-- The book continues --

Zhu Youzhen, the word Deyue, the fifth son of Zhu Changluo of Mingguangzong, the half-brother of Zhu Youxiao of Mingxizong, and his mother is Queen Liu. The year name Chongzhen is commonly known as "Emperor Chongzhen".

In the forty-eighth year of Wanli, Zhu Youzhen's grandfather Zhu Yijun and father Zhu Changluo died one after another, and his brother Zhu Youxiao ascended the throne and was canonized as King Xin.

During the period when Zhu Youzhen was the king of letters, the internal and external situation in the Ming Dynasty was treacherous. Zhu Youxiao's close confidant eunuch Wei Zhongxian united with the Qi, Chu, Zhejiang and other friends of the DPRK to defeat the Donglin Party and take control of the government. Externally, facing the threat of the rise of the Later Jin, although the Later Jin was blocked by Yuan Chonghuan in Ningyuan, the border defense was still tight.

In the southwest, the Lu'an Rebellion broke out, which can be described as a large base in the suburbs.

As a vassal king, Zhu Youzhen could not participate in political affairs, but he also had to be careful to protect himself. Under Wei Zhongxian's obstruction, he had very few opportunities to meet Zhu Youxiao, and even if he did, he could hardly speak.

Almost involved in Wei Zhongxian's conspiracy. It is said that Wei Zhongxian had sent an assassin to assassinate Empress Zhang at that time, and was discovered by Zhu Youxiao and transferred to the factory health review office, Wei Zhongxian, who was in charge of the East Factory, planned to use this assassin to frame Zhang Guoji, the father of Empress Zhang, to "seek to establish the letter of king", so as to abolish the empress and build a prison, but his comrade Wang Tiqian thought that Zhu Youxiao had a deep affection for Empress Zhang and Zhu Youzhen, and this move would not succeed, so Wei Zhongxian killed the assassin to kill him, and did not affect Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen saw the disadvantages of eunuchs taking power, and when he read history and read about the ten permanent servants, Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, etc., he would "pick up his teeth". He especially hated Wei Zhongxian's dictatorship, and lamented that "the imperial brother is too loyal and deceitful (Wei Zhongxian)".

He never showed his disgust for Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian was also frightened when he saw him, and often sent his henchmen to Zhu Youzhen to send some untimely flowers and fruits, Zhu Youzhen ostensibly rewarded them with a generous reward, but not only did he not like these flowers and fruits, but also took the opportunity to secretly remember Wei Zhongxian's henchmen.

In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youxiao was terminally ill and did not leave any heirs, Zhu Youxiao summoned the fifth brother of the emperor to believe that Zhu Youzhen entered the palace and said to Zhu Youzhen: "My brother should be Yao Shun." ”

Zhu Youzhen was terrified and said: "Your Majesty said this, the ministers should die!" ”

Zhu Youxiao then asked him to treat Empress Zhang and Wei Zhongxian well, and Zhu Youzhen was even more frightened and asked to leave the palace.

On August 22, Zhu Youxiao died in the Qianqing Palace. Wei Zhongxian's eyes were swollen from crying, and he discussed countermeasures with his henchmen. It is said that Wei Zhongxian intended to stand on his own, but was dissuaded by Cui Chengxiu, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and someone else proposed to make the palace concubine pretend to be pregnant, and lead Wei Liangqing's son into the palace to take over the throne, assisted by Wei Zhongxian, just like "Xin Mang is to the child of the child".

Wei Zhongxian thought that his words were reasonable, so he sent someone to hint at Empress Zhang, but Empress Zhang refused. When Wei Zhongxian learned of Empress Zhang's solemn attitude, he was helpless and no longer forced her, so he had to send his cronies and eunuchs Tu Wenfu and Wang Chaofu to take Zhu Youzhen into the palace.

At the same time, the cabinet drafted an edict, which stated that "the fifth brother of the emperor believes that the king is smart and dreamy, benevolent and filial piety, and the text of the elder brother and the last brother of the "ancestral teaching", Pi Shaolun preface, that is, the emperor's throne".

Under the admonition of Empress Zhang, Zhu Youzhen brought his own wheat rice into the palace, did not eat the food in the palace, and maintained a high degree of vigilance against everything in the palace.

At night, Zhu Youzhen sat alone with a candle, and happened to see a little eunuch passing by with a sword, and immediately called to him, asked for his sword, examined it carefully, promised to give him a reward, and left the sword on his desk.

When he heard the sound of the night watchman in the palace hitting the wooden bon, he got up and went to comfort, and turned back to ask the left and right attendants how to give wine and food, and the attendant replied that Guanglu Temple was in charge, so Zhu Youzhen ordered Guanglu Temple to prepare wine and food, and gave it to the people on duty in the palace to watch the night, and there was a tide of joy for a while. For Wei Zhongxian, Zhu Youzhen also "repeatedly gave warm words, music and comfort" to calm his heart.

After three persuasions by hundreds of civil and military officials, Zhu Youzhen put on the crown on August 24, and offered sacrifices to heaven and earth, that is, the emperor's throne, and changed the Yuan Chongzhen

The first major task was to eradicate Wei Zhongxian and the "eunuch" clique that depended on him. At the beginning of Zhu Youzhen's accession to the throne, he still treated Wei Zhongxian and his henchmen like Zhu Youxiao, and those who should be rewarded were still rewarded, and those who should be crowned officials were still crowned officials.

