Daming Military Empire

Chapter 24 Cleaning
Time passed quickly, and a month passed in a blink of an eye. At the beginning of November, the impeachment turmoil directed and staged by the Eunuch Party gradually came to an end.

This really made the eunuchs gradually relax their vigilance. They believed that Sun Chengzong wanted to maintain the status quo and did not want to set off party disputes.So the eunuchs have started to take their guard lightly. There is no need to guard against him like a thief all day long, right? Is it interesting to scare yourself all day long with your nerves tensed?

Does Sun Chengzong really want to maintain the status quo?Of course not, he has dug the grave silently, just waiting for the eunuchs to jump into it.

On the night of Xushi on the third day of November, in a side hall of Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cijiong sat at the head seat, Zhu Youjian, Xu Guangqi, Bi Maokang and other officials stood on the lower left, and Sun Chengzong, Yuan Keli, Qin Liangyu, Luo Yangxing, etc. stood on the lower right A group of generals, it's a dark and windy night, and it's a good time to cleanse the eunuchs.

Zhu Cijiong took out the action plan that Sun Chengzong and others had already drawn up, and read slowly:

"Order Yuan Keli to lead [-] elite soldiers from the five army battalions to enter the city at midnight tonight, and surround the Yamen of the Dongji Police Factory. From Wei Zhongxian down, all the officials including the foreman, foreman, secretary, and service chief were arrested and brought to justice, and the rest were guarded on the spot. , but those who resist will be killed without mercy.”

Yuan Keli heard the order to go out, kowtowed and said: "My minister complies with the order."

Zhu Cijiong read again: "Order Luo Yangxing to lead Jinyiwei's [-] troops to scatter and surround Jinyiwei's south and north town Fusi at midnight tonight, experience the department and each guard office, and the thousand households. Qianshi and Qianhu were all arrested and brought to justice, and the rest of the ordinary fighters and school lieutenants were all guarded on the spot, but those who resisted would be killed without mercy."

Luo Yangxing hurried forward, kowtowed and said: "My minister obeys the order."

Zhu Cijiong continued to read: "Let Qin Liangyu lead five thousand elite soldiers from the Shenji Battalion to scatter and surround Tian Ergeng, Cui Chengxiu, Zhou Yingqiu and other eunuch key mansions at midnight tonight. house arrest, but those who resist will be killed without mercy."

Qin Liangyu stepped forward quickly, kowtowed and said: "My minister obeys the order."

Zhu Cijiong ordered again: "Qin Liangyu, Qin Gongming, and Qin Yiming stay here, and everyone else should leave."

The others all kowtowed together and said, "I will resign."

Then, they bowed and retreated one by one, leaving Qin Liangyu and Qin Gongming brothers standing there not knowing why.

Zhu Cijiong saw that everyone else had withdrawn, so he said slowly: "General Qin, you also know that I am very short of money, the treasury is empty, and I can't even make up the food and salary for the Beijing camp. So, I would like to ask you to help me busy."

Qin Liangyu replied firmly: "Your Majesty, please tell me."

Zhu Cijiong gritted his teeth and said: "I want you to raid the houses, starting from the private houses of Wei Zhongxian and Keshi, then their relatives, and then the five tigers, five biao, ten dogs, ten children, forty grandsons and other eunuch backbones. , Don’t let go of any of them, copy them all, these people don’t know how much money they have collected from the people, it’s time to use it to fill up the national treasury.”

It turned out that it was just a copy of the house, Qin Liangyu thought she would go through fire and water, she replied relaxedly: "I will definitely live up to the emperor's entrustment."

Zhu Cijiong reminded again: "You ask Gong Ming and Yi Ming to take people to copy it in person, from one family to another, and you personally escort the copied gold and silver to the palace, don't let people tamper with it."

It was midnight, the moon was dark and the wind was high, everything was silent, the entire capital was in deep sleep, only a few dozen teams of Jinyi guards were slowly parading through the streets and alleys holding torches.

Everything seems to be the same as usual, of course, these are illusions.

Yuan Keli had already led [-] elite soldiers from the military battalion to pass through Dong'an Gate and enter the imperial city without a sound, and then dispersed into countless small groups to encircle the Yamen of Dongji Police Factory outside Donghua Gate. The Jinyiwei parade along the way didn't seem to see them. Same, what to do, never stop at one step.

In the capital city, teams of guards in Jinyi quietly poured out from various guards and thousands of households under Luo Yangxing's control, and quickly rushed to the Fusi of Nanbei Town and the Yamen of the Experience Department.

The East Chang'an Gate of the Forbidden City unexpectedly opened at night as an exception, and groups of elite soldiers from the Shenji Battalion poured out of the Forbidden City and scattered towards the eunuch's mansion.

This night is destined to be a sleepless night. All kinds of gunshots, sword clashes, shouts of killing, and begging for mercy resounded all over the capital, especially in the Yamen of the East Police Factory and the Fusi of Jinyiwei Nanbei Township. The eunuchs resisted fiercely. The main force of the eunuch party is where it is impossible for them to surrender and die.

On the side of the Dongchang Yamen, Yuan Keli led elite soldiers selected from ten out of ten, and had an absolute advantage in numbers. Naturally, it was no problem to deal with those Dongchang gangsters. Living.

