I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 379 Punish Your Heart Before Killing
Chapter 379

Seeing the grenade in Zhu Cixiang's hand, the important officials in the hall were frightened.

As grenades appear more and more frequently on the battlefield, even if these ministers have never been on the battlefield, they are no strangers to grenades. After all, many of the heads handed over by Ning Haijun have been damaged by grenades. Of course, the legends about grenades are getting more and more outrageous.

Some people say that a grenade can kill and injure dozens of people, some say that a grenade can kill hundreds of people, and some people say that a grenade can kill a cow.

"Your Highness, please don't be impulsive!"

The grenade was brought back by Zhu Cixiang from Liaodong. It was given to Zhu Cixiang by his nominal cousin, the eldest son of Cheng Jialong. At that time, Cheng Jialong once told Zhu Cixiang that if someone bullies you, use a grenade to blow up that son of a bitch.

When the ministers were forcing Queen Zhou to go to the palace, no one paid attention to the seven-year-old baby. They just watched and refused to let the prince come out of the side hall. When he heard that the ministers wanted to execute Queen Zhou, Zhu Cixiang immediately thought of the Cheng family's long delivery. Regarding the grenade given to him, in fact, Zhu Cixiang did not throw the grenade himself, but watched Cheng Jialong take him to throw it on the training ground.

The detonation method of the grenade has been changed from the initial ignition type to the pull type. You only need to pull out the fuse violently. As soon as the grenade starts to smoke, you can throw it out after counting three.

Fortunately, Zhu Cihong came, and it was a little awkward for the guards of Queen Zhou.

"Let go of the queen mother!"

Wen Tiren looked at the grenade in Zhu Cixiang's hand, and his face changed with fear. As long as the grenade in Zhu Cixiang's hand detonated, at least half of the people present would not be able to escape, especially someone with old arms and legs like him. Even if there were several guards standing in front of him, Wen Tiren still remained He was also very scared. He heard that grenades penetrated all holes, and no matter how thick the armor or shield was, they couldn't protect against them.

In desperation, he had no choice but to wink at the guards, and the two guards let go of Queen Zhou.

Seeing this scene, Empress Zhou knew that nothing could be done right now. She took off a grenade from Zhu Cihong's waist, hugged the three-year-old third prince Zhu Cijiong, and slowly took out the fuse of the grenade.

"Prince, Jiong'er, do you still remember the story my mother told you?"

Zhu Cijiong was a little confused.

Zhu Cixiang said: "Mother is saying...the last emperor was the most miserable? The children of the last emperor were worse off than dead, and none of them had a good ending..."

Empress Zhou nodded, tears streaming down her face: "It seems that your father is already in bad luck. Are you willing to be the last emperor who will ruin the inheritance of your ancestors, bear eternal infamy, be bullied by usurpers in every possible way, and finally die a happy death?" ?"

Zhu Cixi shook his head and said, "I don't want to!"

"I don't want to either!"

Zhu Cijiong hugged Queen Zhou's arm tightly.

"Jiong'er, listen to mother, close your eyes!"

Zhu Cijiong slowly closed his eyes.

Queen Zhou's face was very calm: "Mother doesn't want to see you end up like this. Don't blame me for being cruel...Xian'er, you also close your eyes. Mother will take you to find your father. With him here, these things Bad people will not dare to bully our mother and son. Good children, don’t be afraid. You are the descendants of the Zhu family. Take courage. It won’t hurt and it will be over soon..."

Zhu Cixi also understood that this was not because Queen Zhou was cruel or that she didn't care for her children.

On the contrary, it was precisely because she loved her children that she did this. She couldn't bear to see her children become puppets. After ruining the Ming Dynasty and bearing the eternal infamy for these rebellious officials and traitors, she died inexplicably!Rather than letting children become the kings of a subjugated country, making the world miserable every day, unable to live and die, it is better to free them as soon as possible!
Born into a royal family, he had no choice.

Zhu Cixi seemed to understand. He looked at Empress Zhou calmly and said with a smile: "Empress, let's go first and let the teacher settle the ledger with them!"

Queen Zhou detonated the grenade in her hand: "Cheng Qing?"

Zhu Cixiang remembered what his cousin had told him. At critical moments, he could use Ning Haijun, a tiger-skin, to scare people.He winked at Queen Zhou and said seriously: "Teacher is temporarily giving six grenades to my son. Once these six grenades explode in the Forbidden City, the teacher's people outside the city will receive the news. He will open the father's The last imperial edict left by the emperor is to raise troops to clear the emperor's side..."

