Griffin Commander in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chongzhen looked at the ministers. Although he was completely disappointed with them, he still asked again with a reluctant attitude: "The country is in a difficult situation, the situation is deteriorating, and the capital is in danger. Do you have any good ideas?"

You see, the emperor is still afraid and is seeking help!

None of the ministers in the hall came out to make a speech. The entire Huangji Hall was in complete silence. One could even faintly hear someone snoring. It seemed that this person had not yet woken up.

Chongzhen looked serious and said, "What? Are you all speechless? Or are you all ready to surrender to the thief Li?"

These civil servants blinked their eyes, looked at each other, and then stared at Chongzhen with wide eyes. No one dared to step forward to answer Comrade Zhu Youjian's question. Everyone knew this, and it would be bad to say it out loud.

Chongzhen glanced at everyone and finally fixed his eyes on Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, and asked indifferently, "Chen Xinjia, you are the Minister of War, do you have any good ideas?"

Chen Xinjia came out of the class holding an ivory tablet and said, "Your Majesty, I am old and my old illness has suddenly relapsed recently. I can no longer continue. I am submitting this letter of resignation and hope that Your Majesty will allow me to return home!"

Having said that, Chen Xinjia knelt down and said a hundred words directly, "What other plans are there? Just go to bed."

Chongzhen slowly stepped down from the throne, holding a sword in hand, and sneered, "The capital is surrounded by bandits like an iron barrel, how can you return home?"

Chen Xinjia said: "I will take my leave first, Your Majesty, and will return home after the siege of the capital is lifted."

Hearing this, Chongzhen felt more and more chilled. The character of Chen Xinjia was very obvious. He was a rare and pure person. He was either ready to surrender to the enemy or go south and wait for Li Zicheng to capture the capital before being summoned back to serve as an official.

"I remember that you are from Jiangnan. Now the Yangtze River is in the hands of the Jiang thief. How are you going to return home?"

Chen Xinjia was still quibbling: "Your Majesty, you don't know that although the Jiang thief controls the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River is so long that with his ability, he can only control the southern section. My hometown is in the north of the Yangtze River..."

Chongzhen was immediately furious and shouted, "You are well-educated! As the Minister of War, you don't have a plan to resist the enemy. In this time of national crisis, you are still thinking about escaping the disaster. What's the point of keeping you here?"

After saying that, Chongzhen suddenly drew out his sword, which turned into a Noxian guillotine, and chopped towards Chen Xinjia who was kneeling on the ground. In an instant, blood splattered, and Chen Xinjia's head rolled onto the gold bricks, blood spurting out. There was an incredible expression on the head that stopped rolling.

Emperor Sarilang!!!

The ministers were so frightened that they stood there in shock, and it took them a long time to recover.

Zhou Yanru trembled and accused, "Your Majesty, since ancient times, those who killed ministers without authorization were all incompetent rulers. How can Your Majesty make such a mistake? Aren't you afraid of what will be recorded in history books?"

This strike of the sword seemed to have vented the resentment that Chongzhen had been harboring for many years. At this moment, he felt very happy and excited!

Recalling the deal he had made with those who claimed to be Jiang's men before the court meeting.

"In this case, my family will be handed over to you. If you dare to deceive me, I will not let you go even in the underworld!" Chongzhen looked at the two of them and threatened them finally. In the harem, the queen and several concubines were crying.

"Don't worry, our commander always keeps his word. He asked me to tell you something: There is no place in this world where there are no orphans or widows. If there is anything you want to do, just go for it."

Coming back to his senses, Chongzhen sighed slightly. He never expected that in the end, the person who understood him best and had the biggest vision turned out to be a traitor.

If possible, I really want to have a face-to-face discussion with Jiang Han... Unfortunately...

Hearing Zhou Yanru talking about reason again, he sneered and said, "A tyrant? Now that the country has come to this point, am I not already a tyrant? I would rather be a tyrant than give up on you parasites that are harming the country!"

After saying this, he turned around and stabbed Zhou Yanru to death with a sword, and shouted: "A traitor who has harmed the country deserves death!" Chongzhen usually works out and has a very good body. Otherwise, how could he have supported the high-intensity overtime work for more than ten years? Look at Yongzheng in later generations. He also worked overtime and killed himself.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Chen Yan, was horrified, and so were the other ministers, who all stepped back.

The emperor is crazy! What happened? Did he take some medicine and become ill?

Before the cabinet chief minister Chen Yan could react, Chongzhen came towards him with a sword in hand and asked in a cold voice, "My dear Chen, you are the cabinet chief minister, do you have any good strategies to defend against the enemy?"

