Seeing the lost Li Jizhou, Emperor Chongzhen's first thought was that the prince Zhu Cixiang was in poor health.
Although the miracle doctor Zeng reported that Zhu Cixiang was not physically ill and was just a dream come from his ancestors, Emperor Chongzhen did not believe it. Even if Emperor Taizu Gao wanted to entrust his dream, he should entrust it to himself. How could he entrust it to the prince? What does he know as a child?
Moreover, yesterday morning, the Donggongdian Pharmacy reported that the prince was unwell and mentally depressed, and had to take a day off. The prince was supposed to attend court today, but he didn't come either. Most likely he is really sick...
Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen asked Li Jizhou: "What's wrong with my brother? Have you asked the imperial doctor to see you?"
This... Li Jizhou was stunned. Something big happened to the prince! But I'm afraid the imperial doctor can't control it, so I'll have to let the emperor take care of it himself.
However, Li Jizhou thought so in his heart, but what he spoke about was another major event. He lowered his voice: "There is a fire in the direction of Changping Imperial Mausoleum..."
"Ah!" Emperor Chongzhen felt dizzy.
Changping is where the Ming Tombs are located, less than 60 miles away from Beijing. The imperial mausoleum is guarded by mausoleum guards, so naturally it will not catch fire casually. At the moment, there is only one reason why the imperial mausoleum is on fire, and that is the arrival of Li Zicheng...
He came too quickly!
Let’s set fire to the Changping Imperial Tomb now. Tonight and tomorrow morning, the vanguard should arrive outside Beijing, right?
Chongzhen composed himself, glanced at the stunned ministers again, and let out a long sigh: "I am not the king of the subjugation of the country, and all the ministers are the ministers of the subjugation of the country!"
After saying this, he had no intention of holding any more court meetings. He stood up and left, entering the Huangji Gate and heading towards the Qianqing Palace. A group of internal officials, including Li Jizhou, all followed Chongzhen in a hurry.
When Chongzhen walked near the Huangji Hall, he suddenly stopped, turned around and looked at Li Jizhou, and asked: "Li Jizhou, you are the director of the Donggong Dian Pharmacy, why are you here to report the fire in the Changping Imperial Tomb? Where is Wang Chengen? Where is he? "
"Return, return to your Majesty, old slave. I came to report to Your Majesty on the orders of the young master..."
"What?" Emperor Chongzhen was even more confused, "What's going on? Isn't my brother sick?"
"Master, I'm not sick..." Cold sweat dripped from Li Jizhou's forehead.
Chongzhen asked: "How did he know about the fire in Changping?"
"The young master was originally with Governor Wang at the inner school grounds. It was Governor Wang who arranged for the Jing army on the Deshengmen Gate Tower to report to the inner school grounds after seeing the smoke and dust in the direction of Changping..."
"Brother, what are you doing in the inner school?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned, "Since he is not sick, why doesn't he come to court?"
Li Jizhou replied: "My young master was... pacifying the army at the inner school. After learning about the fire in the Changping Imperial Mausoleum, he went to Deshengmen and Andingmen to inspect and deploy defenses..."
Chongzhen was dumbfounded. There was such a thing, and the crown prince went to Fujun without telling him! Does he still see himself as his father?
"Then Wang Chengen is also with his brother?" Chongzhen asked again.
"Exactly," Li Jizhou said, "the brave men lining up to join the army on the North Wall Street of the Imperial City today seem to have been recruited by Governor Wang in the name of Prince Fujun... Young Master, I also called Wu Xiang and his servants I worked with him to sort it out and worked all morning, and we have already organized a battalion of more than 2,000 soldiers."
Okay, he has his own army... and he has also colluded with Wu Xiang, a general from the outer court. What does he want to do?
Thinking of this, Chongzhen suddenly shouted loudly: "The king's heart is Tian Cunzhi!"
"The old slave is here..."
"I'm here."
Chongzhen said with a cold face: "Go and give me brother and Wang Chengen..."
Wang Zhixin and Tian Cunzhi were worried after hearing this, for fear that Chongzhen would say the word "capture".
Li Zicheng came to your door! However, the major generals in Beijing have no pay, and Wang Chengen is an honest man with no ideas. From the 13th to now, the defense of Beijing is still the same as before. If the prince can recruit some troops, it will not be a bad thing...
"Go find it!" Chongzhen finally didn't say the word "catch", which was thank God.
…
"There's so much smoke! Are you burning the imperial tomb or the forest?"
On the Deshengmen Gate Tower, Zhu Cixiang was holding a monocular telescope that Zheng Zhilong paid tribute to and looking at the thick smoke rising from the northwest. He didn't take it seriously, and there was no trace of pain in his tone of voice when he asked.
Standing next to him was a bearded military attache in a red python robe, looking at Zhu Cixi blankly, with an expression of disbelief on his dark face.
