weaving

Chapter 764 Self-pollution, the way to avoid disaster

Just two days after Liaodong Baojielubu entered Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen was discussing with Minister of War Chen Xinjia and other cabinet ministers about the sacrifice of Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu Town, and Hong Chengchou's recommendation of Zhang Cheng to take over as the chief soldier of Xuanfu Town.

Yushi Fang Tongzhou's impeachment memorial to Zhang Cheng was sent in. After Emperor Chongzhen read it, he became angry and threw Fang Tongzhou's impeachment memorial on the imperial case.

The excitement that Emperor Chongzhen had just felt because of the Liaodong battle report faded away immediately. He looked gloomy and said in a cold tone: "Check it out. Let me check it out. What is Fang Tongzhou's intentions? Who is behind this?"

The eunuchs and maidservants in the East Pavilion of Qianqing Palace also knelt down on the ground, but none of them dared to speak out to dissuade them.

All the ministers and workers who had an audience in the cabinet turned pale with fright, left their seats and knelt down one after another, begging Emperor Chongzhen to calm down his anger, take care of his health, and put state affairs first.

Wang Dehua, the eunuch in charge of the chief inspector of ceremonies and the admiral of Dongchang, climbed up on his knees, and softly persuaded: "The emperor's dragon body is related to the safety of the country. Please put the state affairs first, and don't get angry and hurt your body!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked up at him, his anger was no longer as violent as before, he slammed his hands on the imperial case, and said in a deep voice: "Take it. Take it to them to see, where does Fang Tongzhou come from?" , How dare you make false comments about the court generals?"

At this time, Fan Fucui, the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet and Minister of the Ministry of Officials, had returned home in May of the 14th year of Chongzhen.

Zhang Sizhi suffered from deteriorating ulcers, was very ugly, greedy for money and immoral, and had been in the cabinet for four years without doing anything. He was impeached and resigned after less than a year in the position of chief assistant.

This man's immorality is not only the mediocrity of the court, Zhang Sizhi, in order to seize the family property, actually deceived his younger brother to get drunk, and secretly pressed his fingerprints, so that his younger brother Zhang Sizhi left home in anger.

What's more, he has no way to teach his son. Because of his neglect of discipline, his son was arrested and killed by a county magistrate surnamed Yao in his hometown during the Wanli period.

In the brilliant Ming Dynasty, it was such a person who went to the court to pay homage to the prime minister, collude with eunuchs inside, control the political affairs of the court outside, suppress dissidents, take corruption and accept bribes.
As Wang Dehua sent the impeachment memorial to Zhang Sizhi, the chief assistant of the cabinet, he bent over to accept it with a respectful expression, and unfolded it for a closer look.

It turned out that Fang Tongzhou, the censor, impeached Zhang Cheng for three major crimes in the memorial:

First, impeach Zhang Cheng for usurping the property of the army on Xuanzhen North Road, oppressing military households, collecting business taxes privately, and greedy for money;

Second, Zhang Cheng was impeached for killing Xue Liangqing, military officer of the North Kaiping Guard in Xuanzhen, and murdering Zhang Guowei, the deputy general of Xuanfu Town;
Second, when Zhang Cheng was impeached to aid in the suppression of Henan, he stayed behind and took concubines before the battle, which caused Luoyang to fall into the hands of thieves, and the feudal lordship suffered difficulties.

At the end of the chapter of impeachment, Fang Tongzhou also concluded that Zhang Cheng was a loyal man on the outside, but a treacherous man on the inside. He was the first crime for the fall of Luoyang and the disaster of Fufan. Such a treacherous, lustful and money-greedy person, not killing him would not be enough to anger the people!

After reading it, Zhang Sizhi shook his head lightly, and said lightly: "Scholar's opinion is nothing more than rotten Confucianism's words."

Chen Yan, Minister of the Household Department and University of Martial Arts Palace, who had remained unchanged for thousands of years, took the impeachment seal from him, quickly scanned it, and passed it to Wei Zhaocheng, a scholar of Dongge University, without saying a word.

Finally, it was passed on to Chen Xinjia, Shangshu of the Ministry of War. At the beginning, he saw that Emperor Chongzhen was very angry after seeing the impeachment chapter.

