Yongle Emperor's grandson: Zhu Yuanzhang with cheats, Zhu Di went crazy

Chapter 314 I am not the king who lost the country, but the civil and military officials are the ministers who lost the country
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

On the steps of the main hall, Chongzhen, with disheveled hair, looked up blankly, with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

However, when he saw who it was, his eyes dimmed again.

Wang Chengen ran over quickly, knelt in front of Chongzhen, and cried, "A traitor opened the city gate and let the rebels in."

Faced with this bad news, Chongzhen was not angry, but asked calmly: "How many of us are left? Or who else is willing to be loyal to me?"

"Your Majesty, we are willing to pledge our loyalty."

At this time, a large number of footsteps were heard. Chongzhen looked up and saw a large group of eunuchs rushing in, holding swords, sticks and clubs in their hands, and kneeling resolutely in front of him.

"Hahahahaha..."

Chongzhen suddenly burst into laughter, and as he laughed, tears rolled down his eyes.

"I never thought that at the last moment, the ones who were willing to serve the Ming Dynasty loyally were these eunuchs."

He staggered to his feet, and Wang Chengen hurried forward to support him.

Chongzhen pushed him away, looked towards the direction of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and cried out in grief: "Emperor Taizu, I am not the king who lost the country, but both the civil and military officials are the ministers who lost the country."

"Wang Chengen, prepare something to eat."

After giving the order, he slowly turned and walked towards the hall.

Wang Chengen trembled, realizing that the emperor was planning to purge the palace.

When the rebels entered the city, they naturally would not spare the royal family members.

As an imperial princess, she was the target of the rebels' coveted attention. If she was captured alive, her fate would be absolutely horrific.

The Jingkang Shame and the tragic situation of the royal family after the Jin Dynasty was defeated are all recorded in royal historical documents.

Chongzhen, who understood all this, would not allow such a thing to happen to his own family, and he would not tolerate it happening.

"Great Ming will win! Kill!"

However, as soon as he stepped into the hall, bursts of gunfire suddenly rang out in the distance, and at the same time, slogans of "Ming Dynasty's victory" were faintly heard.

Chongzhen's body trembled violently, and he slowly turned his head and looked in the direction where the sound came from.

The sound of artillery and gunfire there was extremely intense. Although he had never led troops to fight in person, he knew clearly that the rebels' firepower was definitely not that strong.

Moreover, the enemy has already entered the city, and the last remaining defense force is in the palace, including these powerless eunuchs.

Where does the sound of gunfire outside come from?

King Chuang claimed that he loved his people like his own children, and he would never allow his soldiers to kill innocent people.

There is only one possible outcome: a new army has arrived and is fighting with the rebel army, and the battle is very fierce.

Thinking of this possibility, the fire that had been extinguished in Chongzhen's heart began to burn again.

"Go and find out who is fighting the rebels."

Soon, several eunuchs ran out, but before they had run for long, they ran back in panic.

"Your Majesty, there is an army coming this way."

Chongzhen's face turned pale, and he quickly asked: "Did you see clearly where the army is from? Are they rebels?"

The eunuch was stunned for a moment, and replied uncertainly: "It doesn't look like they are from the rebels. They seem to be flying the flag of the Ming army."

"Ming army!"

Chongzhen's heart trembled and he looked towards the door excitedly.

Soon, footsteps were heard. The eunuchs picked up their weapons and looked nervously in the direction of the footsteps.

"Wow!"

A large flag was unfurled, and a golden dragon was soaring above it, with its two golden claws holding a sword in one and a shield in the other.

On the broad shield, there was a big word "Ming" written on it.

"It's the Ming army, they are our own people!"

Wang Chengen shouted excitedly, and there was even a tone of tears in his voice.

"Who is that stinky boy Chongzhen Zhu Youjian?"

A young man in fancy clothes, holding a firearm in each hand, looked at the eunuch who was on high alert and asked loudly.

"How dare you! Who are you? How dare you address His Majesty by his name!"

The head eunuch, who was leading the eunuchs to fight to the death, pointed angrily at the young man holding two guns.

"Fuck you, I'm Zhengde Zhu Houzhao, calling him kid is a compliment to him."

Zhu Houzhao was nice to others except in front of Zhu Zhanjun and others. He was not in a good mood with other people. He raised his hand and was about to kill the eunuch who pointed at him.

"Calm down. Although these eunuchs are worthless, they are still protecting the royal family at this moment. They are doing their duty. Please spare his life."

Huo Qubing, who came with him, reached out to stop Zhu Houzhao, stepped forward, and shouted to the vigilant eunuchs: "We are the army of the Ming Dynasty, led by Emperor Taizu Gao, Emperor Taizong, Emperor Renzong, Emperor Xuanzong, Emperor Wuzong and other emperors."

"We learned that the Ming Dynasty was in danger of destruction, so we came down from heaven to save it."

Chongzhen, who was guarded by the eunuchs behind him, heard this and walked forward excitedly. He looked at Huo Qubing and asked in disbelief, "You really came down from heaven."

Huo Qubing pointed at Zhu Houzhao beside him and said, "You should have seen his portrait. Taizu and his men are fighting the rebels outside and will be here soon. Oh, by the way, your brother Zhu Youxiao went to Coal Hill. Seeing that you are not there, he will probably come here soon."

