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

After issuing a series of decrees, Zhu Jian led Hong Chengchou, eleven generals, and thousands of soldiers to Yongding Gate.

Before Zhu Jian could speak, Hui Shiyang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, bowed deeply and said, "Your Majesty's great victory is truly a blessing for the nation. However, the ancient sages said that only by governing the court and managing the central government can the world be at peace. Now, Your Majesty is doing the opposite, which is tantamount to abandoning the country and its people. I beg Your Majesty to abide by the sage's words in the future!"

"We all second that proposal!" more than a dozen censors echoed in unison.

Zhu Jian was taken aback. He had thought these people had come to welcome him, but it turned out they were there to cause him trouble...

The dozen or so generals behind him, completely bewildered, were probably advising the emperor against putting himself in danger...

The soldiers behind the generals exchanged bewildered glances, completely confused... They had only one thought in their minds: What was this old man talking about?

Zhu Jian, however, frowned, realizing that these people were putting shackles on him... or rather, forcing him to do certain things using the "words of sages"... as for right or wrong, let's leave that aside...

After a moment's thought, Prosecutor Zhu turned and asked, "Did you understand?"

Before the generals could answer, a soldier from the Yongwei Battalion who had followed Zhu Jian in the attack on Dorgon, and who was also Zhou Yuji's personal guard, spoke up: "No."

Zhu Jian nodded slightly.

At this moment, He Renlong, who had narrowly escaped death, hurriedly said, "No!"

He felt that the emperor hadn't punished him for the impeachments by the others, which meant he valued him. He figured the current situation clearly indicated the emperor's displeasure with these people... so he quickly stepped forward to pledge his loyalty...

"Come forward, you dragon! Let me explain what they're saying!"

Before he finished speaking, He Renlong dismounted, went to Zhu Jian's side, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and prepared to listen to his teachings...

Zhu Jian leaned down and said, "Renlong, they say you warriors who have shared life and death with me are stinking soldiers... They want me to stay in the palace, away from you..."

Everyone was stunned upon hearing this...

Zhu Jian's voice was filled with anger: "Didn't you see they were blocking the way?"

Before he finished speaking, He Renlong led his personal guards forward and blocked the dozen or so censors from the middle of the road.

This action instantly enraged the group of censors: "How dare you! How can we, your court officials, tolerate such humiliation?"

Zhu Jian ignored them and rode his horse past the censors, continuing on his way...

The general's personal guards behind him stopped at the door. Once Zhu Jian was a little further away, they rushed up to the censor and began punching and kicking him, cursing as they did so: "Arrogant! The Emperor regards us as brothers who will live and die with him, and you bunch of old, treacherous officials actually dare to offer slanderous words to the Emperor!"

Kicked aside, an imperial censor leaning against the city wall, his arm trembling, pointed at the soldiers and roared, "Outrageous! Uncouth! Arrogant and unruly soldiers... I... I will impeach you..."

Upon hearing this, one of the thugs paused, his fist still raised, and turned to another, older thug with a suspicious look, asking, "Boss, what is impeachment?"

These low-level, illiterate soldiers, who didn't even know their own names, didn't understand bureaucratic terms like "impeachment"...

The older, illiterate soldier, after a moment's thought, explained, "It sounds like they're going to use force..."

The young, thuggish soldier, enraged upon hearing this, shouted, "Damn it, he dares to attack us! Brothers, beat him up...!"

Immediately, several soldiers swarmed forward, hitting and cursing at each other...

Before long... a dozen or so censors, their faces bruised and swollen, huddled together, heads in their hands...

Seeing that the emperor had already gone far away, these ruffians spat at the group of censors and hurriedly jogged after him...

"Outrageous...outrageous..." A censor's chest heaved with anger...

.......

Before long, Zhu Jian led more than ten generals to the front of Chengtian Gate.

Upon the emperor's arrival, all the court officials bowed and knelt, saying, "Welcome back in triumph, Your Majesty!"

"Rise, it's time for court!"

After speaking, Zhu Jian showed no intention of dismounting. He donned his armor, mounted his horse, and rode towards the palace.

The dozen or so generals dismounted and led their personal guards, following closely behind, walking along Zhu Jian's left side toward the main hall.

The civil officials standing nearby rose and followed Zhu Jian to the right.

From the air, the two groups were clearly separated, with not a single person on the wide road in between...

Seeing this, Vice Grand Secretary Liu Yuliang approached Grand Secretary Zhang Zhifa and whispered, "Grand Secretary Zhang, how can these soldiers be allowed to attend court?"

"Grand Secretary Liu, why don't we go and express your opinion to His Majesty?"

Although Zhang Zhifa also felt it was somewhat inappropriate, he wasn't about to be the first to stick his neck out...

Hu Dawei and Meng Ruhu approached Sun Chuanting and whispered, "Lord Sun, we have never attended court before..."

Both men were Mongols who had defected to the Ming court. In the eyes of these civil officials, they were barbarians, let alone allowed to attend court...

"It's alright. Once we arrive at the capital, just stand to one side with me!" Sun Chuanting reminded him.

Sun Chuanting was also a civil official, but now he belongs to the military camp...the reason is that he has been commanding military operations.

Upon arriving at court, the censor who had been beaten in front of Yongding Gate ran to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, his face bruised and swollen, and cried out, "Your Majesty, these arrogant soldiers and fierce generals have insulted us! We beg Your Majesty to avenge us!"

The courtiers were shocked to see a dozen or so people crying and pleading. What were these thugs up to when they entered the city and beat up the censor?

But no one stood up for this group.

The cabinet ministers and heads of the six ministries, these high-ranking officials, were all astute and instantly understood the situation... Without the emperor's backing, how could these soldiers dare to act... It was clearly the emperor who had done it...

Zhu Jian leaned forward slightly: "These warriors, you just finished fighting Dorgon with me, and now you're going to challenge them... Are the officials of the Ming Dynasty truly overflowing with martial spirit?"

Upon hearing this, the generals and soldiers burst into laughter, and some civil officials and courtiers also joined in the laughter.

"Your Majesty, it was we who were beaten, not the other way around!"

"Almost, almost. If you still want to fight, there are eleven generals here. See who you want to fight, and I will be the referee!" Zhu Jian said with a smile.

"emperor....."

Zhu Jian waved his hand: "Wang Dehua, take these virtuous and capable censors to the Imperial Hospital for a checkup!"

"yes!"

Wang Dehua strode quickly to the dozen or so censors, his voice delicate: "My lords, please."

"Your Majesty...!" Before he could finish speaking, Wang Dehua's eyes flashed with murderous intent as he looked at the imperial censor, his tone chilling: "Please."

Wang Dehua is currently the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and his confidants also oversee the Eastern Depot. He is the leader of the new eunuch faction, and if he wanted to kill a mere censor, it would be very simple...

The current situation clearly shows that the emperor is protecting these perpetrators...

Seeing this, the censor resigned himself to his fate, bowed, and followed Wang Dehua to the Imperial Hospital for treatment...