At nightfall on March 20, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign, when the sky darkened, the section from outside Chengtian Gate to Daming Gate was brightly lit, as if it were daytime. Both sides of the wide road, inside and outside each government office, were also crowded with people preparing to prepare.

Officials and their families who fled.

There are so many officials, big and small, in Beijing. Some of them ran away for various reasons before, but the vast majority did not escape. As of the night of the 19th, there were thousands of officials in the inner city alone who had not fled. If we add more

Their families and servants numbered more than 50,000 to 60,000 people.

However, the number of officials and their followers who have gathered outside Dongzhimen, Chaoyangmen and Chengtianmen is no more than 10,000. In other words, most of the officials in the capital still choose to stay and wait for the new master.

However, the group of nobles Zhu Cixi valued most, as well as four bachelors and the chief officers of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers of the Imperial Inspection Yuan, all chose to follow and evacuate.

In addition, Tang Ruowang of the Qintian Prison also brought a group of subordinates and believers to the Meridian Gate early in the morning, following the commander-in-chief Pan Shuchen of the overcoming army sent by Zhu Cixiang.

In addition to the bright lights outside the Meridian Gate, the Zhengyangmen Urn City south of the Meridian Gate is also brightly lit, with flags flying, and a large group of soldiers gathered. Zhu Cixiang's Lao Taishan Wu Xiang is still guarding there, with more than twenty red gates.

The barbarian artillery was also concentrated on the walls of Wengcheng at Zhengyangmen, Chongwenmen and Xuanwumen.

At the same time, the imperial edict of martial law in the inner city of the capital was also issued before nightfall. At this time, the streets and alleys of the inner city were filled with Beijing soldiers carrying weapons and patrolling.

Notices of high-priced recruitment were also posted in front of the Rong government and several military divisions, as well as in the gates of Xuanwu and Chongwen. The price of recruiting soldiers had soared from one tael of silver a day to three taels of silver a day!

What does this mean? Are the emperor and the prince still running away? Why are they prepared to defend the inner city of Beijing to the end?

The officials gathered outside the Meridian Gate felt strange and started talking among themselves.

"What's going on? Are you still running away?"

"Maybe you won't run away? I heard that the emperor is awake..."

"Are you awake? The prince..."

"I'm afraid it won't get better!"

"Alas! God forbids me!"

"Be careful what you say! Be careful what you say..."

"Why should you be careful? If you let him go through any more troubles, there will be nothing left!"

"Isn't it?"

"Imperial decree! There is an imperial decree..."

Just when the officials were discussing, someone suddenly shouted again.

An imperial edict! Not an edict!

The hearts of all the officials present sank! However, they still went outside Chengtian Gate one after another. For major imperial edicts issued in the Ming Dynasty, floats were set up outside the Meridian Gate to carry the edicts, and then went to Chengtian Gate and were read out by the edict-proclaimer.

Then the Jin Yiwei placed the edict in the cloud box, tied it to the dragon pole with a colorful rope, and slowly lowered it. Officials from the Ministry of Rites then received the edict.

When the officials rushed outside Chengtian Gate, the edict had already finished reading the imperial edict, which had been sent down in a cloud box. Qiu Yu, a scholar from Dongge University who also served as the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, was taking the edict out of the cloud box.

Immediately, an official who was familiar with Qiu Yu came up and asked, "Brother Min Zhong, what does the imperial edict say?"

Qiu Yu is a bachelor of the cabinet, and the official decree was drafted by him, so naturally he already knew the content.

He sighed: "The Holy One is not leaving!"

"ah?"

"What?"

"What's going on?"

Qiu Yu shook his head, "Your Majesty is awake..."

"That prince..."

All the officials took a breath.

They were all involved in yesterday's "Palace Change"...

"The prince left the city to supervise Nanjing." Qiu Yu's next words made everyone feel relieved, "We will also leave the city as usual to protect the prince, King Yong, King Ding, and the fifth prince to Yongping Mansion, and then take the sea route to Shandong."

Yongping Prefecture is the territory within Shanhaiguan, where Governor Ji Liao's residence is located, and most of Wu Sangui's army is also on the boundary of Yongping Prefecture.

Therefore, after Zhu Cixiang left the city, he should go straight to Yongping to meet Wu Sangui...

"Then Your Majesty?"

