December 5th, the first year of Chongzhen, was destined to be an extraordinary day.
The day before yesterday, the Tatars had already arrived at the city. Hundreds of thousands of troops surrounded the city of Beijing. The Tatar military camps stretching for several miles were like a big stone weighing on the hearts of the ministers and the people in the city, making people breathless!
"Woo-wu-wu-wu-wu-" Just after midnight, a series of long and whimpering horn sounds came from outside the city and resounded in all directions, and the Tatar soldiers shouted their horses neighing.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty! The Tatars... the Tatars have attacked!" Luo Yangxing, commanded by the Jin Yiwei, rushed into the Huangji Hall on a rolling crawl.
"What?" Han Xu couldn't believe his ears. Didn't he just send Chen Xinjia out of the city to reach an agreement with the Tatars a few days ago. As long as they didn't attack the city within a month, they would not only let them plunder the outside of Beijing, but also admit it in the future.
Do they occupy areas outside Shanhaiguan? How can they break their promise?
"Yuan Chonghuan! Where is Yuan Chonghuan's army?" Wen Tiren roared. There are no available troops in the capital, and foreign aid has been delayed. In his opinion, the army that the emperor mentioned should be this one, and there are other places.
Is there any army left to fight?
No one could answer his question. Yuan Chonghuan's army had just left Jialingkou at this time. They were exhausted and exhausted. Who knew where they had gone.
There was a panic in the court hall. Zhou Yanru was clamoring to lead the city guards out of the city to fight to the death with the Tatars. Fu Zonglong was crying in agony, mumbling indistinctly. More people were busy cursing.
While the Tatars were not keeping their word, they quietly moved toward the palace gate.
"Your Majesty! Make peace! In my opinion, the Tatars are showing off their military might. Maybe there is still a chance to make peace now! I am willing to go out of the city to talk to them in detail!" Qian Qianyi was the first to calm down and said respectfully to Chongzhen.
"I second the proposal!" Han Xu saw someone taking the lead and hurriedly stood up. "To inform the emperor, I have another suggestion. If the peace negotiation can be successful, I hope that the emperor can be lucky to the south of the Yangtze River. There is a natural barrier on the Yangtze River in front of Nanjing, which can resist the enemy.
A million-strong army; there is a land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, which can provide sufficient food and fodder for our army. If we move to Nanjing, we will definitely be able to turn danger into safety and sit back and relax..."
"Your Majesty! Make peace!" The panicked ministers seemed to have seen a ray of light, and they knelt on the ground and began to play loudly. As long as the Tatars were willing to let people like themselves live, there was nothing they could do without it. They had to run to Nanjing first, and those Wan Guan
The family property was given to them as money to buy their lives. As for where they would eventually escape, everyone had their own plans, but one thing was the same. Where there were no Tatars, that was the place where we could continue our glorious career.
"Shut up!" Chongzhen was very angry. Now the Tatars have begun to attack the city, but not only can the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty not come up with a plan to defend the enemy, they are thinking of negotiating a peace and running away! "I am not the Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, I am the king of Sheji.
, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty who guards the gate of the country! You who are capable ministers who usually talk about benevolence, justice and morality, and are loyal to the emperor and serve the country, can you do anything else besides running away now?" Having said this, Chongzhen picked up the teacup on the table and threw it into the main hall.
中. "I tell you, I will not leave! I will go to the city in person and live or die with the city of Beijing!"
"No! Your Majesty..." Jiang Dejing hugged Chongzhen's legs tightly and refused to let him leave. But he couldn't let the emperor completely anger the Tatars, otherwise it would be impossible to surrender even if he stayed for a while!
"Go away!" Chongzhen kicked Jiang Dejing far away and shouted: "Luo Yangxing gathered the Jinyi guards, Wen Tiren gathered the guards in the capital, Wang Chengen followed me to the city!" Then he pointed at the trembling ministers and roared:
"If you want to surrender, wait until I die in battle before surrendering!"
Seeing Chongzhen leading the people away, the remaining ministers looked at each other, no one dared to say a word. Forget it, if the emperor wants to fight, we will fight, and we will go to the city together. In case the Tatars really can't capture the city of Beijing.
, we are still loyal ministers! If unfortunately the city is captured by the Tatars, we will be by the emperor's side, and we can catch up with the first wave of surrender. Isn't that still a great achievement?...
"Xian Dou, look at the current momentum of our army, really we can't take advantage of the opportunity to capture Beijing and unify the Central Plains?" Huang Taiji looked at the messy city of Beijing and suddenly felt confident. Now he felt as if he was standing on the same side.
In front of a shabby hut, it was obvious that he could knock it over with just one kick, but his chief adviser refused to do so.
"If you go back to the emperor, I think it's really not possible!" What is this master thinking? He just got some benefits and loses his temper? He doesn't even think about it. If he doesn't get the help of those scholars, what will happen to us?
How did these people from the Qing Dynasty occupy this beautiful country, and what did they use to rule these Han people?
"Sure, let's do what you said and scare these Ming cowards first!" In fact, Huang Taiji just asked casually on a whim. He also knew that there were too many Han people, even though they were usually quite honest;
If he wants to arouse their bloody nature and force them to fight for their lives, there is really nothing he can do.
Although during these days, most of the people in Beijing had learned about the Tatars' entry into the customs; but when Beijing was besieged, these residents who had enjoyed peace in the capital for a long time and had little idea of war still felt that
For a moment, it felt like the end of the world was coming. Along the way, Chongzhen and others saw countless people running around like headless flies, adults calling children to cry...
