Chapter 337 336 Nanjing Incident

Just when Yan Shifan re-drafted and sent Guo Xiyan's memorial back to the palace, two Jinyi officers came to Chaoyang Gate in Beijing. They rode into the city at full speed. Even on the busy streets of Beijing, their horses did not slow down at all.

Soon, an urgent report from Nanjing was handed to Lu Bing.

Looking at the sealing wax on the bamboo tube in his hand and the eye-catching hint on it, Lu Bing's heart was pounding. This was a mark used only for major military intelligence.

However, he did not open it immediately. He first carefully checked the wax on the bamboo tube and confirmed that it had not been touched before opening it and reading the paper roll inside.

Just seeing the beginning, Lu Bing stood up and ordered outside: "Prepare the horses, go to Xiyuan immediately."

After speaking, Lu Bing carefully read the intelligence sent twice, "The soldiers of Nanjing Zhenwu Camp mutinied, and it is suspected that Huang Maoguan, the assistant minister of Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, was killed."

Nanjing, that is Nanjing. Most of the taxes of the court come from Jiangnan. If Nanjing City is really in chaos, Lu Bing dare not imagine what the finances of the court will be like this year.

The rebellion must be suppressed as soon as possible, otherwise the canal transportation that will be restored soon will be affected, and the northern border towns will become unstable due to the lack of food and fodder.

Thinking of this, Lu Bing collected the intelligence sent from Nanjing and strode out of the house.

Needless to say, Emperor Jiajing was in a bad mood at this time. There was a talent among his officials, and they actually wanted to force him to establish a crown prince.

When Lu Bing entered Yongshou Palace with an aggressive heart and handed the information about Nanjing to Emperor Jiajing, Lu Bing, who was kneeling on the ground, heard a muffled "clang clang" sound followed by a series of metal collision sounds, so loud that even the eunuchs outside the palace gate could hear it.

Emperor Jiajing looked at the note Lu Bing handed over, and then smashed the jade ruyi in his hand heavily into the bronze chime, breaking it to pieces.

"What is the current situation in Nanjing? Have the rebels occupied the city?"

The note in Emperor Jiajing's hand only said that there were rebels in Nanjing and suspected that the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was killed. The information about the subsequent development of the situation had not yet been delivered, but Emperor Jiajing could not wait any longer.

"Your Majesty, there is no further news from Nanjing yet. I think they are still on the way. I did not dare to delay for a moment and entered the palace after receiving the news.

Although Nanjing is dangerous, there are loyal ministers and generals such as Duke Wei and Earl Chengyi in charge. I think the few rebellious troops will not be able to make a difference and should have been wiped out by now."

Lu Bing said hurriedly. If he did not say some comforting words to make Emperor Jiajing feel better, he was afraid that he would be missed.

"Is there any progress on the stickers?"

Emperor Jiajing suddenly changed the topic and talked about the anonymous posters that appeared on the streets of Beijing two days ago.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I am still investigating."

After all, it was done in the dark. Who would have thought that he would do it before Guo Xiyan wrote a letter.

A small official like Guo Xiyan was actually not within the control of the Jinyiwei. Without him, he had no power and influence, so how much trouble could he cause?

So it was not until Guo Xiyan wrote a letter to establish the crown prince that Lu Bing began to pay attention to this person and began to investigate.

It's just that time is short, so there will naturally be no results in the short term.

"In Nanjing, report the news immediately, no matter when."

Emperor Jiajing still understands the difficulties of his subjects. After all, it is thousands of miles away, and even the fastest Tangma will take several days to deliver the documents.

Looking at the time, the news was delivered in just a few days. The speed of the Jinyiwei is fast enough.

At this time, a eunuch outside the door reported that the Silijian's Gao Zhong asked for an audience.

"Let him in, and you go down too. Don't relax on both things."

Let Gao Zhong come in. Needless to say, there must be something going on in the court, and now the only thing that can attract Emperor Jiajing's attention is Guo Xiyan's memorial.

If it is confirmed that it was Guo Xiyan who did it, Emperor Jiajing will never let go of this person who has no emperor in his heart.

Yes, when Guo Xiyan wanted to take advantage of the situation and win the credit for supporting the emperor, he ignored the bigger problem, that is, the current Emperor Jiajing is still in the heyday of the Spring and Autumn Period.

At this time, writing a letter to establish a crown prince, isn't that cursing yourself to death?

Otherwise, why should we choose the crown prince now?

Sure enough, Gao Zhong sent the cabinet a new draft on Guo Xiyan's memorial.

"It's suspicious, haha."

The Jiajing Emperor looked at the familiar handwriting on the draft and stroked his beard and chuckled.

"Pen and ink are ready."

The Jiajing Emperor did not say how to approve it, but suddenly ordered Huang Jin.

Huang Jin knew that the Jiajing Emperor was going to approve this memorial with his own handwriting, so he hurriedly brought up the already ground inkstone from below.

The Jiajing Emperor took his brush from the pen holder, dipped it in the inkstone, and then personally wrote on the draft: "When you saw it yesterday, he was angry, but you didn't see his rebellious intention in the word "doubt". The four words "establish the emperor and establish the crown prince" and the husband's son as the crown prince, who can establish the emperor? He will come again with the two assistants."

