On New Year's Eve in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen Emperor's reign, the city of Beijing seemed a little livelier. Since Zhu Youjian came to the throne, in the thirteen years since Zhu Youjian came to the throne, the Manchus have destroyed the border walls four times and sent troops into the fortress, three of which reached the city walls of Beijing. The capital of Yan was therefore
Much depressed.
In the 11th year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuan Dynasty, was mourning his father's death, so he took advantage of the situation and led troops from Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi Province to help the capital. However, Emperor Chongzhen had already intended to negotiate peace with the Manchus.
, the assistant minister Yang Sichang and the eunuch Gao Qiqian heard Chongzhen's intention, and made every possible effort to make things difficult for Lu Xiangsheng.
During the Battle of Julu, Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp, pulled the troops away without authorization. Lu Xiangsheng claimed to be the governor of the world and the king of troops, but in fact the only troops he could control were Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei, with more than 10,000 troops.
With such a meager force, how could Lu Xiangsheng be able to resist the Manchus? Emperor Chongzhen thought that he was afraid of the enemy and avoided fighting, so he issued an edict: "Lu Xiangsheng was afraid of the enemy and could not move forward. It is really deplorable. He immediately resigned from all his posts and returned to the army."
"Beijing Listening Survey", Lu Xiangsheng was to be captured from the front of the battle and brought back to Beijing for disposal.
After Lu Xiangsheng died in the battle of Julu, it was confirmed in Chongzhen's mind that he supported troops to avoid fighting, feared the enemy like a tiger, and was guilty of Jifu's corruption. The body was not allowed to be buried for eighty days, and there was no mention of mourning and honor after death. Instead, he was
Some of Yang Sichang's accomplices were accused of being cowardly and afraid of the enemy, and falsely reporting military exploits.
Chongzhen likes to use some self-conceited "power tactics" to deal with courtiers. Among them, only Yang Sichang can gain his full trust. Today is the time when the palace is preparing for New Year's Eve, and the palace people are busy. Emperor Chongzhen's favorite concubine Tian Fei looks at
Before the Chinese New Year, the emperor was still reviewing documents on the imperial court, so he personally brought a bowl of white fungus soup to persuade him to rest.
"Your Majesty..." Concubine Tian placed the silver bowl decorated with agate and emerald on the imperial desk, but she did not directly persuade Chongzhen to stop writing. She just stared at the emperor with a gentle look. According to the "ancestors" formulated by Emperor Hongwu
According to the law, concubines in the harem cannot say a word about state affairs.
Emperor Chongzhen grabbed a small Chinese jade spoon, scooped out a spoonful of white fungus soup and drank it. He was only thirty years old, but in order to support the precarious Ming Dynasty, he had already sprouted many white hairs, and his eyes were filled with bloodshot eyes. It was obvious that he was
I was busy until late again last night.
"It's been more than three months since Wen Ruo left the capital, right?" Chongzhen asked Concubine Tian. What the emperor was always thinking about was his minister Yang Sichang, who was "like a fish in water" with him.
He took out a roll of yellow wax paper with gold cloud and dragon characters from behind, slowly unfolded it, dipped in some ink, and quickly wrote the next line: Yanmei is going to build Qiancheng today, and the general will be majestic at Xiliu Camp. After sweeping away the atmosphere of the invaders, he will
Jing, return education and improve people's livelihood.
This is an imperial poem given to Yang Sichang by the emperor before he left the capital to be the governor. Before the emperor sent Yang Sichang as the governor, he gave Yang Wenruo the Shangfang Sword, and also granted him great power to control all civil and military affairs below the governor's town.
On the day Yang Sichang left Beijing, Chongzhen also rewarded his ministers with a hundred taels of fine gold, four sets of scarlet silk materials for making robes, a bullfighting suit, 40,000 taels of silver, 1,500 pairs of silver medals, silk and platoons.
Five hundred pieces of silk each, a silver seal and a salary of five hundred thousand taels were given to the "supervisor and assistant minister".
It is rare for an emperor to be so generous. Chongzhen even personally held a wine vessel and drank wine for Yang Sichang when he was practicing. His high hopes for Yang Sichang and his sincerity, how many monarchs and ministers in the past and present can compare with him?
"The success or failure of the suppression of thieves is due to a weak body. It's just that Sir, he has been away from Beijing for so long, why hasn't he heard the news of victory?" Chongzhen stood up from the throne. Because he had been sitting for too long, his blood surged, making him
He staggered twice and failed to stand firm. The eunuchs and palace attendants around him all exclaimed and were very nervous. Only Wang Cheng'en, the eunuch with a pen, took his time and slowly supported Chongzhen.
