Griffin Commander in the Late Ming Dynasty

Emperor Chongzhen slowly pushed the door open and sighed, "Go."

Thinking of the safety of her two children, Empress Zhou had no choice but to agree. She thought to herself, "The bandits are coming. I am the head of the harem. I cannot leave Your Majesty, but I have to go. If the city is unfortunately breached and Your Majesty is not considerate, I will not survive alone..."

"What a touching scene..." The executioner wiped his non-existent tears on a high wall.

"How is it touching? And when have you ever been moved by something like this?" The Scarecrow complained coldly.

"You have no empathy at all, you are like a piece of wood, no wonder you are called Scarecrow"

"You, the executioner, are not much better, are you?"

"Oh, you've grown wings now, you dare to talk to your superior like that?"

"Please note that we are now on the same level"

"Let's duel! Let's see if we are on the same level!"

"who!!"

Such a loud quarrel could be heard even if Chongzhen was deaf. He turned his head to look at the source of the sound. The voice was filled with anger at having his private secrets discovered, and fear that someone from the palace had sneaked into this place without being discovered.

"Look, it's all your fault. We've been discovered!" The executioner took the initiative.

"Our voice detection pattern shows that you are the only one whose voice exceeds the average threshold."

"You are still being stubborn! Today I must..."

"I think our top priority should be to deal with the issue of what to do if we are discovered."

"tsk"

The executioner smacked his lips and jumped down from the high wall first. He landed directly on the wall which was several feet high, just bending his knees slightly to cushion the impact. On the other side, the scarecrow followed suit.

Who are you? Chongzhen stood in front of Empress Zhou and shouted.

"Hi, hello. It's our first meeting. Don't be so nervous. Let me introduce myself. I'm the Executioner, and this is my partner Scarecrow. We were sent by Commander Jiang Han to... um... how did I say it?"

"We would like to make a deal with you, His Majesty the Emperor of Ming Dynasty"

Outside Xizhimen, Beijing.

There was a thick fog over the plain. The defenders on the city walls of the capital city felt faintly that the ground was shaking. They tried their best to look around, and suddenly a sea of ​​people appeared before them.

A large mass of soldiers and horses came slowly, their footsteps shaking the earth. In front of them was a dense cavalry, and behind them was an endless array of infantry. They wore felt hats with red tassels and wore yellow uniforms, each of which had the word "Shun" (Shun) on it.

The thieves are wearing yellow armor, like yellow clouds covering the field. The yellow armor is endless. Countless flags are fluttering in the wind, layer upon layer. The spears are like a forest and a field, and like locusts covering the sky and the sun, vowing to swallow everything in the world.

On the Xizhimen Tower, Zhang Shize looked at the endless army formation, his heart trembling slightly, and murmured: "The bandits are coming, so many..."

He suddenly shouted, "Order, prepare the artillery camp, and fire the Red Barbarian heavy artillery as soon as the bandits enter the two-li range!"

The messenger beside him hurriedly took the order and went forward.

There were dozens of red cannons on the battlements of the city walls in various parts of the capital, as well as hundreds of Portuguese cannons of various sizes. Almost half of the cannons of the Shenji Camp were mobilized.

As the alarms rang and orders were given, artillery pieces began to turn and adjust their angles. Black gun muzzles poked out of the windows, ready to fire at any time.

The bandit army was still roaring forward. They were getting closer and closer. The rumbling sound of their advance was like thunder, striking the hearts of the soldiers on the city walls.

When the Shun army entered the two-li area, there was a huge cannon shot, and thick white smoke rose from a battlement, followed by thunderous artillery roars.

In the Qianqing Palace, the red pen that Emperor Chongzhen was using to review memorials trembled, and he suddenly turned his head to look in the direction of Xizhimen.

The guards at each gate, the capital's civil and military officials, the nobles and eunuchs, the merchants and the common people all looked towards Xizhimen. A tense atmosphere spread throughout the capital, and everyone had different thoughts in their minds.

Under the pressure of the Shun army's supervising officers, the hungry people continued to move forward tremblingly, climbing up the ladders with knives and sticks in hand, one by one, forming a line.

To the east of Guangqumen, Yongdingmen and other gates in the outer city, the sound of artillery and shouting shook the surrounding area. Outside the thirteen gates of the inner and outer cities, cavalry of the Dashun Army were galloping and roaring.

In the inner city's Dongzhimen, Chaoyangmen, Deshengmen, Xizhimen and other places, there were dark masses of Shun's troops, which were endless.

