The fall of Xining City in March of the fourth year of Chongzhen did not attract much attention in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

The vast majority of people in the government and the opposition in the capital city, all the things they are concerned about and discuss are the four years of Chongzhen's spring in front of them.

In the spring of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the people from the northern and southern provinces of the Ming Dynasty and the vassal country of Korea gathered in the city of Jingshi from all over the world.

The city's temples, monstages, inns, and rent-out dwellings are all overcrowded during this warmer March.

Tea shops, restaurants, restaurants, and fireworks in Willow Alley are full of people who are discussing the topic of spring while pushing cups and changing lamps.

And Emperor Chongzhen, who was in the Forbidden City, received a secret letter from Gao Shiming, the eunuch of Xi'an, and Hu Yikui, the envoy of Jinyi Weixi's Zhenfu Division, within a few days after receiving the report from Li Banghua and others.

The news that Li Banghua did not dare to be sure in the report before, such as the defection of Han Yuchang and Han Chengen's brothers, the death of the guards Li Hongsi, Li Zhensheng and others, and the wanton massacre of the city after Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi camp entered the city, were all confirmed one by one by the secret fold of Jinyi Weixi Zhenfu Si later.

On the night of March 21 in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen was in his own accommodation in the Xinuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, and carefully looked at the secret folds of the Jinyi Weixi Zhenfu Division.

For the fourth year of Chongzhen's spring festival, which was about to start the next day, Emperor Chongzhen didn't care too much.

With Xu Guangqi, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Wenhuadian University, presiding over it, as well as several other deputy examiners and countless pairs of eyes from all over the court, he was not worried about the cases of fraud in the imperial examinations that often appeared in the past.

Originally, he also thought that on the first day before the start of the examination, he would personally go to the Gongyuan in the capital city to show the importance that the emperor attaches to the imperial examination.

However, the secret fold from Jinyi Weixi Zhenfu Division made him dispel this idea, and he couldn't raise that interest.

Emperor Chongzhen knew very well in his heart that the fall of Xining City had a great deal of responsibility on the side of the imperial court, and to put it bluntly, it was on his own.

"Alas......!"

Emperor Chongzhen, who was sitting on a Ming-style circle chair under the window of the Xinuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, let out a long sigh, then closed the secret fold in his hand, and said to Wang Chengen, the eunuch of the Qianqing Palace and the head of the Internal Affairs Office, who was standing in the pavilion:

"Wang Chengen! I can't stand the soldiers and civilians in Xining City, who have been holding the city for 16 months! I'm sorry for the Xining Li family who swore to defend the city to the death, and the whole family was killed!

"I never thought that the Li family, who lived in Xining, would be so loyal to my Ming Dynasty! The so-called loyalty, filial piety, and martyrs of the past dynasties are probably nothing more than that!

"In the past, because of the evil deeds committed by those who were disloyal, unfilial, unkind and unjust, I speculated on the hearts of the Confucian scholars in the world and the aspirations of those generals and families, but now it seems that there are quite a lot of deviations!

"A century-old family like the Xining Li family, it seems that there are still a lot of people! It's my misconception! ”

Since coming to this era, that is, the Ming Dynasty, the Chongzhen Emperor is now full of suspicion about all those who have never heard of his deeds in later generations, and has always been afraid to speculate on all people's hearts with the greatest malice.

Although he never resorted to these things or said them, in reality, he really did what he wanted in his heart.

Therefore, the decisions he made many times always gave people the impression that the emperor was suspicious and mean by nature.

Compared with the original history of Emperor Chongzhen, there are many similarities, and there are also many differences, more precisely, it is called similar but different.

In this life, Wang Chengen, as one of the most trusted eunuchs around Emperor Chongzhen, naturally has a deep understanding of the character of His Majesty the Emperor in front of him.

In his opinion, His Majesty the Emperor in front of him, no matter what happens, likes to expect the worst for people.

Either doubt whether they have ulterior motives, or doubt their private character, or even doubt all their words and deeds in front of the emperor and above the court.

Emperor Chongzhen's character and style, whether it is good or not, whether it is right or not, of course Wang Chengen does not dare to discuss.

However, as the chief eunuch of the Internal Affairs Office, he knows very well that there is no eunuch in the Forbidden City now, who dares to believe that he is from a hidden mansion, or that he is overly kind to him by the emperor, and is arrogant and arrogant in the palace or outside the palace.

As the chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, especially now as the chief eunuch of the Internal Affairs Office, Wang Chengen now feels that it is not a good habit to think of people in the worst way.

For ordinary people, this is certainly suspicious and annoying, but for those in high positions, doing so can avoid the big mistake of being gullible to the greatest extent.

"Your Majesty doesn't have to blame yourself! Since ancient times, the saints have said that the heart of the Tao is slight, and the heart of the people is in danger! In this world, the most unpredictable thing is the human heart!