Wei Zhongxian, on the contrary, felt uneasy, so he paid tribute to Xu Yingyuan, the eunuch of the eunuch Bingbi, who was born as a eunuch in the palace of Xinwang, gave him rare treasures, became brothers, and wrote a letter on the first day of September begging to resign from the post of governor of Dongchang, so as to test the truth. As a result, Zhu Youzhen not only did not approve it, but also persuaded him with kind words and comforted him.

Two days later, Zhu Youzhen allowed Wei Zhongxian's wife to leave the palace and live in a private mansion. Wei Zhongxian wrote a letter begging to be exempted from 30,000 gold of funeral wax from the household department, and Zhu Youzhen immediately agreed.

On September 25, Wei Zhongxian wrote to beg to stop the construction of the ancestral hall for him, and Zhu Youzhen approved the previous ancestral hall to be retained as before, and no longer to be newly repaired, and praised Wei Zhongxian for "meritorious service, but also the beauty of Lao Qian".

By rewarding Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian and their henchmen, their doubts were dispelled to a certain extent, and they were also paralyzed.

Yang Suoxiu, a member of the "Eunuch Party", impeached Cui Chengxiu and others as a member of the Nanjing General Political Envoy, but Zhu Youzhen instead "blamed him for being lightly criticized"; On 14 and 19 October, Yang Weiyuan, another member of the "eunuch party," was impeached twice for various crimes against Cui Chengxiu.

After the fall of Choi Chengxiu, Wei Zhongxian became the next target of impeachment. Since 23 October, Lu Chengyuan, Qian Yuanyu, Qian Jiazheng, and others have successively impeached and impeached Wei Zhongxian, and in particular, the Gongsheng Qian Jiazheng has been the most vehement, listing the ten "heinous crimes" of "merging the emperor," "contempt for the queen," "making soldiers," "having no two ancestors," "cutting down feudal feuds," "having no saints," "indiscriminately jueping," "covering up the borders," "disregarding the people," and "connecting with the joints."

When Wei Zhongxian learned of this, he cried bitterly in front of Zhu Youzhen, and even cried out for wrongdoing. Zhu Youzhen was unmoved, and ordered the chamberlain to recite Qian Jiazheng's recital, so that Wei Zhongxian could listen to it with his own ears, and Wei Zhongxian was "shocked and frightened".

Wei Zhongxian asked for his resignation on the grounds of physical discomfort. Xu Yingyuan originally started in the Xinwang Mansion and colluded with Wei Zhongxian, but seeing that Wei Zhongxian was about to lose power, he also asked for recuperation, and Zhu Youzhen took the opportunity to approve Wei Zhongxian and Xu Yingyuan to go home to recuperate.

On the first day of November, after everything was ready, Zhu Youzhen officially issued an order to announce Wei Zhongxian's crime to the world, demote Wei Zhongxian to the ancestral mausoleum in Fengyang to manage the incense, and the Hakka family sent it to the Huanyi Bureau for management.

When Wei Zhongxian left Beijing, he took a large number of entourage, and his prestige was undiminished, and soon, Zhu Youzhen ordered Wei Zhongxian to be arrested in Beijing on the grounds that he "would be a vegetarian outlaw, with a fierce blade, and there were countless of them, surrounded by him, and he was like a rebel".

Wei Zhongxian, who traveled to Fucheng, learned of this intention in advance from Li Chaoqin, a member of the "Eunuch Party", and the two of them drank bitterly and then hanged themselves.

The Hakka family was killed with a rod, and Cui Chengxiu also hanged himself. Subsequently, Zhu Youzhen recalled the eunuchs to various places to redress the unjust prison that persecuted the Donglin Party in the last years of the Apocalypse, destroyed the "Three Dynasties Classics", and condemned Wei Zhongxian and other 255 people as "rebels". The people of the time commented that this move was "silent, subtle, not heroic, why is this".

After Zhu Youzhen cut off Wei Zhongxian, he worked diligently and made great efforts to restore the decline of the Ming Dynasty and realize the great cause of Zhongxing.

Zhu Youzhen admonished the ministers, saying that after the collapse of the eunuch party and the "return of their duties", the ministers must "be loyal and exhausted", wash away the accumulated evils, and "save money for the country and choose officials for the people", and at the same time, "all those who discuss the relevant national plan must abide by the laws of our ancestors and must not arbitrarily discuss disputes."

At the same time, Zhu Youzhen set an example and was diligent in political affairs. He always insisted on the sutra feast and daily lectures, not only to study the Confucian classics, but also as an important channel to listen to the opinions of the lecturers and discuss current affairs with the courtiers.

Zhu Youzhen "roosters crow" every day, the night is sleepless, there is never a feast in the palace, Zhu Youzhen insists on the regular dynasty, and in addition to the summer and cold, he will go to the Wenhua Hall to summon important ministers to discuss political affairs.

Zhu Youzhen was not only known for his diligence among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, but was even praised by his subordinates as "rare since the Han and Tang dynasties".

On the other hand, Zhu Youzhen also left Wen Tiren, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Zhou Yanru, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, Wang Yongguang, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Shen Yongmao, the head of the Ministry of War, and other non-Donglin Party officials to check and balance the power of the Donglin Party.

Outside the court, Chongzhen's biggest problem in the early years was to recover Liaodong, which was occupied by the Later Jin. Zhu Youzhen handed over this important task to Yuan Chonghuan, the former governor of Liaodong, who had successively won the victory of Ningyuan and Ningjin in the last years of the Apocalypse.

But............

——To be continued——