Jiajing Chengming

"Your Majesty, General Wang Qiong reports that the distance from Shilaochi in the east of Dingbianying to Hengchengbao in Ningxia is 300 miles. Originally, only 40 miles of the border wall was built, but now it has been fully built!"

"In addition, the collapsed border wall of about 200 miles in Datong, Shanxi has been rebuilt. Therefore, according to the report of Governor-General Cai Tianyou, when Altan Khan invaded Shanxi and reached Gangoudun, he saw that the border wall was solid and retreated in anger!"

"Another envoy Xu Jie reported that the rebellion of the Ouchi clan has been quelled, and the leader, the military official Tao Qingxian, was tortured to death and his head was displayed to the public."

On this day, at the Zuoshunmen court meeting, the new Minister of War Li Yue reported the Xintang report on military affairs to Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong nodded happily after hearing this: "Very good, it seems that foreign threats are indeed no longer a concern. In terms of military affairs, the only thing that needs to be resolved is the rebellion in Jiangxi."

"Your Majesty is right. Once the rebellion in Jiangxi is quelled, the world will be truly peaceful and prosperous."

Li Yue responded at this time.

Zhu Houcong smiled and said, "But I heard that there are still many officials in the court who sympathize with the rebels and even support them. Some even secretly call them the Jingnan Huliyishi. Is that true?"

"Your Majesty, I don't know if other ministers think so, but I definitely don't think so. The great ceremony that the rebels are upholding is a heresy! The theory of governing the country that they advocate is also a fallacy!"

"Your Majesty is the only true sage! Only he can govern the country in accordance with the way of a sage!"

Yang Yiqing spoke first at this time.

Cabinet minister Zhao Huang also said: "Your Majesty, I have the same idea as the Prime Minister. Rebels are rebels, not righteous armies. And anyone who commits treason cannot be called a righteous army!"

"Of course I am willing to believe you."

"And what you said, Lord Zhao, is also correct. It is impossible to be a just act to commit a crime against one's superiors."

"Therefore, Xu Jie's killing of a traitor like Tao Qingxian was a just act and should be rewarded!"

Zhu Houcong said again at this time.

"According to the order!"

In fact, Zhu Houcong was not wrong. There were indeed some court officials who supported the scholar-official Fang Huai and the general Fang Liang in forcing Prince Yi to rebel.

This is because Fang Huai and Fang Liang's ideas were very much in line with the interests of the conservative literati, or more precisely, in line with the interests of the big landlords and bureaucrats.

It’s just that they don’t dare to support it openly.

"The emperor should recognize Xiaomiao as his father!"

"Abolish the factory guards!"

"Continue to follow the ancestral system and restrict the royal family!"

"Stop the Royal Merchants!"

"Give Hyuga and other places back to the Daimyo of Japan, and withdraw the officials and troops and return home!"

Xu Zan saw these policies being implemented by the rebels in secret, and he read them out excitedly, then sighed and said to his close friend Zhu Xizhou:

"I have to say, although these people are rebellious, their arguments are correct!"

Zhu Xizhou just laughed: "As long as you can't win, it will never be considered a legitimate argument!"

"Yes!"

Xu Zan nodded and said, "It is certain that it will be difficult for them to win! First of all, they cannot win on the basis of justice! Secondly, scholars' rebellion often fails. Moreover, such a proposition will restrict military power and suppress the potential of military generals, so they cannot rebel at all."

Although what Xu Zan said was correct, because some big bureaucrats and landlords agreed with the rebels' ideas, Fang Huai, Fang Liang and other rebel leaders were still able to receive confidential information from various places from big bureaucrats and landlords who supported them.

For example, in the seventh year of Jiajing, when spring came and flowers bloomed, the rebels who were preparing to attack Nanchang turned to attack in the direction of Guangxin Prefecture, preparing to enter the Liangzhe area first, because they learned from these big bureaucrats and landlords that Wang Yangming had set up a tight net along the way.

This forced Wang Yangming to rearrange his attack plan.

At the same time, these big bureaucrats and landlords also supported the rebels in other ways.

For example, Cheng Qichong, the imperial censor of Jiangxi Province, received an anonymous letter on April 7, the seventh year of the Jiajing reign, reporting Wang Yangming's rebellion. This letter even provided evidence that Wang Yangming was involved in the Ning Wang's rebellion.

Because this petition contained Zhu Chenhao's private letters to Xiao Jing, Zhang Rui, Lu Wan and others.

