After confirming that the person Li Zicheng sent to negotiate was Du Xun, Chongzhen remembered the relevant historical materials that Zhu Aao obtained from Hao Guangming yesterday.

If it is true as the historical data provided by Hao Guangming said, Li Zicheng only asked for the title of king of the northwest, a salary of one million taels, and he would listen to the instructions but not the propaganda, and also help him suppress the bandits and build slaves, then Chongzhen felt that it could be considered.

As long as Li Zicheng can be made to retreat, he will have room for maneuver, whether he deploys troops from elsewhere to defend the capital or moves the capital south.

Otherwise, with the current combat effectiveness of the "soldiers" defending the inner city, they may not be able to hold on for a few days.

The inner city was captured, and the imperial city and the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace) were even more undefendable, so he had no choice but to commit suicide as he did in history.

So Chongzhen immediately returned to the Wuying Hall and wrote a handwritten edict, which he handed to a pro-military captain, saying: "Go and tell Fan Jingwen, Ni Yuanlu, and Li Banghua to come to the Wuying Hall to discuss matters, and take Du Xun, the dog thief who betrayed the master, with him.

Come."

"yes!"

About half an hour after the pro-military captain took the order and left, Fan Jingwen, Ni Yuanlu, Li Banghua and Du Xun arrived at Wuying Hall one after another.

Of course, Du Xun was escorted here.

Fan Jingwen and the other three looked both expectant and anxious.

They all knew that Du Xun was sent by Li Zicheng to negotiate.

If the intruders can be forced to retreat through negotiation, it is okay for Ming Dynasty to pay some price.

Zhu Yurao did not move the treasure anymore, but rested in the side hall and learned about the situation of the negotiation.

Du Xun was probably worried about being beheaded, so when he saw Chongzhen, he knelt down and knelt down to worship him.

"My slave, please bow to me, long live the Lord."

When Chongzhen saw such courtiers who had surrendered to the intruders, he wanted to draw his sword and kill them immediately. Although he did not take action due to Du Xun's status as an envoy, he did not look good.

He said in a cold and stern tone: "Those who betray the Lord still dare to come to see me?"

Du Xun cried and said: "Long live my lord, I had no choice but to surrender..."

"If you are greedy for life and afraid of death, you just say it, and you have no choice but to do it. It's really funny!" Chongzhen laughed in anger and sneered.

Du Xun said: "Long live my lord, an ant is still alive, let alone a slave..."

Seeing that Du Xun had been nagging about surrender, Li Banghua immediately frowned and said: "Your Majesty, the city defense is tense, and I and others are responsible for it. It is difficult to leave for too long. Please tell this traitor to tell his purpose."

After being reminded by Li Banghua, Chongzhen came to his senses and immediately shouted: "Tell me, how will Li Zicheng negotiate?"

Du Xun wiped his tears and nose, raised his head and glanced at Chongzhen, and then hesitantly said: "Long live my Lord, the outer city has been destroyed, and now hundreds of thousands of intruders have heavily besieged the inner city. It is only a matter of time to break through the inner city."

between.

Emperor Dashun said, "Long live my Lord, if you still have the people in your heart and don't want the soldiers to suffer casualties due to the war, you should have made plans early."

Chongzhen didn't react for a moment, frowned and asked: "What are your plans?"

Du Xun did not answer directly, but made a sincere expression and said: "Long live the Lord, the rise and fall of dynasties is an inevitable event caused by the reincarnation of heaven.

Even if you don't think about the soldiers and people below, you should also think about the lives of your family."

This time Chongzhen finally understood what Du Xun said.

But he was so angry that his eyes widened and his whole body trembled. He pointed at Du Xun and roared: "I will not surrender to Li Zicheng even if I die!"

Ni Yuanlu, Li Banghua, and Fan Jingwen also turned pale with anger.

Li Banghua stood up directly and cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty! Please behead this traitor who has betrayed the Lord and spread the word to all the city gates to show that we are determined to fight to the death against the intruder!"

"Yes! Kill this thief!"

Du Xun probably did not expect that Chongzhen and several ministers would react so violently.

In fact, the reason why he dared to come to the city to persuade him to surrender was, firstly, that Li Zicheng's orders could not be disobeyed, and secondly, he thought that the court was still as before, led by selfish people like Wei Dezao, Chen Yan, Zhang Jinyan, etc. who were greedy for life and afraid of death.

Who would have thought that Chongzhen would only call Fan Jingwen, Li Banghua, and Ni Yuanlu, three strong-tempered ministers, to discuss matters.

Chongzhen did not agree to surrender, and the three men not only refused to persuade him, but also wanted to kill him.

