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

Chapter 649 Stability
In Wenhua Hall, Zhu Shenzhu has been so busy these days that he doesn't even have time to rest.

Having just captured the capital and the imperial palace and controlled the core of the Ming Dynasty, he had too many things to do.

As soon as he stabilized the capital, Zhu Shenzui sent imperial edicts to all parts of the Ming Dynasty in the name of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, informing the local tribes that they no longer needed to come to the capital to defend the king. Zhu Shenzui had led his troops to purge the court and quell the national crisis, and had taken over the capital, and had obtained permission from Emperor Chongzhen to temporarily take over the government.

The imperial edict explained the matter and ordered all provinces and prefectures to stabilize the area and not panic. The Ming Dynasty was still the Ming Dynasty and everyone should do what they should do. Except for the troops that were suppressing the bandits Gao Yingxiang and others, all other troops were not allowed to be mobilized without authorization, let alone cross the border. As for the troops that were already on the way to the king, they were to return to their stations immediately. If they did not obey the imperial edict, it would be considered as rebellion.

As for local officials, they were all to remain as they were, as long as they showed their support for the court, and no matter what they had done before, they would be forgiven. Soon after this edict was issued, it soon reached everyone, and many people were stunned after seeing it.

No one expected that a mere inconspicuous member of the royal family would suddenly rise up in arms, and not only did he succeed under the banner of clearing the court of corrupt officials and pacifying the national crisis, but the entire process, from taking Baoding to breaking through the capital and occupying the imperial city, took less than ten days. Now not only did the capital fall into the hands of Zhu Shenzhu, but even Emperor Chongzhen and all the civil and military officials in the court were killed.

The officials loyal to Emperor Chongzhen burst into tears, stamped their feet and cursed Zhu Shenzhui as a traitor who brought disaster to the country and the people, while more people had complicated expressions and secretly made plans for themselves.

If the capital had not been destroyed, they would have certainly saved it, not to mention the emperor. If Emperor Chongzhen had died, they would still lead troops to the capital to save the Ming Dynasty from danger and avenge Emperor Chongzhen.

As for who would be the emperor of the Ming Dynasty after that? This was of course very important. According to bloodline, Emperor Tianqi had no heirs, and none of Emperor Chongzhen's sons could survive, so the only option was to choose from among Emperor Taichang's brothers.

When Emperor Wanli was planning to change the crown prince, Prince Fu, who he had always wanted to make the crown prince, was the best candidate. He could support Prince Fu as the emperor, bring him to Nanjing to ascend the throne, and then raise an army to attack, so as to stabilize the situation in the Ming Dynasty.

But now Emperor Chongzhen is still alive. Even if this aliveness is only stated in the imperial edict, most people are just half-believing and half-doubting. But this matter has not been confirmed after all. Who dares to make a move at this time? Ignoring Emperor Chongzhen and supporting Prince Fu first? What is the difference between this and treason? Even if someone thinks so in his heart, once he makes a mistake, not only will it be of no benefit, but he will become the target of public criticism.

In this way, civil and military officials from all over the country did not know what to do for a while. Except for a few stubborn ones who still led their troops north under the banner of supporting the king, most people kept their troops in place and watched the situation change. Some led their troops back to their garrisons as ordered and hurriedly sent memorials to the capital to express their attitude of supporting the court.

There were so many different things going on, and for a while the entire Ming Dynasty fell into a very strange state. Many people were observing the changes in the capital and the court, and were planning to wait and see what the outcome would be for those stubborn guys. If there were any changes in the end, it would not be too late to make a decision. Anyway, for them, no matter who became the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, as long as they could continue to be officials, their own rights and wealth and glory were the most important.

In addition to the imperial edict, Zhu Shenzhu also wrote personal letters to the governors of various regions, the nine frontiers and local generals, informing them that he was not planning a rebellion, but was trying to clear the court and pacify the country. Now that the capital had been taken, Zhu Shenzhu had "rescued" Emperor Chongzhen from the hands of the treacherous ministers. The next step was to assist the emperor in rectifying the government and reviving the Ming Dynasty.

As important officials of the Ming Dynasty, you should put the Ming Dynasty first and not do things on your own, causing chaos in the country and suffering for the people. At the same time, Zhu Shenzhu also used the emperor's hand to reward everyone, promoting those who were promoted, conferring titles on those who were conferred titles, and giving promises to those who were given, trying his best to win over everyone, and at the same time secretly warning them to express their attitude as soon as possible.

After taking over the capital and the palace, not only was Emperor Chongzhen captured, but even the emperor's seals fell into Zhu Shenzhu's hands. Writing a few imperial edicts and stamping a few seals were not difficult for Zhu Shenzhu now. Even the Silijian was restored at the first time. Among the original Silijian people, Wang Chengen and three others were beheaded on the spot because they led people to resist when the Jingnan Army entered the palace. Wang Chengen and the Silijian's secretary Wang Yumin were captured and put under custody.

The remaining two people from the Imperial Household Department were Han Zanzhou and Fang Zhenghua. When the chaos broke out in the palace, Fang Zhenghua did not take up weapons to resist with Wang Chengen. Fearing death, he hid with several godsons. After Wang Jinwu and Li You entered the palace to search for him, Fang Zhenghua was caught from his hiding place. When he was caught, Fang Zhenghua was so scared that his face turned pale. He knelt on the ground and begged for his life, saying that he was the secretary of the Imperial Household Department, and if he was spared, he would be willing to serve Zhu Shenzhui.

