Chapter 313 Zhu Cihong: I'm about to perish as soon as I ascend the throne
It was the fifth day of the seventh month in the ninth year of Chongzhen.
War was raging outside Nanjing, but there was a joyful atmosphere inside Nanjing.
The crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cixi, officially held his enthronement ceremony in Nanjing.
Qian Qianyi, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty and Minister of Rites, presided over Zhu Cihong's enthronement ceremony.
Zhu Cixiang officially ascended the throne as emperor, with the reign title Hongguang.
This year is the ninth year of Chongzhen, and next year it will be the first year of Hongguang.
Zhu Cixiang was wearing an imperial robe and a crown on his head. Like a puppet, he went through the complicated procedures of the enthronement ceremony with the assistance of ceremony officials and eunuchs.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixiang returned to the Jinluan Hall of the Nanjing Imperial Palace together with all the civil and military officials.
He sat on the dragon throne and accepted the worship of Nanjing's civil and military officials.
"Long live my emperor, long live, long live."
Zhu Cixiang looked at the kneeling civil and military officials and said, "My dear friends, I have ascended the throne.
But the bones of my father, the queen, and my queen are not yet cold.
The Ming Dynasty has also reached a moment of life and death. I will work with all my dear friends to revive the Ming Dynasty and avenge my father and mother."
Qian Qianyi, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty and Minister of Rites, stood up and said: "Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou died at the hands of thieves.
After discussion, the cabinet decided that the temple name of Emperor Chongzhen would be Sizong and his posthumous title would be Emperor Shaotian Yidao Gang Ming Ke Gong Kui Wen Fen Wu Dun Ren Mao Xiao Lie.
The posthumous title of Empress Zhou is Xiaojie Zhensuyuan Gongzhuangyi Fengtianjing Shenglie Empress.
Your Majesty, do the posthumous titles of Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou need to be modified?"
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi was still young and didn't know much about these posthumous titles.
He used his peripheral vision to look at Lu Jiude, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong saw Lu Jiude nodded slightly.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi said with a somewhat sad tone: "The cabinet has agreed, and the posthumous title of the cabinet will be passed down to the world."
Wu Sangui stood aside without saying a word.
He is very dissatisfied with his current position. As a minister who cares about life, he has no say in such matters.
Now he is not even a deputy minister of the cabinet, but only a minister of the cabinet and minister of the Ministry of War.
If you want to fight against the Donglin Party, you must rely on the power of the Eunuch Party.
Wu Sangui is contacting his allies. He wants the Donglin Party to know that in troubled times, soldiers have power.
The Jinluan Hall will then proceed to a session that is loved by all civil and military officials.
Lu Jiude, the eunuch in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, read out the imperial edict and conferred positions and titles to all civil and military officials.
Nanjing was originally a fringe figure in Ming Dynasty officialdom.
It has always been a place for exiled high-ranking civil servants and a place for these fallen officials to retire.
They now became officials with real power in the Ming Dynasty.
These people had the merit of supporting the establishment, and they officially cheered.
Some officials who are not well-informed still think that the Ming Dynasty looks a bit decadent, but it also occupies three provinces.
As long as they unite as one and maintain the situation in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it will not be difficult.
When the hero appears, he will regain the glory of Emperor Taizu and regain the world with the power of the three southeastern provinces.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong conferred all the official titles on all civil and military officials.
He hosted a banquet in the palace to entertain civil and military officials and maintained emotional ties with these people.
Wine and delicacies were served, and Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi personally accompanied them. Everyone had a great time.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong dined at the same table with Qian Qianyi, Wu Sangui and other cabinet officials.
Although he is young, he lives in the palace and is influenced by his ears and eyes, and he also masters some power.
In the imperial palace of the capital, his father and mentor all taught him the art of imperial power.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong was also taught by the eunuch Lu Jiude who was skilled in political power.
The power tactics used by Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi now are very crude, but he knows that the power of the Donglin Party and Wu Sangui must be balanced.
