There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 169 Chongzhen’s wrath

Beijing Bauhinia City, Wenhua Hall.

A young man in his twenties, wearing a slightly washed white dragon robe, was reading the memorial on the large copywriting.

He is Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty. He has inherited the throne for more than ten years. In order to correct the accumulated shortcomings, he must do everything personally. So I worked hard day by day, but the Ming Dynasty was getting worse and worse.

However, Emperor Chongzhen has been in a good mood recently. Since Yang Sichang, Minister of the Ministry of War, proposed the "Four Righteousness and Six Corners" policy, all the Ming Dynasty's giant bandits have been killed and surrendered. Only Li Zicheng is still wandering around the minority areas in northwest Shaanxi. This seems to make He saw the dawn of the Ming Dynasty and ZTE.

Tonight, Emperor Chongzhen dined with his favorite Concubine Tian in Chengqian Palace.

After the meal, Concubine Tian wanted to relieve the emperor's boredom and presented him with a volume of "Pictures of Fragrances" that she had drawn by herself. These are twenty-four meticulous paintings of flowers. Chongzhen admired them very much and asked the imperial eunuch to frame them in precious yellow brocade.

At this time, Wang Cheng'en, the chief eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department, came in and reported: "I am reporting to the emperor that Yang Sichang, the Minister of War, said that he has something urgent to ask for."

"Announce him to come in." Chongzhen said, and at the same time handed the album back to Concubine Tian, ​​gesturing for her to step back.

Yang Sichang is a man of nearly fifty years old, with a medium build, his temples and beard are still black, his eyes are bright, and he has a very smart and capable image.

When Emperor Chongzhen saw him coming in, he asked, "Wen Ruo is here. Do you have something important to do?"

"Back to the emperor, the commander of Shaanxi Province sent urgent military information. He said that Lin Feng, the magistrate of Fugu County in Jiazhou, had rebelled. He tried to raise troops to attack Yulin City but failed. However, he deceived and defeated more than a thousand Yulin guards officers and soldiers who came out of the city. Now they have occupied In Fugu and Shenmu Counties, Shaanxi Governor Peng Qing is preparing to mobilize troops for encirclement and suppression." Yang Sichang reported.

"A county magistrate rebelled? This seems to be the first time in the Ming Dynasty. Do you know the reason?" Emperor Chongzhen asked.

"The report didn't make it very clear. It was said that the Shaanxi inspector went to investigate a certain case and then turned around." Yang Sichang replied.

"The Great Tomorrow has just subsided for a while. Several rogue bandits were almost wiped out due to the efforts of Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting. At this time, another county magistrate turned against the bandits, seriously ruining the situation of Shaanxi's bandit suppression!" Chongzhen said angrily! said.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry too much. It is said that scholars will not rebel for ten years, so a county magistrate will not cause too much trouble." Yang Sichang comforted him.

"Haven't they already occupied Fugu and Shenmu counties? They have also defeated the main force of the Yulin Guards. We can't just take it lightly." Chongzhen was still worried.

"Under the rule of Lin Feng, it is easy to capture Fugu. There are not many defenders of Shenmu. There are only four to five hundred people in a thousand-household residence. It is normal for someone to be captured by calculation and unintentional. However, the main force of Yulin Guards was defeated in the field. He has some abilities, and it is said that he has also colluded with the Mongols. He really needs to pay attention and step up his efforts to eradicate him." Yang Sichang continued to report.

"Is it enough to rely solely on the strength of the Shaanxi Commandery Division to carry out the encirclement and suppression campaign?" Chongzhen asked.

"By mobilizing the forces from several guard command posts around Jiazhou, plus the troops directly under Dusi, there should be no problem in gathering an army of 10,000.

The minister's opinion is to solve his own problems by himself. Let the Shaanxi Dusi carry out the encirclement and suppression first. If not, the rebels should be sealed and controlled in Shenmu and Fugu. These two counties have a small population and food shortages, so it should be difficult for the rebels to grow.

If Shaanxi Dusi cannot wipe out the rebels, they can only wait for Governor Hong and Governor Sun to wipe out Li Zicheng before mobilizing them to deal with Lin Feng. "Yang Sichang suggested.

"This is the only way we can arrange it first. The imperial court is currently short of troops. In addition, the Ministry of Revenue has no money, so it is difficult to mobilize the Liaodong Army." Chongzhen scratched his hair and said worriedly. This war will have to spend money. , he was really short of money, and his internal funds were extremely poor.

"Yes, all the taxes collected last year have been spent. There are discounts asking for money everywhere, and this minister can't make money." Yang Sichang was also distressed. It was very expensive to implement his Four Right and Six Corners strategy.

"We can't just arrange for the army to quell the chaos. Big companion, please go to the Propaganda Department and the cabinet ministers to find out the reasons for Lin Feng's rebellion. Anyone who promotes or neglects supervision must be held accountable seriously." Chongzhen has always been mean and ungrateful, and he is more active than anyone else in holding courtiers accountable.

"Your Majesty, it's already evening now, and it's inconvenient for foreign ministers to come in. Why don't we summon him after the morning session tomorrow?" Wang Chengen suggested.

