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

Chapter 19 It seems His Majesty relies heavily on the military; perhaps it would be better to let him fall into the water.
“Your Majesty, I believe this is not a bandit uprising, but a civil unrest!” Li Guozhuo stepped forward and said.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian's expression improved slightly. Finally, there was someone who understood. Otherwise, he would have thought that the cabinet was full of useless people.

"What do you think is the proper course of action in this situation, Li Qing?" Zhu Youjian asked.

Huang Lijie's face paled again, and he hurriedly picked up the memorial to continue reading. However, the words "popular uprising" were never mentioned in the text. How did Li Guozhuo figure it out? That Hu Tingyan, you've really ruined this old man's life!
Li Guozhen was not a quick-witted man. He frowned and thought for a while before saying, "Your Majesty, the earliest of these memorials was sent in mid-February of this year. Several more were sent later. Although the Shaanxi Governor Hu Tingyan still dared not tell the truth, it is clear that the situation is deteriorating."

The imperial court is currently unclear about the situation in Shaanxi and Yansui. Since ancient times, in cases involving popular uprisings, a decision on whether to suppress or appease them should be made promptly. If the situation is delayed or handled improperly, it can escalate from a local upheaval into a mass exodus of displaced people, and in severe cases, even devastate several prefectures and provinces. Now that half a year has passed, the situation in Shaanxi is probably not optimistic.

Your Majesty, I request that Your Majesty order the Ministry of War and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to inspect the situation in Shaanxi; furthermore, I request that Your Majesty punish Hu Tingyan for "concealing theft and refusing to report it." As for Yue Hesheng, the governor of Yansui, he should be appeased for the time being, and his crimes investigated discreetly. If he is innocent, he should be rewarded; if he is indeed incompetent in governing the army, he should be punished only after the Shaanxi uprising has been quelled.

"He has some skill, but not much," Zhu Youjian commented quietly. However, Li Guoyu was from the Hanlin Academy and had only served as Minister of Rites before entering the cabinet, so it was already quite remarkable that he had such insight.

"Who do you think should succeed Hu Tingyan?" Zhu Youjian continued to ask.

“Hong Chengchou, the Shaanxi Grain Supervisor,” Li Guozhuo said, looking at the memorial in his hand.

Is he qualified enough?

“Your Majesty, the Shaanxi Grain Supervisor is a third-rank official. A promotion of half a rank would qualify him to serve as governor,” Zhang Ruitu interjected, finally finding an opportunity to speak.

However, Zhu Youjian ignored him completely, and his self-righteous cleverness only made Zhu Youjian despise him in his heart.

"The court may appoint him as Vice Censor-in-Chief and temporarily appoint him as Governor of Shaanxi. Your Majesty, this is an urgent matter," Li Guozhu said.

"Doesn't the imperial court need to send troops?" Zhu Youjian asked, looking at Li Guozhu with some appreciation.

"Your Majesty, please forgive my bluntness, but the court has no more troops to send. As the British Duke said, most of the troops in the Beijing Garrison and the garrison in the capital are useless. However, after reviewing the archives of the Ministry of War over the years, I found that although the troops in Yulin, Yansui Town are in dire straits, there are still several thousand soldiers who are ready to fight. I can order General Du Wenhuan of Yansui to lead the troops to suppress the bandits."

"Du Wenhuan? A descendant of General Du Song?" Zhu Youjian was somewhat surprised.

“Du Wenhuan is indeed Marshal Du’s eldest son,” Li Guozhuo replied.

“Our Commander Du has quite a temper,” Zhu Youjian said with a smile, his eyes slightly red. “I wonder if his son has inherited his bad temper.”

"It seems His Majesty relies heavily on the military," several cabinet ministers thought to themselves. "The Ming Dynasty must not produce another Martial Emperor."

"The court owes them a lot of military pay, doesn't it?" Zhu Youjian sneered. "You expect them to risk their lives without paying them? There's no such thing as a free lunch. They might even turn against the court and help the rebels." "The Ministry of War reported: The garrisons of Yansui and Ningxia are short of more than 200,000 taels of silver in pay. The soldiers are starving, and there is a fear of unforeseen events," Li Guozhu recalled.

"So how did you handle it back then?" Zhu Youjian questioned.

“Alas, at that time the late emperor was critically ill, and all memorials were kept in the palace and not issued,” Wei Zhongxian said, forcing himself to speak.

"Damn it!" Zhu Youjian's veins bulged in his hands, and he wanted to pick up the paperweight on the table and smash Wei Zhongxian's head open. "What do you mean by 'keeping the central government in check'? His brother has been a hands-off manager for so long, and it's not you, Your Highness, who's in charge."

Zhu Youjian estimated that when Wei Zhongxian discovered that his brother was about to die, he panicked and only had time to arrange for his own safety, so he couldn't care less about the affairs of the court.

Even now, rumors circulate both inside and outside the court: Wei Zhongxian intended to persuade Empress Zhang Yan to rule from behind the curtain, with the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs colluding with the cabinet and the Empress to sideline the Emperor and repeat the events of the Wanli Emperor's reign. However, the Empress righteously refused and issued an imperial edict informing Duke Zhang Weixian of the Emperor's death, ordering him to bring troops to maintain order.

Regarding this matter, Zhu Youjian actually asked Zhang Yan herself, and she said that there was no such thing, but he couldn't be sure if she was telling the truth. However, it was true that an imperial edict was issued to Zhang Weixian.

In short, Zhu Youjian's smooth ascension to the throne was inseparable from the active cooperation of his sister-in-law, so he was extremely grateful to Zhang Yan, for whom he could never repay such a great debt.

"Go and fetch all the memorials that haven't been processed during that period," Zhu Youjian said, suppressing his anger. "Your cabinet should go and talk to the Ministry of Revenue and ask if the God of Wealth can spare some silver to pay the soldiers in Yulin first."

"Yansui Town, Yulin soldiers?" Zhu Youjian pondered these two terms. In the original historical timeline, Sun Chuanting trained the famous Qin army with the Yulin soldiers as its core, and beat Li Zicheng so badly that he cried for his father and mother.

Hong Chengchou was originally promoted to Governor of Yansui in the third year of Chongzhen's reign. The current General of Yansui, Du Wenhuan, and Governor of Yansui, Yue Hesheng, both knelt down because of this peasant uprising and were severely punished by the court.

Du Wenhuan was imprisoned and sentenced to death by Emperor Chongzhen, but was later pardoned due to his family's past merits. He died in depression after his release and was not posthumously honored. Yue Hesheng was sent to Nanjing to live out his days, but he couldn't bear it and resigned from his official post to write books at home, and surprisingly, he died peacefully. However, he was indeed unlucky. As the governor of a border town, he had no control over deserters. After all, like father, like son, Du Wenhuan didn't care about him at all.

Zhu Youjian instructed Li Guoyu to return and write down his thoughts in a memorial, refining and summarizing them before submitting it. He indicated that this matter should be taken seriously, and that the cabinet should first convene a small meeting with the heads of the Six Ministries to discuss it and synthesize their opinions. Once the Embroidered Uniform Guard had a clear understanding of the true situation in Shaanxi, the matter should be brought up at a large court assembly to convey the spirit of the memorial and unify thinking.

Ideological work is still very important. Ideological confusion is the source of partisan strife. Everyone thinks they are right, or that even if they are wrong, it's no big deal since everyone is doing it. This is very dangerous.

Of the four cabinet members, three were incompetent, and one was barely usable but lacked experience. Zhu Youjian felt that the task was extremely difficult.

"Forget it, I'll just keep doing nothing."

(End of this chapter)