Daming Palace, Jianji Hall.
Chongzhen has sent several teams of eunuchs to inquire about the battle outside the city.
The latest battle report is that Zhu Changwu led an army to drive the thieves out of Beijing. After that... there was no more.
Chongzhen, who had not received any new news for more than an hour, was a little anxious. He even blamed himself. Why did he listen to this man named Zhu Changwu and give him all the remaining troops in the capital?
Is it because he guessed what he would do next?
Just because the fire blunderbuss in his hand was more powerful, he trusted him so much that he handed over his last strength, so that the current city of Beijing became an undefended city with no soldiers to defend it.
If there were an army of thieves at this time, even if there were only a thousand people, they would be able to easily rush into the capital and threaten him, the lord of the world.
"Long live Lord, why don't you have your meal first? News about the fighting on the front line will come soon." Wang Chengen said with some distress as he looked at Chongzhen's restless look.
"If you don't want to eat, I won't eat. We haven't figured out what the situation on the front line is. The palace will be in danger at any time. At this time, how can you ask me to eat. By the way, why are the people you sent out? There is no news yet, so they didn’t ask about the situation at all, right?”
Don't tell me, Chongzhen's unintentional words are really right.
Wang Chengen indeed sent several teams of eunuchs to go out of the city to inquire about the situation. It’s just that the current Ming Dynasty can be said to be in danger and may be destroyed at any time. The eunuchs are not stupid. They all have their own Xiao Jiujiu. They are afraid that after leaving the city without any obstruction, if they encounter an intruder, then Isn’t it possible that even if you want to hide, you won’t be able to find a place?
As expected, the several teams sent stopped at the gate of the city. No one had the guts to really go out of the city to find out any news.
He didn't even dare to leave the city, so how could he know what was happening outside?
Wang Chengen didn't know that his eunuchs were so afraid of death. He thought that his men were in danger, so he said with relief: "Long live the Lord, there must be a war outside the city. It should be very dangerous. Send out The person may have been entangled and may not be able to come back for a while. But it doesn't matter, I have sent several teams, and someone will always send information."
"Well, then I will wait here and wait for them to come back and report the situation. By the way, have Queen Zhou and the Crown Prince eaten? If not, send the food to them?" Seeing that it is almost dusk, it should be When it was time for dinner, Chongzhen thought of his family and asked aloud.
"Long live my lord, the queen and the crown prince have already eaten, so don't worry. But here, if you don't eat, the food will get cold." Wang Chengen spoke up again.
"Didn't I say that I have no appetite now. If I don't want to eat, if I don't want to eat, just take it all away." Chongzhen was tired of being persuaded and said rather impatiently.
"Hey, wouldn't it be a pity not to eat such a good meal while it's hot?" Just when Chongzhen got angry, Wang Chengsi was startled, and when he was about to do what he wanted, a voice suddenly came from the Jianji Palace, followed by Zhu Changwu appeared here at some unknown time.
At this moment, Zhu Changwu was not wearing a camouflage uniform, but an ordinary set of civilian clothes. If you meet her on the street, you may be considered as one of the ordinary people.
Zhu Changwu certainly had his own plans when he appeared dressed like this.
He won the battle, but it didn't prove that he was the one who had the last laugh.
Since ancient times, is it not uncommon for meritorious ministers to be wronged?
What's more, some meritorious officials will be imprisoned not long after they return after their meritorious service, or even end up unjustly dead in prison.
History is sometimes fucked up like this, and future generations will often be very angry when they see it. After seeing and hearing too much, Zhu Changwu certainly would not let the same tragic thing happen to him, so after he handed over the army to Wu Linzheng, he rode back first.
The reason for coming back early was to have a good talk with Chongzhen, to make him understand the situation at hand, and to let him know his important role.
On the contrary, if Zhu Changwu came back with the army, it would be a bad idea. Before he arrived home, the news of victory came back first, and then the memorial to impeach him arrived. If this was the case, he would probably be passive.
After changing into common people's clothes, when Zhu Changwu entered the city, he also saw some young eunuchs at the city gate, standing there looking into the distance. When he lowered his head, he ignored these people and entered. City, followed towards the palace.
At this time in the palace, the Imperial Guards were running and escaping, and only a few of them followed him onto the battlefield. At this moment, the safety of the palace is in vain.
Naturally, even if there are forbidden troops in the palace, with Zhu Changwu's ability, it will not be too difficult for him to enter. Unless someone knew he was coming and set up a dragnet in advance, it was just a palace and he could really come and go freely.
