By this time, no one dared to face the emperor's wrath! Everyone, not only the kneeling officials, but also those standing there who were not involved in the impeachment, all lowered their heads, not daring to look at the emperor, and knelt for a large area.
If the emperor had been replaced eleven years ago by Chongzhen, their reaction would definitely not be like this. If not, they all start to quibble together and continue to deceive Emperor Chongzhen. If there are too many people, nine out of ten people will be able to deceive him.
However, the current emperor's performance since the end of the eleventh year of Chongzhen has made these courtiers feel in awe.
The emperor was wise and iron-blooded, as proven by the heads of his former chief minister Liu Yuliang, official minister Tian Weijia and others. Anyone who wants to fool the emperor or quibble with the emperor may end up like those ministers;
Even going a step further, former ministers Yang Sichang, Chen Xinjia and others who formed a party with the traitorous Shanxi merchants were convicted of treason. In the current civil uprising in Changshu, it is not impossible that the emperor also plans to plot rebellion. If he is implicated, who can bear the anger?
Therefore, at this time, no minister dared to face the furious emperor, and could still make excuses with evil intentions. The emperor said such heavy words and could not bear the anger, so he could only kneel down to apologize.
Only if the emperor is fatuous can so many civil servants dare to fool the emperor, just like Emperor Chongzhen before time travel.
Emperor Chongzhen roared angrily for a while, then calmed down slightly and did not continue to speak. He just glanced at the kneeling ministers below.
After a while, he withdrew his gaze, threw a few memorials from the table in front of him to Cao Huachun, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, and said in a stern tone: "I am always paying attention to the disasters in the world, although it only happened this year. It has been three months, but in some places, there are already signs of disaster. If you don't know, I asked Cao Daban to read it to you."
After hearing this, Cao Huachun immediately started reading. At this time, he was actually very scared.
At the beginning, he helped Qian Qianyi once, and he was considered a good friend. However, the emperor suddenly became wiser in the past two years, which made him feel a little scared. In addition, he carefully considered the emperor's affairs and did not dare to interfere in this matter. As a result, he escaped. Otherwise, his name would definitely be included in the emperor's list of punishments this time.
At this time, he read the memorial attentively, which was about the signs of drought in the capital, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places. This year's harvest will definitely not be good; and last year, waterlogging in the south broke down many dams. Haven't had time to fix it yet. This year's rainy season is coming soon, and we don't know how severe the flooding will be.
These memorials were monitored almost from the north to the south of the Ming Dynasty. It can be seen from this that the emperor is very attentive. He no longer just waits for disasters to occur before taking care of them, but pays attention to the situation across the country from the beginning.
After Cao Huachun finished reading those memorials, Emperor Chongzhen said loudly with a serious look: "The imperial treasury has no money. Once a disaster occurs, how many families will be destroyed in the Ming Dynasty? The bandits who were finally eliminated will reappear, and then they will be killed again." Aggravating the suffering of the people, tell me, can the imperial treasury run out of money? I will put it here today. For the sake of my people, and for the sake of the Ming Dynasty and the country, who dares to interfere with the normal collection of taxes for their own selfish interests? Never be lenient!"
This statement is very obvious. Emperor Chongzhen stated that he would continue to let Zhang Pu do it. Anyone who dares to continue to impeach Zhang Pu will have to bear the emperor's wrath!
In this matter, Emperor Chongzhen completely occupied the word "reason". According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, it was natural for Zhang Pu to do things; and the collected arrears were clearly stated to be put into the national treasury for the sake of the people of the world and to prepare for disaster relief. . Even if someone wants to accuse the emperor of being greedy for enjoyment and exorbitant expropriation, that is unlikely!
Having said this, Emperor Chongzhen began to announce his decision on the Changshu riots and related decisions:
First, among the officials who falsely accused and impeached Zhang Pu, Zhang Guowei, the cabinet minister with the highest official position, was demoted to a clerk in the Agriculture Department of the Ministry of Industry in addition to his cabinet name. He was guilty of meritorious service and continued to be responsible for the construction of western water conservancy.
