The ugly faces of the 864 courtiers

[Today's chapter is presented, please subscribe! ] 】

The bodies of Emperor Chongzhen and Wang Chengen were not found until dawn the next day, and the news of Chongzhen's death spread.

In the end, most of the civil servants and nobles in the capital were indifferent after receiving Chongzhen's death, and they were all thinking about how to please Li Zicheng, who was about to enter the city.

Because, at this time, Chongzhen is dead, Daming is dead, Li Zicheng is about to be the new master of the capital, and as expected, he will also be the son of heaven for the sake of.

Li Zicheng had surrendered in advance, and made great contributions to the Dashun army's entry into the city, Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the military department, and Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, and other civil officials and nobles.

At this time, they were all elated, waiting to come to their new master to swear allegiance and receive the reward.

And like Chen Yan, the first assistant of the current dynasty, and Wei Zaode, a university scholar, these leaders of the civil servants are also thinking about how to curry favor with Li Zicheng, who entered the city.

Although they did not defect to Li Zicheng in advance like Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the military department, they opened the city gate for the Dashun army.

However, these old things think very highly of themselves, and they think that even if Li Zicheng enters Beijing and becomes the emperor, he will still not snub them.

After all, whether Chongzhen is the emperor or Li Zicheng is the emperor, they need experienced ministers like them to take care of the country for them.

And among the civil officials and nobles in the entire capital, after learning the news of Chongzhen's death, those who were willing to follow Chongzhen to kill and martyr the country were only Fan Jingwen, a scholar of the university, Ni Yuanlu, a scholar of the household department, Wang Jiayan, the right attendant of the military department, Li Banghua, the left capital of the Imperial Palace, Gong Yonggu, the commander of the horses, and Liu Wenbing, the marquis of Xinle, and other 27 people.

The rest of the Ming Dynasty ministers and nobles, even in front of Chongzhen before, shouted again and again, and the promise to live and die with the capital has long been left behind by them.

After the Dashun army entered the city, almost none of these ministers and nobles took the initiative to resist the Dashun soldiers, but many of them became the leading party.

On the morning of the 28th, Li Zicheng entered the capital Deshengmen under the support of Song Xiance, Liu Zongmin and other generals of the Dashun Army.

Song Xiance specially held a grand ceremony to enter the city for this purpose, forcing many people in the city to welcome them on both sides of the streets and roads.

For the Dashun army that had just entered the city, the people of the capital were still vigilant at this time and watched coldly.

At this time, in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, not only those civil officials and nobles were thinking of using the rights they gained in the old dynasty to win a good background in the new dynasty.

Even some of the big eunuchs in the palace are like this, the most typical representative of Wang Dehua.

Wang Dehua is a eunuch from Chongzhen's mansion and an old man who believes in the palace.

At this moment when Emperor Chongzhen needed to defend the most, Wang Dehua, who was ordered to supervise the Ming army, opened the Desheng Gate in the north of the city to welcome Li Zicheng into the city.

Immediately, Li Zicheng was led by Wang Dehua and rushed from Deshengmen to Chengtianmen.

"Your Majesty, further ahead is the Chengtian Gate."

Wang Dehua used his familiarity with the capital to guide Li Zicheng and rushed to the palace, already treating himself as Li Zicheng's lackey, and forgetting the old master he once served.

Looking at Wang Dehua's groveling appearance, the generals Song Xiance, Liu Zongmin, Hao Shaoqi and others around Li Zicheng all laughed sneeringly.

Wang Dehua was not angry at all at the ridicule of Song Xiance and others, and even sent a flattering smile to a few people.

Wang Dehua knows his identity very well, even if he is a gelding, if he wants to gain Li Zicheng's admiration and gain a place in the new dynasty.

Dignity, face, these things are a fart compared to their own glory and wealth in the future!

Anyway, he was born a slave and served people's lives, and now in order to please Li Zicheng, he is also hard enough.

When Wang Dehua took Li Zicheng and them to the Chengtian Gate of the Imperial Palace, Wang Dehua's fat face suddenly froze.

Because at this time, it was the turn of those great Ming ministers and nobles to start their performances.

In order to curry favor with Li Zicheng, these Ming officials led a group of high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty, including college student Wei Zaode, Shoufu Chen Yan, and Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, with a flattering face.

One by one, they were wearing prison uniforms and standing respectfully at the noon gate waiting, and the queue was even more neat than the previous court.

Even, Chen Yan, the first assistant who stood at the forefront, and Wei Zaode, a university scholar, even took the initiative to present a persuasion table to Li Zicheng on behalf of the Ming officials in the city.

At this time, Wang Dehua, the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch, saw Chen Yan, Wei Zaode, Zhang Jinyan, etc., the ugliness of these high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty was also unbearable.

"Misguided thief, where is the Son of Heaven? What are you doing here? ”

Wang Dehua shouted and scolded, rushed to Chen Yan, Wei Zaode, Zhang Jinyan and others, and greeted a few people with big mouths.

