One hour later, Changhua Gate.

"What, the King of Chuang is angry?" After hearing this, Cao Huachun's expression was quite ugly.

In front of Cao Huachun, an eunuch stood respectfully, with five quite obvious slap marks on his face. He said helplessly: "The King of Chuang was originally in a state of discomfort. After hearing Du Xun's death, he was even more furious. The little slap was given by the King of Chuang.

The King of Chuang said that if anyone wants to serve him as his new master, he has to do something that a slave should do. If he can't do it, there are many people who want to be slaves for the King of Chuang, and there is no shortage of those with the surname Cao."

After hearing these words, Cao Huachun was completely speechless.

After a moment, a sharp light flashed in Cao Huachun's eyes and he said softly: "It seems that we can only be tonight..."

At this moment, a sound of footsteps suddenly sounded, and someone came up to the city wall. Cao Huachun subconsciously stopped the words in his mouth.

When he turned around, Cao Huachun frowned: "Duke of England?"

British Duke Zhang Shize, with a few followers, nodded at Cao Huachun with a smile: "Duke Cao."

Cao Huachun was in a bad mood at first, so he immediately pulled down his face and said coldly: "Duke of England, how can I remember that Your Majesty has an order that no minister shall climb the city wall without authorization unless he has an order?"

The British Duke smiled slightly and shook the will in his hand towards Cao Huachun: "Yes, so my Duke is here with His Majesty's will. Cao Huachun obeys the order!"

Cao Huachun was puzzled, but the British Duke did have an imperial edict, so he could only bend down and salute: "Cao Huachun listens to the edict."

The British Duke said loudly: "... From now on, the British Duke Zhang Shize will take charge of all the troops in the nine gates of the Jingying Camp. Cao Huachun's position as an eunuch will be cancelled. He will return to the East Factory to do things and will not be allowed to interfere in military affairs."

Cao Huachun's body was shocked, and he couldn't help but look up suddenly and said anxiously: "How is this possible? Duke of England, could it be that you have advanced my slander at your level?"

The British Duke laughed and looked at Cao Huachun with disdainful eyes: "Eunuch Cao, this is the prince's advice. Your Majesty's personal letter of imperial edict. Do you want to violate the order? I will hand over the military talisman to me immediately, and go wherever I love you!"

Cao Huachun then realized: "So it's the prince!"

Cao Huachun suddenly felt very angry. He knew that he had already planned to open the Changhua gate late tonight to surrender to Li Zicheng, but the British Duke arrived with the decree and confiscated Cao Huachun's military power.

Without military power, what can Cao Huachun use to open the Changhua door?

But now the situation is stronger than others. No matter how unwilling Cao Huachun is, he can only hand over the military talisman and helplessly bring a few confidants back to the palace.

After returning to the palace, Cao Huachun immediately found another eunuch, Wang Huamin, and then he understood what happened in Fengtian Palace not long ago.

Cao Huachun gritted his teeth: "This prince is really in the way!"

Wang Huamin was also helpless and said, "Eunuch Cao, since there is hope for the Ming Dynasty to defend the city, otherwise... should we continue to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty?"

Cao Huachun shook his head slowly and said, "Old Master, you and I have no way out now. If King Chuang is really defeated, do you think Your Majesty and the Prince can't find out that we secretly have a hookup with King Chuang and Du Xun? Only by helping King Chuang destroy this Beijing city can you and I have the opportunity to continue to live and serve the new master!"

Wang Huamin suddenly panicked and said, "What should we do?"

Cao Huachun's eyes flashed with light and he said coldly: "It's okay. Although Your Majesty obeyed the prince's words and accepted your military power, this does not mean that Your Majesty doubts you and me.

Besides, there is not even food and salary in the capital now. What should Your Majesty and the Prince use to support an army? There is not enough army to defend the city, so it will be a matter of time before Beijing will be broken!

Now, all you and I have to do is continue to lurk, express your loyalty to Your Majesty, and secretly look for opportunities!"

After hearing Cao Huachun's words, Wang Huamin finally felt relieved and smiled: "Eunuch Cao said so well, then we will wait for the opportunity to pick up the King of Chuang!"

The two old eunuchs looked at each other and smiled, their eyes grim and cold.

Zhu Cixuan returned to Duan Ben Palace, took a shower, then ate some casually, and then threw himself onto the bed with a bang.

"So tired." Zhu Cilang sighed.

During the past day, Zhu Cixuan did a lot of things.

Not only did he fight with the trespassing army, but he also fought with Wei Zaode when he came back, and he also engaged in a political struggle to persuade Chongzhen to dismiss Cao Huachun and others from his official positions. It can be said that he was quite busy and worried about the Ming Dynasty.

