After the first battle of the Beijing division in December of the second year of Chongzhen, although the vitality of the Ming court was greatly damaged, the Eight Banners of Manchuria also suffered heavy losses, and both sides were unable to continue to launch an offensive, but formed a peaceful situation for a period of time.

Taking advantage of this peaceful time, Emperor Chongzhen shook his spirits, and was busy every day to rebuild the Shanhaiguan defense line, organize relief for the spring famine, and replace the cowardly officials of the imperial court.

Although Emperor Chongzhen was still young and inexperienced, some measures were quick and profitable, so he may not be comprehensive. But what the emperor showed was, after all, an enterprising image, compared with the previous emperors of Wanli and Tianqi, it can be said that there is a difference between cloud and mud.

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen was very busy, Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, always had to encourage a few words, and after making a big salute, he said: "The emperor has worked hard to sweep away the haze of several generations, which is good, but we must also pay attention to thrift!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen reviewed the text on the top of the chapter, and said without raising his head: "I know that Aiqing is also very kind, but I am still young now, if I don't take advantage of my age to do a little thing, when I am old, how can I have energy?" ”

Zhou Yanru still had an important piece in his hand, but he didn't know how to mention it to the emperor, so he could only continue to say two more perfunctory and polite sentences.

After Wen Tiren entered the cabinet, he was planning to pull Zhou Yanru down from the throne of the first assistant of the cabinet, and seeing that this was a good opportunity for him to make a fool of himself in front of the emperor, he stepped forward and said: "Seeing that Banzai is so tired, the ministers really don't want to disturb the saint." But the ministers are incompetent, Zhou Shoufu has a major event in his hands, and the ministers can't be self-dictatorated, so they can only ask the emperor to decide. ”

Wen Tiren's words seemed to be saying that the three ministers of the cabinet were useless, but in fact, it was to refer to Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, who was incompetent, and gave him a solid eye medicine.

Zhou Yanru was not a stupid person, but he couldn't say anything to deal with for a while, so he could only honestly take out Ji Qingwen's recital, hand it to Emperor Chongzhen, and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers are deeply disappointed, and there is a horrific tragedy such as the White Lotus Sect rebellion in Nanjing. ”

As soon as Emperor Chongzhen heard the key words "Nanjing", "White Lotus Sect", and "Chaos", he suddenly felt that something was wrong, and immediately snatched the piece in Zhou Yanru's hand and read it impatiently.

The more Emperor Chongzhen looked at it, the more ugly his face became, but after a while, he couldn't hold back his emotions and scolded: "What a Xiong Mingyu, he actually neglected his duties like this, made such an unseemly thing, and made China and foreign countries shake, should be killed, should be killed!" ”

Xu Guangqi has a close relationship with Ji Qingwen, and when he encounters this kind of thing, he has to say a few words from the opposite side: "Your Majesty, now the cabinet has received only Ji Qingwen's recital, and you can't judge the merits just by his words." ”

Emperor Chongzhen said: "It is true that more than 10,000 White Lotus bandits are making trouble in Nanjing City. It is also true that the officers and soldiers were killed and defeated. After losing, I don't think about how to remedy it, but instead look for someone to atone for the crime, which is also true. It's Xiong Mingyu, no matter how much he hides it, he can't deny it. ”

In fact, this is also the opinion of the three cabinet ministers, Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren, and Xu Guangqi, but they can't say it in front of the other two because of their identities.

So Shoufu Zhou Yanru arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, if such a major event occurs, in addition to making up for the dead, it is also customary to punish the corresponding officials. It's just that Xiong Mingyu, as well as Han Zanzhou and Liu Kongzhao are all senior ministers, how to deal with it, the ministers can't be self-explanatory. However, the minister suggested that you can wait and take a look, and see if Xiong Mingyu's recital comes up, and then it is not too late to make a decision. ”

Xiong Mingyu is a member of the Donglin Party, and although the first assistant Zhou Yanru is also close to the Donglin Party, he is not in the same party.

Emperor Chongzhen heard this, thought for a while, and said: "Xiong Ming meets this guy, is there anything on his face?" ”

Wen Tiren had already figured out Emperor Chongzhen's intentions, and he had always been rejected by the Donglin Party, so he said: "Your Majesty, Lord Ji Qingwen's recital is very clear, since he has made preparations to blame Yang Zhan, then the recital he has taken is just to avoid the important and shirk the responsibility, in fact, it is not trustworthy." ”

Emperor Chongzhen heard that Wen Tiren also supported his opinion, so he no longer hesitated, and said: "It seems that Xiong Mingyu's recital doesn't need to be watched anymore, like this faint official, it is useless for me to keep it, just kill it." ”

Zhou Yanru heard that Emperor Chongzhen's resolute attitude did not dare to speak again, so he could only agree with Nuo Nuo.

