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However, just when Zhao Junchen was about to have a final decisive battle with the Mongolian coalition forces, the center of the capital was also very lively at this time.
The sectarian attacks and intrigues in the temple are no less dangerous than the fighting between two armies on the battlefield. In terms of the treacherous and unpredictable aspects, they are still much more dangerous.
Almost all the turmoil in the imperial court during this period was caused by several memorials sent to the capital by Zhao Junchen.
More than a month ago, Bao Wenjie, the deputy imperial envoy who went to Beijing with Zhao Junchen on business, suddenly returned to the capital and brought Zhao Junchen's first memorial.
In this memorial, Zhao Junchen reported in detail to Emperor Deqing that several governors of the northwest provinces had secretly joined forces to sue for peace with the Mongolian coalition forces. Zhao Junchen said that he had decisively controlled the situation in Shanxi and would continue to do so. Go to Huamachi Camp to control the situation on the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu.
The content of this memorial naturally aroused the anger of Emperor Deqing Long Yan. At the same time, Zhao Junchen's idea of taking the opportunity to intervene in the military affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu also aroused the suspicion of Emperor Deqing, so Emperor Deqing immediately sent a cabinet Lao Liang Fuchen went to Shaanxi and Gansu to take charge of the overall situation.
However, after Liang Fuchen left Beijing, he gradually lost news like a mud cow drowning in the sea. At the beginning, he would regularly submit some memorials to Emperor Deqing, or report on his itinerary, or ask for instructions. However, since Liang Fuchen left Shanxi and entered Shaanxi After that, there was suddenly no news, not even the usual greetings and memorials were sent to the capital.
But when there was suddenly no news from Liang Fuchen, Zhao Junchen sent a steady stream of memorials to the capital, and each memorial caused an uproar in the temple!
On the third day after Liang Fuchen left Beijing, Zhao Junchen sent a second memorial to the capital, saying that this year's border defense tasks were extremely severe, but the morale of the border troops in the northwest provinces was low, and it was probably difficult to resist the Mongolian coalition. offensive, so in order to consolidate the border defense and boost morale, Zhao Junchen requested Emperor Deqing to increase the pensions, military honors and silver rewards for the border troops during this year's invasion of Japan.
However, this memorial seems to be a "request for imperial edict", but in fact it is "behead first and report later" because Zhao Junchen had already announced without authorization that the court would increase pensions, military honors and silver rewards this year before submitting the memorial. This memorial was only an afterthought. Just seeking support and recognition from Emperor Deqing - Zhao Junchen did not hide anything about this situation in his memorial.
Zhao Junchen's behavior obviously violated his duties and violated the taboos in the temple. It immediately triggered the impeachment of hundreds of officials in the court, either accusing Zhao Junchen of being arrogant and abusing the power of the imperial envoy, or angrily accusing Zhao Junchen of having evil intentions. , with a disobedient heart, for a time Zhao Junchen was like a rat crossing the street in the temple center, and everyone shouted to beat him.
However, just as the officials were discussing how the court would punish Zhao Junchen, Zhao Junchen sent a third memorial.
If the contents of the first two memorials were shocking, then the contents of the third memorial made all officials even more unbelievable!
This is a battle report to the imperial court asking for merit and rewards.
In this memorial, Zhao Junchen said that on his way to Huamachi Camp, he encountered a sudden attack by nearly 5,000 Mongolian cavalry. However, Zhao Junchen had only 500 or 600 guards around him, which can be said to be the strength of the enemy and ourselves. There was a huge disparity, but Zhao Junchen remained calm in the face of danger, fought and retreated, and finally retreated to a hill and used the special terrain to defeat the Mongolian cavalry, killing more than 3,000 enemies, beheading 633, Eighty-two people were captured and more than 500 horses seized.
After receiving this memorial, both Emperor Deqing and the officials in the court could not believe that in addition to amassing money and fighting for power, Zhao Junchen actually had the ability to lead troops in battle? And it was an astonishing record of defeating more with less and defeating nearly 5,000 Mongolian cavalry with 600 guards! How many years has it been since the imperial court's northwest frontier had such a remarkable record? This record alone is enough to shame most military attaches throughout the ages and leave Zhao Junchen's name in the history books.
Therefore, the appearance of this memorial immediately diverted everyone's attention and made Zhao Junchen the focus of everyone again.
