People are very superstitious in these years, pay attention to each other from the heart, so when the Ming Dynasty is examined, appearance is a pass that must be passed, a person only looks dignified, can be qualified to be an official, if you look like a roe deer, obscene, sorry, even if you are talented, you will never achieve fame.

To be an official, you must pay attention to official authority, let alone the king of a country, the emperor!

Therefore, in the eyes of many people, since Li Zicheng is blind in one eye and has broken his appearance, there is no possibility of being an emperor.

Faced with Chen Yue's playful mockery of Li Zicheng's blindness, the iron lion suddenly had a strong anger in his heart, but he couldn't help it.

The night went on like this, and the next morning the invading army began a tentative attack, and the captured artillery was lined up and fired at the city. The cannon roared, and the whole city was shocked!

Many forts were built on the city wall of Beijing, and at this time it was natural to counterattack the intruding army. But I don't know what's going on, but few of the many cannons can be fired, and at the critical moment, the artillery is either blown up or extinguished, and the training intensity of the gunners in the Beijing camp can be seen. Many people have not touched a cannon for too long, and the rust in the barrel has never been cleaned up.

The cannon rumbled, the head of the city was smashed by the cannonballs, and a cannonball fell on the head of the city, and it turned at high speed and grazed the body of a soldier of the Beijing camp, and the soldier let out a terrible cry, and one arm had been cut off by the cannonball, and the cannonball was castrated and hit the chest of another soldier, and the soldier fell to the ground without a sound, and his body was slammed to the ground like a dough. The shells rolled on the ground and hit the women's wall directly before stopping, and the screams of the soldiers in the Beijing camp were still in their ears.

Under the city, with the power of artillery fire, groups of soldiers rushed to the city wall with ladders, to launch a strong attack on the outer city. Although envoys had been sent to negotiate peace, in order to put pressure on the Ming army, it was still necessary to attack the city.

Looking at the intrusive army rushing over, the Ming army at the head of the city trembled, and could hardly raise the weapons in their hands. The Beijing battalion troops in the city were first taken away by Li Jiantai, and then Li Guojiao, the commander of Xiangcheng, took away three battalions to meet the enemy outside the city, and now even the Beijing battalion soldiers with weak combat effectiveness are only more than 20,000, distributed on the city wall for dozens of miles, and one person needs to guard several battlements. There was no way, the government ordered that the people in the city be requisitioned to defend the city, and it was stipulated that each household needed to send a man to the city. Each man was given a weapon and he caught up with the wall.

Therefore, there are more people on the city wall than the soldiers of the Beijing battalion. The soldiers of the Beijing camp are still not good, not to mention these ordinary people who have been forcibly conscripted, as soon as the army attacks slightly, many people are so frightened that they are scared and wailing.

On the city wall, the only one who can fight back normally is the Xishan Army guarding Yongding Gate.

Under the command of Chen Yue, the firecrackers and crossbowmen occupied a battlement, held the firecrackers and opened the crossbows, and began to fire at the invading army below, the projectiles were like curtains, arrows were like rain, and the invading troops who swarmed to the city were shrouded in it, most of these people who were driven to attack the city were the Ming troops who had just surrendered, and they were still wearing the previous rags, and there was no armor protection at all, just a round of attacks, and there were hundreds of invading soldiers screaming and falling under the barrage of arrows.

The number of Xishan troops at the head of the city was 1,500 people, nearly half of them were crossbow archers and firecrackers, and the powerful offensive suddenly blinded the attacking army of the city. Seeing that people around them died from time to time under the rain of arrows, these former Ming soldiers howled miserably, pulled their legs and turned around and retreated. The surrender of the new masters did not make them a little more brave.

Some of the intruders retreated, driving more people to retreat, and with a hula, the intruders who attacked Yongdingmen retreated, leaving only one hundred and ten corpses under the city.

In the distance, an elite army of the intruder army met the retreating intruding army, raised their swords and guns and executed the fastest escapees, and then began to organize the queue of deserters.

The army does not know that it is invincible, and it can be repulsed! The people at the head of the city and the soldiers of the Beijing camp couldn't help but let go of their hearts when they saw that the Xishan army was so good at fighting, and one by one they were no longer so panicked.

A small victory was not enough to move Chen Yue, because he knew that as long as he was willing to defend it, with the strength of Beijing's city walls, it would never be a problem to hold it for several months.

And the intrusive army outside the city is not so elite and good at fighting. But the question is, in the face of the surging invasion of the army, in the face of the rolling tide of the world, how many people are willing to defend to the death, how many people want to sacrifice the city and surrender, and think of asking for merit and reward in front of the new master?

Yongding Gate is guarded, what about the other city gates?

