On the morning of the 23rd day of the ninth year of Chongzhen, when the vanguard of the Dashun army arrived outside Beijing, according to the previous deployment, in order to cut off the connection between the capital and the reinforcements, Liu Zongmin led the army to surround the Desheng Gate and Anding Gate in the north, the Xizhi Gate and Fucheng Gate in the west, and the east gate of the inner city and the gates of the outer city were not surrounded by the Dashun army until the afternoon of the 24th, and there were cavalry patrols in the suburbs of the outer city. Since then, the city of Beijing has been completely cut off from the outside world.

Panic spread from the head of the city to the inner courtyard of the palace. The fear of the monarch and the people for the siege of the Dashun army even exceeded that when the Tartar soldiers came to the city: because the nature of the two is completely different, the foundation of the latter is outside the pass, and the entry of the pass is only for plundering, and will not smash the high walls of the city, and will leave if they have enough, while the former played the slogan of "Juntian free grain", obviously rushing to change the dynasty and never give up easily. And after the army entered the city, it meant a disaster - the royal family and nobles feared being liquidated, and the people feared suffering in the rebellion.

When the Dashun army, led by Liu Zongmin, led by 20,000 or 30,000 vanguard cavalry, effortlessly defeated the Jingying soldiers in Shahe City, and drove to Desheng Gate, Wang Yongji, the governor of Jiliao stationed in Jieyongping, sent 100,000 urgent military secrets to Chaoyangmen, which was about to be closed, and sent directly to the General Administration Division. When the Shangguan of the Tongzheng Xitang saw that it was a secret piece of military information sent by the 600-mile Tangma, he did not dare to open the seal or delay, and immediately sent it to the Qianqing Palace.

The anxious Chongzhen immediately turned on the tantric recital. It reads that Wu Sangui has arrived at Shanhaiguan on the 22nd, and the 100,000 people from all over Ningyuan and the families of the soldiers who came to the pass are temporarily settled in various places near the pass, and he himself will lead 20,000 elite border soldiers to gallop to the aid of Beijing at night, begging the emperor to make Beijing hold on for a few days until the reinforcements arrive. Wang Yongji's secret performance made Chongzhen feel that he was in a desperate situation, and he couldn't help but be ecstatic for a while, slapped the case with his palm, and said loudly: "Wu Sanguiguo is a loyal minister!" ”

Wang Chengen, who was waiting on the side, asked cautiously: "Long live the lord, why is it a surprise?" ”

Chongzhen replied happily: "Wu Sangui has led tens of thousands of elite soldiers from Ningyuan to King Qin, and he has arrived at Shanhaiguan the day before yesterday!" ”

Wang Chengen said: "I have been in the country for 300 years, and the national foundation is forever. Since Emperor Yingzong, Beijing has been besieged several times, and it has been able to turn evil into good fortune, and this time it is the same. Please don't be too anxious from now on and damage the royal body. Please give an edict and urge Wu Sangui's rescue to come quickly. ”

Chongzhen nodded: "That's right, call the celebrant to come!" ”

Wang Chengen immediately withdrew from the warm pavilion, summoned the eunuchs waiting outside the palace, and quickly passed on the eunuchs to come. At this time, Chongzhen wrote an edict to Wu Sangui with a pen:

Tell Ping Xibo Wu Sangui to speed the army to Beijing and suppress the rebels to relieve the danger of the Beijing division!

After the celebrant eunuch took this emperor's edict, he covered a "Chongzhen Imperial Pen" seal on the yellow paper, sealed it, and added the five words "Six Hundred Miles Flying Delivery" on the envelope, registered the month, day and time of the document, and sent it directly to the military department without going through the cabinet, and immediately sent Tang Ma out of the capital.

Looking at the eunuch who passed away, Chongzhen slowly calmed down. If in previous years, Chongzhen heard such good news, he would have immediately announced Wang Yongji's flying performance to the cabinet, and then the head of the yamen would announce the news to the subjects of Jingshi to reassure the people.

