Chapter 12 Chapter 12: The Dead
The timing has entered the ninth year of Mandate of Destiny, and the Kingdom of Houjin has followed the thriving footsteps of the past and opened up a prosperous prospect.
After suspending the use of troops against foreign countries, Nurhaci devoted most of his energy to stabilizing the interior, strengthening the national strength, and connecting with allies; Suifu continues the methods of "granting land by counting Ding" and "organizing farms according to Ding" promulgated as early as the sixth year of Mandate of Heaven, and vigorously promotes and implements it, so that every Ding can be allocated to farmland and build manors; at the same time, He strengthened the work of mining and smelting chains, improved the technology of weapon production, and began to order people to develop yellow gunpowder and manufacture firearms, so that Houjin would have sufficient development from people's livelihood to military affairs.
In terms of friendly alliances, the main targets are of course North Korea and Mongolia.
His previous efforts on North Korea have gradually recovered. Not only have more and more people secretly messaged him from the Chinese and military officials of North Korea, but some generals have even secretly expressed their willingness to lead their troops to join him—he can already It is expected that once this happens, it will be a trivial matter to have more troops. The most important thing is that he will be able to control North Korea's interior better.
As for Mongolia, the relationship between Hou Jin and Horqin, Khalkha and other ministries is even more advanced day by day.
The Horqin Department will add another daughter to marry Houjin—he proposed to the Horqin Department for the thirteen-year-old Dorgon, and has been approved by Sang'erzhai Taiji, and will send his daughter to marry in May; The ministry will also hold a grand alliance in February. Representatives of all factions will join the alliance and swear to heaven and earth to repair it forever and be an alliance forever.
Khalkha is another situation.
The forehead son-in-law Engeder Taiji, who was attached to him earlier, decided to move his family and settle down in the Kingdom of Jin—Of course he was very happy when he received this letter, and he prepared to reward Engeder Taiji’s manor, servants, and gold early on. silk……
He smiled and patted Engedel on the shoulder, and said loudly: "I have you as a good helper, and the Kingdom of Jin will be more prosperous!"
The Houjin Kingdom already possesses the foundation and strength to become a great power, and he is confident that the day of aspiring to the Central Plains and eradicating the Ming Dynasty is getting closer and closer.
And the people in power in the Ming Dynasty, whether in the imperial palace or the court, all seemed to be assisting him in fulfilling his wish, and were doing their best to carry out various tasks to eliminate the Ming Dynasty...
Emperor Tianqi's workshop was successfully completed on schedule. Both the architecture and the furnishings were in line with his wishes. He was so satisfied that he felt comfortable when he was in it, and he could devote himself to the carpentry he loved; sometimes, He even stayed there overnight and did not return to the Qianqing Palace for a few days in a row—the owners of the Qianqing Palace have actually been replaced by Wei Zhongxian and Rong Qingfeng.
In the imperial palace, Wei Zhongxian's power is so great that it has become a situation of "under one person, above ten thousand people". However, this "one person" is not the Emperor Tianqi who entrusted everything to him, but Rong Qingfeng - the one in his heart. The one who is really afraid and obeys everything is Rong Qingfeng, because what she desires to have children is the only thing he can't do and dare not face.
No matter how powerful he is, he cannot give himself the ability to conceive, no matter whether he can search for all kinds of strange and obscene tools to please her, or he can't fill this gap for her—after several times of getting out of the tent, he even Afraid of getting dark, afraid of facing the bed curtains, and sometimes yelling in terror in a dream: "Eldest sister—please spare me!"
At the same time as he made the sound, he lost control of his urine and drowned the mattress, so he was even more embarrassed. He wished that he would die immediately to escape the shame of losing his dignity.
Every night, he felt that he was not a human being at all, but a monster with four faces, and he moaned silently in his heart: "Why should I enter the palace to be a eunuch? If I become an eunuch, I am willing to do hard labor and do rough work. Why do I have to be greedy?" Admiring power, I have to curry favor with this tiger-wolf-"
This feeling increased day by day, and gradually accumulated into a heavy pressure that he could not bear. Therefore, after sunrise, he intensified his expansion of power to fill the gap in his heart and regain his lost dignity.
He no longer relied on Donglin's reputation to beautify himself, but acted as if he had got rid of a burden and let go; anyone in the court—as long as he gave a gift—attached to him, he would accept; And since he can "hold the emperor", he certainly has the right to appoint officials, and controlling personnel is tantamount to controlling everything.
