Chapter 359: The dilemma of the Ming Dynasty royal family, the backlash after the theft of the fortune artifact
February of the seventh year of Chongzhen.
In the imperial study of the solemn and huge Qianqing Palace, the 23-year-old Chongzhen already had white hair on his temples.
Holding the memorial in his hand, he looked at the Minister of War Zhang Fengyi who was kneeling in front of him, and was shaking with anger.
"Zhang Fengyi, tell me clearly, the 600,000-strong army of the Later Jin Tartars led by Yuetuo and Manggurtai entered Xuanfu from Dushikou and swept 30,000 miles, capturing Baoan, Wanquan and other places with great momentum, and now they are heading straight for Zhending Prefecture, and you reported it to me belatedly!"
"And the two white flags led by the brothers Dorgon and Duoduo, with a force of 600,000 soldiers, entered the pass from Wayaokou in Datong Prefecture, almost crossed the entire Datong Prefecture, and headed straight for Juyong Pass!"
"Why don't you wait until the Later Jin Tartars reach the capital before reporting to me?"
"Now the two white flag armies of the Later Jin Tartars are heading to Yanqing, northwest of the capital, and are preparing to attack the Inner Great Wall from Juyong Pass. Do you know how many civilians will be annihilated?"
Chongzhen became angrier and angrier as he spoke. If it weren't for his cultivation at the peak of the Body Refining Realm, he would probably have fainted from anger.
"What do all the civil and military officials in the court do for a living?"
"Such important military intelligence, why wasn't it noticed in time?"
"As the Minister of War, you, Zhang Fengyi, cannot escape blame!"
"I only have one order now. You must stop the Tartars from advancing towards the capital in the Changping area!"
"If you can't do it, don't blame me for using you to apologize to the people who died unjustly!"
Watching the Minister of War Zhang Fengyi staggering away with trembling feet and a defeated look on his face, Chongzhen sat dejectedly on the dragon throne with lifeless eyes, not moving for a long time.
Before the Tumu Incident, the Ming royal family was not so miserable.
At that time, in the Ming Dynasty, there was a great formation of imperial destiny laid out by Taizu and Chengzu that covered all important towns across the country. They used the destiny artifact Haotian Tower to suppress the dragon vein of the Ming Dynasty, and could monitor the world through the changes in the imperial destiny.
At that time, in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty could use the golden dragon of luck to sense whether any town in the territory that was protected by a city defense formation was attacked by the enemy, so that he could activate the city defense formation in advance and calmly dispatch troops to fight back against the enemy.
Ever since Zhu Qizhen personally led a million elite troops of the Ming Dynasty to expedition to Mongolia, and his entire army was wiped out in the Battle of Tumu Fortress, the ancestral temple guarded by 30,000 soldiers from the Beijing camp was stolen!
The Haotian Tower, the sacred artifact left by Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, was mysteriously stolen!
This caused the Ming Dynasty's golden dragon to not only lose most of its divine power, but most importantly, it also lost the ability to monitor the world.
Since there was no national treasure to suppress the fortune of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial fortune was being lost every moment, causing the Ming Dynasty's national fortune to deteriorate.
Even after a thousand years of continuous investigation, no one could find out who stole the national artifact, the Haotian Tower.
The worst thing is that without the national treasure to suppress the imperial destiny, the bodies of successive emperors were constantly backlashed by the imperial destiny, and they could no longer break through to the Qi Refining Realm, and their lifespans were greatly shortened.
In this big world, it is not easy to establish a country.
First of all, you need a national treasure that can suppress the imperial destiny.
Otherwise, no practitioner would be able to withstand the backlash brought about by the unstable imperial destiny.
Without a national treasure to suppress the national destiny, not only will the national destiny continue to be lost, causing irreversible damage to the life span and cultivation of the current emperor, but it will also cause the dynasty to continue to decline and eventually be irreparable.
Nowadays, natural disasters and man-made calamities occur one after another in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, presenting a scene of the end of the dynasty. This is directly related to the fact that there is no national treasure to suppress the national destiny, resulting in the almost complete loss of the imperial fortune.
Without sufficient imperial luck to suppress the world, the unrestrained civil and military officials would naturally do whatever they wanted. For their selfish greed, they made the entire Ming Dynasty a place where the people lived in misery.
The theft of the national treasure, Haotian Tower, remains a mystery to this day.
But if you think about it carefully, it is most likely related to the civil service group.
After all, after the Ming Dynasty lost its national treasure, they were the ones who benefited the most.
Ever since the loss of the national treasure Haotian Tower, successive Ming emperors have become profit-making tools and scapegoats for the civil service group and have almost lost all their voice.
Whenever a young and promising emperor ascends the throne and wants to make some efforts, he will most likely die soon for various reasons, and be replaced by an emperor who is easily fooled by his ministers.
Emperor Chongzhen had never left the capital, so naturally he would not be aware of everything he saw and heard, as all the civil and military officials in the court wanted him to know.
Even though Emperor Chongzhen often killed people since he ascended the throne.
In fact, those officials who were killed were those who failed in the struggle for power or scapegoats.
Those civil and military officials who emerged victorious in one battle after another, with the help of Emperor Chongzhen, had the legitimate right to kill these losers and scapegoats.
In this way, not only will the reputation of the winner in the struggle for power not be damaged, but the mouths of the people of the world can also be shut.
