Time soon came to New Year's Eve in the 18th year of Chongzhen.
Chongzhen took the crown prince Zhu Cixiang and his wife, Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong, Yongwang Zhu Cizheng and Wang Chengen and several other eunuchs to the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City in Nanjing to stay up late.
Several more palaces have been restored in the Forbidden City in Nanjing.
However, it is still a long time before the weather can be restored to that of the Taizu period.
Because it snowed heavily two days ago, the square in front of the Qianqing Palace was covered in silver.
However, there were a lot of fireworks placed in the silvery decoration, all prepared for New Year's Eve.
Zhu Cixiang's childish heart was still intact, and he said impatiently: "Father, the time is almost up. Let's set off the fireworks quickly, otherwise we will let others get there first!"
"Don't worry, Your Highness King Yong." Gao Qiqian said with a flattering look, "If the palace doesn't let it go, no one else dares to let it go first."
"Then let's start playing, and don't worry about the time." At such a moment, Chongzhen couldn't bear to touch Zhu Cizheng's childlike innocence, so he could tolerate him for a while.
"Oh, let's set off fireworks!" Zhu Cizheng was overjoyed when he heard this.
At that moment, hundreds of young eunuchs entered the courtyard and lit fireworks.
Ma Mingluan prepared quite a lot of fireworks, including clay pots, paper flowerpots, and flower pots in baskets, but most of them were ones that could fly into the sky, explode, and even create different colors. .
Soon, bunches of fireworks shot into the sky from the square in front of Qianqing Palace.
After the royal family set off fireworks, the officials, gentry and common people also set off fireworks and firecrackers one after another.
In an instant, the sky above Nanjing was illuminated by colorful fireworks, just like day and night.
"It's so beautiful, Father, the fireworks are so beautiful." Zhu Cizheng jumped up and cheered with excitement, his little face also flushed.
Chongzhen also sighed in his heart. After the sound of firecrackers, it means that the 18th year of Chongzhen has passed, and the next step is the 19th year of Chongzhen, a new year and a new atmosphere!
The first major event this year is to put down the rebellion in Shadingzhou, Yunnan.
After the Sha Dingzhou Rebellion is put down, will we see if there is a chance to deal with Zhang Xianzhong? Once Zhang Xianzhong is eliminated, the Ming Dynasty will only have two main opponents: Pseudo-Shun and Jiannu.
This is the advantage of strong comprehensive national strength.
In last year's Xuzhou War, the Ming Dynasty paid a heavy price, but it was able to recover in less than half a year.
On the other hand, it was not that easy to establish slaves. After years of war, Beizhi, Shanxi and several prefectures in Shandong under the rule of slaves suffered a massive loss of population and severe damage to agricultural production. Therefore, after the setback on the Xuzhou battlefield, no one I'm afraid it will be difficult to recover in two years.
At least in the 19th year of Chongzhen, the Jiannu were unable to launch a large-scale offensive.
Therefore, Chongzhen can use troops in the southwest throughout this year.
However, things are unpredictable, and Chongzhen's wishful thinking soon came to nothing.
While he was thinking about it, Gao Qiqian ran over shouting and shouting, "Long live the Lord, I'm so happy, so happy!"
At such a good time, Chongzhen would no longer give Gao Qiqian a cold look and asked with a smile: "What's the joy?"
"Long live Lord, I have three great joys!" Gao Qiqian smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed into slits, "First of all, the weapons department has developed the grenade designed by you, Long live Lord!"
"Oh? Have you researched the grenade?" Chongzhen smiled slightly.
This is really good news. Although grenades are not a decisive weapon, they can still come in handy.
Gao Qiqian continued: "The second great joy is that the medical school has completed its first caesarean section. Fu Zhangyuan personally performed the surgery and cut out a litter of piglets from the sow's abdomen, and the sow and piglets were all dead."
All survived."
"This is really a great joy." Chongzhen said with great joy, "Gao Banban, where is the third great joy?"
Gao Qiqian said with a smile: "The third great joy is that the good horse donated by Pseudo-Shun will arrive in Nanjing tomorrow."
"The war horses have finally arrived?" Chongzhen said with even greater joy when he heard this, "I have been waiting impatiently for these ten thousand war horses, and my ten thousand knights are also impatiently waiting for them."
"Uh..." After hearing Chongzhen's words, Gao Qiqian's expression was suffocated.
"What?" Chongzhen's face darkened, "Gao Banban, is there any problem?"
Gao Qiqian whispered: "Long live my Lord, there are only two thousand war horses, not ten thousand."
"What? Two thousand horses?" Chongzhen's face fell instantly, "What's going on? Could it be that Lu Zhenfei and Lu Daqi changed their minds again? Do they want to detain eight thousand horses?"
"No, it's not Mr. Lu Ge and Lu Budang." Gao Qiqian waved his hands and said, "It's He Budang."
"Are you talking about He Tengjiao?" Chongzhen said with a dark face, "This is unreasonable. He even dared to seize 8,000 war horses from the Ministry of Internal Affairs without permission. Who gave him the courage?"
Gao Qiqian was so frightened that he knelt down with a thud.
