Qianqing Palace fell into silence. The sun had set and the house was dark. Both father and son were silent, neither of them had the intention to call the palace servants to light candles. Just letting the darkness of the night swallow me up.
After a long time, Zhu Su, who was in agitated mood, said leisurely: "Poor Chongzhen, if he had been born in a peaceful time, he might have been a conservative king."
"In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Chongzhen's imperial brother who had been hiding in the palace and working as a carpenter for seven years passed away, leaving the broken world in the hands of Chongzhen, who was only sixteen years old."
"In November of that year, Chongzhen executed the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, uprooted the eunuch party, and appointed Donglin party members who were famous for their "loyalty" and "virtue". The Ming Dynasty, which had been decadent for decades, actually had a hint of ZTE. meteorological."
"At that time, all the people in the capital applauded and celebrated that the Ming Dynasty had finally ushered in a young wise king, a new master of ZTE."
"I don't think so, haha." Zhu Su's voice was extremely sarcastic. "The words 'loyalty' and 'virtue' are just another group of useless and shameless people."
"'On weekdays, they put their hands down and talk about their hearts, and when they are in danger, they die to repay the king'. They did have a reputation in later generations, but the Ming Dynasty completely sank in the so-called 'Zhongzhengying Dynasty'."
"Say." Lao Zhu's voice had no fluctuation, "Here, keep talking."
"...It was night on March 18, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. As the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen knew that he had no way to recover."
"He arranged for the three princes to escape from the capital, then returned to the harem, ordered the queen and concubines to hang themselves, and drew his sword to kill his own concubines."
"Even his two beloved daughters endured the pain..."
"One of them is only fifteen years old, and the other is only six years old..."
Zhu Su turned his head and couldn't speak any more. Lao Zhu's body shook in the darkness, and two lines of sparkling tears flowed down from Emperor Hongwu's eyes.
Those are his descendants!
"Say, keep talking." He stared at Zhu Su in the darkness.
Zhu Su exhaled a breath and continued: "The next day, March 19, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, everyone in the palace had dispersed. Chongzhen went to the front hall to ring the bell, and sat on the hall to wait for the officials to enter the court."
"However, after waiting for a whole day, no one came into the palace to meet the saint..."
"..." Lao Zhu's eyes narrowed. The emperor himself rang the bell, but no one came to court...
There is not even a single loyal person left in the imperial court.
"Keep talking." He said coldly. There was an uncontrollable evil spirit in his voice.
"...At that time, Li Zicheng had already invaded the imperial city. Emperor Chongzhen took the eunuch Wang Chengen and hanged himself in Meishan."
"The ending is a rope... Ha, the ending is a rope..." Lao Zhu finally understood the meaning of the ending. He gritted his teeth and his voice sounded like it came from the Nine Nether Hells.
"... Before his death, Emperor Chongzhen left his last edict." Zhu Su continued.
"'I am cold and virtuous, but I bow to God's fault,'"
"'However, all the officials have misunderstood me. I died without a face to see my ancestors. I took off my crown and covered my face with my hair.'"
"'Let the thieves split my corpse without harming the common people...one person'..."
Zhu Su said slowly, the edict of the last emperor of the Ming Empire exploded in the ears of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang like thunder.
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but stood up, his eyes full of regret.
"He...he said that?"
"...Yes." Zhu Su nodded.
"Good boy... This is a good boy!" Zhu Yuanzhang's tears finally flowed down uncontrollably. He seemed to have seen a young man wearing a dragon robe, amidst the ruins, with a face full of shame, kneeling and begging for forgiveness from his ancestor.
Even before he died, he was still worried about whether the bandits would anger the people!
"We...we don't blame you. You must have done your best. If we want to blame, blame those traitors, corrupt officials, rebels, and Tartars!"
Lao Zhu gritted his teeth and paced back and forth anxiously in Qianqing Palace.
"How dare those rebellious officials and traitors insult our descendants like this!"
"Let him even die with resentment!"
"No!" Zhu Su also gritted his teeth in hatred. "In the past, the national treasury was poor and the imperial court could not issue military pay. Chongzhen had no choice but to lower his face and raise money from the ministers. After much effort, he raised 120,000 taels of silver."
