weaving

Chapter 1471 Sun Chuanting shouted: Kill!

Inside the East Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace in the capital city of the Ming Dynasty...

Left Vice Censor-in-Chief Fang Yuegong seemed somewhat unwilling. Taking advantage of Emperor Chongzhen's contemplation, he spoke again and said, "Your Majesty, impeaching the Earl of Yongning for being arrogant and domineering and for privately occupying farmland for military purposes is only one aspect; there are also officials who impeach the Earl of Yongning for secretly colluding with bandits and for privately releasing water, which is suspected of 'nurturing bandits to enhance his own power'."

Emperor Chongzhen suddenly looked up, his eyes shooting out a sharp light that made Fang Yuegong dizzy, his mind tremble, and his liver and gallbladder ache. However, as the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief, he had to stand firm to the end because of his duty.

"Your Majesty, I also have letters between the Earl of Yongning and the traitors Li and Xian, as well as several letters between the Earl of Yongning and Yuan Shizhong and Luo Rucai, which are sufficient evidence!" Fang Yuegong walked to the center and kowtowed.

It is evident that Fang Yuegong has completely disregarded his own safety and is determined to leave a lasting legacy.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Chongzhen seemed not to have heard him at all, and asked Chen Yan, "You are the Grand Secretary, what do you think about Zhang Cheng being granted a marquisate?"

Seeing that the emperor did not care about Fang Yuegong's report, Chen Yan, though unaware of the emperor's true intentions, secretly breathed a sigh of relief for Fang Yuegong.

"Your Majesty," Chen Yan said, "I believe the Ministry of Personnel's report is quite correct. Although the Earl of Yongning has made great contributions and has been recorded in the annals, it is not appropriate to bestow titles and rewards too hastily. Otherwise, it may not serve as an incentive for his achievements, but instead encourage his arrogance and make him complacent and unwilling to make further progress. I agree with changing the Earl of Yongning's title from a hereditary title to a free or permanent one."

Emperor Chongzhen seemed dissatisfied with his reply and turned to Wu Sheng, the Minister of Rites, asking, "Minister of Rites, please also speak. Does the granting of a marquisate to Zhang Cheng comply with the court's etiquette?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Sheng immediately stood up, bowed, and then replied softly, "The Earl of Yongning protected the people of Kaifeng and drove the traitor Li out of Kaifeng Prefecture, killing tens of thousands of traitors. His merits are truly great."

However, Li Ze was only defeated and not killed or driven out. It is hard to guarantee that he will not rise again. If he is enfeoffed as a marquis based solely on this merit, then how should he be rewarded if someone kills Li Ze in the future?
In my opinion, changing the title of Earl of Yongning from exile to hereditary status is already a great favor!

The more Emperor Chongzhen asked, the more he realized that his ministers' words made some sense. He had indeed been too simplistic in his thinking when he had focused on granting Zhang Cheng a marquisate.

"Your Majesty, the Earl of Yongning has allowed his troops to harm civilians, seize farmland, illegally establish military settlements, and secretly collude with bandits, acting as a tool to bolster his own power. These matters have not yet been fully investigated, so it is truly inappropriate to discuss the matter of bestowing titles and rewards now!" Fang Yuegong seemed determined to impeach Zhang Cheng.

With a loud "smack".

Emperor Chongzhen slammed his fist on the imperial desk and roared, "Are you ever going to stop?"

Fang Yuegong trembled violently, pressing his face to the ground, shaking so badly he dared not utter another sound.

Emperor Chongzhen seemed unwilling to argue with him further, and simply said, "The Ministry of Personnel, together with the Ministry of Rites, shall devise a plan. The Earl of Yongning shall be granted a hereditary title, and his wife and children shall be granted official privileges."

Zheng Sanjun and Wu Sheng hurriedly got up to receive the imperial decree.

"Oh. By the way." Emperor Chongzhen seemed to remember something: "I heard that Zhang Cheng has a concubine. Let's bestow an imperial title upon her this time as well. Also, you should draft a plan for rewarding meritorious soldiers on the front lines and send it to Zhang Cheng so that he can submit his name."

"Your Majesty, take the order."

