Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 279: Deploy troops and prepare for war!

An unexpected surprise.

What a pleasant surprise.

The case had already shown signs of remaining unsolved a few days ago. According to Lu Shaochun's thinking, the only way out was to save the face of the imperial court.

But those guys still lacked the experience of governing a region, so under such circumstances, not only did they insist on reporting the case, they also acted as if they would never deceive the emperor, leaving Lu Shaochun with a lot of reasons but not knowing how to express them.

it is good!
You are amazing!

You are noble!
For the sake of his own reputation, he actually planned to put Your Majesty in a dilemma.

He could see clearly that if it was an ordinary case, it would have been left unsolved. Over the years, there were more than a hundred cases that had not been solved in Huzhou Prefecture alone.

But this is no ordinary case.

If the murderer is not caught in time, not to mention that the majesty of the court will be completely destroyed, the aftermath alone will be enough to tear those who are responsible for the actual work to pieces.

but
He can't stop it.

These people are all close ministers of the emperor. If he really dares to conceal something, he will be thrown into the imperial prison in just three or two days.

In this situation, what choice does he have?

Finally, Lu Shaochun reported the case tremblingly, and Ying Tian did not let them wait long. After four or five days, the reply saying "strictly investigate the mastermind behind the scenes" was passed down.

The meaning here is very clear. A single defeated army is not enough to save the face of the imperial court. It is necessary to find more people to share the blame in order for the higher-ups to accept it.

To be honest, he was indeed very proud during those days.

If it weren't for the low-key and humble attitude he developed over the years due to having no backing, those irresponsible guys would have been embarrassed to death by him.

The rest was simple. After getting enough information from Wang Siwa, Yizhihua, the thief active west of Taihu Lake, came into their sight.

When things came to this point, people like Lu Shaochun and Yan Yingyuan, who had handled cases for a long time, naturally knew what to do.

After finding out all the details of Yizhihua and the forces connected with her, a silent arrest operation was launched simultaneously in Changxing, Anji and other places.

Well, to say that this arrest was silent probably cannot fully describe it.

After all, this group of people were all-powerful back then. Even though their power is no longer what it used to be, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and this group still has considerable influence in the local area.

Therefore, only three or two days after the arrest operation was completed, those who should know received clear news.
-
January 2

Yingtian
Today is not the day for a court meeting, but for some reason, His Majesty not only summoned the cabinet ministers and officials from various ministries to the Fengtian Hall, but also asked officials above the fourth rank to enter the palace and wait.

Therefore, when it was still dark, many red-robed officials were already waiting quietly outside the palace gate.

In fact, everyone had their own speculations about today's extra court meeting, but the court has been facing major events during this period, and the officials' speculations were not exactly the same.

"Li Butang, long time no see."

Just when Li Yongmao was closing his eyes to rest, he heard a very earnest voice. When he opened his eyes, he saw Tian Yang, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, standing in front of him with a smile on his face.

"It turned out to be Minister Tian."

Tian Yang was originally in the same position as him, a governor, but because he had defended Hangzhou with Your Majesty, he was promoted to the Minister of Works, while Tian Yang only took the step of entering the central government, so there was a difference in the ranks of the two.

After the greetings, the two of them chatted about some meaningless topics. But when Li Yongmao was wondering why Tian Yang, who had never interacted with him before, would take the initiative to talk to him, the other party's words became more and more irrelevant.

"Li Butang must be very busy these days."

"These are just my job duties, how can I say it's hard work?"

To be honest, since taking office, Li Yongmao has not only been very busy, but also offended many people by recruiting craftsmen.

But these days, which of the six departments is idle?
Under such circumstances, he would not complain to Tian Yang, who was just an acquaintance.

Li Yongmao's behavior certainly could not be described as keeping people at a distance, but Tian Yang could still sense the strangeness in it.

However, he didn't take it seriously, and after the other party finished speaking, he changed the subject.

"I wonder if Li Butang has heard that the murderer who killed Ruan Butang was captured a few days ago, and the prefect of Huzhou is currently trying the case."

"Ah, I have heard a little bit about it, but I don't know much."

After listening to Tian Yang's words, Li Yongmao just said a few perfunctory words, but at the same time he seemed to have thought of something and couldn't help thinking about it in his heart.

Tian Yang originally followed the path of others, but a new emperor appoints new ministers, and his patron was laid off for various reasons after Your Majesty ascended the throne.

As a result, Tian Yang appeared weak and isolated in the court.