After everyone read the content of this memorial for the first time, their first reaction was that Zhao Junchen was lying about his military exploits and exaggerating the results of the war. However, the heads, prisoners, and seizures after the war could not be faked, and Shaanxi Governor Zhang Shengde and Jin Yiwei Qianhu Hong Gaogong, Shanxi Military Town Deputy Qianhu Niu Shun, Guyuan Military Town Hundred Household Official Wang Yang and others also witnessed the battle with their own eyes. They also submitted memorials to the court as evidence, but they were unable to find any loopholes.
The trend of impeaching Zhao Junchen in the temple was also interrupted by the appearance of this memorial. Officials of the "Zhao Party" took the opportunity to speak out to defend Zhao Junchen. The officials argued endlessly about whether Zhao Junchen should be rewarded or punished.
At the same time, under the deliberate promotion of some people, Zhao Junchen's legendary record of leading 600 guards to defeat 5,000 Mongol troops as a civil servant spread throughout the entire capital in almost the shortest time, making everyone They are all talked about and discussed, and have even become stories that storytellers are eager to tell.
As Zhao Junchen said, the world is always unwilling to admit the complexity of human nature - in their minds, corrupt officials should be confused, incompetent, stupid and ignorant, while honest officials should have outstanding political achievements and both civil and military skills - and Zhao Junchen As a civil servant, he defeated the Mongolian Tatars with a small number and a large number. He must be a perseverant and wise person. How could such an official be a corrupt official?
As a result, Zhao Junchen's reputation among the people has been further improved.
At this time, the capital center received the fourth memorial from Zhao Junchen!
The content of this memorial was even more astonishing. Zhao Junchen said that he had arrived at Huamachi Camp and found that the governor of the three sides, Wang Zheng, had been unable to manage the government due to illness. Most of the military and political affairs of the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu were managed by a famous official. An aide called Wang Gong was responsible for handling the matter, but after investigation, Zhao Junchen discovered that Wang Gong had already been secretly collaborating with the Mongols, and had been secretly helping the Mongols to plunder southward for many years.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen acted decisively to oust Wang Zheng, the governor-general of the three sides, and arrested Wang Gong, the aide of the governor-general's office!
At the end of this memorial, Zhao Junchen stated that he would temporarily control the overall military and political affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu as the imperial envoy until Liang Fuchen arrived at Huamachi Camp to take over!
After this memorial was sent to the center of the imperial court, it immediately caused an uproar again!
Zhao Junchen was just a full-time imperial envoy responsible for handling disaster relief matters, not a full-power imperial envoy recognized by the imperial court. His previous methods of dealing with Shanxi's officialdom were already too drastic and controversial, but at least he did not forcibly imprison several frontier officials in Shanxi. , and did not take away the power of local officials without authorization. However, this time Zhao Junchen directly took action to oust the governors of the three sides and acted as an imperial envoy for disaster relief. This completely violated the laws and regulations of the imperial court!
As a result, the major factions in the imperial court once again submitted memorials to impeach Zhao Junchen for his "disloyalty". Their attitudes were much more intense than the last time, but this time many officials interceded for Zhao Junchen. He believed that Zhao Junchen's approach was just to follow the authority in a hurry. Although it violated the court regulations, it ultimately caught the Mongolian spies who had infiltrated high-level officials in Shaanxi and Gansu, destroyed the Mongolian invasion intention, and stabilized the border defense situation. It can even be said that There are merits and no faults.
For a time, the officials once again fell into a heated debate.
However, before the debate among the officials came to a conclusion, Zhao Junchen once again sent his fifth memorial.
In this memorial, Zhao Junchen told Emperor Deqing in detail what he saw and heard in Shaanxi and Gansu, his views on the situation in Shaanxi and Gansu, and his various actions after taking control of the military and political affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu, such as forming They created a "new army of fighting soldiers", reissued the back pay of the border troops, arrested some frontier military attachés who respected themselves as soldiers, etc.
At the same time that Zhao Junchen's memorials were sent to the capital, civil and military officials from Shaanxi and Gansu also submitted memorials to Emperor Deqing. For a time, all kinds of memorials from Shaanxi and Gansu were sent to the center of the capital, occupying all the memorials. As much as half!
Of course, most of these memorials were to impeach Zhao Junchen. Local officials in Shaanxi and Gansu criticized Zhao Junchen for being arbitrary, self-willed, excluding dissidents, disrupting the local situation, forming a private army, setting up private prisons, and so on!
This time, after seeing Zhao Junchen's memorial, all the officials in the imperial court were dumbfounded!
If Zhao Junchen's action to evade Wang Zheng, the governor of the three sides, can still be explained by the need to obey power in a hurry, then his subsequent actions - issuing decrees without authorization, forming private armies, setting up prisons, etc., must never be repeated. It is explained by the four words "obey the authority in urgent matters"! With these practices, even if Zhao Junchen has evil intentions and wants to lead troops to cause chaos, some people will believe him!
