Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Although Yan Jizu escaped this catastrophe, other officials did not have such a good life.The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Punishment really did it quickly. In a short period of time, after passing the "serious" review, it was confirmed that: Jizhen Chief Eunuch Deng Xizhao, Sub-eunuch Sun Maolin, Shuntian Governor Chen Zubao, Baoding Governor Zhang Qiping, Shandong Governor Ni Chong, Wu Guojun and Chen Guowei, chief military officers of Jizhen, Zu Kuan, Li Chongzhen, and the deputy generals and down to prefectural and county officials were sentenced to death together and executed immediately; hundreds of people including the chief scholar Liu Yuliang and others Officials, big and small, were sent to garrison, removed from office, dismissed from office, and demoted.

Among them, Zu Kuan deserves special mention. Although he was convicted because of Gao Qiqian's blind command, which caused the annihilation of his entire army, it should be said that he deserved the crime.However, Gao Qiqian, the commander-in-chief of this army, was safe and sound, but he encountered the ghost knife. The main reason for his conviction was that he suggested to rescue Lu Xiangsheng at that time.how to say?The bad thing is the mouth.

What is even more incomprehensible is that Yang Sichang, a scholar and Minister of the Ministry of War, still received the absolute trust of Emperor Chongzhen and was not punished.What's more, let him preside over the post-war conviction and merit discussion. How can this be called fair?

And this large-scale collective execution was carried out in Xia Tian. Dozens of people were beheaded at the same time, and most of them were high-ranking officials, so it attracted a large number of spectators.According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, when an official was beheaded by the emperor, as a rule, before the execution, he should look towards the palace to thank him.But this time, several of the murdered people began to curse before the execution, and they cursed the current emperor.Due to taboos in the language, there is no record of what they scolded in the literature, but this fact itself was shocking enough in that era.

Successive defeats on the battlefield have already made people frustrated, and even the merits of the punishment after the war cannot be fair, so the prestige of Emperor Chongzhen himself has entered an unprecedented low period.

As for Wu Shigong.The imperial court is already having difficulty making a decision, and does not know how to reward or deal with him.But soon, Emperor Chongzhen and the court officials found a place to arrange Wu Shigong.What is it?Let's sell it here first.

Finally, the Qing army was sent out of the customs, and the Gyeonggi area returned to calm.But Emperor Chongzhen did not dare to relax in the slightest. He firstly discussed matters related to the aftermath with the ministers.The most important of these.How to rectify and strengthen the so-called nine-sided Great Wall defense line from Shanhaiguan to Gansu.

Because the Qing army has casually entered and exited the Great Wall fortress four times, and the damage caused to the area around Gyeonggi has become more and more serious.If we can't make up for it and build a solid line of defense, maybe one day when the Qing army comes in again, Shenjing will be destroyed, and the consequences are simply unimaginable.

So Emperor Chongzhen discussed this issue repeatedly with his confidant Yang Sichang. Yang Sichang believed that the only way was to train new recruits in various fortresses on the nine sides.Use a strong force to resist the Qing army.In other words, build another Great Wall defense line to resist any Qing army that suddenly invades from any direction. [

Therefore, Yang Sichang made a general list: the three towns under the jurisdiction of Governor Xuanda need a total of more than 17 military training; More than 15.The four towns under the jurisdiction of the governor of Baoding need to train more than 24 soldiers, and a total of 15 frontier soldiers need to be trained.

God!

But regardless of whether this list is realistic or not, if there is such a large and well-trained frontier army, it may indeed be able to withstand the Qing army's re-invasion.But raising such a large army will require a large number of recruits.The increase in troops required an increase in salary, and training and improving equipment also required a lot of money. Therefore, the old problem of salary for increasing troops was placed in front of Emperor Chongzhen and the court.

then.Yang Sichang calculated again that in order to complete this troop increase and training plan, at least more than 400 million taels of silver should be spent every year.For the Chongzhen court, whose treasury was extremely empty and its finances were on the verge of collapse, this was simply a fantasy.

I can only call God again.

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, the two contradictory problems of insufficient troops and lack of food and payment had already made Emperor Chongzhen and the ministers troubled.But after trying all kinds of tricks, they always return to the old road of sending more people to the people.At this time, Emperor Chongzhen also knew that he was drinking poison to quench his thirst.So he decided to find a new way to make money.That is to extract directly from the common people instead of extracting from nobles and officials, which is called donation.

To be honest, the Emperor Chongzhen at this time really couldn't think about it.His own internal treasury was basically used as military pay.Even the North Korean tribute ginseng stored in the warehouse is sold.Emperor Chongzhen himself lived a simple life, with only a few dragon robes to replace, and he was very frugal in food and drink. This emperor has managed to look like this, and it is indeed quite shabby.

But Emperor Chongzhen didn't know at all.Even in his own palace, it is still luxurious.Not to mention the expenses of the tens of thousands of people in the palace, including his family, maids, and eunuchs, are still staggeringly large.This is also the dignity of being an emperor. You can't demand that Emperor Chongzhen do everything!

