Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 89 Serve the Country with Loyalty
The first generation king was the 13th son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. He came to Datong Prefecture in the 25th year of Hongwu. With more than 200 years of inheritance, he naturally has a lot of wealth.When Emperor Chongzhen was still in the capital, he had already included the wealth of the Dai Wangfu into military pay and supplies.

However, he was the Ming Emperor and could not kill vassal kings and steal wealth like Li Zicheng without asking questions.Therefore, before the meeting in Datong, it is necessary to communicate with the king in advance.

At this time, when Dai Wang heard this, his face suddenly turned pale: The emperor said it to his face, and the tone was so unquestionable, the family is going to be lost?
However, Emperor Chongzhen did not wait for him to speak, and continued to say to him: "You took the initiative to donate your family wealth. For our Ming Dynasty clan, you can gain the respect of the world. I will also repay you. One day, the world will be pacified, and I will change my title to you." Go to Japan and become the king, be your true vassal king, and rule Japan!"

After hearing this, King Dai felt happy at first, and then said with a sad face: "Your Majesty, will the Japanese recognize this king?"

In his opinion, the emperor was just talking nonsense and wanted to take away his family's wealth. Although he couldn't resist, he still wanted to refute this empty talk.

But who would have thought that Emperor Chongzhen listened without thinking, and said in a tone that left no room for doubt: "Kill all the Japanese who don't admit it, and the rest will naturally admit it!"

At this point, he became a little impatient, and said: "Report to me immediately how much food you have in the house, I will use it immediately. You have to know that if you can't defend Datong, no matter how much money you have, it will only be cheap." Thief Li!"

Faced with Emperor Chongzhen's strength, Dai Wang had no power to fight back.Promising him an illusory promise from the Japanese feudal lord is equivalent to nothing!At least in his opinion, the possibility that the emperor could fulfill his promise was extremely low!
After all, everyone has heard of what happened during the Wanli period. Those Japanese were so ferocious that they could even destroy North Korea. Did the Ming Dynasty have the ability to kill the Japanese if they wanted to?At least since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there has been no precedent of killing the Japanese mainland!
Sighing in his heart, the King of Dai could only reply: "I have received the decree, go and get the account books from the mansion, and let your majesty take them at your disposal!"

There is one thing that the emperor said is right. If it is not taken out at this time, if Datong falls, not only will the property be cheap to the thieves, but the lives of the whole family will be lost. This is also a fact, not Alarmist!

When Emperor Chongzhen heard what he said, he felt that he was relatively wise, so he said again: "You will take care of things in the next few days. I will allow you to move to the capital and establish vassal status in Japan."

Upon hearing this, King Dai's face was a little surprised at first, and then he was overjoyed and quickly thanked him.

If you continue to stay in Datong, even if the emperor comes, the army of thieves will still be close at hand, and you will have nightmares every day.If I move to the capital, I can at least have a peaceful sleep!

Perhaps because he was afraid that the emperor would regret it again, Dai Wang moved very quickly. In just a moment, he took over the account books from the mansion.

After Emperor Chongzhen took it, he quickly looked through it and found that there were about 85 taels of silver and about 10 taels of gold. In total, it was about 1805 million taels of silver, which was not much.

The food supply is about 2 shi, which is enough to feed more than [-] soldiers for a month; sending away the clan members of King Dai's lineage also means to save food rations for Datong.

After looking at it for a while, Emperor Chongzhen closed the account book and said to the king: "I will leave 5 taels of silver for you. After moving to the capital, I will live in the former Duke Chengguo's mansion. It should be okay if you save some money." If it is not enough, you and the princes will discuss it and help each other to tide over the difficulties. If anyone dares to hide his secrets, I will make the decision for you."

The king heard something strange, so he replied: "Your Majesty, if the minister lives in Chengguo Duke's mansion, can Duke Chengguo agree?"

He was not just one or two people, but many people up and down.If you just squeeze into Chengguo Duke's mansion like this, I'm afraid you won't be able to live there.

Hearing his words, Emperor Chongzhen sneered and said, "Zhu Chunchen tried to rebel and was killed by me!"

When Dai Wang heard this, he was dumbfounded and couldn't recover for a long time!
Duke Cheng Guo, the hero of Jingnan who has been passed down for so many generations, actually tried to rebel?

