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On August 17, the 14th year of Ming orthodoxy (1449), the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The Empress Dowager Sun urgently summoned hundreds of officials to come to the platform to summon the right. Earlier today, the defeated troops fled back to Beijing one after another, bringing the news of the fiasco of Tumubao, and the Beijing division was shaken.
At this moment, the 200,000 elites of the Ming army were lost, the life and death of Yingzong Zhu Qizhen were uncertain, and the Wara army could come to Beijing at any time.
The people of the huge city of Beijing are panicking, and the wealthy families have begun to pack up and are ready to flee from Beijing at any time. Seeing that the Ming Dynasty was in danger, Empress Dowager Sun was anxious and pinned all her hopes on the ministers.
Above the court, the hundreds of officials were also at a loss, and there were many discussions, and some ministers only knew how to hug and cry with their colleagues, and they had no idea.
Just when Empress Dowager Sun was extremely disappointed, the Hanlin attendant Xu Hui (later renamed Xu Youzhen because of shame) took the lead in the ranks, and pretended to play: "The ministers watch the sky at night, the destiny of heaven has gone, and only moving south can solve the current crisis." ”
Move south! Xu Huo said what some ministers wanted to say but didn't dare to say, and the originally silent court suddenly exploded and began to echo the proposal to move south.
Run away? Hu Hu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was the first to quit. Hu Hui, as Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji's entrusted minister, naturally had his own attitude, and categorically objected: "The reason why Chengzu set the mausoleum in Beijing is to let future generations protect the capital. ”
The old man who was too old directly moved Chengzu Zhu Di out, but it only shocked everyone for a moment, and after a while, the ministers who were already frightened began to clamore for moving south again.
At this time, Yu Qian, the left attendant of the military department, who had never said a word, said in a loud voice: "Those who propose to move south should be killed immediately!" Beijing is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and once it moves south, the general trend is gone. Have you all forgotten the lessons of the Northern Song Dynasty's escape from the south? ”
Yu Qian's voice was like thunder, taking the Northern Song Dynasty as an example, and it rose to the point of losing his head, and even Xu Hui, who screamed the most, closed his mouth.
Subsequently, Wang Zhi, the secretary of the ministry, Chen Xun, the right attendant of the household department, and others successively came out to support Yu Qian, and the young servant king Zhu Qiyu was also determined to defend the capital, so the Empress Dowager Sun finally made a decision - to stick to Beijing.
In fact, Empress Dowager Sun was still worried in her heart, and after returning to the palace, she asked her personal eunuch Li Yongchang. Li Yongchang very much agreed with Yu Qian's point of view and persuaded: "Yu Qian is right. The mausoleums and palaces are all in Beijing, and the treasury of the Cangli Mansion and the hundred officials and people are also in Beijing. ”
Empress Dowager Sun thought about it, a simple truth that a eunuch could understand, and she was still hesitating, so she suddenly realized it and made up her mind.
The change of Tumubao, Zhu Qizhen was captured.
As soon as the core issue of the war and the stay was resolved, the next day, August 18, the Ming court finally received the news that Zhu Qizhen had been captured by Wara. And at this moment, the leader of Warat is also leading Zhu Qizhen to blackmail Xuanfu and Datong, the important towns of the Nine Sides, one by one.
Although Empress Dowager Sun is not Yingzong's biological mother, she has raised Yingzong since she was a child, and her emotions are extraordinary. No matter what others thought, the first thing that Empress Dowager Sun thought of was to redeem Zhu Qizhen.
After receiving the extortion letter sent by Yexian, Empress Dowager Sun transferred gold, silver and goods from the internal treasury overnight, loaded eight carts full of eight carts and delivered them to Yexian.
Of course, he didn't talk about any credit, and with Zhu Qizhen's super big meat ticket in hand, he couldn't sleep happily at night, and even started the Spring and Autumn Dream of restoring Dayuan. He also plans to play a trick of "coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes", and use Zhu Qizhen to eat and squeeze the Ming Dynasty little by little.
After being deceived again and again, Empress Dowager Sun, as a mother, also had to give up her illusions, and Zhu Qizhen was afraid that she would not be able to come back in the short term.
