The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 3 Enthroned
When, when, when...

Before dawn, the melodious and simple bells rang throughout the sky over the capital.

Although people inside and outside the capital are already panicking, the intruders are still far away in Shanxi.

So after hearing the bell, all the civil and military officials in Beijing and the nobles of the royal family hurried to the palace.

along the way.

All the civil and military officials were talking about it, they were all guessing what happened in the palace, which caused His Majesty to mobilize the crowd so much.

Huangji Hall, nine rooms wide and five rooms deep, is the most majestic and tallest palace in the Forbidden City.

It is also the place where emperors of all dynasties held enthronement ceremonies.

When the civil and military nobles who were qualified to enter the palace came to the palace, they were immediately stunned.

I saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was wearing a dragon robe, sitting on a dragon chair with a big horse and a golden knife.

On the left and right stood Wang Cheng'en, the eunuch of Bingbi, the supervisor of ceremonies, and Wang Dehua, the admiral of the imperial horse supervisor.

After everyone stabilized their minds, they quickly analyzed the scene in front of them.

Almost all of them were human beings.

In an instant, he guessed that the prince might be staging a coup.

At this time, he dared to wear a dragon robe and sit on a dragon chair, which showed that the situation in the palace was completely under his control.

After figuring this out, everyone chose to wait and see what happened, and saluted one after another: "Meet Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Be flat!"

Zhu Cihong was also quite nervous, raised his hand falsely, and immediately asked Wang Chengen to announce the decree.

But he lamented in his heart, his father Chongzhen was really unpopular!
So many ministers pretended to be blind, and no one dared to stand up and accuse him of treason.

Wang Chengen didn't hesitate, opened the imperial decree, and read it out.

The general meaning is that Chongzhen first sighed with emotion about his diligence and frugality in the past 17 years since he took the throne.

Then he complained about God's bad luck, which caused the situation to go from bad to worse, so that now he fell ill from overwork and could no longer handle political affairs.

Then he praised the prince fiercely, passed the throne to the prince, and finally asked the officials to assist the prince well and rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty.

After the imperial decree was read, there was a moment of silence in the hall, and the atmosphere was rather strange.

Obviously, no one dares to be the first to stand up to question or bow down.

"My lord, this edict has not been approved by the cabinet, and it violates the system. Please forgive the old minister for not rushing to obey the edict!"

After a while, one of the civil servants finally stood up and said to Wang Cheng'en.

This person is Ni Yuanlu, Minister of the Household Department and a scholar of the Imperial Academy.

Everyone also looked at Wang Chengen in unison.

Facing everyone's doubts, Wang Chengen squinted his eyes, with an expression of don't ask our family.

Zhu Cihong didn't know when there was such an unhealthy trend in the Ming Dynasty.

That is the imperial decree issued by the Ming emperor, which must go through the cabinet, otherwise it will be counted as the central decree, and the civil servants can not follow the imperial edict and not give Ming the world.

Ordinary imperial edicts have to go through the cabinet, let alone edicts, which are the most important imperial edicts.

But the fact is that the emperor is critically ill, and when drafting the imperial edict, the cabinet ministers must be present, and the three princes must be present.

After the edict was drafted, all the people and the emperor had to look it over and confirm that it was correct, and then the eunuch, who was in charge of the eunuch, would stamp it with the seal.

Moreover, in order to prevent the supervisor of ceremonies and the cabinet from colluding to revise the edict, the seal had to be handed over to the queen for temporary storage, and then handed over to the emperor after the new king ascended the throne.

When Emperor Chongzhen came to the throne, it was done like this.

Therefore, even if Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family, who had power over the government and the harem, were unwilling, they had no choice but to watch Chongzhen, who was heart-to-heart of the Donglin Party, ascend the throne.

Seeing someone standing up to question the legitimacy of this edict at this moment, Zhu Cihong was not surprised, but felt that there was finally someone who cared about his father.

If it were someone else, he would not hesitate to make an example to others.

But this Ni Yuanlu was a well-known loyal minister in history, and one of the few high-ranking civil servants who committed suicide for the Ming Dynasty after Li Zicheng conquered Beijing.

So plan to give him a chance.

So he said in a deep voice: "Ni Aiqing, my father was suddenly ill, so I didn't have time to notify the elders and the Duke of the state to witness, but the authenticity of the imperial decree is beyond doubt. If Aiqing has doubts, you can wait for the boarding ceremony When it's over, go meet the emperor!"