After seeing the impeachment chapter, he finally settled down, and at the same time secretly scolded the censor named Fang Tongzhou for being ignorant of current affairs.

Today's Ming Dynasty is in the midst of both internal and external troubles. Although the treatment of generals has not been significantly improved, the court's attitude towards them is also extremely ambiguous.

I want to suppress it, but I am also afraid that the board will be slapped hard, which will cause the great danger of alienation, so the disposal of the military commanders in various places has always been the top priority. How can you allow a little censor to fiddle with right and wrong.

Unless a general made a big mistake, or his soldiers and horses were completely wiped out, he would become a victim used by the court to kill chickens and monkeys.

Not to mention, today's tens of thousands of Zhang Cheng's orthodox soldiers are working hard for the imperial court on the front line of Jinzhou, and they have made great achievements. At the critical moment of the imperial court's employment, let alone how to encourage and encourage you, you little censor impeached Zhang Cheng at this time ?

Furthermore, the three items of impeachment have already been concluded by the court. Not only the cabinet ministers have already known it, but even the current emperor has known it for a long time, and made a final conclusion with golden words.

You said that a little censor dared to come to this muddy water and wanted to overthrow the emperor's opinion, not to mention the authenticity of the content of the impeachment, as long as Zhang Cheng is punished at this time, who can guarantee that it will not affect the front line of Jinzhou of that battle.

What's more, the crime of Zhang Cheng is at this moment. Doesn't that mean that Emperor Chongzhen must admit that he was wrong at the time and made a wrong decision.

This matter may affect the face of the Tian family, and a slight negligence will endanger the prestige of Emperor Chongzhen, and even make the already precarious Ming court...

Chen Xinjia didn't dare to think about it anymore. He held the impeachment paper tightly in his hand, bowed and played cautiously: "Your Majesty, the current battle in Liaodong is at a critical moment. Loyal and brave soldiers are bathed in blood on the battlefield. Loyal ministers and good generals must not be cold." Yin Yin's heart to serve the country.

emperor! "

The more Chen Xinjia spoke, the more excited he became, and he fell to the ground and knelt down.

At this moment, Emperor Chongzhen's anger has also subsided a lot, his eyes are not bright, and he has returned to the bleakness of the past. He ignored Chen Xinjia who was kneeling on the ground, but turned his eyes to the chief assistant Zhang Sizhi and the second assistant Chen Yan.

Zhang Sizhi naturally knew that he couldn't escape this time. He glanced at the second assistant Chen Yan beside him from the corner of his eye, but saw that his eyebrows were lowered and his eyes were smooth, like an old monk in meditation.

As the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Sizhi also knew that he had to express his opinion at this moment. After reading the memorial to the impeachment of Zhang Cheng just now, he was thinking about it in his head, but he still couldn't decide whether this Fang Tongzhou was right or not. His disciples?

Or your own little fellow countryman?Does he have anything to do with himself?
But the reality did not allow him to think too much, Zhang Sizhi dared to keep Emperor Chongzhen waiting for a long time, he hastily knelt down and said: "I think that Fang Yushi deliberately disturbed the army's morale and damaged our Liaodong military by discussing important military and political affairs. "

When he said this, he continued abruptly: "I suggest that this scholarly lunatic be imprisoned in the Zhenfu Prison and tortured severely to see if he has any remaining parties in the court and whether he has any connections with the captives outside the Great Wall!"

Hearing what he said, Wang Dehua felt a "thump" in his heart, and immediately became a little panicked. If he wasn't by the king's side, he might rush up and beat Zhang Sizhi severely.

He gritted his teeth with hatred in his heart, and thought to himself: When is the time, and you don't know that the disaster is coming from outside, but you dump the pot in the East Factory, I think you, Zhang Sizhi, are also tired of your life?

Everyone knows in their hearts that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the practice of citing crimes has not been practiced, and how many censors have spoken in front of the king, and they really have the heart of selling straight for glory.

But even so, how many people entered the imperial prison of Dongzhen Fusi because of it?
Even the powerful Wei Zhongxian, Grand Duke Wei, never dared to directly send the official censor who wrote a letter of impeachment to the Zhenfu Sizhao Prison to torture and torture.

