Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 76 You Can’t Blame Me!

“Your Majesty, I am innocent… Your Majesty, I am your father-in-law…” Zhou Kui turned pale with horror, his limbs were cold, and he wanted to crawl up and get closer to the emperor, but was dragged away by the young eunuch.

"Your Majesty... Queen... please come and save my father!"

Zhou Kui roared loudly towards the sky, but saw a young eunuch stuffing a piece of rag into his mouth, leaving only the sound of "Woo woo woo~".

After the eunuchs dragged Zhou Kui out of the hall, the people from the East Depot took over. At the Meridian Gate, a strong man from the Embroidered Uniform Guard raised his sword and "puffed". The fat head rolled far away.

His eyeballs popped out and gradually lost their luster.

……

Not long after, the Jinyiwei were dispatched, and the sound of horse hooves pounded Chang'an Street.

Ma Shiwei, the deputy commander of the Jinyiwei, had the gate of Zhou's mansion blasted open and drove everyone to the front yard. "No one should be rude. These are the family members of the Empress and the old royal relatives of His Majesty. Anyone who dares to bully and insult them will be killed without mercy."

It was normal for the Jinyiwei to beat and scold Fan Yongdou and other Shanxi merchants, but the Queen Mother was still the principal wife, so Ma Shiwei naturally knew the severity of the situation.

The youngest daughter of Earl Jiading lay on the ground, "Ma Shiwei, you... you dare to raid our Zhou family? Who gave you the courage? Just wait, I'm going to see my sister now."

"Your Majesty has ordered that none of you can enter the palace." Ma Shiwei took a deep breath and continued, "Your Majesty said that Empress Zhou is kind and virtuous, respectful and respectful, and has strongly recommended that Earl Jiading stop. Now there is no need for you to enter the palace anymore."

Zhou Kui's eldest son Zhou Jian came out of the house drunkenly, "Ma Shiwei, my father is the father-in-law of His Majesty, how dare you be so bold?"

When Ma Shiwei saw it was him, he suddenly grinned, "Zhou Jian? Don't think you can escape the blame just because you were drunk when you searched the Shanxi merchants that night. Someone, tie him up."

"You dare!" Zhou Jian suddenly pushed away the Jinyiwei who was about to step forward, drew the scimitar from the waist of a guard beside him and prepared to resist.

"Bang Bang~~"

After two loud bangs and a cloud of smoke, everyone in the Zhou Mansion was stunned.

Zhou Jian was nine feet tall. At this moment, he was covering his neck and chest, and blood plasma was gushing out from his neck like a fountain.

It was hissing out, but I couldn't cover it up.

The bullet pierced his blood vessels and trachea, causing blood to flow into his trachea. As soon as he inhaled the blood, "wheezing" sounds came out of his nose and mouth, all filled with blood foam.

Ma Shiwei gritted his teeth and stepped forward, saying in a cold voice: "Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

The people in Zhou’s residence stayed where they were, their teeth chattering like frying beans…”

"Chen Ping'an, what are you waiting for?" Ma Shiwei waved his hand.
"Yes!"

The flag-gathering officer who was called by Ma Shiwei entered the room one after another, carrying a blank box in his hand and leading a group of Jinyiwei people.

The so-called blank box actually contains all kinds of tools for searching for gold, silver and treasures, among which "ground eavesdropping" and "wall tiger" are more commonly used.

The so-called "ground listening" is a hollow bamboo with a layer of membrane on one end. It is placed on the ground. Every one foot of it is stepped on hard, and you will know whether there is a secret room, cellar, etc. underneath.

The "tiger on the wall" uses knocking on the walls and stone pillars, knocking hard every half a foot, and then you can find out whether there are hidden compartments, partitions, or secret rooms.

Soon, a large amount of gold, silver, treasures, antiques, jade and other valuable items were seized from Zhou's mansion.

It was piled up on the open space in the front yard like a small hill.

Just when everyone thought that the house search was complete, Chen Pingan stared at the ground seriously, picked up a black object from the crack in the ground with his hand, pinched it with his fingernails, and it became soft.

"Silver?" He narrowed his eyes and called behind him, "Bring me my roller ball."

The Jinyiwei immediately ran over with a jar of something in his arms.

Chen Ping'an turned the jar upside down on the ground, and countless beads poured out, making a "crashing..." sound.

The so-called rolling beads are beads made of fine iron, which can test the unevenness of the ground. Those rolling beads actually slid in one direction.

"There is indeed a problem."

Chen Pingan took out a sledgehammer from the bottom layer of the Qingbai box and smashed it hard on the weighing column of the house.

A few hammer blows,

The outer wall of the pillar fell down with a sound.

When everyone looked closely, they were shocked to find that the weighing column was made of pure silver.

"Smash it!" Ma Shiwei's face was gloomy, and he shouted angrily: "Smash all the pillars!"

