"Since I came to power several months ago, I have not dared to slack off, for fear of letting down the hope of the late emperor and the expectations of the people. Fortunately, the weather is harmonious, the country is going smoothly, and I have lived up to the trust of the late emperor. However, I am prepared for danger in times of peace and dare not slack off. Today's internal affairs depend on it.
I have nothing to worry about with the strength of your ministers. What I worry about is the defense of border towns and the worries of enemy countries. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Tatar attacks have continued, and civil wars have
, the lesson comes from before. Although the late emperor was in power, although he tried his best to consolidate the defense of the border towns, the enemy invaders still frequently attacked and harassed them. Therefore, I decided to go out to the capital to inspect the border defenses to detect omissions and deficiencies, and to encourage the soldiers of the border towns to garrison.
In order to improve the morale of the border, I would like to express my condolences and reward the meritorious soldiers in the border town. Summer is about to begin, and the Tatar grass is fat and the horses are strong. Every summer and autumn, it is the time when Tatar attacks are particularly serious. I plan to patrol Xuanfu Town today..."
When Zhu Houzhao announced this imperial edict, the whole court was in an uproar. After the Tumubao Incident, the emperor's trip to the border town was the biggest taboo in the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Yingzong used to go on a personal expedition, but ended up being a prisoner. This incident
This incident was a thorn in the hearts of the Ming Dynasty and a shame. After the Tumubao Incident, no emperor went to border towns and dangerous areas again, and no one dared to propose that the emperor go to border towns to patrol the border.
But now, Zhu Houzhao actually wanted to patrol the border in person, which immediately touched the sensitive nerves in everyone's hearts. Not only the civil servants in the outer court, but this time, even the veteran nobles felt that something was wrong.
Dissuasive reports came to the palace like a snowflake, and there was a voice of opposition. Liu Jian led seven or eight important officials into the palace to ask for an audience. Zhu Houzhao had to receive them, but he insisted that this move was his determination to consolidate the border town and solve the problem.
The Tatars refused to give up this idea in order to invade foreign countries.
Soon, the outer court got the exact news from the inner court. Wang Yue and others sent the news and informed the outer court ministers that Liu Jin instigated the emperor's border patrol. The emperor was definitely not going to Xuanfu Town to inspect the border towns.
He just wanted to go hunting in the border towns of Xuanfu. The so-called inspection of the border towns was just an excuse.
As soon as this news came out, the outer court was even more angry. The emperor was really naughty and did whatever he wanted. He was just messing around in the palace, but now he actually left the capital to go sightseeing in the border towns, and he was officially crowned as a patrolman.
The name of Bian is actually for fun. Liu Jin and others are even more audacious. They dare to encourage the emperor to do this. They deserve to die.
But anger is anger. This time, the emperor officially issued a high-sounding imperial edict. Although the news discovered by the inner court was instigated by Liu Jin and others, there was no real evidence and it could not be used to accuse Liu Jin and others. The emperor insisted that it was
It is difficult to refute this reason for inspecting the border towns of the Ming Dynasty. We can only stop him on the grounds that the border towns are dangerous and the emperor cannot be involved in danger.
For two days in a row, the ministers took turns to make excuses to stop him. Even the princes and marquises of the capital camp began to make excuses to ask the emperor to think twice. For a while, there was an endless uproar.
Zhu Houzhao also seemed to feel that his decision this time had aroused public outrage, and everyone tried to stop it. It seemed that the decision was not appropriate. So there was no voice. He did not withdraw his order, but just ordered a border patrol prepared before.
However, the preparation activities for soldiers, horses and supplies have stopped.
The ministers thought that the emperor should have ceased his activities. The mobilization and preparation of the accompanying troops, horse guards and supplies had stopped, and naturally there would be no follow-up. You must know that the emperor must be escorted by enough troops and horses when traveling.
However, what they never expected was that Zhu Houzhao could not restrain his yearning for freedom this time and was determined to go out for a hunting trip. Moreover, Liu Jin and others were muttering beside him, saying that the emperor was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Lord, don’t you even have personal freedom? How can you be restricted by your ministers?