Second, all other officials who falsely accused and impeached Zhang Pu will be dismissed or demoted depending on the extent of the false accusations and their performance in the Jiangnan Incident. For example, those who acted upon the news without real evidence and tried to slander Zhang Pu, Lu Jiude, and Wang Chengen Officials; or were imprisoned for questioning, such as the prefect of Yangzhou Prefecture, the prefect of Suzhou Prefecture, and others. They not only petitioned for impeachment, but also obstructed Zhang Pu from doing errands during the Jiangnan Incident;
Third, all demoted officials will be temporarily replaced by their deputies. The probation period will be one year. If they perform well, they can be promoted to regular positions;
Fourth, the chief culprits of the Changshu riots, Qian Qianyi, Hou Fangyu and others, were punished as treason, and their homes were searched and executed;
Fifth, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three border areas, was transferred to the post of governor of Jiliao and was in charge of Shanhaiguan; Sun Chuanting, the former governor of Jiliao, was transferred to the post of Shangshu of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Nanjing to evaluate and rate local officials in the southern provinces;
Sixth, Zhang Pu was promoted to Jiangnan Inspector Zhang Pu as the censor of Youqiandu. He was the governor of Yingtian, Anqing and other ten prefectures, and continued to check the quotas of privileges and exemptions for officials and gentry and to collect arrears.
As soon as the news spread, the entire capital was immediately shocked. It is estimated that the whole world will be shocked soon.
"It's really rare in the Ming Dynasty. One hundred fifty or sixty officials, most of whom were local chief officials, were all dismissed from their posts or sent to prison to face charges. The emperor is really courageous!"
"Needless to say, they dared to form a clique for personal gain and falsely accuse loyal ministers. Of course they must be punished! Tsk tsk, I didn't expect that the truth of the matter turned out to be like this. Thanks to those officials, they talk about serving the country all day long. For the people, you think you are a clean slate, but it turns out that everyone is shameless! Let me tell you, the emperor did the right thing this time!"
"No, let me tell you, this was how the Suzhou civil uprising should have been handled before. If they had been taught a lesson at that time, so many officials would not have been dismissed this time! But it is such a pity that the original Wanli Emperor could There is no such thing as the current emperor’s sage!”
"It goes without saying that if the emperor was not a wise man, he would not have been fooled by them! To be honest, with so many officials petitioning for impeachment, I originally thought it was impossible, but when it happened, I started to believe them. I began to doubt Mr. Zhang, but in the end, the emperor was too wise to be swayed by them!"
"Isn't that nonsense! How can you compare with the Emperor? Everyone in the capital knows that the Emperor is wise and powerful!"
"By the way, have you noticed that the emperor still treats those officials differently. Those with real abilities, such as Mr. Zhang Ge, can still make meritorious deeds. And others, like those who can recite poems and compose poems, They were all dismissed from their posts and investigated! It seems that we can’t just study these days!”
"No, the emperor treats us differently, but it is for the benefit of us common people!"
"That's true! This time Lord Zhang was promoted to Lord Zhongcheng, which was a blessing in disguise. The emperor also transferred Governor Sun to Jiangnan, so he should continue to support Zhang Zhongcheng. Haha, more than a hundred officials were dismissed in one go. , and even transferred the cold-faced Governor Sun to evaluate local officials. It seems that the emperor really values Zhang Zhongcheng!"
"The reason why the emperor attaches so much importance is not for us common people. Haven't you heard? During the court meeting, the emperor already made it very clear!"
"Oh, that's not very clear. Could you please tell me?"
"The emperor has been paying attention to the people's livelihood in the world for a long time, and has discovered that many provinces have signs of disaster. He said at the court meeting that the money collected this time is to prepare for disaster relief. The emperor made it clear that in order for us people to survive, During the famine, whoever dares to interfere with the normal taxation of the imperial court will not be spared! Haha, I want to see who else dares to interfere with Zhang Zhongcheng's errands and wants to continue to taste the emperor's wrath!"
"That's right. If anyone dares to interfere with Zhang Zhongcheng's errands, we won't agree to it. We will ask for Zhang Zhongcheng's help!"
"Yes, let's all watch with our eyes wide open. If we find any official who dares to interfere, we will go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to sue them!"
"..."
Similar discussions were held in full swing in the streets and alleys of the capital, in restaurants and teahouses. Then, as the people in the capital dispersed across the country, similar remarks also spread across the country at an extremely fast speed.
After all, if a large-scale disaster occurs, no one will be able to escape. Whether we can survive without suffering from the previous famines is very difficult to rely on ourselves at this time. We have to rely on the court to provide disaster relief.
