Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 36 Heads rolling in
These words were like stirring up a hornet's nest.

"Your Majesty, you must not do this!"

"Just raise the dragon banner, don't risk being shot by arrows yourself!"

"Your Majesty, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. I am willing to go in your place!"

Even Fan Jingwen, who had been crying and begging Zhu Youjian to move south that morning, stood up and said, "If Your Majesty is allowed to personally go to the battlefield, where will we, the loyal ministers and righteous men of the Ming Dynasty, be placed!"

"This old minister is willing to pretend to be the emperor and lure the rebels to attack the city."

Zhu Youjian shook his head and stood up from the dragon throne. "Among the rebels, there are many Ming surrendered generals, many of whom have met me. If Li Zicheng discovers our true identity, the capital will be in danger."

"Ministers, please do not try to persuade me any further. I have made up my mind!"

"Wu Xiang."

"The general is here!"

"Raise the dragon banner at Desheng Gate. The commanders of the various camps in the capital will line up their flags in a row. Lead three hundred fully armored strong men to stand on the city walls. The civilians will follow behind, wearing helmets and holding flags, to enhance their prestige!"

"I obey your command!" Wu Xiang clasped his hands together and turned away.

Zhu Youjian pointed out another person, "Ni Yuanlu."

"Chen is here!"

"Assist the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works in repairing armor and weapons, supervise the Ministry of Revenue in allocating supplies, and conduct an overall investigation of the number of refugees within the city."

"The minister obeys the order."

"Fan Jingwen."

"The minister is here."

"Select 30,000 refugees and recruit them into a new army. We don't require them to fight in battle, just be able to march a hundred paces in step with the vanguard. You have seven days to complete this task! If you fail, you will be punished for both crimes!"

Zhu Youjian's tone towards Fan Jingwen was particularly harsh.

It can be seen from the fact that he organized all the officials to cry at the palace that Fan Jingwen's organizational ability is indeed good.

He just lacks a bit of brains. If he doesn't put pressure on others, he will probably be misled by others and miss the opportunity.

Zhu Youjian had no other choice but to let him take over because he had no one else available.

"I will never let the emperor down!" Fan Jingwen knelt solemnly.

He just finished crying in front of the palace this morning, and was also charged with the heinous crime of treason to purge the court. Even if Your Majesty wants to execute his entire family, I have no complaints.

Everything is for the Ming Dynasty and for the country and ancestors.

Who would have thought that His Majesty not only did not blame him, but also entrusted him with the important task of training the new army.

What a great imperial grace this is!

If he fails to complete it, he will be too ashamed to live!

Zhu Youjian didn't care what Fan Jingwen thought. The purpose of keeping these officials was to do things for him. If they failed, they would be dismissed.

"The Ministry of Rites sent people to negotiate with the rebels. Regardless of whether they sent envoys or not, the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice will jointly enforce the law and punish them severely regardless of their crimes."

"The Five City Military Commission patrols the city day and night, guarding against rebellious spies."

"All officials, please follow my orders and leave immediately. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

"When the rebels retreat, your contributions will be no less than those of the Dragon!"

No matter what the officials in the palace thought, the imperial edict had already been issued.

Judging from how obedient Ni Yuanlu is to Your Majesty now, he will definitely approve it.

If you disobey at this time, it would be truly disobeying the order.

Dozens of ministers bowed in unison, then stood up and left.

Zhu Youjian finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He waved to Wang Chengen who was standing beside him.

"Otomo, have Li Ruo Lian spread the word that I intend to build a Hall of Meritorious Officials after repelling Li Zicheng. It will list the thirty-six heroes and give them their own biographies. This will ensure that the incense is kept burning for the sake of the country."

"Ah? Um...I obey your command." Wang Chengen was stunned at first.

In his eyes, the situation was far from being disastrous, and building a cabinet to show off his achievements was a bit excessive.

But when I thought about being able to use 5,000 elite soldiers in the capital to defeat an army of 700,000, it seemed that he really deserved the treatment of being awarded a cabinet position.

After Wang Chengen left, the Qianqing Palace fell silent again.

Zhu Youjian didn't stay long. He tidied his clothes and went out.

The court was too chaotic and the party struggles were too complicated for an ordinary person like him to control it by normal means.

The only advantage is modern thinking, and the deepest experience is involution.

The internal circulation phenomenon that was extremely criticized by the society in the previous life has now become his best means to control his ministers.

The internal competition among social animals is for money, but the officials are not short of money.

What they want is a good reputation both before and after their death.

Is there a better way to become famous than to build a pavilion to show off your achievements?

Zhu Youjian still remembers the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai and the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion.