"But after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he actually found 70 million carts of silver in the capital! Most of them came from officials from the DPRK and China!"
"What!" Lao Zhu couldn't believe it.
The thief was able to extract 70 million taels, but the emperor was so embarrassed that he only raised 120,000 taels? ?
Is this sending beggars away?
None of these ministers in the court have read the books of sages and are full of benevolence, righteousness and morality.
It's so...so...
"Shameless, extremely shameless!" Lao Zhu roared angrily.
"There's something even more shameless." Zhu Su snorted.
"There was a leader of the Donglin Party named Qian Qianyi. Hearing the news of Guo Pojun's death, his concubine was so sad that she persuaded him to join him in drowning and die for the country."
"When this guy got to the river, he was actually scared! He said that the water was too cold and he didn't dare to die."
"When the Jianzhou Jurchens invaded the Central Plains, they issued a 'hair-shaving order', requiring all Han people to shave their hair into rat tails. They also declared, 'Keep your head but not your hair, and keep your hair but not your head.'"
"This guy actually took the lead in responding. He directly ignored the sage's instruction that 'the hair and skin of the body are taken from the parents' and shaved his hair into an extremely ugly rat tail!"
"His concubine questioned him, but he was shameless and said that he shaved his head because of his 'itchy scalp'!"
"As a high-ranking member of the imperial court and the leader of the Donglin Party, he usually calls himself a moral gentleman, but he is so shameless!"
"In the future, this guy will even become the Minister of Rites in the Tartar court!"
Zhu Su said with hatred.
"Haha, 'the water is too cold', 'the scalp is itchy'... Wow, Wow..."
Lao Zhu laughed angrily, the veins on his forehead bulged, and blood even penetrated his pupils.
Qian Qianyi's shamelessness became the last straw that broke Lao Zhu's reason.
He staggered to the sword stand. Suddenly he let out a cry and pulled out the sword that had followed him through the world and killed countless thieves and bandits.
"Shameless traitor!"
"Die to us!!!"
A cold light flashed, and the hard and thick golden nanmu imperial table was split into two pieces!
"His Majesty?"
The gate of Qianqing Palace was suddenly pushed open. Erhu and a group of soldiers rushed in hurriedly with long knives on their waists and torches in their hands.
After seeing that there was no one else in the palace, only His Majesty and the fifth prince who were still angry, and the table that was split in two, Erhu was stunned.
Your Majesty is so talented, he clearly calls out traitors...
Where are the rebels?
"Stand back..." Lao Zhu stared at the table that was split into two halves. After all, the case on the table was not Qian Qianyi's. He was holding a sword in his hand, but he felt that his breath was stagnant and his chest was severely blocked.
"Your Majesty?" Erhu looked at him worriedly.
"Let's say, retreat!" Lao Zhu roared angrily. Erhu was so frightened that he quickly retreated with his guards in despair.
"...Lao Wu." After a long time, Lao Zhu finally calmed down his thoughts.
"It's getting late. Please retreat first."
"We are tired. We need to take a good rest."
Ming Taizu, who dominated the country and swallowed up thousands of miles like a tiger, now seemed to have aged dozens of years.
"...Yes." Zhu Su glanced at the cheap dad worriedly and bowed in response.
He couldn't help but regret it. When talking about the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty, I inevitably got a little excited, and it seemed to irritate Lao Zhu.
Seeing that Lao Zhu was still lost in thought, Zhu Su bowed and quietly retreated to the palace gate.
"Lao Wu." Lao Zhu spoke again.
"Huh? I'm here."
"Remember, what you said to us today is not allowed to be said outside." Lao Zhu said.
"...Yes." Zhu Su nodded. He still knows the importance. Naturally, I won’t talk nonsense outside.
"Go. Close the door. Let's take a rest." Lao Zhu waved his hand and ignored the mess on the ground. He slowly turned around with his sword and sat on the Grand Master's chair in the middle.
Zhu Su nodded again, walked backwards to the door, and closed the door gently.
The last thing I saw through the crack in the door was the eyes of Emperor Hongwu who wanted to choose and devour others.