"The Dashun army has entered the city, the Dashun army has entered the city!" At this moment, a commotion came from a distance, and then a horse was seen coming quickly, and went straight up the city wall along the horse path.

"Lord Zhongcheng, Cao Huachun, the eunuch of the Xibianmen Prison Army, opened the door and surrendered, and the thieves have invaded the outer city from Xibianmen!" Liu Neng hurriedly said to Chen Yue.

Yes! Chen Yue was taken aback, he could have thought that someone would surrender sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. How long has it been? The Dashun army has only besieged the city for a day, and before they have attacked the city, some people can't hold it back.

"Withdraw, retreat to the inner city!" Chen Yue sighed and commanded.

The situation has come to this point, and it seems that he is really wrong to come to King Qin, maybe he can't save Chongzhen and will put himself on board.

With Chen Yue's order, the soldiers of the Xishan Army at the head of the city began to rush down the city.

"Governor Chen, why are you going?" Wang Dehua, the eunuch of the prison army, was entertaining Du Xun who came to persuade him to surrender in the city tower, and when he heard the sound, he asked in surprise. He didn't know what was going on yet.

"The Xibian Gate has been broken, and I will lead the army to the inner city." Chen Yue said casually, turning around to leave.

"Princess, you see that I am not wrong, it is the trend of the times to return to Dashun, it will be too late for you to hesitate, hurry up and order to open the Yongding Gate and surrender!" Du Xun chattered on the side.

"What? Prince, do you want to surrender the city? Chen Yue stopped when he heard the sound.

"This, Governor Chen, you see that the situation is already like this, there is no point in us continuing to defend it, otherwise, or let's go down together." Wang Dehua hesitated for a moment and said to Chen Yue.

"Hehehe," Chen Yue sneered, "I, Chen Yue, can surrender, and these soldiers can also surrender, but how can your prince surrender?" You are Your Majesty's most trusted domestic slave, he handed over this Yongding Gate City Guard to you, and you surrendered like this, are you worthy of Your Majesty? ”

"I, I, I ......" Wang Dehua stammered and couldn't speak.

"Lord Chen, the so-called person who knows the times is Junjie, the situation is stronger than people, you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your subordinates." Seeing that Wang Dehua was speechless when he was scolded, Du Xun persuaded him hard.

"Hmph, I, Chen Yue, only know that being a courtier should be a king's worries, and I don't want to do anything like betraying my master and betraying the country for glory!" Chen Yue smiled coldly, "Since you have chosen to surrender to the thieves, if you fall into the hands of me Chen Yue, you will only die!" ”

With a wave of his hand, the two guards raised their crossbows.

"Don't, Lord Chen, I'm a messenger sent by Dashun to negotiate peace, and the two countries are at war without killing them, you can't kill me!" Du Xun shouted in panic.

"The two countries are at war, Li Chuang is just a traitor to the Ming Dynasty, a messenger of the fart, since Li Zicheng wants to negotiate peace, why do you want to attack the city!" Chen Yue scolded coldly, and raised his hand to wave it down.

"Come on, take down the traitor Chen Yue!" Wang Dehua roared hoarsely. He was the eunuch of the prison army, the nominal supreme leader of the city, and some officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp surrounded him.

"What? Wang Dehua wants to surrender the city, do you want to join him? Chen Yue looked at these Jingying soldiers coldly and waved his hand heavily.

Two crossbow arrows came out of the string and stuck straight into the choked throats of Wang Dehua and Du Xun, and the two birdless people fell to the ground without saying a word, and went to see the king of Hades together.

"Those who dare to surrender the city, these two will be the end!" Chen Yue glanced at the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp in the city with cold eyes, and went down to the city with the soldiers of the Xishan Army.

Chen Yue's killing is not to say that he has a sense of justice and is loyal to Daming, nor is it how much he hates these surrenderers, the Dashun army is not as good as the Manchu Tartars, they are all Han army, and Chen Yue really doesn't care about replacing Daming. On the contrary, if Dashun can defeat the Manchu Qing and secure the country, Chen Yue is estimated to be the first to surrender.

just knew that Li Zicheng couldn't do anything to the Manchu Dynasty, so Chen Yue was reluctant to defect. I thought that I could escape to the south with Chongzhen and open up another situation, so that there might be a possibility to save the situation.

There is only one purpose for killing Wang Dehua, to prevent anyone from opening Yongding Gate and surrendering again, and to buy time for himself to lead the team to the inner city.

"What shall we do?" A hundred households in Beijing looked at the corpses of Wang Dehua and Du Xun on the ground of the city wall, and asked his boss in a trembling manner.

