Wenhua Hall is located in the east of Taihe Gate, and Wuying Hall east and west are far away, and behind the palace is Wenyuan Pavilion. Originally, the emperor and the cabinet were handling political affairs in Wenyuan Pavilion, and Wenyuan Pavilion was a place to store books, so Wenyuan Pavilion was a confidential place, and ministers and foreign officials with slightly lower status were forbidden to enter. Chongzhen didn't know how many people and which people to ask in the end for today's matter, so it was not good to deal with it in Wenyuan Pavilion, so he chose the place of discussion in the Wenhua Hall in front of Wenyuan Pavilion, and if there was a need, it was convenient to order someone to go to Wenyuan Pavilion to find information.

There are "four halls" and "two pavilions" in the Ming Dynasty: the "four halls" refer to the scholars of the Zhongji Palace, the Jianji Palace, the Wenhua Palace, and the Wuyingdian respectively; The "two pavilions" refer to the scholars of Wenyuan Pavilion and the East Pavilion respectively. It's not that there are six people in total, it's just six titles, and different officials can hang the same title. Moreover, it has little to do with the grade of officials, and there are also those who are not university scholars in the six books, and there are many university non-commissioned officers who are not high. For example, Wen Tiren is a scholar of Dongge University, and he is the first assistant; Kong Zhenyun is a scholar of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Wenyuange; Xue Guoguan is a member of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University; Yang Sichang is not a university scholar and has not entered the cabinet, he has just taken over as the secretary of the military department; In addition, Min Hongxue has served as the secretary of the ministry for many years, and he has not entered the cabinet.

The scholars and scholars entered the Wenhua Palace, and saw that although Chongzhen's spirit was as vigorous as when he was in the previous dynasty, his expression was no longer as cheerful as before, and he was very serious, and they all knew that it was not good news. Chongzhen didn't say much, and directly circulated Wen Tiren's recital to them. Wen Tiren had already seen it, so he sat honestly, and the others also looked serious and thoughtful after reading it.

After everyone had seen it, Chongzhen first asked Wen Tiren: "Wen Qing has seen it before, how credible does Wen Qing think the prediction of this disaster is?" ”

Wen Tiren was naturally ready to speak: "The minister is a Jinshi in the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, and he was in his hometown of Zhejiang before, and he has been in Beijing since then. What happened 26 years ago in Wanli, because the climate of the two places was different, he didn't dare to say anything, but Chen Hongmi's compromise said that the weather was obviously getting colder after the 28th year of Wanli, and the minister could be sure that it was true. In the past, I only thought that the minister was getting older, and his body and bones were becoming more and more unbearable to the cold, and the minister himself was a southerner and couldn't stand the cold in Beijing, so he didn't take it to heart. Now that I have woken up a little after this performance, I am convinced that the saying that the weather has become colder is absolutely true. But whether it is the specific change that began in the thirteenth year of Wanli, the compromises did not make it clear what phenomenon in the thirteenth year of Wanli made him think that there had changed, so the minister could not say clearly. The minister suggested that someone should be sent as soon as possible to invite the stranger to enter Beijing for consultation, or order a reliable person to go to the city for consultation at night, after all, Chen Hongmi did not say clearly how long this stranger was, once he was too old, it might be inconvenient to travel to the capital for a long time. ”

Chongzhen nodded, knowing that it was difficult for Wen Tiren to directly determine how the disaster situation was, and it was already good to have this suggestion, so he continued to ask: "Who does Wen Qing think can take on this important task and go to Suzhou?" ”

