The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 136 Civil Officials Seize Imperial Power
There are many inexplicable and even absurd and bizarre things in history.

There are many people you can't understand why they do that.

As for the reason, it’s actually very simple.

Those inexplicable people doing inexplicable things are actually all for profit.

If you don't know what benefits he will gain by doing so, you won't understand why he would do it.

Wanli was a little confused at this moment.

Why did Zhang Juzheng's old party intercede for the three major wealthy families in Puzhou?

This must be made clear.

He frowned and pondered for a while, then waved his hand and said, "You guys go back and rest for a while, come back in an hour. Bingzhong, you stay."

what?
We have just reviewed a few memorials and flipped through them. Do we need to take a break now?
Zhang Hong, Zhang Jing, Chen Ju and Sun Xian didn't understand why they had to rest, but they still stood up and left obediently.

Li Xuancheng did stand up, but he did not go out, because even if he did not review the memorials, he had to protect Wanli closely.

Wanli looked at the backs of Zhang Hong and Zhang Jing and thought for a moment before he decisively said, "Uncle, send someone to summon Qian Ji, Lu Yi, and Luo Sigong to come to the court."

After a while, three people came hurriedly.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli asked, "Lord Lu, how is it going? Has anyone confessed?"

Lu Yi slowly shook his head and said, "No, it seems they really don't know where their relatives have gone. Torture will be useless."

It seems that the descendants of the three major families in Puzhou and their in-laws in the officialdom really don’t know where their business relatives have gone.

This matter should have been arranged by Wang Chonggu. Even if Wang Chonggu had arranged it, there was no need to tell them.

Wanli pondered for a while, then asked, "What about Wang Chonggu? Have you tried him?"

Lu Yipo said awkwardly, "I have interrogated Wang Chonggu, but this fellow won't speak. Your Majesty, are you going to torture him? He looks like he's dying. I'm afraid he can't withstand the torture."

This guy is really good at taking advantage of his age.

If he is killed accidentally, all the clues will be lost.

Wanli thought about it carefully, and then said decisively: "I will interrogate Wang Chonggu. If the others don't confess where their relatives have gone, you can interrogate them about their treason.

If these traitors dare not confess, I will torture them to death. If they die, I will kill them. They will all be beheaded."

Lu Yi nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli looked at Liang Menglong and Luo Sigong again, then asked, "Sigong, have there been any unusual movements among the officials in the court in recent days?"

Luo Sigong said carefully, "They haven't made any unusual moves, but their interactions have become much more frequent. They're visiting fellow townspeople and classmates all the time, and when they chat privately, they avoid people. I have no idea what they're talking about."

Fellow townsmen and fellow subjects?
Is this the beginning of a party?
It seems that party strife is inevitable.

In fact, since the Jiajing period, there have been constant factional struggles in the Ming Dynasty court.

However, the party struggles during the Jiajing, Longqing and early Wanli dynasties were all centered around a senior official in the court, such as the Yan Song party, Xu Jie's party, Gao Gong's party, Zhang Juzheng's party, Zhang Siwei's party, and Shen Shixing's party.

Historically, the party struggles in the late Wanli period were mainly based on local factions, such as the Zhejiang Party, the Chu Party, the Qi Party, and the Xuan Party. The Donglin Party was mainly composed of officials from Nanzhili and Shanxi, who represented the Shanxi merchants and the Huizhou merchants.

It’s okay for these guys to engage in party disputes. As long as they have military force, they can control the overall situation.

The problem is that these guys are not fighting now, and Zhang Juzheng's old party is actually begging for mercy from the three major families in Puzhou. What is going on?
Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "Qianji, have any fellow townsmen or classmates come to see you in the past few days?"

Liang Menglong nodded without hesitation: "Yes."

These guys even want to instigate Liang Menglong?
Upon hearing this, Wanli simply asked, "What did they tell you?"

Liang Menglong recalled: "They seemed to be chatting with me, but their vague meanings all pointed to two points. The first point is that Yang Bo, Wang Chonggu, and Zhang Siwei have all made contributions to the country. The fact that Your Majesty is so careless and implicates their entire clans is truly chilling.

