In the temporary palace of Prince Lu in the Ziyang Palace in Linhai City, Taizhou, Lao Zhu was the supervisor of the throne.
The ceremony was a bit simple and even hasty, but with the support of several squires who wanted to become officials, it still had some appearance. This loud shout made all the participants feel excited and excited. After all, everyone had made a pledge to support Conglong.
merit.
"Then Ziyang Palace was made the palace, Taizhou Prefecture was changed to Tokyo, Taizhou Xingzai was changed to Zhongxing Prefecture, and Taizhou Fuyamen was changed to Xingdian..."
"The two capitals fell, the Lie Emperor died for his country, and Hongguang hunted in the north. However, the Ming Dynasty has not yet been destroyed, and the Zhu family has not died. As long as I, Zhu Yihai, am alive, I vow to personally lead the Sixth Division, expedition to the Central Plains in the north, restore the world, and revive the Ming Dynasty.
!”
The imperial portrait of Taizu hangs in the middle hall. The fat face is full of kindness and majesty. It is definitely not the ugly shoehorn face that some people spread on the Internet. Lao Zhu feels that this is the tenth generation ancestor of King Lu.
Looking at all this, if he could really see this, maybe he would be a little relieved at this time. After all, the Zhu family is not all weaklings and cowards.
"Your Highness!"
Song Zhipu's voice interrupted his thoughts. At this time, there were many officials in the palace hall, including current Taizhou magistrates such as Zhu Ren, former Zuo Shilang of the Household Department like Song Zhipu, and former Jingjiang officials like Chen Hanhui.
There are also county magistrates, Yangzhou military supervisors, and former Tianjin soldiers like Ke Xiaqing, but basically their grades are not high.
On the contrary, it was the two eunuchs Li Guofu and Pang Tianshou who stood in front of Lao Zhu in red robes. From a comparison, they were the ones who really held great power.
We must know that by the end of the Ming Dynasty, among the twenty-four eunuch yamen, Sima Jian and Yu Ma Jian were the most powerful. Si Li Jian approved the cabinet on behalf of the emperor, and handled confidential matters with the cabinet, and was actually the internal minister. Yu Ma Jian
It shares the military command with the Ministry of War and the governor, and is actually the inner court's governor's office.
In addition, the Royal Horse Supervisor also managed the grassland and the Imperial Village, ran the Imperial Village, and handled finances with the household department. He was the internal steward of the Ming Dynasty. The factory he set up twice was also supervised by the Royal Horse Supervisor, and the East Factory with the ceremonial supervisor and eunuch.
During the Chongzhen period, the Yongwei camp, the emperor's personal army, was also supervised by the imperial horse eunuch and the admiral.
At this time, Song Zhipu seemed to be the head of the officials of this temporary small court in Taizhou. While he was excited, he also suggested to Lao Zhu to establish and improve the various ministries of the court as soon as possible to restore the central functions.
The banner has been raised, but it still has to be known to the world and supported by the civil servants, military officers and the common people. This is not that simple, especially now that the Tartars are entrenched in Jinling and Hangzhou and are close at hand, so we must act quickly.
"Your Highness, Zhu Ren and others surrendered to the captives. How should we deal with them?"
Lao Zhu sat at the top and glanced at his colleague Zhu Ren and the other leading party who looked worried and uneasy. In his heart, he was actually very disdainful of these people. However, at that moment, he also knew that not everyone was in a national crisis.
Although the Ming Dynasty had loyal ministers like Sun Chengzong, Lu Xiangsheng, and Li Banghua who could serve as Shi Kefa and Huang Degong.
But the vast majority of people are still like Hong Chengchou, Qian Qianyi, and Wu Sangui. After all, how many of them can really sacrifice themselves in the uprising and dare to sacrifice?
At that time, the governors, governors, generals, soldiers, princes, and princes all came to surrender one after another. It was understandable that most of the middle and lower-level officials such as local Tongzhi and county magistrates chose to be harsh and secretive.
But understanding is understanding, after all, Lao Zhu is now in charge of supervising the country, and the problems of these people are no longer personal emotions.
"Your Highness, kill all these weak traitors."
Lao Zhu pondered.
Killing is just a matter of words, it is really simple, but you have to consider the consequences.
After a long time, he slowly said, "Dai Guangda and Zhu Ren are the parents of a government. They have read the books of sages and experienced numerous imperial examinations. In the end, they were named in the Golden Palace and won the Jinshi. Then they elected officials and served as officials for many years.
Pao, in this time of national crisis, you should have been sympathizing with the country, but in the end, you only wanted to surrender, and even took the initiative to surrender and lead the way. This is really shameful and unforgivable!"