Chongzhen's face was a little gray. He put one hand on Wang Chengen's arm and walked around the study twice. Concubine Tian winked at the palace attendant next to her, and someone immediately brought tea. But Chongzhen just gently used his lips to
I took a sip and didn't drink too much.
"Recently, even the land of plenty in Suzhou and Jiaxing has been hit by drought and locust plagues. There are troubles in all directions, and the national treasury is in ruins. Since I came to power, I have been working hard and sleeping day and night. I dare not slack off for a day. Is it my fault?"
Seeing that the emperor stood firm, Wang Chengen slowly let go of his hand. He had taken some memorials and newspapers and prepared to read them to Emperor Chongzhen. At this time, he answered the emperor's question first, "Your Majesty has the ambition to help the country.
But none of the ministers have the talent to resist insults and quell chaos, so they fail to plan and use the country as a show."
Chongzhen was very impressed by Wang Chengen's words. He did not think that the problem of the country's deteriorating situation lay with himself. He only thought that all the ministers were useless. However, the emperor still denied it verbally, "It is not always like this. There are many countries.
Therefore, the thighs and thighs are dependent on each other, and I cannot rule the world by myself. People like Yang Sichang and Chen Xinjia are very talented and are rare talents."
Wang Chengen saw that the emperor's mood seemed to have improved a little, so he took out a memorial written by Chen Xinjia, which contained some good news. He asked: "Your Majesty, the Grand Sima has just sent a memorial, and the Secretary of General Affairs has already posted it.
It’s yellow, does your Majesty want to take a look?”
Due to the chaos in the country, more and more documents are sent to the palace every day. There are too many documents to be read at the provincial level, so the Secretary of General Affairs will write out the reasons for the documents received every day on yellow paper and paste them on the front
, is called yellowing, and then writes a summary of the content on yellow paper and sticks it on the back, which is called pasting yellow.
Generally speaking, urgent military intelligence reports and reports are not affixed. However, the memorial sent by Chen Xinjia was very long and contained a lot of meaningless content, so Wang Chengen still asked the Secretary of General Affairs to affix it.
Queen Huang then showed it to the emperor. These key parts highlighted in yellow were all done by Chen Xinjia. From all angles, they touted Yang Sichang's successful achievements since he left the capital to supervise the division.
Sure enough, Chongzhen took a look at it first, then held the memorial in his hand and read it carefully again. A blush appeared on his gray face, and he was overjoyed and said: "Yang Sichang is really a genius in the world!
He defeated the thieves at Luohou Mountain and Baitu Pass, and then trapped the intruders in the Zhushan area, and they will be destroyed!"
But at this time, there was a sudden loud click outside the room, which made Emperor Chongzhen frown. He opened the door and walked out. The cold wind was biting outside, so Concubine Tian hurriedly took a mink cloak and put it on the emperor.
on the shoulders.
It turned out that several palace people in the courtyard climbed up the tree to hang lanterns and accidentally broke a few branches. This was a very common thing, but it reminded Chongzhen of the strong wind when the Donglu invaded the fortress two years ago.
The past story of blowing off the branches of an ancient locust tree in the courtyard.
A feeling of uneasiness arose in the emperor's heart. He was about to turn around and go back to his room. He saw new door couplets posted on both sides of the door. This door couplet was written in full, dignified and vigorous writing:
The world is at peace, the green hills are graceful and the six books are explored;
In my spare time, I have cherished more than three of Yao's works.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at this couplet, and thought of the dangerous situation with wars all over the world, and whispered: "Peace in the world... Tens of thousands of free days... If Yang Sichang can really play a wonderful role, he can help me clean up the country and achieve peace. I will
How can you be stingy with the reward from Tonghou?"
At this time, a eunuch hurriedly walked up to Wang Chengen, the eunuch who had written the pen. After whispering a few words to him, he handed him another memorial. After hearing this, Wang Chengen's expression changed, and he shook his hand and dropped the memorial.
Got to the ground.
"Who sent the memorial? Let me see it."
Wang Chengen's appearance attracted the attention of Emperor Chongzhen. He raised his chin and asked the palace servants to pick up the memorial that fell on the ground and read it to him.
The palace attendant had just opened the memorial in his hand and had not started to read it. Wang Chengen fell to his knees with a snap and kowtowed three times before shouting: "The memorial was sent by Zheng Chongjian, the governor of Qin! Governor Qin brought troops to Sichuan.
Qin Fu stationed in Xixiang, Ziyang, to block the escape route of the Xian thieves. The governor of Qin reported that the auxiliary minister Yangge had missed the opportunity and made the mistake of allowing the Xian thieves to escape. He also ordered the intruders to jump out of Yunyang and rush into Shangluo, where the soldiers invaded.
Chang'an is almost in danger of becoming a major disaster in Guanzhong."
