At this time, the ceremony of Chaohe was nearing the end, and the crown prince Zhu Cihong, who was sitting next to his father, yawned while gently covering his mouth with his hand, this dull ritual had been going on for more than an hour, but he also knew that today's day was very important, and he didn't dare to ask his father and emperor around him, and now there was finally a sign of the end, which couldn't help but make him feel a little happy in his heart.

When the ministers finished the congratulatory sheets, the celebrants sang "prostrate", "xing", and "happy" as usual. Then he sang: "Izuka! The civil and military officials took out the ivory and bamboo bamboo wat and raised their hands in front of them. He bowed three times as the celebrant sang and danced.

Some old and frail courtiers were clumsy, staggering, and almost falling when they danced, but they saw Zhu Cihong covering his mouth and snickering under Chongzhen.

Immediately afterwards, the celebrant sang, "Kneel! And he sang, "Mountain call!" The hundred officials hugged Chao Wat, arched their hands to increase their foreheads, and shouted "Long live!" The salute officer sang again: "Three shouts!" The hundred officials shouted again: "Long live!" The third time he sang, "Repeat again!" The officials shouted: "Long live!" Every time the civil and military officials shouted "Long live", the musicians, honor guards, brocade wrestlers and all the eunuchs of the Teaching Workshop Division shouted together, and the sound shook the noon gate. The earth-shattering cheers of the hundred officials and eunuchs and palace maids made Emperor Chongzhen, who had been in a very depressed mood recently, feel a lot better, and felt a little relieved in his heart, and then he felt that he was the real son of the co-lord of the four seas at this moment.

After the ministers performed another set of rituals, the ceremonial officials knelt in front of the emperor and finished the salute, and then played the Zhonghe Shao music "The Song of Ding'an". At this time, a eunuch waved a whip several meters long, this whip is called the Jing Whip, which is specially sounded during the court meeting to show silence, so it is also called the Ming Whip.

"Bang Bang!"

After the loud three whips sounded, all the sounds in the hall stopped, and all the civil and military officials stood solemnly, even if they had an itchy throat and wanted to cough, they had to endure it, otherwise the imperial history on the side could impeach him for disrespect.

Chongzhen said slowly: "The civil and military officials stepped forward!" ”

As soon as Chongzhen's words fell, a loud eunuch on the side immediately shouted: "Zhuqing step forward!" ”

After hearing the eunuch's words, the civil and military officials walked to the front under the leadership of Yang Sichang, knelt on the ground and shouted three long live, and after calling long live, they called three thousand years old to Zhu Cihong, the prince under Chongzhen.

After the ceremony, Chongzhen looked at the civil and military officials kneeling below, and said slowly: "Since ancient times, the Holy Emperor and King Ming have all respected the Tao. Today, I also think that I am the teacher. So he turned to the west, waved at the ministers, and then said: "The Sutra says: 'Self-cultivation is also respectful, respect for the ministers, and the body of the ministers.'" 'This is not an exaggeration. Since ancient times, monarchs and ministers have been like-minded, and there has been no unequal ruler in the world. Speaking of this, Chongzhen's face gradually became grim, he glared at the hundred officials fiercely, and said: "The post is in charge of the ministry and the hospital, the presiding officer is bowing, and the reconciliation is in the secretary." Now Zuo Zhen Zhongxing, Dian An Zongshe, all the ministers are dependent! But why are there frequent wars in the country, first the Tartars committed the border, there were rogues rebelling, and now the generals are in turmoil, Shandong, Henan, and Hubei have fallen into the hands of the rebellious ministers and thieves in the middle of the month, how can you teach me? ”

Chongzhen's tone of voice was very harsh, so severe that it made people feel chills in their hearts.

One by one, the officials knelt on the ground in fear and touched their heads to the ground. Yang Sichang said on behalf of the ministers: "The ministers are talented, and the crime deserves death." The ministers should be worried about the king, but the ministers are not able to catch it, resulting in frequent chaos, which is the fault of the ministers, please long live the punishment. ”

"Punishment, punishment will be over?" Chongzhen stood up openly, and said angrily: "The day before yesterday, King Fu was driven back to Jingshi, cried to me, and begged me to be the master for him. King Fu is my uncle, he was insulted by this, it is really unbearable, who is willing to lead the army to Henan to quell the rebellion? ”

Chongzhen's voice echoed in the Imperial Palace, and everyone heard it clearly, but no minister volunteered to jump out to take over the matter.

