Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 16 The ghost is willing

The best way is actually not to tell anyone, including Queen Zhou and the Crown Prince. This is the most confidential way.

However, if no one knew the whereabouts of the emperor's troops, under the current situation, many people might think that the emperor led the cavalry, abandoned his wife and children, abandoned civil and military officials, and the people of the capital and ran away.Once this kind of understanding is really realized, the capital will be in chaos.

The rich ones will flee, or support the crown prince to ascend the throne, etc. It's all possible.This kind of chaos is obviously very detrimental to maintaining stability in the DPRK and stabilizing the hearts of the Ming Dynasty.

However, if the queen and the prince know the emperor's whereabouts and announce his whereabouts at the appropriate time, they can stabilize the situation in the capital, that is, stabilize the hearts and minds of those who are still loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

After listening to Emperor Chongzhen's words, Queen Zhou and Prince Zhu Cixiang obviously couldn't sleep well tonight.

In fact, it wasn't just them, many people in the capital city couldn't sleep.

For example, Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Jinyiwei, hurried back to the Jinyiwei Yamen from Dongchang and found that Li Ruolian of the Zhenfu Division had actually followed the emperor's order to select a large number of people for use.Such a thing was not reported to him in advance, and the emperor did not inform him.

When he asked Li Ruolian, Li Ruolian replied that he was acting on orders and did not know what he was going to do.Regarding this, Luo Yangxing couldn't tell whether Li Ruolian was perfunctory or he really didn't know.However, no matter which one it was, it made him feel that the situation was very bad.

Could it be that the emperor was so extreme because of the bad situation that he was affected by a dream and went crazy?
Luo Yangxing couldn't wait any longer and wanted to go directly to the emperor, but found that the palace door was locked. Fortunately, he still found out. There was news that the emperor seemed determined to move the capital south!

After hearing the news, his panic finally calmed down a little.

Although he still didn't know why the emperor didn't ask him to do anything, or whether he was dissatisfied with him, he knew that if the emperor wanted to move south, the princes in the court would trouble him and give up the emperor's idea.

"Perhaps he was dissatisfied because he did not support the emperor's intention to move south before, right?" Luo Yangxing thought in his mind.

Like everyone else, he certainly didn't want to move south.The whole family, children, and property are all in the capital, and Nanjing is thousands of miles away, so why would a ghost be willing to move south!

That night, in addition to him, there were also other princes in the court who heard the news of moving south, who also reacted violently.If it weren't for the fact that it was already late when they heard the news, many people would probably have requested an audience to criticize the emperor.

So, that night, many people went to visit Wei Zaode, the celebrity in front of the emperor, the youngest minister of the cabinet, and very likely to become the youngest chief minister.There was a long queue of officials waiting to see him in the concierge.

Finally, word came from the Wei Mansion, asking them to go back and find out who was inciting the emperor to move south, and to kill this person during the court meeting the next day.

This night passed in such a noisy manner.For most civilian and military generals, their focus is on the big court meeting in the future and they are preparing for it.

In the early morning of the next day, before dawn, there was the sound of horse hooves from all over the capital city, and groups of people were gathering towards the Forbidden City.

On Chang'an Avenue, outside the Chengtian Gate, there are East and West Courthouses, where officials waiting to go to the morning court. Those who came early were closing their eyes in the Courthouse to relax when they heard the movement. Out of curiosity, they all came out to see what was going on.

They saw groups of sergeants, varying in number, coming from East and West Chang'an Street and entering the Chengtian Gate ahead of them.

Suddenly, these officials became curious.

"What's going on? It doesn't look like you're a pro-military guard?"

"Even if the pro-military guards change defense, it is not at this time. I have never seen such a situation before!"

"This...isn't it a mutiny?" "What nonsense are you talking about? Is there an emperor at this time? There is still a mutiny. You can tell at a glance that he went in under orders. Look, look carefully..."

"Then what are these soldiers doing in the imperial city? Is it to prepare for the big meeting tomorrow?"

"Then it's too early, it's not even bright yet!"

"..."

These officials who were waiting for the morning court couldn't figure out the reason themselves. When they wanted to send someone to ask, Wei Zaode, the assistant minister of the cabinet, arrived.So, they gathered around and talked about the situation.

Wei Zaode was also puzzled. As a cabinet minister and the emperor's favorite, he had never known anything about the mobilization of soldiers before.

However, he didn't know what to say clearly, so he just said calmly: "Be calm and don't be impatient. You will be able to enter the palace soon. You will know when the time comes!"

Seeing that the cabinet minister was so calm, the others didn't panic.However, from private discussions, I feel that it should be related to the imperial meeting, but I don’t understand why it is so early?
Not long after, it was time to enter the palace. Under the leadership of the cabinet ministers, a group of officials entered the Chengtian Gate and headed for the Meridian Gate.

As a result, these officials saw the soldiers who had entered before at the Meridian Gate.There are infantry and cavalry, with a total of about 5000 people.But looking at the costumes, it seems that they are from every health center, and they are very mixed.

They lined up there. The queue was not very neat, but everyone seemed a little excited, with their heads held high. If you didn't know better, you might have thought they were soldiers who had made meritorious service outside and were waiting to be summoned!
The civil servants did not bother to get close to these warriors and ask about the situation. They lined up to wait in line to enter the Forbidden City.

Unexpectedly, a eunuch sent a message saying that the court would not be open in the morning and that they should return to their respective yamen to work.

This made these officials feel strange after hearing this.

You must know that Emperor Chongzhen has been very diligent since he ascended the throne. Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, he has caught up with the two most diligent emperors, Taizu and Chengzu.Now there is no need to go to court in the morning?

This kind of thing was definitely rare in the Chongzhen Dynasty!

They easily connected this abnormal thing with tomorrow's major court meeting, and there were many whispers, and finally they gathered around the cabinet ministers.

Chen Yan, the first assistant, didn't say anything, but Wei Zaode said that he would go to the emperor to talk about it.

Subsequently, the cabinet ministers and the imperial censors who were on duty in the Six Sections entered the Forbidden City. Others who did not work in the Forbidden City had to disperse.

However, the troops lined up in front of the Meridian Gate were still there, showing no signs of disbanding.

At other gates in the Forbidden City, such as Donghua Gate, Xihua Gate and Xuanwu Gate, more palace maids and chamberlains were also queuing up to enter the palace. To them, it seemed that this day was no different from usual.

But none of them noticed that after the palace gate opened, there were only people entering the Forbidden City and no one leaving.

Only after entering the Forbidden City will they feel that the Forbidden City is different from the past.

(End of this chapter)