As for the candidates for the Cabinet Scholars, he had already taken advantage of several times of adjustments to insert Gu Bingqian and Wei Guangwei who were close to him. Those from the three parties who were excluded by Donglin, as long as they took the initiative to join him, they would Absolutely not to lose the official...
People in the palace and court began to respectfully address him as "Nine Thousand Years Old". Not only did he accept it calmly, but he simply called himself that, ordering everyone not to use the original "Wei Sili" and "Wei Gonggong" in the future. call.
He arrogantly declared: "I am only a little worse than Long Live the Emperor!"
And when these words came to Rong Qingfeng's mouth, it was unavoidable to add a squinting expression and an ambiguous smile: "It's only a little short!"
Of course he also knew she meant something else.
Now, his power has surpassed that of Emperor Tianqi. The only thing that is worse than Emperor Tianqi is his fertility.
In the entire Daming Palace, only Emperor Tianqi had the ability to conceive—Emperor Tianqi originally had a younger brother Zhu Youjian, but when he was only a teenager, he was canonized as the King of Xin, and he left the palace to live in the Xin Mansion...
What made her resent the most was that the only person who had the ability to have children no longer had sex with her.
In addition to the harem concubines like clouds, he is more addicted to making wooden utensils, and he has no lust in his heart-the scene of being tired of sucking in her arms and playing with her breasts has become a past that will never be recalled, and it has become a thing in her heart. A double loss and emptiness that nothing else can fill.
Instead, she vented her resentment on bullying the other women in the harem. Apart from framing Empress Zhang, Concubine Fan Hui, Concubine Li Cheng, Concubine Zhang Yu, and even Zhao Xuanshi, the former emperor of Taichang, were all murdered by her. To be imprisoned and starved to death is to die by coercion; and after killing them all, she still feels unsatisfied and unbalanced--this night, she simply took advantage of Wei Zhongxian being teased by her again to make him feel ashamed and angry, and issued an order : "You better get me a real man to come into the palace!"
Wei Zhongxian was taken aback and said, "How can that be done? In the palace, how can you just let a man in?"
Rong Qingfeng sneered and said, "What's wrong? Aren't you nine thousand years old? Who dares to say no to what you do?"
Wei Zhongxian said: "There are rules in the palace, it's not like you don't know it! That's not allowed!"
When Rong Qingfeng heard this, he became even more annoyed, and said viciously: "What's wrong? Is there anything worse than your virtue in the world? You're useless, only eunuchs can do it! You can't get people in, then you Can you take it back? Take it back if you have the ability, don't pee your pants every now and then!"
She was in a bad mood, and her cursing voice became sharper and sharper, echoing her unbearable content, like thousands of sharp knives stabbing at Wei Zhongxian, hurting Wei Zhongxian mentally into blood gushing powder. Squeezed out a distorted, weak and trembling wail of pain: "Stop talking—it's all up to you—up to you—"
But in this way, although he was personally liberated, the Daming Palace has since added a bit of obscenity, which is more ugly than anyone can imagine.
The ministers in the court got occasional indirect messages-not half of the truth, but enough-that the fire of anger was kindled in the hearts of the people, and it exploded into a raging flame in an instant.
On this day, Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou signed together and invited Donglin Youyou to discuss matters in Zhao Nanxing's mansion together; because the situation has become extremely bad, except for Ye Xianggao and Han Huan who were appointed as the first and second assistants of the cabinet. In addition to being inconvenient due to their status, even Zou Yuanbiao, who is as famous as Zhao Nanxing, also attended the meeting. Therefore, the first two people were recommended at the meeting, and the third person, Yang Lian, strongly pushed Gao Panlong.
Gao Panlong was reluctant to resign—Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, etc. were his students—so he, who has always been taciturn, had to make an exception as one of the meeting hosts.
The topic of discussion is of course "Wei Zhongxian's chaos in politics".
Everyone listed Wei Zhongxian's various evils one by one, and when it came to the point of anger and indignation, they almost wanted to beat their chests and feet-after a whole day, all Wei Zhongxian's evil deeds were discussed clearly.
However, a group of people talked and talked, and the content was all about Wei Zhongxian's crimes, but they still couldn't discuss a specific way to deal with Wei Zhongxian; Regardless of reading the memorabilia, it’s useless to do it; but the opponents couldn’t come up with a better way, so they started a random discussion, talking about the past over and over again, and there was still no result until nightfall.