Just look at the layer upon layer carving and peeling of the inner eunuchs!No matter what, as long as it enters the palace, the price will skyrocket.

Once Yuan Guifei bought a red sandalwood gauze cabinet, and the eunuch in charge quoted it at 700 taels, which was about dozens of times higher.But the eunuch said: "I originally needed 1000 taels, but I tried my best to save 300 taels for my mother, so please don't tell the emperor, I am afraid that if the emperor asks me to make it with 700 taels of silver, I will not be able to make it."

But when Emperor Chongzhen saw the yarn cabinet later, he really asked about the price.Concubine Yuan Gui replied that she spent 1000 taels.Unexpectedly, after a careful observation, Emperor Chongzhen said: "It's worth it! A few days ago, the queen also made a gauze cabinet with 1000 taels, and the quality is not as good as this one."

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen lived in the deep palace for a long time, and he didn't know the sufferings of the people at all, so he made such a big joke.But no matter what, Emperor Chongzhen still thought he was one of the most thrifty monarchs since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors.

However, as the Ninth Five-Year Master, he is still frugal everywhere, while his bureaucratic relatives are so extravagant. Therefore, he believes that it is only natural to extract money from bureaucratic relatives to enrich the national treasury.It's just that since the early years of his accession to the throne, he has repeatedly issued decrees asking his officials to donate voluntarily, but the officials have been perfunctory time and time again, and have never received any actual results.This time, he is going to take drastic measures and must get the money.For this reason, he conducted secret business with Xue Guoguan, who succeeded Liu Yuliang as the chief assistant.

Xue Guoguan also had never been a Hanlin, and he entered the cabinet from a foreigner, so he had a bad reputation among the court officials.He is sinister and tough, and after becoming the chief assistant, he wholeheartedly opposed the courtiers represented by the Donglin party members.When Emperor Chongzhen wanted to recruit his officials, he thought it would be a good opportunity to shake off the vigor of his courtiers, so he expressed his approval and actively advised the emperor.

Xue Guoguan thinks: the courtiers are rich and poor, and generally speaking, there is not much profit and water, and the focus should be on those royal relatives with huge wealth.And once the noble relatives took the lead in donating, the courtiers would not dare to resist stubbornly.But for those noble relatives, the cabinet is not easy to do anything, so he said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Outside the officials, ministers, etc. are responsible for urging donations; for internal relatives, the emperor must personally decide." [

In fact, when it comes to this, Emperor Chongzhen obviously chose the wrong executor.The most suitable and effective person to do this kind of thing is undoubtedly the eunuch.It is true to fight poison with poison, but Emperor Chongzhen did not understand this truth.That's when "Sunflower Treasure" comes out, who will compete with it?Emperor Chongzhen kept the sharpest knife in his collection.

Anyway, let's not talk about it.After Emperor Chongzhen accepted Xue Guoguan's suggestion, he decided to start with his relatives first.However, he is well aware of the stinginess of his relatives, and it is difficult for everyone to speak.So Emperor Chongzhen decided to grasp a model first, break through from a point, and then expand to a comprehensive one.After several considerations, he chose Li Guorui's family, Marquis of Wuqing.

Li Guorui can be regarded as a cousin of the Chongzhen Emperor who is not far away. Relying on the power of the Empress Dowager Wanli, his ancestors amassed a lot of money, and he can be regarded as a big family among the nobles in Beijing.Before that, Li Guorui and his concubine elder brother Li Guochen had a quarrel over property matters. Li Guochen thought that he had not received the inheritance he deserved. Logically, he should be given half of the ten thousand taels of property, and he is willing to donate the 40 taels to the court as military funds.

Because this was originally a family lawsuit and involved the traditional principle of eldest son inheritance, Emperor Chongzhen initially rejected Li Guochen's request.But at this time, in order to spread out donation activities in an all-round way, Emperor Chongzhen brought up the old matter again, not only to accept the 20 that Li Guochen claimed belonged to him, but also to take the other 20 from Li Guorui.Of course, it doesn't mean that the Li family should return all their money, but that they borrow it temporarily and pay it back when the state has enough money.Of course, only God knows whether he can pay it back in the end.

40 taels of silver is a huge amount, of course Li Guorui feels distressed.While crying and begging for poverty, he demolished houses and sold land with great fanfare, and put furniture and utensils for public auction on thoroughfare, expressing his poverty and deliberately making the emperor look bad.And this move also caused panic among all the noble relatives.Everyone knows that after Li Guorui, the knife will be cut on his own head, so they conspired together to find a way to deal with the emperor.

Empress Zhou's father, Zhou Kui, is the father-in-law of the current emperor, and he naturally became the leader of the nobles. He took the lead in saying to Emperor Chongzhen: "The Li family is really poor. Don't push too hard, or you will lose the hearts of your relatives." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point (qn) to vote, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please go to read.)