Chapter 151: The Struggle Between Civil and Military

Seeing that the newly appointed Grand Secretaries were sensible enough, Wen Tiren was quite satisfied.

Chongzhen swept his gaze across the assembled ministers and said with a dark face, "Continue!"

With no Censors like Tang Shiji to lead the charge, Wen Tiren had no choice but to step up personally: "The Yongwei Camp fields twenty thousand armored soldiers, and their combat prowess is plain for all to see—there is no one in the capital who can check them! I beg Your Majesty to think thrice!"

Minister of Revenue Hou Xun said, "Is being able to fight now a crime? If not for these twenty thousand battle-ready troops, who knows where the Great Ming would stand today."

Wen Tiren gave a cold snort, ignored Hou Xun, and continued his memorial: "The Yongwei Camp killed the Left Censor-in-Chief without authorization—heaven's justice cannot abide this! I beg Your Majesty to dispatch troops to surround and suppress them, and spare those who surrender!"

Wen Tiren's lackey Grand Secretary Zhang Zhifa also spoke: "I second this motion. I beg Your Majesty to issue an edict mobilizing the Shenji Camp, the Shenshu Camp, and the Five Armies Camp to surround the Yongwei Camp and force them to lay down their arms!"

Zhang Shize gave a snort and said, "Forgive this general for speaking bluntly—though my Shenshu Camp has tens of thousands of men, we could not match even half the Yongwei Camp's numbers!"

Wang Wannian also said, "Though the Shenji Camp has many firearms, its soldiers are timid as mice. When we go to war, if not for the Yongwei Camp holding the front of the central army, my Shenji Camp would rout before even facing the Tartar cavalry."

Wang Wannian was not as blunt as Zhang Shize, but his meaning was the same—we can't fight them either.

The Commissioners-in-Chief of the Five Armies Camp said nothing, offering no reaction at all, as if this matter had nothing to do with them.

The civil officials in the hall murmured among themselves—even the Shenji Camp and Shenshu Camp, which had fought the Tartars, admitted they were no match for the Yongwei Camp, so the other guards who had never seen battle were even less worth mentioning.

Chongzhen's expression was very ugly. He could already see that the military officers had turned their hearts toward the Crown Prince's faction. He could not understand how that unfilial son had managed to win people over!

Wen Tiren roared angrily, "If there is no way to check them, are we simply to let the Yongwei Camp run rampant through the capital?"

His words struck like thunder and lightning, booming through the hall, startling the assembled ministers into a momentary daze—for a time, not a sound could be heard.

Zhang Shize could no longer hold back. He stepped out of formation and shouted, "Since ancient times, ministers have taken pride in 'civil officials dying by remonstrance, military officials dying in battle.' Yet the Yongwei Camp has repeatedly fought to the death on campaign, and now the censors slander them as rebels—is this how remonstrance is meant to be carried out! With you acting like this, what military man would still dare to shed blood and give his loyalty to the Great Ming?"

Zhang Shize's words struck like a thunderbolt, piercing every heart like ten thousand arrows loosed at once, and even made Chongzhen atop the imperial throne tremble slightly.

The Duke of Ying, Zhang Zhiji, hurriedly rebuked him: "Shut up!"

Wang Wannian was stunned, never expecting that the usually composed Zhang Shize could speak such words. At this moment, he felt deep admiration for this younger brother of his.

The military officers were also stirred, thoughts arising in their hearts—the Great Ming had not originally valued civil over military. The system established by Emperor Taizu merely separated the civil and military, with both holding equal status.

But since the Tumu Crisis, when the Emperor was captured and the military aristocracy suffered a devastating blow, the civil-official-controlled Ministry of War came to command the armed forces. From that point on, the fate of Ming generals basically depended on the fate of the civil officials who supported them.

The most typical example was the famous general Qi Jiguang, who fell along with Zhang Juzheng's downfall. Once civil officials dominated, they busied themselves with internal feuds and factional strife, and military officers were dragged down by the factional battles, treated like grandsons. If they had real power, they would have mutinied long ago—who would put up with this crap!

A civil official pointed at Zhang Shize and said, "What do you mean by this?"

A Commissioner-in-Chief of the Five Armies Commandery looked at him coldly and said, "Is it not true? You civil officials should stick to assisting in governance—do you need to meddle in matters of war and the military?"

