Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 211 Prince Fu was cooked and Chongzhen was assassinated!
And in the Ming Dynasty court, a major event occurred.

Chen Yan was sentenced to death by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. This number one favorite of Chongzhen, who had originally thought he could sleep soundly, was beheaded in public.

Chen Yan has mediocre talents and is a mean person.

He was disgusted with the fact that Deputy Censor-in-Chief Fang Kezhuang and Henan Governor Zhang Xuan were not under his control, so he took the opportunity of recommending cabinet ministers to slander them to Emperor Chongzhen, and Fang Kezhuang and six others were demoted.

Due to Chen Yan's slander, Wang Yingxiong was summoned back to Beijing and was released soon after.

Zhu Changgan had previously detained and not released him, and taking advantage of the opportunity of the criminal punishment reform, he ordered the Jinyiwei to carry out standard punishments.

Don’t you like ancestral rules?
Then let you feel the power of the ancestral system. Zhu Changgan implemented the "principle of aggravating serious crimes" for officials' crimes in the early Ming Dynasty.

"Severely punish corrupt officials," and ordered the Ministry of Justice that officials who accepted bribes should be punished together with those who offered bribes, and "their families should be exiled to the border."

In addition to the four types of corruption, namely embezzlement, accepting bribes and perverting the law, accepting bribes without perverting the law, and corruption.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the "Ming Code·Criminal Law" had a special section on accepting bribes, which included detailed provisions such as "officials accepting bribes", "punishment for bribery", "accepting bribes after the fact", "requesting money for something", "seeking money from lenders while in office", "seeking by family members", bribery by law enforcement officials, privately accepting money from dukes and marquises, and "retaining stolen money".

These criminal laws, which had been almost abolished in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, were once again introduced by Zhu Changgan.

In addition, Zhu Changgan also joined the objective system of illegal punishment of "seeking benefits for others".

All the officials in the court were shocked.

As soon as the court was dismissed, these civil officials and military generals surrounded Sun Chengzong's residence.

As the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty and a veteran of three dynasties, how could Sun Chengzong not understand everyone's intentions? "Go back. What you and I can do is very limited. This is a different time. Your Majesty is no longer the same as when you first ascended the throne."

"Emperor Hongwu didn't do this to us civil servants. We shouldn't think that what we hold in our hands is necessarily ours, right?"

After saying that, he asked the butler to close the door.

Not only that, Sun Chengzong also ordered his sons and nephews not to get involved in this matter.

His son Sun Quan questioned Sun Chengzong in confusion, "Father, are you just going to watch the Ming Dynasty fall into the abyss of torture again? As the Prime Minister, why can't you fight for it?"

Sun Chengzong sighed, "Your father, I have been in the court for forty years. I know everything you know, and I also know things you don't know."

"When the emperor first ascended the throne, we civil servants didn't care what we did, because the emperor couldn't do without the civil servants, and the Ming Dynasty couldn't do without the civil servants."

"I have been an official for forty years. It's not that I haven't scolded the emperor and died for his advice, but in the final analysis, the emperor relies on me and the people I use to save money, the border relies on the people I use to fight the war, and those who don't get along with His Majesty must be dealt with by my people."

"But now, Your Majesty does not need me to save money, nor does He need us civil servants to fight in wars. He also does not need my people to deal with those people and things that are difficult to deal with."

"Tell me... How can I, as the Prime Minister, fight for them? My head?"

"I can't get anything for them. It will only make His Majesty hate me. Why haven't you woken up yet?"

Suddenly, rain started to fall in the yard, hitting the bricks and tiles of the house. Occasionally, the sound of birds could be heard, as if telling of the chill of the autumn rain.

The government soldiers put a coat on Sun Chengzong, who continued, "Nowadays, there is no umbrella in the world that can protect the civil servants from the wind and rain. The more they struggle, the faster and heavier the rain will fall..."

……

At the same time, Zuo Liangyu retreated to Xiangyang with the remaining troops.

At this moment, his soldiers were starving. He thought about his journey. When he was in the Guanning Army in his early years, the court did not pay his salary, so he had to join in the riot. For this reason, he was later dismissed from his post, but he had no choice but to accept it.

