Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

Although Chongzhen left with excuses and several officials had to retire temporarily, the small dispute in the Hall of Martial Arts did not really subside.The officials turned from verbal criticism to written criticism, and the papers were sent to the Hall of Martial Arts every day. One side listed Yang Sichang's crimes, one side defended Yang Sichang one by one, one side clamored for punishment, and one side insisted that the supervisor was innocent. Not giving in to each other, the voices of the people in the Wuying Hall dispersed, but the smoke of gunpowder silently diffused from the stacked memorials on the dragon table.

However, this seemingly intractable stalemate did not last long, and it came to an unexpected and abrupt end-on the fourth day of February, Zhang Xianzhong raided Xiangyang, King Xiang was killed, and Xiangyang fell.No one knew when Zhang Xianzhong left Sichuan and returned to Huguang, and no one knew why the city, including Yang Sichang, where the governor's office was located, was so easily captured with heavy troops.This turn of events completely made Chen Xinjia and others shut their mouths and write. Even if they were unwilling, they were speechless to defend Yang Sichang.

In the Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Martial Arts, Chongzhen stood silently in front of the window, his back facing the restless Xizhao, and Wang Chengen who had been waiting for a long time before the case, never saying a word.

"Your Majesty..." It was time for another cup of tea. After thinking about it, Wang Chengen finally summoned up his courage and said in a low voice, "Look at the current matter... how do we deal with Governor Yang?"

"Does he have a battle report for the incident in Xiangyang?" Chongzhen was still facing out of the window, unable to see clearly the expression when he spoke, only hearing the words in a deep voice.

"There is no battle report..." Wang Chengen replied respectfully, then rolled his eyes, thought for a while and said: "It's strange to say, I haven't seen any battle reports from Governor Yang arrive in Beijing these days, I don't know why. "

"Hmm..." Chongzhen responded in a low voice, and finally turned around and walked towards the dragon chair.Xizhao saw that although Chongzhen's face was gloomy, he was not as haggard and dispirited as he was when his heart disease was hard to recover, and secretly he was relieved a little.But after Chongzhen sat on the dragon chair, he remained silent for a long time. Wang Chengen peeked at Chongzhen's face, but he couldn't see through the emperor's mind.

"You..." After a while, Chongzhen finally spoke.Wang Chengen hastily stepped forward and bowed: "Your Majesty, just give orders."

"Well..." Chongzhen looked up at Wang Chengen, pursed his thin lips, swallowed the words on his lips, paused, and said lightly: "You go down, I will send someone to call when I have something to say." you."

"Yes." Wang Chengen frowned slightly, as if he was slightly surprised by Chongzhen's hesitation, but then he calmed down and resigned according to the order.

two

"Dexiu, tell me, did I believe in the wrong person again?"

The cold winter is coming to an end, but the weather is still not warm.The cool wind quietly passed through the main hall, lifted the noren curtain, penetrated into the room, and blew away the fragrance of magnolia flowers in the emerald vase.Chongzhen took a deep breath, and let it out again, speaking clearly and calmly, but coldly.Xizhao's heart tightened for a while, but when the word "emperor" came out of her mouth, she was unexpectedly at a loss for words, and found that she couldn't find words to comfort Chongzhen.It may be true that a filial son is loyal, but the loyal filial son who believed in him is now in such a situation.Is this the right belief, or the wrong belief?

Seeing the setting sun, Chongzhen remained silent, did not urge, and did not say much. He lowered his head and pondered silently for a moment, and finally his expression turned cold, and he said word by word:

"It seems that it's time for him to make amends."

Xizhao was startled. "The emperor means...?"

Chongzhen turned his head, met Xizhao's questioning gaze, and nodded.

Xizhao understood, she lowered her expression and bowed slightly.Finally, finally... for some reason, these two words came to my mind immediately.Probably the emperor is the same as himself, he has accumulated too many doubts that are almost sure, these doubts have been quietly lurking, just waiting for an opportunity to surface.Now the emperor has finally made up his mind not to condone, and Yang Sichang will eventually follow Wen Tiren's path of no return.But in Xizhao's view, such a result came too late; if his loyalty to the emperor and the country was an excuse for his unscrupulous methods, if his past talents and ideas were the reason why he was repeatedly forgiven, if the emperor had the heart to maintain, he could If Ling Xizhao persuaded herself not to hate him for deceiving and using the emperor, then even if he was dead, he would have to bear the blame.

Thinking of this, Xizhao made up her mind.So he took a few steps around to the front of the dragon case and bowed.

"Dexiu has followed the emperor for many years, and Governor Yang has a good idea of ​​what he has done in front of the imperial court over the years. The emperor can temporarily send Dexiu to Dongchang to preside over the investigation. Dexiu will investigate what he has been doing secretly for the emperor. clear."

Chongzhen was taken aback for a moment, then smiled knowingly, with a little warmth in his brows and eyes. "I understand what you're thinking. It's just that Dongchang is such a clean place. There are so many people available in the palace, so you don't want to go."

Xi Zhao felt unwilling, she pursed her lips, thought for a while and said: "Although there are many people in the palace who are available, but they may not be able to explain the unclear things about Governor Yang, they may not be able to figure out the truth. The emperor can rest assured. In less than seven days, Dexiu will investigate all his crimes, big and small, and find out the truth one by one. At that time, the emperor can inform the court and punish him according to the crime."

