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

Chapter 18
Seeing all the civil servants being driven out in despair, the honorable generals on the right were very relieved.

Even Duke Ying and Duke Dingguo exclaimed in their hearts.

They expected that His Majesty would not hand over power to civil servants, but they did not expect His Majesty to be so direct.

This courage, even Taizu Chengzu can't match it!

"Do you have any objection to my appointment of Zhou Yuji as the general guarding the city?"

Zhu Cihong looked over again.

He can be rude and direct to civil servants, but he must persuade people with reason to these nobles and generals.

"Qizou Your Majesty, although Zhou Zongbing has been in battle for a long time, he is still the Shanxi Zongbing. If he serves as the general of the capital guarding the city, there may be something wrong. The soldiers of the Beijing camp may not be convinced. I hope your majesty thinks twice!"

With the lesson learned by the civil servants just now, the nobles are also polite and more careful, and an earl came out to speak.

"The minister seconded the proposal, I hope His Majesty will put the overall situation first and choose another good minister and general!"

"Qizou Your Majesty, the lineage of the British Duke has been loyal for generations, and there are countless people who have been loyal to the country. They are a model for generals in the world. I suggest that the British Duke take charge of the overall situation, which will surely make the internal and external armies work together."

"My minister agrees!"

"Your Majesty, Ding Guogong's lineage has been loyal and good for generations. The ancestors followed Taizu Chengzu to sweep the world and made great achievements. I suggest that Ding Guogong be in charge of the internal and external armies..."

For a time, the nobles were actually divided into two factions.

One faction chose to support Duke Ding, and the other chose to support Duke British.

As they talked, they started arguing, and some even rolled up their sleeves, ready to fight.

As for Zhou Yuji, he had long been forgotten in a corner, and Tang Tong and Wu Xiang had been watching coldly.

Seeing all the nobles start to push and pull their voices, their faces flushed red, Zhu Cihong's heart is like a mirror.

These guys have become smarter now, and even know how to act for him, creating the illusion of discord between the two factions, so that he, the emperor, can feel at ease.

"quiet!"

Seeing that the scene was out of control, Wang Dehua could only shout again.

"I believe in the loyalty and ability of the two dukes, and it is most appropriate for one of the two dukes to control the internal and external armies, both in terms of emotion and reason, public and private.

However, as the saying goes, if you know yourself and the enemy, you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles. The two princes have been in Beijing for a long time, and they know very little about the intruders.

And this battle is related to my great Ming country, and it is also related to the wealth, wealth and wealth of the people present here, so there is no risk at all.

Therefore, the primary goal is to defend the capital, and to choose the general who will defend the city, can the two dukes be fully confident? "

"This... I will do my best to live and die with the capital."

After all, the two were not thick-skinned enough, and instead of patting their chests to assure, they bowed politely.

In fact, the two of them really didn't know the bottom line.

"I don't want you to live and die with the capital, I just want you to guard the capital and repel the intruders."

"The reason why I chose Zhou Aiqing as the general to defend the city is because he not only stopped a million bandits at Ningwuguan with a mere ten thousand soldiers, but also killed more than two hundred thousand bandits. , I ordered him to abandon the pass and return to the capital, and the bandit army still couldn't get past the thunder pond."

"You two dukes, if you were one of the two, would you be able to do this?"

After Zhu Cihong finished speaking, everyone was shocked, and they all looked at Zhou Yuji at the end.

I finally understood why His Majesty insisted on choosing him.

This kind of record can indeed be called the number one defensive general of the Ming Dynasty.

"I am ashamed of myself."

Duke Ying and Duke Ding looked at each other, and they could only sigh, and replied in unison.

Apparently, the two also saw that His Majesty's attitude was firm, and it might be difficult to change. In addition, Zhou Yuji could be regarded as a new nobleman, so they didn't insist anymore.

"It turns out that all the lovers have no objection, so the matter is settled like this."

Seeing the compromise between the two, Zhu Ci also breathed a sigh of relief.

Otherwise, it's really difficult to handle, after all, they are the main force to defend the city.

"Zhou Yuji stepped forward to listen to the letter!"

"Chen is here!"

Zhou Yuji didn't hesitate, and immediately came out to the hall and knelt down on one knee, but his heart was already completely moved.

"Zhou Aiqing, I now enshrine you as the Crown Prince Taibao, the governor of the five armies, the governor of the five armies, the emperor's sword, the emperor's edict, and the command of the internal and external armies. Even soldiers, civilians and gentry, all can be killed first and played later!"

"My minister Zhou Yuji took the decree to thank you! Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

After Zhou Yuji kowtowed three times, he took the Emperor's Sword and the imperial edict from the tray held by the eunuch at the side.

Then he turned around, holding a sword in one hand and an imperial edict in the other, and raised his face to the ministers.

"Meet the Chief Commander!"

