Chapter 515: Lynching by Factory Guards, Tartars Breakthrough
Xiong Kaiyuan pointed the finger directly at himself. Zhou Yan, a Confucian scholar, was old and sophisticated. Naturally, he would not let Xiong attack him like this. He immediately sent his cronies to win over Xiong Kaiyuan. So when Wuchang was in Wuchang, he was a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, Sun Jin, a minister in Dali Temple, and Feng Yuanbiao, a minister in the Ministry of War.
They went to lobby Xiong Kaiyuan one after another. These people repeatedly explained the stakes to Xiong: Although your opinion is correct, there is still a glimmer of hope to keep the gentleman (Dong Lin) here to work for the court; if you say so, the emperor must think that the chief and assistants will not be together.
If you are not worthy, the people he quoted are certainly not worthy. If everyone is dismissed, another group of villains (Beidang, not Donglin) will inevitably be replaced. Will there still be an official from Donglin like you in this court?
place?
Xiong Kaiyuan was right. He was a member of the Donglin Party. If the emperor really drove Zhou Yanru away, those northerners would definitely high-five each other and seize the opportunity to take control of the court. Then he would stand in? The conflict between himself and Zhou Yanru
After all, it was a conflict within the party. Since Zhou Yanru had realized his mistake, why did he really have to kill everyone? There was only one outcome in this matter - to shoot himself in the foot.
Xiong Kaiyuan compromised and was willing to reconcile with Zhou Yanru and promised not to write a memorial to impeach Zhou Yanru. But what he didn't expect was that Zhou Yanru had made two preparations. After they succeeded in wooing Xiong Kaiyuan in Wuchang, he immediately entered the palace.
Using a preemptive approach to complain to Chongzhen, he said in front of Chongzhen: "I am isolated and helpless in the court. Thanks to the favor of the emperor, I have never been afraid of villains. What Xiong Kaiyuan said has no basis. The reason why he pointed the finger directly
For me, it’s just to support his comrades and clear the way for him.”
Between the Deputy Sizheng of the Pingren Department and the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, Chongzhen certainly believed in Zhou Yanru. Moreover, he did not believe in Zhou Yanru, but Zhou Yanru had just returned to power a few days ago. If he was told to get out again, he would lose his face.
However, Chongzhen was unwilling to let Zhou Yanru go. He also wanted to know whether what Xiong Kaiyuan said was true, so he sent an internal eunuch to urge Xiong Kaiyuan to submit a written transcript immediately.
Now Xiong Kaiyuan was in a dilemma. He had promised Wuchang, Sun Jin, Feng Yuanbiao and others not to embarrass Zhou Yanru and not to submit written bullets to the emperor. But now the emperor sent someone to urge him to hand over the bullets.
If he offends Zhou Yanru, he will break his promise; if he doesn't, the emperor will not be able to give him a job. At first, he went to the palace to impeach Zhou Yanru, but now he suddenly retreated halfway, what a big deal.
In desperation, Xiong Kaiyuan could only bite the bullet and write the memorial again, but the words in the chapter were flashing, talking about things, looking left and right, without a single key word, and Wu Changshi got it and deleted half of it.
After handing it in, the memorial turned out to be hesitant and unexpressive. After reading it, Chongzhen was also furious. There were no concrete facts in the memorial, and the words were vague. It was even less of a thing than Jiang Cai's false accusations.
The young emperor felt that he had been dumped by these officials again, so he was furious and ordered the Jin Yiwei to immediately arrest Xiong Kaiyuan and bring him to justice. Luo Yangxing was a fellow villager of Xiong Kaiyuan, and had some issues with Zhou Yanru, so he was unwilling to investigate Xiong Kaiyuan further.
, so he also prepared a simulated interrogation report and submitted it to Chongzhen.
Chongzhen believed that Xiong Kaiyuan was "slandering the auxiliary ministers" and wanted to isolate the emperor by falsely accusing the chief and auxiliary ministers so that they could form cliques for personal gain. This matter was definitely not done by Xiong Kaiyuan alone. There must be a mastermind behind it. He originally expected Luo Yangneng to help him
After finding out, Luo Yangxing actually downplayed everything and tried to acquit Xiong Kaiyuan. This made him furious and scolded Luo Yangxing severely: "Xiong Kaiyuan must have someone behind the scenes. As my personal soldier,
Commander, why are you so partial to this person? Are you facing me or him?"
The young emperor's words were so serious that Luo Yangxing was so frightened that he fell to his knees on the spot, sweat dripping from his back. After returning to Fusi, Beizhen, he immediately reinterrogated Xiong Kaiyuan.
Xiong Kaiyuan also understood this time that he was imprisoned because of Zhou Yanru's double-dealing and shady tricks behind his back, so he took the risk and exposed Zhou's crimes in large quantities, pointing out how Zhou Yanru had embezzled and accepted bribes, and how he had taken advantage of others.
