Daming wolf ride

Xiong Kaiyuan pointed the finger at himself, Zhou Yanru was an old man, so naturally he would not let Xiong attack him like this, and immediately sent his cronies to win over Xiong Kaiyuan, so Wu Changshi, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites, Sun Jin, the Minister of Dali Temple, and Feng Yuanbiao, the minister of the Ministry of War They went to lobby Xiong Kaiyuan one after another.These people repeatedly explained the interests to Xiong: Your opinion is correct, but there is still a glimmer of hope for the gentleman (Donglin) to stay here and do things for the court; Of course, people are not virtuous, and if everyone is dismissed, another group of villains (Northern Party, not Donglin) will inevitably be employed. At that time, will there still be a place for you, an official from Donglin, to gain a foothold in the court?

Xiong Kaiyuan was right when he thought about it. He was from the Donglin Party. If the emperor really drove Zhou Yanru away, those northerners would definitely clap their hands and take the opportunity to take control of the court. Then he would stand in again?The conflict between myself and Zhou Yanru is, after all, a conflict within the party. Since Zhou Yanru has realized his mistake, why should he really want to kill them all?

Xiong Kaiyuan compromised, willing to reconcile with Zhou Yanru, and promised not to write a memorial to impeach Zhou Yanru, but what he didn't expect was that Zhou Yanru made two-handed preparations.After they succeeded in wooing Xiong Kaiyuan in Wu Changshi, he immediately entered the palace and complained to Chongzhen in a pre-emptive manner. He said in front of Chongzhen: "I am alone and helpless in the court. Thanks to the emperor's favor, I have always done things without shy away from villains. Xiong Kaiyuan said There is no basis for saying that. The reason why he pointed the finger at me is to support his fellow party and clear the way for him."

Between the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Pedestrians and the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, Chongzhen certainly believed in Zhou Yanru, besides, he did not believe in Zhou Yanru, but Zhou Yanru had just recovered for a few days. place to hang.But Chongzhen was unwilling to spare Zhou Yanru just because of this, and he also wanted to know whether what Xiong Kaiyuan said was true, so he sent an internal supervisor to urge Xiong Kaiyuan to submit a written version immediately.

Now Xiong Kaiyuan is in a dilemma. He has already promised Wu Changshi, Sun Jin, Feng Yuanbiao and others not to embarrass Zhou Yanru any more, and not to write bullets to the emperor, but now the emperor sends someone to urge them. If you offend Zhou Yanru, you will be dishonest; if you don't pay, the emperor will not be able to pay the job. At the beginning, he went to the palace with his own chest to impeach Zhou Yanru, but now he suddenly retreated halfway, what a big deal.

In desperation, Xiong Kaiyuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and write the memorandum, but in the pamphlet there were flashes of words, talking here and there, looking left and right, without a single point, Wu Changshi took the memorandum and deleted half of it again. After handing it in, as a result, the memorial became hesitant and unable to express the meaning.After reading it, Chongzhen was also furious. There was no concrete fact to speak of in this memorial, and the words were all ambiguous, which was nothing compared to Jiang Cai's accusations based on false accusations.

The young emperor felt that he had been dumped by these officials again, so he was furious and ordered Jin Yiwei to arrest Xiong Kaiyuan immediately and bring him to justice.Luo Yangxing was Xiong Kaiyuan's fellow villager, and he had some quarrels with Zhou Yanru, so he was unwilling to delve into Xiong Kaiyuan, so he also prepared a ambiguous interrogation report and submitted it to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen believed that Xiong Kaiyuan "slandered the assistant prime minister" and wanted to isolate the emperor by framing the first and assistant ministers so that they could form a party for personal gain. After checking it out, Luo Yangxing actually downplayed it, and every sentence was to release Xiong Kaiyuan. This made him furious, and he severely reprimanded Luo Yangxing: "Xiong Kaiyuan must have the mastermind behind the scenes. As my pro-army Commander, why do you favor this person so much, are you facing me or him?"

The young emperor's words were serious, and Luo Yangxing was so frightened that he fell to his knees on the spot, sweat dripping down his back, and immediately re-interrogated Xiong Kaiyuan after returning to Beizhen Fusi.

This time, Xiong Kaiyuan also understood that he was sent to prison because of Zhou Yanru's two-faced and three-faced tricks, so he also went all out, exposing Zhou's secrets in large numbers, and accused Zhou Yanru of how he embezzled and accepted bribes, and how he took plunder.

