The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 125 The Concubine Who Eats Alone
"Come on, come here and take a good look..."

"Cisuke, Shangshu, is this food? Is this edible? Or is this what you usually eat?"

Hong Niangzi ordered people to pour two bags of grain into two baskets, and then beckoned for the civil servants to come over.

The grains in the baskets are not only old grains, some are moldy, and there are a lot of straw and sand mixed in.

Sand is for weight, straw is for space filling, and half of real grain is fine.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay as they looked at the food in the baskets, and they were extremely embarrassed, obviously they didn't expect it to be so outrageous.

"Your Majesty, it was the minister who was negligent for a while, please punish me, Your Majesty."

Gao Hongtu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing, had no choice but to speak out.

"It's good to know that you have neglected your duties. Come here and dismiss Gao Hongtu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs of Nanjing, and put him in prison. After hearing this, he will be punished!"

The red lady nodded, then waved her hand.

Immediately, several soldiers who were tall and rough rushed forward, knocked Gao Hongtu to the ground, took off his official uniform, and tied him up.

"Your Majesty, so much food has to be collected in just three days. It is understandable for Gao Shangshu to be negligent for a while. Please give me another chance..."

Everyone was in a hurry, Qian Qianyi said hastily.

"The opportunity has been given, otherwise I will not be sent to prison. I will come to check in two days. If there is another moldy grain mixed with these messy things... Qian Qianyi, Hou Xun, then I will let you Eat it all."

After Hong Niangzi finished speaking, she ignored everyone's reactions, and led Gao Hongtu back to the city immediately.

"It really doesn't make sense!"

"unacceptable."

"Oh, it's really hard to explain why a scholar meets a soldier!"

Looking at the red lady who left, everyone was filled with righteous indignation.

For such a trivial matter, a Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs arrested it as soon as he said it, and he didn't pay attention to the court's laws at all.

"Mr. Ge, Gao Shangshu has been arrested, we can't just ignore death, what do you think?"

After everyone vented, they all looked at Qian Qianyi.

"Gao Shangshu should be fine for the time being, let's deal with the food matter first, then I will go to see the Queen Mother together, it won't be a big deal.

However, this is really outrageous, so don't make any more trouble this time! "

Qian Qianyi waved his hands, then picked up the grain in the basket, looked at it, dropped it down, clapped his hands, and said.

Although he didn't feel that Hong Niangzi would dare to arrest him and Hou Xun, he was not afraid of anything but ten thousand.

What's more, he didn't want to give His Majesty the impression that he couldn't handle such a small matter before he went to the capital.

The reason why Hong Niangzi only arrested Gao Hongtu was because Gao Hongtu was the secretary of the Nanjing household department, while Qian Qianyi and Hou Xun were the ministers of Cifu and Daming household department. She really had no right to dismiss them.

That's why Gao Hongtu took the knife, and warned the two of them to get together the food quickly and honestly, and then go to the capital to take office, not to stay in the south of the Yangtze River.

However, according to the ghostly virtues of the two of them, when they arrived in the capital, she was sure that they would not last three months.

That little emperor is much more ruthless than her.

Sure enough, they picked up a Nanjing Household Minister. Two days later, the 200 million stone grains were no longer falsified.

Obviously, the gentry and literati in Jiangnan also knew the importance.

Now the officials who were born in Donglin, one is the second assistant, two are the ministers of the Ministry of war, the ministers of the household department, plus some other servants and small officials, almost occupying half of the court.

If His Majesty has a bad impression of Jiangnan scholars and Donglin officials for a mere 200 million stone grain, then the loss outweighs the gain.

In order to promote Zhou Yanru as the head and assistant, the money, money and food spent were far more than this.

In court the next day.

Under the intercession of Qian Qianyi and other civil officials, Zhang Yan only demoted Gao Hongtu from Nanjing Household Minister to the Household Zuo Shilang, and Hong Niangzi didn't say anything.