Xiong Kaiyuan didn't recruit what the emperor wanted, but he bit the first assistant on the spot. Luo Yangxing was dumbfounded, but he couldn't really kill Xiong Kaiyuan. Although Xiong Kaiyuan and Zhou Yanru were not on good terms, he was Dong after all.
Lin Party members, there are also factions in the Donglin Party. Who knows which Donglin elder is standing behind Xiong Kaiyuan. If he really kills Xiong, he will not be able to protect himself from another Tian Ergen in the future.
Luo Yangxing was now really afraid of the Donglin Party, so afraid that the dignified leader of the emperor's army turned into a cowardly old official who only wanted to protect himself and did not dare to offend others.
It's a pity that the factory guards the emperor's eyes and ears. Without them, the emperor will be deceived by the court and how can he understand the underlying situation.
Luo Yangxing is derelict, incompetent and stupid!
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Here Luo Yangxing was having a headache how to present Xiong Kaiyuan's confession to Chongzhen, but over there the officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Ministries and Six Sections had already taken action.
In one day, twenty-six people came to the palace to pick up ginger, and Xiong Kaiyuan came to the palace with grievances. Of course, Chongzhen was very angry about this, and he ignored them all, too lazy to answer them. Lu Xiangsheng, the prime minister of the five provinces, reported
The great bandit Gao Yingxiang fled from the Jianghuai River to Xinyang, and the eight kings Zhang Xianzhong fled into Sichuan. Hong Chengchou also reported that the bandits from the northwest were all in Henan. The officers and soldiers were unable to gather together to suppress them, so they could temporarily control the bandits in the Central Plains until the court
Then troops and horses were mobilized to join forces and annihilate them. Henan also reported that except for Luoyang and Kaifeng, there was no place in the province without rogue bandits. It was a shame that Xuanmo, the governor of Henan, did not think about his duties and impeached Lushun Commander Shi Dayong, and sent troops to plunder.
, Fortunately, the cabinet refuted him, otherwise would I really have to kill Shi Dayong based on the unexamined charges he heard from a provincial official? If you kill Shi Dayong, you can guarantee the 20,000 to 30,000 people under his command.
Will the tiger and wolf soldiers rebel?
Chongzhen is not a fool. He knows clearly the purpose of the cabinet's rejection of Xuanmo's bullets, but he doesn't say it, and he doesn't want to care about it. Now he just wants Shi Dayong to bring him down. There are always other things.
When the accounts were settled in the future, but at this juncture, even he, the emperor, did not dare to take the risk of forcing Shi Dayong to rebel and issue an order to rebuke him. Hou Xun was also incompetent. He patted his chest that day and said that as long as he went to supervise the division, he would
This Liaodong Army can definitely be used by the imperial court and become an elite force that the imperial court can really control. But after so many days, what has he done?!
Incompetent, incompetent, incompetent!
Chongzhen was really disappointed now. The civil and military officials in the dynasty could not find a few truly capable talents. Alas, after sighing for a long time, he suddenly thought of Yang Sichang, who was extremely filial and loyal.
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In order to deal with what Hong Chengchou said about rogue bandits gathering in the Central Plains, Chongzhen summoned all the civil and military officials on the platform to discuss how to deal with the matter. Before the incident began, Wu Linzheng, an official in charge of the matter, came out to intercede for Jiang Cai. He did not dare to directly plead for Jiang Cai.
To speak favorably for Jiang Cai, he instead said euphemistically: "Your Majesty, the ministers are so short-sighted that they cannot understand the original intention of the Emperor's request for words. Perhaps they spoke inappropriately, perhaps they spoke too eagerly. They have always been grateful for the Emperor's kindness, so that they forgot their own stupidity.
"My colleague Jiang Cai offends Tianwei, and it is the crime of the ministers. But Jiang Cai has always been a humble person, a diligent official, and is weak and sick. I hope that the emperor will forgive me."
Wu Linzheng said it tactfully. He did not accuse him of being an emperor by using a set of theories like other officials. After hearing this, Chongzhen was calm and not angry. In front of the civil and military officials of the court, he felt it was necessary to explain the matter. , he said: "Since I came to the throne, I have been working hard every day, fearing that my ancestors' country will be destroyed in my hands. But in the past eight years, internal and external troubles have continued, and the ancestral mausoleum has been burned down by thieves. I want to ask, what did I do wrong to cause this? Why is God punishing me like this?!..." As he spoke, Chongzhen actually shed tears sadly. He sadly wiped away his tears with his patched sleeves, and then said: "You blame me for putting Yan Guan in prison, but Have you ever thought that Jiang Cai did not abide by the edict and instead questioned me, how could I not be dealt with sternly? You officials take speech as their duty. You dare not say what you should say, but you dare to despise the court. The theory of "Twenty-four Qi" , is an anonymous leaflet, which should be destroyed when seen, but Jiang Cai repeatedly mentioned it in his memorials, and had to be held accountable. You say that officials are the eyes and ears of the court, and your own style is not correct, how can you correct others?"
