Great time travel

Chapter 99, the time-travel version of Emperor Chongzhen's decision

PS: Corrected a BUG in the above. The plot is only at the end of October. The previous chapter was mistakenly written as November. It has been corrected now, please forgive me.

I was a little dizzy with the manuscript ahead.

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On the morning of October 22nd in the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Forbidden City, the Golden Temple
This is the first court meeting of Emperor Chongzhen after he "recovered from a serious illness", and it is also the first court meeting after the Guan Ning army defected and offered to pass.Although the ministers in the hall, headed by chief assistant Wen Tiren, put on a congratulatory form to celebrate the health of His Majesty the Emperor, there was still no trace of joy in the entire court meeting.

——As soon as the congratulatory form was finished, a minister, three ministers, and two censors knelt down to collectively "resign" and demanded to "retire the old man and return to his hometown".

"...Unfortunately, the ministers are poor and incompetent, the praise of the painting is invalid, and the crime deserves death."

After saying their humble farewell words as usual, they lay down on the ground, facing the throne on Danchi, motionless, waiting for the emperor's answer.

——Do you deserve death?You should have died long ago! ! !
Looking at these seemingly respectful old foxes, big foxes and little foxes, the time-traveled Emperor Chongzhen really wanted to roar like this.

Last night, he secretly summoned Wen Tiren, the first assistant, and Lu Xiang, the last general of the king's army, into the palace to inquire about the current battle situation. Combined with the reports from the eunuchs of the inner court, His Majesty finally understood these two things. In the past month, these useless idiots have made some troubles again.

——Since the original version of Emperor Chongzhen was overwhelmed by the bad news that the Guan Ning army had sacrificed Shanhaiguan to defect, and the Liaodong Tatars took the opportunity to invade the invaders, and became anxious and unconscious. The general situation of the war of resistance.

However, even at such a critical moment, the Donglin Party in the DPRK is still focused on dismantling Wen Tiren, and because there is no emperor to hold the line, it is even more unscrupulous-in the past two months, most of the orders issued by the cabinet, They were all passively delayed by the six ministries controlled by the Donglin Party, and they were rarely implemented. The entire Beijing court was almost paralyzed. The supervisor also came to intervene, and sent supervisors everywhere to seize military power, making the situation even more chaotic.

After the entire Yongping Mansion, most of Shuntian Mansion, Hejian Mansion, and some counties of Baoding Mansion fell one after another, and Lu Xiangsheng's [-] Tianxiong Army and Hong Chengchou's [-] Qin Army collapsed one after another, the Donglin Party in the court People, only to realize that this time it seems that the party struggle has gone too far, and it has been completely played off. It is no longer "repelling temperature and defeating the cabinet" or "resisting eunuchs", but directly destroying the capital of the Ming Empire... But Their first reaction is still not how to unite with sincerity, turn the tide, and tide over the difficulties together, let alone self-criticism and guilt, but to jump out of the broken ship of the Beijing court as soon as possible to save their lives—such as now These guys begging to come back from their old age...

Hello!What about "repay the king with a dying death"? (All Donglin Party said: Your Majesty, you are so naive!)

Moreover, Emperor Chongzhen also knew that these guys who were kneeling in front of him to hand in their resignations were already quite moral.There are quite a few officials in the yamen of various ministries, as soon as they hang up their official seals, they slap their buttocks and leave.In addition, there are even more unscrupulous ones-not only the person left, but the official seal was also taken away!
Although these people slipped away with official seals, it should not be for bluffing, but just for keeping a souvenir, or preparing to pass on to their children and grandchildren as antiques.But this official seal is not something that can be carved with a piece of radish. The official official documents of the yamen need to be verified. The whole system is going to be messed up.

Fortunately, the imperial court in Beijing itself is almost doomed now, and if the official seal is lost, it will be lost!Anyway, there is no chance of using it again.

In short, looking at the raised buttocks below, Emperor Chongzhen's expression changed several times, and he finally restrained the urge to yell "You should have died a long time ago" and pressed the button as calmly as possible. It is customary to say, "...you dear ministers have worked hard and made great achievements, so go and cherish it."

Hearing the emperor's relief, the officials immediately kowtowed three more times in relief, and replied loudly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, long live, long live, long live, my emperor." Then they bowed slightly together, took a few steps back, and knelt down again He kowtowed three times, then got up and retreated to the threshold of the main hall, knelt down to the throne and kowtowed the last three times, then turned around and walked out of the hall—originally according to the old rules, when he walked out of the hall, there would be officials The officials waited outside the hall and gave the resigned officials a few pieces of red silk as pensions, but in times of chaos like this, no one cares about such trivial matters.

On the altar in the other side of the hall, the emperor looked at the much sparser court hall and the remaining officials, and couldn't help sighing again: Those who escaped may indeed lack integrity. But those who choose to stay, I am afraid that not many of them are loyal ministers.

