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

As Zhu Jian continued to peruse the memorials, he indeed found several memorials impeaching Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of the emperor, from officials including a supervising secretary of the Ministry of Personnel and an imperial censor.

As Zhu Jian was praising Wang Dehua for leaking the information, he suddenly saw a memorial to the throne.

Young Master Huang Daozhou!

This man was incredibly stubborn. He impeached Yang Sichang for usurping the throne, which angered Emperor Chongzhen (Zhu Youjian). As a result, he was demoted six ranks and expelled from the capital. He eventually died in battle during the Southern Ming period.

He was considered an upright, honest, and loyal minister.

Then he examined it carefully.

After a short while, he finished reading them and slowly closed the impeachment memorials.

Zhu Jian shook his head, thinking to himself: These memorials are not yet ready; we need to give them a push.

After much deliberation, Zhu Jian finally decided to issue an imperial edict through the cabinet to refute the impeachment and to admonish those who had impeached the emperor's father-in-law.

He then picked up a pen and began writing his comments.

......

at the same time.

Inside a grand hall in the outer court, a group of upright officials were discussing how the emperor would handle their impeachment of the emperor's father-in-law.

"Do you gentlemen know how His Majesty will view our impeachment of the Imperial Father-in-Law?" Feng Yuanbiao, a supervising secretary of the Ministry of Justice, sitting on the left, took a sip of tea and spoke slowly.

"The emperor is subject to the same laws as commoners, let alone relatives of the emperor!" said Huang Daozhou, the Junior Chamberlain.

Nowadays, only a few officials remain from the Donglin Party's "pure stream" faction; the rest had been dismissed.

Zeng Yinglin, a supervising secretary in the Ministry of War, put down his teacup and looked at Huang Daozhou: "I believe His Majesty will keep this impeachment memorial in the palace!"

"Hmph!" Huang Daozhou snorted lightly, "If His Majesty remains in power, we will submit a memorial demanding that the Imperial Father-in-law be brought to justice!"

"What Lord Youxuan said is absolutely right. Corrupt officials are rampant in the court now, and we must speak up for the people!" Feng Yuanbiao, a supervising secretary of the Ministry of Justice, echoed.

Just now.

Grand Secretary Zhang Zhifa slowly entered the main hall, carrying the reprimand decree that Zhu Jian had just written, and read it aloud to these people.

After receiving the imperial decree, the men were taken aback.

They exchanged a glance, and Huang Daozhou, indignant, stood up and asked, "Grand Secretary Zhang, is this the cabinet's intention, or His Majesty's decree?"

Huang Daozhou believed that if this was the cabinet's intention, he would impeach the cabinet as well; if it was the emperor's intention, he would continue to submit impeachment memorials.

"I am merely relaying the imperial decree from the Directorate of Ceremonial. Please make yourselves at home!" Zhang Fazhi said, then turned and left.

Zhang Zhifa did not say it was the emperor's intention, but only made it clear that it was not the cabinet's intention. As for whether it was the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs' intention or the emperor's decree, he did not care and let the Qingliu judge for themselves. He would not get involved in this mess.

After Zhang Zhifa left, Huang Daozhou paced back and forth in the room, holding the imperial edict: "Outrageous! The Emperor is unable to distinguish right from wrong and is openly protecting his relatives. We will continue to submit memorials!"

Feng Yuanbiao chimed in, "Yes! We must uphold justice and correct these bad habits!"

"What you two say is true. We, together with the censors and officials, will certainly speak out for the people!" Zeng Yinglin also wanted to expand the impeachment team and force the emperor to issue an edict to punish the emperor's father-in-law.

For several days afterward, these officials submitted memorials impeaching him.

At first, Prosecutor Zhu refuted him a few times, but now he has kept his word.

Zhu Jian felt it wasn't quite right yet, and he wanted to further "warm up" this group of people.

At the same time, Zhou Kui, having received the news, also rushed to the palace to complain to his daughter, Empress Zhou.