Seeing that the Emperor had finished speaking, Grand Secretary Chen Yan quickly whispered a reminder from the side: "Your Majesty, regarding the matter of the censors impeaching the Earl of Yongning, I suggest that a court official be selected to personally go to Henan to investigate. If it is true, he should be punished accordingly; if it is not true, the Earl of Yongning should be exonerated so that he is spared from being framed, so that he can focus on suppressing the bandits on the front lines."

"Tell me, who should we send?"

“Only a senior official can command respect. I believe that the most prudent approach would be to select a senior official from the Censorate who is both respected and upright to conduct an investigation in Henan.”

Emperor Chongzhen pondered for a moment, then said, "Wang Dehua, go and immediately issue an imperial edict ordering Censor-in-Chief Li Banghua to go to Henan to investigate the various matters related to the impeachment of Zhang Cheng." Wang Dehua hurriedly stepped forward and said softly, "This servant obeys the edict."

Emperor Chongzhen seemed somewhat tired. Looking at the ministers below, he asked, "Do you have anything else to report? If not, you may leave."

Chen Yan and the others expressed their gratitude and withdrew, while Fang Yuegong was helped out of the Qianqing Palace by Zheng Sanjun.

…………

Emperor Chongzhen had already set the tone for the conferment of the title upon the Earl of Yongning. The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites only discussed the specific details and finalized the agreement in less than three days. After the agreement was submitted to the palace and sealed with the imperial seal, it was immediately dispatched by fast horse.

There is also a draft of rewards for frontline soldiers. It needs to be confirmed by the Earl of Yongning before the list of meritorious personnel can be submitted and the list filled in one by one.

On the other hand, the situation was much more complicated for Li Banghua, the Censor-in-Chief.

According to him, he would go alone.

But the others around them didn't think that way. They were eager to send more of their own people in so that they could use their numbers to convict Zhang Cheng.

Finally, after more than ten days of repeated consultations, a decent Central Plains investigation team was formed.

The delegation was led by Li Banghua, the Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and Ling Yiqu, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, was the deputy leader. The members consisted of more than ten court officials, including Yu Shangyou, the Censor; Wang Tiaoding, the Director of the Military Affairs Department of the Ministry of War; and Ma Jiazhi, the Director of the Henan Provincial Administration Department of the Ministry of Revenue.

At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen also specially ordered Li Ruolian, the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, to lead a hundred men to accompany and protect the investigation team. Li Fengxiang, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Secretariat, was also assigned by Emperor Chongzhen to the investigation team as an accompanying member.

Although Li Ruolian and Li Fengxiang were personally appointed by Emperor Chongzhen, they were nominally just accompanying personnel and not part of the investigation team. They were neither under the command or dispatch of Li Banghua, nor did they directly participate in the relevant investigation matters.

And so the massive investigation mission set off from the capital in a grand procession. Because of the large number of people, they stopped frequently along the way, and were warmly received by the locals wherever they went.

Although Li Banghua, as the leader of the group, repeatedly refused, he couldn't control his subordinates and could only stay out of it.

…………

While Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers were discussing the bestowal of titles upon the Earl of Yongning in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Chuanting, the Governor-General of Shaanxi and the Three Border Regions, far away in Xi'an, also received news of the retreat of the rebel army.

He was slightly surprised that Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, had defeated the rebel army of hundreds of thousands with only 50,000 to 60,000 troops under his command, which made him think more highly of Zhang Cheng.

But he wasn't particularly shocked—after all, he had once routed the rebels, leaving only eighteen riders to escape with their lives!

However, Sun Chuanting thought to himself, "What a pity... what a pity!"

His "regret" was mainly because his Shaanxi troops had not yet completed their training. Otherwise, if he had marched east out of Tongguan and then conscripted Zuo Liangyu's troops to enter Nanyang Prefecture, with the three sides surrounding him, how could he not have wiped out the rebels in one fell swoop?

"Kill." At this moment, Sun Chuanting seemed to have finally made up his mind: "How can we deter villains without killing a few heads? When will we be able to raise enough food and pay to train a brigade of elite Shaanxi soldiers!"

The butcher's knife was finally raised in Xi'an, and then spread throughout the entire Shaanxi province...