Chapter 94: The Situation

After the victory presentation ceremony, a merit-awarding ritual was held in the Huangji Hall, with the honors going mainly to officials like Sun Chuanting who had suppressed bandits in the Central Plains.

This was because the Yongwei Camp's rewards had already been completed beforehand — Huang Degong and Sun Yingyuan were each promoted one grade, rising from Assistant Regional Commander to Vice Regional Commander.

The Ming Dynasty currently had over sixty active Regional Commanders, some bearing seals and some not; those without seals held a somewhat lower status. As for Vice Regional Commander, it was merely a form of reward.

Xu Sheng, for his meritorious service in guarding the Crown Prince in recent years, was promoted two grades from the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Chiliarch of the fifth rank to Assistant Guard Commander of the fourth rank, still guarding the Eastern Palace.

Most of the Yongwei Camp's officers were promoted one grade, and even the common soldiers were raised one grade, at minimum becoming Squad Leaders — though not with actual appointment.

Additionally, each person was rewarded fifty taels of silver. As for bonus money, the court was short of funds, so Zhu Cilang naturally took the initiative to save Chongzhen the expense by paying out of his own pocket.

The goods seized at Liangxiang were too numerous — plain silver alone amounted to 1.3 million taels. Zhu Cilang had only handed over a portion of the useless cold weapons to the Ministry of Revenue; the rest — armor, war horses, silver, and supplies — he had hauled off to Xincheng himself.

As for Li Tingbiao, because he had conducted covert military reconnaissance, Zhu Cilang could not petition for merit on his behalf and could only let him suffer the injustice.

Worried that Li Tingbiao might harbor resentment, Zhu Cilang specially summoned him and told him face to face: "Li Tingbiao, among all my trusted confidants, your role is the greatest. You are like a sharp blade, clearing the path for me, succeeding wherever you go!"

There were no promises, no pledges of future prospects — only a single evaluation, yet it made Li Tingbiao follow Zhu Cilang with even greater devotion.

After the bloody night in the capital, many had witnessed the Crown Prince's methods, and quite a few ministers sent their name cards to Zhu Cilang through Li Tingbiao, expressing their willingness to follow the Crown Prince.

Everyone now knew that Li Tingbiao was the Crown Prince's man, and the Crown Prince could not freely associate with outside officials, so many ministers could only use Li Tingbiao as their link to pledge loyalty to Zhu Cilang.

Though Zhu Cilang had publicly burned that little booklet, who knew whether he kept a copy? Rather than worry about offending the Crown Prince in the future, it was better to draw close to him — after all, the Crown Prince was the legitimate heir to the throne, and throwing in with him was no loss!

With this mindset, many ministers began trying every possible means to establish connections with Zhu Cilang. Zhu Cilang did not put on airs either — he quietly accepted most of them. No matter what sort of characters this crowd were, as long as they could be useful at court, that sufficed. At worst, they could serve as cannon fodder!

And so, a new power bloc vaguely formed around Zhu Cilang, which officials secretly called the Crown Prince Faction.

A special edition of the Imperial Ming Times devoted an entire page to reporting the victory presentation ceremony, proclaiming the empire's majesty and demonstrating to the people that the court had the ability to pacify the roving bandits' rebellion in the Central Plains and to defeat the Jianzhou barbarians and recover lost territory!

Of course, whether or not it could actually be done, whatever the current situation, the slogans had to be shouted loudly one after another first — the people must not be allowed to waver in their faith in the court or lose confidence.

Just as the Imperial Ming Times was selling hot off the presses, some Censors and remonstrance officials began submitting memorials to Chongzhen, requesting that he issue an edict to shut down the Imperial Ming Times, claiming the newspaper allowed commoners to privately discuss state affairs, and even contained talk about the earth being round — views contrary to the Son of Heaven's doctrine, threatening to shake the foundations of the state.

Chongzhen had recently been paying close attention to the Imperial Ming Times as well, subscribing to every issue. Though the court's Capital Gazette also served many of the Imperial Ming Times' functions, its content was far too sparse by comparison — they simply could not be measured against each other.

In his spare time each day, Chongzhen would flip through the Imperial Ming Times to see what was happening around the capital region and what the literati thought of the court. Hearing at this moment that the Censors and remonstrance officials were petitioning to shut down the Imperial Ming Times — how could he possibly agree?

Chongzhen also wanted to use the newspaper to solicit governing wisdom from the empire's scholars, to guide public opinion within the country, and to build popular support for the new policies he might implement in the future.

