In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, March 16th.

It was past noon, and Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty was still listening to the government in the house-style Huangjimen gatehouse. The early dynasty of the Ming Dynasty was not held in the main hall, but at Huangjimen, which was called the Royal Gate to listen to the government.

His Majesty the Emperor's throne is placed in the magnificent Huangji Gate Gate Tower. The gate tower has three steps at the front and back. The steps are surrounded by white marble railings on both sides, giving it a majestic look.

Standing on both sides and behind the emperor's throne were the officials of the Bureau of Ceremony, while the courtiers were directly in front of the emperor's throne. Those closest to the emperor were several cabinet bachelors, and there was also a Han general with a helmet on his head.

Under the pillars in front of the emperor on the right, and further away, are the civil and military officials, divided into two groups, there are very many people.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was a workaholic and liked to monopolize power, he was also afraid of being deceived by his ministers. Therefore, he wanted to see as many ministers as possible and listen to more reports. Therefore, the scale of the Ming Dynasty's early dynasty and Chang Dynasty was unprecedented.

- Because there were too many people to stay in the main hall, the imperial gate was established at Huangji Gate (early called Fengtianmen). The emperor and a few important ministers could stay under the gate tower. Most of the officials "worked outdoors"

Not to mention the wind and rain, just basking in the sun is enough. If you meet a lazy emperor who doesn't love morning court, everyone will be better off. But if you meet an emperor like Chongzhen who wants to go to morning court twice a day

, then all the civil and military personnel in the dynasty were all dark...even if they were not dark, they were tanned!

In addition to being exposed to the sun, I was also tired. The morning morning session was very early and had to start as soon as Mao hour arrived, that is, it started at five o'clock in the morning. It usually lasted until noon! That's six or seven hours!

Moreover, the officials of the previous dynasty did not live in the palace. They had to rush to the palace from all over the inner city of Beijing. It was time to get up at Yinshi... that is, getting up at three in the morning, going to work at five, or working outdoors, under the bright sun.

Leave in the sun until noon.

How can he be a national leader? He is clearly a sanitation worker sweeping the streets!

Therefore, Beijing officials who look like white-faced scholars are rare in Beijing, and those who do have must be newcomers. Most of them have dark faces like old peasants.

In addition to being dark, he is also thin! He starts at three o'clock in the morning every day and goes to court at five o'clock. He stands all morning. After standing, he still has to do some work. Moreover, the emperor is also a moody master, and he may be arrested by the Jin Yiwei at any time.

I'm on tenterhooks all day long...it's not easy to gain weight while doing such a job!

However, large numbers of people does not mean high efficiency. Although hundreds of officials from the capital came today and have been standing outside Huangji Gate since dawn, the sun has already reached the center of our heads, and there is no way to retreat from the enemy.

Policy.

In fact, it’s just that you don’t have money! Everything is good if you have money, but everything is bad if you don’t have money.

Now the Ming Dynasty has no money, the national treasury is empty, and the inner treasury is also empty.

When Wu Xiang offered Emperor Chongzhen a price of one million taels in February, Chongzhen replied: "The treasury only has 70,000 taels of gold. We will search all gold and silver items and make up for 20,000 to 300,000 taels."

Now almost a month has passed, and a lot of money has been spent on setting up the war defense. If it were not for the officials and people to donate military salaries, it would have been impossible to sustain it long ago.

But Baiguan was also poor and could not donate much.

Just by looking at their appearance, you can tell that they are all dark and thin, and their clothes are all faded. Who would believe that they are rich?

But having said that, most of the officials in Beijing in the Ming Dynasty were not wealthy. Later, Li Zicheng went to Beijing to torture and plunder, and got tens of millions of taels, of which only one-tenth was taken from the officials, that is, several million. Look at it.

Quite a few, but how many officials are there in Beijing? With so many talented people, how many millions can there be on average? Moreover, corruption and bribery cannot be averaged. Only those who are rich can be corrupt, but Qingshui Yamen will always be in the majority.

For example, where did those gentlemen of Zhu Cixiang go to get money? Is there such a thing?

Moreover, the bad rule of three respects did not become a common practice in the Ming Dynasty. Even if local officials paid tribute, it was only for the officials in the capital who had close relations with them, and it would not be shared equally.

