Chongzhen's desire to convene the ministers to discuss the strategy of retreating from the enemy was in vain, and only two old ministers who came to the Jinluan Palace were not prominent, and none of the ministers who usually relied on him were nowhere to be seen. For them, a change of dynasty is nothing more than a change of master.

"I am not the king of the dead country, but the ministers are the ministers of the dead country!" Chongzhen said hatefully.

At this time, several cannons were heard in the distance, then more and more densely, and then the noise was also heard.

Chongzhen's heart tightened, and he shouted: "Come on, go and see what is going on?" He vaguely guessed a few points, but he didn't dare to face it.

Wang Chengen personally took two little eunuchs from the Qianqing Palace out of the palace to inspect. After a while, he came back with a panicked expression, knelt down and said, "Long live Lord, the thieves have begun to attack the inner city, and it was the thieves' Hongyi cannon that was firing the cannon just now......"

Chongzhen's eyes were dark, and he almost fell off the dragon chair. "The thieves are persecuted so tightly, they broke through the outer city yesterday, and today they will attack the inner city and ......kill them all."

Li Banghua, the left neighbor of the Imperial Palace, and Wang Jiayan, the squire of the military department, glanced at each other, nodded slowly, and then knelt down and said in unison: "Your Majesty, forgive the minister for the capital crime, the minister has something to say......"

Chongzhen waved his hand weakly: "If the two Aiqing have something to say, just talk about it......"

Wang Jiayan said loudly: "Hundreds of thousands of thieves are coming to the city, and even if the inner city is barely supported, it will not be able to hold it after all. The monarch is dead, and the righteousness is righteous, and the minister asks Your Majesty: Since you can't keep it and can't escape, it's better to die in the palace and ...... in the name of the whole royal family than to let the thieves humiliate and lose the country's body."

"You let me kill myself in the palace?" Chongzhen's face is like the color of earth.

Li Banghua also arched his hand and said: "The minister seconded the proposal." Please also think twice, Your Majesty. When the time comes, His Majesty can prepare dry firewood in the palace, generously go to the fire, and die for the society, and the ministers will see the fire in the palace, and know that the emperor is martyred, that is, he will follow the family to self-immolation, in order to repay the emperor's kindness! ”

Chongzhen set his eyes on Wang Chengen in despair. Wang Chengen also nodded with tears: "Long live the lord, forgive the slave and maid for the death penalty, this inner city can't be defended, and now it's impossible to fly away, and you can't get out of the city gate." Instead of feeding the tiger with meat, it is better to die in the palace! ”

After listening to Wang Chengen's words, Chongzhen's last bit of luck was lost, and the desire to survive was slowly withdrawn from his body, his whole body was paralyzed, and he sat down on the dragon chair in a dejected manner, unable to say a word.

The sound of cannons continued to echo over the imperial city, and I don't know how long it took, Chongzhen slowly came to his senses and found that Li Banghua and Wang Jiayan had left, and only Wang Chengen was still around. He sighed and said helplessly: "Li Banghua and Wang Jiayan are right, the monarch is dead, and righteousness is right, I will never think about him anymore, but except for Li Banghua and Wang Jiayan, no one among the ministers will die!" ”

Wang Chengen choked up and said, "The slave is willing to serve the emperor underground!" ”

Chongzhen stared at Wang Chengen's tearful eyes, nodded, his heart softened, and said, "It's still early at the moment, you go home to see your family and explain what happened after death." ”

"The slave maid had already said goodbye to her mother yesterday. Your Majesty was martyred, slaves and maids were martyred, righteousness is righteous, slaves and maids will never steal from the world! ”

Chongzhen's eyes turned red, "Very good, after all, I don't forget the grace of my cultivation, and I am much better than many Wenchen who were born in school!" ”

After making up his mind to be martyred, it was meaningless to sit in the Jinluan Palace, and Chongzhen returned to the Qianqing Palace. According to the rules of weekdays, a eunuch shouted in the Qianqing Gate: "The holy drive back to the palace!" Immediately, many eunuchs and palace maids hurriedly rushed out of the dark shadows and knelt on the side of Danqi to take over.

Chongzhen didn't enter the Qianqing Palace immediately, thinking of the queen, Concubine Yuan, and princess...... He was about to die, and he let out a heavy sigh as he staggered on the dan mound. Suddenly, a eunuch came to him and knelt down in front of him, and said in a trembling voice:

"Long live the gods, please don't be worried, the slaves have a plan to keep them safe."

Chongzhen saw that it was a eunuch named Zhang Yin, who was a small promise in the Qianqing Palace, usually very honest, doing some rough work, and never dared to speak in front of him. He wondered: what is the trick of this honest slave? So he lowered his head and asked:

"Zhang Yin, don't be afraid, what are your plans?"

Zhang Yin plucked up the courage to reply: "Long live the lord, if the thieves enter the inner city, just surrender and it will be fine." ”

Chongzhen was so angry that his face turned purple, kicked Zhang Yin hard, kicked him to sit on his back, and then pulled out his sword, slashed down diagonally, and killed Zhang Yin. This is the first time in Chongzhen's life that he killed someone with his own hands, and after the killing, his anger was still not gone, and he trembled. The eunuchs and palace maids saw the emperor killing people in the palace for the first time, and they all fell to the ground in horror. Seeing that the emperor was still angry, and walked down the Danqi with heavy steps, Wang Chengen hurriedly caught up, knelt in front of him and asked:

"Where is the Lord going?"

"Kunning Palace!"

When everyone heard that the emperor was going to Kunning Palace, they were all shocked, knowing that the tragedy in the palace was about to begin. Wang Chengen hurriedly ordered a eunuch to run to Kunning Palace, and Empress Qixuan was ready to take over, and at the same time took two palace lanterns, and followed the emperor out of the Rijing Gate and walked north from Dongchang Street.

Empress Zhou had already known about the great changes outside, and was crying sadly, and when she heard that the emperor had arrived, she hurried to the courtyard to pick it up. Chongzhen thought all the way, to summon some of the officials to Kunning Palace, and ordered them to commit suicide, if there were those who refused to commit suicide immediately, he would kill them with a sword, and never leave them to thieves and lose the royal system.

Because he was thinking about wielding his sword to kill the palace family himself, Chongzhen did not enter the main hall of Kunning Palace, and hurriedly walked into the side hall in the east. Empress Zhou followed him closely. The eunuchs and palace maids who knelt in the courtyard to take over all stood up and waited outside the side hall gate, trembling and holding their breath.

Chongzhen sat down on the dragon chair in the middle of the side hall, ordered Queen Zhou to sit down quickly, and said to her:

"The general trend is gone, and the country is dying. You are the mother of the world, and you should die. ”

Queen Zhou has long been prepared for death in her heart. The emperor's words did not surprise her. She didn't speak, just nodded her head in understanding. The palace maids of Kunning Palace knew that the queen was about to commit suicide, and they themselves would inevitably be martyred, so they all knelt on the ground and cried. The eunuchs standing outside the hall cried because of the palace maids, some wept, and some whimpered.

Looking at the emperor with a terrible face, Empress Zhou had a secret in her heart that she couldn't tell anyone, and now it suddenly appeared in her heart again.

Three days ago, Fang Zhenghua, the new eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch Bingbi, secretly asked to see him and said a few words in a secret.

"The queen mother, the army of thieves is besieging the city, and the great changes are coming, the slaves and maids dare not speculate on the situation of the Lord and the mother, but if there is a plan to protect the prince, there are loyal people in the south who are willing to do their best to help......"