Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

After the trial, the days got warmer day by day.Either the solicitation of silver has paid off, or Sun Chengzong's defense of the Liao Dynasty, Shaanxi and Liaodong, the two major events that caused Chongzhen the most headaches finally gradually improved.The peasant army surrendered one by one, and the city of Liaodong was also being built in an orderly manner, which made Chongzhen rest for a while.

"I think that when I was not enthroned, I was cautious in everything, lest I was killed by the eunuchs. Since I took the throne in peace, I was glad that I no longer had to live in fear, but I never imagined that now I am responsible for the life and death of the people and the survival of the country. Much harder than self-preservation."

In the Kunning Palace, Chongzhen relaxed his arms, leaned on the back of the nanmu armchair, and muttered in his mouth, eyes slightly closed, with a tired look on his face.Empress Zhou next to her picked up the hot tea that the court lady had just brought, lifted the lid of the teacup, half-sucked her cherry lips, and gently blew away the hot air gathered at the mouth of the cup, then covered the lid again, and placed it firmly in the Chongzhen at hand.

"Your Majesty has worked hard day and night, and finally it has achieved results. Your Majesty should be gratified, but why does he sigh instead?" Empress Zhou said softly.

Xizhao had seen Empress Zhou several times.She seemed to be about the same age as the emperor, with a thin and thin body and dignified and beautiful features. Although she was a queen, she dressed plainly every day without being ostentatious, and she was also very kind to servants.When Xizhao was just transferred to the Duzhi prison, she followed the emperor to greet Queen Zhou once. Queen Zhou rewarded him with a lot of money, and kindly asked Xizhao to serve the emperor well. After that, every time we met, Queen Zhou always smiled relatively.After coming and going, Xi Zhao had a good impression of this young mistress.He waited outside the door, peeking into the room secretly, and saw Empress Zhou standing behind Chongzhen, beating her shoulders for the emperor.Xi Zhao withdrew her gaze and stood still, only listening to the emperor in the room continue to speak.

"Hey... just 10,000+ taels, it's just an emergency. I hope that the weather will be smooth this year, and the rebels will stop making troubles. I also hope that Sun Chengzong will conquer the Liao Dynasty, and the foreign captives will not invade again. Give the Ming Dynasty and give me a break. Otherwise, if I continue to be forced by such two phases, I really can't think about it." The emperor's voice was low and slow, as if whispering, but also as if talking to himself, and there seemed to be sighs between sentences.

"Your Majesty, don't be pessimistic," Empress Zhou comforted. "People say that things will be reversed. The Qin land has been dry for many years. Thinking about it, the weather should start to be smooth. The Emperor is so worried about the state affairs, God sees it, and can't bear to embarrass it any longer."

"Hey... I hope." Chongzhen paused for a moment, and then said, "It's better to think about it in the past. You only need to worry about your own life, and you only need to worry about food and clothing for the family. Thinking about it now, it is rare to be at ease. Now I really want to go back Xin Wang Mansion, go to Xin Wang again."

"Your Majesty... why did you say that?" The voice of beating shoulders suddenly stopped, and although Queen Zhou's words were soft, she suddenly became more serious, "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven of the Ming Kingdom, so don't be so discouraged. The people of Qin have suffered from wars and turmoil. With the suffering of famine, Liaodong is also being coveted by Huang Taiji, if the emperor leaves, who will he hand over the Great Ming Kingdom to?"

"I know." Chongzhen's answer seemed helpless and powerless, "It's just talk, don't take it seriously."

There was a moment of silence in the room.The hot air in the teacup gathers again, and a thin white mist quietly floats out from under the cover of the teacup...

The tea was still hot, so it really didn't last long.

two

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty—"

In July, the capital city is under the scorching sun and the heat is unbearable.Wang Chengen, ignoring the beads of sweat rolling down his cheeks, hurried from the Supervisor of Rites to the Qianqing Palace.

