The atmosphere in the imperial capital has been tense recently. After Yang Fan took office in Suiyuan, the emperor made a series of big moves that shocked the government and the public. For a while, the imperial capital was shrouded in a tense atmosphere.
First, the emperor ordered the Three Law Divisions to hold a joint trial to deal with the civil and military officials who had committed dereliction of duty and committed crimes during the Jisi Incident.
This was a settlement of accounts after the fall. A large number of civil and military officials were sacked one after another.
The Inspectorate has become the busiest government office in the capital, and the lights are not turned off day and night.
A large number of censors stationed in various provinces were mobilized back to Beijing. The gate of the Yamen of the Supervisory Office was filled with people, with a constant flow of people coming in and out.
Many young censors were busy all night looking through files, organizing materials, and collecting evidence to convict these officials arrested by the emperor.
Chongzhen had a habit when facing a crisis.
That is to send a minister to take overall responsibility.
Let them first build a team to solve the problem. But no matter how the problem is solved, these people will not end well.
In fact, these people are the ones who hold the vat for him.
At this time, he can get out and stay out of the matter, and then be held responsible.
The first unlucky person was Liu Ce, the governor of Jiliao.
After the Battle of Zunhua, Governor Liu Ce and Bingbei Dao Zhang Shixian were dismissed from their posts and sentenced to death. Immediately afterwards, Wang Qia, Minister of the Ministry of War, was imprisoned. He died in prison not long after.
If Wang Yuanya, the governor of Shuntian, had not committed suicide, there would be no good fruit to eat.
As a large number of officials were dismissed, the emperor soon pointed his finger at Donglin.
Wen Tiren's henchmen began to attack Donglin.
Previously, Donglin had tricked Yang Fan, and when Yang Fan asked for help in Jiuyuan City, they not only refused to send reinforcements, but also sent all the prisoners from the northern provinces to serve in the army.
Yang Fan and Zhang Shize were so angry that they died.
This move angered Tu Shanyue.
Tu Shanyue instigated Lin Yueru to let a remnant of the eunuch party who had contact with her to recruit Donglin's operation Qian Qianyi into the cabinet and replace Li Biao as the first assistant. He adopted underhanded methods and secretly assassinated the evidence, which resulted in Wen Tiren's disqualification from joining the cabinet.
Passed it to Wen Tiren.
This caused Wen Tiren to hate Li Biao and Qian Longxi. The two parties immediately broke up completely.
Later, Wen Tiren teamed up with Zhou Yanru to expose Qian Qianyi's old imperial examination fraud case during the debate in front of the emperor. At the same time, he also exposed him as a clique for personal gain.
Forming a party for personal gain offended Chongzhen and led to Qian Qianyi being deposed and Donglin suffering a major blow.
During the Jisi Incident, 200,000 Qing troops entered the fortress in large numbers. Millions of officials and civilians were killed and injured. Ji Town's troops and horses were completely lost, and King Qin's troops and horses in various provinces suffered heavy losses.
Donglin's cabinet did nothing and acted carelessly. They should indeed be held responsible for the national crisis.
In order to attack the Donglin cabinet, Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru's party members began to dig deep into Yuan Chonghuan.
Originally, the emperor had no intention of killing Yuan Chonghuan. After all, he was a man who was very concerned about face. Although Yuan Chonghuan deceived him, he paid too much sincerity to Yuan Chonghuan. This was a model established by his own promotion and promotion.
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To mess with Yuan Chonghuan is equivalent to slapping yourself in the mouth.
However, as the situation developed, Yuan Chonghuan's situation became increasingly worse.
The Donglin cabinet is also unwilling to sit back and wait for death. It is difficult for them to clear their names now.
After all, Liu Ce, the governor of Jiliao, was killed, as was Zunhua Bingdao. You don't have to be responsible.
Zhang Tianru started making trouble in the south of the Yangtze River to cause trouble for the emperor. He tried to divert the attention of officials and people throughout the Ming Dynasty. In the past few months, "Su Bao" began to attack the court and the emperor unscrupulously.
The emperor wanted to blame Li Biao and Qian Longxi for the Jisi Revolution. Zhang Tianru wanted to blame Chongzhen.
The Magna Carta article drove the emperor crazy.
He was holding the newspaper with trembling hands, his face was pale, his lips were trembling, saliva flowed, and he could not say a word.
Wang Chengen and Luo Yangxing were so frightened that they thought the emperor had suffered a stroke. They almost didn't call the imperial doctor urgently.
He now regrets that he didn't listen to Yang Fan earlier and strike first.
Taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the Jiangnan gentry, they directly announced the nationalization of the salt administration. Then they auctioned the franchise rights according to the city. Then they took the opportunity to exempt all agricultural taxes and corvees. This can greatly ease the burden on the farmers. Now the farmers are forced to rebel.
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Now, Su Bao began to propose that the emperor's tax changes must be approved by the gentry.
Now the Jinyiwei secretly reported that the gentry in the eighteen provinces generally recognized Zhang Tianru's statement and were discussing whether the Ming Dynasty should also issue a Magna Carta.
These days, Luo Yangxing's secret reports made Chongzhen sleepless and uneasy.
The discussions in the streets were all based on the Magna Carta and the new views proposed in Zhang Tianru's Soviet newspaper. They were all wild and arrogant words that had no king and no father.