"Brother Royal."

Chongzhen stood there in a daze, and a picture appeared in his mind.

The imperial brother was lying on the bed, weak and short of breath, and grabbed his hand: "My brother should be Yao and Shun!" Just these few simple words became his lifelong mission. He vowed not to let his imperial brother down, and he worked diligently to handle government affairs every day, just to pull back this country that was on the verge of collapse.

But God was against him. There were three years of drought, three years of floods, and three years of locust plagues. The only remaining hope for the Ming Dynasty was completely swallowed up.

"Brother, I feel so ashamed of you."

Chongzhen knelt on the ground. The fall of his country did not make him cry, but when he mentioned his royal brother, he burst into tears.

"My brother."

However, before he could cry for long, footsteps were heard again, and a voice that was familiar to him, a voice that could not be more familiar, rang in his ears.

Chongzhen slowly raised his head, looked at the face that had appeared more than once in his dreams, and knelt on the spot, stunned and motionless.

It wasn't until Zhu Youxiao shouted again that he reacted.

"Brother Emperor!"

Zhu Youjian shouted, stood up and ran towards Zhu Youxiao, threw himself at his feet, hugged Zhu Youxiao's thighs, and burst into tears again.

"Okay, okay, with me and my ancestors here, the Ming Dynasty will not fall."

Listening to his brother's crying with sadness and grievance, Zhu Youxiao thought of their childhood. He felt a little moved and reached out to pat his brother's gray hair.

Looking at his brother's old and gray hair, Zhu Youxiao felt heartbroken.

His younger brother was only in his 30s at the time, but he looked like a 60-year-old man.

"Have the ancestors really returned?"

After crying for a while, Zhu Youjian raised his tear-stained face and looked at Zhu Youxiao expectantly.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and patted his head again: "When has my brother ever lied to you? If you don't believe me, you can come with me to see that the city gate has been closed again. Those rebels are being beaten to a pulp by our army."

"well……"

Upon hearing that the imperial city was temporarily stable, Zhu Youjian wiped his tears and stood up excitedly.

Then he thought of something and quickly knelt on the ground and paid his respects to Zhu Houzhao.

"I, your descendant Zhu Youjian, pay my respects to my great-grandfather."

"Well, that's about right."

Zhu Houzhao nodded repeatedly with satisfaction, and then glanced at Zhu Youxiao next to him: "I know more about the rules than you."

Zhu Youxiao simply rolled his eyes.

After leaving a team of soldiers to guard the imperial city, Zhu Houzhao took the two brothers Zhu Youxiao and rushed to the city gate where the battle was taking place.

When they arrived, the fighting was still going on.

More than 20,000 Ming troops, organized into various combat teams, strangled the rebel army.

These rebel armies may have previously included many ordinary people or Ming army soldiers, but that was in the past.

The moment they took up swords and fought against the court, the two sides stood on opposite sides.

People have their own opinions on right and wrong in life, but for those in power who rule the country, they only care about their own interests.

There is a saying that goes, there are two things that matter most.

The first thing is to manage the country well, and the second thing is to prevent others from seizing his throne.

Although it sounds simple, how many dynasties have accomplished these two things from ancient times to the present?

Even during the world-famous prosperous Tang Dynasty, only the people in major cities had enough food to eat.

Zhu Zhanjun, Lao Zhu and others had stopped killing the enemy. They stood on the high slope, looking at the Chuang army that was being chased everywhere, and shook their heads slightly.

"With this army, you still want to dominate the world. You are really crazy."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who also rose to power through rebellion, looked down on the rebels, whose morale collapsed after just a few setbacks and who were running around everywhere.

Compared with the original army, this army is not only extremely inferior, but also worlds apart.

"Those who can fight are almost all dead. Most of the Ming generals who have commanding abilities and are still loyal to the court died in foreign wars."

"If they had not died, but joined the rebels, the outcome would have been different."

Zhu Zhanjun did not make any comment. No matter how weak they were, they managed to destroy the Ming Dynasty. That shows how weak the Ming Dynasty was.

To belittle this type of enemy is to belittle yourself as well.

"Give orders to capture Li Zicheng, the rebel leader."

"Also, capture as many prisoners as possible who are willing to surrender."

Zhu Zhanjun gave orders to Lan Yu and Xu Da.

The reason for choosing to leave the captives behind was mainly because after years of natural disasters and man-made calamities, there were really not many armies in the Ming Dynasty that had the strength to fight.

This rebel force, after all, is a force with rich combat experience.

If the Ming Dynasty had no external enemies, it could slowly recuperate and train.

But there is a Later Jin waiting in the north. Given the current state of the Ming Dynasty, if it wants to mobilize an army in a short period of time, it can only rely on this rebel force.

There is no such thing as loyalty these days.

These soldiers, or rebels, will work for you as long as you can keep them well-fed and clothed, and provide enough safe space for their families.

Of course, those who could be recruited were all low-level soldiers. As for high-ranking officials like Li Zicheng, the best option was to kill them directly and hang their heads on the city walls as a warning to the world.

(End of this chapter)