"Why are there only these few people? It's almost time now, where have all the people gone? Where have all the officials from the Ming Dynasty gone!"

At Huangji Gate, when the sky was approaching, Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty finally roared unbearably.

The emperor seemed to have reason to be angry, because the number of officials who came to court today was too small, less than 150. Standing outside the wide Huangji Gate, these few people looked sparse, and they looked the same no matter how you looked at them.

The general situation has passed, and the birds and beasts have dispersed.

Because Chongzhen went to court so diligently in the morning, most of the officials couldn't bear it, and it was no surprise that they were late for court. Even Emperor Chongzhen had trouble with officials being late for court... It wasn't just one or two people who were late, but often.

Only a dozen or dozens of people were on time, and the rest were either late or asked for leave.

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't fire all the officials who were late and asked for leave, otherwise the court would have no officials. Moreover, the morning court was really tiring, and it was understandable that the officials couldn't stand it, so Emperor Chongzhen didn't pursue those who were late and asked for leave - he had something to do anyway.

All the officials who presented the memorial will come.

But something is wrong today. It’s already this time and we’ve only come to less than one hundred and fifty. Isn’t this too little?

And today is the day when Li Zicheng comes to the city!

As soon as Li Zicheng arrived, you Ming officials disappeared! Did you run away or become thieves? This Mingjun is really angry to death.

"Your Majesty, please calm down..." Wei Zaode, a bachelor of the first assistant university, who was only about forty years old and was born in a gentle manner, hurriedly left the class to report, "Xu, the official of the capital who did not go to court, went to raise funds and donated money."

"Nonsense!" Emperor Chongzhen yelled angrily, "Wei Zaode, do you think I am a brainless emperor? Would you believe such shameless lies? I have long asked officials, nobles, and servants to donate military pay, and it took so many days to get twenty

Yu Wan, all the officials in the dynasty, almost everyone is crying for poverty! On what day is it today, you are actually rich? You are rich? You are deceiving the emperor!"

Wei Zaode was reprimanded by Chongzhen, but he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said: "Report to your majesty, I am not deceiving you... Before I went to court, outside the Meridian Gate, I met Chen Rui and Lin Zengzhi of the East Palace who were sent by His Highness the Prince to persuade them to lose. They were

After Chen and Lin persuaded them, many officials gave up going to court and went to Fuchengmen to donate military pay."

This is impossible!

You, Wei Zaode, seem to have a good appearance and a high-ranking scholar, but it turns out that you are also a traitorous official who deceived the emperor and you still don’t know how to repent!

"Where is Luo Yangxing!" Emperor Chongzhen roared. He wanted to ask Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Imperial Guard, to arrest Wei Zaode, the traitorous minister of Wei.

However, Luo Yangxing misunderstood Chongzhen's meaning, and after leaving work, he reported to the court: "I am here... According to my investigation, everything Wei Xueshi said is true, because when I went to court, I also met Chen Rui and Lin Zengzhi to persuade them to donate.

.”

Ah? Is this really the case?

When Chongzhen thought something was wrong, he shook his head and said: "Chen Rui and Lin Zengzhi persuaded everyone to donate money, so everyone is willing to donate money?"

"Yes," Luo Yangxing nodded, "the two of them are very good at talking and can touch people's hearts, so officials with extra wealth have donated money..."

Is there such a thing? Emperor Chongzhen was doubtful. Are Chen Rui and Lin Zengzhi so powerful? If I had known earlier, I should have made them responsible for urging donations. The military pay problem would have been solved long ago.

Emperor Chongzhen thought about it but still felt wrong, "Luo Yangxing, you said they are very eloquent and can touch people's hearts. How much did you donate?"

Luo Yangxing felt miserable!

He really wants to donate money, and he is really rich. If he donates money, he can leave Beijing openly, and he can also take part of his savings with him and go to Jiangnan to live freely... But the problem is that he can't leave, and he can't donate either.

.

Because his Imperial Guard Commander, Emperor Chongzhen's most trusted confidant, could he donate one or two hundred thousand taels of silver to the Crown Prince Zhu Cihong and then run away to Tianjin with the Crown Prince's decree?

Doesn't this mean that he has taken refuge in the prince or betrayed Emperor Chongzhen?

But he couldn't tell Emperor Chongzhen clearly that there was no estrangement between the emperor and the prince?

And now you have to spend money to buy soldiers in Beijing. If you have money, you will have soldiers, and if you have soldiers, you will be the master! Now that the prince has money and soldiers, he will be the master!