The inner city and outer city of Beijing are in the shape of a Chinese character "吕". The inner city is in the north, and the imperial city and the Forbidden City are inside the inner city. To capture the outer city, it is necessary to attack the inner city. It is more practical to attack the inner city directly.

Therefore, the main forces of the Dashun Army were attacking several gates outside the inner city, and the Ming Army's defense focus was also on several gates in the inner city.

After many days of attack and defense, the walls of Beijing were covered with scars, corpses piled up like mountains under the city, and the blood flowing from the corpses turned the moat bright red.

Li Zicheng attacked Beijing day and night. At this time, the four sides of Beijing were still surrounded by a large mass of Shun troops attacking the city, which seemed to extend to the end of the world.

On the fourth day of the offensive and defensive battle, Li Zicheng personally arrived outside the Yongding Gate. The morale of the Dashun Army was greatly boosted, and they captured the Yongding Gate in one go. The Chuang army poured into the outer city like a tide.

Wang Xiantong, the Xinjian Earl who was in charge of guarding Yongding Gate, led the Wang clan members in a street fight with the Chuang army. In the end, he was outnumbered and was captured by the Chuang army after killing several people.

During the Zhengde period, Wang Shouren put down the rebellion of Prince Ning and was granted the title of Xinjian Earl. Wang Xiantong was the great-grandson of Wang Shouren and inherited the title of Xinjian Earl three years ago.

Li Zicheng asked him to surrender, but Wang Xiantong refused to do so, saying: "I have received the grace of the country, and I will never change my loyalty. I will repay my king and father in the underworld even if I die!"

Li Zicheng just smiled, waved his hand and ordered his men to cut off his tongue and heart, behead him in public, and sacrifice his blood to the military flag to intimidate the Ming army defending the city.

As the outer city fell, the bandits' attacks on the capital became more and more fierce. The admirals of the city's defense, Duke Yingguo Zhang Shize and Duke Dingguo Xu Yunzhen, were busy patrolling everywhere and were exhausted.

Hearing the sound of gunfire and shouts of killing rising to the sky everywhere, everyone inside and outside the capital was in a panic and fear. The streets were empty and everyone locked themselves in their houses. They prayed to God with trembling legs, praying for the safety of themselves and their families.

The six government offices inside Chengtian Gate were also quiet, with officials all hiding in their homes.

The eunuch Wang Zhixin, who was ordered to supervise the Beijing camp to defend the city, suddenly came on horseback and went straight into the palace.

In the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen came out in a hurry and asked, "How is the war going outside?"

Wang Zhixin suddenly knelt on the ground, and cried, "Your Majesty, the soldiers defending the city refused to fight, the outer city was captured, and Xinjianbo Wang Xiantong died in the battle!"

Hearing this, Chongzhen trembled slightly. He then asked, "How is the financial support from the capital? Where are Liu Zeqing, Wu Sangui and their troops?"

Wang Chengen, who was in charge of fundraising, smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, when it comes to fundraising, the officials are still the same, there is no money!"

Wang Zhixin also replied: "Liu Zeqing from Shandong reported that the Chuang army was approaching. He fell off his horse and was injured during the battle, so he could not go north."

"Wu Sangui's Guanning cavalry has already left Shanhaiguan, but after only one day's journey, they rested in Jianchang. They said that the soldiers were exhausted and that if they were to fight bravely for the king, they would need one million taels of silver and 100,000 shi of grain to reward the army before they could effectively support the capital."

Chongzhen couldn't help but sneer when he heard this. He could naturally tell that Wu Sangui was asking for an exorbitant price in order to gain more capital, or he was scared by Li Zicheng's strong military force and was worried about losing the main force of his Guanning Army, leaving himself without the capital to support himself.

Gradually, tears welled up in Chongzhen's eyes. He clenched his fist and said angrily, "My ministers have led me to this point!"

For a moment, several eunuchs in the palace held each other and fell to the ground crying, and their voices could be heard throughout the palace steps.

I recall today's morning court session, when I summoned civil and military ministers to discuss strategy, but all the ministers were at a loss as to what to do and looked around and talked about other things for a while.

At a time when the country is in crisis, they are hiding in their homes and do not take the city defense seriously at all!

Recalling the conversation I had with those two people before...

"I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and I never trade with foreign enemies." Chongzhen thought for a while. Jiang Han? Isn't that Jiang the thief's subordinate? Has his minions already reached the palace?

"Don't be impatient. Just listen to us. It's not too late for you to refuse."