After letting out the words he had been holding in his heart for several days, Chongzhen felt much better. However, he found that his ministers were not as hurt as the emperor, so he couldn't help but murmured: There is no need to focus on the country.
The emperor's criticism of Yan Guan was not unreasonable. Wu Linzheng could not defend himself, but he said something that was neither hard nor soft. He said: "Your Majesty, Yan Guan only advises people. As for whether what they say is appropriate, whether they are qualified or not, they will naturally obey the court's punishment." ." To put it bluntly, Yan Guan is just talking nonsense. If he is right, he will be rewarded. If he is wrong, Yan Guan cannot be blamed. After all, it is not Yan Guan who is in power. There are still six cabinet departments.
After shamelessly shirking responsibility for the official, Wu Linzheng shifted the topic to Xiong Kaiyuan. He said: "Recently, Xiong Kaiyuan was convicted for blaming Zhou Yanru, the first assistant. Although it was a lie, there is a folk proverb: "A poor family misses the virtuous. Wife, the country is in chaos and I miss the virtuous prime minister. "When the country's borders are so corrupted, shouldn't we blame the chief minister?"
Hearing this, Zhou Yanru's eyes widened and he was about to refute, but saw that the young emperor in the palace had already refuted it. Chongzhen said angrily: "Xiong Kaiyuan pretended to be a secret, slandered the Prime Minister, used the small to make the big, and used the humble to insult the noble. This kind of The trend cannot be encouraged."
"The purpose of setting up a lecturing officer in the state is to let the lecturing officer speak. It doesn't matter whether what he said is right or wrong, but he cannot be punished for his words. I ask the emperor to issue an order to return the two of them."
Fu Shuxun, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, came forward to plead for Jiang Cai and Xiong Kaiyuan, but Chongzhen ignored him and refused. A good discussion about the suppression of bandits in the Central Plains was suddenly turned into a situation of interceding for Jiang Cai and Xiong. Chongzhen was very angry. , just as he was about to ask Zhang Fengyi, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, and Chen Xinjia, the right minister, to come out and speak, they saw the great talent Liu Zongzhou coming out of the class and plausibly saying: "Your Majesty asked for the virtuous ministers, Jiang Cai, Xiong Kaiyuan answered the call, and was convicted for his speech. This is The imperial court has never imprisoned officials in Jinyiwei Prison. Jiang and Xiong set a precedent. But the emperor should know that Dongchang and Jinyiwei were lynchings by the imperial court. They should not have been set up in the first place, and they should not be credulous. I request that they be completely eliminated. Dongchang, Jinyiwei, all criminal names belong to the Sanfa Division!"
As soon as these words came out, all the civil and military officials in the palace were dumbfounded. Liu Zongzhou really dared to say it, but what he said was indeed very pleasing to the people. The Dongchang and Jinyiwei should have been completely eliminated long ago. However, there were only empty airs left. The emperor still thought of using them. Is it useful? If this makes Dongchang and Jinyiwei resurrect and make trouble again through this matter, then their courtiers will be like a thorn in their backs and have no peace.
What do Dongchang and Jinyiwei do? All civil and military officials in the palace know very well that those Jinyiwei soldiers and fans are not looking for trouble for ordinary people, but are specifically keeping an eye on officials like them!
After studying hard for ten years and working as an official for thousands of miles to make money, who would be willing to serve well as an official and still be secretly monitored to find trouble? Who would want to take the money from the front and then have it taken away by the Dongchang, and the front has been tampered with?
Did some Jin Yiwei come to arrest you?
Dongchang and Jinyiwei should have stopped this a long time ago, they should have stopped it completely six years ago, why are they still doing nothing?
How happy, how brave, what a great talent Liu Zongzhou! I dare not say it, but I want to say it!
In the palace class, except for the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Luo Yangxing looked ugly and cursed Liu Zongzhou in his heart. He didn't miss him at all for the past few years. He was obviously going to kill the donkey to relieve the trouble. It's a pity that I have been following you all the way in the past few years.
You don't dare to report anything to the emperor, but it's better for you to fall out at any time. Are you thinking about taking away my official position before you are fifteen? Damn it, you are really bullying me!
Zhou Yanru's expression changed drastically at first, but after a few seconds, his lips curled up and he watched the show calmly.
