The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 14 Returning to Beijing
On the next day, on the first day of March in the 17th year of Chongzhen, Ming Dynasty, nearly a thousand remnants gathered behind the closed gate at dawn.

After one night, no one escaped.

At this moment, everyone has tragic and decisive faces on their faces, waiting patiently for the arrival of their commander-in-chief.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Zhou Yuji finally came slowly, and the reluctance and tenderness on his face when he said goodbye to his wife and children just now disappeared.

Behind him, his wife, Zhou, brought their children and a group of servant girls, holding torches, watching his back tearfully. They were already surrounded by dry firewood.

Apparently, the Zhou family, their sons and daughters, and the maids did not want to live alone, and chose to go to the underworld with their husband and father.

"Husband, my concubine will still be husband and wife with you in the next life..." After all, Mrs. Zhou couldn't hold back from shouting.

Zhou Yuji's footsteps stopped, his heart felt like a knife was twisted, but he forcibly held back and didn't look back.

After a long while, he pulled out the long knife at his waist and shouted at the thousand soldiers: "Soldiers, switch, follow me to fight to the death with the bandits!"

"Fight to the death!"

All the soldiers also brandished their weapons and shouted. Although they knew they would die if they went out, they still moved the bricks behind the door without hesitation.

"Where is General Zhou?"

"Shanxi Commander Zhou Yuji received the order..."

Just as the bricks and stones were being removed and several soldiers were preparing to open the door together, a sharp sound came from behind.

Everyone was taken aback for a moment, subconsciously looking back.

I saw a few guards in brocade clothes running over panting, guarding an eunuch, shouting as they ran.

"My minister Zhou Yuji accepts the order!"

Zhou Yuji didn't expect the angel to come at this time, and after regaining his senses, he bowed subconsciously.

Seeing that the commander-in-chief knelt down, the rest of them also knelt down one after another.

Even Mrs. Zhou threw away the torch and went outside to kneel down to receive the order with her sons and daughters and maids.

It can be seen that as long as Daming survives, the imperial power is supreme, and it will be firmly engraved in the bones of these people, even if they are about to die.

"Huh! How can our family say that we have not seen anyone on this journey, so they all ran here."

The eunuch who delivered the decree came to the front with a sudden expression.

"This father-in-law, can you bring soldiers and horses here?"

Zhou Yuji asked eagerly.

A glimmer of hope also ignited in the hearts of others.

"This time our family is here to pass the decree, and we only brought ten Jin Yiwei with us."

"Father-in-law, didn't His Majesty order Jiang Guan, the general of Datong, to lead an army to help Ningwu Pass?"

Zhou Yuji was disappointed for a while, and then asked in disbelief.

"Hmph! That dog has no king or father. Our family went to Datong three days ago to announce the decree, and he also obeyed the decree, saying that we would send troops immediately.

But after a while, he said that the soldiers made noise and forcibly marched away, fearing a mutiny, and asked our family to give him 50 taels of silver to appease the morale of the army, which is simply unreasonable..."

The eunuch became more and more angry as he talked, and finally his face became distorted, which showed that he was really very angry.

He had never heard of anyone asking for money instead of giving money to the messenger angel.

When everyone heard the words, they cursed out of anger, and at the same time completely gave up, no longer had any hope.

The eunuch who delivered the decree ignored them, but took out the imperial decree.

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor, the imperial edict said: Zhou Yuji, the general soldier of Shanxi, is loyal, righteous and courageous, and brave. With weak and small soldiers, he stubbornly resisted the enemy for more than ten days. He killed countless thieves and severely defeated the arrogance of the enemy army. He is really a general. role model...

Now he is enfeoffed as Uncle Loyalty, Prince Shaobao, and the right governor of the Chinese military governor's mansion. He will lead the army into the capital of Wei immediately. "

"Zhou Zongbing, oh no...it's Uncle Loyalty, hurry up and accept the order!"

After reading the decree, the eunuch saw Zhou Yuji kneeling on the ground sobbing, so he hurriedly reminded him.