"Okay, it's getting late. Wen Rui, you should go and rest." Chongzhen said.

"Then I will retire first." After Yang Sichang finished speaking, he left Chengqian Palace. After the morning court session the next day, Emperor Chongzhen summoned the cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War, the Supervisory Office and other relevant officials at the Cultural Palace to discuss Lin Feng's rebellion.

This period coincided with the turbulent period after the removal of Wen Tiren, the former chief minister of the cabinet, and frequent changes in cabinet ministers. The chief minister of the cabinet at that time was Kong Zhenyuan. He entered the throne in April of the 11th year of Chongzhen and was dismissed in June.

Emperor Chongzhen sat down on the dragon-carved armchair covered with yellow cushions, and looked at the cabinet chief minister Kong Zhenyun, the official minister Tian Weijia, the military minister Yang Sichang and the left inspector of the Metropolitan Procuratorate Guo Jingchang standing below.

After a moment of silence, he said, "Sit down."

Several people quickly kowtowed and thanked them, and then stood up. At the same time, two eunuchs came in and placed a shorter sandalwood chair for each of them diagonally opposite the emperor.

Kong Zhenyun carefully sat down with half of his buttocks and asked: "The generals and ministers are summoned today. What are your orders?"

"Wen Ruo, please talk first." Chongzhen ordered.

"Yes, urgent military information came from Shaanxi yesterday. It was said that Lin Feng, the magistrate of Fugu County, had rebelled and had occupied Fugu and Shenmu counties." Yang Sichang explained the military information calmly.

"Ah, the magistrate of Fugu County rebelled. This is unprecedented." Kong Zhenyun exclaimed.

"Yes, does Tian Weijiaqian know who this Lin Feng is?" Chongzhen asked.

"Lin Feng, Magistrate of Fugu County, I have an impression that this person is the Prime Minister of Fugu County who promoted people to officials. After becoming the County Magistrate, he became the only county in Jiazhou that could collect all taxes and pay without causing civil unrest. Cheng later led the resistance against the Mongol Tatars and beheaded dozens of people.

For this reason, Governor Sun of Shaanxi Province specially wrote a letter to recommend him as the magistrate of Fugu County. Because this person was promoted ahead of schedule within half a year of being the county magistrate, and the Ministry of Personnel specially discussed it, so he was deeply impressed.

This person was born in Juren. He was promoted to one of the best in the world. Why did he still rebel? "Tian Weijia replied.

"It seems that he is still a capable official. Such a person cannot be used by the court, and he rebelled. Who can explain the reason? I heard that before the incident, Shaanxi Inspector Ren Shu went to investigate. What is the investigation? Can the Inspectorate Do you know?" Chongzhen asked next.

Guo Jingchang, the censor of Zuodu, originally thought that nothing happened to him, but he felt a little surprised when he was suddenly named, so he quickly organized the following words in his mind:

"Your Majesty, I don't know much about this officer. As for the inspection by the Shaanxi inspector, I heard that the censor Guo Sheng mentioned that his family was in Fugu and was beheaded by the county magistrate on unfounded charges. There are any other cases that we need to investigate as well."

"Who is this Guo Yushi clan member? Isn't he an ordinary citizen?" Kong Zhenyun, the first assistant, asked.

"Of course not. The Guo family is the shopkeeper of Yihe Hao, the largest grain and oil merchant in Fugu County." Guo Jingchang still knows the situation of his censor.

"He is also a powerful person in the county. I don't think it may be an unfounded crime. Otherwise, the house confiscation and beheading would have been reported to Jiazhou. The power of the patrol censor is indeed too great now. I have heard that all the local prefects of the fourth grade have to Kneel down to him, maybe he is using the excuse of the patrol to force Lin Feng to rebel." Kong Zhenyun interjected, he was born in a poor family and had always been an upright official, and he looked down on the rich and powerful people in the county who were working for him.

"Mr. Kong Ge, you can't just guess out of thin air. Our inspectors and censors all act in accordance with the law." Guo Jingchang replied rudely. Their inspectorate was relatively independent and did not like the cabinet. Besides, Kong Zhenyun had just As the chief assistant, his prestige has not been established.

"Okay, what's the fuss about? Some situations are unclear and we can't make a judgment. Yuan Fu and your cabinet should learn more about the reasons for Lin Feng's rebellion. Those who should be held accountable must be held accountable. But no matter what, the fault of Jiazhou Prefectural Government's poor supervision is running away. If it doesn't go away, the officials will give their opinion first." Emperor Chongzhen took over the words.

"According to the order!" Tian Weijia, the Minister of Civil Affairs, responded.

"The national situation is difficult, and you must work together. The cabinet must coordinate the efforts of all parties and support the Ministry of War in encircling and suppressing the rebellion. The Supervisory Yuan must strengthen supervision of the suppression of the rebellion in Shaanxi. If there is any perfunctory response or dereliction of duty, Punish quickly and severely." Emperor Chongzhen said at last.

"I understand, please obey the holy instructions!"

　Emperor Chongzhen finally appeared.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)