On the third day after Ping Liao Hou became furious, Kang Yingqian asked Qiao Yiqi to send a letter to Ping Liao Hou.
In the letter, Kang Jianjun said that he was "old and sick. In March this year, his vitality became increasingly weak and he relied on others to help him when he was lying down or getting up."
At the end of the letter, Lao Kang begged Liu Zhaosun to "give him the bones as soon as possible and return him alive to his hometown."
Yang Hao persuaded Liu Zhaosun to take the opportunity to expel Kang Yingqian from Kaiyuan and kill the chickens to scare the monkeys, but his suggestion was rejected by Ping Liaohou.
Kang Yingqian begged to return home but was not allowed. Marquis Pingliao asked him to return to Shenyang temporarily to sit in Liaodong for him and continue to reflect.
After Kang Yingqian received the order from Ping Liaohou, he left the capital in shame and returned to Liaodong.
However, a series of chain reactions triggered by King Xin's entry into Beijing have just begun.
After Kang Yingqian left the capital, the number of memorials sent by Shangshu to Pingliao Marquis to supervise the country not only did not decrease, but increased in number.
Under Kang Jianjun's miraculous manipulation, all the officials in the capital were scared to pieces.
Out of instinct, everyone chose to side with Kaiyuan and drifted away from the court.
Either for self-protection or for the so-called merit of following the dragon, more and more civil servants began to advocate that the Marquis of Ping Liao should supervise the country.
In the two capitals and thirteen provinces, except for Nanzhili, Huguang, and Fujian, the governors and prefects of other provinces have adopted a neutral attitude toward the governor of Pingliao, neither supporting nor opposing. Only the prefectures in Shandong firmly support the governor of Pingliao. Especially the two houses of Denglai compared Pingliao Marquis to Sanyang Kongming.
The memorials and reports sent to the capital from all over the country were first compiled in the six ministries, then sent to the cabinet, and then sent to the ceremonial supervisor by the cabinet, and finally concentrated on Liu Zhaosun's case in Zuo'anmen Wengcheng.
Liu Zhaosun read as many as a thousand memorials every day. He got up at Chen time, washed himself, and started to be busy until midnight. Many times he could not even take a bite of food.
After Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system, the power in the hands of the emperor was unprecedentedly concentrated. Faced with the mountains of memorials piled up every day, it is rare for an emperor to persist in 007 all year round.
Therefore, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was common for emperors to be exhausted to death.
Liu Zhaosun was not yet the emperor, and he did not even recognize himself as a powerful official. However, all the officials in the capital felt like they had seen a ghost when they saw him.
No one dared to reply to the memorials sent to the capital from all over the country. Since the last time Kang Yingqian staged the drama of forced palace in front of the Ming Dynasty, the Supervisor of Ceremonies and the cabinet have become more restrained and have almost lost their sense of existence. The surviving father-in-laws of the Supervisor of Ceremonies did not dare to overstep their bounds, and Ye Xianggao and the others even did not dare to do so.
The cabinet ministers no longer consulted the memorials sent to the capital. They just asked Ping Liao Hou to review them on the pretext of "continuing the old practice."
In fact, the so-called old practice only lasted a few days.
The power went around in a circle and finally fell into the hands of Marquis Ping Liao.
About one-third of the memorials in these days were requests for King Xin to postpone his pro-government and entrust the general and state affairs to Marquis Ping Liao in advance.
One-third of the memorials attacked Empress Feng by name, impeached her for leading the nobles and others, and tried every possible means to prevent Marquis Pingliao from supervising the country. Empress Feng's move was an act of trespass and an attempt to listen to politics behind the curtain.
Liu Zhaosun went to court every day to defend himself, saying that he did not want to serve as a supervisor.
The more Ping Liao Hou refused, the more officials persuaded him to join.
Zhu Youjian watched the whole process with cold eyes. The funeral of Emperor Daxing had not yet been completed, and he had not officially succeeded to the throne, so he was not considered the emperor of tomorrow.
More importantly, few officials in the capital really regarded him as the emperor.
On the other hand, several nobles of the Feng family kept jumping up and down, arguing with the officials who persuaded him to join, opposing Ping Liao to supervise the country, and demanded that King Xin succeed to the throne immediately.
The two sides went back and forth like this for five or six days, until an assassination incident broke out in the capital.