These two forces, as well as the imperialist forces that support him, are best kept in a delicate balance.
Whichever force becomes stronger, Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi will take the initiative to suppress them.
It must not be a situation where powerful ministers are in power.
Whichever party really holds absolute power will inevitably erode the imperial power.
As the Ming Emperor, he held great power, and Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi thought he could do it.
"I am the commander of the Jinyi Guards. Let me see who dares to stop me."
After the man finished speaking, he shouted in the direction of the banquet: "Your Majesty, the commander of the Weichen Jinyi Guards is Li Ruolian.
The minister has received important information and wants to present it to His Majesty."
"Li Ruolian." Zhu Cixiang recalled this name in his mind.
This is the royal guard arranged by his father.
After Zhu Cihong ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, Li Ruolian was promoted to the commander of the Jinyi Guards.
The Ming Dynasty fell, and the Jinyiwei was also severely hit. Now the Jinyiwei's strength is very weak.
We no longer have the ability to monitor civil and military officials.
Now the main strength of the Jin Yiwei is to pay attention to the movements of the yellow thief and collect information about the yellow thief.
"Let Commander Li Ruolian come in, he said to report the urgent military situation.
I want to know something about the current situation in Ming Dynasty."
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi directly issued an oral edict.
Lu Jiude, the eunuch in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, immediately informed the guards and let Li Ruolian, commander of the Jinyi Guards, come in.
The cabinet and other civil and military officials did not stop him.
To prevent Li Ruolian from entering now is to block Shengting, which can easily be used by political opponents.
The commander of the Jinyi Guards, Li Ruolian, came to Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong.
He immediately knelt down on the ground, saluted and said: "This humble minister who disturbed His Majesty's banquet deserves death.
But I have important matters that need to be conveyed to Your Majesty in secret, so I ask Your Majesty to please retreat."
Zhu Cixiang saw that when the civil and military officials heard this sentence, they all used their peripheral vision to observe the situation here.
If he really follows Li Ruolian's suggestion and meets Li Ruolian alone, he will definitely create a barrier with these civil servants.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong followed Lu Jiude's advice, and the image of the holy king he had worked so hard to create collapsed.
"There is nothing I can't say to anyone.
Li Aiqing, please be patient. If you have any issues, you can tell us now, and we will have all the civil and military officials to help us analyze the matter."
Zhu Cixiang just showed a gesture.
He believed that Li Ruolian was not stupid and would definitely not tell important private contents in public.
Li Ruolian stood up, holding the title book in his hand and said: "Your Majesty will hold a coronation ceremony during this period, in order to prevent the thieves in yellow from sabotaging it.
All four gates of Nanjing City have been closed, and no one is allowed to enter or exit Nanjing City.
After His Majesty's enthronement ceremony was over, the military and our imperial guards were allowed to enter and leave through the four gates of Nanjing City.
Jin Yiwei's spies have been wandering outside Nanjing for several days.
They brought important information about the thief in yellow."
Li Ruolian paused here and observed the reaction of Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong.
He found that His Majesty did not stop him from continuing.
Li Ruolian then opened his mouth and continued: "Su Xiong, commander of the Second Army of the Yellow Robes, captured Wuhu City on June 10th.
Governor Ma Shiying used a water attack strategy to defeat the thieves in yellow.
However, General Huang Degong, the defender of Wuhu City, and his men were eliminated by the thieves in yellow.
Now the second army of thieves in yellow has reached outside Jiangning City.
Governor Ma Shiying, who had retreated to Jiangning, was defending Jiangning City from the attack of the yellow-robed thieves.
Su Zhuang, the second army of yellow-robed thieves, led the army of yellow-robed thieves to capture Luzhou Prefecture and Fengyang Prefecture, the central capital.
They had arrived in Jiangpu County on the other side of Nanjing the day before yesterday.
The Fourth Army of Yellow Robes attacked Shandong from North Zhili.
The Shandong armies were unable to resist, so they attacked the army led by Governor Shi Kefa in Yanzhou Prefecture.
