Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 2: Cold Stars at Night Shine on Coal Mountain

Sitting on the dragon throne, Zhu Youjian closed his eyes and thought.

Outside the hall, the night watchman's drum sounded again.

He then opened his eyes, his tone full of grimness.

"The king is accompanying the king, and he is teaching Luo how to cultivate one's character."

"Your Majesty," Wang Chengen hesitated, "Commander Luo took sick leave yesterday."

A cold light flashed in Zhu Youjian's eyes.

Luo Yangxing, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was the first nobleman in history to open the city to welcome the enemy.

"Then pass it on to Li Ruolian." He remembered this name, one of the few high-ranking Jinyiwei officials in history who died for their country.

Wang Chengen received the order and was about to stand up.

Zhu Youjian seemed to have thought of something and asked again.

"Are there any organized troops in the Beijing camp?"

"Your Majesty, only the Shenji Battalion under the command of Li Guozhen, the Governor of the Beijing Camp, still has over a thousand veteran soldiers."

Zhu Youjian also had some impression of the name of Li Guozhen, the Earl of Xiangcheng. He was a loyal man.

Without further consideration, he said, "Send someone to tell the Earl of Xiangcheng not to gather the 100,000 troops, but to select 1,000 elite soldiers from the 5,700 men to be ready to serve at his command."

Wang Chengen waited for a moment, and when he saw that Zhu Youjian had no other instructions, he hurriedly got up and left.

The capital city was not big at that time.

Less than half an hour after Wang Chengen left, he rushed back with Li Ruolian.

As soon as he entered the hall, Li Ruolian, who was wearing a bright yellow flying fish dress and had a slender figure, bowed to him.

"Your Highness, I, Li Ruo Lian, pay my respects to His Majesty."

Zhu Youjian has no time to pay attention to etiquette now.

He got straight to the point and asked, "Li Qing, how many people do you have available?"

Li Ruolian, who was kneeling on the ground, was a little confused by the question, but did not dare to delay at all.

"In reply to the emperor, I am a lieutenant of the Jinyiwei, and I have a thousand households under me..."

"I'm asking about available personnel, not about those organizational structures!"

Before Li Ruolian could finish speaking, Zhu Youjian interrupted him impatiently.

He also knew that the total establishment of the Jinyiwei was 150,000, but what was the use!
"This..." Li Ruolian's heart tightened again, but he seemed to think of something the next second.

He hurriedly shouted in a show of loyalty, "Your Majesty, I still have three hundred strong men under my command, ready to die for you at any time!"

Zhu Youjian muttered to himself.

Three hundred should be enough.

He asked the Jinyiwei to come because they had enough experience in house searches and could find the place where the money was hidden.

The main force of 1,000 heavy cavalry from 3,000 battalions and 1,000 households is enough.

Coming back to his senses, Zhu Youjian nodded slightly.

"Mr. Li, I give you one hour. Bring your three hundred strong men to surround the Jiading Marquis's residence. No one can escape without my order. Do you understand?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Wang Chengen panicked and blurted out.

"The Jiading Marquis' Mansion?! Father-in-law Zhou!? Your Majesty, absolutely not! He is the Empress's closest relative!"

Zhu Youjian ignored Wang Chengen and turned his attention to Li Ruolian.

Of course he knew who the Earl of Jiading was, Queen Zhou's father, Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of Emperor Zhou.

The two people he remembered most clearly in his previous life were this old man and Shui Tailiang.

Before Chongzhen, because he had no money, he collected taxes from all officials, but few responded.

As the Queen's father, Chongzhen wanted Zhou Kui to set an example, but Zhou Kui refused to agree and said that his family was so poor that they only had old rice left.

Empress Zhou couldn't stand it any longer, so she secretly paid five thousand taels of silver to Zhou Kui out of her own pocket and asked him to pay it over. But the old man actually deducted two thousand taels of silver and only paid three thousand taels of silver.

When the capital was finally broken, Li Zicheng confiscated 560,000 taels of silver and countless rare treasures from his home...

If Zhu Youjian didn't target him, who would he target?

How could Li Ruolian not understand what Zhu Youjian meant? Instead of being frightened, he was excited and kowtowed again.

"I accept the decree!"

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied and raised his hand gently to Li Ruolian.

"Then go quickly."

Li Ruolian kowtowed again, and then without hesitation, he quickly left the hall.

After Li Ruolian left, Zhu Youjian also stood up from the dragon throne.

He straightened his patched bright yellow uniform and waved his hand.

"Wang Banban, go get a horse and accompany me to the Meridian Gate."

……

……

March 15th, Yin hour. That is, from 3 to 5 in the morning.

The darkest hour of the day.

