Chapter 107 Eunuch

Xiao Tianjian asked these surrendered Ming army generals, and the answer he got made him feel pitiful. From these Ming army mouths, Xiao Tianjian learned that since Nan Zhili was occupied by him, Beijing City has never received food transported from the south. The court, which was not very rich, was still struggling at the beginning. To maintain, find a way to find some grain from the auxiliary land of Tokyo to meet the needs of the Beijing camp, but this grain is simply a drop in the bucket for the tens of thousands of troops in the Beijing camp. In the past two months, the court could not even allocate any grain. Many officers and soldiers could only find food around the capital by themselves. This has caused a terrible disaster to the people around Beijing.

So the people around the capital fled one after another and ran to the territory controlled by the Dazhong army to take refuge. The officers and soldiers did not dare to go deep into the controlled areas of the Dazhong army to eat, so the days were even worse, especially since the slave army of Abatai entered the customs, which scared the capital, and the people within dozens of miles around the capital almost ran away. After a fine light, the Beijing camp did not dare to leave the city to make food. After Tongzhou City surrendered the Dazhong army, it was equivalent to putting a knife on the neck of the capital division, and the capital division also completely became a lonely city. These soldiers can only drink two bowls of porridge every day to barely survive. As for these days, they can't even drink porridge. Seeing that many people were going to starve to death, many soldiers took off their uniforms and fled to the control area of the Dazhong Army in advance. No wonder as soon as the Dazhong Army came, the cannons sounded, and these officers and soldiers of the Beijing battalions surrendered one after another.

If it were someone, they would not be able to fight again if they were hungry like this, so the officers and soldiers left behind in the three battalions outside the capital almost did not make any effective resistance, so they surrendered to the Dazhong army one after another. For nothing else, even if it was just for a few steamed buns, they were willing to follow the Dazhong army at this time.

What made these officers and soldiers even more angry was that in the days when he came in, Emperor Chongzhen called again in the city to ask the noble officials in the city to donate food to help the war. Everyone knew that there were many nobles and officials in the city, and there was a lot of surplus food left in their homes, but these damn officials refused to take out food. Or silver to help the battle.

Some officers and soldiers shouted out before the Dazhong army came. If they still work for the court to protect these damn bastards, then they will have no way to have children in the future!

After listening to the words of these officers and soldiers, Xiao Tianjian really didn't know what to say. In fact, he had already learned from Feng Weihan that the capital had been out of food these days, but he didn't expect that the situation had developed to such an extent that even these soldiers in the Beijing camp were hungry, not to mention the people in the city, I guess. At this time, there are not a few people in the city who starve to death.

So he lamented and ordered to conquer Beijing as soon as possible. After opening the gate, he lost grain to the city. At present, the economy is broken and the population is sharply reduced. Now that it has happened, it can save the lives of some people, so let's try to save some people!

On the morning of July 16, Chongzhen 14, all kinds of troops of the Dazhong army blocked outside Dongzhimen and Chaoyangmen in Beijing, and issued an ultimatum to the defenders in the city, giving them half a day to consider, so that they immediately and unconditionally surrendered and opened the gate to enlarge the Chinese army into the city. Any resisters will attack the Dazhong army. After the city, he was killed by the whole door, and he would never tolerate mercy.

At the same time, the Dazhong Army, by the will of Xiao Tianjian, shot a large number of "books to Beijing officials and people" copied by military scribes overnight into the city with a strong bow.

At the same time, he also issued a letter of persuasion to Zhu Youjian, the emperor of Chongzhen in the city, and advised Zhu Youjian in a harsh tone that there was no need for the Ming Dynasty to exist so far. I advised Zhu Youjian to think about the lives of millions of Beijing residents in the city, quickly announced his abdication and surrender to the Dazhong army. Xiao Tianjian promised not in the name of the Dazhong Emperor. Zhu Youjian's guilt will be investigated, and the safety of Zhu Youjian's royal family members will be ensured. Zhu Youjian will be the king of Taiping, and he can enjoy the rich life for the rest of his life in the future.

At this time, Chongzhen had actually learned the news of the collapse of the three major camps outside the city in the palace, and someone quickly sent the Dazhong emperor Xiao Tianjian's persuasion letter to Chongzhen to the palace. After reading the persuasion letter, Chongzhen immediately trampled it on the ground and scolded Xiao in the Qianqing Palace like a madman. Tianjian is a traitor. He resolutely refused to announce the abdication, declared the end of the Ming Dynasty, and surrendered to the Dazhong Army in Kaicheng. How does he think that such a Ninth Five-Year Plan can surrender to the thief army?

So Chongzhen ordered Admiral Wang Cheng'en to lead the garrison in the capital to defend Beijing and have a final battle with the thief army. He also ordered Cao Huachun and other eunuchs to go to each gate to supervise the battle in person. All the gates were guarded by the eunuchs he trusted, and more than 2,000 eunuchs in the palace also copied the guys to Beijing. The divisions went to guard the city gate and fight against the Xingtian thieves to attack the city.

