In the Kunning Palace in the Forbidden City, Zhu Youzhen, the great son of the Great Tomorrow, sat on a rosewood chair with a carved dragon. He was wearing a purple dragon robe, but those gorgeous embroideries couldn't hide Zhu Youzhen's helplessness. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling of the palace.

The ceiling of the palace is composed of ornate beams and columns and nanmu wood carvings. In this queen's dormitory, the decoration on the roof beams is, of course, dominated by phoenix motifs. The phoenix is male, the phoenix is female, and the gold-inlaid phoenix pattern represents the honor of the mother of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, it was already late at night, and more than a hundred copper lamps were lit in the Kunning Palace. These bronze lamps illuminate the carvings on the top of the palace and make them even more luxurious. However, at this time, under Zhu Youzhen's desperate expression, those magnificent carvings looked pale and weak.

Zhu Youzhen's wife, Empress Zhou, sat next to Zhu Youzhen and kept wiping her tears with her hands. The princesses of Yuan Guifei, Wang Guifei and Zhu Youzhen knelt in front of the Ming Emperor and wept.

Zhu Youzhen's sons stood on the periphery, their heads bowed one by one, their faces full of gloom. The crown prince Zhu Cihong stood in the middle of the group of brothers with his eyes closed, without saying a word.

There was a depressing atmosphere in the entire Kunning Palace that could not be dissipated, as if it was about to crush the family of the Great Tomorrow.

After a long time, Zhu Youzhen finally moved. He took a deep breath through his nose, then slowly exhaled all the air from his mouth.

With this sigh, he remained motionless again.

Wang Dehua, the eunuch of Dongchang, who was standing on the periphery of the imperial family, looked at Zhu Youzhen's expression, and finally couldn't stand it anymore.

Today is the day when Yang Guozhu launched a general attack on the Tiger Ben Army as planned, and the 400,000 Ming troops attacked the 40,000 Tiger Ben Army.

However, Zhu Youzhen, who issued the holy decree of the general attack, suddenly lost all confidence one day after the holy decree was issued, when the battle situation on the front line had not yet been transmitted back to the capital.

Wang Dehua didn't know if Zhu Youzhen's despair was right, but he understood that the Son of Heaven was smarter than himself. If it weren't for the hopelessness of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youzhen would definitely be a qualified monarch. Coming to this point, it is not so much that Zhu Youzhen has made mistakes again and again, but that it is the situation of the times.

Since Zhu Youzhen is so desperate, the matter must be very dangerous.

Wang Dehua opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but closed his mouth again.

He swallowed and thought for a moment.

In the end, he couldn't help it, took a step forward, and whispered: "Emperor..."

Taking a breath, Wang Dehua said loudly: "Emperor, the Wuqing front line has just started a war today, and now the battle situation ahead is unknown, and the scouts have not yet reported the battle back, why should the emperor be so discouraged?" ”

"Emperor, Yang Guozhu has become a country, and he has 60,000 elite soldiers in his hands, so he can't say that he has repelled Wuqing's Tiger Army, and I don't know?"

Hearing Wang Dehua's words, Zhu Youzhen closed his eyes helplessly.

It took a long time for Zhu Youzhen to open his eyes. He said slowly: "I shouldn't repent, I shouldn't..."

Zhu Youzhen said miserably: "I shouldn't have repented, but for the greed in my heart, I chose to be the enemy of the common people in the world, and beat Li Zhi as a traitor." ”

Two tears suddenly poured out of Zhu Youzhen's eyes, slowly leaving on the faces of the somewhat old middle-aged man.

"I actually chose to confront the King of Qi who saved the Ming Dynasty. Now that the decree of war has been issued, I know the absurdity of this choice. The new army of Jingying, which has only been training for two years, how can it be the opponent of the Tiger Ben Army that has won all battles? How can I, a lonely Ming Dynasty, confront the hearts of the people in the world? ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the carved beams and painted pillars around him, shook his head, and sighed: "It's a pity, it's a pity that the palace palace handed down by the ancestors, it's a pity that the country and the society have all been cut off by me." ”

As he spoke, Zhu Youzhen laughed miserably: "I have all been cut off by my hand." ”

Tears kept flowing down Zhu Youzhen's face, and Zhu Youzhen was speechless in the end.

Seeing Zhu Youzhen's appearance, Wang Dehua took a breath and was a little speechless.

Wang Dehua felt that his tongue seemed to be knotted, and he couldn't make a sound.

"The Emperor... The Emperor..."

However, before Wang Dehua could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the cry of Zhu Youzhen's third son, Zhu Cijiong. Zhu Cijiong seemed to sense that the general trend had gone, and lay in the center of the hall and cried. He desperately banged his arm on the ground, as if he was going to break his own.

Since his father Zhu Youzhen concluded that the battle would be lost, Zhu Cijiong no longer had confidence in the situation.

The crown prince Zhu Cihong finally couldn't control his emotions and began to wipe his tears with his sleeve.

The concubines kneeling in front of Zhu Youzhen saw the appearance of the men, and they were even more desperate, crying one by one and grabbing the ground. Kunning Palace suddenly fell into a cry.

Wang Dehua looked at the appearance of the Son of Heaven's family and opened his mouth, but he really didn't know what to say.

Suddenly, a small eunuch rushed in outside the door.

"Holy! Wang Chengen is back, Wang Chengen is back with news from Wuqing! ”

Zhu Youzhen glared suddenly: "Where is Wang Chengen?" ”

The little eunuch bowed his head and said, "Wang Chengen has passed the Imperial Palace and is coming from the road. ”

Hearing this, everyone in the Kunning Palace stopped crying. They looked sharply at the outside of the palace, staring at the dark corridor outside the palace, waiting for Wang Chengen to pass on the final result.

Although Zhu Youzhen had already realized that he would lose this battle, even if he felt that 99 percent would lose, there was still a possibility of one percent victory in the end. Zhu Youzhen only felt that his breathing became rapid for an instant, and he looked at the outside of Kunning Palace with wide eyes, his eyes getting redder and redder, waiting for the final result.

Outside the palace, the situation is already a little out of control.

Wang Chengen obviously kept changing horses and galloped to the capital, and he wanted to report the battle situation of Wuqing to Zhu Youzhen as soon as possible, and he obviously didn't stop along the way. But Wang Chengen, who rushed to the imperial city at full speed, entered the Forbidden City, but his feet were like being filled with lead, and every step towards Kunning Palace required huge strength.

The palace maids and eunuchs in the palace all looked at Wang Chengen with their eyes and surrounded Wang Chengen. Some people loudly questioned Wang Chengen, trying to know the battle situation on the front line in advance.

The decisive battle of Wuqing can directly determine the life and death of the Ming Dynasty. If he loses, Daming will be finished. The emperor will no longer be the emperor, all order will be overthrown, and all the rules in the palace will be meaningless.

The eunuchs and palace maids were no longer decent, and they all gathered behind Wang Chengen one by one, hoping to learn the key situation from Wang Chengen earlier.

But Wang Chengen didn't say a word, and only walked slowly towards Kunning Palace.

More and more people left their posts and followed behind Wang Chengen.

Followed by hundreds of people, Wang Chengen finally walked to Kunning Palace and saw Zhu Youzhen, the son of heaven who was staring at him with wide eyes.

The moment Wang Chengen saw Zhu Youzhen, tears flowed uncontrollably in his eyes.

He knelt at the door of the palace with a plop, and kept kowtowing to Zhu Youzhen, but he couldn't say a word.