All the civil servants from the Donglin Party breathed a sigh of relief. Zhang Yan's punishment was in line with court rules. As for the imperial concubine, it was completely banditry.

"Qizou Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, the old minister is getting old, and his old illness relapsed yesterday. It may be difficult to travel long distances in the short term, and go to the capital to take up his post. I hope the Queen Mother, Your Majesty, will allow the old minister to rest for a few days!"

Hou Xun stood up and said with shame and sickness on his face.

Obviously he didn't want to go to the capital to take office immediately.

This is also the result of several people's discussions over the past two days.

In the past, the six ministers in Nanjing were just nameless old-age yamen, but now they not only deal with the government affairs of several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, but also have the empress dowager and imperial concubine in charge, and they have become the real power yamen.

Now Gao Hongtu's Hubu Shangshu has been demoted to be a servant. If all the prestigious Donglin officials leave, the remaining ones will definitely not be able to compete with Ma Shiying and other eunuchs. Knowing what kind of miasma Jiangnan will turn into in the end.

So everyone discussed and decided to let Hou Xun pretend to be sick and stay in order to compete with Ma Shiying.

After all, Hou Xun has the kindness to know Zuo Liangyu from Huguang, and Zuo Liangyu has millions of soldiers in his hands, so even the imperial concubine should be afraid of it!

At the beginning, so many Ministers of the Ministry of Households and Ministers of the Ministry of War were killed, but Hou Xun was only dismissed. The reason was that Chongzhen was afraid of Zuo Liangyu and feared that Hou Xun would be killed, which would cause his misunderstanding.

The reason why Zuo Liangyu chose to support the Donglin Party and King Lu was also for Hou Xun's sake.

This kind of relationship between civil and military has formed a tradition in the late Ming Dynasty. If civil officials want to make a difference and do practical things to save their lives, especially the governor-general, they must win over a general who can fight.

Similarly, if the general who leads the troops wants not to be impeached by the civil officials, he must rely on a civil official who can speak for him in the court, otherwise, even if he can fight again, he will not even think about getting a credit.

For example, Hong Chengchou's Cao Bianjiao and Man Gui, and Sun Chuanting's men were as fierce as a tiger and powerful as a tiger.

"Since Hou Aiqing is not feeling well, let's rest for a while and return to Beijing after recovering from illness. Aijia will explain this matter to His Majesty."

Zhang Yan didn't say anything, just nodded.

"Thank you, Queen Mother, for your understanding."

Hou Xun hurriedly thanked him, and was moved to tears.

Seeing the Queen Mother nodding, other Donglin Party officials also breathed a sigh of relief.

Only Ma Shiying and the few officials attached to him frowned. Seeing that the red lady hadn't spoken, Ma Shiying didn't dare to stand up and say anything.

After all, the Queen Mother didn't want to see him as an eunuch.

Of course, a lady Hou Xunhong would not pay attention to it. Similarly, after getting the food, she had no time to talk to these civil servants, but turned her attention to Wei Guogong and others.

"Where is Duke Wei?"

"The minister is here, what orders does the empress have?"

Wei Guogong stood up calmly as if he had been prepared for a long time.

The civil servants also cheered up, wanting to know how His Majesty will deal with these nobles.

"Proclaim the decree!" The red lady didn't say much, and directly asked the guarding eunuch Lu Jiude to declare the decree.

When the two came, Zhu Cihong gave a lot of blank imperial decrees, all of which were stamped with a big seal, so that the two could act according to the situation when the time came.

However, the highest specification is the edict.

No matter how much Zhu Cihong trusted the two daughters, he would not have given them the imperial edict. If there were no nobles in Nanjing, the imperial edict would not have been granted.

And with the blank imperial edict in hand, apart from King Fan, even the Duke of the Red Lady can tidy up in a legitimate way.

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor, the imperial edict said: Wei Guogong Xu Wenjue, disregarding the king's favor, has now seized his title and confiscated his family property. The whole family will be distributed to Qiongzhou. Hereby!"

