The news of the "possible death" of Emperor Chongzhen and Prince Zhu Cixiang was sent to Dagukou by spies from Fusi, Jinyiwei North Town, on the morning of April 12, the 17th year of Chongzhen's reign.
"Master Chitose, word has spread all over Beijing that your and the Holy Emperor's ship were burned down by the Red Lady's fire attack. The rebellious Li Zicheng even conferred the title of Red Lady as the fake Zhigu Bo in recognition of her military exploits... .”
In the capital hall of the Fujun Grand Marshal's Mansion, Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyiwei, was reporting news about Beijing to Zhu Cihong.
"Is Li Ni confused?" Wu Xiang interjected, "Why do you let his subordinates act like this?"
Cao Youyi also smiled: "That red lady really dares to brag! She's not afraid of blowing her hide!"
Zhu Cixiang frowned and turned his attention to the three civil servants Wei Zaode, Hou Xun, Fang Yuegong and Chen Rui. He wanted to hear their opinions first.
In the past few days, the imperial court in exile in Dagukou has also begun to reorganize. Of course the four bachelors, Wei Zaode, Fang Yuegong, Qiu Yu, and Fan Jingwen, will remain in their posts - of course the four of them have no ability, but they are indeed very good vases. They were all bachelors appointed by Chongzhen, and they supported Zhu Cixiang during the Huangji Gate Incident.
Keeping them can prove the legitimacy of Zhu Cixi's Fujun Grand Marshal!
In addition to the four people, Zhu Cixang added Hou Xun to the cabinet, and Hou Xun served as the bachelor of Dongge and the minister of household affairs. The other four bachelors also appointed a minister each, including Wei Zaode who was also the minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Fang Yuegong who was also the minister of the Ministry of Rites, Qiu Yu who was also the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Fan Jingwen who was also the minister of the Ministry of Punishments.
In addition to each of these five bachelors being in charge of a department. Two people were sent to "play" with Chongzhen every day to make him feel a bit like an emperor. The remaining three went to the Fujun Generalissimo's Mansion to work. Although Zhu Cixiang had a Fujun Generalissimo's Mansion, he would not Kick the court away. Because the set of procedures of drafting a ticket, approving a red ticket, and handing it over to the Ministry of Finance for processing symbolizes legitimacy.
If there was no such procedure and the Fujun Generalissimo's Office was used to issue orders, I am afraid that many local officials would not admit it.
Now that the authority of the Ming Dynasty Central Committee has declined drastically, we can no longer smash our own sign.
So Zhu Cixi simply asked the elder Ge to work in his commander's mansion. If there was anything that needed to be handled through the bureaucratic system, he asked Bi Jiucheng to draft an edict on the spot, and then the elder Ge drafted the edict, and then Zhu Cihong himself approved it, and finally In addition, Liuke signed the matter and it was issued openly.
The procedure was absolutely correct. Mr. Ge only changed one, not on his own initiative, but because Li Jiantai, the original Dongge bachelor, had surrendered to Li Zicheng. One of the six bachelor's places in the four halls and two pavilions was originally vacant, and it has not been filled now. It's just that the person who criticized the red changed from Chongzhen to Zhu Cixiang...
In addition to the three pavilion elders, Zhu Cihong's former teacher Chen Rui also had to work at the Generalissimo's Mansion every day. His current official position was changed to Minister of War.
Because of the emergence of the Fujun Generalissimo's Mansion, almost all the powers of the Ministry of War were usurped, but this does not mean that Zhu Cihong no longer needs the signature of the Ministry of War.
The orders issued through the Military Command Guard of the Generalissimo's Mansion are only effective in the systems of the New Army and the Navy of the Generalissimo's Mansion. For other Ming army troops, they have to be mobilized in the name of Ministry of War documents or imperial edicts for the time being. Therefore, the Ministry of War is still very important, but it has changed from the yamen in charge of the world's military forces to the yamen that delivers orders to Zhu Cixiang.
After a few operations, the cabinet and the six ministries were almost merged together.
Except for the Minister of War, the other five ministers are bachelors. Although the Minister of War does not have the name of a bachelor, he still attends the cabinet-Generalissimo's office meetings, can still make suggestions, and becomes the de facto cabinet elder.
As for Zhu Cixiang, the Prince of Fujun, he is a bit like the Emperor Taizu Gao when he abolished the prime minister and took over all the power - he turned the old monks and ministers into his staff!
At least in the past few days in Dagukou, no civil servant has challenged Zhu Cihong's authority!
...
"Master Qiantai," Wei Zaode, a scholar from the First Academy of Sciences, said thoughtfully to Zhu Cixiang, "The purpose of spreading rumors in the capital must be to calm people's hearts and eliminate the hope of the righteous people, so as to stabilize the situation in the capital."