No sooner had these words been spoken than they drew fierce condemnation from many civil ministers, who angrily denounced the military officers for beginning to act arrogantly and demanded that they be more tightly restrained.

The military officers had once been so glorious, yet now they suffered suppression at the hands of civil officials, enduring humiliation and disdain. The military aristocrats had endured for nearly two hundred years, and now they finally had a chance to erupt. They showed no weakness, shouting back at the crowd of civil officials.

Influenced by the Yongwei Camp mutiny incident, the factional strife that had once been most common at court had now, in the great hall, transformed into a struggle between civil and military.

Chongzhen looked at each military officer in turn, seeing the blazing light in their eyes and the sinister look upon their faces. His heart suddenly jolted, and a chill surged into his chest.

The civil-military struggle in the great hall raged on without cease. Some military officers rolled up their sleeves, just short of staging the Great Ming court's old tradition of all-out brawling.

Speaking of all-out brawling, it was quite popular in the Great Ming. During Emperor Daizong's reign, full-scale brawls frequently broke out at court assemblies. But these ministers did not fight one-on-one—they often banded together in groups, with over a hundred people brawling at once. If they won, they claimed they were pleading for the people; if they lost, they could still say they were being loyal to the state.

On one occasion, a group of ministers beat the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Guard Commander to death right there in the great hall. The ministers, their eyes red from fighting, ultimately even locked onto the Emperor as their target. Emperor Daizong's face went white with fear, and he immediately gave high praise to the ministers' just-committed violence in the Golden Carriage Hall as an act of righteous courage—only thus did he escape disaster.

During the Jiajing era, because they could not stand the "treacherous villains" like Ministry of Justice Bureau Secretary Zhang Cong and Gui E, who tried every means to flatter the Emperor, Yang Shen, Hanlin Academy Junior Compiler Wang Yuanzheng, and Supervising Secretary of the Justice Section Zhang Chong—a group of hot-blooded young men—didn't even attend court sessions. Day after day they set up blockades on the Golden Water Bridge before the Forbidden City, waiting for Zhang Cong, Gui E, and the others. They beat them every time they saw them, until Zhang Cong and his lot dared not attend court for quite a while. On one occasion, Yang Shen and his companions even chased them into the Forbidden City itself and beat them in full view of everyone.

There was also the brawl involving Chief Grand Secretary Gao Gong during the Longqing era—too many instances to count. Zhu Cilang drawing his blade on a Censor was merely a minor affair. It was only because few ministers had brawled in recent years that it had become such a fuss.

Wang Cheng'en watched the civil and military sides hurling words at each other without throwing punches, utterly bored. He happened to glance toward one side of the imperial throne and saw the chief eunuch of Kunning Palace anxiously gesturing to summon him. He descended the marble steps and walked over.

Chongzhen had originally hoped to discuss in the court assembly how to deal with the Yongwei Camp, but never expected the situation to devolve into this. His expression was very unpleasant, and he could not help but roar, "Enough!"

At the Emperor's thunderous shout, the civil and military ministers who had been arguing gradually quieted down, waiting for His Majesty's sovereign decision.

"Draft the edict!" Chongzhen suddenly rose from the imperial throne, intending to make his sovereign decision—only to discover that Wang Cheng'en was gone.

The chief eunuch of Kunning Palace whispered a few words into Wang Cheng'en's ear. Upon hearing them, cold sweat broke out all over Wang Cheng'en. He turned and hurried back up the marble steps, but his foot slipped and he fell to the ground. Before the other eunuchs could come to help him up, he scrambled to his feet, crawling and stumbling.

"What's going on?" Chongzhen frowned at him. Losing composure before the throne was a grave offense—Wang Cheng'en had served in the palace for years, how could he still make such a low-level mistake?

Wang Cheng'en quickly stood up and urgently whispered a single sentence into Chongzhen's ear.

"What! The Crown Prince has been poisoned?" Chongzhen's face was full of shock, and he could not help blurting it out.

The entire great hall fell silent, only Chongzhen's voice echoing through the hall. All the ministers were terrified, watching as the Emperor, after shouting that single sentence, hurriedly left.

The Crown Prince has been poisoned? The ministers were all horrified—someone had actually dared to harm the Crown Prince. Unconsciously, their gazes turned toward the eunuch faction, but the eunuch faction remained collectively silent, all of them looking at one another.