"Has Shanxi Town surrendered?"
"Your Majesty, only Qin Yuji, the deputy commander of Shanxi Town, is still resisting the enemy, but the situation is more dangerous than good. The surrounding area of Ningwuguan has been surrendered. Qin Yuji has too few servants and no firearms."
In the West Nuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Wu Ding looked at Zhang Dong, Qiao Yiqi, Yang Hao and others standing in front of him, his expression becoming more and more gloomy.
The palace maid handed over hot tea, Pei Dahu waved his hand, and everyone else left.
"The momentum is like a rainbow, traveling thousands of miles with each passing day. The Chuang Army is more powerful than I imagined."
Emperor Wu Ding spoke in a calm tone, as if the rapid advancement of the army in Shanxi had nothing to do with him.
However, everyone knew that the situation had reached an extremely critical point.
Except for the 20,000 troops stationed in the Japanese territory of Korea, the rest of the Kaiyuan Army were gradually transferred back to the capital. Emperor Wu Ding even sent people to recruit Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchens to enter the customs, and let Burhanggu and Du Du lead troops for reinforcements.
However, Da Qi now faces more than 300,000 opponents, and this does not include the refugees who are constantly being carried along the way.
The entire Zhili area in northwest Shanxi, Shaanxi, is already full of refugees. When the intruders cross the border, the refugees rise up. It is obviously unrealistic to expect the border troops who are in debt to resist the intruders.
After leaving the capital and heading west, except for Man Gui who had died in the battle, there were only a handful of people who truly obeyed Emperor Wu Ding.
"It's too fast! We were in Shaanxi a month ago, and now we are approaching the capital. Fortunately, we were prepared early, otherwise we would have been the next Meishan God of War."
The Emperor of Da Qi stared at the situation map of Beizhili hanging on the wall. Based on the information about the bandits reported by Zhang Dong and others, he used a pencil to draw a marching route from Shaanxi to the capital.
The advancing speed of the Chuang army in Shanxi exceeded everyone's expectations, and the reactions from various places in Shanxi made the monarchs and ministers of Da Qi dumbfounded.
At this moment, Liu Zhaosun could finally understand the desperate situation Zhu Youjian faced in 1644.
Everyone looked at the map and marveled. Along the thousands of miles, except for Ningwuguan, all other passes were unimpeded. No wonder Li Xianzhong still had time to proclaim himself emperor in Taiyuan.
"Li Xianzhong also became emperor?"
Zhang Dong quickly opened a secret report:
"Returning to the Holy Sage, on February 8, Chuang Ni overtook and proclaimed himself emperor in Taiyuan. Li Xianzhong proclaimed himself Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, claiming to be the forty-ninth generation direct grandson of Li Shimin. He made his capital Taiyuan, saying that he would follow Li Yuan's example and overthrow Da Qi. He Da Qi compared it to the Sui Dynasty, and compared the Holy Emperor to Sui Yang Emperor Yang Guang. He said that he would eliminate thieves from the world and eradicate the Qi tyrants."
Qiao Yiqi was so angry that he stamped his feet. Yang Hao's beard trembled and he was about to curse angrily. Emperor Wu Ding burst out laughing:
"Comparing me to Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty really compliments me. I wish I could be as capable as Yang Guang."
Liu Zhaosun recalled the great achievements of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty in conquering Goryeo and digging the canal. He sneered twice and added:
"Yang Guang was just too kind and didn't kill all the rebellious officials and traitors, leaving Li Yuan as a scourge. I am not as soft-hearted as him. Do the rebellious traitors in the world really think that I am a weakling? Everyone wants to enter the capital. Be Dong Zhuo.”
"I obeyed Tian's orders and ranked among the ninety-five, and I just founded the country. What kind of person is this Li Xianzhong to dare to entrust him like this?"
Qiao Yiqi said: "Your Majesty, the bandits massacred no less than a hundred thousand people in Shaanxi and Shanxi, and the Manchu and Guangxi soldiers were also killed by them. General Deng and the artillery camp chief officer are afraid that the disaster will be worse. Such evil thieves should be killed thousands of times." It’s better to cut it.”
