Xiao Tianjian asked people to inquire about these surrendered Ming army generals, and the answer he got made him feel pitiful, from the mouth of these Ming soldiers, Xiao Tianjian learned that since Nanzhili was occupied by him, Beijing City has not received the grain transported from the south, and the imperial court, which is not very rich, was still struggling to maintain it at the beginning, trying to find a way to collect some food from Shandong's auxiliary land to meet the needs of Beijing, but this bit of food is a drop in the bucket for the tens of thousands of troops in Beijing, and in the past two months, The imperial court couldn't even allocate a little food, and many officers and soldiers could only find ways to find food around the capital by themselves, which could cause misery to the people around the capital.

So the people around the Beijing division fled, ran to the territory controlled by the Dazhong army for refuge, the officers and soldiers did not dare to go deep into the area controlled by the Dazhong army to eat, so this day was even more miserable, especially since the Abatai Department of the Jiannu army entered the customs, the Beijing division was scared enough, the people within dozens of miles around the capital almost ran away, the Beijing camp did not dare to leave the city to get food, Tongzhou City later descended the Dazhong army, it was equivalent to putting a knife on the neck of the Beijing division, and the Beijing division also completely became a lonely city, These soldiers can only drink two bowls of porridge a day to barely survive, as for these days, they can't even drink porridge, seeing that many people are going to starve to death, many soldiers took off their uniforms in advance and fled to the area controlled by the Dazhong Army, and it is no wonder that as soon as the Dazhong Army came, as soon as the cannon sounded, the officers and soldiers of these Beijing camps surrendered one after another.

In other words, if you are hungry like this, you can't fight anymore, so the officers and soldiers of the three battalions who stayed outside the capital can almost be said to have done no effective resistance, so they surrendered to the Dazhong Army one after another, if nothing else, even if it was just for a few steamed buns, they were willing to follow the Dazhong Army at this time.

What made these officers and soldiers even more angry was that after coming in for a few days, Emperor Chongzhen called again in the city, asking the noble officials in the city to donate food to help the war, everyone knew that many nobles and officials in the city had a lot of surplus food at home, but these damned noble officials refused to take out food or silver to help the war.

Some officers and soldiers called out before the Dazhong Army came, if they still worked for the imperial court to protect these damn bastards, then they would have no fart to have children in the future!

After listening to the words of these officers and soldiers, Xiao Tianjian really didn't know what to say, he had actually learned from Feng Weihan that the Beijing division had already run out of food these days, but he didn't expect that the situation would develop to such a point, even these soldiers in the Beijing camp were starving like this, not to mention the people in the city, it is estimated that there are not a few people in the city who are starving to death at this time.

So he sighed, ordered to conquer the city of Beijing as soon as possible, after opening the city gate, to the city to send grain, now the economy is ruined, the population has decreased dramatically, since the matter has come to this, can save the lives of some people, or try to save some!

On the morning of July 16, the 14th year of Chongzhen, the large Chinese army of all walks of life blocked the Dongzhi Gate and Chaoyang Gate of Beijing City, and issued an ultimatum to the defenders in the city, giving them half a day to consider, ordering them to surrender immediately and unconditionally, open the city gate to enlarge the Chinese army into the city, and any resistance will be beheaded after the large Chinese army enters the city, and will not be tolerated.

At the same time, in accordance with Xiao Tianjian's order, the Dazhong Army shot a large number of "Letters to the Officials and Civilians of Beijing City" copied by the military scribes overnight into the city with strong bows.

At the same time, he also sent a letter of persuasion to Zhu Youzhen, the emperor of Chongzhen in the city, and advised Zhu Youzhen in a stern tone, the Ming Dynasty has no need to exist so far, and Zhu Youzhen is advised to remember the lives of millions of Beijing residents in the city, quickly announce his abdication, surrender to the Dazhong army, Xiao Tianjian promised in the name of the Dazhong Emperor that Zhu Youzhen will not be held accountable, and can ensure the safety of Zhu Youzhen's royal family, and seal Zhu Youzhen as the king of Taiping, and can enjoy the rich life of the second half of his life in the future.

At this time, Chongzhen had actually learned the news of the collapse of the three major battalions outside the city in the palace, and someone quickly sent the letter of persuasion from the emperor Xiao Tianjian to Chongzhen to the palace.

So Chongzhen ordered Wang Chengen to supervise the soldiers and horses of the Beijing Division, lead the defenders in the capital to defend the city of Beijing, and conduct the final decisive battle with the thief army, and ordered Cao Huachun and other eunuchs to personally go to each gate to supervise the battle, and all the city gates were guarded by the eunuchs he trusted, and ordered more than 2,000 eunuchs in the palace to rush to the gates of the Beijing Division to guard the city gates and resist the siege of the thieves.

At the same time, Chongzhen issued an order to summon hundreds of civil and military officials in the city to enter the palace to face the saint and discuss the plan to defend the city, but unfortunately after the eunuch passed the decree, Chongzhen has been waiting in the Huangji Hall until nearly noon, but a courtier did not enter the palace, and all the civil and military officials no longer obeyed his emperor's holy decree.

