At this time, the congratulatory ceremony was coming to an end. Prince Zhu Cixiang, who was sitting next to his father, gently covered his mouth with his hand while yawning. This boring ceremony had been going on for more than an hour, but he also knew that today
The day was very important, and he didn't dare to ask his father around him. Now that there were finally signs of the end, he couldn't help but feel a little happy in his heart.
When the ministers finished loading the congratulatory table, the salute officer sang "Fow down", "Xing" and "Happy stop" as usual. Then he sang: "Come out of the wat!" All civil and military officials brought ivory and bamboo wats to the court.
He took it out and raised his hands in front of him. Then he followed the praise officer's singing, bowed three times, and then started dancing.
Some old and frail ministers moved awkwardly during the worship dance, staggering and almost falling, but they saw Zhu Cixiang cover his mouth and snicker under Chongzhen.
Immediately afterwards, the praise officer sang again: "Kneel down!" and sang: "Shout!" The hundred officials held the Chao Hut, raised their hands and raised their foreheads, and shouted "Long live!" The praise officer sang again: "Three cheers!" The hundred officials sang again: "Three cheers!"
Calling: "Long live!" The third time singing: "Call again!" Hundreds of officials shouted: "Long live!" Every time the civil and military officials shouted "Long live!"
Eunuchs, all shouted together, and the sound shook the Meridian Gate. The thundering cheers of the officials and the eunuchs and maids made Emperor Chongzhen, who had been very depressed recently, feel much better. He felt a little relieved in his heart, and only then did he feel that he was the real one at this moment.
The Son of God who rules the world.
After all the ministers performed another set of rituals, the ceremonial officer knelt down in front of the emperor to finish the ceremony, and then played Zhonghe Shao music "Ding'an Song". The music stopped. At this time, a eunuch waved a song that was several meters long.
A long whip, this whip is called the Quiet Whip, which is specially used to sound during court meetings to show silence, so it is also called the Whispering Whip.
"Pah...pah...pah!"
After the three loud cracks of the whip, all the sounds in the hall stopped. All civil and military officials stood solemnly. Even those who had a itchy throat and wanted to cough had to endure it, otherwise the censor on the side could impeach him.
The crime of disrespect.
Chongzhen said slowly: "Civil and military officials come forward!"
As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, a eunuch with a loud voice immediately shouted: "Your Majesty, come forward!"
After hearing the eunuch's words, the civil and military officers, led by Yang Sichang, walked forward with official steps in all directions, knelt on the ground and shouted "Long live" three times. After shouting "Long live", they shouted "Thousand Lives" three times to Prince Zhu Cixiang who was descending from Chongzhen.
After the ceremony, Chongzhen looked at the kneeling civil and military officials below and said slowly: "Since ancient times, saints, emperors and kings have all respected the way of teachers. Today I also think that you are my teachers." So he turned to the west and faced
The ministers bowed their heads and continued: "The Sutra says: 'To cultivate one's character, to respect the virtuous, to respect the ministers, and to respect the ministers.' This courtesy of mine is not an exaggeration. Since ancient times, monarchs and ministers have been of the same mind, and there has never been any injustice in the world.
At this point, Chongzhen's face gradually became serious. He glared at all the officials and said: "The responsibility lies with the ministry and the court. The presiding is with me, and the coordination is with the ministers. Now I am here to support Zhongxing.
An Zongshe. All the ministers are traitors! But why are there frequent wars in the country? First, the Tatars invaded the borders, and the internal bandits rebelled. Now, the generals are causing rebellion. Shandong, Henan, and Hubei actually fell into the hands of rebellious ministers and traitors within ten months.
With my hands, how can you, my ministers, teach me?"
Chongzhen's words were very stern, so stern that it chilled people's hearts.
The officials knelt on the ground in fear one by one, touching their heads to the ground. Yang Sichang said on behalf of all the ministers: "I am worthy of death for being such a talented person. A minister should share the worries of the king. But the ministers are unable to do so.
This has led to frequent chaos, and this is all the fault of my ministers. Please punish me long live."
"Punishment, punishment will be over?" Chongzhen stood up suddenly and said angrily: "The day before yesterday, King Fu was driven back to the capital. He cried to me and begged me to make the decision for him. King Fu was my uncle, and he was punished.
This insult is indeed intolerable. Who among the ministers is willing to lead an army to Henan to quell the rebellion?"
