Before dawn, the melodious and simple bells rang over the entire capital.
Although people inside and outside the capital are already panicking, the intruders are still far away in Shanxi after all.
So after hearing the bell, all the civil and military officials in Beijing and the royal family and nobles hurried to the palace.
Along the way.
All the civil and military officials were talking a lot, and they were all speculating about what big thing happened in the palace that caused His Majesty to mobilize so many troops.
The Imperial Palace is nine rooms wide and five rooms deep. It is the most majestic palace in the Forbidden City.
It is also the place where emperors of all dynasties held their enthronement ceremonies.
When the civil and military nobles who were qualified to enter the palace came into the palace, they were stunned immediately.
I saw His Highness the Crown Prince wearing a dragon robe and sitting on a dragon chair with a golden sword.
Standing on the left and right were the eunuch Wang Chengen, the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch, and Wang Dehua, the eunuch the eunuch.
After everyone stabilized their minds, they quickly analyzed the scene in front of them.
Almost all the people present were human beings.
He immediately guessed that the prince might be staging a coup.
At this time, he dared to wear a dragon robe and sit on the dragon chair, which showed that the situation in the palace was completely under his control.
After thinking about this, everyone chose to wait and see what happened, and saluted one after another: "Greetings to His Highness the Crown Prince!"
"Pingsheng!"
Zhu Cixiang was also quite nervous. He raised his hand and immediately asked Wang Chengen to announce the decree.
But I lamented in my heart that his father Chongzhen was really unpopular!
So many ministers pretended to be blind, and no one dared to stand up and accuse him of treason.
Wang Chengen did not hesitate, opened the imperial edict and read it out.
The general meaning is that Chongzhen first lamented his diligence and frugality in the seventeen years since he ascended the throne.
Then he complained about God's failure to protect the Ming Dynasty, which caused the situation to go from bad to worse, so that now he fell ill from overwork and could no longer handle political affairs.
Then he praised the prince mercilessly, passed the throne to the prince, and finally asked the ministers to assist the prince and revive the Ming Dynasty.
After the edict was read out, the hall was silent for a while, and the atmosphere was quite strange.
Obviously, no one dares to be the first to stand up and question or bow down.
"My lord, this edict has not been issued by the cabinet and is against the system. I forgive you for not daring to follow the edict rashly!"
After a long while, one of the civil servants finally stood up and said to Wang Chengen.
This person is Ni Yuanlu, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy.
Everyone also looked at Wang Chengen.
Faced with everyone's doubts, Wang Chengen squinted his eyes with an expression that said, "Don't ask me."
Zhu Cixi didn't know when this unhealthy trend started to appear in the Ming Dynasty.
That is, the imperial edict issued by the Emperor of Ming Dynasty must pass through the cabinet, otherwise it will be regarded as a middle edict, and the civil servants may not obey the edict and not give it to the Ming Dynasty.
Ordinary imperial edicts have to go through the cabinet, let alone imperial edicts, which are the most important imperial edicts.
The fact is that the emperor was critically ill, and when the edict of succession was drafted, all cabinet ministers and three princes had to be present.
After the edict was drafted, everyone and the emperor had to read it and confirm it was correct.
Moreover, in order to prevent the Supervisor of Ceremonies from colluding with the cabinet to revise the edict, the seal had to be temporarily given to the Queen for safekeeping, and then handed over to the Emperor after the new monarch came to the throne.
This was how Emperor Chongzhen did it when he came to the throne.
Therefore, even if Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family, who had power over the government and the harem, were unwilling to do so, they had no choice but to watch Chongzhen, who was loyal to the Donglin Party, ascend the throne.
At this moment, seeing someone standing up to question the legality of this edict, Zhu Cihong was not surprised. Instead, he felt that there was finally someone who cared about his father.
If it were anyone else, he would not hesitate to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.
But Ni Yuanlu was a famous loyal minister in history. After Li Zicheng conquered Beijing, he was one of the few high-ranking civil servants who committed suicide for the Ming Dynasty.
So I decided to give him a chance.
So he said in a deep voice: "Ni Aiqing, my father had a sudden illness, so I didn't have time to notify all the ministers and ministers to witness it, but the authenticity of the imperial edict is beyond doubt. If Aiqing has any doubts, you can wait until the boarding ceremony.
