Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

"No, Your Majesty!" In the south study, Wang Chengen was taken aback when he heard Chongzhen's words, "Nowadays the army is in turmoil and bandits are rampant, and Fengyang is still occupied by Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others. If there is any accident, we will go there rashly. What can the imperial court do, what can the Ming Dynasty do!"

"It's okay. I'm going out of the palace in micro-clothes, and I won't be recognized." Chongzhen flipped through the memorial and said indifferently.

"The journey from Beijing to Fengyang is long and difficult. If you travel lightly, how can the emperor's living and safety be guaranteed?"

"You don't have to worry about it. It's not like I haven't traveled far."

"Uh..." Wang Chengen was at a loss for words, thought for a while, and said, "But now that the bandits are in full swing, if they get the news that the emperor is not in the palace and take the opportunity to attack, what will happen!"

Taking the opportunity to attack...?Chongzhen paused for a moment, then said: "Well... this matter must be kept secret, anyone who leaks information will be severely punished."

"But even if the rumors are not leaked, now it is the confrontation between the rebels and the bandits. When the situation is turbulent, the governors of various places and the armies of all parties are waiting for the emperor to dispatch orders. Without the emperor sitting in the palace to preside over the overall situation, there is no way to suppress the bandits. How to proceed!" Wang Chengen gritted his teeth, still persuasively persuading.

Various reasons finally made Chongzhen speechless.Chongzhen slowly leaned back on the chair, supported his forehead, as if gradually drying up from head to toe, inch by inch, he fell into the gray darkness again.After a while, he pulled himself together a little, and said slowly, "Forget it...it won't be too late to go when the situation stabilizes."

Wang Chengen hurriedly leaned over to say yes, and inadvertently glanced at Chongzhen's already gray temples, feeling sore in his heart, and sighed softly.

two

"Hey... You said that it was so easy to drive all the thieves to Luoyang, and it seemed that they would only be hopping for a few days, so why did they get away with one of them. That's good, it made such a big mess."

In the supervisor of ceremonies, Wang Cheng'en looked disturbed, he had no intention of flipping papers or drinking tea, but he was even more upset when he just sat idly, his chest seemed to be blocked by a big stone, and he couldn't breathe.

"Don't be impatient, father-in-law." Li Quan fed the mynah who was kept in the birdcage in front of the window, wiped his hands, sat down and said, "It's not a day or two since the thieves rebelled, the thieves are still those thieves, today This time was just a momentary negligence, which made them a little more noisy. How to suppress in the future, and how to suppress, father-in-law don't have to worry so much."

"That's what you said." Wang Cheng'en's sad expression didn't diminish, but his face became more dignified, "Our family is also worried about the emperor..."

"Your Majesty...?" Li Quan was taken aback.

"After the emperor returned to the palace, you haven't seen it yet, have you?"

"Never seen."

"Hey..." Wang Chengen shook his head, looked at Li Quan, and tapped his temples with both hands, "It's all white here."

Li Quan's eyes widened instantly, with an unbelievable look on his face: "Eunuch, you mean the emperor?"

"Who else can you say?" Wang Chengen sighed, "The emperor has always been the most filial, and the ancestors of the family have always been as important as Mount Tai in the emperor's heart. These bastards who don't know the heights of the sky and the earth have burned down the temples they started from, and dug up the graves of the royal family. How big a blow this is to the emperor..." Wang Chengen paused, and a dark look flashed in his eyes, "Hey, just look at the emperor's current appearance to understand."

The astonishment in Li Quan's brows gradually turned heavy, and he didn't know what to say, so he could only sigh together with Wang Chengen.Even Zhou Xi, who stood by and waited silently, seemed moved.

"Just now the emperor wanted to go to Fengyang to worship the ancestors and apologize, but was stopped by our family." Wang Chengen continued, "Now the emperor is in a low mood and is not calm. He ran so far away. In case something goes wrong, we can How to bear it."

"Your Majesty wants to go to Fengyang?" Before he could finish his sigh, a trace of surprise flashed in Li Quan's eyes again, "You asked your eunuch to go with you?"