However, the meeting had to end—Zhao Nanxing and Zou Yuanbiao were too old to stay up late.
As a result, an extremely important meeting turned into empty talk; a group of honest gentlemen with both good character and learning only ended up venting some emotions of hating Wei Zhongxian, and had nothing else to gain.
Unexpectedly, a few days later, Wei Zhongxian adopted a "preemptive strike" attitude and took the lead in dealing with the people in Donglin.
Wei Zhongxian, who had already spread his eyes and ears in the court, of course found out about Donglin's meeting and the scolding of him in the meeting, so he decided to act first.
In order to curry favor with him earlier, he appointed Fu Huai, whom he had worshiped with his nephew Fu Yingxing earlier, to frame Zhongshu Wang Wenyan, who was named in Donglin, and very quickly sent Wang Wenyan to the prison; then, He instructed the Zhenfu Department to accuse Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others in Wang Wenyan's confession, and then use this to create a big prison.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the court changed.
People are terrified, and rumors are everywhere—the shadow of a future catastrophe hangs over everyone in the court.
Of course, the members of Donglin immediately responded to the situation, so under the leadership of Ye Xianggao, the chief minister of the cabinet, they started a vicious fight with Wei Zhongxian, who was called the "eunuch party" and his followers.
The two sides fought each other, and it was even more dangerous than the flames of war in Liaodong...
Ye Xianggao first wrote about his cautious life skills, and with the idea of calming things down, he talked to Liu Qiao, who was in charge of the governor, and hoped that this punishment would end with Wang Wenyan himself; Liu Qiao agreed, so Wang Wenyan In his confession, he only admitted that he was corrupt, and did not involve other Donglin people.
However, when Wei Zhongxian saw the result of the interrogation, he was furious, and he simply dismissed Liu Qiao and assigned his confidant Xu Xianchun to be in charge of the Zhenfu Department—of course things would not end well.
What followed was of course a series of demonstrations: Wei Zhongxian, contrary to the past, still tolerated Donglin with three points and developed his own power with seven points, and criticized the memorials made by Li Yingsheng and others; Knowing his attitude, he will kill without hesitation.
At the same time, he even instructed Xu Xianchun to threaten Wang Wenyan with torture, and must falsely implicate many Donglin people in his confession so as to implicate him.
Of course, Dong Lin would not be caught without a fight—the gray-haired Ye Xianggao had to step forward and discuss countermeasures with all the people in Dong Lin.
However, the result of the deliberation was still reduced to "no result" of empty talk, no specific measures were discussed, and no countermeasures were made. Instead, all the participants realized: "Although there are many people in Donglin's court, they have already There is no real political power anymore—"Donglin governing" has long been changed to "eunuch governing"—”
Ye Xianggao, as the head and assistant of the cabinet, couldn't deal with Wang Wenyan's implicated prison. It is conceivable that he only has an empty shell of the name of the chief assistant, and has no power and influence—everyone A shadow cast over my heart.
When he returned to the house after the meeting, Yang Lian, who had a strong and impassioned personality, felt his chest heaving so violently that he couldn't sleep; he thought about it first, then trembled with anger, and then simply went to the study to write at the desk, and finished a memorial in one go.
However, after finishing writing, not only did my mind not calm down a bit, but it became even more turbulent, and even all the past events of "moving the palace" came back to my mind.
He thought sadly and angrily: "On that day, regardless of personal safety, we took risks and made troubles, and forced Xili to move the palace, so that Jinshang could successfully take over the throne and live in Qianqing Palace, so that the power would not fall into the hands of women. 'True; but only a few years—"
Emperor Apocalypse seldom lives in the Qianqing Palace, which symbolizes the "emperor's residence", and he lives in the workshop to do carpentry spontaneously!
Efforts at the time were virtually in vain.
He clearly remembered that his beard turned white overnight, and he successfully fought for the power for Emperor Tianqi——his mood became even more agitated: "At that time, who would have expected that he would personally win the power that he had earned so hard Transfer it to Wei Zhongxian?"
He simply took up writing again, added a lot of words attacking Wei Zhongxian to the memorial, and also made some amendments to the original content, changing the parts he thought mild and replacing them with a fierce tone.
After daybreak, he couldn't wait to go out early to find Zuo Guangdou; as soon as they met, he blurted out: "We must not allow that rebellious eunuch to go on rampant any longer!"
