weaving

Chapter 1263 Who leaked it?
"It's not difficult."

In the Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City, the chief minister of the Ming cabinet, Zhou Yanru, replied very respectfully: "Your Majesty, you may release Hou Xun from prison first and grant him a suitable official position temporarily, so that everyone will know that Your Majesty will use Hou Xun, and the censors will not attack him in the future.

As for the governor Zhang Fuzhen, he has been asking for resignation due to his old age. Your Majesty can graciously allow him to return home to take care of his mother. This will allow Zhang Fuzhen to be both loyal and filial, and also highlight your majesty's benevolence towards his subjects."

"Zhang Fuzhen... is he over seventy?"

"Seventy-two."

"Yes. At the age of seventy, if I can go home and take care of my mother, it is indeed a blessing in life."

Emperor Chongzhen nodded slightly. He was very satisfied with Zhou Yanru's point that he was always prepared for anything and would never do anything he knew nothing about.

"Your Majesty, if Zhang Fuzhen writes again to ask to return home after a while, you can grant his permission and replace him with Hou Xun, who will be the governor of the Beizhi, Xuanda, Huguang and other troops in Henan to suppress bandits. Zuo Liangyu can also take this opportunity to gather troops in Xiangyang and boost the morale of the army."

Chongzhen nodded again. He felt that Zhou Yanru was a resourceful man after all, and this idea was indeed very appropriate.

"Let's leave it at that for now. I'll think about it again. If there is really no more suitable candidate, I'll release Hou Xun for future use."

…………

After the Prime Minister Zhou Yanru resigned, Emperor Chongzhen was still extremely anxious. How could he wait any longer?
After he returned to the Qianqing Palace, he immediately called the eunuch Wang Dehua over and ordered him to draft an order to release Hou Qi from prison. However, Wang Dehua was kneeling on the ground and had not yet gotten up. Emperor Chongzhen suddenly thought: "The sooner this matter is done, the better."

Then he waved his hand to let Wang Dehua leave. He sat on the imperial chair and thought for a while. Then he picked up a pen and wrote on a piece of yellow paper with dragon patterns on all four sides: "The former Minister of Revenue, Hou Xun, was convicted of a crime and has been imprisoned for a long time. Recently, I heard that he is grateful and repentant, and his loyalty is still there. He is willing to try again to make up for his mistakes. The country is in trouble now, and we need the efforts of old ministers to help us through the difficult times. Hou Xun is pardoned and released from prison today, and appointed as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Left Censor-in-Chief. I decree this!"

He had just ordered the eunuch serving in the imperial court to send the imperial edict to the Imperial Household Department when he saw another eunuch coming in and presenting some new memorials.

Emperor Chongzhen casually opened one of the letters and was shocked!
It turned out that a censor impeached Chen Xinjia for negotiating peace with the Eastern Tartars. The content of the negotiations mentioned in his memorial was exactly the same as the secret document seen by Emperor Chongzhen.

He also said that the mention of "negotiating terms with slaves" in the impeachment memorial not only caused an uproar in the court, but also made all the subjects in the capital hate Chen Xinjia for his crime of losing power and humiliating the country.

Emperor Chongzhen was shocked and angry: "How could such a secret be leaked, and how could it be leaked so quickly?"

"Could it be that Ma Shaoyu leaked it?"

"Ma Shaoyu... definitely doesn't have the courage to do that."

"So... who leaked it?"

Emperor Chongzhen stood up with a lot of questions in his mind. He walked around the pillars, hesitating for a long time, saying over and over again: "Strange! Strange! Strange! How did it leak out? How did the people in the capital know about it in such a short time? It's really... a very strange thing!"

Although it was not very hot in the Qianqing Palace at the moment, Emperor Chongzhen broke out in a sweat after reading the memorial of the censor, Shiliang. He was worried that the "concession" that he had worked so hard on would be ruined due to the opposition of the censors, and he was also afraid that the truth about the secret discussion with the "Eastern Tartars" would be made public, which would damage his reputation as a "hero".

