No one thought that this time the imperial court would take action against those nobles who shared weal and woe with the Ming Dynasty.
And it was a storm as soon as it started. . .
In just half a month, Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment accepted and tried hundreds of cases, involving 32 noble families, 123 people who were sentenced to be executed after the fall, and people who were sentenced to exile to guard the border. Eight hundred and thirty-one.
There were even two marquises who had their homes confiscated directly.
It begins the day after the case goes to trial.
Memorials from various honorable ministers began to float into the palace like snowflakes.
These nobles are not only the nobles of Beijing, but also the nobles of Nanjing, and even the vassal kings from various places.
In the 150 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, these nobles and vassal kings have already formed a community of interests through marriage. Now that Zhu Yuanzhang attacks the nobles in Beijing, it is equivalent to attacking all the nobles in the country.
This naturally makes them feel a strong sense of insecurity.
"Great Grandfather, your actions this time are too big!"
"I definitely don't think highly of you!"
"Don't forget, those honorable ministers all hold military power. What if they rebel?" Emperor Jiajing persuaded with worry.
Zhu Yuanzhang grinned while reading the memorial.
"We're just waiting for them to rebel, and we're waiting for them to come back to Jingnan again!"
"If they had had the courage of the fourth child back then, the Ming Dynasty would not have declined like this!"
Zhu Yuanzhang casually threw down the memorial in his hand and said: "If you don't believe it, let's make a bet on whether they dare to raise an army?"
"What kind of gambling method?" Emperor Jiajing showed a look of interest on his face.
"If they dare to raise troops, we will beat you up to vent their anger."
"If they don't dare to raise an army... I'll give you a beating to vent your anger."
"Will you accept this bet?" A dangerous light flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.
"I'm so crazy that I picked it up!"
Emperor Jiajing was vomiting in his heart, but his face was bitter, and he grinned and said: "I am unworthy of my grandson... give up!"
Zhu Yuanzhang ignored Emperor Jiajing, who always liked to have a sense of presence around him, and continued to read the memorial.
Another half month.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the heat was almost there, so he came forward to recruit all the nobles into the palace.
"Your Majesty, please save us!"
"That Hai Rui, Hu Zongxian, and Xu Wei are going to kill us all!"
"What do they want to do?"
"Our honorable ministers are the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. They want to rebel!" As soon as they met, Dingguo Duke Xu Guangzuo fell at Zhu Yuanzhang's feet and started crying.
"snort!"
"Look at that bear look on you!"
"Don't forget who your ancestor is. He was Xu Da, the king of Zhongshan. He swept across the north and conquered most of the Ming Dynasty for us!"
"Look at you again?"
"What does it look like now?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked bitterly.
He had seen the history of the Ming Dynasty that had not been changed by him before in the late Qing Dynasty.
When the city of Beijing was captured, the Duke of Dingguo took the lead in surrendering.
Not only Duke Ding, but also the entire Ming Dynasty was swept away by the iron hoof of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Ninety percent of these nobles who were known as the pillars of the country and shared weal and woe with the country chose to surrender.
They were not even as good as Emperor Chongzhen. At least Emperor Chongzhen still had the courage to hang himself when his country was ruined and his family was ruined.
And they don't even have the courage.
"Your Majesty, we don't look good!"
"But it's not because those civil servants took away our rights. If we still had military power, we wouldn't be as useless as we are now." Xu Guangzuo also took the risk today.
Two of his sons died, and twenty-six members of the entire Xu family died. Even his own title of Duke Ding seemed to be lost. There was nothing he dared not say.
"Is giving you military power to make you live on empty wages, or to engage in corruption?"
"Tell me, if we give you the three major battalions, can you take care of them?"
Xu Guangzuo wanted to say yes, but when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's face, he suppressed the words.
In his heart, he was really afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would really hand over the three major battalions to him.
Today is different from usual. With the evil star Hai Rui here, military power has become a hot potato.
He didn't dare to take it.
He was afraid that if he couldn't help but reach out, he would be caught by Hai Rui and sentenced to death by Dali Temple.
When the time comes, the Holy Emperor will not intercede for himself.
"Trash!" Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted to kick this bitch to death.
"Your Majesty, I, Old Xu, can't hold up the wall with mud, but there are so many of the royal family and nobles who can't hold up the wall with mud. You can't just focus on my family!" Xu Guangzuo was scolded as a waste in public. It was true. Some defenses were broken.
"Oh... then tell me, which one else is there?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked, squinting his eyes.
"Which King of Zhou in Kaifeng or King of Qin in Xi'an did not kill innocent people indiscriminately?"
"I heard that just half a month ago, the King of Qin took over more than 300 acres of fertile land. The King of Zhou saw that the newly married woman was beautiful, so he snatched her away. This plot is comparable to that of my family. What the boy did was much more serious.”
"Your Majesty, are you only selfless in Beijing and don't care about things outside Beijing?"
Xu Guangzuo was really desperate at this moment, and he didn't care about the bleeding in his head.
Anyway, his old Xu family is finished. In this case, everyone should simply not have it easy.
The other princes nearby were too frightened to say a word and knelt on the ground shivering.
But deep down, everyone was gloating about the misfortune.
Lao Xu is still brave, he dares to tell the truth no matter what.
But this is the fact. Your Majesty, you just command Hai Rui to be Bao Qingtian in Beijing, but have you ever thought that the shit on your own royal family’s ass has not been wiped clean yet?
"Lu Fang...!" Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly.
"The slave is here!" Lu Fang hurriedly stepped forward.