Who knows how many of them have turned into rebels, planning to use the capital and the emperor to curry favor with the new master?
Therefore, the emperor winked at the chief assistant Wen Tiren, and Wen Tiren gestured to a few of his cronies, and then exchanged sign language with several people, and finally pushed out a Zuozhongyun Li Mingrui to the emperor Said: "...Your Majesty, forgive me for speaking bluntly. Today's matter has come to this point, and the capital cannot be guaranteed. I also hope that the emperor will put the world's ancestral temple first, abandon the capital, and let the city leave the city quickly before the army of Eastern captives arrives. Walk……"

Next, Li Mingrui specifically pointed out a feasible escape route: "...Now the rogue bandits are entrenched in the Western Mountains, and the slave soldiers are approaching Tongzhou and Liangxiang. The capital is already trapped on three sides, but there is still a way to go north. Your Majesty can go out of Germany. Shengmen, went to Changping, and then went to Baoanzhou to join the Xuanda frontier army. At this point, you can sit and watch the battle between Yan and Hebei, and wait for an opportunity to return to the capital; when you retreat, you can protect yourself with heavy troops, go to Taiyuan and Luoyang, and go south to Jinling to rebuild the imperial court , to preserve our ancestral temple..." At the end of the speech, Li Mingrui knelt down and wept, "...May your majesty follow the example of Goujian, the king of Yue in the past, and don't take one city and one place as the most important thing. You must take care of the dragon's body, and speed up the loyal ministers and family members to break through the siege. Now His Majesty has the hope of the world, and the 300-year blessing of the ancestors will surely be able to work hard and restore the rivers and mountains!"

These words made the time-travel version of Emperor Chongzhen very pleasing to the ear. When there is still a glimmer of life, who is willing to die easily?According to his cognition, it turned out that Emperor Chongzhen was a political figure with an obsession with political cleanliness. What he cared about and insisted on most was that his reputation in history must be clean.Therefore, in the original history, Emperor Chongzhen had many opportunities to escape to the south, at least half of the south of the Yangtze River, but he repeatedly gave up the opportunity, because he refused to let go of his airs, fearing being ridiculed, and even more afraid of leaving a bad reputation in history. for the sake.

But he, the time-travel version of Emperor Chongzhen, doesn't have such a good face... Even if he fled south to become Song Gaozong, it would be much better than hanging Meishan!
Just when he was about to nod his head in response, the cabinet scholar He Wuzhen stood up, spitting and shouting loudly: "...Your Majesty, you must not listen to the rumors of such thieves! The son guards the gate of the country, sits in the capital, and nurtures all directions! If the emperor dared not defend the battle and let the city go, let me ask, what would the soldiers and officials in front of the land think? Besides, since your majesty ascended the throne, Liaodong has built slaves several times When the soldiers came to the capital city, was there any time when they were not frustrated and returned? If Yu Shaobao (Yu Qian) had heard of a strong enemy when they besieged Beijing during the Jingtai period, how could there be a great tomorrow today? Therefore, I ask Zuo Zhongyun Li Mingrui to be punished to thank the world!"

What He Wuzhen said was so impassioned, the officials in the palace were speechless for a while, Li Mingrui's face was dead, Lu Xiang stomped his feet, Wen Tiren's eyes were dark, and Emperor Chongzhen's eyes were full of sarcasm... You, an expert in internal fighting, actually So loyal?What a big joke!

You Donglin Party!If you don't make trouble for your own people, will you really die?

Or, you have already negotiated a price with Huang Taiji, and you are going to exchange my head for the official position of the Jurchen?So you are afraid that I will run away?

However, no matter how murderous the Emperor Chongzhen's eyes were, after that, under the leadership of the University of Hewuzu, the ministers of the Donglin Party in the court and some pedantic people from other factions all stepped forward to speak out against him. Zuo Zhongyun and Li Mingrui, who proposed "Keep the city from going", criticize:

"...The Supreme One, the Son of Heaven, the Greatest One, the truth. The bloody fight in the front, but the rear is fleeing south, how can there be such a reason?"

"...In today's situation, the first thing is to cheer up people's hearts. If the emperor abandons the capital and runs away, the hearts of the people in the world will inevitably be unstoppable. Let me ask you, what will happen next? How will people in the world look at my emperor? What do you think of the current policy? There is no other way but to solidify people's hearts and stand by for help."

"...If God blesses Daming, the country will survive this catastrophe. If not, Daming also guards the gate of the country as the emperor. His Majesty has punished many ministers who lost their teachers and lost their land. Could it be that the situation is imminent, but His Majesty can only To punish the ministers, but to run away instead?"

"...Now the capital is indeed in danger, but as the saying goes, the king dies when the country dies, the emperor guards the gate of the country, and the king dies. This is the correct way since ancient times. Today's things have come to this point, and we can only obey the destiny. If your majesty abandons the ancestor's mausoleum, If you run away in a hurry and get captured halfway, you will only laugh at the posterity!"

"...The world is the world of Emperor Ming. Your majesty should defend it to the death, but how can you abandon it! The ministers are willing to lead the army and people out of the city to resist the war, and may your majesty stick to the capital!"

