Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty was in the worst mood. In just ten days, he already had a large stack of memorials on his desk impeaching Yongning Bo and Zhang Cheng.
What is arrogant and domineering, what is contempt for superiors, what is private tax collection, what is fighting for profits with the people, exploiting the gentry, and secretly dealing with slaves and thieves, which is suspected of helping the slaves escape poverty, this is the most lethal.
Strong.
However, some people impeached Zhang Cheng for starting a border provocation, causing an army of slave thieves to go westward, intending to attack Xuanda as revenge.
In short, the various impeachment memorials really gave Emperor Chongzhen a headache. At first, he did not pay attention to the matter. Occasionally, there were some impeachment papers about Zhang Cheng, which he did not read and just threw them aside.
In Chongzhen's eyes, even though Zhang Cheng has such shortcomings and problems, it seems that today's Ming Dynasty can no longer do without him!
As for being arrogant and domineering, so what?
In any case, Zhang Cheng was as well-behaved as a mouse after seeing a cat in front of Emperor Chongzhen. In Chongzhen's eyes, Zhang Cheng's sincerity and straightforwardness were even much better than those of the cabinet ministers around him.
And despising Shangguan is out of the question. Even though Zhang Cheng's official position is only a second-grade chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, he is a high-ranking earl of the Ming Dynasty. No matter how big the court officials are, they must bow down to him.
That's the rule.
"snort!"
The more Emperor Chongzhen thought about it, the more angry he became. He started to levy commercial taxes and collect taxes from the officials and gentry. If he hadn't been afraid of destroying the foundation of the country, he would have wanted to do this a long time ago!
The country has reached a critical moment of life and death, but these gentry and merchants are clinging to their own money bags and not thinking about the country at all.
Previously, because the national treasury was increasingly empty and could not support the huge expenditures of the two-front war, Emperor Chongzhen had summoned the royal family and nobles in Beijing, as well as the civil and military officials of the court, and asked them to send money to the court to support them.
But in the end, I just managed to scrape together several thousand taels of silver.
All the relatives of the emperor, nobles, elders, and ministers cried out for poverty. They were smashing pots, selling yards, selling furniture, and even selling slaves and maids. It was really too much!
In fact, Emperor Chongzhen did not know that in that history, which had not changed at all, when the intruder Li Zicheng swaggered into Beijing, under a severe and cruel torture operation, tens of millions of taels of silver were taken from their homes.
Come.
Perhaps, Emperor Chongzhen didn't know about this, which was a good thing for him. If he knew about it, he wouldn't be able to crawl out of the coffin and curse these worms in the country!
The current Emperor Chongzhen still has some ideas in his mind. The battle in Liaodong was fought very well, which made Jiannu become a lot more honest and well-behaved.
Just last month, Chen Xinjia, Secretary of the Ministry of War, was still reporting to him that Ma Shaoyu had already established a line with Jiannu. Jiannu seemed to have the idea of peace, and his attitude was very sincere.
This may be a sign of the resurgence of the country. On the one hand, he instructed Chen Xinjia to make good contact with Jiannu. If the peace negotiation can really succeed, then he can mobilize a strong army to encircle and suppress the bandits raging in Henan Province and Huguangda.
At this critical moment, he also hoped that Zhang Cheng could complete the army reorganization as soon as possible and send troops to Henan Province to contribute to his great cause of Zhongxing. How could he punish him for levying a small amount of commercial tax?
Even if he, Zhang Cheng, attacks the gentry on the East Road and in the Xuan Mansion, so what?
Xuanfu Town was originally a military base, and there were many military households. How many gentry could there be? Zhang Cheng had a strong and brave army of more than 20,000 men. Didn't he need money and grain to raise these soldiers?
?
None of those gentry thought about the national crisis and only cared about protecting the family's interests. What's the use of keeping these people without a king or a father?
In fact, Zhang Cheng had tens of thousands of strong troops under his command, but Emperor Chongzhen did not know the exact number of troops. The information reported by all parties showed that there were only more than 20,000 troops.
The imperial court was financially strapped and could only afford half of Yong Ningbo's men. The remaining shortfall had to be found by himself.
Most of the gentry in Xuanfu are concentrated in Yanqing and Baoan Prefectures on the East Road. Most of the other places are military households with hereditary military positions. Now Zhang Cheng can get the money and food to support his troops from them, without the court having to work hard. Isn't it great?
Even if all the gentry from all over the world attack him in the future, the whole blame can still be placed on Zhang Cheng. Anyway, the king is absolutely infallible and can deal with him casually and the matter can be put to rest.
Chongzhen was not a fool. Zhang Cheng could always go smoothly. In addition to the reason why he had to sacrifice his life for the country, the bigger reason was Chen Xinjia's strong protection.
