At this time, Hao Hui of the Ministry of Military Affairs attacked Wu Changshi, the doctor selected by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and pointed the finger directly at Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant, saying that Wu Changshi "stealed power and relied on power, took bribes for personal gain, and became Zhou Yanru's cadre son." The cabinet vote was drafted
It is a matter of secrets, but it is a good idea to know when things are going to happen." He said that Zhou Yanru was "a sinner in the world" because he "had too many desires but was not upright, was useful but had no body, was clever enough to cover his mistakes, but was not loyal enough to pursue the country."
Immediately afterwards, a group of censors began to criticize Wu Changshi and Zhou Yanru. The censor Jiang Gongchen also exposed that Wu Changshi had colluded with the internal prison guards and manipulated the emperor directly.
Wu Changshi was the No. 1 political activist in Fushe and was very good at maneuvering. When Zhou Yanru came out again, it was all handled by him. He had many connections in and outside the palace, so he was naturally Zhou Yanru's number one confidant. But he
More than a year after Zhou Yanru became the chief minister again, he was still just the head of the Department of Ceremonies of the Ministry of Etiquette without real power, and he felt quite unfair. Until March of the 16th year of Chongzhen, after Zhou Yanru and Zheng Sanjun, the official secretary of the Donglin Party,
With the joint support of the officials, Wu Changcai was transferred to the position of director of the Civil Service Selection, acting as the deputy doctor, and took over the power of civil service selection.
Once he gained power, Wu Changshi couldn't help but get carried away. He frequently acted in the official circles of Kyoto, taking bribes for personal gain. While arranging good positions for his friends and comrades, he also dealt bitter blows to those who had long-standing enemies.
During the Wuchang period, the month when doctors were selected as agents of literature, it was the routine external transfer of Ke Dao, that is, a few people were selected from among the ministers and censors to go out to the capital to serve as local officials. As usual, Ke Dao was promoted out of Beijing, but they were usually still promoted.
I think it is a very disadvantageous thing, because for me, the censor is not only very powerful in the capital, but also may be promoted to a minister of the capital at any time, with a bright future. But once he joins the ranks of foreign officials and stays away from the court, his future is very bleak.
What's more, this is a troubled time in the world. God knows what will happen if you are transferred to a local official. Therefore, none of the Kedao people want to be transferred out. As a rule, every time the Kedao is transferred out, it is given to one person in the matter and two censors.
People, but this time Wu Changshi wanted to kill the prestige of the officials, and suddenly transferred four to Shizhong and six censors. Most of the officials were quite angry about this, but Wu Changshi's backstage was too strong at that time.
I had to endure it.
However, as Zhou Yanru fell out of favor and Zheng Sanjun resigned, Chen Yan and others were instigating a trend to destroy Zhou Yanru's power in the government. The resentment of the officials finally broke out. In addition, Wu Changshi was usually too ostentatious. Many people were offended.
That's why there was this concentrated attack on him.
Bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty have always been at each other's throats, but it is extremely rare for many people to jointly attack a junior minister. When Emperor Chongzhen was in trouble, he saw in the impeachment letter that he colluded with his chief minister to manipulate the government.
He immediately showed morbid concern about the case due to major content such as secretly communicating with eunuchs and leaking secrets.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen still couldn't deal with Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant who was hiding in the Tongzhou camp, so he should deal with Zhou Yanru's number one minion - Wu Changshi first!
Emperor Chongzhen has always had a principle of keeping secrets and being cautious when he was in power. The most taboo was the exchange of information between the palace and the outside world. The cabinet and ministers usually sent this chapter on important matters to the cabinet, and he would personally seal it on a small yellow silk screen.
In the box, he wrote "Send to the Cabinet on a certain date and time" in his own handwriting; after the cabinet vote was drafted, the original chapter and the ticket were placed in the original small box, and the cabinet minister sealed it: "On a certain date and time, this minister and so on."
"Seal", and then he will unseal it himself.
This set of cumbersome methods is just for fear that the ministers or officials such as Zhongshu will know the secrets intentionally or unintentionally and leak them out. However, the audacious Wu Changshi actually colluded with both the cabinet and the eunuchs, coveting the secrets and secretly manipulating the government affairs. This is also
Remarkable?
In order to prevent Wu Changshi, who had great hands and eyes, from getting the news, he did not send the impeachment against Wu Chang to the cabinet. Because he was afraid that if the internal officials saw it, the news would be revealed, so he kept it in his sleeve, taking advantage of the fact that there were no talents around him.
Personally approved the order: Wu Changshi should be removed immediately and await trial.
Emperor Chongzhen showed extreme caution when handling the Wuchang case. He was a bit suspicious and made a fuss out of a molehill. But he himself was very serious about it. The imperial edicts he usually approved in person were all written in white and white, but this time
The imperial edicts were all written in regular script, which invisibly reflected his mentality at the time.
The emperor was so solemn and faced with a formidable enemy. It was impossible for Wu Changshi to escape this disaster. In April, Emperor Chongzhen once again went to court to judge the case on the Zhongzuomen platform and interrogated Wu Changshi personally.
This interrogation was full of murderous intent. The cabinet, five government offices, six ministers, as well as ministers of the capital, and officials of science and education were all summoned. Emperor Chongzhen was dressed in plain clothes and had a horn belt, and he looked like he was going to kill someone. The prince and Prince Ding were also with him.
beside you.
