"Where is the prince now? What is he doing?" Emperor Chongzhen asked about Zhu Cixiang's current whereabouts.
The crown prince is really busy right now, and he doesn't even have time to go home and visit his parents. From the 14th to now, Chongzhen has only seen Zhu Cihong once.
What made Chongzhen even more annoyed was that the prince Zhu Cixiang was so capable of making his own decisions that he didn't even know about asking for orders! Although I gave him the title of Governor of Fujun and direct military affairs, I didn't let him sell out the city's decree!
First of all, the prince’s decree cannot be sold!
Secondly, the governor-general of Fujun's dispatch of military affairs could not control internal and external officials who did not serve in Jingying and Jingjun.
How could Zhu Cixi send officials, eunuchs, and nobles who had spent money to Tianjin with just a decree? It would be fine if they had errands in Jingying and Jingjun, but many of the people he sent away did not serve in Jingying or Jingjun!
For example, that Wang Zhixin is the ceremonial supervisor, eunuch Bingbi and admiral of Dongchang. How can you, the governor of Fujun, control the military affairs of Zhili?
This is a huge overstep of authority! No, not only is it an act of overstepping one's authority, it is also suspected of usurping authority!
If it weren't for the special circumstances now, this prince could have been deposed.
"Your Majesty," Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Imperial Guard, immediately replied, "His Royal Highness the Prince came down from Fuchengmen City and went directly to Chengguo Mansion."
"Go to Chengguo Mansion?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned, "Zhu Chunchen is the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp!"
A commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp was so close to the prince... If Li Zicheng hadn't come to the city with troops, he would have been impeached by the censor!
"Do you know what he is going to do?" Emperor Chongzhen asked.
"It should be for money," Luo Yangxing said, "Gong Cheng Guo gave the prince a lot of trouble today...I heard that after witnessing the prince murder, he knelt down to beg for mercy and was willing to donate his family property."
"Donate family property? How much money can he have?" Chongzhen asked.
"Regardless of the farm, real estate, or shop, I have cash in hand... there must be four to five hundred thousand taels of silver."
Chongzhen gritted his teeth, "So many!? I always thought he was an upright official..."
The hatred in Emperor Chongzhen’s heart! What kind of world is this? Why is it that any high-ranking official in Beijing is richer than the emperor? They are all corrupt officials! They are all corrupt officials!
"How did he get so much money?" Chongzhen asked angrily.
"This...this minister doesn't know." Luo Yangxing's forehead was sweating.
In fact, these noble officials in the court refused to donate money when the enemy was approaching the city. One reason was that they were reluctant, and the other reason was that they could not explain why they had so much money.
Everyone is a good official with a clear mind, how can it be possible that everyone has a huge fortune? How much salary do they have? If you can’t even get enough of your salary, how can you have money? With so much money, it goes without saying that he must be a corrupt official.
With Emperor Chongzhen's petty mind, sooner or later these corrupt officials will be arrested and taken to Beizhen Fusi!
"Then go and investigate!" Chongzhen said through gritted teeth, "Let Beizhen Fusi investigate!"
"Your Majesty," Gao Yushun, the chief eunuch of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, reminded quickly, "Now is not the time to settle accounts after the fall. Thief Li's soldiers are still outside the city! And... and Duke Cheng Guo is now the prince's servant!"
After hearing this, Chongzhen also took in a breath of cold air!
Now the armed forces in the capital city are divided into three parts, one is the capital camp, the other is the prince's camp to overcome difficulties, and the third is the net army. Among them, the Jing camp has the largest number of people, with more than 5,000 people, while the Kenan camp and the Jing army both have about 3,000 people.
If both the Beijing camp and the Kenan camp are under the control of the prince, then the prince will have more than 8,000 armed men, while Emperor Chongzhen can only control 3,000 eunuch soldiers...
"Will the soldiers in the Beijing camp listen to the prince?" Emperor Chongzhen's question was a bit heartbreaking.
Luo Yangxing and Gao Yushun looked at each other and nodded.
"meeting!"
"How is that possible?" Chongzhen's face changed drastically. "How long has he been in charge of the army? Even the officials in the capital camp don't recognize him!"
"But..." Luo Yangxing almost cried when he heard Chongzhen's words. He has been the emperor for seventeen years, why doesn't he understand?
He gritted his teeth and said: "But the prince is rich! He has millions! Today, he gave at least 50,000 taels of reward to the soldiers of the Beijing camp, the brave soldiers of the capital, and the soldiers of the Kenan camp. !”