"Kill!" Wang Chuangzi and other generals shouted loudly.
Zhu Ren was also an official who recruited volunteers to pacify Xu Du Zhiluo, and he was considered brave and resourceful. But at this time, in front of Lao Zhu, his knees were weak and he didn't even dare to refute. He just knelt there and kowtowed to beg for mercy.
Chen Hanhui looked at Zhu Ren and couldn't bear it. Although he angrily scolded him out of the house yesterday and even cut off his robe, they had worked together together after all.
"Your Highness, it is indeed a serious crime for Zhu Ren to surrender to the captives. However, he has been an official in Taizhou for several years and has indeed made some achievements in protecting the country and the people. Now that Your Highness wants to revive the Ming Dynasty, it is the time to employ people. It is not possible to allow him to make meritorious deeds and give him a chance to correct himself.
New opportunities.”
Lao Zhu originally had no intention of killing Zhu Ren and others. The main reason was that in the current situation, surrendering captives and thieves was the behavior of most people. If there was a mass killing, it would undoubtedly drive all these people to the opposite side.
"Zhu Ren, do you know your guilt?"
"The guilty minister was confused for a moment and deserved death."
"It's good to know the crime. The leader of the captors, Dai Guangda, has been executed. You are rebellious and should not be forgiven. Now Mr. Chen pleads for you, so I will give you a chance to change your ways."
A great man once said that the first problem of revolution is to figure out who is a friend and who is an enemy. Revolution is not a dinner party. If you cannot even distinguish between the principal contradiction and the secondary contradiction and cannot unite all forces, it will be difficult to succeed.
When Chongzhen faced the domestic peasant army and the Tatars outside the customs, he mishandled the situation and failed to distinguish the priorities. As a result, both sides failed to control it, and eventually ended up hanging on the southeast branch.
After the Hongguang Dynasty was established in Nanjing, it made a fundamental mistake.
Under the extremely critical situation at that time, the monarchs and ministers of the Hongguang Dynasty actually came up with a decision to unite with the captives to defeat the invaders.
You must know that after the Qing army entered the pass, the intruders retreated steadily, and the Western Camp was actually not in a strong position. At this time, the Qing troops entering the pass attacked three. As long as the emperor and ministers of the Hongguang Dynasty had any brains, they would all know that they would join forces at this time.
The weak and the strong should first put aside their grievances with the peasant army and unite together to drive the Tatars out of the country first.
But the monarchs and ministers of the Hongguang Dynasty did not think so. They insisted on uniting with the Qing army and took advantage of the peasant army's defeat and his illness to kill them all. As for the Qing army, they asked for peace.
During the interview, he wanted to divide the Yangtze River into self-governance, and the two dynasties of the north and the south.
This is even more stupid than the Northern Song Dynasty Maritime Alliance, which combined with the Jin army to destroy the Liao Dynasty.
The Hongguang Dynasty not only wanted to unite with the rebels, but also has been pursuing those officials who surrendered to the Chu army after the fall of Beijing, and even their family members. Officials who surrendered in the areas in the north that were captured by the Chu army have also been pursued.
These stupid actions have greatly weakened Hongguang Chao's solid foundation.
Today, the situation in the Ming Dynasty is one-sided. It is unrealistic to ask everyone to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Of course, we cannot blindly tolerate it, otherwise there will be no cost or scruples in betraying.
Just leave a leeway.
Lao Zhu looked at Zhu Ren and other uneasy surrenderers with a cold face, and finally made a deal. Zhu Ren and all the surrendered officials in Taizhou were demoted to the fifth rank and retained in order to atone for their sins. Zhu Ren was originally a fifth-rank fellow, and directly
He was demoted to the seventh rank, and even removed from the post of Tongzhi.
"In addition, I hope you can take the initiative to donate money to help with salary."
He didn't talk about fines or ransacking their homes, but asked them to donate voluntarily, and he didn't directly say the amount. But Lao Zhu just left room for maneuver. Anyway, the death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime cannot be escaped, and it must be taken away.
They only have one layer of skin.
Zhu Ren knelt on the ground, his hanging heart finally relaxed after hearing these words.
"The sinner is willing to donate all his wealth."
Lao Zhu nodded with satisfaction, "It depends on your sincerity, Zhang Guojun!"
"I'm here!" Zhang Guojun, the brother-in-law who had been promised to be the commander of the Jinyi Guards, immediately responded loudly.
"I have appointed you as the commander of the Jinyi Guards. Your first task is to cooperate with Zhu Tongzhi and others to redeem your merits and accept their donations."