"What!" Emperor Chongzhen was incredulous. He fully thought that Yang Sichang would personally supervise the army and in more than three months, he would be able to achieve great success. However, he did not expect that he would be criticized by Zheng Chongjian, the governor of the three sides.
Although Chongzhen was suspicious, once he decided to trust someone, he would often give incredible favor. He took the memorial from Zheng Chongjian, the governor of the three sides, read it personally, and after reading it, he asked Wang Chengen: "
Do you know if Zheng Chongjian was comparing himself to someone and deliberately criticizing his ministers?"
Wang Chengen felt anxious and uneasy. He knew that Emperor Chongzhen still had a holy love for Yang Sichang, but he did not dare to intervene in the conflict between the governor and the governor. He replied in a low voice: "I have never heard of this."
Chongzhen held the memorial tightly in his hand and raised his hand again, as if he wanted to throw the memorial to the ground. But after a while, he thought again that the Qin soldiers and the Chu soldiers surrounded and suppressed the traitor Xian, so it was not surprising that the traitor failed to be beheaded immediately.
, perhaps the Qin governor had a conflict with Yang Sichang because of this. However, according to Chen Xinjia's report, there was only a small group of thieves left in the army of the intruders, and they were trapped in Yunyang Mountain. They were about to be destroyed. However, Shangluo suddenly emerged, and the soldiers
No matter what, it was Yang Sichang's fault for forcing Xi'an.
After careful consideration, the emperor had an idea in his mind. He still preferred Yang Sichang's side, but he also felt that it was necessary to give his assistant a good beating and urge him to send troops to help suppress the thieves such as Xian and Chuang.
"Give me an edict."
When Wang Chengen heard the news, he quickly asked the eunuchs to bring over the yellow paper documents and pen and ink. He put the yellow paper on the back of a young eunuch and started writing it himself in the courtyard.
"The emperor's edict is carried out by Heaven: The traitors have brought harm to the country. It has been here for ten years. All the surnames are in ruins, and the tombs are shocked. All my ministers, who does not gnash their teeth! God is tired of wandering around, and there is a turn for the better. The culprits are huge and evil, and they are helping each other.
, Qin soldiers attacked the Han, Chu soldiers suppressed the Sichuan, Ge, Zuo and others waited and wandered in Huaidian. They were all prisoners waiting to be killed and were not a serious problem for the court. Only the sacrifice thief Zhang Xianzhong, the Cao thief Luo Rucai, and the intruder Li Zicheng were the three thieves of the country.
The worries in the heart have not been suppressed despite repeated defeats; the lone army is running around, but still wants to succeed. There is a skill in winning over, and the best friends are solidified and will not disperse; small favors deceive people, and fools are willing to listen to them. If the country is not defeated in one go, the country will be destroyed.
It would be better to have a bottom to stop the troubles in your heart!"
"I have repeatedly issued edicts before, and I earnestly tell you: We must destroy the three groups of rebels as soon as possible. Unexpectedly, the Qin Governor reported that the thieves ran out of the cauldron, and the intruders rushed Zhou Hao. The governor and the ministers have always been powerful in suppressing thieves, and they are outstanding.
I am very grateful for your hard work, how can we suffer the loss of Xiangzhou?"
"In the play! The triumphant drink has arrived. There are praises for meritorious service in ancient times. I am looking forward to it today. But if you have special merits, the imperial court will not hesitate to reward you with a title. If you bear a heavy burden, the national law will have its own punishment. I am waiting for you.
Your Majesty, please come and drink as soon as possible. It will be a banquet for laborers. I appreciate this."
The edict drafted by Chongzhen was circumstantial. While informing Yang Sichang of Zheng Chongjian's criticism, he also exerted pressure on Yang Sichang from all aspects, asking him to eradicate the rebels as soon as possible. Otherwise...otherwise, the emperor's holy family will be very changeable.
The emperor felt a burst of fatigue. He rubbed his brows and eyes with his fingers and said: "Take another 20,000 taels of silver from the internal funds... Forget it, the country is in trouble, let's take the 5,000 taels of internal funds and send them together.
Let’s go to Xiangyang.”
Wang Chengen knelt on the ground and held the edict that he had written quickly in his hands. He first said, "I accept the edict," and then slowly added, "The first month is approaching. Your Majesty should rest. If you are tired,
, How could Sheji be so dishonored?"
Emperor Chongzhen then thought that tomorrow was New Year's Eve. He was agitated. It was about to celebrate the New Year, but he didn't even have any leisure time. But thanks to Wang Chengen's reminder, he remembered one more thing, and he said
: "Draw up another edict, I have forgotten that the Chinese New Year is coming soon. I will take another 30,000 yuan from the inner treasury and distribute it to several of my uncles, which can be regarded as a cousin relationship."