Outside the Qianqing Gate, Sun Chengzong and Huang Liji, who asked to see the emperor, were anxiously waiting. The two ministers guarding the door waited with their heads bowed on the side, not even daring to come out.

In the past year, these two ministers have truly mastered the military and political power of the imperial court, and they are also the most trusted ministers of Chongzhen. After the 24 yamen in the palace were rectified, the atmosphere in the palace has improved greatly, and the eunuchs who like to form gangs and factions the most have been sent out, and the rest are some more honest personnel.

But the habit of being red and white in the palace is still not easy to eliminate. In front of these two Chongzhen's most trusted ministers, they completely lost their previous arrogant style, only cautious. For fear of angering the two important ministers at this extraordinary moment, let himself eat a meal.

Although Sun Chengzong and Huang Liji both came to see Chongzhen, they did not come together, in fact, because of the attack on the General Staff by public opinion in the capital in the past two days, Sun Chengzong still had some opinions on Huang Liji.

However, the constant bad news from the Jizhou front made Sun Chengzong no longer have the intention of fighting with these officials. Now he just wants to rush to Jizhou City as soon as possible and stabilize the Jizhou defense line. Prevent the Houjin army from breaking out of the Jizhou defense line and entering the unsheltered North China Plain.

Houjin sent troops this time, mostly cavalry troops. If this army was allowed to enter the vast plains, Sun Chengzong felt that even if the strength was three times larger, the Ming army, which was dominated by infantry, would not be able to intercept a cavalry group.

Sun Chengzong made concessions for this and was willing to follow the original plan and only carry two new army units out of Beijing. However, he hopes to be able to leave as soon as possible and not delay any longer. The officials and people of the capital were relieved by Sun Chengzong's decision, and they no longer continued to pester.

But this plan to send troops is stuck here in Chongzhen, and it is now November 1, and it has been 5 days since Houjin broke the Great Wall pass. Sun Chengzong felt that he would have to send troops tomorrow anyway, before things got worse.

However, at this critical juncture, the emperor locked himself in the harem and refused everyone's request to see, which made Sun Chengzong, who was turned away, a little anxious.

Huang Liji, who was on the other side, was also worried, but he was not worried that the Later Jin army would rush out of the Yanshan Pass and wreak havoc on the area around Gyeonggi. Instead, he was worried that the new army, which had drawn half of its force, would be able to block the Houjin attack on the capital.

Huang Liji came to see the emperor, in fact, to represent the mainstream opinion of the officials in the capital, wanting to expand the scope of conscription of troops into the guard, instead of only summoning troops near Gyeonggi as is the case now.

In fact, Huang Liji mainly came to persuade Chongzhen today, hoping to gather a part of the Xuanda army and the Liaoxi army to join the Weijing division, instead of using these two border armies that could only go into battle to intercept the rear road of the Houjin army.

In Huang Liji's view, as long as he can keep the Jingshi from losing, it is equivalent to preserving the vitality of the Ming Dynasty. As for the Houjin army, they may plunder the Gyeonggi region, but as long as they keep the Gyeongshi, these slave soldiers will eventually have to retreat, because they have no place in the pass at all.

The Gyeonggi region may lose a number of people and property, but as long as it is five or six years old, these people will soon recover. The resilience of the people of the Ming Dynasty has never been worrying. And as long as they are given land and time, they will inevitably create more wealth.

What worries Huang Liji the most now is the safety of the capital. If there is a problem in the capital, the prestige of the Ming center for the local area will inevitably be hit hard. For the current Ming Dynasty, the power of the imperial court center to govern the local government does not come entirely from the constraints of the system itself, and the traditional inertial constraints of the imperial court center on the authority of local governments seem to be greater.

Once the center of the imperial court loses its majesty, the local forces, which were already doing their own thing, may be more independent and difficult to suppress. After hearing that the emperor hid in the harem and disappeared, Huang Liji immediately ran over in a hurry, hoping to persuade Chongzhen to call the officers and soldiers of Xuanda and Liaoxi towns to guard.

Sun Chengzong and Huang Liji waited for a long time before they saw Lu Qi hurrying over with the hem of his robe. Lu Qi, who was a little out of breath without waiting to run, stood firm, and the two of them had already asked in unison: "Where is Your Majesty, take us to meet quickly." ”

Lu Qi paused for a moment, and then said in a little panic: "Your Majesty first went to the martyr's children primary school in Xiyuan to inspect, and after having lunch with the students, he went to Banzai Mountain, and now it seems that he has not yet gone down the mountain..."

After Zhu Youzhen climbed to the top of Wansui Mountain, he raised his eyes to look in all directions, and the style of the entire capital was suddenly displayed in front of his eyes one by one. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was just a small hill called Qingshan, and later during the Yongle period, the city of Beijing was overhauled, and the soil of the excavation moat was piled up here, so that the peak of more than 40 meters high and more than 200 acres in radius was formed.

After nearly 200 years of intermittent repairs, Banzai Mountain has changed from a barren soil mountain that has been artificially piled up to a natural wild landscape of jungles covering the sun, orchards under the mountains, and flocks of deer and cranes.

The top of the mountain, which is more than 40 meters high, has almost become the highest viewing spot in Beijing. Standing on the top of the mountain, you can look down on the entire capital. Looking at the courtyard houses with heavy roofs and eaves everywhere in the capital, Zhu Youzhen has a feeling of visiting the film and television city.