Xiong Kaiyuan didn't recruit what the emperor wanted, but he insisted on the chief assistant on the spot. Luo Yangxing was also dumbfounded, but he couldn't really kill Xiong Kaiyuan. Although Xiong Kaiyuan and Zhou Yanru were at odds, he was Dongfang Lin party members, there are factions in the Donglin party, who knows which Donglin veteran is standing behind Xiong Kaiyuan.If he really killed Xiong, he would not be able to protect another Tian Ergeng in the future.

Luo Yangxing is really afraid of the Donglin Party now, so afraid that this dignified leader of the emperor's pro-army has become a cowardly old official who only wants to protect himself and dare not offend others.

It's a pity that Changwei is the emperor's eyes and ears. Without them, the emperor would be fooled by the court, so how could he understand the lower situation.

Luo Yang is dereliction of duty, incompetent, and stupid!

..........

Here Luo Yangxing is having a headache on how to present Xiong Kaiyuan's confession to Chongzhen, while the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Departments and Six Divisions have already taken action.

In one day, 26 memorials for Jiang Cai and Xiong Kaiyuan entered the palace.Of course Chongzhen was very angry about this, and they all stayed in the middle, and didn't bother to answer them.Lu Xiangsheng, prime minister of the five provinces, reported that the bandit Gao Yingxiang fled from the Jianghuai River to Xinyang, and the eight kings Zhang Xianzhong fled to Sichuan. Hong Chengchou also reported that the northwestern thieves were all in Henan. Control in the Central Plains, and wait for the imperial court to dispatch troops to join together and annihilate them.In Henan, apart from Luoyang and Kaifeng, there is no place in the province where there are no bandits. It is a shame that the governor of Henan, Xuan Mo, does not think about his job. Is it true that Shi Dayong is really going to be killed based on the accusations he has heard from a provincial official and has not been investigated?Kill Shi Dayong, but you can guarantee that the [-] to [-] tiger and wolf soldiers under his command will not rebel?

Chongzhen is not a fool, he knows exactly what the cabinet intends to refute Xuanmo's bullets, but he doesn't say anything, and he doesn't want to take care of it, he only asks Shi Dayong to put the rogues to rest for him, there are always other things. When the account is settled in the future.But at this juncture, even he, the Son of Heaven, would not dare to take the risk of rebelling against Shi Dayong to rebuke him rashly.Hou Xun was also incompetent, he patted his chest and said that as long as he went to supervise the division, the Liaodong Army would definitely be used by the imperial court and become a truly elite army that the imperial court could control, but after so many days, what did he do? !

Incompetent, incompetent, incompetent!

Chongzhen is really disappointed now, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty could not find a few truly capable talents. Alas, after a long sigh, he suddenly thought of Yang Sichang, who is filial and loyal.

.........

In response to Hong Chengchou's claim that the rogues would all meet in the Central Plains, Chongzhen summoned civil and military officials on the platform to discuss how to deal with the matter.This has not even begun, and all the officials have recruited Wu Lin to intercede for Jiang Cai during the incident.He didn't dare to say good things for Jiang Cai directly, but said euphemistically: "Your majesty, the ministers and others have shallow knowledge and cannot understand the original intention of the emperor's begging. Maybe they said it inappropriately, or maybe they said it too eagerly. My own stupidity, and my colleague Jiang Cai's offense against Tianwei are all the crimes of the ministers. But Jiang Cai has always been poor, hardworking as an official, weak and sick, I hope the emperor's grace will forgive me."

Wu Linzheng said it tactfully, unlike other officials who used a set of principles to accuse him of being the emperor first, after hearing this, Chongzhen was calm and not angry. In front of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, he felt the need to explain this matter , He said: "Since I became the throne, I have been working hard every day, lest my ancestors will be destroyed in my hands. But in the past eight years, internal and external troubles have continued, and the ancestral mausoleum has been burned down by thieves. May I ask, what did I do wrong to attract attention?" Come to heaven to punish me like this?!..." As he spoke, Chongzhen shed tears sadly.Sadly, he wiped away his tears with his patched sleeve, and then said: "You blame me for sending the Yanguan to prison, but have you ever thought about Jiang Cai's disobedience to the decree, and instead questioned me, how can you not deal with it severely? You Yanguan Taking public opinion as a duty, I dare not say what should be said, but dare to bully the court. The theory of "24 qi" is an anonymous leaflet, which should be destroyed when it is seen, but Jiang Cai has repeatedly mentioned it in memorials, and has to be accused. You The officials are the eyes and ears of the imperial court, if one's own style of conduct is not correct, how can he correct others?"

