The city of Beijing, which is sunny after the rain, is no longer as prosperous as it used to be, and the streets are full of chaos, from time to time soldiers in tattered armor gallop past on horseback, and the cannon sound outside the city wall in the distance becomes more and more harsh.

In a small dark house located in the northwest corner of Beijing, Liu Delong, an old talent, took the letter handed over to him by Liu Hongjian and glanced at Liu Hongjian suspiciously.

"Son, what are you writing here? Are you sure that this faith can save me? Don't dare to come nonsense about the major affairs of the country! Although Liu Delong has the courage to live and die with Beijing City, he knows in his heart what kind of virtue his son used to be, although since he was struck by lightning, it seems to be different from before, but now his son asked him to find a way to hand over this letter to the saint, which made him always feel unreliable.

"Dad, don't worry, I haven't lived enough, how can I joke with the net worth of our old Liu family! Just send it, if the emperor ignores us, we can only blame the court for having no eyes! Liu Hong gradually snorted indifferently.

Although his old Liu family has been away from officialdom for a long time, when his ancestors were glorious, he had a few friends of life and death, and although he was backward in the family road, he could still find someone to deliver the letter.

Two hours later, Comrade Meng Zhaoxiang, the right attendant of the Criminal Department, carried the hot letter that Liu Laohan cherished and repeatedly confessed to the court in his arms.

There seems to be a dispute in the Imperial Palace, the noisy and shouting is no longer the majesty of the past, the quarreling people are obviously divided into two factions, you and I are like a splash on the street quarreling for petty profits, Chongzhen is sitting on the throne, full of resentment and slightly tired.

The bandit army besieged the city for several days, the Ming Dynasty was in danger for more than 200 years, these civil servants in the past looked like they were pampered and the winning ticket was in hand, and now not only did they not have any strategy to retreat from the enemy, but they quarreled because of a trivial matter, civil and military disagreement, partisan rivalry, my Ming is really going to die?

"Enough! Shut up, let's talk about this later! Seeing that Wang Jiayan, the right attendant of the military department of the court, and Li Jiantai, the right attendant of the official department, pushed each other and had the momentum of escalating into a martial fight, Emperor Chongzhen shouted angrily.

The hall was instantly quiet, although everyone didn't treat Chongzhen very well, but after all, he was the emperor, and he held the power of life and death, even if all the ministers formed a party against each other, they didn't dare to offend Tianwei, in this world, the surname is still Zhu.

"Meng Aiqing is here, but something is coming?" Seeing that Old Man Meng was standing behind the ministers for a long time, with an expression of wanting to speak and stopping, in order to divert the topic of the court, Chongzhen asked.

Meng Zhaoxiang, the right attendant of the Criminal Department, stepped forward and bowed with small steps.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty... Minister...... The minister has an old friend, and today he suddenly visited me, saying that there is a good way to retreat from the enemy, and he sent a letter to me to convey to His Majesty! ”

Old man Meng is submissive, no longer capable of the past, no wonder, Liu Delong and Buyi can have a good strategy to retreat from the enemy, he actually took this errand in a daze, if it caused anger, it is impossible to say that he will be implicated, if it is not for the solemn appearance when he visited, alas!

"Oh? Submit it quickly! Chongzhen's eyes were suspicious, but also slightly happy, in the current situation, those who can still put themselves in the position of thinking about the best way to retreat from the enemy and are not afraid of setting themselves on fire are all loyal ministers.

A little eunuch stepped down from the high platform, took Meng Zhaoxiang's letter, and presented it to Emperor Chongzhen with both hands.

"You read it!" Chongzhen didn't take the letter, and rubbed his temples a little tiredly.

Before the hall has always been Chongzhen's personal eunuch Wang Chengen, this person has been with Chongzhen since Chongzhen was the king of letters, and he has won Chongzhen's trust, and now Wang Chengen is the commander of Beijing, taking over the city defense, and sent his henchman Wang Erxi to replace him.

The little eunuch Wang Erxi had experienced this battle, and he opened the letter tremblingly, and was dumbfounded when he saw the contents.

"It's... This......... Slaves don't dare to read it! Wang Er stammered with an embarrassed look.

"Hurry up, I forgive you for your innocence!" Seeing the little eunuch's strange face, Chongzhen couldn't help but be interested in the content of the letter.

"No!" Wang Erxi wiped his forehead and coughed quietly to give himself courage.

"His Majesty the Emperor, I am a small people in Beijing, the world is favored by the emperor, now the bandits are besieging the city, I am grateful for it, I am willing to go to the enemy camp to retreat from the enemy, this is dangerous, because the family is poor and there is still an old father, in order to solve the worries, I hope Your Majesty can ...... Can ......"

Although the content of the letter is not much, it can be said to be concise and clear, and it uses people's money to eliminate disasters for others, but because Liu Hongjian is not very familiar with traditional Chinese characters, although there are not many words, there are seven or eight characters written in simplified characters, which caused Wang Erxi, who had not read much, to stammer with difficulty while slandering Liu Hongji, who was writing.

"Why don't you read it? What can it be? Seeing that the little eunuch stammered for a long time and read that he was stuck at a critical time, Wang Jiayan, the right attendant of the military department, reprimanded.

"Your Majesty, the slave doesn't dare to read it!" Wang Erxi knelt down in front of the hall, looking frightened.

