Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 49 Another night attack
"I obey your order!" Li Ruolian was also straightforward. He first bowed to Zhu Youjian, and then drew out his sword and placed it between the dragon throne and the ministers.

"Men, arrest them! Gentlemen in the hall must not move an inch, and not a single person on the roster can be left out!"

Hundreds of Jinyiwei inside and outside the palace shouted at the same time, "Yes, sir!"

Swords were unsheathed, and the ministers were surrounded. Then the badges were checked one by one to verify their identities.

There are more than a hundred people listed in the booklet, and more than sixty of them are present.

There was a chorus of cries of injustice and curses.

Tian Hua, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, had no way to defend himself. As the highest official in the Ministry of Personnel, he was in charge of the power to promote officials all over the world, so he must have been corrupt. But if he was accused of conspiring with other officials to rebel,

Even if you give him a hundred courages!

Not to mention the Northwest Horse Bandits and the Tianxia Guards.

He is just a chief official and has some control over the civil officials. Why would the Northwest bandits listen to him?

However, in an imperial society, if the emperor says you are guilty, you are guilty, and the evidence is conclusive.

If you dare to resist, it's treason! It's deceiving the emperor!
As the ministers watched in fear, more than sixty officials were dragged away howling.

No one dared to refute Zhu Youjian's plan.

The conflicts in the court also shifted from resistance to imperial power to resistance to the military generals group.

This was another method Zhu Youjian learned from his previous life.

Diverting conflicts, although very low-level, can be seen through at a glance.

But there is no solution.

Of course, if the conflicts were simply transferred to the military generals, the already massive civil service group would only need to make a slight move to crush the military generals who had no foundation at all.

Even though we are now in the stage of besieging the city.

In order to disintegrate the civil service group, Zhu Youjian had another trick up his sleeve.

He stood up from the dragon throne and knocked on the lid of the box to bring the officials back to their senses.

"There are quite a lot of account books. Do you think I should take a look?"

The ministers in the hall had already realized what Zhu Youjian was going to do, but they didn't respond at all. They just lowered their heads and looked at their toes without saying a word.

A silent protest against what the emperor did.

Zhu Youjian was not annoyed and continued talking to himself.

"I definitely can't finish reading them all by myself. These account books are too dirty, and I don't want to read them."

"Minister Ni recommended Censor Song Lian and Minister Wang, and also proposed the establishment of the Integrity Council and the reform of the Ministry of War. He is truly a role model for all officials."

"How about we also let Mr. Ni handle the audit?"

Ni Yuanlu had a bitter face and didn't know what to say.

Your Majesty! Even throwing dirty water like this is not the right way!

It's true that I'm a lone minister, but I can't be so lonely! ?
Zhu Youjian is in charge of your affairs. As the chief minister, you should be aware of sharing the emperor's worries.

With a wave of his hand, the matter was settled.

He also added, "Send the embezzled silver to me before noon tomorrow, and I'll pretend it never happened. If you still have any hope, then go to Zhaoyu and talk to Li Ruolian!"

"The Cabinet's Chief Minister Ni Yuanlu, the Military Supervisor Fan Jingwen, the Minister of War Wang Jiayan, and the Left Integrity Censor Song Ye Shenshi have come to see me at the Qianqing Palace. If there's nothing else, please disperse."

After saying that, he turned away.

Even though all the officials were in extremely complicated moods, they could only bow and salute.

"Your Majesty, I respectfully bid you farewell."

Only after Zhu Youjian left did all the officials stand up.

Fan Jingwen hurried to Ni Yuanlu, who had a bitter face, and was about to ask something.

Several officials pretended to pass by the two of them, cursing under their breath.

"Fawning on the villain! Framing the loyal and good!" "Those who curry favor with the powerful are unworthy of being a minister!!"

"Bah! He thought he was the Grand Protector of our dynasty again, but who would have thought he was actually Yan Song! All show and no substance!

"You!" Fan Jingwen was about to curse back, but was stopped by Ni Yuanlu.