What's more, there is a separate biography, which is the temptation to leave your name in history!
There are thirty-six vacancies in total. Wouldn’t all the officials be going crazy scrambling for them?
At this point, Zhu Youjian finally had a certain degree of initiative.

System soldiers add entries to control the army.

The rationing system controlled the people of the capital.

The thirty-six heroes controlled the other officials. The next thing Zhu Youjian could do was to win over the people's hearts!
By rallying the hearts of the people in the capital, hundreds of thousands of people can defend such a huge capital, which is enough to hold out until the money collected from the confiscation of property is received.

He really didn't want to torture people with armed forces unless it was absolutely necessary.

That would destroy the foundation of the Chinese land!
It is better to cause trouble for a while than to ruin your life!
As for how to unite people, Zhu Youjian also came up with a good idea.

Riding on the iconic white horse, he headed straight for the Meridian Gate under the escort of Xu Feng and a hundred other Ti cavalrymen.

……

7:15 pm, March 18, the 17th year of Chongzhen.

The Meridian Gate, which was originally the main gate of the imperial city, now looked like a refugee camp.

One hundred and one hundred thousand refugees from the entire capital gathered here.

The noise resounded throughout the world.

Outside the city wall extending along the Meridian Gate, hundreds of large pots were steaming rice and wheat looted from grain merchants' warehouses.

There is a table in front of each big pot.

The clerks transferred from the Ministry of Households are registering the refugees.

You can go to get the porridge only after stating your registered place of residence, your parents' and your own names, and where you live now.

This was a solution Song Ye came up with. It could not only distribute porridge uniformly to reduce manpower, but also register refugees and compile them into a book.

It can also screen out spies from the rebel army.

Efficiency is greatly improved.

Of course, only refugees and common people came here to get porridge.

All officials would eat in their respective departments.

As for the nobles and powerful, they will definitely leave enough food for themselves.

There is no way. With the level of organization in the late Ming Dynasty, it was already very difficult to achieve this step.

There were only a thousand Jinyiwei and five hundred border troops guarding the hundreds of thousands of refugees.

If we encountered bullies and thugs who tried to steal porridge and food, we would kill them on the spot, regardless of whether their behavior was bad or not.

Only then can we barely intimidate these 100,000 people.

Zhu Youjian did not leave the Meridian Gate and pretend to be friendly with the people.

With so many people around, if even one spy gets close, he'll die on the spot.

Go up the stairs until you reach the center of the tower.

Hundreds of cavalrymen behind him raised their bamboo trumpets at the same time, "The emperor has arrived, welcome~"

There were too many people outside the Meridian Gate, and the imperial guards had to shout three times before the refugees who were closer to the front noticed the bright yellow light on the city wall.

The crowd suddenly exploded and fell down in waves like wheat being cut.

The refugees behind could not even see the Meridian Gate Tower, they only knew that the emperor had arrived.

He knelt down on the ground in a hurry.

Some of them were so grateful that they cried bitterly.

The whole scene was in chaos, which made Zhu Youjian, who originally wanted to make a speech, feel helpless.

I could only wave to the side.

The main gate of the Meridian Gate, which could not be opened except for national affairs, was immediately opened.

Teams of three thousand fully armed cavalry rushed out of the gate.

A full thousand cavalrymen marked out a square open space along the city wall.

Then the Jinyiwei escorted the ministers, nobles and merchants who had been convicted in recent days out of the Meridian Gate.

Arrange in several rows in the open space.

More than 200 officials, more than 400 nobles and their families, and 62 grain merchants filled the empty space.

The refugees in front heard the words of the Tiqi on the city wall before they understood what was meant.

"Jiading Earl Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of the Ming Dynasty, has no regard for his loyalty to the country and is insatiably greedy. In the seventh year of Chongzhen's reign, he embezzled 13,000 taels of disaster relief silver. In the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, he forcibly bought dozens of women into slavery and brutally slaughtered civilians... According to Ming Dynasty law, he should be executed!"

They didn't understand the subsequent charges at all, but they understood the last word.

"The Emperor said he wants to kill the father-in-law?"

"Father-in-law, he is a very important person on a normal day. You can't chop him off in front of a bunch of us, right?"

The words have not yet fallen.

The Jinyiwei slashed with his sword, and Zhou Kui's head immediately rolled to the ground, with blood spurting more than three feet.

The refugees suddenly started a riot.

"He was really chopped off? The Emperor chopped off his own father-in-law?"

Xu Feng didn't care what the people below said and continued to read out the charges.

"Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, the governor of the Beijing camp, embezzled 270,000 taels of military pay during his 19 years in office and privately hoarded armor..."

"Earl Yongning..."

Xu Feng shouted out charges one after another, and heads flew into the sky.

The entire Meridian Gate was plunged into a strange scene.

(End of this chapter)