. He also said that Xuanfu Town was one of the nine important towns in the Ming Dynasty. There were 100,000 frontier troops stationed for defense. The terrain was dangerous and the Great Wall passes were extremely strong. There was no danger at all. The reaction in the outer court was so great. In the end, they still wanted to restrict the emperor.
Their actions were intended to bring the emperor under their control.
When Liu Jin and others said this, the whole matter rose to a new level. It was no longer a question of whether or not to get out of the palace, but a question of whether the two sides could make each other surrender.
Zhu Houzhao was originally a person with an out-of-control personality who refused to be restrained. When he was the prince, he was already restricted in every way. Now that he has become the emperor, his father has been buried, and his mother can't control him anymore, and he has been holding back his temper for a long time.
After being released, I refused to bow my head and surrender.
Coupled with the provocation from Liu Jin and others, I remembered what Zhang Yanling said at the court meeting two months ago. Now I finally decided to go my own way.
Under this situation, Zhu Houzhao decided to build a plank road openly and covertly to visit Chencang. On the surface, he stopped all activities, but secretly asked Liu Jin to prepare to leave the palace.
On May 134th, Zhu Houzhao came to the court for two consecutive days to discuss matters, which made the officials in the outer court quite uncomfortable. The emperor suddenly became diligent, and his attitude was actually very sincere. Several backlogged unresolved issues were resolved at the court meeting.
On government affairs, he also approved some of the proposals drafted by the cabinet one by one, and he was so polite that he seemed to have changed his temper.
But on the third day, news came from the palace that the emperor was in poor health and had to stay away from court for three days.
The civil and military officials were not surprised. After all, going to court was already an accident, and going out of court was the norm. After going to court for two consecutive days, the emperor obviously wanted to go to court for a few days. Moreover, the emperor did not raise the issue again in the past few days.
Even during the patrol, I didn't get angry about it. This was already a major victory.
The officials waited for three days with peace of mind. Even Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others were in a good mood, because they saw that the emperor was actually wary, and the presence of civil and military officials in the battle could restrain and deter him.
That means that sooner or later, the situation will be reversed and things will be reversed to the right path hoped by the outer court.
However, on the evening of the third day, an imperial edict came from the palace like a thunder, which struck all the officials to pieces and left them stunned.
"I have left the palace three days ago to patrol the border. The government affairs of the DPRK and China are temporarily handled by the three assistant ministers of the cabinet and officials of various ministries. The results of the vote are sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies for storage, and they will be reviewed together when I return. I am patrolling the border.
My intention is very strong, and I understand that you are loyal to the king. However, the defense of the border town is related to the safety of our country. How can I abandon the border town just because of the danger? You and other ministers are not allowed to come to advise me, and I will severely punish those who violate it.
."
Hearing such an imperial edict, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and others almost fainted. The person who delivered the edict was a chamberlain in the Qianqing Palace. According to him, the emperor handed the imperial edict to him three days ago and asked him to do so.
Three days later, he went to the cabinet to deliver the decree. The servant did not dare to disobey the emperor, so he waited for three days.
Liu Jian was so angry that he almost vomited blood and quickly summoned everyone to discuss countermeasures. When other ministers heard the news, they were stunned and turned pale.
Everyone immediately started to take action. In fact, it was nothing more than checking the facts. Sure enough, the maids and eunuchs in the outer hall of Qianqing Palace three days ago had never seen the emperor again, nor had they seen Liu Jin, Zhang Yong and others in Qianqing Palace. In and out. Through the major city gates, I recalled that at midnight three days ago, the north gate of the palace was opened by Zhang Yanling, the Marquis of Fujianchang in Fusi Town, Jinyiweinan Town, saying that he had important matters to leave the city. The guard The soldiers in the city didn't have any suspicion. After all, they were members of the Jinyi Guards. Their number was not large, only about a dozen riders. They were all wrapped up tightly, and it seemed like it was a confidential matter, so they didn't ask any more questions.
