Facing the questioning of the cabinet chief Fan Jingwen, Zu Dashou frowned and was silent for a long time before he raised his head and said, "The guilty people are unwilling to accept this!"

When Gao Shiming, who was standing by, heard this, a sneer appeared on his face.

He did not hide his sarcasm and asked loudly, "Are you unwilling or are you afraid of death? Huh?"

Zu Dashou lowered his head and said in a low voice: "The criminals are indeed afraid of death, but they are more unwilling to accept it! The Jiannu invaded the territory of the Ming Dynasty and bullied innocent people. As a general of the border army, I should keep the enemy out of the country!"

"Unfortunately... things did not go as planned. The Battle of Songjin was lost. The 130,000-man army suffered heavy losses, and even Hong Chengchou, the governor of Ji and Liao, surrendered to the Jiannu."

"The criminal wanted to die for his country, but he was unwilling to do so. So he chose to endure the humiliation and planned to stab the Jiannu in the back when the time was right."

"I've been waiting until now!"

"That's very well said," said Minister of Revenue Xie Sanbin, seemingly praising but actually mockingly, "If the border troops of the Ming Dynasty all had this idea, the Ming Dynasty would have changed dynasties long ago."

"Who is this gentleman?" Zu Dashou asked in a low voice, not knowing Xie Sanbin's identity.

"This is Lord Xie, the Minister of Revenue," Li Ruolian reminded in a low voice.

Zu Dashou was not angry at Xie Sanbin's sarcasm, but replied calmly: "Master Xie, you are joking. Although falsely surrendering to the Jiannu has damaged my reputation, it does not hinder my determination to serve the country."

"Why didn't you lead your troops to surrender when the Ping Liao army entered Liao?" Xie Sanbin continued to ask.

"After the criminals surrendered, they were placed under house arrest in Shengjing. Not only were they not allowed to fight on the front lines, they were not even allowed to leave the city," Zu Dashou explained.

"What about your son? Hasn't he been to the front line?" Xie Sanbin asked again.

"He did go to the front line and fought against the government troops. But he is him and I am me, we cannot generalize."

"If a child is not taught well, it is the fault of the father!" Xie Sanbin kept dwelling on this mistake.

"I am guilty!" Zu Dashou stopped arguing and confessed his guilt directly.

Xie Sanbin nodded with satisfaction, took a half step back and stopped his attack.

Before Zu Dashou could catch his breath, Minister of Rites Qiu Yu stepped forward and asked, "After surrendering to the Jiannu period, why did you write a letter to Wu Sangui to persuade him to surrender?"

"That letter was written under duress, so I took the risk of writing a secret letter to tell Wu Sangui to work hard, observe the situation, defend carefully, and guard the border gates with all our hearts..."

"Did you give advice to the Jiannu?"

"I have offered a few crude suggestions."

“How did Dorgon regain power?”

......

Others asked some more questions.

Zu Dashou answered all questions truthfully as long as they did not involve himself.

When it comes to questions about himself, he tries to answer them in a way that is beneficial to himself.

After an unknown amount of time, peace finally returned to the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Everyone looked at Chongzhen, after all, he was the final decision maker.

Chongzhen slowly stood up from the dragon throne, put his hands behind his back and said, "Grandpa, live your life."

"The criminals are here."

"How do you think I should deal with you?"

Why?

Zu Dashou didn't know how to answer.

How to answer?

Talk about executing yourself?

What if Chongzhen agrees?

Pardon the guilt?

This is too shameless.

"Zu Dashou, answer His Majesty quickly." Wang Chengen reminded softly.

"The crimes of the criminals...the criminals are unforgivable. Your Majesty will deal with them as you wish." Zu Dashou pushed the difficult problem back to Chongzhen.

After Chongzhen had Zu Dashou taken away, he asked the others present: "What do you think is the most appropriate way to deal with him?"

The cabinet chief Fan Jingwen said: "I think it is not possible."

"Zu Dashou has indeed committed a capital crime, but many of the generals of the Guanning Army are his former subordinates, and Wu Sangui is his nephew. There is a war going on in Liaodong now. If Zu Dashou is executed at this time, it will be very detrimental to the war in Liaodong."

"So...the sentence should be lenient."

Chongzhen nodded and looked at the others.

Minister of Revenue Xie Sanbin has not yet made any statement.

He had been thrown into disarray by Chongzhen.

When Zu Dashou came to Beijing, Chongzhen seemed to want to pardon him.

After Zu Dashou entered the palace, Chongzhen seemed to want to execute him.

There were contradictions between what was said and what was not, and he didn't know how to deal with it.

Does Zu Dashou's life or death have any impact on the situation in the court?

Almost none.

Will it have any impact on the war in Liaodong?

have.

But it doesn't matter.

What is important?

Down with Fan Jingwen!

Only in this way can he take his place.

So he could only oppose Fan Jingwen.

After thinking it over, Xie Sanbin said slowly, "Zu Dashou has committed several serious crimes that cannot be pardoned. I think he should be sentenced to death."

After he expressed his position, other cabinet ministers expressed their views in turn.

The Imperial Household Department also expressed its stance.

Some people support Fan Jingwen.

Some people support Xie Sanbin.

In the end, the choice returned to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen still did not make a decision, but waited for another day before putting the issue up for discussion at court meeting.

There are two reasons for doing this.

First, he really hadn't figured out how to deal with Zu Dashou, and wanted to hear other people's suggestions.

The second reason is to use this incident to see where the ministers stand.

The manifestation of party strife is the serious situation of taking sides.

He had finally put out the flames of factional strife in the court, and he could not allow it to revive.

Seeing that the situation of standing in line was not serious, Chongzhen also breathed a sigh of relief.

He stood up and said to everyone, "Zu Dashou has both merits and faults, but his merits and faults are hard to offset. I have decided to demote him to a commoner in order to uphold the law of the land."

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