So Luo Yangxing had no choice but to say with a sad face: "Report to your Majesty, I am really an upright official and I don't have much savings..."

Will you have no money?

Emperor Chongzhen rolled his eyelids and said to himself: You and your father Luo Sigong have been in charge of the Imperial Guard for fifty-eight years... but they are both honest officials with no money! Who will believe it!

He glanced at the officials outside the Huangji Gate again, and found that most of the high-ranking officials, including several bachelors and six ministers and ministers, were there. Even Zhou Guozhang and Tian Guozhang, the two richest of the royal relatives, were there.

, only the rich man Li Guorui from Queen Mother Li's (Wanli's mother) family didn't come. I don't know if it was because of conscience that I lost the donation?

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen was still doubtful, Luo Yangxing said again: "If your Majesty still has any questions, it is better to send an internal official to Fuchengmen to ask His Highness the Crown Prince."

After being reminded by Luo Yangxing, Emperor Chongzhen just woke up from a dream. He looked around to find reliable eunuchs. After searching for him, he found that there were also a few eunuchs missing! Wang Zhixin has disappeared since yesterday. Wang Yongzuo

They have also disappeared, and now only the two big ones, Wang Chengen and Gao Yushun, are still there.

What's going on? Are all the eunuchs also donating money?

"Gao Yushun," Emperor Chongzhen did not call Wang Chengen, but called the name of Gao Yushun, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony. This guy didn't see the prince last night. He came back to serve Chongzhen in the morning and is now going out.

I went to Fuchengmen and asked all the officials about their donations."

"Old slave obeys the order!"

After Gao Yushun received the decree and hurried to Fuchengmen, the scene of hundreds of officials queuing up to donate money was no longer there. Because Li Zicheng's banner with the word "Chuang" had already appeared at Diaoyutai, less than five miles away from Fuchengmen.

nearby.

Appearing together with King Chuang were the dashing and high-spirited troops of the old battalion of the Dashun Army! There were twenty to thirty thousand in number, most of them cavalry, and they formed a formation in front of the Diaoyutai. Although not very neat, they were full of murderous intent!

Zhu Cihong, who had already raised more than 3 million taels of silver, about 130,000 taels of gold, and found more than 200 loyal ministers, naturally had no intention of issuing city edicts to the loyal ministers who donated money.

Therefore, the fund-raising was announced and the city gates in northwest Beijing such as Fuchengmen, Xizhimen, Deshengmen, Xibianmen, and Guangningmen and nearby city walls were under martial law in preparation for the war.

When Gao Yushun arrived, he was putting on a well-made long scale armor with the help of two chamberlains. This was a rather heavy armor. The armor was forged from wrought iron and the surface was painted gold.

Yellow. It sparkles with gold and looks like a golden armored general.

This set of armor was actually the equipment of the Han generals. Emperor Chongzhen also had a similar armor, but with more surface decorations.

Zhu Cihong's East Palace guards, as well as senior generals such as Zhu Chunchen, Li Guozhen, Wu Xiang, etc., also put on similar armor, either shining with gold or shining with silver, they all looked similar.

As for the ordinary soldiers who followed Zhu Cihong's Prince's personal army in the Kenan camp, as well as some soldiers in the Beijing camp, most of them wore cloth face armor. It looked similar to the armor worn by the Eight Banners soldiers in later movies and TV dramas.

In later generations, some people called this kind of armor "cotton armor", which is actually wrong. This kind of armor is called cloth-covered iron armor, with iron pieces underneath the cloth. As for cotton-padded armor, it also exists, but it is generally not worn alone, but

Lined inside iron armor and cloth-covered iron armor, of course, there are also those that cover the outside. The so-called two layers of armor are mostly one layer of iron armor and one layer of cotton armor. If you add a layer of chain armor, it will be three layers of armor. Unless it is a force

He is an infinite warrior, otherwise he would be out of breath even if he was wearing three layers of armor.

Seeing that Zhu Cixi had already put on his armor and looked like he was about to go into battle, Gao Yushun, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, was so frightened that he could hardly speak.

"Master Qianqian Qiansui, you, what are you doing?"

Zhu Cixiang glanced at the old eunuch, smiled and said, "Li Zicheng is here!"

"Li Zicheng... the rebel is here? Where is he?" Gao Yushun completely forgot what he was here to do, and only fear remained in his heart.

"Here it comes! Just outside the city!" Zhu Cixiang replied with a smile. He was actually just as scared. However, his psychological quality was very good, which was gained through experience in the Chinese financial market where disasters often occur and thunderstorms occur from time to time.
Chapter completed!