The Ming Dynasty: A bookstore sells the history of the Ming Dynasty, leaving Emperor Chongzhen bewil

"Cheng'en, how many days has it been since we've seen any green?" Chongzhen's voice was hoarse as he tapped lightly on the window frame with his fingers.

Wang Chengen, who was standing beside Emperor Chongzhen, quickly replied, "Your Majesty, it has been three days since we entered Tongguan, and this is the scene we have seen all along."

Upon hearing this, Chongzhen's brows furrowed even more deeply.

After entering Tongguan, it felt like entering another world. The land was barren and the sand was yellow. There were few people and the landscape was almost entirely yellow, with little green to be seen.

Even more bizarrely, the sky turned completely crimson.

This is very unusual.

Emperor Chongzhen felt a heavy weight in his heart. Even though he already knew the history and had made ample mental preparations, what he saw and heard on the road still greatly shocked him.

There was no greenery along the way, but that didn't mean the land was completely barren from drought.

Instead, almost everything with a hint of greenery was eaten up, and wild grasses in the mountains were consumed by the disaster victims.

Some trees have lost all their bark and leaves.

Needless to say, these were also eaten up by the disaster victims.

Emperor Chongzhen even heard that some disaster victims dug up stones to eat as food. These stones were called "Qingye" and were fishy and hard to swallow. After eating a small amount, they felt bloated and died within a few days due to abdominal distension.

Along the way, every now and then you would see several emaciated corpses, some of them mutilated, and it was hard to tell whether they had been eaten by wild animals or by humans...

Emperor Chongzhen had known the hardships of the common people since childhood, and in the two years since he ascended the throne, he had witnessed the accumulated problems in the court. Now, seeing the disaster with his own eyes, his heart felt as if a huge stone was pressing down on it.

And he knew that this was just the beginning!

As things progress, the devastation in the disaster area will exceed everyone's imagination. No wonder Zhu Ziming said that if you kill one Li Zicheng, there will be thousands upon thousands more.

"Dying of hunger and dying of theft are the same! Rather than sitting and starving to death, why not die as a thief? At least you'll die well-fed."

At this moment, Wang Shouyi, the commander of the Imperial Guard, came to report: "Your Majesty, Guyuan is three miles ahead. Wu Zhiwang, the governor of the three border regions, is waiting outside the city with the officials of Shaanxi."

In order to defend against the northern Mongols, the Ming Dynasty established three military garrisons in Shaanxi: Yansui, Gansu, and Ningxia, collectively known as the "Three Borders." The Governor-General of the Three Borders was in charge of the military affairs of the three garrisons and also oversaw the civil administration and finance of Shaanxi.

Guyuan, located in northwestern Shaanxi, is situated at the center of three border defense lines, facilitating support for various garrisons in Yansui, Ningxia, and Gansu. The governor-general's presence here allowed him to coordinate border defense with inland military affairs.

Outside Guyuan City, yellow dust flies everywhere, and withered trees look like bones.

Wu Zhiwang, the governor of the three border regions, led a group of officials from Shaanxi and knelt by the roadside. Chongzhen's carriage slowly stopped, and when he lifted the curtain, the sight before him made him gasp.

Whether it was due to lack of preparation, forgetting to clear the area, or some other reason, the city walls of Guyuan were filled with refugees like ants. The ragged people sat or lay down, their eyes vacant, their faces sallow and emaciated. There were elderly people wrapped in tattered cotton, women breastfeeding with their bare, withered chests exposed, and even more children with unusually large eyes.

Their gazes followed the emperor's procession, not with awe, but with a kind of animalistic blankness.

"The Emperor has arrived!" Wang Chengen's shrill voice rang out.

"Your Majesty, I, Wu Zhiwang, the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions, along with all the officials of Shaanxi, respectfully welcome Your Majesty!" Wu Zhiwang and the Shaanxi officials shouted in unison.

The grand welcoming ceremony on one side contrasted sharply with the dilapidated state on the other.

Emperor Chongzhen did not dismount from the carriage. Instead, a flash of anger crossed his eyes as he glanced at Wu Zhiwang, who was kneeling at the front of the carriage. Without saying a word, he slowly lowered the curtain, and the procession headed straight for the Governor's Mansion.

The main hall of the Governor's Office.

Emperor Chongzhen sat upright in the main seat of the hall, his face solemn and displeased.

He had witnessed too many tragic scenes along the way, and his mood was already extremely heavy. But when he arrived at the Governor-General's Mansion, Wu Zhiwang still had to give him an embarrassing experience.

The welcoming ceremony was not even properly conducted.

There are so many disaster victims under the city walls, how are they supposed to view me? Do I have no dignity left?

Other officials at least try to cover up the truth, but you don't even bother to pretend.

However, before Chongzhen could even reprimand him, Wu Zhiwang had already knelt down on the bluestone floor with a thud.

"Your Majesty, I deserve to die! I beg you to grant me the death penalty!"

Emperor Chongzhen scoffed inwardly, "Trying to act aggrieved?" But outwardly, he remained calm and said, "What crime has Minister Wu committed?"

Wu Zhiwang replied, "The first fault is the inability to provide disaster relief! Although the Emperor's disaster relief strategy has achieved some results, obtaining some grain from the gentry and providing relief to various provinces, prefectures, states, and counties, the grain is limited while the number of hungry people is endless. It is like a drop in the ocean, how can it possibly help? As far as the Qin region is concerned, the famine is at its most severe, and bandits are also gradually rising up."

"Secondly, the army is poorly managed! The army's food and pay have been in arrears for several months, and many soldiers are plotting to rebel because of the lack of pay. Three days ago, a mutiny broke out in Guyuan. The mutinous soldiers looted the state treasury and attacked Jingyang, Fuping and Sanyuan."

"The third fault is that he was in a position but failed to fulfill his duties! In order to deal with the bandits, he had to increase taxes to pay for the army. However, the increase in taxes caused public resentment to boil over, and bandits rose up everywhere. In order to suppress the bandits, he had to increase taxes again. This forced the people to become bandits. This cycle repeated itself and worsened day by day."

"These three crimes combined deserve the death penalty. I beg Your Majesty to punish me!"

After speaking, Wu Zhiwang kowtowed deeply.

The entire hall was silent with heads bowed, except for the sound of Wu Zhiwang's kowtow.

Wu Zhiwang is seventy-seven years old this year, which is considered an old man in this era. At this moment, he is prostrate on the ground, and his thin body is clearly visible under his wide official robe.

Even Emperor Chongzhen felt a pang of sorrow; his earlier urge to blame had turned into pity.

"You flatter me, Wu Qing!"

"No!"

Wu Zhiwang raised his head, his forehead red and swollen from the kowtowing he had just performed, his gray hair disheveled, and he shook his head with a sorrowful expression: "It is my incompetence, I deserve to die!"

"But……"

"I have no other choice, I really have no other choice! I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, I'm in a hopeless situation..."

"Waaaaah..."

At this point, the old minister burst into tears in front of the emperor and his subordinates.

No one spoke, and no one laughed; on the contrary, some people secretly wiped away tears.

Even Emperor Chongzhen's eyes reddened.

"Only death can atone for my sins!"

After saying this, Wu Zhiwang suddenly stood up and rammed his head into a vermilion pillar in the hall.

Boom!

With a muffled thud, Wu Zhiwang fell straight to the ground, his head bleeding profusely.

The entire room was stunned...