weaving

Chapter 1330 Please Think Twice, Your Majesty

Inside the Qianqing Palace in the imperial capital of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen's fingers unconsciously stroked the jade paperweight on the imperial desk.

"What do you think of the Ministry of Personnel regarding the vacancy of the Minister of War?"

Zheng Sanjun, who was already seventy years old, had only been the Minister of Personnel for about half a year, but he was a dignified and clear-headed person, and he was always upright in his administration. After taking office, he recommended many wise men such as Li Banghua, Liu Zongzhou, Huang Daozhou, Shi Kefa, Feng Yuanyang, and Chen Shiqi. He was indeed a man who dared to speak his mind and take responsibility.

At this moment, Zheng Sanjun saw that the emperor was asking directly, so he stood up and reported: "I and other ministers have discussed that Zhang Guowei, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, who is also in charge of the four prefectures of Huai, Xu, Lin, and Tong, has eliminated the bandit Li Qingshan in Qi. This shows that he is quite knowledgeable about military affairs and is qualified to be the Minister of War."

After hearing what Zheng Sanjun said, Emperor Chongzhen did not make any statement, but fell into silence. All the officials also sat upright, not daring to make a sound.

Everyone knew the emperor's mood at the moment. The negotiation with the slaves had just been ruined by Chen Xinjia, and now Zhou Yanru had been dismissed from his position as prime minister. No one wanted to say much at this time, for fear of touching the nerves of Emperor Chongzhen and bringing trouble upon themselves.

After a while, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but sighed, his eyes stopped at the new cabinet chief Chen Yan, and asked: "Chen Yan, who will take over Ding Qirui's military affairs in Baoding and other seven towns? What do you think of the cabinet?"

Chen Yan was slightly stunned. He did not expect the emperor to suddenly ask about this matter. However, as a cabinet minister, he had long been accustomed to the emperor Chongzhen's leaping thoughts. After a little thought, he replied: "Zhou Yanru once recommended Hou Xun to replace Ding Qirui as the governor of the seven towns of Baoding."

In fact, he did not reveal his own attitude, nor did he reveal the cabinet's advice, but instead pushed everything directly onto Zhou Yanru, who had already been dismissed from office.

"What is your cabinet's opinion of Hou Xun?"

The new cabinet chief, Chen Yan, trembled slightly, and even his Adam's apple rolled twice involuntarily. He clearly heard the emperor's impatience, and hurriedly stood up, knelt down, and kowtowed, saying: "This humble opinion..."

He chose to grind each word between his teeth three times before spitting it out: "Although Hou Xun was once the Minister of War and knew a little about military affairs, he had never led troops in person. Take the suppression of An Bangyan's rebellion as an example. Hou Xun was not the commander-in-chief after all. He may have had the merit of changing luck, but he did not personally go to the battlefield.

Commanding a large army to fight is no joke. Even if Hou Xun had helped Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Liangyu is now a fierce general with a hundred thousand soldiers under his command. It is wishful thinking to think that he can completely control him just based on a little favor from his early years!

Moreover, Hou Xun has been in prison for seven years and has become somewhat alienated from the current situation in the world. The power of Li Ni is even more different now. Even Wang Qiaonian and Fu Zonglong, who were capable, died at his hands. Ding Qirui was also defeated at Shuipoji. If we entrust Hou Xun with the task of suppressing the bandits, will he be able to do it?"

Chen Yan stopped talking here. He observed the emperor's expression with the corner of his eye and saw that he was in deep thought. Then he continued, "Yesterday, Hou Xun submitted a memorial saying, 'The bandit troubles have accumulated for fifteen years and are becoming serious. We cannot deal with them in one day. We entered Henan from Qin and defeated Wang Qiaonian once and Fu Zonglong again. Now all the strong soldiers and horses in the world are in the hands of the bandits.'

He did not agree to make rescuing Kaifeng a top priority, but instead advocated that the governors and governors-general of Shaanxi, Baoding, Shandong, Fengyang, Huai and Xu should defend their respective territories. He himself would go to Hubei and sit in Zuo Liangyu's army to prepare for action.

The intention is to trap the bandits in Henan, and wait for their food to run out and their army to become unstable. When the opportunity arises, they will go east and join forces with Sun Chuanting to attack Li. By then, Li will be exhausted and attacked from all sides, hungry and frightened, and will surrender and scatter.

"What? Hou Xun really thinks so!" After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen's eyes widened and he shouted angrily.

Chen Yan trembled all over as he took out a memorial from his bosom, held it high above his head, and said softly, "The memorial is here, I dare not speak nonsense."

Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand, and Wang Chengen came over, took Hou Xun's memorial from Chen Yan, and held it in both hands and placed it on the imperial desk.

"boom!"

The sound of the jade paperweight hitting the rosewood imperial desk startled the eunuch Wang Chengen's whisk, which also shook slightly.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the memorial spread out on the imperial desk, and Hou Xun's neat official script appeared on it as if carved with a knife: "The bandits are already powerful enough. We should build a golden city in Chu and Yu, and wait for an opportunity. Then we will march eastward to join forces with Sun Chuanting. The bandits will be attacked from all sides and will be hungry and have nowhere to go. If they don't kill each other, they will surrender and scatter..." Every word in Hou Xun's memorial seemed to be cutting out the flesh of Emperor Chongzhen - he claimed to be the ruler of the Ming Dynasty's revival, so how could he sit idly by and watch the bandits run rampant?

"Pa..." After just a quick glance, Emperor Chongzhen slammed the memorial on the desk.

He sighed and asked, "Chen Yan, do you have anyone else to recommend?"

After a moment of contemplation, Chen Yan said softly, "Your Majesty, although Chen Xinjia is good at negotiating, he is indeed a rare man who knows military affairs. Moreover, he was once the governor of Xuanda and helped Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng. Now outside Kaifeng, it is all thanks to Yongning Earl's lone battle to resist the offensive of Li the bandit, so that Kaifeng can be saved."

"Chen Xinjia?"

Emperor Chongzhen's eyes were full of suspicion. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Chen Xinjia negotiated with me privately. His crime of deceiving the emperor is unforgivable."

The Qianqing Palace fell into silence for a moment. No one made a sound, and even the sound of breathing was barely audible...

"Tell me who can be appointed as the governor of the seven towns including Baoding to supervise the suppression of the bandit Li."

Faced with the emperor's inquiries, all the ministers remained silent. After all, their names were not mentioned, so they pretended to be stupid to avoid saying the wrong thing or recommending the wrong person, which would bring them trouble.

Seeing that not one of the civil and military officials came to the room to offer advice, Emperor Chongzhen was extremely depressed and became angry. He shouted in a deep voice: "Are you all dumb? Speak up!"

Emperor Chongzhen missed his former cabinet minister Yang Sichang very much at this moment, thinking to himself, "If Yang Wenruo were still alive, he would surely be able to offer me advice and suggestions. But how could this bunch of useless people not have anyone who dared to speak out when the country was in danger?"

He immediately thought of Chen Xinjia, who was imprisoned by him, but immediately sighed to himself, "Oh, no, I can't let him out yet. I am the ruler of the Ming Dynasty, and I cannot be a king who negotiates for peace!"

"What do you think of letting Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, be the governor of the seven garrisons including Baoding and take charge of all matters related to suppressing bandits in the Central Plains?"

Emperor Chongzhen suddenly remembered that before Zhou Yanru was dismissed, he had suggested to him that Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, replace Ding Qirui as the governor of the seven towns including Baoding. Without thinking carefully, he suddenly blurted out the question...

Inside the Qianqing Palace, the words of Emperor Chongzhen were like a huge rock falling into a pond. All the ministers were stunned when they heard these words!

It has been more than a hundred years since a military officer was appointed as governor-general in the Ming Dynasty. Since the Tumu Incident, the military power of the Ming Dynasty has been in the hands of civil officials, which has become a common practice of the court.

Now, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly raised this question, and all the court officials were unable to react for a while. They were all speechless, stunned and stood there.

The Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, Wu Shen, was the first to react. The ivory tablet in his hand fell to the ground with a "thump".

At this moment, Wu Shen seemed to see the ghost of Tumu Fort wandering around Liangjian. In the one hundred and seventy years since Yu Qian reorganized the Beijing camp, has there ever been a military official who dared to take charge of the commander-in-chief again?

Even though he looked up at the bloodshot eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, the advice that was on the tip of his tongue still came out: "Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty has always been ruled by civil officials. It has always been civil officials who have led the army. There has never been a case of military officials being appointed as commanders. This is a rule of the court and cannot be broken!"

"Your Majesty, please think twice..."

The new cabinet member Huang Jingfang, who was also in charge of the Imperial Academy, and Jiang Dejing, who was also the Minister of Works and the Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, also stood up and knelt behind Wu Shen, and kowtowed with him, begging Emperor Chongzhen to take back what he had just said.

Although Wu Shen had just joined the cabinet, he had already taken over the position vacated by Chen Yan and became the second assistant of the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty court. Therefore, Huang Jingfang and Jiang Dejing would follow his lead!

However, what surprised them a little was that Prime Minister Chen Yan did not seem to be in a hurry.