Chapter 324: Thoughts of All Parties
Queen Mother Zhou boarded the fleet bound for the capital, while Marshal Zhou was organizing the repair of the city wall fortifications in the capital.
Especially since the original Prince Consort's Mansion must be renovated. Otherwise, where will the boss live when he returns? Does he have to move into the Forbidden City?
When the surrendered officials learned that the empress dowager was going back to the capital first, they immediately asked someone to send gifts to General Zhou and asked him to arrange for them to go to Tongzhou Wharf to welcome the empress dowager.
They knew that the Nanjing court was now divided into three factions. The young emperor wanted to rule the country himself, and officials represented by Ni Yuanlu and Shi Kefa supported the emperor's personal rule.
The forces of the Queen's Party, led by the Queen Mother, wanted to regain power. As for what the Queen Mother thought, these people naturally imagined that the Queen Mother Zhou was the same as Empress Lü and Empress Wu Zetian.
In reality, Empress Dowager Zhou, like Zhu Yuanzhang, hoped to leave her son a peaceful and obedient court. It would have been better if those meritorious officials and Zhao Xiaofei had all died, just as they had during the reign of Emperor Taizu.
General Zhou looked over the gift list; it was truly dismal. Most officials could only offer jade, calligraphy, or paintings. As for gold and silver, well, forget it. Li Zicheng and the Jianlu had stripped it all clean, leaving them nothing behind.
There were even a few minor officials who wanted to give their daughters to General Zhou. General Zhou looked at them with disdain and thought to himself: "Your daughters are probably leftovers from the rebels and the Jianlu! I don't want second-hand or third-hand goods!"
After Zhou entered the city, he had already heard about the atrocities committed by the Jianlu. Li Zicheng was a bit better. The Jianlu were relatively well-behaved at first, but later, unable to collect grain and tax silver, they resorted to rape, looting, and committing all sorts of evil. Few women of any beauty in the capital were virgins.
General Zhou put down the gift list and summoned the newly appointed Shuntian Prefecture Governor, Yan Yingyuan. He had demonstrated exceptional organizational skills in Jiangnan, which had caught the attention of Zhao Xiaofei and Zhao Xiaokun. They then asked him to accompany the army to the capital. If they successfully captured the capital, Yan Yingyuan would become the new Shuntian Prefecture Governor.
Yan Yingyuan had been incredibly busy these days. Besides organizing the people to repair the city walls, he was also providing relief and porridge to the common people. He was also counting and measuring the land, redistributing it. He also had a mountain of cases waiting to be heard.
Yan Yingyuan took the gift list and sneered, "These shameless traitors still have the nerve to want to see the Queen Mother! If it were up to the prince, they would all deserve to die."
"So, should I let these people meet? Or not?" Zhou Shuai asked.
"Meet him! Why not? It will be good for the prince and the emperor to make the empress dowager feel upset. Without the empress dowager, the revival of the Ming Dynasty may be realized faster." Yan Yingyuan said.
"Good! Lord Yan has thought it through carefully! By the way, how is the construction of the late emperor's tomb going?" asked General Zhou.
"I calculated that after the Queen Mother arrives in the capital, it will probably take a month to move to the new mausoleum," said Yan Yingyuan.
As everyone knows, Li Zicheng and his men arranged for Chongzhen's body to be buried in the mausoleum of Concubine Tian. Empress Zhou was at odds with Concubine Tian, and she would never allow the late emperor to be buried with her. After all, she was the empress, so how could she allow the late emperor to be buried with a concubine?
Instead of waiting for the Queen Mother to come and order the construction of a new mausoleum, it would be better to start now! If the Queen Mother came, she could just invite monks and Taoist priests to perform rituals and move the mausoleum for the late emperor.
Zhou Shuai thought even more maliciously, maybe the Queen Mother would get so excited that she would have a heart attack, which would save them a lot of trouble. They could just arrange for you, the Queen Mother, to move into the new house!
"Where is the prince's tomb?" asked General Zhou.
"The prince's body is still in the Beiji Temple! The body has long been rotten. I asked the coroner in the yamen to rewrap it with flour. Then I painted it with a layer of paint. The empress dowager should be able to accept it!" Yan Yingyuan said.
General Zhou said, "The Crown Prince's body has been found, but where are the other princes?"
"There's no news. He must have been murdered! Otherwise, he would have come to find us a long time ago!" Yan Yingyuan said.
"What should we do if the Queen Mother wants to keep those officials? The prince's intention is at least to never re-employ them!" said General Zhou.
"It's easy! Which of these Beijing officials has a clean bottom? If we investigate, we'll find some shit. We can just charge them with some crimes and be done with it. If the Empress Dowager says to use someone, we can just arrest them and execute them according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty." Yan Yingyuan made a gesture of wiping his neck.
"The prince has foresight to let you be the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. You deserve it!" Zhou Shuai thought to himself, you are so cruel!
At this moment, the soldier outside the door said: "General Zhou, Lord Yan! General Mao wants to see you!"
"Please let General Mao in!" said General Zhou.
Mao Jiu rushed in and said, "General Zhou, Lord Yan, Huang Degong, and Gao Jie have led their troops to Gu'an! They sent someone to say they want to garrison in Beijing! They said it was arranged by the imperial court! What should we do?"
Yan Yingyuan knew there was something fishy going on. They had held their ground while the Kenan Army advanced north, but now that they had entered the capital, they had rushed over at top speed. They were hoping to share a piece of the action, and by the way, the two armies' combined presence in the capital would serve as a check on each other.
Yan Yingyuan sighed and said, "It's all about balancing our power with the imperial court! We can't stop them, and there's no reason to stop them. Otherwise, Nanjing will definitely complain. They might even order us to give them space."
Zhou Shuai nodded. He had seen TV dramas before. Whether it was the emperor or the imperial court, they all loved playing the game of balance. They were much better at it than the British.
"Then I'll have to trouble Brother Yan to arrange a garrison for them!" Marshal Zhou bowed to Yan Yingyuan.
Yan Yingyuan understood what Marshal Zhou meant. Since he couldn't stop them, he should take the initiative. But we must keep the best and most important places.
"Okay, okay!" Yan Yingyuan said with a smile.
Mao Jiu was completely confused. He didn't understand what the two meant. So he asked, "Are we really going to let these bastards into the city? We conquered the capital, why should we let them in?"
"Just say this to me. What's yours and mine? This capital still belongs to the Ming Dynasty!" General Zhou taught.
Huang Degong and Gao Jie went to Beijing together. After they arrived in Gu'an, they stopped and immediately sent people to Beijing to find out the truth.
As a result, I heard that 20,000 people blocked the attack of 30,000 Eight Banners cavalry and defeated Doni so badly that the Jianlu dared not turn back.
So they honestly sent people to discuss with the Kenan Army. Huang Degong said: "Xingping Bo, we should at least take over the Fengtai camp and guard the several gates to the west of the capital."
"Duke Jingguo, let's hold off on this matter and listen to what the Kenan Army has to say. I don't want the people of our Ming Dynasty to fight among themselves again! I, Gao Jie, will naturally listen to the court's words, but if it's the Queen Mother's words, haha! That's not necessarily the case!" Gao Jie sneered.
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