Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 485: Prison
Because Yuan Chonghuan did not take the initiative to attack as Emperor Chongzhen intended, quickly resolve the Jiannu army outside the city, and resolve the crisis in the capital, Emperor Chongzhen began to suspect whether Yuan Chonghuan had ulterior motives. In his opinion, he had already explained to Yuan Chonghuan, but Yuan Chonghuan ignored his instructions as soon as he left the city, which clearly showed that he did not take him, the emperor, seriously.

Moreover, the people in the capital were in panic at that time. Many court officials were saying that Yuan Chonghuan was suspected of being self-reliant. In addition, the time when the Guanning Army and the Jiannu arrived in the capital one after another was too coincidental. Although Yuan Chonghuan gave an explanation for this, not many people believed this explanation. In addition, the people, gentry and even officials who fled to the capital from all over the capital in recent days cried that the Jiannu were burning, killing, looting and doing all kinds of evil everywhere, but they never saw their own army coming to rescue. They directly pointed the contradiction of the problem to Yuan Chonghuan. Some people even asserted that Yuan Chonghuan had colluded with the Jiannu for a long time, and the reason why the Jiannu were able to be at the gates of the city was entirely due to Yuan Chonghuan. Otherwise, how could this happen?
At first, Emperor Chongzhen was unwilling to believe this. He tried hard to tell himself that he should trust Yuan Chonghuan. After all, as the governor-general of Ji and Liao, Yuan Chonghuan had treated him well. From the time he reused Yuan Chonghuan to the present, Emperor Chongzhen almost always responded to Yuan Chonghuan's requests. He got soldiers, food, and pay. As for official positions, it goes without saying. Yuan Chonghuan is now not only the governor-general of Ji and Liao, but also has the title of Prince Taibao, which has reached the pinnacle of civil officials.

Even when Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, Emperor Chongzhen still suppressed it. The reason he did this was because he trusted Yuan Chonghuan and believed that Yuan Chonghuan could fulfill his promise.

But what about now? With the Jiannu army approaching the city and the capital area in flames, Emperor Chongzhen's trust has begun to waver. In addition, the situation has been deteriorating in recent days. Countless officials in the court began to impeach Yuan Chonghuan, and the news in the capital that Yuan Chonghuan was collaborating with the enemy and luring the Jiannu to attack the capital was spreading more and more. Emperor Chongzhen was not a tough person. He was suspicious and began to doubt Yuan Chonghuan, but he still had a fluke and thought that Yuan Chonghuan might have some plan. For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen sent officials to urge Yuan Chonghuan to fight the Jiannu as soon as possible, but he didn't expect to be rejected by Yuan Chonghuan again.

When the news came, Emperor Chongzhen was completely disappointed, and his attitude towards Yuan Chonghuan changed 180 degrees in an instant. After thinking about it, he made up his mind to capture Yuan Chonghuan to avoid further deterioration of the situation.

On the second day after Emperor Chongzhen made the decision, he sent eunuchs out of the city to convey his order, asking Yuan Chonghuan to come into the city to see him.

At this time, Yuan Chonghuan did not know that he had completely lost the trust of Emperor Chongzhen. He was still thinking about how to meet the emperor and explain his ideas to him. So Yuan Chonghuan, who was completely unprepared, entered the city in a basket. When he arrived at the palace, he saw that in addition to Emperor Chongzhen, there were also many important ministers.

Seeing Yuan Chonghuan coming, Emperor Chongzhen directly asked Yuan Chonghuan about his current situation and asked when the crisis in the capital would be resolved. Yuan Chonghuan was stunned when he heard this. When he was thinking about how to answer, Shen Yongmao, the Minister of War, who had been waiting for a long time, stood up and directly accused Yuan Chonghuan of being the reason why the Jiannu army could come to the city, and demanded that Yuan Chonghuan be severely punished.

"Yuan Chonghuan, do you have any opinion on Minister Shen's impeachment against you?" Emperor Chongzhen asked directly in a cold tone.

Yuan Chonghuan opened his mouth to explain, but he didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Your Majesty! As the commander-in-chief of Ji and Liao, Yuan Chonghuan should have been responsible for defending the country from the outside. However, the Jiannu army broke through Zunhua and took over Jizhou. Now they have even directly attacked the capital. There are rumors everywhere in the capital that Yuan Chonghuan was conspiring with the Jiannu army. The reason why the Jiannu army was able to enter the capital was all due to Yuan Chonghuan. Yuan Chonghuan is suspected of treason. I beg Your Majesty to arrest Yuan Chonghuan, remove him from office, and investigate this matter thoroughly!" At this time, Zhang Zhifa, the chancellor of Shuntian Prefecture, stood up and impeached Yuan Chonghuan with great passion. He also directly suggested that Yuan Chonghuan be punished.

"Not right!" As soon as Zhang Zhifa finished speaking, the cabinet minister Cheng Jiming tried to dissuade him: "Your Majesty, what Lord Zhang said is just a rumor and cannot be true. Although Yuan Chonghuan has done something wrong, he has not shown any signs of collusion with the Jian Nu since he came to the capital to help. It is really inappropriate to punish the court ministers and the commanders of the army based on rumors alone."

"Rumors? Haha, Master Cheng, haven't you ever heard that there is no smoke without fire?" Zhang Zhifa directly refuted: "Now that the enemy has arrived, Yuan Chonghuan, as the governor of Ji and Liao, not only did he not stop the Jiannu from entering the pass, but he led the Jiannu to the capital. Is this not true? In addition, the Jiannu are currently committing countless evil deeds in the capital, and the people have suffered heavy losses, but Yuan Chonghuan has kept his troops in place and watched the Jiannu looting, burning and killing. Why is this? I don't understand military affairs, but I know that a general should focus on protecting the country and the people. He can't even protect the people of the Ming Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan is not to blame! Your Majesty, I think Yuan Chonghuan is not trustworthy. If he continues to lead the troops, he might sell out the capital one day. Your Majesty! We must be on guard!"