As soon as he entered the South Study Room, Wang Chengen called out to the emperor, and hurriedly presented a copy in his hand to Chongzhen.Xizhao picked up the booklet and just presented it to Chongzhen, but Wang Chengen didn't wait for Chongzhen to open it for reading, so he hurriedly said:

"Shen Yikui is rebelling again! There are more than 30 rioters this time, and Governor Yang may not be able to stand it!"

"What!" Chongzhen gasped, his starry eyes widened, he was stunned for a second, and quickly opened the memorial to read.I saw that the small characters in the memorial were densely packed, but the content was only the sentence that Wang Chengen said.Chongzhen sighed fiercely, threw the memorial on the table, stood up, and walked back and forth anxiously in the room.Wang Chengen didn't dare to say too much, bent down, pulled up his sleeves and wiped the sweat off his face.Chongzhen paced around for a while, waved his sleeves at Wang Chengen with a bored face, and Wang Chengen resigned knowingly.

It didn't take a day for the entire court to learn the news, and within a few days, memorials piled up on the dragon case in the South Study Room.The officials who supported the recruiting policy at the beginning changed the subject one after another, pointing their fingers at Yang He, who was the governor's recruiter. Even the censor Wu Shen, who sent the recruiting money to Shaanxi at the beginning, actually made a note, and decided that it was Yang He who advocated recruiting. , missed a major event.

"Hey..." Chongzhen threw the memorial and leaned back in his chair.

"Your Majesty..." Xi Zhao was about to say something, but was interrupted by Chong Zhen.

"There are so many memorials, but no one has proposed countermeasures worth learning from. It is such a concerted effort to shirk responsibility." Chongzhen closed his eyes and rubbed the center of his brows.

"If your majesty is tired, why don't you take a break today and save the rest of the papers for tomorrow." Xi Zhao said tentatively.

"Well...the contents of the books are all the same, so it doesn't matter if you don't read them." Chongzhen opened his eyes, and suddenly got up, "Go, go out with me for a walk."

At sunset, the summer heat has dissipated somewhat, and although there is no wind or cloud, it is not very stuffy.Chongzhen left the South Study Room, with his hands behind his back, and left the main hall through the back door.Xi Zhao originally thought that the emperor was going to the Kunning Palace, but when passing by the Kunning Palace, Chongzhen only slowed down his pace, but in the end he didn't stop, and walked around to the harem.Along the way, Chongzhen neither admired the flowers nor looked at the scenery, but walked forward with a sullen face and silent strides.Xi Zhao couldn't guess where the emperor was going, and didn't dare to talk too much, so he followed carefully.Wherever they went, the eunuchs and court ladies knelt down one after another, bowed their bodies and lowered their heads, daring not to breathe out because of the gloomy aura of the emperor.

Bypassing the Kunning Palace and passing through the imperial garden, the two of them had reached the back gate of the palace before they knew it.It wasn't until the red wall completely occupied the line of sight that Chongzhen stopped as if he had recovered his soul.He raised his head, scanned the tall palace gate carefully, stood there for some time, and then asked Xizhao:

"Do you know where is outside this door?"

Seeing that the emperor, who had been gloomy all the way, seemed to have calmed down a bit, Xi Zhao hurriedly replied:

"The villain knows very little about the structure inside and outside the palace, so I ask the emperor to enlighten me."

"Outside this gate is Longevity Mountain. When Chengzu built the Forbidden City, he stored coal here, so it is also called Coal Mountain." Chongzhen stepped back a few steps, as if he wanted to cross the palace gate and look at Coal Mountain.Xizhao also followed to look, but was blocked by a high wall, and could only see an empty sky.

