Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 4: Eight hundred miles of express delivery, secret letter to the capital!

Arriving at the small gate of the palace, Ma Wensheng got off the carriage.

He straightened his clothes, took out his ivory plate and handed it to the eunuch guarding the palace gate.

"The Minister of War, Ma Wensheng, has important matters to discuss with the elders in the palace."

The cabinet has an unwritten rule that a cabinet elder will be left in the palace every night to handle emergency matters.

The purpose of Ma Wensheng's entry into the palace this time was to meet with the ministers and discuss with them the matter of the little Tatar prince's entry into the pass.

As for Zhu Youtang, he didn't even think about this emperor who had no real power.

In his opinion, this matter only needed to be discussed with a few cabinet ministers, and at most the Empress Dowager Zhou would have to be notified.

The eunuch guarding the palace gate coldly refused: "Your Majesty has ordered that the palace is under martial law tonight, and no one is allowed to enter or leave!"

"My lord, please go back."

"His Majesty?"

Ma Wensheng was stunned and confused: "Why did your majesty give this order?"

The eunuch guarding the palace gate did not respond.

Ma Wensheng was extremely anxious: "I do have something important to discuss with you. If I make a mistake, you will have ten heads left!"

The eunuch guarding the palace gate spoke again: "All the elders are not in the palace."

The elders are not in the palace?

Ma Wensheng was stunned and felt strange, but the secret letter in his hand was obviously more important.

He said no more and quickly got back into the carriage.

"Hurry, go to Prime Minister Wan's house."

"Yes."

Soon, Ma Wensheng arrived at the home of Prime Minister Wan'an.

Without any obstacles, Ma Wensheng met Wan An who was getting ready to go to bed.

"Master Ma, you are visiting me so late, is there something important you want to discuss?"

"That's right, Prime Minister Wan, take a look at this first!"

Ma Wensheng handed the secret letter to Wan'an, who was also shocked after reading it.

"How could this happen? Datong Prefecture was defeated, and the Tartars actually entered the pass?"

"Yes, Prime Minister Wan, what should we do now?"

Wan An was also at a loss: "Let the other two elders come and discuss this first?"

"it is good!"

Not long after, the other two cabinet elders, Liu Wei and Liu Ji, arrived at Wan'an's house one after another.

There are only three ministers in the cabinet now, and now they are all gathered.

But after reading the secret letter, Liu Wei and Liu Ji were unable to explain it.

Wan'an, Liu Wei and Liu Ji were all old ministers during the Chenghua period.

The three of them had a resounding name in later generations, and were called the Three Paper-Made Elders.

It describes these three people who hold high positions but do nothing and have no real talent or knowledge.

The three of them discussed for a long time, but there was no progress at all.

At this time, Liu Ji suddenly asked: "Should we report this matter to His Majesty?"

There was silence in the room at first, and then a low laugh was heard.

The Minister of War, Ma Wensheng, gave a disdainful smile.

"Forget it. Telling our little emperor such a serious matter might scare him so much that he won't be able to sleep."

"That's right. With his ability, even if he knew, what could he do?"

"That's right, I was so anxious that I thought of him." Liu Ji smiled self-deprecatingly.

After just a few words, everyone had made up their mind, and no one mentioned telling His Majesty again.

After an hour of intensive discussion, the four finally came up with a solution.

"Master Ma, how about you lead the troops to Datong Prefecture in person?"

"You have just been promoted to the Minister of War. You need a great achievement to make your position more secure."

Ma Wensheng had previously been in charge of the three borders and had also served as governor of Liaodong.

He is an official who is relatively familiar with the border situation and has personally been on the battlefield.

The situation is urgent now, and the three elders could only think of this one solution, which is not a solution.

Ma Wensheng thought it made sense and immediately accepted the order. "Yes, Prime Minister. I will immediately allocate food and troops to support Datong Prefecture."

"So good."

After Ma Wensheng left, the paper-made Third Elder yawned and went back to sleep.

After Ma Wensheng returned home, he immediately began to prepare for the expedition.

During the Hongzhi period, an important reason for the Ming Dynasty's military decline was that after Ma Wensheng was promoted to Minister of War, he excluded meritorious officials and generals and controlled the money and grain of the border towns.

Ma Wensheng was promoted from the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp to the minister of war during the power vacuum period just after Zhu Youtang ascended the throne.

In this way, he was in charge of both the Beijing Camp and the Ministry of War at the same time.

In the second month after Ma Wensheng took over as commander of the Beijing Camp, Li Jin, Marquis of Xiangcheng, who was in charge of the Beijing Camp, suddenly died in a very strange way.

Afterwards, Lu Jian, the general stationed in Yansui, and the deputy general stationed in Xuanfu retired and returned home.

Wang Xi, the general stationed in Gansu, died suddenly.

Even Liu Jing, the Marquis of Anyuan who was in charge of Guangdong and Guangxi, was impeached and imprisoned.

Behind all this, it was Ma Wensheng who fanned the flames.

The purpose was to continue to control the troops in the border areas after controlling the Ministry of War of the imperial court and the Beijing Camp in the capital.

Ma Wensheng was highly praised in historical books.

In fact, during the more than ten years that Ma Wensheng was in charge of the Ministry of War, the military equipment in the border towns of the Ming Dynasty was in disrepair and in a mess.

There is a folk song circulating in the capital: "There are unlucky stars in the sky and Tatar soldiers on the ground. If you want to get rid of these two, you must kill Ma Wensheng."

Now, Ma Wensheng will be ordered to go to Datong Prefecture to fight against the invasion of the Tatar prince.

……

Forbidden City.

Cining Palace.

After the eunuch from the East Factory placed the tray in the Cining Palace, he left quickly.

When the eunuchs and maids in the Cining Palace saw this thing, they were so frightened that they let out shrill screams.

"What are you yelling about?"

Empress Dowager Zhou walked out of the Cining Palace with an unhappy look on her face.

The eunuchs and palace maids around hurriedly bowed and shouted for forgiveness.

Empress Dowager Zhou also noticed the tray outside the palace and said, "What is that? Bring it to me to see."

A bold eunuch picked up the tray and came before Empress Dowager Zhou.

Seeing the bloodstains on the white cloth, Empress Dowager Zhou already felt something was wrong.

She signaled with her eyes, and a eunuch bravely lifted the white cloth on the tray.

Liang Fang's fresh head, with its eyes still open, stared straight at Empress Dowager Zhou.

"what……"

"ah!"

"Ahhhh!"

"..."

Even though Empress Dowager Zhou was used to seeing storms and waves, she was still frightened when she suddenly saw a bloody human head.

There was a cry of surprise in the palace.

After the shock, Empress Dowager Zhou felt angry!
This head must have been ordered by the little emperor, who wanted to use it to warn her.

Liang Fang is hers, how can you kill her at will?
Great, this little emperor has grown powerful and wants to seize power.

I want him to know who has the final say in this harem!

"Someone, go get Tang'er to see me!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Empress Dowager Zhou walked into the bedroom with a gloomy face.

She had already made up her mind that she must severely punish Zhu Youtang this time!
With a wave of his hand, Wei Xing, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, automatically possessed himself near the mouth of Empress Dowager Zhou.

"Go and ask Wan Tong to bring the Jinyiwei into the palace. You will be the commander of the East Factory for now. Ask all the guards of the East Factory in the palace to come to my Cining Palace."

"Yes, madam!"

Wei Xing took the order and hurried out of the Cining Palace to do things according to the instructions of Empress Dowager Zhou.

(End of this chapter)