Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 8 How is peace possible?

In the Prince Xiang's Palace,

"What time is it now?" Chongzhen turned and asked the servants in the palace.

"Shen Shi!"

"Why is it already 3 p.m.? Oh, time is passing so slowly..."

Chongzhen looked at the sun which was just setting in the west. He sat down and stood up again. However, he didn't know where to go, so he clenched his fingers and then loosened them.

After I cut off the sound of the main body in anger in the morning, I couldn't help but want to open it again in the afternoon, but I found that I could only choose once a day.

"It's over. The court will be in chaos."

"I regret it!"

tension,

irritable,

anger……

Various emotions flashed across his face, and his entire body was stiff.

He was worried about what happened in the court today, and he was also worried that Zhu Changgan would do something that violated imperial etiquette in the court. He was even more afraid that the other party would handle state affairs in a disorderly manner and cause bad influence.

The servants of Prince Xiang's mansion whispered, "The prince's brain must have been frozen because of the last time he fell into the ditch. How many times has he asked about the time today?"

"102rd..."

Before the person being asked finished speaking, he heard "Zhu Changgan" ask again: "What time is it now?"

"Prince, it's Shen Shi again."

The servant lowered his voice, "Okay, this is the 103rd time. Don't panic. He will call another name later."

"Uncle? When will it be replaced?" Chongzhen said again. Although he hated this man deeply, he just wanted to go back quickly.

Unfortunately, no matter how he shouted, Zhu Changgan did not respond and could only glare at him.

The servant just now laughed and said, "Here it comes, the 61st Huang Shu."

"By the way, who is this Huang Shu?"

"Who could the prince be nagging about? It's probably one of his lovers. Last time one of them didn't pay, the prince didn't dare to go for several days."

……

Within the palace,

"What's the Queen making such a fuss about?"

Wang Chengen quickly told the news that the son of Earl of Jiading was coming.

When he heard that it was Chongzhen's brother-in-law who came to Queen Zhou to cry, he immediately ordered Wang Chengen, "It's fine if he cries in front of the Queen, but if he dares to enter the Qianqing Palace, kick him out directly."

Chongzhen's brother-in-law is not good at anything and is the greediest person at money.

The few casinos opened in the capital alone are causing great harm to people. I heard that they are also running pawnbroker businesses secretly.

He actually dared to do such jobs as pawnbroker and human trafficker, which are harmful to one's moral character.

In other words, he is not as rich as his father, otherwise he would be the first one to be executed.

"Tell him to stop the dental business, or I'll break his legs."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

After it quieted down outside, Zhu Changgan looked at the memorials on the table. These were the most urgent ones selected for him by Wang Chengen.

Nine out of ten letters were about disaster reports. Zhu Changgan shook his head and said, "No, dealing with disasters cannot solve the current situation of the Ming Dynasty."

"Bring me the memorials from a few days ago."

Soon, another pile of memorials was brought over.

Zhu Changgan flipped through the letters one by one, and finally... a memorial from the Minister of War Yang Sichang caught his attention.

He wrote in his memorial: "If the Ming Dynasty perishes, it will be at the hands of bandits."

"Only when the country is stable can we resist foreign aggression. I think that Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Jiangbei should be the four main regions, and the four governors should be divided into two regions to suppress the enemy, while Yansui, Shanxi, Shandong, Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Sichuan should be the six corners. The six governors should be divided into two regions to defend the enemy and help suppress the enemy. This is called a ten-sided net, and the governor-general and the prime minister should follow the enemy's direction and focus on the expedition..."

The general meaning is that the Ming Dynasty's main opponent is the peasant army, and it should first negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty in order to "withdraw troops from the Central Plains to fight the bandits."

The main topic is the "four sides and six corners, ten sides of the net" tactics.
That is, to spread out a net, restrict the mobility of the peasant army, and defeat the peasant uprising armies such as Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong one by one.

Zhu Changgan agreed with some of Yang Sichang's views.

For example, before you can resist foreign aggression, you must first stabilize the country.

