The proposal to move south failed again. Now Emperor Chongzhen has fallen into an isolated and helpless position and has no idea what to do.

The rogue bandits are approaching the capital step by step.

On March 17, the 17th year of Chongzhen, the rogue bandits commanded by Li Zicheng arrived in Beijing.

The situation in Beijing was extremely urgent, so Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of the Pingxi Army stationed in Ningyuan, was urgently ordered to come to the capital to aid. After receiving the order, Wu Sangui sent troops to the capital, but his actions were slow.

At this time, Wu Sangui had become very important.

There are only two troops that Chongzhen can look forward to now, one is Wu Sangui from Ningyuan, and the other is Ding Yunyi from Fujian. Fujian is too far away from the capital, and Ding Yunyi is unruly. Chongzhen failed to mobilize his control, so he could only send all the troops

All hopes were placed on Wu Sangui.

Wu Sangui received the order on March 7th. Chapter 3550: Ming Zhonglie abandoned Ningyuan on the 10th and arrived at Shanhaiguan on March 16th. For a force of 200,000 soldiers and civilians, this speed was not slow.

.Wu Sangui could leave the people and rush to Beijing, but Li Zicheng had not arrived in Beijing yet, so there was no need to be in a hurry, but the situation soon changed.

On the 17th, Li Zicheng personally led an army to attack the nine gates, and the offensive and defensive battle of the capital officially broke out.

Li Zicheng's attack on Beijing has always been a huge mystery.

Although the rogue bandits were killed all the way, they could only occupy Shanxi. The Ming Dynasty focused on the capital and neglected other provinces, and had always assembled heavy troops in Beijing. The three major battalions were called 470,000. Although there was a lot of vacancy, half of them should be there. The combat effectiveness was certainly not strong.

, but the Manchu and Qing troops came to the city many times, and the Beijing camp was considered a battle-hardened formation. Beijing's city defense was very strong, and foreign enemy troops could not break through the city many times. During the Chongzhen period, the Manchu and Qing troops also attacked Beijing many times, so a field battle in the Beijing camp might not be effective.

, the defense of the city can last for at least several months, and there is also the help of red cannons. The rogue bandits are very poor in attacking fortresses, and they lost tens of thousands of elite troops in one Ningwu Pass. Why is it that attacking Beijing is like trying to get something from a bag? Chongzhen has been reluctant to move south and ordered the prince to go south.

It’s hard to explain. It is heroic for a king to die in the country, but who is willing to be the king of the country? Unlike other dynasties, the Ming Dynasty used Nanjing as its companion. Chapter 550: The Ming Dynasty is the capital of loyalty and martyrdom. The prince was stationed in Nanjing in the previous dynasty.

Pass.

Chongzhen was not so mediocre.

It can be said that Chongzhen did not believe that the city would fall when the rogues approached, and the civil and military forces also had this confidence, otherwise they would have fled in all directions.

It should be said that Chongzhen did not believe that the city had fallen when the rogues were approaching. Wu Sangui would arrive soon. Once the rogues were trapped under the fortified city, soldiers and horses from King Qin from all over the country would also arrive one after another. Chongzhen did not need to defend the city for a long time, as long as he could

If you persist for a few months, the crisis will turn into safety.

The most incredible thing is that when Li Zicheng came to the city, he sent the eunuch Du Xun as an envoy to negotiate peace with Chongzhen. The conditions he offered were: "We will cede the northwest area to the king, reward the army with millions of silver, and retreat to Henan."

In order to contain the bandits in the imperial court, he can especially recruit troops to help control the Liao vassal, but he does not obey the imperial edict and go to court." He was about to enter the city, but he offered such favorable terms?

But Chongzhen actually refused to agree when the country was overthrown. Li Zicheng had already occupied Shaanxi and Henan, and it didn't matter whether he wanted to cede it or not. Moreover, he had already established himself as king, and now it was just a matter of spending one million silver, and he could still be used to annihilate them.

Zhang Xianzhong and other bandits even resisted the Manchus.

Even if the enemy is defeated in the future, it is still ten thousand times better than the destruction of the city and the destruction of the country. If Chongzhen accepts this alliance under the city, Li Zicheng will break the siege and throw away the victory he has won.

But all these mysteries will never be solved.

After Chongzhen issued the "Qinwang Order", Wu Sangui finally sent troops to serve the king, which was much better than other generals. Chongzhen issued a call for soldiers and horses from all over the country to "qinwang", but almost no one responded. Liu Zeqing falsely reported that he fell from his horse and injured his foot.

