"The late emperor suddenly passed away and returned to the Five Elements. Following the orders of Emperor Daxing, I entered the Fengzong Temple. All the civil and military ministers at home and abroad, as well as the senior soldiers and civilians, jointly urged us to move forward. However, despite repeated refusals, I would like to inform heaven and earth only at this time. , that is, the throne of emperor."
"Long live my emperor!"
On July 27, the seventh year of the Apocalypse, He Xie ascended the throne as emperor in the Huangji Palace, which was a full twenty-seven days earlier than the original history.
According to the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, a new emperor must use a new year title when he ascends the throne. The cabinet ministers put forward four proposals on the title of the reign name. Huang Liji, the chief minister of the cabinet, petitioned the emperor on the spot and requested that the reign name be determined.
The four reign titles are Qiansheng, Xingfu, Xianjia and Chongzhen respectively, with Qiansheng being the most noble and Chongzhen the most low-key.
He Xie still uses the Chongzhen reign title.
On the third day of August in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Yan Peiwei, the imperial censor of the Imperial Procuratorate, impeached the cabinet Huang Liji, Shi Fenglai, and Zhang Ruitu for embezzling money, bending the law, and forming cliques for personal gain. The emperor was furious and ordered a strict investigation. On the same day, the emperor summoned Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan. Entering Beijing, I have the intention of resurrecting these two people.
On August 14, Huang Liji and three other cabinet ministers were dismissed from their posts. On the same day, the emperor met Sun Chengzong, Xu Guangqi and Han Kuang in the palace, and they had a pleasant conversation.
The next day, Sun Chengzong accepted Ding Baiying as his adopted daughter.
On August 23, the emperor and his ministers gathered in the Huangji Hall. The emperor proposed that Yan Peiwei, Xu Guangqi and Han Kuang enter the palace. Sun Chengzong was in charge of Liaodong, and Yuan Chonghuan painted a tribute. The ministers reconsidered.
On August 25, Li Kuilong, the left deputy censor of the capital, impeached the tea merchants in the south of the Yangtze River for killing people in the fish and meat village, causing the people to live in dire straits. The emperor ordered the governor of the East Factory Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian to inspect the south of the Yangtze River and gave Shang Fang a sword to investigate lawlessness.
This Li Kuilong was one of the Five Tigers of the Eunuch Party, and the civil and military officials naturally knew it well. This was a scene the emperor wanted to raise for Sun Chengzong and was short of money, so he directed and acted it himself.
However, the Donglin Party did not revive as it did in the original history. There was no one in the Jiangnan tea merchant court, so naturally no one dared to speak for them.
On the same day, the Ministry of Rites submitted a request for a candidate for the wedding, but the emperor refused on the grounds that he was in mourning. The ministers invited again the next day, and the emperor agreed, and Lu Xiangsheng was chosen as the candidate for marriage.
On August 26, the emperor promoted Shen Lian, Qianhu of Jinyiwei, to be the commander of Fusi in Nanzhen. Lu Jianxing and Pei Lun were the commanders of Fusi in Beizhen. He also posthumously promoted the late Lu Wenzhao, the commander of Fusi in Beizhen, to commander of Jinyiwei. He was envoy, granted the title of Marquis, and given the posthumous title of Zhonglie.
On August 28, Yan Peiwei, the first assistant, impeached Cui Chengxiu, the censor of the left capital, Wu Chunfu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, Tian Ji, the minister of the war department, Ni Wenhuan, Taichang Qing, and Li Kuilong, the censor of the left deputy capital, who formed a clique for personal gain, embezzled money, perverted the law, and sold their official positions. Jue and others, a total of twelve major crimes, the ministers reconsidered.
The emperor was furious and ordered the Jin Yiwei and the Third Division to investigate closely.
These five people were members of Wei Zhongxian's party, known as the "Five Tigers". At this time, Wei Zhongxian was confiscating homes and exterminating clans in Jiangnan, causing a bloody storm. The eunuchs were leaderless and unable to resist the sudden change in the direction of the wind and the overwhelming pressure.
On the third day of September, the charges against the "Five Tigers" were verified and they were sentenced to confiscation of their property and executed.
The Five Tigers were destroyed, and the ministers were excited. In the following days, there were louder and louder voices in the court to impeach Wei Zhongxian, but they were all suppressed by the emperor.
On the ninth day of September, Qian Jiazheng, a Gongsheng student in Shaoxing, went to court to impeach Wei Zhongxian on ten major crimes, saying that "there is not enough bamboo in Nanshan to write down his treason, and it is difficult to clear the waves of the East China Sea to wash away his sins."
The emperor was furious: "How dare a traitor harm my wise minister?"
Then he ordered Qian Jiazheng to be deprived of his fame, expelled from the capital, and never to be used again.
After this incident, the ministers no longer impeached Wei Zhongxian, but began to squeeze the eunuch's living space in the court.
