Chapter 4: Powerless ()

Zhu Changluo was extremely frustrated. He hated the baby's body very much. Now, except for crying and protesting twice, there was no way, and he could only sit back and watch the situation develop in the direction he least wanted to see.

Empress Dowager Cisheng began to make moves. When she learned that Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing, the only two cabinet ministers in the cabinet, were no longer so obedient, she did not panic, but began to make arrangements calmly.

She first contacted foreign ministers through Feng Bao and bypassed the cabinet. The court promoted Liang Menglong, the former Minister of War, as the new Minister of Personnel, to replace Wang Guoguang, who was dismissed by Emperor Wanli. Then she recalled the governor Jizhou, and Wu Dui, who was in the Liaodong military affairs, as the Minister of War, filling the vacancy left by Liang Menglong and firmly controlling these two most important ministers except the cabinet. Then the old matter was re-reported, and the court recommended Yu Youding, who was recommended by Zhang Juzheng before his death, successfully entered the cabinet and became the third cabinet minister in the cabinet today.

After these big moves, Empress Dowager Cisheng did not stop, but reached into the Jingying camp. She transferred Wang Lin, who had always been neutral in the Assistant to the Jingying camp, to Nanjing as Minister of Works, and then asked Jia Yingyuan, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, to transfer the position of Assistant to the Jingying camp, in an attempt to control the Jingying camp.

The Ming Dynasty army was divided into two parts: the Beijing army and the local army. The Beijing army was the elite of the national guards. In normal times, the capital was guarded by the capital and was the main force of war. In the early years of Hongwu, the Beijing army had 48 guards. Chengzu moved the capital to Beijing, and the capital was close to the front line. The Beijing army had as many as 72 guards. The Five Armies, 3,000 and Shenji, were officially established, collectively known as the Beijing camp. In normal times, the Five Armies camps were trained in the camp, the Three Thousand Battalions were patrolled by the three thousand battalions, and the Shenji camp was in charge of firearms, and they were escorted to the battle during the war.

After the Tumu Change, the main force of the Jingying camp was exhausted. During the reign of Emperor Jingtai, Yu Qian, Secretary of War, reformed the establishment of the Jingying camp, selected 100,000 elite troops from the three major camps, divided them into 100,000 troops to train in order to prepare for emergency calls, and called the 10th regiment. After several changes, during the reign of Emperor Jiajing, the old system of the three major camps during the Yongle period was restored. The difference was that the three thousand camps were renamed Shenshu Camp.

Therefore, the framework of the Jingying Camp was established, with the five armies, Shenshu and Shenji, with a rated 140,000 troops. With one general as the commander, he was called the governor of the Jingying Rongzheng; with one civil minister assisting, he was called the assistant to the Jingying Rongzheng.

The Governor of the Jingying Rongzheng has always been a nobleman, named the commander of the Jingying, but in fact it is restricted everywhere. There are restrictions on the Ministry of War, deputy generals, generals, guerrilla decentralization, and military supervisors in wartime. Therefore, the Governor of the Jingying, usually depends on the face of the assistant to the Jingying Rongzheng.

The current governor of the Jingying is Yang Bing, who has been sitting in this position since the fifth year of Longqing. He is the inherited master of Zhang Wu after Yang Xin. Most of these hereditary nobles who can be passed down for a hundred years know how to protect themselves, only do their duty well, and rarely participate in various struggles. This is also the only way for these nobles to continue to this day.

After this action, the Cabinet's reign, Wang Guoguang, Minister of Personnel, Wu Dui, Minister of War, Xu Xuemo, Minister of Works, Zeng Shengwu, Minister of Works, and Chen Yu, the Left Censor of the Censorate, were all from Empress Dowager Cisheng; in addition, the power of Zhu Censorship, and able to balance the cabinet's Lijian, the Dongchang controlled by Feng Bao, and the Jinyiwei of Liu Shouyou, who could use Jia Yingyuan to control the Jingying...

At least on the surface, Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun has absolutely no chance of turning the tables.

Emperor Wanli seemed to be stunned by Empress Dowager Cisheng's repeated measures, and did not take any response on the surface, as if he had accepted the reality.

Zhu Changluo met Emperor Wanli again.

The young emperor once again resumed the routine of going to Jingyang Palace every day, chatting and laughing with Concubine Wang Gong for a while, and would hold Zhu Changluo for a while before leaving. On the surface, he seemed to be silently compromised with Empress Dowager Cisheng and gave up fighting for power with his mother.

Zhu Changluo was not happy about it.

He did not believe that the emperor in history who dispatched the three major wars of Wanli that were almost simultaneously carried out would give up. The only explanation was that the young emperor was paralyzing the Queen Mother, waiting for the opportunity or accumulating strength, and preparing for a fatal blow!

Zhu Changluo can now imagine that perhaps the day when the emperor launches a thunderous attack will be the beginning of his frustrated and miserable life.

On the seventh day of the twelfth month of the tenth year of Wanli, the Censor Jiangdong impeached the commander of the Jinyiwei, Xu Jue colluded with Zhang Juzheng's slave You Qi, and used bribes, disregarding national laws.

Emperor Wanli responded quickly this time and directly issued an edict by the cabinet to arrest Xu Jue and imprison him.

This seemingly ordinary bribery incident seemed to be throwing a stone into the calm lake, and the storm suddenly changed.

