Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty!"

"Great news! Hong Chengchou has decisively defeated the rebel leader!"

A eunuch dressed in fine clothes.

With a whisk at his waist and a memorial in his hand, he ran and shouted.

The sound of hurried footsteps lingered in the vermilion Wuying Hall for a long time.

This man was none other than Wang Chengen, the most famous and loyal eunuch in history, who served as the personal attendant of Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian!

At this moment, in a small side room on the east side of Wuying Hall, Zhu Jian, wrapped in a golden silk quilt, sat curled up on the bed.

The room contained no luxurious decorations or expensive furniture, only a bed, a table with peeling paint on the edges, and a few faded official hat chairs.

This scene lacked the grandeur of a royal palace and instead appeared unusually shabby.

Sitting on the couch, Zhu Jian had his back to the dimly lit room. Through the slightly open wooden window, he watched the snowflakes fall onto the golden glazed tiles, his thoughts a jumble of emotions.

What was supposed to be a joyous Spring Festival banquet turned into a journey to the late Ming Dynasty, where he became the last Ming emperor, Zhu Youjian.

Moreover, it is already February of the eleventh year of Chongzhen's reign, and there are less than six years left before he hangs himself on the crooked tree on Coal Hill!

Also in September of this year, under the leadership of Dorgon and Yuetuo, the Qing army crossed the Great Wall and carried out its fourth invasion of the Central Plains, raiding Hebei, Henan, Shandong and other places. This was also the largest invasion of the Central Plains in history.

From the first year of Emperor Chongzhen's reign to the eleventh year of Chongzhen's reign.

In these eleven years, Huang Taiji and Dorgon had already carried out three raids into the Central Plains.

They massacred hundreds of thousands of civilians and looted large quantities of gold, silver, cattle, sheep, and other valuables.

Moreover, the Ming army did not achieve victory in any of the three previous battles against the Qing army that invaded the pass. They were forced to defend passively in many places and were defeated one by one by the Qing army.

Thinking of this, Zhu Jian looked at the snowflakes falling outside the window, his face full of worry, his brows furrowed.

Just then.

"Squeak~"

A sharp scraping sound came from the wooden axle.

The wooden door of the east wing of the Wuying Hall was slowly opened.

Wang Chengen moved nimbly into the room and turned to close the door.

Bowing low and head lowered, she said softly, "Your Majesty! Congratulations!"

"Hong Chengchou decisively defeated the rebel leader Li Zicheng in Zitong, Sichuan!"

"Now, the rebel Li Zicheng has only led his remaining troops back to Shaanxi, and Hong Chengchou is preparing for further encirclement and suppression!"

Upon hearing the sound, Zhu Jian neither got up nor turned around.

Her voice was weak: "I understand!"

"Put the memorial aside!"

Upon hearing Chongzhen's voice, Wang Chengen looked up and was about to put down his memorial when he saw Chongzhen wrapped in a quilt and with the window open, letting the wind blow through!

She rushed forward, her voice urgent: "His Majesty's cold hasn't gotten better yet, please let me close the window!"

After saying this, Wang Chengen, seeing that Chongzhen did not object, went around the bed and closed the window that Zhu Jian had opened, for fear that even a little wind would blow into the Emperor Chongzhen!

As the window was closed, the last bit of light slid down Zhu Jian's face, leaving only darkness in the room.

According to the original owner's memories, the eunuch closing the window in front of him was Wang Chengen, who would accompany him on his journey six years later.

He was also one of the few eunuchs who remained loyal to himself.

"Cheng'en, organize some manpower, and have the Imperial Household Department issue the decree directly! Deploy troops!?"

Zhu Jian no longer intended to let these civil officials and eunuchs control the army. He planned to personally command them. If he let them do it again, he would be doomed sooner or later.

"If Your Majesty wishes to urge Hong Chengchou to quickly annihilate the rebel Li Zicheng, a mere instruction to the Ministry of War will suffice!"

"If you don't want to go through the Cabinet and the Ministry of War, you can have the Directorate of Ceremonial issue the decree directly, but... but..." Wang Chengen said with a troubled expression.

"What is it?" Prosecutor Zhu's voice was somewhat cold.

"It's just... it's just that it doesn't conform to ancestral rules!" Wang Chengen's delicate voice was somewhat low.

After saying that, he secretly glanced at Zhu Jian to see if the capricious emperor had lost his temper.

The ancestral rules of the Ming Dynasty were like the heavens, and no one could disobey them; they were above the law.