If there was constant internal unrest, it would be impossible to gather the power of the Ming Dynasty into a fist, let alone train troops and defeat the Later Jin in one fell swoop.

Zhu Changgan calculated the time and this was the Ming Dynasty’s second to last chance to negotiate peace.

The last time, during the peace talks after the Battle of Songjin, the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty were completely wiped out. At that time, the peace talks were no longer meaningful.

The Ming army has become a soft persimmon, and is eager to use meat buns to beat the dog and drive it away?

"Wang Chengen, go and summon Yang Sichang to the throne."

Wang Chengen was stunned. He had seen this memorial before, and the emperor had also seen it. Chongzhen hesitated for a long time at that time, but finally gave up.

"Your Majesty...are you really ready to negotiate peace? With the ministers?"

The civil servants were very sharp-tongued. The topic of peace talks was a minefield in the political ecology of the Ming Dynasty. Anyone who stepped beyond the line would be subjected to all kinds of pressure, including being criticized, insulted, and despised. No one could bear it.

Even the emperor can't do that.

There is one point Wang Chengen did not mention, and that is Chongzhen’s own face.

In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty emperor, he is the only one in the world.

"The power of our dynasty is so great that it surpasses all the ancients. We controlled the northern barbarians and the western tribes without the marriage alliance of the Han Dynasty, the alliance of the Tang Dynasty, the annual tribute of the Song Dynasty, or the etiquette of treating brothers as enemies."

Marriage alliances, annual tributes, etiquette between brothers and enemies...these common relationships between countries were denied.

Then there is only one left, kneel down and sing Conquer.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the power of the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu and Yongle periods was too strong, and there was no one around who could fight, so naturally they all knelt down and sang the song of conquest together.

But by the end of the Ming Dynasty, everyone in the court, from the emperor to the ministers, still had this mentality, which was definitely a disease.

Of course, Chongzhen did think about peace talks.

After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he launched two peace talks. The first one was under the pretext of peace talks to "appease" the Ming Dynasty. As a result, he freed up his hands to attack Korea, Mao Wenlong and other tribes, eliminating their retreat and consolidating the rear in one fell swoop.

The second time, in the Battle of Ningjin, Huang Taiji was defeated and once again initiated peace talks with the Ming Dynasty, which ended up alienating Chongzhen and military generals such as Yuan Chonghuan.

Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned and executed by Chongzhen for "initiating peace talks without authorization" and colluding with the enemy.

Chongzhen, who executed Yuan Chonghuan for "negotiating peace without authorization", even ordered that anyone who submitted a petition for peace again would be imprisoned and executed.

Now, Your Majesty, you are proposing peace talks again. Isn't this just slapping yourself in the face?

"If I let you go, just go!" Zhu Changgan waved his hand and said impatiently.

Seeing that the emperor was unhappy, Wang Chengen quickly instructed the eunuch to summon Yang Sichang.

Zhu Changgan picked out this memorial and continued to read other memorials.

It is definitely impossible to negotiate peace.
Moreover, it is impossible for the Later Jin to negotiate peace.

Because during this period, Huang Taiji adopted the strategy of "cutting down big trees", that is, using various methods to attack the Ming Dynasty in order to bring it down and prepare for his own entry into the Central Plains.

Now the Ming Dynasty was in the midst of war, refugees and rebels were roaming around in several provinces, and plagues were spreading everywhere. Huang Taiji must have been very happy.

Make peace with the Ming Dynasty?
So that you can free up your hands to suppress the peasant army? How is that possible?

Huang Taiji is smarter than a monkey and would never do such a stupid thing.

Zhu Changgan had only one purpose: to see if he could use this opportunity to buy more time for the Ming Dynasty.

"Time, what the Ming Dynasty lacks most right now is time!" Zhu Changgan sighed, "What time is it?"

"Your Majesty, it will be the hour of the Rooster soon."

Zhu Changgan, "Take the telescope and accompany me to the Imperial City to watch the excitement."