Chongzhen's voice echoed in Huangji Hall, and everyone heard it clearly, but no minister volunteered to take over the matter.
Luoyang was occupied by Pang Gang, who drove Prince Fu's family, Lu Weiqi, the former Minister of War, who refused to submit to him, Governor of Henan, Liu Yuliang, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, and others out of Luoyang. Fortunately, Pang Gang did not do anything wrong, and their family property
Although it was gone, personal safety was still guaranteed. At least everyone was given some food and clothing so that they would not starve to death on the way.
Now these people came to the capital to cry out to Chongzhen, asking the imperial court to send troops to regain Henan. But anyone with a discerning eye knows that there are no soldiers in the imperial court now. The imperial court has to resist the Manchus and suppress the bandits. The troops have already been unable to make ends meet.
The extra troops will be used to regain the three provinces of Henan, Hubei, and Shandong.
Besides, although Pang Gang publicly criticized the old Zhu family, starting from the military stationing system, to the taxation designated by the court, joint consultation and even taxation policies, at least he did not make personal attacks, and Pang Gang was very critical of Ming Dynasty officials.
It's still a very preferential treatment. At least he won't kill court officials like rogue bandits. He usually drives those die-hards of the Ming Dynasty out of their own territory. Look at Lu Weiqi, he scolded Pang Gang so harshly.
Didn't they even touch a hair on his head and just expel him?
And King Fu was so fat that he could be killed as a pig, but didn't they even touch a hair on his head? This proves that Pang Gang is still very humane, at least if he is killed in Beijing in the future, these old people
Ming officials at least don't have to worry about personal safety.
After all, people's hearts are complicated. Chongzhen was furious at the top, but the civil and military officials below him were thinking about what would happen next.
After Chongzhen lost his temper, he became even more angry when he saw the civil and military officials below bowing their heads and saying nothing. He stood up and pointed at the current Minister of War, Hong Chengchou, and shouted: "Hong Aiqing, you are the Minister of War, please tell me
, how to deal with the traitor Pang Gang!"
Hong Chengchou felt quite helpless at this moment. Historically, the Minister of War at this time should have been Chen Xinjia, but this old Comrade Chen was so disgraced that he went home to eat himself because he insisted on going against Pang Gang.
Hong Chengchou came to power.
I originally thought that becoming the Minister of War would be a good job, but the powers of the Minister of War in the Ming Dynasty were not small. In later generations, he was equivalent to the Minister of Defense, the Director of the National Mobilization Committee, the leader of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the Commander of the People's Armed Police Force, and the Minister of Public Security.
It is reasonable to say that having such power and authority in one person should be awesome, right? But after Hong Chengchou came to power, he realized that this position was simply not occupied by human beings. Why? The reason is very simple, there is no money!
The Ming Dynasty claims to have more than two million troops, making it the country with the largest military strength in the world today. But in fact, this number is only on paper. Most of the two million troops are stationed troops.
, it is estimated that there are around 500,000 to 600,000 soldiers capable of fighting.
And even among these soldiers, there are not many who can actually fight. Although they may not necessarily know how to fight, they will not hesitate to ask for money. Hong Chengchou receives ten official documents every day just asking for payment.
Several copies.
But the Ministry of War couldn't generate money on its own, so it had to rely on the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate it. Originally, when Yang Sichang was the Minister of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Civil Affairs would give some face, and although the money allocated was not much, there was still some money. Now Hong Chengchou came to power.
The amount of money allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs was even less. During this period of time, Hong Chengchou was so worried that his beard turned a lot gray.
Now that he heard the emperor's words, Hong Chengchou quickly stood up and bowed: "Your Majesty, I am here, what are your orders?"
When Chongzhen heard this, he was so angry. Do you think I was farting just now? You don't know what I asked you?
Chongzhen immediately turned cold and said, "I was just asking you. Pang Gang's traitor is so treacherous. Didn't the Ministry of War come up with a charter?"
Seeing Chongzhen's face that was colder than winter, Hong Chengchou was heartbroken. He said loudly: "I thought that Pang Gang was so rebellious and immoral that he should be completely wiped out and captured and brought back to Beijing to be interrogated by the three departments. He has been corrected.
National law!"
"Well, this sounds like a human saying!" After hearing this, Chongzhen's face softened slightly and said: "Then how does Aiqing plan to deal with Pang Gang?"