Put plainly, it was a struggle with the remonstrance officials and Censors for control of public discourse — let them wield their dozens of sharp tongues and speak with flowers blooming from their lips; they were no match for the countless voices of hundreds of millions of people.

The remonstrance officials had also noticed that the Imperial Ming Times vaguely possessed this function, which was why they strained every effort to petition for the newspaper office's closure, banding together to submit memorial after memorial without cease.

Everyone was clever — just like the "Great Rites Controversy" of the Jiajing reign and the "Struggle over the Heir" of the Wanli reign, they used all sorts of fancy pretexts to challenge the Emperor.

Put plainly, it was political struggle, a contest of political forces — the remonstrance official bloc challenging imperial authority and fighting for the right to speak at court. Such things were common occurrences in the Great Ming, and basically every emperor encountered them a few times.

Chongzhen had been emperor for ten years and had experienced the eunuch faction, the Donglin Faction, and all sorts of chaotic factional strife — he was a man who had been through it all. To him, this counted as a minor affair.

Zhu Cilang was not idle either. The Imperial Ming Times was something he had founded through painstaking effort — if someone wanted it shut down, that meant they were picking a fight with him. Without a second word, Zhu Cilang directed his newly attached lackeys to trade barbs with the remonstrance officials at court.

Come on then — hurt each other, who's afraid of whom! With Zhu Cilang stirring the pot, both sides pulled out every trick in their arsenals, attacking one another, scheming against each other — flesh and blood flew, a sight too miserable to behold.

The Great Ming's remonstrance officials were indeed somewhat arrogant and overbearing — if they found someone displeasing in the daytime, they would bury their heads writing memorials that night, and submit their impeachments the next day. According to statistics, every minister at court had been impeached by remonstrance officials at least twenty times.

In the end, no matter what the remonstrance officials said — even if they wept before the palace, even if they slammed their heads against pillars in court — Chongzhen refused to shut down the Imperial Ming Times office. When he was truly provoked to anger, he would drag a few out for flogging at court, beating to death the ones who jumped the highest.

Recently, Zhu Cilang looked at the memorials the ministers submitted impeaching one another and found it amusing — truly dogs biting dogs! Regardless of what happened, as long as the firepower was not concentrated on him and his imperial father, it was fine.

Zhu Cilang suddenly spotted a memorial concerning Li Tingbiao. It was submitted by Luo Yangxing, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, requesting that Li Tingbiao be promoted to Assistant Guard Commander.

Zhu Cilang sneered coldly. On the surface this was a promotion for Li Tingbiao, but in reality it was a promotion in name and a demotion in substance. Within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the position of Assistant Guard Commander was one grade higher than Provost, but it held no real power — worthless!

The Provost position was not high in rank, yet it held real authority in hand; even Assistant Guard Commanders had to treat him with utmost respect on ordinary days. The Great Ming's officialdom was just that realistic — whoever held real power was the boss!

It seemed this Luo Yangxing was beginning to harbor a grudge against him. But so what? A house slave was a house slave — no matter how much he jumped around, it was useless. After a while, he would find some task for Li Tingbiao to do, let him earn merit, and then promote him again.

After the victory presentation ceremony, as if in provocation and retaliation against the Ming court, the Qing army breached Dingxing and Ansu within ten days, attacked Gu'an, took Wen'an, and captured Baodi, killing County Magistrate Zhao Guoding.

The Qing forces to the north, under Abatai's command, attacked Huairou, occupied Hexiwu, and stationed troops at Miyun and Pinggu, encircling the Ming capital. Within half a month, they "ravaged the entire capital region," with countless people's homes destroyed and their children, women, and valuables plundered.

At Dingxing, former Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments Lu Shanji and Prefect Xue Yi'e resolutely resisted the Qing, repeatedly driving back the Qing troops, but in the end, outnumbered and short of soldiers and provisions, Dingxing fell, and Lu Shanji and Xue Yi'e took their own lives in martyrdom.

When the court learned of this, it posthumously conferred upon Lu Shanji the title of Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, granted him the posthumous name Zhongjie, and built a shrine in his honor.

The latest issue of the Imperial Ming Times focused on patriotic education, with a special section reporting the deeds of officials who had died for their country in various places. Zhu Cilang personally published an article praising them: "They gave their lives generously, facing naked blades without regret, their integrity towering and awe-inspiring, resolved to fulfill their own aspirations. Their heroic spirit and righteous valor must never be allowed to vanish from this world."

Asking for recommendation tickets!