"Your Majesty, an army of tiger thieves is besieging the city." Wang Chengen hurried to Chongzhen to report the news.
Hearing this, Chongzhen's figure swayed.
Even though he had already guessed that the Tiger Character Banner would launch an attack on the capital, when he heard the news, he was still frightened and lost consciousness.
"Your Majesty, are you okay?" Wang Chengen noticed that Chongzhen's face looked wrong and quickly stepped forward to show concern.
Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand towards Wang Chengen, and said: "I'm fine, but I'm just a little uncomfortable hearing the news about the tiger bandits attacking the city. Has all the money from the Ministry of Revenue been sent to the capital camp?"
There are no external reinforcements, and the only ones who can guard the capital are the hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp on paper.
Even Chongzhen himself knew that this figure on paper was too false. If Beijing Camp had this strength, it would have taken the initiative long ago, and how could it be passive defense.
Of course, the current situation of the imperial court cannot afford to support hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp.
"Sent it, they were all sent yesterday." Wang Chengen replied.
As for how much silver was sent to the capital camp, he didn't know, but he knew that with the virtue of those officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs, they would definitely pluck their hair. As for how much silver could be sent to the capital camp, it was hard to say.
Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Just send it away. With the capital camp guarding the capital, it will not be so easy for the tiger thieves to break through the capital."
He still understands the principle that only with money can the officers and soldiers do their best.
"Your Majesty is absolutely right." Wang Chengen agreed, but he was not too optimistic about it.
With no reinforcements from outside, the capital has been cut off from water transportation. It is hard to say how long the capital can hold on. As long as the invading Tiger Flag army does not retreat, sooner or later the capital will be unable to hold on.
boom! boom! boom!
The muffled sound of cannons suddenly sounded, and even Chongzhen, who was far away in the palace, heard it all.
"These bold rebels actually dare to attack the capital." Chongzhen knew very well what the sound of cannons meant.
In the hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, although the capital had been besieged by foreigners, this was the first time that it was besieged by the rebels of the Ming Dynasty itself. This was a humiliation in Chongzhen's view.
Even his imperial brother had never been besieged in the capital since he ascended the throne. However, this was the second time that the capital was besieged after he ascended the throne.
Wang Chengen hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, please find a place to take shelter first and wait until the sound of gunfire outside stops before coming out."
"No need." Chongzhen said, "No matter how loud the gunfire is, it will not threaten my Qianqing Palace."
Chongzhen refused to leave, so Wang Chengen had to stay aside to accompany Chongzhen.
The sound of cannons outside the city continued, and there were a lot of troubles among the maids and eunuchs in the palace. Some maids even robbed the palace belongings and prepared to escape while the palace was in chaos.
The chaos in the palace was quickly suppressed by the palace guards and royal guards.
Chongzhen was very stable. Even though there were gunfire outside the palace, he still sat behind the desk and reviewed the memorials. However, his eyes looking outside the door from time to time proved that he was not as calm as he appeared.
Although the sound of cannons continued and sounded scary, the capital was not breached until dark, and not a single soldier with the tiger-shaped flag entered the capital.
Shortly after the sound of artillery stopped, Wang Chengen, who went outside to inquire about news, brought Chongzhen the good news that the Tiger Character Banner failed to attack the city.
After receiving the news, Chongzhen was so happy that he drank a few more glasses of water and wine.
Even though the Tiger Banner army fired so hard with artillery, they still failed to capture the capital. In his opinion, there shouldn't be much of a problem in defending the capital, and the officers and soldiers in the capital camp were still trustworthy.
When it got dark, the British Duke Zhang Weixian came to a certain wall in the capital.
After several generations of British public administration, the British public line became the head of the nobility and gained the power to control the Beijing camp.
However, it is naturally impossible for the Beijing camp to belong to the British family. If that were the case, the civil officials would not do it, and the emperor would not be able to hand over the entire army to one person.
However, there are more than 8,000 officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp that the British Duke can command through other lords, and there are more than 2,000 officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp that the British Duke can command alone.
Don't underestimate the more than two thousand officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp.
There are not many soldiers and horses in the entire Beijing camp who can fight. The two thousand soldiers and horses account for a large proportion in the Beijing camp.
The guard on the city wall where the British Duke arrived was one of the captains of the British Duke.
"My lord, why are you here in person? It's too dangerous here." The captain on the city wall saw the British lord and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.
"It doesn't matter." The British Duke Zhang Weixian waved his hand gently and said, "You can stay here and fight to the death against the thieves, and I can do the same."
After a day of shelling, there were still a lot of blood stains on the city wall that had not been cleaned off, and there was a fishy smell.
The British Duke Zhang Weixian took a few steps to the crenellation, raised his eyes and looked out.
Even though it was already dark and I couldn't see very far, I still looked outside.
"Although we defended today, we still suffered a lot of casualties. The tiger thieves did not suffer any losses. They just wasted a little medicine." Du Si said worriedly.
British Duke Zhang Weixian asked: "How long can you persist with such a bombardment?"
"Three to five days at most. This is still a situation where there is enough food and grass. I heard recently that there is no food in the city. I wonder if the Beijing camp will run out of food and grass." Du Si said in the innermost.
It seemed that he was complaining to the British public about the current situation, but in fact he was asking about the situation of grain and grass.
The old British man naturally understood what he meant.
He immediately said: "You don't have to worry about food and grass. Even if the court doesn't have it, the Duke's Mansion will not let you guys defend the city hungry."
"With your words, sir, my subordinates will definitely defend the capital to the death." Du Si assured loudly.
British Duke Zhang Weixian looked away from the outside of the city and turned to look at Du Si beside him. He said: "Find a place for me to rest. I will stay with you in the city tonight."
"My father-in-law, you have a distinguished status. You'd better go back home. There are subordinates here, so nothing will happen." Du Si even asked the British father to stay.
Not to mention the British Duke's identity, but just considering the British Duke's age, he did not dare to let the British Duke stay on the city wall overnight. If something went wrong, he would die forever.
The British Duke Zhang Weixian waved his hand and said: "No need to say more. I said I will stay in the city to accompany you tonight, so I must stay. Go and find a place for me to rest, and send me a bed by the way." .”
After all, he was getting older and he didn't dare to rest like those officers and soldiers by finding a place sheltered from the wind.
Seeing that the British father insisted on staying, Du Si arranged for someone to prepare a resting place and asked someone to find a clean quilt and send it over.
In order to allow the British prince to have a good rest, he specially asked his men to make a simple bed with a door panel, with a thick mattress on top, so that the British prince could lie on it and have a good rest.