To be honest, at first reaction, he didn't believe it.However, he is not stupid. He doesn't know anything. If he questions it in front of the emperor, he is seeking death!
Now that all Duke Cheng Guo and his subordinates have been executed, it would be enough for Duke Cheng Guo’s mansion to be vacant!
He was still thinking about it. After listening to the words of the Jinyi Wei Xiaowei who came over to report, Fang Zhenghua at the door said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Long live my lord, all the civil and military officials of Datong are here!"

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately stood up and said: "Let's go and deal with the matter in Datong as soon as possible!"

After hearing this, King Dai did not dare to neglect and hurriedly followed.He looked at the emperor's back. He didn't know why, but at this moment he felt that the emperor was wearing a suit of armor and had an extra murderous look on his body!
In the meeting hall of the Prince's Palace, civil and military officials were lined up on both sides. They all stood obediently and did not dare to whisper to each other.When they saw the emperor coming out, they all greeted him and shouted, "Long live the mountains!"

Emperor Chongzhen sat down where the king originally sat, and after saying "Sit down", he glanced at the courtiers below.

Behind King Dai was Wei Jingyuan, the governor of Datong. He was standing on one leg and the other leg was standing empty. He was a bit wobbly. Emperor Chongzhen was worried that he would fall down next moment.

So, he opened his mouth and said: "Give King Dai and the Governor of Datong a seat!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Wei Jingyuan breathed a sigh of relief, felt extremely grateful, and quickly thanked him.Standing here is really a kind of torture for him. He can just sit down and be fine.

When other civil servants and military officers saw this scene, they were somewhat relieved: the emperor did not keep shouting and killing, and there was rain and dew besides the thunder!
Emperor Chongzhen looked at them and said in a cold voice: "I am here to suppress thieves and protect Ning Wuguan. In the important town of Datong, we have to do two things. Please listen carefully!"

Hearing this, Wei Jingyuan wanted to explain that it wasn't that he didn't want to rescue Ningwuguan, but that he really had no money and couldn't mobilize the army.

Although the emperor is here now, even if he can mobilize the army, it is probably difficult to make them fight hard!
It’s really hard to have no money!
But before he could speak, he heard Emperor Chongzhen saying: "The king has informed me that he is willing to dedicate all his family wealth to protect the family and the country. Therefore, the first thing is to calculate the military pay arrears. All settled. The second thing is to rectify the army and follow me to suppress the thieves. The military pay will never be in arrears!"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately looked at Dai Wang sitting in front.There was disbelief in their eyes. How could Dai Wang voluntarily give up all his family wealth!
If it really meant that, I would have taken it out before.Why did the emperor personally come to Datong, communicate with the king alone and then donate all his family wealth? Only the devil would believe that there is nothing fishy in this!
However, for them, this matter was welcomed with both hands and feet.Especially the officers, all of them smiled with joy.

As an officer, who doesn't want to lead an elite army, make meritorious deeds, and be awarded a title.However, without money, it is impossible to have elite teachers.The army of the Ming Dynasty would eventually evolve into a general leading a group of elite servants, leading a ragtag group of people. This was a helpless thing caused by lack of money!

I don’t know what will happen in the future, but with the wealth accumulated by the Prince’s Palace over hundreds of years, it will definitely be no problem to pay off the arrears!

Thinking of this, they became more energetic.

However, at this moment, Emperor Chongzhen heard him say sternly: "Anyone who dares to cheat and pretend to be the leader of the army's pay will be killed! On the Xuanfu side, I killed 32 of them; on the Datong side, anyone who dares to reach out will be killed by me." I will kill you without mercy!"

As soon as these words were said, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly changed. The relaxed and harmonious atmosphere just now was gone!
The Xuan Mansion was discovered by the emperor to have committed fraud and was cut off 32 times?
At this moment, most generals felt a chill on their necks.

The roster they brought has more or less problems. What should we do?
The officers in the palace were so worried that they had no time to think about where the money from the Xuan Mansion to settle the arrears would come from.
Emperor Chongzhen glanced down, naturally seeing their expressions and understanding what they were afraid of.

To be honest, deprivation of military pay and empty pay exists in every army. If you really do it so meticulously, there will probably be no officials.Some things may not be done voluntarily by them, but they do it out of necessity.

