Emperor Chongzhen's words had long been expected by Zhu Cixiang - he could figure it out with his knees without having to analyze it with his brain. When will Emperor Chongzhen choose the best solution to a major problem? If you don't want to run, that's right. If you want to run, Chongzhen will probably have his soul changed!
Fortunately, Zhu Cixiang had more than one escape plan in mind. Escaping with Emperor Chongzhen, Queen Zhou and others on the night of the 16th was just the best plan among many. Even if this is not possible, there are several other options available.
Moreover, the result of defending Beijing City for a period of time may not be as good as running away immediately. If you run away now, your pockets will be empty. Once you leave Beijing City, you will be short of money. So it’s not bad to stay for a few more days, raise a little more money and run again, but the risk is higher, so it’s not optimal.
However, the price offered by Emperor Chongzhen to command the internal and external military camps together with Wang Chengen and the nine admirals was still too low.
Seeing his son sighing and being silent, Emperor Chongzhen was also making a lot of calculations in his heart.
What he planned was to defend Beijing and then revive the great cause of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, the things Zhu Cixi did could be abolished in normal times. But the situation is different now. Defending Beijing has become an inner demon for Emperor Chongzhen.
Chongzhen is a stubborn and stubborn person. Once he has set his sights on the target, he will take the path to the end. Defending Beijing must be the first goal, and Nan Xingliudu, in his opinion, had no choice but to be carried away from the Huangji Gate by the ministers crying and shouting...
But now, the blessing of his ancestors has given him another life-saving straw named Zhu Cixiang, which will give him a certain chance to defend Beijing. What reason does he have for not holding on tightly?
As for Zhu Cihong's crime of deceiving Wang Cheng'en, deceiving Wu Xiang, and deceiving a group of strong men in the capital, of course it is not as important as defending the city of Beijing. Chongzhen still understood the principle of settling accounts after the fall! It’s spring now, not autumn yet!
Therefore, the most important thing is not to settle accounts with his son, Wang Chengen, and Wu Xiang, but to defend Beijing. This is also due to Zhu Cixiang's ability to deceive and tie himself to Wang Chengen, Wu Xiang, Wu Sangui, and thousands of brave men. . If Chongzhen wants to attack Zhu Cixiang, he must kill them all... It seems that he doesn't have the strength, and after killing them all, who will fight Li Zicheng? Who will defend the city of Beijing?
Only by guarding Beijing can he continue to be a wise king to the hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty! Are you afraid that you won’t have the chance to deal with the prince’s gang in the future?
If he couldn't hold on, he would immediately become a fatuous king who would subjugate his country. He would not be able to see his ancestors even if he died!
How could such a wise king lead his country to perish? This is not allowed...
Having made up his mind, Emperor Chongzhen gritted his teeth and said to Zhu Cixiang in a more serious tone: "Brother Chun, I am determined to lead hundreds of officials, nobles, the Beijing camp and the internal servants to defend the capital and wait for the arrival of Wu Sangui's army!"
You feel really good about yourself! Zhu Cihong said in his heart: At this time, do you still believe that hundreds of officials, nobles, and chamberlains will be buried with you? If they don't open the door to welcome surrender, they have already lived up to the conscience of heaven and earth!
"Father," Zhu Cixiang said calmly, "I, my son, do not want to command the internal and external military camps and supervise the dispatch of the nine gates."
Chongzhen nodded, thinking: I finally know something about advance and retreat!
Zhu Cixiang said again: "My son wants to go out of the palace to support the army, and the governor directly oversees military affairs. I also want to ask Shang Fang for a sword, which can behead noble officials below the prince!"
What? When Emperor Chongzhen heard Zhu Cixiang's request, he immediately became angry. The governor-general was only responsible for the military affairs of various places in Zhili. Anyway, once Li Zicheng's army arrived, the capital was surrounded by a siege, and contact with other places in Zhili was impossible. But I can’t give you Shang Fang’s sword, which can be used to kill noble officials below the prince!
This is the real power of life and death... Only the emperor can have such power in the capital city!
Seeing Emperor Chongzhen's expression of disapproval, Zhu Cixi sighed and said, "Father, you can ask Wang Banban, if you don't count the three battalions of soldiers of your son, how many soldiers and horses are there in the capital city now? Can you stop the crenellations of the inner and outer city walls? Full? How much money can they use to pay wages? Is the money paid enough to support their families?