After further detailed investigation, it was learned that four days ago, the former commander of the East Palace Imperial Guard and now the deputy commander of the Han Dynasty General Jin Yiwei, ***, led more than 300 soldiers to practice outside the North City. There was also Chen Shiyi, a Qianhu of Fusi, Nanzhen. Together with Zhang Yin, they led more than 200 Nanzhen Fusi Jinyi guards out of the North City Gate on official business.
Nowadays, Zhang Yanling, the governor of Nanzhen Fusi, and more than 200 Nanzhen Fusi personnel have not returned for several days. The 300 former East Palace Guards led by *** have also not returned to camp for several days. Liu Jin, Zhang Yong and others have also disappeared. The emperor's favorite horse, the big white horse named Xueshangfei, was also taken away by Liu Jin that night three days ago and has not yet been returned to the stable.
After all these things were connected in series, things became clear at a glance.
The Emperor Zhu Houzhao of the Ming Dynasty ran away from the city through the North Gate late at night three days ago! The people accompanying him were the 300 guards from the original East Palace, plus the 200 people from Nanzhen Fusi Town Fu Zhang Yanling.
They had planned to sneak away. The emperor's appearance and the stoppage of mobilizing supplies and escorting troops were just a delaying measure. Before leaving the city, Jiang Zemin and Zhang Yanling drove the accompanying troops out of the capital, somewhere outside the city. They gathered and waited. But in the middle of the night three days ago, the emperor took Liu Jin, Zhang Yong and others, and used Zhang Yanling to open the North City Gate and sneak away.
In order to prevent the ministers and regiment soldiers from pursuing and obstructing them, the emperor chose to wait for three days before letting someone announce the matter to the outer court. At this moment, three days have passed, and the emperor and his entourage are probably already hundreds of miles away, and they are chasing them. Too late.
All the officials were silent after learning about all this situation. Some of them had experienced several emperors and were well-informed and experienced. But they had never encountered such a situation or experienced such a situation. Such a thing. The emperor actually played this kind of cat and mouse game with his ministers, and actually ran out of the capital secretly. This is simply ridiculous, too ridiculous.
After receiving the news, the British Duke Zhang Mao, Dingguo Duke Xu Guangzuo and others were also stunned. Especially Xu Guangzuo, when he learned that Zhang Yanling was cooperating with this matter and might even be the culprit who encouraged the emperor to do this, he screamed in front of everyone. He cursed loudly, and his hands and feet became cold with anger. The impact of this incident was so bad that it would be difficult to estimate the serious consequences. In any case, Zhang Yanling was his son-in-law. If anything went wrong with the emperor, he would be the Duke of Guo. The government will undoubtedly be implicated.
Everyone discussed countermeasures all night long.
Since the emperor sneaked out of Beijing with only a few hundred people to protect him, it was difficult to ensure safety. Some people suggested immediately mobilizing soldiers and horses from the capital camp to catch up, and persuade the emperor to return anyway. Others suggested immediately sending people on flying cavalry to Xuan Mansion and along the way. The government sent a message to the Xuanfu and other officials along the way to intercept the driver, and even if the situation was unfavorable, they would still provide protection.
But these suggestions were rejected. Because now we don’t know whether the emperor is going to Xuanfu Town, and what he said before can no longer be completely believed. The number of troops accompanying the emperor is small, and he has already set off for three days.
The roads crisscross each other, and the north side
The mountains are endless, and they may not be able to catch up with the emperor and his party. Moreover, mobilizing troops and horses in a big way or notifying state officials will increase the danger. Because the Tatars in the border towns are wandering carefully, if they learn the news,
The consequences are disastrous.
After several weighings, everyone finally made a decision. This news should be kept secret to avoid causing shock to the government and the public, and if it is known to the details, it will also increase the danger to the emperor and his party. What needs to be done is to make preparations for reinforcements and send Qingqi to announce the situation.
The three towns in Jizhou, Datong, were sent to explore the whereabouts of the emperor and his entourage. After finding out, they immediately notified the local border garrison to welcome and escort them.
Everyone thinks this is the best way to deal with it at the moment.