Zhu Yuanzhang can see my dreams

Chapter 387 Why Yu Qian Didn't Stop It
Although Zhu Qiyu was suddenly pushed to the throne, he did a good job compared to his brother Zhu Qizhen.

After the defeat at Tumu Fortress, the Minister of War Yu Qian began to reorganize a new garrison army with a size of 150,000 people.

In the process of recruiting garrison troops, Yu Qian also completely reorganized the command structure of the capital garrison.

The Ming court's control over the garrison was originally jointly held by nobles and court eunuchs. Each battalion was completely autonomous, trained separately, and commanded by its own field general.

This situation can cause great confusion on the battlefield when soldiers from various battalions have to fight together.

Under Yu Qian's plan, each regiment was commanded by a field general, and the entire garrison was controlled by a field commander selected from among the generals.

The supervision of the garrison troops, which had hitherto been the responsibility of eunuchs, was now extended to the civil service group in the capital.

In short, he established a unified command and strengthened the role of military generals in the capital in supervising the garrison troops.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows. Although Yu Qian had made contributions to the Ming court, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think that he was right in reorganizing the military command.

This person greatly increased the power of civil servants to control military power.

From then on, the status of military generals became increasingly low. Even though Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to suppress military men, he did not want to suppress them to the extent of the Song Dynasty.

How can soldiers like that have the courage to defend their country?
They were all tortured by these civil servants.

From now on, the Ming Dynasty court will be full of infighting among civil service groups. The nobles will not even be able to control the army independently, so how can they be brave enough?

Wang Buli glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang's expression and didn't say much.

Another outstanding achievement during Zhu Qiyu's reign was the effective repair of cracks in the Yellow River embankment, which deprived the main section of the Grand Canal of water and often caused blockages and suspension of navigation.

Xu Youzhen, who suggested moving the capital, put forward a detailed plan for water control, and then went to investigate on the spot. After several years of hard work, he finally achieved success.

Zhu Qiyu put down the rebellions in the south, whether they were from ethnic minorities or miners.

Of course, the natural disasters that gave Zhu Yuanzhang the most headaches were still very serious.

Heavy rains, severe floods, and even more severe ice and snow have had a huge impact on the Huaihe River Basin, with tens of thousands of people freezing to death, not to mention the livestock in the south.

Drought began the following year, not only in the north, but also in places like southern Zhili where the drought was extremely serious.

The following year, it was rainy in the north during the summer and autumn, resulting in huge losses such as poor harvests in various places. At the same time, there was severe drought in the Yangtze River Basin, Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

These disasters were not only extremely destructive and caused a large number of deaths, but also reduced the Ming Dynasty's income. In addition, more money had to be allocated for disaster relief, leaving the treasury almost empty.

It was very difficult for the common people to survive these three years, and more and more people who could not survive became refugees.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had seen various natural disasters in the late Ming Dynasty, he never imagined that the Ming Dynasty had suffered all the natural disasters before this.

Natural disasters combined with man-made disasters are extremely threatening to the rule of a dynasty.

The people can no longer survive, and the situation will only go downhill.

“It’s so tragic!”

Zhu Di had not seen as much as his father, so for a moment he felt a little sad about how difficult it would be for his descendants to govern the Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu Di did not have time to feel sad, as he was dealt a fatal blow in the succession to the throne.

Zhu Qizhen had been emperor for fourteen years before he was captured in the "Tumu Defeat". He had a group of trusted confidants both inside and outside the court and had great power.

In August of the first year of the Jingtai reign, Zhu Qizhen was released by the Oirat and returned to Beijing. At that time, Zhu Qiyu had been enthroned as emperor for only a year, and he was very frightened, fearing that the throne would be taken back by his brother.

Therefore, after the ceremony of transferring the throne to the emperor was held at Dong'anmen, Zhu Qizhen was immediately sent to the Nan Palace and imprisoned.

He also sent Jingyuan Earl Wang Ji to guard the Nan Palace, and did not allow the ministers to go to the court to meet Zhu Qizhen, nor did he allow Zhu Qizhen to interact with the court officials, in order to prevent Zhu Qizhen from contacting the ministers to carry out restoration activities.

Although the new emperor Zhu Qiyu successfully excluded the previous emperor from all public affairs and gradually isolated him, some high-ranking officials spoke publicly for him before and after Zhu Qiyu returned to Beijing.

At the same time, the conditions for Zhu Qiyu to accept the throne implicitly stipulated that his accession to the throne was temporary and would be handed over to Zhu Jianshen, which ensured that the right of succession to the throne would eventually return to the hands of Zhu Qizhen's orthodox lineage.

But Zhu Qiyu was determined not only to remain on the throne, but also to ensure that his line maintained the right of succession.