After uttering the words that had been held in his heart for a few days, Chongzhen felt much more comfortable, but found that all the ministers of His Royal Highness were not as sad as the emperor, so he couldn't help but murmured: You don't need to focus on the country.

The emperor's criticism of the speaker was not unreasonable, and Wu Linzheng couldn't justify it, but he said something that was neither hard nor soft. He said: "Your Majesty, the speaker only talks. As for whether the speech is appropriate, whether it is competent or not, it is natural to obey the court's punishment." To put it bluntly, the speech officer is just talking nonsense. If you say something right, you have merit, but if you say something wrong, you can't blame the speech officer. After all, it is not the speech officer who is in power. Isn't there six cabinets?

After shamelessly shirking responsibility for the officials, Wu Linzheng shifted the topic to Xiong Kaiyuan again. He said: "Recently, Xiong Kaiyuan was convicted for blaming the chief assistant Zhou Yanru. Wife, the country is in chaos and misses the virtuous prime minister. "The country's frontiers have been corrupted to such an extent, shouldn't the chief assistant be blamed?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yanru stared at him, and was about to refute, but saw that the young emperor in the hall had already refuted first, and Chongzhen said angrily: "Xiong Kaiyuan pretended to be secret, slandered the Prime Minister, used his small size to increase his size, and used his humbleness to bully his nobles. The climate cannot be fostered.”

"The government set up a speaker to let the speaker speak, regardless of whether it is right or not, but he cannot be punished for his words. I ask the emperor to issue an order to return the two of you."

Fu Shuxun, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, interceded for Jiang Cai and Xiong Kaiyuan, but Chongzhen ignored him and refused.A good discussion about suppressing the Central Plains thieves suddenly turned into a situation of pleading for Jiang and Xiong. Chongzhen was very angry. He was about to ask Zhang Fengyi, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Chen Xinjia, Minister of the Right, to speak out, but he saw the great talent Liu Zongzhouyue The class came out, and he played plausibly: "Your Majesty seeks virtuous ministers, Jiang Cai and Xiong Kaiyuan were summoned, and they were convicted of speech. Never in this dynasty have officials been imprisoned in Jinyiwei Prison. Jiang and Xiong set a precedent. But the emperor It should be known that Dongchang and Jinyiwei are lynchings by the imperial court. They should not have been established, let alone be believed. I ask you to remove Dongchang and Jinyiwei completely, and all punishments will belong to the three law divisions!"

As soon as this remark came out, all the civil and military officials in the hall were stunned. Liu Zongzhou really dared to say it, but he said it with great joy. The Dongchang and Jinyiwei should have been completely eliminated long ago. Do you use it?If this revives Dongchang and Jinyiwei, and makes troubles by taking advantage of this matter, then their courtiers will feel like a stabbing pain in their backs, and they will feel restless.

What do Dongchang and Jinyiwei do?Man Dian civil and military officials knew well that the Jinyiwei pro-army and Fanzi were not looking for trouble with ordinary people, but for officials like them!

After ten years of studying hard, being an official for thousands of miles makes money, who would like to be an official and be secretly watched and find fault?Who would have thought that Dongchang would take the money after collecting the money, and Jin Yiwei would come to arrest him after doing something wrong?

This Dongchang and Jinyiwei should have done it a long time ago, and it should have been done six years ago, so what's the point of leaving him on empty airs!

Come on, be brave, what a great talent Liu Zongzhou!Say I can't wait to say it, say I want to say it!

In the palace class, except for the commander of Jin Yiwei, Luo Yangxing, who had an ugly face, secretly scolded Liu Zongzhou for not thinking of him at all in the past few years, and clearly wanted to kill the donkey to unload the grind. You guys don't dare to report anything to the emperor, but it's good for you to turn your face if you say it, and you are thinking of taking Lao Tzu's office away before the fifteenth day!Damn, it's really deceiving!

Zhou Yanru's complexion changed drastically at first, but after a few seconds, the corner of his mouth grinned and he began to watch the show calmly.

Chongzhen was dumbfounded when he heard it at first, but soon became furious. He had already suffered from Donglin six years ago in the matter of the factory guards. Regretted to death, wanting to recover, but money and food are in the hands of the courtiers, as long as he shows the slightest thought this day, the court's saliva memorials will fly over like snowflakes.In desperation, they could only hold back their breath, but they didn't expect that this group of people didn't even worry about the factory guards who had been cut down to a few people. Would you be willing to completely control the imperial court and make him, the emperor, completely deaf and blind?

