No man likes to be ridiculed by his woman, and in front of outsiders.
Queen Zhou's accusation made Chongzhen look very ugly.
He finally made up his mind to leave the capital for Nanjing, but under the accusation of Queen Zhou, while Chongzhen was unhappy, his idea of leaving began to waver.
As an emperor who has always regarded the resurgence of the Ming Dynasty as his own mission, he does not want to flee the capital like a bereaved dog. He has always wanted to become a Ming emperor like Taizu and Chengzu.
"Your Majesty, you don't have much time to waste here. Please leave early." Zhou Yanru saw that Chongzhen was wavering again and urged him.
"shut up!"
Empress Zhou suddenly scolded her harshly and said: "You are so bold that you actually tricked Your Majesty into abandoning the city and fleeing. This is a heinous crime. Come on!"
The guards outside the palace came in.
"Stand down, all stand down." Chongzhen drove the guards out again, and turned to Queen Zhou and said softly, "Queen, calm down, Zhou Aiqing also wants me to go to Nandu for my own good."
Empress Zhou said: "Your Majesty has gone to the Southern Capital. What will happen to the capital? Do you want the north of the Ming Dynasty? Do you want to completely hand it over to those traitors? If you really do this, will your Majesty be worthy of the foundations laid by Taizu Chengzu?" Or His Majesty just wants to be ridiculed secretly and said that he is just selling his father's land and doesn't feel sorry for him."
"I have never thought about giving up the northern land. I just retreat to the southern capital temporarily to regain the lost northern foundation in the future." Chongzhen said.
Queen Zhou shook her head and said: "Although I come from a small family, I also know that it is easy to give up but difficult to get back. Once your Majesty goes to the southern capital, how can you be sure to regain the lost northern provinces? This is the lesson of the Song Dynasty. In front of you."
The Southern Song Dynasty's partiality has become a lesson for emperors of all generations.
"Please don't worry, Madam, giving up the north is only temporary." Zhou Yanru knew that he couldn't do anything if he didn't stand up, so he said to Queen Zhou, "The current situation is different from that of the Song Dynasty. Even if the tiger thieves occupied the north of the Ming Dynasty, they still have to face The Mongols in the north and the slave thieves in Liaodong are not easy to deal with on either side. I, the Ming Dynasty, can just sit back and watch the snipe and the clam fight in the southern capital, and finally reap the benefits."
"Humph, I'm afraid that what the Chief Minister said is fooling this woman of my palace." Empress Zhou snorted coldly, and then said, "Your Majesty gave up the northern provinces because he could not stop the tigers and thieves' troops. No matter what happens in the future, The slave thieves in Liaodong are still the Mongols in the north. Once there is a decisive battle with the tiger thieves, no matter who they are, they will not be weaker than the tiger thieves. Does the chief minister think that the Ming Dynasty cannot deal with the tiger thieves now? Does it mean that in the future? Can we deal with forces more powerful than tiger thieves?"
"This!" Zhou Yanru choked, but he didn't expect that he would be questioned by Queen Zhou.
Wen Tiren on the side saw something was wrong and hurriedly interjected: "Although what the empress said makes some sense, the situation is not that simple."
"Oh? Then please ask Mr. Wen Ge to tell me what's not simple!" Queen Zhou looked at Wen Tiren sarcastically.
She knew that it was these two people who persuaded the emperor to abandon the city and flee, and almost became the criminals of the Ming Dynasty.
Wen Tiren ignored Queen Zhou's sarcasm, and as the other party's identity, it was impossible for him to mock her back, otherwise it would be a treasonous act.
"Nowadays, there are good and bad times all the time. The harvests in the northern provinces have been poor year after year. In addition, the Mongols will invade the customs and plunder at any time. The slave thieves in Liaodong are directly not the Ming Dynasty. Now there are tiger thieves occupying several provinces in the Ming Dynasty. The entire northern part of the Ming Dynasty has fallen into the hands of the rebels. At this time, it is meaningless to continue to defend the capital. Retreating to the south of the Yangtze River is the right way to protect Your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty." Wen Tiren said.
After hearing these words, Queen Zhou glanced at Wen Tiren coldly and said sarcastically: "If it weren't for you ministers being disloyal and only caring about your own interests, how could the Ming Dynasty be in the current situation."
She is not a prince like Chongzhen who has little contact with the outside world.
Although she is a woman, she often listens to her father talking about things about the world at home, so she naturally knows that the officials of the Ming Dynasty are almost corrupt to the point of being corrupt.
In her opinion, even if only half of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty were loyal to their work, the world would not be like this. The slave thieves in Liaodong had already been pacified, and the tiger thieves were probably killed by local officials before they even had a chance to rise up. locally.
"The Queen can't say that. Zhou Aiqing and Wen Aiqing are still loyal to their affairs." Chongzhen advised Queen Zhou.
Although the emperor had been dissatisfied with the incompetence of so many ministers in the court for a long time, in front of Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren, he still did not want Empress Zhou to blame these two people in person.
Empress Zhou withdrew her gaze from Wen Tiren, looked at Chongzhen, and said, "Your Majesty, others can leave the capital, but you cannot leave. I am willing to stay with your Majesty."
As she spoke, she saluted Chongzhen.
"Queen!"
Queen Zhou's attitude made Chongzhen very embarrassed.
At this moment, he became indecisive again and began to hesitate about leaving the capital.
In his heart, he wanted to leave and go to Nandu to re-govern the country, but he also didn't want to become the sinner of the Ming Dynasty as Queen Zhou said.
At this moment, a rush of footsteps came from outside.
Soon, Cao Huachun appeared in front of everyone.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the inner city has also been lost, please Your Majesty and Your Majesty, please make plans early." Cao Huachun cried and knelt down in front of Chongzhen.
Chongzhen slid down from his seat to the ground.
Fortunately, Wang Chengen on the side noticed it in time, grabbed Chongzhen, and dragged him back again. At the same time, he shouted: "Quickly send the imperial doctor, send the imperial doctor."
"Your Majesty!" Seeing this, Empress Zhou appeared beside Chongzhen in a few steps, and quickly used her hands to help Chongzhen's chest.
"Father, father!"
When Prince Zhu Cihong saw this situation, he burst into tears.
After a long time, the breath on Chongzhen's chest calmed down.
"Okay, I'm fine." Chongzhen shook his head and signaled Queen Zhou to take the hand off his chest.
Seeing that Chongzhen had calmed down, Wang Chengen said with a tearful voice: "Your Majesty, you must also take care of your dragon body!"
"Zhou Aiqing, Wen Aiqing, if we leave at this time, is it still too late?" Chongzhen pushed away Wang Chengen who was blocking him and stared at Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren with bright eyes.
Zhou Yanru said: "The inner city has just been lost and there is chaos outside. If your Majesty leaves the palace at this time, there is a great chance of leaving the capital smoothly."
"That's good, that's good." Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief.
Queen Zhou next to him looked ugly.
After persuading him for a long time, he didn't expect that the emperor would still leave the capital.
At this moment, I heard Chongzhen say: "Pass on my decree, order the prince to go to Nandu to guard, and order Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren to accompany him to Nandu as the minister of Gu Ming."