Cut into pieces by a thousand cuts. Emperor Wu Ding never wanted to cut Li Xianzhong into pieces, but the current situation was becoming more and more unfavorable to Daqi, and the Shaanxi Civil War was out of control from the very beginning.
"How is Xi'an Mansion?"
Zhang Dong quickly reported: "Your Majesty, the city of Xi'an was captured by bandits last month."
Liu Zhaosun said in surprise: "Li Xianzhong did it too?"
"It's not a rebellion, it's Centipede Block, that is, Zhang Zicheng. He also has 50,000 to 60,000 troops."
The big bandit leader in history, Scorpion Block, became Centipede Block, and Zhang Xianzhong became Zhang Zicheng. History is always evolving, giving people a sense of helplessness and absurdity.
"go on."
Zhang Dong said in a calm tone:
"The bandits failed to attack the city for half a month. On the 30th of the first lunar month, a group of bandits pretended to be rescuing the army. Hu Tingyan, the governor of Xi'an, ignored the advice of the chief military officer Wang Rong and insisted on letting the defeated troops enter the city. It didn't take long for the defeated troops to respond. He raised fire and ignited the gunpowder warehouse in the Bell and Drum Towers, causing chaos in the city. The bandits took advantage of the chaos and broke into the city in one fell swoop. Zhang Zicheng set up his troops to loot, and blood flowed into the city, causing countless casualties. King Zhu Cunji of Qin surrendered to the bandits, and the governor Hu Tingyan threw himself into a well and died. There are more than a dozen martyrs below.”
"This Hu Tingyan has some integrity."
Emperor Wu Ding looked back at Qi Jin and said to the general who stayed beside him:
"You can't eat your backbone. If something bad happens to these civil servants, they will touch their necks and harm the people of a city. From now on, if any of the Qi generals commit suicide without fighting in battle, they will be punished for collaborating with the enemy."
Several ministers nodded in agreement.
Liu Zhaosun sighed deeply:
"Li Xianzhong, you are a beautiful lady, but you are a thief, and you want to be my enemy. Aren't you doing it for the sake of the common people in the world?"
Emperor Wu Ding spent three days and three nights in the Forbidden City, but he still couldn't figure out why Li Xianzhong wanted to attack the capital.
Since his rise, Emperor Wu Ding has taken great care of the people under his rule. Whether it is rent or labor, whether he was in Kaiyuan or now in the capital, the taxes and labor he collected were at the lowest level, not even half of those in the previous Ming Dynasty. .
Emperor Wuding did his best to take care of the refugees. Despite this, Li Xianzhong and the others still refused to let him go, and regarded Liu Zhaosun as a "revolutionary target". This made Emperor Wuding feel baffled.
"Do I look easy to bully? Li Xianzhong wants to attack Beijing, King Gui wants to attack Beijing, and even the vassal king of Fujian wants to attack the capital!"
Emperor Wu Ding left behind Yang Guozhanghao and Pei Dahu.
Yang Hao persuaded: "Your Majesty, rebellion is now imminent and has to be launched. If I remember correctly, there are at least 70,000 to 80,000 people from all walks of life in Shanxi, plus the family members and children of the border troops. Hundreds of thousands of mouths are now counting on them. If we eat with Li Xianzhong and don't beat us, the bandits will disperse on their own."
Emperor Wu Ding was very angry and resentful.
"Then let's fight. If Beizhili experiences another war, I'm afraid there will be no real corpses left. I can't feed so many people now. People in the capital starve to death every day, and there won't be more food. Therefore, more people can only die." .”
"What your Majesty means by this is that we will have a decisive battle with the bandits in the capital?"
"Of course, is it possible to escape from the capital?"
Yang Hao came close to the emperor and lowered his voice:
"Your Majesty, I am afraid that the capital cannot be defended. I have the upper and lower strategies to ensure safety."
Emperor Wu Ding interrupted his father-in-law and asked bluntly:
"What's the next step?"
Yang Hao was stunned for a moment:
"The next best thing is to sit in the capital and fight to the death with the bandits."
