() The garden in the back hall of the Yamen of Daming Mansion in North Zhili is a bit unique. It is arranged like a martial arts hall. Eighteen kinds of weapons such as swords, guns, swords and halberds are displayed on both sides. Several servant-looking people stand beside the weapons and look at the middle of the field.
A man is practicing martial arts.
Just looking at the man in the middle, he has a good figure, broad shoulders and long arms, with a strong back and a strong waist. He is wearing short clothes on a cold winter day. He is holding a full-body iron sword, and his movements are strong and powerful, and the sword protects his whole body as fast as lightning. The servants are dazzled by the sight.
, the mind is shaken.
Suddenly, a government servant walked quickly towards the door and told the man who was practicing the sword: "Master Futai, a group of common people outside the door are asking to see you."
The man who practiced swordsmanship turned out to be a prefect, not a civil servant. He looked like a military commander no matter what.
I saw him suddenly stop his movements, not panting at all, and calmly asked the officer: "Do you know what happened?"
"Here comes the plaque, a letter to Lu Qingtian, Your Excellency."
Magistrate Lu threw the Yanyue Sword in his hand towards the servant beside him and said, "Let's go to the door."
"Sir, do you want to change your clothes?" The yamen servant was a little hesitant.
"It's okay, it's not official business, it's just a normal interaction. Lead the way." The prefect said as he walked.
The servant who caught the knife staggered before catching the knife. A companion beside him laughed and said: "It's useless to catch the knife like this." Then he ran away with Magistrate Lu, vaguely hearing the man behind him.
The servant who received the knife was arguing: "Come and try, see if you can handle the one hundred and forty kilogram knife?"
When the people at the gate of the magistrate's office saw the magistrate coming out, they all bowed to the ground and presented plaques. Magistrate Lu raised his hands and said to the people: "The previous magistrate of the famous county was corrupt and perverted the law. He collaborated with the local powerful to bully the weak and buy and sell by force.
, endangering the village, I just did my duty, and I cannot deserve the honor of Qingtian." Well, both sides started to be polite.
While the stalemate was going on, a fast horse came over from a distance and shouted from a distance: "Jianlu invaded the capital, and the emperor issued an edict to all the diligent kings in the world."
As soon as Magistrate Lu heard this, he no longer struggled with the question of whether to accept it or not. He directly accepted the plaque and politely sent the people back, and then quickly grabbed the man to ask about the situation.
After asking about the situation, he immediately ordered the county magistrates and military deputy envoys to come to discuss King Qin's affairs.
At this time, the servant on the side advised: "Sir, you are just the deputy envoy of the Shandong Ancha Division and the prefect of Daming Prefecture. You are in charge of a prefecture and are in charge of criminal cases. King Qin is the military commander's business..."
He didn't let the servant finish his sentence at all, and directly interrupted: "I, Lu Xiangsheng, have deeply been favored by your Majesty. Now that you are in trouble, how can you ignore the national crisis because of the difference between civil and military affairs? There is no need to say more, and I have to pass on the order quickly."
On November 15th of the second year of Chongzhen, it was already dark, and even the most industrious people had gone home to eat and rest. But in the Wenhua Hall of the Imperial City, the lights were still bright, and the servants outside stood upright, motionless.
It seemed that the "whooshing" north wind was not affected at all. Many figures were faintly reflected on the window paper of the main hall, but there was only one voice in the hall, which seemed a bit lonely in the silence.
"I see that you are usually full of knowledge, and your ability to recite poems and write poems is better than the other. When encountering problems, you can only talk about it. What Jianlu will not detour, and what Zunhua will have no problem with, which one is accurate?
"
Emperor Chongzhen stood behind the royal table, leaning forward, and his angry voice echoed in the palace: "Look, it's a slap in the face now. Jianlu sneaked across Jizhou, even Ke Sanhe, Xianghe, Shunyi, these places are not even decent
There was no resistance, and there were even officials who defected to the Jianlu!"
