Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 222: His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is not the type to look for a vixen!

In theory, the county magistrate is the representative of the imperial court to exercise rule over the local area, but in reality, it is not a big deal if the position is vacant for a period of time.

Of course, this kind of vacancy cannot be on a large scale and cannot last for a long time. However, for the officials in the court who are gearing up to compete for the election of the county magistrate, half a month is insignificant.

As for the post-war recovery issue at the local level.
Although the Tartars have retreated, not all the lost territories in Jiangnan have been recovered. Up to now, there are still many remnant Qing troops wandering around or entrenched in various places. As long as the decisions on those counties that have been recovered are made quickly, it will not delay anything major.

This is what the adults in the court really think. Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's careful screening of requests will delay a little time, there is fat meat in front of them, and no one will give up the fight for interests for fear of delaying official business.

Zhu Cilang had anticipated such a situation. Although he was helpless, he had no other choice. In the end, he could only take advantage of the infighting among the civil servants to continuously strengthen his own power, in the hope of suppressing the infighting within a controllable range for a long time.

Take this time for example, if it were not for the Yingtian faction, the Zhejiang faction, the eunuch party, and the officials with multiple identities who retreated south in order to increase their voice in the court by strengthening their control over the local areas, and given the nature of the Ming Dynasty civil servants who constantly weakened the imperial power, how could Zhu Cilang have the possibility of extending his hands to the county level?
However, on the surface it seemed that Zhu Cilang had fooled all the ministers in the court, but as the person involved, he knew that he was just borrowing the wisdom of his "predecessors".

The biggest feature of later generations compared to the present is that, with the assistance of many technologies, knowledge is not monopolized by a certain class.

One of the most important results of this is that Zhu Cilang, as an ordinary person, can easily access through various means viewpoints, opinions and even ways of doing things that people of this era cannot access.

For example, the interpretation of what happened after the Jin and Song dynasties moved south.

Although various factors played a role in the internal struggles that occurred during the Southern Ming Dynasty, it cannot be ignored that the interests of the Southern faction were greatly damaged due to the arrival of the Northern faction. Subsequently, the two sides engaged in a fierce game using various means during this dynasty.

This fierce game for their respective interests is very different from that of the Jin and Song dynasties.

The essence of the problem can be summarized in one sentence: after thousands of years of development, although there are still large tracts of land south of the Yangtze River that have not been developed, the southern factions can neither suppress the north as they did in later generations, nor are they powerless against the north as they were in the past.

Under such circumstances, although the two almost evenly matched parties both had the will to resist the Qing army, they were unable to form a united force internally, and the Southern Ming could only end hastily after three or two small climaxes.

Hmm. That’s getting off topic.

In short, Zhu Cilang successfully increased his own power by taking advantage of the infighting among civil servants of various factions, and also opened up an extremely rare opportunity for certain future reforms without attracting any attention.

The ministers did not think much about this. After all, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who holds a large number of troops, is still willing to play the game within the existing framework. This is both a recognition of the original system and a respect for the civil service system.

Therefore, even though all parties thought that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was taking advantage of others' misfortune, that was all. Even officials with less selfish motives, such as Huang Daozhou and Xu Yu, felt comforted by this.

It should be noted that since Bao Zong, civil officials have gradually gained control of the court, and their specific methods of doing things are mostly like a clever wife coaxing her husband.

In such a situation, although all the big and small matters in the family will develop according to the wife's wishes, as long as the husband does not make mistakes in principle, the wife can respect the husband as the head of the family and even give him almost unlimited honor in front of outsiders.

But if the husband wants to have some fun, and wants to find some mistresses (eunuchs) or concubines (military generals) outside, and intends to use this to shake the status of the civil servants' wives
That would be embarrassing. The civil servants who could be said to be in control of everything in the family could cause the emperor to die inexplicably and without any trace.

Therefore, when Zhu Cilang was willing to act within the rules and had not yet sought the help of a "foxy woman", in the eyes of the ministers, Zhu Cilang was naturally a very rule-abiding husband.

Even though the civil servant was completely defeated in this confrontation, it was just normal friction between husband and wife and would not affect the harmony of the family.

Hmm. We’ve gone off topic again.

After the matter was basically finalized, Zhu Cilang did not seem too proud of his small victory.

