"Shut up, everyone." Chongzhen couldn't bear it and slapped Long An hard. The audience immediately fell silent, and several ministers raised their eyebrows and looked at him.
"The intruders broke into two cities in one day and were about to attack Taiyuan City. You didn't want to think of any way to resist the thieves, but you had the leisure to scold a eunuch for being arrogant and domineering.
I would like to ask, why is Chang Yu so domineering and domineering? He left the palace according to the order, rectified military affairs, prepared food and grass, and in a short period of time purged the Xuan Daxiao Xiaoxiao.
To stabilize the people's morale, and more importantly, to raise enough food and pay to stabilize the military's morale, let's look at what you have done in the past few months. Apart from talking in the court every day, have you done anything practical?
"I once shared a little worry for me"
Chongzhen was indeed furious. If he hadn't been forced to do this, and if he hadn't known that time was running out, he would never have been able to say such words.
"If this is considered domineering, I would rather have a few more such domineering people." After speaking, Chongzhen snorted heavily, stood up and left, and the prince quickly followed.
"Your Majesty, the eunuchs are harming the country!"
"How can your Majesty say such a thing? You are now committing a crime and have issued an edict to show it..."
…
The court hall was full of smoke again.
Angrily, Chongzhen walked down from the Qianqing Gate and went straight to the Qianqing Palace. His anger remained undisturbed, and he smashed several tea cups with his hands before he regained some composure.
"Father, maybe things can turn around." Zhu Cixiang saw that Chongzhen's anger was almost gone before he spoke.
"Everything develops in accordance with your dreams and God's will, so how can things turn around?" Chongzhen sighed heavily, suddenly bursting into tears; "This is how God will destroy my Ming Dynasty and destroy my Zhu family dynasty."
"Chang Yu! Chang Yu may be the turning point." Zhu Cixiang's eyes were firm: "My child believes in him." Because he knew that the so-called immortal's dream was actually made by Chang Yu, but he couldn't say it.
"What do you believe in him?" Chongzhen wiped his tears. Chang Yu, the eunuch who came out of nowhere, did bring him great surprises and surprises. However, after his dreams were confirmed several times, he became more and more disappointed. This
The surprise may be just a dream, a flashback before death.
"Although the dream has been confirmed time and time again, many details have been overturned. In the child's dream, the three towns of Xuanda were all rebellious and surrendered due to lack of pay and food, and the military morale was unstable. However, the situation at this time was very different. Chang Yu was in Xuanda.
The Third Prefecture made bold moves, moved here and there, and eradicated traitors. At this time, there was sufficient food and grass, and the morale of the army was stable. This was a turning point."
Chongzhen narrowed his eyes: "In your dream, the bandit army arrived in Taiyuan on the sixth day of the lunar month and fell on the eighth day of the lunar month. If Taiyuan is not lost this time, or if the time is not right, it will be a turning point. Is this what it means?"
Zhu Cixiang nodded heavily: "I learned from the secret report that Zhou Yuji's tens of thousands of troops had set up the first line of defense in Jiaocheng. How could the traitor army easily rush through? It's already the third day of the Lunar New Year. I don't believe that the thieves can arrive on time on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.
We have arrived in Taiyuan, Father, things have turned for the better, please wait a moment."
The Ming Dynasty stipulated that serious documents such as imperial edicts and military reports from other places were generally sent to the cabinet and then handed over to the emperor. The original intention was that the cabinet would help the emperor share the heavy government affairs, but everything had its pros and cons, and there were many concealments.
, the seizure incident prevented the emperor from getting the news immediately.
But before Chang Yu left the palace, he secretly set up a secret channel with Chongzhen, that is, the Jinyiwei line, which could send the news directly to Chongzhen without going through the cabinet. This was also the reason why he could grasp the situation on the front line immediately.
"Three days, we will see the outcome in three days." Chongzhen sighed heavily, and suddenly thought of something, his face gradually warmed up: "Chang Yu is really good, I saw him right."
In the secret report Chang Yu gave him, in addition to telling him that two cities were lost, there was also a sentence: a wealthy family donated 300,000 taels of silver.