"There is a pavilion on the top of Longevity Mountain called Shouchun Pavilion." Chongzhen continued, "When you climb up to Shouchun Pavilion, you can see the whole city at a glance. There is a crabapple garden in the north of the pavilion. There are several cranes in the courtyard, and flowers bloom in April. When it was blooming, the cranes walked among the flowers, it was really beautiful. When I was young, I used to have banquets and enjoy the flowers with the emperor's brother, and it has been many years since now." Chongzhen recalled the past, and the whole body was full of hostility It subsided a little, and his expression gradually eased down. Seeing this, Xi Zhao finally breathed a sigh of relief.The matter of the rebel army has disturbed the Emperor a lot in recent days, major national affairs cannot be achieved overnight, it is always good to have a moment to forget about worries.Xizhao thought about it, and suddenly heard Chongzhen sigh softly: "Hey... the state affairs have been busy in recent years, and I have never left this palace gate once, not even Longevity Mountain."

"If your majesty wants to go, it's not too late today." Noticing the regretful expression on the emperor's face, Xi Zhao suggested.

"That's all for today." Chongzhen took another look at the high palace wall, then turned around and walked back along the original road.

three

When the imperial court was in a hurry to deal with the Shenyikui rebels in Shaanxi, in August, there was a wave of unrest and another wave.

Almost a month ago, the scene reappeared. On this day, Wang Chengen was sweating again, holding the urgent report, and hurried to Qianqing Palace, in the South Study Room, in front of Chongzhen's dragon case.

"Huang Taiji personally led an army of [-] troops to the south, and besieged the general army of ancestor Dashou in the city of Daling River. The construction of Daling River has not yet been completed. There are more than [-] soldiers in the city, [-] craftsmen, and the food and grass are only enough to last for a few days..."

boom!

Chongzhen took the battle report, read it up and down several times, and suddenly re-patted the battle report on the table, which shocked Xi Zhao's chest.

"Huang Taiji didn't come sooner or later, but he came when the rebellion was in full swing. Could Sun Chengzong have sent reinforcements?"

"It is said that they have been dispatched, but no other news has been received..." Wang Chengen replied hesitantly.

"Call me immediately if you have any news!" Chongzhen commanded loudly.Wang Chengen complied with the order, and hurriedly withdrew again.

Seeing Wang Chengen's back disappearing outside the door, Chongzhen sighed deeply, and leaned limply on the dragon chair. For about half an hour, he didn't move the memorial and documents on the table.Although he knew in his heart that the momentary peace would not last long, he never expected that in just half a year, he would face such a situation.Chongzhen squinted his eyes, one by one, and re-examined the study that had accompanied him for four years.Dossiers, pens and inkstones, gold-plated incense burners, sandalwood cabinets, court ladies shaking fans, Zhang Dexiu standing quietly, every piece of paper, every thing, every person and every thing, permeates my thoughts and actions in the past four years.After four years, what should I do to live up to the country that is on my shoulders, and to live up to the surname that my ancestors passed on to me.Close your eyes, the past is like a pile of old books, and the pages are riddled with holes; open your eyes, the present is like a wildfire, and the life of the country is at stake.If I still haven't fulfilled the responsibility of the emperor, then from now on, what should I do to revive this precarious country...

Another long sigh.Chongzhen closed his eyes, only to feel that the heat in his heart was draining uncontrollably, from eyebrows to hands and feet, from atrium to skin, gradually being swallowed up inch by inch by an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

In a few days, Chongzhen's mood was very low, and his cheeks seemed to have lost weight.But in contrast, the emotions of the officials continued to rise.Every day, a group of officials came to Qianqing Palace to speak, either to impeach Sun Chengzong to suppress Liao Wufang, or to impeach Lord Yang He to harm the country.But in the face of this raging battle of words, Chongzhen became more and more silent, sometimes he didn't say a word, and after listening to the officials' statements, he nodded and waved his hands to dismiss them.Xizhao, who was by Chongzhen's side, watched the emperor's depression day by day, and was really anxious, but he couldn't think of any way to make the emperor feel better.This situation lasted for many days until one day when several officials were giving speeches in the South Study Room, the eunuch was sent to report again, saying that Wang Chengen, the chief inspector of ceremonies, had urgent matters to ask for an audience.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

"What's the panic?"

