Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 26 They cannot be killed except for serious crimes of rebellion

Changping's general Li Shouzhen only brought more than 2000 troops, and the cavalry only had more than 100 troops.But this small amount of troops was all gathered together by him. There were a lot of crooked melons and cracked dates, and only about half of them were barely usable.

No, in the Wuying Hall, when the emperor asked about it, Li Shouzhen said with shame: "There are many deserters in the army, and the generals are incompetent and cannot be restrained."

Emperor Chongzhen heard this, which was not surprising at all.

According to historical records, when Li Zicheng's army arrived, Li Shouzhen chose to fight to the death, but his soldiers refused to fight and sold him directly because they clearly wanted to die.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was not angry at all when he saw Li Shouzhen plead guilty. He just said to him: "Li Qing is not alone in this situation in the army. I know the impact of arrears of military pay on the morale of the army. Please submit the military roster. , we will make up the arrears of pay after going back to verify it, and military pay will never be in arrears again in the future."

Hearing this, Li Shouzhen seemed as if he couldn't believe his ears, and looked up at Emperor Chongzhen in surprise.

The imperial court has always been in arrears with wages for even the elite border troops, leading to constant mutinies. Why can even the soldiers guarding the imperial mausoleum make up for the arrears now?
To be honest, he didn't believe it.

Emperor Chongzhen knew what he was thinking by looking at his face, and did not want to explain too much. He just said: "You will be stationed at Yongdingmen from now on, and you will hand over the defense first. In the afternoon, someone in the palace will check the roster and repay the outstanding wages."

Hearing this again, Li Shouzhen confirmed it, but he was still surprised. Where did the court get the money?Also, why is it said that the palace sent someone to verify it, and not the Ministry of War or the Ministry of Household Affairs?
However, giving money is a good thing after all, and it is not easy to ask, but he still has a question, so he said: "Your Majesty, if the general does not return to Changping, what will happen to the imperial mausoleum?"

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was overturning the table. What is table overturning?Just the usual routine, no laws, rules, habits, etc., are all gone!
Even if the capital cannot be defended, why should we care about the imperial mausoleum?Anyone who dares to say that the emperor does not pay attention to the late emperor or has disrespect is left to them. Anyway, they must first save the capital and the country of Ming Dynasty!
Therefore, after Emperor Chongzhen heard the question, he replied: "I have my own arrangements for this matter. Please go and take care of it. If the original defenders show signs of illness, they will be isolated immediately. Do you understand?"

It is not yet known whether the plague exists or not, and to what extent.If you switch to defense, it will make people feel more at ease.

After arranging for Li Shouxuan, Emperor Chongzhen did not leave Wuying Hall, nor did he think about where Fang Zhenghua, Tang Tong and others were and when they would arrive in the capital?Because he simply doesn't have so much time to think about things that are beyond his control.

I heard him pass on another edict, summoning Wang Cheng'en, the new eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department and the admiral of the East Factory, and Li Ruolian, the new commander of the Jinyiwei, to appear.

Tomorrow's court meeting is the highlight, and Wang Chengen and Li Ruolian must cooperate.

By the time Wang Chengen and Li Ruolian arrived in a hurry, he had already written down what he wanted to do on paper.

There were only three of them left in Wuying Hall, and even Wang Chengen's servants all left the hall.

When Wang Chengen and Li Ruolian saw Emperor Chongzhen acting like this, they knew they had something important to tell them.

Sure enough, Emperor Chongzhen said to them solemnly: "Emperor Taizu showed me what will happen next in his dream. If Emperor Taizu doesn't show his vision and I don't make changes, there will be one month left before the capital will be destroyed." It was broken, and I and you all died for our country..."

He had actually said these words before. When Wang Chengen and Li Ruolian heard them at this time, they were not surprised and just listened quietly.They knew that when the emperor summoned the two of them so solemnly, he was definitely not just repeating the matter.

Sure enough, after making the beginning, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly asked: "How is the rectification of Dongchang and Jinyiwei Yamen? If I want to use it, can I use it with peace of mind tomorrow?"

This is the point!Wang Chengen thought in his mind, and immediately echoed: "The slave has jailed all the original Qianhu, Baihu, and several stalls, and replaced them with people he likes. Now he is reorganizing the manpower and taking over various files. Tomorrow Barely usable!”

Li Ruolian followed up and said: "The general's situation is similar, but we are still reorganizing the Jinyi Guards and selecting the people who can be used. It will take more time."

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately said to Li Ruolian: "Let's sort out the arrears of pay for the Jinyiwei first, try to make up for it today, and make a promise that we will never default on military pay in the future."

It is very difficult to make people work hard without paying wages!
Therefore, if nothing else, the only way Emperor Chongzhen could think of to win over the morale of the military was not to default on wages.

This is not the case in Dongchang.Because the actual manpower of Dongchang is actually transferred from Jinyiwei.It is impossible for other staff to be short of money. It is their normal behavior to use their power to make money.That is to say, only the ordinary soldiers in various guard stations in the Jinyi Guard will be owed military pay.

After giving this instruction, Emperor Chongzhen said seriously: "I will deal with the officials of the foreign court tomorrow. Some of them are corrupt and pervert the law, poaching the walls of the Ming Dynasty and enriching themselves. I borrowed money in times of crisis." But he was unyielding, and even surrendered to the thieves on the day the city was broken, and even expressed his support for Li Thief to ascend the throne. I will never forgive these rebellious officials and thieves lightly. "

When Wang Chengen heard this, he gritted his teeth and echoed with hatred: "These people deserve to die!"

Li Ruolian also expressed his resentment. It would be fine if he did not die for his country, but he surrendered to the traitors!

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the two of them and said: "Interrogate Wang Zhixin and others, and ignore everything else. I have a list here. I will interrogate Wang Zhixin and others' collusion with them first."

Under normal circumstances, it would take several days for Wang Chengen and Li Ruolian to grasp Dongchang and Jinyiwei first and then interrogate them.

However, there is no time, so we can only do the most important things first!

After seeing the two of them responding, Emperor Chongzhen said with a cold face: "But if we just punish them with corruption and perverting the law, it will be easy for them."

"Your Majesty, what should this slave do?" After hearing this, Wang Chengen immediately requested the order.

Emperor Chongzhen stood up, walked towards them, handed them the piece of paper he had written in advance, and said in a cold voice: "Some of them have death-free tickets. They cannot be killed unless they commit treason. Do you understand?"

Upon hearing this, both Wang Chengen and Li Ruolian were shocked.

So, they quickly took the list with both hands and read it together.

The person at the top of the list is the hereditary Duke Zhu Chunchen!

The first Cheng Guogong was Zhu Neng, the second hero of Jingnan, who made great achievements in helping Emperor Chengzu win the throne.Throughout the ages, Duke Cheng Guo has been trusted by the royal family and entrusted with important tasks.As for the contemporary Cheng Guogong, he was also deeply trusted by Emperor Chongzhen before.

(End of this chapter)