However, recent experience has made him cautious. Before Qiong's navy defeated Liukou and captured Gao Yingxiang alive, he once thought that he had found his "Qi Shaobao", not only announced to the world, but also knighted Xia Nan, but he didn't expect this freshly baked Ping Nanbo to be arrogant, and he also single-handedly planned the siege of the imperial city's "military advice", as if he slapped him in the face.

The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment, and now that he has calmed down, he does not dare to have great hope for Wu Sangui to save Beijing. It's not that he is worried that Wu Sangui, who was born in Jiangmen, will make a big rebellious move, but he is worried that Wu Sangui is afraid that the "thieves" will be strong, and he will cower and wait and see in the Shanhaiguan area, and he will not be able to come in the starry night, or Li Zicheng will divide his troops to the east to block the Guanning soldiers from coming west, and on the other hand, he will step up the siege of the city, so that the Wu soldiers will not be able to rescue.

As if to verify his fears, after a while, Wang Chengen hurried in.

"Long live Lord, now all the city gates are besieged by rebels, and there are many thieves patrolling the suburbs, and I heard that there are many thieves going to Tongzhou, and the edict to Wu Sangui can't be sent."

Chongzhen was shocked: "Dongzhi Gate and Qihua Gate are surrounded? ”

"Even the Dongbian Gate and Guangqu Gate in the outer city were surrounded by an army of rebels......

Chongzhen's face was miserable, and he was silent for a moment, and then asked, "Can you go and inspect the situation of the guards in the city?" ”

Wang Chengen hesitated for a long time before saying, "Long live the lord!" So far, the slave and maid have no choice but to risk their lives to play. The Henan soldiers and the Beizhili soldiers outside the city have already dispersed, and it is all up to the defenders in the city to resist the rebels. Now there are not many young and strong soldiers in the city and the old and weak soldiers of the three battalions in the city, and there are only one person in the three battlements, and the soldiers and horses of Gonggong Cao want to defend the imperial city, and they dare not send them to the outer city. The people defending the city only paid a few pieces of money every day, and could only buy a few baked cakes to satisfy their hunger. It was very cold in the city, and everyone was hungry and cold, and they complained and had no intention of defending the city. ”

"Will the traitors attack the city tonight? If you attack a city, how to deal with it? ”

"The rebels have come from afar, and today they have come to the city one after another, surrounded the city, and are still deploying troops. With slaves and slaves, the rebels will attack the city tomorrow. Tonight will be safe, but beware of changes in the city. ”

Chongzhen asked: "Send troops to patrol the city and investigate the spies, is there no soldiers?" ”

"Some of the men and horses of the three battalions resisted the enemy in Shahe and were defeated without a fight. Although there were still 50,000 or 60,000 people in the three battalions left in the city, two days ago, Wang Jiayan, the chief servant of Rong Zheng, was named according to the book, and it was known that most of them were short, and in addition to the fact that they were killed by the Qiong Navy, Xuanfu, and Shanxi Town last time, the number of officers and soldiers was less than half. The expanded Beijing camp is also an old, weak and useless person, and it is just a few salaries. Wang Jiayan consulted with the slaves and maids, and selected 10,000 of them to go to the city, and the rest were divided into shifts to patrol the inner and outer cities. patrolling the outer city to suppress the bullets, relying on these useless old and weak soldiers. ”

Chongzhen understood that Wu Sangui's rescue troops were far away and difficult to quench their thirst, and the troops defending the city were extremely empty, and the tragedy of destroying the country and the clan had come to him, so he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, trembling all over, and could hardly hold himself. But after all, he was a fierce emperor, and after a while, he returned to normal, sighed and said: "Call Wen to be weak, the situation is so urgent, the military department cannot sit idly by, and I will not sit idly by." ”

At the same time, in Xianghe County, a large army dominated by cavalry marched slowly, and the handsome flag was written with the word "Wu" written on it. When they came a few miles outside the county seat, they found that another large army was blocking the way, and the word "Joan" was written on the banner.