The emperor would not deal with anyone who was impeached by the factory guards. Only those who were eunuchs serving as officials in the court would be ignored by the emperor. After going back and forth, the officials figured out the emperor's thoughts, so at the end of September, Wei Zhongxian was in the court. The eunuch power that had been built so hard in the army was completely eradicated.
But the foundation of his east factory has not been touched at all.
On the first day of October, the emperor chose Ding Baiying as his queen.
On the ninth day of October, there was a civil uprising in the south of the Yangtze River. The emperor activated Sun Chuanting and sent him to suppress the civil unrest and pacify the south of the Yangtze River.
On November 15th, Wei Zhongxian returned to Beijing, and his home was confiscated. Sixteen million taels of silver and numerous antiques and treasures were confiscated.
On November 16, the emperor reprimanded Wei Zhongxian for his unfavorable conduct, which had caused a civil uprising. He was exempted from his title, fined him a year's salary, and ordered him to think about his mistakes and repent. He also killed Wang Tigan to thank Jiangnan and calm the people's hearts.
On November 23, the emperor promoted Sun Chuanting to the position of governor of Jiangnan.
At this time, the Zhejiang Party, the Chu Party, the Wu Party and other forces were competing in the court. Jinyiwei and Dongchang were completely separated. Jinyiwei commanded Pei Lun to reprimand Wei Zhongxian on the spot, which spread throughout the world.
But this does not mean that Wei Zhongxian has lost power since then. Dongchang is still a behemoth, but Dongchang's power has completely shrunk from the court and the border army.
On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, the emperor got married and Ding Baiying was granted the title of queen.
In January of the first year of Chongzhen, Xu Guangqi, the second assistant to the cabinet, presented the "Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs", "The Essentials of Fire Attack", "Gunpowder Making Method" and other works, as well as sweet potatoes. The emperor was delighted as if he had found a treasure. He ordered him to supervise the construction of artillery with all his strength. In response to this incident, a large number of foreign missionaries were appointed as master craftsmen in the Firearms Foundry Bureau, and they were generously rewarded with large sums of money. They also ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to promote sweet potato cultivation in Shaanxi and Shandong.
In the same month, Empress Ding became pregnant, and the emperor granted Enke a favor and recruited scholars from all over the world.
In May, famine continued throughout Shaanxi, with severe drought and insect disasters occurring. The seedlings withered and starved to death across the fields.
Ma Maocai, the inspector of Shaanxi Province, wrote in his "Preparation for the Great Hunger", "The ground is yellow and red, and every village is almost deserted; the bones are white and green, and every night it seems like I can hear ghosts crying..."
In June, Wang Jiayin and Wang Ziyong of Fugu rioted and captured Huanglong Mountain. Then Wang Zuogua of Yichuan, Gao Yingxiang of Ansai, Zhang Cunmeng of Luochuan, Monk Wang of Yanchuan, Wang Daliang of Hannan and others responded and shouted, "Don't sit here and starve to death" , why not die by stealing!"
The civil unrest soon took the form of a prairie fire, and the flames of war spread throughout Shaanxi!
The emperor promoted Lu Xiang to be the governor of Shaanxi, allocated three million taels of silver, and ordered him to do all he could to provide disaster relief and suppress civil uprisings, and the culprits would be killed without mercy.
In September, Shaanxi was victorious. Gao Yingxiang, Wang Jiayin, Wang Ziyong and other mob leaders were all killed in the fighting.
In December, the Jin invaded the border. Sun Chengzong led Yuan Chonghuan, Man Gui, Zu Dashou and others as generals to resist the enemy outside Ningyuan City. Due to Sun Chengzong's caution and hesitation in this battle, he missed a good opportunity to defeat the enemy. After hearing this, the emperor reprimanded Sun Chengzong, The proposal to set up a separate military aircraft office outside the cabinet was opposed by hundreds of officials, but to no avail.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month in the second year of Chongzhen, Empress Ding gave birth to a prince, named Zhu Ciheng, and the whole country celebrated.
In April of the same year, Zhang Xianzhong gathered farmers from the Eighteen Villages in Dingbian County to launch a civil uprising, calling himself the "Eight Kings". Li Zicheng responded in Mizhi County, and for a while, war broke out in Shaanxi again. The two enslaved the refugees along the way, gathering a crowd of 30,000.
The emperor was furious, and Lu Xiang was promoted to the governor of Shaanxi Province. He failed to respond immediately. This was for one reason. The memorial was reported to all levels of the cabinet, and the best opportunity to suppress the civil unrest was missed. The second reason was that the chief minister of the cabinet, Yan Peiwei, Ignorance of military affairs and failure to pay attention to it were the third reason. The emperor ordered Yan Peiwei to become an official, and again mentioned the establishment of a military aircraft office, but no one dared to object.