Jinyiwei's Nanbei Town Fusi Yamen is different. Everyone is Jinyiwei, and the other party has taken advantage of the location. If it weren't for Luo Yangxing's number of people is twice as large as that of the eunuchs, there are many old people from Jinyiwei as internal support. It's really a bit of a mystery to take down a few Jinyiwei yamen.

The most relaxed one is the Shenji Camp. They may suffer a bit when facing Houjin's iron cavalry, but it is not too easy to face a group of servants and guards.A round of guns went down and the opposite side immediately became honest. The courtyard gate and the courtyard wall were like paper in front of the earth cannon, and they could be pierced by a single cannon.

After more than an hour of noisy melee, the entire capital gradually quieted down. The eunuchs in Beijing were basically captured in one fell swoop, and none of Wei Zhongxian and the core members of the eunuchs escaped.

In the early morning of the next day, almost half of the Huangji Hall, which was supposed to be full of ministers of rank three or above, was empty, and the rest of the officials stood there with terrified faces, not sure if they were afraid of being implicated, or out of fear.The square outside the Palace of the Emperor, which should have been densely packed with officials in Beijing, was more than half empty. The surviving officials were all standing shivering in the cold wind. They knew that this was the emperor's attack on the eunuchs.

Sure enough, there was no court discussion at all in today's morning court, and the eunuch Cao Huachun's opening remarks were not: "If you have something to play, you have nothing to do."

He directly took out a pleading paper and began to read Wei Zhongxian's ten crimes.

The little emperor Zhu Cijiong even inherited the iron-blooded style of the Taizu emperor, and directly asked the trustworthy king Zhu Youjian to read out the punishment measures for the eunuch party:
The chief culprit, Wei Zhongxian, confiscated his family property and executed Ling Chi.

The principal offenders, Wuhu, Wubiao, Shigou, Shihaier, Forty-sun, Wei Zhongxian and relatives of the Hakka family all confiscated their family property and beheaded them in front of the Meridian Gate.

If the rest of the accomplices behaved well, they could be given a lighter sentence as appropriate.

Those who can take the initiative to expose the crimes of their accomplices and hand over all the proceeds of corruption will only be demoted to common people, and the crimes will not be pursued.

Those who only handed over the proceeds of corruption and refused to expose the crimes of their accomplices were exiled for thousands of miles.

Those who refused to hand over the proceeds of corruption and refused to expose the crimes of their accomplices were all sent to prison and executed after autumn.

In the end, Sun Chengzong shouted with a murderous look on his face: "Come here, push all the chief criminals of the eunuch party out of the Meridian Gate and behead them for public display."

Immediately, Jin Yiwei left at his command, and after a while, there were countless begging for mercy and howling.

Not to mention the officials present, even Zhu Cijiong on the dragon chair felt terrified.

That's more than 100 lives, with a single click, all of them are gone!

The next few days in the capital can be described as very lively, first of all, Wei Zhongxian was executed by Ling Chi, and the entire Beijing city, from the court officials to the Li people, all celebrated with each other.

Then, a group of Eunuch Party members began to "make meritorious service with crimes" and actively exposed the crimes of their accomplices. From time to time, some people were bitten out, and Jin Yiwei was everywhere in the capital to arrest people. People exposed.

Zhu Cijiong proposed the idea of ​​exposing his accomplices' crimes and handing over the proceeds of corruption to reduce crimes. Sun Chengzong and others were firmly opposed to it at first, but when Zhu Cijiong mentioned the financial difficulties, everyone immediately shut up.After all, corrupt officials cannot be killed endlessly. Killing the main culprit is enough to have a deterrent effect. Killing all the accomplices is just a relief, and has no practical effect.The proceeds handed over to corrupt ink can also supplement the deficit of the national treasury. With money, they can recruit more soldiers and horses, and the Liaodong side will not be so nervous.

In the end, the corruption proceeds of these eunuchs really frightened Sun Chengzong and the others. Nearly 2000 million taels of silver were found in the homes of Wei Zhongxian and the main criminals alone, as well as countless jewels, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, as well as land, mansions, Slaves are useless.Those ordinary eunuchs and corrupt officials who were bitten out directly handed over more than 2000 million taels of silver in order to save their lives.

This is more than 4000 million taels of silver alone, and the annual expenditure of a 300 army is only about 4000 million taels. This more than [-] million taels of silver is enough to summon a million troops to fight everywhere for a year!Of course, no one would foolishly suggest that all the silver be used for military expenses. After all, money is used elsewhere. If it is all used for military expenses, other people's lives will be difficult.

In fact, Zhu Cijiong knew very well that this was not all. It was recorded in the history books of later generations that when Li Zicheng attacked the capital, Emperor Chongzhen wanted to borrow money from ministers for military expenses. None of the ministers would lend him money, saying they had no money.As a result, as soon as Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, he found more than 7000 million taels of silver from the homes of these ministers!

That's not all, there are still many officials who took refuge in Li Zicheng and kept their property.At that time, when the country was about to fall, there were peasant uprisings everywhere, more than half of the farmland in the country was barren, tax revenue was sharply reduced, and the money that could be earned was less than half of what it is now.In other words, if all the houses of corrupt officials are copied now, at least [-] million taels of silver can be copied!
You know, the total tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was less than 3000 million taels a year!
Two hundred million taels, how terrifying and sad this figure is!
(End of this chapter)