Prior to this, the Jin Yiwei spies had reported to the emperor Zhou Yanru and Wu Changshi's misdeeds of collaborating and taking bribes for personal gain. The eunuchs surrounding Emperor Chongzhen also figured out his pulse and told the emperor with true and false "facts"
Zhou Yanru made a big splash, so he had already made up his mind that the interrogation was just to show off his power and show off his bad temper.
Unexpectedly, Wu Changshi was a tough guy and defended all the accusations one by one. Emperor Chongzhen especially hated the "tongnei" in Wu Changshi's crime list, because the eunuchs and ministers were his own domestic slaves, but they were taken advantage of by villains among the courtiers.
It is hard to tolerate this. But Wu Changshi said: "The ancestral law is to hand over servants to be beheaded. This law is the most stringent. Even if the minister is not talented, how can he dare to violate it?"
Emperor Chongzhen called Jiang Gongchen, the imperial censor who had come to expose Wuchang Shitong, and asked him to confront him. Unexpectedly, Jiang Gongchen was frightened by the surrounding atmosphere and Wuchangshi's tough attitude. He lay on the ground trembling all over and could not say a word.
Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he almost trembled. He could only scold Wu Changshi for his deception and sophistry. Wu Changshi remained unyielding and said: "If the emperor must punish his ministers for treason, how can I dare to disobey the holy will? I will be punished myself."
I should bear it, but I have to give in against my will, which I really can’t do.”
The furious Emperor Chongzhen ordered the eunuchs to torture Wu Changshi. Cabinet ministers Jiang Dejing and Wei Zaode protested: "There has never been a precedent of torture among the imperial court. Please send Wu Changshi to the judicial department for interrogation."
But Emperor Chongzhen said: "Such a traitor has great magical powers. If he leaves this place, who would dare to question him according to the law?"
The two cabinet ministers still said: "The use of torture in the palace is something that has never happened in three hundred years!"
But Emperor Chongzhen said bitterly: "This guy in Wuchang is also someone who has not been seen in three hundred years!"
So the ministers had nothing to say and could only watch the eunuchs executing the punishment on the majestic Dan Majesty. Wu Changshi was beaten hard with a stick, and soon his legs were cut off and he fainted.
The civil and military ministers had never seen such a scene before, and all of them looked ashen.
Emperor Chongzhen vented his anger and found it quite boring, so he ended it. After that, he ordered Jin Yiwei to quickly send people to Tongzhou Daying and Wu Zong's hometown to bring Zhou Yanru and Wu Zong to the capital to await their fate.
Zhou Yanru was implicated in the Wu Changshi case, and it was barely reasonable to mention that he went to Beijing. Wu Di had nothing to do with the case and was also mentioned. The reason was only known to Emperor Chongzhen himself. However, because the Qing army was still in the pass, all the people were involved in the case.
The city is under martial law, and Tijie's Jin Yiwei cannot leave the capital for three hours.
Wu Changshi was carried to the imperial prison, and later tortured many times, but never confessed. In order to vent his anger, Emperor Chongzhen ordered that Wu Changshi, Fan Zhiwan, Zhao Guangbian and others be executed.
This incident not only proved that there are "unyielding" strong-minded people among villains, but also made all the nobles feel sad. Emperor Chongzhen had become moody, so in this sensitive period, it is better to be cautious in words and actions.
After a moment of silence, a Marquis asked Xue Lian and Wu Weizhong: "Xue Hou! Wu Hou! When will your parents bring troops to Qinwang?"
Xue Lian immediately shut up, because this question was difficult to answer, and no answer was good.
Wu Weizhong pondered for a moment, and then said hesitantly: "My fourteenth son is now in Runing, fighting against the bandits and Tatars, so they should be unable to take care of the capital. And the Li thieves in the northwest have become a climate. In my opinion,
, let’s let the emperor go to Nanjing for inspection first.”
What Wu Weizhong proposed was to move the capital to Jiangnan, which was also the decision that the current Emperor Chongzhen wanted to make the most.
When the Ming Dynasty was founded, the capital was originally located in Nanjing. Later, Emperor Chengzu succeeded in pacifying the country, but he was unwilling to leave his old base of Peiping (that is, Beijing). Therefore, after the regime was stabilized, he still returned to the north and used Peking as Beijing. But for a long time,
For a long time, Beijing was only the accompanying capital in name, called "Xingzai". The official capital was Nanjing.
It was not until the Xuande period that the status of the northern and southern capitals was reversed. Beijing became the official capital, while Nanjing became the companion capital. However, due to historical reasons, Nanjing, the companion capital, has always retained the imperial palace and a complete set of government teams, including five mansions.
The six ministries, as well as the twenty-four yamen of various courtyards, temples, departments, departments, and even eunuchs are all available. The chiefs and subordinates of each department are nominally on the same level as the officials in Beijing, but they have no real power, and their jurisdiction is limited to
South Zhili region.
The Ming Dynasty maintained a set of virtual government teams in Nanjing, originally with the intention of preventing sudden incidents. At this time, most of the northern areas were frequently attacked by wars and were almost irremediable. However, the south of the Yangtze River basically maintained a relatively stable situation.
situation, so moving the capital to Nanjing is indeed the best strategy to temporarily avoid danger and then plan for the long term.
Even Empress Zhou, who had never been involved in political affairs, understood the truth behind this. It is said that once she saw Emperor Chongzhen depressed about the national crisis, she mentioned: "We still have a home in Nanjing."
In fact, Emperor Chongzhen himself knew this truth better, and as early as the 14th and 15th years of Chongzhen's reign, he had secretly discussed the issue of moving south with his chief minister Zhou Yanru. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature for better and faster novels!