After the imperial approval, Gao Zhong took the memorial and sent it directly to the cabinet to Yan Song in obedience to the emperor's order.

After Gao Zhong left, Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne for a long time in a daze, and finally felt something was wrong.

For Guo Xiyan's memorial, the inner court and the cabinet had been dragging their feet for two days.

Calculated, the news from Nanjing should have reached the capital by tomorrow at the latest.

Emperor Jiajing stood up and walked back and forth in the palace several times, and then he told Huang Jin: "Draft an edict."

Huang Jin, who had been standing by the side, heard what Emperor Jiajing said and immediately turned around to sit behind the desk on the side of the throne, holding the paper with one hand and the pen with the other, ready to record Emperor Jiajing's edict.

"Minor evil must be unforgivable. Now the disloyal ministers and the unjust people are all evil. If the new policy is not implemented quickly, it can be seen that if the emperor and the prime minister do not attack the emperor for a long time, they will attack the assistant prime minister. The ministers are all ministers, and they are flatterers who can be questioned.

I still picked out the idea of ​​establishing the emperor in the memorial, and ordered the Ministry of Rites to discuss with other departments and roads and report it to the emperor."

Emperor Jiajing paced in the hall and dictated, and Huang Jin quickly copied Emperor Jiajing's edict on rice paper and checked it. After confirming that it was correct, he held the edict in both hands and handed it to the emperor for review.

After taking it and reading it carefully, Emperor Jiajing nodded slightly, "Use the seal and send someone to the cabinet."

Emperor Jiajing did not intend to waste too much time on Guo Xiyan's memorial. Since he was a disloyal minister and an unjust citizen, he would directly hand over his remarks to the Censorate and the Six Departments to see what they would say.

When Emperor Jiajing's imperial handwriting and the imperial edict that followed were placed on Yan Song's desk, Yan Song was just slightly stunned at the two documents.

Yan Shifan on the side shook his head and smiled bitterly, "This Guo Xiyan, he is seeking his own death and can't blame anyone. Father, don't be sad for such a person."

"After all, he is a fellow villager."

Yan Song sighed and said.

"Your Majesty's meaning is very clear. This Guo Xiyan will not survive. I will ask Lan Bi and others to impeach him later."

Yan Shifan knew that his father had let it go and figured it out, so he said again.

"You are spreading rumors and misleading the people. Can you banish him?"

Yan Song frowned and looked at Yan Shifan, who shook his head in response to his gaze, "Your Majesty can't get past that."

"Forget it, your people from the Ministry of Rites, ask them to convene the six departments to discuss this matter."

Yan Song didn't want to care about it anymore. After all, he was almost eighty years old and his energy was not good. If Yan Shifan hadn't helped him analyze and handle important matters in the court, he would have been overwhelmed and had long planned to retire.

However, for the sake of his family, he had to continue to insist on this position. At least, he couldn't leave until Emperor Jiajing had clearly identified the crown prince.

Later that day, Lu Bing received the second intelligence from the Nanjing Jinyiwei, which recorded the process of Huang Maoguan's murder and the news that Wei Guangde and Liu Shiyan drove away the rebellious soldiers of Zhenwu Camp in the streets near the small parade ground. Therefore, the Nanjing Zhenwu Camp mutiny did not involve the entire city, and only a small number of illegal and disorderly incidents occurred around the small parade ground.

After that, Nanjing garrison, Duke of Wei Xu Pengju and Zhang Ao issued a military order, mobilizing officers and soldiers of Nanjing Jingying to surround the small parade ground and trap the Zhenwuying rebels in it.

The Nanjing Zhenwuying mutiny in history involved a wide range of people.

After Xu Pengju and Zhang Ao were forced to agree to a reward of 100,000 taels of silver to the rebels of Zhenwuying and escape from the siege of the rebels, they were eager to summon the dignitaries of Nanjing to discuss the matter.

As a result, they fled in panic because they were surrounded by the rebels without any results.

The soldiers of Zhenwuying failed to capture the dignitaries of Nanjing City, and then dragged Huang Maoguan's body through the streets for public display, and smashed and looted along the way.

With the demonstration of Zhenwuying in front, officers and soldiers of various camps in Nanjing participated in more or less, resulting in chaos in Nanjing City for more than ten days, and most of the dignitaries fled the city. It was not until the eunuch He Shou who stayed in Nanjing agreed to a reward of 100,000 gold for the rebels that the order of Nanjing City was gradually restored.

As for why they did not wait for the high officials of Nanjing to discuss before rebellion, in fact, a big reason was the death of Huang Maoguan.

The big mistake was made, and the rebels knew that they could not escape the death penalty, so they took advantage of their large numbers to force the officials of Nanjing to report to them and explain the reasons for the mutiny in order to save their lives.

Because Wei Guangde appeared in time and did not let the rebels create chaos in the whole city of Nanjing, the losses of this mutiny were undoubtedly much smaller than the original history, and the impact and duration were greatly shortened.