Of course, there are still rich people in Beijing. Xungui and some of the eunuchs are rich!

Most nobles are not nobles of one generation, but nobles from generation to generation. It is normal for them to accumulate family property over time. In addition, the official position held by nobles is usually military attache, which can manage the capital camp of the capital and defense. In the early years, they can embezzle land, and in the later years, they can

By deducting military pay and taking advantage of the quota, if you serve on the southeast coast, you can also protect smuggling, which will make it easy to make money.

The great eunuchs have the royal family and the vassal kings to "eat", and the emperor's shops are also managed by the eunuchs. In the early years, there were mine supervisors and weaving bureaus to make money from, but now there are opportunities for military supervisors to make money from military pay, so

All the great eunuchs are somewhat wealthy.

As for the internal money... it was quite abundant during the Wanli period, but during the Tianqi and Chongzhen years, money began to be sent out continuously for military expenses. Now it is all empty, and anything like thirty million taels is simply illogical nonsense.

How responsible and knowledgeable were the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty before they could save thirty million taels for Emperor Chongzhen? Do you think they are all Zheng Zhilong, the richest man in the Ming Dynasty?

However, even though Emperor Chongzhen knew that his civil servants did not embezzle much money, he was still filled with hatred in his heart.

Because these civil servants had no way to make money or fight off the enemy, and they still prevented him, the emperor, from moving the capital... This was really fatal!

Li Zicheng has broken through Juyong Pass and is about to reach the outside of Beijing. If he does not move the capital to Nanxing, it will be too late.

By the way, moving the capital to Nanxing is different from fleeing.

Moving the capital to Nanxing is a major national policy. It must be decreed by the emperor, drafted by the cabinet, approved by the emperor, and then implemented by the six ministries, the governor of Shuntian, the governor of Tianjin, the governor of Denglai, and the governor of water transportation.

This is the collective migration of the Ming Dynasty Center. During the migration process, the functions of the Center will not be interrupted, and the authority will not decline too much.

Escape is as simple as leaving tonight, taking his wife and children with him, and going straight to Tianjin under the elite escort of the Beijing camp - this is a matter of just one sentence. Wang Chengen must have arranged everything and can escort him to escape at any time...

…

Thinking of the loyal and reliable Wang Chengen, Emperor Chongzhen felt a lot more at ease. He would not stand there waiting for death. Otherwise, he would not have allowed Wang Chengen to command the internal and external military camps and be the admiral of the nine gates. He did not know how to fight, except for arranging arrangements.

It’s so easy to escape, what else can you do?

However, escaping was too destructive to his prestige, and would also leave Ming Dynasty without a leader for a period of time.

Because it is impossible to take a large central team with you when you flee, nor can you take too many troops. In this way, the court will fall into the predicament of having no officials and no soldiers, and may be hijacked by warlords and ministers with ulterior motives.

So now is the last time to move the capital to Nanxing...

Thinking of this, Chongzhen sighed: "I received a report yesterday that Juyongguan has been captured, and the rogue bandits are about to arrive outside the capital. If you have any good ideas, please feel free to tell me."

Where are the good ideas?

Either run away or surrender. Can you speak freely about these two strategies? If you want to speak up, you can speak for yourself. We promise not to object this time.

The officials outside Fengtian Gate were all stunned and did not say a word...

Chongzhen was so disappointed! Why didn't any of his ministers stand up and say "move the capital"?

Come forward quickly, I promise not to settle the score later!

It's a pity that Emperor Chongzhen's voice was not felt by everyone, and no one stood up to speak.

In fact, starting from March 13th, no one spoke in the morning. Because the day before, Li Zicheng’s army arrived at Huailaiwei, and every entrance of the Great Wall northwest of the capital was under the attack of the insurgents.

The army will break in at any time!

Therefore, starting from the 13th, the courtiers were waiting for Emperor Chongzhen's order to move the capital to Nanxing.

But the problem is that Emperor Chongzhen just doesn’t speak Chrysostom!

And none of the officials dared to take such a blame. So the monarch and his ministers were just staring at each other like this!

To this day, Emperor Chongzhen can actually still keep his composure!

To be honest, the ministers couldn't help but admire Chongzhen's Qi-nurturing skills in their hearts. This is the emperor. His face remains unchanged despite the collapse of Mount Tai.
Chapter completed!