The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 287 Transgression
In the early morning of May 8, the fire in the Huangji Hall gradually died down, and the Ming Emperor's bedroom turned into a pile of smoking ruins.

Wang Chengen, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, led a group of young eunuchs to search the ruins of the palace carefully.

Finally, this loyal eunuch, holding the cremated remains of the late emperor carefully in his hands in a tattered dragon robe, walked out of the ruins, weeping inconsolably.

Marquis Ping Liao led all the officials to kowtow three times and bow nine times to the remains of the late emperor. The officials of the Ministry of Rites temporarily placed the remains in the Cining Palace and would bury them in the imperial mausoleum after the new emperor ascended the throne.

Although the fire in the Qianqing Palace had been extinguished, the bloody storm in Beijing had just begun.

After Xu Xianchun's death, all those who participated in the assassination of Ping Liaohou and the rebellion of Wendeng in the third year of Taichang were arrested by the Kaiyuan army, from the commander of the Zhenfu Division to ordinary people.

The three judicial departments held a trial overnight and announced that these people were guilty of treason. Hundreds of people from the Northern and Southern Pacification Offices and the East Factory had their property confiscated and were executed in public.

The leader of the Donglin Party, who advocated the "suppression" of the Qinwang Army and the execution of Liu Zhaosun before the war, was also brought to trial by the three judicial officials.

After a fair trial by the Minister of Punishment Wang Ji, fifteen people including the former chief minister Ye Xianggao and the Minister of Personnel Zhou Jiamo were convicted of instigating their colleagues and were sentenced to death.

However, Ping Liaohou took into consideration that Ye Xianggao had surrendered and led the army to kill the eunuch Xu Xianchun, and that he was already old, so he suggested to the Ministry of Justice to commute his death penalty and allow him to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence.

After interrogation, it was found that the Minister of Personnel Zhou Jiamo colluded with Xu Xianchun and bore a grudge against the late emperor. On the night of May 5, the first year of Chongzhen, he sent his assassins to sneak into the palace and set it on fire. His crime was unforgivable, and his property was confiscated and his three clans were executed.

Under the threat of Kang Yingqian, only a handful of Donglin Party members took the initiative to pay money to support the military.

It seems that the majority of people value money over their lives.

However, Ping Liaohou was not prepared to recover the stolen goods on a large scale in Beijing to support military expenditures.

He was not Li Zicheng, and the Kaiyuan Army was not the Dashun Army. The purpose of entering the pass to support the king was to control the emperor and expand the influence of Ping Liaohou across the country, not to kill everyone and become an enemy of the entire Ming bureaucracy.

Moreover, killing the chicken to get the eggs like Li Zicheng did may be feasible for destroying the regime, but it is obviously not advisable at the moment.

Judging from the fact that Li Zicheng later plundered 70 million taels of silver, the personal wealth of officials in Beijing in the late Ming Dynasty was still considerable.

Of course, Ping Liaohou would not give up this piece of fat meat easily.

He assigned Ma Shiying the task of recovering eight million taels of silver to finance military expenses, and the maximum amount could not exceed eight million taels. He asked Ma Shiying to find ways to extort the silver from the Donglin Party members.

Liu Zhaosun specifically reminded that all stolen assets must be recovered in a legal manner - at least on the surface - and that cooperation with the eunuch party could be considered, but it should not be excessive, and efforts should be made to avoid loss of life, with priority given to confiscating the assets of the most heinous corrupt officials.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the Kaiyuan system still lacks a group of professional bureaucrats who have a deep understanding of the national situation and can help Ping Liaohou to coordinate the overall situation and propose appropriate strategic policies. It is barely possible to expect people like Kang Yingqian and Qiao Yiqi to manage a state or a county, but if they really want to take charge and put forward institutional suggestions, they are probably unable to do so.

The more than 2,000 officials gathered in the capital were representatives of the civil service elite of this era. Before finding a replacement for the existing bureaucratic system, Liu Zhaosun could not do without these people for the time being.

There are more important things to do right now.