"We need to escort a batch of supplies out of the city in your name. In return, we can provide security protection for you and your family, including resettlement afterwards. However, they will no longer be considered as royal children."

"Supplies? You thieves also have supplies in my capital!?" Chongzhen was shocked. Someone had used my capital as a warehouse to store things, and I didn't even know it. Now it was the thief Li who came. If it was the thief Jiang who came, with the cooperation from inside and outside, how could the capital not be destroyed?

"Don't be nervous, we... uh... took these things, yes, we took them."

"We have found a total of 2.72 million taels of silver and a large amount of food reserves in the residences of several of your registered officials. The search has not yet ended, and the number will increase in the future. It will be inconvenient to transport such a large amount of supplies out of the city."

How many?

Chongzhen was shocked. You found more than two million taels in the ministers' houses? His voice was trembling: "Then...how many ministers' assets have you searched so far?"

"We have already collected all the assets from the homes of all the ministers, but we haven't had time to move them all. According to estimates, the amount of silver and various supplies stored in the homes of your ministers and noble relatives is probably more than 70 or 80 million taels."

“70 million…” Chongzhen’s eyes went dark and he almost fainted. He could only stand up with the help of Queen Zhou. He only knew that the civil and military officials had concealed a lot from him, but he never expected that the officials were so rich! ! They were crying poor to him! ! !

Chongzhen's tears were not yet dry. Thinking of the civil and military officials who had nagged him in the past, he became even more angry. He picked up a pen and wrote a line of big words on the dragon table: All civil and military officials can be killed, but the common people cannot be killed.

Exhausted, Chongzhen issued several imperial edicts in succession, appointing Duke Yingguo Zhang Shize to take full charge of the inner city's defense and ordering thousands of eunuchs in the palace to go up to the city to defend it.

Although there were nearly 10,000 eunuchs in the imperial city of the Ming Dynasty, it was only ranked second in terms of the number of eunuchs. The Qing Dynasty in later generations was the worst, with no less than 10,000 people becoming eunuchs every year.

Chongzhen thought about it again and again, and said fiercely: "Call all civil and military officials into the palace to discuss matters, and transfer another 1,000 Yulin Guards into the palace!"

Looking at the strange-looking prop in his hand, Chongzhen struggled in his heart, and the words the other party had said kept echoing in his mind: "If you have thought it through, just press this button and you can contact us at any time."

Sighing, Chongzhen gently pressed the button.

Volume 397: Chapter Chapter : Completely Crazy!

"So, you persuaded the Ming emperor to make a deal with him, and shipped the looted materials out of the city in his name?"

Jiang Han just found the scarecrow's story a little funny, and couldn't help but sigh at the fickleness of fate.

Seeing Jiang Han shaking his head, Scarecrow became anxious and asked, "Commander, are you unhappy with us for acting on our own initiative?"

Jiang Han listened to the anxious voice of the scarecrow and immediately comforted him, "How could that be? You did a great job, you responded to the situation very well. I knew you could do it. I will leave this matter to you. I trust all your decisions unconditionally. Just go ahead and do it."

After hearing Jiang Han's affirmation, Scarecrow immediately felt relieved: "Okay, I will definitely do my best to complete this mission."

"No need to. No matter what, safety comes first."

At this moment, the communicators in the two men's pockets rang. The beeping sound indicated that someone in the palace had made a decision.

"It seems that His Majesty the Emperor has thought it through?" The executioner glanced at him lightly and then paid no more attention.

"Then we should set off too."

When the two "executioners" were about to leave, Jiang Han called the executioner alone.

"I know this mission might be a little boring for you, and I don't have enough manpower here, but I believe that Executioner, with your martial arts skills, you can definitely protect the people in the team and make all enemies tremble with fear, right?"

"Of course! I'm the executioner!" The awkward feeling he had originally had disappeared immediately. The simple executioner was so easy to fool, he could be coaxed with just a little praise.

"I won't say any more. Scarecrow still needs my protection. He is such a troublesome subordinate."

"Ms. Executioner, we are now on the same level"

"It's the subordinates! Subordinates, subordinates, subordinates!!"

After hanging up the communication, Jiang Han shook his head. He had never met Chongzhen. Everything he knew about him came from the education he received in his previous life and what he occasionally heard in this life. However, Jiang Han knew very well that Scarecrow and the others' idea of ​​having Chongzhen and his family go south together would probably not come true.

