Chapter 64: Deposed Emperor
The issue of Datong has been basically resolved, but there are still a lot of affairs in the court waiting for the emperor to deal with. Zhu Yuhuan certainly cannot continue to stay on the border.
Of course, the most important thing for Zhu Yuhuan was to bring Yuan Bin and Ha Ming with him, and to tell them his personal experience and to inform the ministers of the "good news".
Emperor Xuanzong Zhang's most beloved, most trusted, and carefully cultivated successor successfully became the guide of the Oirat Mongols, and most likely participated in Yesen's plan to invade Datong.
Not only Zhu Yuhuan was thinking about this matter, but Xu Yun was also busy in the capital, secretly preparing for His Majesty's next step.
Xu Gong, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was still collecting evidence related to Wang Zhen's followers and had already reached a basic conclusion. As the saying goes, "When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down." Many officials actively reported Wang Zhen in order to protect themselves, and Wang Zhen's reputation became more ruined than anyone else's.
But this alone is far from enough. At least some people who can never come back should also take responsibility.
Therefore, during the time when Zhu Yuhuan was away, Xu Yun had already contacted several officials in private. These people were either on good terms with him or intended to rely on him after Xu Yun entered the cabinet. If they committed any crime in the future, they would be able to get away safely like Peng Deqing.
They all studied hard for many years to become officials in the court and worked hard for many years to achieve their current status. It would be easy for them to describe the court environment during the Zhengtong period as "precarious and dark."
However, Zhu Yuhuan had also assisted in the administration of the orthodox government, although he only played a transitional role. However, if he scolded too much, it would inevitably implicate the emperor.
If the emperor is angered, things will probably become even more troublesome.
Xu Yun couldn't help but feel a little cautious.
He had worked so hard to get to where he was today, and he didn't want to lose his newly acquired power, status, wealth and glory because of a small matter.
Anyway, he had already had the article prepared and reviewed.
Everything can only wait for the emperor to come back and make the decision.
Zhu Yuhuan, who returned to the court, was obviously in tune with Xu Yun and successfully brought back Yuan Bin and Ha Ming, who were captured with Zhu Qizhen. These two were captives who returned to the Ming Dynasty in full view of the public and witnessed the former emperor's behavior of selling out the country for personal gain. They can be said to be the best witnesses.
At once, the situation inside and outside the court changed, and the people were outraged. Xu Yun immediately seized the opportunity to ask people to submit a petition. Under his leadership, everyone immediately rose up to attack.
Before the Battle of Tumu, Zhu Qizhen's image was at least that of a normal monarch. But after this incident, and the fact that he fled with Yesen and probably would never come back in this life, radicals like Wang Hong immediately wrote a letter to criticize everything that happened during the Zhengtong period.
Zhu Yuhuan listened to the female official reading piles of questions and closed his eyes to rest.
Zhu Qizhen's image has never been so unforgivable.
"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister Zeng Heling leads the cabinet and the six ministers to request an audience."
"Let them in."
Zhu Yuhuan picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, watching the officials enter without saying a word, just quietly listening to the female official's recitation.
Han Guilan and Zheng Tong stood on both sides of the emperor, and several palace maids were serving pens, ink, tea, etc. Everyone was silent, and only the content of the memorial requesting the emperor to consider posthumously conferring the title on Zhu Qizhen echoed in the palace.
Seeing that everyone was about to salute, Zhu Yuhuan raised his hand slightly, indicating that the female official did not need to continue reading.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."
"Get up."
All the ministers stood up. Zeng Heling, the chief minister, first gave a brief report on basic matters, such as the statistics of the fallen soldiers and the care of their families, the filling of vacancies in court positions after the defeat in the Battle of Tumu, and the results of the autumn examination.
Zhu Yuhuan briefly explained the plans for the Imperial Academy's martial arts program, saying, "Shi Jing, who previously escaped from Tumu Fort to report the news, although he fled in the face of battle, he delivered the news to the capital in a timely manner. His merits and demerits offset each other, and we will not pursue him further regarding the Tumu Fort incident. He was quite farsighted and lived up to his title of military scholar of the sixth year of Zhengtong. I intend to assign him to Shaanxi to train him under the censor Wang Qiang, to demonstrate the court's clear distinction between rewards and punishments."