At the same time, Chongzhen issued an order to summon the civil and military officials in the city to enter the palace to discuss the plan to defend the city. Unfortunately, after the eunuch's decree, Chongzhen had been waiting in the imperial hall until nearly noon, but a courtier did not give an edict to enter the palace, and all the civil and military officials no longer obeyed to the imperial edict of his emperor.

Chongzhen was angry that even the dragon case in front of him was overturned on the Huangji Hall, and he personally gathered more than 200 bodyguards and eunuchs in the palace to go to Chaoyangmen to fight with the Dazhong army.

The eunuchs and bodyguards were so scared that they dragged Chongzhen one by one and didn't let Chongzhen leave the palace. Chongzhen couldn't get out of the palace and ran to the Chaoyang Gate for a personal expedition.

But at noon, Wang Cheng'en, who was sent by Chongzhen to Admiral the soldiers and horses of the Beijing Division, ran back alone. At this time, although Wang Cheng'en wanted to save the capital, he didn't find that there were only thousands of soldiers left in the huge capital, and the soldiers refused to go to the city. The two or three thousand eunuchs who sent the palace dispersed as soon as they left the palace, and Ladu could not pull them back. It could be said that the capital had no soldiers to defend the city, so Wang Chengen saw such a situation and returned to the palace in despair.

After listening to Wang Chengen's crying, Chongzhen fell on the steps in front of the Huangji Hall. The three-eyed rod in his hand, which he didn't know where he found, also rolled down along the steps of Han Baiyu.

After a long time, Chongzhen turned to the sky and cried loudly: "All ministers are on me! ..." Then he stumbled and took Wang Cheng'en to the apse...

Tens of thousands of soldiers will quietly stop outside the gates. Time has passed little by little. Since the ultimatum was issued to the defenders in the capital and Emperor Chongzhen in the morning, although the city looked from afar, there were people shaking their heads from time to time, but there were no banners and generals gathered, even more so. No one was busy loading the cannons on the city walls.

Near noon, Xiao Tianjian personally took Yu Linwei to the outside of Chaoyang Gate, the main attack. After arriving in the army, Xiao Tianjian got off the war horse, slowly walked in the battle, and looked at the Chaoyang Gate from time to time.

Time seemed to be frozen. At this time, it passed very slowly. Seeing that the noon was about to pass, there was still no movement in the city. No one opened the door to surrender, but I couldn't see how many officers and soldiers appeared on the city wall and towers. There was a strange silence on the whole Chaoyang Gate, which made people confused at this moment. What the hell happened in the city?

At this time, it was not others who sat in Chaoyangmen. It was Cao Huachun, one of Chongzhen's most favored eunuchs. After the three battalions outside the city collapsed and surrendered to the Dazhong army, Chongzhen let his trusted eunuchs rush to the gates to sit in person overnight, and Cao Huachun was ordered to come to Chaoyangmen.

As soon as the day was shining, Cao Huachun held the city stack and looked out, and his legs suddenly softened. In the past two years, in order to strengthen the garrison of the capital, especially during last year, he often personally organized the soldiers and horses of the Beijing battalion to train in the city, so Cao Huachun, who followed Chongzhen, also saw some soldiers and horses, but he looked at the city. After the generals of the Dazhong army outside, Cao Huachun was scared even if he was scared.

He turned his head and looked at the officers and soldiers guarding Chaoyangmen. Among the huge Beijing division, there were only less than 10,000 soldiers left, and there were only more than 1,000 generals assigned to Chaoyangmen. Moreover, these soldiers and generals were trembling with fear. Many soldiers simply could not lie on the ground and let the officers drink. He scolded how to beat them with a whip. They stood up and lay down again. On the whole wall around Chaoyangmen, there were few soldiers guarding, and even the few Hongyi cannons placed here were not taken care of.

If you can defend the capital in this way, you will really go to hell! Cao Huachun even had the heart to cry to death at this time, so he stayed here and waited for others to do it. There was only one dead word, so after a little thought about it, he turned around and went down the city tower. He wanted to take advantage of this chaos to simply take off the eunuch robe, which he was usually proud of, and the soles of his feet were oily, in the capital. Anyway, he has a house that few people know about. He gets into his house and hides until the situation stabilizes.

This Ming Dynasty is over, and the capital is also over. Facing the wolf-like Dazhong army outside the city, it is impossible to keep it. Eumcists like them have been in the palace since childhood. What is the picture? Isn't it just for the glory and wealth, do you really want to accompany the martyrdom of today's emperor?

Cao Huachun asked himself that he was not a courageous person. Although he lived to an old age, he still didn't want to die. For so many years, he was an eunuch. He did not dare to say that he was powerful, but no one dared to offend him when looking at the government and the opposition, he had accumulated a lot of gold and silver over the years. Jewelry, now that the Ming Dynasty is over, does he have so much gold and silver, and can't follow the current emperor to die for the Ming Dynasty?

No! Never! Cao Huachun shouted in his heart. At this moment, everyone was panicked, and few people noticed him at all, so he quickly greeted the two trusted eunuchs who followed him, and then found a room to change the eunuch's robe and a set of ordinary people' clothes that had already been prepared for the eunuchs.

At this time, someone shouted behind him, "I've seen Mr. Cao!"

(Today's special thanks to the panxiaochen brothers!)