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

Chapter 647 Forbidden City

Li You finally captured the Shenwu Gate. It was not that his troops broke the Shenwu Gate with artillery fire. As one of the palace gates, the walls of the Shenwu Gate were as high and thick as the other nine gates. It was not easy to break the Shenwu Gate with only the Portuguese and tiger squat cannons in Li You's hands.

The key point is that as the army entered the city, the defenders in the city were quickly defeated one after another, and most of the capital fell into Zhu Shenzui's hands.

Moreover, due to the betrayal of Yingcheng Earl Sun Tingxun and other Beijing camp generals and the "guides", there were not many defenders who truly put up a stubborn resistance. When these few defenders were defeated and eliminated one by one, most of the remaining defenders surrendered under their persuasion, and many even turned their guns around and led Zhu Shenzui's army to attack the imperial palace.

Such changes made the defenders of the palace completely despair. The palace's guard force was not strong to begin with, and the total number of guards in the palace was less than a thousand. Moreover, they lacked firearms to defend the city. They could not stop the enemy's attack by relying only on swords, bows and arrows and their flesh and blood.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the attacking troops outside the palace gate kept shouting at them to open the gate and surrender, promising that they could save their lives if they surrendered. Faced with such a situation, even if there were officers who were loyal to Emperor Chongzhen and intended to continue resisting, they were unable to stop the people below from thinking this.

Soon, seeing that Shenwu Gate was in danger, they could not defend it any longer. Once it was breached, everyone would die here. In order to save their lives, several junior officers and their subordinates discussed and tied up their superiors. They shouted to the outside of the palace gate: "Surrender! Surrender! Stop firing outside!" and other words, and then took the initiative to open the palace gate. Shenwu Gate fell into Zhu Shenzhui's hands.

After taking over Shenwu Gate, Li You and Wang Jinwu were overjoyed. They led their men into the palace, led by the rebellious Sun Tingxun, palace guards and eunuchs, and headed towards the Qianqing Palace.

Because they entered from the Shenwu Gate, the first place they arrived at was the harem. At this time, the harem was already in chaos, with terrified palace maids and eunuchs fleeing and hiding everywhere, accompanied by deafening cries of grief.

Seeing this, Li You immediately assigned some of his men to lead the way to the harem to find the concubines and princes of Emperor Chongzhen, while the other part continued to suppress the palace guards who resisted, including the eunuchs who took up arms. At the same time, he shouted loudly that anyone holding a weapon would be killed without mercy, and anyone kneeling on the ground would be spared. As for himself, he continued to kill along with Wang Jinwu, and the two groups were unstoppable and headed straight for the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Shenzhui entered the city an hour later than Li You and his men. When he entered the capital, the entire city had been basically under control. The sounds of fighting in various parts of the capital had gradually died down, and resistance in various places had been suppressed one after another. The people of the capital, including the civil and military officials in the capital, only a few brought their servants out to resist. Most of them kept their doors closed and hid in their homes, trembling with fear, fearing that they would suffer from the disaster of war and lose their lives.

The first thing Zhu Shenzhui did after entering the city was to order all the troops to continue to encircle and suppress the remaining resistance forces in the capital, and sent people to shout everywhere, asking everyone to stay at home and not go out, not to climb the wall to look around, and anyone who violated the rules would be killed without mercy! As long as everyone stayed at home, they could be safe, and if they violated the rules, they would bear the consequences.

Hearing the shouts from outside, the people and officials hiding in their homes felt relieved. Although they were still worried about their own safety, they were no longer as frightened as before. Some of the brave ones even stayed at home, but secretly crouched behind the door, holding their breath and looking outside to find out what was going on.

Zhu Shencui set about stabilizing various parts of the capital and personally led his troops towards the Meridian Gate. When he arrived at the Meridian Gate, it had been occupied by his own people. Seeing Zhu Shencui coming, Wang Jinwu's subordinate Wang Chuer stepped forward to pay his respects to Zhu Shencui, only to see that his face was full of joy and his demeanor was respectful.

Wang Chuer was originally from Wangjia Village and was also the nephew of Wang Jinwu. In his early years, he followed Zhu Shenzui to sell illegal salt. Later, he was appointed by Zhu Shenzui to Yangtou Mountain and was considered a member of Zhu Shenzui's core team.

“My lord…”

"How are you, kid? Are your brothers injured?" Zhu Shenzui helped him up with a smile and looked at him. He saw that although there was blood on his body, he was in good spirits and did not look injured. It seemed that the blood was from the previous battle.

"My lord, the damage was not serious. Only a dozen people were killed or injured in the capture of the palace. The injured have been sent for treatment."

"Good!" Zhu Shenzhui was very happy. He didn't expect to take over the palace so easily. He looked around but didn't see Wang Jinwu, and even Li You was not seen. He immediately asked where they were.

Wang Chuer told Zhu Shenzhui that Wang Jinwu and Li You were in the palace. The palace was too big, and there were many palaces, plus the pavilions and towers in the harem. Although the palace had been captured, the palace was still under search, and they were leading people to do this. In addition, Wang Chuer also told Zhu Shenzhui that Emperor Chongzhen and his concubines, including the princes, had all been captured and were now under strict guard. It would not take long for the guards and eunuchs who resisted in the palace to be eliminated. Zhu Shenzhui was asked to wait for a while before entering the palace, and it would not be too late to enter the palace after everything was stable.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Shenzhui raised his eyebrows. He never expected that they had captured Emperor Chongzhen, his concubines and several princes. This was quite surprising.

