Chapter 706: I am the emperor, and no one is stronger than me!

Chongzhen never left the Ganqing Palace throughout the morning of the third day of the third month.

In the past, at this time, he usually tried hard to review various documents, although these documents could only increase his worries and no fun. It was bad news that either asked for money or food, whether the town was broken or the military and civilians were slaughtered. There was any kind of news, but there was no good news to be heard.

While reviewing the documents, he also had to think about the problem with a frown. There were too many problems in the Ming Dynasty now, and all kinds of diseases were caused by all aspects. If you want money, you had no money and no food. If you want more money, you had to pacify the whole country and develop production, you had to eliminate the Tartars and the thieves. However, to eliminate Tartars and the thieves, you would need a large sum of money and food. This seemed to be a stubborn person, and you could not get out of it.

When he was sleepy, Chongzhen would ask the eunuch Wang Chengen to read the memorial or the pond to him. Occasionally, Chongzhen would ask Wang Chengen to tell some strange and interesting things he heard from the market, such as someone's rooster laying eggs, or someone's hen laying two eggs at the same time. Even Chongzhen listened to some mixed sesame and mung beans in the market with relish. But today, Chongzhen had no idea how to listen to the story.

He already knew about Gao Qiqian's defeat. Even if Gao Qiqian tried to conceal such a major event, Dongchang and Jinyiwei would report the situation immediately. The reports of Dongchang and Jinyiwei both showed that the Liaodong Legion suffered heavy losses. Two counties were captured by the Tartars, and there may be tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in it. The Liaodong Legion's own losses were also more than 10,000.

The memorial submitted by the Ministry of War believes that the failure of the Liaodong Legion was entirely caused by passive defense. The 60,000 people of the Liaodong Legion were divided into multiple places and stationed in different towns. They neglected the surveillance of the Tartars, and the result was that they were suddenly attacked by the Tartars. Other departments were unable to rescue them, and such serious consequences were eventually achieved. The memorial of the Ministry of War did not mention Gao Qiqian's responsibility, but anyone with a discerning eye knew that Gao Qiqian had to bear the main responsibility for this matter.

It was obvious that Gao Qiqian was too careless. He thought that the main force of the Tartars was in the south of the capital, and there should be no danger in the east of the capital. However, Huang Taiji quietly dispatched his troops north and attacked him in one fell swoop. Gao Qiqian, who was caught off guard, wanted to save him, but it was too late. When the main cavalry of the Liaodong Legion arrived in Xianghe and Baodi area, the slave chief Abatai had already led his army to leave.

However, the memorial sent by Gao Qiqian is not described in this way. Gao Qiqian's potential memorial said that he suffered losses when he actively fought against the Tartars, rather than being beaten passively. Moreover, the Liaodong Legion is still beheading hundreds of levels in the battle, which cannot be considered a defeat at all. At present, the results of the battle are under further statistics. Once the statistics are completed, the Tartars' head will be sent to the capital.

This made Chongzhen very angry. He felt that he had been publicly deceived by Gao Qiqian. He was obviously defeated, but he actually said that there was a result of the war and that there was a Tartar's head, which was ridiculous. Dongchang and Jinyiwei reported secretly that someone bought the Tartar's head from the Hu Ben Army to pretend to be a military merit. Among them, Gao Qiqian's name was his.

The eunuch of the East Factory, Zhang Yixian, had never had a good relationship with Gao Qiqian. Since he had caught Gao Qiqian's pain, he would of course make a big fuss. This made Chongzhen increasingly dissatisfied with Gao Qiqian. He once wanted to lay off Gao Qiqian, but in the end he still held it back.

Removing an eunuch is as simple as killing an ant. The problem is, after Gao Qiqian is abolished, who can replace Gao Qiqian? Looking at the ministers in the court, Chongzhen really couldn't think of anyone. Chongzhen thought that his ability was quite good for Wu Aheng. However, out of distrust of civil servants, Chongzhen always felt that it was safer to let a military supervisor go. Even if the military supervisor had the ability, he was not as trustworthy as Wu Aheng.

If Gao Qiqian is removed, who will be sent to supervise the army? Wang Chengen? No, this great companion must stay by his side. Wang Dehua? It is better than Gao Qiqian! Cao Huachun, he is currently in charge of the three camps of the capital. Zhang Yixian, he is currently in charge of the East Factory. Wang Kun, and the three towns of Datong, Shanxi. It seems that no one of the eunuchs around him can make a move.

