Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 13: The treacherous dove takes over the magpie's nest

Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuan-ting stayed at the Yangxin Hall last night, so they should have arrived quickly.

To everyone's surprise, Zhu Jue waited for about 15 minutes before the two of them hurried over.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Zhu Jue couldn't help but ask, "Have you left the palace?"

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I wanted to go to the Ministry of War to check some things, so around 5 a.m. I invited Boya to go to the Ministry of War with me."

How can I leave you to shoulder this burden alone?
Sun Chuanting then cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I actually wanted to go to the Ministry of War to check some things, so I went with Jian Dou."

Yes, you are all responsible people.

I do not blame you.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly, then spoke frankly: "There is a reason why I let you live in the palace."

As you all probably know, the outer court is in complete chaos right now. It's one thing for corrupt officials to fight for power and profit, but the real problem is that there are also traitors who collude with the enemy and betray the country hiding among them.

The Ming Dynasty is currently engulfed in war, and the Jurchens could attack the capital region at any time. The situation is extremely critical, and I have no time to reorganize the outer court.

I have no choice but to start afresh in the palace and build an inner court to save the Ming Dynasty from its peril. Therefore, I have ordered the Hall of Mental Cultivation to be renovated and temporarily used as an inner court office for you to live in.

My intention is to separate the inner court from the outer court, so that the outer court does not affect the inner court. In particular, you must be careful in the future. No matter what you want to do, do not send a document to the Ministry of War, so that the people in the outer court will know your intentions.

"If the people in the outer court find out your intentions, the Jurchens will most likely know as well. You must be careful. From now on, if anything happens, just submit a secret report, and I will make the necessary arrangements for you."

It turned out to be the case.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuanting quickly cupped their hands and said, "Your humble servants understand."

You understand.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then carefully instructed, "You don't need to pay any attention to Wang Zhichen, the Governor-General of Jiliao. He's just a figurehead to fool those traitors who collude with the enemy. You don't need to ask him for instructions on anything."

"I have already ordered Wei Zhongxian to send someone to deliver the decree. He won't care about you anymore, so don't worry about him either. Just let him stay in Shanhaiguan."

Uh, we don't even need to listen to the governor's orders!

Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuanting were both taken aback for a moment before quickly cupping their hands and saying, "Your Majesty, we understand."

Zhu Jue then solemnly said, "Your appointment and dismissal documents will be issued soon, but the funds and provisions have not yet arrived. Boya, you will have to wait a while before you can go to Liaodong to take up your post."

"I've found some materials for Jian Dou. You know about Wei Zhongxian's shrines, right? There are over forty of them in the capital region alone. I've already ordered them to be demolished. The materials from the demolition will be used to build cities, fortresses, and beacon towers in the capital region."

You actually demolished Wei Zhongxian's shrine to build city walls, fortresses, and beacon towers!

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuanting were taken aback for a moment before quickly bowing and saying, "Your humble servants understand."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "What did you go to the Ministry of War to investigate?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng simply looked at Sun Chuan-ting, signaling him to speak first.

Sun Chuanting quickly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I just checked the current troop strength in Liaodong. After the major battles of Sarhu, Shenyang, and Liaoyang, Liaodong suffered severe troop losses. At this moment, there are only more than 70,000 border troops left who can be assembled for combat, nearly half of them have been lost."

The continuous battles over the years have resulted in significant losses of troops in Liaodong.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Yes, it won't be easy for Liaodong to recover its strength, so you don't need to rush."

After saying that, he looked at Lu Xiang-sheng.

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly took out a map from his pocket, respectfully placed it on the imperial desk, and then carefully explained: "Your Majesty, look, this is the map of Beizhili."

After careful inspection, I found that there are existing cities along the Chaobai River, the North Canal, the Hai River, the Grain Transport Canal, and the Luan River.

For example, the cities of Miyun, Huairou, Shunyi, Tongzhou, Xianghe, Wuqing, and Tianjin Sanwei along the Chaobai River, Beiyun River, and Haihe River are only about 100 li apart. We only need to build fortresses and beacon towers to connect this defensive line, and that will be sufficient.

Furthermore, east of the Luan River, the three cities of Qian'an, Yongping, and Leting are about a hundred li apart. These three cities are connected by fortresses and beacon towers, thus forming a defensive line on the east side.

We only need to station enough troops to guard the area west of the Chaobai River, the North Canal, the Hai River and east of the Luan River. Even if the Jurchens invade the capital region, they will be trapped in the grain transport river basin.