After all, Chen Xinjia did not want to lose his powerful foreign aid. It was precisely because of this that the officials began to criticize him. However, these impeachment memorials were also ignored by Emperor Chongzhen.
Looking at the candlelight not far away, Emperor Chongzhen also felt a little tired. He looked back at the pile of memorials on the imperial desk and couldn't help but let out a sigh.
"well."
There are endless memorials being written every day. Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, even Gyeonggi, and South Zhili are experiencing constant disasters, rebellions, and thieves that are extremely difficult to control. They actually have the mind to deal with these red tapes.
Zhang Cheng was impeached for a trivial matter.
But what can he do?
It's not like Chongzhen never thought about killing and replacing all the wine bags and rice bags that were used to eat the corpses, but who else could be replaced?
In the past ten years or so, he has trusted and reused talents in batches, but the results were not ideal. The situation of the country and the country was deteriorating day by day. He often pondered late at night.
Are the previous emperors also so difficult to do?
At this time, Wang Dehua, the chief eunuch who was on duty today, happened to come to wait on him to see if the emperor had any other instructions or any needs.
He walked quietly into the palace, first checked the candlelight, then touched the teapot, and ordered the people to pour out the remaining tea, replace it with new tea and make it again, but Emperor Chongzhen stopped him.
Wang Dehua glanced at the patches on Emperor Chongzhen's robe, and thought that the emperor was reluctant to throw away a pot of leftover tea. He was filled with emotion and couldn't help but shed a string of tears.
"Wang Banban, is there any news from Bian Yongqing?"
When Wang Dehua saw the emperor asking questions, he hurriedly stopped the tears flowing in his eyes, knelt down gently and replied: "Back to the emperor, this lack of news is the best news."
"oh."
Emperor Chongzhen was slightly startled when he heard this. He immediately understood what he meant, and felt a little relieved. He asked: "The rumors in Beijing are still the same. If Yong Ningbo is greedy for money and domineering, we believe that the rumors are true.
Even imposing business taxes and exploiting the gentry should not be groundless, but Yong Ningbo also needs money and food to train and raise troops for the country. Those gentry and merchants have been favored by the emperor for generations, and now it is time for them to make some contributions to the country.
"
Unlike the civil and military officials and nobles in the outside world, most of them had no favorable impressions of the gentry and merchants. They both looked down upon each other and were often tied to each other due to competing interests, leading to constant fights.
Even though these great eunuchs in the inner court all have their own shops, and in many cases there are dozens or hundreds of shops, but most of them do not run their own shops, and many of them just sell them out to collect rent.
Therefore, they were not very cold-hearted about Zhang Cheng's forced tax collection. When they heard about this, they felt a sense of pleasure in their hearts, and at the same time, there was a trace of jealousy.
You must know that the forced collection of commercial taxes has always been exclusive to them. Looking back, there are countless eunuchs in the inner court who have made a lot of money through this matter.
But once Emperor Chongzhen came to power, this invisible great benefit came to an abrupt end, which made him angry.
Emperor Chongzhen asked again at this time: "What new rumors are there about Zhang Cheng having an affair and raising slaves with self-respect?"
In fact, Chongzhen was asking Wang Dehua for his opinion on the matter, but he refused to speak directly. Instead, he pretended to ask about the rumors in order to prevent Wang Dehua from replying.
"Your Majesty, although there are still such rumors in the public, most of them are just jokes."
Wang Dehua saw that Emperor Chongzhen's expression was slightly moved but not angry, so he continued confidently and boldly: "Uncle Yongning is loyal to the emperor. He has fought against the Tartars externally and suppressed bandits internally. He has made great achievements for many years. If you say that he is domineering, greedy and lustful, how can he still say that he is domineering, greedy and lustful?"
There is evidence for what happened.
But if it is said that Uncle Yongning had an affair with the Tartars and kept slaves for self-respect, even the people in the capital would not believe it. If he had an affair with the Tartars, he would kill the two false kings Jiannu?
The self-respect of slaves is out of the question. Yongningbo Yongyi’s army is stationed in Xuan Mansion, which is far away from establishing slaves. Moreover, he does not get a cent of his annual salary of millions, so why should he raise slaves?”
What he said is true. If it is said that raising slaves requires self-respect, it should also be attributed to the Liaodong generals such as Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui and others. After all, if the slave thieves are not eliminated, the court's Liao salary will not be reduced. They are in Jinzhou City.
You can get a lot of gold, silver, money and food safely.
Emperor Chongzhen naturally knew the truth behind this, so he was very concerned about the peace negotiation with the slaves. If the peace negotiation was reached, the money and food saved could be used to suppress thieves, and Liaodong would no longer need so many troops to garrison, and more troops would be stationed.