"Notify the court, and punish according to the crime..." Chongzhen muttered, as if he was in a daze for a moment, and it seemed that the previous events came to his mind and disturbed his mind. His eyes were empty and he didn't know where to focus. He paused for a while, Only then slowly shook his head. "Hey...why, why..."

Why bother?Xizhao heard it, and was a little puzzled.

"...teach Wang Cheng'en to go to Xiangyang, and it's over."

"Your Majesty?!" Xizhao immediately understood the meaning of Chongzhen's words, and couldn't help but gasped.Yang Sichang is an important minister of the imperial court, how could he not confess, convict him, or announce it, but just finish it secretly?Although according to the law, he could afford the death penalty for the fall of Xiangyang alone, but how could it be the emperor's style to deal with it so rough...

……Could it be that……

In doubt, Xi Zhao's thoughts flashed, and she suddenly remembered all kinds of things that happened when Wen Tiren fell from the horse a few years ago, the farce in the court that day, the dragon case that overturned the ground, and the heart-piercing words from the emperor's mouth.One by one, the past flashed through my heart, and it seemed that I had spelled out a vague answer. When Xizhao turned his eyes to Chongzhen to find out what happened, he found that Chongzhen closed his eyes lightly, and his face was unexpectedly tired like never before.

three

Three days later, the Hall of Martial Arts.

The afternoon sun is neither too strong nor too weak, flowing down from the rows of glazed yellow tiles, reflecting the pines and cypresses in the courtyard in a patchwork of green ink, simple and verdant.Xizhao walked with Chongzhen round and round, and chatted a few irrelevant gossips from time to time, and no one mentioned those troublesome and hard-to-understand things.When they got around under the pine and cypress tree, they suddenly heard the rustling of footsteps behind them. They turned their heads and saw Wang Chengen walking quickly into the courtyard.

"See the emperor." Wang Chengen saluted.

"En." Chongzhen nodded, "It's time to leave for Xiangyang today."

"Go back to the emperor." Wang Chengen was noncommittal, just paused for a while, and then said, "I was going to leave today, but just before I left, I received a message..."

"What news?" Chongzhen asked with his hands behind his back.

"Yang Sichang, Lord Yang, passed away the day before yesterday..."

"Dead of illness?!" Hearing the words, Chongzhen immediately stood there in a daze, not knowing what to say for a while.Xi Zhao on the side raised her eyebrows, also surprised.It is too coincidental that Yang Sichang died of illness just at the moment when the emperor secretly handed over the matter of death to Wang Chengen; and in this way, he would never know the deadly secret decree in Wang Chengen's hands, and would never have to. He would be punished for what he had done, and he would only be thinking of the city of Yanmeigan until his deathbed. This coincidence was too lucky for him.

"He...is really dead...?" After a long time, Chongzhen finally uttered a word.Wang Chengen nodded, leaned back and said: "This matter should not be false, the coffin is already on its way back to Beijing, and the emperor can send someone to inspect it at that time. In addition..." Wang Chengen hesitated for a moment, then said, "My son Yang Shansong claimed that he died of illness, but there are rumors that he actually committed suicide by taking poison because of the fall of Xiangyang, fearing the emperor's punishment..."

"Since the person is dead, there is no need to worry about other things." Chongzhen interrupted Wang Chengen's words, lowered his eyebrows, and secretly let out a sigh of relief outside of Xizhao and Wang Chengen's eyes.Although he had already made the decision to bestow death, if he really died from the white silk poison wine that he bestowed, then now, what should he do with the inexplicable but unconcealable sadness in his heart.Both love and hate, even though he hated, he cherished it, until the news of his death, Chongzhen realized that he had such complicated and contradictory feelings towards Yang Sichang.Whether he died of illness or committed suicide, it should be the best outcome for him to die at this moment.In this way, I can finally let go of my troubles and miscellaneous emotions, so I just regard him as a filial son and loyal minister, and feel sorry for him.Thinking this way, Chongzhen turned around, continued to pace forward slowly, and spoke as calmly as this sunny afternoon, without showing any trace of his mood.

"There is no need to go to Xiangyang again. It is announced that Yang Sichang died of a sudden illness. When the coffin arrives in Beijing, he will be buried in accordance with the etiquette."

From Yang Sichang's official position to the Minister of Rites, he was both a cabinet minister and a supervisor. It is naturally cumbersome and time-consuming to implement the four characters of ceremonial burial.But before the coffin was buried in the ground, the voices of dissatisfaction among the officials in the imperial court were already louder and louder.Some said that although Yang Sichang had gone, the supervisor's crime of dereliction of duty still needs to be investigated and determined.Facing these voices, Chongzhen frowned, waved his hands, and let the matter go.Now that the person is dead, Chongzhen is unwilling to entangle the merits and demerits that are hard to distinguish. Besides, there is an urgent and urgent matter that needs to be resolved with his thoughts—he has never given up coveting the Ningjin line of defense for many years. The Qing army finally assembled a large amount of combat power and supplies in Liaodong, and several main forces went south together, besieging Jinzhou regiments.