Chapter 125 Why Li Qing Entered the Palace
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the Zuoan Gate has been breached!"

The old eunuch Liu Chao crawled into the Qianqing Palace. If the city had not been broken into by the rebel army, he would never have dared to disturb Emperor Tianqi's rest at this time.

Zhu Youxiao was lying in the arms of Imperial Noble Consort Fan, listening to his concubine singing a little song.

The seriously ill emperor was not in a hurry when he heard the news that the south city wall was breached. He gently patted the back of the imperial concubine's hand and asked her to stop. Then he turned to look at the old eunuch and motioned for him to explain clearly.

"The Liao soldiers dug through the city wall at night, and the soldiers of the Five Army Camps fought desperately, but the Li army was in a strong position and Zuoan Gate fell into the hands of the enemy. Currently, six of the seven gates on the southern city wall are still intact, and the Xuanwu Gate, Zhengyang Gate, and Chongwen Gate are still in our hands. The soldiers are in high spirits and can hold out for a long time."

Liu Chao briefly described the current situation.

Capturing Wei Zhongxian and giving his wife to the traitor outside the city and distributing the private property of Wei Yan's family to the soldiers in the Beijing camp was a very good move. The people in the city praised the emperor for finally seeing through Wei Zhongxian as a treacherous eunuch. The soldiers in the camp each received seven or eight taels of silver, and morale boosted greatly.

Although the soldiers of the Beijing Camp were still no match for the Liao soldiers, they no longer collapsed after firing three shots. With sufficient supply of military rations, the soldiers of the Beijing Camp were still able to hold their ground in the city and in the gullies.

"Call Huang Liji and the officers on duty to see if they can gather some silver and dispatch some reinforcements into the city."

Emperor Tianqi certainly knew where to extort money, but the situation was urgent. The eunuchs of Wei Zhongxian's faction had just been dealt with in the city, and the officials outside the court were in a panic. They took action without consulting the cabinet ministers and officials from the six ministries. Some officials might have directly opened the city gates and surrendered to Li Ni.

Liu Chao followed the order and left. Three quarters of an hour later, the emperor and his ministers held a court meeting in the front hall of Wenhua Palace.

Dozens of braziers were placed in a circle in the front hall, and hundreds of small flames on the huge candle racks emitted light and heat, forming a sharp contrast with the darkness outside the hall.

It seems as if this is the only bright place in the world.

Emperor Tianqi told his ideas to his ministers and ordered them to come up with a plan now.

"We raided the homes of Cui Chengxiu, Wu Chunfu, and Tian Ji. I had already sent people to keep an eye on these three people, and the Taicang silver they embezzled was not sent away."

Huang Liji had thought of a countermeasure a long time ago. Although he climbed up the ladder of Duke Wei, now was the time when people were needed. If he did a good job, perhaps his merits and demerits could offset each other and he could retire smoothly in the future.

"Yes! Where are the people from the Ministry of War? Which troops should be sent to the South City?"

There is another city wall going north from the South City. It was built during the reign of Emperor Yongle. The materials used are much more solid than those of the South City Wall, and the wall is also higher.

As long as they could defend the two sections of the convex-shaped northern city wall, the Liao soldiers would have to attack the three top city gates, including Chongwenmen and Zhengyangmen, just like they attacked Zuoanmen.

Although Emperor Tianqi was afraid of Li Ni's single-handed attack, he believed that the Liao army could not attack from the north.

At least not tonight.

The Minister of War Feng Jiahui was originally an official of the eunuch party. He did not even go home in the past few days. He lived in the yamen and worked day and night, fearing that the emperor would find a reason to raid his house.

"Yan Mingtai and his Jizhen soldiers, with You Shiwei, Wu Zimian and other brave generals under them, are also brave men who are willing to serve the king. They easily stopped the Liao soldiers in Nancheng."

"That's right!"

Alternating between relaxation and tension is the rhythm of controlling the government. Emperor Tianqi should approve the eunuch officials who are dedicated to their work so as to quickly enhance the trust between the monarch and his subjects.

The court meeting went quite smoothly. The Ming Dynasty's old and dilapidated carriage was running fast again, and the feat of moving troops into the city was completed before noon of the second day.

Unfortunately, they were a step too late. The Liao soldiers and the militiamen they had brought with them had just completed their attack on Chongwenmen.

The time goes back to two hours ago.

"The Ming Dynasty was in misfortune, and the imperial power was lost. The eunuch party, including Huang Liji, Lai Zongdao, Cui Chengxiu, Huo Weihua, Feng Jiahui, Wu Chunfu, Gu Bingqian, Shi Fenglai, and Tian Ji... took advantage of the situation to cause harm and bring disaster to the nine borders. Wei Zhongxian and Ke Shi defiled the imperial palace and abused the people. The border official Li Hao was afraid that the Ming Dynasty would fall, so he gathered good generals and virtuous soldiers to fight the national crisis together."

Mr. Wang drafted a preliminary manifesto to fight against the rebels and posted it in some important occasions, and also read it along the streets to the people of the south city.

Of course, some of Marshal Li's policies were also announced to the public, including that those who were serving in the army would receive double pay every month.

There is no need to be meticulous. Just plunder the two cities, and you can easily get several million taels. It is enough to pay double wages to 100,000 soldiers for two or three years, not to mention these civilians who are temporarily conscripted for a few months.

The names of the eunuch party officials occupied most of the text. The words used were relatively elegant, and the common people could not understand the rest. But as soon as the names of the eunuch party officials were listed, the people of South City understood their position.

Different from the four cities of Central, West and Northeast to the north of Chongwenmen, the people living in the isolated South City are basically poor people. They don't have much idea of ​​sacrificing their lives for the country, but they also don't want to get involved in the Liao soldiers' riots over pay.