……

……

East Factory,

Wang Zhixin was listening to the reports from various places in the capital being told by Qian Hu Liu Gang, and interrupted him, "Liu Gang, we trust you the most. His Majesty asked the nobles and officials to donate money this time. Why do I always feel that something is wrong?" "Uncle, what's wrong?"

Wang Zhixin shook his head, he couldn't explain it either.

However, both Jiading Earl and Tian Hongyu were ordered by the emperor to donate 400,000 taels, which was obviously different from the past.

Captain Liu was silent for a few seconds and said, "Master, I still think it's better to remain unchanged in the face of change. No matter how big the incident is, it's not our turn to pay, right?"

After a moment of silence, Wang Zhixin asked again: "Your Majesty has entrusted us with the task of asking the nobles and civil and military officials for money. Do you think this is feasible?"

As the supervisor of the East Factory,
Wang Zhixin instinctively felt that there was something wrong here. There was already a gap between the eunuchs and civil servants, and they were wary of each other. Now the emperor asked the eunuchs to supervise the collection of money.

You never know what kind of trouble might arise.

So I can't show up myself. Not only can I not show up myself, but I also have to find a reliable person to do this job.

"It's impossible." Liu Gang shook his head. "Your Majesty asked for money from the officials and nobles, but not from us. If we step forward now, I'm afraid the nobles and civil officials will point the finger at us."

Wang Zhixin took a deep breath and nodded, "Yes, this is a pot of burning charcoal. If it falls on me, I might get burned to death."

"Go and call Qiao Yan over."

quickly,

Qiao Yan was called over. "Qiao Yan, you are the most reliable person under our command. I have a task to do, and after much thought, I think you should do it."

"It is a blessing for us that you sent me, Lord."

"That's settled then. Take this governor's letter and transfer the necessary people. If you encounter anything that cannot be handled, you can handle it according to your discretion." Wang Zhixin took out a token and a stack of memorial papers and placed them on the table.

The corners of Liu Gang's mouth twitched and his eyes were sinister. With envy, jealousy and hatred in his eyes, he watched Qiao Yan put away the token.

After Qiao Yan left, Wang Zhixin scolded Liu Gang, "Are you still feeling wronged?"

"This is not an easy job. If you don't do it seriously, His Majesty will be anxious, and you will end up with a bad job and have your head moved away."

"But if we do it seriously, we will irritate those meritorious officials and civil servants. When they submit memorials one after another, our emperor will definitely push us out to take the blame immediately."

Liu Gang was stunned. "Then why did you let Qiao Yan do this job?"

Wang Zhixin rolled his eyes at him and said, "I told you you're stupid, but you're still panting."

"You call me uncle, and I will pave the way for you. When I step down from this position of governor one day, it will most likely be yours."

Liu Gang still didn't understand, "Uncle, what do you mean?"

Wang Zhixin sighed, "Over the years, you've watched Qiao Yan move up step by step very quickly, but he's not one of us after all."

"Except for you, all the people I helped to rise to the top were scapegoats. What a pity. I didn't intend to use him in the first place."

Wang Zhixin has been making steady progress over the years and has reached the position of governor by relying on this trick.

He would seemingly entrust important tasks to anyone who seemed smart and capable and was trying hard to climb up the ladder. However, as soon as the other party climbed high enough to threaten his position, he would find ways to make the other party take the blame and roll back down, and even take their life in his hands.

Now that the Ming Dynasty was in turmoil, he had also made a plan for retreat.

And this escape route is Liu Gang in front of us.
He is not as capable as Qiao Yan, but he is a family member.

"Thank you for your cultivation, uncle." Liu Gang's eyes suddenly lit up, "Everything is up to you."

Wang Zhixin raised his hand and said, "Don't go out these few days. I want some peace and quiet. Let's not get involved in this matter."

……

Coming out of the factory governor's office, Qiao Yan was holding Wang Zhixin's token, his eyes flashing.

really,

It would be impossible for him to climb up by relying on Wang Zhixin. The credit would always belong to him, the governor, but the blame would be borne by those who worked hard for him.