So another big problem that Zhu Qiyu was worried about was that the crown prince was still Zhu Qizhen’s eldest son Zhu Jianshen.

Therefore, he always wanted to change the crown prince, depose Crown Prince Zhu Jianshen, and make his own son Zhu Jianji the crown prince, but without a legitimate reason, it was difficult for him to speak out.

The eunuchs gave Zhu Qiyu advice. Before changing the crown prince, they promoted the ministers to higher positions and rewarded them with gold and silver in order to win them over and shut their mouths.

This is how to bribe the ministers.

Although the rewards and promotions were not much, it was a test by Zhu Qiyu to see what their attitude was towards the issue of "changing the crown prince".

As expected, several ministers who were offered promotions and rewards all accepted them, which showed that they supported it.

Just as Zhu Qiyu was gradually winning over and bribing ministers, the incident occurred in which Huang Long, the commander-in-chief of the native officials of Guangxi, submitted a memorial suggesting a "change of crown prince", which accelerated the process of replacing the crown prince.

Zhu Qiyu adopted the proposal to designate a new crown prince, despite the opposition of his grand secretaries and many important officials.

Zhu Qizhen's son was demoted to King of Yi, and Zhu Qiuyu's only son Zhu Jianji was replaced and made the crown prince.

At the same time, the new prince's mother, Concubine Hang, was made queen to replace his legal wife, Queen Wang.

This nakedly self-serving action did nothing to enhance Zhu Qiyu's reputation and prestige;
Whatever advantages he might have gained were lost when the new crown prince died more than a year later.

The new queen also died immediately.

Zhu Qiyu no longer had a prince who could be designated as the crown prince, so the fact that the emperor had no heir was a big problem.

"Bu Li, what do you think?"

"What do I think?" Wang Buli chuckled while drinking his iced cola.
"Your Majesty, it is normal for young children to die young in the Ming Dynasty. However, Zhu Qiyu's queen and prince died one after another, which does not seem like a normal death."

Wang Buli had not yet mentioned that Zhu Qiyu had suddenly fallen ill.

Are all the people in the harem really controlled by Emperor Zhu Qiyu?

Is the Empress Dowager, the mother of the overseas student, just there to eat and do nothing?
"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang also agreed with Wang Buli's opinion, but he always subconsciously believed that even if the royal family members were demoted to commoners, they could still be fed in one bite, and would not be killed directly.

But after his own grandson forced his son to death, Zhu Yuanzhang became much calmer.

He would no longer think about royal affairs with his petty peasant mentality.

If the position of emperor is not inherited smoothly, it will surely be full of blood and gore.

Zhu Qiyu's measures to consolidate his throne were implemented smoothly.

Zhu Qizhen was imprisoned and the crown prince had been replaced, so there seemed to be no problem with Zhu Qiyu and his son inheriting the throne.

However, Zhu Jianji died of illness just over a year after he was made crown prince, and Zhu Qiyu had only one son. So when some officials proposed to reinstate the former crown prince Zhu Jianshen, they were imprisoned and treated cruelly, and several were flogged to death.

These events seemed to turn discontent with the emperor into outright rebellion.

In the absence of strong leadership, the court fractured into factions, and plots began to form to replace him.

Needless to say, the conspirators were not motivated by high ideals or moral qualms about the emperor’s actions.

Since his relationship with Yu Qian continued to deteriorate, General Shi Heng was not only ambitious, but also power-hungry and greedy.

From the very beginning, his dispute with Yu Qian was caused not only by his own corruption, but also by the same behavior of his relatives and guests.

The commander-in-chief of the capital's garrison was Shi Heng's assistant.

The eunuch Cao Jixiang had similar ambitions. He considered himself a new Wang Zhen, but later proved to be extremely corrupt and untrustworthy.

He is also surrounded by corrupt relatives and assistants.

Xu Youzhen never forgot the neglect he suffered after the Tumu Incident. He was ambitious and hoped to take advantage of the uneasy atmosphere in the court to try to gain supreme power.

There was also the Chief Censor Yang Shan, who once brought back imprisoned overseas students but never received the reward he deserved.

Zhu Qiyu, whose son and daughter-in-law had died and whose health was deteriorating, launched a more severe resistance.

On the one hand, Zhu Qiyu severely suppressed the officials who requested to reinstate Prince Yi as the crown prince, and on the other hand, he closely guarded against Zhu Qizhen's activities in the Nan Palace.

He always regarded Zhu Qizhen as a hidden danger.

There was indeed such a tendency in the court. An official suggested that Zhu Qiyu move Prince Yi to Yizhou, raise the height of the southern city by several feet, cut down the tall trees on the edge of the city, and fill the lock of the Nangong Palace gate with iron.

In order to show his generosity and friendship on the surface, Zhu Qiyu exiled Xu Zheng to Tieling Wei.

