After the news of Li Zicheng's army's attack on the capital spread, the people of Ming Dynasty in Jiangnan and various provinces argued about how long the capital could defend.

Every time, teahouses and restaurants in each city and town, this is a hot topic. When it is lively, you can even argue all night long!

Some people say that because there was a plague in the capital a few days ago, the Beijing camp suffered a lot of losses, and the capital was afraid that it could only defend for two or three months at most.

Zhu Zilong once watched a movie when he was in modern times.

"The Great Ming Calamity"!

The film takes the 16th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1643) and the plague in Beijing as the historical background, through the individual experience of a general (Sun Chuanting) and a doctor (Wu Youke).

It tells the story of the storm of the Ming Dynasty when it was about to fall, and the lack of skills in "general" and "doctors" to make things happen, indicating that the Ming Dynasty is difficult to return.

The great plague depicted in the film caused the village households to wither, the soldiers to drop sharply, and the corpses floated in the river, and the military doctor was helpless. In the end, the general had to burn the infected soldiers to death and then drove his troops out of the city.

In real history, it was the little rat that indirectly caused the fall of Beijing and the early demise of the Ming Dynasty.

According to historical records, since the Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, there have been frequent changes between the border between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, causing many Han people to be captured or fled to the Mongolian grasslands. Large areas of pastures were reclaimed into farmland, which changed the ecological environment of the pastures.

The living space of mice that originally lived on the grassland was compressed, and the chances of humans and rats contact were greatly increased. At the same time, the late Ming Dynasty was a time when droughts occurred frequently. There were three severe droughts during the Wanli period, and all of them caused plagues.

As drought is raging, it is not only refugees who escape to famine to save their lives, but also mice need to look for food everywhere. A large number of mice can enter the place of human residence, so it is natural to enter the place of human beings.

Medicine was underdeveloped in ancient times, and Bacillus plague transmitted the virus to refugees through fleas stored in them. The migration and flow of refugees extended the virus to a larger area.

"Mingtongjian" records: "The capital is in great epidemic, and there are no deaths." There are so many deaths infectious diseases that cannot be counted.

"The Records of Chongzhen" also records: "The capital is in great epidemic and the death toll is tens of thousands of days."

At this time, the death toll in Beijing was so large that no one could collect the body—“The death pillow was left, nine out of ten rooms were empty, and even the households were gone, and no one could collect the body.”

The inconspicuous mouse was the last straw that collapsed the capital's defense.

Nima, TM’s cheating mouse!

Hong Chengchou really wanted to return to the army to rescue the capital, but unfortunately Zhu Zilong and Wang Chengen, who received the secret order, tried their best to dissuade him.

What to say, the capital is strong, the city walls are high and thick, and the city circumference is sixty or seventy kilometers. Not to mention guarding for two or three years, even if it is incompetent, the food hidden by the defenders and the local tyrants inside can make them stay tight for a year.

The front line was already on the verge of victory and defeat with the Qing army. You must not return to the army at this time, and then you will suppress it.

In such a turbulent autumn!

In the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, some people privately discussed whether the Ming Dynasty had exhausted their energy and should they follow the trend and welcome the new master?

Overall, everyone in the Ming Dynasty was complicated and waited and watched.

-

At this moment, in the capital of Daming!

In the cabinet palace, several cabinet ministers who were unwilling to move the capital roared to other officials: "What do you think? I have submitted so many memorials and beg you to come and discuss the defense strategy of war. They are like stones sinking to the sea... Can't they see millions of thieves? Or do they have confidence in their hearts that they can keep thieves under the city walls alone? "

Their tone was filled with resentment, depression, helplessness and other emotions.

A face turned red like an apple due to anger and anxiety. Her thin and weak body was tightly tense and kept trembling with her voice. This made the atmosphere in the room not only depressed, but also depressed.

The answer to them was the silence and erratic look of other officials. At this moment, they felt the helplessness of the former emperor and queen. I was so sorry that I couldn’t make a strong man!

After a while, an official representative came out and replied: "The gentry in the city was not enthusiastic, they all looked around and watched. Some people even said that Li Zicheng would come, so why are you afraid? The officials and others were powerless."

When the swearing official heard this, he sighed and cursed: "The state court treats officials and gentry too much. Your Majesty will be afraid of this if it is just a little corrected. Could it be that they think that the thieves will treat them better than the emperor? Forget it, I will leave the city at night and go south to accompany the emperor to move the capital."

After saying that, the censors who were originally the poor officials of the clear stream rose up and all left.

Most of the remaining officials still looked at each other coldly, but did not say much or intercept them.

In fact, these people have long had secret hatred for an emperor and empress who supported the Duke of the Four Seas and attacked the gentry.

Many of them even thought, thinking that if the thief really wins the world, they will change. If the new dynasty is new, can they really be able to govern the country, and they can still be separated from the officials and gentry?

However, if the Duke of the Four Seas and Zhu Zilong messed up the court, it would be a nightmare for our scholars.

It is better to be a real villain (Li Zicheng) than a hypocrite (Zhu Zilong).

Obviously, it is the real thought in their hearts.

However, these people obviously do not know themselves, and Zhu Zilong's integrity is low. But compared with them, they are definitely good people. They are the real hypocrites and the resident insects of the Ming Dynasty!

In the Cabinet Palace, after the emperor left, they chose one of the members of the Qingliu Cabinet themselves.

Li Banghua saw everything in front of him, and suddenly stood up and said firmly: "If there is power in the world, the country and the country are the most important. Although the capital is solid, it will only stick to February and March. The matter is too urgent, so I will decide to send someone to the front line secretly, begging the Duke of the Four Seas to ask the Shandong defenders to send troops!"

