Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 299 Deploying troops, let's stir things up!
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Shan Mingxu suddenly felt a little scared. Why was the plot different from what he had imagined?
He looked around frantically, hoping someone would come to his rescue, but everyone saw through his ungrateful nature and no one wanted to be betrayed. He could only plead with Gao Hongtu, but Gao Hongtu turned his head away, refusing to acknowledge him.

"Go ahead and charge! Your Majesty, don't regret it!" Shan Mingxu declared fiercely, then aimed at the nearest pillar, closed his eyes, and charged like a bull. Zhu Youjian couldn't help but glance at him, and the others also looked over nervously.

"Bang!" Shan Mingxu crashed solidly into a pillar. "Ouch!" He landed on his bottom, a large bump rapidly swelling on his head, but judging from his appearance, he didn't seem to be going to die.

Dan Mingxu grimaced in pain, tears streaming down his face. His head was spinning, and everything was beginning to spun around him. He felt like he was about to die, and he dared not go through it again, or he would really die.

He lay down on the ground, closed his eyes, and began to play dead, but his acting was very clumsy: his lips were pressed tightly together, and he closed his eyes so hard that wrinkles appeared on them.

Everyone stared at him speechlessly. Zhu Youjian was disgusted. He said, "Right Vice Censor-in-Chief Shan Mingxu struck a pillar in court and fainted. After being treated by the imperial physician, he was diagnosed with amnesia and is unable to perform his duties. Therefore, he is granted permission to retire!"

Dan Mingxu's heart skipped a beat. He was about to get up when someone covered his mouth and nose, and a sharp object was pressed against his neck. His hair stood on end, but he dared not move. How could the emperor have become like this? He was blatantly lying through his teeth, utterly shameless! He was afraid he would really be killed and then accused of suicide!

However, he quickly comforted himself, thinking that although the emperor had dismissed him from office, it could not stop his fame from spreading. In any case, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were short-lived. As long as he could wait for the next emperor, he could be reinstated and maybe even rise to a higher position!
The ministers witnessed this scene and felt complicated. Sure enough, once the emperor was in power, he would turn bad. No matter how benevolent he appeared before, he would eventually tear off his disguise. No one could resist the temptation of absolute power!

Zhu Youjian didn't really care about his reputation. He understood the principle of suffering for the sake of saving face. The reason he rarely made decisions on his own was not because he was afraid of these ministers, but because he couldn't bring himself to bear the consequences of a falling out and didn't want to alienate his ministers.

Well, he was afraid of these ministers. He needed someone to do the work; he couldn't let the border troops collect taxes, could he?! But he was in a terrible predicament. He wasn't a heartless political machine. What Hei Yunlong said was exactly what he was thinking. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty didn't die at the hands of the enemy, but instead, he personally ordered them to be beheaded?!
Zhu Youjian stood up, and the officials dared not remain seated. They all rose and looked at Sun Chengzong, waiting to see if Sun Chengzong would kneel. They felt this scene was quite familiar. They believed they were not wrong and that the emperor was being unreasonable. However, since they were going to oppose the emperor, they were sure to be scolded.

Sun Chengzong frowned. He felt he was being put on a pedestal. It wasn't a given that the Grand Secretary should lead all the officials. If he made a mistake, he would be ridiculed by everyone, and the other ministers would no longer obey him. Then he would become a clay statue Grand Secretary. How could he manage things in the future?! So he chose not to kneel!

However, Zhu Youjian was not particularly sensitive to these exchanges of etiquette, and he was unaware of the many thoughts running through the minds of these ministers.

Under the watchful eyes of his ministers, Zhu Youjian walked step by step to the coffin in the main hall. He pointed to the two young corpses inside the coffin and said, "His name was Cao Er. That day, he was deceived by the monks of Shuangta Temple. He was only one step away from death. How desperate he must have been after learning the truth!"

His wife, a military dependent, rarely saw her husband, longing for him every day in fear and anxiety. She finally saw him return home safely and sincerely prayed to Buddha, yet she never suffered this misfortune. What had she done wrong?! Those bald monks all deserve to die!

The ministers were speechless. Your ancestor was a monk for fifty days, okay? The preferential treatment of monks was also ordered by the founding emperor. The Twin Pagoda Temple was built by your royal family. Now you're calling monks bald donkeys. Aren't you insulting your own ancestors? This is just a ridiculous display of filial piety.

Although everyone was cursing the emperor in their hearts, no one was so blind as to jump out and mock him. If the emperor was in a bad mood, let him curse!
"The magistrate of Quyang deserves to die! As a local official, he accepted bribes, abused his power, and harmed loyal and virtuous officials. His crimes are unforgivable. I wish I could tear him to pieces!"

"Ah, yes, yes, you're absolutely right, but the person is already dead. What's the point of saying this now?!" Everyone watched the emperor's performance in silence, without interrupting.