"Daughter, these people have been impeaching your father, and the Emperor..." Zhou Kui said, his voice trembling with tears, standing next to Empress Zhou with a look of grievance.

"Father, did the matter mentioned in the memorial actually happen?" Empress Zhou was somewhat angry. On one hand, she felt that these censors were relentlessly pursuing Zhou Kui and did not respect her as the Empress. On the other hand, she was skeptical of what Zhou Kui had done. If he had really done it, then these censors were not wrong to impeach him.

Empress Zhou was always well-educated and reasonable, and she managed the Zhou family very strictly, or at least she thought it was very strict.

"this....."

"Daughter... these might be true... but it's not just our family, is it?" Zhou Kui didn't dare to deny it. These accusations must have evidence, and these officials had conducted investigations. If it were just hearsay, so many people wouldn't have been involved.

Seeing that Empress Zhou remained silent, Zhou Kui wiped away his tears and said, "Help me go to the Emperor and plead for mercy... Your elder brother is in poor health, what if something happens to him..." Zhou Kui began to appeal to her emotions.

Having said that, seeing that Empress Zhou still remained silent, he knelt down with a thud, crying, "Your Majesty the Empress...!!"

Zhou Kui's kneeling startled Empress Zhou, who quickly bent down to help him up: "I'll go sound out the Emperor's opinion... Go back and immediately return all the illegal gains..."

"Yes...yes...I'll take my leave now..." Zhou Kui wiped away his tears and left, choking back sobs...

Empress Zhou, unable to withstand Zhou Kui's tearful complaints, decided to sound out Inspector Zhu...

Although the ancestral rule was that the empress dowager should not interfere in politics, Empress Zhou felt that this was a family matter, so it wouldn't hurt to ask. After all, Zhou Kui was her father.

When Empress Zhou arrived outside the Wuying Hall, she ran into Hong Chengchou, who was returning.

"Your subject Hong Chengchou greets the Empress!"

"Lord Hong, you may dispense with the formalities. If you have something to discuss with His Majesty, please go ahead!" Empress Zhou gestured for him to proceed.

In Empress Zhou's mind, the return of Hong Chengchou, the commander-in-chief of the army who was in charge of a region, must mean something important, and she could not let "family matters" interfere with state affairs.

"Your Majesty has summoned me, but I do not know what it is about. Her Majesty the Empress has urgent business, so I will wait outside for a moment!" Hong Chengchou returned the bow. He believed that the Emperor was suspicious of him and that was why he had been transferred back, so he assumed that it was nothing serious and that it was inappropriate for him to be ranked before the Empress, so he gave her a bow.

"In that case, I will go and pay my respects to His Majesty first!" After saying this, Empress Zhou led her maids to the east wing of the Wuying Hall.

Upon entering the small room, Empress Zhou did not rush to discuss Zhou Kui's matter. Instead, she reached out and took out the prepared clothing, saying, "Your Majesty, it's getting cold. I've made a cloak for you."

He then tried to drape the cloak over Zhu Jian's shoulders to test it.

The oblivious Zhu Jian, without even looking up or opening his eyes, said, "You've come about the matter of the Emperor's father-in-law, haven't you?"

"According to ancestral rules, the empress dowager must not interfere in politics. No matter what decision Your Majesty makes, I will have no complaints. I hope Your Majesty will consider him as Cilang's maternal father and spare his life!" After saying this, she began to wipe away her tears.

Prosecutor Zhu was also having a headache. His wife was using their child to plead for her father-in-law, which was really difficult to handle.

"I have already kept the memorial in the palace. Go and advise the Grand Tutor to handle it properly!"

For someone as greedy as Zhou Kui, he certainly wouldn't return all the land he had seized; at most, he would stop seizing it altogether.

"On behalf of my father, I thank Your Majesty!" Empress Zhou bowed, her voice choked with emotion.

"Your Majesty, please return and take good care of the Crown Prince..." Zhu Jian waved his hand.

Although Zhu Jian was somewhat moved, he still did not intend to let the emperor's father-in-law go, because punishing him would face the least resistance in the court at present, and would also bring in hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in military funds, since Zhou Kui's glory all came from imperial power.