"What Lord Zhang said makes sense. I also think that Yuan Chonghuan should be arrested and the matter should be investigated thoroughly!" As soon as Zhang Zhifa finished speaking, several other ministers expressed their agreement. They all felt that Yuan Chonghuan should be arrested. Regardless of whether Yuan Chonghuan was guilty or not, he was now a major suspect and Yuan Chonghuan could no longer be used to guard the capital.

Cheng Jiming still expressed his opposition. He hurriedly said that Yuan Chonghuan was the current commander-in-chief. If Yuan Chonghuan was captured and replaced in the face of a powerful enemy, something serious would happen. Moreover, there was no real evidence to support the current rumors. It would not be too late to investigate after the Jiannu were defeated.

"Haha, isn't Mr. Cheng afraid that Yuan Chonghuan will collude with the insiders and outsiders and surrender the capital to the Jian Nu? If that happens, what can we talk about in the future?" Shen Yongmao, the Minister of War, directly refuted. "Shen Sir! You are a soldier. I don't need to explain the risks of changing generals in the middle of a battle, right? If Yuan Chonghuan is punished, I ask you, who can replace him?"

"Hmph! The Datong General Man Gui can replace him!" Shen Yongmao spoke without thinking. He had long disliked Yuan Chonghuan. In the past two years, Yuan Chonghuan had become very popular and had absolute power in Ji and Liao. He did not take the Ministry of War seriously at all.

Moreover, in addition to his personal thoughts, Emperor Chongzhen also wanted to attack Yuan Chonghuan today. Besides, he also saw that Yuan Chonghuan had not taken any action in the past few days. His family was in the capital. Once the capital was captured, the whole family would die without a burial place. Shen Yongmao had long wanted to replace Yuan Chonghuan, and now he was just going with the flow.

"Yuan Chonghuan, what else do you have to say?" The face of Emperor Chongzhen, who was sitting on the throne, was as cold as ice. He no longer had the pleasant expression he had towards Yuan Chonghuan in the past.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." Yuan Chonghuan was anxious and wanted to explain himself, but suddenly a nightmare he had before flashed through his mind. He felt like he was struck by lightning. The current situation was almost exactly the same as in his dream. Could it be that his nightmare had come true?
For a moment, Yuan Chonghuan, whose mind was in a mess, didn't know how to distinguish the words, and subconsciously uttered a series of words in his hometown Cantonese. Everyone in the hall was confused by what he heard. No one could understand the meaning of these Cantonese words that sounded like bird language. Seeing Yuan Chonghuan's face turning blue and white, everyone thought that Yuan Chonghuan was speechless and had acknowledged his guilt.

Emperor Chongzhen had lost his patience at this time, and immediately ordered Zhang Maozhong and others to lead the Jinyiwei to arrest Yuan Chonghuan and put him directly in the Jinyiwei prison.

Just like that, Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned before he had the chance to defend himself. After Yuan Chonghuan was dragged away, Emperor Chongzhen thought that the suggestion of the Minister of War Shen Yongmao was good. Man Gui was not only the general of Datong, but also the commander-in-chief of Ningyuan. Emperor Chongzhen had met Man Gui again and had a deep memory of Man Gui, who was upright, brave and good at fighting. He immediately ordered people to leave the city and convey the order to Man Gui and the various troops outside the city, informing them that Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, and that Man Gui would replace Yuan Chonghuan to command the various troops to defend the king.

After delivering the decree, Emperor Chongzhen waved his sleeves and left. Everyone respectfully saw him off. After the emperor left, the ministers left happily because Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned. Only the cabinet minister Cheng Jiming had a worried look on his face. In his opinion, Emperor Chongzhen handled this matter too hastily. Facing a powerful enemy, he not only changed his generals on the battlefield, but also imprisoned Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Ji and Liao. This approach was really unacceptable.

In Cheng Jiming's opinion, Yuan Chonghuan was not without fault. He was responsible for the Jiannu's approach to the city, but no matter how responsible he was, he would not have colluded with the Jiannu and sold out his country. Moreover, before the Jiannu detoured through Mongolia from Jizhou to Zunhua to break through the Great Wall and enter the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, Yuan Chonghuan had proposed to the court to strengthen the defense of this line and set up a militia commander in Zunhua to prevent the Jiannu from detouring southward.

Cheng Jiming was present at the time of the discussion. If they had followed Yuan Chonghuan's suggestion and made arrangements in advance, even if they could not stop the Jiannu cavalry, they could at least buy time for the arrival of reinforcements. In this way, it would be impossible for the Jiannu troops to approach the capital.

Unfortunately, the then Minister of War Wang Qia did not agree with Yuan Chonghuan's opinion, and other cabinet ministers also expressed opposition. Even the matter of adding a militia general was ultimately shelved.

Now Wang Qia was dismissed because of the Jiannu invasion, but the problem still exists. Now all the responsibility is put on Yuan Chonghuan, just because some people are worried that Emperor Chongzhen will remember the past and hold them accountable. Now they strongly suggest that Emperor Chongzhen should remove Yuan Chonghuan from office and put him in prison, which is even more of a diversion. Cheng Jiming has been an official for many years, how can he not see this?
Unfortunately, he alone could not change the outcome, and Emperor Chongzhen's anger towards Yuan Chonghuan had reached its peak, and he took Yuan Chonghuan down without any advice. Now that the matter was done, he was powerless and could only pray that the army would be stable after the change of generals and that the Jiannu would be repelled as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)