After coming back to his senses, Du Xun immediately shouted sharply: "Long live my lord, if the two countries are at war, we will not kill the envoy!"

After hearing this, Chongzhen became even more angry and cursed angrily: "Li Zicheng is a traitor. You are a traitor who betrayed the master. How can you be called an envoy? Shameless!"

Du Xun realized that he would definitely die this time, so he yelled: "Chongzhen, you stupid king, you can't live for two days even if you kill me! I'll wait below... Uh!"

Du Xun could not finish his scolding, because Chongzhen took out a sword beside the imperial desk and rushed down and stabbed him to death.

···

At around ten o'clock in the morning, Hao Guangming drove a borrowed electric tricycle to the gate of the old Zhulin house.

He opened the door and went in without seeing Zhu Nuao, but found that there were many more gold, silver and jewelry.

'It seems that we have to dig a cellar later or build a big iron cabinet to hide these treasures. Otherwise, if a thief comes in, he will be so happy to see these gold and silver treasures?'

Muttering in his mind, Hao Guangming went outside to carry everything on the tricycle into the house.

After he finished moving and was about to return the tricycle to its original owner, he saw Zhu Aina suddenly appearing in the hall with a bundle in her arms, looking a little ugly.

Upon seeing this, Hao Guangming asked, "What's wrong with you? Are you going to fall asleep again?"

Zhu Yasuo looked at Hao Guangming and said, "Did Li Zicheng send someone to negotiate?"

Hao Guangming was slightly stunned after hearing this, and then said happily: "Did he really send someone to negotiate?"

Because "Li Zicheng sent people to negotiate with Chongzhen and asked for the title of king of the northwest" came from folk historical records in the late Qing Dynasty, and the content was very confusing. Hao Guangming thought it was mostly fiction.

At this time, I was naturally surprised to hear that Li Zicheng actually sent someone to negotiate.

As for surprises - if Li Zicheng really made demands such as making the king of the northwest as mentioned in the folk history book, it would be a good opportunity for Chongzhen to make a comeback.

In this way, Hao Guangming naturally wanted to be happy for his father-in-law.

However, Zhu Ayao smiled bitterly and said: "Li Zicheng sent Du Xun into the city to negotiate well, but he did not make demands such as making the king of the northwest as mentioned before by Mr. Li Zicheng, but he persuaded my father to surrender."

"ah?"

Hao Guangming couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this.

But soon he showed a look of surprise.

Hao Guangming had previously searched for relevant information and found that there were many folk historical materials describing the fact that Li Zicheng sent people into the city to negotiate, but there were different opinions on the content of the negotiations.

Du Niang used the phrase "requiring the title of king of the northwest, a salary of millions of silver, etc."

That's why he told Zhu Yuluo like this before.

But according to normal logic, Li Zicheng has already conquered the outer city, and the defense force of the inner city is not strong (the results of the subsequent war also proved this), so there is no reason for Li Zicheng to propose the idea of ​​"conferring the king to the northwest, screen the Liao Dynasty outside, and protect the inner city".

The requirement of “killing thieves”.

If he really proposed it, the daimyo monarchs and ministers trapped in the capital would not be able to refuse to agree.

Some historical data say that Li Zicheng was not confident at this time and felt that it was not the time to become emperor, so he wanted to grab a chance in the capital and leave.

As long as you have a little understanding of Li Zicheng's performance in the battle to conquer the capital, you will know how unreliable this statement is.

First of all, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an and became the emperor of Jianyuan and Yongchang. He had already proclaimed himself emperor, but he still wanted to go back and become the king of the northwest? He was willing, but his group of people might not be willing either.

Secondly, more than one historical record records that Li Zicheng was quite effective in restraining the soldiers after he conquered the capital, and the invading army did not engage in mass robbery from the beginning.

So is it like grabbing a handful and leaving?

This is obviously because he wants to replace Zhu Ming and sit firmly in the world.

Therefore, as it is now, it is most likely and logical that Li Zicheng sends Du Xun into the city to persuade Chongzhen to surrender.

When Hao Guangming was sighing because he knew the historical truth, he heard Zhu Yusao say: "Mr. Hao, my father said that if Li Zicheng fails to persuade him to surrender, he will attack the city with all his strength. With the current strength of the inner city, I'm afraid it won't be able to defend it for long."

Hao Guangming saw Zhu Ailao's eyebrows furrowed as she spoke, clearly worried, and said, "I have found a few things that may be of some help to your father."

After hearing this, Zhu Ailao asked anxiously with expectation: "What is it?"
Chapter completed!