Liu Zhaosun stood up and shouted:
"Okay! This matter is settled!"
Yang Hao looked confused.
"But Your Majesty, there are hundreds of thousands of thieves, and the capital will soon run out of food..."
Emperor Wu Ding patted his father-in-law on the shoulder and said lightly:
"Father-in-law, people will die, and I will die too. Some people will be killed, and some people will starve to death. The world is too big, and I am only the emperor of Qi in several provinces. I only care about the people around me, and the rest. I can't save them. Let some of them starve to death, beat others to death, and finally rob the rich households and rob the big households. If there are fewer people, there will be enough food to eat. Isn't this the case throughout the ages?"
Yang Hao nodded, stunned by what the emperor said.
In history, the winner is always king. To be precise, the survivor is king. In any case, only the last survivor is qualified to talk about history.
"Remember, only one of me and Li Xianzhong can survive. If I die, you will also die. There is no reason. Living is the reason."
Liu Zhaosun specifically told Pei Dahu to send more manpower to closely monitor the firearms production of Wang Gong Factory in the near future. At this time, the craftsmen in Wang Gong Factory have been replaced by those who opened the original workshop.
According to the travelers' gradually blurred memories, that weird apocalyptic explosion will happen soon.
The so-called Apocalypse Big Bang is roughly like this:
On the morning of the sixth day of May in the sixth year of Emperor Jiazong's reign in the Ming Dynasty, everything in the Forbidden City was as peaceful as usual. Emperor Tianqi was still enjoying breakfast when suddenly, there was a loud noise! It was like a bolt from the blue! The sky instantly became as dark as night, and the entire Qianqing Palace shook violently.
Zhu Youxiao ran all the way with his eyes closed, from Qianqing Palace to Jiaotai Palace in one breath.
"The emperor was having dinner in the Qianqing Palace at this time. The palace was shaken and he rushed to the Jiaotai Palace. None of the servants could follow him. He stopped and went to greet him. The mandarin duck tiles fell from the threshold of the Jianji Palace. The servant nearby had a brain split, and the throne of the Qianqing Palace was sitting there. All the cases are overturned."
——"Tianbiandichao"
The Forbidden City was in a mess. More than two thousand workers who built the three main halls died. The elephants in the palace also went crazy and ran away on the streets, trampling countless people to death! Along Chang'an Street, human limbs and broken arms were everywhere. "It stretches from Shunchengmen Street in the east to Xingbu Street in the north, and is three or four miles long. The surrounding thirteen miles are covered with dust, with tens of thousands of houses and tens of thousands of people."
A large stone lion weighing 5,000 kilograms was blown away on Prince Consort Street, and when we found it again, it was actually outside the Shun City Gate! This is not even the farthest. There are records saying that many big trees in Beijing were blown up to Miyun! Miyun is about 70 kilometers away from Beijing. Even the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb is not enough to cause "big trees to fall in Miyun".
The commander-in-chief of Xuanfu happened to go out to visit relatives that day. When he walked to Yuanhong Temple Street, an explosion occurred and a group of seven people disappeared without a trace! What was even more terrifying was that a Shaoxing man named Zhou Jiyu went to Caishikou to buy cloth that morning. Walking halfway, I met a few friends, so I quickly saluted and bowed. Who knew that before the salute was finished, my head flew out!
The black powder produced in the Ming Dynasty was not even as powerful as today's explosives. The size of Wang Gong's factory would be considered a township firecracker factory.
······
There are many theories about the cause of this explosion.
What about earthquakes, gunpowder explosions, hurricanes, meteorites, atmospheric static electricity causing disasters, thermonuclear high-energy explosive power inside the earth, meteorite antimatter meeting and destroying the earth's matter, and even alien invasions and UFOs coming? etc.
Liu Zhaosun was not sure whether the explosion came as expected.
However, it does not matter whether there are alien UFOs in Beijing in the early summer of 1626. What is important is that the Eastern Expedition army of Emperor Li Xianzhong of the Tang Dynasty has approached Beijing, and the vanguard has even reached Miyun.
A war involving aliens is about to begin.
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