"Luo Yangxing!" Chongzhen must control this chaos first, otherwise fear and panic will spread uncontrollably in the capital, which will undoubtedly make things worse for the already frightened soldiers. "You immediately lead the Jin Yiwei to take charge of the city.
Regarding the matter of peace and security, tell the people that I will swear to live and die together in the capital and will never abandon them. Anyone who spreads rumors to confuse the public and disrupt the morale of our army will be killed on the spot!"
"I obey the order!" Although Luo Yangxing didn't have the guts to go to the city to fight the Tatars, he was still very good at bullying ordinary people. After receiving the order, he rushed to gather his troops without thinking.
.
Chongzhen stood at the top of the city, looking at the Tatar army all over the mountains and plains outside, his eyebrows furrowed, and he shouted loudly: "Where is Wen Tiren?"
"Your Majesty, I have just gone to the camp in the middle of the capital. Who knows... who knows..." Wen Tiren's face turned red and his whole body was trembling. It was hard to say. "Who knew that there was already chaos in the army and the sergeants had already fled.
More than half of it!"
Hearing this, Chongzhen felt his hands and feet were cold. He had known that the pampered old soldiers were unreliable, but he still didn't expect that they would be corrupted to this point. At this time, they escaped on their own before the war started.
"Bang - bang -" At this moment, two trumpets suddenly sounded outside the city, and then a Tatar army rider jumped out of the crowd and galloped towards the city.
"Call your Chongzhen boy to come out! I, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, have something to say to him!" A rough and fierce Tatar cavalryman sat on his horse, pointing his short whip directly at the city head.
Seeing how arrogant this man was, all the officials in the city were immediately angry; but in the face of a powerful enemy, they wisely chose to remain silent. Since they didn't call me anyway, it was better to leave this matter to the emperor himself.
Chongzhen couldn't get angry anymore when he saw the important ministers of the dynasty. Regardless of Wang Chengen's strong obstruction, he climbed to the top of the city and shouted loudly: "I am the emperor of tomorrow! What can you ignorant Tatars say?"
The Tatar envoy shouted at the top of his lungs: "My son of the Ming Dynasty, listen carefully! Our emperor is kind and can't bear the suffering of the world's creatures. As long as your country agrees to our four conditions, we will immediately stop our troops and return north."
The country shares peace..."
"Say!" Chongzhen laughed angrily, why do these Tatars have the nerve to talk about benevolence and righteousness?
The Tatar envoy looked up to the sky and burst out laughing wildly, "My emperor knows that you don't have the courage to go out of the city to fight! Just listen to me!" After a pause, he said arrogantly: "First, you have to pay for the silver.
Thirty million taels will be rewarded to all our officers and men, and from now on we will pay an annual tribute of one million taels of silver, 20,000 dans of salt, and 5 million jins of iron. If there is any shortage, we will use the taxes from Jiangnan to offset it! Secondly, all areas outside Shanhaiguan
The army of the Ming Dynasty retreats immediately, leaving no soldiers behind. If there are any survivors, they will be killed. They also cede the Denglai Palace to our Qing Dynasty! Thirdly, the Ming Dynasty declares itself a vassal. From now on, you must call yourself a son-in-law in front of the Qing Emperor.
, I swear to never betray you; any appointment or dismissal of high-ranking officials above the second rank must be informed to our emperor and approved by our emperor! Fourthly, any of our Qing subjects who enter the territory of your Ming Kingdom in the future and commit crimes must be handed over to our Qing Kingdom for trial.
, you shall not dispose of it arbitrarily...”….
As soon as the words fell, there was a dead silence on the city tower. You could hear the drop of a needle. The ministers had different expressions and were stunned. The first two are normal. The alliance under the city is like this. As long as you are willing to leave, there is nothing wrong with small things like ceding land and paying compensation.
It’s for discussion! The fourth article is also acceptable. Anyway, these Tatars don’t understand the words of the saints and don’t accept the king’s rule. If they commit some crimes, let you judge them yourself, and we can still live in peace!
However, this third article is really too deceptive! The appointment and dismissal of high-ranking officials above the second rank must be approved by you? How much effort do you think we have to go through to get to the second rank? But in this way, not only will we lose our reputation, but we will also have to curry favor.
Boss, I still want to use the little money I finally saved to get your consent? This is absolutely not possible!
However, many officials who are familiar with the civil affairs of Liaodong secretly began to make calculations. In fact, this third clause is not completely unacceptable. Isn't it just that if you want to be an official in the future, you will have to give more money? The worst is not to have this old face, we will use our strength to find the common people.
Wouldn't it be enough to levy it? Besides, the Tatars also left us a way out, didn't you hear the fourth article? As long as we buy a quota and enter the Qing Dynasty, we will be safe even if we are discovered by the emperor here!
"Now I'll give you two hours to think about it! If you still don't agree by then..." The Tatar envoy pointed at the army behind him and smiled arrogantly: "My emperor will personally command the army and take it for himself!"
After hearing what the Tatar envoy said, Chongzhen was already livid with anger and roared: "I don't need two hours, I will tell you now! I will never agree!"
With no time to pay attention to the group of sanctimonious ministers around him, Chongzhen ordered Wang Chengen beside him: "Gather the warriors in the army and the guards in the palace, and follow me out of the city to meet the enemy!"
"Your Majesty, you can't..." Upon hearing this, the ministers, who had their own ulterior motives, were really panicked. If you were asked to go out of the city to meet the enemy, what use would your few men and horses do? It doesn't matter what you have, but you can't