After reading this, Lu Bing knew that Nanjing was stable, and the mutiny lasted only half a day before it was controlled. Although the intelligence also mentioned that the rebels of Zhenwu Camp were only trapped in the small parade ground and could not go out, as long as it did not affect the entire Nanjing city, there was nothing to worry about.

Lu Bing naturally did not dare to neglect receiving this intelligence, and hurriedly rode to Xiyuan again to deliver the latest news from Nanjing.

Knowing that the mutiny of soldiers in Nanjing City had been successfully controlled, Emperor Jiajing naturally breathed a sigh of relief.

Who said that Emperor Jiajing was devoted to cultivating Taoism and didn't care about the affairs of the court?

That was his kingdom, and it was his before he passed the power to the next person.

In fact, Emperor Jiajing only acted indifferent to the affairs of the court in front of others, but in fact he handled the affairs of the court in an orderly manner. As for the appointment of Yan Song and his gang of traitors, which was criticized by later generations, in fact, in the eyes of the emperor, there was no good or bad minister, only the difference in ability.

As long as the official was able to do things, Emperor Jiajing would choose to appoint him. Who wouldn't be greedy?

On the second day, the news of the mutiny of soldiers in Nanjing City reached the capital. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Public Security received memorials from Nanjing, stating the whole story of the Zhenwuying incident that occurred in Nanjing City on the 20th.

At the same time, yesterday afternoon and evening, after the six departments of the Ministry of Rites convened a meeting, the Imperial Censor Lan Bi and others reported that Xi Yan was resentful and treacherous, and that the Ministry of Justice was planning to charge him with spreading rumors and misleading the public. The memorials were also submitted to the Ministry of Public Administration, and then sent to the Cabinet.

In fact, Yan Song, Xu Jie and others had already known about the impeachment memorials of Lan Bi and others last night, so they naturally affirmed them when they drafted them, and immediately sent them to the Ministry of Rites.

Yan Song was very surprised by the Nanjing incident. Normally, such incidents should be sent to Xiyuan immediately, and there is no need to send them to Silijian. However, it was clearly written in this memorial that the rebel soldiers had been controlled and did not cause chaos in Nanjing.

Seeing this, the first thing Yan Song thought of was that the officials in Nanjing were restless and deliberately created something to attract attention.

But this was just a thought. Then, he asked someone to find Xu Jie and handed him the memorial in his hand.

"Look, something happened in Nanjing."

Emperor Jiajing knew about the mutiny in Nanjing Zhenwu Camp one day in advance, but the news was not detailed enough, so he naturally could not notify the cabinet to make various responses.

And as Lu Bing said, there were Duke Wei, eunuchs staying in Nanjing, and six ministries. It was impossible for so many people to not handle this rebellion.

Therefore, Yan Song only knew what happened in Nanjing when he received the official document.

"Huh, fortunately, the officials in Nanjing handled it properly and controlled the riot on the same day."

Xu Jie took the memorial from Yan Song and read it carefully, then he breathed a sigh of relief and said to Yan Song in a relaxed tone.

"The memorial said that the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue arbitrarily deducted the military pay of Zhenwu Camp and other military forces, which was the cause of this incident. There was a disaster there last year, and there was another plague at the beginning of the year, and the soldiers could not survive.

Ma Kun had just arrived at the Ministry of Revenue not long ago, and such a big thing happened in Nanjing. It was all the leaks he made during his tenure. It seems that the position of the Minister of Revenue will continue to be replaced."

The purpose of Yan Song calling Xu Jie over was naturally to talk about this matter.

Although the memorial did not impeach anyone, it made it clear that the military pay of Zhenwu Camp was deducted.

For a military mutiny, someone must take the blame, and the dead Huang Maoguan is naturally the best scapegoat. As for whether the court will investigate Ma Kun's fault, for the officials in Nanjing, does it have anything to do with them?

As for how to deal with it, it was naturally handled according to the discussion. In addition to reissuing the soldiers' overdue military pay, each soldier whose pay was withheld was compensated with one or two taels of silver.

As for those who rebelled against the emperor, they would naturally be handed over to the officials for trial. Twenty-five initiators of the rebellion have been arrested. It is planned to execute the three main offenders, and the other accomplices will be exiled to the extreme border.

The memorial was not issued on the day of the rebellion in Zhenwu Camp, but was drafted after the soldiers of Zhenwu Camp gave up resistance after the army approached the border. It was repeatedly deliberated and submitted by He Shou, Xu Pengju, Zhang Ao, Li Sui and others.

Because this incident was a group incident, when Li Sui and Wei Guangde went to Zhenwu Camp for negotiations, the general framework had been set, that is, the soldiers who made trouble would not be executed.

As for the three main offenders who were reported to be beheaded, they were killed by stray arrows in the conflict between the rebellious soldiers of Zhenwu Camp and the three guards who rushed to the small parade ground for rescue. The so-called execution was just to reassure the court.

The purpose of looking for him was to find a candidate for the Minister of Revenue.

Xu Jie realized at this time that it was not the time to fight with Yan Song yet, so he nodded and agreed.