Signed to Zhu Cihong, Prince of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 18 18, Cao Huachun's military power was taken away, and Ming was short of money to conscript
An hour later, Changhua Gate.

"What, King Chuang is angry?" After hearing this sentence, Cao Huachun's expression was quite ugly.

In front of Cao Huachun, an eunuch stood respectfully, with five rather obvious slap marks on his face. Hearing this, he said helplessly: "King Chuang was in a bad mood at first. It was furious, and this small slap was given by King Chuang.

King Chuang said that whoever wants to serve his new master has to do what a slave should do. If he can't do it, there are many people who want to be slaves to King Chuang, and there is no shortage of people surnamed Cao. Several people surnamed Wang. "

After hearing these words, Cao Huachun was completely speechless.

After a while, a stern light flashed in Cao Huachun's eyes, and he said softly, "It seems that only tonight..."

At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps, someone went up the city wall, Cao Huachun subconsciously stopped speaking.

Looking back, Cao Huachun frowned suddenly: "British Duke?"

The British Duke Zhang Shize led several followers, and nodded towards Cao Huachun with a smile: "Duke Cao."

Cao Huachun was already in a bad mood, so he immediately lowered his face and said coldly, "My lord, how come I remember that His Majesty ordered that no minister should climb the city wall unless there is a will?"

The British Duke smiled slightly, and waved the will in his hand towards Cao Huachun: "Yes, so now the Duke of this country has come with His Majesty's will, and Cao Huachun listens to it!"

Cao Huachun was full of doubts in his heart, but there was indeed an imperial decree in the hands of the British Duke, so he could only bow down and salute: "Cao Huachun listens to the decree."

I saw the British Duke chanting loudly: "...From now on, the British Duke Zhang Shize will be in charge of all the soldiers and horses of the Nine Sects of the Beijing Camp. Cao Huachun's position as admiral eunuch will be cancelled.

Cao Huachun's body trembled violently, he couldn't help but suddenly raised his head, and said anxiously: "This, how is this possible? British lord, could it be that you have advanced under your Majesty's old man's slander?"

The Duke of England laughed and looked at Cao Huachun with disdain: "Grandpa Cao, this is the prince's admonition, and His Majesty's personal orders. Do you want to disobey the order? Hand over the military amulet to me immediately. Wherever you want to return go!"

Only then did Cao Huachun understand: "So it's the prince!"

Cao Huachun's heart was full of resentment. You must know that he had planned to open the Changhua Gate to surrender to Li Zicheng in the middle of the night, but the British Duke rushed to confiscate Cao Huachun's military power at this time.

Without military power, what will Cao Huachun use to open the gate of Changhua?
But now the situation is stronger than others, no matter how unwilling Cao Huachun is, he can only hand over the military talisman and return to the palace with a few confidants helplessly.

After returning to the palace, Cao Huachun immediately found another eunuch Wang Huamin, and only then did he understand what happened in Fengtian Palace not long ago.

Cao Huachun gritted his teeth: "This prince is really in the way!"

Wang Huamin was also helpless, and said, "Eunuch Cao, since Daming is expected to defend the city, why not...we still continue to be loyal to Daming?"

Cao Huachun shook his head slowly, and said, "My lord, you and I have no way out now. If King Chuang really loses, do you think His Majesty and the Crown Prince can't find out our secret collusion with King Chuang and Du Xun? Only help King Chuang has broken through the city of Beijing, so you and I can continue to live and serve our new master!"

Wang Huamin panicked now, and said, "Then what should I do?"

There was a flash of light in Cao Huachun's eyes, and he said coldly: "It's okay. Although His Majesty obeyed the crown prince and took over your military power, it doesn't mean that His Majesty doubts you and me.

Besides, there is no food and salary in the capital now, so what will His Majesty and the Crown Prince use to support an army?Without enough troops to defend the city, it will be a matter of time before the city of Beijing is breached!
Now, what you and I have to do is to continue to lurk, to show our loyalty to His Majesty, and to look for opportunities in secret! "

After Wang Huamin heard Cao Huachun's words, he finally felt relieved, and said with a smile, "Eunuch Cao's words are very true, then we will wait for the opportunity to meet King Chuang!"

The two old eunuchs smiled at each other, their eyes were wretched and cold.

Zhu Cihong returned to Duanben Palace, took a good bath, then ate something casually, and threw herself onto the bed with a bang.

"It's so tiring." Zhu Cihong sighed.

In the past daytime, Zhu Cihong did a lot of things.

Not only did he have a battle with Chuangjun, but he also had a war of words with Wei Zaode when he came back, and by the way, he engaged in a wave of political struggles to persuade Chongzhen to dismiss Cao Huachun and others from their official positions. It can be said that he was quite busy and broke his heart for Daming.