Another point is that His Majesty is increasingly looking down on civil officials. This time, His Majesty personally led the expedition to the northwest without bringing any civil officials with him, nor did he send governors or governors to lead the troops to fight. It seemed that all the battles were fought by military generals, and His Majesty did not inform us civil officials. No one in the court knew how the battles were going.

Your Majesty, these are what they said. I did not say anything, so I just listened to what they said.

Understood.

Zhang Juzheng had the most governors and governors-general from his old party, but he didn't use any of them this time. Chen Rui was still the governor-general of the three borders of Shaanxi and Gansu Town, but he just summoned him for some questioning and didn't give him the power to command troops in battle.

It seems that it was for this reason that Zhang Juzheng's old party was persuaded by Shen Shixing's party or the three major families in Puzhou.

It is a bit inappropriate for civilian officials to command military generals to fight a war.

The wars during the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties were not led by civilians. The Ming Dynasty was the strongest at that time.

Once the civil officials took command of the military generals, it was over. The Ming Dynasty became weaker and weaker, until it became so weak that it was a bit inexplicable.

For example, Yang Hao, the commander of the Battle of Sarhu.

For example, Hong Chengchou, the commander of the Battle of Songjin.

Those were all inexplicable defeats, and even the entire army was annihilated, and it seemed that not even a hair of the Later Jin was hurt.

They led more than 100,000 elite border troops, and they also had powerful generals under their command.

Liu Jing in the Battle of Sarhu was the most powerful general in the late Ming Dynasty. However, because Liu Jing had a conflict with Yang Hao, Yang Hao directly sent Liu Jing to lead a small number of troops to attack the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty, Hetuala. This was clearly sending Liu Jing to his death!

Cao Bianjiao was also very fierce in the Battle of Songjin. This guy led 800 men to attack Huang Taiji's camp at night. Huang Taiji mobilized tens of thousands of troops but could not withstand it. In the end, he summoned thousands of archers to shoot continuously and forced Cao Bianjiao to retreat.

If Liu Jing was the commander in chief of the Battle of Sarhu and Cao Bianjiao was the commander in chief of the Battle of Songjin, there would be no way they would lose!

Therefore, it is nonsense for civilian officials to command military generals to fight wars.

This is not mentioned in the Ming Dynasty's ancestral precepts. This is just a ridiculous thing made up by civil servants.

To put it bluntly, the civil officials wanted to seize imperial power by controlling military force.

Wanli also vaguely understood that Zhang Juzheng's old party actually wanted to seize the imperial power. After all, when Zhang Juzheng was the prime minister, he was like the regent, and he, as the emperor, had to listen to Zhang Juzheng's party.

Now, he clearly wants to take back all imperial power, and he wants to use military generals and vigorously develop military force. Although this is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, it is most disadvantageous to the civil officials.

Once he controls enough military force, will the civil officials dare to seize power? To seize power means death!

How can civil servants gain benefits if they lose their power?

To put it bluntly, the struggle for imperial power is a struggle for interests.

He wanted to control all the interests of the Ming Dynasty in his own hands, and the civil officials also wanted to control all the interests of the Ming Dynasty in their own hands, which created an irreconcilable contradiction.

Although the civil servants are not united, if the emperor kills them without mercy, they will temporarily unite and fight against the emperor.

He was really a little scared of killing the civil servants.

This time, he arrested the children and relatives of the three major wealthy families in Puzhou without any regard for others, which clearly showed that he was going to kill them again, and this made all the civil servants alert.

If the civil servants do not unite to fight him this time, he will be able to arrest and kill anyone he wants in the future.

Zhang Juzheng's old party did not want to become meat on his chopping board. Their goal was to seize imperial power and seize benefits.

Therefore, these guys were persuaded by Shen Shixing's party, or the combined forces of Shen Shixing and the three major families of Puzhou, and jumped out to plead for the three major families of Puzhou.

You all want to seize the imperial power, right?

Okay, then I will kill anyone who reaches out, until you are afraid!
(End of this chapter)