Emperor Chongzhen was leaning on the couch, with his back leaning on the high cushions. His face was ashen and sickly, and he listened carefully to the reports from the officials and eunuchs from the Ministry of Rites, Supervisor of Ceremonies, Ministry of Works and Internal Affairs Supervisor below.
"...the Ministry of Etiquette has drafted the posthumous title of the imperial concubine: Gong Shu, Duan Huijing, and pregnant imperial concubine..."
"...The imperial concubine's mausoleum has been inspected by the Qintian Supervisor, and the location is Yinquan Mountain within the Changping Imperial Mausoleum..."
…
After the beginning of summer, Emperor Chongzhen's beloved Concubine Tian died of illness, which caused Emperor Chongzhen great grief. Concubine Tian was originally thin, but she had been depressed since the death of her youngest son, King Daoling, and had been ill until now.
He couldn't afford to be sick.
The favorite woman in Emperor Chongzhen's heart was Concubine Tian, so he was very concerned about her illness. He not only ordered the palace doctors to treat her carefully, but also personally prayed respectfully and blessed her in front of the gods in various temples in the palace. But Tian
The imperial concubine's illness continued to become more serious day by day.
A few days ago, Emperor Chongzhen was walking incense in a palace to pray for Concubine Tian. Suddenly news came from the Chengqian Palace that the empress was in bad condition. But when Emperor Chongzhen rushed to Chengqian Palace, Concubine Tian had already died.
The fragrance was so good that the two of them didn't have time to say their final goodbyes.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at the body of his beloved concubine who had been with him for more than ten years and couldn't help but burst into tears. His grief for Concubine Tian and the grievances and resentments he had suppressed in his heart for many years turned into tears.
The extreme grief caused Emperor Chongzhen to become seriously ill again. However, after three days of absence from court in accordance with the etiquette, he still managed to gather his energy and resume normal government activities. First of all, he had to deal with the funeral affairs of Concubine Tian.
Secretly looking at Emperor Chongzhen with half-closed eyes, the officials and eunuchs who presented the memorial also lowered their voices. They all knew that since this year, a series of bad news had made Emperor Chongzhen seriously ill several times, and his temper was getting worse and worse, so
These officials and eunuchs were all afraid that if they did something wrong at this time, they would be caught and punished by Emperor Chongzhen.
"This old slave has also visited the imperial concubine's mausoleum and seen it with his own eyes. The specifications of the mausoleum, the tomb, and the cemetery are quite spacious and exquisite, and it does not disgrace the status of the imperial concubine. This time, I also spent 183,600 taels of silver.
in……"
While reporting to Emperor Chongzhen, Wang Chengen continued to observe Emperor Chongzhen's expression. He sighed in his heart that it rained all night in this house, so it was just unfortunate for the emperor's family. A few days ago, he was furious about Huitui.
What a "internal and external troubles"!
Before He Fengsheng left the cabinet, Xie Sheng, one of the great academicians, had already been expelled from his post for leaking the secrets of the peace talks with the Qing Dynasty. Wei Zhaocheng and Zhang Sizhi had also resigned due to illness. Therefore, among the cabinet ministers, only the chief minister was actually left in charge.
Assisting Zhou Yanru and Chen Yan.
So in May, Zhou Yanru and Chen Yan requested to add a few more cabinet members, and Emperor Chongzhen, who was busy with reforms, followed suit and requested that they be recommended by courtiers in accordance with the old practice. But as had happened many times in the past, this time
Huitui launched another big storm.
This meeting was chaired by Li Rixuan, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and for the first time thirteen people including Jiang Dejun, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, were recommended. However, Emperor Chongzhen thought that there were too few people to recommend, and there was not much room for choice, so he asked the courtiers to recommend a few more people.
.Obviously, Emperor Chongzhen was not satisfied with the candidates proposed by the Ministry of Personnel.
So ten more people were added to the committee, including Fang Kezhuang, the deputy capital censor, Song Mei, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Zhang Sanmo, the minister of Dali Temple. Although it was very difficult to become the prime minister during the Chongzhen period, most people did not
No matter how good the outcome was, many ministers in the court still coveted the great honor of being promoted to the prime minister. Before and after the promotion, many people were active in activities for themselves or for others.
So after some activities, the ministers who were finally nominated in the two nominations were naturally happy, while those who had spent money and effort but still not been nominated were very angry. So some people started rumors and instigated
Audio-visual; there are also some people who have always had a grudge against the person being elected, so they also want to protest against injustice.
So just like every time after a cabinet minister is nominated, people in the court are abuzz with rumors. Rumors about personal gain and fraud during the nomination process spread like wildfire. Some of them are true, some are false, and some are half-truths. And these rumors
The secret information passed through the factory guard and soon reached the palace and the ears of Emperor Chongzhen.
The most legendary people are Fang Kezhuang, Song Mei and Zhang Sanmo who were later recommended. These three people all belong to the Donglin faction and usually have many political opponents. So some people say that this time the election was all made by these three people.
Secretly instigating, giving and receiving bribes, connecting joints, and all kinds of illegal activities.
And this statement is not completely unfounded. Song Mei did hire someone to act as the first assistant Zhou Yanru. It happened that the second assistant Chen Yan asked Fang Kezhuang for help because of a relative's promotion problem, but Fang Kezhuang did not.
I didn't buy his fault, and I hated Fang Kezhuang very much for this reason.