After he entered the East Factory, more than one person had said this.

His master died at the hands of Wang Zhixin, so when Wang Chengen approached him that year, he agreed without hesitation.

Now let us settle all the new and old grudges together.

He weighed the token in his hand, then walked towards the Dongji Factory to transfer people.

……

The sun began to set,
The streets of the capital were bustling with noise. The sounds of hawkers and children running on both sides of the road could be heard.

suddenly,

"Get out of the way!"

"We are here for the East Factory business, get out of the way!"

The sound of hurried horse hooves rang out in the streets, and teams of people from the East Factory ran through the streets.

Suddenly there was a chaotic sound.

The small vendors were trying to hide from the soldiers and horses, the children were frightened and crying, and the whole place was in chaos.

Everyone stared at the scene in front of them in a daze, none of them understood what was going on. Some of them hadn't even reacted yet, with their mouths open and half a fire in their hands.

"What's going on? Someone from the East Factory?"

"Hey, this is weird. How many years have we not seen the East Factory being so tough?"

"Wei Zhongxian has been dead for so many years, what the hell is this?"

The men from the Eastern Depot galloped all the way to the door of the Duke of England, but before anyone could come forward and knock on the door.

The doorman had already opened the door and came out. Seeing the visitor still on horseback, he could not help but shout, "Who dares to ride a horse in front of the Duke's Mansion?"

"Look carefully, this is the token of the governor. I've come here specifically to inquire about the donation of silver from the Duke of England's mansion." Qiao Yan flashed the token of the governor in his hand.

"Dongchang?" The doorman didn't react for a moment, and someone came out from behind him.

It was the steward of the Duke of England's mansion, who angrily scolded: "Who does Wang Zhixin think he is? How much money should our Duke of England's mansion donate? Is it his turn to give instructions?"

"Ah~"

I saw a cold light flashing across the air, and blood and screams splashed onto the gate.

"stick it on!"

Someone immediately applied glue and pasted the silver donation paper on the Duke of England's house.
"Let's go!" Qiao Yan turned his horse and headed towards the next house.

The butler who was left screaming, as well as those who rushed out of the Duke of England's mansion, some reacted and some did not, all had their Adam's apples rolling.

I didn’t know what to do for a moment.

"Quick, inform the Duke of England about this, and call the doctor over."

When Duke Yingguo Zhang Zhiji came out of the mansion, he looked at the old butler lying in a pool of blood, his eyes already bloodshot.

The butler was older than him. He had been taking care of him since he could remember. Out of kindness, he was given some time to go home and retire, but the old butler was unwilling to leave the house.

Immediately, he saw the donation notice posted on the door:

[Notice to collect donations from nobles and officials:
Duke of England, His Majesty has issued an order for you to donate money, but no action has been taken for a long time.

You are in high positions and have generous salaries, so you should follow the example of the Earl of Jiading and be sure to report your donations before tomorrow morning's court session. You will be responsible for any consequences of failing to do so.

Hereby notified.

Signed: Dongjishichang]

"Wang Zhixin, I'm going to kill your mother." Zhang Zhiji slammed the door frame, drew out the sword in his hand, led a horse out of the stable, jumped on it, and headed towards Wang Zhixin's mansion.

……

The same scene continues to play out.

At the door of Xu Yunzhen, Duke of Dingguo,
"Who are you, you scoundrel? Why don't you get off your horse? Don't you want to live?"

The doorman yelled angrily and reached out to grab the reins, but there was no way Qiao Yan would let him grab him, so he grabbed the reins and pulled them up with all his strength.

"Xilulu~" the military horse raised its two shiny iron hooves.

The doorman's eyes suddenly widened, his face was horrified, he wanted to hide but couldn't.

The horse's hooves stepped hard on his chest.

"Pfft~"

He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell into a coma.

"Post it!" Qiao Yan's men quickly posted a notice on the door of Duke Dingguo's Mansion.

(End of this chapter)