Chen Yan and others were slapped by a eunuch like Wang Dehua, if it had been placed in the past, these high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty, who regarded themselves very highly, would definitely not be able to accept it.

But now, Chen Yan, Wei Zaode and others were slapped by Wang Dehua like this, but they didn't dare to fight back, so they had to hang their heads, and even finally knelt down and kowtowed to Li Zicheng.

Because, at this time, Wang Dehua was followed by Li Zicheng, and Chen Yan thought that Wang Dehua was already Li Zicheng's person.

In front of Wang Dehua's slap like this, they didn't even dare to let go of a fart, and they were no longer the same as before, when they dared to scold Chongzhen in the court.

Of course, at this time, Wang Dehua beat Chen Yan at this time, but he was actually completely angry.

Chen Yan, Wei Zaode, Zhang Jinyan, who are these? You are the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty!

Don't you regard integrity as more important than life? Isn't it important to be loyal to the king?

What are you doing now?

Last night, Chongzhen didn't even knock on the Jingyang bell to summon you over, and now you are all good one by one, and you are lining up to come over to greet Li Zicheng.

You guys are special, aren't you competing for favor with Lao Tzu! Lao Tzu couldn't bear it.

"There is such a group of courtiers around Chongzhen, and Daming deserves to perish.

It seems that my great shun is the will of God, and Your Majesty is the mandate of heaven! ”

At this time, Song Xiance, who was riding on a horse, looked ahead, and when Wang Dehua drew Chen Yan, Wei Zaode and others, he showed a look of disdain and said to Li Zicheng.

Looking at the funny scene in front of him, Li Zicheng also showed disgust for these Ming officials.

However, for Song Xiance's ingenious sycophancy, Li Zicheng is quite useful.

"A group of clowns jumping off the beam, Wang Dehua, stop, don't delay my entry into the palace.

The military advisor sent someone into the palace, and heard that Chongzhen was dead, but I was still not at ease, so I ordered someone to find Chongzhen's body as soon as possible. ”

"The last will obey."

After hearing Li Zicheng's order, Song Xiance immediately responded.

"Drive, get out of here!"

Immediately, Song Xiance stepped forward, waved the horsewhip in his hand, and whipped it at the many Ming officials standing in front of him, so frightened that they immediately got out of the way and ran away.

Then, Song Xiance rushed behind more than a dozen Dashun soldiers and pushed open the heavy palace gate.

At this moment, Li Zicheng stood in front of the Daming Palace on horseback, looking at the heavy red lacquer palace gate in front of him, and was slowly pushed open by his subordinates, and he could see the more majestic palace inside.

At this time, Li Zicheng's heart was also surging, he had been dreaming of this moment for too long.

The Forbidden City in front of him is the palace that Li Zicheng dreamed of, and it is the place where the emperor should live, and now it all belongs to him.

When Li Zicheng led people into the palace, most of the capital was still in chaos at this time.

Everywhere you can see a group of Dashun soldiers, chasing and killing the Ming army in the city, and the battle is not over.

Among them, Lu Xiangsheng led more than 1,000 veterans of the Tianxiong Army under his command, and was escorting Zhu Ci, the prince of the Ming Dynasty, to kill outside the city.

"Quick, don't stop, get out of the city as soon as possible."

Lu Xiangsheng rode on the horse and shouted to the soldiers beside him, and a Ming army on the horse behind him was carrying Zhu Ci, the prince of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, there were fleeing Ming troops everywhere in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and it was not surprising that there was such a team as Lu Xiangsheng, and it did not attract much attention from the Dashun army.

Along the way, Lu Xiangsheng encountered three waves of Dashun soldiers, but they were all successfully defeated by the veterans of the Tianxiong Army under his command, and they were all the way to the east gate of the city.

"Ahem!"

Lu Xiangsheng was on his horse, coughing violently, and his face was flushed.

"Your Excellency, are you alright?" A general next to him asked.

"I'm fine, keep rushing, rush out of the city, and we'll be safe."

Lu Xiangsheng said enduringly.

In fact, at this time, Lu Xiangsheng was also holding on, his body was already in the last time, and after the attack on Jinling, it was not as good as before.

Even after a few months of recuperation, he has recovered a lot, but he has also left behind a dark disease.

In the past two days, Lu Xiangsheng almost didn't close his eyes in order to defend the capital, and he had just experienced a fight with the Dashun army, riding a horse and galloping all the way, and he felt that he was going to be unbearable.

However, at this moment of life and death crisis, Lu Xiangsheng could only grit his teeth and stand firm.

At this time, because Lu Xiangsheng was still alive, history directly affected the fate of Zhu Ci, the prince of the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, in the other two directions, Hao Qiang and Hou Kun, two Ming generals, also led people to protect the third prince Zhu Cican, and the fourth son of the emperor, Zhu Cihuan, who also went out outside the city.

In the end, the three teams successfully fought out of the city and were not discovered by the Dashun army.

"Your Excellency."

In a forest to the east of the capital, Hao Qiang rushed to the king of Ding, Zhu Cican.

"Hao Qiang, just come back."