As someone who has been in officialdom for many years, Li Yongmao naturally knew that this situation was not sustainable, especially when there was a vacant position at the top.

So after inadvertently glancing at Ma Shiying standing in front of the queue, his attitude towards Tian Yang became slightly better.

".So I wondered if His Majesty was going to announce the case at this court meeting."

"Well, it's hard to say, but since the Ministry of Justice is short of an official, Minister Tian has a good chance."

In fact, after Hangzhou, Li Yongmao was already quite disappointed with Ma Shiying, but he also knew that if he really wanted to get things done he could not be like Hai Gangfeng in the past, so he leaned a little closer to the "Eunuch Party" again.

After figuring out why Tian Yang came to build relationships, his attitude naturally became much more friendly.

"Alas~~~~, I have no merits, and it is a blessing to be able to enter the central government. How dare I ask for anything else? Anyway, I am also serving His Majesty and the court, so it doesn't matter what position I am in."

Tian Yang's words were beautifully spoken. Although Li Yongmao knew that it was just for show, he couldn't help but respond with a few more words.

just
“Dang~~~~~~! Dang~~~~~~! Dang~~~~~~!”

As the sound of bells was heard, the Chengtian Gate slowly opened from the inside, and then all the officials returned to their posts and went to the Fengtian Hall according to their civil and military status.

Chengtian Gate is not very close to Fengtian Palace, but the officials of the Jingwu Dynasty were only in their fifties or sixties, so it was not difficult for them to take this route occasionally.

So after one or two incense sticks, these loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty had already stood on both sides in the Fengtian Hall, quietly waiting for Zhu Cilang's arrival.

Looking at the dragon throne on the stage, Tian Yang's eyes couldn't help but flash with eagerness.

As the saying goes, one man's meat may be another's poison.

The death of Ruan Dacheng was like a bolt from the blue to many people, but for Tian Yang it was actually good news.

He knew very well that there were only so many people His Majesty could use.

It’s not that the position of the Minister of Justice is exclusively his, but there are only a few people who are qualified to compete for it.

Of course, no matter how favorable the situation was for him, someone still had to recommend him to His Majesty, so after weighing the pros and cons several times, he moved towards Ma Shiying at an extremely exaggerated speed.

It was natural for him to get close to Li Yongmao, who was usually easy to talk to. "Long live the emperor, long live the emperor, long, long live the emperor."

Just when Tian Yang was still lost in his own thoughts, a burst of cheers brought him back to reality.

Afterwards, a bright yellow figure walked briskly towards the dragon throne, and then the eunuch's voice was heard echoing in the huge hall.

"Your Majesty has ordered that all the nobles stand still."

After the words fell, the ministers thanked him in unison and returned to their seats. However, Zhu Cilang seemed quite anxious. Without waiting for the ministers in the hall to line up, he directly said, "I summoned you all here today because there are a few important matters that need to be discussed."

Important!

Although Tian Yang tried his best to suppress his excitement, he still couldn't help feeling agitated after hearing these two words. But who would have thought that just when he thought that this important matter was to be appointed as an official in the Ministry of Justice, Zhu Cilang's next words made him feel disappointed.

"I think you all know that Mr. Yue has been preparing for the war in Jiangxi, but the situation has changed now, so I am ready to fight to retake the entire territory of Jiangxi."

"I second the proposal!"

As Zhu Cilang said this, Zhu Datian from the Ministry of War and Zhang Guowei from the Ministry of Revenue were the first to step forward to respond, followed by the three cabinet ministers. This major event was then decided at an extremely fast speed.

Is it that serious? You have already discussed it, so why waste time here?

Seeing this, Tian Yangzi had to respond, but he was always thinking about something in his mind, so he couldn't help but complain a few words.

"Well, the mobilization of troops still needs careful planning by the Ministry of War. Even if we mobilize troops from Suzhou and Songjiang, we must ensure that our troops have an absolute advantage in the Jiangxi battlefield."

"I will definitely live up to your Majesty's trust."

Is that the end? Is it time to talk about the criminal official?

Seeing that Zhu Cilang decided the Jiangxi war with just a few words, Tian Yang's heart suddenly warmed up again.

But when he thought that there was nothing more important in the court than the vacant rank of official in the Ministry of Justice, Huang Daozhou, who was standing in front of him, interrupted again.

"Your Majesty, according to what the Supervisory Office has learned, many officials in the court have violated the rules. Although this is due to years of accumulated problems, it cannot be ignored. Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to follow the example of Taizu and separate the Six Departments of the Imperial Secretariat from the Six Ministries."

