Although Yan Jizu escaped this disaster, other officials did not have such a good life. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Punishment really acted as quickly as possible, and in a short period of time, through "careful" review, they determined: Director of Jizhen
Eunuch Deng Xizhao, sub-eunuch Sun Maolin, governor of Shuntian Chen Zubao, governor of Baoding Zhang Qiping, governor of Shandong Ni Chong, chief military officers of Jizhen Wu Guojun and Chen Guowei, chief military officers of the suppression army Zu Kuan and Li Chongzhen, and the following deputy generals up to
A total of thirty-five state and county officials were sentenced to death and executed immediately; hundreds of officials, big and small, including the chief scholar Liu Yuliang and below, were sent to the garrison, reduced in status, dismissed from office, and demoted.
Among them, Zu Kuan deserves special mention. Although he was convicted because of Gao Qiqian's blind command, which caused the annihilation of his entire army, it should be said that he deserved it. However, the commander of this army, Gao Qiqian, was safe and sound, but he encountered
The main reason for his conviction was that he suggested rescuing Lu Xiangsheng. How should I put it? The bad thing was his mouth.
What is even more incomprehensible is that Yang Sichang, a scholar and minister of the Ministry of War, still had the absolute trust of Emperor Chongzhen and was not punished. Moreover, he was allowed to preside over post-war convictions and merit-based judgments. How can this be called fair?
This large-scale collective execution was carried out in the summer. Dozens of people were executed at the same time, and most of them were high-ranking officials, so it attracted a large number of spectators. According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, officials who were beheaded by the emperor had to be executed before execution as usual.
They should have looked towards the palace to express gratitude before the execution. But this time, several of the people who were killed actually started to curse before the execution, and they were cursing the current emperor. Due to the taboo of language, there is no record in the documents that they all cursed a little bit.
What, but this fact itself was shocking enough at that time.
The successive defeats on the battlefield have become demoralizing, and even the post-war judgments of guilt and merit cannot be fair, so the prestige of Emperor Chongzhen himself has also entered an unprecedented low period.
As for Wu Shigong, the court was already having a hard time making a decision. It didn't know how to reward him or deal with him. But soon, Emperor Chongzhen and the ministers found a place to arrange Wu Shigong. What was it specifically? Let's get through here first.
Finally, the Qing troops were sent out of the customs, and calm returned to the Gyeongsang region. However, Emperor Chongzhen did not dare to relax at all. His first priority was to discuss the aftermath with his ministers. The most important thing was how to rectify and strengthen the movement from Shanhaiguan to Gansu.
The so-called Nine-Side Great Wall Defense Line.
Because the Qing army has casually entered and exited the Great Wall fortress four times, and the damage caused to the areas near Gyeonggi is getting more and more serious. If they can't make up for it and build a solid line of defense, maybe one day the Qing army will come in again.
When the time comes, Shenjing will be destroyed, and the consequences are simply unimaginable.
So Emperor Chongzhen discussed this issue repeatedly with his confidant Yang Sichang. Yang Sichang believed that the only way was to train more new soldiers at the fortresses on the nine sides. Use powerful troops to resist the Qing army. In other words, build another Great Wall defense line to resist regardless of the Qing army.
Any Qing army suddenly invaded from any direction.
Therefore, Yang Sichang generally made a list: the three towns under the jurisdiction of Governor Xuanda need to train a total of more than 170,000 troops, the five border towns under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi Trilateral Governor need to train a total of more than 150,000 troops, and the five towns under the jurisdiction of Governor Jiliao need to train a total of more than 150,000 troops.
More than 240,000 troops need to be trained. The four towns under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Baoding need to train more than 150,000 troops, and a total of 730,000 frontier troops need to be trained.
Oh my God!
But regardless of whether this list is realistic or not, if there is such a large and well-trained frontier army, it may indeed be able to withstand another Qing invasion. But to assemble such a huge army, a large number of new soldiers will be needed.
.And increasing troops requires increasing pay, and training and improving equipment also requires a lot of money. Therefore, the old problem of increasing troops without paying them was once again faced by Emperor Chongzhen and the court.
Then, Yang Sichang once again calculated that in order to complete this plan to increase troops and train troops, at least more than four million taels of silver must be spent every year. This was simply a fantasy for the Chongzhen court, whose treasury was extremely empty and its finances were on the verge of collapse.
.
I can only call to God again.
At this time, in the Ming Dynasty, the two contradictory problems of insufficient military strength and lack of food and wages had caused Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers to struggle. After trying all kinds of tricks, they always returned to adding more money to the people.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen also knew that doing so was just drinking poison to quench his thirst. So he decided to find a new way to make money. That was to extract money directly from the people instead of squeezing it from nobles and officials.
Extracting from one's body is called donation.
To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen was really helpless at this time. His own internal treasury was basically used as military pay. Even the North Korean tribute ginseng stored in the warehouse was sold. Emperor Chongzhen himself lived a simple life.
, only a few dragon robes were replaced, and the food was very economical. The emperor managed to look like this, and he was indeed quite shabby.
But Emperor Chongzhen didn't know at all. Even his own palace was still luxurious. Not to mention the tens of thousands of people in the palace, including his family, maids, and eunuchs, the expenses were still staggering. This is also the dignity of being an emperor.