Wang Chengen's expression changed when he heard the words, he glanced at him, curled his mouth, and said in a long voice, "Hmph, why would you want to take our family with you? The emperor only needs to take that Zhang Dexiu—"

"..." It's true which pot is not opened and which pot is lifted.Li Quan felt that he had made a slip of the tongue, so he hurriedly kept his mouth shut.But Wang Cheng'en didn't show his jealousy as usual, he let out a soft sigh, and said softly, "Hey...forget it, as long as the emperor is happy, he can take whomever he likes."

This prince is so magnanimous, is this the sun coming out from the west? !Li Quan blinked, surprised, but happy to hear less complaints.But the other person next to him twitched his brows when he heard Zhang Dexiu's name, the trace of emotion dissipated in an instant, and the dark clouds gathered on his face.This one, of course, is Zhou Xi.He looked down at the ground, only to feel a surge of anger jumping up and down in his heart, and the restlessness was hard to calm down.Zhou Xi, Zhou Xi, do you know how ridiculous you are!It's ridiculous that you think that other side is ignorant of the world, but who knows that other people are the most unique; it's ridiculous that you have worked hard for many years, but you are still no more than this unknown person who is used by others; With a flick of the sleeves, Alone Qingyun straight up!It's ridiculous, it's me who is the most ridiculous! ... Zhou Xi's hands trembled slightly, and his lips turned red and white from biting.The starling in the cage seemed to sense something, and fluttered its wings, disturbing the mood of the people in the room like a mischief.Unsuspectingly, the chains deeply knotted in my heart were loosened quietly, and all kinds of thoughts hidden in the shadows gushed out in an instant, breaking through the original goodness, washing away the fear, submerging the regret, and could no longer be restrained.

three

Wang Cheng'en was right - the arrogance of today's peasant army has indeed reached its peak.Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and Gao Yingxiang led a group of peasant troops to set up camp at the edge of Fengyang City, celebrating endlessly by eating, drinking, and having fun.Zhang Xianzhong also deliberately erected a banner for himself, wrote "Emperor Gu Yuan Zhenlong", and inserted it in the center of the ruins of the imperial tomb.But when these reports passed through the Supervisor of Rituals, they were all secretly suppressed by Wang Chengen, trying not to let Chongzhen know—the emperor was already so depressed, who could bear to make it worse.

At this time, Chongzhen was vigorously deploying troops to suppress the bandits.However, the peasant army’s battle with trapped beasts caused heavy losses to the officers and soldiers. Coupled with the frequent outbreaks of the border military situation, facing the 30 rebels who were in the limelight, the entire Ming Dynasty could only squeeze out [-] troops for dispatch.But the bandits were always to be suppressed, Chongzhen had no choice but to hand over the [-] troops to Hong Chengchou, the governor of the five provinces, and once again ordered him to take charge of the suppression of bandits, and the civil strife must be quelled.Hong Chengchou did not dare to be negligent, and transferred Cao Wenzhao, the number one under his command from the border of Datong, as the vanguard, and began to pursue the peasant army with all his strength.

However, Daming's fate seemed to have fallen into the bottom of the valley after the imperial tomb was dug.Not long after the counterattack began, a paper was sent to Nanshufang, which contained the news that Cao Wenzhao had died for the country.

"Is this the day I'm going to kill Daming..." Chongzhen pressed the memorial on the table, and said cruel and desperate words, but his face seemed to be numb, sluggish and expressionless.

Since he ascended the throne, he has never seen the emperor so haggard.Wang Chengen felt sad and had no other choice, so he had to submit another discount, temporarily diverting the topic, at least to shake off some of the dark haze that covered the emperor's heart.

"Your Majesty, Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Huguang, also offered a discount to offer advice on the plan to suppress the bandits. Please have your Majesty take a look."

"Capturing thieves and capturing the king is the key to victory with few. If a group of dragons has no leader, 30 thieves will be an imaginary number..." Chongzhen took the booklet from Xizhao, murmured, glanced down and signed, "Lu Xiangsheng... "

"Yes..." Seeing that Chongzhen seemed to be a little interested, Wang Chengen quickly picked up Chongzhen's words and said, "This person is not simple. Does the emperor still remember the Tianxiong Army of the Lu family? When Beijing was besieged in the second year, they spontaneously served the king. He made some contributions in repelling the gold captives. In recent years, Master Lu has been ordered to clean up the bandits and quell the civil strife, and his achievements are outstanding. A few days ago, the emperor just promoted him to be the governor of Huguang."

