Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

He had always heard that Wang Yue was fierce, chopping off the heads of officials was like chopping melons and vegetables. In Yangzhou City, he even created a glorious record of beheading hundreds of officials in one day.

Earlier, he chose to kill Qiu Jing, the magistrate of Anlu Province, thus opening up the situation of clearing the land in Anlu Prefecture. In fact, he wanted to imitate Wang Yue's ruthlessness.

But now it seems that whether he killed Anlu Zhizhou ruthlessly or Wang Yue beheaded hundreds of officials in Yangzhou in one day, it seemed that neither of them was as decisive as the ruthless man in front of him.

The commander of the Anlu Guards, who was in the third grade, and Sun Long had a backer in the court, but Wang Zhi killed him directly just because he was unwilling to cooperate. This is the real most ruthless person in the Ming Dynasty.

The ground was dyed red with blood, but Wang Zhi seemed to have just crushed an ant to death, and calmly ordered his subordinates: "Sun Long is dead, call the colleagues from Anlu Wei to the Za family!"

An Luwei colleague Li Hui was called over. After seeing Sun Long's body on the ground, he was so frightened that he peed.

Fortunately, this colleague was not as arrogant as Sun Long. Under Wang Zhi's pressure, he was immediately ordered to go on an errand to call back all the Anlu guards sent to Xishan to capture Jinfeng and count the personnel and wounded.

Although the Shenji Battalion led by Wang Zhi suffered more than 200 casualties during the ambush, the casualties suffered by the masked men were not small. In particular, the man suspected of Anlu Qianhu was shot to death.

This is exactly the case. As long as the Anlu Guard personnel and casualties are carefully verified, the truth will come out immediately.

Beijing, a capital city shrouded in dark clouds.

According to the nature of local officials, most of the memorials they wrote to impeach Wang Zhi for rebelling were shameful acts of local interest groups slandering Wang Zhi. After all, Wang Yue and Liu Zhong both experienced similar experiences.

Li Yu, the Minister of Personnel, and others initially had the same guess. Although Wang Zhi was ruthless and was indeed the most ruthless person in the Ming Dynasty, he was only loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

"Wang Zhi killed Sun Long, the commander of Anlu Guards, for no reason!"

"Wang Zhi tortured more than 100 households in Anlu to extract confessions!"

"Wang Zhi ignored the dissuasion of Huguang Governor Liu Zhong and imprisoned Liu Zhong!"

"Wang Zhi ordered the four gates of Anlu City to be closed tightly. Now there are signs of independence!"

…

The development of the situation was beyond everyone's expectation. After Wang Zhi killed Sun Long, the commander of the Anlu Prefecture Guard, for no reason, he actually took a large number of Anlu Prefecture Guard generals into custody.

If the above two items were barely within the scope of his powers, Wang Zhi imprisoned Liu Zhong, the dignified governor of Huguang, and even seized control of Anlu Prefecture City. This was indeed a violation of the line.

However, judging from Liu Zhong's strong reaction, it may not be that he really wanted to rebel, but that he did not find the evidence of crime he expected in Anlu Guards.

"Even if Wang Zhi has no rebellious intentions, he is clearly crazy about being favored!"

"Behead the commander of the guards, put the governor of Huguang under house arrest, seize the city and take control of it. This is rebellion!"

"Your Majesty, please immediately issue an order to the governor of Huguang to pacify this traitor. The city of Ming Dynasty must not fall into the hands of rebels!"

…

As the matter spread, when they learned that Wang Zhi had committed such an evil act, officials headed by Liu Jian, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, petitioned.

For a time, Wang Zhi was pushed to the forefront and became a street rat that everyone wanted to beat.

On the eighth day of July, Fengtianmen went to court early.

Since Wang Zhi had indeed made a mistake, the Qingliu officials headed by Liu Jian, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, could no longer restrain themselves, but wanted to give Wang Zhi a fatal blow in this court meeting.

Ordinarily, if Wang Zhi can behave himself this time, they really have nothing to do against Wang Zhi. It's just that now this ruthless man has done something so rebellious against the court. This is simply asking for death.

Whether it was for new grudges or old grudges from back then, they all had reasons to add insult to injury to Wang Zhi and smash the dead eunuch directly into the well.

"I'm afraid today's morning will not be peaceful again!"

When Li Yu, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and other senior officials came to the Meridian Gate, they clearly felt that Liu Jian and other Qingliu officials were gearing up, but this time they were indeed unable to protect Wang Zhi.

After all, Wang Zhi's behavior was already stepping on the line, and they even tried to persuade His Majesty to deal with Wang Zhi.

"It's morning!"

As the sound of drums came from the Meridian Gate Tower, a eunuch shouted to the civil and military officials waiting outside.

Since there are now only three morning court meetings a month, and there is a strict attendance system, more than a thousand civil and military officials are all present.

After finishing my makeup in front of Jinshui Bridge, I queued up to Fengtianmen Square.