"Your Majesty, just now I received an urgent report that the reinforcements supporting the Daling River were intercepted by Huang Taiji on the way... More than [-] troops..." Wang Chengen was half-sentenced, but suddenly he didn't dare to say any more.

"Say!" Chongzhen muffled.

Wang Chengen swallowed, and could only whisper: "Over [-] troops...the whole army was wiped out..."

"What!" Chongzhen stood up from his chair.

"More than [-] troops...the whole army was wiped out..." Wang Chengen repeated tremblingly, "There is no army in Liaodong to help Dalinghe..."

The officials who had been eloquent just now were caught by the sudden battle report, and they were all dumbfounded and speechless.Chongzhen heaved a long sigh, at least suppressed the anger in his heart, and only said in a low voice that he understood, and then sat down again.

"Your Majesty, if the Daling River falls, it will be difficult to keep Huang Taiji from invading Beijing." One of the officials said.

Chongzhen nodded lightly and did not speak.Several ministers looked at each other, a scarlet-robed official with a goatee thought for a while, took a step forward, and said:

"Forgive me to speak bluntly, Dalinghe Guard General Zu Dashou is Yuan Chonghuan's former troops, and his mind is unpredictable. If Huang Taiji is surrounded tightly, and he leads his troops to surrender, the consequences will be disastrous."

Hearing the word Yuan Chonghuan, Chongzhen's eyebrows twitched slightly, and there was a trace of coldness in his eyes.Seeing Xi Zhao in his eyes, a little ominous premonition quietly rose in his heart.But the officials didn't notice it, and they still talked to themselves.

"At the beginning, it was Sun Chengzong who tried to protect Zu Dashou, but now that Huang Taiji came to attack, it happened to be the city of Zu Dashou. If the Daling River fell, Sun Chengzong would not be able to get rid of it."

"I think Mr. Liu's opinion is very serious. Zu Dashou is not trustworthy. The emperor should make a plan early."

"According to my opinion, Sun Chengzong's crime of dereliction of duty should be dealt with first, otherwise it will be difficult to appease the public's anger."

"Your Majesty, Zu Dashou..."

"enough!"

A loud shout suddenly erupted in the dull space, causing everyone in the room to tremble and stop breathing.I saw Chongzhen hammering the dragon case fiercely, standing up suddenly, as if Shura had possessed him for a short moment, his eyes were as sharp as an eagle, and his aura was as fierce as a tiger. , clack clatter, all scattered to the ground.

"Get out of here!!"

A thin piece of paper fluttered a few times in mid-air, and finally fell to the ground slowly.The few officials were stunned by the fright, and hurriedly chanted "I will resign", and stumbled to escape the door. "Retire too!" Chongzhen suppressed his anger and said to the attendants in a muffled voice.The palace maid trembled and picked up the fan that had just dropped on the ground by mistake, and left in a hurry.The room was suddenly empty and there was only Chongzhen left.Chongzhen regained his senses a little bit, looked around, and hurriedly shouted:

"Zhang Dexiu!"

Xi Zhao was also very frightened by Chongzhen's sudden anger, the emperor backed down, and he naturally left the South Study Room with everyone, still in shock.But before going out, he suddenly heard the emperor calling himself.Gritting her teeth, Xi Zhao could only turn around and go back to the study.

"Little, little man is here."

Chongzhen glanced at Xizhao, and sat down without saying anything.Xi Zhao waited for a while, but did not see the emperor's order, so she walked forward cautiously, and while slowly sorting out the memorials and sundries on the ground, she secretly glanced at the emperor.Chongzhen didn't stop, and didn't respond, just sat, propped his forehead, lowered his eyes, and didn't know what he was thinking.There was an eerie silence in the house for a while.

It was silent for a long time like this, until Xizhao tidied up the table and stood beside Chongzhen, only then did he hear Chongzhen whisper, and said:

"Zhang Dexiu."

"The little guy is here."

"Go and spare your clothes."

"The emperor... want the villain's clothes?" Xi Zhao was puzzled.

"Yeah. I'm going out of the palace for a walk."