In the private letter, there was content that these people wanted to drive out Sun Sui, the then governor of Jiangxi, and also said: "Tang Mu and Liang Chen are possible to replace him, and Wang Shouren is also possible after that."

In other words, those who conspired to support Ning Wang's rebellion were considering letting Wang Yangming replace Sun Sui as the governor of Jiangxi and help Ning Wang's rebellion.

Therefore, Cheng Qi Chong hurriedly sent the petition to the capital by express delivery over a distance of 800 miles.

After all, this matter involves the question of whether Wang Yangming, who holds a large number of troops, is worthy of trust.

It is Cheng Qi Chong's duty to respond to this matter in a timely manner.

At that time, there were also rumors in the capital area that Wang Yangming had decided to support the Jingnan Movement in order to protect the orthodox rites and follow the ancestral system. It was unknown when these rumors began to appear among the common people.

Zhu Houcong initially did not take it seriously and only asked the factory guards to keep a closer eye on the matter and verify the source of the rumor.

In Zhu Houcong's view, this was most likely the rebel's spies secretly stirring up trouble and deliberately misleading him, the emperor, and the ministers in the court.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong did not take this seriously.

As a person from later times, it was impossible for him to really believe that Wang Yangming would rebel.

But what Zhu Houcong did not expect was that on April 22, the seventh year of Jiajing, he would receive a memorial from Jiangxi Provincial Inspector Cheng Qi Chong impeaching Wang Yangming for being a traitor!

Cheng Qichong also suggested in his memorial that Wang Yangming's title should be revoked, his power should be suspended, he should be arrested and brought to Beijing to await trial, and another senior official should be selected to quell the rebellion.

"What do you think about this matter?"

Zhu Houcong had to ask Yang Yiqing and other ministers of the Imperial Study for this.

Although Zhu Houcong did not believe that Wang Yangming would rebel and was dissatisfied with his own political ideas, since Cheng Qichong provided such evidence, it was inevitable that the ministers would panic.

Because many ministers had opinions about Wang Yangming, they would inevitably stir up trouble under the pretext of considering the court's major plans.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong had to treat this matter with caution.

Yang Yiqing thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, we cannot replace Wang Yangming on the battlefield just because of something like this!"

"Because we cannot rule out the possibility that this is evidence fabricated by a rebel spy, deliberately confusing the public and thus affecting the plan to suppress the rebellion!"

"But we can't do nothing. After all, no one can guarantee that Wang Yangming will have other grievances after the court has been reformed so thoroughly. After all, the court has done many things that offend the gentry in order to reform and eliminate corruption. Wang Yangming himself is also a gentry, and a famous one among the gentry. His disciples are all over the world!"

"Your Majesty, I think Wang Yangming should not be suspected, especially since he is a great scholar with disciples all over the world. It is even more impossible for him to do something disloyal!"

At this time, Zhang Cong spoke up for Wang Yangming.

Yang Yiqing then continued to explain: "Your Majesty, I also believe that Wang Yangming is not such a person, but when encountering a situation like this where there is evidence that Wang Yangming may have treasonous intentions, no matter what, it is better to send someone to investigate first. Because only in this way, if there is a situation in the future where a military commander is exposed for treason, the court can continue to investigate with justification. We cannot break the rules just because we trust Wang Yangming. Otherwise, if a military commander is really treasonous in the future, can't we blame the court for not trusting him as much as we trusted Wang Yangming?"

Zhu Houcong stood up, paced around the room, and looked like he was thinking seriously.

"Do as Yuan Fu says. Let Wang Yangming suspend the fighting first and send officials to investigate. Let's go through the process!"

"It's not that difficult to wipe out these rebels anyway!"

"A delay of two or three months is not a big problem."

Zhu Houcong made the final decision at this time, and said: "At the same time, send a letter of my secret decree to Wang Yangming to reassure him. Just say it's just a routine investigation, and make it look good to the outside world, so that he won't be suspicious!"

Soon, Wang Yangming also received the secret imperial edict, so he stood up and said to Chen Hongmo, the governor of Jiangxi:
"These despicable people will do anything to help the rebels!"

"Inspector Cheng Qichong is unworthy of being called a clean official. He actually believed this and directly submitted a petition to impeach me! Doesn't he know to suppress it and wait until the rebellion is over before impeaching me for possible treason?!" (End of this chapter)