If he had known this, he would have let Yang Sichang go out earlier. Perhaps, if Yang Sichang was in charge of the army earlier, he would not have caused such a crushing defeat. Chongzhen firmly believed in Yang Sichang's ability. He had already told Gao Qiqian to listen to Yang Sichang's words, otherwise he would cause trouble for him. Chongzhen has always insisted that Yang Sichang could bring good luck to himself. Unfortunately, Yang Sichang appeared too late, which led to another crushing defeat.

Originally, the Tartars had been injured by the Hu Ben Army, and their strength was greatly weakened, which was a good time to create military achievements. If the Ming army in various groups took the initiative to attack, they might not have been able to kill a Tartar. However, Gao Qiqian did not catch it, Wang Kun did not catch it, and Hong Chengchou did not catch it, so he let Huang Taiji reorganize the army, as if he had returned to his original aggressive posture. Compared with the combat effectiveness of the Hu Ben Army, the imperial official army was indeed too ugly.

However, Chongzhen had to cover up the news of his defeat. This was also the main reason why he could not immediately remove Gao Qiqian. He even had to vaguely state that he had to wait until Gao Qiqian and hand over the heads of the Tatars to judge his merits and demerits. Because once the people learned that the Hu Ben Army defeated the Tatars and the Tatars defeated the court's official army, compared with the two, the people's confidence in the court would be even weaker.

The capital now has been full of storms. Everyone is unanimous in favor of it, not the court, but the Hu Ben Army. Even some gentry classes are quietly discussing whether there is room for improvement in the "Juntian Ling" of the Hu Ben Army and whether there is any room for loopholes to take advantage of. The meaning here is naturally self-evident. This makes Chongzhen very frustrated. Chongzhen is a dignified emperor of the Ming Dynasty. How could he be worse than Zhang Zhun? No, absolutely not!

"I will reflect on myself and live up to the emperor's grace."

Chongzhen slowly wrote such comments in Gao Qiqian's memorial.

He wrote the simple eight words very hard, as if he had written thousands of words in succession. The last point of the word "光" was even a little fluttering, as if he was weak. This was very uncomfortable for the particular Emperor Chongzhen. He had always been very particular about his criticism and did not allow any failure. However, now the failure has appeared, and it seems that it is more obvious to modify it. I hope to be good at guessing the rise and fall of people's hearts and be able to feel his mood from this failure.

After writing the comments, Chongzhen leaned on the dragon throne and kept sighing silently. The eight-word comments seemed to have taken all his strength, leaving him alone to sit and no longer able to stand up. To be honest, when the subordinates were defeated, he, as the emperor, could not be severely punished and had to help cover up. It was so depressing. However, for the sake of the overall situation, he had to do so. It was difficult to be an emperor!

"Big partner, what's the matter?"

Chongzhen suddenly said lazily.

He heard the slight footsteps in the silence, and without opening his eyes, he knew that it was his great companion Wang Chengen. Maybe he felt that the emperor was in a bad mood, and other eunuchs and palace maids dared not enter the study easily, for fear of being irritated by the emperor. Only Wang Chengen could enter and exit freely at any time in this place.

"Emperor, here is an impeachment memorial..."

Wang Chengen said carefully.

"Who impeached again?"

Chongzhen said impatiently.

When he heard it was an impeachment memorial, Chongzhen felt even more unhappy. What he hated the most was that the ministers fought and impeached, which made the government a mess and chaotic. At least half of the memorials he received every day were labeled black. What does a black label mean? It means that it is a special person to impeach people and cause trouble.

Chongzhen usually reads this kind of memorial when he has time. If he doesn't have time, he might as well stop reading it. Because, the difference between reading or not reading is really not very big. Even if he doesn't read the memorial, he can still know about it when he goes to court. Every day when he goes to court, the ministers will impeach me. If I impeach you, there is no way to solve the serious problem. When attacking others, it is very exciting.

He seemed to understand a little now, why the Jiajing Emperor and Wanli Emperor were unwilling to go to court. If any emperor was willing to go to court every day, he would hear the ministers quarreling and impeaching them? Especially those censors, like buzzing headless flies, biting whoever they catch. If you scold them, they would become even more arrogant. Because the person they like to bite the most is the emperor.

Not to mention the emperors in the past, Chongzhen almost always had to be criticized by censors for every thing he did, no matter how big or small. The recent incident was related to Chongzhen. Concubine Tian’s son, the father-in-law Tian Hongyu, had no idea what it had to do with the people in Taipu Temple recently, so he got some war horses out to sell them, and in the end he didn’t know where they sold them.

Dongchang and Jinyiwei reported the matter. Chongzhen, who was not aware of it, ordered a thorough investigation. As a result, he found the head of the father-in-law. Concubine Tian cried pitifully in front of Chongzhen. Chongzhen felt that it was nothing big, it was just one or two thousand war horses, which was not very valuable. Seeing that Concubine Tian was crying pitifully, he couldn't bear it, so he asked Dongchang and Jinyiwei not to continue tracing.

