national surname chiming

Chapter 314 Cutting, Cutting, Soso Doesn't Look Like an Emperor at All
Zhu Shuren killed Zhang Xianzhong, how should he be rewarded for such a great contribution?

This question does not seem to be a problem in the first place, and the answer is already ready-made:

Three years ago, Chongzhen made an oath in front of the tablets of his ancestors in the Taimiao, and made the Ming Dynasty civil and military, and the one who killed Zhang Xianzhong was made a duke.

If someone from the inside of the bandit turns back and kills Zhang Xianzhong, even if he is not made a duke, he will be given another title and official position, and his previous crimes will be fully pardoned.

Furthermore, if that person turned against the water and killed Zhang Xianzhong at the end of his life, he may not be given a title, but at least he must be pardoned for his previous crimes.

The first situation where Zhu Shuren perfectly complies with the oath is that Daming's own civil and military officials are diligent in the affairs of the king. For such a great contribution, shouldn't they be given a duke?
However, the situation in Daming is not what it used to be three years ago.When the matter came to an end, Chongzhen fell into deep distress. He was afraid that after giving enough rewards at once, he would no longer be able to control Zhu Shuren well, so what should he do?
If Sun Chuanting is not dead now, Chongzhen's hesitation may not be so great.He can continue to let Sun Chuanting control the northern war situation, let Zhu Shuren control the southern war situation, and divide the north and south.

Whoever dares to be proud of his achievements will be seen by all the people in the world, and he will naturally support the other governor who holds a large army and real power, and eliminate the one who has a different heart.In addition, Chongzhen's own imperial authority is there, and a balance can be struck at any time.

But at the same time that Zhu Shuren got rid of Zhang Xianzhong in the south, Sun Chuanting lost to Li Zicheng!

Daming absolutely forbids outsiders to be crowned kings, only the clan can be crowned kings, and whether it is crowned king or not has never had anything to do with merit, it only depends on blood relationship.

Now that the Duke is enough, what kind of bait will he use next time to make Zhu Shuren go north, so he has to go north obediently?

Two months ago, when Huang Taiji entered the customs for the last time, Chongzhen urgently called Wu Sangui, Tang Tong, and King Bai Guangenqin. None of these three came, and they just fought defensive battles with the Tartars in their own defense zone.

These three warriors, at most, just responded to the emperor's memorial and complained publicly, saying that they would definitely come, but they were temporarily held back by the partial division of the Tartars, as long as they repelled the enemy in front of them, they would definitely come.But after complaining for two months, they still didn't come, and Chongzhen had nothing to do with them.

After thinking about it, Chongzhen finally decided to find an excuse and restrain Zhu Shuren so that he could better enslave him for his own use.

He then announced to Zhang Guowei: "According to the oath of the Taimiao League, those who killed Zhang Xianzhong by civil and military officials in the Ming Dynasty should indeed be named dukes. But Zhu Shuren did not complete his work this time, after all, he only killed the chief culprit, not all the others.

Zhang Xianzhong's remaining party, Sun Kewang, is still entrenched in western Sichuan, and it is unknown whether he has the ability to revive.Therefore, he should be promoted to the title of Earl of Kruk first, and become Marquis of Kruk.If he can wipe out Sun Kewang together and completely wipe out the remnants of Zhang Ni, then he will naturally be promoted to the Duke of E.

I remember that in the former Song Dynasty, Yue Wumu was posthumously named King of E. Before his death, Yue Wumu also entered Xiangyang from Ezhou, and then went north to the Central Plains.Now that Zhu Shuren is the governor of Huguang, he also originated from Huang and Hubei, so he should follow the example of Yue Wumu and be loyal to Ming Dynasty.Of course I will not blame him.

In addition, if Sun Kewang is determined to survive and escapes to the mountains, even if he can't catch up with Sun Kewang, I will still give him the opportunity to become the Duke of E - as long as he goes north to serve as king and continue to help the court put down the trespassers, even if it is just to punish the culprit , I don’t need to wipe out all the party members, I will also designate him as the Duke of E. "

Originally, Chongzhen didn't need to explain so much to his ministers, mainly because this matter involved the Taimiao oath three years ago, so he had to find a way to go down.

According to what he said, it is reasonable for the Duke, who is withholding the last step for the time being, not to give it, because Zhu Shuren has indeed not completely wiped out Zhang Xianzhong.Chongzhen also temporarily pointed out another way for Zhu Shuren, leaving a hole, hoping to use this hole as a bait to continue to use it better.