Luoyang was occupied by Pang Gang, and the Fu Wang's family and the former military secretary Lu Weiqi, the governor of Henan, and Liu Yuliang, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, were all driven out of Luoyang.

Now these people came to the capital collectively to cry to Chongzhen, asking the imperial court to send troops to recover Henan, but everyone with a discerning eye knows that where are the soldiers in the current imperial court, and the imperial court has to resist the Manchu Qing Dynasty and suppress the Liukou, and the troops have long been unable to make ends meet, how can there be extra troops to recover Henan, Hubei, and Shandong provinces.

Besides, although Pang Gang publicly accused the old Zhu family, starting from the military system, to the taxation designated by the imperial court, the consultation, and even the tax policy, he was criticized decently, but at least people did not carry out personal attacks, and Pang Gang still treated the officials of the Ming Dynasty very favorably, at least he would not kill the court officials like a rogue, and usually drove those Ming diehards out of their own territory, you see that Lu Weiqi, who scolded Pang Gang so hard at the beginning, did not move a single hair of his hair, Did you just expel him?

And the blessed king, who is so fat that he can be killed as a pig, but didn't people move a single hair of his hair? This proves that Pang Gang is still very humane, at least if this person is killed in Yanjing City in the future, at least these old Ming officials don't have to worry about personal safety.

Otherwise, people's hearts are complicated, Chongzhen was furious above, but the civil and military officials below him were thinking about the future.

After Chongzhen lost his temper, he saw the civil and military officials below bowing their heads and being silent, and the anger in his heart was even greater, he stood up and pointed to the current secretary of the military department, Hong Chengchou, and shouted: "Hong Aiqing, you are the secretary of the military department, you say, how to deal with the traitor Pang Gang!" ”

Hong Chengchou was also quite helpless in his heart at this moment, the secretary of the military department at this time in history should have been Chen Xinjia, but this old Comrade Chen insisted on going against Pang Gang, and was made to go home to eat himself, so it was Hong Chengchou's turn to take the position.

Originally, I thought that it should be a beautiful mistake to become the secretary of the Ministry of War, but the power of the secretary of the Ministry of War in the Ming Dynasty is not small, which is equivalent to the Minister of National Defense and the director of the National Mobilization Committee and the leader of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the commander of the People's Armed Police Force and the Minister of Public Security.

It stands to reason that such a combination of power should be awesome, right? But after Hong Chengchou came to power, he realized that this position was simply not done by people, why? The reason is simple, there is no silver!

Daming claims to have more than 2 million soldiers and horses, and is the country with the largest number of troops in the world today. But in fact, this figure is only on paper, and the vast majority of the more than 2 million troops are stationed soldiers, and the number of soldiers who can fight is estimated to be about 500,000 or 600,000.

And even among these soldiers, there are not many who can really fight, although they may not necessarily fight, but they are not merciless when they ask for money, Hong Chengchou receives more than a dozen official documents every day just urging for money.

But the Ministry of War itself can't turn into silver, and it has to rely on the transfer of the Ministry of Households, it turns out that Yang Sichang is the secretary of the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Officials will give some face, although the silver is not much, but there is still a little, and now that Hong Chengchou has come to power, the Ministry of Household has allocated even less silver, and since this period of time, Hong Chengchou has even turned his beard a lot whiter.

Now that he heard the emperor's words, Hong Chengchou hurriedly stood up, bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen is here, what does the emperor command?" ”

When Chongzhen heard this, he was so angry in his heart, were you farting just now? What do you don't know if I ask you?

Chongzhen immediately said with a cold face: "I just asked you, Pang Gang's traitor is so rebellious, didn't the military department come up with a charter?" ”

Seeing Chongzhen's face, which was colder than winter, Hong Chengchou turned his heart sideways and said loudly: "The minister thinks that Pang Gang is so rebellious, he should indeed be completely exterminated, and he should be arrested and returned to Beijing to be interrogated by the three divisions, and the law of the country has been corrected!" ”

"Well, that's like a human saying!" Hearing this, Chongzhen's face softened slightly, and said, "Then how does Aiqing plan to deal with that Pang Gang?" ”

Hong Chengchou said proudly: "The minister plans to dispatch Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong, Tang Tong, the general soldier of Miyun, Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhou, and Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of Yutian, a total of 60,000 soldiers and horses of the four routes, to march towards Henan at the same time, in order to recover Henan in one fell swoop and capture the traitor Pang Gang alive!" ”

"Okay, that's good!" Chongzhen Longxin was happy, "When does Aiqing plan to transfer troops?" ”

"As long as the household department allocates enough money to the minister, the minister can transfer troops at any time!"