The censors learned the news from somewhere, and dozens of impeachment memorials came up immediately, asking for a thorough investigation and giving everyone an explanation. As a result, they were suppressed by Chongzhen. Otherwise, even if Tian Hongyu was dismembered by five horses, he would not be able to meet the requirements of these censors. By the way, no matter who it is, as long as his psychological tolerance is slightly worse, he would be forced to death by these censors.

Yes, Chongzhen never reflected on what responsibility he had. He pushed all the responsibility on the ministers. If the ministers, especially those censors, impeached someone in just a few days, the court would not know how much peace would be. However, if there was no impeachment memorial, he would be suspicious again, thinking that the ministers below might have picked up a group and dealt with him together.

"The old slave dare not look."

Wang Chengen said respectfully.

"You open it and read it."

Chongzhen said impatiently.

Wang Chengen opened the memorial and found that it was impeachment of Yang Sichang. He was shocked in his heart. He said that this was the first time that Yang Sichang had been impeached since the governor of the world to serve the king. This was a very serious matter. Chongzhen gave Yang Sichang high hopes, worked hard to cultivate, and was eagerly looking forward to Yang Sichang's contribution, but others wrote to impeach him. This was not impeachment of Yang Sichang at all, but directly impeaching the emperor himself.

When Wang Chengen looked at the name of the impeacher again, he felt even more unfavorable. The person who impeached Yang Sichang was Yang Tinglin, an editor of the Hanlin Academy and a lecturer in the East Palace. The editor of the Hanlin Academy was a sesame mung bean official, which was irrelevant, but the lecturer in the East Palace had a bit of background. Wang Chengen couldn't help but frowned and thought, is this bearded Yang Hanlin who impeached Yang Sichang at this time? Is it necessary to learn from Yang Jisheng of the past?

Among so many eunuchs in the palace, Wang Chengen's heart can be said to be the kindest, the most loyal to Chongzhen, and the least concerned about political affairs. However, this does not mean that he does not understand the situation in the court, and is not familiar with the ministers in the court. In fact, Wang Chengen is extremely familiar with the government. For example, Wang Chengen knows Yang Tinglin more clearly.

The so-called Eastern Palace is the crown prince. Because the two sons are still young, Chongzhen has never appointed a crown prince, and both of them go to school together in the Eastern Palace. Chongzhen feels that he is still young and there is no need to designate a crown prince so quickly. However, as the future heir to the country, outsiders must care. Therefore, all officials related to the Eastern Palace are quite popular.

Yang Tinglin was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Chongzhen. He studied hard and was a famous talent in the Hanlin Academy. He, together with Huang Daozhou and Ni Hongbao, was called the Three Hanlins. Because his articles were very outstanding, Chongzhen chose him to the East Palace and gave lectures to his children. Such a person actually took the lead in writing to impeach the favored Yang Sichang, which was not a good thing. Wang Chengen could have imagined that in his anger, Yang Tinglin was most likely to be driven out of the capital again.

Sure enough, when Wang Chengen picked up Yang Tinglin's memorial and read it out loud, Chongzhen's face became less and less beautiful. Originally, because of Gao Qiqian's matter, Chongzhen was already full of anger, but now Yang Tinglin came to join in the fun again, which was simply forcing him to get angry. As he listened, Chongzhen's anger rose, and he couldn't help but interrupt Wang Chengen and said hard: "What did he say? Reread the sentence just now!"

Wang Chengen secretly prayed for Yang Tinglin, and then said in a regular manner: "Your Majesty has the ambition to attack, but the ministers have no talent to resist aggression. If you make a plan, you will use the country as a play!"

Chongzhen said angrily: "What is this? The scholar's opinion! What's the bottom?"

Wang Chengen continued: "Yang Sichang and Liaodong Army Supervisor Gao Qiqian supported each other inside and outside, and his friends made plans to ruin the country, insects bury the national treasury, and suddenly forgot about military affairs, so that this is how it is!..."

"stop!"

"stop!"

Chongzhen jumped up from the chair, his face turned pale, and he knocked on the imperial case with his fingers, and shouted fiercely: "What are the support of the internal and external parties? Friends and friends are all nonsense! Do you know, is this Yang Tinglin deliberately attacking the ministers?"

Wang Chengen felt that Chongzhen was really angry and hurriedly said, "I don't know."