Although Wang Dehua was uneasy, but he had been with the emperor for a long time, so he knew Emperor Chongzhen better than others. Although his emperor was mean and ungrateful, he cared about his reputation very much.

Therefore, he guessed that the emperor would never send Fang Tongzhou Yushi to the Zhenfusi Prison for interrogation just because of such a letter of impeachment, but even so, he already hated Zhang Sizhi.

Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Dongge University scholar Wei Zhaocheng saw that the second assistant Chen Yan was still in meditation as an old monk, as if everything that happened in the East Pavilion had nothing to do with him, so he couldn't help admiring his concentration in his heart, but At the same time, a trace of contempt also rose.

The atmosphere in the East Pavilion was extremely dull. Although he didn't want to stand out in his heart, Wei Zhaocheng didn't have Chen Yan's inhuman concentration. He always felt that His Majesty the Emperor was staring at him, but he was only worried in his heart, not Dare to look up.

"Your Majesty, I feel that Fang Yushi's impeachment of Zhang Cheng is mostly speculation. Although Zhang Cheng is not very old, he is old and capable, loyal to the king's affairs, expelling captives and bandits, and making military achievements.

Such a fierce general, a talent urgently needed by the Zhengguo Dynasty, is now helping Jinzhou as a teacher and making new achievements. In order to make Zhang Cheng brave in front of the battle, he should be commended.

The minister suggested that Zhang Cheng be appointed as the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, in order to rectify his name, make him serve his life before the battle, and be a model for the three armed forces! "

After hearing Wei Zhaocheng's words, Emperor Chongzhen's complexion gradually recovered, not as flushed as before, and returned to a sallow complexion.

Chen Yan still lowered his eyebrows, but he seemed to have insight into everything. He didn't open his mouth until this time and said: "Your Majesty, I think that the most urgent thing is to comfort the Liaodong officials. As for Fang Tongzhou's impeachment of Zhang Cheng, I think it is groundless, so don't worry about it." he is the one."

Emperor Chongzhen nodded his head gently, his tone returned to normal, and said softly: "Everyone, get up and talk."

All the ministers hurriedly thanked Huang Enhaodang before getting up together, but they dared not take their seats for a while.

Chongzhen ignored them, and said: "Hong Chengchou commanded well, dispatched well, and combined with the Liaodong generals to use their lives before the battle. Only then can we achieve this great victory. Regarding the rewards for meritorious personnel and the compensation for the fallen soldiers, the Ministry of War will discuss it as soon as possible. Delay!"

Chen Xinjia hurriedly got up and kowtowed: "Minister, obey the order!"

"Liaodong's consecutive victories show that Hong Aiqing is indeed a loyal and diligent king. I am very relieved. I hope that she can inspire the morale of the army and take advantage of this great victory to rebuild the slaves again to relieve the brocade siege."

"Sir, obey the order."

Afterwards, I discussed some things about the Liaodong military and Henan and Huguang local bandit suppression. In the end, I went back to food, grass and money, fighting everywhere, asking for money and food everywhere.

In this way, no one mentioned Fang Tongzhou's memorial to impeach Zhang Cheng again. Everyone knew that the emperor neither wanted to deal with Fang Tongzhou, nor would he convict Zhang Cheng because of Fang Tongzhou's impeachment.

In fact, Fang Tongzhou's seal of impeachment was bought by Zhang Cheng himself.

"Muxiu will be destroyed by the forest wind!"

How could Zhang Cheng not know this truth in his two lives, so he sent a secret letter to Yu Shangyou, the censor, asking him to find someone to impeach him, money is not a problem.

This kind of self-defilement has been used by many great talents in history, and Zhang Cheng is naturally not unaware of it.

It's a joke if you use it too much, and it's a help if you use it well!
…………

At noon today, the Ministry of War's proclamation and imperial decree were delivered to the front line of Songshan at the same time. Apart from the encouragement, the only substantive content was that Zhang Cheng temporarily acted as the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Town, and unified command of Xuanfu Town's aid to the Liao Dynasty.

The rewards and pensions of the meritorious generals will be evaluated uniformly after the war, and then the rewards will be discussed.