As soon as Li Banghua said this, everyone was shocked.

A Donglin Party official shouted: "Summon Shandong Army? Haven't you heard about Cao Mengde and Dong Zhuo?"

Another official even spoke wildly, all of whom were heartbroken: "I am afraid that the front door will drive the tiger, the back door will enter the wolf, and the repetition of our Ming Dynasty, and the disaster of Emperor Xian at the end of the Han Dynasty!"

Li Banghua's hands trembled for a moment, and his face turned pale in an instant. There was nothing to say!

It’s time for these people to fight in the party and be invincible!

Of course, with their villain's heart, they do think so.

On the front line, other Ming troops restrained the Zhu family army to fight together.

In the rear, the emperor lost his virtue and left (they thought he had lost virtue). If the Zhu family army in Shandong took advantage of the danger and made great contributions, it would not be impossible for the subordinates to forcibly support Zhu Zilong as the emperor, just like during the Song Dynasty.

At that time, with Zhu Zilong, the prince, suppressing them in all kinds of ruthlessness, I guess there will be no good results in the future.

With this idea, they are naturally on the road to death and are getting further and further away.

As the saying goes, "If God commits evil, you can live. If you commit evil, you can't live."

It's really accurate to describe them.

"Enough!" "Enough!" "Enough!" "Enough!" "Enough!" "Enough!" "Enough!" "Enough!"

At this time, the remaining officials and new cabinet members all rose up in the cabinet palace, without any speculation, and left unhappily.

…………

A few days later, Li Zicheng's army captured and defended the city of Juyong Pass, Zijing Pass and other cities.

It is not far from the time the troops are coming to the city.

Looking at the smoke and flames in the suburbs, the thieves were burning and plundering the capital and killing people and setting fires. Of course, the excuses used are very nice, and they are called liberating the people of the Ming Dynasty in the water and fire.

Beijing, Japan and Beijing, and Ye Wu went out to investigate, but they were often plundered into the camp by Li Zicheng's thief army, and few could come back.

The towering capital stands tall, with a sad look. On the majestic city wall, the defenders are confused and unaware of what to do.

Hundreds of years ago, looking at all countries around the world, east and west, only the Ming Dynasty had such a large city, which was a miracle of the world.

However, such a miracle city is also useless in internal struggles.

Fu Yingshan, one of the guards, was on the city wall, looking at the general's cannons in the distance and on the edge, and sighed in his heart. I hope that relying on these 200 cannons and the tall city walls can be kept tightly for about half a year.

Just waiting for the Ming coalition to return, Li Zicheng's threat was resolved.

Now, the Yongding Gate that you only have to guard by yourself must not be lost.

Yongding Gate is the main gate of the outer city wall of Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is located on the central axis of Beijing, between Zuo'anmen and You'anmen. It is the largest gate of Beijing's outer city gate and is also the main road from the south to enter and exit the capital.

It was founded in the 32nd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1553), and it means "everyday stability".

The shape of the city tower is the same as that of the inner city, with a double-eaved hip-mounted three-drop water pavilion building, gray tile green glazed tiles and cut edges, five rooms wide, and 24 meters wide; three rooms deep, and 10.50 meters deep; the building and platform are 26 meters high.

Later generations began to be demolished in 1950. In 1957, the Yongding Gate Tower and the Arrow Tower were demolished in the name of hindering traffic and becoming a dangerous building.

However, in 2004, the Yongding Gate Tower in Beijing was rebuilt, among which the Wengcheng and the Arc Tower were still built, becoming the first rebuilt city gate in Beijing.

Historically, in December (1629), Huang Taiji led the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty to attack Beijing, and a battle of Beijing began outside Deshengmen, Guangqumen, Zuoanmen, and Yongdingmen.

Now, it will usher in a decisive battle between the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and Li Zicheng.

-

Although the Yongding Gate City is solid, Fu Yingshan’s uneasiness becomes stronger as he looks along the way.

Because there are only a few busy soldiers on the city walls, most of them are lazy and disagreeable. With such a mental outlook, they still want to defend the capital?

Even the people in the Beijing camp were just as lazy. The situation in other sects was even more unsightly. The situation was so urgent!

Especially those people who were urged to work, all of them had no numb expressions, and some of them looked at each other, with a sense of coldness and hatred.

It is dangerous, it is dangerous!

Most of the soldiers were dressed in ragged clothes and had ragged military uniforms. After asking carefully, Fu Yingshan's heart fell straight. It turned out that not only did everyone come by forcing them, but they also didn't pay any wages, and they didn't even include three meals a day.

If you want the horse to run, you won’t give it to the horse. What do the remaining officials, cabinet masters, and wealthy businessmen want to do?

Suddenly, cheers came from the front, and someone shouted: "The palace master donated the donation, the reward of the army is here, everyone should go and line up to get it."

However, after a while.

The city guards who got the money looked at me and I looked at you, with sarcasm and sneer in their eyes.

"I've been guarding the city for half a month and I've been paying ten cents of money. Haha, this money is not enough to buy a sesame cake. All officials are so kind to me."

Fu Yingshan, who was watching the side, was a little embarrassed and angry. Needless to say, the Ministry of Revenue is really poor, and the other is that even if he has money, he will get kickbacks from corrupt officials halfway through. Otherwise, it would be impossible for each soldier to pay ten cents of salary.

Prices are soaring now, especially grain, and a sesame cake costs twenty cents, and ten cents are simply to send beggars.

This is really a cold heart of the soldiers guarding the city!

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Chapter completed!