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

Under the Little Ice Age, all living beings are equal.

The Ming Dynasty suffered severe natural disasters, and the Jin Dynasty was no different.

Moreover, the Jin state was located further north and was even more affected. Its agricultural practices, which had been promoted for many years, had made almost no progress, resulting in a severe shortage of grain. Cannibalism also occurred, and the state relied solely on traditional fishing, hunting, and herding to survive. The entire economy was on the verge of collapse.

When the economy is bad, internal conflicts will continue to emerge.

When internal conflicts are virtually unsolvable, the best approach is to shift the focus away from them.

Although Huang Taiji did not understand these things, he knew that the way out for the Jin Dynasty was to send troops south to plunder the vast and resource-rich Ming Dynasty, and use victory after victory, countless riches, and those beautiful women from the Central Plains to fill the holes in the Jin Dynasty.

As long as we keep winning and expanding, no problems or conflicts are worth mentioning.

Therefore, under the leadership of Huang Taiji, the Jin Dynasty reformed and innovated, actively seeking a way out, and trying every means to tear a piece of flesh from the fat sheep that is the Ming Dynasty.

On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty was still embroiled in internal strife.

And they were having a blast fighting.

The Ming Dynasty's cabinet originally had nine people, but in less than a year, only Han Kuang, Li Biao, and Qian Longxi remained. Moreover, all three of them were members of the Donglin Party. The others were either scolded away, squeezed out, driven out, or left on their own.

It's not that these cabinet members didn't want to do their jobs, but rather that the censors were too good at impeaching. They were all working at full speed, relentlessly impeaching whoever was in power.

They bounced on you for all sorts of reasons and from all angles, making your head buzz.

But the country still needed to function and people still needed to do the work, so Emperor Chongzhen planned to add more cabinets.

The Ministry of Personnel also drafted a list of candidates, and on this list, there was one person who was widely expected to be chosen.

That was Qian Qianyi.

Although Qian Qianyi had lost face by jumping into the river last time, he was still the leader of the Donglin Party. Now that the eunuch party had fallen and the Donglin Party had come to power, it was only natural, and even Qian Qianyi himself thought so.

However, at this very moment, Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru, who were like paparazzi tirelessly digging up dirt on the literary idol Qian Qianyi, jointly broke a big bombshell.

Seven years ago, in the first year of the Tianqi reign, cheating occurred in the Zhejiang provincial examination, and Qian Qianyi was the chief examiner at the time.

The old, trivial matter from seven years ago has been brought up again. It is quite complicated, but you have no choice but to deal with it because it involves the imperial examination, which is a major event that attracts attention from both the court and the public. It concerns the students of the country and the fairness of the entire bureaucratic system, so it must be investigated. Not only must it be investigated, but it must be investigated thoroughly to give the people an explanation.

As a result, the court was in an uproar again because of this matter.

The Donglin Party, which supported Qian Qianyi, formed one faction; Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru formed another; and the neutral faction formed yet another, turning the imperial court into a public court.

Besides Qian Qianyi, there was another person at the center of the vortex, namely Sun Chengzong, the military governor of Jiliao.

Since Sun Chengzong went to Liaodong, he has worked diligently. With Ningyuan and Jinzhou as the core, he has vigorously built cities and fortresses and improved defensive works, creating a solid defense line.

Domestically, he rectified military discipline, eliminated redundant soldiers, and formed a "Guan Ning Iron Cavalry" mainly composed of Liaodong people. At the same time, he promoted the land reclamation system, organized soldiers and refugees to reclaim wasteland, reduced logistical pressure, and urged the Ministry of Works to improve the quality of weapons and equipment, and urged the Ministry of Revenue to order warhorses from various border towns, so as to achieve "elite troops, strong horses, strong armor, and sharp weapons".

Externally, he pacified the Mongol tribes such as Chahan and Harashen, attempting to prevent them from turning to the Later Jin through "rewards" and relief, and to win them over as external allies of the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Chengzong did a lot, but the problem is that he didn't have any outstanding, immediately effective results.

Moreover, it consumes a huge amount of silver.

This provided the court with more material for arguments, and more importantly, it also raised another issue: whether or not to increase the Liaodong tax levy.

Regarding the issue of the Liaodong military pay, the imperial court was divided into two factions.

One faction believed that without increasing the Liaodong tax, the front lines would not be able to sustain themselves without military pay, while the other faction believed that increasing the Liaodong tax would only add fuel to the fire for the already suffering people.

Speaking of collecting taxes from Liaodong, someone submitted a memorial saying that a certain person had performed exceptionally well in collecting taxes from Liaodong and should be promoted one rank as a reward and to set an example.

That man's name was Lu Xiang-sheng.

In short, Emperor Chongzhen spent more than a month in Shaanxi and nothing seemed to happen. But as soon as he returned to the capital, it was as if some kind of mechanism had been triggered. One thing after another happened without stopping.

In the past, Emperor Chongzhen would have been in a terrible predicament.

But now, instead of having a headache, Chongzhen suddenly understood many things.

Why is it that his grandfather, the Wanli Emperor, was such a smart man, who worked hard and made great efforts to achieve the Wanli Restoration in the first ten years of his reign, but later suddenly stopped attending the morning court sessions?

And his great-great-grandfather, the Jiajing Emperor, also did not attend morning court for decades.

He didn't understand before, but now he seems to understand. You say, the Ming Dynasty only has a dozen or so years left before it falls, and you guys are still criticizing each other every day, and after you're done criticizing, you still want the emperor to uphold justice.

Even if the emperor makes a clear, fair and just judgment for them, what difference does it make?

This is the imperial court for resolving matters of state and military affairs, not a public court for resolving civil disputes.

Emperor Chongzhen recalled what Zhu Ziming had told him, and later generations had this assessment of him: If Emperor Chongzhen hadn't made such a mess of things, and had just stayed in bed without crying or making a fuss, the Ming Dynasty might have lasted a few more years.

This statement sounded absurd at first, but now he was starting to believe it.

Just like his grandfather and great-grandfather, they didn't attend the morning court for decades, and the Ming Dynasty didn't seem to be doing much.

The key point is that, in Chongzhen's view, the things that the court is arguing about every day are really meaningless.

He didn't even want to pay attention to it.

So, Emperor Chongzhen simply went all out and announced a three-day suspension of morning court sessions.

In the original timeline, Emperor Chongzhen never missed a morning court session whenever he was in the palace, until the fall of the country. But now, this record is about to end.

The emperor did not hold court in the morning.

The entire court was filled with astonishment, while at that moment, Emperor Chongzhen was already on his way to the bookstore…

……

Spark Bookstore.

When Emperor Chongzhen arrived, the bookstore was different from usual; there was an extra person in the store.

In the past, when Chongzhen came, there was only Zhu Ziming in the bookstore, but now there is another person in the bookstore, a woman, and a beautiful woman at that.

The woman seemed quite surprised to see Chongzhen and asked Zhu Ziming, who was standing beside her:

"Who is this?"

"Oh……"

Zhu Ziming scratched his head: "This is... my fellow reader."