Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 640 Intimidation

The Beijing camp was destroyed and the capital was shocked.

Upon hearing this tragic news, Emperor Chongzhen felt as if he had been struck by lightning and was completely stunned.

At this time, no one cared to figure out how the Beijing camp was destroyed. The Prime Minister Wen Tiren suggested that an order be issued immediately to rescue the king and let the troops from all over the country come to rescue the capital immediately. The defense of the capital is now the top priority. Zhu Shenzhui's army has reached the outskirts of the capital. In the blink of an eye, the most important thing is to defend the capital. As for other things, there is no time to consider.

The panicked Emperor Chongzhen did not have time to think about it and immediately agreed to Wen Tihen's suggestion and asked the cabinet to draft an edict to recruit troops from all over the country to come to the capital. In addition, he ordered the troops in the capital to strictly guard the city walls and prepare for the enemy's attack, and ordered officials to mobilize the people in the capital to help defend the city.

At noon, the main force of Zhu Shenzui's central army arrived at the outskirts of the capital and joined Wang Jinwu's vanguard.

The battle last night gave Zhu Shenzhui a huge surprise. He never expected that Wang Jinwu, Wang Hai and others would defeat the main force of the Beijing Camp with such a small force in just one battle, and even wiped out its entire army.

The battle was fought with great enthusiasm and displayed his own prowess. With the main force of the Beijing Camp destroyed, the capital was now terrified, and Chongzhen's son was even more panicked.

In this battle, many people were killed and many prisoners were captured. To put it bluntly, the number of prisoners captured even exceeded the total number of Zhu Shenzhu's entire army, which was originally a troublesome matter.

You know, it is not easy to guard more than 20,000 prisoners, and if these prisoners are not handled properly, it will bring unpredictable problems to the subsequent war.

The best way is to kill them all to eliminate the trouble. This method is simple. Killing all the captives will eliminate the trouble. But the problem is that Zhu Shenzhui is not Huang Taiji, nor a Mongolian, nor a bandit. As a member of the Ming royal family, how could he do such a thing? Moreover, the killing of the captives is unknown, and most of the soldiers in the Beijing camp are from the capital. There are families in the capital, and there are even more relatives and friends.

If he were dealt with in this way, Zhu Shenzhui's reputation would be completely ruined. Even if he captured the capital, the people of the capital would not obey him, let alone rule the Ming Dynasty.

When Zhu Shenzhui arrived, he had already thought about this matter and had a plan. The first thing he did after arriving was not to reward the soldiers according to their merits, but to personally meet with the captured soldiers of the Beijing camp, especially the main generals such as Li Guozhen, the Earl of Xiangcheng, Deng Wenming, the Marquis of Dingyuan, Tan Hongye, the Earl of Xinning, and Han Zanzhou, the eunuch who supervised the army.

When these people were taken to Zhu Shenzhu, their faces turned pale and ugly, thinking that Zhu Shenzhu was going to use them as sacrifices. Even Li Guozhen, who had intended to commit suicide, was like this. His courage was completely gone after his suicide attempt failed. Now he was a captive and at the mercy of others. Moreover, the life and death of the commander Wu Weiying was unknown. He was the highest-ranking officer among the captured soldiers of the Beijing camp. Apart from him, the only other person was the eunuch Han Zanzhou, the supervisor of the army.

When he saw these people, Zhu Shenzhui did not put on airs, but was very kind. He immediately reprimanded his subordinates, asking how could they treat them like this? He even personally untied the ropes for everyone, apologized in front of everyone, invited them to sit down, and served them tea.

Seeing this, everyone felt relieved and the fear on their faces faded away. They felt that their lives should be fine and Zhu Shenzui didn't seem to intend to kill them.

Then, Zhu Shencui kindly asked about their respective identities. When he heard everyone's family name, Zhu Shencui listed the ancestors of these nobles in detail and knew all about their contributions to the country.

After recognizing the people, Zhu Shenzhui sighed and told them that as a member of the royal family, he had no choice but to start a rebellion, but now that the Ming Dynasty had come to this point, he had no choice but to start a rebellion. If the Ming Dynasty was stable and peaceful, and the people lived and worked in peace, how could he make such a choice?
Now the entire Ming Dynasty is on the verge of collapse, with powerful enemies outside and great troubles inside. All places are corrupt and the people are living in misery. As a member of the royal family and a member of the bloodline of Zhu Yuanzhang's legitimate son, how can Zhu Shenzhu sit back and watch the foundation of his ancestors be destroyed and the people of the world suffer from this disaster?
All of you present here are Ming nobles, and they will live and die with the country. As long as the Ming Dynasty exists, their wealth and glory will exist. If the Ming Dynasty is gone, what will these nobles have left? At that time, not only will the country be destroyed, but also the world and the family will be destroyed. The hardships of several generations will vanish into thin air. How could Zhu Shenzhui watch such a result happen?

It was for this reason that Zhu Shenzhui made such a choice, and he believed that the problem of the Ming Dynasty was not with the emperor, the people, or the nobles, but with the treacherous officials in the court. The emperor ascended the throne at a young age, and was only in his twenties. Moreover, Emperor Chongzhen was not the crown prince, but ascended the throne as Prince Xin, the successor of his elder brother.

Emperor Chongzhen had never received any imperial education since childhood. After becoming Prince Xin, he stayed in the palace and had no contact with the people. He had no idea about the sufferings of the people, and did not know how to be a good emperor.

