Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 16: Two thousand years of officialdom tradition – when something goes wrong, the first thing to do is cover it up.
Zhu Youjian enjoyed a pleasant afternoon nap. In the afternoon, the cabinet sent over another batch of memorials.

Remarkably, Zhang Weixian's memorial on reorganizing the Beijing Garrison and the Zhili Garrison was approved by the cabinet. The small slip attached to the memorial, written in ink, indicated that the Grand Secretary Huang Liji, the Second Grand Secretary Shi Laifeng, and Zhang Ruitu agreed, while Li Guozhu opposed.

This guy is quite interesting. On the one hand, he opposes Zhang Weixian's reorganization plan, and on the other hand, he modifies and improves it. It seems that he is doing this as a remedy because he is afraid that his opposition will be ineffective.

Zhu Youjian stared at the small slip of paper, twirling a brush in his left hand while tapping the table with his right fingers. His eyes narrowed slightly as he muttered to himself, "If I remember correctly, the current draft proposals should be based on a split-vote system, right? Why are we going through the Renaissance? What, is your cabinet going to unite against the Emperor again?"

With a "thud," Zhu Youjian tossed the memorial onto the black brick floor and said indifferently, "Keep it in the archives, don't send it." Hearing the noise, Wang Chengen bent down to pick up the memorial from the ground, rolled it up without even looking at it, and placed it on the shelf in order.

As Zhu Youjian continued reviewing memorials, he felt uneasy, as if he had forgotten something important, but he couldn't quite recall it, causing him great anxiety. What could it be?

"Fighting the Jurchens," "Lacking money," "Burying the Emperor"—Zhu Youjian flipped through this pile of memorials and found that they all revolved around the above three issues.

"That's right, there are also peasant uprisings!" A flash of inspiration struck Zhu Youjian, and he finally remembered this crucial point.

Peasant uprisings are nothing new; they've been a constant occurrence for centuries since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. While the Ming army couldn't defeat the Jurchens, suppressing peasant uprisings was a piece of cake.

Even Li Zicheng was defeated many times, twice almost annihilated. At his worst, he was cut down to only eighteen horsemen by Sun Chuanting, but in the end he still turned the tide and used his huge numerical advantage to wear down Sun Chuanting to death. He also created a time difference to force Chongzhen to hang himself.

But a weakling is a weakling. A force of over 100,000 men was routed by a single charge from the Qing army, and after that, they couldn't even get up. They were even worse than the Ming Dynasty.

According to later analysis by Jian Zheng Lao Ge, the large-scale peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty occurred in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign. However, Zhu Youjian did not see any news about it in local memorials and military reports, which even made him doubt whether he had remembered it wrong.

"Cheng'en, have you seen any memorials recently concerning popular uprisings?" Zhu Youjian asked. However, he was met with a slightly bewildered look from Wang Cheng'en.

Zhu Youjian covered his face, realizing he had completely forgotten that Wang Chengen was also a novice, even less capable than him. At least Wang Chengen possessed the "Heavenly Eye," knowing the general course of history and some major events and important figures.

"Go and fetch Wei Zhongxian."

Wang Chengen obeyed the order and left. After he had gone some distance, he slapped himself twice. The emperor had given him so many chances, but he hadn't seized them. He didn't want Wei Zhongxian to be by the emperor's side at all.

Wang Chengen strode towards Donghua Gate, his destination being the Dongjishichang, also known as the infamous Dongchang.

After Zhu Youjian no longer needed eunuchs to help him put on his red robes, Wei Zhongxian was essentially semi-unemployed. Now, aside from attending court, he spent all his time in the Eastern Depot, continuing to be its head. The emperor didn't hold him accountable, but he also didn't trust him as much as the previous emperor did; his era had indeed come to an end.

Located outside the Donghua Gate, the Eastern Depot was close to the Qianqing Palace, where the emperor lived, and also maintained close contact with government agencies such as the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries. The Eastern Depot was also known as the Depot Guard, and was responsible for the emperor's protection. Wang Chengen swaggered into the Eastern Depot's office, a place that outsiders feared like a tiger.