Hong Chengchou said proudly: "I plan to dispatch Datong Commander Wang Pu, Miyun Commander Tang Tong, Jizhou Commander Bai Guangen, and Yutian Commander Cao Bianjiao, a total of 60,000 troops, to march toward Henan at the same time, in the hope of regaining Henan in one fell swoop and capturing them alive.
That traitor Pang Gang!"
"Okay. This is very good!" Chongzhen Longxin was delighted, "When does Aiqing plan to mobilize the troops?"
"As long as the Ministry of Revenue allocates enough money to me, I can mobilize troops at any time!"
Chongzhen nodded: "How much money does Aiqing need?"
Hong Chengchou said calmly: "In the early stage, we only need 500,000 taels of troops to set off. In the later stage, we will depend on the battle situation so that we can increase the number at any time!"
"What? Five hundred thousand taels of silver?" Chongzhen stood up abruptly. He waited for Hong Chengchou with blazing eyes. After a while, he said fiercely: "Hong Chengchou, your 60,000 soldiers and horses are made of gold, and you actually took them."
It takes five hundred thousand taels of silver to leave!"
Hong Chengchou's face did not change and he said calmly: "Your Majesty, this is already the number I arrived at after careful calculation. If the war situation is favorable, it will probably be increased."
"Five million? The entire Liaodong only uses more than three million a year. Does it take so much money to wipe out a Pang Gang?"
As soon as Chongzhen heard this, he stopped attacking and shouted loudly: "You Hong Chengchou, do you need so much money to wipe out a mere Pang Gang? Do you want to be greedy for it?"
Faced with Chongzhen's accusation, Hong Chengchou did not answer, but silently fell to the ground and kept silent. When the officials saw the emperor's anger, they all became mute, and they were as silent as clay sculptures. Finally, Yang Sichang stood up and cupped his hands.
: "I would like to report to your Majesty that Hong Shangshu is indeed telling the truth. Pang Gang is very ambitious. I heard that he is currently stationing 100,000 troops in two places in Henan and Hubei. Master Hong said that 500,000 taels of silver is indeed not much."
"Garrisoning 100,000 troops?"
Everyone in the hall was suddenly shocked. Most of the people in the hall had seen the fighting strength of the Qingzhou Army under Pang Gang. It was a leader that even the Tatars avoided. They dared to fight with the Tatars when they only had thousands of troops.
Shopping, now we have 100,000 troops, how can we still have ours?
"When did Pang Gang have such a huge force?"
Chongzhen's face also turned livid. Although Chongzhen was a good-natured man who loved success and was suspicious and cautious, he was not a fool. He also knew what it meant that Pang Gang had so many troops.
Chongzhen said solemnly: "Does Yang Aiqing really mean what he said?"
Yang Sichang said: "I would never dare to deceive the emperor. Since Pang Gang became the commander of Qingzhou, he has been recruiting troops in Qingzhou and constantly expanding his troops. At the beginning of this year, he had 50,000 troops, and then he recruited another 50,000 troops.
At the end of July this year, this man has an army of 100,000. This matter was reported from the inside line arranged by Wei Chen in Qingzhou. There is absolutely no falsehood. I ask the emperor to make a decision!" After saying this, Yang Sichang stood next to Hong Chengchou, and the two of them knelt down together.
on the ground.
The hall was quiet......
This news shocked everyone, and Chongzhen also made a calculation in his mind. According to Pang Gang's military strength, if there were really an army of 100,000, the 500,000 taels of silver mentioned by Hong Chengchou was really not much. Not only was it not
It's too much to say too little. According to Chongzhen's experience, if this fight really breaks out, it won't be possible without three to four million silver.
Moreover, this battle is easy to fight, but it is not so easy to stop it. If you win, it will be easy. If you lose, it will be troublesome. Both Shandong and Henan are connected to Hebei. If Pang Gang
If the fighting gets more intense and they come to the capital in one go, the trouble will be big. Maybe the Ming Dynasty will change hands after three hundred years.
The more Chongzhen thought about it, the more frightened he became. He raised his head and glanced at Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang who were still kneeling on the ground. He waved his hands feebly and said softly: "You all get up, stop kneeling."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The two of them stood up and stood aside with their hands tied, quietly waiting for Chongzhen's instructions.
The more Chongzhen thought about it, the more headache he felt. Although the center of the Ming Dynasty was in the north, its supplies relied entirely on supplies from the south. After Pang Gang occupied the three provinces of Shandong, Henan, and Hubei, it was equivalent to cutting off one of the most important supply lines for the imperial court, "water transportation."