Although that emperor did not have much ability, he still had the tolerance of a king. He was much better than someone who, after the fall of his country, spent all day dancing in a ballroom, sold his property and various cultural relics to maintain an extravagant life, and later went out to write books.

The Ming Dynasty was about to fall, so how could he survive alone?

At the hour of Xu, when it was already dark, the bell rang again in the Forbidden City.

Except for some generals guarding the city, most of the other ministers had already gone to bed. Even though the servants knocked on the door to remind them that the morning bell had rung, the officials didn't really want to get up. Go to work? What the hell is going to work! Can't you see that I'm still sleepy?

Zhou Yanru, the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace, was lying comfortably on a young widow who had just been selected. He was very unhappy when he was woken up: "Damn it, he's still going to court when it's already dark! Knock knock knock, are you here to see his old Zhu family off to his grave?"

Zhou Yanru was very smart and talented since he was young. He had many ups and downs on his official career. He served as the chief minister of the cabinet for four months, and then was defeated by Wen Tihen. He went home to recuperate. After Wen Tihen's death, he slowly returned to the center. Because he kept bragging about how much trouble he had brought to the traitor Jiang Han, he was deeply trusted by Chongzhen.

In fact, the group of scholars under their command were almost killed by Jiang Han.

Just like every treacherous minister has some special hobbies, like Prime Minister Cao likes married women and likes to be yellow-haired, Zhou Yanru's biggest hobby is to like widows, he likes to be a widow. When he was unemployed in his hometown in Jiangnan, he was caught by Zhang Pu, the founder of Fushe, and blackmailed for robbing a widow. He was very punk.

Zhou Yanru closed his eyes, cursed a few words, and felt that sleeping was worse than attending court, so he turned over and went to sleep again. Before he fell asleep, he heard servants talking outside the door again, saying that the Jinyiwei suddenly came to convey the news that the emperor had convened a court meeting.

When Zhou Yanru heard the three words "Jinyiwei", he lost all sleepiness and immediately ordered people to change his clothes for him to go to court. Apart from anything else, the Jinyiwei was quite intimidating to the civil servants. These guys were all fools and they would really kill people if they said they would.

Outside the Meridian Gate, all the officials who were awakened were almost confused. They didn't know what kind of court meeting the emperor was holding after dark. Look at the top of your head, that thing is the moon! That's enough. It's already this critical moment, and we are still holding a meeting. How can we expect anything to happen?

I heard Zhang Jinyan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and others coming over, complaining along the way: "Your Majesty has called me to court before I even get any sleep. What does he want to do?"

"Who knows? Now that the outer city has been lost, our emperor may not be willing to accept this."

Zhou Yanru asked, "Mr. Chen, in your opinion, why did His Majesty hold a court meeting at night and let the Jinyiwei knock on the door?"

The cabinet chief, Chen Yan, said nonchalantly, "I don't know. I guess he has seen the situation clearly and feels that his chances of becoming emperor are numbered. He wants to indulge in the emperor's addiction one last time. We will play the emperor and his subjects together, and we will just have to act out the show with him when the time comes."

Hearing this, several officials around him nodded with smiles. The emperor who used to be high and mighty was now nothing and had nothing to fear at all.

A clear bell rang, and the heavy Meridian Gate was slowly opened. Several rows of lanterns extended from the Meridian Gate to the Huangji Hall. Both sides of the Imperial Road were lined with armored guards.

The guards of the Huangji Hall were all replaced by fully armed Yulin Guards from the previous Jinyiwei. When the ministers entered the hall, the entire Forbidden City was tightly sealed.

Minister of War Chen Xinjia saw this and felt that something was wrong: "Mr. Chen, why do I feel something is wrong? Why are there so many Yulin Guards?"

Chen Yan glanced around and said with a smile: "Don't worry, don't worry, it's just a dying struggle. The emperor doesn't have much time to live now. If he doesn't send troops to defend the imperial city, he will be captured on the spot by the Dashun Army. The emperor is also afraid of death."

Chen Xinjia let out a long sigh, thinking it made a lot of sense. There were people who were not afraid of death, even the emperor.

The ministers lined up and entered the Huangji Hall one after another.

At this time, Chongzhen was sitting on the throne wearing armor and holding a brand new imperial sword in his hand, with no expression of sadness or joy.

The ministers were confused again. What was the emperor wearing? Cosplay? Was he going to personally go up to the city wall and kill the enemy at this critical moment? That was awesome.

After the formal salute, all the ministers stood there, waiting curiously for the emperor’s performance today. It could be said that this was the last swan song of the Chongzhen Dynasty.