Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 2

But what Zhu Youjian didn't expect was that after he asked, the whole hall was completely silent!

These civil servants looked at each other, either you looked at me, or I looked at you, no one dared to come forward to answer Zhu Youjian's question.

"What, are you all dumb?"

Zhu Youjian was a little unhappy, and his expression was very serious.

Although Li Zicheng's army is overwhelming and the Great Ming Dynasty is at stake, he is still the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Ninth Five-Year King.

How dare these people not want to answer their own questions. Could it be that they are all ready to surrender?
At this time, Wu Sheng, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University, stepped forward.

Zhu Youjian could tell that this person was obviously a little scared.

The hand holding the elephant wat was shaking, as if he was going to kill his whole family in a moment.

"Your Majesty, I have something to announce!"

After Wu Lu said that, he handed over the memorial, and Zhu Youjian took it over: "Could it be that Wu Aiqing has already thought of a good strategy to retreat from the enemy?"

"No, I just want to say that I am old and suffering from old illnesses, so I hereby submit my resignation, I hope His Majesty will send me back to my hometown!"

As Wu Raw said that, he knelt down, his legs and feet still trembling.

His purpose is obvious, that is, to resign his position as a non-commissioned officer in the Cabinet University now, and then flee back to his hometown in the south.

Zhu Youjian naturally also guessed his thoughts, so he held up his memorial and said: "Is there anyone else who wants to return home?"

"Minister, Sun Shilun, the right servant of the Ministry of War, has returned home due to illness!"

"My lord, Tang Xiangtai, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, has returned home due to illness!"

"Minister, the household department has asked Wu Aoning to return to his hometown!"

……

Zhu Youjian looked at the row of officials, big and small, kneeling in front of him, and didn't know what to say for a while.

Husband and wife are birds in the same forest, they fly separately when disaster strikes;
This is true between husband and wife, let alone between monarchs and ministers.

"Hmph, it's time for you to get sick!"

Zhu Youjian directly threw the memorial of the cabinet scholar Wu Lan on the ground.

Although, Zhu Youjian understood that these officials were unwilling to stay in the capital because they were afraid of death.

But since these people are afraid of death, they may not be regarded as honest and honest officials, and they have no loyalty.

If I let them go back to their hometown, I'm afraid it will still harm the village and further stir up civil uprisings, which will also cause civil uprisings in the south where there is no major chaos.

But Zhu Youjian didn't want to kill these ministers either.

After all, these officials at least just wanted to escape from the capital, and they didn't want to sell themselves as king to Li Zicheng.

However, in this court, there are still many officials who are ready to surrender to Li Zicheng. Zhu Youjian himself knows that several of them will surrender to Li Zicheng or build slaves later.

Even Wei Zaode, the chief assistant of the cabinet, would surrender to Li Zicheng on the day Li Zicheng broke the city.

There are also Zhang Jinyan, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Cheng, and Li Guozhen, Duke of Xiangcheng, who control the real power of the capital's army. They all surrendered to Li Zicheng in succession.

In other words, Zhu Youjian now has no military power.

"I hate that I don't have any soldiers to command now, otherwise I would be able to kill these traitors and beggars directly in Qianqing Palace!"

Zhu Youjian decided to hold back for the time being, and took the initiative to ask Wei Zaode: "Wei Aiqing, you are the chief assistant of the cabinet, what good strategy do you have?"

Wei Zaode walked forward tremblingly, not daring to look up at Zhu Youjian.

He naturally knew that the world was about to change dynasties, and as the chief assistant of the cabinet, he might not be able to recover.

If he wanted to report his illness and return home, His Majesty would refuse or even kill him directly, after all, he was the chief assistant of the cabinet.

If he refuses to stay in the capital with His Majesty, then His Majesty will surely cut off his last hope for the ministers.

What's more, Wei Zaode himself is not willing to just go back to his hometown for the elderly, and he has only been the chief assistant of the cabinet for a few months.

In his opinion, if he surrendered Li Zicheng at that time, he might still be the chief minister of the cabinet.

After all, although Li Zicheng is powerful, he is a rogue after all, and no academician has surrendered to him. If he surrenders to Li Zicheng, the chief assistant of his dignified cabinet, he will definitely be valued by Li Zicheng.

Therefore, Wei Zaode had another reason to stay in the capital, which was to wait for Li Zicheng to attack the city, and then become the cabinet leader of the Dashun Dynasty himself!
However, the cunning Wei Zaode knew that now was the time for him to keep a low profile, and he could not perform too well, because His Majesty would rely heavily on him, and His Majesty would let him stand in front, so he might find it difficult to surrender to Li Zicheng.

Therefore, Wei Zaode deliberately replied: "Your Majesty, my humble minister is stupid and has no good plan."

Zhu Youjian shook his head involuntarily. He could tell that even the chief assistant of the cabinet was no longer with him.

He pretended to be stupid in front of himself, and only waited for Li Zicheng to attack the capital and surrender directly to be Li Tianzi's minister.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help being a little angry, and now he can't wait to kill Wei Zaode directly, and cut off his thoughts of betraying himself to be Li Zicheng's running dog!

However, at this time, Fan Jingwen, a scholar of the Dongge University, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the only way to do this is to order Wu Sangui, the commander in chief of Liaodong, to speed up his march to King Qin of Guan!"

As for Wu Sangui, Zhu Youjian naturally knew about him. After Li Zicheng occupied the capital, he first surrendered to Li Zicheng, and then surrendered to Jiannu Dorgon because Li Zicheng killed his father and took his concubine. The vanguard army that pacified the Central Plains, and finally hanged the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongli, can be said to be the sinner of his own Ming Dynasty through the ages!

Zhu Youjian wasn't sure if he really asked Wu Sangui to rescue him, even if he beat Li Zicheng back, would he be suspected of leading a wolf into the house.

After all, now I have almost no soldiers in the capital, and the Ming Dynasty is in danger. If Wu Sangui is really the hero of this world, I am afraid that he will not be willing to be the eagle dog of himself, the last emperor!

At this time, Li Banghua, the censor of Zuodu, stood up again and said:
"However, Your Majesty, Wu Sangui has sent an envoy to say that the Guanning army is exhausted due to fighting against the Tartars, and if the soldiers are to fight bravely, they need 100 million taels of silver and [-] stones of grain and grass to reward the army before they can leave the pass. Aid Beijing."

100 million rings of silver and [-] stones of grain and grass?

When Zhu Youjian heard this, he couldn't help but sneered. He could tell that Wu Sangui was asking for a lot of money. On the surface, he refused to send troops to rescue him because of insufficient food and salary. In fact, he was afraid of losing his own in a decisive battle with Li Zicheng's army. The main force of Guan Ning's army made him lose his housekeeping capital.

At this time, the Great Ming Emperor himself could no longer command these warlords.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help but sighed, but he still wanted to ask these officials who had pocketed some money for future military training, so he asked in an almost pleading tone:

"But now the national treasury is empty, and Taicang has no money or silver. All my lovers are loyal ministers of my Ming Dynasty. Can you donate your furniture and collect millions of military pay to reward Guan Ning's army, so as to relieve the siege of the capital and protect my country? "

(End of this chapter)