To put it another way, the dignitaries who could share the honor and disgrace of the Ming Dynasty court lived in the West City, the wealthy businessmen lived in the East City, the Central City was mostly inhabited by officials and their families, and the North City was more mixed, with the soldiers of the Beijing Camp, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and the students of the Imperial College all living there.

So when the Liao soldiers and the civilians outside the city advanced all the way, the ordinary people in the south city all hid in their homes and did not move at all.

Li Hao also strictly ordered the Liao soldiers not to go to the homes of the people in the south city to ask for military pay, and the two sides lived in peace.

The method of attacking Chongwenmen was slightly different from that of attacking Zuoanmen. The wall of this gate was much more difficult to demolish than the southern wall. After Li Hao climbed to the top of the city wall amid the fearful eyes of the Beijing camp soldiers, he killed the Beijing camp soldiers near the landing point and let the Liao soldiers dismount and climb the ladders to the city to save time in the siege.

Generally speaking, even for this kind of top-level fortified city, we must adhere to the idea of ​​defending the countryside before defending the city.

That is, they sent field troops outside the city and left some of the defenders on the top of the city walls to support each other, so that the enemy would not take advantage of the lack of field troops to directly control a section of the city wall and gradually advance. The defenders of Beijing did not make any tactical mistakes, as they had tens of thousands of reinforcements outside the city to serve as field troops.

But these field soldiers were not under the command of each other. When the Liao soldiers attacked the city last night, the Baoding soldiers who were closest to them did not dare to leave the camp at night to attack the Liao soldiers from behind. The Baoding governor Zhang Fengyi, who led the troops, only sent a few generals with a small number of mounted servants to attack the Liao soldiers' reconnaissance cavalry, and at the same time supervised the progress of the siege.

When attacking Chongwen Gate, after the elite Liao soldiers dismounted and climbed onto the top of the city wall, Marshal Li immediately led them to deploy their troops, occupying the Chongwen Gate tower and the main gate archway, and then advancing outward to capture the Wengcheng Gate.

So when Yan Mingtai arrived with the Jizhen troops, Chongwen Gate had been closed again and the nearby city walls were all in the hands of the Liao soldiers.

"It's too late, it's too late!"

The Governor of Jizhen looked up to the sky and sighed, and it was hard to tell whether he was just acting or speaking from the bottom of his heart. If he was late at this step, many people's nine clans would not be able to be saved.

No matter whether the current emperor is in control of the situation or Li Ni captures Beijing.

"The soldiers of the Beijing camp fought well. The Liao soldiers left behind at least three or four hundred corpses. Li Ni did not bring many elite troops with him, so there is still hope."

The tall and strong You Shiwei suggested to the Governor.

With the Liao army's strength, it is absolutely impossible for them to control Chongwenmen while also sending troops to the Zhengyangmen in the west. If the Jizhen troops took a detour through Zhengyangmen, they might just run into the Liao army attacking the Wumen Gate of the Imperial City.

"But the Ministry of War did not summon the Jizhen soldiers to enter. If we offend the emperor, my nine clans will not be safe."

To be honest, Yan Mingtai did not want to face the traitor Li Hao from Liaodong directly. It was obvious that whoever got close to him would die.

Even if the Liao soldiers were almost killed or wounded, Li Ni could still rely on his own abilities to break out of the siege and lead the troops back from outside the pass.

The governor, provincial governor, generals and others in Jizhen may not be able to save their lives.

"This is an urgent situation. Please act at your own discretion, Governor."

You Shiwei did not retreat blindly. He did not dare to fight before because he thought that Li Ni would not be able to kill him in the imperial city. Although the capital city was devastated, the emperor's life was safe.

But the situation suddenly changed. If they didn't fight hard, the emperor would be gone.

Without the emperor, where would the You family get their salary? Where would they get their official positions?

"You think so too?"

Yan Mingtai asked the soldiers around him.

After receiving a positive reply, the Governor of Jizhen was a little surprised. The loyalty of these soldiers was much greater than he had imagined.

"Well, considering your loyalty, I will make an exception this time and let us enter the city from Zhengyang Gate."

As soon as the governor gave the order, the soldiers from Jizhen pushed the chariots forward at full speed. This camp of soldiers struggled with the defenders in front of Zhengyang Gate for a long time before the defenders opened the city gate to let them in.

In front of Chengtian Gate of the Imperial City.

Marshal Li, covered in blood, and his Liao soldiers officially appeared before the emperor and all the officials in the court.

Officials from the five ministries of civil affairs, household affairs, rites, engineering and military affairs had already fled into the imperial city. Under the city walls stood the 3,000 most capable soldiers from the Beijing camp, the Zhongwu Camp. In front of the nine-bay city tower, the emperor's imperial banner had already been raised.

It seems that Emperor Tianqi might appear.

"Why did Li Qing break into the palace?"

The voices of more than a dozen eunuchs carrying messages rang out at the same time, spreading far away so that most people in front of Chengtian Gate could hear them.

Even in this critical situation, the emperor still maintained his dignity and acknowledged Li Hao as his subject in front of all the officials.

"First, to collect salaries, and second, to kill the eunuch party officials. Someone once told me that the emperor collected salaries in front of the imperial city and brought armor and strong soldiers."

Li Hao also sent people to shout in unison so that the Ming officials on the city wall could hear them.

In the Ming Dynasty, collecting salaries was a dangerous act.

"The military pay has been delivered to Shanhaiguan. Six hundred thousand taels, not a cent less. Li Qing can take people to Shanhaiguan to collect the pay."

It was the eunuch who delivered the message.

"Hey, I just want to get paid in Beijing. Why don't you want to pay me?"

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(End of this chapter)