When Chongzhen thought about it, he couldn't think of anyone Yang Tinglin compared to his friends in the court. This person's literature is indeed good, and he is a little arrogant. His relationship with Huang Daozhou and Ni Hongbao is not very good. Before, Ni Hongbao had also written a letter to impeach him, and Yang Tinglin had also written a letter to impeach Huang Daozhou, implicating Huang Daozhou, implicating Huang Daozhou for fame. After thinking about it, Chongzhen said angrily: "Okay, keep reading!"

Wang Chengen stabilized his mind and said in a regular manner: "Prime Minister Lu Xiangsheng blamed the minister for the disaster of the country, which was heartbroken. Including Nan Zhong, Li Gang was ineffective; Qian Shancheng, and Zong Ze died..."

Chongzhen paused his feet and snorted, which scared Wang Chengen's hand so much that he did not dare to read it any further. Chongzhen suddenly walked to Wang Chengen, grabbed the memorial, tore it into pieces, and then shook his hand hard and threw it near the door. The palace maids and eunuchs at the door were frightened by Chongzhen's violent movement, and hurriedly knelt down, not daring to make any sound.

"It's so unrestrained! It's actually slandering!" Chongzhen walked around the house, his eyes a little green, as if he was a hungry wolf in the dark. Suddenly, he stood in front of Wang Chengen, staring at Wang Chengen with green eyes, as if Wang Chengen was Yang Tinglin, and asked angrily: "You said! You said! Who are Li Gang and Zongze? Who are Geng Nanzhong and Huang Qianshan? Why not say Qin Hui is in the court? Am I Song Gaozong?...Damn it! Damn it!"

Wang Chengen hurriedly knelt down on the ground and desperately asked Chongzhen to calm his anger. At the same time, he was secretly worried about Yang Tinglin's fate. Everyone could see that Chongzhen was really angry this time. Gao Qiqian and Yang Sichang, two ginsengs mixed together, wouldn't let Chongzhen get angry. This master was completely different from the Emperor Tianqi of that year. He was young and energetic, and he would kill people when he got angry. It seemed that the court was about to have another bloody storm.

Yang Tinglin impeached Yang Sichang at this time, indeed, because he was seeking death, and no one could save him. Yang Sichang had been in less than two months in charge. In such a short period of time, no matter what happened, it had nothing to do with him. On the contrary, the one who was responsible should be Chongzhen. Yang Tinglin impeached Yang Sichang was to directly impeach Chongzhen and directly said that Chongzhen was inappropriate in his appointment. How could Chongzhen bear such a memorial?

Gao Qiqian's failure was lifted up by Chongzhen and gently put down, not because of Chongzhen's kindness, nor because of Gao Qiqian's good luck, nor the pleas of other ministers, but because all Gao Qiqian's actions were implemented by Chongzhen's secret instructions. Gao Qiqian's defeat in the war, most of the responsibility was actually still on Chongzhen.

In private, Chongzhen had a special instruction on Gao Qiqian, that is, to watch the wall, preserve strength, let the Hu Ben Army and the Tartars fight to the defeat, and then take the opportunity to plot against the Hu Ben Army. For the court, this is the best result. Whether the Hu Ben Army or the Tartars die together in battle, it would be the best.

Unexpectedly, Huang Taiji did not know how to send a secret message to Chongzhen, but he actually slapped his flowers and stabbed Chongzhen directly. Chongzhen was depressed and had to knock down his teeth and blood, saying that he could not cry or scream. It was precisely because of this that Yang Tinglin's memorial made Chongzhen's anger all suddenly stir up.

When Yang Tinglin wrote a letter, he definitely did not expect that the consequences might be so serious. According to Gao Qiqian's estimate, Yang Tinglin should not have the courage of Yang Jisheng back then. Yang Jisheng, who had completely handled the funeral, bought a coffin, and selected a cemetery, then submitted an impeachment memorial. That was a real dead bullet. The so-called dead bullet means whether you die or I die.

It is precisely because of this that even Wei Zhongxian was frightened at that time and had to come to Emperor Tianqi in the middle of the night to cry. If it weren't for Wei Zhongxian's actions, it would be hard to say who would be the one who won in the end. Now, Yang Tinglin also made such a move, I'm afraid he would not have Yang Jisheng's determination and courage! He was purely seeking death by himself.

It was not enough to offend Chongzhen and Yang Sichang. Yang Tinglin also tried to excuse Lu Xiangsheng in the memorial, which was simply afraid that he would not die quickly enough. While eating arsenic, he also had to cut his pulse and commit suicide. Idiots knew that Chongzhen was "overly sad and difficult to control himself" because of Sun Chengzong's death. In order to cover up his mistakes, Chongzhen had to push all the responsibilities on Lu Xiangsheng.

