After a while, Emperor Chongzhen himself broke the silence and said in a cold voice: "The Hong thieves surrendered to Jianlu, and all those things have been withdrawn!"
Upon hearing this, all the civil servants and eunuchs in the Wenhua Palace looked up at him. Everyone, even if many of them were very deep in the city, couldn't help showing surprise.
You know, Hong Chengchou has always been a model among civil servants in the Ming Dynasty.
He came from a poor family and dropped out of school at the age of 11. He helped his mother make dried tofu at home. Every morning, he went to Yingweipu to walk around the streets selling dried tofu and attend classes outside the school. But even under such a difficult environment, he finally won the imperial examination at the age of twenty-three, and the following year he ranked fourteenth in the second class.
After Hong Chengchou became an official, he was very good at conducting himself and would not offend anyone. Even during the Tianqi years, when Wei Zhongxian was extremely powerful, he was still promoted. After Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne and liquidated the eunuchs, he was fine.
Later, Hong Chengchou showed his talent in commanding troops and suppressing bandits. As a result, he was promoted rapidly. At the age of twenty-seven, he became the governor of Yansui and became a frontier official in the Ming Dynasty.
Such an experience is nothing but an inspirational role model!
Therefore, when they heard that Hong Chengchou, who was already the governor of Jiliao, was defeated, everyone thought that he must have died for his country. For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen decided to personally set up an altar and a temple to commemorate him, and all the ministers objected. This situation was rare in the late Ming Dynasty when party strife was so serious.
Other ministers, such as Sun Chengzong, were not defeated in the war, but their whole families died after retiring from old age and returning home. None of them had such an honor!
Therefore, when everyone in the Wenhua Hall heard the news that he had rebelled and surrendered to the enemy, they were really surprised.
One of the cabinet ministers named Zhang Sizhi couldn't help but confirm: "Your Majesty, is this news wrong?"
Others heard and even ignored Zhang Mingwei for the time being, all staring at Emperor Chongzhen waiting for an answer.
However, Emperor Chongzhen's face darkened and he did not answer the question. Instead, he shouted coldly: "Let's do something!"
When everyone in the palace saw it, they knew that it was most likely true, or in other words, it must be true. No wonder the emperor was so angry!
At this moment, everyone felt that they had found the reason why Emperor Chongzhen was so abnormal. It was because this Hong Chengchou had failed his holy grace so much!
After Zhou Yanru understood this, he couldn't help but sigh to himself that he was unlucky. If he had known this, he would have tolerated it a little and the emperor announced the news, so he would not have used the sacrificial inscription to cause trouble.
With this in mind, he immediately crumpled the memorial letter into a ball and stuffed it into his sleeve, and then said angrily: "Your Majesty has shown great favor to Hong Chengchou, and your kindness is overwhelming, but he is so shameless and shameless that he did such an extremely shameless thing. It’s really an unpardonable crime.”
At this point, Zhou Yanru raised his voice and said angrily: "Wei Chen suggested that the nine tribes should be punished to serve as a warning to future generations!"
"I second the proposal!" Wei Zhaocheng, the assistant minister of the cabinet, came out to agree.
"I second the proposal!"
"..."
Even if someone had surrendered to the enemy before, there was no precedent for Ming Dynasty to say that they wanted to kill the nine tribes. But at this time, many civil servants came out to express their support, all of them looking like they were filled with indignation.
It has to be said that very few civil servants of the Ming Dynasty surrendered and became prisoners of war. Senior Ming officials like Hong Chengchou surrendered to the rebels. At this stage, at least he was the first, which seriously damaged the self-esteem of the civil servants. From now on, how can I have the dignity to scold those warriors? All the ways of a saint have been learned from a dog’s belly!
The so-called deep love means deep responsibility. In a similar way, the more we place high hopes on Hong Chengchou, the more sad his surrender will be.
To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but be moved by their suggestion. After pondering for a moment, he looked at Zhang Mingwei's back and asked in a gentle tone: "What do you think, sir?"
After he asked this question, the people in the Wenhua Palace remembered that there was a very strange person here. Who was this person?
Zhang Mingwei ignored the civil servants, but stood up and turned to Emperor Chongzhen. He thought for a moment and saluted with his fists, and then said: "No one expected that Hong Chengchou would surrender to the enemy, not even his family members. Not counting him surrendering to the enemy, at least His contribution to the Ming Dynasty was not small in the past, so let’s forget about it for implicating the nine clans!”