For a time, the voice of "Zhao Junchen is the contemporary Wang Mang" resounded throughout the government and the public. The officials once again set off a wave of impeachment of Zhao Junchen. Some officials even suggested that the court should seize Zhao Junchen's official position and investigate Zhao Junchen. property, arrested Zhao Junchen's relatives, and even sent all the important officials to the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu to arrest Zhao Junchen and imprison him for questioning!
And those officials who were originally willing to defend Zhao Junchen, except for the "Zhao Party", also shrank back and did not dare to defend Zhao Junchen anymore, for fear that they would be regarded as Zhao Junchen's accomplices and be implicated by Zhao Junchen. !
It is said that after Zhao Junchen's fifth memorial was sent to the capital, Emperor Deqing received more than 400 memorials to impeach Zhao Junchen in just one day. For a time, it seemed that Zhao Junchen had become the target of thousands of people. , A lonely man, without killing is not enough to stabilize the world!
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But it was said that on the second night after Zhao Junchen's fifth memorial was delivered to the capital, in the study of Zhou Mansion in Xueshi Lane, the five copies of the memorial that Zhao Junchen had sent to the center of the capital during this period were all spread out. On the desk.
Zhou Shangjing's old face was full of thoughtfulness. He read the five memorials and manuscripts carefully from beginning to end. His seemingly old and lifeless eyes became deeper and deeper as he pondered, but no one could guess. to his inner thoughts at this time.
This is the third time Zhou Shangjing has read these memorials tonight. Every time after reading these memorials, Zhou Shangjing will think about it for a long time, but he will read it again soon.
Just when Zhou Shangjing was about to read these memorials for the fourth time, there was a sudden knock on the door in the study.
Then, a report from Zhou Fu, the steward of the Zhou Mansion, sounded outside the door: "Sir, Mr. Li He, the Minister of Etiquette, and Song Qiwen, the Minister of Rites, are asking for an audience together!"
Zhou Shangjing was stunned for a moment, then he seemed to have thought of something and said, "Let the two of them come in!"
Soon, Ge Lao Li He and Minister of Rites Song Qiwen quickly entered the Zhou Mansion's study.
Among the two people, Li He's expression was a little calmer, while Song Qiwen's expression was much more solemn. After hurriedly saluting Zhou Shangjing and saying hello, he said hurriedly: "Master Chief Assistant, the student has just received the news. Zhao Junchen Another memorial has been sent to the capital, and now it has been presented to His Majesty. This is already the sixth memorial in a month and a half! Zhao Junchen's previous memorials have caused an uproar. It is not an exaggeration to say that they have shocked the government and the public. , but I don’t know what the content of his sixth memorial is... According to the students’ opinion, this memorial will most likely cause chaos in the temple again, and we should prepare in advance!”
On the side, Li He also shook his head and sighed: "Yes, during this period of time, the officials of the imperial court have done almost nothing except arguing about Zhao Junchen's rewards and punishments. Every day, the court discussions will fall into endless quarrels... ...Alas, this Zhao Junchen, even after leaving the capital, still turned the entire temple center upside down, and actually attracted more attention than when he stayed in the capital!"
After hearing what the two important court officials said, Zhou Shangjing nodded slowly and said: "Not long ago, I also received the news of Zhao Junchen's sixth memorial... It is said that after His Majesty reviewed this memorial, he was not happy or angry. The important ministers of the six departments of the cabinet were not summoned for discussion, and the eunuchs who were left to serve were all kicked out of the imperial study. Only one person stayed in the imperial study and repeatedly read Zhao Junchen's memorials... Obviously, Zhao Junchen's The memorial is unusual, but no one except His Majesty knows what the content of this memorial is."
Song Qiwen couldn't help but be a little surprised and said: "Can it be said that Zhao Junchen's memorial is more amazing than his previous five memorials?"
Li He also looked in amazement and shook his head again: "Anyway, I can't imagine anything more amazing than Zhao Junchen's first five memorials! Speaking of which, I really admire Zhao Junchen, he Most people really don’t have the guts to do the things he did after leaving the capital! But not only did he do it without any scruples, but he also dared to truthfully write a memorial and send it to the capital, but he took the initiative to make his background known to the public. It’s really unbelievable. Knowing what he is thinking, doesn’t he know that there are some things that can only be done but not said?”
