Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

As the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, he did not stay in the barracks, but instead led hundreds of his subordinates into the capital. You must know that according to the Ming Dynasty law, no general could lead troops into the city without the imperial edict.

Although more than 300 soldiers are not a lot, they are still soldiers. Moreover, you brought soldiers to surround the Ministry of Revenue. This matter can be big or small, but there will always be many people who are dissatisfied.

Zhang Shikang stayed in the Ministry of Works for almost an hour. It was estimated that other government offices and Chongzhen should have known about the Ministry of Revenue's affairs, so it was not surprising that Zhang Shikang was summoned to the palace.

"Admiral Zhang, please come with us. The emperor is waiting for you in the palace." Wang Chengen urged.

"Don't worry, don't worry. Wait for me for a moment." Zhang Shikang said as he called over a subordinate whose uniform was tattered.

Wang Chengen curled his lips. Not many people dared to go to the emperor and wait for a while, but for Zhang Shikang, his psychological endurance had been greatly improved.

The two entered a small workshop.

"Hurry, take off your clothes." Zhang Shikang said as he took off his clothes.

The subordinate was shocked when he heard that, and his hands couldn't help but grab his belt. It was such a small room, with only two of them, and they had to take off their clothes. He couldn't help but think about it.

"Hurry up! What are you dawdling for?" Zhang Shikang urged.

The subordinate was extremely reluctant, but still obeyed the order. After taking off his clothes reluctantly, he lay down on the gun bed beside him.

"What the hell are you doing with your butt sticking out? Put on my clothes and get out."

Zhang Shikang changed into his subordinate's tattered clothes while scolding him. He probably knew that this guy thought he was having a romantic relationship with him, but he was too lazy to explain.

When Zhang Shikang came out again, he was dressed as a beggar, and Wang Chengen frowned.

"Admiral Zhang, what are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing, go, go, go to the palace, don't keep His Majesty waiting."

Having said that, Zhang Shikang got on the carriage first. Along the way, Zhang Shikang did not ask many questions. He was just impeached for leading troops into the city, which was not a big deal.

The government offices were very close to the palace. In a quarter of an hour, the carriage stopped outside the Meridian Gate. When walking to the Qianqing Palace, Wang Chengen couldn't help but say:

"Admiral Zhang, you should change your clothes. It's not decent to enter the palace like this."

He probably knew why Zhang Shikang exchanged clothes with the soldier, but he still felt embarrassed to be dressed like a beggar.

Zhang Shikang said nonchalantly:

"Ha, don't worry, Eunuch Wang. It's not my dignity that's lost."

Zhang Shikang was so shameless, and the Beijing camp was poor, so it had little to do with him.

Wang Chengen couldn't find anyone else who dared to openly mock the emperor, but he didn't dare to say much, because the emperor trusted him.

When they arrived at the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen still looked overworked and was reviewing memorials at his desk.

There were two boxes next to him, with many memorials placed in a disorderly manner inside. Both boxes were full.

Emperor Chongzhen opened a memorial, glanced at it, frowned, and threw the memorial into the two boxes.

In the Ming Dynasty, if the emperor encountered a memorial that he did not want to deal with or that was difficult to deal with, he could seal the memorial and put it aside temporarily. This was called keeping it in the palace without sending it out.

It is obvious that the current Emperor Chongzhen has encountered this situation. He opens a book and throws it away. He opens a book and throws it away. His expression cannot be said to be angry, just a little helpless.

At this time, Wang Chengen reported the order at the door of the hall, and Zhang Shikang walked into the hall.

Emperor Chongzhen frowned as soon as he saw Zhang Shikang.

"Zhang Shikang, why are you dressed like this?"

Zhang Shikang was originally planning to salute, but upon hearing this he chuckled and said:

"As the commander of the Beijing Camp, I should share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. I will eat what the soldiers eat and wear what the soldiers wear.

What I am wearing now is the military uniform that the soldiers of the Beijing Camp usually wear!"

Zhang Shikang completely ignored the fact that Emperor Chongzhen's brows were getting increasingly furrowed, and continued talking about the situation in the Beijing camp.

"How dare you say that? Have you seen the memorials in these two boxes? They are all impeaching you!"

Emperor Chongzhen pointed at the two boxes beside him and felt a headache.

Some impeached Zhang Shikang for abusing his power, some impeached him for killing the generals of the Beijing camp without authorization, some impeached him for leading troops into the capital without authorization, and some impeached him for threatening people everywhere with the imperial sword.

The last point was what Zhang Shikang did more than an hour ago, which shows how quickly the Six Ministries' Censorate reacted.

Zhang Shikang walked to the two boxes, picked up a few memorials and looked through them. Among them was the impeachment memorial from Tao Zhiwen, the head of the Ministry of Revenue.