Once when Emperor Chongzhen visited Xiyuan (today's Zhongnanhai and Beihai), he summoned his assistant ministers, but Zhou Yanru happened to be absent due to illness. Chen Yan took the opportunity to attack the disadvantages of Huitui. There was factory guard information inside and outside.
The assistant minister made a statement, so Emperor Chongzhen was convinced that this meeting was another clique conspiracy.
Although since the New Year of the 15th year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen has shown a rare good temper, his attitude towards courtiers is quite gentle, and he is also quite tolerant and kind when dealing with Xie Sheng's leaks and Hong Chengchou's surrender to the enemy. But he has a good temper.
There is a pattern to badness.
Whenever Emperor Chongzhen had a more positive attitude and wanted to work hard, he would usually appear more generous than usual and be more able to listen to different opinions. However, this kind of attitude was difficult to maintain for a long time. When progress was fruitless, the situation continued to get worse.
When things get worse, he will change from being proactive to being depressed, and the bitterness accumulated in his heart will come out again.
Nearly half a year of fruitless efforts and nearly half a year of tolerance have exceeded his psychological limits. Therefore, in this midsummer season, Emperor Chongzhen used the fraud incident at this meeting to express his disappointment in state affairs and his feelings towards courtiers.
The resentment turned into a burst of anger, and all of it was poured out along with the high temperature and heat.
On June 19, Emperor Chongzhen fell ill with a fever due to the poisonous fire attacking his heart, but he still lay in bed despite the illness and summoned all the elected officials in the Dezheng Hall to talk separately.
Because Song Mei and Zhang Sanmo had prejudices against Fang Kezhuang, the atmosphere during the meeting was very tense. Song Mei came prepared and talked to the emperor about the nine-sided situation and the strategy to defend against the enemy, but she failed.
Emperor Chongzhen denounced him as boastful and impetuous. That night, a decree came from the palace, appointing Jiang Dejing, Huang Jingfang, and Wu Di as the Minister of Rites and the Dongge University Scholar. These three people were all nominated for the first time. From
It can be seen that at this time, Emperor Chongzhen had no one left in his hands.
At the same time as the edict was promulgated, the imperial edict also accused the officials of indiscriminately recommending many people in the recommendation, and asked the officials to understand the response. However, the officials insisted in the response that they acted impartially according to the rules, and as for recommending too many people, it would be a mistake.
It was to comply with the emperor's will. And this meant a bit of revealing one's shortcomings, which aroused Emperor Chongzhen's anger.
On the 23rd, when Emperor Chongzhen's condition improved slightly, he once again summoned the cabinet and ministers at the Zhongzuomen Platform. Perhaps in order to let his sons see the insidiousness and cunning of the courtiers, he was specially summoned this time.
He married the crown prince and his two other sons, King Ding and King Yong.
During the summons, Emperor Chongzhen summoned Li Rixuan, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and said sternly: "Employment is the key to governing the country. If personnel are improperly employed, the officials cannot escape responsibility. Nowadays, the world is in turmoil, but governors and governors are constantly changing, and the country
How can there be any hope of peace? I remember two years ago, I told the ministers that some people would rather betray their father than a personal relationship, and would rather compromise their official duties than betray their feelings. Now they are still just talking about their feelings. How can it help? The former will push the cabinet.
Your Majesty, you are so important, how can you act indiscriminately and boast at will?"
However, Li Rixuan was very stubborn and refused to admit that there was favoritism. So Emperor Chongzhen summoned Zhang Zhengchen and Zhang Xuan, the chief censor of Henan Province, to scold all the officials who had important responsibilities in the election.
Unyielding. Li Rixuan also said: "I have served the emperor for thirteen years and have been single-minded. If there is a trace of partiality and betrayal of the public, all the civil and military ministers are here today. The emperor can ask questions one by one, and the court officials can participate one by one." Emperor Chongzhen actually
There was nothing to say for a moment.
After a long silence, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the Jin Yiwei to capture Li Rixuan, Zhang Zhengchen, Zhang Xuan and Fang Kezhuang, Song Mei, and Zhang Sanmo, and send them to the Ministry of Punishment for questioning. All six of them were soon punished, and Li Rixuan and three others guarded the border, while Fang Kezhuang
Zhuang and other three people resigned from their posts to serve the people.
Since Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, there have been so many turmoils in which ministers were pushed against each other, and each time the basic pattern was the same, but he obviously did not draw any useful experience or lessons from it. Each time, the ministers were at odds with each other.
, every time he was smart enough to defeat the cronies, but in the end he inevitably fell into the trap of other cronies.
After each turmoil, the courtiers' cliques and selfish interests did not stop a little, but the estrangement and implicit hostility between the monarch and his ministers deepened. In the past six months of single-minded reform, his temper had just improved a little, but this time it was again.
The old ways have returned, and the enthusiasm that had just been stirred up in people's hearts after several times of perseverance has since cooled down.
Under such circumstances, Emperor Chongzhen's favorite Concubine Tian died again. How could this not make his mood even worse?
But when Wang Chengen carefully reported everything, Emperor Chongzhen remained silent. The hall was quiet, and no one dared to make even the slightest sound to offend Emperor Chongzhen.
After a while, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to wake up from a dream. He suddenly raised his head and said: "Are you okay? Well! Everything was done well. And... and also, pass on my will: give me the following
Folks choose beautiful girls!"
"Ah!?" There was a cry of exclamation in the hall.