Half an hour had passed after the brief report. Everyone had been hesitant about how to get to the point. Now that the emperor had taken the initiative to bring it up, Zeng Heling naturally would not miss this opportunity.
As the emperor said, Shi Jing’s affairs were unimportant, and the top priority now was obviously the “late emperor”.
"Before Your Majesty personally led the expedition, you ordered us to prepare a posthumous title and temple name for the Zhengtong Emperor. However... recently, there has been much discussion both inside and outside the court regarding the late emperor. This concerns the reputation of the royal family, and we dare not make any arbitrary judgment. I beg Your Majesty for your guidance..."
Zhu Yuhuan glanced at Hu Yi and asked, "Shouldn't the Ministry of Rites be in charge of this? What does Minister Hu think?"
Hu Yi had already guessed that he could not escape this when he heard Zhu Qizhen knocking on the door.
The descendants of Emperor Taizong were not up to the task, and as an outsider, he had already tried his best to protect them once, but there was no need to turn a blind eye to and cover up such an insult to the country, otherwise Zhu Di would probably have died of anger.
Hu Yi immediately spoke up, "This matter is of grave importance and cannot be swept under the rug with a few words. The more the court tries to evade it, the more serious the rumors will become, leading to widespread public outrage. Furthermore, there are witnesses to this matter. It is naturally impossible to posthumously confer the title of Zhengtong Emperor. All proposed posthumous titles such as 'Xian' and 'Shao' are void."
Xu Yun followed and said, "I implore Your Majesty to consider deposing the Zhengtong Emperor to appease our ancestors and quell the public anger and rumors."
This time it's finally his turn!
Hu Yi had originally wanted to be more tactful in expressing his stance, but now that Xu Yun was speaking frankly, he went along with it and said, "While Lord Xu's words are inappropriate, they are not entirely without reason. In the Song Dynasty, there was no such thing as giving an emperor a bad posthumous title. Furthermore, the failure of Tumu and the attack on the gates are truly contrary to the way of a monarch. Your Majesty, please reconsider."
Zhu Yuhuan didn't bother to play the game of refusing, so he went with the flow and said, "Your suggestion is very good. We will do as the Ministry of Rites says. I will personally go to the Taimiao to offer sacrifices and consult divination. I will choose a day to dethrone the Zhengtong Emperor with the decree of the Empress Dowager Cihui."
Everyone had anticipated this outcome and agreed to it.
Xu Yun continued, "I implore Your Majesty to abolish the titles of Empress Dowager, the biological mother of the Zhengtong Emperor, as well as his wives, concubines, and empresses, and to grant the title of Empress Dowager Cihui to show filial piety."
Empress Dowager Sun originally got her status as Empress Dowager because of Zhu Qizhen. Now Zhu Qizhen's title of emperor is to be abolished. Empress Dowager Sun is just the concubine mother of the current emperor Zhu Yuhuan, so her title of Empress Dowager must also be abolished.
Zhu Yuhuan remained noncommittal and nodded in agreement, saying, "The legitimate consorts have done nothing wrong. They are all of common origin and have never conceived children. With the exception of Consort Zhou De, their titles will be revoked and they will all be relocated to a different palace and treated like the Xuan Temple concubines."
Zeng Heling asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, the adoption of the eldest prince has been fully prepared. All we need is for the Imperial Astronomical Observatory to calculate an auspicious date. Then the eldest prince can address his mother as Her Majesty or Her Majesty the Emperor..."
Although he changed his name in name, it was well known that Zhu Jianshen had difficulty speaking. He was less than one year old and had just learned to call "Mom". These two titles were obviously far away from him.
"This matter, along with the previous ones, is now fully entrusted to the Cabinet and the Ministry of Rites for preparation. I will review and approve it immediately."
Zhu Yuhuan glanced around and saw how cautious they were. He said, "One more thing. Confer the title of Imperial Concubine on Consort Zhou De and take charge of all harem affairs."
Everyone looked at each other in surprise when they heard this.
After all, Concubine Zhou De was the biological mother of the emperor's eldest son, and it was indeed unreasonable to abolish her rank as a concubine, but "promoting her to the title of Imperial Concubine"... Whose Imperial Concubine was this?
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