Chongzhen laughed when he saw this sentence. It was a big surprise that Chang Yu could donate so much food and salary from the Jin Prince's Mansion. You have to know that these days it is difficult for others to donate money. He used the dignified Nine-Five
In the capital's capital, the emperor's appearance raised only more than ten thousand yuan in more than a month.
Just after the rebel army crossed the Yellow River, Cai Maode, one of the provincial officials, personally visited Pingyang Mansion and asked the two Jin vassal princes, King Xihe and King Jiaocheng, who were entrusted with Pingyang, to take the lead in "persuading the Jin gentry and the people to donate money." However, no one agreed to donate.
money.
But Chang Yu did it easily, and the "rich family donated 300,000 yuan" is even more worthy of scrutiny. Who could be so generous and donate so much in one go? Moreover, Wu Mengming's secret report did not mention this matter at all, which means that this money
Chang Yu obtained it through illegal means, and he had no intention of taking it for himself. He declared it openly and openly. This guy is very generous and understands the righteousness.
Another thing that surprised him secretly was that Chang Yu's secret report to Fenzhou Mansion was lost. It was not surprising that he could get the news immediately in Taiyuan, but Huaiqing Mansion was thousands of miles away from Taiyuan. How did he learn about it? It was ridiculous.
At this time, there was no news from Huaiqing Mansion, where the incident occurred, but Chang Yu, who was thousands of miles away, sent the news.
This guy had just taken over Dongchang, and his tentacles were so long? Chongzhen was puzzled.
Chang Yu has been paying attention to the two teams of the rebel army in the Eastern Expedition. He may have sent people to closely monitor the whereabouts of Liu Fangliang's partial army when they left the capital. Zhu Cixiang explained this, but he knew in his heart that Chang Yu had known about it for a long time, because after all, the dream
It was him who did it.
This explanation actually has a big loophole. Even if Chang Yu had arranged his informants a long time ago, they were thousands of miles away and it took at least two days for those informants to send the news to Taiyuan. This is not consistent with the timeline of Chang Yu's secret report.
Besides, those informants should send the secret report to the capital as soon as possible. There is no need to fiddle around and send it to Taiyuan via Chang Yu. But at this time, how could Chongzhen have the time to think about these details.
"He was scolded so badly in the capital, but unexpectedly he had a good reputation outside. Zhu Zhifeng of Xuanfu and Wei Jingyuan of Datong both mentioned Chang Yu in their memorials.
There is a lot of warmth in his words," Chongzhen said with a smile.
You must know that civil servants and eunuchs have been sworn enemies since ancient times. There have always been numerous memorials for impeachment of eunuchs by civil servants, but I have never seen anyone who praised it again. Chang Yu broke the record.
"In fact, what I admire the most is his decisiveness in killing. I heard that when he encountered robbers on the road, he took the lead and killed the thief. But when he came to Datong, he actually killed a local snake like Jiang Yu, and even found such a good one.
The excuse to block Youyou's mouth is simply impeccable." Zhu Cixiang's eyes started to flash with stars again as he spoke. He was indeed the number one expert in the palace.
Chongzhen nodded heavily: "In troubled times, it is important to kill well."
Then he added: "Wang Jiayan is not bad either."
Wang Jiayan is the new governor of the Beijing camp after Li Guodong was removed. This man is upright and loyal. Chang Yu actually assisted him in getting to the position.
After this person came to power, he immediately followed Chongzhen's order and carried out a drastic and thorough inspection and rectification of the Beijing camp from top to bottom. He counted the troops and resources and found out the bugs in the army. It is said that in a few days, sixty or seventy soldiers, big and small, were taken away.
officer.
On the other hand, in addition to investigating corruption in the military, Wang Jiayan also began to strictly investigate the abuse of soldiers in the Beijing camp by his relatives and nobles. It should be known that most of the soldiers in the Beijing camp were used by these nobles as free labor to work on their own farms.
Previously, Chang Yu took over a dozen high-ranking officials in one night and extorted a large sum of money from them on the pretext that they were using their official property for personal use.