Wen Tiren has already thought about it, this candidate is not suitable for any courtier, courtiers are all admitted to the six classics and eight shares, how can anyone study these things? So it doesn't make a difference who goes, it's just a paraphrase. So why bother with courtiers? Wouldn't it be the most credible for the emperor to simply send shrewd and capable eunuchs? So he replied: "Back to Your Majesty, the ministers thought that what this stranger said was unprecedented, and any courtier who went could not keep up with his people's train of thought." Therefore, the candidate has little significance in terms of talent, but only to be loyal and reliable, and beware of leaks. After all, once this matter comes out, I am afraid that the people will immediately panic. In this way, His Majesty still chooses people from the ministers to go to the top. First, it seems to be important, after all, the courtiers have a high grade for many years, and I am afraid that they will not be able to hold it when they go to the starry night, and the grade is lower than that of Chen Hongmi, which seems that the court does not pay enough attention to it. The ministers are different, they are His Majesty's personal people, and they all seem to be valued by His Majesty no matter what. Second, when the courtiers heard about the disaster, their first reaction must be that they were concerned about their families, and the news would inevitably leak out. ”

Chongzhen had already recognized what Wen Tiren said in his heart at this time, and he had even thought about the candidate, except for Wang Chengen, it was difficult for him to rest assured that anyone else would go. Of course, Cao Huachun must be trustworthy, but Cao Huachun is not young, and he can't leave it for a day, of course he can't send it out. It's just more important to ask what to ask. At this time, Wang Chengen was already ready on the side, and he just waited for them to discuss what needed to be asked clearly, and then set off immediately.

"Zhu Qing also read it just now, but do you have any other suggestions?"

A few other people have just learned about this, so how can they make any suggestions right away? Only Yang Sichang had some thoughts on this matter because he had always been concerned about the bandits, and said: "Your Majesty, the minister is in the field all the year round, and it is difficult to judge the specific year, but there are some things that can be corroborated from the side. The stranger said that the weather began to change in the thirteenth year of Wanli, and I am afraid that it was not derived from the celestial phenomena, but directly from the chaotic people. ”

Chongzhen was stunned: "Chaotic people? ”

Although Hua Xue explained the matter of the chaotic people to Chen Hongmi, after all, there were some taboos and did not explain it in the compromise, so Chongzhen didn't know.

"Not bad. Looking at the reason given by this person, the so-called Three Kingdoms and the end of the Tang Dynasty, weren't they all when the people were in turmoil? Before the Three Kingdoms, it was the Yellow Turban Rebellion of Zhang Jiao, and at the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was the Yellow Chao Rebellion. There is little information on celestial phenomena, but there is a lot of information on rioters. In the past, the ministers checked the riots of the people in the past years, and also concluded that since the thirteenth year of Wanli, the riots of the people in various parts of the Ming Dynasty have increased significantly. It's just that I didn't know why before, and I thought it was related to the untimely delivery of the decree after the reform. Now that I think about it, it is very likely that the natural disasters in some areas were serious, but the scope of the disasters was not large, so it did not attract the widespread attention of the imperial court at that time. And the people at the bottom are hungry to keep out the cold because of natural disasters, so they have to be bewitched and rebellious by some people. Although his crime is unforgivable, it is not without precedent, isn't Zhang Jiao just taking advantage of the people's lack of food to set off the Yellow Turban Rebellion that spread throughout the Central Plains. ”

After hearing this, Chongzhen was stunned at first, then happy, and then worried. I was stunned because I never thought that it could be formed from the chaos and prove climate change. The good news is that once it is confirmed that the weather began to change in the thirteenth year of Wanli, instead of the twenty-eighth year of Wanli, then the number of years that the natural disaster will continue is eight years instead of twenty-three years, which is too big a gap. The worry is that now there are people everywhere, and then there will be years of disasters, won't there be more people in turmoil?

When Yang Sichang said this, he hesitated for a moment, and then made up his mind: "Your Majesty, in fact, there is one more thing, at the beginning, the wild boar skin was willing to take the risk and entangle the various departments to repeatedly invade the border, but it was not because of the serious disaster and the lack of food in Liaodong. If the disaster becomes more serious next year, I am afraid that Jianyu will definitely come to provoke again. ”