Emperor Chongzhen was too extreme.

Chapter 44 Investigate His Nine Clans

Upon hearing Wang Chengen's report that the cabinet had important matters concerning Liaodong to report, Zhu Youjian calmly said, "Bring them here."

soon.

The two memorials drafted by the cabinet were then sent to Zhu Youjian.

One of the memorials was jointly submitted by the Ministry of War, the garrison commander of Ningyuan, and the cabinet.

The content states that Ningyuan City is currently facing another large-scale invasion by the Jurchens.

However, for various reasons, it was impossible to organize an effective resistance. If the situation dragged on any longer, Ningyuan might fall.

The memorial then recounted how Yuan Chonghuan had defended Ningyuan so impregnably when he served as the governor of Liaodong.

In summary: reinstate Yuan Chonghuan immediately, or Ningyuan will be lost.

The other memorial was submitted by Yuan Chonghuan himself.

In his memorial, Yuan Chonghuan described his thorough understanding of the situation in Liaodong, especially regarding Ningyuan City.

He knew everything about Ningyuan City, from the personality and abilities of each garrison commander to all matters in the city.

Only he could organize the available forces in Ningyuan City to resist the Jurchens to the greatest extent possible.

In summary: If they don't respond to me, then Ningyuan will definitely be lost.

After glancing at the two memorials, Zhu Youjian quickly understood what was going on.

The high-ranking officials in the civil service were terrified by the extermination of the entire Wuqing Marquis clan today, and thus devised this scheme to try and control themselves.

Using the fall of Ningyuan as a threat, they forced themselves not to use their swords against them again.

Otherwise, if Ningyuan City falls, the entire Liaodong region will be wide open, and the Jurchens will be able to march directly towards the capital.

However, this blatant threat to imperial power failed to elicit even the slightest emotional response from Zhu Youjian.

There was no anger, no panic, just complete indifference.

He even said he didn't really care about the gains or losses of Ningyuan, but immediately started thinking about something else:

How can the political significance of Yuan Chonghuan's death be maximized?

In reality, regardless of whether these two memorials were submitted today or not, Yuan Chonghuan would have been executed by slow slicing in Zhu Youjian's future plans.

But these two memorials make Yuan Chonghuan's death more meaningful.

after all.

Being executed by dismemberment after resigning from office and being executed while in office are two different concepts.

The latter can better deter generals who are afraid to fight, and at the same time, it can stir up public opinion to a greater extent.

So after only a brief moment of thought, Zhu Youjian made his decision.

Yuan Chonghuan not only wanted to be reinstated, but also wanted to be promoted to a prestigious but powerless nominal position.

As for a mere Ningyuan City?

Take it, the empire doesn't care.

Not only do they not care, they also don't care.

For Zhu Youjian, this move by the civil official group greatly facilitated his later purge of Ningyuan.

Originally, when I was free to deal with Ningyuan, the front line against the Jin, I was going to carry out some selective killings.

Now we can kill indiscriminately.

This saved him a lot of thought and effort.

Zhu Youjian gently put down the two memorials and said, "Go and summon Wei Zhongxian."

soon.

Wei Zhongxian then bowed and went into the side room: "This servant kowtows to Your Majesty to wish you good health."

Having learned that His Majesty would be going on an inspection tour soon, Wei Zhongxian had been busy dealing with security issues in the palace.

Otherwise, after His Majesty's tour, he and the three of them would surely be in mortal danger.

In this situation, a large number of the eunuchs and palace maids who had previously disobeyed or shown signs of disobedience were also beaten to death.

The main principle is "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

Wei Zhongxian thought this method was ruthless enough, but when he heard a casual remark from the emperor, he realized that it was still too lenient.

"Send a team to secretly investigate the extent of Yuan Chonghuan's nine generations of relatives."

Wei Zhongxian took a deep breath, knelt down and bowed his head to accept the task: "This servant obeys the order. This servant will immediately send some capable confidants to the hometown of this scoundrel Yuan Chonghuan to investigate his entire clan and relatives thoroughly."

then.

Zhu Youjian then said to Wang Chengen, "Give the order that all the generals in the Beijing garrison should attend court tomorrow."

Before leaving, the Beijing garrison must be completely purged.

And now, the time has come.

"This servant obeys the decree." Wang Chengen bowed and accepted.

It didn't take long.

The officials in the courtyard then received news of the morning court session the following day.

Simultaneously.

They also received reports from the generals in the Beijing garrison that they would also be attending the court assembly the next day.

Upon hearing that there would be a morning assembly tomorrow, the group was initially a little nervous.

They feared that the emperor's actions were due to a momentary madness caused by coercion, and that he would take advantage of the court assembly to have them all beheaded.

After all, you can't talk about consequences or reason with a madman.

But when they heard that the generals of the Beijing garrison were also going to the court assembly, they relaxed.

In the eyes of the civil service, this was a signal sent by the emperor:
I may not touch you, but the Beijing Garrison is mine.

Tomorrow's court assembly will ultimately be nothing more than an exchange of interests between the imperial power and the civil service.

The emperor accepted Yuan Chonghuan's request to restore Liaodong, but was temporarily restrained from taking action against them. However, the civil service group also had to relinquish its power over the Beijing garrison.

In the past, such an exchange of benefits would have been absolutely unacceptable to the civil service.

How dare you, an emperor, covet the power of the Beijing Garrison?
What do you want to do?!

But things are completely different now.

Let the Beijing garrison give it to us; we were prepared for it all along, and giving it away will give us peace of mind.

Moreover, the emperor's use of the Beijing Garrison was actually not very useful, because the emperor was going to die suddenly in a while.

So for the civil service, this is a win!

It's not just about winning.

It was a victory that was significant, a landmark, and of special importance!
This means that, to some extent, they have broken the myth of the new emperor's invincibility for the first time.

Big win!

Thinking of this, everyone felt a surge of excitement.

Grand Secretary Huang Liji's tone finally softened: "It seems that His Majesty still has some reservations about the Liaodong matter."

An official chimed in, "Yes, if we had known this would happen, we should have made a move on Liaodong much earlier."

Huang Liji glanced at the man but said nothing.

Everyone present glanced at him silently and let out a quiet sigh.

The Ming Dynasty is indeed getting old.

Even someone like that can discuss matters with us now.

Do you think we didn't think of what you could think of beforehand?

Why wait until now to unleash this killer move in Liaodong?
That's because Liaodong was a very risky move for the civil service group.

If Liaodong were to truly slip out of control, the very foundation of the Ming Dynasty would inevitably be shaken.

If not handled properly, it could even lead to the downfall of the country.

Even if the Jurchens had actually entered the pass, it wouldn't have affected their wealth and status.

However, the establishment of a new regime often means that all the powerful and influential families have to bleed money.

How to put them in and how much to put in are all unknowns.

Therefore, they would not have taken this risky step unless the situation was truly critical.

No one likes the unknown, and traditionally stable families like it even less so.

Unless absolutely necessary, they will continue to love the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)