On the surface, it seemed that this time he was taking advantage of the conflicts among the ministers to carry out an open conspiracy, forcing the various factions that continued to support the imperial power to use this as a means of making a deal with him.

But if you look at the root of it, Zhu Cilang was poaching the civil servants under the guise of fighting for power, which was somewhat tinged with conspiracy.

Influenced by great men of later generations, Zhu Cilang has always been disdainful of conspiracies and intrigues, so naturally he would not feel complacent about them.

"Mr. Ma, tell the news to you gentlemen."

Ma Shiying arrived in Yingtian yesterday with Huang Daozhou.

With their arrival, the news from Hunan and Guangdong and Guangxi finally reached Yingtian. After seeing the worried looks on the two men's faces, Zhu Cilang finally realized how difficult the problem in Hunan was.

Although Chongzhen hanged himself, no one can deny that if the rebel army had not captured Beijing, he would have lived much longer.

On this basis, He Tengjiao not only delayed submitting a memorial to congratulate the Crown Prince on his appointment as the regent of state affairs, but he also took in hundreds of thousands of rebel troops in Hunan. No matter who says it, they will think that He Tengjiao has ulterior motives because of his actions.

Therefore, Ma and Huang were worried that the Crown Prince, who always mentioned the late emperor, would get furious.

However, Zhu Cilang knew the reason after all. He could even guess that He Tengjiao was in a dilemma now.

To put it bluntly, Hunan is now in a situation where the guests are strong and the hosts are weak. He Tengjiao does not have too many troops at his disposal, so he has to consider the attitude of the Chuang army.

Although it was understandable, Zhu Cilang could not allow him to play dumb. Moreover, his small court did not have very good means to control the governors and governors-general in various places. If it dragged on for too long, who knew what kind of trouble would arise.

just
"Reporting to Your Highness, the saint said that the hatred lasted for ten generations, but He Tengjiao actually colluded with the enemy without caring about the death of his king and father. I ask Your Highness to arrest him and punish him for the crime."

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

What are you afraid of?

As soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking, Master Xu took the lead and stood up to express his opinion. It was not difficult to imagine what would happen afterwards. No matter whether the court officials could understand He Tengjiao's difficulties or not, who would dare not follow suit at such a juncture?

The current situation is a bit weird.

Most of the people in the hall of the Ministry of Justice were experienced in political struggles. Even if they were unable to figure out the intricacies of the matter at the beginning, it would only take a moment for them to reconstruct the events in Hunan based on the information they knew.

But what can be done? After all, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the eldest son of the late emperor. It has only been the first anniversary. Who would dare to persuade the son to give up revenge for his father?
Under such circumstances, no matter what opinions the ministers held in their hearts, they had to express their contempt for He Tengjiao, and Zhu Cilang was also overwhelmed by these angry words.

Maybe it's retribution after all.

Li Zicheng forced Chongzhen to death when the Ming Dynasty still had vast territories, and he also died at the hands of a group of militiamen when he still had hundreds of thousands of combat-capable soldiers under his command.

As a latecomer, Zhu Cilang naturally knew the combat effectiveness of these troops, and he also knew that they fought to the last man after surrendering to the Ming.

To be honest, he wanted very much to bring this group of people under his command, and he even wanted to make up a copy of Chongzhen's last words.

But the atmosphere has already been created to this point. As Chongzhen's biological son, even if he really has such a thing, how can he bring it out without any preparation?

After all, there are still few ministers who can guess the emperor's mind.

With this in mind, Zhu Cilang's eyes could not help but scan the faces of the ministers again and again. When everyone in the hall thought that the Crown Prince was trying his best to prevent himself from having an outburst, he finally sighed and said in a slightly sad tone: "It is not easy to make a conclusion about the matter of Governor He. Let's talk about Prince Jingjiang first."

As soon as the words fell, the hall of the Ministry of War, which had been filled with excitement, immediately became quiet.

On the surface, the rebellion of Prince Jingjiang is much easier to resolve than the situation in Hunan, but in practice, all that needs to be done in Hunan is to issue an imperial edict.

Regardless of whether He Tengjiao can be brought back or not, and what the remnant of the rebel army will do in response, the court's attitude is this. If you, He Tengjiao, have the guts, go and establish yourself in Hunan, and see if public opinion can make you the second Qin Hui.