In order to suppress his anger, Chongzhen raised his head and looked up at the girders on the roof of the palace, and asked Liu Zongzhou indifferently: "Dongchang and Jinyiwei both enforce the law for the court. Tell me, what is public and what is private?"

The emperor was already furious. Although the voice was flat, anyone could see the anger on the face of the young emperor, but Liu Zongzhou turned a blind eye and continued talking there: "The imperial court has rules for speech officials. Officials say that if it is available, use it, and if it is not available, ignore it. Even if there is a crime that deserves it, it should be decided by the three courts according to the situation. Xiong Kaiyuan and Jiang Cai are manic and ignorant, so they cannot be said to be innocent. Imprisonment in Jinyiwei Prison for speech is detrimental to the state, and I am afraid it is not the original intention of His Majesty to seek talents. I hope that His Majesty will take into account the difficult times and open up the way of speaking. The minister and Huang Daozhou were also convicted for their words, but they were also forgiven by His Majesty. Why can't Jiang and Xiong do it? The matter of factory guards has been abolished for most of the second year of Chongzhen, and it is logical to stop after six years. This kind of lynching place will be kept, but I don't know if His Majesty doesn't trust us courtiers, or has other intentions? Your Majesty is stupid, please clarify."

"You!...." Chongzhen's patience reached its limit, and finally broke out, angrily angrily declared: "Liu Zongzhou is the person behind Xiong Kaiyuan's backstage, and he is waiting to be punished!"

Jin Guangchen, Zuoqian Duyu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was taken aback, and knelt down to defend Liu Zongzhou: "Liu Zongzhou is upright, never has guests, and has no contact with Xiong Kaiyuan. Zong Zhou and the minister are in the same yamen, and the minister knows him very well." ..."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard the young emperor shout loudly: "Jin Guangchen will also be punished!"

Hearing this, Jin Guangchen was also startled, but he still said: "Liu Zongzhou is honest and upright, he has always kept a cool face in the yamen, his heart is serious, I hope the emperor will dismiss me and leave him as an old minister."

At this time, Fan Jingwen, Shangshu of the Ministry of Criminal Justice and other ministers knelt on the ground together, begging the emperor to forgive Liu and Jin. Chongzhen was unmoved, and said coldly: "You don't need to apply for rescue, get up! Liu Zongzhou and Jin Guangchen retreat first and wait." According to the decree, the officials of Jiuqing Kedao will discuss and report their opinions on punishment." Then he asked the cabinet ministers to accompany him to the inner room to discuss matters, and immediately announced his decree: "Liu Zongzhou is dismissed, and the Ministry of Punishment plans to commit crimes."

Out of the consideration of Donglin's party, Zhou Yanru repeatedly begged the emperor to take back his order, hoping that he would learn from Tang Taizong Yourong Wei Zheng's open-mindedness, and not to care about like officials.

The young emperor was so angry that he didn't listen at all, and replied impatiently: "I won't learn from him."

The emperor didn't even learn from Tang Taizong, Zhou Yanru didn't know what to say for a while, Qian Wensheng, the second assistant, He Wunuo, a university scholar, and others were all stunned there. Look at me, I look at you, no one knows what to say. How to persuade this young emperor.

While they were stilling, they suddenly saw Cao Huachun trot in and shouted with panic, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty!"

"Shut up!" Chongzhen was on fire, glared at Cao Huachun, and reprimanded in a low voice: "What are you talking about, didn't you see me discussing matters with the cabinet members! Go away!"

"Yes..." Cao Huachun sighed, saying no, no saying no, retreating to Chongzhen's side with his hands down and standing there in a daze, his face was extremely bitter, hesitant to speak, quite painful.

Chongzhen was bored for a moment, and then he glanced at Cao Huachun: "Say."

"Yes," Cao Huachun bowed his waist, and said in a low voice, "Changping urgent report, the eastern captives have broken through Juyongguan!" After speaking, he handed over the express report.

.........

Author's note: The matters concerning Henan, Shaanxi, Juyongguan, and the capital were written together in the recent stage, so there may be time gaps, readers please pay attention when reading.Happened roughly at the same time.As for why it took a few extra chapters to describe the officials of the imperial court, it is because I want everyone to pay attention to the protagonist and learn more about the political situation of Ming Dynasty at that time.Such a Ming Dynasty, such an official, can be saved or not.