Based on the logic that whoever benefits the most is the mastermind behind the theft, it is not difficult to guess the real culprit behind the theft of the Ming Dynasty's national treasure.
Unfortunately, Chongzhen was trapped in the deep palace since he was young. Even the teachers who taught him since he was young were high-ranking figures of the Donglin Party. How could they know the evil of human nature? Limited by his vision and cognition, it was natural for him to be deceived and used by these civil and military officials.
The closer it gets to the end of a dynasty, the more intense the power struggles between factions become, and there will be a large number of losers and scapegoats, who will then be killed by the ministers who win the struggles, with the help of Emperor Chongzhen.
This is how Emperor Chongzhen's reputation for murder was passed down to later generations.
As for those masterminds behind the scenes, they will of course stay out of it, acting calm and composed, saying that it has nothing to do with them and that it was all done by Your Majesty.
For example, the Minister of War Zhang Fengyi who just left, was destined to be the scapegoat pushed out by the ministers to take the blame because the impact caused by the invasion of the Later Jin Tartars was too great.
If he had been more sensible and committed suicide to atone for his crime, he could have saved his family. But if he tried to shirk responsibility, the extermination of his three clans would have been foreseeable.
This is also true in established history. Zhang Fengyi soon committed suicide at home.
In view of the great impact and public indignation caused by the invasion of the Later Jin Tartars, in order to quell the public indignation, the former Minister of War Liang Tingdong was also involved and committed suicide at home to apologize.
This is the consequence of failure in party struggle. If you don’t want your entire family to be implicated, you’d better be sensible and die early and be reborn soon.
This has been the case throughout all dynasties. What the general public sees and hears is often what those in power want you to see and hear.
Throughout the ages, this has always been the case.
……
Although Hong Chengchou, who is now in Chang'an City, is not clear about the right and wrong, the swordplay and the saber-rattling in the capital, he can guess a little.
He respectfully sent away the eunuch who came to deliver the imperial eunuch's order, and only straightened his back when he watched him riding on the red bird and disappear into the northeastern sky.
As expected, the imperial court urgently sent an imperial decree, ordering him to lead his army to return to the capital immediately to provide support.
The imperial edict ordered Hong Chengchou, the governor-general of the three borders, to block the 600,000 troops led by the brothers Dorgon and Dodo in Changping. He must not allow the Tartars to advance directly to the capital!
"Grand Governor!"
The chief steward, Hong Bo, had just presented the angel with a large box of rare treasures. He came over and said to Hong Chengchou, "The court is moving too slowly."
"The eastern army led by Yuetuo and Manggurtai has been invading Xuanfu Ming for nearly two months."
"And the army led by the brothers Dorgon and Duoduo, who were a step behind, has been invading Datong Prefecture for more than a month. Now the imperial edict to mobilize troops has just arrived. I really don't know what to say."
"Yue Tuo, who is heading towards the southeast coast, will lead the 600,000 Tartar soldiers of the Eastern Route Army. In half a month at most, they will enter Zhending Prefecture and then march straight to the land of Qi and Lu."
"Now most of northern Zhili has been thrown into chaos by the Later Jin Tartars. I wonder how many officials and gentry will be eliminated by the Tartars in this round of catastrophe."
As the chief steward of the Hong family, Uncle Hong knew some of the inside stories.
The reason why the Tartars were able to enter the Pass so smoothly and capture cities and territories with great force this time was that the big Shanxi merchants played a crucial role in it.
These large Jin merchant alliances prepared treasure ships of various levels sufficient for the Tartar army to use on the banks of the major rivers that the Tartar soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty encountered along the way, to transport military supplies and troops across the river quickly.
Otherwise, the north is densely covered with waterways, and it would be impossible for the Tartar army soldiers who are unfamiliar with the area to plunder so many treasure ships for use.
Without the full cooperation of those big Shanxi merchants, it would take at least more than a year for the army led by Yuetuo and Manggurtai to fight their way to Jiaozhou Bay.
It would never be like it is now, where they have fought their way from outside the Great Wall to Zhending Prefecture in less than two months.
"Uncle Hong, there's nothing we can do about this. We can't do anything about it even if we want to."
Hong Chengchou said helplessly, "The southern gentry alliance hopes to see these northern noble families, wealthy merchants and tycoons suffer misfortune, so they will naturally turn a blind eye to the actions of the big Shanxi merchants and be happy to see them succeed."
"There are a large number of officials in the court who support those big Shanxi merchants, and they will not be held accountable for collaborating with the enemy at all."
"What we can do is to dispatch troops immediately and strike a heavy blow to the 600,000 elite cavalrymen of the two white flags led by the brothers Dorgon and Duoduo."
"In order to win this battle, I, Hong Chengchou, have already made relevant preparations. I will definitely reap a good victory and teach the young brothers Dorgon and Duoduo a lesson they will never forget."
"Go to the city camp right away and inform Yuanfeng to gather our 230,000 guards immediately and be ready to march out at 3:30 am tomorrow."
"We now have enough large treasure ships to use. It won't take a month for us to reach the first designated battlefield by water."
"I hope we can intercept the Tartar army before they capture Juyong Pass."
Watching the chief steward Hong Bo hurriedly leave after receiving the order, Hong Chengchou stood there with the imperial edict in his hand, looking towards the northeast sky, with a divine light flashing in his eyes...
(End of this chapter)
