In the first half of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, there was too much bad news for the emperor.
First, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong attacked the two important towns of Luoyang and Xiangyang, and then the two relatives of King Fu and King Xiang were killed by bandits. After that, Yang Sichang died of illness in Shashi, and Li Zicheng continued to conquer the north and south of Zhongzhou, defeating the army.
A powerful force, unstoppable.
When greeting the concubine this morning, Emperor Chongzhen fell asleep while half-kneeling, and no one dared to wake him up. It was not until the Holy Emperor woke up that he was shocked to realize that he had lost his composure in front of the palace and was so ashamed.
But the concubines, palace servants, and chamberlains were all even more worried about the emperor's health.
Since he ascended to the throne, the emperor has not had a good night's sleep. He eats, sleeps and sleeps, and never dares to slack off in dealing with the affairs of the court, so as to damage his body and lose his etiquette in front of the palace. Even the concubine cannot bear it.
I shed tears and sighed repeatedly that the emperor worked so hard for so little, why couldn't he achieve peace in the world?
The palace people followed the queen's instructions and prepared dozens of different dishes for the emperor, trying to please him. Because the emperor once said that if the Donglu and rogue bandits were unjust, he would live in a simple way. So.
These dozens of dishes have no meaty taste and are all exquisite products prepared by the master chefs. They are nutritious and delicious, and the colors are very simple.
Unfortunately, the emperor had not yet recovered from the blows of Luoyang and Xiangyang, and bad news came one after another: Wu Bashi, the defender of Jinzhou Dongguan, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing army had captured the outer city of Jinzhou. Huang Taiji completed the siege of Jinzhou City.
The moat was filled in, the city walls were destroyed, and all foreign aid and supplies for the Ming army were cut off.
Zu Dashou reported to the court: "The grain and rice in Jincheng can only last for more than a month, and the beans to feed the horses cannot last for a month. If the Qing army rushes to attack again, the two cities of Ningjin and Jin will be broken. So Song, Xing, and Jin
The three cities are in danger and their fate is precarious."
The emperor almost fainted on the spot. He grabbed his collar, looked up to the sky and sighed: "Over the years, I have been working hard and working hard, not daring to slack off, in order to be the master of the ZTE and revive the national destiny. Unexpectedly, this spring
Since then, Luoyang and Xiangyang have fallen one after another, and the two princes have been killed. This is something I never dreamed of! Who knows what the country will be like in a few years?"
He stopped talking, and suddenly his throat became clogged and tears rolled out of his eyes.
The surrounding palace people did not dare to speak, and the emperor himself was silent for a long time. When he felt a little calmer in his heart and his tears had dried, he summoned Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, into the palace to report the situation in Jinzhou.
After Chen Xinjia entered the palace, he told Chongzhen that most of the army to aid Jin had arrived in the Ningyuan area, and some were still on the way. Together with Wu Sangui and others who were originally in Ningyuan, there were a total of 130,000 troops led by eight general officers to brush away the old and weak and leave.
There were actually 100,000 people in the pass. He thought that Hong Chengchou should leave the pass as soon as possible, rush to Ningyuan, supervise the advance of the troops, and relieve the siege of Jinzhou in one fell swoop.
Chongzhen smashed the tea cup to the ground and asked angrily: "Why is Hong Chengchou still lingering behind closed doors?"
Chen Xinjia lowered his head, knelt on the ground, and replied: "Hong Chengchou still used caution as an excuse, saying that he would deploy a closed-door defense, and then advance step by step towards the enemies besieging Jinzhou."
"Be cautious! At what point do we have to be cautious and cautious!? It is a taboo for military strategists to waste money and pay for their troops. Doesn't Hong Chengchou understand? How can such an action solve the siege of Jinzhou?"
Chen Xingjia knew that Chongzhen was extremely concerned about the consumption of money and food. Although the Holy Emperor treated his relatives and vassals well, the hundreds of thousands of troops gathered near Ningyuan were not members of the clan. They just sat guarding the city every day, wasting food and salary. How could the emperor bear it?