The soldiers in the capital and the heroes in the capital are all old fools, and anything about being loyal to the emperor and patriotic is bullshit to them! Only money is the boss!
Now Zhu Cixiang has millions in his hands, he is the boss!
But Emperor Chongzhen only had less than 200,000 yuan in hand, and he was reluctant to give it to him... Before Zhu Cihong was pacifying the army, the soldiers from the Beijing camp went to the city to watch for one day and only received 100 copper coins (not made money, but ordinary small coins). You have to pay for meals yourself! Is there an emperor who is as stingy as he is?
And after Zhu Cihong came to power, he immediately got an increase of one tael of silver! That’s equivalent to 5,500 copper coins! This is equivalent to a salary increase of 54 times in one breath! How could they not love the prince? If you want to give more, then it would be better to kiss your father than your mother, rather than the prince!
"Fifty thousand taels..." When Chongzhen heard about Zhu Cixiang's money-spending methods, he was so distressed that he even forgot about the "prince usurping power." "How could he spend money like this? Wait...he has millions of taels in his hand. It’s all the country’s money, how can he just spend it on himself?”
Is that a waste of money? That’s spending money to buy your life!
Spending fifty thousand taels to live a day, what a good deal! With the prince's ability to make money, he could get a thousand days' worth of life money from Beijing. Can Li Zicheng stay outside Beijing for three years?
At this moment, both Luo Yangxing and Gao Yushun had the urge to let the prince usurp the throne...
Of course, usurping the throne is impossible. Zhu Cihong is a filial son, how could he do such a thing? It can only be Emperor Chongzhen crying and shouting for inner Zen!
Luo Yangxing had no choice but to persuade Chongzhen to change his mind, and said quickly: "Your Majesty, the prince is a bit more skillful in spending money, but Li Ni's hundreds of thousands of bandits are just outside the city!"
Gao Yushun also said: "Yes, the military and people's morale in the capital cannot be shaken!"
Chongzhen frowned deeply and felt conflicted in his heart. The prince is now the life-saving straw for the city of Beijing and himself, and he cannot throw it away. But at the same time, Zhu Cixiang could not be allowed to seize power step by step. Otherwise, once Li Zicheng leaves, he might become the emperor...
Seeing that Chongzhen was silent, Luo Yangxing said again: "Your Majesty, even if the money in the hands of the prince is to be taken back, it should be approved by the cabinet. Your Majesty will approve it... If the decree is issued, the prince will be directly responsible for military affairs as the governor of the army." , which can be completely ignored.”
"That's true..." Chongzhen thought about it and felt something was wrong, "But the prince's governor of Fujun and Zhili Military Affairs was also appointed by Zhongzhi!"
Luo Yangxing and Gao Yushun's hair stood up when they heard this.
"Your Majesty, no!" Gao Yushun immediately said, "The defense of the capital cannot be without the prince. Moreover, even if the prince is willing to hand over the defense of the capital, who can take over? Now the commander-in-chief Zhu Chunchen and the admiral Wu Xiang are all the prince's people... "
"Wu Xiang..." Emperor Chongzhen slammed the table, "How come I forgot about him?"
Luo Yangxing and Gao Yushun both looked at Chongzhen blankly, what does this prince want to do?
Chongzhen said: "Luo Yangxing, go and keep an eye on the prince and Zhu Chunchen and find out what they are doing tonight?"
"I obey the order."
"Gao Banban," Chongzhen said again, "go to Xuan Wei Zaode, Li Banghua and Wang Jiayan."
Wei Zaode is a bachelor of Zhongji Palace, the so-called chief minister of the cabinet.
Li Banghua, on the other hand, was the censor of Zuodu and the head of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, responsible for correcting and impeaching hundreds of officials.
Wang Jiayan is the right minister of the Ministry of War and assists in the military affairs of the Beijing camp. That is, officials who participated in the military affairs of the capital camp and the defense of the capital on behalf of the court officials.
During the battle at Fuchengmen, he also climbed onto the tower to assist Zhu Cixiang in defending the city. However, he did not interact too much with Zhu Cixiang because he still did not approve of the prince's behavior. Especially the sixteen-year-old prince's order to support the army is a bit too childish.
Chongzhen issued an order to recruit the two of them into the palace late at night on the 17th. By the time the three of them arrived outside the Qianqing Gate to await the summons, it was already the early morning of the 18th, and it was almost time to go to court.
Chongzhen, who had not slept all night, was preparing for the morning court. When he heard that the eunuch had come to report, he immediately announced that the three of them should go to Dongnuan Pavilion to summon them.