You can’t demand that Emperor Chongzhen DIY everything!
Just look at the layers of carving done by the eunuchs! No matter what it is, the price will skyrocket once it enters the palace.
Once, Concubine Yuan Guifei purchased a rosewood gauze cabinet, and the eunuch in charge quoted her a price of seven hundred taels, which was about dozens of times more expensive. But the eunuch said: It originally cost one thousand taels, but I tried every means to save the empress three hundred taels, so
Please don't tell the truth to the Emperor, for I'm afraid I won't be able to make it if the Emperor asks me to make it with seven hundred taels of silver.
But Emperor Chongzhen later saw the gauze cabinet and asked about the price. Concubine Yuan Guifei replied that it cost one thousand taels. Unexpectedly, Emperor Chongzhen observed it carefully and said: "It's worth it! The queen also spent one thousand taels a few days ago.
I made a gauze cabinet, but the quality is not as good as this one."
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen lived in the palace for a long time and did not know the sufferings of the people at all, so he made such a big joke. But no matter what, Emperor Chongzhen still thought that he was one of the most frugal monarchs since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
As a noble of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, he was still frugal, but his bureaucrats and relatives were so extravagant. Therefore, he believed that it was only natural to extract money from bureaucrats and relatives to replenish the national treasury. But since the early years of his accession to the throne, he had
He repeatedly issued decrees asking his ministers to donate voluntarily, but the ministers were prevaricating and perfunctory time and time again, and never achieved any actual results. This time, he was prepared to take severe measures to get the money. For this reason, he succeeded Liu Yuliang as the chief minister.
Xue Guoguan conducted secret discussions.
Xue Guoguan had never served in the Imperial Academy and entered the cabinet from outside. He had a bad reputation among the court officials. He was sinister and strong. After becoming the chief minister, he was determined to oppose the courtiers represented by the Donglin party members. Emperor Chongzhen wanted to recruit all the officials.
, he felt that it would be a good opportunity to dampen the enthusiasm of the courtiers, so he strongly agreed and actively made suggestions for the emperor.
Xue Guoguan believes that the courtiers are rich and poor, and generally speaking, they are not very rich. The focus should be on those royal relatives with huge family assets. And once the nobles take the lead in donating, the courtiers will not dare to resist tenaciously. But for those who
It is not easy for noble relatives and the cabinet to take action, so he said to Emperor Chongzhen: "On the outside, officials and ministers are responsible for urging donations; on the inside, the emperor has to make the final decision personally."
In fact, when it comes to this, Emperor Chongzhen clearly chose the wrong executor. The most suitable and effective person to do this kind of thing is undoubtedly the eunuch. Fighting fire with poison is the same. Emperor Chongzhen did not understand this truth. That was when "The Sunflower Book" came out
, who can compete with him? Emperor Chongzhen collected this sharpest knife.
Anyway, let’s not mention this matter for now. After Emperor Chongzhen accepted Xue Guoguan’s suggestion, he decided to start with the noble relatives first. However, he knew very well that the noble relatives were stingy and it was hard for everyone to talk. So Emperor Chongzhen decided to arrest one first
Typical, starting from a small breakthrough and then expanding to a comprehensive one. After much consideration, he chose the family of Li Guorui, Marquis of Wuqing.
Li Guorui was a close cousin of Emperor Chongzhen. His ancestors relied on the power of the Queen Mother Wanli to amass a lot of money, and he was considered a wealthy family among the nobles in Beijing. Before that, Li Guorui and his concubine brother Li Guorui
The ministers once had a huge quarrel over property matters. Li Guochen felt that he had not received the inheritance he deserved. In order to vent his anger, he complained to the court and told Emperor Chongzhen: His father left 400,000 taels of property, and it should be divided to him according to law.
Half of it, he was willing to donate the two hundred thousand taels to the court as military supplies.
Because this was originally a family lawsuit and involved the traditional principle of inheritance of the eldest son, Emperor Chongzhen initially rejected Li Guochen's request. But at this time, in order to fully launch the donation activities, Emperor Chongzhen brought up the old matter again.
Not only did they have to accept the 200,000 yuan that Li Guochen claimed was in his name, but they also had to take the other 200,000 yuan from Li Guorui. Of course, it didn't mean that the Li family would lose everything. It was said to be a temporary loan until the country's funds were sufficient.
Make up for it. Of course, only God knows whether it will be paid back in the end.
Four hundred thousand taels of silver was a huge amount, and Li Guorui was certainly distressed. While crying and begging for poverty, he demolished houses and sold land with great fanfare, and put furniture and utensils on the thoroughfare for public auction to express his poverty and deliberately make the emperor look bad.
It didn't look good. And this move also caused panic among all the nobles. Everyone knew that after Li Guorui, a knife would be cut on his own head, so they also conspired to find a way to deal with the emperor.
Empress Zhou's father, Zhou Kui, was the father-in-law of the current emperor, so he naturally became the leader of the noble relatives. He took the lead in advising Emperor Chongzhen: The Li family is indeed poor, so don't push too hard or lose the heart of the noble relatives.