Although Fang Zhenghua was a man of poor character and even cowardly, such a villain was somewhat useful. After Zhu Shenzhui learned about this, he specially asked someone to bring Fang Zhenghua to the Wenhua Palace to meet him and decided to use him. In Zhu Shenzhui's view, gentlemen were good, but villains were often more useful. Moreover, Fang Zhenghua was originally the secretary of the Silijian. Now that he had just taken charge of the capital, Zhu Shenzhui needed someone like Fang Zhenghua. He pardoned him on the spot and restored his position as the secretary of the Silijian. Han Zanzhou was captured when the main force of the Beijing Camp was defeated. Later, Zhu Shenzhui forced everyone in the Beijing Camp, including Han Zanzhou, to sign and seal the manifesto. In addition, Li Guofu, who had defected to Zhu Shenzhui earlier, and Du Xun, who temporarily turned against him and captured Emperor Chongzhen, formed the new Silijian with these three people, including Fang Zhenghua.

Among them, Han Zanzhou was the eunuch in charge of the seal, replacing Wang Chengen. Fang Zhenghua continued to serve as the secretary. Li Guofu was promoted directly from the eunuch of the Imperial Stables to the secretary, and the position of the Imperial Stables was also returned to him. Du Xun also became the secretary, and then two people were selected from the eunuchs in the palace. In this way, the Ming Dynasty's Silijian was reorganized and restored on the second day after entering the city.

While determining the new candidate for the Imperial Household Department, Zhu Shenzhui did not forget another most important central institution of the Ming Dynasty, which was the Cabinet.

The current chief minister of the cabinet is Wen Tihen, who can be regarded as the chief minister who served the longest in Chongzhen's cabinet.

Since Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, he made unprecedentedly frequent changes in the cabinet. Cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, were adjusted like a revolving lantern. Many cabinet ministers were often kicked out of the cabinet within a few months of entering the cabinet, and even the prime minister was the same. There was even a record of replacing three prime ministers in one year.

The reason for such frequent changes was that Emperor Chongzhen did not trust the cabinet members, including dissatisfaction with the abilities of these prime ministers and cabinet ministers.

But is it really so? After all, who can be a cabinet minister is not a smart person? It is not true that they are incompetent. The key lies in the character of Emperor Chongzhen. First, he does not like the cabinet to contradict him. Second, he is wary of the cabinet. As for the third and most important reason, he is suspicious and impatient. As long as there is a slight problem in the court, or something happens in Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen will immediately think that it is the cabinet's problem. The cabinet chief or cabinet ministers did not do their job well and were incompetent. He will not listen to any explanation and will just replace them.

In addition to this reason, the frequent changes in the cabinet were also due to the fact that Emperor Chongzhen had gradually realized that the Donglin Party could not be trusted. By changing the cabinet members, Emperor Chongzhen also intended to support other party members to compete with the Donglin Party. However, the people who were replaced did not meet Emperor Chongzhen's expectations, which made him dissatisfied and continued to change people, creating this vicious cycle.

After carefully understanding the situation of the current cabinet members, it is found that neither the Prime Minister Wen Tihen nor several cabinet ministers, such as Fan Fucui and Zhang Zhifa, are members of the Donglin Party. Wen Tihen has always regarded himself as a lone minister and does not belong to any party in the court. After becoming the Prime Minister, he is even more obedient to Emperor Chongzhen. In addition, his clean and self-disciplined style of a lone minister made Emperor Chongzhen very satisfied. This is the main reason why he was able to serve as the Prime Minister for so long.

The other few people were not members of the Donglin Party either. They were from the Qi Party, the Chu Party or the Zhejiang Party. That is to say, after the fourth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen kicked out all the Donglin Party members in the cabinet. There were basically no Donglin Party members among the cabinet members appointed afterwards. This shows that Emperor Chongzhen was already deeply on guard against the Donglin Party and wanted to use the cabinet to suppress it, but the effect was not optimistic.

After all, although the cabinet members he appointed later were no longer from the Donglin Party, Emperor Chongzhen forgot one thing, that is, although these people were not from the Donglin Party, they were still members of the official group, and behind them were aristocratic families. Moreover, the party struggles in the Ming Dynasty were not as simple as they seemed. Although the Donglin Party was the only dominant party, in the struggles with other parties, such as the Zhejiang Party, the Qi Party, and the Chu Party, they were often interdependent. Sometimes they even colluded with each other for common interests and joined forces to fool the emperor. Emperor Chongzhen's plan to use the cabinet to suppress the Donglin Party sounded good from the beginning, but in fact it was impossible to succeed.

Compared with Emperor Tianqi, who appointed Wei Zhongxian to form the Eunuch Party to fight against the Donglin Party, Emperor Chongzhen was far inferior in ability, vision and means. This is why no matter how he adjusted the cabinet, he could not achieve the expected results.

Moreover, the constant adjustment of the cabinet caused the cabinet to be unstable and the court's orders could not be implemented for a long time. In addition, the precarious status of everyone made everyone afraid to do anything. Because if you do something, you will make mistakes. Once you make a mistake, Emperor Chongzhen will definitely dismiss you from office and kick you out of the cabinet. You may even end up like Xue Guoguan in the past.

In a word, the more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make; and if you do nothing, you make no mistakes.

If the cabinet has this mentality, what about other departments in the court? It has become a tacit understanding for the Ming court to fool and prevaricate the emperor in order to protect themselves. No one dares to take responsibility for many things. Once discussing national affairs, they either find excuses to shirk responsibility or talk about irrelevant things, and finally nothing is done. If this continues, it will be strange if the Ming Dynasty does not fall into chaos.

(End of this chapter)