"This…"

Seeing what the prince said, Ni Yuanlu hesitated a little. Although the prince's words were too far-fetched, at least it can be confirmed that His Majesty is not dead yet.

And there have been precedents for this kind of thing in history.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, Jinren's soldiers suppressed the territory.

Song Huizong shamelessly dumped the blame on his son and became the Supreme Emperor himself. As a result, both father and son became prisoners, which is known as the shame of Jingkang in history.

For a while, there were many discussions in the hall.

"Now that the enemy is at hand, the father is ill and cannot continue to deal with political affairs, but the country cannot be without a king for a day. As the heir of the Ming Dynasty, this crown prince inherits the throne, which is justified!"

"Chen Aiqing, you are the chief assistant of the cabinet, do you have any objections?"

Zhu Cihong ignored Ni Yuanlu, and ignored the secret discussions below. He knew that a leader was missing now, so he decided to hold the persimmon softly. After speaking, he stared at the chief assistant Chen Yan with a murderous look.

I want to see what he has to say.

What else can Chen Yan say?
Those big Han generals on both sides obviously looked ready to kill at any time.

Now that the crown prince named him again, it was absolutely impossible not to express his opinion.

Anyway, judging from the situation, even if Chongzhen did not die, he was probably put under house arrest, and it is very difficult for him to stand up again.

What he is most concerned about now is when the intruders will come, and how to protect himself wisely during this time.

As for who is the emperor of their old Zhu family, whether it conforms to the ancestral system is none of his business.

So he knelt down immediately.

"Chen Yan, chief assistant of the cabinet, bows to His Majesty the Emperor, Long live Your Majesty, Long live, Long live!"

"Long Live Long Live Your Majesty!"

Most of the rest of the people also had this kind of thinking. Seeing that the first assistant took the lead, they had no worries and knelt down one after another.

In the end, even Ni Yuanlu wasn't serious.

After all, the prince has always been wise, and his succession might really be able to save the crisis.

"Everyone is flat!"

Only then did Zhu Cihong raise his hand, revealing a smile.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Well, now that the enemy is at hand, and I will succeed to the throne in danger, the pawn of enthronement should be simple and quick!"

After finishing speaking, let Wang Chengen read the imperial edict again.

There are four edicts this time, one is to canonize his father Chongzhen as the Supreme Emperor, and the title is determined.

The other two copies were to enshrine the empress Zhou Wan as the Holy Mother Empress Dowager, and the imperial aunt Zhang Yan as the Empress Dowager Yi'an.

The last one is to exempt all tax and corvee labor in several northern provinces for three years, and completely abolish the three rates.

Naturally, everyone will not have an opinion on this.

Anyway, how long he can be the emperor is still unknown, and whether this edict can be issued is also a question.

If he wants to make a fuss, let him do it, there is no need to make a head bird and a crown prince at this time.

Next is a series of ceremonies such as worshiping the Taimiao.

Although it has been very simple, but still toss until the afternoon is not over.

In the end, Zhu Cihong was so hungry that he couldn't take it anymore, so he forcibly announced the end and asked the cabinet to immediately issue the four edicts to the world.

Civil and military officials are also happy and relaxed, wishing to break up and go back as soon as possible.

As for going to meet Chongzhen for verification, no one mentioned it.

The ceremony is over, isn't it courting death if you go again?

After returning to Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cihong was also very tired, but he was still very excited when he thought that he would be the emperor in the future.

Just as he was about to deliver the meal, Wang Chengen walked in.

"My lord, Li Banghua, the censor of Zuodu, is asking to see you."

"Just say that I'm not free, and let him write something."

Zhu Cilang waved his hand.

He guessed that Li Banghua was probably there for moving the capital, but how could he have time to chatter with these civil servants now?
In history, his father, Chongzhen, wasted all his time arguing with these civil servants.

In his opinion there is a fart use.

It's ridiculous that Li Zicheng entered the city, and he was still ringing the bell, trying to summon all the civil and military officials, but naturally no one came.

After Wang Chengen left.

Zhu Cihong couldn't wait to summon the official of Jinyiwei Hall to Dongnuan Pavilion, and was going to take Jinyiwei first.

(End of this chapter)