Chapter 35: Court Discussion
Zhu Yuhuan entered the palace quietly at night, while the news came that the emperor was killed in Tumu Fort.
What attracted more attention than Zhu Yuhuan's movements at the city gate was the sudden arrival of the military report late at night. This was urgent military information, and the common people along the road had heard the news. With Zhu Yuhuan's deliberate spread of the news, people's associations quickly led to the emperor, who was away on patrol.
Previously, in order to protect Zhu Qizhen, the capital city had once again mobilized 40,000 soldiers, three battalions and more than 10,000 elite troops from Northern Zhili to support the emperor so that His Majesty could return to Beijing smoothly.
However, this military intelligence came in an urgent manner, without any concealment, and entered Beijing late at night. Moreover, no news was leaked afterwards, which shows that it is likely not good news.
Under such circumstances, the common people inevitably let their imaginations run wild when spreading the news. By the time the news reached the various officials' residences in the capital, the story had evolved into a story about the emperor's battle against the Oirat at Tumu Fortress, but due to the obstruction of the powerful eunuch Wang Zhen, the army was thrown into chaos, the Oirat took advantage, and the entire army was annihilated. The emperor, knowing the greater good, knew that being captured by the Oirat would be a disgrace to Taizong and would allow the Oirat to exploit the emperor's name. So he drew his sword and bravely died.
This story implicitly put all the blame on Wang Zhen, and the emperor became a young emperor who was deceived by corrupt eunuchs. For a time, many people felt very sympathetic to the emperor who had committed suicide for his country.
However, many people had doubts in their hearts after hearing this story, especially the families of some soldiers in the Beijing camp.
Wasn't it because the emperor indulged the eunuchs that they came to power? Wang Zhen was certainly wrong, but wasn't the emperor's undue deceit even more sinister?
Can it be written off just because the emperor is dead?
Although many people secretly grumbled, on the surface the emperor was innocent and it was all the treacherous ministers who deceived him and the powerful eunuchs who did evil. The emperor had set an example and voluntarily died for his country. Isn't that enough?
Rather than these, they should consider what to do next?
The emperor was killed in Tumu Fort, which means that the Oirat army was not far from the capital. Doesn’t that mean they are about to reach the capital?
Not only the common people were worried, but so were the officials of all ranks in the capital.
The soldiers from Northern Zhili, the elite troops from the Beijing camp, and the three major camps, all these various soldiers have now been reduced to ashes in Tumu Fort, which shows the large number of the Wala army. Even if the capital city is not empty now, it is not in a much better situation. If the Wala city reaches the foot of the capital city, who knows whether they will imitate the Song Dynasty's southward migration.
At present, the capital has not yet been officially under martial law, and many officials have taken this opportunity to urge their families to pack up their gold and silver and flee south to avoid disaster.
After all, they are officials. They can run away, but they cannot run away from the temple. But why can't they let their families die with them?
They would never have thought that the country would suffer such a blow just after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
At the next morning court session, everyone looked pale.
Prince Qin was only nineteen, not yet crowned, childless, and a first-time regent, with no experience in government affairs. Empress Dowager Cihui, though titled as regent, had no experience in government affairs. Empress Dowager Sun, even less so, lacked even the title. As for the emperor's only and eldest son, Zhu Jianshen, he could barely speak, and there was no guarantee he would die from a headache or fever.
As for the experienced and famous Princess Shunde, a few people heard that she had returned to Beijing, but she cursed Wang Zhen at the city gate and almost drew blood. After that, she returned to the princess's mansion with a group of guards. She was probably so angry that she might not even know about the emperor's death.
Even if the eldest princess knew about it, she might not step forward to take charge at this time.
The emperor wanted to delay Princess Yan's return to the capital, and the officials were well aware of this. To be fair, if they were in his place, they would probably be furious too.
Moreover, they knew very well that Princess Shunde had many industries in the south, and often used the south to support the north, just to create more positions for women in Beijing. There was no need for her to fight to the death in the north.
Not to mention that she was repeatedly targeted by the emperor and Wang Zhen, and her journey back to Beijing was bumpy. She was still targeted when she arrived at the gate of the capital. If the princess could be at ease, it would really be the manifestation of Guanyin Bodhisattva.
As they expected, Princess Shunde was not seen in the court. Instead, the two Empress Dowagers were ruling the country from behind the curtain, and Prince Qing was acting cautiously. It was obvious that things were really developing in a bad direction.
Seeing that all the officials attending the morning court had arrived, he spoke, "Military reports reached the capital last night... The Oirat army surrounded Tumu Fort, and the border patrol army was almost completely wiped out. Only a few officials and soldiers escaped. The emperor's brother...is still missing."
After hearing the news from King Qing, everyone remained silent.
In fact, they had heard some rumors about this matter, but what really troubled them was the fact that the emperor's life or death was unknown.
If the emperor died, things would be much simpler. Another emperor could be appointed to preside over the government. No matter what the outcome of the battle between the two armies would be, at least they could fight with all their might.
But if the emperor had not died, he would most likely have fallen into the hands of the Oirat. At that time, the Oirat would "hold the emperor hostage to command the princes", which would be a huge disadvantage for the Ming army.
If the Oirat Mongols used the emperor as a shield, the Ming army would not even dare to shoot arrows, let alone fire guns.
If the emperor is accidentally killed, who can take responsibility?
Moreover, if the king of a country was captured while patrolling the border, it would be a laughing stock for thousands of years if people knew about it.
It’s best to be an emperor or a dead emperor.
The first person to break the silence was none other than Empress Dowager Sun, who was sitting behind the beaded curtain with Hu Shanxiang. She stood up suddenly, then her vision went white again and she fell backwards. Ruilan, who was standing by, hurriedly supported Empress Dowager Sun and screamed, "Old Empress!"
She didn't know about this before she came, and she just thought it was some urgent military report. Now she suddenly knew that her own son's life or death was unknown. She was shocked and heartbroken and almost fainted.
The ministers were shocked when they heard the sound. They never expected that Queen Mother Sun would faint like this. They couldn't help but look behind the pearl curtain.
Zhu Qiyu fixed his gaze on the floor tiles and remained silent.
Hu Shanxiang raised her hand to signal the accompanying female doctor to examine Empress Dowager Sun, and then she spoke, "The most urgent task now is to deal with the Oirat. Those who have escaped have some understanding of the Oirat's military strength, but it is inevitable that there are some inaccuracies..."
Everyone naturally understood what Hu Shanxiang meant. These people escaped death, but they were probably scared out of their wits by the Wala Mongols, so it was inevitable that the story was exaggerated.
"Prince Qing told me that His Majesty had ordered Yang Hong to take over as the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, but he had only been in office for a month, and now he had to deal with the Wala attack, which was already extremely difficult. And the fact that the Wala were able to attack Tumu Fort proves that they were capable of dividing their forces to attack the capital..."
Before Hu Shanxiang finished speaking, everyone already understood what she meant.
The Oirat are not fools. If they cannot capture Xuanfu, they can just take a detour. The available combat power of the capital will be obviously reduced. If the Oirat attacks by force, the capital will be in extremely dangerous situation.
In the silence, someone suddenly spoke:
"Empress Dowager, I implore Princess Shunde to temporarily take charge of government affairs and return to her position as assistant minister, to deter the four directions, maintain the court, and preside over the overall situation."
Xu Yun, who was originally eager to try, was stunned and looked at the person who spoke, who was Yu Qian, the Minister of War.
Why did this upright Minister Yu also mention the eldest princess? Wasn't this his job?
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