If Lu Xiangsheng was not dead, how could Chongzhen be worthy of the dead Sun Chengzong? How could he seem to be "pure filial piety? Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng still has to die. At present, the Ministry of Justice has been conducting an audit of Lu Xiangsheng's guilt. There are people participating in the Dali Temple and the Censorate. This is the Trial of the Three Divisions. Basically, those who have been Trialed by the Three Divisions will be skinned even if they are not dead.

Although Wang Qiaonian, the Minister of Justice, sympathized with Lu Xiangsheng, the emperor's order was on his own and it was very difficult to relieve Lu Xiangsheng of some crimes. Dali Temple and the Censorate could not excuse Lu Xiangsheng. What's more, Lu Xiangsheng was imprisoned in the Zhao Prison of the Jinyiwei, rather than the Tianzhu of the Ministry of Justice. Therefore, when the Third Division was held for trial, Dongchang and Jinyiwei had to send people to the trial.

This means that there will be five departments for the trial of Lu Xiangsheng, and the Ministry of Justice is the least powerful. In the case of trial by the five departments, the emperor's will is supreme, and only he can decide the life and death of the prisoner. Think about Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen back then, but in the end they could not escape death.

"Order the Jinyiwei to imprison Yang Tinglin!"

"Didn't he beg Lu Xiangsheng for excuse? Keep him and Lu Xiangsheng together!"

Chongzhen said angrily.

"Sister obeys the order."

Wang Chengen did not dare to neglect and hurriedly agreed to the order.

When Yang Tinglin submitted his memorial, he should have thought of such a fate. He impeached Yang Sichang and tried to excuse Lu Xiangsheng. These are all Chongzhen's reverse scales. If you Yang Tinglin doesn't die, it would be a miracle. If you blame him, you can only blame yourself for being too good at being a human being.

"Come!"

Chongzhen was walking back and forth in the study, feeling that his anger was not gone, and he had to deal with a few more people. He valued Yang Sichang so much that someone wrote a letter to impeach him, which was simply seeking death. He must kill all such signs in the bud. It was not enough to deal with Yang Tinglin. He had to kill a few more people to suppress those crazy censors.

"I'm here!"

Another eunuch, Wang Dehua, hurried in.

"Issuing the order! Huang Daozhou and Ni Hongbao are often with Yang Tinglin, and are suspected of forming a clique. Yang Tinglin is now imprisoned and is sentenced to deprive them of their official positions and demoted them to common people. Never tell me! Immediately use a messy stick to beat them out of the capital!"

Chongzhen's face turned pale and he said gritting his teeth.

"Oh my god, this matter is really a big deal!"

Wang Dehua said quietly in his heart.

It was just because of Yang Tinglin's memorial that the other two people were in trouble together. What's the reason? They were competing with Yang Tinglin as a traitor? It seemed that there was no reason! Ni Hongbao also wrote a letter to impeach Yang Tinglin? But the emperor's words were just the truth. He did not dare to express any feelings at all, and hurriedly sent the order.

After dealing with Huang Daozhou and Ni Hongbao, Chongzhen finally calmed down a little and was not as angry as that. He sat down again, curled up in the dragon throne, staring at the memorial on the table coldly, without saying a word, as if he had entered a state of meditation.

In fact, dealing with these two people was definitely not a whim by Chongzhen. Before he ascended the throne, he hated the ministers to form cliques and attack each other the most. Therefore, as long as there was any suspicion of forming cliques, he would severely punish them. Even if there was no real evidence, it was purely accusation of stealing the situation. As long as Chongzhen felt that it was possible, he would make serious measures.

Yang Tinglin, Huang Daozhou and Ni Hongbao are all editors of the Hanlin Academy. They are both very important and small official positions and like articles. They naturally have to communicate in private. Chongzhen felt a little uncomfortable when the reports from Jinyiwei and Dongchang were reported. Every time he heard others talk about "Three Hanlin", he doubted whether the three of them formed a clan and had a gang, but there was no actual evidence. However, this time, there was no need for evidence at all, so he found an excuse to get rid of all the three of them.

"I think I can hide it from me?"

"I am the emperor, no one is stronger than me!"

Chongzhen suddenly sneered, then straightened his body and started to review the memorial again.

After dealing with three people, Chongzhen felt good, as if he was full of energy. He kept reviewing memorials and repeatedly reminded himself that he was the emperor of this country and the smartest and most capable person in this country. As long as he continued to work hard, the fate of the country would definitely be reversed. His Chongzhen's name would definitely be respected by generations of descendants of the Ming Dynasty.
Chapter completed!