The sun never sets in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 805 The Building Will Fall

On March 60th, bandits surrounded the capital. There were no less than 30 million people all over the mountains and plains.

The building will be in turmoil, and Emperor Chongzhen has nothing to do. At this time, he no longer trusts civil and military officials, and sent many eunuchs to supervise the city defense to strengthen law and order. Unfortunately, the capital has begun to be chaotic, and people are killing people, setting fires and looting everywhere.

Of course, the thieves who infiltrated the capital couldn't help but jump out to make waves when they heard that their own army was approaching the city. It was hard for these bandits to pretend to be grandchildren in the capital for dozens of days, drooling every day looking at the rich and beautiful women.

The army finally arrived, and many hidden pawns immediately picked the targets they were optimistic about. Once the chaos started, of course it would intensify.

There is no shortage of green skins, gangsters, and idlers in every city. These people are afraid that the world will not be chaotic, and of course they will jump out to take advantage of the fire.

Seeing that the central command system of the Ming Dynasty had completely lost its effectiveness, Chongzhen was very anxious. He personally carried a three-eyed gun and a sword, and led Wang Chengen and a dozen chief eunuchs to patrol the city defense.

On March [-]th, the bandit army began to attack the city. Although the discipline and combat effectiveness of the bandit soldiers were not worth mentioning, at this time, there was quality in quantity, because the Ming army was even more unbearable.

The capital has artillery for defending the city, and the bandit soldiers also have artillery for siege. The capital's cannons boomed all of a sudden. Although the power of the artillery on both sides was not worth mentioning, the huge roar still intensified the chaos in the capital.

It didn't take long for the chaos to spread to the inner city, and even the imperial city gradually lost order. Many eunuchs and court ladies began to pack their things and prepare to flee. Of course, what they were going to take away was not necessarily personal belongings, but more palace property. Because you get more and I get less, there were many fights.

At this time, Chongzhen couldn't care much, he just paid close attention to whether the officers and soldiers could still hold the city, impatient, he felt that it would be a torment to wait for the army's return in the imperial city, so he picked up the three-eyed gun again and led a group of more than a dozen people to ride out east Huamen inspected the defense on the spot.

But at this time, it was impossible to make the trip, the scuffle had already begun, and they were blocked by random guns and arrows.

Chongzhen had no choice but to run to Qihua Gate again. Cheng Guogong Zhu Chunchen, who was stationed here, did not believe that the emperor would come to the front in this time of chaos, no matter who was determined not to open the gate.

Chongzhen had no choice but to turn to Andingmen non-stop, but the defenders here had dispersed, the gate was locked, and the eunuch could not break it open with a sharp axe.

Seeing that all the garrison troops in the inner city were able to flee without a fight, Chongzhen became more aware of the critical situation. He hurried back to the Forbidden City and ordered the eunuchs to ring the Jingyang Bell.

The military officers with military power only came to the British public, Zhang Zhiji. I don't know if the military officers needed to stand firm against the enemy or they were worried that the emperor would order the general to execute a death errand, so they all chose to pretend to be deaf and could not hear the Jingyang bell.

The civil servants came to Fan Jingwen, the cabinet minister, Ni Yuanlu, the minister of the household department, Li Banghua, the censor of the left capital, Shi Bangzhao, the censor of the deputy capital, Ling Yiqu, the minister of Dali Temple, Wang Jiayan, the right servant of the Ministry of war, Meng Zhaoxiang, the right servant of the Ministry of punishment, and more than a dozen censors and officials. in progress.

The emperor saw that there were thousands of civil and military people in the half court, and now the country's situation is so critical that even the Jingyang bell rang, but only less than [-] people came, full of grief and hatred.

Knowing that he was powerless, looking at Zhang Zhiji, the only military officer who rushed over in a hurry, and seeing bloodstains on his body, he knew how serious the situation was.

Why is it half court civil and military?This is not surprising, and half of them took leave last year to go to "Nanming", and they are on their way back to Daming at this time.

Seeing that his family and country were about to be destroyed, Chongzhen couldn't help crying bitterly. He called Zhu Cilang, the prince who had been defending the Forbidden City with Cao Huachun and [-] musketeers.

Chongzhen ordered the Li supervisor Bingbi Cao Huachun and the factory supervisor Wang Chengen to bring 500 musketeers to follow the British prince to protect the prince and break out of the siege and defect to the Southern King.

Although at the last moment, Emperor Chongzhen's mind was not confused, he knew that only by entrusting the crown prince to Zhang Zhiji would he have a chance to escape.

The instructors of the internal army are still eighteen girls from Sichuan from the "Nanming" Princess Battalion. They have come to the Forbidden City to train the internal army for the second time in shifts, and they have been fighting with the internal musketeers for two years.

As early as February, they received a notice that they could go home, but this was not an order. These Sichuan girls were all honest and reliable people. establish.

Their actions won the respect from the bottom of their hearts.Now the emperor has entrusted the important task of defending the prince to the internal army, and both Chuanmeizi and the internal army accepted the task with their heads held high.

In fact, the internal army has been infiltrated by "Nanming". Too many musketeers are already agents of "Nanming", but they have never received missions that are not good for Ming. Everyone is gearing up for errands.

Zhang Zhiji saw that the emperor made such an urgent arrangement, so he quickly knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I have hundreds of servants under my command, and two thousand soldiers who dare to fight, and Eunuch Cao will lead [-] musketeers to assist me. Guaranteed to be able to escort His Majesty to break out of the siege and walk on the Beijing-Tianjin Main Road to Tianjin Wei.

There will definitely be "Nanming" warships and merchant ships at the seaside. At that time, His Majesty will sail out to sea to thieves and can only look at the ocean and sigh. "

Cabinet Minister Fan Jingwen, Minister of the Household Department Ni Yuanlu and other civil officials also knelt down. They unanimously begged His Majesty to avoid the intruders for the time being. It is the best policy to break through to Tianjin Wei. They can follow His Majesty by sea on the "Nanming" warship. Accompany the capital Nanjing to make a comeback.

The disheartened Chongzhen sighed and said: "No need, since I inherited Tian Yuyu, for ten or seven years, I have fought every year and sent more and more troops. I have no face to see Jiangdong's elders. I have decided to live and die with Jiangshan Sheji. I am extremely grateful for the protection of the crown prince Zhou Quan, all dear ministers."

Seeing that His Majesty refused to go with him, Cao Huachun, Wang Chengen and the Crown Prince all refused to go and knelt down to ask the Emperor to break out of the siege together. However, Chongzhen had already begun to die and resolutely refused to go.

For the last time, Chongzhen ordered Zhang Zhiji to take the prince on the road with imperial power for the last time, and asked Fan Jingwen and Ni Yuanlu, civil officials who had come to be loyal at the last moment, to assist the prince well in the future.

Chongzhen went all out, and he gave all the remaining horses in Da Nei to the internal army to ride, and he gave the prince the war horse he had been using all the time.

Hearing the sound of killing was getting closer and closer, the situation was critical and even mother-in-law and mother-in-law might not be able to leave, Zhang Zhiji could only wipe away his tears and set off. Follow the prince to go east.

(End of this chapter)