As soon as Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu received the report from the Runing Army, in addition to the whole army immediately marching to Fengyang to support, they also sent fast horses to the capital to play this shocking news.

It took only three days for the messenger to arrive in the capital, and on the nineteenth day of the first month, the imperial court first learned the bad news from Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu. There was a strange silence in the court, and Emperor Chongzhen and the ministers in the court were looking forward to a miracle, and even hoped that Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu would come with fake news.

But in the next few days, news came from various places that the peasant rebel army was approaching Fengyang, which confirmed the news of Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu. However, Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers were still lucky, they hoped that the peasant rebel army would not be able to capture Fengyang, and hoped that Zhu Dadian, Zuo Liangyu and other Ming troops would rescue in time and not let that uncontrollable thing happen.

But life often proves that the worst news is often the most true news! On the 21st day of the first lunar month, Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu, who were still closest to Fengyang, inquired about the loss of Fengyang, and they sent messengers again to bring the news to the imperial court on the 24th of the first lunar month.

The imperial tomb was burned, and this man-made disaster reached the sky. According to the convention, Emperor Chongzhen thought that this was his own immorality, and heaven would send disasters, so he had to carry out deep reflection and review his immorality.

So in addition to grief and indignation, Emperor Chongzhen first did the formalistic one. first put on plain clothes and went to the Taimiao Temple to cry to the ancestors and ancestors, and later issued the "Edict of Guilt", self-examination, admitting that all kinds of mistakes are "really responsible".

In the edict, Emperor Chongzhen also said that he would share weal and woe with the soldiers, declaring that he would reduce expenses in life, eat and dress, and so on. In this way, the soldiers will serve the country fiercely.

Of course, after self-examination, it is time to start settling accounts with the ministers who have failed their responsibilities. Emperor Chongzhen believed that there was a close relationship between the problems of the country and the incompetence and dedication of the ministers, so he asked the courtiers to also wear plain clothes and introspect.

As the person responsible for the incident, Yang Yipeng, the governor of Fengyang, was executed, Wu Zhenying, the patrolman, was sent to death, and Yang Ze, the eunuch who guarded the town, committed suicide in fear of crime. However, Yang Ze's behavior is indeed ridiculous. Since he knew that there was no good result and chose to commit suicide, but at that time, he escaped from Fengyang? It's better to choose to live and die with Fengyang, at least the reputation is much better!

Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the military department, was also a "terrified servant", although Emperor Chongzhen did not blame him afterwards, his leadership responsibility was also impeached by a large number of officials. Emperor Chongzhen had to punish him with a "liukan". But Zhang Fengyi, the little old man's heart, obviously couldn't bear such stimulation. Not long after, he died of a serious illness.

And the rest of the officials. They will also be dealt with separately after the war after the respective culpables have been clarified. However, this also gave them an opportunity to make meritorious contributions, including Henan officials such as Hong Chengchou and Xuan Mo, as well as Bai Ding, who was not an official - Wu Shigong.

And this open challenge to the imperial power, of course, also brought frenzied revenge to the peasant rebels. The Ming court completely directed all its strategic focus to the peasant rebels.

The first is to "send an edict to the Chinese and foreign countries to brush up the national shame and kill the thieves with all their hearts", and transfer the Shaanxi soldiers under the command of Hong Chengchou out of the customs. It was pinched and suppressed by the officials and troops of the Central Plains provinces. After some nervous troop deployment, the Ming Dynasty court finally pieced together 70,000 officers and soldiers on the side and belly. Even the 3,000 Guanning Iron Cavalry in Liaodong also entered the customs under the leadership of Zu Kuan to join the suppression of bandits.

Then it is time to solve the issue of military salaries. The imperial court issued more than one million taels of Beijing, provincial and treasury as military salaries, and even Emperor Chongzhen's inner treasury took out private money as military salaries.

And that's not enough. Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict again to send more than 1.2 million taels of "salary" in the fields and acres of the world. Of course, these tax-exempt classes such as the official eunuchs and gentry do not need to pay, and all the pressure is on the people of the world. It made them even poorer and bankrupt.

We know that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, in order to solve the financial crisis of the imperial court, the imperial court pressed the people again and again in order to suppress the military salaries of the bandits, so that they could not survive, so that those people threw themselves into the peasant rebel army.

This seems to be a ridiculous act. Later historians also lashed out at this kind of behavior. But couldn't the courtiers in the court at that time see this evil result? Didn't Emperor Chongzhen understand this either? Actually, the answer is no.

Emperor Chongzhen and the important ministers of the court also knew this, but the current situation made them unable to choose. Because it is necessary to exterminate the peasant rebel army as soon as possible, it is also necessary to raise military salaries as soon as possible.

If it is levied from the families of the eunuchs and gentry who control the wealth of the world, even if Emperor Chongzhen finally uses his authority to suppress the opposition of the court, but the kind of dispute with the ministers does not know that it will be involved in the year of the monkey and the month of the horse, and it is far from quenching the thirst at all. It is better to expropriate the people who are easy to oppress. So the current situation is completely to drink water to quench your thirst.

In fact, this principle is also very simple. One is to get the silver three years later, but the Ming Dynasty may not survive three years; One is to get the money right away, but the situation may become more difficult. So which method would you choose?

Of course, there is also a solution, which is to increase the power of the eunuchs and send some ruthless tax supervisors. But a few years after Emperor Chongzhen forced Wei Zhongxian to death, which of the great eunuchs in the inner court dared to do such a thing now?

It's not like there's no good way to have the best of both worlds. For example, like the Runing Army, increase the power of the localities, let them raise troops in the fields, and gradually exterminate the peasant rebels.

But in this way, it is very likely that in the future, there will be a warlord like the late Tang Dynasty. Because those warlords had their own territory, food and army, it was not conducive to the centralization of power in the Ming court.

In fact, this is also the way to go in the future. For example, not long after, the Tuntian of Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi. However, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen and the important ministers of the court felt that the situation had not been bad to this point, and they were unwilling to give up their little power, so this choice was completely impossible to consider.

But in any case, the current Emperor Chongzhen and the ministers of the court are still relatively optimistic. They all believe that although the strong man of the Ming Dynasty is a little weak, there is still resistance to toxicity to these birds.

Because of the precedent of Chen Qiyu pushing the peasant rebels into a desperate situation within a few months, they believed that the army of bandits who concentrated all the strength of the Ming Dynasty could completely wipe out the huge peasant rebels within six months. Therefore, those sequelae also have time to heal them.

But Emperor Chongzhen and those ministers didn't expect that this situation was completely different! (To be continued......)