On the other hand, the situation is different with Prince Jingjiang. To resolve this matter, he has to rely on Ding Kuichu. If he rashly issues an edict without colluding with him, he will lack this today and that tomorrow. In the end, not only will he fail to quell Prince Jingjiang's rebellion, but the court will pay a heavy price.

By then, Ding Kuichu was far away in Guangdong, with a large army to rely on, but the person who proposed such a strategy was in the court. Who knew if he would become the target of anger?

This is the reason why the imperial court in every dynasty turned a blind eye to the fact that provincial governors placed a few people in the central government.

After all, no matter how wise the central government's plan is, if the executors are resistant, there will probably be no good results.

If there is Ding Kuichu's confidant or ally in the court now, then when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince raises the issue, that person will give reasonable suggestions from an "objective" standpoint.

At that time, whether it is collusion or coercion, it will be convenient, and the court's strategy will not go astray due to lack of support from local officials.

"Your Highness, in my opinion, the information about Prince Jingjiang is still unclear. It would be better to wait until the specific situation is understood before making any plans."

Just as the lobby of the Ministry of War was gradually becoming quiet, Ma Shiying's vigorous and powerful voice finally rang out.

He knew very well that although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had no plans to ascend the throne for various reasons, the officials in the court had to find an acting position within a short period of time.

Judging from his performance when the Tartars migrated south, it was still unclear whether he could even become an ordinary cabinet minister, let alone the prime minister.

It so happened that at this time, the ministers either had no clear plan or were full of doubts, so they just left His Royal Highness the Crown Prince there.

In this situation, how could he continue to pretend to be deaf and dumb?

"Your Highness, what Lord Ma said is sound, but at this difficult time, we should not be too lenient towards the Jingjiang rebels. It would be better to send an important minister to Guangdong to investigate the situation and then respond on the spot. This way, a small chaos will not develop into a big one."

Although Ma Shiying's words were plausible, in the final analysis he just wanted to make Zhu Cilang look less embarrassed. However, as the former Prime Minister, his every move was under the eyes of everyone. Before he even finished speaking, Qian Qianyi went into battle shirtless.

Competition is everywhere!

What’s more, it is for the position that is second only to one person and above ten thousand people?

Seeing that the fight between the big guys was about to break out, the ministers in the hall couldn't help but concentrate and hold their breath, but before they could make any move, the voice of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sounded at this moment.

"What you two said makes sense, but the matter of Guangdong and Guangxi cannot be delayed too much. Order Ding Kuichu to send troops immediately. If he is unable to quell the rebellion, I will lead the troops myself."

Hiss~~~~~~~.

As soon as the words fell, not only did Qian and Ma widen their eyes, but there were also faint sounds of people gasping in shock in the hall.

Your Highness has already made up his mind!

Otherwise, how could such a decisive choice be made in such a short time?

With this in mind, the ministers thought carefully about the affairs of Guangdong and Guangxi again, and then they realized that there were still some limitations in their ideas.

In the eyes of court officials, Guangdong and Guangxi were thousands of miles away, and there were the Tartars blocking the way in Jiangxi. Even though His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had a strong military force, he still felt that it was out of reach.

As a land-based empire that lasted for thousands of years, the ministers of the Ming Dynasty were not wrong to have such an idea. However, they overlooked one point: this gentleman led his army by sea!
Even if this so-called sea route just goes along the coastline from the mouth of the Yangtze River to the mouth of the Qiantang River, is there any essential difference between this and going to Guangdong and Guangxi along the coastline?

I'm afraid this gentleman is going to take his troops away again.

As their thoughts drifted, the ministers present immediately looked at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince with some suspicion in their eyes, and some people even had a temple name in mind: Wuzong.

At the beginning, Emperor Wuzong used various excuses to leave the capital in order to get rid of the control of the civil officials.

In the end he succeeded, but after establishing a closer connection with the army, his life ended.

However, this temple name probably only flashed by in the minds of some people. After all, the civil service group during the reign of Emperor Wuzong had already dealt with all political enemies. Except for a few eunuchs, they were truly in the limelight. But what about the civil service group now?
All the officials knew that in troubled times, civil officials had no right to challenge military commanders. If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had not suppressed them,
"As your Highness commands."

"As your Highness commands."

(End of this chapter)