On May 25th, Dingxibo Feng Weizhong, who had always been staunchly opposed to King Qin of Pingliao, was assassinated at his home. Also killed were his two wives and concubines. According to on-site investigation, there was more than one murderer.
The capital was in an uproar and all officials were frightened.
The already tense and dangerous political atmosphere has become even more solemn.
Ping Liaohou sent the Kaiyuan Intelligence Bureau and the Sanfa Division Soldiers and Horses Division to launch a search throughout the city.
Finally, the two murderers surrendered themselves to the Yamen of the Ministry of Justice.
Without waiting for interrogation, the two confessed to the officials of the Ministry of Punishment, claiming to be the followers of Marquis Ping Liao. They could not bear to see Marquis Ping Liao humiliated, so they decided to die to serve Marquis Ping Liao...
As soon as this statement came out, public opinion was in an uproar. Neither Jin Yiwei nor the Criminal Department dared to take the case.
Everyone believed that these two assassins were sent by Liu Zhaosun to scare the monkeys.
Liu Zhaosun was speechless.
He sincerely did not arrange for anyone to assassinate his opponent, so he asked Pei Dahu and Shen Lian to go to the Criminal Department for detailed interrogation.
The officials from the Ministry of Justice readily threw this hot potato away from Shen Lian.
After an interrogation, it was confirmed that the two men were not instigated by anyone. As they said, they acted spontaneously.
After Ping Liaohou heard about it, he looked up to the sky and sighed:
"Okay, now I am really going to be Dong Zhuo. I can't even wash myself away by jumping into the Yellow River."
The day after the two assassins were captured, another assassination case occurred in the capital. The target was still a distinguished person. Fortunately, this time it was an assassination attempt.
Only then did Liu Zhaosun realize the horror of the power game, and he ordered the three men to be beheaded in accordance with Ming law.
He suddenly remembered that in the decades after the Meiji Restoration, the island country's military had carried out a series of violent actions, which eventually led to the country's complete loss of control.
Such assassinations should certainly not be encouraged.
Fortunately, no one in Kaiyuan's army dared to try the law.
After killing three fanatics, the horrific assassinations in the capital gradually subsided.
However, I am afraid that Liu Zhaosun's image as a traitor and traitor will never be cleansed.
He comforted himself in the end: The matter has come to this, and he can only take it one step at a time.
Following the trend, the power of the Ming Dynasty further began to be concentrated in the hands of Ping Liaohou.
Under the strong advice of the ministers, Ping Liaohou's tent was moved from Zuo'anmen Wengcheng to the magnificent Taishi Mansion.
The so-called grand master is actually Zhang Juzheng. After Zhang Juzheng's house was confiscated and his body was whipped, all Zhang Shoufu's residence in the capital was confiscated and returned to the royal family. It is now the residence of Marquis Pingliao.
This may be a signal that Ping Liaohou will become Zhang Juzheng's second.
Zhang Jiangling had to rely on two political allies, Empress Dowager Li and Feng Bao, to control the empire and govern the government. After all, he is just a civil servant.
The Marquis of Ping Liao was quite different. Not only did he have civilian support (at least superficial support), he also had a powerful Kaiyuan army in his hands, and even owned the land in eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning.
Therefore, everyone can clearly see that Liu Houye is more powerful than Zhang Juzheng.
So here’s the problem. When the ten-year-old Wanli Emperor saw Zhang Juzheng, he would respectfully call him Mr. Zhang.
When the twelve-year-old Xin Wang Zhu Youjian saw Marquis Pingliao, how should he call Marquis Liu?
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The Marquis of Ping Liao went to Queen Feng and pointed out that Jiyou (the 30th day) in June was an auspicious day in the zodiac, which was suitable for King Xin to ascend the throne.
Empress Feng said that the matter of enthroning the throne was of great importance and asked the cabinet, five offices, and six ministries to discuss it together.
Yizhi was sent out in the morning, and in the afternoon the ministers reached an agreement:
The coronation ceremony of the new emperor is scheduled for June 30.
After Empress Feng learned about this, she was afraid and hated Liu Zhaosun.
After the date of King Xin's accession to the throne was determined, the voice of persuading him to join the prison of the country became louder and louder. Even the nobles who had previously opposed this began to take the lead in urging Marquis Pingliao to take charge of national affairs as soon as possible.
Liu Zhaosun refused on the excuse that Emperor Daxing's funeral had not been completed.