"What else can I do? Haven't you heard that the Xibian Gate is lost, this outer city can't be defended, escape! The thousand households sighed and took the lead in escaping from the city, and as for the closed gate, no one had the courage to open it to welcome the Shun army outside into the city.

Chen Yue took 3,000 soldiers and rushed north along the street, heading straight for Zhengyangmen. And at this moment, the entire outer city has become a mess, and people are shouting and screaming everywhere.

When he arrived at the Zhengyang Gate Tower, he saw that the city gate was closed, and the swords of the Ming officers and soldiers on the city were unsheathed, all of them looked like they were facing a great enemy.

"I am Chen Yue, the governor of Tianjin, and I came to King Qin by holy decree, the outer city has been broken, and I ask to enter the inner city!" Chen Yue rode his horse to the front of the team and shouted at the city gate.

"Chen Yue, this official Li Banghua!" A man wearing a black veil and a big red official robe peeked out from the battlement and shouted at Chen Yue, "This official asked you, is the outer city really lost?" ”

"Back to Lord Li, my people found out that Cao Huachun, the eunuch guarding the Xibianmen, had opened the city gate, and the thieves had already entered the outer city. My lord, could you please open the gates and let us in? Chen Yue shouted.

"Lord Li, you can't open it, what if this Chen Yue surrenders to the Shun army and comes to earn the city?" At the head of Zhengyangmen, a Praetorian Guard general said anxiously to Li Banghua.

Li Banghua closed his eyes and was silent for a moment, and then opened them suddenly, "If Chen Yue also surrenders to the thief, then this Ming Dynasty will really be finished!" It doesn't make a difference whether you let him into the city or not. If Chen Yue hadn't surrendered, with his force, maybe he would still be able to hold this inner city! ”

"Open the city gate, I'll be responsible for everything that goes wrong!" Li Banghua said majestically to the Praetorian Guard general.

"This ......" The Praetorian Guard general hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and ordered his men to open the city gates. Li Banghua, as the imperial history of the left capital, is responsible for guarding Zhengyangmen, where he is the largest, and all the troops of Zhengyangmen must listen to him.

"Chen Yue, this, why did this outer city lose so quickly?" Li Banghua pulled the sleeve of Chen Yue, who jumped off the war horse, and asked anxiously. In this case, even this old man who has been in officialdom for decades has lost his cool.

"What else? Isn't it that the city gate was opened by his own people, and the city surrendered! Chen Yue shook his head and said, "Taiyuan, Datong, and even Juyongguan are all like this, and now it's Beijing's turn again." ”

"Alas, the building is about to fall, and the gas is exhausted!" Li Banghua threw away Chen Yue's sleeve and muttered in despair.

Looking at Li Banghua's appearance, Chen Yue suddenly felt a little sad in his heart, if this Ming still has loyal ministers, this Li Banghua is undoubtedly one of them.

"Lord Li," Chen Yue pulled Li Banghua's sleeve and said softly, "Lord Li, can you help me enter the palace and see Your Majesty." ”

"What do you want to see Your Majesty?" Li Banghua frowned and asked.

"It's not a secret," Chen Yue looked around cautiously and whispered, "I was appointed governor of Tianjin by His Majesty's holy decree, in fact, to guard the way for Your Majesty to retreat from the sea, and this time I came to King Jingqin to save Your Majesty from going to the south." ”

As he spoke, he handed the secret decree that Chongzhen gave himself to Li Banghua, looking at the secret decree in his hand, Li Banghua carefully identified it, and confirmed that it was Chongzhen's own handwriting, and his expression suddenly became pleasantly surprised.

"You, are you sure?" Li Banghua took Chen Yue's arm and asked eagerly. Although he was opposed to Chongzhen going to Nanjing by himself, he advocated letting the prince go. But now the situation is like this, if Chen Yue can really save Chongzhen, then Daming still has something to do.

"I'm not sure, after all, there are hundreds of thousands of thieves outside the city now. But the more at this moment, the more lax the thieves become, if they can take His Majesty into the army, take advantage of the fall of the city, and kill them out of the city. With these three thousand sons under my command, there should be no problem in rushing out of the city gate. Tianjin is only more than 200 miles away from Beijing, day and night, it only takes two days to reach Tianjin, and then take a boat to the sea, from the sea straight to Nanjing! It should be said that it is still possible to escape. ”

Chen Yue whispered to Li Banghua about his plans. At present, although he has brought people to the inner city, it is not easy to do this alone, and someone must cooperate with him. And in this Ming court, there are not many trustworthy people, and Li Banghua is one of them.

"What do you want me to do?" Li Banghua asked quietly.

"With my current status as a foreign minister, it is not so easy to see the emperor, so Lord Li, you have to help me meet the emperor first."