Zhu Cixiang smiled and thought: The gang of unscrupulous people in the capital are really powerful these days, right? But their bad days have just begun!
Li Zicheng is pretty good, and "I, the Qing Dynasty" are coming later!
Fang Yuegong, the Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, continued Wei Zaode's words: "The rebels stabilized the situation in the capital probably in order to send out a large number of troops. The Jinyiwei's Tang newspaper said that the rebels had plundered and forced wages in the capital, and had already made a fortune of thirty to forty million taels. With this amount of money, Chuangni should be able to reward the three armies, and after the rewards are distributed, they will probably be able to go on an expedition."
Fang Yu suddenly became nervous and said, "Are you coming to Dagukou? Your Royal Highness, now the left division has set off with Su Guansheng, and only the middle and right divisions are left behind. If Chuangni personally leads the army, I'm afraid. .....”
"Don't be afraid!" Chen Rui interjected, "Dagukou City is also strong, and it is surrounded by water on both sides, so it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The terrain of Haisha Island is more dangerous, and it is impossible to get up without the navy. And the right division is still on the island. I built the earth city according to the pattern of the foreign fortress city in the "Shouyu Complete Book". When the earth city is completed, the sea and sand island will be safe before the Wei River freezes."
"Shouyu Complete Book" is a military work written by Han Lin (a Catholic), a famous scholar in Jiangzhou, Shanxi, in the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, using the knowledge he learned from Western missionaries. It has eight volumes and mainly introduces Western firearms and weapons. fortification technology. There is a lot of space to introduce the bastion!
This work was widely circulated among scholar-bureaucrats who were keen on building cities. So after Zhu Cixi proposed to build a bastion on Haisha Island yesterday, several civil servants actually volunteered to help. Zhu Cixiang didn't believe that they understood the bastion at first, so he asked Tang Ruowang to assess them. After the assessment, he discovered that these people had actually read "Shouyu Complete Book" thoroughly! He knew far more about the bastion than Zhu Cixiang himself.
So Zhu Cixiang selected a few people from among them and asked his teacher Li Shichun, who was also familiar with the "Shouyu Complete Book", to take them with his official position as Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Industry to be responsible for building the city. There were no good raw materials, just filling them with soil. It was built like a bastion inside the straw bag.
Zhu Cixiang squinted his eyes and thought for a moment, shook his head slightly, and whispered: "He will not come to Dagukou... It would be great if Li Chuang came to Dagukou, I am not afraid of him. Now I am afraid I’m afraid he won’t come to Dagokou, but will go straight to Shanhaiguan!”
"Going to Shanhaiguan?" Wu Xiang was slightly surprised when he heard Zhu Cixiang's words. Prince Zhu was a bit of a crow, so don't let him get it right again.
"Why go to Shanhaiguan?" Wu Xiang asked.
Zhu Cixiang glanced at his old father-in-law and said to himself: Of course I will beat your son when I go to Shanhaiguan!
He breathed out: "Shanhaiguan is a good place... If only Li Chuang and his family are going, it will be easy. If Dorgon is also going, it will be troublesome!"
With Li Chuang's family gone, Wu Sangui may not fall into trouble and become a traitor. Zhu Cixiang, a good brother-in-law of the Ming Dynasty, can still save him. But if Dorgon also went... Could Wu Sangui still be able to resist the rogue bandits in the west and fight against the Eight Banners in the east?
When the time comes, he will most likely choose the next best option he has given... He won't even be able to choose the next best option, and will just shave off his hair and become a traitor.
...
"Mr. Chen Ge, how are you? Are you feeling better?"
"Luo, Commander Luo, I'm trying to think of a way. Can you give me a few more days of grace?"
It is the early morning of April 13th, the first year of Dashun Yongchang. In the inner city of Beijing, somewhere in a house guarded by Dashun soldiers in blue clothes and white hats, a scene that looks like a loan shark is being staged.
The person who came to visit early in the morning was Luo Xiushen. He was currently assigned by Ruhou Liu Zongmin as the commander of Beizhen Fusi. He was actually the official in charge of collecting accounts.
He would collect the debts of those former officials and nobles who could not bear the torture and were willing to give money in exchange for their lives - only if he received the debts, those people would escape the torture.
Of course, this doesn't mean you can survive.
If you are a civil servant or eunuch, you can survive if you pay enough money; if you are a noble person, you will lose both your money and your life, and you will just die a good death.
The person Luo Xiu Shen came to meet today was a civil servant, Chen Yan, the former chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty. He owed Liu Zongmin a debt of sixty thousand taels to the King of Hell, which was already overdue.