This bearded man's name is Zhang Shize. He is the governor-general of the left and has the title of British Duke. He is the descendant of Zhang Fu, the British Duke who contributed to Jingnan, and is the ninth generation of British Dukes. He was also assigned as the admiral of the capital camp. He was nominally a military commander, so he was assigned by Wang Chengen as a temporary assignment to supervise the defense of Deshengmen.
When the fire broke out in the Changping direction, he was not supervising anything at Deshengmen, nor going to court. Instead, he was drinking and listening to the opera in the British palace in Jiaozhongfang with the visiting Duke Zhu Chunjie of Chengguo. While he was drinking to his heart's content, a servant came to report that the Crown Prince had arrived at Deshengmen... Now I had no choice but to put on my official uniform and run to Deshengmen to see him.
When we arrived, we found out that the prince came because of the fire in the direction of Changping Imperial Mausoleum, but to Zhang Shize's surprise, the prince was not in a hurry at all!
Your ancestral graves have been burned, why are you not in a hurry? The ancestors are going to be turned into barbecues, and they all have to cry bitterly...
But Zhu Cixiang is not in a hurry!
The Ming Tombs were fine even in New China. Why was he anxious? It was probably Li Zicheng's people who set off the mountain fire to shock the hearts of the capital.
Moreover, his soul traveled here inexplicably. Wasn't it because he was tricked by a certain ancestor?
"The British Duke..." Zhu Cixiang put down the telescope and looked back at the dark-faced Duke. He looked loyal. He didn't know if he would become a third minister. It was not the second minister who surrendered in Beijing, because Li Zicheng would not last long. , they will soon have to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, and they will be the slaves of the three surnames.
"I'm here." Zhang Shize didn't know that Zhu Cixiang had opinions about him, so he still bowed respectfully.
"Will the door be blocked?" Zhu Cixiang asked.
"Blocking the door?"
"Just use rocks, trees, soil, etc. to block the Desheng Gate." Zhu Cihong paused, "I will seal the Desheng Gate before blocking the gate... Admiral Wu, how will you block it specifically?" Teach him.”
Wu Xiang was a veteran general who had fought for a long time. Although he had never won any battles, he still had some methods. He immediately told some of the simplest ways to block the city gate. In fact, it's not that difficult, but it's more troublesome and requires hiring a lot of strong men.
"Are you ready?" Zhu Cixiang asked.
"Yes, I've agreed." Zhang Shize nodded repeatedly.
He's quite smart... he can learn it as soon as he hears it, he's a teachable kid!
Zhu Cihong asked tentatively: "Can Deshengmen, Xizhimen and Andingmen be blocked before dawn tomorrow?"
"Yes!" Zhang Shize nodded, "I will ask someone to do it right away."
So easy to talk to?
"I don't have any money to give you now." Zhu Cixiang said again.
In fact, he still has some money. Empress Zhou sent 5,000 taels to Duan Bengong, and Wang Chengen gave 30,000 taels successively. Now Zhu Cixiang has spent a lot of it, but there is still a lot left.
Zhang Shize heard Zhu Cixiang say that he had no money and said indifferently: "It doesn't matter, isn't it just blocking the door? You can hire a strong worker for five cents of silver, and you can hire thousands of strong workers for five hundred taels of silver. With this little money, I can hire a strong worker." It’s still affordable.”
I actually found a loyal minister!
Zhu Cixiang nodded approvingly at Zhang Shize and said, "In that case, the British Lord will spend more and seal Fucheng Gate, Xuanwu Gate, and Chongwen Gate for this palace."
"Okay!" Zhang Shize nodded, "Master Qiansui, six of the nine gates in the inner city have been blocked. How about asking the remaining three ministers to block them too?"
He is still a very motivated and loyal minister! have a future!
"No need." Zhu Cihong said, "I will arrange for people to guard Chaoyang Gate and Dongzhi Gate, so there is no need to block them. Zhengyang Gate must also be kept, otherwise we will not be able to go to the outer city."
"I understand."
"Then hurry up and do it!" Zhu Cixiang explained, "Time is running out, and the rebels may come to the city tomorrow... Don't supervise Desheng Gate, just block it!"
"I have received the order, and I will go and make arrangements immediately." Zhang Shize did not shirk at all, and did not think about whether Zhu Cixi should take care of this matter. He bowed and turned around and left, which was quite fast.
Zhu Cixiang nodded, "The country is in crisis and we see loyal ministers!" He said to Chen Rui, the teacher beside him: "Mr. Chen, if he really blocks all six gates in the inner city tomorrow morning, he will add the British father-in-law and his son to the list of people going south. "
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a rush of horse hoofbeats from the Deshengmen Gate. It was Wang Zhixin and Tian Cunzhi who had arrived.