And this latter point is what scares him the most!

Emperor Chongzhen grabbed a piece of cellar ice from the crystal plate on the imperial desk and rubbed it on both sides of his temples, trying hard to calm himself down.

Then, he stood up and walked around in the warm room, cursing fiercely in a low voice as he walked: "What a bunch of crap censors, they are all foul-mouthed crows, unable to accomplish anything, but always causing trouble!
snort!
When something happens, you just keep yelling and raving, claiming to be outspoken and using this to gain fame and reputation, completely ignoring the difficulties faced by the court. Many things in the court have been ruined by you crows!"

After pacing for a while, he calmed down a little and sat back on the throne. He picked up the imperial pen and wrote the two red words "Keep it in the court" on Fang Shiliang's memorial.

But after a moment, he felt something was wrong.

What if Fang Shiliang continues to pester me?
If tomorrow more censors followed Fang Shiliang's lead and submitted memorials to attack Chen Xinjia and oppose the peace talks with the slaves, wouldn't that ruin the "court's peace plan" and even make the various inside stories public?
He was so angry that he stamped his feet on the ground for a while, then picked up the red brush again and wrote a very stern handwritten note on a piece of yellow paper: "The Minister of State Affairs, Fang Shiliang, usually only cares about his own party and his party is different from his generation. I have tolerated him many times to show that the court is willing to open up the channels for people to express their opinions.

Unexpectedly, at this critical moment in the Central Plains, Fang Shiliang did not care about the difficulties of state affairs, but only focused on making groundless accusations, believing in rumors, and attacking the ministers of the time, confusing the public and interfering with state affairs. He is truly despicable!
He should have been arrested and questioned by the Imperial Guards to enforce discipline; he should have been treated leniently in the hope that he would repent. He should have been fined three months' salary and transferred to a remote province at the discretion of the Ministry of Personnel. I decree this!"

But when Emperor Chongzhen put down the imperial edict in his hand, he became worried that his treatment of Fang Shiliang in this way would cause an uproar in the court, leading many censors to accuse Chen Xinjia of secretly presiding over the peace talks.

If this is true, then all the secrets inside will be revealed!
After reading this, Emperor Chongzhen felt his anger disappear, and instead was filled with fear. He crumpled up the written note into a ball and threw it into the spittoon.

"Let's wait and see the reactions of the courtiers!"

Emperor Chongzhen suppressed his inner confusion and barely managed to continue reviewing the memorials that had piled up like a mountain on his desk.

However, Fang Shiliang's criticism of Chen Xinjia always lingered in his mind and could not be shaken off, which made him very distressed. From time to time, he stopped the red pen in his hand, stared out the window, and let out the anger in his chest.

He wanted to summon the Minister of War Chen Xinjia to the palace immediately and ask him face to face how the secret of "negotiation of funds" was leaked. He casually summoned a young eunuch who was serving nearby to come out of the palace to convey his order.

But before the eunuch could leave the Qianqing Palace, he was hurriedly called back by him.

Emperor Chongzhen was also extremely conflicted. He wanted to ask Chen Xinjia to get to the bottom of the matter, but he was afraid of asking him how he leaked the secret of the "negotiation of funds" and what would happen if it was leaked again.

At that time, the court officials would say that he had first ordered Chen Xinjia to secretly "negotiate terms with the slave", and now he summoned Chen Xinjia to discuss how to cover up the matter.

Emperor Chongzhen, who was "afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind", thought about it and finally decided not to summon Chen Xinjia alone for the time being in order to avoid suspicion. When he had to, he could just say "I had no idea" and then put Chen Xinjia in prison...

After half a year, a year, or two or three years, when circumstances have changed and no one in the court mentions the matter anymore, Xinjia can be released from the imperial prison and reinstated!