"Well, I remember him, brave and resourceful, loyal and sincere, he can be called a good talent." Chongzhen nodded slightly.

"Indeed, Master Lu has always been brave and fearless in leading troops. It is rumored among the bandits that 'Lu Lian will die when he meets him, so he must not be attacked'. He even gave Master Lu a frightening nickname, King Lu Yan..." Wang Chengen said to himself He said, but when he didn't pay attention to the words, Chongzhen's expression suddenly changed. "What did you say his name was?" Chongzhen leaned forward and asked hastily.

"Uh..." Wang Chengen was taken aback, "The thieves all call Mr. Lu Yanwang Lu."

"Lu Yanwang..." Chongzhen read the name with a pensive look, while Xizhao gasped and looked at Chongzhen with wide eyes.Chongzhen calmed down, slowed down his tone, and asked again:

"This Lu Xiangsheng, what does he look like?"

"Going back to the emperor, I have never seen a real person." Wang Chengen was stunned, and answered truthfully, but he was puzzled by Chongzhen's unexpected reaction in his heart, "I just heard people say that Master Lu really doesn't look like a leader fighting He is a fierce general with elegant demeanor and fair skin, he is just a scholar at first glance, and he does not seem to have that much ability."

"The skin is fair." Chongzhen and Xizhao looked at each other for a second, and then quickly withdrew their eyes. At a certain moment, Wang Chengen suddenly noticed that the emperor's eyes were shining with a brilliance that he hadn't seen for a long time.

"Your Majesty, is this Lord Lu the white-faced Hades who can fend off the enemy?!" Xi Zhao hurriedly said to Chongzhen when Wang Chengen was gone.

"I hope it's right." Chongzhen looked serious, and thought about it carefully.Although the meaning of the first half of the sentence is still unclear, the second half of the sentence is finally settled.This is my Great Ming, the spirit of the ancestors and ancestors in the sky, is it really still protecting the Zhu family's country?Although this prophecy was only a glimpse, Chongzhen seemed to have seen the light of hope, and most of the clouds in his heart dissipated at once. He immediately asked Xizhao to spread paper and ink, and quickly wrote down the will:

Lu Xiang, governor of Huguang, was promoted to the governor of five provinces, and the prime ministers of military affairs in Jiangbei, Henan, Shandong, Huguang, and Sichuan immediately took office.

four

Lu Xiangsheng, from Yixing, Changzhou.This person is indeed as described by Wang Chengen. Although he has the appearance of a gentleman, he is very brave and good at fighting. He often wields a hundred catties of swords to lead the way and charge forward. .And he did not live up to Chongzhen's expectations.In the few months since he took over as the governor of the five provinces, he has gone through more than ten battles, and he has won every battle, greatly defeating the spirit of the bandits.As summer passed and autumn came, the peasant army was retreating steadily, and its vitality was greatly injured. The frequent news of success also made Chongzhen's spirit gradually improve.Wang Chengen, Xizhao, Queen Zhou, and everyone in the palace finally let go of their hearts.

"Lu Xiangsheng is really a rare talent. You have made merit in recommending people and deserve to be rewarded."

In the south study room, Chongzhen sat behind the dragon case and said to Wang Chengen.

"The emperor congratulates me." Wang Chengen bowed respectfully.Seeing that the emperor's mood is no longer gloomy, Wang Chengen is also happy from it.

"En." Chongzhen tapped a few points on the armrest of the armchair, pondered for a moment, and said, "I am very relieved that the task of suppressing bandits has been handed over to Lu Qing. Now that the overall situation has stabilized, I will leave the palace for a while. You wait Stay safe in the palace, don't make any trouble during my absence."

Surprised, Wang Chengen raised his head quickly. "Your majesty...but you want to go to Fengyang?"

"Exactly." Chongzhen nodded slightly, not in a hurry, neither angry nor happy.

"But your majesty..." Wang Chengen opened his mouth to persuade him again, but Chongzhen directly blocked him back.

"I've made up my mind, don't say any more. Dexiu, you go and pack your bags and leave in three days."?