"Your Majesty, there are several nobles kneeling outside the Meridian Gate!"
After listening to Wang Chengen's report, Chongzhen continued to flip through the book in his hand without raising his head.
This booklet contains the evidence of corruption and perversion of the law by the gentry and wealthy businessmen in Beijing that Wei Zhongxian originally investigated, as well as a rough list of their family properties. In the more than a year since he came to the throne, Jin Yiwei has added a lot more.
"Who is there?"
"Sincerity's uncle Liu Kongzhao, Hui'an's uncle Zhang Qingzhen, Xuancheng's uncle Wei Shichun, Zhangwu's uncle Yang Chongyou, Zhenyuan's lord Gu Zhaoji..."
"That's quite courageous!"
Chongzhen stood up, placed the booklet on the stack of books on the dragon table, and stretched: "Kneel down if you want. I'm sleepy. Let's talk tomorrow!"
After saying that, he walked towards the palace, leaving behind a somewhat confused Wang Chengen, but only for a moment, Wang Chengen stopped thinking about it.
Chongzhen was asleep, but countless people throughout Beijing could not sleep.
Several nobles were kneeling in front of the Meridian Gate, and some of them had left the city.
Combined with the dispatch of Jinyiwei at the Youzheng moment, it is obvious that something is going to happen, and the most likely thing is to liquidate the nobles.
For a time, countless wealthy businessmen, gentry, and officials who had dealings with nobles and nobles in Beijing were anxiously walking around, but there was no way they could do it.
The night ban has begun. As long as they dare to go out, they are like a lantern in the dark night, which is too obvious.
Such a huge group of nobles and nobles will be liquidated. Among the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, the only ones who can speak up are the six ministers of the cabinet and the four kingdoms.
Amid the anxiety of countless people, daybreak finally dawned.
In the Huangji Hall, Chongzhen glanced at the gloomy-faced nobles with a calm expression, as if he didn't know what the Jin Yiwei had done last night.
After the ceremony, all the ministers looked at their eyes, nose and mind, just like an old monk entering concentration.
"Your Majesty, I impeach the generals in the capital!"
A sudden voice sounded, and everyone took a sneak peek. It turned out to be Song Mingwu from the Ministry of War.
"Your Majesty, in the battle to siege Jiannu, the Beijing camp did not arrive at Longjing Pass as scheduled, which greatly increased the pressure on the soldiers guarding the pass. Tens of thousands of soldiers died in the battle.
If Marquis Zhongzhen had not made a decisive decision to divide his troops for reinforcements, Jiannu might have broken through Longjing Pass and escaped from the siege, but the siege would have been in vain.
The state has national laws and the military has military regulations. The Beijing camp violated military regulations. I am sure that your Majesty will strictly interrogate the generals in the Beijing camp! "
"Your Majesty, I am reporting the generals in the capital camp."
After Song Mingwu finished speaking, Li Ruolian immediately left for duty: "I secretly checked the military pay and personnel of the Beijing camp over the years and found that the pay of the Beijing camp was serious.
There were 120,000 people on the yellow roll of soldiers in the Beijing camp. At the beginning of July, I checked with various parties and found that there were only 46,000 people, of which more than 10,000 were old, weak, sick and disabled, and nearly 60% of them were unpaid! "
"Your Majesty, I reported that the generals in the capital camp were raising private armies. I investigated and the generals in the capital camp took advantage of the convenience of the capital camp to turn some of the generals into their own private armies. The number was as high as nearly 20,000 people.
Moreover, the salaries of these people are provided by the imperial court. I ask your Majesty to investigate thoroughly! "
"Your Majesty, I am impeaching the generals in the Beijing camp. The generals in the Beijing camp have taken advantage of their positions and are suspected of occupation, pretense, idleness, and bribery.
A sergeant is not a sergeant, a servant is not a servant, a private soldier is not a private soldier, and the sergeants are completely reduced to free labor for the generals in the Beijing camp!
I have compiled a summary of all occupations and other incidents from the first year to the seventh year of the Apocalypse. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse alone, there were 213 incidents. Please take a look at it! "
"Your Majesty, I impeach the generals in the capital camp and seize the military garrison in the capital camp..."
…
Only then did everyone realize that the left and right censors of the Inspectorate, the deputy censors, the censors of the capital, and the supervisory censors of Beizhili were all back, and everyone was impeaching the generals in the capital.