……

The confiscation of the property of the Earl of Jiading lasted until the sun set. In addition, the Jinyiwei also searched the house of Tian Hongyu, the father of the arrogant Concubine Tian.

Among the one thousand men who died from the Wucheng Bingmasi that day, there was Tian Hongyu’s son.

"The walls and pillars are all made of silver?" Zhu Changgan looked at the report from the Jinyiwei and could not help but curse angrily: "These are my old royal relatives. If I protect them, how will the civil and military officials in the court view me?"

"How do the people of Ming Dynasty view me?"

If this had not happened, and just as the previous impression suggested, Zhu Changgan was stingy and refused to donate money, he could have allowed Chongzhen's father-in-law to live.

But now they have opened the door wide for the Shanxi merchants, and together with them they are sending Ming Dynasty's materials and intelligence to the Later Jin. This is clear treason.

Sins cannot be forgiven!

Historical records show that after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he seized 53 taels of silver from Zhou Kui's home. It seems that he did not loot the silver in the walls and pillars.

Looking at the setting sun in the sky, Zhu Changgan murmured, "I have done the evil, and now it is up to you to clean up this mess."

Chongzhen was too soft, or too indecisive.

As mentioned before, Chongzhen also asked royal relatives, princes, and officials to donate money, but in the end only a pitiful 200,000 taels of silver were donated, most of which were donated by eunuchs and the people of the capital.

After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, 70 million taels of silver were confiscated from the property of the emperor, 70% of which came from princes and royal relatives. To be honest, with such a huge sum of money, even if Chongzhen could get only one-tenth, the Ming Dynasty would not have perished in the 17th year of Chongzhen's reign.

Compared with Chongzhen, the famous general Sun Chuanting, when he was in charge of Shaanxi, was under tremendous pressure and implemented a tough policy of "clearing the settlements and replenishing military pay" against the Shaanxi gentry with "deep backgrounds".

He first threatened that "there would be no mediation", and then used a combination of kindness and force. Without spending a penny of Chongzhen's money and without adding a single ounce of silver in taxes to the common people, he relied on these "rich people" to pay the bills and raised enough money for training troops and fighting. He once crippled Li Zicheng and drove him into a desperate situation.

Although there was a ready-made "homework" to copy, Chongzhen still chose to die in a "cowardly" way and did not take any action against these royal relatives.

Why?

Chongzhen was just too proud. He couldn't bring himself to do anything. He felt that people like Zhou Kui were his "real relatives". Any move against any of them would be a huge hassle and a slap in his face.

"Since you can't bring yourself to do it, let me do it!"

"I will kill those you don't want to kill!"

……

At this time, Wang Chengen walked in from outside and whispered in the emperor's ear: "Your Majesty, in addition to the gold and silver treasures, some dancers were also confiscated from the Zhou Mansion. The Jinyiwei don't know how to deal with them."

"The eunuchs have been temporarily placed in a courtyard outside the imperial city. Among them, the one named Chen Yuanyuan is outside the palace. Is it possible..."

He remembered that the emperor and Zhou Kui had mentioned one of the dancers, and as an eunuch he knew what to do.

Dancers are not considered family members. In fact, they are on par with gold, silver, treasures, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, furniture, and porcelain.

Zhu Changgan put down the memorial in his hand, and said with sparkling eyes: "Oh, since we are already outside the palace, there are so many mosquitoes outside, why not let someone in?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

As a beautiful woman entered the palace, Zhu Changgan was stunned for a moment, "How could there be such a beautiful woman in the world?"

Her figure sways like the shadow of a willow, and her gauze skirt gently brushes against the flowing clouds. Her beauty is different from the beauty that ordinary people see.

She is gentle and natural, yet with a touch of elegance, within her elegance there is a touch of charm, within her charm there is a hint of seduction.

She is intelligent and graceful, and has a charming charm that touches the heart.

Just standing there, she looked like a delicate flower, blooming like a pearl on a moonlit night.

Zhu Changgan couldn't help swallowing his saliva, "Wang Chengen, take her... Is there any vacant room next to Chenghua Palace?"

"Your Majesty, there are still two vacant rooms."

Zhu Changgan stood up and prepared to go to Chenghua Hall of the Eastern Palace. Halfway through, he suddenly staggered. Fortunately, Wang Chengen supported him. "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you... Call the imperial physician quickly."

As soon as he finished speaking, the emperor opened his eyes and asked, "Wang Chengen, where is this?"

The hour of Xu arrived and Chongzhen returned.

"Why call the imperial physician? I'm fine, look..." Chongzhen jumped a few times, indicating that he was in good health. He smiled happily and said, "Come on, follow me to the Queen's place."

Chongzhen smiled happily, his face was like a blooming autumn chrysanthemum, with smile written all over his face.

His emotions had not yet left the Prince Xiang's Mansion, and his whole body was emitting ripples of joy.

Chongzhen turned around and took two steps towards Kunning Palace. Suddenly he realized that Wang Chengen hadn't moved. He frowned and said, "Wang Chengen, are you going?!"