Chongzhen nodded: "How much silver does Aiqing need?" ”

Hong Chengchou said lightly: "In the early stage, only 500,000 taels of soldiers and horses can be set off, and in the later stage, it depends on the battle situation, so that it can be increased at any time!" ”

"What? 500,000 taels of silver? Chongzhen stood up violently, waiting for Hong Chengchou with fire-breathing eyes, and after a while, he said viciously: "Hong Chengchou, your 60,000 soldiers and horses are made of gold, and it costs 500,000 taels of silver to pull out!" ”

Hong Chengchou's face did not change, and he said calmly: "Your Majesty, this is already the number of the ministers after careful calculation, if the battle situation is convenient, it is estimated that it will have to increase." ”

"Five hundred thousand? The entire Liaodong only uses more than three million a year, can it be used to exterminate a Pang Gang with so much silver? ”

Chongzhen didn't fight as soon as he heard it, and shouted loudly: "Okay, you Hong Chengchou, can you use so much silver to exterminate just one Pang Gang?" Are you going to be greedy for ink from it? ”

In the face of Chongzhen's accusation, Hong Chengchou did not answer, but silently fell to the ground silently, and the ministers saw that the emperor was angry, and they were all dumb, one by one as silent as a clay sculpture, and finally Yang Sichang stood up and arched his hand: "Your Majesty, what Hong Shangshu said is indeed the truth, Pang Gang is ambitious, and the minister heard that he is now stationed 100,000 soldiers in Henan and Hubei, and Lord Hong said that 500,000 taels of silver is really not much." ”

"100,000 soldiers?"

Everyone in the hall was suddenly shocked, most of the people in the hall of the combat effectiveness of the Qingzhou Army under Pang Gang had seen it, that was the lord who even hid from the Tartars, and when there were only thousands of soldiers and horses, they dared to fight with the Tartars, and now they have 100,000 soldiers, how can we still be good?

"When did Pang Gang have such a large force?"

Chongzhen's face also turned blue, although Chongzhen was so happy and suspicious, but he was not stupid, he also knew what it meant for Pang Gang to have so many troops?

Chongzhen said with a calm face: "Is Yang Aiqing's words serious? ”

Yang Sichang said: "The minister will never dare to deceive the emperor, that Pang Gang since he served as the commander of Qingzhou, in Qingzhou to recruit troops and horses, and constantly expand the soldiers and horses, at the beginning of this year he had 50,000 troops, and then he recruited 50,000 troops, as of the end of July this year, this person has 100,000 troops, this matter is Wei Chen arranged in Qingzhou's internal line to report, there is no falsehood, the minister asked the emperor to decide!" After speaking, Yang Sichang stood beside Hong Chengchou, and the two knelt on the ground together.

The hall was silent

This news shocked everyone and made everyone anxious and tender, and Chongzhen also calculated in his heart, according to the combat strength of Pang Gang's soldiers and horses, if there is really an army of 100,000, Hong Chengchou said that the 500,000 taels of silver is really not much, not only is it not too much, but it is also less, according to Chongzhen's experience, if this is really a real fight, there is no three or four million silver, it is unbearable.

And this battle is easy to fight, but it is not so simple to stop, if it is won, it is easy to say, if it is lost, it will be troublesome. Whether it is Shandong or Henan, it is connected with Hebei, if that Pang just fights and rises up, it will be a big trouble to kill the capital in one go, and it will be a big trouble for the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty.

The more Chongzhen thought about it, the more frightened he became, he looked up at Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang who were still kneeling on the ground, waved his hand weakly, and said softly: "You all get up, don't kneel." ”

"Emperor Xie!" The two stood up, stood with their hands tied, and quietly waited for Chongzhen's orders.

The more Chongzhen thought about it, the more he felt a headache, although the center of the Ming Dynasty was in the north, but his supply was all dependent on the south, after Pang Gang occupied the three provinces of Shandong, Henan and Hubei, it was equivalent to cutting off one of the most important supply lines of the imperial court, "Caoyun".

