: Recurrence of external troubles

Many officials were detained because they were stolen and captured, waiting for Tang Feng to submit a letter to the court and the court made a decision. During this period, Tang Feng still had many things to do in Shaanxi. In addition to arranging people to temporarily replace those officials to complete daily government affairs, the more important thing was to deal with the rich households in Xi'an city.

Although these wealthy businessmen have more or less implicated the officials in the capital, their status in Xi'an is not low, now that there is conclusive evidence in hand, Tang Feng will not hold back. He first arrested these merchants for various charges, such as bribery and hoarding, and then attacked several warehouses they used to hide their food according to the clues given by the spy.

After a sudden attack, the government obtained countless grains and rice. In addition to the grains that officials embezzled and provided disaster relief, many of them were purchased from other places in Shaanxi during natural disasters and used to make huge profits in various parts of Shaanxi. Because there was an uprising in Shaanxi before, I was afraid that selling grain would be robbed by others at this time, so the merchants temporarily hid the grain. Unexpectedly, Tang Feng was cheaper. The rice and flour that most local people in Shaanxi had eaten for more than a year fell into Tang Feng's hands.

Seeing so much grain being scattered from various warehouses, Tang Feng felt happy, and there was a hint of bitterness. The uneven distribution of wealth in the Ming Dynasty can be seen from this. When ordinary people were unable to make a living and just wanted to change their children to eat, these big merchants hid so much food. The officials not only did not want to stop this, but also joined this behavior. If this continues, how can the people's hearts be kept and how can the world be stable?

Fortunately, it was not too late to make up for the loss of sheep. Under Tang Feng's central dispatch and order, the grain collected from the merchants was transported to various counties in Shaanxi to relieve the disasters of the people. Because of the lessons from the adults in Xi'an, the small county magistrates of the various prefectures and counties no longer dared to extend their hands to the food to help the people. Compared to wealth, their lives are more important.

So after nearly half a month of hard work, Tang Feng finally rescued the people in Shaanxi who were still alive from hunger, at least in a short period of time. The Han people are so kind. Although the government has done so many acts to harm them, after having the minimum guarantee of survival, they no longer ***.

When Tang Feng saw that the situation in various places gradually stabilized and the news that the people who were wandering around returned to their hometowns, he truly felt relieved. He believed that as long as he gave himself a period of time and after some rectification, the chaos in Shaanxi would be completely calmed down. However, before this, he had one thing he could not rest assured, that is, if the corrupt officials who had been detained for a while, if they could not punish them seriously, they would give an explanation to the people who had been affected for a long time. Not to mention that those people would be dissatisfied, they would not be able to really give the later generations a warning so that they would not dare to commit again.

Because of this idea, although Tang Feng was in Shaanxi and busy with local government affairs, he was still thinking about the news about the capital. I wonder what the emperor would react after reading his memorials, and whether the officials in the court would make things difficult for him again and refused to deal with these corrupt officials who had committed serious crimes.

As Tang Feng was worried, when his memorial was sent to the capital, it soon caused a big debate. Some officials who were full of energy or hated corrupt officials were completely on his side, believing that they should kill these worms that caused so many people to live in poverty, to serve as a warning. But other officials did not think so. In their opinion, local officials were sometimes corruption was inevitable. Now it is not Taizu's time, and they could kill them. Not to mention that these officials all have great positions, but the civil unrest was changed just because of their dissatisfaction with local officials. The court did not make things difficult for the people to disturb the people, but instead let so many officials be punished together, which would inevitably lead to the people from all over the world to follow suit, and the world would be in chaos. Therefore, given this, they still felt that they could not open this opportunity.

These two views have their own reasons. If Chongzhen thought, he would also want to execute these worms that harmed the country and the people. However, now he is in the throne, he has to consider the overall situation and can't take action for the time being. But if he let them go, he would be unwilling to accept it, and it would be a bit unreasonable for Tang Feng, which made Chongzhen feel embarrassed.

The Great Dynasty, the cabinet meeting, the court debate... a series of important meetings in the court and the Central Government debated repeatedly about this matter, but no final solution could be obtained. In the end, it was only after dragging it on like this, until summer, until another bigger and more serious thing appeared in Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor had to put it aside.

In May, Beijing has already had some heat, and the sun in the sky is also a little sunny. This has made many people complain about God. The weather has been too abnormal over the years. The long winter lasted for nearly five or six months. They just took off their cotton coats and were suffering from the scorching heat of summer again.

The rich people and officials and nobles in the capital naturally don’t care about such weather. Some of them are ice cellars, which contain a large amount of ice cubes that can be used to cool down. But ordinary people are suffering. They only curse this thief in secret, and don’t know what kind of monster has happened, so such abnormal weather will occur.