Even the emperor cannot do that.

According to ancestral rules, the Ministry of War must prepare a troop deployment plan, which must then be seconded by the Cabinet and submitted to the Emperor for approval before it can be implemented.

Otherwise, it would be a violation of ancestral rules, a grave act of filial impiety!

Even the Five Military Commissions established by Zhu Yuanzhang now have no say in matters concerning the army...

I don't know when it started, but the Ministry of War, one of the Six Ministries, and the Cabinet became the heads of the army...

Zhu Jian nodded slightly, his voice carrying a hint of heaviness: "I understand!"

"Bring me the map of the Ming Dynasty and all the memorials from various military garrisons to this east wing!"

Zhu Jian thought to himself: Although it is against the ancestral rules, it is acceptable as long as it can bypass the cabinet and the Ministry of War.

What business is it of Zhu Youjian's ancestral rules?

As long as we can mobilize troops, that's fine.

As for using ancestral rules and moral principles for moral blackmail, one must first have some morals...

"As you command!"

"This servant will go and get it!"

After Wang Chengen left.

Zhu Jian picked up the memorial from Hong Chengchou that Wang Chengen had sent and began to read it carefully.

The memorial detailed the course of the battle, the casualties, the coordination between the various units, and the report on Li Zicheng's escape route.

One of them made Zhu Jian's heart race with rage.

This passage states that Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, Cao Bianjiao, and others still had 100,000 troops under their command.

Zhu Jian knew that these three men were all capable of leading troops during the late Ming Dynasty.

Especially Sun Chuanting, there is a saying that if Sun Chuanting hadn't died, the Ming Dynasty wouldn't have fallen!

There was also Cao Bianjiao, a fierce general who organized a suicide squad and nearly killed Huang Taiji during the Battle of Songjin in 1640.

There was also Hong Chengchou, who went to Liaodong in 1640 to command the Battle of Songjin, but unfortunately he was defeated.

Although Hong Chengchou was ultimately defeated and surrendered to the Qing army, becoming a traitor.

However, some accounts say that Consort Zhuang, also known as Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, personally went to the room where Hong Chengchou was imprisoned to persuade him to surrender. As for how she persuaded him, whether it's true or not, we don't know...

Zhu Jian believed that these three people were all secretly killed by Emperor Chongzhen (Zhu Youjian) and civil officials and eunuchs.

It's not that these three are incompetent.

Emperor Chongzhen was unaware of the situation at the front lines when he began to micromanage the troops.

In particular, during the Battle of Songjin, more than ten orders to urge troops were issued, causing the 100,000 Ming troops to wander around like headless flies, and were eventually surrounded and annihilated by Huang Taiji.

He also issued several imperial edicts urging Sun Chuanting to engage in battle with Li Zicheng, fearing that he would be too late in sending his head to be delivered.

In the end, the diligent Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian, ultimately squandered the Ming Dynasty's secret military prowess...

"Squeak~"

A young eunuch gently pushed open the wooden door of the east wing of the Wuying Hall.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Chengen, holding a map of the Ming Dynasty, led several eunuchs carrying memorials in single file.

"Your Majesty!"

"I've brought the map and the memorial!"

"Put the memorials aside!"

"The map is laid out on the table!"

After saying that, Zhu Jian pulled off the quilt he was wearing, got up, moved to the edge of the bed, put on his shoes, and slowly walked to the table.

After the eunuchs finished laying out the map, Wang Chengen waved his hand slightly towards the door, signaling the eunuchs to leave.

He then turned and went to serve Zhu Jian.

Zhu Jian approached the table and stared intently at the map of Zhili!

He originally intended to recall Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting's 100,000 troops to defend Qiangziling and Qingshan Pass, the two places where the Qing army entered the pass for the fourth time.

They also felt that although they had deployed heavy troops to defend the area, the Qing army might still be able to enter from other places.

It would be better to set up ambushes in places like Zhili and strike at the Qing army's manpower.

Since the country is going to perish in six years anyway, there's no point in reforming it, and there's no time to develop technology, so we might as well take a gamble.

The Ming army was constantly on the defensive against the Qing army's fourth raid into the pass, and ultimately failed to resist.

Now that we know in advance that the Qing army is going to enter the pass, we must at least prevent them from smoothly advancing south, plundering hundreds of thousands of people, their money, grain, and livestock, and then successfully withdrawing from the pass through Qingshan Pass...