The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 568: We are of the same origin, why are we so anxious to fight each other?

In the autumn of the fourth year of Taichu, Empress Dowager Cisi, Jin Yuji, began a hunger strike and refused to eat or drink for two days.

The news was spread by Empress Dowager Yang Qing'er and spread throughout Shenyang, causing an uproar in the court and the country. Several ministers in the cabinet were silent and dared not say a word.

Shen Erguan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, risked his life to make a remonstration. In his memorial, he begged the court to show leniency, let the Empress Dowager Cisi go, and not punish the Empress Dowager Cisi. He begged the emperor's uncle, Duke Cheng, to take bribes and commit law-breaking acts in Junzhou, which were all done by this one villain and had nothing to do with the Empress Dowager. Shen Erguan emphasized that in those years, Du Du rebelled, Korea broke its alliance, the Southern Ming went north, and the five kingdoms attacked Qi. Fortunately, the Empress Dowager Cisi, Prime Minister Kang and others turned the tide, which allowed the Great Qi to have a foothold in Liaodong... He earnestly requested the retired emperor to take into consideration the long-term friendship between him and the Empress Dowager, and not to pursue the matter any further, and to eliminate the culprit, Duke Cheng.

Dozens of people signed the memorial, all of whom were middle and lower-level officials from the six ministries. Most of them were from the Empress Dowager's party, and some were Kang Yingqian's old subordinates. Even several mid-level generals from the Wucheng Bingmasi and the Beijing Camp signed their names.

The Hou Party's posture was intended to force Emperor Wuding to abdicate. They used threats and inducements to force him to give up the Duke of Chengguo in order to preserve the interests of more people and make the emperor surrender and stop taking action against other forces of the Hou Party. Otherwise, it would be a disaster.

The memorial was presented to Dongfang Zhu overnight by Cao Gonggong, a young eunuch from the Imperial Household Department. After Dongfang Gonggong quickly read it, he turned pale with fright and remained silent for a long time.

After much deliberation, Dongfang Zhu decided to submit the memorial to the retired emperor for his perusal.

"Ancestor, what does the memorial say?"

"You're a jerk without any balls, you really don't know?"

Cao Bianhun said innocently, "Grandfather, please understand. I took this from Minister Shen and ran to you without even taking a breath. Look, the wax on the seal is still intact."

Dongfang Zhu glared at the young eunuch, pointed at his nose and said, "That's good to know. When doing things in the palace, be smart. The officials are fighting with the emperor, and Dou Po Tian is also the court's business. We in the palace have no balls, so we shouldn't get involved."

Cao Bianhun quickly nodded in agreement.

"These desperate people are trying to use the Empress Dowager's hunger strike to force His Majesty to make concessions to them."

"Ah?" Cao Bianhun opened his mouth wide with a look of astonishment.

"These sons of bitches didn't submit their petition earlier or later, but chose to do so now. General Pei and his men are still in Huguang, and Deng Changxiong is not in Shenyang. They are trying to put the Empress Dowager to death."

Dongfang Zhu said with a grim expression, "You're lucky you have some foresight. These idiots are so scared of getting into trouble that they're afraid of getting burned. They're pretending to be saving the Queen Mother, but they're actually trying to distance themselves from the Jin family so the purge won't reach them."

Cao Bianhun nodded in admiration, and once again praised his ancestor for his wisdom and insight, and for his ability to see things from a longer-term perspective.

After a while, he asked again in confusion, "But they've fanned the fire so big, aren't they afraid that it will burn themselves?"

Dongfang Zhu disapproved, "These people are so brazen, thinking the Emperor is young and Deng Changxiong and Jin Yinghe are close to the Empress Dowager's party, that they think the Emperor can do nothing to them."

Cao Bianhun stared at the large stack of memorials in his hand, as if thinking about something.

"so what should I do now?"

"What should we do?" Dongfang Zhu chuckled. "Unfortunately, they miscalculated. Jin Yinghe, Qin Jianxun, and Deng Changxiong were all promoted by the retired emperor. The military rations and supplies from all over the country are tightly controlled by Xie Yang. I don't need to say much about Xie Yang's attitude towards the court and the retired emperor."

In the early years of Wuding, after being "re-educated" by the Suoyi Guard, Xie Yang became loyal to the Great Qi, basically equivalent to a walking corpse who was only loyal to the emperor.

"Deng Changxiong has no intention of rebelling, and the others will not rebel either. The Emperor Emeritus still controls these troops, so this time, this group of empresses will probably make a mistake."

Cao Bianhun thought for a moment, then said anxiously, "Grandfather, if this is the case, we should not submit the memorial. If the Emperor sees it, he might be furious and have several people executed!"