Even if such an emperor had great ambitions, it would be of no avail. The civil servants in the court were busy with party struggles, fighting for their own selfish interests, and not caring about the people of the world and the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, which led to the Ming Dynasty's current state.

As for the military officers, they were not much better. Either they were arrogant or they were self-centered. It has been more than 20 years since the Liaodong War began in the Wanli period, but the Jiannu army has not only not been wiped out, but has grown stronger and stronger. Although there were problems with the court's policies and personnel, the military generals are also to blame.

The local bandits were also repeatedly suppressed. These problems were real. If they continued like this, how long could the Ming Dynasty last? As the saying goes, a thousand-mile dam is destroyed by an ant hole. These treacherous officials deceived the emperor, played tricks, and sought benefits for themselves without caring about the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Shenzui could no longer sit idly by.

Zhu Shenzhu also specifically used a story from the Three Kingdoms as an example, saying that Cao Cao's army marched south, ready to pacify Jiangdong and unify the world. At this time, Sun Quan, the lord of Jiangdong, was terrified and didn't know what to do. Jiangdong officials led by Zhang Zhao all persuaded Sun Quan to surrender. Sun Quan saw that Cao's army was too powerful and was persuaded to surrender. At this time, Lu Su stood up and said something to Sun Quan, which completely dispelled Sun Quan's idea of ​​surrendering. This led to the later Three Kingdoms.

Lu Su told Sun Quan that everyone could surrender to Cao Cao, except Sun Quan. Because after the ministers surrendered, they could still guarantee their wealth and status, at best they would just be officials in another place. Cao Cao could not do without these people in order to rule Jiangdong, so it made no difference to them whether they surrendered or not.

But it was different for Sun Quan. Sun Quan was the lord of Jiangdong. If he surrendered, he would lose everything. After pacifying Jiangdong, Sun Quan would face only one result: first he would be imprisoned, and then he would be killed to eliminate the hidden danger. From this point of view, anyone could surrender to Cao Cao, except Sun Quan. It was precisely because of Lu Su's words that Sun Quan suddenly realized and gave up the idea of ​​surrendering. He used Zhou Yu to fight against Cao's army in Chibi, which led to the foundation of Wu.

The situation is the same now. Even if the Ming Dynasty is gone, what impact will it have on their families? No matter who becomes the emperor in the future, these people will still be aristocratic families and can still serve as officials in the court, enjoying wealth and glory.

But the question is, what will happen to the descendants of the Zhu family? When dynasties change, what will happen to the royal family of the previous dynasty? This is clearly written in history books. No new dynasty will tolerate the royal family of the previous dynasty, especially the royal family members. By then, not only will the country be destroyed, but also the clan will be destroyed. It will be difficult to save your life and property, so what else can you talk about?
This is true for the royal family and the royal clan, and it is also true for these nobles. The nobles live and die with the country, and everything they have is brought by the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty is gone, what will be the fate of the nobles? Don't you think about it carefully?

At this point, Zhu Shenzhu glanced at the military supervisor eunuch Han Zanzhou again, sighed and shook his head, saying that eunuchs were originally slaves of the royal family. Without the royal family and the royal family, where would these eunuchs go? Their ending would not be much better. These were not his nonsense, but the real facts in front of him. He hoped that everyone would think twice.

After saying that, Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand and called a person over. When this person appeared in front of everyone, everyone was stunned, especially Han Zanzhou, whose eyes widened with surprise. Because this person was none other than Han Zanzhou's godson, the eunuch Li Guofu of the Imperial Horse Administration.

Li Guofu first saluted towards Zhu Shencui with an extremely respectful expression, then informed everyone of his identity, and then spoke frankly about the reasons why Zhu Shencui sent troops, including explaining why Zhu Shencui sent troops and why he raised the banner of clearing the court and quelling the national crisis.

He said bluntly that Emperor Chongzhen had been controlled by treacherous officials, and that his actions were not his own will, but were entirely directed or manipulated by the treacherous officials in the court. What was even more worrying was that Emperor Chongzhen not only did not know this, but thought he was in power, but in fact it was not the case at all. The reason why the world had become like this over the years was inseparable from these treacherous officials. Emperor Chongzhen had been deceived for too long, and if this continued, the Ming Dynasty would perish.

When talking about his deep feelings, Li Guofu even shed tears and knelt down and kowtowed in the direction of the capital. This gesture stunned everyone. Finally, Li Guofu told everyone that the emperor had actually noticed these problems, but was powerless. In order to turn the tide, the emperor specially sent him out of the capital to ask for help from Zhu Shenzhui. This is why Zhu Shenzhui later raised an army to the capital to clear the court and quell the national crisis!

Naturally, no one believed Li Guofu's nonsense, but even so, everyone was smart. Although the nobles were not good at fighting, their IQ was not a problem. Not to mention the eunuch Han Zanzhou, who was able to get the position of the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, so he was naturally not a fool.

Don't you know why Zhu Shenzhui brought Li Guofu here and said these words in front of everyone? Even if the reason is outrageous, it is still a reason after all, and not only is it meaningful, but there are also "witnesses". More importantly, they are all Zhu Shenzhui's captives now. Although Zhu Shenzhui is polite to them and speaks to them from the bottom of his heart, don't forget that there are several armored soldiers around. These soldiers are full of murderous intent, standing aside and looking at everyone with cold eyes, and their hands are on swords. If they say a word of no, who can guarantee that Zhu Shenzhui, who was friendly a moment ago, will not change his face the next moment? Even more blood will be splattered on the spot?
(End of this chapter)