Governor Shi Kefa retreated to Huai'an City and then to Gaoyou City.
He was caught up by thieves in yellow clothes in Gaoyou City.
Ten days ago, Gaoyou City was destroyed, and Governor Shi Kefa's whereabouts were unknown.
After Su Li, the fifth army of the yellow-robed thieves, captured Huizhou Prefecture, the yellow-robed thieves went north to Moling Pass for the first time.
Everyone knows this result. This is one of the few victories we have faced against the thieves in yellow.
The Fifth Army was defeated by the heavy troops we mobilized, and the Fifth Army of the yellow-robed thieves turned around and attacked Hangzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang Province.
The city of Hangzhou was destroyed, and Lu Zhenfei, Minister of War, was captured.
The thieves in yellow were able to fight back. They had besieged Moling Pass again three days ago.
The thieves in yellow had enough ammunition this time, and the defenders of Moling Pass asked for help from Nanjing.
Zhang Yuliang, the Eighth Army of Yellow-clothed Thieves, took a large ship to attack Songjiang Prefecture. They attacked all the way to the west.
The news from three days ago was that thieves in yellow were besieging Zhenjiang.
They are only one step away from Nanjing City."
After Wu Sangui listened to Li Ruolian's story, he said in shock: "So the 200,000-strong army of thieves in yellow has surrounded the city of Nanjing.
The tens of thousands of Ming troops led by Huang Degong and Shi Kefa were all wiped out by the yellow-clad thieves.
We have been surrounded by thieves in yellow, and now we cannot escape."
When Wu Sangui heard the news, his brain became confused.
The speed at which the thief in yellow came over was really too fast.
He originally thought that Nanjing City was a safe zone.
Unexpectedly, the thieves in yellow could reach Nanjing so quickly.
They now have no choice but to defend Nanjing City.
All the provinces in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, except for a small area near Nanjing Prefecture, were occupied by thieves in yellow.
Now they don't even have a chance to retreat eastward and retreat to the seaside to escape by boat.
When Qian Qianyi heard the news, he was a little confused and muttered to himself: "The thief in yellow, how could he come so fast.
Shi Kefa was defeated too quickly, and Lu Zhenfei also lost Zhejiang neatly.
Shandong and Zhejiang were lost, and we were left with only the province of South Zhili.
No, we only have Nanjing Prefecture left.
Our army gathered heavily, and the gentry allocated 1.8 million taels of silver to arm the gentry for group training, but it had no effect at all."
Many civil and military officials have twinkling eyes, and they are all extremely smart people.
After hearing the news, I saw the reaction of the elders of Daming Pavilion when they heard the news.
Everyone understood that the Ming Dynasty had nothing to do against the Qin army.
The Qin army will soon capture the city of Nanjing, and they must prepare early.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong, who had just ascended the throne, was stunned when he heard the news.
He did not expect that he had just learned of the death of his father, the Queen, and his mother not long ago.
He was about to face the fate of being besieged by a heavy army of thieves in yellow.
Once the thief in yellow breaks through Nanjing City, he will most likely end up like his father.
A look of horror gradually appeared on Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong's face.
The eunuch Lu Jiude, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, saw the emperor standing there blankly with no reaction at all.
He immediately walked to Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong and gave him a gentle push.
Zhu Cixiang was trembling all over. Only then did he react and blurt out:
"As soon as I ascend the throne, my country will be destroyed!"
As soon as Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong said these words.
Wu Sangui was the first to react and wanted to humiliate his ministers to death. Now was his chance to show off.
He immediately knelt on the ground and said in a panic: "My minister Wu Sangui led the Guan Ning Army and swore to defend Your Majesty to the death, and to defend the Ming Dynasty to the death.
As long as there is one soldier left in our Guan Ning Army, we will never let the thieves in yellow enter Nanjing City."
Under Wu Sangui's lead, all the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty knelt down one after another.