A few people snorted coldly and turned to walk out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Only then did Ni Yuanlu let go of Fan Jingwen's hand.

The latter asked anxiously, "Is this really proposed by the Prime Minister!??"

Ni Yuanlu gave another bitter laugh, "With such a formidable enemy at our doorstep, how dare I risk the fall of my kingdom?"

"Then why is Your Majesty..." Fan Jingwen was stunned mid-sentence, and finally sighed, "Alas, Your Majesty is too impatient."

Ni Yuanlu nodded in agreement, "Your Majesty is worried that retreating will only cause more trouble, so he's taking this opportunity to stab the court."

"But Your Majesty has never considered that after the rebels retreat, the world will still belong to the Zhu family, and no one can shake it. It is not too late to take action slowly."

At this point, Ni Yuanlu laughed out loud in self-deprecation, "But I never thought that His Majesty would choose me as a lone minister. I'm just an old man who knows only poetry and writing. How could I care about party struggles?"

Fan Jingwen couldn't help but curl his lips, thinking to himself, "Just by writing poems and calligraphy, you've already got students and former officials all over the world. What will happen if you're allowed to enter the imperial court?"

"Mr. Zhi." Ni Yuanlu looked at the other party with shining eyes.

Fan Jingwen's literary name in Meng Zhang was Zhigong. Generally, only younger generations or peers would call him by that name out of respect. For Ni Yuanlu, the chief minister, to call him by that name was a sign of great importance.

Fan Jingwen immediately became alert, "Prime Minister, please continue."

Ni Yuanlu grabbed the other person's hand and said, "This position of the lone minister must have a place for you, Lord Zhi."

"you……!"

……

The night watch drum sounded at 3 p.m.

As Zhu Youjian expected, Li Zicheng sent an envoy again.

This northwestern man, who was born as a postman, had no ambition to ascend to the throne.

All he wanted was to return home in glory and become king in his hometown.

Without the title bestowed by the Ming Dynasty court, he would always be a rebel, and no matter how well he did, he would not get the support of ordinary people in the feudal period.

This is the power of orthodoxy, and it is also why Zhu Youjian worked so hard to maintain his position as emperor.

When the young eunuch came in to report, Ni Yuanlu and his four companions had just arrived.

Zhu Youjian was eating a sesame cake made by Empress Zhou and waved his hand casually, indicating that the four people should take a seat.

"My dear ministers, what do you think, should we see this envoy or not?"

The four of them looked at each other. Wang Jiayan and Song Ye, because of their lower official positions, did not dare to speak first.

Ni Yuanlu didn't want to pay any attention to Zhu Youjian at all. From the beginning of the battle today, he knew that His Majesty had no intention of peace talks.

What’s the point of meeting the messenger?

Only Fan Jingwen, who was more straightforward, spoke up to persuade them.

"Your Majesty, I think it's time to meet you. If..."

"Alright, alright, my dear Minister Song, please go ahead and speak." Zhu Youjian interrupted Fan Jingwen before he could finish.

Song Ye had no choice but to smile apologetically at Fan Jingwen, and then stood up to answer.

"I think it's best not to meet him. This morning, the rebels were defeated, and Li Ni was in great fear. If I meet him, no matter what I say, it will show that the Ming Dynasty lacks confidence."

"The more Li Ni requests an audience, the less Your Majesty can see him. The Ministry of Rites also constantly dispatches angels to severely reprimand Li Ni, causing the entire army to lose their focus. Furthermore, I believe... another night raid should be launched!"

Everyone in the hall was startled at the same time.

"Why do we have to attack at night?" Zhu Youjian asked with a frown.

"In my opinion, although the rebel army is powerful, most of them are refugees who surrendered. The old bandits are skilled, but not numerous. If we take advantage of the momentum of the great victory and send elite cavalry to attack the camps of the surrendered army and refugees at night, we can disrupt the morale of the army and make the rebel army afraid to use them tomorrow. If we can provoke a bombing of the camp, the rebels will definitely send out the old bandits to suppress it, and the two will be at odds."

(End of this chapter)