Chapter 50 The fourth quarter, the thousand and first shells

1368 was the year of Wushen, and 1644 was the year of Jiashen.In terms of celestial stems and earthly branches, there is only one letter difference between them. But it is precisely these two years that constitute the beginning and end of a dynasty. In the Wushen year, Zhu Yuanzhang was full of energy and completed his life identity change from a monk to an emperor. Like all monarchs who are capable of changing dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang imagined that a dynasty would last forever. He never imagined that a certain Jiashen year more than two hundred years later would be the end of the dynasty he established with his own hands.

Of course, Chongzhen didn't expect it either. At the beginning of his ascension to the throne, he was also high-spirited and tried his best to rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty. But it was too late.In this March of the Jiashen year, everything came to an abrupt end. To be precise, on the 19th day of March, when Chongzhen reluctantly inserted his suspicious head into a noose tied to a crooked tree at the foot of Meishan Mountain, everything came to an abrupt end. But he saw everything very clearly, never before.These are the last nineteen days of his life. This March in the Jiashen year is destined to have only nineteen days.

It is also the last nineteen days of a dynasty. On March 1st, eighteen days before Chongzhen hanged himself.Li Zicheng's troops besieged Datong.The general army of Datong surrendered without a fight, the governor committed suicide, and the acting king and his clan in Datong were executed by the peasant army.Chongzhen saw that he was really anxious at this time, and desperately asked Wu Sangui to give up Ningyuan and lead his troops into the pass.But it was too late, Wu Sangui was still on his way to Beijing when Chongzhen hanged himself on March 19th.At the same time, he mobilized officials at all levels to donate money to save the country.But in this donation show, Chongzhen saw the real qualities of the three eunuchs—Cao Huachun and the other three eunuchs donated 50,000 taels of silver each, and also saw the stinginess of most officials.This also includes his father-in-law.Chongzhen has seen all kinds of performances of human nature: crying out loud, obediently obedient and viciously disobedient, slanderous and scheming, drawing salary from the bottom of the pot, cheating the sky, and of course thirty-six tricks.Chongzhen was terrified by seeing it, and was powerless to recover.He even felt that with such a person around, it was unreasonable for Daming not to perish.

On March 8, 11 days before Chongzhen hanged himself.Li Zicheng's troops besieged Xuancheng, and Du Xun, the eunuch sent by Chongzhen to oversee the army, surrendered without a fight. The peasant army entered the city, and the people lined up to welcome it. March 9th, ten days before Chongzhen hanged himself.Li Zicheng's troops were about to attack Yanghe, but Yu Chonghua, who was in charge of the army, ran ten miles outside the city to welcome him.When the peasant army entered the city, the common people lined up to welcome them. Chongzhen was also terrified to see all these.The hearts of the people are scattered, and the country is not easy to lead.

On March 11, eight days before Chongzhen hanged himself.He saw himself racking his brains and writing the "Edict of Guilt" with a pious face, promulgating it to the world, trying to gather the hearts of the people and turn the tide.But the "Zui Ji Zhao" could not get out of the Forbidden City, because most of the world at this time was no longer his Chongzhen's world; Looking at all this, she still enjoys it, her face is inadvertently covered with blood, but she doesn't realize it, and feels that she is really pitiful. March 12, seven days before Chongzhen hanged himself.Li Zicheng's troops blocked the suburbs of Beijing.Chongzhen saw that he was convening an imperial meeting in a serious manner, and asked a group of officials who were ulterior motives but mediocre.The plan offered by the officials was to close the gates of the city and resign themselves to fate.Chongzhen was furious, and scolded Zhang Jinyan, Minister of the Ministry of War, for being incompetent for the country. Seeing that the situation was over, Zhang Jinyan simply threw away the black hat and said goodbye to Chongzhen.Chongzhen heard the roar of laughter and saw his own weakness and incompetence.

On March 15th, four days before Chongzhen hanged himself.Li Zicheng's troops were about to attack Juyongguan, the governor and the general soldiers fled, and the eunuch sent by Chongzhen to supervise the army surrendered without a fight. March 16, three days before Chongzhen hanged himself.Li Zicheng's troops captured Changping and set fire to the Tombs of the Twelve Emperors.Chongzhen saw that his throat was hoarse, and he wanted to cry but had no tears, and his five internal organs burned.This is truly the end of the world.Chongzhen also saw some important officials of the imperial court distributing leaflets that read "open the door to welcome thieves".Chongzhen heard the broken sound of something clear in his heart "cracking".

March 17, two days before Chongzhen hanged himself.Chongzhen saw himself going to the early court tragically, and wrote the six characters "every civil servant can be killed" on the imperial case.The officials of the Manchu Dynasty were stunned, and the background music was the cry of the peasant army attacking Xizhimen vigorously.Sitting in such a historical picture scroll, Chongzhen is like sitting on the three-life stone of a dynasty. The past life, present life, and future life are really vivid and vivid.He is like an actor who is obsessed with watching, forgetting his identity and where he came from, and like an eminent monk, he instantly experienced the state of forgetting both things and me.

On March 18, the day before Chongzhen hanged himself.When it rained heavily, Chongzhen saw Cao Huachun, the eunuch guarding the city, slowly open Zhangyi Gate in the rain, followed by Desheng Gate and Xuanwu Gate, and Li Zicheng's troops rushed in.Chongzhen saw himself climbing the coal mountain with his confidant eunuch Wang Chengen in the rain, and witnessed the rush of a kind of grassroots force.The city is full of golden armour.The whole city is full of golden armour.Chongzhen hurried down the mountain again, and returned to Qianqing Palace to take care of the funeral. Such a moment is the moment to take care of the funeral.

Such a rainy day is specially prepared for the aftermath. Chongzhen saw that he said some affectionate words to his wife Zhou Shi full of affection, and then persuaded her to commit suicide - what better way is there than to commit suicide.When a dynasty ends.No actor can be left on the stage.His Chongzhen is also going to call a curtain call, the last one.He has to explain everything before he can take a curtain call. This is the responsibility of a main actor.Chongzhen saw his sixteen-year-old daughter, Princess Changping, weeping bitterly while hugging her mother's body, so he persuaded her to take the time to call the curtain.The time Li Zicheng left for them is running out, really not much, Princess Changping is still there mourning, Chongzhen sees himself shouting - "Why did you have to be born in my family?" She cut it off.Princess Changping fell.

On March 19th.The countdown to Chongzhen's hanging was zero.This is the darkest time of a dynasty, and there will be no more dawn tonight.Chongzhen saw himself taking Wang Chengen up the Meishan Mountain again in the rain, and the master and servant quietly took a curtain call to an era under a tree with a crooked neck.No one knew what they were doing, and their remains were not found by Li Zicheng until three days later. At the last moment, Chongzhen clearly saw that his face was full of tears. He had never shed so many tears in his life.These are tears of grievance, tears of reluctance, and tears of resentment.Chongzhen feels that he has walked along the way, like a young man picking up shellfish at the seaside, who has achieved many successes but missed many times.But he has a strong ambition, and takes it as his duty to collect all the shells on the seashore. The thunder rumbles in the sky, and a ray of tide is rolling in strangely. Some prophets run away screaming, but no one informs him, and Chongzhen doesn’t even look up. , Indulge in it and enjoy it.Just when he picked up the thousand and one shells, the tide had already rushed in front of him, and the huge waves soaring into the sky covered him involuntarily, leaving him nowhere to escape.In the chaos, Chongzhen vaguely and clearly heard the sigh of the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang:

You child, how did you lose the country I laid down? It was probably the most deafening sound he had ever heard in his life. 【End of the book】