Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

At this time, Hao Jishangshu of the Bingke gave an attack on Wu Changshi, a scholar in the anthology of the official department, and pointed his finger at Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant, saying that Wu Changshi "steals power to gain power, accepts bribes and engages in private affairs, and is Zhou Yanru's cadre. The cabinet draft It is a matter of secrets, but the prosperity of the times is known in advance", saying that Zhou Yanru is "a sinner in the world" who "has a lot of desires but is not upright, is useful but has no body, wisdom is enough to cover up but loyalty is not enough to seek the country".

Immediately afterwards, a group of censors and officials discussed the impeachment of Wu Changshi and Zhou Yanru. The censor Jiang Gongchen also revealed that Wu Changshi had colluded with the internal prison and directly manipulated the emperor.

And Wu Changshi was Fushe's No. 16 political activist, and he was very good at making money. At the time, Zhou Yanru's re-emergence was all handled by him, and he had many relationships inside and outside the palace in Beijing. Naturally, he was Zhou Yanru's number one confidant.However, after Zhou Yanru once again served as chief assistant for more than a year, he was still just the head of the Rites and System Department without real power, and he felt quite aggrieved.It was not until March of the [-]th year of Chongzhen, with the joint support of Zhou Yanru and Zheng Sanjun, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials of the Donglin Party, that Wu Changshi was transferred to be the head of the literary selection of the Ministry of Officials, acting as the agent of Lang Zhongshi, and mastered the power of civil elections.

Once the power was in his hands, Wu Changshi couldn't help being complacent. He was active in the officialdom in Kyoto, accepting bribes for personal gain, arranging positions for friends and party members, and hating those who had made old enemies.

In the month when Wu Changshi acted as Wenxuan Langzhong, it coincided with a routine transfer of science and education, that is, to select a few people from Shizhong and Yushi to go out of Beijing to serve as magistrates.As usual, Ke Dao leaves Beijing to be promoted, but it is usually considered to be a very disadvantageous thing, because not only are the officials and the censors quite powerful in Beijing, but they may be promoted to Jingqing at any time, with a bright future. If you stay away from the imperial court, your future will be very bleak.

What's more, it is an eventful autumn in the world at this time.God knows what will happen if he becomes a magistrate.Therefore, none of the Kodaos want to be transferred out.According to the usual practice, every time the Ke Dao is transferred out, it is given to one person in Shizhong and two Yushi, but this time Wu Changshi wanted to kill the prestige of the officials, and transferred four to Shizhong and six Yushi at once. .Most speech officials were quite indignant about this, but Wu Changshi's backstage was too hard at that time, so he had to bear it.

But with Zhou Yanru's fall from favor and Zheng Sanjun's resignation, Chen Yan and others are inciting a wave of destroying Zhou Yanru's power in the court, and the grievances of the speech officials finally broke out.In addition, Wu Changshi usually swaggered too much.There are so many people offended that this concentrated attack on him came about.

The bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty have always been biting each other endlessly, but it is extremely rare for many people to jointly attack a low-ranking minister.When Emperor Chongzhen was in the midst of the evil fire, he saw that the impeachment letter contained major contents such as colluding with the chief minister to manipulate the government, secretly communicating with eunuchs, and leaking secrets, so he immediately showed morbid concern for this case.

at this time.Emperor Chongzhen still can't deal with Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant who is hiding in Tongzhou Daying, so first deal with Zhou Yanru's number one minion-Wu Changshi!

Emperor Chongzhen has always had a principle of keeping secrets and being cautious when he was in power.The most taboo in the palace and outside.The cabinet and ministers communicated with each other.On weekdays, when the chapters on important matters were sent to the cabinet, he personally sealed them in a small yellow silk box, and wrote "sent to the cabinet at a certain day and time" on the seal with his own hand; In the original small box, the cabinet minister sealed "a certain day, a certain time, a certain minister, etc.", and he unsealed it himself.

This set of cumbersome methods.It's just that the ministers or officials like Zhongshu know the secrets intentionally or unintentionally, and leak them out.And this daring Wu Changshi colluded with both the cabinet and the eunuchs, coveted the secrets, and secretly manipulated the government.Is this okay?

In order not to let Wu Changshi, who has all eyes and eyes, get the news, he did not send the impeachment against Wu Changshi to the cabinet, because he was afraid that the internal officials would reveal the news when they saw it, so he kept the impeachment in his sleeve all the time, taking advantage of the fact that there were no talents around him. Personally approve the decree: Immediately remove Wu Changshi and await trial.

Emperor Chongzhen showed extreme caution when handling the Wu Changshi case, which was really a bit suspicious and made a fuss out of a molehill.But he himself was very serious about it.The imperial edicts that he personally approves are all real grass and white, but this time the imperial edicts are all written in regular script, which also reflects his state of mind at that time.

The emperor was so solemn, and it was impossible for Wu Changshi to escape this disaster.In April, Emperor Chongzhen once again adjudicated the case on the platform of Zhongzuo Gate and interrogated Wu Changshi himself.

The interrogation was full of murderous intent. The cabinet, the five ministers, the ministers of the six ministries, as well as the Jingqing and Kedao officials were all called in. The Emperor Chongzhen was dressed in plain clothes and belts, and he looked like he was going to kill people. The prince and King Ding also accompanied him. by your side.

Prior to this, Jin Yiwei's spies had reported to the emperor Zhou Yanru and Wu Changshi's various deeds of collusion, accepting bribes and seeking personal gain. Zhou Yanru splashed dirty water, so he had already made up his mind in his heart that the interrogation was just to show off his prestige and anger.