At this time, Wang Jiayan took action again. For a moment, the nobles in the city were panicked, and they hurriedly chased away the soldiers who had been detained, not daring to commit crimes against the wind.
After all, Wang Jiayan was not Chang Yu. He didn't have the tricks or the face, and he was a little tactful in doing things. He didn't dare to offend these nobles too much, so he just accepted it when he saw it, and didn't delve too deeply into it.
But in general, Chongzhen, the governor of the Beijing camp, was very satisfied. Of course, there were times when he had headaches. Wang Jiayan proposed to streamline the Beijing camp, verify the shortage of soldiers, and force the old, weak, sick and disabled to retire. This is a good thing, but retirement
But gold made him worry. It was a large amount of silver.
Although the grand ceremony held by Zhu Cihong in front of the palace in the past few days has allowed him to earn nearly one million, plus the bail money of the previous nobles who were imprisoned, the national treasury now has two to three million, but
Although it seems like a lot, the Ming Dynasty now spends too much money. Natural disasters are constantly happening, and relief is needed everywhere. Not to mention that soldiers are still owed money everywhere. The border troops need money, they need money to resist the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and they need money to suppress Li Zicheng.
The southwest suppression campaign against Zhang Xianzhong also required money, which makes me nervous just thinking about it.
"Father, the two hundred thousand taels of silver from the Datong Palace must be returned," Zhu Cixiang reminded.
Chongzhen nodded. Chang Yu and Wei Jingyuan were guarantors to borrow money and grain in Datong. Chang Yu planned to default on the grain. The money was said to be repaid within half a month, so he had to pay it back, because this was the time to re-establish the royal prestige. This was not allowed.
Breaking one's promise, not to mention not replacing the money borrowed from the vassal king on time, will not look good on the royal family.
Killing Jiang Yu is to establish prestige, and exchanging money is to establish trust.
The old Zhu family is about to regain its prestige.
"Father, the intruders in Taiyuan were blocked by Chang Yu and Zhou Yuji, but Liu Fangliang, the thief on the east road, was unstoppable. Now that he has captured Huaiqing Mansion and Wei Hui Mansion is right in front of him, I am afraid...does Father and those courtiers have a good plan?
”.
When this topic came up, Chongzhen almost couldn't control his emotions and threw plates and bowls. The thieves were unstoppable, but the generals of the Ming Dynasty only wanted to surrender. Although he wanted to mobilize his troops, he either had no troops to mobilize or the generals would not obey orders.
The courtiers did not do business all day long and were only interested in gossip.
Wu Sangui was still wandering outside the pass. Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Shandong Province, refused to come because he fell from his horse. Only Tang Tong in Ji Town was packing his bags and preparing to go north...
I must kill Liu Zeqing! Chongzhen slapped him hard. Zhu Cixiang had informed the dream earlier, and Liu Zeqing really used this as an excuse.
"Father, please calm down. Since Liu Zeqing won't come at this time, and Taiyuan is heavily defended at this time, whether he comes or not won't make much difference for the time being. Why not let him go south directly or rest and strengthen the formation on the spot to wait for Liu Fangliang's troops, and Tang Tong will also come at this time.
Let him turn his horse's head to meet the Liu thief."
Chongzhen's eyes lit up, he looked at Zhu Cixiang and sighed for a long time: "My son has grown up and has such a vision. Compared with the mediocre officials in the court, he knows how to change."
"My child is stupid. Since I can't defeat him, I have to go with it!" Zhu Cixiang sighed slightly.
"Although what my son said is right, as the emperor, I can't defeat my subordinates. This is really an insult to the royal family and a disgrace to our ancestors." Chongzhen brushed his face.
"This moment and that moment, let's keep it together for the time being. After this, it's not too late to settle the accounts!" Zhu Cixiang smiled slightly, and Chongzhen was stunned. He suddenly felt that his son was not only grown up, but also very strange. Compared with several
A few months ago, he was a completely different person. Was it because he had experienced too many changes during this period, or was it because he had been hiding it from the public before?