But in general, after Zhu Cixuan's operation, the situation in Beijing still improved.

If the Ming Dynasty was an extremely critical patient on the operating table, then after the operation of Zhu Cixuan, the attending doctor, is basically a situation where he was transferred to the ICU after the operation.

Just as Zhu Cilang was lying on the bed and thinking about it, his close eunuch Fang Gongqian suddenly walked into the hall: "Your Highness, Your Majesty urgently summoned you to go to the imperial study immediately!"

Zhu Ciyang was stunned for a moment: "Li Zicheng was not honest this night?"

Zhu Cilang quickly arrived at the imperial study room.

Chongzhen was naturally there, in addition to the British Duke Zhang Shize, Wang Jiayan, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War. These two were recommended by Zhu Cilang, and...

"My minister Li Guozhen has met Your Highness." A very young minister who looked like a talented person saluted Zhu Cilang.

"Li Guozhen?" Zhu Ciyang thought for a moment and found that this person was the previous admiral of the Beijing camp (the disadvantage of Chongzhen's love of random substitutions is here. A Beijing camp admiral, and at least two digits have been a person in Beijing). In history, he surrendered to Li Zicheng, so he naturally didn't look down on him. He snorted and said hello.

Li Guozhen was also a little stunned when he saw this, obviously not understanding why Zhu Cilang was so cold.

Seeing this, Chongzhen didn't care if Zhu Cixuan was dissatisfied with Li Guozhen, a candidate who was not appointed.

From Chongzhen's perspective, of course, he also had to choose a more reliable person to continue to manage the army. Li Guozhen was Chongzhen's candidate, which was also the basic operation of the emperor.

Chongzhen told the British justice: "Duke of England, tell me the current situation."

British Duke Zhang Shize nodded and said in a deep voice: "Report to Your Majesty, the Crown Prince. That's right. I, the Minister of the King and the Prince of Xiangcheng, have now completely collected all the warable soldiers in the Ming Dynasty and the city, with a total of about 15,000 people."

After listening, Chongzhen frowned: "So little?"

The British Duke nodded and said, "Yes, it is mainly because the number of people in Beijing was insufficient before, and the food and salary did not come in place for many years. In addition, many people have surrendered to the thief army outside the city, which is one of the reasons."

Chongzhen said: "Is these 5,000 people enough to defend the capital?"

The British Duke shook his head and said, "The capital is too big. It is absolutely impossible to rely on this 5,000 people alone. I believe that more warriors and young men must be recruited from the city to join the army in order to defend the capital."

Chongzhen hurriedly said, "What are you waiting for? Go and post a notice and issue my decree to recruit people!"

The British Duke hesitated for a moment, but said helplessly: "Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty... has no money. If there is no food and salary, who will join the army and work hard for the Ming Dynasty?"

When Chongzhen heard this, he couldn't speak.

Zhu Cilang watched from the side and knew the problem.

Yes, Daming has long been out of money.

When Li Zicheng entered the capital, Chongzhen had already made repeated orders, asking ministers and nobles to donate food and pay to recruit soldiers and horses, but what was the result? It was a combination of eggs.

Not to mention anything else, Zhou Kui, the father-in-law, was obviously very wealthy, but he repeatedly pushed him against Chongzhen. Queen Zhou couldn't stand it anymore, so she secretly sold the last little treasure in the palace and gave Zhou Kui 5,000 taels to Zhou Kui, asking him to give it to Chongzhen. What was the result? Zhou Kui deducted 2,000 taels to Chongzhen with his backhand and only took 3,000 taels to Chongzhen.

Later, Li Zicheng entered the city, and the general of the rebel army under his command, Li Yan, occupied Zhou Kui's mansion, and Zhou Kui gave 100,000 taels at one time. Li Yan said, "You are the father-in-law, just give this little?" Then he was punished and Zhou Kui took out another 100,000 taels."

Li Yan was not satisfied, so he was punished and Zhou Kui took out a total of 600,000 taels, plus countless rare antiques.

Zhou Kui himself is just a microcosm of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

After Li Zicheng entered the city, he said that he had taken out at least 50 million taels (some say 70 million taels) of cash and countless other treasures from these Ming ministers.

Of course, Li Zicheng was later killed by the Qing Dynasty, so all these gold, silver and jewelry were cheaper than the Qing Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang was about to speak, but the system's voice suddenly sounded one step ahead.

"The sign-in task is triggered, please arrive at the treasure secret warehouse of the mansion outside Cao Huachun Palace within 24 hours."

Then, a map marked the structure of the mansion and the path of the secret room appeared in front of Zhu Cixuan.

A few seconds later, Zhu Cilang spoke.

"Father, my son has a way to solve the problem of military pay."
Chapter completed!