However, Xu Guangqi has become a lot old, and at the same time he is friendly with Ji Qingwen and the Donglin Party, so he is also a lot more neutral and objective when he speaks, and said: "Holy Lord, the White Lotus Sect has repeatedly made trouble since ancient times, although the matter is big, it is not surprising. However, most of the White Lotus Sect's uprisings were in the poor countryside, and this time it was indeed rare to choose Nanjing City. Therefore, this matter is quite strange, I am afraid that there is another hidden situation, the old minister advised the emperor to leave Xiong Mingyu for the time being, and when the truth of the matter is clarified, it is not too late to deal with it. ”

Xu Guangqi's words were very kind, and they were indeed heard by Emperor Chongzhen.

So Emperor Chongzhen thought about it again and said: "No matter what is strange in it, Xiong Mingyu's official position cannot be kept anyway." In this way, Xiong Mingyu was immediately dismissed from all his official positions, and immediately locked up and brought into Beijing to wait for interrogation. ”

It is the duty of the cabinet to draw up the decree for the emperor, and after listening to the emperor's meaning, Zhou Yanru naturally wrote the edict, wrote the edict, and asked the eunuch who was waiting on the side to seal the jade seal, and sent someone to the Jinyi guard to command Luo Yangxing, so that he could send the capable Jinyi Wei to Nanjing immediately to arrest people.

Luo Yangxing did not dare to slack off, and after getting the holy decree, he picked up ten capable Jinyi guards and went to Nanjing to arrest Xiong Mingyu as the secretary of the military department.

Xiong Mingyu seemed to have been prepared, and when Jinyiwei came over, he didn't show much panic, but packed his luggage very calmly, and said goodbye to his family, and then followed a few Jinyiwei to set off north.

These brocade guards were quite polite for the sake of Xiong Mingyu's grade and age, neither torture nor flail, just let him walk by himself.

Unexpectedly, Xiong Mingyu set off from Nanjing, only walked to the boundary of Shandong, and received the emperor's will again.

Chongzhen's new will is very simple, immediately give Xiong Mingyu.

It turned out that after the piece written by Xiong Mingyu was seen by Emperor Chongzhen, instead of exonerating the slightest responsibility, it had the opposite effect.

Emperor Chongzhen only left a comment: "Talking nonsense, trying to deceive the saints", and asked for the "crime of bullying the king".

Xiong Mingyu committed the crime of bullying the king, so naturally there is not much room to protect and save, only a few officials in the Donglin Party came forward, leaving Xiong Mingyu with the last trace of dignity and decency, and begging the emperor to use only a white silk to end Xiong Mingyu's life.

After disposing of Xiong Mingyu, Emperor Chongzhen's anger did not subside, and he issued several decrees one after another.

The first to be sent were Han Zanzhou, the eunuch of the Nanjing garrison, and Liu Kongzhao, the commander of the Nanjing garrison. Originally, according to Emperor Chongzhen's mean character, these two brothers were at least to be dismissed from office, but for the sake of the two of them, one was the deceased of King Xin's mansion and the other was the founding father, Emperor Chongzhen only punished the two of them for two years each, and made meritorious contributions.

Secondly, all the officials in Nanjing who have departments are demoted and fined, and they will continue to deal with the White Lotus Sect rebellion case, and if anything unseemly happens again, they will have to settle the new accounts and old accounts together.

The most unlucky was the eunuch Shen Liangzuo, who was just passing through Nanjing City, but only because he led these two thousand Beijing battalion officers and soldiers by his side, it was not beneficial to deal with the sudden White Lotus Rebellion, and he was also fined for a year.

Even more unlucky than Shen Liangzuo were several officers in charge of training in the Jingshi Battalion, who were defeated by Emperor Chongzhen on the grounds that the Beijing Battalion faced the rabble of the White Lotus Sect bandits, obviously because of the unfavorable daily training, all of them were fined for one year and twenty court rods - not only lost money, but even the white and tender buttocks were beaten to the flesh.

Only Yang Zhan, who was framed by Xiong Ming, Emperor Chongzhen didn't mention a word, as if this person didn't exist at all.