But in general, after Zhu Cihong's wave of operations, the situation in the capital has improved.

If the previous Daming was an extremely critical patient on the operating table who could burp at any time, then after a wave of operations by Zhu Cihong, the attending doctor, it was basically a situation where he was transferred to the ICU after the operation and continued to observe.

While Zhu Cihong was lying on the bed and thinking about things, his personal eunuch Fang Gongqian suddenly walked into the hall: "Your Highness, Your Majesty has called urgently, please go to the Imperial Study immediately!"

Zhu Cihong was stunned for a moment: "Isn't Li Zicheng honest this evening?"

Zhu Cihong hurried to the imperial study.

Chongzhen was naturally there, besides the British Duke Zhang Shize, the right servant of the Ministry of War Wang Jiayan, these two were recommended by Zhu Cihong before, and...

"The minister, Li Guozhen, has met His Highness." A very young minister who looked like a talented person saluted Zhu Cihong.

"Li Guozhen?" Zhu Cihong thought for a while, and found that this person was the former admiral of the Beijing camp (this is the drawback of Chongzhen's likes to change people randomly, an admiral of the Beijing camp, there are at least two digits of people who have been in the city of Beijing) , In fact, Li Zicheng surrendered in history. Naturally, he didn't think highly of him, and snorted as a greeting.

Li Guozhen was also a little stunned when he saw this, apparently he didn't understand why Zhu Cihong was so indifferent.

When Chongzhen saw this, he only thought that Zhu Cihong was dissatisfied with Li Guozhen, the unappointed candidate, but he didn't take it seriously.

From Chongzhen's point of view, of course he had to choose a more reliable person to continue to take charge of the army. Li Guozhen was Chongzhen's candidate, and this was also the basic operation of the emperor.

Chongzhen was fair to the British: "Mr. British, tell me about the current situation."

The British Duke Zhang Shize nodded, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, Prince. It's like this. The minister, Wang Shilang, and Xiangcheng Bo have now completely gathered all the soldiers in the Daming capital camp and the city. There are a total of 5000 troops. About [-] people."

After listening, Chongzhen frowned immediately: "So few?"

The British Duke nodded and said: "Yes, the main reason is that the number of people in the Beijing camp was insufficient, and the food and salary have not been in place for many years. In addition, many people have surrendered to the bandit army outside the city, which is also one of the reasons."

Chongzhen said: "Are these 5000 people enough to defend the capital?"

The British Duke shook his head and said: "The capital city is too big. Relying on 5000 people alone is absolutely impossible. I believe that we must recruit more young and strong warriors from the city to join the army in order to be able to defend the capital."

Upon hearing the words, Chongzhen hurriedly said: "Then what are you waiting for, go and post a notice, promulgating my will to recruit people!"

The British Duke hesitated for a moment, but said helplessly: "Your Majesty, Daming...has no money. If there is no food and salary, who is willing to join the army and work for Daming?"

Chongzhen was speechless when he heard the words.

Zhu Cihong watched from the side and knew the problem.

Yes, Daming already ran out of money.

When Li Zi divided his troops into the capital, Chongzhen had already issued repeated orders, asking ministers and nobles to donate food and salaries to recruit soldiers and horses, but what happened?However, eggs.

Among other things, it's just Zhou Kui, the patriarch of the state, who is obviously very rich in his family, but he pushes it back and forth in the face of Chongzhen.Empress Zhou couldn't see it anymore, so she quietly sold the last bit of treasure in the palace, took 5000 taels to Zhou Kui, and asked him to give some more to Chongzhen.The results of it?Zhou Kui deducted 2000 taels backhanded, and only took 3000 taels to Chongzhen.

Later when Li Zicheng entered the city, Li Yan, the Chuangjun general under his command, occupied Zhou Kui's mansion, and Zhou Kui gave 10 taels at a time.Li Yan said, you are the head of the state and you only give this?Then there was a big punishment, and Zhou Kui took out another 10 taels.

Li Yan was still not satisfied, so he was tortured and waited on. In the end, Zhou Kui took out a total of 60 taels, plus countless curios and antiques.

Zhou Kui himself is just a microcosm of the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

After Li Zicheng entered the city, it is said that he took out at least 5000 million taels (some say 7000 million taels) of cash and countless other treasures from these ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, later Li Zicheng was killed by the Man Qing, so all these gold, silver and jewelry were cheaper than the Man Qing.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cihong was about to speak, but the system's voice suddenly sounded one step earlier.

"The sign-in task is triggered, the host is requested to arrive at the treasure vault in Cao Huachun's palace outside the palace within 24 hours."

Then, a map showing the structure of the mansion and the path of the secret room appeared in front of Zhu Cihong.

A few seconds later, Zhu Cihong spoke.

"Father, regarding the issue of military pay, I have a way to solve it."

(End of this chapter)