After Zhou Shangjing raised his head and glanced at the two of them, he sighed: "It seems that you two have not guessed Zhao Junchen's true thoughts yet! You two are not stupid people, but Zhao Junchen's methods are becoming more and more subtle. Well... Well, if Zhao Junchen can successfully achieve his goal, after I retire and return to my hometown, I am afraid that no one in our group will be able to compete with Zhao Junchen."
After Li and Song looked at each other, they both bowed to Zhou Shangjing and said, "Please give me some advice, Sir!"
Zhou Shangjing pointed at the five memorials in front of him and said slowly: "These five memorials are actually very important! The first memorial was when Zhao Junchen exposed that several governors in the northwest provinces wanted to secretly negotiate with the Mongols. Although the contents of this memorial shocked the government and the public regarding the peace talks, Zhao Junchen still had no merit at this time. However, Zhao Junchen's second memorial deliberately made his unauthorized promise that the court would increase the pensions for the border troops, The military merits and silver rewards were revealed, and many impeachments were made because of this, and Zhao Junchen’s merits, demerits, rewards and punishments have also been controversial since then!”
After a pause, Zhou Shangjing continued: "Zhao Junchen's third memorial is a memorial to him for commanding 600 guards to defeat the 5,000 Mongolian army. This achievement is extremely amazing, and can even be recorded in history. Suddenly This shocked the government and the public. Not only did Zhao Junchen's reputation soar, the previous calls to impeach Zhao Junchen were also suppressed. But not long after, Zhao Junchen sent a fourth memorial, clearly stating that he had made three false accusations. The matter of Border Governor Wang Zheng and Zhao Junchen's merits and demerits, rewards and punishments, once again caused controversy. However, the dispute among the officials has not yet been concluded. Zhao Junchen sent a fifth memorial, explaining in detail the Shaanxi Gan's situation and his various actions have pushed these controversies to a climax..."
Having said this, Zhou Shangjing looked up at Li and Song again and concluded: "In other words, every time he makes a great contribution, when officials are asking for credit and rewards for him, he will make some inevitable decisions. If he wants to cause controversy, let the court withdraw the reward for him... Whenever something he does triggers controversy and impeachment among officials, he will quickly make a great contribution to calm the central government's opposition. His controversy and impeachment! Therefore, Zhao Junchen has obviously been away from Beijing for nearly two months, and has done countless big and small things, but the court still has no conclusion on his merits, demerits, rewards and punishments...
...It can be said that Zhao Junchen has been using his memorials to secretly control the situation in the entire temple, keeping himself in a situation where he can be rewarded and punished, making His Majesty and the officials think that they have caught a lot of Zhao Junchen's They can decide Zhao Junchen's merits, demerits, rewards and punishments! He will neither arouse the jealousy of the officials and the emperor's suspicion because of too many meritorious services, nor will he be besieged by the ministers and the emperor's suspicion because of too many violations of the rules. And when the officials are controversial and His Majesty is hesitant, he will also You gain the space and time to show off your skills! ...Hey, it’s really a good idea! "
As he spoke, Zhou Shangjing's old eyes flashed with a ray of light, and he said solemnly: "If my prediction is correct, the memorials Zhao Junchen has sent to the capital these days are just the preparation for his next big move! ... The sixth memorial that Zhao Junchen sent to the capital today is probably the real target of his various actions these days... Based on my understanding of Zhao Junchen, what this person is best at is the reconciliation of interests, and he can always make things happen. I have reached an agreement with His Majesty's short-term goals! Therefore, the things described in Zhao Junchen's memorial will definitely make His Majesty extremely tempted... But at the same time, Zhao Junchen will also take the opportunity to gain more benefits for himself! It is also true that Because of this, His Majesty is hesitant and indecisive!"
After hearing Zhou Shangjing's statement, both Li and Song frowned in thought.
After a while, Li He asked tentatively: "Sir, what do you think Zhao Junchen's real goal is?"
Zhou Shangjing showed hesitation for the first time and shook his head: "I have some vague guesses, but these guesses are so shocking that it is unbelievable... But if my guess is true, and Zhao Junchen succeeds smoothly, If he achieves his goal, I'm afraid he will no longer be able to restrain himself..."
Just when Li He was about to ask further questions, Zhou Fu's report suddenly sounded outside the door again.
"Sir, your Majesty sent someone to convey a message, saying that he is summoning you urgently to come to the palace to discuss matters... By the way, Li He, Grand Scholar and Song Shangshu are also among the summons. His Majesty's summons is very urgent. It seems that something happened. What a big deal!"
After hearing the report, Zhou Shangjing suddenly smiled and said: "It seems that Your Majesty has finally made a decision! Whether my guess is accurate or not, we will soon know the answer!"
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