Water transportation is an important economic system in Chinese history. In the words of later generations, it is a professional transportation that uses waterways to transport grain.
Water transportation in the Ming Dynasty has developed to a new stage. At this time, the six provinces that transported water grains were Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Henan and Shandong. Water grains were divided into southern grains and northern grains according to different supply areas. But whether it was
Both southern and northern grains have to pass through Shandong and Henan. Now that Pang Gang occupies these two places, it is equivalent to strangling the throat of the Ming Dynasty. If Pang Gang blocks the water transportation, there is no need for others to fight.
.The Ming Dynasty will automatically collapse.
This is also the reason why Chongzhen jumped in and clamored to take over Henan first after hearing that Pang Gang had occupied Hubei and Henan.
Chongzhen thought for a while and asked: "Hong Aiqing, if I give you five hundred thousand taels of silver, are you sure you can regain Henan and Shandong?"
Hong Chengchou was silent for a long time before he replied bitterly: "I'm not sure."
The atmosphere in the main hall became silent, and Chongzhen surprisingly did not get angry. Instead, he said bitterly: "Do I really want to be the king of subjugation?"
"Your Majesty, I deserve death for my crimes!" All the civil and military officials in the hall knelt down again.
"Okay, okay!" Chongzhen waved his hand impatiently, "You keep saying that you deserve death, but I haven't seen any of you really die. Now I just want to ask how to pacify Shandong and Henan.
To stop the chaos and restore the smooth flow of water transportation!"
Someone in the main hall said, "Your Majesty, our water transportation is not blocked now and is still flowing smoothly!"
"this............"
The civil and military officials were stunned for a while. Yes, although Pang Gang still announced his separation from the Ming Dynasty, he did not close the canal transportation channel. Rice supplies from Jiangnan can still be transported to the capital through the canal?
Only then did Chongzhen remember, yes, although Pang Gang occupied Shandong and Henan, there was still a steady stream of ships going to and from the imperial court for water transportation every day. Did Pang Gang forget to intercept it? As soon as Chongzhen thought of this, he laughed bitterly and said
The only reason why Pang Gang would commit such an oversight is that he didn't even believe it was because he did it on purpose. He didn't want the Ming Dynasty to collapse so quickly.
Thinking of this, Chongzhen felt physically and mentally exhausted, and couldn't help but feel a surge of sadness. Tears flowed down his face at some point. At what point, the imperial court was reduced to relying on the charity of others to maintain the operation of the imperial court.
Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang watched from the sidelines. Seeing Chongzhen burst into tears, they felt uncomfortable. As the saying goes, the emperor will humiliate his ministers to death. As ministers, they made their monarch so sad. As ministers, they were incompetent.
.
I don't know how long it took, but Chongzhen's faint voice rang out from the main hall, "Chen Aiqing, I ask you, can the Ministry of Household Affairs get 500,000 taels of silver to allocate to the Ministry of War now?"
Chongzhen said this to Chen Sizhen, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance. As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, a short, ordinary-looking old man walked out from the left. He was Chen Sizhen, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He walked up to Chongzhen and said, clasping his fists
: "Your Majesty, as of yesterday, there were only 130,000 taels of silver in the Treasury of the Ministry of Revenue. This is the salary that the imperial court will distribute to officials at all levels next month. There is no extra silver taels for Mr. Hong."
Chongzhen stood up and let out a long sigh. Look at what he, the emperor, had done. The country was so difficult, and he, the emperor, was so poor that he couldn't even scrape together hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
"That's all!" Chongzhen waved his hand feebly, "We will discuss sending troops later and withdraw from the court!"
Following Chongzhen's words, the originally vigorous and bustling ceremony for the canonization of the crown prince ended in an anticlimactic manner.
After retiring from the court, Chongzhen walked towards the Qianqing Palace with a gloomy look. Behind him was the twelfth-year-old prince Zhu Cixiang. Seeing that his father was in a bad mood, the young Zhu Cixiang asked curiously: "Father, why are you so unhappy?"
?Are you worried because you don’t have money?”
Chongzhen stroked Zhu Cixiang's little head kindly and said softly: "Yes, not only my father, but the entire court is short of money!"
"Father, we are short of money, but the wealthy gentry in the capital have it. Why don't we share it with them?"
"Those people have money, but if we force it from them, our Zhu family's empire will be over..."
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