Even the beggars in the capital sang the song "Lotus Blossoms" and played the "Hara Board", singing the rumors fabricated by these rebellious parties about the corruption of the imperial officials.
Chongzhen became more and more frightened. Now, public opinion is trying to discredit him and the court.
Finally, something happened to the Jin Yiwei sent to Suzhou to seize the Su newspaper.
This brought the incident to its climax.
Two members of the Jinyiwei family from a hundred households were beaten to death in the street, and the murderer was not caught. More than a dozen people, including the general banner and Xiaoqi from the hundred households below, were killed and injured.
Zhang Tianru ran away, and none of the other newspaper members were caught. They all ran away.
Apparently the news leaked out, and someone in the court tipped off these gangsters.
Although Jinyiwei closed down the newspaper, the Soviet Union newspaper was still distributed to the subscribers on a regular basis. This confused Chongzhen. Zhang Tianru could not be blocked at all! He was still the editor-in-chief, and the Soviet Union newspaper continued to be published.
The emperor went through all the trouble, but nothing was wasted.
The emperor was unhappy and angrily pushed all the memorials to the ground and walked away, intending to go back to the harem to relieve his boredom.
Empress Zhou and the two noble concubines quickly gathered a table of food and wine in an attempt to appease the emperor.
Seeing that the emperor was unhappy and had no appetite, it suddenly occurred to him that he liked to listen to operas. When the emperor was happy, he took them on many private visits incognito to the Jiuzhou Grand Theater on Di'anmen North Street to listen to operas.
Empress Zhou suggested: "Your Majesty, a new troupe has recently arrived at the Jiuzhou Grand Theater and is singing a new play "Water Margin". How about your Majesty take my concubines and others to listen to the play to relieve their boredom."
Chongzhen was so angry that his liver ached during this period, and he hadn't had fun with his wives for a long time. After thinking about it, he nodded in agreement. So he asked Wang Chengen to prepare civilian clothes. After dark, he left the north gate of the imperial city and walked to Jiuzhou.
Watch a play in the big theater.
Jiuzhou Grand Theater is Yang Fan's property. It is located on Di'anmen North Street, opposite Xinghe Supermarket. It is next to the stock exchange hall. This is the largest theater building in the Ming Dynasty.
There are 500 individual seats in the lobby on the first floor, and there are 90 private rooms on the second to fourth floors.
The theater has the trapezoidal layout of later generations. The orchestra is arranged in dark areas on both sides of the stage. The entire hall is illuminated by carbide lamps.
The stage also has background scrolls and lighting effects. It is the most famous theater in Beijing.
The capital is packed with dignitaries, civil servants, and wealthy businessmen every night. It is hard to get a ticket for a private seat, and the cheapest private seat costs one tael of silver or one Yang family silver coin.
However, the Yang family does not have its own theater troupe to perform. They just provide venues. Theater troupes from all over the country can rent the venues. The two parties share the cooperation.
If the attendance rate is high, we will sing for a few more days.
If the results are not good, the troupe and the repertoire will be changed the next day.
Wang Chengen secretly rented a top-level box here for a long time, which is the best location on the third floor facing the stage. This location has the best visual and auditory effects.
The box is closed against the outer corridor, and there is a door to enter. There are closed walls on both sides of the box, and only the side facing the stage is a railing. There is a light veil hanging from top to bottom, and you can clearly see the outside from the inside, but not from the outside.
Not inside.
The private rooms are equipped with sofas, recliners, round tables, etc. You can eat, play cards, and listen to a play. Each private room is served by tall beauties wearing cheongsam and high heels.
After dark, Chongzhen and his party, escorted by a small flag-dressed guard, quietly left Di'anmen and walked toward the brightly lit Di'anmen North Street.
After passing the T-junction of the road, less than 300 meters away is the Kyushu Grand Theater.
There is no need to ride a horse or a sedan chair during these few steps. Just walk over.
Empress Zhou, Concubine Tian and Concubine Yuan were very excited. The emperor rarely took them out to play.
Along the way, they acted coquettishly and asked the emperor to buy them snacks and gadgets along the street.
Chongzhen hadn't gone out for a walk for a long time, so he tried his best to satisfy them. This short commercial street was very enjoyable.
They were very envious of the female relatives of the Dingyuan Hou family, and often ran out and went wild under the leadership of their little Niangpi.
Whose wife is so crazy and wild after getting married, running out to eat, drink and have fun?
This is only the case in Yang Fan's house. No one understands it, and Mr. Yang doesn't care about them, just letting them go crazy. What a strange family.
The Dingyuan Marquis Mansion is a negative example for the powerful men in the capital to educate their female relatives.
"Sir, we've arrived at the theater. It's the same box as last time." Wang Chengen said softly.
This was already his third time here. Chongzhen looked at the brightly lit gatehouse in front of the theater and nodded with satisfaction. At this time, it was less than a quarter of an hour before the opening. Many people were entering the hall from the steps.
Wang Chenen showed a waist card, so there was no need to check the ticket.
Here you only need to buy tickets and check in when you are seated. The private rooms are all rented on a long-term basis and rely on your badge.
Immediately, a female receptionist wearing a red cheongsam and high-heeled shoes guided Chongzhen and his party. In the foyer, they turned left and took the special stairs upstairs to the private rooms.
They are VIP customers and do not need to go through the foyer to check in and enter the lobby on the first floor.