Zhang Guowei felt that his words were a bit preposterous, and he always felt that Taimiaomeng vowed not to weigh and adjust.But after a few words of remonstrance, Chongzhen showed displeasure,

Wang Chengen next to him also understood Chongzhen very well. He knew that eunuchs should not be involved in politics, but when he saw the emperor being run over by his subordinates, he kindly reminded him: "Your Majesty wants to discuss the promotion of civil servants. Do you need an old slave to help His Majesty call Zhou Ge to discuss it?" ?”

If it was normal, Chongzhen would definitely be unhappy when Wang Chengen said this, but at this juncture today, Wang Chengen's wink immediately made Chongzhen overjoyed, so he didn't care about it.

He immediately said: "Yes, Wang Daban, you immediately send someone to declare Zhou Yanru to have an audience!"

Wang Cheng'en was very measured, he didn't say a single word about how to reward him from the beginning to the end, and he didn't intervene in any specific government affairs.He only said to help the emperor find relevant people, which is not beyond the mark.

Zhang Guowei was also taken aback, and then realized: Zhu Shuren's merits should indeed be discussed by him, the minister of the Ministry of War, but Zhu Shuren is a civil servant, not a military general. Of course, the Ministry of Officials should come to ask him about his reward. ?

The promotion of civil officials is the matter of the Department of Literature and Selection of the Ministry of Officials, and the promotion of military commanders is the matter of the Department of Military Affairs.

Merit is merit, and rewards are rewards. Under the framework of the Ming system, characterization and execution are separated.

He had no choice but to shut up, otherwise, if he said one more word, he would be exceeding his authority.

Chongzhen waited for about a quarter of an hour in a good mood, and Zhou Yanru was rushed from the six duty rooms to the Wenhua Palace, and hurried inside to pay respects and have an audience.

Zhou Yanru also looked older than a year ago, Huang Taiji entered the bandits again, and Li Zicheng completely occupied Shaanxi and killed Sun Chuanting. These two things made the chief minister of the cabinet even more worried about the future of Ming Dynasty.

As the person in charge of all state affairs, any failure will be more or less related to him, and the emperor will ask him for a few troubles when he is held accountable, which makes Zhou Yanru a little nervous, his hair is almost completely white, and only a few scattered A black hair interspersed with it.

What worries Zhou Yanru even more is that Wu Changshi, one of his favorite students and one of his right-hand men, the Secretary of Wenxuan Department of the Ministry of Officials, was also sent to the Imperial Prison by Chongzhen for interrogation a few days ago because of some cases.

Historically, Wu Changshi was executed around the winter of Chongzhen 16th year, and he was imprisoned one or two months earlier.Now all this is obviously ahead of schedule.

The reason for the advance, coincidentally, was because Zhou Yanru had offended the censors who insisted on impeachment in the process of trying to save his ally Chen Xinjia.

Then Wu Changshi was not a good person at first, so he was impeached by some of the censors in advance by the way.

He said that he made various friends with eunuchs, huge amounts of corruption, and also received huge benefits from the new scholars selected in the Spring Festival this year when they assigned officials to rank. Whoever gives more money will be arranged to be an official in an area without war. If you give money, you will be sent to the bandits and Tazi war zones as officials.

To be honest, all these things Wu Changshi did were true.Even behind this, Zhou Yanru himself took a considerable part.

It's just that if this kind of thing goes back a few years, it won't be a crime of death, and it won't be so big.It can only be said that the Chongzhen Dynasty came to the last moment, and everything started to pop up.

Zhou Yanru has been on tenterhooks lately, and he dare not dissuade the emperor's decision at all, for fear of causing trouble again.Now that Chongzhen had told him about his decision, Zhou Yanru didn't have to argue for Zhu Shuren's title, so he said submissively:
"Your Majesty's handling is very reasonable. After all, Zhu Shuren has not completed all his meritorious deeds. In addition, he is so young. It is for his own good that he is not given to the Duke for the time being, so that he will not be rewarded for his meritorious deeds in the future."

After hearing this, Chongzhen was also very satisfied, so he signaled the Ministry of Officials to draw up a specific statement after returning, and give a regulation at that time.

The follow-up process took another three to five days. Needless to say, by the end of June, Chongzhen's reward orders and further instructions to Huguang and Sichuan civil and military officials were also officially issued in the form of orders.

Since Li Zicheng was still dormant and recuperating recently, and no greater danger was exposed, the decree this time also did not need to be rushed, so he was sent to the southwest at a normal daily speed of about [-] miles.

In addition, in addition to the orders for Huguang and Sichuan officials, Chongzhen also did two things.

First of all, the day after the reward discussion, he asked the eunuch to find a box that conformed to the sacrificial etiquette, filled it with Zhang Xianzhong's head and five hundred pieces of meat, and then went to the Taimiao to sacrifice the tablets of the ancestors and ancestors in person. His unworthy descendant finally fulfilled his promise to avenge his ancestors and help them rest in peace.

