The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 71 Everyone Looks Like a Rebel
Zhang Cheng rebelled, and Wuqing Marquis's son Li Wenquan was arrested shortly afterwards.

This case of treason seems to be getting more and more wrong.

In other words, this case of treason seems to be becoming more and more real.

Because Li Wenquan, the son of Wuqing Marquis, controls the Central Army Commander's Office.

Although the Five Military Commandery had no authority to mobilize the garrison troops in name, it was possible for it to secretly mobilize the garrison troops after placing its own confidants among the garrison troops under its jurisdiction.

It's a rebellion, so what's the point of talking about rules?

Moreover, Empress Dowager Li had obviously fallen out with Emperor Wanli.

There were many rumors in the capital that Empress Dowager Li wanted to depose Emperor Wanli.

Zhang Cheng was a close confidant of Empress Dowager Li, and Li Wenquan, the son of Marquis Wuqing, was even Empress Dowager Li's younger brother.

It is very likely that the two men took advantage of Wanli's secret visit to murder him or even imprison him!

To be honest, at the beginning, all the civil and military officials in the court thought that Zhang Cheng's rebellion was a joke.

However, that night, when the news that Li Wenquan, the son of Wuqing Marquis, was thrown into prison, this case of treason no longer seemed like a joke.

This is not over yet.

The next morning, before the hour of Chen, when it was still dark, a swarm of imperial guards suddenly swarmed out of the Jinyiwei Yamen and headed westwards towards Fuchengmen.

Immediately afterwards, the Wudinghou Mansion was surrounded by the Jinyiwei Tiqi, and Wudinghou Hutong was also blocked.

Marquis Wuding Guo Dacheng also participated in the rebellion!

Now, the case of treason seems more real.

Marquis Wuding Guo Dacheng controls the Left Army Commander-in-Chief's Office!

In the vicinity of northern Zhili, the Liaodong Military Region and the Shandong Military Region were under the jurisdiction of the Left Army Military Region, the Henan Military Region was under the jurisdiction of the Central Army Military Region, and although the Shanxi Military Region was under the jurisdiction of the Rear Army Military Region, that was Zhang Siwei's base.

Moreover, Xu Wenbi, the Duke of Dingguo who was in charge of the Rear Army Military Governor's Office at the moment, seemed to be abusing his power for personal gain. He was frantically mining coal and iron mines in Luanzhou and making money by smelting iron. He was not in the capital at all and had not been in charge of the affairs of the Rear Army Military Governor's Office for a long time.

Under such circumstances, it is really possible that Zhang Cheng would join forces with Wuqing Hou's son Li Wenquan and Wuding Hou Guo Dacheng to rebel.

In other words, it is possible that Empress Dowager Li and Zhang Siwei really took advantage of Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi's absence from the capital to join forces to depose Wanli.

This is a rumor, and the one who spread it was Wanli.

As for why Wanli spread rumors, it was to make the case of treason look real.

He also learned this trick from his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang.

There was absolutely no evidence at all in the Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu cases. Even Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu themselves did not expect to be charged with treason.

If they had thought they would be charged with treason, they would have taken action long ago. They were well aware of how cruel his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang was.

The fact that neither Hu Weiyong nor Lan Yu took action proves that neither of them expected to be charged with treason.

This also proves that the two men had no intention of rebelling at all. Otherwise, with the left prime minister rebelling and a figure like the commander-in-chief of the world's army rebelling, it would be strange if these two rebellions did not cause chaos in the world.

Neither Hu Weiyong nor Lan Yu intended to rebel, nor did they cause chaos in the world. How did his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang handle these two rebellion cases with such great fanfare?
It's very simple, that is to order people to spread rumors.

It doesn’t matter whether Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu plotted rebellion or not, or even whether they thought about it or not, as long as everyone thinks they thought about it.

It is the same now. It doesn’t matter whether Zhang Cheng and Wuding Hou Guo Dacheng are plotting a rebellion or not. It doesn’t matter whether they have thought about it or not. The only thing is to make everyone think that they really want to rebel.

Wanli ordered Luo Sigong's secret guards to spread rumors that Zhang Cheng and Wuding Hou Guo Dacheng were plotting a rebellion, and the capital was suddenly in turmoil.

This case of treason seems to be true!

Zhang Juzheng's old party members were all shocked. If the little emperor was really harmed by someone, they would be finished.

Shen Shixing and his party were a little skeptical. They all thought that Zhang Siwei and his party wanted to take a risk.

Zhang Siwei and his party even thought that Empress Dowager Li was taking action without their knowledge.

In other words, Zhang Siwei secretly joined forces with Empress Dowager Li without telling them and prepared to depose Wanli.

After all, this kind of thing would be tantamount to treason, and it is possible that Zhang Siwei hid it from the officials in Beijing.

This is the effect Wanli wanted.

He wants everyone to think this is true, because he is going to kill a lot of people this time!
However, although the news has spread widely in the capital, it seems that it has not yet reached the palace.

At around noon, the sun rose and the Forbidden City was illuminated.

