In the territory of Beizhili, the main force of the Qiong Navy and Wu Sangui's Ningyuan cavalry are one south and one east, eyeing each other, and in the capital, Li Zicheng does not know all this, the Dashun army has fully occupied the inner city and the imperial city, except for the elite led by Liu Zongmin is in the Qing Palace in the Forbidden City, the rest of the people and horses gathered in the area of Zhengyangmen in the inner city to welcome the freshly baked Emperor Yongchang of Dashun into the city.

After breaking through the outer city, Li Zicheng's camp was set up in Diaoyutai, and after he hurriedly became emperor, it became his palace. After choosing a good day, the generals respectfully walked into the courtyard and were about to kneel down and kowtow, when Li Zicheng waved his hand to stop him and asked, "Do you want to drive?" ”

Song Xiance bowed down and said, "The ministers are here to invite the emperor to drive." ”

At this time, three cannons rang out outside the gate of the palace, followed by a burst of drums, indicating that the holy car could travel. These etiquettes were all made by Song Xiance, and Li Zicheng didn't understand it, so he left it to him to operate.

Under the guidance of a group of pro-generals, Li Zicheng walked out of the palace. As he walked out, he asked his nephew Li Guo, who was walking a little further on the right, "Zong Min went to the Qing Palace, can he find Chongzhen's body?" ”

Li Guo replied in a low voice: "General Liu has already reported from Pegasus twice: Empress Zhou has committed suicide, and Chongzhen does not know her whereabouts. ”

"Did you flee during the night?"

"It's being searched all over the Forbidden City. The ministers were worried that he had escaped from the palace last night and was hiding among the people, waiting for an opportunity to escape from the city. The stakes are so high that his whereabouts must be found today. ”

Li Zicheng's heart sank, and he instructed in a stern tone: "If he hides in the people, be sure to post a notice widely: Anyone who dares to hide Chongzhen will be beheaded by his whole family; If there is a sacrifice of Chongzhen, you can get a reward of 10,000 gold, and reward it to high-ranking officials! ”

Li Guo replied: "The minister obeys the order!" ”

The "Holy Driver" set off from Diaoyutai with a burst of drum music. Walking in the forefront was Hao Shaoqi, and behind him were 200 cavalrymen with neat appearances, all of them with licorice yellow and tall horses. Behind the 200 cavalry was a general, mounted on a horse, tall and carrying a yellow umbrella. On the left and right of the yellow umbrella are ten guards and propaganda officers, all of whom are carefully selected, with handsome appearances and solemn expressions.

Li Zicheng wore a pale cyan arrow-sleeved silk robe embroidered with flying dragons and tides, tied with apricot yellow silk around his waist, and wore a wide-brimmed white felt hat with a high hat tassel made of golden silk thread, and a dazzling gold crown was exposed on the top of the hat. The cap is prefixed with a sparkling blue gemstone.

The yellow umbrella, the hat tassel, and the embroidered dragon on the robe indicate that he is already the emperor, and the light cyan dragon robe and the blue jade in front of the hat indicate that he is "water virtue should be lucky". In order to let his subjects understand that he had won the world from horseback, and Jiangnan had yet to be pacified, it was agreed in advance that he would enter the city with arrow sleeves today.

At the end of Chongwenmen Street, there were more than 300 people kneeling on the ground to greet them. They had already dismounted, and as soon as they saw the yellow umbrella, they quickly knelt down and fell to the ground. Li Zicheng saw that this group of people kneeling on the ground to greet them were all in python robes and jade belts, and their crowns and uniforms were neat, but they seemed to be slightly different from the civil official crowns and uniforms of the Ming Dynasty, and the most special thing was that these people were bare on their chins and lips, and they had no beards.

He was about to ask left and right, when he suddenly saw a person raise his head from the ground, accompanied him and said carefully: "Slave Cao Huachun Qi Shengshang: The slave and maid led the ministers at all levels in Dongchang, and Wang Dehuagong, the former minister of the court, led the twelve eunuchs and twenty-four yamen ministers in charge, and there were also the ministers of the prison army who surrendered to Datong, Xuanfu, and Juyong Pass, a total of three hundred and twelve members, came to kneel to welcome the holy car!" ”

As soon as Li Zicheng heard that they were all ministers of the Ming Dynasty, he was proud in his heart, these great eunuchs who were high in the past now have to kneel on the ground and call themselves "slaves and maids", one by one, this is the advantage of holding power!

