In history, when Du Xun was supervising the army in Xuanfu, he went thirty miles out of the city and knelt to welcome Li Zicheng.
Chongzhen could understand if the civil and military officials did this.
After all, in his eyes, the emperor was the boss of the company and the civil and military ministers were employees.
These workers have been wronged in his company, and it is understandable that they want to change companies and change bosses.
But eunuchs are different.
Eunuchs are the emperor's internal servants, and their status in the company is similar to that of the boss's relatives. If these people surrender, it would be tantamount to embezzlement in the company.
Which company dares to use them?
Du Xun did this just to disgust himself!
"Someone come!"
Two Jinyiwei pushed the door open and looked fiercely at the eunuch who delivered the message.
The young eunuch thought he had done something wrong, and hurriedly knelt on the ground and begged: "Your Majesty, I was wrong, I will never dare to do it again."
Chongzhen ignored him and ordered the Jinyiwei: "Du Xun is the eunuch in charge of the Shangshenjian, but he surrendered on the battlefield instead of being loyal to the country. He has failed my expectations. Take him to the top of the Fuchengmen Tower immediately, behead him in public, and exterminate his entire clan!"
"Yes, sir!"
The two Jinyiwei were stunned for a moment, then immediately took the order and ran out like the wind.
Du Xun had worked in the East Factory, and the Jinyiwei had always been at odds with the East Factory. Now that Du Xun had finally fallen into their hands, he had to vent his anger.
After the Jinyiwei left, the young eunuch in charge of reporting realized that Chongzhen was not angry with him, so he kowtowed and left the palace.
Chongzhen picked up the brush and continued writing the mobilization order.
......
Diaoyutai, Li Zicheng's camp.
Li Zicheng tossed and turned in bed. He was not suffering from insomnia, but could not sleep because of the constant sound of cannons from Fuchengmen.
It sounds once every half an hour, and even if you are asleep you will be woken up by the huge sound of the cannon.
Very annoying.
"Your Majesty...Are you asleep, Your Majesty?" someone asked outside the tent.
Li Zicheng sighed and said, "What's the matter?"
The guard in charge of guarding the tent whispered, "Your Majesty, it's General Liu Zongmin, he has something urgent to ask for."
"Let him in!" Li Zicheng sat up and ordered someone to light the lamp.
Liu Zongmin walked into the tent in full military uniform and knelt on one knee to salute: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I shouldn't have disturbed your rest. But Chongzhen sent people to negotiate peace. I couldn't make the decision, so I had no choice but to come and disturb you."
Negotiate peace? Li Zicheng was a little confused.
They sent Du Xun to negotiate peace, but there has been no response until now. If Chongzhen really wanted to negotiate peace, he could just let Du Xun write back.
Why send people to negotiate peace?
Li Zicheng asked: "Who is coming to negotiate peace?"
"Wu Weihua, the official is the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue."
Li Zicheng thought for a moment and said to Liu Zongmin: "Zongmin, take Wu Weihua to the central army tent. I will be there later."
Then he ordered the nearby personal soldiers: "Notify military advisor Song Xiance and left assistant Niu Jinxing to go to the central army tent to discuss the peace talks."
"Call Wang Chengyin over here. I have something to ask him."
Wang Chengyin was the general of Xuanfu. He surrendered with Du Xun when Li Zicheng attacked Xuanfu.
Soon, Wang Chengyin ran to the outside of Li Zicheng's tent. He came out in a hurry, with his clothes half-dressed, and he was straightening his clothes as he ran.
"Your Highness, I, Wang Chengyin, pay my respects to you."
"Get up, I have something to ask you." Li Zicheng raised his voice while sitting in the tent.
Wang Chengyin was like a dog, kneeling outside the tent and answering humbly: "I will tell you everything I know."
"Do you know Wu Weihua?"