It's just that there are no people living in the film and television city in later generations, but these old courtyards in front of him are really full of people. The smoke curling in the courtyard and the pedestrians on the streets, the war in Zunhua did not seem to affect the daily life of the capital, and the people in the capital still lived a peaceful and peaceful life.

But Zhu is well aware that if history had not changed, in 15 years, most of the city's residents would have disappeared into their current homes, and no one knew whether they would have died in war, sickness or had fled the city with their families.

He didn't know much about the history of other cities, but he knew the history of the city. After the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, there were no longer Han residents in the inner city of Beijing, as for where did the Han people who originally lived in the inner city go? The Manchus didn't say it, and neither did the Han people who surrendered, it seems that they just disappeared into this world without a trace.

How many joys and sorrows have happened in this story, only the parties themselves know. From the rise of Nurhachi to Wu Sangui's personal hanging of the Yongli Emperor in Kunming, in the 60-year history of the fall of the Ming Kingdom, how many Han people died has always been an unclear question.

However, even the Chengdu Plain, which was thriving in the past dynasties, became a paradise for tigers and beasts in the early Qing Dynasty, so I know that this is the darkest period of the history of my Han people. Of course, a few hundred years later, there was a Han Chinese in Shandong who was not interested in the stories of these dead Han people at all, but admired the Manchu heroes who slaughtered the Han people, calling this period of time "Sixty Years of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty".

This person was enthusiastic about the enthusiasm of several emperors of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he probably wanted to travel to the early Qing Dynasty to be a slave for the Manchus. From this, it can be seen that in the 267 years since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, many Han people have indeed been domesticated into the habit of servants, forgetting that the name Han comes from, Siyi Binfu; Those who commit crimes against me will be punished even if they are far away. The Great Han Dynasty.

Wang Chengen stood behind Chongzhen, watching the thinly dressed emperor standing on the top of the mountain and looking at the distant houses in a daze, ignoring the cold wind blowing on the mountain from time to time, and couldn't help urging a little anxiously: "Your Majesty is windy here, take a look and go down the mountain." Now that the state affairs are heavy, everything needs to be decided by His Majesty himself, if you suffer from the cold here, who else can you rely on to deal with this state affairs? Mr. Sun and Mr. Huang are now waiting outside the Qianqing Gate to be summoned by His Majesty? ”

Zhu Youzhen finally broke away from his reverie, and he didn't look back, so calmly instructed Wang Chengen: "Mr. Sun and Mr. Huang are so anxious, I just want to think quietly and sort out my thoughts clearly. Can't they even wait a day? ”

Wang Chengen boldly replied: "It seems that the situation on the front line is indeed very bad, otherwise the two gentlemen would not be in such a hurry to see Your Majesty." The minister thought that His Majesty would still see the two gentlemen, so that the officials of the foreign court could rest assured, lest they come to pull His Majesty's hind legs again. ”

As the head of the Internal Affairs Office, Wang Chengen is actually angry about the current situation. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has invested a lot in the industries of Tianjin and Tangshan, and if the slave soldiers are allowed to rush to these places, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be in vain this year. He really hoped that Sun Chengzong would quickly take the new army out of the city, establish a strong defense line in Jizhou, and block Jiannu to the east of Jizhou.

Zhu Youzhen continued to stand with his hands behind his back for a while, and then exhaled and said, "Okay, I'll give them an answer, and send someone to ask the two gentlemen to rest for a while in the small living room next to the upper study." When I went to see the queen, I went to speak to the two gentlemen. ”

Under the persuasion of Wang Chengen, Zhu Youzhen finally came down from Wansui Mountain, but he did not come down from the mountain road in the south, but went around to the Guanmiao Pavilion in the east to descend the mountain.

When passing by the Guanmiao Pavilion, Zhu Youzhen suddenly stopped, looked at the old locust tree under the pavilion that was leaning eastward for a long time, and said quietly: "Sure enough, it is a good locust tree." "Just keep going. Wang Chengen glanced at the old locust tree, and really didn't think what was good about this crooked-necked locust tree, but he carefully noted down the location, and prepared to let the ministers who managed the garden take care of it carefully, so as not to damage the old locust that the emperor had praised.

At this time, Wang Chengen did not know what kind of connection he had with this old locust. Otherwise, it is estimated that people will cut it down early in the morning and go to their own bad luck.

Zhou Yufeng, who is more than seven months pregnant, is carefully walking around the palace with the support of the palace people, which is regarded as a daily exercise.

When Chongzhen arrived at Kunning Palace and saw this scene, he didn't alarm her silently, and quietly stepped forward to take over the work of the palace people.

"Your Majesty, why are you here?" Zhou Yufeng, who was bowing her head and silently counting her steps, felt that after the palace people who supported her were replaced, she realized that it was the emperor who ran to her side. She said in surprise, and then remembered to squat down and salute, but was stopped by Chongzhen.

Being personally cared for by her husband, Zhou Yufeng felt very warm. Especially Zhu Youzhen's cautious appearance of helping her made Zhou Yufeng very moved.

The two silently circled around the hall twice, and after completing today's task, Zhu Youzhen helped her sit down on a soft chair.

After Zhou Yufeng sat down, he looked at Chongzhen, whose eyebrows were tangled together and didn't know where to start, he cleaned up his mood a little, and then asked Chongzhen with a smile: "If Your Majesty has anything to say, please say it directly, the concubine is in good health now, and it doesn't matter if she says anything." ”