He said this not to speak for Hong Chengchou, but because he remembered that Hong's mother scolded her son, and that Hong Chengchou's surrender to the enemy was not accepted by his brothers. In short, this kind of forgetting one's ancestors is not something that just anyone would agree with.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't know this, but he listened to Zhang Mingwei's words very much. Therefore, after Zhang Mingwei finished speaking, he said to the ministers: "This matter will be decided by Sir. That's it."
"..." After hearing this, everyone in the Wenhua Hall couldn't help but look at each other, speechless.
Of course they could see that the emperor was inclined to exterminate the clan and punish the crime just now. However, after being told by this strange person, he immediately changed his mind.
Not to mention, they are all human beings. From the conversation between the emperor and this man just now, they immediately felt that the emperor cared about this man's opinion very much. This made them jealous and at the same time added curiosity, who is this person?
The accent is also very strange. It seems a bit like someone from the south. However, if you think about it carefully, it doesn't feel like someone from the south.
Who is this person?
But at least they were in front of the emperor. Although they really wanted to know who this person was, they didn't dare to ask if the emperor didn't tell him. If the emperor wanted to say something, he would naturally introduce it to them.
Only the eunuch Bingbi, the chief ceremonial officer, probably knew something. They heard that a very strange person came to the palace yesterday and met with the emperor, the prince and Princess Kunxing. Then a series of major events happened. I guess this is the person in front of me!
While they were thinking about it, they heard Emperor Chongzhen add with a sullen face: "It's really embarrassing for me to remove all those altars and temples!"
Such high-ranking officials and disciples of saints in the Ming Dynasty surrendered and rebelled, which really brought shame to the emperor and civil servants.
Thinking like this, just when the people in the Wenhua Hall were about to speak in agreement, they heard Zhang Mingwei speak first: "Your Majesty, wait a minute!"
"..." When everyone heard this, they were stunned again. What do you mean? Doesn't this person still agree with the emperor?
Emperor Chongzhen was also a little confused, but he knew that Zhang Mingwei must have his own reasons, so he softened his tone and asked: "Sir, please tell me something!"
"..." These people in the Wenhua Palace were a little dumbfounded. The emperor was too polite to this person. What is his background?
As curiosity grew stronger, it was also mixed with envy and jealousy.
At this time, I heard Zhang Mingwei say: "Your Majesty, why not take this opportunity to set up the Zhongmartyr Shrine and the traitor hall, facing each other. Those who are loyal to the emperor and serve the country, and who died in state affairs, can enter the Zhongmartyr Shrine, enjoy the incense of the Ming Dynasty, and be respected by the people of the world. "And those who are in vain for your kindness, forget their ancestors, and betray their country for glory will enter the hall of traitors and let the world see their faces clearly. They will always be ashamed and take a warning!"
Originally, Emperor Chongzhen wanted to open an altar and a shrine to Hong Chengchou because he wanted people all over the world to learn from him and follow his example. Therefore, Zhang Mingwei's idea and meaning immediately hit the mind of Emperor Chongzhen. What's more, a traitor hall has been set up for comparison, and the effect is definitely better.
In this way, Hong Chengchou's surrender to the Jianqiu could be regarded as an explanation, and he would definitely go to the traitor hall. This is probably more scary to some people than killing the nine other clans.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen finally showed a smile and said: "Sir, what you said is very good, I am right!"
After finishing speaking, he looked at Zhou Yanru, his face immediately turned cold and said, "This matter will be supervised by the cabinet."
Feeling the rapid change of the emperor's expression, Zhou Yanru lamented in his heart, and then he became even more jealous of Zhang Mingwei, but he would not show it. He immediately accepted the order and suggested: "Wei Chen thinks that Hong Chengchou deserves to be punished for such treachery." Reviled for eternity!"
Other ministers also guessed that this Hong Chengchou would definitely not be able to escape, so they all came out and expressed indignation that Hong Chengchou should be sent to the traitor hall.
Of course Emperor Chongzhen would not have any objections, so he agreed.
Poor Hong Chengchou, because of the appearance of Zhang Mingwei, he was reviled by the world in advance.
Afterwards, it came to the stage where the ministers were performing their duties.
At the same time, the eunuch Xu Gao rushed to the Jiading Bo Mansion according to the order.