Chongzhen was angry that he immediately overturned the dragon case in front of him on the Huangji Palace, and personally gathered more than 200 guards and eunuchs in the palace to personally go to Chaoyangmen to fight to the death with the Dazhong army.

Frightened, these eunuchs and guards dragged Chongzhen one by one to prevent Chongzhen from leaving the palace, and Chongzhen failed to leave the palace and ran to Chaoyangmen to take a personal expedition.

But at noon, Wang Chengen, who was sent by Chongzhen to supervise the soldiers and horses of the Beijing Division, ran back alone, by this time, although Wang Chengen wanted to desperately keep the Beijing Division, but when he ran around the city, he found that in the huge capital, there were only thousands of soldiers left, and the soldiers refused to go to the city to defend it, and the two or three thousand eunuchs who sent the palace were scattered as birds and beasts as soon as they got out of the palace, and they couldn't pull back, and the Beijing Division could almost be said to have no soldiers to defend the city, so Wang Chengen saw this situation and returned to the palace in despair.

After Chongzhen heard Wang Chengen's cry, he sat down on the steps in front of the Imperial Palace, and the three-eyed gun in his hand that he didn't know where to find it also rolled down the white marble steps with a bang.

After a long time, Chongzhen turned his back to the sky and cried: "The ministers bear me!" ......" Then he stumbled towards the apse with Wang Chengen......

Tens of thousands of soldiers will be quietly parked outside the gates, time passes little by little, since the morning to the defenders in the Beijing division and Emperor Chongzhen after the ultimatum, although the city head looks from afar, there are people shaking from time to time, but there is no pennant display, soldiers gathered, and even those cannons on the city wall, no one is busy loading.

When Xiao Tianjian was close to noon, he personally took Yu Linwei to the main attack outside the Chaoyang Gate, and after arriving in the army, Xiao Tianjian got off his horse and walked slowly in the formation, looking towards the Chaoyang Gate from time to time.

Time seems to be frozen, at this time passed very slowly, seeing that noon was about to pass, but there was still no movement in the city, no one opened the door to surrender, but there were not many officers and soldiers on the city wall and the tower, there was a strange silence on the entire Chaoyang Gate, which made people not know what was going on in the city at this time.

At this time, it was not others who sat in Chaoyangmen, it was Cao Huachun, one of Chongzhen's most favored eunuchs, after the three battalions outside the city collapsed and surrendered to the Great Chinese Army, Chongzhen asked his cronies and eunuchs to rush to Zhumen overnight to sit in charge in person, and Cao Huachun was ordered to come to Chaoyangmen.

As soon as the light of day dawned, Cao Huachun held the battlements and looked out, and his legs suddenly softened, Chongzhen in order to strengthen the garrison of the capital in the past two years, especially during the last year, he often personally organized the Beijing battalion soldiers and horses to train in the city, so Cao Huachun, who followed Chongzhen, also saw some soldiers and horses, but when he saw the generals of the Dazhong Army outside the city, Cao Huachun was frightened.

He turned his head again to look at these officers and soldiers guarding Chaoyangmen, among the huge Beijing division, there are now only less than 10,000 soldiers left, and there are only more than 1,000 soldiers and generals assigned to Chaoyangmen, and these soldiers are all trembling with fear, many soldiers simply lie on the ground and can't get up, no matter how the officers shout and scold and how they whip them, they stand up, and that one lies down again, and there are not a few soldiers guarding the city wall around Chaoyangmen, even a few Hongyi cannons placed here, No one cares.

If you can defend the capital like this, it will be hell! Cao Huachun even had the heart to cry to death at this time, so he stayed here and waited for others to do it, there was only one word for death, so after thinking about it for a while, he turned around and went down the city tower, wanting to take advantage of this time when the army was in chaos, simply took off the eunuch robe that he was proud of on weekdays, and smeared oil on the soles of his feet.

This Ming Dynasty is over, this Beijing division is also over, facing those wolf-like tiger-like Chinese troops outside the city, it is impossible to hold it, eunuchs like them, who have entered the palace since childhood, what is the picture? Isn't it just a picture of glory and wealth, is it really necessary to accompany the current saint to be martyred?

Cao Huachun asked himself, he is not a courageous person, although he has lived a handful of years, but he still doesn't want to die, for so many years, he has been the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch, and he dare not say that he is powerful, but looking at the government and the opposition, no one dares to offend him, so over the years, he has accumulated a lot of gold, silver and jewelry, and now that the Ming Dynasty is over, does he put so much gold and silver, and follow the current emperor to die for the Ming Dynasty?

No! Never! Cao Huachun shouted in his heart, seeing that everyone was panicking at this moment, and few people noticed him at all, so he hurriedly called two little eunuchs who were close to him, and then found a room, wanting to change out of the eunuch's robe and clothes, and put on a set of ordinary people's civilian clothes that had already been prepared by the little eunuch.

At this time, someone shouted behind him: "I've seen Gonggong Cao below!" ”

(Today's special thanks to the panxiaochen brothers for their tips!) ）