At noon on July 22, the ninth year of Chongzhen.
A group of Donggong bodyguards rode into the capital. They danced the victory report in their hands and shouted at the top of their lungs: "Great victory! Great victory! Great victory! Great victory in a good town! The brave guard camp beheaded more than 7000 slave thieves!"
"Great victory! Great victory! Great victory in Liangxiang. The Yongwei Battalion killed four Jiala Zhangjing slaves, eighteen Niulu Zhangjing slaves, and saved more than 100000 people..."
"Great victory..."
The victorious cavalry entered from the Yongdingmen Gate outside Beijing, followed the Yongdingmen Street along the central axis to the Zhengyang Gate of the inner city, and then entered the Chengtian Gate of the Imperial City. They shouted all the way, making the whole city a sensation!
Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the Ministry of War living in the inner city, heard the news and immediately asked the housekeeper to prepare a sedan chair to go to the Ministry of War. When he arrived at the Ministry of War, he found that the person who reported the victory had not come. He stayed for a moment and immediately rode straight into the imperial city to visit the palace.
Zhang Fengyi was not angry at the people who reported the victory why they didn't send the victory report to the Ministry of War first according to the process, because he heard the words "Yong Wei Battalion". He knew that it was the army directly led by the Crown Prince and didn't need to go to his headquarters at all.
When the guards of the Eastern Palace sent the good news to the Meridian Gate, all the guards were stunned. One of the eunuchs who held the Meridian Gate quickly hooked the good news to the city wall with a basket, and then handed it to Eunuch Cao Huachun, the Chief of Etiquette.
Cao Huachun took the good news and quickly glanced at it. He was ecstatic and rushed to the Qianqing Palace.
At this time, the Palace of Heavenly Purity was in chaos, and a large number of memorials and memorials were scattered on the ground. The roar of Emperor Chongzhen kept coming out of the hall: "For eighteen days, the thieves and slaves were like entering a deserted land. They went south to Zhuozhou, broke through Pinggu in the east, and even broke through dozens of cities. The army commanders who entered the guard had never fought with the slave thieves once. What did they want to do? Do they want to be Cao Cao?"
The Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he roared one after another: "The capital city has suffered this disaster, and all the commanders are incompetent! I will kill them!"
When the emperor was angry, he buried millions of corpses. Although Chongzhen didn't have this special effect, it was enough to frighten the eunuchs in the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
All of them trembled and kept their mouths closed, fearing to cause the emperor's displeasure, they were pulled out and killed.
When Cao Huachun arrived at the Palace of Heavenly Purity, he saw the Emperor Chongzhen's Long Yan in the palace angry. After hesitating for a moment, he saw the roar inside stop, and then ran in. He held up the victory report and shouted, "Your Majesty, victory!"
When Cao Huachun, who has always been steady, jumped in like a monkey, Chongzhen frowned and said angrily, "What's the name of the ghost? What? What did you just say... victory?"
When Emperor Chongzhen saw that Cao Huachun was smiling, he was very nervous. He could not help saying, "What a great victory! Where is it?"
Cao Huachun dared not hide the victory report behind him for Chongzhen to guess. He immediately replied: "The crown prince reported the victory: bloody battle in good villages, more than 7000 slave thieves were beheaded by Yongwei Camp, four Jialazhangjing slave thieves were killed in the battle, eighteen Niuluzhangjing slave thieves were killed in the battle, and more than 100000 people were saved... an unprecedented victory!"
The Emperor Chongzhen shivered to take the victory report. He read the memorial over and over again for fear of missing a word. The more he read it, the more he felt short of breath, and his nervous face gradually relaxed.
"Good! Good! Good!" The Emperor Chongzhen shouted three times and walked around the Palace of Heavenly Purity, releasing his pent up emotions. There were thousands of words in his heart.
The good news came in time. Daming needs this victory to improve the morale of the army and the people!
At this time, the eunuch on duty reported that several cabinet ministers and six ministers asked for an audience.
The excited expression of Emperor Chongzhen immediately stopped, and his face flashed a cold color. These important officials in the court had no skills when the enemy was present. At this time, they came to the market to join in the excitement when there was a good news.
However, due to the patriarchal system and his reputation for receiving remonstrance, Emperor Chongzhen summoned them.
After all the ministers saw the ceremony, Zhang Fengyi, the minister of the Ministry of War, immediately said, "Your Majesty! I suggest you kill the nine soldiers who joined the king of medical service!"
Chongzhen was stunned and said, "Why did Zhang Aiqing say that?"
Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the Ministry of War, said angrily: "Your majesty ordered all the commanders to join the king in Beijing within eight days after four days, but now it has been eighteen days. All the commanders have already arrived near the capital, but they have not dared to fight with the Qing army, so I suggested killing some commanders to put some pressure on them!"
Zhang Fengyi is the minister of the Ministry of War, nominally in charge of the commanders of all armies. Now that this situation has arisen, he can only blame the commanders of all armies, otherwise he will be caught by someone with a mind. He is the minister of the Ministry of War, and cannot escape from prison if he resigns.
The Emperor Chongzhen didn't say anything. His face looked tired. After a while, he said, "Kill them. Do we still have generals to guard in the northern town of Daming?"
Although the Emperor Chongzhen was also angry in his heart, he had no choice. It was just angry to say that he would kill those incompetent people.
Although the current nine frontier army apparently obeys the imperial court's call, it has begun to form its own system and gradually transformed into a warlord army.
In particular, Liaodong Town has already formed an interest group. The court throws millions of taels of silver into Liaodong every year, but they only defend, do not attack, and do not build city defense. They put money into their own pockets, and the generals and soldiers are greedy for their pay.
So corrupt, the imperial court can't remove them. Once the Liao Dynasty's salary is cut off, mutiny is small and defection to the enemy is big.
If Liaodong is lost, the Qing army will drive southward from the Guanning defense line without fear, and the consequences will be unimaginable.
Jiang Fengyuan, the minister of etiquette, said: "Maybe it is the lack of unified command of all reinforcements that has led to several commanders not daring to act rashly."
Jiang Fengyuan's remark made several ministers nodded in agreement. Although they knew that it was not the reason, they all understood that they did not want to break the skin with the border army.
"The prince has killed more than ten thousand Jiannu in a few days. I plan to let the prince's governor go all the way to reinforce the army. What do you think?" Chongzhen said and handed the victory report to Wen Tiren, the head of the cabinet.
Wen Ti Ren Jiang is still old and hot. I don't know what kind of enchanting soup he poured into Chongzhen. It didn't take him a few days to gain the appreciation of the Emperor Chongzhen.
Several ministers hesitated. They felt that the emperor had some mischief. First of all, it would be unreasonable to let the crown prince who was less than ten years old become governor. All the generals would listen to him?
Wen Tiren took the good news and looked at it. The old eye suddenly widened. It was unbelievable. Then his eyes flashed and he said, "Your Majesty, since ancient times the prince has not been a soldier, I think it is better to let others do it."
Jiang Fengyuan, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Xie Sheng, the minister of the Ministry of Officials, both felt that Wen Tiren, an old man, was vicious.
The emperors were worried that someone would covet their throne, especially the crown prince, who was the second in command. In order to prevent the power from falling, the crown prince was generally not allowed to lead the army in previous dynasties.
Even if the emperor goes to fight with his staff and asks the prince to supervise the country, he will arrange his own trusted followers around him, which is called auxiliary supervision.
Wen Tiren said this in a disguised way to remind Chongzhen to watch out for the Eastern Palace.