Therefore, he spoke again: "I will give you an hour to go back and revise the military roster and pay arrears records. In addition, the governor Wei Jingyuan, the commander-in-chief Zhu Sanle, the deputy patrol envoy Zhu Jiashi, the governor-general Xu Yousheng, Shanyin The county magistrate Li Zhuo stayed."

Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, immediately thanked him and accepted the order, walked out of the hall, and walked away like a fly.

The officials who were named to stay were a little uneasy, wondering why the emperor named them and asked them to stay.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the remaining civil servants and generals, softened his expression, and was no longer so stern, and said: "I, Emperor Taizu, have given me advice and know that you are all loyal ministers who can serve the country. In Datong, I trust you the most. Yes, you are waiting for me!"

These few of them are recorded in history. Although Jiang Gu surrendered to the city, they did not follow the crowd, but sacrificed their lives for their country.When several people in the palace heard this, they couldn't help but be very moved. It didn't matter whether Emperor Taizu gave them advice or not. In short, the emperor knew that they were loyal, that was enough!Especially Wei Jingyuan. There had been rumors in the city that he and Li Zicheng were fellow villagers and wanted to surrender. Now the emperor personally said that he is a loyal minister who can serve the country. I am really grateful!

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

This voice seemed to be louder than the shouts of so many people just now.So that the other civil servants and generals who were leaving the mansion quickly couldn't help but stop and look here, with curiosity in their eyes.

Emperor Chongzhen pointed out their loyalty, and then naturally assigned them to take the lead in all the important military and political affairs of Datong.In this way, he can feel more at ease.

Then he talked about his plan, which was to integrate the troops and materials from Datong and Xuanfu, reinforce Ningwuguan, and fight the decisive battle with Li's army.

This thing is simple to say, but there are a lot of things to do.These few people alone would be very busy, especially Governor Wei Jingyuan, whose legs are not convenient.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen said to Wei Jingyuan: "In Datong City, there are scholar Li Ruokui, his brothers Li Xiangkui, younger brother Li Xinkui, and nephew Li Zhuzhou who are also loyal to the country. If you have inconvenient legs and feet, you can use them to help you. Wait for Ning Ning Wu Guan is concerned, please comment on their talents, and then I will use them!"

These five people also hanged themselves instead of committing crimes. They were called "the whole family" by people at the time.

Wei Jingyuan was a little surprised. He didn't even know that these people existed in Datong City, and he even knew about their relationship. How did the emperor know?
At this time, for the first time, he began to realize that what the emperor said about Emperor Taizu's dream couldn't be true, right?
He was really confused, but Wuxia couldn't question it at this time, so he could only agree immediately.

While they were discussing specific matters in the meeting hall, in Datong City, as the civil servants and generals left quickly, word spread that the emperor wanted to settle the outstanding pay.

To be honest, most of the soldiers on the Datong side, just like the soldiers on the Xuanfu side, have long been disappointed with the court and have no intention of fighting the thieves. Instead, they have many intentions of welcoming the thieves.Even if the emperor came suddenly, it would not change much for them.

The emperor came here just to expel them to fight with the bandits and die, so what else could he do?
As a result, they never expected that the first thing they heard about the emperor's arrival was to use the property of the Prince's Palace to pay off their outstanding wages.

Suddenly, it was like a huge stone crashing into a calm pond, causing an uproar that spread throughout the city!
This is not to issue military pay, but to settle the arrears!Every soldier who heard the news didn't believe it at first, and then began to calculate how much military pay he was owed.Thinking that they could get back all the arrears, everyone was so excited!

For them, the issue of arrears of wages is absolutely hopeless and equal to nothing.Suddenly, these arrears have to be paid, which is a huge fortune!
I thought that with this money, my family’s life would be better!

Suddenly, their favorability index for the emperor was absolutely off the charts!
At this time, no one thought about welcoming the thieves anymore, thinking that it was all the emperor's wisdom!
………………

Much of the land outside Ningwuguan is already dark red, mostly stained by blood.Although the corpses on the battlefield have been cleared, broken arms and body parts can still be seen everywhere.There are many damages on the city wall, and you can tell at a glance that they are the marks left by artillery bombardment.

On top of Ningwuguan City, most of the soldiers that can be seen are old and weak.Apparently, the fierce fighting for several days also caused heavy losses to the defenders of the Ningwuguan Palace.

