Four hundred and seventieth chapters drink poison to quench thirst
After Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu's troops received the notification from Runing's army, in addition to immediately marching to Fengyang to support them, they also sent fast horses to report the shocking news to the capital.
It only took three days for the messenger to arrive in the capital. On the 19th day of the first lunar month, the court first learned the bad news from Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu. There was an eerie silence in the court, and Emperor Chongzhen
The ministers and ministers in the DPRK were all looking forward to a miracle, and even looked forward to Zhu Dadian. What Zuo Liangyu sent was false news.
But in the next few days, news came from various places that the peasant rebel army was approaching Fengyang, which confirmed the news about Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu. However, Emperor Chongzhen and the ministers were still lucky.
I hope that the peasant rebel army will not be able to capture Fengyang, and that Zhu Dadian, Zuo Liangyu and other Ming troops will be rescued in time to prevent something uncontrollable from happening.
But life often proves that the worst news is often the truest news! On the 21st of the first lunar month, Zhu Dadian, who was still closest to Fengyang, and Zuo Liangyu's department found out that Fengyang had been lost. They sent messengers again, and finally
On the 24th of the first lunar month, the news was reported to the court.
When the imperial mausoleum was burned, the disaster was as big as the sky. According to the usual practice, Emperor Chongzhen believed that this was his own immorality, and God would bring disaster. Therefore, he had to deeply reflect and review his immorality.
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So in his grief and anger, Emperor Chongzhen first acted like a formalist. First, he put on plain clothes and went to the Ancestral Temple to cry out to his ancestors. Later, he issued the "Edict of Sin" to self-examine and admit various mistakes.
The responsibility lies with me."
In the edict, Emperor Chongzhen also stated that he would share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. He claimed to reduce expenses in life and do simple things such as eating and dressing, in order to encourage the soldiers to serve the country.
Of course, after self-examination, it was time to settle accounts with those ministers who had failed in their duties. Emperor Chongzhen believed that the problems in the country were closely related to the incompetence and lack of dedication of the ministers, so he asked the courtiers to wear plain clothes.
Reflect.
After self-reflection, we need to be held accountable. As the person responsible for the incident, Fengyang Governor Yang Yipeng was executed, patrol officer Wu Zhenying was sent to the garrison, and guard eunuch Yang Ze committed suicide in fear of crime. However, Yang Ze’s behavior is indeed ridiculous, since he knew that there was no good
In the end, he chose to commit suicide, but why did he escape from Fengyang at that time? It would be better to choose to live and die with Fengyang, at least the reputation would be much better!
Zhang Fengyi, Minister of the Ministry of War, was also "horrified". Although Emperor Chongzhen did not blame him afterwards, his leadership responsibilities were also impeached by a large number of officials, so Emperor Chongzhen had to punish him as "remaining unworthy". But Zhang Fengyi was
The little old man's heart obviously couldn't bear such stimulation. Not long after, he fell seriously ill and passed away.
The remaining officials will also be punished separately after the war to clarify their respective culpability, but this also gives them an opportunity to make meritorious service. These include Hong Chengchou, Xuanmo and other Henan officials, as well as a white man who is not an official - Wu Shigong.
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This kind of open challenge to the imperial power certainly brought crazy revenge to the peasant rebels. The Ming Dynasty court completely directed all its strategic focus on the peasant rebels.
The first is to "instruct China and foreign countries to wipe out the national humiliation and kill the thieves with all their strength", and mobilize the Shaanxi troops commanded by Hong Chengchou to leave the border and join forces with the officers and soldiers of various provinces in the Central Plains to suppress the enemy. After some intense deployment of troops and generals, the Ming Dynasty court finally pieced together the border, internal officers and soldiers
Qiwan Youqi. Even the three thousand Guanning cavalry in Liaodong, led by Zu Kuan, entered the pass and joined in suppressing the bandits.
The next step was to solve the problem of military pay. The imperial court allocated more than one million taels of money from the capital and the province to be used as military pay. Even Emperor Chongzhen’s inner treasury used private money as military pay.
But these were not enough, so Emperor Chongzhen once again issued an order to allocate more than 1.2 million taels of "suppression pay" to all the land in the world. Of course, these "suppression pay" tax-free classes such as officials, gentry, etc. do not need to pay, and all
All the pressure fell on the people of the world, making them even more impoverished and bankrupt.
We know that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, in order to solve the financial crisis of the imperial court, the imperial court repeatedly squeezed the common people for military pay for suppressing bandits, making it impossible for them to survive, causing those common people to join the peasant rebel army.
It seems that this kind of behavior is very ridiculous. Later historians also criticized this kind of behavior. But couldn't the capable ministers in the court at that time see the consequences? Didn't Emperor Chongzhen understand this too? In fact, this
The answer is no.
Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers also knew this, but the current situation left them with no choice. Because they needed to wipe out the peasant rebels as soon as possible, they also needed to raise military pay as soon as possible.
If it were collected from the families of officials and gentry who controlled the world's wealth, even if Emperor Chongzhen finally used his authority to suppress the opposition in the court, the quarrel with the ministers would not last until the end of the year of the monkey.
It’s just that water from afar cannot quench the thirst of nearby people. It’s better to tax the people who are easy to exploit. So the current situation is completely to drink poison to quench thirst.
In fact, this principle is also very simple. One is to get the money after three years, but the Ming Dynasty may not survive three years; the other is to get the money immediately, but the situation may become more difficult. Then you will choose
Which method?
Of course, there is another solution, which is to increase the power of the eunuchs and send some ruthless tax inspectors. But just a few years after Emperor Chongzhen forced Wei Zhongxian to death, which eunuch in the inner court would dare to do such a thing now?
There are good ways to get the best of both worlds. For example, like the Runing Army, increase the power of local governments, let them farm fields and raise troops, and gradually wipe out the peasant rebel army.
But in this way, there will likely be a warlord separatist regime in the future like the late Tang Dynasty. Because those warlords have their own territory, food and salary, and troops, it is very detrimental to the centralization of power in the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, this is also the way to go in the future. For example, in the near future, Shaanxi governor Sun Chuanting's farming. But at this time, Emperor Chongzhen and the court officials felt that the situation was not that bad yet, and they were unwilling to give up a little bit of their power, so
This option is also completely impossible to consider.
But in any case, the current Emperor Chongzhen and the court ministers are still relatively optimistic. They all believe that although the strong man of the Ming Dynasty is a little weak, he is still resistant to the poisonous poison.
Because there was a precedent of Chen Qiyu forcing the peasant rebel army into a desperate situation within a few months, they believed that the bandit-suppressing army that concentrated all the strength of the Ming Dynasty could completely wipe out the massive peasant rebel army within six months.
Therefore, there is plenty of time to cure those sequelae.
But Emperor Chongzhen and those ministers never expected that the situation would be completely different! (To be continued. If you like this work, (.) vote for recommendation, monthly vote, your support is my biggest motivation.