Although Chongzhen had ice cubes in the palace to cool off, he still felt a little distressed. This year's year will definitely be very bad. I don't know what the country's tax revenue will turn out like this. He even went to the Temple of Heaven to worship the sky several times, hoping that God could give mercy and not torture the people of the Ming Dynasty again.

After a period of worry, Chongzhen seemed even more haggard, but God did not have the intention of being moved by the emperor's sincerity. The weather was hot every day, which made people feel very anxious. Then, an even bigger thing that made him feel anxious came, which was just a day after the Dragon Boat Festival in May.

On the seventh day of the fifth month, the emperor had just reviewed a lot of memorials. When he wanted to go outside to relax his muscles, an eunuch rushed in. When he saw the emperor looking at him with a hint of anger, the young eunuch suddenly remembered his disobedience and fell to the ground: "I have lost my disobedience for a while, please spare my life!"

Seeing his fear and fear, Chongzhen's anger was mostly relieved. The status of eunuchs in the palace was no longer comparable to that of Wei Zhongxian when he was there, and even the status of eunuchs in Chengzu was higher than that of now. In the palace, they could only pass on some official documents and do some miscellaneous things, and they could not participate in any ritual matters at all. With the lessons of Wei Zhongxian's past, Chongzhen was very strict in the care of these people in the palace. This also led to a sharp decline in the status of eunuchs in the palace, and they were silent and dared not be at all. At present, this little eunuch obviously had such an idea. Seeing the emperor's face unhappy, he was naturally scared to beg for mercy.

"I will spare you this time. I will punish you again next time!" Chongzhen snorted before saying, "Okay, what's the matter going to be reported that you are so hasty and ignorant?"

"Ah, thank you for your kindness!" After kowtowing, the little eunuch presented the emergency military report he held in his hand: "Your Majesty, this is what the adults from the Ministry of War have just handed in to the palace, and they are still waiting to see you outside the palace."

"Huh?" Chongzhen's heart suddenly sank. Although he had not opened the memorial, he guessed that something big happened again. Otherwise, the palace gate was closed and those ministers would not have handed the war report into the palace like this, and were still waiting to see him. "Is it possible that some people from another place are ***?" As he guessed uneasy, Chongzhen opened the war report and read it.

At first glance, Chongzhen's expression became even worse, because what he saw was not the people who were in chaos in the Central Plains, but the emergency military newspaper in Liaodong. Although he had made some moves before, the Jin people who were blocked by others sent troops again, and had already seized several cities in a row. Even Jinzhou City, an important city in Liaodong, was in danger. After his face changed several times, Chongzhen said: "Go, pass on my will and order them all to enter the palace. Also, let Wen Tiren and other cabinet assistants enter the palace immediately!"

"I'll go now!" The little eunuch agreed quickly, but did not dare to run anymore, and walked out with a step. However, Chongzhen said behind him: "Get me hurry up, I'll allow you to be rude once this time!" Then he ran out at a faster speed than when he saw the emperor...

It was already late at night, but the lights were still on in the imperial study room, and there were still many people talking there. It was Chongzhen and a group of important officials in the court discussing the situation in Liaodong. I really didn't expect that the Jin people, who were only sent troops south in winter, would be very different this year and suddenly invaded when summer came. This was obviously beyond the expectations of the Liaodong defenders, and also made the monarch and ministers in the court very nervous.

"What do you think is this? Could it be that the Jin people learned that there was an accident in the Ming Dynasty, so they wanted to take advantage of the situation?" Chongzhen asked with a frown.

After a few glances at each other, Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, said: "Back to the emperor, I think the Jin people should know about the Ming Dynasty, but it is not the most important reason why they sent troops to invade Liaodong. You must know that the rebellion in Shaanxi was quelled a few months ago. If they really wanted to take advantage of the chaos to make profits, they should also attack Liaodong in April."

"What Master Wen said is that I think so too. In fact, when the rebellion broke out, the Jin people did send troops to Liaodong, but their attack was not enough to pose a threat at that time, so I thought there must be another reason for this matter." Although there were always fighting with Wen Tiren in the court, Zhou Yanru did not dare to act in anger last time in such a big event.

"It should be the reason for the Jin Kingdom itself." Another minister, Cheng Jiming, suddenly spoke.

"How do you say this?" Chongzhen immediately became interested and looked at this minister who he once wanted to reuse.

"As far as I know, the strange climate this time is not only my Ming Dynasty, but also my territory of Liaodong and the Jin people. I guess the Great Cold last year killed a lot of the Jin people's livestock. In addition, this summer came suddenly, and the Jin people lost the foundation for their living, so they took the risk to attack my Ming border again." Cheng Jiming said slowly without any haste.

"Mr. Cheng said it is reasonable, and I think so too." Several other ministers all agreed. Although they came up with an answer, the emperor was not happy, because this means that this war could not be ended casually. And now the Ming Dynasty is in full swing and when the natural disasters are coming, it would be too dangerous if there is another foreign enemy invasion.