Zhu Youjian rode a white imperial horse and headed straight for the Meridian Gate.

Thanks to Chongzhen's good riding skills, even Zhu Youjian could easily control him.

In the dark and silent imperial city, any sound will be infinitely amplified.

Just after passing the Zhongzuo Gate, you will arrive at the Huangji Hall (now the Taihe Hall in the Forbidden City), where officials held court.

Zhu Youjian saw a brightly lit area in front of him.

Dozens of eunuchs and palace maids stood in front of Hongzhi Gate, holding lanterns and carrying several large boxes.

Wang Chengen, who had better eyesight, trotted to catch up with Zhu Youjian.

"Your Majesty, Queen Zhou's procession is also in front."

Zhu Youjian was stunned and looked at Wang Chengen with disbelief.

He had just made the plan to raid Zhou Guozhang's house, but the Queen already knew about it?

Wang Chengen's face was filled with panic. "Your Majesty, it's not me. Perhaps some eunuch took the tea from the harem. I will discipline him after I get down."

Zhu Youjian frowned, but said nothing.

Now everything is based on the premise of defending the capital and surviving. Anything else is acceptable!
Urging the horses forward, the imperial horses soon arrived in front of Queen Zhou's procession.

Queen Zhou was seen kneeling on the ground, her hands holding the dressing box trembling.

There were two missing pearls on the phoenix crown, which she had picked out with her own hands last night.

There were still traces of blood on her fingertips from being scratched by the sharp edges of the gemstone, but she was completely unaware.

Zhu Youjian sat upright on his horse, looking at Queen Zhou coldly.

The not-so-tall figure was so unfamiliar that it made Queen Zhou's heart tremble.

"Your Majesty!" She raised her head and looked directly into the emperor's eyes for the first time. "This is all I and my sisters have left."

When their eyes met, whether it was Chongzhen's physical instinct or the memory of his past life, Zhu Youjian was unable to be cruel to the person in front of him.

Historical records show that the queen committed suicide on the day Li Zicheng broke into the city.

At this moment, her hair was disheveled, her forehead was stained with cobwebs from the warehouse, and her embroidered shoes were covered with mud stains.

In those makeup boxes, golden hairpins and silver hairpins were tangled together in a mess, just like the last dignity of this dynasty.

"Wang Chengen." He suddenly turned around and asked a puzzling question, "How many useful people are there in the East Factory?"

"Your Majesty, besides transferring clean military personnel," the old eunuch said in a hoarse voice, "there are only twelve old guards left."

Zhu Youjian's eyes were red.

This is his Ming Dynasty!
All the nobles in the court are not as good as a woman, and a hundred thousand troops in the capital are not as good as the dowry in the harem!

He suddenly jumped off his horse and grabbed Empress Zhou's wrist. "Tell me, how much did your father donate three months ago?"

Queen Zhou trembled all over.

I can still vividly remember the scene of my father crying poor while holding an empty rice jar on that rainy night.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

"Twenty taels!" Zhu Youjian squeezed out the words from between his teeth, "The father-in-law of the emperor donated twenty taels!"

Zhu Youjian suddenly shook his hand away, as if saying goodbye to the past.

Queen Zhou stumbled and fell to the ground, and a gilded phoenix hairpin fell and broke into two pieces.

When everyone present was in panic, Zhu Youjian spoke slowly again.

"I wonder if the Queen believes in ghosts or gods. Have you seen the crooked tree on Coal Hill waving to me?"

After saying that, Zhu Youjian jumped on his horse and continued to rush towards the Meridian Gate.

Wang Chengen had no choice but to catch up in a hurry, leaving Queen Zhou standing there in a daze.

……

The Meridian Gate is the first gate into the Forbidden City. Inside the gate is the imperial city, and outside the gate is the capital.

The Meridian Gate beheading that is common in film and television dramas actually means beheading in public.

The iron-inlaid gate is extremely heavy. Normally, there should be two centurions stationed here.

But Zhu Youjian only saw a few eunuchs napping against the city wall.

While waiting for the eunuch to open the door, Wang Chengen finally caught up with Zhu Youjian.

"Your Majesty, couldn't you just order the Marquis of Jiading to come to the palace? Or you could have Captain Li take the Imperial Guards. Why would Your Majesty risk his own life? After all, the Marquis of Jiading has hundreds of private soldiers in his mansion. If anything were to happen and the Emperor were to be harmed..."

Zhu Youjian sneered on his horse, "Issue an order? Haha."

Wang Chengen was so anxious that he almost cried, "Why is the emperor laughing? This servant..."

Before he could finish his words, the Meridian Gate was slowly opened.

Looking at the scene outside the door, Wang Chengen suddenly understood why the emperor was laughing.

(End of this chapter)