It was already bright in the east, and when they were waiting for Zhu Youtang's arrival, they found that only Guo Yong, who had been promoted to Chief of Rites and Eunuch, appeared here.

Facing the doubtful looks of all the officials, Guo Yong said loudly to everyone: "Your Majesty has gone to Fengxian Hall now!"

ah?

Liu Jian, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, and other officials were dumbfounded when they heard this, but they did not understand that Zhu Youtang did not come to preside over the morning court, but went to Fengxian Hall for no reason.

Without waiting for everyone to ask the reason, Guo Yong continued: "His Majesty has spoken: I couldn't sleep last night because I thought that Huguang is not the Huguang transformed by the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, I will sacrifice my ancestors today to confess the crime of losing Huguang. All ministers will examine themselves together." Pass!"

this……

The eyes of Liu Jian, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, and other officials could not help but stare, but they did not expect that Zhu Youtang would come up with such a move, making the attack they prepared disappear immediately.

If what Zhu Youtang said is true, if the Ming Dynasty really lost the power to govern Huguang, Wang Zhi's matter would be nothing compared to Wang Zhi's matter.

"That's right! Things happen one after another. If the imperial envoy is attacked, why don't we just let it go?"

"If you include the attack on Liu Zhong, this is the second time that an imperial envoy has been attacked in Huguang!"

"In the more than 100 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there has never been such a rampant situation. The matter in Huguang must be investigated thoroughly!"

"Wang Zhi's crime needs to be discussed, but now is the time to discuss Wang Zhi's crime and punish the rebels who assassinated the imperial envoy!"

…

Li Yu, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and other officials immediately understood Zhu Youtang's intention, and also understood that His Majesty's affairs had more rules, and immediately expressed their opinions one after another.

Forbidden City, Fengtian Palace.

Here are the spiritual tablets of emperors of all dynasties. Of course, Emperor Jianwen and Emperor Jingtai could not appear, so there are only the spiritual tablets of six emperors, and the latest spiritual tablet is naturally that of Xianzong.

Zhu Youtang came here to burn a stick of incense. Although he knew that the emperor had actually turned into a piece of soil after his death, he still maintained a respectful attitude.

In fact, he knew that Wang Zhi had certain character shortcomings. He was not as calculating as Wang Yue. He was often prone to acting on impulse and did things regardless of the consequences.

It's just that he also saw the shining points in Wang Zhi. He had a persistence that ordinary people did not have, and he was also ruthless enough towards his enemies, so his heart was always towards Wang Zhi.

This group of civil servants only saw Wang Zhi going berserk and held on to Wang Zhi's faults, but they seemed to have forgotten that the Nanjing Shenji Battalion lost more than 200 Shenji Guards soldiers, and the dignified imperial envoy almost died.

Even if Wang Zhi is to be held accountable, the gang that assassinated the imperial envoy and killed more than two hundred Shenji Guards soldiers must first be uncovered. This would be an even worse thing.

Now the Qingliu group only wants to find Wang Zhi's fault. It can only be said that this group of people still want to play the same trick of party members and opponents, and they don't care at all whether the imperial court will lose local control.

Of course, those hypocrites actually wish for this. They all wish that their family members or themselves would become local emperors.

"Your Majesty!" Guo Yong came over and said respectfully.

When Zhu Youtang saw Guo Yong returning, he asked calmly: "What did those people say?"

"Their tone has all changed. They no longer mention Wang Zhi. They only talk about investigating the guards in Huguang to find out which guard has a shortage of soldiers!" Guo Yong secretly admired the shrewd emperor in front of him, and even said that Report the latest situation.

Zhu Youtang saw that this group of ministers could still understand his painstaking efforts, so he nodded gently and said: "Immediately order Huguang to conduct a self-examination, and be sure to find the gang that committed the crime through the wounded and missing members!"

Although the Nanjing Shenji Battalion is not as diligent in training as the Aegis Battalion, Wang Zhi selected many elite soldiers from various guards in Nanjing to fill the Shenji Battalion, so the combat effectiveness must not be too bad.

Although the reason why there were so many casualties was that they underestimated the enemy and suffered a sneak attack, judging from the battle situation reported by Wang Zhi, it was definitely the work of a well-trained and cooperative local army.

Although it was not the Anlu Guard that was the most suspected, it must have been the troops at the surrounding guards who had such conditions. It only needed verification to get to the bottom of it.

A few days later, Huguang received intelligence feedback from various guards.

Although the Huguang Guards were short of personnel, especially the Huangzhou Guards, the Huangzhou Guards commander only admitted that he was on free pay, and they had no casualties.

There is also a hidden thread in the incident, that is, their Qianhu has been killed in action, but the guards reported that both Qianhu and deputy Qianhu were on duty.

Various signs indicate that the attack on the Shenji Battalion led by Wang Zhi was probably not carried out by the troops of the guard station, but by a group of bandits with unknown origins.

"Wang Zhijin should be held accountable for his crime!"

