Emperor Chongzhen was too extreme.

Chapter 24 I'm happy when they're unlucky
As the censor, dressed in white mourning clothes, shouted loudly, all the civil and military officials in the court turned their heads.

Zhang Weixian, the commander of the Beijing garrison, also quietly clenched his fist hidden in his sleeve.

Has the civil service retaliated so quickly?
How should Your Majesty respond? Should you continue to ignore it as usual?

However, if this were to happen, it would likely be very detrimental to His Majesty's reputation, and the civil service would certainly make a big fuss about it.

Taking this opportunity, Zhang Weixian secretly glanced at His Majesty on the throne.

Unfortunately, His Majesty's expression still failed to reveal even the slightest emotional fluctuation.

Just then, the imperial censor continued speaking:

"Your Majesty the Great Ancestor Gaozu first decreed that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in foreign affairs. However, Wei Zhongxian, being a eunuch in the inner court, has misappropriated imperial edicts, overstepped the bounds of propriety, and abused his power to manipulate the military."

In a lengthy document of over a thousand words, the censor publicly listed ten crimes committed by Wei Zhongxian.

He was emotional, his eyes filled with tears, as if he were a martyr who had given up everything for the country.

Finally, with tears streaming down his face, he expressed his opinion: if Wei Zhongxian is not beheaded today, he will kill himself by crashing his head into this hall.

See this situation.

Wei Zhongxian also hurriedly burst into tears, crying as if his whole family had died, while kneeling in the main hall and shouting that he was wronged.

Two elderly men with gray hair wept and wailed in the Fengtian Hall, which was filled with nobles and officials.

As the imperial censor wept blood and wailed.

At this time, some officials also stepped forward and began to collectively attack Wei Zhongxian for putting pressure on Zhu Youjian, the emperor.

These people spoke with righteous indignation, denouncing that all the disasters happening in the country were caused by the eunuchs.

If Wei Zhongxian is killed, the Ming Dynasty can be restored to peace and order by noon.

For most of these officials, there was nothing to discuss or rehearse about this impeachment.

But when the time is right, everyone will step forward to contribute to the group.

There is no other reason.

There may be individuals who betray their class, but there will never be a class that betrays its class.

Essentially, this impeachment was an attack launched by one class against another.

Zhu Youjian sat on the throne, his face still expressionless.

He could easily shut everyone up with a single sentence, or simply ignore the matter, but that was not the purpose of his court meeting today.

really.

Just as the court was in an uproar, a third party soon stepped forward.

The first to stand out was Chen Xinjia, the prefect of Dingzhou in Beizhili, who had been pondering how to guess the emperor's intentions for the past few days.

When he received his salary, which was personally issued by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he immediately realized that His Majesty was using this move to win over some officials.

So he immediately decided to find an opportunity to show his loyalty.

And what opportunity could possibly attract His Majesty's attention more than this?
He certainly knew what it meant to stand up at this time.

He would be ostracized by the entire civil service, might be demoted, or even die on the way to his demotion.

But these were things he had already considered.

Huge risks come with huge opportunities.

It is rare for someone to live to seventy. I don't expect to live to seventy; sixty would be enough for me.

He has already wasted most of his life, and is practically half-buried. If not now, when?!
Most importantly, he saw a glimmer of hope for victory in His Majesty's recent actions.

Thinking of this, Chen Xinjia no longer hesitated and immediately shouted, "Shut up!!" Everyone's attention was drawn to his shout, and they all looked at him. Even Wei Zhongxian and the censor who had died remonstrating paused their wailing for a moment.

He noticed that everyone's eyes were on him.

Chen Xinjia took a deep breath, his tone returning to calm, and then said in a sarcastic tone, "This censor just submitted a memorial remonstrating with Wei Zhongxian, but Eunuch Wei just finished handling the case of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and his entourage embezzling the national treasury."

"Eunuch Wei confiscated no less than two million taels of silver from the homes of the ringleader Tian Ergeng and a group of his associates. That amount of silver was enough to cover half a year's worth of military expenses for Liaodong."

"I see that among the colleagues who submitted the memorial together just now, there are quite a few officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review. May I ask how much silver you would be able to seize if you were to handle this case?"

then.

Chen Xinjia began to list some of the items confiscated by these departments in recent years: "In the fifth and sixth years of the Tianqi reign."

The final conclusion was that in the cases handled by these departments, each raid only yielded tens of thousands of taels of silver, or even just a few hundred or a few thousand.

The civil service immediately launched a counterattack.

"How dare a mere fifth-rank official presume to discuss state affairs?!"

"Speaking up for Wei Zhongxian like this? I think you're one of the hidden eunuch faction! You should all be executed!"

"What do you mean by saying this? Does it mean that whoever has the most silver confiscated from a house is a loyal and patriotic subject? I think you are clearly spreading heresy and misleading the public!!"

"."

The civil service group was large, powerful, and united. With each official speaking, their momentum was so great that it would soon overwhelm Chen Xinjia.

Just as these people were about to gain momentum, several poor scholars who did not belong to any faction suddenly stepped forward.

Those who could pass the provincial examination were already geniuses among geniuses, and those who passed the imperial examination were geniuses among geniuses.

Therefore, even the poorest Hanlin scholars were not truly foolish.

They naturally guessed the deeper meaning behind His Majesty's decision a few days ago to have the Embroidered Uniform Guards receive their back pay, and like Chen Xinjia, they were waiting for their chance.

As these impoverished scholars joined the battlefield.

Some poor clerks, poor employees, and poor editors also stepped forward.

Among these people, the poor scholar was the strongest fighter.

You should know that those who were able to pass the imperial examinations were geniuses who were highly regarded by their families from a young age, and were even well-known figures in the entire county.

Wherever he goes, he is hailed as a child prodigy.

After years of arduous study, he finally arrived at the Forbidden City.

He successfully became a dog at the feet of a big shot.

Oh no, some of them don't even eat as well as someone's dog.

So how could they possibly accept such a disparity?

These people originally thought that if they persevered, there might be a way out, but they found that after enduring until their hair turned white and their savings were depleted, they still couldn't see any way out.

These people's minds have even begun to become distorted.

In other words, they are much more extreme than Chen Xinjia.

Chen Xinjia may have launched his attack on the civil service group for personal advancement.

But they were much more genuine.

They simply wanted people in higher positions to die.

They are genuinely happy whenever they see those people suffer.

(End of this chapter)