Qian Qianyi did his duty and said in a sad voice: "My loyalty to the Ming Dynasty can be seen from the sun and the moon, and I will definitely live and die with the Ming Dynasty.
The old minister spent all his wealth and actually gave 200,000 pieces of silver to help His Majesty tide over the difficulties.
The veteran will try his best to cooperate with his colleagues to turn things around and rebuild the Ming Dynasty."
When Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong heard Qian Qianyi's words, he regained some confidence.
With money, they still have hope to defend Nanjing.
When the civil and military officials saw Qian Qianyi taking the lead in donating money, they all donated some money, mostly one or two hundred taels of silver.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi looked at the civil and military officials and asked: "Can any of you tell me how to stop the thieves in yellow clothes?
Whoever has a strategy to defeat the enemy will be promoted and re-employed immediately."
As soon as Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi asked this question, all the Ming Dynasty civil and military officials present lowered their heads.
No one can give a strategy to defeat the enemy.
An army of 200,000 yellow-robed thieves has surrounded Nanjing City and will soon be approaching the city.
The city of Nanjing is already a trapped beast. If you want to break the situation, the only way is to defeat the thieves in yellow.
If the yellow-robed thieves could be defeated, why would they let the yellow-robed thieves become so rampant that the only area left in the Ming Dynasty was Nanjing Prefecture?
The huge Ming Dynasty, in its heyday, had nothing to do against the thieves in yellow.
Now that only Nanjing Prefecture is left, it is completely wishful thinking to turn things around.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi saw the performance of all the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty.
He was very disappointed and felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart.
"Where are my Yue Pengju and my Yu Shaobao?"
Lu Jiude, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, walked to Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong and whispered a few words.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi took a few deep breaths to stabilize his mind.
He looked at the civil and military officials and ordered: "My dear friends, I will work together with you, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely be able to survive this difficulty.
After the Ming Dynasty passes through this crisis, it will be reborn from blood and rebuild the Ming Dynasty."
All the civil and military officials knelt for a long time and immediately stood up after hearing Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong's instructions.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixi saw all the civil and military officials rising up.
Only then did he issue an oral edict.
"Today is the day when I ascend the throne, and the whole world should be celebrating.
But the current national situation is difficult, and deploying troops to resist the thieves in yellow is the most important thing for our government.
The first assistant, Qian Qianyi and Qian Aiqing, was responsible for distributing military pay and recruiting the young men of Nanjing to assist our army in defending the city.
Zhou Yuji, the general of the Beijing camp, was responsible for guarding the northern city of Nanjing.
Wu Sangui, Minister of War, was responsible for guarding the east city of Nanjing.
Hou Xun, governor of the Jianghuai River, was responsible for guarding the southern city of Nanjing.
The eunuch Lu Jiude is responsible for guarding the west city of Nanjing."
Qian Qianyi, Wu Sangui, Hou Xun, Lu Jiude, and Zhou Yuji heard the imperial edict of Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixang.
Kneel down immediately to receive the order.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixiang looked at these five people and ordered: "My dear friends, I will leave the city defense of Nanjing to you. You must block the attack of the thieves in yellow."
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong followed Lu Jiude's advice.
Let several major forces in Nanjing city garrison the major gates of Nanjing.
Now they are both prosperous and disadvantaged.
Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cixiang was afraid of these people and wanted to surrender to the yellow-robed thieves, but he was afraid to do so.
Lu Jiude, the eunuch in charge of the Li Supervisor, could wake up Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong with just one sentence.
Now among the forces in Nanjing City, as long as one of them has a counter-intention, Nanjing City will definitely not be able to defend it.
It is no longer useful to think so much now. Ming Dynasty is now doing its best and obeying fate.
Five ministers led the civil and military officials to exit the Ming Dynasty Palace.
They immediately discussed a plan to defend the city. Except for Lu Jiude and Zhou Yuji, who were members of the imperial party, they only wanted to defend Nanjing as much as possible.
Everyone else has their own thoughts, but their goal now is the same, which is to defend the city of Nanjing.