Unexpectedly, Wu Changshi was a tough one, defending all the allegations one by one.Emperor Chongzhen especially hated the "Tongnei" in Wu Changshi's crime, because the eunuchs and courtiers were his own domestic slaves, but it was really unreasonable for them to be used by villains among courtiers.But Wu Changshi said: "The law of the ancestors is to beheaded by the servants. This law is the most strict. Even if the minister is not talented, how dare he violate it?"

Emperor Chongzhen called to expose Jiang Gongchen, the censor in Wuchang Shitong, and asked him to confront him face to face.Unexpectedly, Jiang Gongchen was terrified by the surrounding atmosphere and Wu Changshi's tough attitude, fell on the ground trembling all over, unable to speak a word.Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he almost trembled, so he could only curse Wu Changshi for deceiving and sophistry.Wu Changshi was still unyielding, saying: "If the emperor insists on serving as a courtier for the crime of negligence, how dare the minister defy the holy will? The punishment is free for the minister to bear, but if you want to surrender against your will, the minister cannot."

Emperor Chongzhen, who was dizzy with anger, ordered the eunuchs to torture Wu Changshi.The cabinet ministers Jiang Dejing and Wei Zaode protested: "There has never been a precedent for using torture among the imperial court. Please send Wu Changshi to the judicial department for interrogation."

But Emperor Chongzhen said: "Such a treacherous party has great powers. If they leave this place, who would dare to interrogate him according to the law?"

The two cabinet ministers still said: "Using torture in the palace is really unprecedented in 300 years!"

But Emperor Chongzhen said bitterly: "Wu Changshi is also a man who has not been seen in 300 years!"

So the cabinet ministers had nothing to say, they could only watch the eunuchs execute the punishment on the majestic Danbi.Wu Changshi was hit with a stick, and his legs were broken after a while, and he passed out.The civil and military ministers in the imperial court had never seen such a scene, and their faces were ashen.

But Emperor Chongzhen vented his anger and found it quite boring, so it ended.Afterwards, he ordered Jin Yiwei to quickly send people to Tongzhou Daying and Wu Zhen's hometown to bring Zhou Yanru and Wu Zhen to Beijing to wait for their punishment.Zhou Yanru was implicated in the case of Wu Changshi, and it barely made sense to be prosecuted to go to Beijing. Wu Sheng had nothing to do with the case and was also prosecuted. Only Emperor Chongzhen himself knew the reason.However, because the Qing army was still in the pass and the whole city was under martial law, the Jin Yiwei who had been released could not leave Beijing for a quarter of an hour.

However, Wu Changshi was carried to the imperial prison, and was tortured many times later, but he never confessed.In order to vent his anger, Emperor Chongzhen ordered Wu Changshi to be executed together with Fan Zhiwan, Zhao Guangbian and others.

This incident not only proves that there are "unyielding" tough bones among the villains, but also makes the hearts of all the nobles feel sorry for him. Emperor Chongzhen has become moody, so in this sensitive period, it is better to be cautious in words and actions.

After a moment of silence, a Lord Marquis asked Xue Lian and Wu Weizhong: "Marquis Xue! Marquis Wu! When will your parents bring troops to King Qin?"

Xue Lian immediately shut his mouth tightly, because this question is difficult to answer, and no answer is good.

But Wu Weizhong pondered for a while, and then said hesitantly: "The fourteen sons of this Marquis are now in Runing, fighting against bandits and Tartars, so they should not be able to take care of the capital. And the Li thief in the northwest has become a climate, according to Ben Hou's opinion , let the emperor go to Nanjing for inspection first."

And what Wu Weizhong proposed was to move the capital to Jiangnan, which is also the decision that the current Emperor Chongzhen most wants to make.

When the Ming Dynasty was founded, the capital was originally established in Nanjing. Later, Chengzu Jing was unable to succeed, but he was unwilling to leave his old base of Beiping (that is, Beijing), so he still returned to the north after the political power stabilized, taking Beiping as Beijing, but in the future For a long time, Beijing was only the accompanying capital in name, called "Xingzai", and the official capital was Nanjing.

It was not until the reign of Xuande that the status of the northern and southern capitals was reversed. Beijing became the official capital, while Nanjing became the accompanying capital.However, due to historical reasons, Nanjing, the accompanying capital, has always retained the imperial palace and a complete set of government teams. There are five government offices, six ministries, and various courtyards, temples, departments, divisions, and even 24 yamen for eunuchs.The chiefs and subordinates of various departments are nominally at the same level as the officials in Beijing, but they have no real power, and their jurisdiction is limited to the southern Zhili area.

The Ming Dynasty maintained a virtual government team in Nanjing, which originally meant to prevent sudden incidents.At this time, most parts of the north suffered from frequent wars and were almost beyond repair. However, the situation in the south of the Yangtze River was basically stable. Therefore, moving the capital to Nanjing was indeed the best strategy to avoid danger temporarily and then plan for the long term.

Even Queen Zhou, who has never been involved in political affairs, understands the truth of this.It is said that once she saw Emperor Chongzhen unhappy about the crisis of the state, she mentioned: "We still have a home in Nanjing."

In fact, Emperor Chongzhen himself knew this truth better, and had secretly discussed the issue of moving south with the chief assistant Zhou Yanru as early as the [-]th or [-]th year of Chongzhen. (To be continued..)