Qiu Yu said in a tragic tone: "The Holy One will stay in Beijing! The emperor is guarding the country, and the king is dead... The Holy One will soon go to the Zhengyang Gate Tower to supervise the battle!"

Really?

The officials present were shocked!

The emperor is so great! He stayed to block Li Zicheng and let his sons and ministers escape for their lives... This is a good emperor!

The officials who were about to run away felt a little guilty. They all felt that they had been fooling the emperor in the past and had taken bribes. It was really inappropriate... After leaving the capital, they must do their best as officials and strive to be less corrupt.

The Ming Dynasty was corrupted!

Just when everyone was moved, the originally closed Chengtian Gate suddenly creaked open, and they saw that the lights were brightly lit inside, and a group of Jin Yiwei holding torches lined up from inside. Following these

Behind the Jin Yiwei are the servants carrying swords and spears.

Is this... the emperor's personal conquest? Can these Jinyi guards and eunuchs be able to defend Zhengyang Gate?

The officials were thinking as they stepped aside to make way for the road. As soon as they stood firm, they saw Emperor Chongzhen's emperor's guard of honor. The guard of honor was not as grand as in the past, and there were not many Han generals in golden helmets to protect them.

The emperor himself wore a helmet and armor and rode a tall horse. Guarded by Luo Yangxing in a flying fish suit and Gao Yushun in a red python robe, he slowly left the Chengtian Gate. The Crown Prince Zhu Cixiang also wore a helmet and armor and rode on a horse.

After the death of Emperor Chongzhen.

The officials couldn't believe their eyes. Is that really the emperor of tomorrow? They can't see clearly, and they don't even have a torch to shine a lantern...

"Your Majesty, Qiu Yu, congratulates your Majesty for your personal conquest! I wish my Emperor victory in flying the flag and defeating the bandits. Long live my Emperor, long live, long live..."

Qiu Yu, a bachelor of Dongge University and the left minister of the Ministry of Etiquette, took the lead and knelt down, then loudly sent the emperor off to the expedition.

Seeing him kneel down and kowtow, other officials did not dare to stand. They all knelt down and worshiped Shanhu Long Live.

Emperor Chongzhen, Luo Yangxing, Gao Yushun and others left Chengtianmen and Damingmen and headed towards the Zhengyangmen Urn City amid the shouts of long live the mountains.

However, Zhu Cixiang did not follow them, but stopped in front of the Daming Gate. Qiu Yu, Wei Zaode, Fang Yuegong, Fan Jingwen and other bachelors got up one after another and walked towards Zhu Cixiang.

Seeing the officials approaching, Zhu Cixiang immediately raised his voice and said loudly: "Everyone, please bring your family members and come with me!"

Boom boom boom...

Just as Zhu Cixi was heading east along Chang'an Street with the Ming officials who were feeling guilty and prepared to be less greedy after going to Jiangnan, more than twenty red cannons were fired at the tops of Zhengyangmen, Xuanwumen, and Chongwenmen at the same time.

Roared!

It was Tang Ruowang and several of his students and officials who were responsible for aiming. The targets of the more than twenty cannons were the Temple of Heaven and the Altar of Mountains and Rivers, which were less than 3 miles away from Zhengyang Gate. The Temple of Heaven and the Altar of Mountains and Rivers were both very big targets.

, almost as close as two cities. And only three miles is a very short distance. As long as you load and aim according to the standard, it is almost impossible to hit it empty.

Therefore, the more than twenty solid artillery shells all hit the first round and fell within the scope of the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Mountains and Rivers. They did not cause much damage, but they shocked Li Zicheng, who had just entered the Temple of Heaven.

One of the shells landed near the Temple of Heaven Zhai Palace where he lived tonight! If we had to hit it more accurately... we would be disgraced!

"Long live! Long live! Long live..." Immediately afterwards, the voice of the mountain calling for long live came from the direction of Zhengyangmen.

"Report..."

Soon, the leader of the old camp of Shun Army who was responsible for monitoring Zhengyang Gate came to report: "Report to the Emperor, the Emperor Zhu Thief personally marched and went to the arrow tower of Zhengyang Gate!"

"What!? The emperor of the Zhu family went on a personal expedition... and even went to the archery tower?"

"The emperor himself came out?"

Not only Li Zicheng did not expect, but his great military advisor Song Xiance and Du Zhizhi, who had rebelled from Emperor Chongzhen, did not expect that Chongzhen would have such courage and personally go to the city to supervise the battle.
Chapter completed!