He asked: "You are also the top figure of the former courtiers, and you are Chongzhen's henchman." Now Chongzhen's whereabouts are unknown, do you know where he fled? ”

"Last night, the slave maid was in Fuchengmen, not in the palace. I only heard that there was chaos in the palace, but I don't know where Emperor Chongzhen fled. ”

"Chongzhen escapes from the palace, and there must be ministers with him. Do you know which of the courtiers followed him? ”

Cao Huachun replied: "There are seven eunuchs of the Bingbi of the Si Li Eunuch, in addition to the newly appointed Fang Zhenghua is missing, five of the six Bingbi eunuchs are today with the ministers and Wang Dehua to kneel to welcome the holy car, only one Wang Chengen is close to the Chongzhen Emperor every day, quite favored, before the city was broken, he also supervised the defense of the inner city, and today and the future will welcome the holy car, I heard that he escaped from the palace with the Chongzhen Emperor before dawn. ”

Li Zicheng was worried about Chongzhen's whereabouts, but he couldn't show his anxiety in front of these eunuchs who surrendered to Cheng, so he didn't ask anymore and said, "Let's drive!" The newly surrendered ministers, those who have positions follow behind, and those who do not have positions go home and wait for their fate! ”

Chuanxuan Palace then shouted: "Let's go!" ”

"Holy Drive" continues to move forward. Li Zicheng was under the stars holding the moon, and after entering the Chongwen Gate, he walked northward, and then went east from the Xidan archway and turned onto West Chang'an Street. Everywhere you go, it's unusually quiet; On both sides of the street, every family closes the door, and a incense case is placed outside the door, and there is a yellow tablet on the case, which reads "Long live the Yongchang Emperor, long live". There is yellow or red paper pasted on the door, and the word "Shunmin" is written on it.

Being able to enter Beijing and seize the country has exceeded Li Zicheng's expectations, and he is naturally very excited. But he was disappointed with the closed, devoid of pedestrians, and deserted streets along the way. Some residents heard Liu Zongmin's message and knew that the Dashun army would no longer kill people, so they began to dare to open half of the gate and come out to pick up the driver, but they all knelt next to the incense case, did not dare to raise their heads, did not dare to make a sound, and the word "Shunmin" written on yellow paper was pasted on their hats.

Li Zicheng was a little unhappy in his heart, imagining that the situation of the people happily welcoming him into the city was in stark contrast to reality, even the yellow sand paved road had never been, and it was inevitable that entering the city would be too deserted.

However, after arriving at Chengtianmen, this thought disappeared. Li Zicheng walked past the dismount monument and stationed his horse in front of the two huge stone lions, and the soldiers and generals who accompanied him also dismounted in front of the dismount monument. Li Zicheng looked up at the city gate tower with heavy eaves and ridges, and the owl kiss was towering, which was very spectacular. Looking north from the middle doorway, I only feel that everywhere is majestic and magnificent, and I feel a sense of pride in my heart, and I think of walking through this gate and entering the Forbidden City, the world is my own.

At this time, Song Xiance came to his horse's head and bowed down to remind: "Your Majesty, please shoot the 'Gate of Chengtian' with arrows to remove the ominous aura of the Ming Dynasty." ”

"Yes." Li Zicheng almost forgot about this stubble. Li Guo, who was on the side, hurriedly took out the strong bow from his back, took out a carved arrow from the arrow, and presented it to him with both hands.

Li Zicheng rode his horse back a few steps, raised his bow and arrows, only to hear the sound of the bowstring, and an arrow hit the empty space in the middle of the "Gate of Chengtian" card, that is, the bottom of the word "big" and the top of the word "zhi". The generals and escorts immediately cheered: "Hurray!" Hooray! ”

Li Zicheng looked at the arrows on the Chengtian Gate and stroked his beard and laughed.