After he finished offering sacrifices at the Taimiao in the capital, he thought about it, and then consulted the officials of the Ministry of Rites to check and fill in the gaps to see if there was anything missing that should be done.

After racking his brains and thinking about it, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites checked with the professional officials of the various departments of the Ministry of Rites, and then reported it again, saying that Chongzhen should send people to the site of the Fengyang ancestral mausoleum (or the restored Fengyang ancestral mausoleum) Also offer sacrifices.

Considering that the emperor himself is not suitable to go out of Beijing, this kind of thing is best done by the descendants of the emperor Taizu, so it is best to invite a vassal king who is closer to the emperor's blood to represent the emperor to "Ye Ling".

It made sense for Chongzhen to think about it. After all, Zhang Xianzhong dug the ancestral mausoleum in Fengyang six years ago. Now that the enemy has conferred the head, it is really time to go to the local area and tell the ancestor's soul.

So I asked the priest of the Ministry of Rites to check the list of vassal kings, and find a vassal king whose fief is closer to Fengyang Mansion, preferably with a suitable bloodline.

Fengyang Mansion is the location of the central capital, and local vassal kings are not allowed to enshrine there, so the nearest vassal king must be the state capital adjacent to Fengyang Mansion.

After the priest of the Ministry of Rites checked, he reported the truth, saying that the nearest ones were Fu Wang Zhu Yousong and Lu Wang Zhu Changhao, who were now taking refuge in Hefei due to the war.

Although they are not serious about the vassal, at least they happen to be close at the moment. The emperor just needs a vassal king to work on his mausoleum, and there is no need to worry about its official fiefdom.The bloodlines of King Fu and King Lu are the closest to Chongzhen.

After Chongzhen got these two options, he knew in his heart that his cousin Zhu Yousong's lineage was a generation closer than his cousin Zhu Changxiao's.

But he also knew the 20-year-old grievances between the third uncle, Old Fu Wang, and his father, Guangzong Zhu Changluo, who competed for the crown prince.

Of course Chongzhen didn't like the members of Fuwang's family, so he gritted his teeth and handed over the job of visiting the mausoleum on behalf of the emperor to Zhu Changxiao.

There must be a legitimate reason for abandoning relatives and estrangement. After Chongzhen thought about it, he ordered:

"According to blood lineage, it is true that brother Fu Wang is closer to me. But I remembered that Zhu Shuren, who has made great achievements in killing thieves this time, happens to be Uncle Lu's son-in-law!
Since it was Uncle Lu's family who set up this special honor, there is no need to bother the two masters. Let Uncle Lu show his face in front of the ancestor's spirit, presumably the ancestor's heroic spirit will be more comforting. "

The priest of the Temple of the Ministry of Rites immediately wrote down the meaning of Chongzhen, and soon followed the process to draft an order: Uncle Lu Wang will visit the mausoleum on behalf of Tian.

……

Beijing is obviously much closer to Hefei than Beijing is to Sichuan.

So just seven or eight days later, on the third day of July, Lu Wang Zhu Changhao, who was in Hefei, first received the imperial edict from Chongzhen.

Recently, Zhu Changhao lives in the temporary palace every day, either playing the piano or studying Buddhist scriptures, appreciating bronze wares and spices, or messing around with concubines and concubines for some entertainment.

Since Zhu Yuchan, the only daughter, was sent to Sichuan to marry Zhu Shuren more than three months ago, Zhu Changhao was not used to it at first, and felt that she had lost something every day, and even regretted it——

It's not that I regret choosing the wrong son-in-law, but that my daughter will marry far away and suffer hardships.It would be much more convenient if the son-in-law could stay in Wuchang to be an official nearby, and the daughter could also stay in Wuchang. At worst, the whole family of the palace would also move to Wuchang.But Sichuan is too dangerous and far away, so I can only hope that my son-in-law will finish the war early and come back as soon as possible.

Half a month ago, he learned from the eunuch sent by his daughter that his son-in-law had won a big battle and killed Zhang Xianzhong. At that time, Zhu Changhao was very excited.

It's not that he's happy that his son-in-law is going to be promoted again - his family is now a prince, and it doesn't make much difference whether his son-in-law is an earl, a marquis or even a duke.He just felt that his daughter could finally not have to stay in the dilapidated Sichuan, but could return to the official post of the governor of Huguang to live here.

At that time, Zhu Changhao heard that in order to commemorate Yang Sichang, Zhu Shuren went to Changde in person and took a hundred pieces of bacon from Zhang Xianzhong to commemorate the massacred people in Changde's whole house.Zhu Changhao thought that his son-in-law would return to Wuchang after the sacrifice.