Although everyone was dying of envy, they had no choice but to kneel down and bow to Zhou Yuji.

Because at this moment, Zhou Yuji is representing the emperor and exercising power for the emperor.

This kind of situation, not to mention the Ming Dynasty, has never happened since the fall of the Tang Dynasty.

After the ceremony was over, Zhu Cihong ordered people to build a huge platform for the generals in the Imperial City University Campus.

In front of the soldiers of the three armies, he read out the imperial edict again, bestowed the emperor's sword, worshiped Zhou Yuji as the general who defended the city, and even saluted him in imitation of ancient rituals.

All the soldiers also watched with enthusiasm.

After all, military generals have been suppressed by civil officials since the Song Dynasty, and civil officials in the Ming Dynasty regarded military generals as slaves and soldiers as pigs and dogs.

Today, His Majesty set up a platform to pay respects to generals in imitation of ancient rituals, which means that the days of low status of military generals will be gone forever.

The military generals also dreamed that one day they could be worshiped as great generals, great governors, and make immortal achievements, which will be passed down through the ages and will last forever.

After the ceremony, it was already afternoon.

Zhu Cihong summoned all the nobles and senior generals to the Jianji Hall to hold a military meeting.

It was originally supposed to be held in the Hall of Martial Arts, but the Hall of Martial Arts has now become a warehouse, filled with a lot of gold and silver treasures.

In the middle of the empty hall, there was a wooden model of the capital, and Zhu Cihong put down his airs to join the crowd.

"Zhou Aiqing, this is a model of the capital city that I ordered. How do you think the defense should be arranged?"

Everyone also looked at Zhou Yuji in unison, wanting to see if he really had some skills.

"Your Majesty, the city wall of the capital is tall and strong, surrounded by a wide moat. Although the bandit army is said to be in the millions, they are not good at attacking the city. As long as the defense is proper and there are no mistakes, it is absolutely impossible for the bandit army to break through the city!"

"I suggest that all the gates of the city be sealed with bricks and stones first, so as to prevent the spies in the city from cooperating from the inside and the outside and secretly opening the gates."

"Okay, yes, block all the city gates."

Zhu Cihong slapped his hands, thinking to himself that he did not choose the wrong person, and hit the point right away.

Historically, this side is still stubbornly resisting, but someone secretly opened the city gate and let the bandit army enter the city.

In the end, it was unclear who opened the city gate first.

"His Majesty praises you very much."

Zhou Yuji hastily said modestly, and continued: "Secondly, the city wall of the capital is about [-] miles long, and although our army has [-] troops, if we divide the troops evenly across the walls, it will be too scattered and not conducive to defense.

Therefore, I suggest that you don't need to deploy too many troops to garrison the walls and gates of the city, but only a small number of soldiers and horses, and leave enough reinforcements, especially the elite. Send reinforcements to that side! "

"Yes, Not Bad."

"This arrangement is very reasonable."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Thirdly, the walls of the outer city are lower than those of the inner city. Our army must prepare for the outer city to be breached at any time, or even in critical moments, voluntarily abandon the outer city and retreat to the inner city, so as to concentrate our troops to defend."

"You can move the people from the outer city to the inner city first, demolish the houses near the inner city wall, and transport the bricks and wood to the top of the city for defense."

"what?"

"How does this make it so that the outer city has a population of more than one million, so how can it be said that it can be withdrawn if it is withdrawn?"

"That's right, even if we can evacuate, the inner city won't be able to accommodate them!"

All the nobles were collectively blown up this time.

After all, the main population of the capital is concentrated in the outer city.

"How about this, let the old and the weak among the refugees move into the imperial city for resettlement first. As for the residents of the outer city who are willing to move, they are not forced to move temporarily, but the side near the inner city wall must be moved."

Although Zhu Cihong agreed with Zhou Yuji's suggestion very much, he also knew that the outer city had a large population and the project was too big.

Once it is enforced, it will definitely cause major riots, so it has to be the next best thing.

Seeing that His Majesty said so, everyone didn't say much.

Immediately afterwards, the deployment of defensive tasks began.

The 5000 capital battalion, with [-] to [-] people each under the command of seven marquises, totaled [-] people, guarding four walls of the inner city and three walls of the outer city.

The remaining [-] people, led by two princes, were stationed in the outer city and the center of the inner city, so as to rush to rescue the walls and gates in time.

Tang Tong's 8000 people and Zhou Yuji's more than [-] people served as an elite firefighting team, supporting wherever the situation was critical.

The [-] Royal Forest Army and the [-] Clean Army will serve as the general reserve team and the inspector inspection team.

Wu Xiang was in charge of commanding the young and strong refugees to carry supplies and assist in the defense.

Li Ruoting's Jinyiwei is responsible for maintaining order in the outer city, while Dongchang is responsible for maintaining order in the inner city.

After some arrangement, everyone was full of confidence.

(End of this chapter)