During the Ji Si Rebellion, the imperial court imprisoned Yuan Chonghuan and did not take the Guanning Army seriously. The Guanning Army mutinied in anger, but Yuan Chonghuan eventually followed the army and continued to serve the king despite being wronged.

During the Wuyin Rebellion, the imperial court gave blind orders, leaving a large number of peasant soldiers who had just surrendered in the south and dispatched me, the only person who could intimidate them, to do a useless mission in the north to defend the emperor. As a result, as soon as I left, the peasant soldiers rebelled again and killed my family. I had to go back to quell the rebellion. In the end, I did nothing and my entire family was killed.

Just as he was thinking about it, a messenger came to report, "General, someone has delivered a letter."

"Oh?" Zuo Liangyu took the letter from the other party in disbelief. He looked at the contents of the letter, his eyes changed again and again, and he grabbed the letter fiercely and asked the messenger, "Do you know who handed it to you?"

"Your Excellency, that person did not disclose his background, only that he was a fellow villager of General Zuo."

"Fellow villagers?" Zuo Liangyu's eyes flickered, but he felt relieved after hearing this, because the letter was not written to him by anyone else, but by Donglin Party, Zhejiang Party, Qi Party and others.

The other party promised to give him 100,000 taels of silver, 20,000 shi of grain and fodder, and also to send his own servants over to make up for his losses.

Stop the rebel "Prince Xin" in the province of Huguang and do not let the bandits spread eastward. If you can capture Wuchang Prefecture and kill Prince Xin, you will have to offer another 200,000 taels of silver and 50,000 shi of grain and fodder.

Moreover, officials from several parties in the court would all speak for Zuo Liangyu in the court.

Zuo Liangyu narrowed his eyes, pondered for a while, and then asked the messenger, "Can that person tell me how to contact him?"

"That person really said that if the commander-in-chief wanted to find him, he could send the letter to the Golden Magpie Shop in Xiangyang Prefecture."

Zuo Liangyu dismissed his attendants, wrote a letter and handed it to the messenger, "You must make sure this letter is delivered personally to my fellow villager."

"Yes, my lord!"

In the next few days, Zuo Liangyu's troops were rapidly replenished, and the number of troops increased rapidly from less than 10,000 to 30,000, and was still increasing.

Not only that, war horses and food supplies were also continuously transported into the camp.

September 13th,

Zuo Liangyu reorganized his troops and fought against Prince Xin's troops again.

This time, he chose to take a different approach. Since the peasant army could not be completely wiped out and the bandits had to be suppressed, he would take a group of refugees with him and use them as human ladders.

Anyway, the main force of the peasant army is refugees, so it's just right for refugees to kill refugees. As long as their elite troops are not harmed, they can guarantee their official positions.

Yes, Zuo Liangyu faced the living hell of the late Ming Dynasty and had to choose to become a bandit.

This is why the left army's burning, killing, looting and all kinds of atrocities, as well as the bad military discipline and influence, were notorious in the late Ming Dynasty. In order to preserve his elite troops, he allowed his men to harm the common people.

……

When the news reached the emperor through the Jinyiwei, Zhu Changgan's face turned pale, "I didn't expect him to make such a choice."

In addition to "whitewashing" Prince Xin, one of the major factors that led to the clash between Zuo Liangyu and Chongzhen's bandits this time was to test Zuo Liangyu.

This man is brave and always achieves success in battle.

But he was not strong-minded and had betrayed many times. For example, when Zhang Xianzhong was defeated, he accepted the enemy's gold, silver and treasures.

As a later generation, Zhu Changgan knew that Zuo Liangyu eventually chose to go east to rebel after the establishment of the Southern Ming Dynasty, which was ironclad evidence of his treason and that this man had no faith at all.

"I gave you a chance, but you didn't make any use of it!" Zhu Changgan threw the secret report in his hand into the charcoal fire, "Tell Sun Chuanting and Sun Yingyuan to keep a close eye on Zuo Liangyu's movements."

Since this person is useless, he has no choice but to leave.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wang Chengen took the order and left.

Now Sun Yingyuan has massively expanded his army in the southwest, and the Loyal and Brave Army has reached a size of 30,000.

The quality of soldiers in mountainous areas is good, the agricultural consumption time is short, the people are martial, and the training time is long in peacetime. Therefore, the ability of coordinated operations is strong and the combat effectiveness is fierce.