The Qing army could enter the pass at any time, not necessarily in September. It might be brought forward because of the rumors he spread in Liaodong, or it might be delayed.

After Empress Zhou left, Hong Chengchou also came to the small room and saw Zhu Jian sitting in the official's hat chair. He quickly bowed.

"Your subject Hong Chengchou pays his respects to Your Majesty!"

Although the stove in the east wing brought some warmth to Hong Chengchou, it could not warm his heart, which was already half-cooled.

"Chengchou, please come forward and sit down!" After saying this, Zhu Jian waved his hand to the little eunuch beside him: "Go out and close the door behind you!"

Hong Chengchou was taken aback. What was the emperor up to? Why was he being so secretive? Wasn't he afraid that Hong Chengchou would become too powerful with his troops?

After the wooden door closed, only Hong Chengchou and Zhu Jian remained in the small room. Zhu Jian slowly got up, and Hong Chengchou also quickly got up.

Zhu Jian slowly walked to Hong Chengchou's side.

He said in a low voice, "I recalled you to discuss a plan to resist the invaders!"

"Resist the enemy?" Hong Chengchou asked in confusion.

He immediately thought to himself that Prosecutor Zhu was trying to comfort him and make him feel better.

Zhu Jian took out a secret report from the Liaodong front and handed it to Hong Chengchou: "Chengchou, this is from Liaodong. Huang Taiji has gathered troops and stockpiled some grain in Shenyang."

Hong Chengchou took the secret report with some skepticism and read it carefully.

After a moment, he spoke, "The Eastern Barbarians have indeed made some moves, but it seems they are merely gathering their forces!"

Zhu Jian picked up the teapot from the table, poured a bowl of tea, and placed it in front of Hong Chengchou: "Pre-rain Longjing tea, have a taste!"

Hong Chengchou was startled. The emperor was usually known for his volatile temper; how could he suddenly be so courteous to scholars? "How dare I trouble Your Majesty to serve tea..."

Zhu Jian glanced at Hong Chengchou and said, "Chengchou has made great contributions, and it is not unreasonable for me to serve him." He then gestured for Hong Chengchou to take a seat.

Although Zhu Jian said this, he didn't really think so in his heart. After the Battle of Songjin, Huang Taiji gave you a tattered robe and you surrendered, and then you even caused the Hong Xuan Ye incident in later generations. How could you not dare to offer me a cup of tea...

"Your Majesty, I thank you for the tea!" After taking his seat, Hong Chengchou tasted the tea and found it to be quite good.

Zhu Jian asked, "Chengchou, if I hadn't transferred you back a few more months, would you have been able to decisively defeat Li Zicheng?"

Hong Chengchou put down his teacup: "Just as Your Majesty said, we will defeat Li Zicheng within this year!"

Zhu Jian: "Think about it carefully again. Starting with Gao Yingxiang, weren't the Jurchens' second, third, and fourth invasions of the Great Wall all actions taken when the peasant army was on its last legs?"

Hong Chengchou immediately calculated the time, and a moment later, he suddenly stood up, his eyes wide open: "Your Majesty...!"

After Zhu Jian reminded him, Hong Chengchou realized that this was indeed the case.

Zhu Jian said expressionlessly, "This time, I estimate that the Jurchens will gather 70,000 to 80,000 troops and plunder from the direction of Miyun and Jizhou!"

Hong Chengchou stepped forward and asked, "Does Your Majesty have any news?" His heart, which had been half-cooled, was slowly warming up. After Zhu Jian's reminder, it seemed that recalling him was indeed part of the plan to resist the Qing.

"Without news, if you and Sun Chuanting have a large force in Shaanxi, Lu Xiangshan is in Xuanda, and Zu Dashou and others are on the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line, the best places to attack are Jizhou and Miyun!"

After Zhu Jian finished speaking, he refilled Hong Chengchou's empty teacup with tea.

Hong Chengchou was surprised again. How did this emperor in front of him become a familiar stranger? When did he gain such insights in the field of military affairs?

