen is different, that is the emperor, the only emperor in the world, who has inherited the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years.The prestige of the Ming Dynasty is still there, and the imperial power is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Gao Meng couldn't help being a little nervous.

"Is he the Emperor Chongzhen?" Li Xin raised his eyes and could vaguely see the Emperor Chongzhen on a high place. Under the canopy of the yellow umbrella, a middle-aged man was dressed in bright yellow clothes. There is only one person in the whole world who has this qualification , that is Emperor Chongzhen.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen also noticed the Northern Expedition Army under the city. Looking at the neat and strict army formation, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly took a breath. He had seen the Imperial Forest Army in the capital camp and the army of Jiannu, but Compared with the army in front of us, the former two always feel a little less.Yes, the imperial forest army lacked evil spirit, and although the Jiannu army had evil spirit, it was a little less disciplined and orderly.He suddenly discovered that the army in front of him was the real elite soldiers.

"If you have such a strong army in hand, why are you afraid of the rebels in the world and the slaves outside the pass?" Emperor Chongzhen suddenly said a word in his heart.However, he quickly suppressed this idea. The army on the opposite side belonged to Li Xin, a figure who might threaten the country of the Ming Dynasty. If such an army is not loyal to him, it is the enemy.

"Your Majesty, that person should be Li Xin." Wen Tiren suddenly pointed to the city.

Only then did Emperor Chongzhen notice that in the army under the city, there were two large flags, one with the word "Ming" embroidered on it, and a golden eagle battle flag on the other, with two sharp claws, one holding a sword, Holding a shield with one claw, the banner is decorated with gold rims around it, which is extremely mighty, and under the banner, stands a young general. Because the distance is relatively far, Chongzhen did not see the face of the opponent clearly, but the man holding Fangtian Painting a halberd, a dark horse under its crotch, with a touch of white hooves, this appearance is very similar to the legendary Li Xin.

Li Xin at the bottom of the city seemed to have noticed that the Emperor Chongzhen on the city wall was looking at him, so he also glanced at Chongzhen, and then under the surprised eyes of Chongzhen's monarch and ministers, he jumped off his horse and bowed respectfully.

"Chenzheng North Marquis Li Xin pays his respects to His Majesty, long live my emperor, long live long live long live long live."

"Long live, long live, my emperor."

Immediately afterwards, generals such as Shi Yuanzhi, Zhao Guang, Gao Meng and others jumped down one after another and bowed to the ground. After the generals, more than 3 soldiers also bowed down, shouting long live.

Emperor Chongzhen was immediately agitated. Although he knew that these generals were not meeting civil servants, but meeting each other with military ceremonies, this was already extremely impressive.In the feeling, the voice of Li Xin's Northern Expedition Army was resounding, like thunder from beyond the sky, shaking the entire capital.

"Okay, okay." Emperor Chongzhen nodded repeatedly, his originally gloomy face showed excitement at this moment, and his right hand kept patting on the city wall without feeling any pain.

"This, this?" Whether it was Wen Tiren, Wang Yingxiong, or Hou Xun and the others, they were all stunned by the situation in front of them.What does it look like to have tens of thousands of soldiers performing military salutes like this? This momentum is far more spectacular than during the Beijing Camp Grand Competition.More importantly, no one thought that Li Xin would do this.Just now everyone was still saying here that Li Xin was ambitious and would conspire to rebel, and now that he has paid back, not only did he not rebel, but he even gave a military salute to Chongzhen, which is a sign of surrender!Li Xin actually surrendered to Daming, what is the reason for this.For a while, everyone was in a mess on the city wall.

"Haha, God bless Daming, haha!" Unlike everyone else, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to be happy so quickly, and Li Xin was so loyal to Daming.It was as if a huge pie had fallen from the world. Emperor Chongzhen was very happy. At this moment, all the demeanors of the kings disappeared without a trace.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty." The corners of Wen Tiren's mouth twitched, and when he finally raised his head, his face was full of laughter.

"Let's go and meet this Marquis of Zhengbei." Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and was about to go down the city wall.

"Hold on, Your Majesty, beware of fraud." Seeing this, Hou Xun hurriedly stopped him and said, "Your Majesty, Li Xin led the army to the city without the Emperor's decree. Once there is wolfish ambition, the emperor is a body of gold, if he has wolfish ambition, what should we do?"

"This?" After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately looked hesitant.Thinking that he is the king of a country, just as Hou Xun said, he was captured by Li Xin and held as a hostage, so what should he do?

"If the emperor wants to see him, he can let Li Xin enter the city to meet the emperor." Wen Tiren rolled his eyes, and suddenly said with a smile: "People say that Zheng Beihou has wolf ambitions and tries to subvert the world. If he can enter the city alone, it means that this person has no Anyone with ambition is loyal to the imperial court, if he does not enter the city, it means that this person has ambitions, and the emperor should be careful." As soon as Wen Tiren finished speaking, everyone's expressions changed, even if they thought Wen Tiren was a traitor, they couldn't do it right now. If you don't admit it, what Wen Tiren said makes sense.

After Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he abruptly withdrew his steps and looked at Wen Tiren with a complicated expression. Seeing his face change, he glanced down the city and saw that Li Xin was still kneeling there leading an army of tens of thousands. After thinking about it, he turned to the other side. The famous Wang Chengen said: "Chengen, go down and deliver the decree. I want to see the Marquis of Zhengbei." Wang Chengen was taken aback when he heard the words, nodded in agreement, and went down the city wall.