“They were wrong to begin with, and their sins were heinous. They deserved to die. What crime have the soldiers of our Great Ming committed in beheading these traitors and killing the national villains?!” Zhu Youjian revealed his true intentions.

Everyone frowned, feeling helpless. The emperor still favored these common soldiers! Wasn't this pure sophistry?! However, at first glance, it did seem quite reasonable. The crowd hesitated, wondering whether to argue with the emperor. "What does Your Majesty mean? Please advise," Sun Chengzong said. He didn't want to fall out with the emperor. He thought that if the emperor's plan wasn't too outrageous, he'd just turn a blind eye. Why argue about who was right and who was wrong? It wasn't a matter of interests; only a fool like Shan Mingxu would take it seriously.

"Fifteen men, including Geng Zhong, a retainer of the Liao general, violated military discipline by killing a monk and an official in a fit of rage. However, there were reasons for their actions, and their circumstances were excusable. They shall be severely punished with three hundred strokes of the military rod as a warning to others! The whole story shall be made public so that all soldiers and civilians may know about it and prevent such offenses from happening again!" Zhu Youjian said, looking around at his ministers.

"Three hundred lashes? Wouldn't that turn them into mincemeat?!" But everyone here was a seasoned old fox, and they wouldn't be fooled by the emperor. The emperor didn't specify when the three hundred lashes would be taken, so they could be taken in installments. A few lashes a month wouldn't kill them. The question was whether or not to give the emperor face!

Moreover, everyone felt that the emperor only told half the story and kept many of his thoughts to himself, which was incredibly frustrating! Emperor, you've changed! You used to be so honest and straightforward, always saying what you meant!
"Draft the motion," Zhu Youjian said. Sun Chengzong nodded. To simplify the process, he instructed the cabinet ministers not to write their opinions, but simply to select "yes" or "no." He wrote the case and the emperor's decision in a few concise sentences into an official document, and then had each cabinet minister affix their own slip of paper.

But he hesitated. In his heart, he was unwilling to be fooled by the emperor like this. If the border soldiers could not be easily fooled, how could the learned and reasonable officials be so easily fooled?
So be it! Sun Chengzong felt that although the emperor was disobedient, he was still a good child, and he still remembered some of Zhu Youjian's good points. Today, he would side with his own people regardless of reason, and he didn't care if the officials below criticized him.

Zhu Xieyuan didn't engage in internal strife at all. He had offered his opinion, and if the emperor didn't listen, so be it. Why go against the emperor? In any case, if something went wrong, it would be the emperor's own fault. He had already done his duty as a subject. He quickly wrote down the character "可" (approved), signed and affixed his seal, all in one go.

Yuan Keli approved, Li Guoyu approved, Shi Fenglai opposed, and Bi Ziyan opposed, making it four to two; the draft passed. The eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who was in charge of drafting, immediately put on a red cloth, and Zhu Youjian personally stamped it; from then on, the draft became an official document.

However, Zhu Youjian did not invite the censors from various departments, so the document might still be rejected. But this batch of censors were relatively weak-willed and generally would not oppose the emperor.

Everyone's eyes turned to the emperor again, as if to say, "Are you satisfied now? What else do you want to do? Speak up, stop hiding it!" But Zhu Youjian just smirked and announced the meeting adjourned.

Zhu Youjian, having gone to such lengths, was not going to let it go so easily. He was very displeased, as he had promised to kill Cao Bianjiao but hadn't done anything yet. He summoned his personal attendant, the eunuch Cao Huachun of the Imperial Horse Administration, and ordered him to go to Liaodong to summon Cao Bianjiao back with three thousand elite cavalry!

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, is this an imperial edict?!" Cao Huachun asked hesitantly, a bead of sweat on his forehead. "Will the Cao brothers obey?!"

"Why don't you try and see?!" Zhu Youjian said casually. He was quite confident, but he wasn't 100% sure.

Cao Huachun continued, "Your Majesty's actions may create a rift with the outer court. If I may offer a word, Your Majesty can simply order the Ministry of War to mobilize troops if you wish. Grand Secretary Zhu is a member of Your Majesty's family, so he will surely not make things difficult for Your Majesty. Why resort to such extraordinary measures?!"

Zhu Youjian was silent for a while, then said, "What I want to do, Grand Secretary Zhu will not agree to, and I do not wish to deceive him. You may go now!"

"Your subject obeys the decree!" Cao Huachun bowed respectfully.

Private soldiers doing private work—who says that if they take money from the court, they're not his private soldiers? And if they obey him, they're his private soldiers? Is Zhu Youjian so bored that he went to all this trouble to raise an army? A thousand days of raising an army will eventually be useful! This imperial edict was actually a test; otherwise, if the soldiers were recalled and couldn't do the work, it would be even more embarrassing.

(End of this chapter)