"The Li family in Xining adheres to the city and the whole family is dead, full of loyalty, this is the ancient style of loyal ministers and righteous men of the country! As for the fall of Xining and the slaughter of the people, this is the evil act of the Western thief, and it is definitely not the fault of His Majesty!

"If Your Majesty regrets what happened to the Li family in Xining, why not tell the world about his deeds in defending the city, commend the loyal martyrs of the Li family in Xining, and make it famous for eternity and eternal life, so that it is enough to comfort the heroic souls of the martyrdom in Xining City!"

Speaking of this, Wang Chengen probably felt that he was suspected of interfering in politics when he said this as a minister, so he immediately lifted his robe and knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said:

"The minister can't bear to see His Majesty blame himself in the dark night, if this is in terms of speechlessness! Please forgive your majesty for the sin of contempt and misconduct! ”

At this time, in the Qianqing Palace of the Forbidden City, the only people who could serve in front of the emperor were big eunuchs like Wang Chengen.

And since Emperor Chongzhen kowtowed to order several big eunuchs in Da Nei to change their words in front of him and not call themselves slaves and maids, even those big eunuchs who have received such grace no longer call the emperor the emperor, but like courtiers, call the emperor His Majesty.

Today's Wang Chengen is exactly like this, and such a title itself also makes them, the ministers, feel that they have a heavy responsibility.

If this were not the case, a cautious eunuch like Wang Chengen would never easily take the risk of interfering in politics in front of the emperor.

At this time, seeing the eunuch in charge of the Internal Affairs Office who he trusted knelt tremblingly in front of him, Emperor Chongzhen smiled bitterly and sighed, waved his hand, and said to Wang Chengen:

"Wang Chengen, get up! I forgive you today for your innocence! I have already told you to call yourself a minister in front of me, and I have treated you and the officials of the court as equal.

"Courtiers can give advice in front of me, and among the courtiers, such as you, the king, can of course also admonish you!

"Get up and speak! If there's anything else you want to say to me, you can tell me all about it today! As for right and wrong, I forgive you for your innocence! ”

After Emperor Chongzhen said this, he quietly looked at Wang Chengen, looking at the most trusted eunuch in his life.

And Wang Chengen saw Emperor Chongzhen say this to him, so he quickly kowtowed and thanked him, got up from the ground, and then bowed his body, considered his words, and said to Emperor Chongzhen:

"Since Your Majesty has ordered the minister to speak today, the minister will dare to say a few words! Since receiving the report of the Northwest Military Intelligence, His Majesty has not thought about tea and food, so that he has forgotten to sleep and eat, and the queen mother and all the mothers in the inner palace have been worried about His Majesty's dragon body these days, and their hearts are uneasy!

"The ministers are also anxious in their eyes, Your Majesty is worried about state affairs, and I don't know that Your Majesty's dragon body is the biggest state matter!

"Since the ministers followed His Majesty into the palace for four years, I have seen with my own eyes that the Ming Dynasty has come all the way to this day in the ups and downs, not only gradually stable, but also thriving, which is the work of Your Majesty!

"If it weren't for Your Majesty's efforts to put things in order and make every effort to make the country right, the situation of the country and the dynasty today would be unspeakable!"

After saying this, Wang Chengen looked up at Emperor Chongzhen, and saw that the emperor seemed to be listening intently, and it seemed to be wandering outside the world, in short, there was no special reaction.

Seeing this, Wang Chengen thought for a while, then gritted his teeth, and then said: "Your Majesty, please forgive the sin of losing your words!"

"In the opinion of the ministers, Your Majesty is the foundation of the stability of the world, as long as Your Majesty is as stable as Mount Tai and sits in the palace, the situation in the world is not bad no matter how bad it is!

"Besides, Your Majesty is worried about the situation in the northwest today, but there is no need to do it! Xining was originally isolated in the land of the river, although it was crucial for the state to control the west of the Kang-Tibet River in peacetime, but today, the chaos in the northwest is like chicken ribs.

"It's good to keep it, but it doesn't matter if you lose it now! The minister knows that His Majesty's heart is worried about the northwest, not all because of the loss of Xining, but about the loss of Xining, but about Xining City falling into the hands of the West thieves.

"However, in the minister's superficial opinion, Xining Li Shizhen Hehuang, since it has been lost today, there must be a root cause for losing!

"And the minister thinks about the root cause, and thinks about it, but the land of the river is particularly barren! Although the land of Hehuang is vast and vast, with a radius of thousands of miles, there are very few things produced by the land, which is not enough to maintain a long-term hold!

"The imperial court lost Xining today, because of this, and the loss of Xining by the thieves on another day will also be because of this!

"Today, the imperial court has lost Xining, causing the western thief to entrench in the river, which seems to be a great disadvantage to the imperial court, and the western thief is a great benefit, but in fact it is not!

"With the experience of the minister in charge of the internal affairs government, as long as His Majesty continues to prohibit all trade between the northwest frontier and the officials and people of the Menghui Kang and Tibet tribes, it is absolutely impossible for the Western thieves to entrench in Xining and want to become bigger!"