Chen Yan shrank his neck, stood with his head down tremblingly, and did not dare to look up at Chongzhen.

Although he didn't know why the emperor went crazy today, he was very clear that if he said something wrong, this madman in front of him would probably hack him to death. I have finally become the prime minister of the cabinet, I can't die!

The main reason was that Chen Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet who had just worked for less than a month, was unwilling to be laid off. In his opinion, with his status and talents, he should still be the chief minister of the cabinet after surrendering to Dashun. Scarcity makes things valuable, and there was not even a grand scholar in the Dashun regime.

Chen Yan quickly thought of a good strategy, as if he had returned to his youth. Finally, he forced a smile and said, "Your Majesty, I am stupid and have no good strategy to offer, but I am willing to donate 500 taels of silver to reward the army defending the city, so as to lift the siege of the capital and protect our Ming Dynasty!"

I have donated money, please let me go.

Five hundred taels?

Chongzhen laughed in anger, but he felt even more disgusted with Jiang. The thief's people said that he had at least 700,000 taels of silver at home. He glanced at the ministers and said, "Now the treasury is empty, there is no silver left. You are all ministers of the Ming Dynasty. Can you donate your property to raise a million taels of silver to reward the soldiers defending the city?"

"million?"

Hearing this, all the officials lowered their heads. What was going on? Was the emperor so greedy now? Wasn't it enough to just give him a few hundred thousand before? What happened today?

Although it is one million taels of silver, the average amount per person is only about eighteen thousand taels, which is a small amount of money for everyone present!

However, the capital is in such a mess now, and the capture of the capital by the Dashun Army is a foregone conclusion. The emperor in front of us might be dead in a few days. It is not worthwhile to donate money. Investments should be made in the right objects, right?

All the officials once again remained silent in tacit understanding.

Chongzhen was so angry that his head was on the roof. He was completely defeated this time. The officials in front of him no longer had the Ming Dynasty in their hearts. They were all planning for their own future!

He looked at Chen Yan and said, "He is the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, but he only has 520 taels of capital?"

Chen Yan said seriously, "I only have 20 mu of thin land and two old servants. The salary I have earned as an official over the years is only 550 taels. I wanted to spend my old age with this money. Now that the country is in trouble and Your Majesty has asked for help, I am willing to take out all my family property of 550 taels to pay the military!"

After saying this, Chen Yan showed a resolute look, with a righteous look on his face. "Emperor, shouldn't you praise me?"

"You're talking nonsense!" Chongzhen kicked him to the ground, holding up his sword and yelling, "You traitor, do you think I don't know? You own 50,000 acres of fertile land, and the treasury has no less than 700,000 taels of money and grain, and you dare to cry poor in front of me! Do you still have any shame? I am blind to promote an ungrateful person like you!"

Oh my god, how did you know that? I didn’t even know that clearly! Chen Yan was horrified. Seeing that the emperor wanted to kill him, he quickly got up and hugged Chongzhen’s thigh, kowtowing repeatedly, saying, “I deserve to die, please forgive me, Your Majesty!”

Chen Yan stepped forward and hugged his thigh, but was slashed seven or eight times by the furious Chongzhen. He was cut into pieces like a boiled chicken and died in a pool of blood.

There was a cry of surprise in the Huangji Hall, and all the ministers could not help but move outside the hall. However, when they turned around, they saw a group of fully armed Yulin guards already surrounding the hall. Without the emperor's order, no one could leave the hall today.

The Minister of War Zhang Jinyan fell to his knees with a bang, his hands holding the ivory tablet trembling, as if his entire family was going to be beheaded in a moment.

He said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, I am willing to donate all my family property of one hundred thousand taels and retire to my hometown!"

Zhang Jinyan knelt on the ground, his legs and feet were shaking. The Minister of War Chen Xinjia was dead. The person who was above him was gone. He, the Vice Minister of War, must take over. He was in charge of the defense of the capital. If the Dashun Army entered the city, wouldn't he be skinned alive?

No one knew what Zhang Jinyan was thinking, but Chongzhen could see that this man was obviously afraid, really afraid!

In a blink of an eye, a large group of people knelt down in the hall along with Zhang Jinyan, kowtowed and begged Chongzhen to allow them to retire and return home.

Looking at the rows of important officials kneeling in front of him, Chongzhen's eyes became colder and colder. He said angrily: "What do you say every day? The country is like this now, and there is no loyal official to share the worries of the court. I think you all deserve to die!"

Chongzhen's eyes gradually turned red, and the hot blood of the cabinet chief Chen Yan splashed on his face, making him look extremely hideous. He was filled with blood and anger. This wave of rage was completely crazy!