Dongfang Zhu was furious when he heard this: "Why not? The Emperor will make the final decision."

The day after the memorial was submitted, Minister Shen was charged with "making irresponsible remarks about state affairs and slandering the emperor" and was sentenced to twenty strokes of the cane. He was also exiled to Ningguta, with no further employment. This punishment was not too severe; twenty strokes of the cane rarely resulted in death unless the beating was life-threatening. As for exile to Ningguta, Ningguta was a completely different place now. After years of development, it had a dense population, complete facilities, and extremely convenient transportation.

Therefore, it is more of a signal than a punishment, a signal to awaken the forces behind the party.

Liu Zhaosun now disliked killing more and more, not because he had become benevolent and devoted to God, but because the empire had entered a period of stable development, and stability was the top priority. Refraining from killing unless necessary was a fundamental quality of every qualified politician.

However, the officials of the Empress's party obviously did not appreciate it. They were not frightened by Emperor Wuding's court punishment, but instead thought it was a sign of cowardice on the part of the retired emperor.

Liu Zhaosun's repeated tolerance gave the empress's party a wrong idea. Some people believed that the emperor was in poor health and could no longer handle state affairs, and that the thirteen-year-old emperor Liu Kan could completely ignore his father and mother and start ruling the country himself.

So a new wave of suggestions began again. Within just two days, the retired emperor received hundreds of memorials. Everyone seemed to have put the Empress Dowager Cisi's hunger strike behind them. They made suggestions one after another, threatening the retired emperor in the name of the young emperor, asking Emperor Wuding to take into account the family relationship between the emperor and the empress dowager, and quoted the seven-step poem written by Cao Zhi of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

Boil the beans and make a soup, strain the fermented black beans to make the juice.

Osmunda burned under the kettle, and the beans wept in the kettle.

We are of the same root, why are we so anxious to fight each other?

Advise the retired emperor to stop killing his own relatives and not to launch any large-scale purge because of the mistake of Duke Chengguo alone.

Some even requested that the 13-year-old Emperor Taichu be allowed to ascend the throne immediately and persuade the retired emperor to give up his power...
When things developed to this point, no one cared whether Empress Dowager Cisi had eaten or had starved to death. Instead, everyone focused their attention on Emperor Taichu Liu Kan's personal rule and was eager to seize power from the retired emperor.

The vast majority of those who submitted memorials were middle and lower-level officials. They had never actually met Emperor Wuding and had no idea of his true physical condition. They only imagined a full picture of Emperor Wuding from the sage books and the fragmentary words of the old officials in Kaiyuan:

Perhaps the old emperor is already very old, perhaps his old illness has relapsed, perhaps the old emperor will not live long...

It was precisely because of this understanding that they made up their minds to take a gamble and turn the unemployed into pillars of society. If they succeeded, they would be considered to be following the emperor, and in the future, they would be promoted to higher positions under Emperor Taichu.

Unfortunately, these people are wrong.

Emperor Wu Ding is still full of energy, without even a single white hair on his head. With only two hours left every day, he can easily control several women at night, and his physical strength is always at its peak.

After receiving the memorials from these people, the retired emperor was furious and punished all the officials who submitted the memorials. Some were beaten with sticks, and some were exiled.

"It's been over ten years, and they've been like this forever. As soon as they smell something, they come up and make trouble. They're impossible to kill!"

~~~~~
In the autumn of the fourth year of Taichu, when Pei Dahu was trapped in Junzhou and unable to escape, Li Dingguo had already led an expedition team of 120 people on a journey to Yinzhou.

Before leaving, Emperor Wu Ding, as usual, climbed the Guangji Gate Tower in Shenyang and delivered an impassioned impromptu speech facing Li Dingguo and others on the square, reiterating that Yinzhou was an inseparable part of Da Qi and that Da Qi enjoyed indisputable sovereignty over Yinzhou. The retired emperor encouraged Li Dingguo that the journey to Yinzhou was long and arduous, and he must not forget his original intention.

After seeing Li Dingguo off, Liu Zhaosun returned to the Shenyang Palace to continue reviewing memorials. After lunch, Emperor Wuding suddenly remembered that he had not heard from Pei Dahu and others for a long time, so he asked Dongfang Zhu if he had any news from the Imperial Guards in Huguang.

"No, Your Majesty."

In the past two years, the corvee labor in the Huguang area was heavy, with wars and city building. It was not surprising that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang emerged. However, Emperor Wuding did not expect that his brother-in-law would take the lead in rebellion.

"Your Majesty..." Dongfang Zhu raised his head cautiously, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

"What's the matter?" The emperor rubbed his temples and felt a headache.

(End of this chapter)