However, the reason why the eunuch who delivered the decree arrived was because he brought 2 taels of silver, so it was inconvenient to travel. The imperial decree stated that the silver was used to reward meritorious soldiers.

Another thing is to urge the battle!

Regardless of the imperial decree or the call to arms of the Ministry of War, there are only two contents. In addition to the award, it is to urge the war, and Hong Chengchou is required to boost the morale of the army, take advantage of the victory, and quickly break the siege of Jinzhou.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou hastily summoned all the officials and generals to receive the imperial edict together, and everyone first congratulated Zhang Chengrong for being promoted to the general officer of Xuanfu Town.

Although it was only temporary, everyone knew very well in their hearts that after the end of the Songjin battle, the position of Chief Military Officer of Xuanfu Town was destined to belong to Zhang Cheng.

Xuanfu Town is known as the head of the Nine Frontiers. It has always been a battleground for military strategists, and its strategic position is very important.

Cheng Daosheng of the Ming Dynasty said in "Nine Borders Map Research": "The disputes over the mountains and rivers of Xuanfu, the land is dangerous and narrow, and the construction of sub-tunnels will be twice as large as other towns. Therefore, it is known as easy to defend because of its complete momentum. However, it is not four hundred miles away from the capital. Where the key is sent, the key is known."

Xuanfu Town has a military officer guarding Xuanfu, who is stationed in Xuanfu Town, and the general officer of Xuanfu is one of the few generals in Ming Dynasty.

Among the important towns on the nine borders, there are only six who are truly qualified to be called generals, and they are:

The military officer of Datong called Zheng Xiqian general;
The Liaodong general is called the former general who conquered the captives;
The general of Xuanfu is called General Zhenshuo;

Gansu military officer called General Ping Qiang;

Ningxia commander-in-chief called General Zhengxi;

Yansui commander-in-chief was called General Zhenxi;

Among the important towns on the nine borders, there are only six who are qualified to be called generals, and among the six generals in the military towns, only two can use the word "town" as the name of the generals, and their specifications are obviously higher than those of the generals. The name of the general starting with the characters "Zheng" and "Ping".

That is to say, there are more than a dozen generals of the Ming Dynasty gathered on the front line of Songjin in Liaodong, and only Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, and Zu Dashou, who are trapped in Jinzhou City, are the guarding generals who really have the name of the imperial court. .

Besides, Zhang Cheng was originally the deputy commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Township, and when Henan was suppressing bandits, he had already been awarded the title of commander-in-chief to aid and suppress bandits. Now, although he is temporarily acting as the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Township.

But everyone knew very well that this position basically belonged to Zhang Cheng, unless he died for the country in Liaodong, or he made a big mistake, or retreated before the battle, fearing the enemy.

But everyone knew in their hearts, how could these situations happen to Zhang Cheng?

Unless the Liaodong military collapses, but if that time comes, who will not back down, and if they don't back down, they are likely to die here. After all, life is more important to them.

In fact, if it really gets to that point, it doesn't matter if you are the commander in chief or not. After all, only by being alive can you display your ambitions, eat well, drink hot food, and enjoy the happiness of a beautiful wife and beautiful concubine!

After all the officials and generals sent the angel down to rest, and congratulated Zhang Cheng on his promotion to the commander-in-chief, they all walked into the Xingyuan Hall of Governor Jiliao in Songshan Castle.

Although everyone's rewards have not yet come down, everyone knows in their hearts that everyone's contributions are recorded in the books, and they are waiting for the unified reward after the war, so they are naturally happy.

Of course, like Li Fuming, the general soldier of Shanxi, in the previous battle, he was unfavorable in advancing troops and was not recorded in the credit book, but who can blame this?
His family's strength is weak, and they are not trained enough, so naturally they cannot make meritorious service in the war. Fortunately, he was sent to guard the food and supplies. As long as the battle in Liaodong is not a big defeat, he will lose.

His job of guarding food and roads will more or less benefit from his military achievements!

There are also some lucky people, such as Ma Ke, the general soldier of Shanhaiguan. He regained Rufeng Mountain without any effort.

(End of this chapter)