"The guards of the Ming Dynasty were strictly disciplined. How could they commit the crime of assassinating an imperial envoy?"

"I think Wang Zhi was afraid that he would be accused of incompetent command of the army, so he made it up and made up the story that he almost died!"

…

For a time, there were voices in the capital to deal with Wang Zhi again, and it was even suspected that Wang Zhi had just encountered a group of bandits, and that everything was exaggerated by Wang Zhi in order to clear up his guilt.

The weather in July is changeable. It was a sunny day just a moment ago, but it turned into overcast clouds in the blink of an eye.

Xiyuan, Yangxin Hall.

Zhu Youtang couldn't help but frown slightly when he looked at the memorial sent by the Ke Dao Yan Guan.

In fact, he had always believed in Wang Zhi, but when faced with the investigation results of various health offices submitted by the Huguang authorities, he couldn't help but be shaken.

After all, we are separated by thousands of rivers and mountains, and there is no imaging data in this era. Many things can only be determined by ourselves, so it is impossible to judge whether Wang Zhi is exaggerating.

The most important thing is that the attack on Liu Zhong, the governor of Huguang, was to prevent the court from clearing the land. However, the interception and killing of Wang Zhi this time was a bit unreasonable. After all, Wang Zhi's murder could not stop the court from clearing the land.

Just when I was secretly having a headache, Wang Xiang suddenly came to see me.

Wang Xiang did not come alone. This time he actually brought an old friend of Jin Yiwei.

"Your Majesty, Mou Bin from the Hundred Households in Jin Yi wants to see you!" Mou Bin lowered his head and followed the Wang Xiang in, but he knelt down respectfully.

Although Mou Bin was once demoted from the capital, he was able to return to the capital due to his meritorious service in intercepting the Annan envoy Li Guangdu. Now he is just a member of the wealthy family of Fusi, Beizhen.

When Zhu Youtang saw that it was Mou Bin, he cast a questioning look at Wang Xiang.

"Your Majesty, Mou Baihu said that he could relieve your Majesty's worries. I think what he said is very reasonable, so I introduced him here! I have no intention of forming a party, and I can only solve your Majesty's worries with all my heart!" Wang Xiang knew that Zhu Moubin had contradicted him in the past. Zhu Youtang was demoted and immediately explained seriously.

Although Zhu Youtang didn't like Mou Bin, who had too many marks from the civil service group, he still had a certain tolerance and said calmly: "I have always dealt with the situation rather than the person. Although I don't want to belittle you. In Hebei, how can you hold an important position in Jinyiwei without a real job? If you want to hold an important position, it is useless to hug Zhu Ji's thigh, and it is useless to hug the king's thigh. I only look at whether you have merit and whether you are worthy of me. Reliance!"

"Wei Chen will remember His Majesty's teachings and will serve His Majesty in a down-to-earth manner! This time, I only planned to offer advice to Wang Qianshi, but Wang Qianshi brought Weichen to come to see you. I don't want your Majesty's reward, but I am only willing to do it for Your Majesty. To relieve worries, nothing more!" After Mou Bin was abandoned by Zhu Ji, he saw through the harsh world of officialdom and seemed to be sincere in his words.

Of course, he also has his own ambitions, but he no longer relies on anyone, but relies on his own efforts to walk the long palace road.

Coming upright and upright in front of this wise emperor has become his biggest pursuit in this life, and he believes that one day he will be able to achieve it.

Zhu Youtang knew that Prime Minister Wang was actually a kind-hearted person who didn't like to take credit, so he said calmly: "Tell me, why do you want to relieve me of my worries?"

"Reporting to your majesty, I want to solve your majesty's worries about Huguang!" Mou Bin said with astonishing authenticity.

Huh?

When Liu Jin, who was delivering sour plum soup to Zhu Youtang, heard this, he couldn't help but look at the kneeling Mou Bin in surprise. This was something that all the ministers in the court were helpless to do.

For the Huguang matter, His Majesty also convened a supreme meeting, but he still couldn't find a clue about the group of people who attacked the imperial team.

Zhu Youtang took a deep look at the kneeling Mou Bin, then picked up the sour plum soup on the table and asked, "Do you already know the origin of that group of people?"

"Weichen doesn't know, but Weichen speculates that that group of people is not from Huguang!" Mou Bin shook his head gently, looking very sure.

Zhu Youtang didn't quite believe that this man could guess the origin of that group, but he still said calmly: "If it's not in Huguang, then where is it?"

"Zhongzhou, Sichuan!" Mou Bin immediately expressed his speculation.

"You mean that the people from Sichuan Zhongzhou Guard went to Huguang Anlu, the leading province, to intercept and kill Wang Zhi. How is this possible?" Liu Jin expressed doubts when he heard this answer.

Zhu Youtang was about to put the sour plum soup into his mouth, but he suddenly stopped. A bright light flashed in his mind, and the fog that had been plaguing him suddenly dissipated.