There was no excuse for not obeying the imperial edict. Only Tang Tong's tribe was close to Beijing, and he led 8,000 troops to Beijing first. This was really a drop in the bucket, how could it save the Ming Dynasty from danger!

An atmosphere of fear enveloped the capital, and the bandits outside the city were attacking the city more urgently. Almost all hope had been lost.

"Where are the teachers of King Qin?" Until the end, Chongzhen still did not give up hope.

Zhang Jinyan, the new Minister of War, let out a long sigh: "Your Majesty, where are the teachers of King Qin? Now we in the capital can only rely on our own strength!"

Chongzhen was dumbfounded and could not utter a word. After a long while, he sighed longly: "I am not the king of the subjugation of the country, but my ministers are all the ministers of the subjugation of the country!"

At this point, Zhang Jinyan didn't care anymore: "Your Majesty, the people of the three major battalions in the city are running away and scattered, and the people's hearts can't be gathered together. Now we only have 40,000 usable soldiers left. The huge city of Beijing

Ah, this mere 40,000 old and weak soldiers cannot defend the city at all. There are only three crenels above the head to allocate one soldier. In addition to these 40,000 old and weak soldiers, there are thousands of people from the palace to help defend the city.

It's not of much use. Moreover, this group of old, weak and remnant soldiers have been in arrears with pay for a long time. This time, because they were required to defend the city desperately, they were given a hundred coins each. Because no one was in charge of food, they often had to ask for leave and run to the city to themselves.

Let’s buy sesame seed cakes to satisfy our hunger.”

Chongzhen smiled bitterly: "I have been in office for seventeen years. In the past seventeen years, the war in Liaodong and the Central Plains has been a last resort. The deployment of troops and pay is really a last resort. Year after year of wars, more taxes and more dispatches, the original intention is to calm the people.

As a result, the burden on the people has been increased, which is my fault; the corrupt officials took advantage of the opportunity to plunder and deliberately exploit, causing hardship to the people's livelihood. It is my fault that I live in the inner palace and cannot understand it; the generals are cowardly and the soldiers are arrogant and unwilling to fight the enemy with all their strength.

, instead, they burned, killed, and looted the people, treating them as enemies. It was my fault that I appointed inhumane people, which caused the sores to fester. I have made so many mistakes, and I really have no shame in dealing with all the people in the world!"

Everyone was silent.

Chongzhen didn't say a word. He lowered his head and wrote twelve words on the imperial case. Wang Cheng'en, who was standing next to him, took a look at it and then erased it. Six of the words were "Every civil servant can be killed." In the emperor's mind,

In China, the government was ruined in the hands of this group of civil servants.

The rogues' siege became more and more urgent.

Initially, the rogue bandits attacked Pingzemen, Changyimen, and Xizhimen. The soldiers guarding these three gates, the so-called "three battalions", were actually old and weak soldiers and eunuchs with no fighting ability. What's more, no one was cooking, and all of them were

How can one withstand an overwhelming attack if they are so hungry?

Although the position outside the city wall was covered with obstacles such as trains, giant cannons, caltrops, antlers, etc., they still could not stop the peasant army in yellow armor that came like a tide and surrounded the capital.

On March 18, Li Zicheng commanded the rogue bandits to attack fiercely in the rain. The defenders on the city fired cannons outside, but there were no shells, only a puff of gunpowder smoke and an empty sound, as if they were setting off firecrackers and fireworks just to do their job.

Chongzhen summoned the Prince Consort Gong Yonggu and asked him to lead his private armed forces to escort the prince out of Beijing and south. Gong Yonggu told him that he had never dared to raise private armed forces, and even if he had, he would not be able to break out of the siege. This unrealistic fantasy,

He had no choice but to give up. Zhu Youjian called the eunuch Wang Chengen and asked him to summon the palace personnel to prepare to guard the Forbidden City.

Zhu Youjian, who was wandering around the palace, received a report from the eunuch that the inner city had fallen. He asked: Where are the soldiers of the camp? Where is Li Guozhen? The answer he received was: Li Guozhen, the governor of the Beijing camp, had already fled for his life, and the soldiers of the camp had also fled.

They fled in disarray. They advised the emperor to "leave in a hurry". At this point, they had no choice but to escape. They did not expect that the emperor did not choose to "leave in a hurry".

Chongzhen has made a decision: to die for the country!

"There are only emperors who die for their country, there are no emperors who run away!" This was Chongzhen's final answer!

There was a beacon fire outside the city, and the flames soared into the sky.

Emperor Chongzhen and his personal eunuch Wang Chengen came down from the Meishan Mountain. They sighed and suddenly faced Wang Chengen and said, "Am I a good emperor?"