He therefore said: "Your Majesty is very concerned. If the soldiers' energy is wasted and their troops are deployed without success, it will not be in the interests of the country."
Chongzhen walked down the high platform, put one hand behind his back, and walked twice around Chen Xinjia. Remembering how Zu Dashou escaped back to Guancheng without authorization when he executed Yuan Chonghuan, he said with lingering fear: "Zu Dashou is not very reliable. If the rescue is delayed,
, he offered Jinzhou to surrender, what should we do?"
Chongzhen clenched his fists and gritted his teeth and said: "It is not easy to raise food and salary, but if it runs out, it will be even harder to raise again. What's more, the imperial court is eager for a quick battle outside the pass to relieve the siege of Jinzhou, so that a few elite troops can be transferred back to the pass.
Destroy Chuangxian. You can tell Hong Chengchou that I have worked hard with my troops and urge him to march to Jinzhou as soon as possible."
The emperor's eyes were bloodshot from years of hard work. He was talented and had an extraordinary memory, and his mind immediately recalled some of the trivial matters that Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou had made him dissatisfied with in the past.
So he discussed with Chen Xinjia how to force Hong Chengchou to march as soon as possible. He also summoned Cao Huachun to send more reliable servants to Ningyuan: "This annoying Hong Chengchou must find ways to get him out of the border as soon as possible! Dongchang wants to
Send investigators to Ningyuan to investigate whether Hong Chengchou negotiated funds with the Donglu? If he didn't come out immediately and kept delaying, wouldn't he have become a spy for the slave establishment? "
Chongzhen slammed the table hard and cursed: "Whoever destroys this elite army of the Eighth General Soldier will be the biggest sinner of the Ming Dynasty and the biggest spy of the Donglu!"
Chen Xinjia, who was kneeling on the ground, raised his head carefully and said to Chongzhen: "Yesterday, Grand Scholar Xie Sheng was in the court room and told several courtiers that the emperor wanted to seek peace with the Donglu... How should we deal with this matter?"
Chongzhen's face changed drastically, and anger filled his chest. He pressed his right hand tremblingly on the table and said in a deep voice: "Are you sure what Xie Sheng said was asking for peace?"
Chen Xinjia knew that ever since Yang Sichang put forward the strategy of pacifying the internal situation before resisting foreign aggression, Chongzhen had made up his mind to negotiate peace with the Eastern captives and concentrate his efforts on pacifying the rogue bandits first. However, there was a Ming dynasty, although it had happened before, Dayan Khan, I answer
There was no precedent for Khan, but after all, there was no emperor who openly negotiated peace with the Hu people.
How could Chongzhen, who claimed to be the emperor's rescuer, allow his virtuous name to be stained with such filth?
Therefore, the emperor is willing to negotiate peace, but he must first come up with a method similar to the Longqing peace negotiation. At least he cannot lose the face of Ming Dynasty, the emperor, and mainly the emperor.
Xie Sheng inadvertently exposed Emperor Chongzhen's inner thoughts, and Chen Xinjia estimated that this would immediately cause an uproar in the government and the public. However, this was also Chen Xinjia's intention. Since Yang Sichang's death, Chen Xinjia has become one of the most caring ministers around the emperor.
one.
He used Xie Sheng as a victim to bring up the topic of peace negotiation. On the one hand, he wanted to bring the topic of peace negotiation to the public and test the water temperature. On the other hand, he was worried that if there was no warm-up, if the emperor proposed peace negotiation in the future and the ministers objected,
He who presided over the peace talks was likely to become Chongzhen's scapegoat.
After all, Emperor Chongzhen liked to push the blame to ministers. This was something everyone knew. Chen Xinjia did not want to be like Xue Guoguan, who worked hard to help Chongzhen borrow money from hundreds of officials and nobles, and ended up with the end of having his property confiscated and died.