"Yes!" Zhang Guojun was a little excited, this was a bad job.
Lao Zhu saw through his thoughts at a glance and continued in a cold voice, "Prince Royal Eunuch Pang Tianshou!"
"My slave is here."
A eunuch in scarlet robes came out after hearing the news, but he had just arrived today. He was already a royal eunuch in the Chongzhen Dynasty. Before the fall of Beijing, he was ordered to go to Yanzhou to read to Zhu Yihai the edict of King Lu, and then went to Nanjing to deliver the edict.
When he heard that the northern capital had fallen, he and Han Zanzhou and others supported the blessed king Zhu Yousong, and then were ordered to collect taxes in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong and Guangxi.
He headed north with hundreds of thousands of taels of tax money, but Hongguang was captured on the way and Nanjing fell. Later, Pang Tianshou heard that King Lu had taken office in Hangzhou, so he took the money and prepared to go to Hangzhou. Unexpectedly, he heard about Hangzhou again on the way.
King Lu also surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.
Pang Tianshou was so confused that he took a group of Yongwei battalion troops who had pledged money to refuse the Northern Envoy's surrender, and took the initiative to come to Taizhou to see King Lu, hoping to join the clan prince and continue to fight against the Qing Dynasty.
As a result, as soon as the ship docked at the dock, they heard about King Lu's feats, and immediately came to pay their respects.
Lao Zhu was overjoyed that Pang Tianshou suddenly arrived with hundreds of brave guards and more than 300,000 taels of silver. Of course, he also admired Pang Tianshou's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, and he had Pang Tianshou's future in his mind.
We know that he later became Emperor Yongli's eunuch and was very powerful.
Although Pang Tianshou colluded with the chief minister Ma Jixiang in the Yongli Dynasty, participated in the Wu-Chu party struggle in the Yongli Dynasty, and even relied on Sun Kewang in the end to help force Yongli to abdicate, he would not be able to secure it in the later years.
But for Lao Zhu, it was unusual for him to be busy with party fighting until his death in the Ming Dynasty.
Pang Tianshou at least always resisted the Qing Dynasty, which is the most important thing.
What's more, this time Pang Tianshou went north, not only did he bring 300,000 Jiangnan tax dollars, but he also brought 500 soldiers and horses of the Yongwei Battalion, and a 300-person Macau Portuguese mercenary musketry team.
It turns out that Pang Tianshou was baptized by Father Tang Kuwang during the Tianqi period and became a Catholic. He was one of the first eunuchs to become a Christian. He had a good relationship with the Catholic Church. Therefore, when collecting taxes from Lingnan and Guangxi, he specifically used Macao Jesus to collect taxes.
Meeting, a large number of firearms were purchased there, and three hundred grape mercenaries were recruited.
In terms of qualifications, Pang Tianshou is still above Li Guofu, and both of them have served as royal horse supervisors and eunuchs.
"Pang Tianshou is loyal and loyal, and Gu is deeply moved. Now that the country is facing a crisis, we need loyal ministers like you even more. I now appoint you as the eunuch of the Chief of Ceremonies, in charge of internal and external affairs and imperial inspections, and supervising the East Factory. What's next for you?
Together with Commander Zhang of Jinyiwei, we must first handle the errand of Zhu Ren and others. Zhu Ren and others are willing to donate to help the country, so you must hand over the situation well, and no one is allowed to take the opportunity to embezzle or even extort."
Pang Tianshou understood that the emperor asked him to keep an eye on Zhang Guojun, and also asked Jin Yiwei and Dongchang to supervise each other.
Lao Zhu went on to say, "Li Guofu is the eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremony, in charge of the regulations and documents, and approves the red documents according to the cabinet votes."
"The Liu Dynasty served as the imperial eunuch and the admiral of the Yongwei camp."
The hall gradually became quiet.
These appointments were somewhat unexpected, but they seemed to be expected. Song Zhipu and others had complicated moods. The struggle between civil servants and eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty lasted for several dynasties, and the grievances were deep.
When King Lu first supervised the country, he first arranged the positions of the eunuchs of the ceremonial department, the eunuchs of the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuchs of the royal horse, the Dongchang, the Yongwei camp and the command department of the Jinyiwei, which inevitably made them feel a little worried.
However, Song Zhipu and others may still have high hopes for King Lu, so they did not immediately stand up to oppose him at this time.
"Zhipu of the Song Dynasty, I would like to worship you as the Minister of Rites and the Grand Scholar of Dongge, and you will be drafted into the cabinet."
King Lu's next words made everyone feel more at ease.