The memorial accused him of being good for nothing, making trouble out of nothing, and doing evil. In short, his crimes were unforgivable and he should be punished by slow slicing.

It was the first time that Zhang Shikang saw a memorial written by the ancients to curse someone, and what was more, it actually rhymed.

"Damn it, if these people were so efficient in handling government affairs, why would the Ming Dynasty be in this state?"

"I underestimated you. You dared to kill so many generals at once. You must be happy. I have been annoyed to death by these memorials these past two days."

Emperor Chongzhen was not angry, but he was a little troubled. It was not uncommon for court officials to collectively impeach an official. Generally, if Emperor Chongzhen did not want to deal with it, he would choose to keep it in his heart.

But those court officials would not give up. They would keep writing and impeaching until the emperor listened to their opinions.

This means that Emperor Chongzhen will not have peace in the next few days, but he knows that Zhang Shikang must have his reasons for doing this. After all, this guy has no grudge against those people.

The reason why Emperor Chongzhen said this was that he was complaining.

Zhang Shikang could tell that the old man was complaining, complaining that he was causing trouble for him, but Zhang Shikang himself was also full of grievances.

“The corruption of the Beijing Army is well known to the world. Those deputy generals and lieutenant generals are backed by nobles and even some officials. These people are corrupt and abuse their power, and wantonly oppress the lower-level soldiers.

When I first arrived at the military camp, five of them were drinking and gambling, and three were visiting prostitutes. If I did not kill them, the anger of the army would not be appeased, and the morale of the soldiers would not be boosted.

If they are not killed, the nobles and civil officials can still influence the Beijing camp by relying on their power.

Your Majesty has given me the power to act at my own discretion. I have tried my best to organize the military and train the soldiers without delaying for even a moment. I have to work overtime until midnight every night."

When talking about overtime, Zhang Shikang deliberately emphasized his tone, and his meaning was very clear: what did I do before? I was a playboy, who ate and slept all day long.

Now, for the sake of your kingdom, I have to work overtime. I feel so miserable, I need extra pay!

Is it okay to pay overtime?

After Zhang Shikang said this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately stopped complaining, because he knew that Zhang Shikang was telling the truth. Emperor Chongzhen looked Zhang Shikang up and down and said:

"Alas, you have only been in the barracks for a few days, and you have become tanned and seem to have lost some weight. You are the commander of the Beijing camp, so you don't have to eat the same food as the soldiers every day.

I know you are loyal, you don't need to worry about the impeachment of the court officials, I will take care of it."

After all, Zhang Shikang had been training soldiers all day long, exposed to the sun, and had not eaten very well, so he did get a little tanned. In addition, his clothes were tattered, making him look like a beggar. Emperor Chongzhen actually felt a little distressed for a moment.

He summoned Zhang Shikang just to put on a show in front of the court officials. After all, this way he could announce to the outside world that he had severely reprimanded this wanton guy in the Qianqing Palace.

But Zhang Shikang didn't care about this. The atmosphere was just getting tense. If he didn't play the victim now, when would he do that?

"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter if I suffer a little. After all, starting a business is always hard. But the soldiers in the Beijing camp suffer even more than me!

They were starving and poorly clothed, yet they all wanted to go to the battlefield and kill the enemy. I felt sad and helpless watching this.

But even so, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue still made things difficult for the Beijing Army."

Zhang Shikang informed Emperor Chongzhen of the reasons why he had besieged the Ministry of Revenue. Although he knew that Yang Sichang was behind this matter, Zhang Shikang did not want to have an irreconcilable conflict with Yang Sichang because of this matter.

After all, Yang Sichang was tasked with suppressing the bandits, and he was working for the imperial court, so it was not necessary.

But Emperor Chongzhen sighed when he heard this.

"I really want to replace the weapons and military equipment for the Beijing Army, but the national treasury...

However, as for the deputy generals and lieutenant generals of the Beijing Camp, I have ordered Wang Daban to confiscate their properties, and a total of more than 400,000 silver coins were seized. This silver coin came from the Beijing Camp and should be used in the Beijing Camp.

If Shikang has no objection, I will hand over the money to the Ministry of Works and let them make new weapons and equipment for the Beijing Army.

As for the matter of the Ministry of Revenue's grain and grass, I already know about it, alas! "

Emperor Chongzhen sighed. He seemed to know what happened in the Ministry of Revenue, so he handed over a memorial at hand.

This memorial was written by Yang Sichang to impeach Zhang Shikang. The content of the memorial was nothing more than two points: one was that he killed a large number of senior officials of the Beijing camp without the approval of the court, and the other was that he led troops to block the gate of the Ministry of Revenue.

Yang Sichang's words were rather plain, except for one sentence at the end: "Such behavior is tantamount to treason."

After reading the memorial, Zhang Shikang became furious.

Fuck your mother, you're just blaming others for what they did, aren't you?