Sure enough, the emperor was so excited that he immediately wrote a stern edict, saying: "Xie Sheng, a great scholar, is old and feeble, and is no longer able to serve as an official. His status will be reduced immediately. Xie Sheng should return to his hometown in Shandong immediately and live there. He is not allowed to stay in Beijing."
Chen Xinjia sighed secretly, feeling sorry for Xie Sheng for being his scapegoat. But then he thought about the fact that the emperor was mean and ungrateful, and his mind was changeable. Will he become a scapegoat in the future?
Who will take pity on myself?
Accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger, this is a sincere statement.
The news that Xie Sheng was dismissed from office soon spread throughout the country. Even though this old man in his fifties was already a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and a bachelor, he would inevitably encounter disaster if he unintentionally offended the emperor.
Xie Zheng, who originally lived in Xie's house, had to move out. He was named Mingxian and was considered Xie Sheng's nephew. Because Xie Zheng's grandfather had been an official in Liaodong, his family did not live in his hometown in Shandong. , but lived in Liaoyang for three generations.
However, after Nurhaci conquered Liaoyang, he regarded the Han people as dolphins and dogs and actually wanted to kill all the "grainless Han people". Hundreds of people from Xie Zheng's family died in Liaodong, and only a few people, including him, managed to escape back to the pass.
Xie Zheng was still very young when he fled back to the pass, so he stayed in the house of his clan boss Xie Sheng. He was diligent in studying. Although he had not yet received any honors above the imperial examination due to his young age, his literary name was already known to many people in the capital. .
"My eldest uncle is only in his fifties, how can he be considered old and foolish? Moreover, when a dignified university student was suddenly expelled, how could the government and the public not be shocked? It seems that there are rumors that the emperor intends to liaise with Dong The captives are seeking peace and want to put domestic peace first, which is probably a conclusive statement."
It was still very early in the day, but there were not many people left in Xie's house, and it looked very desolate. The pale green dawn had just appeared in the east, and there were sparse stars and the waning moon on the treetops. From other courtyards, roosters crowded and dogs barked.
The pale moonlight illuminates the road leading south from the capital to my hometown in Shandong, and a hazy mist flows everywhere. There are also some carriages, mules, and boats transporting goods, rushing south regardless of hard work.
Xie Zheng was very confused about his future. Hundreds of his closest family members had their heads removed and were buried in the massacres of the slaves.
Should he follow Xie Sheng back to his hometown in Shandong?
However, Xie Zheng was not familiar with it, and he was still interested in fame and wanted to obtain an official position so that he could have a chance to avenge the Donglu.
Could it be that with the downfall of his uncle Xie Sheng, will he never have such an opportunity again?
"Thousands of people are Nuonuo. Several people are talking about it. The edict is to kill them, okay.
Thousands of people are silent, but several people are silent. The edict is to kill them, but that's okay.
Thousands of people jumped up and down. Countless people shouted at each other. Everyone said, "Kill him, okay."
Thousands of people jumped up and down. A few people were silent. Everyone said, "Kill him, okay."
It seems that the emperor cannot tolerate a single person who has different opinions. And the officials and officials in the capital seem to be even more intolerant than the emperor of a person who has different opinions.
Xie Zheng felt inexplicably ridiculous in his heart. In ancient times, the purpose of setting up public commentators was to enable arrogant people to put forward correct suggestions that fit the current situation without fear of authority.
But today's public opinion officials have instead formed a hegemony of public opinion, which in turn oppresses others, making it so that no one can tell the truth, and everyone can only speak the same discourse system that suits Qingliu's taste.
"Henan is in turmoil. I heard that the governors and generals of the towns in the Central Plains are spending a lot of money to recruit staff and counselors. Maybe you can go to Henan to have a look?"
A cool breeze blew by, and the fog dissipated again and became thinner, revealing the southward flowing water in the canal.