Hearing this, Wen Tiren broke out in cold sweat. Before Emperor Chongzhen's Northern Expedition, they did not dare to reach out to the palace. The prince at that time was indeed free to enter and leave the Forbidden City. Moreover, during this Northern Expedition, Emperor Chongzhen did not summon the Ning Navy to go north. Their plan at that time was to use this Northern Expedition to trap the elite troops of the Ning Navy.

However, Ning Haijun did not dispatch, so the plan did not succeed. After hearing the prince's words about Emperor Chongzhen's back-up, he felt frightened.

Could it be said that this was Emperor Chongzhen’s plan and that Emperor Chongzhen was fishing?
Once Ning Haijun goes north, as long as they have the imperial edict of Emperor Chongzhen in their hands, they will have status and a reputation as a division. Now there are too many people in the capital who have sworn allegiance to Huang Taiji or written letters of surrender. They can confiscate their homes and exterminate their clans to protect the Ming Dynasty. No worries about money and food for ten years.

Thinking of this, Wen Tiren felt scared for a while.

I would rather trust it to have it than to trust it to have nothing.

Zhu Cixiang's words frightened all the ministers. They were all a group of bullies who were afraid of the strong. Even if Emperor Chongzhen was no longer around, strong and fair ministers like Sun Chengzong, Fu Zonglong, etc. had also been kicked out by them long ago, thinking that Queen Zhou From a house of women, the third prince is young, ignorant and easy to bully, so he dares to be so aggressive.

Now that Zhu Cihong and Cheng Shijie could go north at any time, Queen Zhou actually took a tough stance and said she would rather kill her own children than cooperate with them. They couldn't help but be in chaos!
Although this group of people has no lower limit of moral integrity, people need face and trees need bark. Even if they sell their butts, they must look good, right?The crown prince is still alive and kicking. If Empress Zhou is forced to kill the third prince and the crown prince with her own hands before committing suicide, then no matter how nice they say it, the reputation of "rebellious ministers and traitors" will be considered solid. They will stuff their faces into their crotches one by one. Go ahead!

Empress Zhou could die suddenly and find any reason to excuse her, but the third prince and the prince could not die, nor could they make such a big noise. More importantly, they wanted to see what Ning Haijun was up to.

Wen Tiren hurriedly said: "Queen, no, absolutely no! If you don't want to make the third prince the new king, we can discuss it again, there is no need to be so extreme!"

Empress Zhou ordered at the palace gate: "Either get out or die together!"

Wang Yingxiong sighed and said: "Empress, we are waiting for the common people of the world, the country, the country, the country..."

Zhu Cixiang roared from the top of his lungs: "Get out of here!!!"

Everyone turned their attention to Zhou Kui and Zhang Guozhang. Zhou Guozhang hesitated and was about to speak. Zhu Cixiang raised his calf and kicked Zhou Guozhang's leg: "I count to three. If you still dare to be here, just do it." Destroy your whole family!"

Zhou Guozhang's heart suffocated, he couldn't help but take two steps back, pointed at Queen Zhou and said: "You are an unfilial daughter, you have to kill everyone to feel at ease!"

Zhou Guozhang took the lead and walked out.As soon as he left, everyone had no choice but to follow him out, without even being courteous.

Without even leaving the main hall, Wang Yingxiong said helplessly: "Queen Zhou would rather die than cooperate. What should we do?"

Wen Tiren glared at Zhou Guozhang and said sadly: "Zhou Guozhang, can you convince the queen?"

Zhou Guozhang was covered in cold sweat and said: "I will come over tomorrow to persuade her... She has a very strong temper. If she is pushed too hard, she will die together. Don't rush her, don't rush her!"

Wang Yingxiong also said pitifully: "Are you in a hurry? Master Zhang, do you think you still have a lot of time? The Qing army is about to arrive in Beijing. If things haven't been done well by then, you know What are the consequences!”

Zhou Guozhang shivered and said, "I will do my best!"

Wang Yingxiong snorted: "At worst, we will depose the queen, or let her die in mysterious circumstances, and then make Concubine Tian the queen, and then make Concubine Tian's son the new king. It doesn't have to be her!"

This group of dressed beasts cursed and discussed countermeasures all the way, and gradually walked away.

The palace finally returned to calm. After a long time, Queen Zhou was holding the frightened third prince and prince and crying bitterly. The prince and third prince were also crying. The three of them were crying together, and it felt sad to see them.

In the main hall, Queen Zhou was holding the prince and the prince in her arms and crying hard. She didn't notice the movement at the door at all. By the time she realized something was wrong, Wang Chengen had already walked in front of her.Queen Zhou's crying stopped suddenly, she wiped away her tears quickly, and protected the prince and prince behind her: "My lord, did you surrender to them too?"