Han Xu, the chief minister of the cabinet, knew that Emperor Chongzhen was talking about him. Even though he was old and thick-skinned, he could not stand up to all these things. He was slapped in the face, so he had to kneel down and said: "I am guilty!"
When the other cabinet ministers and the six ministers knelt down, they could no longer stand and knelt down together.
Emperor Chongzhen seemed not to notice that they all knelt down, and continued to vent his anger and helplessness: "What do the troops I raise do for food? They are all pigs, and they are left there for the Jianlu to chop them down one by one. I'm afraid
You won’t only insist on this for a short time?”
No one kneeling below dared to argue for fear of getting burned.
"Also, here are several memorials written by the Yushi to impeach the Minister of War: Jianlu took a detour to attack Zunhua, sneaked across Jizhou, and now attacked several places west of Jing. They were unaware of it in advance, so they responded passively, which led to the collapse of the situation.
Difficult, what is the cabinet’s opinion?”
Several cabinet ministers below raised their heads, looked at each other, and finally stared at Han Xu, then lowered their heads and said nothing. Han Xu knew from their looks that they wanted him to take the lead. Who asked him to be the chief minister?
"Your Majesty, the cabinet means to hand over the crime to the chief minister," Han Xu said.
"It's accurate!" Emperor Chongzhen agreed simply and neatly, but he was so incompetent.
After a while, one of the kneeling people was missing. This was also expected. When the capital was in crisis, the Minister of War must be responsible for the leadership.
Emperor Chongzhen felt a little bored after singing a one-man show for so long. After venting his anger, he also lowered his anger. He stopped talking and flipped through several other memorials on the imperial table. It was better not to flip through this one.
, a wave of anger rushed to his forehead: "Also, I have no shame and issued an edict to King Qin, but who are the people who came! Every army of King Qin shouted poor, and almost all of them came here to steal my son.
How is this different from building a captive army?"
At this point, Emperor Chongzhen directly threw the memorials in front of everyone: "Look, these are the memorials from the counties along the way, accusing their soldiers of being like bandits, and wherever they go, chickens and dogs are restless. The general soldiers of each ministry defended themselves.
It’s because the wages haven’t been paid for several months. They also said that if the imperial court doesn’t pay the wages, the team will collapse. What does the Ministry of Revenue say?”
Bi Ziyan, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, whose courtesy name was Jingzeng and whose name was Baiyang, walked over and picked up the memorial and turned it over. Then he replied to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, most of them have been paid with salary. It's just because the Ministry of Revenue really has no money.
Therefore, only half of it has been distributed, except for Gansu, Shaanxi and other places."
"It's an unusual autumn now, and the troops are coming from the Qinwang. Can you make up for the arrears of pay?"
"Your Majesty, I don't want to, but there is really no silver to pay. Last month, I allocated one hundred thousand silver to Liaodong to pay for the artillery costs of Macau and Portugal. The remaining silver is not enough to pay for the food and fodder of King Qin's army across the country. There are still several
This undisbursed amount is yet to be paid by the tax bank of the two capitals and thirteen provinces at the end of the year.”
"Then is there any way to solve the immediate emergency?"
Bi Ziyan remained silent.
"The cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue will go back and discuss it again. No matter what, part of the salary for King Qin's army must be settled."
Emperor Chongzhen saw that no one objected, so he accepted it. Then he said: "Everyone, please be safe."
Everyone thought that was the end of the day and breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone stood up and prepared to go home. Fortunately, only Wang Qia was unlucky today.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Chongzhen's voice sounded again: "Who do you think can take on the post of Minister of War?"
No one said anything. In the current situation, the position of Minister of the Ministry of War is being roasted on the stove, and few people can sit firmly, so no one dares to recommend him for fear of being jointly and severally blamed.
Emperor Chongzhen did not speak, waiting for everyone to speak, and the palace fell into silence.