Oh, that's it.

As Huang Daozhou finished his words, Tian Yang, who had been concerned about the affairs of the Ministry of Justice, suddenly remembered what Ma Shiying had said.

This was probably the price that Lord Ma paid in exchange for the official from the Ministry of Justice.

With this in mind, Tian Yang could not help but glance forward, and sure enough, he saw Ma Shiying, who had always been called the "Eunuch Party" by that group of people, was the first to stand up.

"I second the proposal!"

After a round of responses, this issue that seized the power of the six ministries was successfully passed. Even though Tian Yang knew that there were various exchanges of interests involved, he still couldn't help but be surprised.

"Your Majesty, the Six Departments of the Imperial Censorate have been incorporated into various ministries since Emperor Yingzong's reign, and there have been very few separate ones. I think we should be very careful in doing this. It would be better to first allow the Imperial Censorate to have the right to supervise and record, and then talk about other things after everything is sorted out."

"I second the proposal!"

Sure enough, such power is not so easy to get.

As soon as Ma Shiying said his seconding motion, Qian Qianyi immediately stood up, and then a group of officials responded one after another.

At this point, Qian Qianyi naturally had the upper hand. Afterwards, Zhu Cilang made the final decision on the matter, and the issue fell to the officials of the Ministry of Justice.

For this matter, Ma Shiying colluded with other people. Under such circumstances, Tian Yang became the Minister of Justice as he wished. This court meeting only lasted for a while before it ended.

Because of this court meeting, the attention of the Ming Dynasty finally shifted from the attack on Ruan Dacheng to the war in Jiangxi, while various troops far away in Suzhou and Songjiang also began to prepare.

"Marshal, this matter is over now."

After hearing the news reported by his own personal soldiers, Wu Zhikui finally felt relieved after being worried for many days.

The matter that Ruan Dacheng was investigating had nothing to do with him, but after obtaining those IOUs, he extorted huge amounts of silver and money from the local gentry and wealthy families.

Under such circumstances, not to mention that some people claimed that they would hand over the annexed land and the blackmailed items, even if each family was safe, he still had to worry that His Majesty, who was short of money, would set his sights on himself.

so.
Simply.
"We can't be careless. We are lucky this time. Your Majesty has to guard against Jiangbei and prepare for Jiangxi. He probably didn't want to make a big fuss so he hastily closed the case."

Wu Zhikui was not as optimistic as his soldiers. As a general in charge of a region, he naturally knew the situation faced by the imperial court.

According to the news reports, the pseudo-court in Jiangbei has already started planning to build a navy, and although the situation in Jiangxi has been stabilized, it is still struggling to hold on. In addition, the situation in the southwest is getting worse day by day due to the conflict between the two governors. Even if Your Majesty is unwilling, you must close the case of Ruan Dacheng as soon as possible.

"From my humble opinion, Your Majesty has a strong temper. If he really has found any clues, he probably won't be so tolerant."

After hearing what Wu Zhikui said, the soldier hesitated for a moment and then expressed his own judgment.

It was obvious that he was very confident in the secrecy of this action. Even though his own commander-in-chief felt that the court had to accept it under pressure from the situation, he held a different view.

To be honest, the confidence of this personal soldier is not groundless.

Not to mention how much effort they put into planning this ambush, even the information that has been leaked now was within their expectations.

Under such circumstances, how could he think that the court would suspect them when they were six or seven hundred miles away from the crime scene?

just
"Marshal, if you are really worried, why not just not go to Suzhou?"

"No! We must go to Suzhou!"

Seeing that his persuasion had no effect, the soldier asked again tentatively. However, who would have thought that Wu Zhikui, who was still worried a moment ago, seemed to be frightened after hearing this, which made him really confused.

"When the Marquis of Zhennan summoned me a few days ago, he said that it was to mobilize troops to the south. If I refuse to go, it will easily arouse suspicion." Wu Zhikui paused for a moment, and then seemed to make some calculations in his mind. When the personal guard was a little confused, he continued, "I think too much. His Majesty arrested four or five families in Huzhou at once, and he probably admitted the matter. Otherwise, why would there be such a big commotion?"

"Your Excellency is wise. I can guarantee that even if Your Majesty really has suspicions, you will never be able to find anything on us."

"Well, you have made great contributions this time. After the limelight has died down, it's time for you to gain some more experience."

"Thank you, Marshal, for your cultivation!"

Sorry for being a little late.
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(End of this chapter)