weaving

Chapter 1267: Doctor Ma lives in seclusion in a lonely temple, and Minister Chen replies

The capital of the Ming Dynasty, the Forbidden City, and the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Wang Dehua, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the supervisor of the Eastern Depot, knelt on the ground and said, "The matter of 'pacifying the Eastern Barbarians' was originally a secret, and I didn't know what was going on. Now, for some reason, it has suddenly been leaked, so I asked the guards to investigate from all sides..."

"What are the results of the investigation?" Emperor Chongzhen's tone was extremely cold.

Wang Dehua carefully reported everything he knew: "Your Majesty, this is what I investigated..."

It turned out to be Ma Shaoyou, a Langzhong of the Military Affairs Department, who went to Liaodong to have secret talks with the Jiannu. After completing his mission with untold hardships and returning to Beijing, he immediately submitted a copy of the secret document of "negotiating terms with the slaves" to Chen Xinjia's residence overnight.

However, Chen Xinjia had been dealing with ministry affairs for days, especially the suppression of bandits in Henan and the negotiation of payments in Liaodong, which made him very tired. So he felt very sleepy tonight. After hastily reading the copy of the secret document, he put it on the desk and fell asleep.

A trusted servant who usually helped Chen Xinjia with paperwork, seeing that there was no "top secret" annotation on the letter, treated the letter as an ordinary official document and sent it to the Ministry of War at night to be copied as a palace bulletin.

Of course, this incident can also be said to be Chen Xinjia being hit by his own "boomerang", or it can be said to be a backlash against his usual diligence in government affairs!
As a person who entered the cabinet and became a prime minister as a juren, Chen Xinjia was naturally treated with cold eyes, ridicule and exclusion by the Shangshu elders who were all jinshi graduates.

Therefore, he had to strictly demand himself to be quick in handling cases, to ensure that no cases were left unsolved, and to use his high-efficiency standards to fight back against those who mocked and excluded him!
It was precisely because of this habit that his trusted servants who helped him handle paperwork were afraid of being punished for delaying official business.

Fang Shiliang originally worked in the Military Affairs Department, so this secret document naturally fell into his hands first!

It was not until the next morning, when the court was about to go to court, that Chen Xinjia remembered the secret copy. When he found out that it had been mistakenly sent to the Ministry of War by his servant, he quickly ordered someone to retrieve it. Unexpectedly, a copy had already been secretly copied by Fang Shiliang...

Wang Dehua also said bitterly at the end: "... This Fang Shiliang is like a fly, worrying about having no hole for him to breed. After getting this secret document, he will naturally make a big fuss about it."

Emperor Chongzhen shook his head in annoyance, but he did not continue the topic. Instead, he asked, "Do the subjects of the capital have any opinions?"

"When the people of the capital heard about this, naturally there was an uproar..."

Wang Dehua stole a glance at the emperor's expression and continued cautiously, "Everyone said, 'The emperor is an illustrious ruler and would never agree to negotiate peace with the Eastern Tartars.' So everyone put the blame on the Minister of War, saying that he shouldn't have done such a humiliating act behind the emperor's back."

Emperor Chongzhen pondered for a moment before he sighed and said, "My subjects...may not know all of my difficulties!"

Wang Dehua quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying, "Your Highness is a ruler like Yao and Shun, who worries about the country and the people, and works hard day and night. Even though you know about this now, I think it's just that you were deceived by your subjects, and it's definitely not Your Highness's true intention."

Emperor Chongzhen's expression became even colder, and he said calmly: "You can go down!"

…………

As soon as Wang Dehua left, Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Jinyiwei who was waiting for an audience outside the Qianqing Gate, was called in.

Luo Yangxing knelt down at the position where Wang Dehua had just been. He usually had frequent contacts with several eunuchs in the palace and had close relationships with them. Even the Jinyiwei, which he led, acted according to the wishes of Wang Dehua, the director of the East Factory.

As for today's matter, he had already secretly exchanged opinions with Wang Dehua, the factory manager, so when answering the questions of Emperor Chongzhen, their answers were almost the same. After asking some questions, Emperor Chongzhen looked worried. He thought for a while and suddenly asked in a low voice: "Where does Ma Shaoyou live? Do you know?"

"I know. Your Majesty wants to secretly summon Ma Shaoyou to the palace for questioning?"

"Are there many people who go to his house?"

"He originally returned to the capital in secret, and not many people came to see him. Since the rumor started, I sent the Jinyiqi School to patrol around his residence, and also sent people disguised as street vendors to secretly monitor him. He was also very well-behaved, and his family stayed indoors."

Emperor Chongzhen whispered to him again, "Tonight, when everyone is asleep, send someone to arrest Ma Shaoyou. Do not disturb his family property for the time being. Instruct his family members, 'If anyone asks, just say that Ma Shaoyou left the capital for an urgent matter and does not know where he went.' If they say anything nonsense, the whole family will be in trouble!"

Luo Yangxing asked with a little doubt in his heart: "Is he sent to the prison of the Pacification Bureau?"

Emperor Chongzhen shook his head and ordered: "Send him to a solitary temple in a secluded place far away from the West Mountain and keep him there temporarily. Make him change his name and pretend to be a Taoist priest living in seclusion. Do not reveal his identity to anyone. The Taoist priests in the temple must respect him and not ask him random questions or make him public. You must also take good care of his food and drink and do not mistreat him."

"How long do you want to keep him under guard?"

"Wait for new orders."

Luo Yangxing only then realized the emperor's painstaking efforts. He quickly kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, I obey your order!"

…………

After summoning Wang Dehua and Luo Yangxing, Emperor Chongzhen felt that it was difficult to suppress this matter.

So, he wrote a handwritten letter to Chen Xinjia, blaming him for secretly sending Ma Shaoyou out of the border to negotiate with the Eastern Tartars without telling him, and asked Chen Xinjia to "give a good reply"!
In fact, he wanted to temporarily put all the blame on Chen Xinjia alone, hoping that when he responded, he would take the blame and take all the responsibility. When the situation was over, he would try to save him...

But no one expected that after receiving the emperor's handwritten letter, Chen Xinjia felt extremely frightened.

Although he kept several handwritten letters from Emperor Chongzhen instructing him to "negotiate terms with the slaves" at home as a last resort to protect himself, he did not dare to actually take them out to "expose the emperor's evil."

Chen Xinjia knew very well in his mind that since the Hongwu Emperor, all emperors in this dynasty had been unkind to their ministers. They relied on them when they needed them, but once they turned against them, their properties would be confiscated and their families would be exterminated.

Chen Xinjia naturally understood the character of Emperor Chongzhen, who was stubborn, suspicious, ruthless, and quick to kill ministers...

He therefore mistakenly believed that the emperor wanted to use his head to shirk his own responsibility, but he never imagined that the emperor wanted to use him to cover up his mistakes in order to preserve his own name as the "holy lord" and then try to rescue him in the future.

Chen Xinjia felt very wronged at the moment, and he had a stubborn character, so in desperation he lost his mind and wrote a very inappropriate "reply to the imperial order".

A catastrophe finally and inevitably befell Chen Xinjia!