Empress Dowager Sun had to face another, more serious problem - the country could not be without a king for a day.
The leader of Warat also went first.
In fact, as early as before the expedition, Zhu Qizhen ordered his half-brother Zhu Qiyu to live in Beijing, but this kind of residence is not a prison country, but only a nominal **, and all government affairs are still in charge of the cabinet and the six ministries.
After learning that the emperor was captured, Empress Dowager Sun actively rescued Zhu Qizhen, and at the same time issued an edict ordering King Yu to temporarily lead a hundred officials, but all court affairs, big and small, were decided by King Yu, and the hundred officials were not allowed to violate and delay. It can be regarded as giving Zhu Qiyu a real job as a prisoner.
But Empress Dowager Sun believed that Zhu Qizhen would always come back, and she had the obligation to keep the throne for her son, so she made Zhu Qizhen's two-year-old son Zhu Jianshen the crown prince. Empress Dowager Sun didn't realize that her seemingly safe arrangement had added a bit of crisis to the city of Beijing at this time.
At this time, rumors were rife in Beijing City, and Warat was pressed at any time, but the center of the Ming Dynasty always lacked an absolute authority. Although Zhu Qiyu is in charge of the country, he has the queen mother's regent, his nephew and the crown prince, and a "northern hunting" emperor, this peculiar status quo has caused the courtiers and soldiers to fall into a daze, and they don't know whether to obey the orders of this firefighter.
Therefore, Zhu Qiyu, who was in an embarrassing situation, simply did not have the ability to concentrate all his forces to ensure that he would win the battle to defend Beijing.
On this side, Zhu Qiyu was worried, and on the other hand, it was the long-suppressed emotions of the courtiers who broke out first.
On August 23, the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449), Zhu Qiyu summoned his ministers to discuss politics at the left gate of the noon gate.
Chen Yi, the imperial history of the right capital, unexpectedly put on a book, asking the king to destroy Wang Zhen's eunuch party.
One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the ministers who had been in a desperate situation for the Ming Dynasty for several days were suddenly indignant, and they knelt down to invite the whole clan to worship the king of Yi and Wang Zhen.
Zhu Qiyu had never seen this battle, and hurriedly dropped a sentence: "You are all right, but the court has its own disposal." "And then I want to leave this place.
Today, it has become such a field, how can the courtiers easily let Zhu Qiyu run away, and hurriedly stop the car. Shi Yiming, the head of the palace of the king of Yu, was the most active, directly hugged Zhu Qiyu's legs, and said that he would not give anything away.
At this time, the Jinyi Guard, who was in charge of the guard, commanded Tongzhi Ma Shun to bail out the King of Servant and began to scold and force the ministers to retreat. Ma Shun was excited, but it was blood mold. The ministers looked up, hey, this is not Wang Zhen's henchman Ma Shun, the dog thing is dying and still dares to be murderous!
The well-mannered old masters suddenly lost control of their emotions.
In the matter, Wang Hong was the first to get up and pounce on Ma Shun, grabbed Ma Shun's hair, and scolded angrily: "A traitor like you should have been killed a long time ago, and you dare to be so arrogant today!" Then he began to beat violently, scolding while beating, and he was still angry, Wang Hong completely ignored the style of the Si style, and directly tore Ma Shun's face. Immediately afterwards, the Criminal Division gave Cao Kai the second time to participate in the war, followed by the third and fourth ......At this point, heads-up turned into a group fight.
Hu Ke gave Wang Hong in the matter, and was later reused by Zhu Qiyu and served as the secretary of the military department.
In this way, in front of Zhu Qiyu, Ma Shun was beaten to death by the ministers and trampled into a puddle of flesh. I'm afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang hasn't seen this meeting a few times, how can Zhu Qiyu stand this, he looked at the people who were still angry, and wanted to run.