According to Zhu Shenzhu's original plan, he thought it would be difficult to capture Emperor Chongzhen. After all, even if he was fast, it would take time to break the palace gate, and it would not be easy to find Emperor Chongzhen after breaking the palace gate. During this gap, Emperor Chongzhen could do a lot of things, and even if he committed suicide, it would not take so long. Moreover, Zhu Shenzhu knew something about Emperor Chongzhen. Although he was not very capable and had many flaws in his character, and was not a qualified emperor, he was a resolute person. As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he would never surrender in the face of such a situation. Instead of this, it would be better for him to commit suicide.

In history, Emperor Chongzhen had ended his life in this way, whether it was hanging himself with a piece of white silk or drinking a cup of poisoned wine, or even using a sword to kill himself, it was not difficult. But he was caught alive, which surprised him greatly.

After further questioning, he learned that Emperor Chongzhen was not captured by Wang Jinwu or Li You, but by his old acquaintance, the eunuch Du Xun.

According to Du Xun, Emperor Chongzhen saw that the situation was hopeless and decided to kill his empress, concubine, and prince first, and then get kerosene and other incendiary materials and pour them all over himself and the entire Qianqing Palace, waiting for Zhu Shenzhui to enter the palace and burn himself in front of him, in order to maintain his dignity as the emperor.

Hearing this, Zhu Shenzhui had to admire that Emperor Chongzhen was really a ruthless man who could come up with such a method. Fortunately, Du Xun stopped him in time and controlled Emperor Chongzhen from succeeding. If he really succeeded, not only would the Qianqing Palace be destroyed, but the entire palace would be engulfed in flames.

And as a member of the royal family, Zhu Shenzhui's rebellion to purge the emperor and quell the national crisis became a huge joke. The infamy of forcing the emperor to death would be firmly pinned on his head, and would arouse the indignation of people all over the world. Such a big trouble would make Zhu Shenzhui extremely anxious.

Thinking of the past when Zhu Di broke into Nanjing and Emperor Jianwen burned down the Nanjing Palace, Zhu Shenzhui could not help but feel a little scared. Although Zhu Di eventually secured the throne, the Jianwen incident was a nightmare that Zhu Di could not get rid of throughout his life. Carrying this infamy, he even created a legend that Jianwen was not dead and was on the run. It was not until decades later, during the reign of Emperor Yingzong, that the incident gradually subsided.

The Ming Dynasty was in its heyday at that time, and it was like this, let alone the Ming Dynasty now? If such a thing happened, Zhu Shenzhui would definitely not be able to solve it so easily. Zhu Shenzhui had actually made preparations, that is, after he took over the palace, Emperor Chongzhen would commit suicide. If he just committed suicide, it would not be a big problem, after all, there was a way to explain it with the body.

But if it was self-immolation, or in this way, it would be difficult to distinguish the body even if it was found, and Zhu Shenzhu would face the same trouble as Jianwen. Now Emperor Chongzhen was not dead, but fell into his hands alive, and his empress, concubines and princes were also there, which made Zhu Shenzhu feel relieved. It is better to be alive than dead. A living Emperor Chongzhen is more valuable to Zhu Shenzhu, especially since he entered Beijing under the banner of clearing the court and pacifying the national crisis. As long as he controlled the capital and took down the palace, a living Emperor Chongzhen would be more valuable to him.

Zhu Shencui rejected Wang Chuer's suggestion to postpone his entry into the palace. For him, the capital had been settled and the palace was in his hands. Even if there was a slight resistance in the palace, it would be of no avail. Besides, Zhu Shencui was not an ordinary royal family member. His martial arts were so strong that even Wang Jinwu could not match him. As for the battle formations, it goes without saying. He had no idea how many battles he had personally commanded over the years. He had never retreated in any battle, big or small. Even the Jian Nu were defeated by him. What about these trivial matters?

Zhu Shenzhui immediately ordered his men to enter the palace. He asked his subordinates to take over the palace security while he himself led a hundred people into the palace directly from the Meridian Gate and went straight into the palace.

Zhu Shenzui of later generations was no stranger to the Forbidden City. He even visited it once. However, the Forbidden City at that time was completely different from the Forbidden City today. Although most of the palaces were similar and the overall structure was the same, the details were different. Those towering palaces and thick city walls, including the road surface along the way, made one feel the heaviness of history when walking on it, as well as an indescribable breath that hit one in the face.

Entering from the Meridian Gate, you will first see the Fengtian Gate, which is the main entrance to the Forbidden City and also the tallest and most majestic gate.

Fengtian Gate has nine pillars and three gates. Zhu Shenzui entered from the middle one, then stepped onto the white marble imperial road reserved for the emperor, crossed the Jinshui Bridge, and then arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is one of the three great halls, and it was also the place where the Ming Dynasty held court meetings. Therefore, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is also the Jinluan Palace in folk rumors. The Hall of Supreme Harmony in front of us is not the Hall of Supreme Harmony seen in later generations. This hall has been rebuilt many times due to fires, and the most recent reconstruction was during the reign of Emperor Tianqi. The rebuilt Hall of Supreme Harmony is different from the later ones. Compared with the Hall of Supreme Harmony seen in later generations, the current one is taller and more solemn. After all, the Hall of Supreme Harmony rebuilt in later generations could not maintain its original appearance due to the wood, and could only shrink and reduce, so it looks a bit weird and has lost its original appearance.

(End of this chapter)