Ming Empire

Chapter 187

After being reported that the bandits captured Changping County, the last barrier of Gyeonggi, Emperor Chongzhen knew that the situation was over, and he couldn't wait for King Qin's army to arrive.

"Dear dear friends, Xuanping was captured by bandits. On the day of Bai Guangen's death, the commander-in-chief Bai Guangen's [-] elite troops were wiped out. The brigade of bandits went down the Shahe River and had already attacked Pingzemen in the outer city of Beijing. The flames blazed into the sky along the way. Soldiers are sweeping across the mountains." When he summoned the monarchs and ministers to discuss the military situation urgently, after the Emperor Chongzhen reported the military situation sadly and helplessly, he looked at the ministers who bowed their heads and said nothing, and roared angrily: "I am not the king of subjugation. Everything is a sign of subjugation, the ancestors are exposed to the wind and rain, once they are lost, what face will they see in the ground?"

After hearing the roar of Emperor Chongzhen, all the ministers were trembling and silent.Seeing the appearance of His Highness's ministers, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly got up, walked down the imperial steps, stood in front of the hall, and looked at the faces of the ministers at the head of the hall one by one. When the ministers couldn't help panic and knelt down one by one, He roared again: "Wen dies to remonstrate, and Wu dies to fight. The king dies in the country, and I am determined to live and die with the ancestral temple and the country, with the ancestral mausoleum, and with the millions of souls in the capital! Ladies and gentlemen, you can go back to the mansion and call the guards , assign weapons, and fight to the death with the bandits!"

Emperor Chongzhen seemed to have never been so decisive. After he walked back to the palace, he ordered the first assistant Liu Zongzong, the second assistant, and the Minister of War Zhang Jinyan to recruit the capital's strong men to organize the King's Army and divide the equipment to defend the capital. Relatives of the country and hundreds of officials in Beijing are concerned about state affairs, and donate family funds to help the army.

Seeing the emperor's grief and indignation, the officials were relatively sad.All of them looked ashamed.However, some of them are not thinking about sharing difficulties with the emperor and Ming Dynasty, but thinking about the future of themselves and their families. Many of them have already sent people out of the city to contact the rogues in secret, hoping that Beijing After the city is broken, you can get the favor of the rogues.But there are still many loyal and brave ministers among the ministers. After returning, many of them donated money and goods to help the court fight against the bandits.

Emperor Chongzhen ordered Li Guozhen, the descendant of Xiangcheng Bo, to supervise the military administration of the Beijing camp, and ordered Wu Xiang to supervise the Jingying camp. He also appointed Wang Chengen, the eunuch who was in charge of the ceremonies and seals, as the admiral of the nine gates to work with Li Guozhen.

Wang Chengen was the most trusted eunuch of Emperor Chongzhen, and now he didn't have too many people available, and the great eunuch summoned by his side had no choice but to send out to lead the army.All of Wang Chengen's honors were given by Emperor Chongzhen. He dared not and would not make any excuses. After donating tens of thousands of silver taels, he immediately received Emperor Chongzhen's order and personally set up the defense of Beijing City.

Many people know that Beijing's current defense force is very weak. Although the number of soldiers in the Beijing camp is more than 11, it has long since been abolished. , Building works.The pro-military troops stationed in Beijing and the sergeants of the Jingwei were either old, weak, sick, or disabled, or they asked someone to roll their names on their behalf, or they were taken over by relatives' families to do labor.There are 6 soldiers in the Beijing camp in name, but the real number of soldiers is less than [-] at most, and these [-] horses don't have much combat effectiveness.

In the dead of night, the Forbidden City, which has always been majestic and solemn, has a bleak scene at this time.However, inside the Qianqing Palace, it was quite lively, and Emperor Chongzhen held a family banquet here.It's just that none of the people present has an appetite, facing the delicious food on the table in front of them, they don't even have the idea of ​​using chopsticks to taste it.Only the Emperor Chongzhen ate happily, with a smile on his face, and even personally fed the food to Princess Zhaoren Zhu Yuyu.But anyone could tell that the honorable Emperor of Ming Dynasty was just forcing a smile on his face at this moment. Most of the people present understood that this might be the last family banquet of the Ming Dynasty imperial family.

In a few days, their fate may also be determined by others, and Daming's palace will also be occupied by others.

Empress Zhou was also forcing a smile on her face. As the mother of the Daming Dynasty, this graceful and luxurious young woman worried her the most besides the fate of the Ming Dynasty, but also the fate of her own children.If Beijing is captured by bandits, her sons and daughters will all die.Seeing that her son and daughter are going to suffer, as a mother, how can she not be heartbroken.

In the end, the family banquet ended in silence and depression. Emperor Chongzhen drank a lot of stuffy wine and was carried back to the palace by the eunuchs after getting drunk. Empress Zhou did not dare to leave and served in front of Emperor Chongzhen's dragon boat in person.She didn't sleep all night, and it can be said that she shed tears to the horizon.

The only thing that rejoiced for Empress Zhou was that her favorite daughter, Aimee Zhu, was not in Beijing now, but went to Nanjing with Cao Yue.Empress Zhou prayed that her daughter, who had just become a mother, could live safely in Nanjing.

When Aimee Zhu followed Cao Yue to Nanjing, she felt very reluctant, and even blamed Cao Yue for letting Aimee Zhu go to Nanjing to suffer for her own self-interest.Now, she doesn't think so anymore, and objected that Cao Yue was very prescient, leaving Beijing, a place of right and wrong, to escape a disaster.
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The rogues have already attacked outside the city of Beijing, and the shadows of the rogues can also be seen outside some city gates. It can be said that outside the city of Beijing, there are scenes of chaos everywhere.

Outside the Chaoyang Gate in Beijing is the Water Transport Wharf of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.Forty miles to the east of Chaoyangmen is the North Tongzhou Wharf. Any goods shipped from the south, whether landing in Tongzhou or at the water transport wharf outside Chaoyangmen, must be transported into Beijing through Chaoyangmen.It can be said that Chaoyangmen is the northern starting point of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. Officials and merchants who leave Beijing to the south, or officials and merchants who enter Beijing from the south for pilgrimage or business must stop at Chaoyangmen.Whether in Mongolian Yuan Dynasty or Daming Dynasty, Chaoyangmen area is one of the busiest districts in Beijing.

Inside and outside Chaoyang Gate, there are row upon row of teahouses, and there is a lot of traffic all year round.But now, the scene of heavy traffic can no longer be seen. The gate of Chaoyangmen is firmly guarded, the suspension bridge hangs high, the guards on the top of the city are closely guarded, and the patrolling soldiers are very dense, even in the middle of the night.

The rogues are about to attack the city of Beijing. Although the Beijing defenders are a mob, they must defend as if they were facing a big enemy.

It was almost dawn, and the patrolling sergeants on the city were still one after another, but the patrolling sergeants were already very tired.Fortunately, there was nothing happening inside or outside the city, and the canal pier was empty, and the boats were no longer visible, which made them a little relieved.

But in the morning light, in the originally quiet canal, several large ships came quickly. These large ships were not ordinary cargo ships, but naval warships equipped with artillery, and there were five ships in total.The defenders on the top of the city noticed these large ships after they appeared in the field of vision, and immediately everyone became nervous and issued a battle alarm, and the top of the city was in a hurry.However, after seeing the battle flag hanging on the warship, the defenders on the top of the city breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this is a division of King Qin who just arrived.

But they didn't dare to be careless, and they were still fully alert. The sergeants hid on the city wall with bows and arrows or muskets, and closely monitored the approaching warships.

(End of this chapter)