Therefore, on May 28th of the first year of Chongzhen, the imperial court broke the ancestral system - the emperor's body was suspended for one month after his death - and Emperor Daxing immediately went to the funeral.
Please note that the tomb of Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youxiao has not yet been completed...
However, some people have been waiting for a while and must hurry to get on the bus, no, to go up the mountain.
On May 28th, Ping Liaohou led all his officials to go to Juyongguan to see him off.
The ministers cried all the way from Kunning Palace to the imperial mausoleum, knelt down and worshiped all the way, and changed their clothes in different places.
Every time he knelt before the coffin, Liu Zhaosun would curse Zhu Yuanzhang in a low voice, starting from Zhu Yuanzhang's parents, and finally to the ninety-ninth generation ancestor.
All the red tape of the Ming Dynasty, from the people's food and clothing to the Ming Dynasty's foreign strategy, Zhu Yuanzhang had to intervene in every detail. In Liu Zhaosun's view, this kind of perverted desire for control was only possessed by lunatics.
After bowing and saluting again, Liu Zhaosun cursed in his heart:
"When King Nobu ascends the throne, the first thing he will do is declare an attack on Japan and go to his motherland without conquest (see note 1)."
One hundred and twenty-eight Han generals carried the huge golden nan coffin containing the burnt corpse of the eunuch through Chang'an Avenue. Almost all the people in the capital came to the street to watch.
The coffin of Emperor Daxing went out from Daming Gate. Zhu Youjian and the officials above the fourth rank followed the coffin out of Daming Gate, while the officials below fourth rank left the city through the left gate of Daming Gate.
Everyone walked all the way to the outside of Desheng Gate, then changed to horses and rode to the imperial mausoleum.
You can't be idle while riding this way, and you have to cry every day and night along the way.
Moreover, in the places passed along the way, the wives of the fourth rank and below, as well as the elders of the military and civilians (military households and craftsmen households that have been inherited for generations) must set up sacrifices along the way.
On June 1st, the group of people cried and walked, and finally arrived at the imperial mausoleum.
There were soul-calling flags and paper wreaths all over the Hall of Presentation (see Note 2). When he heard that the ceremony would continue, Liu Zhaosun collapsed on the spot.
According to his rough estimate, he had kowtowed more than two hundred times along the way from the Forbidden City to here. The twelve-year-old Zhu Youjian kowtowed about three times as many times as Ping Liaohou.
It's absolutely crazy.
Yang Hao was pulling his virtuous son-in-law's sleeves beside him and advised:
"My dear son-in-law, please bear with me for a while. After this funeral, you will be Zhang Juzheng, the Emperor of Tianqi."
Liu Zhaosun sighed. In order to carry out drastic reforms like Zhang Juzheng, he had no choice but to go all out.
Next is the Yu Li (a kind of ancient ritual, the ritual of requieming souls). Liu Zhaosun is the best at this, but it is a pity that he cannot go on stage in person to summon the souls with the Taoist monks.
After the Yu ceremony, Zhu Youjian kowtowed four times, offered silk and wine, and finally read the blessing message. After reading, he then saluted, followed by Yaxian (the second wine sacrifice) and Zhongxian (the third wine sacrifice), and finally Prostrate four more times.
In the end, Ping Liaohou surrounded King Xin and returned to the capital.
On the way back to the capital, hundreds of officials in robes greeted him outside the city, and the accompanying officials set up a Yiji (resting residence) for King Xin outside the capital.
Finally, Marquis Pingliao led all the officials to line up and perform the grand ceremony of five bows and three kowtows. The god (the deceased emperor's spiritual throne) went first, followed by the officials.
When he arrived near the Meridian Gate, Zhu Youjian, who was already in a trance and exhausted, went to greet him in person, and invited the god into the Jiyan Hall to perform the "God-pacifying Ceremony."
With the support of the guards of Prince Xin's palace, King Xin reluctantly kowtowed four times, then offered wine, read blessings, kowtowed four more times, and finally passed out.
Note:
1. Countries that cannot be conquered: Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, announced in the 28th edition of the "Ancestors of the Emperor Ming Dynasty" that 15 overseas countries such as Korea and Japan were listed as "countries that cannot be conquered", and warned future generations not to arbitrarily conquer.
2. Offering Hall: A high-standard altar, a place where offerings are placed during sacrifices, and can also be used as an activity place for the chief sacrificer and distinguished participants in the sacrifices.