The muscles on Wang Chengen's face twitched a few times, "Your Majesty, have you forgotten what happened today?"

Needless to say, the emperor was ill again, and this time it seemed different from the previous ones.

My mood was originally quite normal, but suddenly I became very happy. The only thing that was the same as before was that I forgot what I had done during the day.

"Your Majesty, please don't rush to Kunning Palace. I want to tell you what happened today."

Chongzhen looked at Wang Chengen with a lightning-like gaze, "Oh? I haven't asked yet, but you want to tell me first? Well, tell me in detail."

"Yes, Your Majesty..."

By the time Wang Chengen finished telling what happened today, Chongzhen's expression had completely frozen there, like a stupid goose, and it felt like his forehead was hit by several thunderbolts one after another.

Fried crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

"He killed the Earl of Jiading?" Chongzhen coughed violently, "How dare he? He is the father-in-law of the emperor, my father-in-law..."

He sat down on the ground.
Only then did Chongzhen understand why Wang Chengen looked so strange when he heard that he was going to Kunning Palace. He had killed the Queen's father and brother today, so why was he going there so happily?
Moreover, not only the house of the Earl of Jiading was raided, but also the house of Tian Hongyu. Concubine Yuan's family did not participate in the incident and escaped the disaster.

"..." Chongzhen was stunned for a long while before he suddenly stood up and said, "Let's go back to the Qianqing Palace. I'm not going anywhere tonight."

As he walked, he angrily cursed: "Can't you discuss this with me?"

After a while, he could not help but turned to the direction of Kunning Palace and said, "Old relative? My old relative actually colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country? You can't blame me. What has become of the Ming Dynasty? Isn't it these parasites who have ruined it?"

Wang Chengen asked the young eunuch to place Chen Yuanyuan next to the Chenghua Palace first, while he trotted behind the emperor.

However, he did not take Chongzhen's words to heart. Instead, he became more convinced that the emperor's illness had relapsed.

……

Liaodong border.

Huang Taiji, who had been emperor for less than three years, sent his fourteenth brother, Prince Rui Dorgon, as commander-in-chief to lead troops from the left and right wings to destroy the border wall through the Great Wall and enter the pass again.

Compared with the previous three battles to enter the Pass, this time was on a larger scale. Although Huang Taiji did not lead the troops personally, he sent out a luxurious lineup.

The emperor's younger brother Dorgon was ordered to take command of the left wing corps, with his eldest son Hauge and his elder brother Abatai as deputy commanders.

His nephew Beile Yuetuo was appointed as the general Yangwei, and another nephew Dudu served as the deputy general to form the right wing corps.

Huang Taiji himself led his troops to the Ningjin defense line to contain the Ming troops outside the pass.

On the official road, the sound of horse hooves thundered.

"Everyone get out of the way, hurry up for 800 miles, Manchu Yuetuo and Dorgon will lead the army to destroy the border wall and enter the pass..."

The people who delivered the letter on horseback were the special forces of the Ming Dynasty.
Liaodong was not harvested at night.

This army was only taken seriously by the imperial court after the Jurchen rebellion.

The "Records of Emperor Shenzong" said: "The service in Liaodong was the most difficult because most of the captives were killed if they were not captured at night."

Whenever the barbarians invaded, Ye Bushou had to spy on the military intelligence and act as a spy, but this kind of undercover work was very dangerous and many Ye Bushou could not escape unscathed.

They earn money from selling cabbages and do life-threatening work.

It is a high-risk profession where the effort and reward are not proportional.

In addition, if the military intelligence gathered by Ye Bushou is wrong, which leads to missed opportunities for battle or even puts the army in danger, he will be "executed immediately" and the superiors who manage him will also bear joint responsibility.

As a result, the quality of "Night No Collection" has continued to decline, enthusiasm has been lacking, and intelligence distortion has often occurred.

During the Chongzhen period, the combat effectiveness of this unit was weakened to the extreme.

Taking this military intelligence as an example, Huang Taiji's troops were already at the gates of the city, and they were still gathering intelligence when they suddenly realized that two other armies had already arrived at Qiangziling and Qingshanguan to destroy the border wall. They then hurriedly sent an urgent message to the court over a distance of 800 miles.

"What the hell are you doing for a living, you son of a bitch?"

Miyun Governor Wu Aheng was so angry that he cursed his mother, because the destroyed border walls of Qiangziling and Qingshanguan were exactly his defense areas.

This Jinshi who passed the imperial examination in the 47th year of the Wanli reign can be regarded as one of the last legacies left by Emperor Wanli to his descendants.

In the same year, other famous figures were admitted to the Jinshi examination, such as Yuan Chonghuan and Sun Chuanting.

But at this moment, no matter how much Wu Ahheng cursed, it was useless. He could only bite the bullet and hastily organize a large army to prepare for the response.

(End of this chapter)