"In this case, let me take you in!"

He rushed into the crowd with his sword in hand and began to hack and kill, shouting as he did so: "All the ministers who have wronged me shall be killed!"

The ministers were immediately in an uproar. They got up and hid behind the pillars. Some of them wanted to break out of the Huangji Palace, but were kicked back by the Yulin Guards in the palace.

In fact, not only the ministers were terrified, but even the Yulin Guards who were patrolling nearby had dazed faces.

A Yulin guard silently praised: "Our emperor is mighty..."

Blood was splattered all over the Huangji Hall, and the ministers were howling like ghosts. More than twenty people were hacked to death or injured, it was a horrific sight.

Chongzhen, with disheveled hair, chased and chopped around the Huangji Palace for more than twenty rounds. He had chopped all the blue swords off and finally ran out of energy. He stopped chasing, panting heavily. He walked towards Zhang Jinyan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, with heavy steps.

Zhang Jinyan was so scared at this moment that he pissed himself. What the hell was this God King Noxus? He collapsed to the ground and kowtowed to beg for mercy: "Your Majesty, please spare my life, Your Majesty, please spare my life!"

Chongzhen was really tired at this time. Seeing this coward bludgeon's head bleeding, he felt that he was really afraid of the power of heaven, so he said: "I will spare your life for now, and immediately appoint you as the Minister of War for me, and organize the soldiers and civilians in the city to defend the city. If you fail to defend the city, I will exterminate your entire clan!"

How could Zhang Jinyan dare to refuse? He kowtowed frequently and agreed readily, shouting "Long live the emperor!"

The other ministers did not run away, but stayed far away, and hurriedly followed suit, praising the emperor for his wisdom and might...

"Wow, that's scary..."

"What's so scary? You're like this when you fight. Let's go. We have to hurry and get out of town."

"Scarecrow! I see you are getting more and more itchy!"

Volume 398: Chapter Chapter : The Death of Chongzhen

After the court meeting, Emperor Chongzhen dispatched the Yulin Guards to quickly search the homes of Chen Yan, Zhou Yanru, Chen Xinjia, and other ministers who were hacked to death, and carried all the confiscated silver to the top of the city wall to boost the morale of the army.

Teams of Yulin Guards carried hundreds of boxes of silver with great effort and piled them on the top of the city wall. When the boxes fell over, the white silver inside immediately flowed out, forming a small silver mountain.

The defenders on the top of the city suddenly opened their eyes wide. My goodness, it’s not that the brothers fought too hard, but that they gave too much! If they win, won’t they take off directly?

So much silver, so tempting!

The eunuch Wang Zhixin, who was guarding the city, held the imperial edict in his hand and said loudly: "Your Majesty has ordered that all the silver coins belong to you. Everyone has a share. The country is in crisis. I hope you can fight bravely and defend the capital!"

All we need to do is hold on? Isn't this goal easy to achieve? Beijing has never been breached before! All the soldiers were excited and shouted, "We will fight to the death to kill the enemy and defend the capital!"

"Kill the thief!"

"Kill the thief!"

The morale of the army was greatly boosted, and Wang Zhixin was filled with relief.

"Is this really okay? That was originally our money, right?" The executioner watched Chongzhen reward the three armies, then turned her head to look at the scarecrow beside her. Her logic was very abstract. I want to rob a bank, so the money in the bank should be my money. How could you withdraw my money?

"...There is no other way. The time is too short and there are too many materials to be transported in time. The losses are all within an acceptable range."

The huge convoy had already left the city carrying Chongzhen's oral order. While temporarily settling Chongzhen's family outside the city, they were also keeping an eye on the situation in Beijing.

We haven’t moved all the things in the city yet!

"How long do you think they can hold out? Judging from the condition of these soldiers, they seem to be quite capable of fighting. If we use the right tactics, we should be able to repel these soldiers. Their fortifications are still very solid."

The scarecrow shook his head: "It can't be defended."

"why?"

"A person who obeys out of cowardice will also betray out of cowardice. His heart will only choose the target that brings him the greatest fear. The emperor's method this time is commendable, but it is not enough."

The executioner curled his lips and sighed: "Humans are really troublesome..."

"Let's go, we don't have much time left. If nothing goes wrong, we only have two days left at most."

At the middle of the morning hour, the rebel army once again began to attack the city like ants. The roars of the rebel army shook the sky as they surged towards the city walls of the capital, with ladders being erected from time to time.

Arrows were flying like locusts in the sky, stray arrows were raining down and continuously falling into the city, and the sound of muskets from both inside and outside the city never stopped.