"You...how did you get in?" Seeing Zhu Changwu appear in front of him without saying anything, he was sitting at the table in front of the dragon chair and eating something. Wang Chengen's eyes widened and he was surprised. asked.
"Just walked in like this. Don't you know that there are no soldiers in the palace except eunuchs and maids?" Zhu Changwu asked in reply while eating, giving people the impression that this question was idiotic. generally.
"Uh..." Wang Chengen stood there at a loss and didn't know what to say.
Fortunately, Chongzhen didn't care about this at all at this moment. He was staring at Zhu Changwu and asked aloud: "How is the fight outside? Winning or losing?"
"Of course I won. Your Majesty, don't mention defeat in front of me in the future. It's unlucky and impossible." Zhu Changwu put a piece of tender and crispy lamb leg into his mouth and chewed it. He said with a greasy mouth. "Well, the raw material of the lamb leg is good, but the salt is a little lacking and tasteless."
"Wang Daban, get some salt quickly." After hearing this, Chongzhen felt relieved. Knowing that he had won the battle, his high-spirited heart could finally be relieved, and then he thought of something and said to Wang Chengen.
"No need to bother, I brought the salt myself." Zhu Changwu waved his oily hands nonchalantly, and then he actually took out a small bag of salt and started sprinkling it on the ungnawed leg of lamb.
"Oh, your salt face is really good." Chongzhen couldn't help but sigh when he saw the snow-white salt Zhu Changwu took out.
"Of course, this is the food of the future. It contains iodine, which can be absorbed by people and has many benefits for the human body." When Zhu Changwu heard Chongzhen praising the iodized salt he brought out, he naturally couldn't help it. Accepted politely.
"Salt in the future?" Chongzhen was stunned when he heard this. He was very curious about this thing, but after thinking about it, he had more important things to ask now, so he put this matter aside for now, "By the way, Wang Aiqing, you said you defeated the army of thieves? But I don’t know what the result was?"
"They must have killed more than 30,000 people. By the way, the man named Li Mou was killed by me. Later, the intruders sent another general. They looked very powerful, but they were also shot by me. , As for what it’s called... I don’t know yet, I believe there will be news soon.” Zhu Changwu said with a nonchalant look. In contrast, he was more serious about the lamb leg in front of him, especially after adding an appropriate amount of iodized salt, it tasted much better than before.
"Killed more than 30,000 thieves, okay, okay." Hearing this result, Chongzhen's face was obviously a little happy.
Li Mou's murder happened in the city before, and he already knew the result, so he was not too surprised. As for killing another intruder, he still didn't care much. In his eyes, perhaps only Li Zicheng's life was more valuable.
"What are our losses?" Chongzhen asked very carefully. It is true that there are no available troops in the capital now. If one dies, one will be missing. Next, we have to defend the capital. Too few troops are not enough.
"Not many people died, maybe about two hundred. Alas, those people were still too stupid to fall down when chasing the enemy. Also, they fought to grab some trophies. I'm afraid some people were injured, but they died. There shouldn't be many." Zhu Changwu, who was biting the leg of lamb, thought for a while and replied.
"Oh, okay, okay." Chongzhen was even more happy when he heard that the Ming army suffered very little losses. Then when he saw Zhu Changwu chewing on the leg of lamb and eating it so deliciously, he unknowingly had a huge appetite, so he took a step forward and said, "Don't eat everything, leave some for me."
"Aren't you hungry?" Zhu Changwu raised his head and looked at Chongzhen, as if you just said you wouldn't eat, and now you're trying to grab it from me?
From early in the morning to now, Zhu Changwu has hardly eaten anything, and he is really hungry now.
Isn't this the case in Chongzhen? People who are ready to die will never have the appetite to eat. Now that he knew that the intruders had retreated and that the boulder was no longer hanging on him, he suddenly felt hungry.
"I want to eat it again now, why, can't I?" Chongzhen stared at Zhu Changwu, full of displeasure.
After all, he is also an emperor, and the whole world belongs to him. Is there anything you want to eat?
It would be a great honor for him to have a meal with any of his ministers. Who would have thought that Zhu Changwu would dislike him?
Now, Chongzhen somewhat believes that Zhu Changwu is really a descendant. Otherwise, how could he have the courage to say these things to himself. And from now on, this person will always call himself me when he sees me, and will never call himself a minister. This is completely different from the people in the Ming Dynasty.
