The sky gradually became dark, and there were occasional sounds of cannons outside the city, and Chongzhen couldn't sleep or eat. He was worried that Li Zicheng would attack the city overnight, and there was a miserable mist everywhere in the palace.

"Sister Qinghui, the bandits besieged the city, can Wu Sangui's reinforcements come?"

"I heard that Wu Sangui's king-supporting soldiers had passed Yongping the day before yesterday and were advancing to Beijing. The emperor issued another edict to urge Wu Sangui to arrive quickly. He should come over, right?"

Wei Qinghui knew that the situation was not good, so she was questioned by the palace maid and was choked and unable to speak.

A palace maid held Wei Qinghui's hand and asked tremblingly: "Sister Qinghui, what if something is wrong..."

Wei Qinghui gritted her teeth suddenly: "At that time, the aspiring sisters will commit suicide with me, and would rather die than be humiliated!"

Chongzhen spent dinner in a hurry and returned to Yangdezhai to rest. In the past two or three days, palace maids and eunuchs often whispered from time to time. They once heard strange movements in the Taimiao late at night, and seemed to have footsteps. In the middle of the night, Fengxian Hall often sighed with hatred. Although he did not speak, he knew in his heart that this was a sign of a destruction of the country!

Chongzhen succeeded to the throne at the age of 17, worked diligently, determined to be the leader of the revival. He was busy every day and did not dare to be relaxed. However, in recent years, due to the collapse of the country's fortunes, his spirit has also decreased day by day. He gradually believed in ghosts and gods. He often came to Fengxian Hall to cry and pray. The more he was frustrated in the national affairs, pessimistic, desperate, angry and sad, the more he thought of Fengxian Hall, kneeling in front of Taizu and Chengzu's divine lords, crying, and expressing his troubles and endless sad words.

Since Juyong Pass turned to Li Zicheng to surrender, Changping mutiny and officials and gentry surrendered, the Beijing camp did not fight in Shahe, and Wu Sangui failed to rescue the troops, Chongzhen understood that the situation of national destruction had already been established. Today, Li Zicheng surrounded Beijing again, and the city was broken only every day, and he became even more desperate. He said intimidatingly: I have been vigilant in the morning and have been struggling for seventeen years, but it has ended today!

If such a big thing happened in the past, Chongzhen would have gone to pray to the previous palace, but now he believes that the country passed down by his ancestors will be destroyed in his hands and has no face to pay homage to his ancestors.

He was restless and walked around in the warm room, making repeated voices of hatred!

"I have no face to see my ancestors! I have no face to see my ancestors!"

After a moment, Chongzhen sat in the dragon throne in despair, took a sip of warm tea, intending to calm down his mind, and suddenly thought of the officials of all kinds of state affairs in the past, in addition to celebrating various state affairs during the court, he also asked to summon the ministers and submitted memorials to express their opinions. Now that the capital is surrounded and the country is in full swing, why did no one in the civil and military officials in the court ask to summon the ministers and offer a plan?

hatred!

He hates it!

When the court learned that Li Zicheng had broken Taiyuan, someone suggested summoning Wu Sangui to pass and rescue Beijing. Wang Yongji, the governor of Ji Liao, also came from Yongping to report secretly, and strongly recommended Wu Sangui to return to rescue the capital to consolidate the country's foundation. He had agreed to add Wu Sangui as the title of Xibo, which means that Wu Sangui pacified the thieves coming from the west.

However, many court officials strongly obstructed, saying that their ancestors could not lose an inch of their territory, and blamed them for giving up the land outside the pass, and the court debated whether to transfer Wu Sangui to serve the king, which wasted time in vain.

The situation became increasingly urgent, and the court officials agreed to summon Wu Sangui to serve the king, but they also said that the people of Liaodong were the emperor and the people of the emperor must bring the people around Ningyuan into the pass, but they missed the opportunity to fight.

Thinking of this, he hated even more!

All the court were mediocre people, and no one was a subject who was knowledgeable and courageous and willing to take responsibility for the country!

"All the ministers are wrong to the country and mislead me, and they all deserve to die!"

Chongzhen suddenly threw the teacup to the ground!

Wu Xiang, the eunuch in charge of the Ganqing Palace, was shocked when he heard the sound. He hurried in and knelt on the ground and did not dare to ask. At this moment, Wei Qinghui also followed him in and knelt on the ground.

Chongzhen whispered: "Transfer the order and go to Kunning Palace immediately!"

Wu Xiang asked, "Do you want to prepare a chariot?"

Chongzhen said: "Don't prepare a chariot, walk forward, and take someone to Yikun Palace and invite the imperial concubine to Kunning Palace!"

Wu Xiang quickly left the Ganqing Palace to arrange it.

Chongzhen walked down Danbi and went to Kunning Palace by a group of eunuchs and palace maids carrying more than a dozen lanterns.

In Kunning Palace, the frown Queen Zhou was sitting opposite Concubine Yuan. When she heard the eunuch report that the lord was coming immediately, she led Concubine Yuan, the palace maid and the eunuch to pick up the lord.

Chongzhen was welcomed into the main hall of Kunning Palace and did not say anything for a long time.