When the Eastern Depot agents saw his red eunuch robes, they felt a chill run down their spines and dared not be negligent.

"Eunuch Wei, His Majesty needs to speak with you," Wang Chengen said, deliberately keeping a straight face. He and Wei Zhongxian already had a bad relationship; what was wrong with taking the opportunity to intimidate him?
Wei Zhongxian was terrified. He took out a small gold ingot from his sleeve and handed it to Wang Chengen, then asked obsequiously, "May I ask, Eunuch Wang, what does His Majesty want with me?" Wang Chengen hesitated for a moment, then remembered what the emperor had once told him: "Take whatever you can, don't be shy, and remember to share half with me."

However, he didn't just give half; he gave most of it to the emperor, and used the rest to take care of his disciples and followers. He himself had no worries about food or clothing, so why would he need money?

He reached out and took the gold ingot, then said, "Eunuch Wei, there's no need to worry. His Majesty simply wants to inquire whether there have been any peasant uprisings in various places recently."

Wei Zhongxian frowned and said, "In the second year of the Tianqi reign, the White Lotus Rebellion broke out in Shandong. The leader was a man named Xu Hongru, but he was killed by the government troops. In the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, Yang Congru rebelled in Yingzhou, Anhui. However, I suspect that this was just a farce, fabricated by the local magistrate to gain credit. But these were all things from several years ago. As for more recent events..."

"Your subject Wei Zhongxian pays his respects to Your Majesty."

"Get up," Zhu Youjian said calmly. "Now you know why I summoned you here, right?"

"Your Majesty, in the second year of the Tianqi reign, the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission reported that the White Lotus Rebellion had occurred in the area, but it had been suppressed and had not caused any major unrest."

In the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, a villager named Yang Congru privately decided on a reign title, intending to rebel. However, he was reported by his neighbor and arrested by the yamen runners. The magistrate of Yongcheng County wanted to sentence him to immediate execution and exterminate his entire family. The Ministry of Justice reviewed the case and agreed to the execution but did not support the extermination of the family members. The late emperor was delighted after reading this and kept the memorial in the palace without issuing it. The matter was thus left unresolved.

Regarding the seventh and sixth years of the Tianqi reign, I have not seen any memorials reporting peasant uprisings in various regions. However, the Governor of Shaanxi, Hu Tingyan, submitted a memorial stating that bandits were causing trouble in the area and requested the court to send troops to suppress them. The Ministry of War refused, instead allocating three thousand taels of silver to the Governor of Shaanxi, ordering him to recruit and train his own elite troops to resolve the situation.”

"A bandit?!" Zhu Youjian's lips twitched slightly. "That's right, it's him. Hu Tingyan, you truly deserve to die!"

Zhu Youjian looked at Wei Zhongxian with some surprise. Wei Zhongxian could recite such files from memory and narrate them in a clear and organized manner. At least for now, his work ability was much stronger than Wang Chengen's. It seems that the eunuchs who can become "Nine Thousand Years" are not easy to deal with.

"Wei Banban, from now on you will serve by my side along with Cheng'en," Zhu Youjian said.

Wei Zhongxian's lips trembled slightly, and he knelt down with a thud, prostrating himself on the ground and shouting, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"You're not usually busy at the Eastern Depot, are you?" Zhu Youjian asked with a smile.

This is a life-or-death question. If you say you're busy, then get busy; if you say you're not busy, well, are you just sitting around doing nothing? I don't think you're suited to be in charge of the Eastern Depot.

Wei Zhongxian immediately understood the crux of the matter, but instead of trying to deceive the emperor, he sincerely said, "I have nothing to do all day in the Eastern Depot and I am filled with anxiety. The Donglin Party members are so aggressive that even the secret agents of the Eastern Depot have to keep a low profile."

However, after listening to his words, Zhu Youjian merely gave a faint "oh" and did not delve further into the topic. He neither stripped Wei Zhongxian of his position as a eunuch nor made any special arrangements, leaving Wei Zhongxian quite puzzled.

Yay! I did it! I did it!!!

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(End of this chapter)