"I know him. Wu Weihua, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, is from Shuntian, and is a descendant of Wu Yuncheng, the Earl of Gongshun. His ancestors were from the Batut tribe of the Tatars. They surrendered to the Ming court during the Yongle period, and Zhu Di gave them the surname 'Wu'."
"I heard..." Wang Chengyin hesitated to speak.
"If you have something to say, just say it! A man who is nagging like a woman is really like a woman!"
Wang Chengyin was so frightened by Li Zicheng that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Your Majesty, please forgive me. What I just said is the truth. What I wanted to say but didn't dare to say is a rumor, so I hesitated."
Li Zicheng snorted coldly: "Speak."
"As you wish." Wang Chengyin swallowed hard to calm his frightened heart.
"It is rumored that Wu Weihua colluded with merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi to do business. With his identity as the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue as a cover, he not only sold iron ore, firearms, and gunpowder, which were strictly prohibited by the Ming court, to the Jiannu, but also told the Jiannu confidential information of the Ming court through the merchants."
"The Ming court was defeated repeatedly in Liaodong, and Wu Weihua cannot escape responsibility!"
"Okay, back off."
"I'll take my leave."
After Wang Chengyin left, Li Zicheng remained silent for a long time.
Although he had been persuading the Ming army to surrender all the way, he despised such behavior in his heart.
So I don't have any good feelings towards Wu Weihua.
Considering that he was Chongzhen's messenger, it was decided not to take action against him for the time being.
"Let's go to the central army tent."
After Li Zicheng was dressed neatly, he came to the central military tent under the escort of a group of personal soldiers.
There are four people in the tent.
Liu Zongmin, Song Xiance, and Niu Jinxing were all sitting. A middle-aged man in a brocade robe stood in the middle of the tent with a look of fear on his face.
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you."
Seeing other people saluting, Wu Weihua knew that the person in front of him was Li Zicheng, the Emperor of Dashun.
Li Zicheng's appearance was not as handsome as rumored, but rather very strange. The strangest thing was his forehead. Normal people's foreheads would bulge outwards, but Li Zicheng's forehead was sunken.
Wu Weihua didn't dare to look any longer, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, kowtowed three times and bowed nine times to perform the great etiquette of a subject.
"Your Highness Wu Weihua pays respect to the Emperor Dashun. Long live the Emperor."
Looking at Wu Weihua's performance, everyone in the central military tent showed expressions of contempt.
This guy is so spineless.
Li Zicheng waved his hand with disgust: "Get up."
Military Advisor Song Xiance sat down and asked, "Wu Weihua, I heard that it was Zhu Youjian who asked you to come to negotiate peace. Does Zhu Youjian know that you are so spineless?"
Wu Weihua gnashed his teeth and said angrily: "I was forced to come. If I didn't come, the Jinyiwei dogs would arrest my family and take them to the imperial prison."
Song Xiance blinked his eyes, first looked at Niu Jinxing, then looked at Li Zicheng, with an excited look on his face.
From Wu Weihua's words, we can infer that there was chaos within the Ming court.
At the very least, Chongzhen had lost control over his civil officials.
Good things…good things!
"How does Zhu Youjian plan to negotiate peace?" asked Zuo Fu Niu Jinxing with a cold face.
Wu Weihua hurriedly took out the imperial edict from his arms and respectfully raised his hands above his head: "This is the imperial edict drafted by Chongzhen. I respectfully invite the Emperor Dashun to review it."
Li Zicheng would not accept it, of course, as he was afraid that the letter might be poisoned. He ordered a personal soldier beside him to wrap his hands in thick cloth, take the letter and carefully open it.
Song Xiance stood up and looked at the letter in the soldier's hand.
"Your Majesty, Zhu Youjian said in the letter that he is willing to pay one million taels of silver as military expenses and cede Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces as fiefdoms. The condition is that the Dashun Army retreats to Henan and goes to the southwest to help suppress Zhang Xianzhong, and sends elite troops to Liaodong to fight against the Jian Nu together with the Ming army."
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