"Chen...Chen...Chen Zhou Yuji accepts the order, long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

Zhou Yuji wiped the old tears from the corners of his eyes, and held the imperial decree with trembling hands.

Then he said in a hoarse voice: "Please trouble me to tell your majesty that my minister Zhou Yuji is incompetent and ashamed of the emperor's favor. I have persisted until now. I have run out of soldiers and food, and it is no longer possible to continue. I really have no face to go back to Beijing to meet the Holy Majesty, and I have no face to accept this kindness." Feng, only to burn together with the thief, I have repaid His Majesty's grace!"

"Zhou Zongbing, His Majesty asked you to lead an army into the Wei capital, but he didn't let you serve the country with your own body and die with the thief king. Don't be confused."

"Father-in-law, to be honest, all the soldiers under my commander's command that can fight are here, less than a thousand, and everyone is injured. Even if they return to the capital, it will be useless."

Zhou Yuji explained with a bitter face.

Originally, he planned to serve the country with his own body, but now his heart is as firm as a rock.

"Zhou Zongbing, Your Majesty has repeatedly told you that no matter how many soldiers you have left, we must let our family take you back. Do you want to resist the order?"

The eunuch hurriedly said.

When he came, His Majesty repeatedly told him that even if Zhou Yuji was the only one left in Ningwu Pass, he had to be tied back to the capital.

"This... Father-in-law misunderstood, the minister is not resisting the order, but..."

Sure enough, Zhou Yuji hesitated when he heard the word "resisting the decree" and his face showed confusion.

"Marshal, since His Majesty told us to go back to Beijing, let's go back to Beijing!"

"Yes, handsome, let's go back to Beijing!"

"Husband!"

"Father…"

For a while, everyone knelt down to persuade Zhou Yuji.

After all, ants still steal their lives, and if given a choice, no one would want to die, except for a very small number of people.

And Zhou Yuji is one of these few people.

"By the way, Zongbing Zhou probably hasn't received the edict yet, right?"

"The Taishanghuang has passed it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince [-] days ago. This imperial edict was also issued by His Majesty, not the Taishanghuang."

The eunuch who passed the decree thought about it, and then explained another sentence.

"What? His Majesty passed on the throne to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

Zhou Yuji was shocked, apparently the cabinet hadn't sent the imperial edict here at all, or it was still going through the procedure.

After being surprised, it was confirmed that Chongzhen had abdicated, Zhou Yuji finally did not persist.

Hastily left Ningwuguan with nearly a thousand remnants and ran northward. Fortunately, the horses in Guanzhong had not been lost, and they could barely make up more than a thousand horses.

Obviously although Zhou Yuji is loyal, he also understands that His Majesty is mean and ungrateful.

Now that he doesn't have many soldiers in his hands, he naturally wants to serve the country with his own body, and he doesn't want to go back to Beijing to be questioned and imprisoned by His Majesty, and end up as a guilty minister.

So when I heard that Chongzhen had abdicated and that His Royal Highness was rectifying the capital and preparing to defend the capital, I lost my worries and wanted to return to the capital to do my part.

Almost as soon as Zhou Yuji left, Chuangjun came to the valley and began to attack.

As a result, they attacked Guancheng at once, and found that the huge Ningwuguan had already been deserted, and there was no one there.

After Chuang Wang got it, he was so angry that he cursed, but at the same time he breathed a sigh of relief.

Although I don't know when the opponent left, but still sent a cavalry to pursue.

Obviously hated Zhou Yuji to the bone.

Immediately, the army marched into Ningwu Pass in mighty force, and the Datong of the Xuanfu was no longer in danger.

That night, Jiang Guan, the commander-in-chief of Datong, sent someone to send a surrender form.

The next day, the surrender form of the Xuanfu Commander-in-Chief was also delivered.

Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in the two towns surrendered.

As in history, the Chuang army was only slightly repaired. On the fifth day of March, the army crossed Shuozhou and arrived in Datong.

(End of this chapter)