"Nian, didn't I just say that you are not guilty? Read! Otherwise, go get the board yourself! Chongzhen patted the dragon chair a little annoyed, sure enough, Wang Chengen used it well, why is this little eunuch so unreasonable?

Seeing that the emperor was also a little angry, Wang Erxi gritted his teeth and continued to read.

"In order to solve the worries, I hope that Your Majesty can reward you with 10,000 taels of silver, and the small ones will go all out to share their worries for Daming! The pen is Liu Hongchuan. After reading it, Wang Erxi immediately knelt down in the court in fear and didn't dare to get up.

Before Chongzhen squeaked, the court immediately blew up.

"How can this be true? Master Meng, who is this person? Dare to blackmail His Majesty, isn't it crazy to think about money? Wei Zaode, the first assistant to the cabinet, asked sharply.

Wei Zaode's official residence in the cabinet of the first assistant, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, once served as the secretary of the Ministry of War, although he has no achievements, he only knows how to advocate donations from hundreds of officials, but he can be entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Chongzhen, I have to say that the two brushes in his hands have played a vital role, Wei Zaode is the champion of Chongzhen for thirteen years, he is not old but he is deep in the way of officialdom, and he knows Chongzhen's temper and weakness very well, and he can always throw the pot to others at critical moments.

Another brush has to say that the Donglin Party, Wei Zaode knows the power of the Donglin Party, although he is not a person from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but often says good things about the Donglin Party when Chongzhen is happy, and he is deeply liked by the Donglin Party, plus he is good at drilling camps, so that although he has no political achievements, he can be a very popular minister.

"Yes, Lord Meng, this is above the court, if a small common person can come to blackmail the saint, wouldn't it be laughed at by the world? Lord Meng, let's quickly send someone to arrest this thief who steals the country, as the right attendant of the Criminal Department, you must know how to deal with it! "Zhang Qi, the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, said in a weird manner.

Above the court, your words and my words became noisy again.

"Lord Wei, Lord Zhang, now that the bandit army is coming to the city, there are such warriors who dare to take the lead and relieve my worries for the Ming Dynasty, it is a good time to boost the morale of the people in the city, and prove that the people of my Ming Dynasty are all good men who do not want to be slaves to the country, for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, why do you need a little silver taels!" Meng Zhaoxiang's official position is the right attendant of the Criminal Department, and he has never had much contact with Wei Zaode and others, and he is not polite when he speaks.

"Sophistry! I have been in the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, how can I ever be under any alliance under the city, just a street green skin, dare to hit the idea on the head of the saint, if I don't arrest this person immediately, where is my Ming law? Where is the majesty of the Holy? "Talking about the prestige of Daming at every turn is Wei Zaode's specialty, because he knows that Chongzhen is a good-looking emperor.

Seeing that Meng Zhaoxiang was silent, the officials of Wei Zaode's family below also began to exert their authority.

"The minister seconded the proposal, Your Majesty should take the prestige of the Ming Dynasty as the priority, and must not encourage this unhealthy trend!"

"This Meng Zhaoxiang must have accepted that bribe, otherwise why would he help a person in the market!"

“……”

Meng Zhaoxiang was drowned out by the condemnation of a group of people at this time, although he secretly undermined in his heart that he should not carelessly accept Liu Delong's entrustment, but first, as a world friend, he couldn't pull down and refused, after all, although the Liu family had declined, he rarely asked him for anything, and secondly, he himself was well aware of the current situation.

Although it has been inexplicably raining heavily in recent days to alleviate the drought in the north, Beijing City is still in danger, where is it as the ministers said, and now the plague epidemic is so serious that more than half of the soldiers defending the city have been killed and wounded, and the rest have no combat effectiveness, he has a trace of luck in his heart, what if a miracle appears?

"Your Majesty, this person's ancestor once followed the Northern Expedition of Emperor Yongle of Chengzu, and after being a loyal minister, I would like to guarantee with the head of the item, this person must have the heart of serving the country, and I hope that Your Majesty will think twice, otherwise it will chill the hearts of the warriors who want to be loyal to the country!" After Old Man Meng finished speaking, he knelt on the ground and stopped talking.

Seeing that everyone below was still waiting to continue arguing about this matter, Emperor Chongzhen, who had been silent for a long time, waved his hand.

"Whether he is a hero or a villain, Meng Aiqing will reply to him, if he can really relieve the siege of the city for my Daming, what if 10,000 taels of silver, but if the enemy does not retreat after three days and he is still alive, he will send someone to arrest him....... More than 200 years of ...... I hope you will do your best to ......"

Emperor Chongzhen has not closed his eyes for two days, every time he lies on the bed and closes his eyes, his heart is the Ming Dynasty, the ancestral foundation, now full of devastation, wind and rain, if the Ming Dynasty is really destroyed in his hands, what face does he have to see the ancestors and ancestors, every time he thinks of this, he tears falls, sleepless all night.

Seeing that the court began to argue about whether to retreat or join again, although Meng Zhaoxiang was the main battle faction, as the squire in charge of the criminal department, he did not interfere much in military affairs, so he bowed and quietly retreated.

On the evening of the 17th, Liu Hongjian complained that Emperor Chongzhen had written him a blank check, and at the same time borrowed a set of peasant military clothes from the Ministry of War through Meng Zhaoxiang to prepare to leave the city......

"The wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man will never return...... "Old man Meng stood in the night and stroked his beard and sighed.