After a while, the city gate was opened, and Wang Chengen led the four eunuchs to come out swaggeringly, and said loudly: "Marquis Zhengbei, the emperor has a decree, please meet Marquis Zhengbei at the head of the city."

Li Xin was taken aback when he heard the words, and stood up slowly, and the rest of the generals also stood up, and Gao Meng said dissatisfiedly: "Young master, is it necessary to go to the city? In case, I have heard that there was a This is how the man named Yuan Chonghuan entered the city!"

Everyone's complexion changed, even Wang Chengen, who came to proclaim the decree, had an ugly complexion, and Yuan Chonghuan was like this back then. He was sent into Beijing by an imperial decree from Emperor Chongzhen, and never came out again.Anyway, this Yuan Chonghuan was still a courtier of Chongzhen, but Li Xin didn't even count as a courtier. After entering, it was really possible that the meat bun beat the dog, and it was impossible to figure it out.

Li Xin also hesitated for a while, and glanced at Shi Yuanzhi, but Shi Yuanzhi nodded, and immediately said to Wang Chengen, "Since that's the case, Li Xin just obey the order, father-in-law, please."

"Master Hou!" Zhao Guang drove forward immediately.

"Don't worry, Lord Hou. The subordinates will wait for Lord Hou again." Shi Yuan stepped forward to stop Zhao Guang, and said to Li Xin.

"That's it, Mr. Thank you." Li Xin's face suddenly showed a trace of relief. Under the leadership of Wang Chengen, he pointed at Gao Meng, and saw that his face was happy, and he led dozens of soldiers to follow behind. Wang Chengen Seeing this, he didn't stop him, even if the general of the imperial court returned to Beijing to face the saint, he would still be treated like this.What's more, Li Xin, the Marquis of Zhengbei.

"Li Xin has been in the north for a long time, and I don't know the rules of the court. Please give me some advice." Li Xin touched it casually, and took out a 1 tael silver note from his pocket, and stuffed it in Wang Chengen's hand.

Wang Chengen didn't even look at it, so he put it away, with more smiles on his face, he could tell that although Li Xin seemed to be in great danger this time, in fact, Emperor Chongzhen could only win him over, not like Yuan Chonghuan. Same, put him in prison, the only difference between the two is that Li Xin's soldiers and horses are not loyal to the imperial court, 10,000+ army, millions of troops, if this happens, the whole northern Xinjiang will fall into chaos.Therefore, Li Xin can only be wooed, and can't do anything else.

"Although there are many officials in the imperial court who are prejudiced against Lord Hou, the emperor still trusts Lord Hou very much. He often tells us slaves that Lord Hou is the real hero of Ming Dynasty." Wang Chengen said with a smile: " Originally, the emperor was going to come down to work in the army himself, but Mr. Wen Ge and the others were unwilling, so they didn't come down."

Li Xin nodded. He didn't know whether Emperor Chongzhen really wanted to come down to work in the army, but he also knew that whether he could easily enter the customs in the future depended on this time.In fact, he came to Beijing, on the one hand, to deter the imperial court, and on the other hand, he also wanted to meet Chongzhen.Although Li Xin was a Han Chinese, if he wanted to easily enter the customs and be accepted by the Central Plains people, the most important thing was to receive the imperial decree from Emperor Chongzhen, so that he could enter the customs and have righteousness.If Emperor Chongzhen had never even met you, it would be almost impossible to issue this imperial decree, unless it was a last resort.It's just that at that time, I really didn't know that I would have to wait until the Year of the Monkey!
As for whether Chongzhen will trap himself in the city of Beijing, as long as he is a smart person, he will know that keeping himself can only add an enemy in the frontier, and the frontier of the Ming Dynasty will never be stable. Take the opportunity to attack again.Therefore, it seems that Li Xin's entry into Beijing is full of dangers, but in fact, as long as he handles it properly, he can still take advantage of it.Li Xin and Shi Yuanzhi knew each other as rulers and ministers, and they could know each other's thoughts with just a glance.

"The last general knows about it." Li Xin sighed deeply after hearing the words, and said, "All the princes in the court these years, hey, my father-in-law doesn't know something. The last general is a Han. He has read sage books. The people in the forest naturally know that they are loyal to the emperor and patriotic, but the people under the command of the last general are all reckless men. If they march and fight, they are okay, but they are vulgar people. Some time ago, Hong Chengchou didn’t give us food and grass. If it wasn't for the fact that the last general still had some prestige in the army, I'm afraid these guys would have made a lot of trouble. The Beibei army was composed of complex people, including Han Chinese, Mongols, Muslims, and horse bandits, etc. These guys In the past, they were all from different tribes. Li Xin forcibly gathered them together. It looked peaceful, but in fact he was exhausted. He seemed to be sitting on a volcano all day long. There is something a little unsatisfactory, these guys can’t handle it well. Just bring you a little trouble. Difficult!"

Wang Chengen nodded repeatedly, but he didn't know what he was thinking about.In fact, what Li Xin meant was very clear, that is, to show the meaning of his existence to the imperial court. Without his existence, I am afraid that the Zhengbei Army would rebel immediately.This is also very normal, after all, Li Xin's relationship with the court is not very good.

(End of this chapter)