To talk about the current situation in the capital, we have to mention the several capital moves in the early Ming Dynasty.
When the Ming Dynasty was founded, Nanjing was established as the capital in accordance with the wishes of the founding emperor Taizu.
Nanjing is located in the fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is an excellent place for the capital.
After Emperor Taizong's arrest, he became the emperor immediately, with a resolute and brave character and an ambitious plan.
In addition, the Jingnan incident caused Emperor Taizong to be criticized, and he needed to use great achievements to quell the rumors.
So he thought over and over again and believed that the bandits outside the customs were still a serious concern for the imperial court, so he decided to personally conquer Mobei. Nanjing was too far from the border, and the mobilization of the army would be too expensive, and was not conducive to border defense and control of the imperial court after the expedition.
Coupled with dissatisfaction with the extravagant culture of Jinling, as well as various considerations such as checking and balancing the power of the old ancestors and relatives in the Taizu era, Emperor Taizong finally decided to move the capital to Beijing.
When Emperor Renzong succeeded to the throne, Mobei was peaceful and the court needed to recuperate. As the capital, Beijing's economic shortcomings became apparent.
In addition, Emperor Renzong had lived in Nanjing for a long time, so he repeatedly intended to move the capital back to Nanjing. He even issued an edict to use Beijing as the companion capital, renovated the Nanjing palace, and made many preparations for moving the capital.
It's a pity that Emperor Renzong never had a holiday, and his control lasted only one year. He died before he could implement it.
By the time of the late emperor, the matter had fallen into a stalemate.
On the one hand, Emperor Renzong was the late emperor's biological father, and there was a posthumous edict instructing the late emperor to return the capital to Nanjing. Out of filial piety, the late emperor could not disobey it.
On the other hand, the late emperor had grown up under Emperor Taizong since he was a child, and he had ambitions of success in his heart, so he was more inclined to make Beijing his capital.
Therefore, after the end of the emperor's reign, the matter was put on hold for the time being. Beijing was still the capital in name, but palace construction, defense, and government affairs were all transferred to Beijing, which had already become the de facto capital.
It was not until Jinshang succeeded to the throne that he officially issued an edict confirming Beijing's status as the capital.
However, during this personal expedition, Beijing, as the capital, once again had its biggest weakness exposed.
That is too close to the border!
Although it is easy to mobilize the army and control the situation of the court, once things are in crisis, it will be a big deal!
Apart from anything else, if the current capital was Nanjing, even in terms of the expense of a personal expedition, the bosses of the Six Ministries would have had sufficient reasons to stop the emperor, how could this catastrophe be caused?
On the other hand, from a practical point of view, it is indeed easy for the capital Beijing to control the border, but it is relatively easy for the enemy to cross the border and approach the capital.
Just like now, the troops are advancing directly towards Xuanfu, which is only a few hundred miles away from Beijing.
As long as they cross the Great Wall, they can march straight in and fight all the way to the city of Beijing. If the capital is also captured, the Ming Dynasty will inevitably be at war, fall apart, and be in danger of overthrowing the country.
Therefore, at this moment, how to organize the defense of the capital is really the top priority. In comparison, even the safety of the emperor is slightly inferior.
To put it bluntly, even if the emperor was killed in an enemy country, there would still be successors to the Ming Dynasty, but if the capital was also captured and the country was deprived of the country, where would the emperor be?
Everyone present has a clear heart. This matter is the most important and difficult to deal with at the moment. If they are not careful, they will be the sinners who will overthrow the Ming Dynasty.
So for a while, the palace became quiet again.
After a short pause, Queen Mother Sun suddenly said: "The Ai family knows that this matter is of great importance. I am the wife of the harem, so I tried my best to handle it. Before the emperor left the capital, he ordered King Yin to stay in the capital. At this time, the clan ministers worked together to When we were fighting against the crisis together, why did King Tan say nothing?"
Zhu Qiyu was stunned for a moment. In his previous life, the Empress Dowager Sun never attacked him. Could it be that because of his rebirth, many things have changed?
Without thinking about it, Zhu Qiyu said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. This matter is indeed too important, and I don't have a good plan at the moment."
The ministers present thought that King Tan could say a few useful words when he opened his mouth, but they never thought that he was so honest.
Also, this Prince Tan has always been low-key and weak in character. Otherwise, the emperor would not trust him to keep him in the capital to supervise the country.
However, before they had time to express any more sighs, they heard Zhu Qiyu speak again: "But since I am entrusted by my brother, I should do my best in this critical moment."
"I believe that the biggest key to this matter is whether we can keep the capital. Yu Shilang, Prince Consort Jiao, one of you is the admiral in charge of the defense of the capital, and the other is temporarily in charge of the military department. Can you tell me what will happen if I stay in the capital? How many officers and soldiers are there who can fight?"
After the words fell, Queen Mother Sun's eyes narrowed, and she seemed to inadvertently cast her gaze on Zhu Qiyu. She didn't know what she was thinking, but she didn't say anything.
After all, she was the one who asked first.
And logically speaking, she is a harem woman and is not suitable to directly express her views on government affairs.
But Zhu Qiyu was the prince appointed by the emperor before leaving the capital. Although he couldn't decide anything most of the time, he should be the one to preside over such occasions to discuss government affairs.
Yu Qian's name was called and he immediately came out of the queue. However, he did not speak immediately, but considered it carefully.
On the other hand, Prince Consort Jiao Jing didn't hesitate much and said: "Our army in the Beijing camp originally had more than 200,000 officers and soldiers. This time the emperor personally went to the expedition. Because of the urgency, most of the officers were transferred from the Beijing camp. Now there are three major battalions in the city with left-behind officers. The army is approximately 70,000 in number, including craftsmen and logisticians. If we consider those capable of fighting, there should be between 50,000 and 60,000."