Caoyun is an important economic system in Chinese history. In the words of later generations, it is a professional transportation of grain (mainly public grain) using waterways (rivers and seaways).

The Ming Dynasty has reached a new stage of development. At this time, the six provinces of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Henan and Shandong were conscripted and transported. Cao grain is divided into southern grain and northern grain according to different supply areas. But whether it is the southern grain or the northern grain, it has to pass through Shandong and Henan, and now Pang Gang occupies these two places, which is equivalent to choking the throat of the Ming Dynasty.

This is also the reason why Chongzhen jumped after hearing that Pang Gang occupied Hubei and Henan, and shouted to recover Henan first.

Chongzhen thought for a while and asked, "Hong Aiqing, if I give you 500,000 taels of silver, are you sure to recover Henan and Shandong?" ”

Hong Chengchou was silent for a long time before he replied bitterly: "The minister is not sure. ”

The atmosphere in the hall was silent, and Chongzhen surprisingly did not get angry, but said bitterly: "Do I really want to be the king of this dead country?" ”

"Your Majesty, the ministers deserve death!" The military officials above the main hall knelt down again.

"Alright, alright!" Chongzhen waved his hand impatiently, "You keep saying that you deserve to die, but I don't see any of you really dead, now I just want to ask, how to calm the rebellion in Shandong and Henan, and restore the smooth flow of Cao Yun!" ”

I don't know who said it in the main hall, "Your Majesty, now our Cao Yun is not blocked now, and it is still smooth!" ”

"This"

The civil and military officials were dumbfounded for a while, yes, although Pang Gang still announced his departure from the Ming Dynasty, he did not close the passage of Cao Yun, and the rice materials in the south of the Yangtze River could still be transported to the capital through the canal?

Only then did Chongzhen remember, yes, although Pang Gang occupied Shandong Henan, there was still a steady stream of ships going back and forth from the imperial court every day, could it be that Pang Gang forgot to intercept it? As soon as Chongzhen thought of this, he smiled bitterly, to say that Pang Gang would commit such a negligence, and he didn't even believe in ghosts, the only reason was that he did it on purpose, and he didn't want the Ming Dynasty to collapse so quickly.

Thinking of this, Chongzhen felt physically and mentally exhausted, and couldn't help but feel a burst of sadness, I don't know when tears flowed, and when, the court was reduced to relying on other people's charity to maintain the operation of the court.

Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang saw it really on the side, seeing Chongzhen in tears, their hearts were not comfortable, as the saying goes, the king humiliates the minister to death, as a courtier, they let their monarch be so sad, as a courtier, they are incompetent.

I don't know how long it took, Chongzhen's faint voice sounded in the main hall, "Chen Aiqing, I ask you, can the household department get 500,000 taels of silver and transfer it to the military department now?" ”

Chongzhen's words were said to Chen Sizhen, the head of the household, as soon as Chongzhen's words fell, a short and ordinary old man walked out from the left, he was Chen Sizhen, the head of the household, I saw him walk in front of Chongzhen and hugged his fists and said: "Your Majesty, as of yesterday, there are only 130,000 taels of silver in the treasury of the household, which is the money that the imperial court will issue to officials at all levels next month, and there is no extra silver taels for Lord Hong." ”

Chongzhen stood up and sighed, looking at him as an emperor, the state affairs are so difficult, he, the emperor, is so poor that he can't even make up hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

"That's it!" Chongzhen waved his hand weakly, "The matter of sending troops will be discussed later, and the court will be retreated!" ”

With Chongzhen's words, the original vigorous and lively ceremony of canonizing the prince ended in this way.

After retreating, Chongzhen walked to the Qianqing Palace with a gloomy expression, followed by the twelve-year-old prince Zhu Cihong, seeing that his old son was not in a good mood, the young Zhu Cihong asked curiously: "Father, why are you depressed?" Are you troubled because you don't have any money? ”

Chongzhen kindly stroked Zhu Cihong's little head, and said softly: "Yes, not only my father, but the entire court is short of silver!" ”

"Father, we are short of silver, but those rich gentry in the capital do, why don't we apportionment it to them?"

"Those people have silver, but if we forcibly ask them, our Zhu family's country will be finished."

(To be continued)