"I'll leave this case to you to investigate. According to the clues given by Dingguo Gong, investigate carefully for us. If the King of Zhou and the King of Qin are really corrupt, perverting the law, seizing people's land, and robbing people's daughters. , just bring back these two unworthy descendants to us."
"Yes!" Lu Fang nodded respectfully.
"Your Majesty... do you really want to investigate?"
"This...how does this happen!"
"Old minister, I just made a quick statement, and I can't take it seriously!" Xu Guangzuo panicked.
He originally just used the royal family's affairs to control the emperor's army and let the emperor retreat when he saw the difficulties, and that was it.
I never thought that the emperor was crazy, and he really wanted to break the casserole and ask the truth.
"Isn't he afraid that later history books will say that he killed the royal family?"
"Isn't he afraid that the royal family will become disloyal and the country of the Ming Dynasty will not be protected?"
"In front of us, anything you say is like water thrown out. If you want to take it back, it is bullying the emperor. Can you tell me what crime it is to bully the army?" Zhu Yuanzhang said quietly.
"This... this... veteran, veteran...!" Xu Guangzuo was already a senior in his class. At this moment, he was anxious and his head was congested. He couldn't hold on and fainted with a crunch.
Behind Zhu Yuanzhang, the real Emperor Jiajing, who was watching this scene from beginning to end, put his hand on his forehead and felt helpless.
"This Xu Guangzuo is really looking for trouble. Don't you think you should cooperate with the Sanfa Division at home to investigate the case?"
"You have to come here to stroke Taizu's beard. Can you offend Taizu?"
“This is not Confucius selling The Analects of Confucius in front of his door—what does it mean to overestimate one’s abilities?”
"See if this waste is dead? If not, carry it down and rescue him!" Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the two young eunuchs behind him.
Soon Xu Guangzuo was carried down, and Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the remaining nobles.
"Is there anyone you want to report?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice.
"No...no!" The remaining nobles quickly shook their heads upon hearing this.
"If your Majesty has nothing to do, then I will resign!" After Xu Guangzuo fainted, British Duke Zhang Rong became the leader, but he dared not argue. Now he just wanted to go home and lie on the bed, and let his concubine comfort him. With my injured heart, I really didn’t dare to think or do anything else.
"Resign?"
"Have we not talked about our affairs yet?"
"Why are you resigning?" Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly and asked.
Only then did Zhang Rong suddenly realize that he and others were summoned by Zhu Yuanzhang, not by them on their own initiative.
He was shocked by Xu Guangzuo just now.
"I wonder if your Majesty has any other instructions?" Zhang Rong said respectfully.
"Don't say we didn't give you a chance!"
"Each of your families will have two quotas. Send the most promising and promising children in your family to the newly formed three major camps. We will give them a position of official with real power."
“As for how far they can grow in the future, it’s up to them!”
"As for you... and the borers in your house, you can either stay at home or go to the newly built steel workshop to forge iron..."
After this conversation, the nobles in Beijing suddenly became completely honest.
The farmland they seized was voluntarily returned to the people, and all the official positions they held were dismissed one by one.
The timid among these people have closed their doors to think about their mistakes and avoided the limelight. The bolder ones began to actively cater to Zhu Yuanzhang's policies and actively offered advice and suggestions for the formation of the three major battalions, hoping to occupy a place in the completely reorganized three major battalions.
For such people, Zhu Yuanzhang did not use them completely. He only recruited some capable nobles, and even those who were willing to learn even if they did not have much ability, he recruited them into the three major camps and made appropriate reuse.
After all, as Xu Guangzuo said, the nobles and the royal family are indeed one of the foundations of the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible for him to really beat all these people to death with a stick, and there is no need at all.
What he does these days is just to remove the dross and extract the essence.
During this period, Zhu Yuanzhang also intentionally brought over some young generals who had performed well in the battle against foreign beasts in the early Ming Dynasty and placed them in the middle and upper levels of the three major battalions.
For example, the position of commander of the cavalry of the most important battalion of 3,000 people among the three battalions was given by Zhu Yuanzhang to Shen Jin, a member of the Qianhu family in the early Ming Dynasty.
After a series of subtle changes in the past two or three months, Zhu Yuanzhang quietly took back control of the three major battalions from civilian officials.
Even until this moment, the civil service group had not reacted.
After all, Zhang Juzheng has always been responsible for the restructuring and reconstruction of the three major battalions.
The three newly promoted earls, Yu Dayou, Qi Jiguang, and Wang Chonggu, are specifically in charge of the three camps.
In their view, the three earls promoted by Hu Zongxian were still in control even if they became earls.
This isn't something to worry about.
Perhaps only Zhang Juzheng himself, who was in the midst of it, could understand how terrifying the Holy Lord who lived in the palace had become.
Not to mention the middle-level generals who were transferred from unknown sources by the Holy One, just the three of them, Yu Dayou, Qi Jiguang, and Wang Chonggu, have already been completely won over by the Holy One.
Now let alone other civil servants, I am afraid that even myself and even Hu Zongxian will soon be unable to command them.
While everyone was having fun watching the nobles suffer, the military power in the capital had long since unknowingly changed hands and was firmly in the hands of the Holy Emperor.
Of course, Zhang Juzheng just kept these things in his heart, and he would not tell anyone.
He and Zhu Yuanzhang already had a tacit political understanding, and he also knew why Zhu Yuanzhang gathered military power. He was not worried about it, he was just looking forward to it.
Looking forward to the day when the Ming Dynasty’s national destiny will become stronger again.