The content of the imperial decree is simple and crude, apparently written by Hong Niangzi herself.

"Your Majesty, thank you!"

"Queen Dowager, I, from the lineage of Duke Wei, has guarded Nanjing for generations of the Ming Dynasty. I am conscientious and loyal, and I have worked hard without credit. This time, I was really forced by King Fu, so I was confused for a while. Please, Queen Mother, Your Majesty, please forgive me! "

But it was this succinct content that made Wei Guogong die, and he fell to his knees and begged.

After so many days, the queen mother did not summon them, so he knew that there would be no good results, and he was even ready to go to Beijing to plead guilty and pass the title to his eldest son.

But he never expected that His Majesty would directly deprive him of his title without giving him any chance to plead guilty.

"Wei Guogong, if you dare to do it, you must dare to do it. There are some things that you can't get involved in. Cheng Zu left many nobles to guard Nanjing to prevent such things from happening.

But you are lucky, for the sake of your own glory and wealth, you have left your responsibilities behind, not only did not come forward to stop it, but instead actively participated in it, you owed His Majesty first, and Daming, with today's results, you can't blame His Majesty for being ruthless. "

The red lady said righteously.

Indicate that Lu Jiude must continue to read the imperial decree.

Following the reading of an imperial decree, a famous honorable man collapsed on the ground, and some even cried loudly.

They are not pleading, because pleading is useless, and His Majesty is not here, so could it be possible to change the imperial decree?

Sure enough, although the civil servants looked shocked, they were gloating in their hearts. These nobles have been relying on their power for hundreds of years, and they are far away from the emperor. I don’t know how many people have been forced by them to ruin their homes, and their land, fields, houses and shops have been annexed.

The families of officials and gentry have their ups and downs when they fail the rankings and decline, but these nobles are enduring, especially Wei Guogong's line.

"Hey! I knew today, so why bother? Wei Guogong, His Majesty has already shown mercy outside the law."

Zhang Yan saw that they were crying unbearably, so she got up and sighed.

It has to be said that her compassionate look was in stark contrast to Hong Niangzi's aggressive look.

"Put them all down!"

The red lady was too lazy to talk nonsense, so she just waved her hand.

Immediately, the soldiers rushed in like wolves and tigers, and dragged out more than a dozen nobles including Wei Guogong.

"Empress Dowager, Madam, these nobles have great influence in Nanjing and its surrounding areas, and their relationships are complicated. In order to prevent turmoil, the Ministry of Military History can go outside the city to take over the soldiers of the Beijing camp first. The old minister is willing to take someone to be responsible for maintaining order in the city."

As expected of Qian Qianyi, he had eaten too much salt for a few years. Everyone was still sighing, but he reacted first.

And after his reminder, all the civil servants had green eyes for a while.

Obviously understand that after these nobles come to Taiwan, there will be a lot of benefits to be redistributed.

"Empress Dowager, empress, this minister is the Secretary of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. According to the system, this minister should take over the capital camp outside the city."

Ma Shiying also hurriedly stood up, wanting to control the tens of thousands of Beijing camps outside the city.

"You don't need to worry about it, just stay here patiently, the palace has its own arrangements, don't worry, the sky won't fall down."

The red lady waved her hand, interrupting everyone's fantasy.

Everyone hated their teeth so much that this imperial concubine wanted to eat alone, without their support, could she eat it?
So they all looked at Zhang Yan, hoping she would persuade her.

Zhang Yan also knew that with the support and help of these civil servants, he would be able to take down these nobles in a better and more stable manner, so he turned to Hong Niangzi.

The red lady gave her a reassuring look.

Because at this time, actions have already taken place inside and outside the city, and teams of soldiers and horses are rushing to Xungui's mansion.

Similarly, Li Dakai also led an army of [-] to the Beijing camp.

(End of this chapter)