Wang Chengen knelt down on the ground. He figured out how to transport Ye Xiang through the palace in a large cart and how to hide himself in a large bucket of feces. This way he avoided inspection from outside and successfully sneaked into the palace.He also recounted how Emperor Chongzhen ordered him to break out of the encirclement and seek help from Cheng Shijie, and how he successfully arrived in Liaodong after nearly dying...

Before Wang Chengen could finish speaking, Queen Zhou asked hurriedly: "Is Cheng Qing here?"

"Your Majesty has arrived at Yongping Mansion with his troops!"

"Eunuch Wang, can you take our mother and son out of the Forbidden City?"

"My servant must do it no matter what. The humble minister ventures into the palace just to take the empress and His Highness away."

Zhu Cixiang was overjoyed: "You...can you really lead us to escape from this Palace of Hell?"

"You have to give it a try."

"Escape? Where can you escape? Now the palace is full of the eyes and ears of these rebellious ministers and traitors. Even I am unable to move forward. Let alone escaping to Liaodong, even escaping from the palace is extremely difficult. Your Majesty, I I’m afraid I can’t leave.”

Queen Zhou's expression became increasingly gloomy, and she said with a bitter smile: "If possible, please take me and Concubine Yuan and several other princes away, and send them to Liaodong! Tell Cheng Shijie that the Ming Dynasty is over, and he will follow the example of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu, whether he makes the crown prince the new king and swears to fight for the Northern Expedition, or whether he makes himself the king and separates a kingdom, I won't blame him, as long as he gives a few princes a bite to eat!"

Zhu Cixiang shouted in fear: "Mother!"

Empress Zhou hugged Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong tightly, including the newly arrived Princess Kunxing and other children, and burst into tears: "Good boy, my mother can no longer take care of you. Prince, you are the elder brother, you must take good care of your younger brothers and sisters... I have a hard life." My child, if you can escape from this hell, you must forget your identity as an emperor and become a commoner under Cheng Qing's rule. Don't listen to others' instigation to think about things that do not belong to you! In fact, There is nothing wrong with being a commoner under his rule, at least you will be freer and happier than you staying in this cage!"

Wang Chengen didn't know what to say.Originally, he was thinking about how to send the family out of Beijing safely, but when he saw that the imperial city was so tightly sealed, he realized how unrealistic all of his previous plans were!Not to mention taking away such a big family, even sending a small child away is not easy!

But if he couldn't rescue the queen, what was the point of his trip to the capital?Emperor Chongzhen is in trouble, and the prince is young. It depends on Queen Zhou to support the overall situation. If Queen Zhou is gone, the world will not be in chaos!

At this moment, a somewhat cold and neutral voice floated over: "Empress, and this father-in-law, you have time to talk nonsense, why not think about how to escape from the capital!"

Queen Zhou was shocked, there was someone else here!

She and everyone looked around, and saw that at some point, a female official dressed as a palace maid appeared next to her. Although Empress Zhou did not dare to say that she knew all the palace maids, she had some impressions, but this palace lady was tall and handsome. Sa Shuang, even if placed among thousands of palace ladies, would definitely stand out from the crowd.

Not only did Queen Zhou have no impression, but Wang Chengen, an old guy who had been in the palace for more than ten years, had no impression at all.

Wang Chengen said loudly: "Who are you?"

"Ning Haijun [-]th Brigade Reconnaissance Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Tang Sanniang, Commander!"

Wang Chengen was shocked: "Are you the matchmaker who drove the Spanish out of San Salvador with only a dozen people?"

History has a strong inertia. At this time, the red lady took refuge with Cheng Shijie in advance. However, she became known as the red lady among the officials. When Ning Haijun attacked San Salvador, the Spanish stronghold in Taipei, she was married in red. He sneaked into the city of San Salvador, took advantage of the fact that the Spaniards were not prepared, and led a dozen people to capture the Spanish arsenal in San Salvador, and persisted until the main force of the Ning Navy arrived.

The name of the Red Lady also spread with this deed, and later became the protagonist in the storybook, and various story plots were spread.

"Women are not worthy of mentioning men. Our female soldiers in the Ning Navy are much more powerful than me, but Red Lady is my nickname!"

Speaking of this, the red lady said: "The humble red lady Tang Sanniang was ordered by the commander-in-chief to come to assist the empress and her highnesses in moving south. I barged in arbitrarily and frightened the empress. Please forgive me."

Although Wang Chengen had heard of the name of the Red Lady, he still carefully checked the Red Lady's belt. However, even if it was fake, he didn't recognize it, and he had never seen the real one.

The red lady said: "My lord, how many people did you bring into the capital?"

