On the ninth day of the ninth month of September, the early court of the Emperor's Palace was up, and the ministers were raging. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The news of Shandong had already reached the capital yesterday, and Li Zhi had indeed set up a private court in Shandong to control the judiciary in Shandong Province. The people welcomed Li Zhi's court very much, and the small people who came to the door to file lawsuits one after another. The local gentry, who had always been favored by the magistrates in lawsuits, lost their power in Li Zhi's court, and were accused by the poor who had made unjust statements, and nine out of ten lost the lawsuits.

Li Zhi expanded his power again. not only controlled Tianjin, but also extended his power tentacles to Shandong.

This is what the princes in the court do not want to see.

If Shandong's judicial power is taken away by Li Zhi, what will be left of Shandong's civil officials? Can only bury your head in construction? Is that still an official? The civil officials in the court were the most powerful group in the Ming Dynasty, how could they watch the Ming Dynasty's power system collapse under Li Zhi's attack?

And once Li Zhi took control of the judiciary, he held the real power in Shandong. With such power, any subsequent commercial taxes and land endowments will be imposed on Shandong one after another without suspense. Such consequences are unbearable for civil officials.

In the Imperial Palace, Liu Zongzhou, the imperial historian of the left capital of the Imperial Procuratorate, said loudly: "The minister thinks that what Li Zhi has done in Shandong has exceeded his authority and exceeded his duties. Li Zhi, with the official position of the governor of Tianjin, and the title of Duke of Jinguo, controlled Tianjin, which was already arrogant and arrogant. It is really outrageous that a court has been set up in Shandong to control the judiciary without authorization. ”

"The Holy Lord ordered Li Zhi to withdraw his troops from Shandong, but Li Zhi instead captured Jinan and slaughtered the newspaper writers, and now he is opening a court in a grand manner. In Li Zhi's eyes, how could there have been a court, how could there have been a son of heaven? If this continues, nothing can be done. ”

Zhu Youzhen sat on the throne and did not speak.

"Chen Zheng Sanjun has something to say!"

"Say!"

"The minister thought that Li Zhi was ambitious. Today, he is involved in the justice of Shandong, and if he is not punished by the Son of Heaven, he will definitely gain an inch. He will not be less in Shandong's commercial taxes and land endowments. Then in a few years, he will try to control Henan, Shanxi, and Huguang. Although the world is big, it can compare to Li Zhi's ever-expanding ambition? ”

"Today, Li Zhi only has 20,000 troops and horses, so he dares to go south to attack Shandong. In his day, Li Zhi recruited troops and horses in Shandong, and he was full-fledged and had hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and even if the saint mobilized the troops of the whole country, he could not stop his expansion. At that time, Li Zhiwei will not be able to fall, and the country will be in danger! ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Zheng Sanjun, who was speaking, but still didn't speak.

"Minister Zhou Yanru has something to say!"

After Liu Zongzhou and Zheng Sanjun finished speaking, it was the turn of Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, to summarize. The civil officials cooperated very well, and they were consistent in their advance and retreat, which made Zhu Youzhen, the son of heaven, frown slightly.

"At such a critical moment, the Holy One must not hesitate and indulge in trouble. If it is excusable that Li Zhi led the border army to surround the capital, or it was an act of righteous indignation after being killed by traitorous ministers, then what he got involved in Shandong exposed was his naked wolf ambition. ”

"Now that the Jiannu forces are not as good as before, the minister thinks that he can send soldiers and horses from Xuanda, Jizhen and Guanning to crusade against Li Zhi. Although Li Zhi trained more than 10,000 new soldiers and horses, his fighting strength was only 19,000 veterans. At this time, if more than 100,000 Wang Shi attacked Tianjin, Li Zhi would not be able to resist it at all, and he could eradicate this poison once and for all. ”

Hearing Zhou Yanru's words, the civil officials were very appreciative and stood up one after another.

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

"Seconded!"