In addition, how much rice is stored in the various warehouses in the capital city? How long can hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians be fed? "
Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly turned to look at Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen said: "Reporting to your Majesty, if you don't count my soldiers and horses, there are still 5,000 people in the Beijing camp and 3,000 people in the Jing army. All the soldiers who go to the city to guard the city will be charged every day." I have one hundred pence, and I can take care of my own food... There is a lot of food stored in various warehouses in the capital, which can always last for a month or two. But the military pay is really insufficient. The national treasury and internal treasury combined only have more than 100,000 taels of silver and three taels of gold. More than 10,000 taels."
Zhu Cixi sneered a few times: "Including the 3,000 people recruited by my ministers, there are only more than 10,000 defenders, all of which are just a mob. The inner and outer cities of Beijing have a circumference of 48 miles, with more than 10,000 troops guarding each mile, but only 200 people per mile. If we continue If we have to divide it into two shifts day and night, there will only be a hundred people... With a hundred people guarding a one-mile wall, how scattered is it? I'm afraid that I'm afraid I've never fought before!"
"This... what should we do?" Emperor Chongzhen looked at his son, vaguely hoping that Tuomeng's ancestor would teach his son some clever tricks.
"We can only mobilize the nobles, officials and officials to go to the city." Zhu Cixiang said, "But to encourage the soldiers in the city to be brave, how can one hundred copper coins a day be enough? Chuangtei Zhen is here. You have to give one tael of silver a day, right? If you are a leader leading troops, you have to give double the money... How many days can the little money in the national treasury and internal treasury be enough to last?
In addition, when Wu Sangui's army arrives, we can't leave everything alone, right? Millions of dollars in salary should still be given! Otherwise, something might happen suddenly on the way to Nanjing! "
After Zhu Cixiang said this, Emperor Chongzhen already understood the usefulness of Shang Fang's sword... He had to give him the power of life and death. If you don't give it, the capital won't be able to support it for a few days!
But if you give it... can you really make money? Those officials all look dark and thin. I heard that many officials are selling houses and the sellers are cheating. Are they really rich? Even if you have money, are you willing to donate? Don't make people panic and force them to side with Li Zicheng.
"Father, your subjects know who is rich and who is not rich... Emperor Taizu Gao even told my subjects in his dreams." When Zhu Cixiang said this, his gloomy eyes looked at Emperor Chongzhen's confidants. The heart of the eunuch king.
Wang Zhixin is rich! He was the richest among the eunuchs. He and Wang Chengen have been in charge of Dongchang for many years, but Wang Chengen has too many tasks and is too busy. He is actually in charge of Dongchang's affairs. Anyone who is caught in Dongchang, except for major cases designated by the emperor, can spend money to avoid disaster!
In addition, he has a younger brother named Wang Zhiren, who did not become an eunuch but joined the army. Under his care, he is now serving as the general of Su Song's army in Jiangnan. That is a very good job!
General Su Song is the general in charge of Haikou and is responsible for anti-smuggling. Isn't anti-smuggling meant to protect smuggling?
Emperor Chongzhen also noticed that Zhu Cixiang was looking at Wang Zhixin. He was a little strange, so he also turned his attention to Wang Zhixin, which scared Wang Zhixin to death.
Zhu Cixiang said calmly at this time: "Wang Zhixin, you, the admiral of Dongchang, must also know who is rich, right?"
"I know..." How dare Wang Zhixin say that he doesn't know?
Zhu Cixi smiled and said to Chongzhen: "Father, why don't we let Wang Zhixin follow my son and raise funds to defend the city together."
"This..." Emperor Chongzhen looked at his son and thought: Now the ministers are all ministers of the country's subjugation, and the eunuchs are all honest eunuchs. Only this prince suddenly showed some skills and seemed to be able to defend Beijing.
There was finally a smile on Chongzhen's gray and serious face: "Brother Chun, I will give you the Shangfang Sword, but you cannot kill anyone casually with the sword. I only allow you to kill ten people."
Zhu Cihong kowtowed again: "My son, I accept the order."
He paused and then said: "Father, without further delay, please issue the decree first."
There seems to be no precedent in the history of the Ming Dynasty for the prince to assist the army and supervise the war. If it were really discussed at the court meeting, it would be endless. So Zhu Cixi simply asked Chongzhen to issue the imperial edict first.
"That's fine, I will issue the edict immediately!" Emperor Chongzhen was naturally happy to issue the edict, because the edict was not a legal edict and could be invalidated at any time. If Zhu Cixiang could really raise military funds and men, he could use the excuse that the imperial edict was invalid, remove his governor from direct control of various military affairs, and take back Shang Fang's sword...
