How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 25 A Conspiracy to Join Forces as Loyal Ministers! (Please add to your favorites, follow the story, and vote with monthly tickets)

In Beijing, at Zuixianlou, there is the "Listening to the Rain Pavilion".

In October, the chill in the air in Beijing was already quite strong.

The golden signboard of Zuixianlou, proclaiming "A Hundred Delicacies Unrivaled in the Capital," dimmed in the twilight. In the innermost room on the third floor, the "Listening to the Rain Pavilion," curtains hung low. A charcoal brazier warmed the room, and on the rosewood octagonal table sat braised mutton, crab meat lion's head meatballs, stir-fried pheasant slices with winter bamboo shoots, and a dish of specially prepared roasted deer lips—the aromas were rich and enticing, yet they held no appeal for the two people at the table.

Duke Zhu Chunchen of Cheng, dressed in the casual clothes of a wealthy landowner, had a stiff smile on his round face, which usually wore a friendly demeanor. He was sipping warm yellow wine, but his eyes were unfocused. Opposite him sat Marquis Wei Liangqing of Suning, whose face was thin and whose brows were furrowed with anxiety.

Zhu Chunchen felt a heavy weight in his heart. Although he was a Duke, in the Tianqi court where the eunuch faction held great power, he had a close relationship with Wei Zhongxian and his nephew Wei Liangqing. Not only was he not ostracized, but he also controlled the Five Armies Camp, the most powerful of the three major camps of the Beijing Garrison, becoming the most powerful nobleman in Beijing. Although the three major camps were nominally equal, the Five Armies Camp was actually the most powerful, far surpassing the strength of the Shenji Camp and the Three Thousand Camp.

His immense military power meant that numerous hereditary military officers were dependent on him, and he was deeply entrenched in the border generals of Jizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, and Changping. Now that Duke Zhang Weixian of Yingguo was old and ill, and Duke Xu Xigao of Dingguo was indecisive, he would undoubtedly be the leader of the nobility group for the next twenty or thirty years.

However, an unexpected event occurred! The newly enthroned young emperor not only forcibly collected the money for redeeming crimes and the land for redemption, but also supported Sun Zushou in clearing land in Jizhou and Changpingwei—hereditary military officers who occupied land were required to either provide soldiers or land!

What chilled him to the bone even more was that the bloody battles at Santunying, Luanhe, and Kuanhe had produced more than two thousand “heroes” who carried the heads of the Tartars for the Jizhou Garrison!
In Jizhou, these "new heroes" are gradually replacing those hereditary military officers who are just loafing around... This is not only clearing out the land, but also smashing their rice bowls!

If Sun Zushou, under the emperor's instruction, finishes to reorganize the Jizhou Garrison, wouldn't Changping, Xuanfu, Datong, and even the Beijing Garrison all follow in his footsteps?
"Lord Zhu..." Wei Liangqing put down his wine cup, his voice very low, "If we continue like this, I'm afraid we'll be defeated one by one by that little emperor, and there won't even be any bone fragments left."

He glanced at the tightly closed door and continued, “Qingtian! Qingtian! The Emperor is trying to uproot us! The Duke of Ying’s mansion, your esteemed residence, and the estates and fields under my uncle’s name—which one wasn’t built up with countless efforts?”
Now, the Emperor, using Sun Zushou's minor victory in Jizhou as a pretext of "exchanging heads for land," is forcing the nobles to spit out their ill-gotten gains! Even worse, he's also investigating long-standing unpaid accounts for military farmland! The knife is getting closer and closer!

Zhu Chunchen picked up a piece of deer lip with his chopsticks and sighed, "Who can argue with that! The Emperor is young and impetuous, and he can't tolerate any injustice. But can this empire be brought under control with just ruthlessness and a few thousand personal guards?"

In Xuanfu and Datong, the back pay is even worse than in Jizhou! The soldiers are already full of complaints, and the generals are also seething with anger. Our noble families and those hereditary commanders and chiliarchs are deeply entrenched in Xuanfu and Datong.”

“If at this moment… someone were to start a ‘salary protest’ at Xuanda University…” He looked up at Wei Liangqing, his expression meaningful.

A fierce glint flashed in Wei Liangqing's eyes: "Does Your Excellency mean... to let Xuan Da descend into chaos? So chaos that the Emperor finds out, and without our people to appease and suppress it, the border town will instantly become a catastrophe? Forcing him to temporarily suspend the land clearing?"

“That’s exactly right!” Zhu Chunchen nodded. “Making a fuss over wages is a ready-made excuse, and no one can find fault with it. As long as we make a big enough fuss and make the Emperor feel the pain, and know that the Nine Garrisons can’t function without us ‘local strongmen,’ he will naturally have to think twice. The matter of clearing land can be postponed, or even… left unresolved.”

Wei Liangqing pondered for a moment, a ruthless glint appearing on his sinister face: "My lord, I have another plan."

He lowered his voice even further, almost whispering: "Borrow the Mongols' knife! We can send people to Xuanfu to spread the word that Sun Zushou killed only Kharachin Mongol herders under Hudun Tuhan at Luanhe!"

Tiger Khan was enraged and dispatched 200,000 troops westward to avenge the Kharachin Mongols! Now, the border generals and soldiers of Xuanfu and Datong had something to say: Why were Sun Zushou and Zu Dashou the ones who killed and received rewards, while they were the ones who were beaten by the Mongols?

Zhu Chunchen slammed his fat hand on the table, making the cups and saucers rattle softly: "Brilliant! That Huduntu Khan left the pastures of the Liaohe River bend a few months ago and is slowly heading west. He's almost at the border wall of Xuanda! We can just portray this as Huduntu Khan coming to avenge the Doyan Mongols and then have the officials below jointly impeach Sun Zushou and Zu Dashou for their cruelty and treachery!"

