Forbidden City.
Inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Zhu Lian stared blankly at the figure in the mirror.
He probably crossed over with a rope, and he felt uncomfortable from the moment the memories came flooding in. Looking at the dragon robe on his body and the Yishan crown on his head, he felt sad without a source, and his eyes were full of despair.
"God is playing a joke on me. I finally traveled through time and space once, but I ended up being Chongzhen!"
Who is Chongzhen?
The king who destroyed the Ming Dynasty!
He is also a representative figure among the kings of all dynasties who lost their country the harder they worked.
His stubborn, fickle and suspicious character flaws, coupled with his complete lack of knowledge of the art of ruling, personally sent the Ming Dynasty to the crematorium.
What’s even more tragic is that today is March 10th, the 17th year of Chongzhen.
Nine days later, Li Zicheng attacked the inner city of Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on Coal Hill...
Subsequently, Wu Sangui surrendered, the Jiannu entered the pass, and Li Zicheng was defeated.
The next three hundred years of history were not only a shame for the Zhu family, but also a disaster for the entire Chinese nation.
The Jiannu, who had gained a foothold in Beijing, marched southwards, carrying out the Three Massacres in Jiading and the Ten Days in Yangzhou...
Thousands of corpses were buried, and blood was shed for thousands of miles...
This is not a time travel, it's clearly a disaster experience ticket!
Zhu Lian looked at the rope in his hand: "How about... hanging yourself now?"
No, no, no, a good death is worse than a miserable life.
But.
What else could he do besides committing suicide?
At this time, the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse. The court was corrupt, the army had no fighting spirit, there were bandits at home and the Jiannu outside, and there were constant natural disasters and man-made disasters.
Chongzhen spent seventeen years trying to change the fate of the Ming Dynasty but failed. What else could he change?
With this question, Zhu Lian closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
After an unknown amount of time, a eunuch in a red dragon robe trotted in from outside the hall and fell to his knees with a thud: "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened."
Chongzhen slowly opened his eyes.
The middle-aged eunuch in front of him was called Wang Chengen, who was only one character different from Wu Chengen who wrote Journey to the West. He was the eunuch in charge of writing in the Imperial Household Department and one of Chongzhen's most trusted people.
Historically, after Chongzhen hanged himself, he took Chongzhen's body down from the tree, tidied up his clothes, and then committed suicide.
Loyalty is evident!
"Don't panic, tell me." Chongzhen hid the rope he brought with him when he traveled through time behind him and asked calmly.
That rope can remind him at all times and cannot be thrown away.
Wang Chengen's face turned pale, and he said in a trembling voice, "Yes, Your Majesty."
"There are three...three things."
"Xuanfu sent an urgent report from 600 miles away. The bandits broke through Xuanfu late last night and headed straight for the capital. General Wang Chengyin surrendered to the enemy; Governor Zhu Zhifeng and Supervisor Du Xun hanged themselves to death."
Wang Chengen paused for a moment, and seeing that the emperor had no expression on his face, he continued, "Dingxi Bo Tang Tong has been ordered to come to the king's aid, and he and the military supervisor eunuch Du Zhizhi are waiting for the emperor's order outside the palace."
"Tianjin Governor Feng Yuanyang sent someone to deliver a secret letter."
After saying that, Wang Chengen knelt on the ground and raised the letter above his head with both hands.
Chongzhen did not pick up the secret letter immediately, but frowned and thought.
Among these three things, one is bad, one is good, and one is neither good nor bad.
The bad thing is that after the fall of Xuanfu (Xuanhua), the only obstacle for Li Zicheng to enter Beijing was Juyongguan.
There are less than 2,000 soldiers guarding Juyong Pass, so they definitely cannot hold it.
The good news was that it was a secret letter from the Governor of Tianjin. He was well versed in Ming history and already knew the contents of the secret letter. He then opened the envelope and took a look.
The content is indeed no different from history.
[Your Majesty, the bandits are invading the borders, and the capital's military strength is weak, and there is no one to rely on for fighting and defending. I have prepared a hundred ships, led a thousand elite soldiers, and arrived in Tongzhou in person, waiting for Your Majesty to go south any day.]
Feng Yuanyang was afraid that the capital could not be defended, so he prepared more than a hundred ships and asked Chongzhen to go to Yingtian Prefecture.
As for Tang Tong obeying the emperor's order to serve the king, it was neither a good thing nor a bad thing.
As early as the beginning of March, Chongzhen urgently dispatched Wu Sangui, the general of Liaodong, Wang Yongji, the governor of Ji and Liao, Tang Tong, the general of Changping, and Liu Zeqing, the general of Shandong, to defend the capital, and called on the nobles and officials in Beijing to donate money for military pay.
Among the people Chongzhen mobilized, Wu Sangui and Wang Yongji were in the same group. They led 300,000 soldiers and civilians back from Liaodong in a mighty force. They only arrived at Yutian area, 100 kilometers away from Beijing, on March 22, and were simply too late to rescue the emperor.
Tang Tong came quickly and surrendered quickly. As soon as Li Zicheng arrived at Juyongguan, the eunuch Du Zhizhi ordered the city gates to be opened. Tang Tong saw that the situation was hopeless and stopped resisting. All 8,000 of his men surrendered.
Liu Zeqing was even more ruthless and refused to obey the imperial edict!
Chongzhen casually threw the secret letter to Wang Chengen, looked at the eunuch he trusted most, and slowly asked: "Feng Yuanyang asked me to move to Yingtian Prefecture, what do you think?"
"I dare not say."
"You are innocent!"
"Yes!" Wang Chengen swallowed his saliva, "I think this is the best strategy!"
"Why?"
"I am the commander of the Nine Gates. This morning, I met with Governor Li Guozhen and learned that there are 80,000 people on the register of the three camps in the capital. Some have been transferred to fight against bandits, and some have been paid for nothing. Now there are less than 30,000 people available, and they are all old, weak, sick and disabled."
"The capital city probably can't be defended anymore!" Wang Chengen spoke the truth courageously.
"Instead of defending Beijing, we should move to Yingtian Prefecture. As long as Your Majesty is here, our Ming Dynasty will remain the same."
Wang Chengen's forehead was covered with cold sweat.
Under normal circumstances he wouldn't dare to say anything even if he was beaten to death, but the situation is different now. The bandits will be here soon and it will be too late if he doesn't leave now.
He knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, "Your Majesty, I am honored to be your minister and I dare to ask Your Majesty to follow Feng Yuanyang's plan and move south!"
Chongzhen shook his head gently, "I can't leave."
"Your Majesty!" Wang Chengen was so anxious that he almost cried.
Chongzhen did not doubt Wang Chengen's loyalty. He shook his head and said, "The capital is full of Li Zicheng's spies. Once the news of the southward migration spreads, there will be chaos without a fight. At that time, he only needs to send an elite cavalry to Shandong at night to intercept us by land or by sea. By then, I will have nowhere to escape and nowhere to defend."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