In a short period of time, combat power can be formed.

It's time to pull it out and show it off.

Before going to war with the Qing Dynasty, it is necessary to train the soldiers.

Zhu Changgan was about to turn around and head for Chenghua Palace when he heard footsteps and another eunuch ran in, "Your Majesty, Jinyiwei has a secret report."

Zhu Changgan took it and was stunned for a moment when he looked at the secret report.

Prince Fu is dead!

History is happening again in such a strange form?
……

Two days ago,

Li Dingguo and his men took Prince Fu to Wuchang Prefecture and escaped from the government troops, but were intercepted by Li Zicheng's subordinates, namely the remnant of Hao Yaoqi. It was said that it was Prince Fu who was arrested.

Without further ado, he snatched the man away. Li Dingguo only had a few hundred men, how could he stop the enemy's thousands of men?

The bandits chopped up the tables, chairs and benches from a nearby temple and set up a huge "pot for a thousand people" inside the temple, filling it with ginger, onions, garlic, cinnamon, peppercorns and countless other ingredients for stewing, creating a strange aroma.

The dry wood crackled with a crackling sound, in the blazing flames, in the huge pot, bubbles rolled and mist rose.

In addition to several skinned and dehorned whole sika deer, there was also a bald, fat man weighing over 300 pounds.

Prince Fu struggled around like a blind man swimming, sometimes jumping to the surface of the water, sometimes sinking to the bottom, howling and screaming, and his miserable voice lasted for a full half a quarter of an hour.

This was the uncle of Emperor Chongzhen and the favorite son of Emperor Wanli.

Zhu Changxun, Prince of Fu.

In this way, it was snatched away by thousands of bandits and hungry people... and eaten.

In the two thousand years of Chinese history, he is the only prince who was treated as a food ingredient.

"Here, hurry up and get to Wuchang Prefecture!"

Although Li Dingguo did not bring Prince Fu to Wuchang Prefecture, he still had someone write down the entire process in a very eloquent manner and had it delivered to Prince Xin.

In his view, the royal family was the primary target of the peasant uprising army, robbing the rich and giving to the poor, so his token of allegiance was enough.

……

At this time, Chongzhen was closer to Wuchang Prefecture, but he had just received the news that Prince Fu had died.

"The king is fat, weighing more than three hundred pounds. The bandits held a banquet and made a feast of him, mixing deer meat with the king's food, and named it Fu Lu Soup..." Chongzhen trembled all over as he read these words.

This is my own uncle!
The key source of all this turned out to be myself?
He had been living well in Luoyang, eating and drinking well, and enjoying a life of wealth and luxury. But because he became a rebel king, that bastard Li Dingguo came to him for help, and this happened to him.

Chongzhen gripped the handle of the chair tightly, and his whole body felt as if he was pressed into water, unable to breathe.

Seeing his son so excited, King Xiang took the letter of report, and his back felt cold, his face turned purple, and he cursed: "How...how could it be? Li Dingguo...this bastard, he still wants to surrender, why doesn't he just die?"

"Tell him to get out of here. If he dares to show up in Wuchang Prefecture, I will kill him."

King Xiang was so angry that he kept cursing, which attracted Old Han, the old blind man and others.

Upon hearing the news, they looked at each other in surprise.

"How could this happen? This Li Dingguo..." Old Han's face twitched.

Others don’t know Prince Xin’s background, but he still knows it, but... he can’t say this, right?

The old blind man had his own understanding, and he also knew the true identities of the father and son. He stepped forward and reminded them, "Prince Xin, please accept my condolences. If others see you, it may cause unnecessary suspicion and misunderstanding."

……

Inside the inn of Wuchang Prefecture, the three masters of Wuchang Prefecture came looking for her after hearing that Lady Hong was going to visit Prince Xin.

"Aunt, what's going on with this Prince Xin? Why is it postponed again?" Gui Ning was furious when she heard this. "There's something wrong with this guy. There's something wrong with him."

However, Hongniang bit her lip, her eyes flickered, and she said nothing.

The reason was that Chongzhen was furious and temporarily declined all arrangements for meeting with the rebel king, and postponed it again for a few days.

After repeated refusals, even a clay Buddha would have a temper, not to mention Hong Niangzi who didn't want to take revenge. "Go to the Governor's Mansion to deliver the visiting card tomorrow. I will go there in person."