……

Looking at these civil servants who stand on a moral height, each one is triumphant, full of righteousness, speaking generously and eloquently under Dan Chi, looking forward to Zixiong, looking like a loyal and righteous man, the time-traveling version of Chongzhen on the throne The emperor's eyes are getting colder and colder—it is true that what these guys said is not completely unreasonable, but for a person whose life is in front of him, he still has to consider whether the medicine has side effects, isn't that a big joke?
Don't look at how impassioned and loyal these scholar-bureaucrats said in the palace, when the real enemy soldiers come, there will never be a scholar-bureaucrat coming to escort the palace, on the contrary, there will definitely be many people who will open the city gate and lead the way!And a considerable part of the soldiers and horses defending the city will inevitably defect!

Therefore, hurry up and escape from Beijing, at least there is still a way to survive, if you stay in Beijing and defend the city, you will definitely die!

In short, when these "loyal ministers and righteous men" were admonishing under Dan Chi, His Majesty the Emperor was looking at them with the eyes of bedbugs and fat pigs... I remember that when Li Zicheng came to Beijing in the 17th year of Chongzhen, he copied them from their home. 7000 million taels of silver were looted; then, before I leave Beijing and flee, should I also torture them and squeeze out some gold and silver for military pay?This is probably considered waste utilization!

But after thinking about it carefully, he finally gave up on this tempting plan--Huang Taiji's sweat tent has already been stationed in Wuqing County, and seeing the soldiers of the Eight Banners approaching, it is too late to recruit soldiers, train soldiers, cast artillery and raise food put into action.Even if you can grab tens of millions of taels of silver, there is nowhere to use it, and it is even difficult to transport so much silver away... If it is trouble on the road, relying on the inner money of the palace is enough .

Moreover, before abandoning the capital and fleeing for gold and silver, he would not only make himself infamous, but also delay time, and even induce a bigger rebellion—in the late Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party was the best at creating civil unrest and street riots...

So, after patiently listening to the hype of the civil servants, Emperor Chongzhen did not make any statement, but calmly ordered to retreat, while leaving Wen Tiren and Lu Xiangsheng behind, and ordered them to go to the Qianqing Palace after the dispersal of the court. Calling the right"... thus ended the court meeting.

——This is the first court meeting held by the time-traveling version of Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City, and it will also be the last court meeting...

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"...This generation is really deceiving people! It is indeed the ancestral system for the emperor to guard the gate of the country, but it also depends on the current situation! The current situation has changed, how can we stick to the rules and not change? There is a saying in the art of war. The guarded city. Now Guanning’s iron cavalry are all rebellious, and there are no soldiers or generals in Shanxi and Shaanxi. The number of soldiers inside and outside the capital is only 3 or [-], and the internal emptiness has reached the extreme! It is because people's hearts are fluctuating, lack of food and salary, and scheduling failures. It is barely enough to be stationed here, but it is absolutely impossible to enter the capital to serve the king! Now there are no more soldiers outside the capital to serve the king, and there are not many soldiers in the capital to defend. City! Taicang, the imperial court, does not have much money to reward the army, and not much food and grass to support the army! There is no calculation inside and outside, and there is no countermeasure. What about useless words? Today, all the ministers in the palace only care about invitations and confuse the people with demonic words. It is really abhorrent, even beheading them can’t make up for their crimes. They really should be stripped of their skins and grasses, as a warning for those who come later!”

After being introduced into Qianqing Palace by the little eunuch, Lu Xiangsheng immediately cursed angrily——Although this famous commander in the late Ming Dynasty was born as a civil servant, he was burly and powerful, always took the lead in fighting, and had a rude and straightforward personality , Just like the fierce Zhang Fei in the drama.

Wen Tiren, who has always been gentle and refined, obviously couldn't accept such straightforward words, and before he could open his mouth to ease the atmosphere, he was surprised to see Emperor Chongzhen nodding his head in response, and at the same time reaching out and handing over a bright yellow scroll, " ...This generation really should peel the real grass, but it is too late now. Lu Qing, take this imperial decree, go to Tongzhou to open a warehouse to collect grain, requisition all mules, horses and vehicles, and transport as much grain as you can. Then the whole army gave up their garrison and moved northward to guard the Mausoleum of Emperor Changping, waiting to meet up with the chariots in the palace, and then went northward to take refuge in Xuanfu. The guards and family members highlight the dangerous places in the capital..."

Then, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the eunuch to present Lu Xiangsheng with the banner of Wang Ming and the sword of monk Fang, "...if the Tongzhou official warehouse refuses to obey the edict and refuses to release grain, you can send troops to attack it. If there are officials in Beijing who dare to obstruct, Even if you are a college student, a minister, or a minister, you can kill him——According to the secret report of Jin Yiwei, all the officials in the capital are now quite capable of collaborating with captives, and there are not many trustworthy people. The safety of me and the world is left to you Lu Qing!"

Lu Xiangsheng and Wen Tiren were stunned for a moment by Emperor Chongzhen's frenzied decision and arrangement. After a while, Wen Tiren murmured, "...Your Majesty, do you really want to do it in such a hurry? No need. Wait and see? Maybe there is still a turning point in the situation?"

"...I can't wait any longer!" The time-traveling Emperor Chongzhen shook his head, "...Leave early and feel at ease! If you don't leave, you won't be able to leave in a few days!"