The atmosphere at the scene immediately became gloomy. Although everyone knew that the matter was critical, they did not expect that the crisis would reach such an extent.
In the majestic capital, there are only 50,000 to 60,000 people available for mobilization.
I would imagine that the Son of Heaven personally commanded an army of more than 200,000 men, twice as many as Yexian's troops, yet suffered such a disastrous defeat.
Now that the official army in central Beijing is less than half of the enemy's army, how should we fight this battle?
At this time, Yu Qian had also planned the troops and said: "There are about 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers in the capital camp, but in addition, our nine-door patrol force in the capital should have 7,8,000 people. , plus the remaining officers and soldiers from Zhili and the officers and soldiers who came from Nanjing to transport grain, all of them will be used to defend the capital, and the number of people capable of fighting should be one hundred thousand."
One hundred thousand, this number barely gives people a sense of security, at least roughly the same as the enemy's army.
But even so, the palace was still filled with sadness.
After all, more than 200,000 troops have been defeated. Even if there are 100,000 now, is it really enough?
At this time, Xu Jue, the minister of Hanlin, came out and said: "Our Lady, Your Majesty, I have risked my life to hear this. For the past few days, our capital has been experiencing strong winds and rain, the stars are uncertain, the sky is dark and chaotic, and the number is unknown. Now there is another The civil engineering work clearly shows that the destiny has passed, and I risked my life to say that in this time of crisis, only moving south can alleviate the problem. I ask the Holy Mother to think twice."
Zhu Qiyu's expression darkened slightly. This Xu Jue is really an interesting person.
In this new life, who would he hate the most?
Those were naturally those who planned and participated in the restoration of Nangong. Coincidentally, Xu Jue was one of them, but at that time, he had changed his name to Xu Youzhen.
This man was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Xuande's reign. He was very resourceful and well-known, but he had to be said to be a practical man.
In addition to familiarity with classics and Confucianism, he also studied a lot of astronomy, geography, art of war, and water conservancy.
However, Zhu Qiyu thought he was interesting, but that was not what he meant.
After resurrecting my life, there are still many things that are different from what I remembered.
In his previous life, he did not suffer from this serious illness, but he supervised the country normally according to the holy orders.
Although he has no real power, he must be the first to know about important matters such as civil engineering and military reporting.
Therefore, in the previous life, the first time Yu Qian received the military report, he immediately found Jiao Jing, the prince-in-law who was in charge of the defense of the capital, and Prince Xie, the superintendent of the country.
Then the three of them went to the palace to report, and Empress Dowager Sun did not directly drive to Bunren Hall to summon the ministers.
After getting the news, she prepared money, silk, gold and silver, and in accordance with the rules, she ordered King Tan to convene ministers to discuss strategies and finally report to her.
But in this life, because he was so sick, he could not survive for several days.
When Yu Qian didn't know that he had woken up, he acted urgently and went directly to the palace to report, which caused the Queen Mother Sun to directly summon the ministers. He came in by accident and intervened, resulting in the current situation.
Therefore, this formed an embarrassing question, that is, who should make the decision in this hall?
The first and second of the three urgent tasks proposed by Mr. Wang are barely related to the emperor.
As the biological mother of the Emperor, and there was nothing controversial about the matter, Empress Dowager Sun could make the decision with just one word.
But this third item really involves the country.
It has nothing to do with the harem or even the safety of the emperor. It is purely a matter of court affairs.
Then the problem arises.
According to the rules, it is more justifiable that King Yin, who was ordered to supervise the country, should preside over this matter.
But all the ministers present knew it.
In fact, the one who truly holds the real power in the capital is the Queen Mother.
This can be known just by looking at the military report that the Queen Mother was able to immediately impose a martial law on the nine gates after entering the palace.
To put it bluntly, King Xi had a righteous reputation, but the Queen Mother held the real power.
Then who should report the matter to becomes a big problem.
If it were not for Zhu Qiyu's illness, then of course, just like in the previous life, Empress Dowager Sun would not appear on this occasion at all, and he should be the one to preside over it.
And if Zhu Qiyu hadn't rushed into the palace so hurriedly to see the Concubine Xian, the ministers wouldn't have hesitated and reported it directly to the Queen Mother who was in charge.
But now, both of them are here, so this embarrassing situation has formed.
Empress Dowager Sun also realized this just now, and because she took the initiative to ask Zhu Qiyu, she could only let Zhu Qiyu have the right to speak.
But the ministers in the palace were all clear-minded.
Therefore, both Jiao Jing and Yu Qian spoke vaguely.
Although the specific situation was not concealed at all, it was not clearly stated to whom it was played.
But as soon as Xu Jue opened his mouth, he said bluntly, "Our Lady of Enlightenment, Your Majesty...". At the end of the sentence, he simply ignored Zhu Qiyu and said, "...I ask the Holy Mother to think twice."
Although at this juncture, no one would pursue such a small inappropriateness.
But often the more details like this, the better they can show a person's true character.
In his previous life, Zhu Qiyu never had such an opportunity, nor did he see people with such eyes.
But seven years as emperor and a hundred years of ups and downs in the world have allowed him to develop a pair of piercing eyes.
He could tell with just this one detail.
This Xu Jue has no etiquette, law or justice in his heart, only interests and fame.
For him, reputation and etiquette are not worth mentioning at all. He only values real power and benefits!
However, as soon as he said these words, others had not reacted. The eunuch Jin Ying, the eunuch Jin Ying and Bingbi, who was standing aside, immediately stood up and said with a stern voice: "How presumptuous! These heart-breaking words, you want to disrupt my ancestor's court." ?”