It was Yu Qian again, seeing this, he immediately grabbed Zhu Qiyu, and said earnestly: "Wang Zhen is the culprit, if he doesn't punish his clan today, he can't calm the anger of the people, and the ministers are just concerned about the society, and they have no other bad intentions." Then he proposed, "Ma Shun's sin deserves death, so don't talk about the sins of the ministers." ”
Zhu Qiyu also understood that he had to agree if he didn't agree today, so he agreed to everything. After the king of Yu got up, the ministers still refused to leave, insisting on asking Zhu Qiyu to hand over Wang Zhen's other two henchmen, eunuch Mao Gui and Wang Changsui. Zhu Qiyu couldn't do anything, so he asked Jin Ying to bring the two out.
The old masters did not stop doing two things, and killed these two people together, before venting their anger, and then, Ma Shun and other three people were exposed to Dong'anmen, and the soldiers and civilians in the capital competed to kill the corpses.
Afterwards, Wang Shangshu, who was frightened by today's situation, couldn't help but pull Yu Qian and boasted: "The country depends on you, brother, even if there are a hundred kings in today's situation, there is nothing they can do." ”
Emperor of the Ming Dynasty driving map.
The Zuo Shunmen incident is quite weird, Chen Yi's twists and turns, Shi Yiming's stopping, the head of the Wangfu Mansion, the violent behavior of Wang Hong, the old man of the Wangfu Palace, and Zhu Qiyu's pushing the boat down the river, make people doubt the accident of the incident.
As soon as this incident came out, it was obvious that the court was out of control, and Zhu Qizhen's throne, Empress Dowager Sun could no longer hold it. She had to think about who should inherit the throne.
The crown prince Zhu Jianshen is of course the best candidate in the heart of the Empress Dowager Sun. But at this time when the country is in danger, if Zhu Jianshen is allowed to succeed to the throne, the lord Shaoguo is suspicious, and the current crisis cannot be solved, and the court and outside will not be satisfied.
Zhu Qiyu, who is already in charge of the country, is the most suitable candidate for the current situation, but he is also the most dissatisfied candidate for Empress Dowager Sun. Although the throne also has a brother and a brother, Zhu Qizhen has a son, once Zhu Qiyu succeeds to the throne, maybe the throne will fall to Zhu Qiyu's branch. What's more, Zhu Qiyu's biological mother, Concubine Wu Xian, is still here, where should she, the queen mother, go.
Empress Dowager Sun pondered and meditated, and even thought of Zhu Zhandong, the king of Lixiang, as the emperor. Zhu Zhan was the younger brother of Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, who had a short prison experience at the time of Renzong's death, and was known as a virtuous person.
However, Zhu Zhan is not a fool, if he doesn't do it well, he will become the king of the dead country, whoever likes to go, anyway, I won't go, and directly rejected the olive branch of the Empress Dowager Sun.
Empress Dowager Sun was still hesitating, but the ministers were unwilling to accompany the old empress dowager anymore.
On August 29, the 14th year of orthodoxy, the ministers went to the Empress Dowager Sun: "The emperor is hunting in the north, the prince is young, and now the country is in danger, and people's hearts are uncertain." The ancients once said: The country has a long monarch, and the blessing of the society. Please ask the Queen Mother to appoint a new monarch as soon as possible. ”
The image of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty.
Looking at these ministers, Empress Dowager Sun felt like a mirror in her heart, Zhu Qiyu's succession to the throne was already the trend of the times, and she was powerless to stop it, so she pushed the boat down the river and replied: "The quasi-ministers played, and the king was ordered to be the emperor." ”
When Zhu Qiyu received the Empress Dowager's decree from the ministers, he scolded in fear: "The crown prince is here, how dare you mess with the national etiquette law!" Only Yu Qian bluntly persuaded: "We are all thinking about the country, not for ourselves." I hope that His Royal Highness will take the throne at this time of crisis, and that he will be comforted by the Sect Society. ”
Only then did Zhu Qiyu agree.
On September 6 of the 14th year of orthodoxy (1449), Zhu Qiyu, the king of servants, ascended the throne, and his brother Zhu Qizhen was the emperor, and the situation of the dragons in Beijing without a leader came to an end.
And a battle to defend the capital that will determine the fate of the Ming Dynasty is about to start.
To be continued......
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