"Ah?" Du Zhizhi cried out.
His face was livid as he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, I am innocent. Someone must have framed me."
"I am your Majesty's internal official, and I swear to be loyal to your Majesty until death!"
Seeing that Chongzhen didn't speak, Du Zhizhi turned to look at Wang Chengen.
"Prince, I was brought up by you. I will never betray Your Majesty. Please understand!"
Wang Chengen frowned. The emperor had no evidence. It was a secret letter written by Feng Yuanyang.
Killing Du Zhizhi was nothing more than to appease Tang Tong.
After thinking these things through, Wang Chengen snorted coldly: "Du Zhizhi, you are colluding with the bandits. The evidence is irrefutable. Why are you still quibbling? Come, arrest Du Zhizhi and take him out to await your punishment!"
After hearing the order, the two Jinyiwei pushed the door open, grabbed Du Zhizhi on the left and right, and dragged him out without saying anything.
Du Zhizhi was completely panicked. He struggled to look around and his eyes fell on Tang Tong.
At this moment, he could no longer care about anything else and shouted to Tang Tong, "Sir Tang, please help me beg His Majesty that I really did not collude with the bandits."
Tang Tong snorted coldly and pretended not to hear.
Du Zhizhi was desperate!
Seeing that he was about to be dragged out of the hall, Chongzhen stretched out his hand to stop the two Jinyiwei. He looked at Tang Tong with a smile and said, "Dingxi Bo, according to the Ming Dynasty law, what is the crime for colluding with bandits?"
Tang Tong's heart was shocked, and he immediately understood Chongzhen's intention. He said in a deep voice: "Treat him according to military law and he should be beheaded."
"Du Zhizhi was a military supervisor and broke the law knowingly. Since his crime has been verified, he should be punished according to military law."
Tang Tong couldn't help but look up at Chongzhen. He couldn't understand what the Ming emperor was doing.
It was he who sent Du Zhizhi to supervise the army yesterday, and it was he who wanted to chop off Du Zhizhi today.
Could it be that Du Zhizhi really was in collusion with the bandits?
No...Impossible!
Everyone except the eunuchs had the intention of colluding with the bandits.
When a dynasty changes, old ministers of the previous dynasty can be used, and there are also examples of marrying concubines of the previous dynasty, but there is no precedent of using eunuchs of the previous dynasty.
What was Du Zhizhi trying to achieve by colluding with the bandits?
"Tang Tong, Du Zhizhi is colluding with the bandits, why don't you kill him for me?"
Tang Tong didn't have time to think about it, he knelt down and kowtowed respectfully: "Your Majesty, I obey your order."
After saying that, he stood up, walked to Du Zhizhi, and grabbed the other's collar.
The moment he turned around, he could no longer conceal his inner ecstasy, and dragged Du Zhizhi out of the hall with a grin.
"Your Majesty, I am innocent!"
“It’s unfair!”
"injustice..."
After a moment, Du Zhizhi's voice begging for mercy stopped abruptly.
Tang Tong returned to the hall contentedly. His previous dissatisfaction with Chongzhen also disappeared with the death of Du Zhizhi.
The only uncertainty is who will be the next military supervisor.
"Your Majesty, I have completed the execution. Du Zhizhi is dead. I wonder who Your Majesty will appoint as the military supervisor."
"There is no military supervisor." Chongzhen smiled slightly.
Tang Tong was stunned for a moment, "Your Majesty, I don't understand."
"Dingxi Bo is the pillar of the Ming Dynasty. I trust you, so there is no need for a military supervisor."
"Wang Chengen, go to the treasury and withdraw 20,000 taels of silver from Ding Xibo. I will find a way to make up the rest."
Looking at the almighty Emperor Chongzhen, Tang Tong's eyes instantly became moist.
All the grievances and distrust I had suffered before disappeared in this instant.
He knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying: "Your Majesty, I will defend Juyong Pass to the death and not let the bandits advance a single step."
"No, you can't hold on!"
Tang Tong was stunned.
Your Majesty is killing people and giving money. Isn’t his purpose to make me work for him?
We have just stated that we will defend our position to the end. Why doesn’t Your Majesty agree?
Chongzhen shook his head slightly: "Li Zicheng divided his troops into two groups to attack the capital. His general Liu Fangliang has now occupied Baoding Prefecture. If Li Zicheng is blocked, Liu Fangliang will definitely support him. By then, Juyongguan will be attacked from both sides, and Dingxi Bo will be in danger."
"This...I...I am not afraid of death!" Tang Tong said with a stiff face.
"The court is in need of talents right now, and I cannot let you fall into danger. You only need to hold Juyong Pass for a few days, and before Liu Fangliang's army surrounds Juyong Pass, take everyone and retreat back to the capital."
"Yes...I will definitely live up to the emperor's grace!"
Wu Mengming and Wang Zhixin looked at Tang Tong's receding back and felt a little uneasy.
Yesterday, Tang Tong was privately very dissatisfied with Chongzhen's decision to send Du Zhizhi to supervise the army.
Today, the emperor only killed one eunuch and regained Tang Tong's loyalty.
Although it is not yet clear whether it is true or not, the emperor's ability to win people's hearts is undoubtedly revealed.
After appeasing Tang Tong, Chongzhen sat on the dragon throne and thought about his next plan.
It stands to reason that when enemies come, we should stop them with soldiers and when water comes, we should block it with earth.
The problem is that now he has neither the soldiers nor the generals.
Influenced by the Ming Dynasty's God of War, the emperors of the late Ming Dynasty had no military power.
There are twenty-six guards in the Beijing camp, twenty-one of which are more or less under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.
The only ones he could mobilize on his own were the Jinyiwei and the Tengxiang Four Guards.
The Four Tengxiang Guards were later reorganized into the Yongwei Battalion, which was the elite among the elite.
Unfortunately, Huang Degong and the elite troops of the Yongwei Camp, who he had sent to pursue Zhang Xianzhong, were fighting in Anhui, thousands of miles away.
Far water cannot quench near thirst!
Even if he had military power, there was no one available in the capital.
In this case, we have no choice but to take a gamble!
"Wu Mengming, the king's heart." Chongzhen said with his eyes closed.
"I am here."
"How many people are there in the capital from the Imperial Guards and the Eastern Depot?"
"Your Majesty, there are more than 3,000 Jinyiwei."
"Your Majesty, the East Factory has 2,000 people."
Chongzhen was silently calculating in his heart.
The three major camps, Jinyiwei, Dongchang, the Imperial Guards, and the Wucheng Bingmasi all add up to about 38,000 people available in the capital. Excluding the necessary guards in the imperial city, there are only 36,000 people that can be mobilized. Li Zicheng's army is said to be 500,000, but in reality it is only 20. After leaving Shaanxi, it split into two routes, and there are about 110,000 to 120,000 people who need to be stationed along the way to attack Beijing. Although the number is not as large as imagined, half of them are the elite he brought from Shaanxi.
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