Chapter 17: Cheng Jiming is ignored

Qian Qianyi was speechless and wanted to refute. What does it have to do with me, Qian Qianyi, whether those peasants have food to eat? What does it have to do with me, Qian Qianyi, whether the bandits rebel or not! Anyway, this Ming Dynasty belongs to your Zhu family. It is natural for me, Qian Qianyi, to be an official and make a fortune!
However, even though I thought about it, I could never say it out loud.

Seeing Qian Qianyi silent, Chongzhen snorted coldly and discussed two important matters in the court today.

One was that Xuanda was invaded and he advocated war;
Another thing was that Wei Zhongxian personally went to Jiangnan to collect taxes.

It was November of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, and Chongzhen had not even started using his own reign title. The shadow of Wei Zhongxian was still in the court, there were not many Donglin Party members, and it was a time of transition.

The third-generation leader of the Donglin Party, Shui Tailiang, was only the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and had no real power.

Although Cheng Jiming was the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, a top-notch position with real power, the Minister of Personnel at that time was still the famous eunuch Gu Bingqian, and the famous and capable minister and loyal Donglin Party member Wang Qia had not yet risen to power.

Although Gu Bingqian was in a state of panic during this period because of Wei Zhongxian's fall from power, Cheng Jiming was unable to use his power to place Donglin Party members in the court.

This resulted in the eunuch party being insecure and obedient to the emperor's words from the end of the Tianqi period to the second year of the Chongzhen period, fearing that they would displease the emperor and be liquidated.
At this time, the Donglin Party had not yet had time to enter the court on a large scale, and the few members did not occupy prominent and powerful positions, so their strength was not strong.

In the court, Chongzhen's words were generally decisive.

Therefore, these two major events were arranged very neatly and did not encounter fierce resistance from the officials.

When Cheng Jiming packed his bags at home and anxiously prepared to leave for Xuan Da, Wang Chengen suddenly found him and handed him a wax-sealed letter, saying that it was for Fang Zikun, the Lieutenant General of Datong.

Cheng Jiming was very curious about the handwritten letter that the emperor sent exclusively to Fang Zikun, but the letter was sealed with wax and would be discovered once it was opened. He had no choice but to suppress his curiosity and go to Datong Prefecture.

After traveling for several days, Cheng Jiming and his servants finally arrived at the city of Datong.

Datong Lieutenant General Fang Zikun had already received a letter from the Ministry of War, so he brought his subordinates to greet them outside the city gate.

In the late Ming Dynasty, civil officials were respected and military officials were despised. Cheng Jiming did not have a good face towards this respectful lieutenant general, and just went straight into Datong Prefecture.

Fang Zikun did not dare to show any dissatisfaction. After planning to kill Guiying, he himself realized that his behavior was too reckless and might very well lead to a war between the Ming Dynasty and Ligdan Khan.

So even though Cheng Jiming was in a bad mood along the way, Fang Zikun was still very tolerant of this so-called military supervisor.

After arriving at the residence prepared by Fang Zikun, Cheng Jiming directly took out Chongzhen's handwritten edict and handed it to Fang Zikun, saying: "This is the edict from His Majesty to you. Take it."

Fang Zikun was greatly surprised. Logically speaking, if the court wanted to punish someone, it would have just issued an imperial edict. Why would it have to issue a handwritten order?

A handwritten edict is an explanation from the emperor to his ministers in the underworld. He would not use a handwritten edict if he wanted to punish someone.

Since it was a handwritten order, it meant that Chongzhen would most likely not punish him. However, Fang Zikun still took the order nervously and could not wait to peel off the wax and read it.

This scene made Cheng Jiming extremely curious, but he couldn't get close to read the emperor's handwritten edict, so he had to wait for Fang Zikun to tell him the contents after reading it.

After Fang Zikun opened the imperial edict, the corners of his mouth gradually curled up, and his heart, which had been tense, was relieved. Chongzhen said a lot, which can be summarized into four points: Fang Zikun had made great contributions in killing the bandits, so he should not be afraid, and must prepare well to fight the next tough battle with all his strength;
Secondly, although Cheng Jiming is the military supervisor, Fang Zikun does not have to obey his orders. He should make all the decisions on war matters on his own. Don't think that he can use Cheng Jiming as a shield if he loses the battle.

The third is that the 300,000 taels of silver sent by the Ministry of Revenue are already on the way. They can be used to boost morale before the war. Three months' worth of wages can be paid out first, and the rest can be used to reward meritorious service after the war.

The last and most important thing is the specific strategic arrangements made by the invaders this time.

While we were defending Datong with all our might, if we had the chance we would give Ligdan Khan a taste of his own medicine and let him know that the Ming Dynasty was not without its own people.

After reading the imperial edict, Fang Zikun felt refreshed and excitedly shouted "Long live the emperor" in front of Cheng Jiming. Cheng Jiming was frightened and thought that Chongzhen had said something harsh in the imperial edict, which frightened the young lieutenant general in front of him.

"After all, he is a third-rank military officer of the imperial court. Why are you so startled?" Cheng Jiming said dissatisfiedly.

When he said this, he completely forgot that he himself was only a third-grade rank and the two of them were of the same level.

Originally, I thought that a simple lesson would not cause Fang Zikun, who had been trembling with fear all the way, to be dissatisfied. However, after reading the imperial edict, Fang Zikun became arrogant. The look he gave Cheng Jiming was no longer filled with awe, but with a hint of contempt.

Fang Zikun just smiled and said nonchalantly: "Please forgive me, Master Cheng. I have to hurry up and reorganize the military, so I will not accompany you any more."

Cheng Jiming was stunned for a moment, then said dissatisfiedly: "Okay, I also want to inspect the military situation, you can take me with you."

As for Cheng Jiming, who was so arrogant as soon as he arrived, Fang Zikun would have naturally not had the time to curry favor with him before receiving the imperial edict. However, after reading the imperial edict, he guessed that this old man must have offended the emperor, otherwise he would not have been sent to Datong as a military supervisor and then told himself not to pay attention to him.

He looked down on her even more and waved his hand, saying, "Master Cheng has been exhausted from the journey. You don't need to bother with this matter. I will naturally take care of military affairs. Master Cheng, just take a good rest."

After Fang Zikun finished speaking, he turned around and left without waiting for Cheng Jiming to say anything.

Cheng Jiming was stunned, not knowing why Fang Zikun had changed so much.

………………

At this time, Lin Danhan, who had just learned that his son-in-law Guiying, who had gone to Datong to demand a reward, was killed by the Ming army without mercy, was furious and flew into a rage in his central military tent.

"Nurhaci, the damned one, doesn't take me seriously, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty who has just ascended the throne dares to bully me. If I don't teach them a lesson, they will think that the heroes of my grassland are all softies who can be bullied by others!"

Seeing Lin Danhan’s rage, the leaders in the big tent fell silent.

When they learned the news that Guiying had been killed, they were also shocked by the courage of the Ming people.

Are these still the weak Ming people in their impression?
In fact, Fang Zikun is indeed a somewhat reckless man.

(End of this chapter)