Anyone who knows the inside story knows that Xu Jue is Feng Bao's confidant. He is a person who can directly compete with Liu Shou, who is in charge of the Jinyiwei. He is specialized in the Jinyiwei South Town Fushi, and is usually in power.

Before anyone who was concerned about this matter could recall the incident, the next day, the censor Li Zhi listed Feng Bao's twelve major crimes and pointed the finger at Feng Bao.

Emperor Wanli immediately issued an edict by the cabinet, surrendering Feng Bao, the eunuch in charge of the seal and the admiral of the Eastern Factory, to the imperial court, and immediately sent it to Nanjing for resettlement and never allowed to enter the capital.

Then another edict was issued, instructing the Jinyiwei to be in charge of the guards. Liu Shouyou, the left governor, immediately ordered the troops of the original guards and divided them into Xuanwu Gate, Wu Gate, Donghua Gate, and Xihua Gate. Without my order, no one in the palace was allowed to enter and exit.

Before the pen and ink were dry, several edicts were issued.

The emperor ordered Zhang Wu Bo and the governor of the Rongzheng Minister of the Beijing Camp to give the Emperor a sword and strictly restrain the troops of all departments of the Beijing Camp. Without my order, no one shall be transferred without authorization. Violators may be executed first and then report.

Li Rusong, deputy general of the Shenji Camp, immediately led 3,000 troops into the city and replaced the nine gates of the capital. The remaining troops gathered from Zhengyangmen to Chengtianmen, and closely monitored the five government offices and six government offices on both sides. Any officials who did not go out for no purpose could be detained on their own.

The commander and the deputy generals of the Five Military Barracks were ordered to be in charge of the hall, and the troops in the headquarters were strictly restrained. Without my order, they were not allowed to be transferred without authorization. Violators were punished as persuasion.

The commander and the deputy general of the Shenshu Camp was appointed as the chief officer of the marquis, and strictly restrained the troops of the headquarters. Without my will, they shall not be transferred without authorization. Violators shall be punished as persuasion.

Then, the cabinet was ordered to inform the government offices in the capital that its subordinates must abide by their duties in the yamen and are prohibited from going out.

In this way, the young Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun relied on the Jinyiwei and Shenjiying to launch a sudden attack, replacing the guards of the Nine Gates of the Capital and the guards of the inner gates, and successfully controlling the capital.

In order not to cause chaos and appease the uninformed people in the capital, the cabinet declared to the outside world that this was His Majesty the Emperor was practicing "internal exercises" without panic.

Compared with the people who were appeased in the capital, the palace was in chaos and panic. Emperor Wanli, who controlled the situation, did not do anything to his biological mother, Empress Dowager Cisheng, nor to Prince Gong, who was holding Zhu Changluo. Instead, he issued two brief imperial edicts, one issued an order to execute all the palace maids and eunuchs in Cining Palace and Jingyang Palace; the second was to arrest the palace maids and eunuchs according to a pre-prepared list, and countless people were expelled from all over the place.

By the 18th of this month, in just over ten days, the capital had returned to its former peace and the overall situation had been settled.

Emperor Wanli adopted the request of the censor Sun Jixian and issued an order to restore the positions of ministers who had been dismissed when Zhang Juzheng was in power.

At the same time, the Censor Jiangdongzhi impeached Liang Menglong, Minister of Personnel, Zeng Shengwu, Minister of Works Zeng Zhuan, Minister of Works Wang Zhuan and others for bribing Feng Bao and Xu Jue. Emperor Wanli immediately issued an order to dismiss Wang Zhuan as the people, ordered Liang Menglong, Zeng Shengwu to retire, recalled Yang Wei, Minister of Revenue in Nanjing, and appointed Yan Qing, Minister of Works, and appointed Yan Qing, Minister of Justice, as the Minister of Personnel, and approved the request to sentence Xu Jue, You Qi and others to death.

In the eleventh year of Wanli, just a few days after New Year's Day, Emperor Wanli issued an edict to recall the Minister of War of Nanjing Pan Jixun as Minister of Justice of the Capital.

In February, Jia Yingyuan, an assistant to the Rongzheng in Jingying, was detained and interrogated, and was dismissed from office for the people in May.

In March, an edict was issued to pursue Zhang Juzheng's official rank, and Wu Dui, the Minister of War, was dismissed for being impeached and dependent on Zhang Juzheng and bribed Feng Bao.

In July, Zuodu Censor Chen Hou was impeached by the censor Kedao and was dismissed.

In October, after Zhang Juzheng's death, Xu Xuemo, the Minister of Rites, who married Shen Shixing to protect himself, was once again impeached by the censor of the Ministry of Rites. This time, Zou Yuanbiao and others impeached him to "collude with Zhang Juzheng and A Fushen Shixing". At this time, Shen Shi, who was temporarily acting as the chief minister because Zhang Siwei returned home and temporarily acted as the chief minister, avoided suspicion and dared not protect Xu Xuemo anymore. Emperor Wanli ordered Xu Xuemo to retire.

At this point, all the "Hou Party" officials who depended on him during the Zhang Juzheng era were ordered to retire or dismissed as the people. The "Hou Party" that had been glorious for more than ten years no longer exists. Even the Empress Dowager Cisheng began to concentrate on Buddhism and no longer easily took a step out of the Cining Palace.
Chapter completed!