Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 504 It’s time to define
What happened in the first few decades of the Ming Dynasty?
Generally speaking, the Tartars rose up outside the Great Wall, and the peasant army caused chaos inside the country. In the end, the huge empire was defeated and almost destroyed by a small tribe with a population of only a few hundred thousand people due to internal and external troubles.

Everyone is clear about this matter and even ordinary people can say a few words about it, but it is a very difficult task to explain it clearly at the moment, not to mention the need to divide the responsibilities and make a qualitative assessment.

According to common sense, such historical compilation is almost always done after all the people involved have passed away and all the influences have been exhausted. Even if it will have a great benefit to the current situation, it will take a few years for it to take effect.

But Zhu Cilang couldn't wait any longer.

The Qing Dynasty is already on its last legs, and will soon return to the old capital. By then, the Tartars will be easy to deal with, but it will be troublesome for the officials in Beijing to deal with them.

In the eyes of ordinary people, there are only three or two thousand officials in Beijing. Even if they are all charged with treason, it is not a big deal. However, the reality is much more complicated than the imagination in the mind.

Each of these people has a significant influence on the local area, and changing one's allegiance during a change of dynasty is not unacceptable in traditional concepts.

If there is no solid guidance on how to deal with these people, it will inevitably create considerable obstacles to restoring local peace.

This is not Zhu Cilang's unfounded worry.

Whenever there is troubled times, all forces will regard the old capital of the previous dynasty as the primary target to be seized. This is of course because the capital has a strong symbolic significance, but the more important reason lies in the people.

Take the process of the Qing Dynasty sweeping across the country as an example.

During this period, the provinces with more officials in the capital surrendered faster, while the provinces that had little influence from the central government resisted extremely resolutely.

The occurrence of such a situation is not because there are brave men everywhere and everyone is a coward. In the final analysis, it is just the Beijing officials who are exerting influence on the local areas.

Honestly speaking, this one point alone is enough for Zhu Cilang to use the tactic of characterization to weaken the influence of Beijing officials on local areas, but he has always liked to kill two birds with one stone, so this move would not have only this purpose.

just
"Your Majesty, we are dull and don't see the truth of the past events. If we want to make a judgment, we still need your guidance."

Looking at Qian and Ma who had stiff faces and didn't say a word, Yuan Jixian sighed in his heart and took the initiative to stand up.

Although the events that took place in Yingtian were still somewhat mysterious to the people, officials at a certain level basically knew what each person's performance was.

Under such circumstances, Qian and Ma were unable to respond, and he was probably the only one who could take on this task.

"Let's not talk about the first half of the story of the emperor's grandfather, and start with Nurhaci's usurpation of power and founding a new country," the voice came out, and everyone listened attentively. Then Zhu Cilang stood up from his chair and walked around the desk before continuing, "The eunuch party and the Donglin, Qi, Chu, Zhejiang and other local cliques, in short, don't focus on individuals, and focus on how the party struggles almost caused the Ming Dynasty to perish."

thump!
Before Zhu Cilang finished his words, several cabinet ministers including Yuan Jixian immediately knelt on the ground.

Don't focus on individuals.

How could it not be possible to focus on the individual?

When it comes down to it, these parties are just names; it is the specific individuals who really cause trouble.

Take the abandonment of Yingtian as an example. No matter whether the ministers of the time were afraid of death or were forced by the situation, Ma Shiying was a person who could not be avoided.

If his character is really determined to this point, what role will he, Ma Shiying, play? What role can he play?
Your Majesty, do you want to discard the donkey after it has served its purpose?
It shouldn't be that way. It was determined that when Hongguang came to power, no one could escape the word "party strife".

If Your Majesty really wants to settle old scores, you can just find a random excuse. Why go through so much trouble?
As his thoughts turned, Ma Shiying could not help but overturn his own guess. However, no matter how much he thought about it, he still could not understand the emperor's intention. Beads of sweat the size of beans gradually gathered on his forehead.

"I know you all have concerns, but no one can escape responsibility for the state's current situation. If we don't clarify the matter now, who will be able to explain the reasons after we die?"

As a last resort?
As soon as these words came out, Qian and Ma immediately felt that their situation had turned bright.

They had been thinking about how to make some changes to reduce their responsibilities during the Hongguang period as much as possible, but the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to education, and all kinds of things would inevitably leave clues among the people.

Under such circumstances, if they made changes to what had already happened, they would only end up humiliating themselves. It would be better for them to record their "helplessness" as a reasonable excuse.

At this point, the three of them were ready to accept the order and leave, but how could Zhu Cilang let them leave when he hadn't finished what he really wanted to say?

"Ma Ge Lao's abandonment of Yingtian was only a matter of route, strategy and tactics. It did not harm the greater good. Those people in Beijing had no king or father, and they almost brought the Ming Dynasty to its demise. In the end, they surrendered again and again with a clear conscience."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

"Your Majesty is right! When the late emperor was collecting money, those people refused to give a penny. But when the enemy broke into the city, they paid 70 million taels. These people have no respect for their king or father. They should let future generations know what they did."

As soon as Zhu Cilang said this, the three ministers in the cabinet immediately understood that this was the true characterization.

Knowing this, Qian and Ma put their worries to rest completely, and their former energy returned to their conversation.

As the saying goes, everyone minds his own business.

At this time, the three ministers in the cabinet only thought that your majesty's real intention was to use this action to cleanse the late emperor, and he had no intention of doing anything to the ministers of Yingtian.

But Zhu Cilang had no intention of doing such a thing. His real idea was to poach the civil servants.

It is easy to imagine that once this characterization is compiled into a book, it will inevitably spread among the people under the impetus of certain forces.

By then, people like Ma Shiying and Qian Qianyi will be able to get rid of most of the responsibilities, but the rest will fall heavily on the entire bureaucratic system, and factionalism will go from being blatant in the past to being a taboo.

Of course, the more Yingtian officials try to shirk their responsibility, the clearer their description of the earlier situation becomes.

And the worse the situation becomes, the more respected Zhu Cilang, the emperor who turned the situation around, will be.

But if things were only planned to this point, how could it be called killing two birds with one stone? When the few people were about to step out of the warm room, Zhu Cilang seemed to have just thought of something.

"Oh, by the way, let's go down and discuss whether we should include this characterization in the next imperial examination."

(End of this chapter)