If the other party still chooses not to meet this time, don't blame her for making a fuss.

Just at this moment, the third in command ran in from outside.

Gui Ning and Hong Niangzi asked in unison: "Have you found out what's going on? What's going on?"

"Reporting to the eldest master, something happened in the Governor's Mansion. It is said that someone is trying to assassinate him. Several big families in Jiangnan have arranged people in Prince Xin's mansion. Earlier today, they suddenly assassinated Prince Xin..."

Hongniang's eyes suddenly widened, "Where is Prince Xin? How is he? Is his life in danger?"

The Third Master picked up a cup, drank a few cups in a row, and shook his head, "I don't know. The Governor's Mansion is under martial law now, and no one can enter."

"What should I do? This..." Hongniang was worried and paced back and forth in the room.

Gui Ning pouted, "Aunt, you said you don't have him in your heart. If you don't have him, there's no chance of this happening. Why are you so worried?"

Before she could finish her words, she was kicked away by Lady Hong, "Go practice calligraphy!"

Gui Ning had practiced martial arts since childhood and was very tough. He immediately ran away, muttering as he ran, "That's how it is. I'm not allowed to say it..."

Seeing my aunt looking at me, I ran away quickly.

Lady Hong turned to the Third Master and said, "Third Master, no matter what, you must find out what the situation is like for Prince Xin. At least ask him if his life is in danger."

"Yes!" The third in command clasped his fists and quickly walked out of the inn again.

Only Hongniang was left with slightly red eyes, pacing back and forth, wanting to follow the Third In command to take a look, but finally stopped.

……

Wuchang City was only this big, and it was during the anti-king conference.

The news that Prince Xin was attacked spread like crazy.

Li Zicheng, Lao Huihui, Li Wanqing and other rebel kings all tried to inquire about the situation, but were stopped outside by the people in the Governor's Office.

After returning to his residence, Li Zicheng sought out Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance.

"Prince Chuang, I personally think this is a great opportunity!" Niu Jinxing was very excited. "Now that the Wuchang Conference is about to be held, if Prince Xin is assassinated, the only one who can hold the flag will be Prince Chuang. At that time, his hundreds of thousands of troops will naturally belong to Prince Chuang."

Song Xiance frowned, "What if Prince Xin didn't die this time?"

Niu Jinxing took a deep breath and said, "I am not talented, but I am willing to help King Chuang achieve his great cause soon. I implore King Chuang to take this opportunity to make a prompt decision and take action when necessary."

"How can such a crooked and evil way win people's hearts?" Song Xiance shook his head. "Now that the Ming court has not been defeated, we will rebel from within. This will lead to our own destruction."

But when he saw Li Zicheng's hesitant look, he was obviously moved and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

"Hey~"

He understood...the key was not what Niu Jinxing said, but what King Chuang thought and did.

……

Inside the Governor's Mansion, a woman was kneeling on the ground.

"Now you can tell me who you are?"

"I... I am actually from one of the big families in Jiangnan. When you were just starting to develop, I was sent here by the big families and mixed in with the refugees."

This woman is a kitchen girl in the mansion.
Chai Yufang.

King Xiang thought about the man's miserable life, as he lost both his parents when he was young, but he was good at cooking Huguang cuisine, which pleased King Xiang. After observing him, King Xiang arranged him to work in the kitchen.

Chongzhen stared into her eyes. "You should have had many opportunities before this. Why did you choose to take action today, and with such obvious means?"

This person had been lurking for two months without any movement, but now he suddenly took action. As a kitchen worker, it was really abnormal that he did not poison someone but stabbed them with a knife.

Chai Yufang rubbed her fingers, her eyes red, and after a while she said, "Because I don't want Xin Wang to die... I have seen everything along the way. You have done practical things for the people and for us poor people."

"So, you deliberately exposed the flaws to me, hoping to die?"

Chai Yufang didn't say anything, and Chongzhen knew that he had guessed right.

He asked in a deep voice: "Please tell me, which ones are they?"

Chai Yufang was instantly horrified, and shook her head with tears in her eyes, "As a soldier, it doesn't matter if I die, but I can't tell anyone, otherwise my family will surely die tragically."

(End of this chapter)