When the emperor was angry, blood flowed everywhere. Gao Qiqian had already felt Chongzhen's anger.
Chongzhen was really angry. After Gao Hongtu was executed, no minister dared to treat him like this. Even Jie Xuelong fell into a trap because of his words. What did He Tengjiao want to do?
Regarding He Tengjiao, Chongzhen only knew that he was a capable minister.
Now it seems that He Tengjiao wants to imitate Zuo Liangyu?
Chongzhen really wronged He Tengjiao this time. At least now He Tengjiao has never thought of imitating Zuo Liangyu. Those who want to imitate Zuo Liangyu are the four general soldiers of Wuchang Town.
…
At the same time in Wuchang.
The lights inside the governor's office were also brightly lit. The governor of Huguang, He Tengjiao, was hosting a banquet for a group of civil servants headed by Hubei Governor Zhang Kuang and Zuo Liangyu's old tribe headed by Ma Jinzhong.
Ma Jinzhonghun, nicknamed "Hundred Hundred Thousands", together with Jin Shenghuan, Hui Dengxiang, Wang Yuncheng and Li Cheng, were also called the senior colonels of the fifth foreign battalion. They were the most capable troops under Zuo Liangyu's command besides his own servants.
After Zuo Liangyu died of illness, Zuo Menggeng could not return to Wuchang for a long time. Ma Jinzhong, Hui Dengxiang, Wang Yuncheng and Li Cheng divided Zuo Liangyu's old ministry and the family assets accumulated over the years. They once wanted to expel the Ming officials.
Following Li Zicheng's example, Zhang Xianzhong established a political power and became emperor himself.
However, Ma Jinzhong and the four others refused to obey the other, and everyone wanted to be the emperor. As a result, they reached a deadlock.
At this time, Huguang Governor He Tengjiao, who had been entrusted with Chongzhen's holy order, rushed back to Wuchang at night.
It has to be said that He Tengjiao is quite capable and very sophisticated. He seized the God-given opportunity that Ma Jinzhong and the other five people had already developed a grudge against, and first approached Ma Jinzhong for a confidential discussion.
In fact, Ma Jinzhong promised He Tengjiao nothing.
But Prime Minister Hui Dengjiao didn't know, so when He Tengjiao came to the door and said that Ma Jinzhong had chosen to surrender, Prime Minister Hui Dengjiao decisively joined He Tengjiao, and then He Tengjiao used the power of Prime Minister Hui Dengjiao to subdue Wang Yuncheng, and then Li
Success, and finally took the troops of Hui Deng and the other two men to overwhelm the strongest He Jinzhong.
With one operation, He Tengjiao took over the military and political power of Wuchang without any bloodshed.
However, this is only superficial control, because the military power of Wuchang Town is still firmly in the hands of four people, including Ma Jinzhong and Hui Deng. He Tengjiao only has nominal command authority over the troops and horses of the four towns.
He Tengjiao had no better control method except to go to the court and ask Ma Jinzhong and four other people to be made earls.
Even the money and food in Wuchang were divided among the four men of Ma Jinzhong. The four men of Ma Jinzhong even sent their own troops to guard various strategic points in Wuchang and collect taxes separately.
Maybe it's because I'm used to being a local snake in Wuchang, and I no longer know how high the sky is.
Or maybe they felt that the Ming Dynasty had to ask them to defend Wuchang with soldiers and horses from four towns.
So when the 10,000 war horses were transported to Wuchang, Ma Jinzhong and the other four men did not hesitate to seize 8,000 of them, as well as more than half of the cattle and sheep, and they also called them as military supplies.
.
He Tengjiao didn't say much about this, but acquiesced in the actions of the four people.
As a result, Ma Jinzhong and the other four became more and more aggressive, and their behavior became more and more outrageous.
This time He Tengjiao hosted a banquet for his subordinates at the Governor's Mansion, and the four of them brought their own trusted servants to the banquet. They never thought that He Tengjiao would dare to harm them.
Sure enough, when the four of them arrived at the Governor's Yamen, He Tengjiao was very polite to them.
They even arranged for the four people's hundreds of servants to have a drink in the patio outside the lobby.
After three drinks and five dishes, He Tengjiao stood up with a wine bottle and said loudly: "In the past six months, with the full support of all colleagues here, we have finally stabilized Wuchang and Huguang."
Ma Jinzhong interrupted He Tengjiao and said, "He Butang, you mainly have to thank the four of us."
"That's right." Hui Deng, who was also slightly drunk, slapped the table and said, "If the four of us hadn't sent troops to support you, He Butang, you wouldn't have been able to enter Wuchang City."
When Li Yuncheng and Li Cheng heard this, they also clapped their hands and laughed, looking extremely crazy.
Zhang Kuang, Fu Shangrui, Yan Qiheng and other civil servants also present here also dared to get angry but did not dare to speak out.
When He Tengjiao heard this, he just smiled and was not angry at all: "What the two generals said is absolutely true. I relied on the support of all the generals to control Wuchang."
Speaking of this, He Tengjiao suddenly straightened his face and said, "But there is something that I have to do today."