"Fortunately, there are nearly 100,000 elite soldiers in Liaodong now, and the soldiers there have already had the experience of dealing with the Jin people, so there is no need to worry too much!" Seeing through the emperor's thoughts, Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, comforted him.

"After that being said, I still can't relax. I heard that the soldiers in Liaodong have not received military pay for almost a year. If someone interferes with it at this time, I'm afraid the morale of the army..." Zhou Yanru suddenly retorted. Although the interests of the two were the same in major events, he was still very happy to do it to make Wen Tiren unhappy.

Sure enough, Wen Tiren's expression suddenly became dark after hearing this: "Master Zhou, what do you mean? Although I am the chief minister of the cabinet, this military pay is not the only one who can decide. People in many places in my Ming Dynasty are famine, and there is not much left in the national treasury. Of course, I have to postpone the payment of military pay. Emperor, I really have no choice but to stop paying military pay first. Please give the emperor a clear explanation."

Chongzhen glared at each other, but said nothing. In fact, the disagreement between the two was also intentional. The most important thing for the monarch to maintain power is to pay attention to a balance. A certain court official cannot monopolize the power, otherwise it may lead to the situation where the monarch's power was lost. But now it seems that this is also an unfavorable side. These two people are now in power. Although they will not have internal strife in major matters, they cannot guarantee that they will not pull each other back. What should we do?

Seeing that the emperor was very dissatisfied with his performance, Zhou and Wen were also nervous and took a long time to continue discussing the matter. Fortunately, as Wen Tiren said, there are nearly 100,000 Ming troops guarding in Liaodong, and they are not afraid that the Jin people will be threatened. They just want to beat them back but are a little embarrassed.

"I think I should explain the difficulties of the country to the soldiers there, and I hope they can put the overall situation first so that they can inspire the fighting spirit of the soldiers. I wonder what your dear friends think?"

"Your Majesty is wise. As long as your Majesty can really pass on a decree to the soldiers of Liaodong and promise to make up for the military pay they owed before afterwards, I think they will not slacke in the current crisis."

Just when several ministers agreed and thought that today's discussion was over, an eunuch came to the door and whispered: "Your Majesty, eight hundred miles of urgent news came suddenly, because the matter was too urgent, no one dared to delay..."

"But is the battle report from Liaodong?" Chongzhen suddenly felt an ominous premonition. If the battle report from Liaodong was sent twice a day, it would be more anxious every time, and it would definitely not be good news.

"Yes." He got an answer that scared everyone. Chongzhen only glanced at the new Eighth Li Jiqi, and his face turned a little pale. Although only one thing was written on it, it was a big blow to the Emperor Ming Dynasty. That was that Jinzhou was defeated by the Jin army last night, and Man Gui led the remaining troops to retreat to Ningyuan...

Jinzhou, a city that is the most solid, tall, easy to defend and difficult to attack, was actually captured by the Jin people. How many troops did the Jin people use this time? And did the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty do their best to defend? At this time, the ministers realized that their previous views were too wishful thinking. Obviously, the long-term lack of military pay made the morale of the soldiers extremely low. If there was no solution, I am afraid that not only Jinzhou, but also Shanhaiguan would be in danger.

"This...what should I do?" Chongzhen felt aware after a long time.

"Your Majesty, it turns out that the reason for the fall of Jinzhou is still Man Gui, because there is a conflict with his subordinates, which makes the soldiers unable to cooperate completely, which makes Jinzhou so strong that the enemy is defeated." After reading the battle report in his hand, Wen Tirenqiang found that there were some other meanings here, and hurriedly said.

Although this did not help the current situation, it gave Chongzhen a little hope. If the generals were not in harmony, the court could mediate, which was much better than the soldiers who were not interested in fighting. But he also knew how this incident happened. It must be that some of Yuan Chonghuan's subordinates who were incompatible with Man Gui that day would have the disaster today.

But now even if Yuan Chonghuan returns to Liaodong, he may not be shocked by the men under Man Gui. Besides, the emperor did not want to go back on his word and invited the person he decided not to use again.

"Your Majesty, I recommend one person, which should be able to solve the current difficulties." Wen Tiren said suddenly.

"you say."

"Sun Chengzong, the former governor of Liaodong, is now led by many generals in Liaodong. As long as he can return to Liaodong, everything will be solved."

"This... Mr. Sun is over 70 years old. I heard that even the aisle is a bit difficult, how can he lead troops?" Chongzhen thought for a while and shook his head. Sun Chengzong is Optimus Prime of the Ming Dynasty. He naturally knows a lot. Now he is in his twilight years, so he really can't take this risk. If he really has something to do, not only will he be shameless, but he will also greatly hurt the morale of the Liaodong defenders.
Chapter completed!