He took out the rough manuscript he had prepared and unfolded it for Zuo Guangdou to read; Zuo Guangdou would of course realize that "this is a big deal", so he sat upright carefully and read it carefully word by word; at the beginning, Yang Lian bluntly said : "Emperor Gao decreed that internal officials are not allowed to interfere in foreign affairs, and are only for Ye Ting to clean up. Those who violate the law will not be pardoned. When the sage is in the imperial court, there are unscrupulous and chaotic courts, such as Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch of Dongchang. Dare to list his crimes. Your Majesty said that Zhongxian was a rascal in the market, middle-aged and clean, and entered the mainland. At the beginning, he was misunderstood as a small loyalty and a small faith to be lucky, and then he dared to be a big traitor and a big evil to disrupt the government. The ancestral system is to imitate The decree is to be responsible for the cabinet ministers. Since they are loyal and virtuous and domineering, they spread more preaching, or they criticize themselves internally. They will destroy the political system of the ancestors for more than 200 years. One of the major crimes—"
Zuo Guangdou just read out the first major crime listed, frowned first, looked at Yang Lian and said: "It is true that Wei Zhongxian seized power and manipulated the proposed decree—but I'm afraid, your As soon as the memorial is uploaded, it will be in his hands, and Long Live Lord can't see it at all!"
Yang Lian said: "I know this - I also have a countermeasure: wait for the face-to-face presentation in person, and it will be in the hands of the Long Live Lord!"
So Zuo Guangdou nodded and continued to read.
Yang Lian eloquently listed Wei Zhongxian's 24 serious crimes, playing power games, crowding out Zhongliang, appointing villains, framing concubines, planting parties for private interests, setting up internal eunuchs as soldiers, and accepting bribes-every one of them is indeed evidence of Wei Zhongxian's crimes Definite evil.
However, after Zuo Guangdou finished reading the full text, he immediately dissuaded him: "Although what you said is true, it is not appropriate to act rashly—now, Wei Zhongxian's power is astonishingly great, and there is no one in the palace or in the court." People can reach it; you, even if you are in the hands of Long Live God, it is still unknown what effect it will have. If it falls into the hands of Wei Zhongxian, things will be bad--in my opinion, let's not act recklessly, let's go with Ye Ge Let Lao, Zhao, and Zou discuss it before discussing it!"
Yang Lian gasped and said, "Why are you shrinking back?"
Zuo Guangdou waved his hands again and again and said: "No - there is no advance or retreat in this matter, but Wei Zhongxian is no longer an ordinary person, and he must be cautious when it comes to impeachment!"
However, Yang Lian, who was in a state of extreme indignation, felt disgusted with his conservative thinking, and immediately said angrily: "Then, you should be cautious and restrained! I don't want to tolerate rape any longer!"
As he spoke, he snatched the grass from Zuo Guangdou's hand, and at the same time got up and walked away.
Zuo Guangdou didn't expect him to be so angry, he got up in a hurry, staggering his steps; after catching up with him, he stammered and shouted: "Don't—don't be like this—let's discuss—"
However, how could Yang Lian have room for negotiation?With a vigorous wave of his sleeves, he rushed out of the door, and quickly proceeded according to his own ideas, presenting the memorial to Emperor Tianqi face to face.
A few days later, he waited for the opportunity—Emperor Apocalypse appeared in the early court by accident, and he immediately presented the prepared memorial with both hands.
The situation was similar to what he had expected. Emperor Tianqi didn't say much, but the eunuch who ordered his attendants to put away the memorial said, "I'll take it back to read!"
But after taking it back, the situation began to deviate from his prediction—as soon as Emperor Tianqi returned to the harem, he was in a hurry to go to the workshop to do carpentry, and the memorials he brought back were naturally handed over to Wei Zhongxian for processing.
Wei Zhongxian, who was illiterate, almost exploded with anger after hearing the content read.
He gritted his teeth and cursed: "It's been a good day, but you actually encouraged the emperor to punish me? Since you are the hero of 'moving the palace', put your eyes on the top of your head-I will make you cry if you don't clean up. Teach me to be a castrated eunuch in my next life!"
After scolding enough, he immediately found Xu Xianchun, Wang Tiqian and other confidantes, and carefully discussed the countermeasures.
During the discussion, he was full of hatred, and he kept emphasizing his tone to instruct the group of confidants: "Why don't you cut Yang Lian into pieces, this person is too hateful——"