The funeral of the late emperor must be carried out as soon as possible according to the rituals, so as to calm people's hearts, restore order, and be consistent with his image as a loyal king who quelled the rebellion.

In this era, royal funeral and wedding rituals are major events closely linked to political interests and should not be underestimated.

Not to mention the distant past, Emperor Jiajing fought with civil servants such as Yang Ting and Yang Shen for three whole years over the issue of his father's title.

Finally, Zhu Houcong beat civil officials to death in front of Zuoshunmen, and the Great Ceremonial Incident came to an end.

On the surface, it is a dispute over etiquette, but in fact it is a fight for personal interests.

In a sense, properly completing Zhu Youxiao's funeral is far more important than recovering millions of taels of silver in stolen money to support military expenses.

If this funeral is handled well, Ping Liaohou's Jingnan Campaign will come to a successful conclusion.

Subsequent expansion will also reduce a lot of unnecessary resistance.

So, he must take it seriously.

According to the Ming Dynasty ritual system, the funeral of a deceased emperor must be approved by the successor emperor before it can be carried out.

In other words, we need to establish a new monarch first.

The twelve-year-old Prince Xin Zhu Youjian is still on the road.

Under the instigation of Ma Shiying and others, on May 8th and 9th, Wei Zhongxian's former confidants stood up one after another, based on the "Three Dynasties Code", to expose the various illegal acts of the Donglin Party and launch a counterattack against their political enemies.

In just two days, dozens of memorials impeaching Donglin were submitted to the cabinet, and each one was a "murderous memorial."

The chief minister of the cabinet, Ye Xianggao, survived a great disaster and was in a state of panic. The father-in-law of the Imperial Household Department was implicated by Xu Xianchun and most of his men were killed by Ping Liaohou, leaving him paralyzed.

Prime Minister Ye could not be as carefree as Emperor Wanli and simply burn these dog-eat-dog memorials. Under pressure from all sides, he had to hand over the memorials to Marquis Ping Liao and let Marquis Ping Liao make the decision together with the cabinet.

The Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department, the two highest organs of power in the Ming Dynasty, all stopped functioning, and the emperor was away.

There is no room for a power vacuum.

History deviates here.

In May of the first year of Chongzhen's reign, Liu Zhaosun, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, the prince's tutor, and the Marquis of Pingliao, took advantage of the emergency and temporarily became the person in charge of the Ming Dynasty.

"Such an act of usurpation is against the rules of the imperial court! I can never act on behalf of the emperor. Please don't put me on the fire." At Zuoanmen Wengcheng, in the tent of the loyal army, Liu Zhaosun looked at the memorials piled up like a mountain in front of him with an expression of panic.

A familiar scene appeared before my eyes.

It is then placed on the stove and baked.

Several officials from the six ministries followed the eunuch from the Imperial Household Department to the Kaiyuan Central Army Tent. Li Banghua, the Vice Minister of War, watched the Kaiyuan performance coldly and remained silent.

Kang Yingqian took the lead in admonishing:
"Marquis Ping Liao, don't refuse. Prince Xin won't arrive for a few days. The rebellion in the capital hasn't been quelled yet. The country is in turmoil, and the people are suffering! As the saying goes, urgency demands expediency. Marquis Ping Liao must not abandon the hundreds of thousands of people in the capital!"

Qiao Yiqi, Sun Chuanting and others continued to advise.

Liu Zhaosun remained unmoved.

Suddenly, an official from the Ministry of Rites who was accompanying them said loudly:

"Marquis Ping Liao is a veteran of three dynasties, a man of great esteem. The late Emperor has entrusted him with state affairs, and he must not be neglected! Marquis Ping Liao has led the Royalist Army into the capital this time, saving the day and performing an unprecedented feat for the Ming Dynasty! In this time of national crisis, do not refuse!"

Liu Zhaosun chuckled, he was only twenty-two years old, but he had already become a veteran of three dynasties.

He is probably the youngest veteran of three dynasties in history.