Wanli was in such a good mood that he was riding high and feeling very proud.

Everything was developing in the most favorable direction for him. When he was about to take action, he didn't expect it to go so smoothly.

He was preparing to return to the Qianqing Palace with thousands of Jinyiwei. When the group arrived at the gate of the Qianqing Palace, he had to pull the reins.

Because Empress Dowager Li was standing at the gate of the Qianqing Palace, waiting for him with her hands on her hips. When she saw him coming back, she immediately jumped up and cursed, "Rebellious son, why did you throw Wen Quan into the imperial prison? He is your own uncle. Do you have any humanity left?"

Are you sick?

You're talking to me about human nature when we're fighting for imperial power?
I am still your biological son, and you want to destroy me. Do you have any humanity at all?
It was obvious that this stupid woman had not heard the rumors he had ordered Luo Sigong to spread.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked coldly, "What do you want to do by letting your uncle take control of the Central Military Governor's Office? Don't you know?"

Don’t I just want my family to have some control over the military power so that I can feel at ease?

You also let your youngest brother take control of the imperial guards.

Isn’t this the same idea?

Empress Dowager Li was quite puzzled and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

What do I mean by this?
Haven’t you heard the rumors yet? I am the one who spread the rumors for you.

My meaning is very simple, you also want to rebel!
Wanli's face was filled with suspicion as he asked, "What do you mean by this? Did you instruct Zhang Cheng to pass on the imperial decree to have my uncle take action this time?"

What imperial decree did I ask Zhang Cheng to convey?

What did Wen Quan do?
Why does this sound so wrong?

Empress Dowager Li was a little confused.

She was just in a daze when Zhang Jing came over quickly and whispered in her ear.

Did Zhang Cheng join forces with Wuqing Marquis's son Li Wenquan and Wuding Marquis Guo Dacheng to rebel?
Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Li was stunned for a long time, then said in a panic, "I didn't order Zhang Cheng to pass on any imperial decree, and Wenquan is even less likely to rebel!"

Wanli, however, pretended to look at Zhang Jing with suspicion for a while, then sternly said, "Tell me the truth, were you involved this time?"

Don't involve me in this!
Zhang Jing shook his head repeatedly and said, "No, no, Your Majesty, I don't know what they are doing."

Wanli was still suspicious and asked, "You didn't? Zhang Xin and Zhang Cheng both brought the Dongchang thugs to murder me."

I really don’t know!

Zhang Jing quickly explained, "Your Majesty, I have been either on duty at the Inner East Factory or at the Cining Palace these past two days. I haven't been to the Outer East Factory at all.

Many of the heads of the Outer East Factory Yamen have very good relationships with Zhang Cheng and Zhang Xin. They don't need me to give them any orders to do anything. I really don't know what they are doing."

Wanli was still suspicious and asked, "Did you go to the Cining Palace these two days?"

Oh my God!
Are you a little out of your mind because of the rebellion?

You are suspicious of everyone you see.

Whatever I say, you think of it as rebellion!

What's wrong with me going to the Cining Palace?
I used to go to the Cining Palace often.

You also know that I came from the Cining Palace, and I used to serve the Empress Dowager.

Zhang Jing quickly explained, "Your Majesty, please don't misunderstand me. I'm here to serve the Empress Dowager!"

After saying this, he winked at Empress Dowager Li, meaning for her to leave quickly.

Empress Dowager Li was quite puzzled and asked, "What's wrong with you? Is there sand in your eyes?"

You stupid woman!

Everyone the little emperor sees now looks like a traitor!

Zhang Jing had no choice but to lean over and whisper in her ear for a while.

Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Li looked with some trepidation at the mighty Jinyiwei cavalrymen behind Wanli, then said in a panic, "I haven't issued any imperial decree, so I don't know about this. Wenquan couldn't possibly be rebelling. You must investigate thoroughly."

After saying that, she turned around and got into the sedan chair, ordering people to carry her back to the Cining Palace quickly.

Seeing this, Zhang Jing hurriedly bowed to Wanli and followed him.

Seeing this, Wanli couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and smile evilly to himself.

I am now suspicious of everyone and think everyone is a traitor. I just want to ask you, are you afraid?
If you rebel, your entire clan will be executed!
After he returned to the Qianqing Palace, he immediately ordered people to summon Huaiyuan Hou Chang Yinxu and Ningyang Hou Chen Yingzhao to the imperial study.

After the king and his minister exchanged greetings, he pretended to be suspicious and stared at the two of them for a long time without saying a word.

These two people were also stared at and were very nervous, because one of them was the Left General of the Right Army General's Office, and the other was the Left General of the Front Army General's Office.

Now the Left General Li Wenquan of the Central Army General Office and the Left General Guo Dacheng of the Left Army General Office have been thrown into prison, and the Left General Xu Wenbi of the Rear Army General Office is not in the capital. They are the only two generals left in charge of the Five Army General Office.

Your Majesty wouldn't suspect that the two of them were also involved in the rebellion, right?

Don't look at us like that!
We didn't participate in the rebellion, we don't know what's going on!
(End of this chapter)