Zhu Youzhen looked at the civil officials who were advancing and retreating together, but did not speak. After a long time, he said lightly: "I'm tired, retreat!" ”

Zhu Youzhen got up and left the Imperial Palace and returned to the study of the Qianqing Palace.

Back in the study, Zhu Youzhen sat on the throne, tapped the imperial case with his fingers, and raised his head to meditate.

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhu Youzhen sighed.

Wang Chengen looked at the face of the Son of Heaven and asked, "Emperor, what should we do with the Duke of Jin now?" ”

Zhu Youzhen took a breath and said, "The courtiers are full of hatred for Li Zhi, and they can't wait to kill him quickly. However, if more than 100,000 border troops were really mobilized to crusade against Li Zhi, this battle might not be able to be fought in a year and a half. Judging from the performance of Li Zhihu's division in guarding the village at Qingshankou, if Li Zhi defended Fanjiazhuang, the border army would not be able to attack at all, so they could only surround it and wait for the food in the city to run out. ”

"There is a drought in all provinces this year, and Li Zicheng has rekindled his life in Shaanxi to conquer the city. Other thieves also emerged one by one, and the forces of the thieves in various places were insufficient. At this time, if all the hundreds of thousands of main forces of my Ming Dynasty are invested in Tianjin and Li Zhi for one or two years, I am afraid that the situation will be even worse. ”

Wang Chengen thought about it, his face sank, and he lowered his head and said, "Emperor Shengming!" ”

Zhu Youzhen sighed again and said: "However, it is a taboo for the noble to exceed his authority in local government affairs. At the beginning of the country, there were cases where the feudal lords were in charge of local affairs, but after the Battle of Yasukan, all of them were abolished. If there is no reaction to Li Zhi's overstepping of his authority, I am afraid that Li Zhi will really think that the imperial court is weak and can be bullied, and he will have to look forward to Shu. ”

Wang Chengen said: "Holy Lord, how can that be good? ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "At this juncture, I can't help but make a move, and I must let Li Zhi understand my anger." Mobilize the 130,000 soldiers and horses of Xuanda and Jiliao to Xianghe County, north of Tianjin, to force Tianjin, and see Li Zhi's reaction. ”

Wang Chengen's eyes lit up, and he arched his hand and said, "The emperor is wise." ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "How much silver will it cost the court to come and go?" ”

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On 23 September, Li Zhi was teaching his daughter Li Shu to speak in the Second Hall of the General Military Mansion in Tianjin, when he saw Han Jinxin, the ambassador of the secret guard, running in from the courtyard with a panicked face.

In the cool weather of this late autumn, Han Jinxin was sweating profusely. He also knew that he was panicking, afraid of tripping over the threshold, and jumped in hard when he entered the second hall. After jumping into the second hall, Han Jinxin walked quickly in front of Li Zhi, knelt on the ground with a plop, and said in a trembling voice: "Grandpa Guo, the big thing is not good, the big thing is not good!" ”

Li Zhi looked at Han Jinxin, blinked his eyes, and asked, "What's the matter?" Don't panic, speak slowly! ”

Han Jinxin kowtowed on the ground and said loudly: "Grandpa Guo, the emperor has sent troops to attack us. In return, Yang Guozhu of Xuanda, Wang Pu of Datong, Cao Bianjiao and Bai Guangen of Jizhen, Tang Tong of Miyun, and the soldiers and horses of Guan Ning have all sent troops, and the direction is directed towards Tianjin. ”

"Combined, I'm afraid there are more than 100,000 soldiers and horses!"

Li Zhi was stunned and carried the daughter in his arms to a chair next to him.

The Son of Heaven finally can't bear it anymore? How could it be difficult at this time?

Li Zhi looked at the courtyard outside the second hall and thought about it.

"Bring back 4,000 soldiers and horses from Shandong. Gather 14,000 soldiers and horses in Tianjin to meet the battle. ”