This area is the core of Jizhou Town, with eight cities alone. We only need to build fortresses and beacon towers along the grain transport river and its tributaries, connecting these eight cities into one, and then station enough troops there. The Jurchens will find it impossible to move an inch.” Indeed, there are many cities in the capital region, but they were not connected in the past, so their defenses were weak.

Zhu Jue examined the map carefully and said with a look of satisfaction, "Hmm, not bad. This way we can save time building cities. Making the capital region impregnable within two years shouldn't be a problem."

Well, the key issue is that we don't have enough troops.

Lu Xiang-sheng cautiously said, "Your Majesty, I also checked and found that at the beginning of the Wanli era, Qi Jiguang added two garrisons, Changping and Zhenbao. Furthermore, the three garrisons of Jizhou, Changping and Zhenbao were each supplemented with ten guard posts, with a full complement of more than 56,000 men, which adds up to nearly 170,000 men."

Unfortunately, after Zhang Juzheng's death, Zhang Siwei abolished the reforms, and the two garrisons of Changping and Zhenbao were also abolished. Of the more than 100,000 men in these two garrisons, less than 30,000 remain. The garrison of Jizhou also has less than 30,000 men. We can only mobilize about 50,000 men now, less than 60,000.

Zhang Siwei is Han Kuang's father-in-law. The Zhang family is the largest Shanxi merchant family, and almost all of the eight imperial merchants are relatives they have cultivated. This guy is a traitor who colludes with the enemy and betrays the country!

This scoundrel demoted Qi Jiguang to the south and killed him in order to weaken the defenses of the capital region.

Zhu Jue nodded slowly and said, "Well, that's not a big problem. After the autumn harvest, you can select the able-bodied men to train. Train as many as you need."

As they were discussing, Wei Zhongxian arrived at the cabinet office with an imperial edict, his face grim. He ordered Gu Bingqian and Feng Quan to write a draft and immediately send it to the Ministry of War.

That guy is a despicable person. He's already fallen out with the two of them, so naturally he won't give them a friendly look.

Gu Bingqian and Feng Quan were so angry that their faces turned green.

As soon as this fellow left the cabinet office, Feng Quan said with a gloomy face, "It seems that we still can't do anything about the shrine incident. We need to use our trump card."

The trump card!

Gu Bingqian said with some concern, "Should we use our trump card before His Majesty's intentions are clear? What if His Majesty doesn't deal with this fellow?"

This little emperor must be out of his mind!

Feng Quan said sinisterly, "You've seen what kind of face this guy has. We have no choice but to use our trump card now. I don't believe that a mere brat like him can endure such a humiliation."

It's still unknown whether the young emperor can handle it.

If Wei Zhongxian knew what we were doing, he would probably fight us to the death.

Gu Bingqian still had some concerns, saying, "If we use our trump card, Wei Zhongxian might have the Embroidered Uniform Guard take action. At that time, we might both have to hide."

Jinyiwei?
Feng Quan said with some disgust, "Don't worry, Tian Ergeng is biased towards us. Shi Gongsheng and Qian Yuanque are fine, aren't they?"

That's different.

Shi Gongsheng and Qian Yuanque were testing the young emperor's intentions, and did not impeach Wei Zhongxian to the point of death.

If we unleash our trump card this time, it will be a direct hit to Wei Zhongxian's heart. Will Tian Ergeng still be able to defy Wei Zhongxian's wrath and side with us?
Gu Bingqian frowned and pondered for a while before gritting his teeth and saying, "How about we take things slowly?"

There is no shortage of tricks and strategies!

How can you achieve great things if you're so timid?

Feng Quan replied decisively, "You handle it."

Not long after, the cabinet sent another memorial to the imperial study.

Lu Chengyuan, the chief clerk of the Ministry of Works, submitted a memorial stating that Wei Zhongxian was a traitor who had harmed members of the imperial family!

When Madam Ke took a fancy to the residence of the Grand Princess Ning'an, Wei Zhongxian ordered his men to falsely accuse Li Chengen, the son of the Grand Princess Ning'an, of stealing forbidden items from the palace. He then imprisoned the father and daughter in the imperial prison, where they were tortured to death.

Thus, Princess Ning'an died without an heir, and her residence was given to Madam Ke by Wei Zhongxian.

According to investigation, the palace items that Wei Zhongxian claimed Li Chengen stole were actually imperial robes and regalia bestowed upon Princess Ning'an by the late Emperors Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli. Wei Zhongxian was simply distorting the truth and calling a deer a horse!

Zhu Jue was furious after reading it.

Wei Zhongxian, how dare you be so rebellious!
In terms of seniority, Li Chengen is my great-uncle, and Li Chengen's daughter is my cousin!

You actually threw them, father and daughter, into the imperial prison and tortured them to death!

(End of this chapter)