In addition to the Supervisory Yuan, people from the Military Discipline Inspection Department, Sixth Ministries, Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and Wucheng Inspection Department all came out to impeach.
Nearly twenty people came out piecemeal to impeach the generals in the capital camp.
The faces of all the nobles present were so gloomy that they could shed tears at the moment. If you don’t impeach sooner or later, what happened last night and now are you impeaching?
If it hadn't been for the emperor's arrangement, it would have been impossible to do it so neatly.
"I plead guilty!"
Before Chongzhen could say anything, several nobles knelt down without the slightest excuse.
Chongzhen glanced at the people kneeling on the ground, and then at the trembling noble camp: "I'll give you a chance to explain!"
But before the nobles could say anything, Wang Chengen stepped forward and whispered: "Your Majesty, Sun Chuanting, the commander of the Forbidden Army, wants to see you!"
"pass!"
A moment later, Sun Chuanting, who was dressed in armor, entered the Huangji Palace. Everyone smelled a faint smell of blood, and their hearts trembled.
"Your Majesty, the Marquis of Anyuan, Marquis of Linhuai, Uncle Xincheng, Uncle Nanhe and other seven princes tried to escape with their servants, but they were intercepted by the ministers and killed on the spot. Their heads were taken outside the Meridian Gate! "
The ministers were shocked again, their faces became more serious, and the nobles were all trembling.
I didn't expect that the emperor would be so cruel and ruthless, and I didn't expect that these nobles would be so stupid.
Chongzhen also secretly thought it was a pity. He thought there were many, but now there are only seven? You still have to use the knife yourself in public.
"I know!"
Chongzhen responded softly, his eyes never leaving the nobles: "Don't you want to explain?"
explain?
Explain what?
So many ministers came out to impeach, and every one of them had real evidence, and Jin Yiwei also sent evidence.
With such irrefutable evidence, how can we explain it?
Can you alone explain more than ten censors who specialize in talking nonsense?
The explanation was just sophistry, which might anger the emperor and drag them out to behead them.
Plop...
Plop...
A famous nobleman knelt down, completely losing his previous arrogance and disdain.
"Your Majesty, I know that I am wrong. Your Majesty, please consider your ancestors as Ming Dynasty..."
"Shut up!"
Chongzhen shouted angrily: "You still have the nerve to mention your ancestors to me? Your ancestors, Taizu and Chengzu, fought in the east and west, established the Ming Dynasty, and made great achievements in battle.
Taizu Chengzu did not treat you badly. He granted you the titles of marquis and uncle, allowed hereditary inheritance, and retired with the country. "
"But look at yourselves. Isn't the salary given to you by the imperial court enough? Isn't the reward given to you not enough? The money in the cellar at home is all rusty, but you are still corrupt, perverting the law, and transferring benefits?"
"Your ancestors were all famous generals who shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and loved them like sons.
It's a good thing that you don't regard ordinary sergeants as sergeants at all, but as your servants and servants. They build houses and gardens for you, which completely embarrasses your ancestors! "
"Which of your ancestors was not born in poverty, followed Taizu to conquer the world, and was awarded a title for his military exploits?
After just a few years, you have become the kind of people your ancestors hated most, occupying fertile land, bullying men and women, embezzling and accepting bribes, and just greedy for enjoyment! "
"You still have the nerve to talk to me about your ancestors. If your ancestors knew what they were doing, would they climb up and beat you unscrupulous descendants to death?"
"I opened the city gate and gave you such obvious hints. You still went to the capital camp to plot, and only came to plead for mercy after finding that it was useless. Do you really think that I don't know anything?"
Chongzhen's words were very harsh, not like what an emperor said at all. He was really angry.
These nobles are like blood-sucking insects lying on Daming's body, and they can never be fed enough.
In history, the country was about to be destroyed. Chongzhen borrowed money from these people, and these people just cried and said that they were honest and honest.
In order to avoid it, some people even sold the pots and pans at home to show their integrity. They borrowed a lot of money and didn't even raise enough 100,000 taels.
But after Li Zicheng came to Beijing, he actually took 70 million taels of silver from these people. How sad and ironic.
He couldn't kill all the gentry and wealthy businessmen, but these nobles must take this opportunity to kill them. This was part of his ultimate goal.