"There are more than 500 people. They are the elite troops of the Ning Navy Guards Brigade. They can block ten with one, but we are the only two who sneaked into the palace!"

The red lady nodded and said: "I brought 320 people into the city, and there are more than 800 people, which is enough!"

Queen Zhou said worriedly: "Miss Hong, is there a way to take us out of the Forbidden City?"

"Of course! I'm here to save people, not to die!"

The red lady pondered for a moment and then said: "It is not difficult to take everyone out of the capital, but we have to teach those rebellious officials and traitors a lesson, and make their faces swollen in front of the whole world! Huh, they did it Thanks to such worries, Lord Marquis will settle the accounts with them sooner or later, so just think of me charging them some interest first!"

"What are you going to do? Kill them?"

"Killing them is too cheap for them, I plan to express my feelings!"

……

Wen Tiren returned to his mansion in the city and sent people to inquire about the news. They arrived at the Wen Mansion before dawn, but the news made Wen Tiren feel his hands and feet were cold. The first news was that a large number of Ning Navy soldiers appeared in Tianjin Wei, and the number was roughly estimated to be between 5 and [-]. .

The second news was that the Ning Navy had appeared in Yongping Prefecture, with a number of between 4 and [-] men. Zhu Guozi, the garrison officer of Yongping Prefecture, reported that Cheng Shijie appeared at the gate of Yongping Prefecture and that he would not be able to serve for long.

After receiving these two pieces of news, all the ministers' expressions changed drastically.With this information, Wen Tiren's hands were trembling, Wang Yingxiong's hands were trembling, and other ministers were trembling all over.

The fear that Cheng Shijie brought to them was too deep. They would not be able to sit still until this person died!What Cheng Shijie brought to the Qing army was fear, and what he brought to these scholar-bureaucrats was despair!It seems that nothing can stop Cheng Shijie. Conspiracies and tricks are of no use to him, the wind and snow are of no use to him, the bad road conditions, local officials who are acting arrogantly, the criticism and slander of the common people... these are all of no use to him. , once he has identified his target, nothing can stop him!
And this time, his target is likely to be the scholar-bureaucrats like them who have ruined the country's affairs in the blink of an eye!

When the luck of the Ming Dynasty was declining, why did such a strange thing emerge!
Wen Tiren said in a panic: "This matter must be settled as soon as possible, otherwise things will change! That thief can't be measured by common sense at all. He... he can really act against nature!"

Hearing the words "acting against nature", the faces of everyone present became even more ugly.Last year, Cheng Shijie used a weak force to hold off the more than 2000 Mobei Mongolian army. Cheng Shijie used the pot lid theory to smash the [-]-year-old Confucian theory of "God's right of kings" to pieces. This scene is still fresh in everyone's memory. I shudder every time I think about it.

This guy can fight against natural disasters on his own, so what do they, the scholar-bureaucrats who control the fate of the country, mean to him? ?

Wang Yingxiong gritted his teeth and asked, "Where are the Qing troops now?"

Chen Xinjia quickly reported: "After taking over Huairou, Miyun, Changping, Jixian and other places, the Qing army's Zhenglan Banner is rushing towards the capital. Their leading troops are not far from the capital!"

Wen Tiren jumped up a little irritably and shouted: "Shilang Chen, please contact Huang Taiji immediately and tell him that the tiger has returned to its nest and ask him to enter the capital immediately to create a fait accompli. Time is running out!"

Wang Yingxiong said: "Yes, yes, yes, even if he can't come, we can just send a group of troops to enter the capital first and take control of the capital!"

Selling the country is so urgent, so impatient, the few present here are unprecedented, and there will be no one in the future.

On the morning of the tenth day of September in the ninth year of Emperor Chongzhen's reign, the Qing army's two white flags, the Xianghuang flag and one part of the Zhenglan flag, totaling more than [-] troops, arrived at the east gate of Beijing. Wen Tiren and other ministers held a grand entrance ceremony at Chaoyang Gate at the east gate. ceremony.

However, just as the Qing army lined up neatly and prepared to enter the city gate, screams were heard from all directions in Beijing, and fire dragons trailing flames rose into the sky and rushed towards the Qing soldiers outside the city. The army is waiting to enter the city.These rocket shells were originally smuggled into Beijing by Cheng Shijie in preparation for Emperor Chongzhen's sudden rebellion.

There were a total of 560 rocket shells. Although one-third of them failed, nearly [-] of them still landed in the Qing army's formation. Balls of orange-red fireballs rose up. The rocket shells landed and exploded, causing shrapnel and the shock wave of the explosion. The Qing army swept across the formation unscrupulously, and countless Qing soldiers were blown up and turned into a mess.

"Retreat, this is a trap..."

(End of this chapter)