As the outer city had been lost, the ammunition storage in the inner city was limited, and the roar of the artillery on the top of the city gradually died down. Zhang Shize shouted: "Bring the gold juice!"

In the boiling iron pot, the stench of manure mixed with arsenic was overwhelming. A defender wearing a mask and holding a manure shovel walked over with difficulty, scooped up the manure, and poured it all over the bottom of a ladder.

"what!"

The boiling manure juice poured down, with the color like Indian food, and there was a burst of miserable howling below. Some soldiers who were preparing to climb the city were drenched in the golden juice. The boiling manure juice scalded their skin and flesh, which made them squeak. This stuff can not only cause burns, but also cause infection. If you are drenched in this stuff, unless you have the blood of Fanma, you are basically doomed without antibiotics.

Some of the soldiers in the front fell from the ladders and rolled on the ground, and a few even covered their faces and howled as they threw themselves into the moat nearby.

Before Zhang Shize could catch his breath, he looked out and saw another large group of invaders approaching the city. They were quite numerous. He shouted, "Kerosene! Ten thousand enemies! Thunder bombs! Get everything ready!"

The defenders of the capital were tenacious, and this wave of the attack by the rebels failed. The sound of retreating troops came from the rear. As if they had been pardoned, the rebels rushed to retreat, and countless pairs of big feet stepped over the corpses of their comrades...

However, it was still a temporary retreat. Soon, after a cannon shot, another wave of hungry soldiers launched an offensive...

Chongzhen's methods seemed to be very effective. The 500,000-strong army attacked for six consecutive days, but only captured the outer city and still failed to shake the defense of the inner city.

The main force defending the capital was the new troops such as the Shenji Camp, the Shenshu Camp, and the Yulin Guard. Together with the other camps with some combat effectiveness, there were only 40,000 people. However, after several days of bloody fighting, the defenders suffered heavy casualties.

Among the various reinforcements, Hong Chengchou led his troops to harass the rear of the Chuang army in Liangxiang. Wu Sangui had also arrived in Yutian, more than 200 miles away from the capital, but this man was like Teacher Ma's praying mantis, just standing by and watching.

Everything seems to be getting better, but it only takes a moment for the building to collapse.

At Chaoyang Gate, Zhenyuan Marquis Gu Zhaoji had just defeated a wave of attacking troops. Before he could catch his breath, he heard countless people running back and forth in the city, and someone shouted, "Zhang Butang has opened the gate and surrendered the city!"

Gu Zhaoji's body trembled, and the hairs all over his body stood up. He was extremely angry and roared heartbreakingly: "Zhang Jinyan! You bastard, you shall not die well!"

Countless rebel troops poured into the East City, and the Ming army defending the city was frightened and fled. Officers and soldiers fled in all directions, and even the defenders at Dongzhimen tore off their uniforms and ran down the city.

Even the Minister of War has surrendered to the enemy. What's the point of this? Just pack up and run away!

The rebel troops climbed up the city wall one after another. Gu Zhaoji held his sword, howled, and rushed to the front to kill desperately. Soon, he was surrounded by the rebel troops.

The guards fell one by one, and Gu Zhaoji's body was covered with wounds, with many large cuts and blood gushing out.

"Death!"

A general holding a spear in his hand, with a ferocious look on his face, shouted and rushed forward on his horse. The spear instantly broke through his armor and pierced deeply into his body.

A large amount of blood gushed out of Gu Zhaoji's mouth. He staggered backward. All the strength in his body was drained. Gu Zhaoji slowly closed his eyes and died in battle for his country.

At Xizhimen, at the city gate where corpses piled up, waves of soldiers kept climbing up to the top of the city walls to hunt down Duke of England Zhang Shize.

A city gate was broken and there was panic everywhere in the city. The defenders had no intention of fighting and they tore off their Ming army uniforms and ran away. Zhang Shize was still fighting in the street with a short knife. The number of his personal guards around him was decreasing and they were all killed in the battle.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Duke of Ying, Zhang Shize, burst into tears and carved a suicide poem on the city wall: "God knows my lifelong ambitions, but I never expected that things will change. I will repay your eternal loyalty with my death. Don't laugh at me for being a fool."

He straightened his clothes and armor, bowed several times in the direction of the Forbidden City, and then committed suicide with a sword. He died for his country when the city was breached.

The gates of the capital were captured one after another, or opened by the defenders themselves. Xu Yunzhen, Duke Dingguo, who was guarding Deshengmen, was surrounded by densely packed troops.

A group of rebels came roaring from the old camp. Sharp whistling sounds were heard, and several heavy spears were thrown at high speed, piercing Xu Yunzhen's gilded armor.