"What's the matter?" Li Yuncheng slapped the table and said, "He Butang, just ask, we will do it for you."
"Then I won't be polite to the four generals." He Tengjiao said in a dark voice, "I want to borrow your four heads to improve military discipline. I wonder if the four generals are willing?"
"Hey, I thought it was a big deal..." Ma Jinzhong suddenly got stuck at this point.
Although he was a little drunk, he still understood the meaning of He Tengjiao's words, and immediately became furious: "He Tengjiao, the four of us respect you, you are the governor, if we don't respect you, you are worse than shit!"
Prime Minister Hui Deng, Li Yuncheng and Li Cheng also stood up and prepared to summon their servants.
However, at this moment, a group of soldiers in full armor suddenly rushed out from the corridor.
"Close the door!" A general wearing mountain armor and a phoenix-winged helmet shouted sternly.
Immediately, the main door of the lobby was slammed shut, and Ma Jinzhong and four others were blocked in the lobby.
He Tengjiao quickly retreated, and the general stepped forward and shouted: "Kill on the spot!"
The heavily armed soldiers immediately rushed forward with their swords waving, and slashed down with their swords.
"Lu Ding!" Ma Jinzhong yelled, "You are such a sinister villain, I am really blind!"
"Looking for death!" Lu Ding, the general in mountain armor, cut Ma Jinzhong down with just one blow.
Ma Jinzhong's martial arts skills were originally far superior to Lu Ding's, but unfortunately he drank too much wine tonight and became drunk.
Almost at the same time that Ma Jinzhong and others were cut down, a large number of archers appeared on the corridors around the patio and on the roof ridges, firing random arrows at the patio below.
Hundreds of servants who were having a banquet in the courtyard were caught off guard. They were only wearing jackets and were quickly turned into hedgehogs.
When all the dust settled, Zhang Kuang, Fu Shangduan and other civil servants had already turned pale with fear. Only He Tengjiao said to Lu Ding without changing his expression: "General Lu, please clean up the mess here. I have to go immediately."
The military camp outside the city collected military morale to prevent the officers and soldiers outside the city from mutiny after hearing the news."
Lu Ding said: "It would be better for the last general to lead the Biaoying camp and go with the headquarters."
"No need." He Tengjiao said, "Since Ma Jinzhong and others have been executed, my governor is no longer in danger."
After a pause, He Tengjiao said again: "No matter what, the four towns of Wuchang are our Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers!"
He Tengjiao walked to the entrance of the lobby and suddenly turned back to Zhang Kuang and said, "Zhang Futai, if you could help me, send a courier 800 miles to tell the emperor and the cabinet the reason for tonight."
Zhang Kuang said: "I will accept the order."
…
This year, it is really impossible for Lu Zhenfei and the four pavilion elders to survive.
Especially Mr. Qian Qianyi, who drank a few sips of wine after watching the New Year's Eve. Just when he was about to take advantage of the wine to have a moment of tenderness with Mrs. Ru and Liu Rushi, he was stopped midway by his old servant.
After hearing the call from Chief Assistant Lu Zhenfei, Qian Qianyi did not dare to show any signs of neglect and quickly put on his clothes and got up.
When Qian Qianyi hurried to the cabinet to check in, he saw that Lu Zhenfei, Zhang Shenyan and Meng Zhaoxiang had already arrived, and he was the only one waiting for him.
"Mr. Qian Ge is here too, let's get started." Lu Zhenfei said.
"I'm really sorry to call you here in the middle of the night."
"But there is nothing we can do. Something happened to the hypocritical horses, cattle and sheep."
"Cattle and sheep are just that. The key is the war horses. The Huguang Governor's Office actually seized 8,000 of them!"
"Is there such a thing?" Zhang Shenyan, Meng Zhaoxiang and Qian Qianyi were all furious. Isn't this too arrogant? Does He Tengjiao want to rebel?
Zhang Shen said: "First of all, does your Majesty have any will?"
Lu Zhenfei said: "I have sent someone to ask for the edict. The Holy Spirit said that it will be left to the cabinet to handle it."
Qian Qianyi said: "After all, He Tengjiao did not rebel, but only seized the cattle, sheep and horses, so this matter should be handled by our cabinet. What do the cabinet ministers think we should do?"
Meng Zhaoxiang said: "Didn't Huang Shu, the censor of Huguang's censor, return to Nanjing to resign his duties years ago? He can be asked to return to Wuchang quickly, severely reprimand He Tengjiao and order him to deliver the detained war horses, cattle and sheep to Nanjing as soon as possible."
"It's inappropriate, it's inappropriate." Zhang Shenyan waved his hands repeatedly and said, "This is inappropriate."
Meng Zhaoxiang said unhappily: "May I ask Mr. Zhang Ge, what's wrong with doing this?"
"I am afraid that it will not help the matter." Zhang Shenyan said, "There may be another reason for the governor of Huguang to detain the horses, cattle and sheep. Although He Tengjiao is a headstrong person, he has no disrespect for the imperial court or the Holy One. Therefore, the servant believes that this is Wuchang
Those arrogant soldiers in the town did this by threatening He Tengjiao."