Zhou Yuji, the commander-in-chief of the Three Passes, also had wet blood stains on his armor, which was obviously a testimony of his own fighting.

In front of Ningwuguan, on the other side of the Huihe River, mountains of corpses were being burned.

These were the soldiers of the Dashun Army who died in the battle in front of Ningwuguan. Because there were too many corpses and there was no time to bury them, and spring had already begun, and they were afraid of the plague, they had no choice but to burn them all.

Under the blazing fire, it illuminated the Dashun Army formation fifty steps away from the fire. There were about 3000 people making final preparations to attack Ningwuguan.

Wave after wave, just taking turns to attack.Maybe they can attack the city and take the lead in conquering the city, or maybe they will become a member of the fire next to it.The war team was behind them, and they had no choice.

Behind the supervising team were the officials of the Dashun Army, surrounded by a one-eyed man. Needless to say, he was Li Zicheng, who respected the Taizu of Western Xia, Li Jiqian, as the Taizu who established the Dashun Kingdom.

Since entering the Jin Dynasty, everything has been going smoothly. The officers and soldiers of the Ming Kingdom descended upon hearing the news, making him think that conquering the Ming Kingdom and unifying the world is just around the corner!

After the important town of Taiyuan in Jin Dynasty opened its doors and surrendered, this feeling became even stronger!

The minister's optimism made Li Zicheng feel that he had turned his hands into clouds, turned his hands into rain, and owned the world for himself!

However, he never expected that he would stop in front of Ningwuguan and get a bloody head!
Looking at the figure above Ningwuguan City in the distance, Li Zicheng knew that it was Zhou Yuji who made him angry!
He is so ignorant of current affairs that he doesn't care if he doesn't surrender, but he still fights to the death!It was enough to fight to the death without retreating, but he actually killed and injured countless of his troops!

How long will the man on top of the city fight to the death, and how many of his men will be killed?
With such a huge disparity in military strength, Li Zicheng did not believe that Zhou Yuji, a famous general of his generation, would not have known about the moment when Ningwuguan was breached?
After several days of fierce fighting, only the old and the weak are left on the city. If he doesn't retreat, is he really going to die here?

While he was thinking about it, he heard Niu Jinxing, a senior scholar from the Tianyou Palace next to him, saying angrily: "Wei Chen doesn't believe it. Ningwuguan is already at the end of its strength and will be broken after a few more attacks. Yet he is still unwilling to surrender? In the face of the general trend, are you stupid if you act like a chariot with a mantis' arm?"

Hearing his words, the general Li Guo beside him said with emotion: "Maybe he is repaying the current emperor for his appreciation!"

Zhou Yuji was originally a small soldier in Liaodong. He was promoted based on his military exploits and entered the Yongwei Camp as a general, becoming one of the three general soldiers of the Emperor's Royal Forest Army.In some respects, it is indeed appreciated by the current emperor.

These three generals, Zhou Yuji, Sun Yingyuan, and Huang Degong, all eventually died fighting for the Ming Dynasty.

After hearing this, Niu Jinxing was about to speak when he suddenly saw movement at the top of Ningwuguan City. He couldn't help but said a little strangely: "What the hell is Zhou Yuji doing? Why are you raising the flag at this time?"

Li Zicheng listened to them and did not interrupt. At this time, he picked up a clairvoyant monocular, looked at it carefully, and then said slowly: "That flag is embroidered with the words "loyalty to serve the country!"

Serving the country with loyalty and loyalty was what my mother-in-law expected of Yue Fei, and Yue Fei practiced this in his life and eventually became a person like Yue Fei.

The flag of "Serving the Country with Devotion and Loyalty" was raised at Ningwu Pass, and it was obvious that they really wanted to fight to the end!

For a moment, there was no sound from Li Zicheng's side.

Most of them were from the northern Shaanxi frontier army.Once upon a time, they may have had such a dream!

"Attack the city!" Li Zicheng suddenly sighed and issued a decree.

There is no need to discuss Zhou Yuji anymore, his attitude lies in those four words!
　Unexpectedly, the results of this book were worse than the previous one, and some people already left messages saying that they wanted to cut it off.But I don’t want to give up. Please don’t support me. I update [-] words every day. If I can’t subscribe, there is still a chance to get up. Please give me your support. Thank you very much!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)