So he also ordered his concubine to pack up and consider moving to Wuchang to live in the future.Anyway, his feudal land has fallen, Hefei is no different from Wuchang, Wuchang is not a sensitive place, and the emperor's nephew has a good relationship with him, so it shouldn't prevent him from living with his daughter and son-in-law.

However, Prince Lu’s mansion has not been cleaned up yet. A few days later, I learned that Zhu Shuren went to Changde to pay homage, only stayed in Huguang for a few days, and dealt with some pressing important government affairs that required high-level decision-making, and then returned to Chongqing in a hurry. up.

This really made Zhu Changhao very depressed, this is not a false shot!Later, I heard that the war in Sichuan was not over, and Sun Kewang took a considerable part of Zhang Xianzhong's remnants to fight and harass him, which should not be underestimated. Anyway, the news was released by Zhu Shuren, and they tried their best to spread Sun Kewang's threat to the outside world.

One day, while Zhu Changhao was playing the piano, the eunuch who was close to him suddenly rushed in to report: "Your Highness, Your Majesty has an order. The envoy has arrived in Hefei. This old slave will help you pack up and prepare to receive the order."

Zhu Changhao was startled: "Will? For the orphan? What kind of order can there be for the orphan?"

He suddenly had a bad premonition. As a vassal king who is idle and useless, the last thing he wants is to receive the emperor's order. He wished that the emperor would not come to him for the rest of his life.After all, they have no room for improvement, and one thing more is worse than one thing less.

Zhu Changhao tidied up anxiously, the angel had already arrived at the temporary palace, Zhu Changhao went out to greet him respectfully.

The eunuch who came was full of smiles, went through the process and read the will, then handed the scroll to Zhu Changhao, and congratulated with a smile: "Congratulations, Your Highness, for being selected by His Majesty's special decree to visit the mausoleum on behalf of heaven. Or the Zongzheng Ling represents the clan's sacrifice, how can ordinary vassal kings enter Fengyang lightly to worship their ancestors.

These are all written by His Royal Highness benevolent and filial to the clan, and should be honored.Although I have set up the Zong Zhengling and controlled the Zong Zheng in the early Ming Dynasty, since Wanli, the number of people in the clan has been thin.In recent years, even the kings of Qin, Chu and Zhou were killed or extinct, and there were many vacancies in Zongzheng's various positions.This time, His Majesty also made an exception to grant extra favors, His Majesty must perform well. "

After hearing the cause and effect, Zhu Changhao breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he also felt quite honored, and quickly said that he must do a good job.

Isn't it just representing Chongzhen to go to the ancestral grave in Fengyang and cry about the ancestors? This job is definitely well done. At that time, I will definitely take all the most expensive spices and sacrificial vessels from the Lu Wang Mansion and invite the ancestors to enjoy it.

Here I must make a digression: Both the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty had institutions such as Zongzhengfu/Zongrenfu. It is nothing more than that in the Qing Dynasty, each generation of emperors would choose another clan to take up the post, and many of the Zongzheng system positions in the Ming Dynasty were Zhu Yuanzhang was destined to die.

For example, when Zhu Yuanzhang was alive, he named his second son Qin Wang Zhu Xi as the official order, and the line of Qin Wang kept this honorary title forever.Although the generation of blood relationship with the emperor was far away, the new Qin king actually didn't care about the affairs, and other low-level officials handled the specific work of the clan affairs on their behalf.

In the same way, as early as Zhu Yuanzhang's time, King Jin, King Yan, King Zhou, and King Chu all had the title of Zongzheng.Among them, the lineage of King Yan followed Zhu Di to usurp the throne, and they all became emperors, so naturally they didn't need titles.These positions have not been moved for more than 200 years, they are only symbolic, and low-level officials are appointed for specific tasks.

But when it came to Chongzhen, the situation became more complicated, because there were major changes unseen in more than 200 years, and finally some thieves began to completely exterminate those old vassal kings who had been untouched for hundreds of years and held the title of Zongzheng. up.

King Zhou, who escaped from Kaifeng last year, died of illness, and at least he left behind a grandson. Li Zicheng killed the entire palace of Prince Qin, and the same happened to the other kings of Kaifeng, which freed up a lot of money. Location.

This time Chongzhen needed Uncle Lu Wang to help him burn five hundred slices of Zhang Xianzhong bacon for his ancestors.

The current Zhu Changhao is the "head of clan affairs" of Daming, and he can still handle ancestral sacrifices on behalf of the emperor.

Xiaofu Wang Zhu Yousong, who was also in Hefei, was envious when he heard that Uncle Lu led a team to Fengyang to sweep the ancestral graves on behalf of the emperor in just two days.

Obviously his lineage is closer than Uncle Lu's, why not let him represent the emperor to worship the ancestors!
(End of this chapter)