There is a bandit-suppression force that can be called upon.
However, "the world is unhappy, and it will always be seven or eight out of ten." Emperor Chongzhen's idea of making peace with his slaves and deploying troops to suppress thieves was destined to face many obstacles and was extremely difficult to succeed!
"Tell Bian Yongqing that he should urge Zhang Cheng to send troops to Yu Province as soon as possible..."
"The old slave accepts the order."
Wang Dehua waited for a while and saw that Emperor Chongzhen had reviewed the memorials on the imperial court with all his heart, and there were no more new instructions, so he quietly withdrew.
…………
On February 18th, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, the sun had already set in the west, the moon was hanging on the branches, and a bleak cold wind was blowing, and the chill did not go away.
In the capital of the Ming Dynasty, in the Nuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace in the imperial city, Emperor Chongzhen, who was reviewing memorials, suddenly felt upset and confused for some reason. He reluctantly calmed down and read the documents for a while.
Suddenly, Emperor Chongzhen, who was sitting behind the imperial desk, let out a long sigh. He stood up, left his seat and walked out of the Qianqing Palace, wandering back and forth on the Danqi.
The chill brought by the cold wind in the spring night invaded his skin, giving his slightly swollen temples a refreshing feeling. Then, he took a deep breath of cool air and slowly exhaled the stuffy air accumulated in his chest.
He secretly counted the sound of cloud boards coming from Xuanwu Gate, and heard the sound of the night watch coming from East Long Street. He felt even more anxious and couldn't help but secretly asked: "Has Chen Xinjia not entered the palace yet? It's already the second watch."
Gosh!"
Just at this time, a small eunuch walked gently beside him, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Chen Xinjia is waiting for your summons at the Wenhua Hall."
"ah……"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was perked up and shouted loudly: "Here comes the chariot!"
It turns out that during this period, memorials to impeach Zhang Cheng and Chen Xinjia were flying all over the sky, with more and more public officials participating, and there was a trend of further expansion.
Chongzhen still has great trust in Chen Xinjia, and is very satisfied and relieved with his performance since taking office, but he is not completely without thoughts about Zhang Cheng.
However, due to the protection of Chen Xinjia, and of course the most important thing is that when the country employs people, Zhang Cheng is indeed a rare general, winning consecutive battles wherever he goes.
In his heart, Chongzhen still hoped that Zhang Cheng could be like Guo Ziyi, the famous ZTE general of the Tang Dynasty, and assist him like Li Yu, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, to turn the tide and become the ZTE emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
When the time comes, not only make him a county king, but also a prince!
Once upon a time, there were bandits raging inside and Tartar invaders outside. Even the tombs of our ancestors were unable to be protected. The enemies showed off their power outside the capital and looted for several months before retreating safely.
All these made Emperor Chongzhen exhausted mentally and physically. He went to the ancestral temple many times late at night to pay homage to the previous kings, hoping to get their blessing and help, but to no avail.
Especially when the governor Yang Sichang failed to suppress the bandits and died in Shashi, Jingzhou, Emperor Chongzhen's dream of becoming the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the resurgence of the Ming Dynasty was also extinguished.
However, this time the battle of Jinzhou in Liaodong made him see a glimmer of light in the dark night, as if he saw hope, and he could not help but rekindle his desire to be the king of the Ming Dynasty and ZTE.
Today, during the morning meeting, Chen Xinjia, as the Minister of War, also participated. However, there were many people talking at that time. In addition to some daily chores, they only discussed some disaster relief and combat strategies for dealing with rogue bandits in the Zhongzhou area.
Although Chen Xinjia, Secretary of the Ministry of War, was shrewd and capable, the Ming Dynasty had already been terminally ill. For more than ten years, it had been trapped in internal and external difficulties, and it had never been able to get rid of the dilemma of fighting on two fronts.
Insufficient troops, depleted food and pay, no life for generals, no morale among soldiers, poor military discipline and many other problems cannot be solved, but how can we try to save this crisis out of thin air?
Therefore, in the morning meeting, although the emperor and his ministers discussed for a long time how to exterminate the bandits raging in Zhongzhou, there was no result.
Emperor Chongzhen was originally a person with an impatient temper. The more he was in trouble, the more he would become restless and restless, even having trouble sleeping and eating.
In this state of his, it was easy for him to lose his temper in the palace. Maybe any of the eunuchs or maids in the palace would be questioned and punished if they got into trouble. This frightened the eunuchs and maids in the Qianqing Palace, and they were all on tenterhooks.
He didn't even dare to express his anger.
Just after dinner today, Emperor Chongzhen received a secret message from Chen Xinjia, Minister of War, saying that there was new news coming back from Ma Shaoyu outside Shanhaiguan.