After it’s over, go meet your father!”
"this…"
Seeing what the prince said, Ni Yuanlu also hesitated a little. Although the prince's words were too far-fetched, it could at least confirm that His Majesty is not dead yet.
And there are precedents for this kind of thing in history.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jin army invaded the country.
Song Huizong shamelessly passed the blame to his son and became the emperor himself. As a result, both father and son became prisoners, which is known as the shame of Jingkang in history.
There was a lot of discussion in the palace for a while.
"Now we are facing a formidable enemy. My father is ill and cannot continue to handle political affairs. However, the country cannot be without a king for a day. As the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, it is only natural that this prince will inherit the throne!"
"Chen Aiqing, you are the chief minister of the cabinet. Do you have any objections?"
Zhu Cixiang ignored Ni Yuanlu and the secret discussions below. He knew that he only needed a leader now, so he decided to take the easy way out. After speaking, he stared at the chief assistant Chen Yan murderously.
I want to see what he says.
What else can Chen Yan say?
The big Han generals on both sides were obviously ready to kill at any time.
Now that the prince calls his name again, it is absolutely impossible not to express his position.
Anyway, looking at the situation, even if Chongzhen is not dead, he is probably under house arrest, and it will be difficult for him to stand up again.
What he is most concerned about now is when the intruder will call, and how to protect himself wisely during this period.
As for who of the old Zhu family should be the emperor, whether it conforms to the ancestral system or not is none of his business.
So he immediately knelt down and worshiped.
"Chen Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor. Long live, long live, long live your Majesty!"
"Long live your majesty!"
Most of the others had the same idea. Seeing the chief assistant taking the lead, they no longer had any worries and knelt down one after another.
In the end, even Ni Yuanlu didn't show any seriousness.
After all, the prince has always been a wise man, and his succession might actually be able to save the crisis.
"Everyone is safe!"
Zhu Cixiang raised his hand and smiled.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"Well, now that we are facing a formidable enemy, I am in danger of succeeding to the throne. I will do my best to be simple and quick when I ascend the throne!"
After saying that, Wang Chengen was asked to read out the edict again.
There were four edicts in total this time, one of which was to canonize his father Chongzhen as the Supreme Emperor and finalize his title.
The other two were to confer the title of Queen Mother Zhou Wan as the Holy Mother Queen Mother and the concubine Zhang Yan as the Queen Mother Yi'an.
The last one was to exempt several northern provinces from all taxes and corvee for three years and completely abolish the three rates.
Naturally, no one would have any objections to this.
Anyway, it is still unclear how long he will be able to serve as emperor, and it is unclear whether this edict can be issued.
If he wants to make trouble, let him do it. There is no need to be the first bird and the prince to top the cylinder at this time.
Next comes a series of rituals such as worshiping the ancestral temple.
Although it has been very simple, it is still not over until the afternoon.
In the end, Zhu Cixi couldn't bear the hunger anymore, so he forcibly announced the end and asked the cabinet to immediately publish the four edicts to the world.
All civil and military officials were also happy and relaxed, wishing they could disperse and go back as soon as possible.
As for meeting Chongzhen for verification, no one mentioned it.
The ceremony is over, wouldn't it be courting death if we go back again?
When he returned to Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cixiang was very tired, but he was still very excited when he thought that he would be the emperor in the future.
Just as the meal was being passed around, Wang Chengen walked in.
"Your Majesty, Li Banghua, the censor of Zuodu, would like to see you."
"Just say I'm not free and let him submit a letter if he has something to do."
Zhu Cixi waved his hand.
He estimated that Li Banghua was probably here to move the capital, but how could he have time to chat with these civil servants now?
Historically, his father Chongzhen wasted his time arguing with these civil servants.
In his opinion, it is of no use.
What's funny is that when Li Zicheng entered the city, he was still ringing the bell, trying to summon all the civil and military officials, but naturally no one came.
After Wang Chengen left.
Zhu Cixiang couldn't wait to summon the Jinyiwei Hall officials to Dongnuan Pavilion, ready to operate on Jinyiwei first.