After a while, no one spoke. The ministers below all looked like clay Bodhisattvas in the temple. They looked at their noses with their eyes and their hearts with their noses. The palace fell into an awkward situation.
At this moment, footsteps came from outside the palace, which could be heard very clearly in the silence. After a while, a chamberlain stepped inside and reported: "Sun Chengzong, the former Liaodong administrator, wants to see you."
Why did you come to ask for an audience at such a late hour? Did this old man Sun sing in that drama? Almost everyone present had this idea, but they also breathed a sigh of relief. Thanks to this old man Sun, the awkward atmosphere in the palace was ended.
Emperor Chongzhen changed his angry expression and quickly ordered: "Quickly pass."
After a while, steady footsteps came from far away, and then a thin old man with white beard, wearing commoners, stepped into the hall, glanced at the important ministers standing in the hall and Emperor Chongzhen above, and said steadily
He came up, knelt down in front of Emperor Chongzhen, and said with great enthusiasm: "Long live the common people, long live long live, long live long live."
Emperor Chongzhen met Sun Chengzong a long time ago when he was giving lessons to Emperor Tianqi. Now many years have passed and he is much older than in the impression. I can't help but feel a little disappointed. The person recommended by Zhong Jinwei and whom I want to reuse is already so old.
After being stunned for a while, he remembered that Sun Chengzong was still kneeling and said hurriedly: "Stand flat."
After Sun Chengzong stood up, Emperor Chongzhen said in a normal voice: "Someone recommended Master Sun to me. This is what I want, so I sent someone to pass the imperial edict to Master Sun."
The people below and Sun Chengzong were stunned for a moment. Who recommended it? Why didn't they hear any news about it?
"I wonder who recommended the grassroots people and why?" Sun Chengzong's voice was so loud that the servants outside the palace could hear it clearly without eavesdropping.
"Master Sun will know who he recommends in the future." Emperor Chongzhen paused and then said: "Now Master Sun has heard about the invasion of Jianlu?"
"People have heard about it, but the details are yet to be known."
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen asked Han Xu, the chief minister of the cabinet, to explain to Sun Chengzong what happened in the past few days. Sun Chengzong also understood why Emperor Chongzhen asked him to have an audience as soon as he arrived in the capital.
Sun Chengzong turned to Emperor Chongzhen and asked: "Your Majesty, what do you want the common people to do?"
Emperor Chongzhen looked at Sun Chengzong's white beard and was a little worried, and asked: "Master Sun, I remember you are sixty-seven this year? How is your health?"
Upon hearing this, Sun Chengzong replied with a loud voice: "Your Majesty, the country is in troubled times. If the common people stay at home, they will not be able to eat."
Emperor Chongzhen heard the meaning of Sun Chengzong's words and couldn't help but feel happy. A person who dares to take responsibility will not have a bad impression first.
"I know that Master Sun is familiar with Liao affairs. I recall that when Master Sun was in charge of Liao affairs, the Jianlu could do nothing to help Master Sun. Now that the Jianlu have invaded the capital, can you help me share my worries?"
"The common people will die to their death!" A sonorous and powerful voice echoed in the Wenhua Hall.
"Okay, I'm very relieved." Emperor Chongzhen was very happy. He walked around the imperial table, walked down the imperial steps, came to Sun Chengzong and said, "I order you to be the scholar of Zhongji Palace and the Minister of the Ministry of War, to coordinate the defense of the capital.
.”
"I obey the decree!" Sun Chengzong seemed to have no idea that the position of Minister of War was so hot and that it was difficult and dangerous to defend the enemy, and he agreed immediately.
Emperor Chongzhen finally found someone who could do the job. The cabinet and the ministers of various ministries also exempted Emperor Chongzhen from asking for payment. Now everyone was happy and went back to their homes.
Just after sending this group of people back, Wang Chengen came running over there: "I just received a report that Mr. Zhong can swallow food by himself."
"What, Mr. Zhong is awake?" Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard this.