And the emperor has already done it and is preparing for this. Of course, no one thought about leaving the court without money and unable to provide disaster relief.
The most important thing is that as the dust of the Changshu riots settled, the emperor's decree was spread to every place, making everyone understand that there is a bottom line, that is, those whose families have more than a hundred acres of grain fields, Those who are not short of money are the ones who will be called upon to pay taxes and pay back taxes this time.
Therefore, after the news spread, firecrackers were set off in many places.
They celebrated that the Ming Dynasty had such a good emperor who cared about the people; they also celebrated that those corrupt officials who formed cliques for personal gain were severely punished!
After the emperor's decree of punishment reached Jiangnan, the turmoil in the officialdom immediately became calm.
It can be said that in addition to those Beijing officials, more than a hundred local officials were all dismissed or held accountable. The rebellion was not approved by the emperor, but Qiankun made an arbitrary decision and dismissed so many officials in one go, which shows the emperor's determination in this matter!
No one is sure whether these officials who have been dismissed and questioned will be able to hold office again in the future. Could it be that after ten or twenty years of hard study, they will end up like this? The key is that we are still checking the limits of privileges and exemptions for officials and gentry. Without the official position, what will happen to the family's taxes?
The various problems and serious consequences caused by this have made many officials afraid to speak out!
Of course, in the Ming Dynasty official circles, so many officials were dismissed and accused, but there was no backlash and no local commotion. This was also due to another decree of Emperor Chongzhen, which was that all the officials who were dismissed and accused were replaced by their deputies in turn. This means that when so many officials go down, the officials behind them will be replaced one by one, and they will all be promoted.
It can be said that they benefited from this incident. Although it is only a temporary duty, one year is not long. If you work harder and perform better, you will be promoted to an official position!
As a result, although many officials in Jiangnan were dismissed and questioned, the sun still rose as usual, and it did not hinder the normal operation of the Yamen. Even doing things is more efficient than before, because temporary officials must perform well.
On Zhang Pu's side, after receiving the emperor's order, he remained silent for a long time, and finally bowed in the direction of the capital, his expression becoming extremely determined.
To be honest, he had always been worried about the Suzhou civil uprising, especially after hearing so many officials impeaching him, he was even more worried that the emperor would be shaken by this.
Is there any evidence for the original Suzhou civil uprising? The evidence can definitely be found, but for such a big thing, there will still be deaths. In the end, even the first criminal Ge Xian was released from prison after only a few years in prison. Relevant officials, including Zhu Xieyuan, who clearly refused to send troops to maintain the dignity of the government, simply changed their official positions and continued to serve as officials.
However, this time in the Changshu Civil War, the emperor behaved completely differently from the previous Wanli Emperor, and used practical actions to tell the world. First, he demonstrated the justice of Zhang Pu's actions and removed the hat that was placed on him; second, he showed Zhang Pu's justice in his actions; With so many official positions, Qian Qianyi, Hou Fangyu and others were labeled as treason to warn others to see who would dare to interfere with Zhang Pu's errands!
This time, Zhang Pu truly felt that running errands for the current emperor was a comfort he had never imagined before! All this shows that as long as you do your job well according to the will, then the emperor will take care of everything. The emperor today is a responsible emperor!
As a minister, if you meet such a good emperor and do not cherish it, but instead try to make some small plans, you are simply asking for death!
Zhang Pu felt this way, and when he went to do things again, he suddenly found that the common people had a different attitude towards him.
Because Zhang Pu's errands, everyone knew that they were not targeted at ordinary people like them!
If we say we have no money and cannot pay taxes, are there such people? There must be some! Previously, they were worried that Zhang Pu would come forcibly, and they would have to sell their sons and daughters to pay taxes. In this case, even if they knew that repaying debts was a matter of course, they would never have a good attitude towards Zhang Pu. of.
But now, they all know that Zhang Pu's mission is not only not to harm them, but to prepare them to survive the famine. You can think of it with your toes. Even without the coercion of the court's laws, they would very much welcome Zhang Pu's errands.
Therefore, Zhang Pu felt extremely smooth during his subsequent errands. There were admiring eyes and an atmosphere of heartfelt support everywhere. All of this made him understand the spiritual enjoyment that truly serving the people brings.
It can be said that this time on duty, Zhang Pu himself has changed a lot!
Emperor Chongzhen also learned about these through eavesdropping seeds, but he did not continue to care because there were more important things that attracted his attention.