"Your Majesty!" Wang Chengen burst into tears and said, "Your Majesty is a good emperor, the best emperor since the founding of our Ming Dynasty! Your Majesty is diligent and frugal, and every day he does his best to revitalize the Ming Dynasty. There is no better emperor in our Ming Dynasty than your Majesty."

ah!"

"But why did the Ming Dynasty perish in my hands?" Chongzhen smiled bitterly: "I am a good emperor, I am a good emperor, but it is a pity that I was born at the wrong time!"

The devastated Chongzhen returned to the palace and wrote an edict, ordering Duke Zhu Chunchen to command the armies and assist the crown prince Zhu Cixiang. He also ordered Empress Zhou, Concubine Yuan Guifei and three sons to enter the palace. He gave a few brief instructions to his sons and ordered the eunuchs to

Send them to their relatives' homes to hide.

He tied the belts for the children himself and said to them sadly: "Today you are still the sons of the emperor, but soon you will become ordinary people... In this troubled world, you must remain anonymous. When you see an old man, you will call him an old man, and the young will call you an old man."

Call me uncle."

These were his last words to the children.

"The emperor has the way to die, and the emperor has the majesty of the emperor!" After arranging these things, Chongzhen suddenly regained his emperor's style. Then, his eyes fell on Queen Zhou: "You are the mother of the country, so you should

Martyrdom for the country.”

Empress Zhou cried and said: "I have been with you for eighteen years, and your Majesty has not heard a word from me, even today. Now that your Majesty has ordered me to die, how dare I not die?"

After saying that, he took off his belt and hanged himself. Zhu Youjian turned to Concubine Yuan and said, "You should go with the queen!" Concubine Yuan cried goodbye and hanged herself.

Chongzhen summoned the 15-year-old eldest princess and said with tears: "Why did you want to be born into the emperor's family?"

After saying this, she covered her face with her left sleeve, pulled out a knife with her right hand, and slashed her left arm, and then cut off her right shoulder. She fainted and fell to the ground. Chongzhen also ordered the left and right to urge Empress Zhang to commit suicide.

Chongzhen looked around at a loss. At this time, there was only one eunuch, Wang Chengen, accompanying him.

What about the generals whom I had trusted so much before? What about the ministers whom I favored before? When the rebels attacked the city, I personally rang the bell to summon the ministers, but except for the eunuch Wang Chengen, no one came to the palace!

I had the civil and military talents of the entire dynasty, but in the end, the only one I could trust was one eunuch!

Chongzhen's heart was filled with sadness at this moment

"Your Majesty!" Seeing this human tragedy, Wang Chengen fell to his knees on the ground with a plop: "Your Majesty, your Majesty wants to die for the country, and this old slave can only accompany you, but your Majesty is not alone! Your Majesty is burdened with

I am the country of the Ming Dynasty, and I am the millions of people of the Ming Dynasty! Your Majesty, this old slave will fight to his death to protect your majesty out of the city!"

"Out of the city? Out of the city?" Chongzhen smiled bitterly and shook his head.

How else can I get out of the city now?

At this time, there was a commotion in the palace. It turned out that the eunuchs and maidens knew that the bandit army was approaching and the capital was about to fall. They all panicked and wanted to escape.

Wang Chengen shouted loudly: "Your Majesty is here, who dares to move!"

Wang Cheng'en had long been trusted by Chongzhen and was very dignified in front of the young eunuchs. At this moment, when he shouted angrily, the young eunuchs actually stood there motionless.

Just listen to Wang Chengen loudly say: "My dears, the bandits are attacking the city and the country is in danger, but Your Majesty is still here! The Ming Dynasty is still here! We useless people who have nothing below us, if we don't repay the emperor's favor now, when will we fight?

But once you die, I will protect Your Majesty with your life. Those who are not afraid of death will stay here and wait for the rebel army to come and fight them!"

The young eunuchs all stood there in shock, and suddenly they heard a young eunuch who was only sixteen or seventeen years old said loudly: "My father-in-law has treated me so kindly. My father-in-law is not afraid of death today, so why should we be afraid of death?"

Ah, come on, kill the enemy!"

His call immediately aroused the determination of all the eunuchs. All the eunuchs, big and small, shouted one after another: "Kill the enemy, kill the enemy, follow the father-in-law to kill the enemy!"

Wang Chengen looked at the little eunuch: "What's your name?"

"Back to father-in-law, my name is Zhang Yishan in the palace, but actually my real name is Xu Dezhong."

"Ah." Even his good friend Zhou Xi was stunned by these words. Only now did he realize that the name of his good friend Zhang Yishan was fake.
To be continued...