By this calculation, the more than 2,000 officials in the capital can be considered veterans of three dynasties.

He smiled and looked at the official from the Ministry of Rites. The more he looked at him, the more he liked him. He whispered to Kang Yingqian:
"Who is this?"

Without waiting for Kang Yingqian to reply, the official actually said loudly:

"I am Hou Xun, the Minister of Rites. I have long heard of the great reputation of the Marquis of Ping Liao. It is a great honor to see your presence today..."

Liu Zhaosun nodded to him and thought for a while. This Hou Xun should be the father of Hou Fangyu, who wrote "Peach Blossom Fan".

It seems that they are willing to join him, so Liu Zhaosun doesn't mind having a few more brothers.

On that day, under the strong advice of Kang Yingqian, Hou Xun and others, Liu Zhaosun began to review the memorials sent to the cabinet from all over the country.

Before anyone knew it, Ping Liaohou had become a regent-like figure.

In his previous life, Liu Zhaosun had some understanding of the party struggles in the late Ming Dynasty.

However, when he saw the pile of memorials impeaching Donglin on his desk, he was deeply shocked.

The first thing to be read was the memorial of Ni Wenhuan, the Left Vice-Chief Censor-in-Chief.

Ni Wenhuan said that Donglin had not yet been liquidated and all the Donglin leaders had not been executed.

He wrote in his memorial:
"Ever since the Donglin School used the pretense of Confucianism to gather friends and associates, trap upright people, and cleverly gain personal fame, they have buried public opinion for decades and have long been the deceitful subjects of the Holy Lord... Today they have escaped the net, but tomorrow they will incite poison and reverse the situation. They will need to be questioned by the Inspectors and the stolen goods will be recovered to pay the bills."

Censor Zhang Ne went a step further and advocated the abolition of all academies in the world, starting from the Shoushan Academy in the capital, to the Donglin Academy, Guanzhong Academy, Jiangyou Academy, and Huizhou Academy. The reason for the abolition was that these academies were built by the Donglin Party with the money extorted from the people.

"Sun Shenxing, Gao Panlong and others hid in the cave, committed obscene acts, made connections with important figures, accepted bribes and engaged in private activities..."

Censor Shi Sanwei acted as if he was going to settle accounts and started talking about the Xinhai Beijing Inspection in the 39th year of the Wanli reign.

"Li Sancai followed Gu Xiancheng one after another, stirring up trouble in the world, seeking only one hand to cover the sky, setting up a vast array, spreading poison and abuse, and turning the sky into darkness."

He suggested following the clues and not only arresting the Donglin Party members in northern Zhili, but also thoroughly clearing out the Donglin Party’s base in the south.

Liu Zhaosun remembered that this Censor Shi had impeached Xiong Tingbi three years ago, and his writing style was exactly the same as before, and he couldn't help but laugh.

What made him even more dumbfounded was that the censor Wang Shaohui compiled a Donglin Generals List based on the 108 generals of Liangshan, and strongly demanded that Ping Liaohou arrest and kill everyone on the list, without letting any one go.

Liu Zhaosun took a quick look:
Founding Marshal

Li Sancai, Nanjing Minister of Revenue, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King [Chao Gai]

The two leaders of the general army:
Ye Xianggao, Grand Secretary of Tiankuixing Timely Rain [Song Jiang]

Tiangang Star Jade Unicorn Minister of Personnel Zhao Nanxing [Lu Junyi]

Two members of the secret military division in charge:

Miao Changqi, the wise and resourceful Zuo Yude [Wu Yong]

Tian Xianxing Ruyunlong Zuodu Yushi Gao Panlong [Gongsun Sheng]

·······
Liu Zhaosun read it carefully twice and found that this list covered all the important officials of the late Ming Dynasty that he knew. Except for Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Chuanting and Ma Shiying, almost everyone else was on the list.

"The eunuch party is going to be wiped out in one fell swoop!"

If the Donglin Party were really arrested according to this list, the Ming Dynasty officialdom would probably be cleared out.

(End of this chapter)