Lu Xiangsheng saw Hao Qiang coming to meet smoothly, and said happily.

"Your Royal Highness Dingwang, I've frightened you."

Immediately, Lu Xiangsheng looked at Zhu Cican, the king of Ding, behind him, and said.

"Lu Guogong, this prince is fine, thanks to General Hao's protection along the way."

"What about Hou Kun and His Royal Highness King Yong? Why hasn't it arrived yet. ”

Lu Xiangsheng got it for nearly half an hour, but he didn't see Zhu Cihuan, the Yongwang protected by Hou Kun, coming over, and he was a little anxious.

"My lord, this place is too close to the capital, and the thief army may kill it at any time, it's too dangerous.

Why don't you escort the crown prince and His Royal Highness King Ding away first, and the last general will pick up General Hou Kun and His Royal Highness King Yong here. ”

Hao Qiang proposed.

Lu Xiangsheng thought about it, it was true, at this time, the safety of Zhu Ci, the prince of the Ming Dynasty behind him, was too important, and he didn't dare to take risks.

"Okay, Hao Qiang, be careful.

Once we have received General Hou and His Royal Highness King Yong, we will go to the canal ferry to the east and join us. ”

Lu Xiangsheng told Hao Qiang and said.

"Yes, my lord, the last general knows."

Immediately, Lu Xiangsheng took the crown prince Zhu Ci and the king of Ding, Zhu Cican, and quickly left here and headed towards the canal ferry in the east.

Lu Xiangsheng had made arrangements in advance and had already thought of a retreat to Jinling.

Although, Lu Xiangsheng didn't like Jinling very much, and those officials in Jinling, after all, he almost died in Jinling before.

However, there is no way, the capital was captured by Li Zicheng, if you want the crown prince Zhu Ci to inherit the unification, going to Jinling is the best choice.

Moreover, Lu Xiangsheng also has to beware of Li Zixiao in Jiangbei and Henan, and cannot let the crown prince and King Ding fall into Li Zixiao's hands.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng had already treated Li Zixiao as Li Zicheng's second.

Even, at this time, in Lu Xiangsheng's heart, he was extremely resentful of Li Zixiao.

He hated Li Zixiao's infidelity and hated Li Zixiao for not saving him when he saw death.

Lu Xiangsheng knew very well in his heart that what bullshit Li Zixiao was in the Wa Kingdom, it was all done deliberately by Li Zixiao, and he deliberately refused to send troops to rescue the capital.

Because, Li Zixiao himself couldn't bear it, and like Li Zicheng, he coveted the dragon chair in the capital and peeped into the big tomorrow.

In fact, Lu Xiangsheng had seen through Li Zixiao a long time ago, but he had no choice but to find a way to delay.

Originally, Lu Xiangsheng thought that as long as he could prosper the Ming Dynasty, he would naturally be able to solve Li Zixiao's trouble.

However, the failure of the change made Lu Xiangsheng completely lose his chance.

It wasn't until the morning that Hao Qiang waited until Hou Kun appeared with Yongwang Zhu Cihuan.

But behind them, there was indeed a large group of cavalry of the Dashun Army, Hou Kun's team of men and horses, with heavy casualties, and there were not many people left.

But he still desperately protected the Yongwang Zhu Cihuan out.

"Everyone, kill me, pick up General Hou and His Royal Highness King Yong, kill!"

Immediately, Hao Qiang took the 1,500 veterans of the Tianxiong Army left by Lu Xiangsheng to kill the cavalry of the Dashun Army that chased Hou Kun and met Hou Kun and them.

It wasn't until the next day that Lu Xiangsheng waited for Hao Qiang and Yongwang Zhu Cihuan at the east canal ferry.

At this time, Hao Qiang only brought less than 100 men and horses to escort Zhu Cihuan to the canal ferry, and the rest of the men and horses were either killed in battle, or left to block the cavalry of the Dashun army.

"Hao Qiang, what about General Hou? Why are you all there to do? ”

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Hao Qiang, who was covered in blood, and was also shocked, and asked.

"My lord, we were bitten by the Tartar cavalry, and General Hou Kun took the initiative to lead a team of men and horses, leaving behind to block the pursuers of the Dashun army.

Only then did His Royal Highness King Yong and I successfully escape, and General Hou was probably more than lucky. ”

Hao Qiang said sadly.

"General Hou is my loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, His Royal Highness is grateful to him, it was he who saved His Highness's life."

King Yong next to him said with a sad face.

"Hey, let's go, don't let General Hou Kun sacrifice in vain, let's go to Jinling.

The enmity with Li Zicheng is not over yet, and one day, we will kill it again. ”

Lu Xiangsheng sighed, comforting everyone.

"That's right, one day, this prince will come back again, and he will definitely kill Li Zicheng's traitor, recapture the capital, and revive my Ming Dynasty."

At this time, the crown prince Zhu Ci also came out, looked at the east, and said in a firm tone.

Immediately, Lu Xiangsheng took the crown prince, King Ding and King Yong to board the ship, went south along the canal, and quickly left the boundary of the capital.