Chongzhen was dumbfounded at first, but soon became furious. He had suffered a loss from Donglin about the factory guards six years ago. When he was young and ignorant, he actually approved the petition to abolish the factory guards for the so-called false reputation. Now that he thinks about it,
I regretted it to death, and wanted to recover, but the money and food were all in the hands of the court officials. As long as the emperor showed the slightest thought, the saliva and memorials from the court flew like snow flakes. In desperation, I could only endure this breath,
Unexpectedly, this group of people didn't even worry about the factory guards who had been laid off with only a few people left, and they still wanted to think of ways to use excuses to stop. Do they really want to completely control the imperial court and let them go?
Is this emperor willing to become completely deaf and blind?
In order to suppress his anger, Chongzhen raised his head and looked up at the beams on the palace roof, and asked Liu Zongzhou calmly: "Dongchang and Jinyiwei all enforce the law for the court. Tell me, what is public and what is private?"
The emperor was already angry. Although his voice was calm, anyone could see the anger on the young emperor's face. Only Liu Zongzhou turned a blind eye and continued to talk: "The imperial court has rules for treating officials.
If the official's words are applicable, they should be used, and if not, they should be ignored. Even if there is a deserved crime, the case should be decided by the Three Law Division according to the circumstances. Xiong Kaiyuan and Jiang Cai are arrogant and ignorant, and cannot be said to be innocent. But because His Majesty is eager to ask for words, they
Being imprisoned in Jinyiwei Prison for speaking out is detrimental to the state, and I am afraid it was not His Majesty's original intention to seek merit. I hope that Your Majesty will consider the difficult times and open up more channels for speaking out. Not only were I and Huang Daozhou convicted for their words back then, but they were also tolerated by Your Majesty.
Why can't the two Jiang Xiongs do it? Since most of the factory guards have been abolished in the second year of Chongzhen, it is logical to stop them after six years, leaving this place for lynching, but I don't know if your Majesty doesn't believe us ministers, or if you have other intentions?
I am stupid, please make it clear to your majesty."
"You!..." Chongzhen's patience reached its limit, and he finally exploded, angrily announcing: "Liu Zongzhou is the man behind Xiong Kaiyuan, and he is awaiting punishment!"
Jin Guangchen, Zuo Qian of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was startled and hurriedly knelt down to defend Liu Zongzhou: "Liu Zongzhou was upright by nature, never received guests, and had no contact with Xiong Kaiyuan. Zongzhou and I were in the same yamen, and I knew him very well.
…”
Before he could finish speaking, the young emperor in the palace shouted: "Jin Guangchen will also be punished!"
Hearing this, Jin Guangchen was also startled, but still said: "Liu Zongzhou is honest and upright. He has always remained calm in the yamen. His people's hearts are solemn. I hope the emperor will dismiss me and keep him as an old minister."
At this time, Fan Jingwen, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, and other ministers knelt on the ground together, begging the emperor to forgive Liu and Jin. Chongzhen was unmoved and said coldly: "You don't need to ask for help, get up! Liu Zongzhou and Jin Guangchen left first.
According to the order, the officials of the Jiuqing Department will discuss the punishment and report back." Then he asked the cabinet ministers to follow him to the inner room to discuss the matter, and immediately announced his order: "Liu Zongzhou will be dismissed from his post, and the Ministry of Punishment will prepare a crime."
Out of consideration for Dong Lin's comrades, Zhou Yanru repeatedly begged the emperor to take back his orders, hoping that he would learn from Tang Taizong's magnanimity and magnanimity and not be as fussy as Yan Guan.
But the young emperor was really angry. He didn't listen at all and replied impatiently: "I won't imitate him."
The emperor did not even learn from Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. Zhou Yanru did not know what to say for a while. His assistant Qian Wensheng, the great scholar He Wuzou and others were also stunned. Look at me, look at you, no one knows what to say.
How to advise this young emperor?
While they were quiet, they suddenly saw Cao Huachun running in, shouting with a look on his face: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty!"
"Shut up!" Chongzhen was furious. He glared at Cao Huachun and scolded in a low voice: "What are you talking about? Didn't you see me discussing matters with the cabinet members? Get out of here!"
"Yes..." Cao Huachun muttered, saying it was not, and not saying it, he retreated to Chongzhen's side and stood there with his hands down, his face was extremely bitter, he hesitated to speak, it was quite painful.
Chongzhen was bored for a moment, then glanced at Cao Huachun: "Say."
"Yes," Cao Huachun bowed and whispered: "Immediate report from Changping, the Donglu Tatars have broken through Juyong Pass!" After speaking, he handed over the express report.
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Author's note: The events in Henan, Shaanxi, Juyongguan, and Jingshi have been written together in recent times, so there may be a time difference. Readers please pay attention when reading. They happened one after another at roughly the same time period. As for why
The purpose of spending a few more chapters describing the officials of the imperial court is to let everyone pay attention to the protagonist and at the same time understand more about the political situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time. Such a Ming Dynasty and such officials, whether they can be saved or not.