He has been sleeping and eating for several days, his face is dark and his eye sockets are deep. He is just thirty-four years old, and his temples have a few new white hairs. His eyes are originally bright and full of resoluteness, but now they are dim and full of blood.

Zhou Hou and Concubine Yuan were sad, with tears in their eyes, and they both said secretly, is the country really going to perish?

Chongzhen had thousands of words in his heart, but he had no way to speak. The queen and Concubine Yuan should have looked beautiful, but they became old and haggard because of state affairs. He did not dare to look at Zhou Hou more. Zhou Hou's worries made him heartbroken, and he hated that he was sorry for Zhou Hou, which made Zhou Hou end today.

For seventeen years, the love between him and Zhou Hou has come to my heart one after another, and I regret it and can't help but sigh deeply.

Zhou Hou had already prepared to die for his country. As the mother of the country, she could not bear to live with humiliation. She was ready to die for her country at any time. Tonight, Chongzhen suddenly came to Kunning Palace and his expression was abnormal, which made her feel inconvenient.

After waiting for a while, Chongzhen never spoke. She could no longer bear it and asked in a trembling voice: "Master, if you have something to do to me, please give me instructions!"

Chongzhen regretted not hearing the queen's words and fled to Hangzhou or Guangzhou. Today, he wanted to escape, but he was waiting for the city to be destroyed and the country was destroyed, and the whole family died together.

Because Nanjing fell into Li Xin's hands, twenty days ago, a minister in the court suggested that he go south from Tianjin and flee to Zhejiang or Guangdong, and then consolidate his army and martial arts, recover Nanjing, pacify the Central Plains, and return to Beijing.

Empress Yian and Empress Zhou had this intention. When Li Zicheng led more than 100,000 troops from Taiyuan to Beijing, the debate in the court was the most intense. Empress Yian secretly instructed Empress Zhou to advise the emperor to make a decision early so as not to be in a hurry.

So Zhou Hou persuaded him as he said, but Chongzhen was furious. Since he ascended to the top, considering the shortcomings of his previous concubines interfering in politics, he would never allow his concubines to inquire about the major affairs of the court, nor would he speak casually. Therefore, he scolded Zhou Hou on the major events of moving south. At this moment, he saw Zhou Hou's haggard face and listened to her inquiries, and felt deeply regretful.

Although Zhou Hou had decided to die for the feud, she was still trembling all over. She thought of her two sons, the prince and the king of Ding, as well as Prince Changping and Princess Zhaoren, and her whole body was trembling even more violently.

At this moment, there was another cannon sound at Fucheng Gate. At first, the three cannons were powerless, and then the few cannons were particularly powerful, shaking the earth. Chongzhen and the palace servants were shocked and listened carefully. Then they were silent. Only then did they guess that it was not Li Zicheng's army that siege the city, and they felt a little relieved.

The sound of cannons stopped, and the terrible silence in the Forbidden City was because there were clouds in the sky, the moonlight was unclear, and there were dim shadows everywhere in the palace, making the palace even more gloomy.

The queen, imperial concubine, palace maids and eunuchs all turned their eyes to Chongzhen. Because of the sound of cannons, Zhou Hou realized that Li Zicheng would soon attack the city. She and Concubine Yuan were about to celebrate the festival. She couldn't help but ask again: "Your Majesty, what are your instructions?"

The sound of wooden bangs playing the second update came from Dongchang Street. Every time two knocks, an old eunuch called out in a mute voice: "The world is... peace!"

It was not until the voice gradually faded away that Chongzhen said, "I am in a state of peace, I think of you and Concubine Yuan..."

Zhou Hou interrupted and said, "Emperor, the matter has come to this point. I am not afraid of death. If you have something to say, please tell me. I am willing to die for my decree!"

Chongzhen could no longer stop his tears and choked and said, "We couple have been together for seventeen years. I still think about it. I will live with you forever, but... I don't have much time to meet again..."

Zhou Hou and Concubine Yuan couldn't help crying when they remembered Chongzhen's goodness.

Yes, emperors of all dynasties have had lustful habits, but Chongzhen did not. He always respected each other like guests with the first, second and second concubines, and was polite to the palace maids. Where can I find such an emperor?

The palace maids and eunuchs felt sad, some shed tears, and some sobbed.

Chongzhen could no longer bear to watch, so he stood up suddenly and shouted, "Chejia!"

Zhou Hou quickly wiped his tears and led his concubines to the courtyard with Princess Yuan. He shed tears and watched Chongzhen leave. She knew that when she parted tonight and met again, it would be the underworld.

"Emperor! Emperor!"

Zhou Hou murmured with a reluctance on his face, and then seemed to think of something. He took Yuan Fei's hand and returned to the West Warehouse Pavilion of Kunning Palace to sit down. He told the housekeeper Wu Wanrong of Kunning Palace: "Wanrong, the emperor's spirit is a bit abnormal tonight. He may go to Fengxian Palace. I am very worried. You can take a few people to Fengxian Palace to serve. Report to me any time if you have any questions!"

"yes!"

Wu Wanrong led several palace maids to leave with lanterns.

Zhou Hou ordered the palace maids to set up incense tables on the Danban, and said, "I want to pray to the sky with the imperial concubine!"

"Um!"

Concubine Yuan nodded, knelt down with Zhou Hou, praying sincerely...
Chapter completed!