After the emperor's analysis, it was indeed the most suitable route to enter the pass from the direction of Miyun in Jizhou.

With his heart now warmed, Hong Chengchou stepped forward and asked, "Is Your Majesty planning to strengthen the defenses from Jizhou to Miyun?"

"What's the point of defending against thieves?" Zhu Jian slowly unfolded a map from the side, pointed to the Grand Canal, and said, "I plan to deploy troops from Jizhou and Miyun along Huairou, Shunyi, the Grand Canal, and Tianjin, letting the Jurchens in to inflict casualties on them!"

Upon hearing this, Hong Chengchou stared intently at the map, and then he was even more astonished. He discovered that the emperor's strategic level had improved not only, but also his tactical level.

Then, a hint of difficulty appeared on his face: "This defensive line will definitely require hundreds of thousands of troops, but the military pay..."

Zhu Jian lay prostrate on the table: "Currently, the national treasury and the imperial treasury combined have less than 400,000 taels. I plan to raise another 300,000 to 400,000 taels to prepare for this war!"

"Should we work on a plan with the Ministry of War as well?" Hong Chengchou was no longer too worried about the emperor giving bad orders, but he was worried about the Minister of War, Yang Sichang, giving bad orders. This man was too much of a scholar.

"Disregard the Ministry of War. This time, I will personally lead the expedition and command all the armies. You will assist me!"

Upon hearing this, Hong Chengchou's expression changed slightly, and he said urgently, "Your Majesty, it is too dangerous for you to personally lead the expedition. It would be better to remain in the central government!"

If the court officials knew this, they would surely think he was conspiring with the emperor to lead a personal expedition. If there were any real risks, the Ming Dynasty would be in grave danger.

Zhu Jian shook his head: "I am not Emperor Yingzong, you don't need to worry. The key now is which troops to mobilize, and how to arrange things for Li Zicheng!"

"emperor......!"

Before the words were finished, a young eunuch's voice came from outside the door: "Your Majesty, this servant has something to report!"

"Your Majesty...!"

Zhu Jian interrupted Hong Chengchou's advice by raising his hand: "There is still some time. You should go to Wei Zhongxian's residence to formulate a battle plan. I will go there after I finish dealing with these matters."

Having said that, he rolled up the battle plan drawn on the map and handed it to Hong Chengchou: "This matter is top secret. You go first, and I will go later when I have time!"

"As you command!" Hong Chengchou took the map, bowed, and took two steps back.

He also knew that there were some things that couldn't be said in the Wuying Hall. There were too many people there, and if they were to leak out, it would lead to another major defeat.

Then Hong Chengchou opened the wooden door and walked outside.

Seeing this, the young eunuch quickly entered the room, bowed, and reported, "Your Majesty, Huang Daozhou, Feng Yuanbiao, and others kneel before Chengtian Gate, requesting Your Majesty to justly punish the Grand Tutor for his illegal actions!"

Zhu Jian's lips curled up slightly. It seemed that these upright officials couldn't hold back any longer and wanted to force him to resign. This was a major political event.

"Go and summon Wang Dehua!"

"yes!"

After the eunuch left, Zhu Jian took a sip of the slightly cool tea.

He remarked: "These people are indeed honest, but they can only be used in name, not in reality. It seems that after Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian heavily relied on the Donglin Party members, he began to dismiss them on a large scale. There was nothing wrong with this approach."

Before long, Wang Dehua jogged all the way to the Wuying Hall.

Before Zhu Jian summoned him, he had already heard about the incident of several officials kneeling in front of Chengtian Gate.

Therefore, it was concluded that the emperor had summoned him for this very reason.

"This servant, Wang Dehua, pays her respects to Your Majesty!" Wang Dehua said, panting heavily as she bowed.

Zhu Jian's tone carried a hint of anger: "Have you heard about what happened at Chengtian Gate?"

"I've heard about it!"

Zhu Jian: "Keep a close eye on these people, remember who they are, and give me a list!"

"As you command!"