"Brilliant, truly brilliant," Wei Liangqing said with a sinister smile. "I'll contact the censors and officials in charge of the censorate. You can handle the border reports from Xuanfu and Datong. Also, have the people in Xuanfu contact Hudun Tu Khan and see if we can turn this fake situation into a real one."

Zhu Chunchen's eyes lit up: "What a brilliant move to turn a pretense into reality! Many people in the court are counting on uniting with the Chahar to fight against the Jurchens! As long as Hudun Tu Khan really sends an envoy to question us, and with the Xuanda border troops protesting for their pay, and the border generals submitting memorials to impeach Sun Zushou and Zu Dashou, we need not fear that the young emperor will not give in."
"However, my family has no connections with Hudun Tuhan!" "I do!" Wei Liangqing patted his chest and laughed, "As long as the Emperor can't withstand the pressure and dismisses Sun Zushou and Zu Dashou from their posts, then he'll only have us left to rely on!" As he spoke, he suddenly gave a bitter smile, "Actually, we also want to be loyal ministers!"

Zhu Chunchen raised his wine cup and clinked it with Wei Liangqing's with a smile: "That's right! As long as we get rid of people like Sun Zushou, we'll all be great loyal ministers. We must be loyal ministers!"

West Warm Pavilion of Qianqing Palace.

The candlelight illuminated the mountain of account books and reports piled on the emperor's desk, making them crystal clear. Zhu Youjian frowned, his fingers flying across a sandalwood abacus, producing a crisp, clear "click" sound that echoed in the quiet, warm chamber.

Before him lay the register of Taicang's inflows and outflows presented by the Ministry of Revenue, and a list of some of the fines for crimes that had just been escorted into the treasury—the amount seemed substantial, but compared to the enormous hole in the nine border regions' unpaid wages and the need to rebuild border defenses, it was merely a drop in the ocean.

Xu Yingyuan, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Director of the Eastern Depot, entered silently and stood respectfully to the side. Only after Chongzhen had moved the last bead did he step forward and report in a low voice: "Your Majesty, in the 'Listening to the Rain Pavilion' of Zuixianlou, Wei Liangqing and the Duke of Chengguo are having a private conversation for about an hour."

Chongzhen's fingers hovered over the abacus beam. He didn't look up, but let out a very soft snort from his nose, a cold smile curving his lips: "Oh? So you couldn't sit still so quickly and started colluding with each other?" He casually picked up an open memorial—an urgent message from Sun Zushou, the general of Jizhou.

In his memorial, Sun Zushou gave a detailed report on the progress of the military reorganization and land clearing in Jizhou.

First, the army was reorganized. The actual number of soldiers in each battalion of Jizhou has been initially counted, and the weak were eliminated and the strong were retained. More importantly, more than 600 elite veterans who had accompanied the emperor in battle, captured enemy heads, and were awarded the waist badges of "Imperial Guard" and "Imperial Personal Guard" have been assigned to key positions in each battalion, serving as sentry officers, battalion commanders, and even centurions, "to cleanse the old evils with new blood and replace the weary and stubborn with loyalty and bravery."

The second step was the land survey, which began with the military settlements around Santunying. While there was considerable resistance, initial results were achieved. The first batch of 32,000 mu of illegally occupied military land was cleared and is being allocated to meritorious soldiers and landless military households in accordance with the imperial decree.

Finally, there is the situation of Changping Guard. Changping Guard does not belong to Jizhou Garrison, but it is Sun Zushou's "original guard". Therefore, Emperor Zhu also entrusted the task of clearing fields in Changping Guard to Sun Zushou.

At the end of his memorial, Sun Zushou specifically mentioned that the land clearing in Changping Guard was progressing more smoothly. Because of the deterrent effect of the "salted heads" incident in Jizhou, and because of his own example, many hereditary military families in the guard had changed their attitude and expressed their willingness to "contribute men to protect land" according to the emperor's will. That is, they would hand over their able-bodied family members to be incorporated into the army in order to retain part of their land.

Upon seeing the four characters "Provide people to protect land," a satisfied smile finally appeared in Chongzhen's eyes. He picked up his vermilion brush and wrote a bold "Good" next to Sun Zushou's name, then drew a thick vermilion line under "Provide people to protect land." This method was exactly what he wanted!
This approach would both weaken the monopoly of land held by hereditary military officers and replenish the border troops with combat-ready soldiers, making it easier to implement and subject to less resistance than simply seizing land. Furthermore, it would also weaken the private armies of hereditary military officer families.
Xu Yingyuan dared not reply, and lowered his head even further.

Emperor Chongzhen put down his vermilion brush, stood up, walked to the window, looked at the deep night outside, and said indifferently, "Let them jump! Let them make a scene! The Wei faction that doesn't know death, the parasites of the nobility, and those hereditary military officers who outwardly comply but inwardly defy... If I don't let them jump out, how can I force them to spit out more money for redemption and land for their crimes?"

He turned around and said, "Xu Yingyuan!"

"This servant is here!" Xu Yingyuan's heart skipped a beat.

"At dawn tomorrow, summon Mr. Sun Chengzong to the palace for an audience!" Emperor Chongzhen's voice was resolute. "Tell him... I have important military and state affairs to discuss with you!"

"This servant obeys the decree!" Xu Yingyuan dared not delay and quickly bowed and withdrew.

Silence returned to the warm pavilion, with only the flickering candlelight. Chongzhen's gaze fell once more on Sun Zushou's memorial, his fingers lightly tapping the words "send people to protect the land".

(End of this chapter)