In fact, they monitored Nangong more vigilantly and cut down all the trees in Nangong and its vicinity.

But the gang's opportunity came at the beginning of the eighth year of Jingtai, when the emperor fell seriously ill.

He was unable to attend court and New Year celebrations were cancelled.

The eunuchs, led by Xing'an, tried to conceal the severity of the emperor's illness, but the news leaked to the conspirators.

The conspirators not only controlled the military machine controlled by Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang, but also had the support of the Censorate controlled by Xu Youzhen and Yang Shan. They gathered 400 imperial guards and rushed to the emperor's former residence in the south of Beijing.

The surprised foreign students were placed in a sedan chair and brought into the palace, where they "seized the door", placed him on the throne, and summoned senior officials.

After the officials calmed down, the newly enthroned emperor went to court.

Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and said, "This Empress Dowager is quite capable."

Zhu Yuanzhang could guess the identity of the conspirator behind the scenes with just a quick guess.

"This is a pure coup d'état." Wang Buli glanced at Zhu Di as if he was watching a play:
"The establishment of Zhu Qiyu as emperor stabilized the country, which was in chaos and extreme danger, while the coup d'état at this time was an action of political opportunism that caused a lot of personal gain and pursuit of official positions.

Needless to say, thousands of civil and military officials benefited from the promotion, and the leading figures among them would form a ruling clique during the next emperor’s reign.”

Zhu Di's face turned pale at this time. He himself came to power through a coup, but it was called the Jingnan Campaign to make it sound better.

In this way, wouldn't I, the Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty, be setting a good example just like the Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty?
At the same time, the former Emperor Jingtai was demoted to a prince and strangled to death by a eunuch in the palace. Zhu Qizhen simply said lightly that he was dead.

After launching a carefully planned and quickly executed coup, the first thing to do was to settle old scores.

Revenge and hatred seem to be the main motivations of the new regime.

The leadership group that had been firmly established during the reign of the previous emperor was thoroughly and brutally purged.

The day after the overseas student came to power, he immediately arrested a large number of ministers including Yu Qian.

Yu Qian, who was praised as the savior of the Ming Dynasty, was accused of serious treason, and these people even wanted him to be executed by slow slicing.

However, the benevolent and righteous Emperor Zhu Qizhen eventually reduced Qian's sentence, and he was publicly beheaded along with Grand Secretary and Minister of Personnel Wang Wen and four eunuchs (Zhu Qiyu's team).

Seeing this, Zhu Di could no longer sit still. He quickly stood up and pointed at Yu Qian who had been beheaded, saying in disbelief:
"Brother-in-law, he, who became the emperor again, actually killed Yu Qian who was cleaning up his mess?"

Seeing Zhu Di's defense being broken, Wang Buli spread his hands and snorted with laughter:
"Old Four, you're asking me about the shit your great-grandson did?"

"Does it fit?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was completely speechless.

These two emperors of the Zhu family were completely controlled by their ministers. Where was the imperial spirit left?
With such operations, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that his descendant would definitely be recorded in history books.

After such a widespread purge of senior officials, the coup led to a large number of promotions and changes in positions.

Xu Youzhen, the main plotter of the coup, was appointed as the chief academician and concurrently the Minister of War, and was also granted the title of Earl of Wugong.

The leading general Shi Heng was conferred the title of Duke of Zhongguo.

His notorious nephew Shi Biao was made a marquis;

Eunuch Cao Jixiang was promoted to the position of Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, thus becoming the head of the eunuch group and the commander-in-chief of the Beijing garrison.

His adopted son Cao Qin was conferred the title of Earl, and several of his nephews served as high-ranking military officers in the Ming Dynasty.

Other coup participants also received the expected rewards.

In addition to these famous figures, a number of minor collaborators and followers also demanded and obtained titles or positions. The extent of their indiscriminate conferring even caused widespread dissatisfaction in the court and the entire officialdom.

Zhu Di sat down again, feeling that he was not rigorous enough in selecting his grandson's queen.

It turned out to be such a big thing.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Faced with such a situation, no one spoke.

Zhu Yuanzhang had seen many outrageous actions by the descendants of the Zhu family, but this incident definitely ranked among the top.

The good news is that three years later, Xu Youzhen was exiled to Yunnan, Shi Heng and others were imprisoned and executed, but Cao Jixiang still wanted to rebel.

"Good good."

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but laugh: "These people are really not good people. They can't control themselves so quickly."

He thought that the Ming Dynasty was good, so he risked his life to help Zhu Qizhen restore the throne.

Each and every one of them is seeking profit for themselves.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "I can't figure it out. Yu Qian is the Minister of War and he also organized the Beijing Army. How can he just sit there and do nothing?"

(End of this chapter)