Chapter 8 Oppose for Opposition's Sake

"Your Majesty, the court has already deployed troops in Liaodong and Shaanxi, and the military strength is insufficient. If we go to war with Ligdan Khan in Xuanda at this time, it will be disadvantageous to the Ming Dynasty." Cui Chengxiu said a lot of nonsense, and seeing that Chongzhen looked unfriendly, he quickly got to the point.

"In my humble opinion, we should first send the eunuchs to arrest and punish the lieutenant general Fang Zikun, and do our best to appease Ligdan Khan, and then transfer the general of Xuanda, You Shilu, to defend the city. In this way, we can solve this crisis by giving equal importance to appeasement and defense."

"No!" Cheng Jiming, the new Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, suddenly stood up and said, "Although Fang Zikun was a bit rash, he did nothing wrong in strangling the Tartars. If we let the guards arrest him and punish him, wouldn't it make people think that the new emperor favored the guards and killed loyal officials?"

"Secondly, the chieftain Nurhaci is eyeing Liaodong covetously. If You Shilu's Xuanda troops are transferred away at this time, who will guard Xingshan? If Xingshan is lost, Liaodong will be in danger! If there is any mistake in Liaodong, can you bear the blame, Minister Cui?"

Cui Chengxiu certainly did not deserve it. He was still a member of the eunuch party and was afraid that he would be liquidated by Chongzhen if he was not careful.

Cui Chengxiu's face turned pale, but he was speechless.

Although punishing Lieutenant General Fang Zikun could appease Ligdan Khan to a certain extent, it was indeed a bit like destroying one's own Great Wall and shaking the morale of the army. Cheng Jiming was in the greater good.

However, opposing the transfer of You Shilu was pure alarmism. After all, the elite troops of the nine frontiers were almost all gathered in the important town of Liaodong. If only You Shilu was transferred, would there be no one under Wang Zhichen's command to replace him in Xingshan?

What's more, You Shilu was originally the general of Xuanda, so it was only natural for him to be transferred back when Xuanda was invaded.

On this point, Cheng Jiming was more or less opposing just for the sake of opposing.

Chongzhen frowned. He knew that Cheng Jiming was a disciple of Ye Xianggao, a member of the Donglin Party, and that he himself was dismissed from office by Wei Zhongxian in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign. Therefore, it was normal for him to be at odds with Cui Chengxiu, Wei's right-hand man.

But now is not the time to fight against each other. Faced with the imminent war between Xuanda and Dada, Chongzhen does not want to see the two groups fighting each other.

"My dear Minister Cheng, in your opinion, how should we deal with the Xuan War?" Chongzhen asked.

Cheng Jiming bowed to Chongzhen. Just when everyone was listening attentively to what the newly reinstated Minister of Personnel had to say, Cheng Jiming said righteously:

"This is the responsibility of the Ministry of War and the cabinet ministers. I dare not take the initiative."

A group of old officials of the eunuch party were almost vomiting blood when they heard this. It turns out that you also know that it is none of your business, then why did you stand up and oppose it before?

Chongzhen was so angry that his temples were throbbing. He had heard that Cheng Jiming was an honest official nicknamed "the clean husband" and was also a second place in the imperial examination, so he issued an imperial decree to employ him.

As a result, he did not prioritize his work and was eager to deal with the eunuch party as soon as he got to work.

Although what Cui Chengxiu said might easily cause the army to lose morale, the most important thing for the court now was to avoid fighting on three fronts, so Fang Zikun had no choice but to let him go.

Moreover, Chongzhen could have let Cui Chengxiu do the dirty work in the name of the Ministry of War, and the soldiers at the border would have to scold Cui Chengxiu.

Anyway, the eunuch party’s reputation is already bad, so they don’t care about adding another shit pot to their collection.

But due to Cheng Jiming's interference, there were two voices in the court regarding the treatment of Fang Zikun, and Chongzhen had to stand up and clearly support one of the sides.

If you support Cui Chengxiu, you will be sharing the blame.

Those who support Cheng Jiming but cannot come up with any countermeasures should just sit back and wait for Ligdan Khan's army to attack!

When I think of what Wang An said, tens of thousands of people in Datong Prefecture will be massacred. Will Lin Danhan withdraw his troops after he feels gratified and stop harassing the Ming Dynasty?

Chongzhen did not want to go to war, but he also did not want to bear the infamy and shake his prestige in the army.

For a moment, Chongzhen was in a dilemma.

Suddenly, Chongzhen thought of Wang An. The fact that this small herbal medicine shop owner had predicted several national events in succession was enough to prove that it was no coincidence. So was there a solution?
Since there is no solution to the problem from the ministers, why not try it out and ask the little miracle doctor? Perhaps there will be unexpected results.

Thinking of this, Chongzhen frowned again and looked at the ministers in the hall, and said with great disappointment: "My dear ministers, please leave first. I will think about this matter for a while."

Huang Liji, Cui Chengxiu and others are all eunuchs, and what they are best at is understanding the intentions of their superiors.

Although Xuan was eager to fight a war, he did not want to offend Chongzhen and urged him to come up with the regulations now.

But Cheng Jiming, the "honest husband", was different. He just cupped his hands and urged: "The war is about to break out. Your Majesty, please make a quick decision!"

decision?

Chongzhen almost slammed the table in anger. What do you want me to decide?
The cabinet chief Huang Liji passed the buck, and Cui Chengxiu had to come up with a last resort, but it was opposed by Cheng Jiming, a clean official.

If Chongzhen really had to make a decision, he could only decide to support Cui Chengxiu to share the blame, or come up with a better solution himself.

Chongzhen was certainly unwilling to share the blame, after all, the reputation of the new emperor was very important.

If he were to be known for employing eunuchs and killing loyal officials as soon as he ascended the throne, it would undoubtedly have a fatal impact on his subsequent governance.

But it was a bit difficult for Chongzhen to come up with a solution that would satisfy both sides immediately.

But there was nothing wrong with what Cheng Jiming said. The war was about to break out and we really needed to come up with a response plan quickly.

Chongzhen was silent for a moment, and could only say coldly, "I know," and then strode out of the Wenhua Hall.

Huang Liji and others glanced at Cheng Jiming, sneered and retreated.

However, a few people came up and kept complimenting Cheng Jiming.

They were all minor officials who saw the situation was not good and had little connection with the eunuch party.

At this time, Chongzhen had just ascended the throne, and most of the people in the court were still old eunuchs. Only a few members of the Donglin Party were gradually reinstated, and there were not many of them.

Among them was Qian Qianyi, the recently reinstated Minister of Rites, who stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Brother Cheng is indeed a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty. If it were not for Brother Cheng's advice today, I'm afraid the emperor would have been branded as a murderer of loyal officials when he first ascended the throne!"

"If the country didn't have ministers like Brother Cheng who dared to speak out, and was allowed to be controlled by eunuchs like Cui Chengxiu and Huang Liji, I really don't know how corrupt it would be!"

"Yeah yeah!"

"Brother Cheng is truly a pillar of support!"

Cheng Jiming was dismissive of these small-time opportunists. He just bowed and politely said to Qian Qianyi, who was on the verge of becoming the leader of the Donglin Party: "If we talk about the backbone, it has to be Brother Qian! If we want to restore the Ming Dynasty to a bright and peaceful world, it depends on Brother Qian!"

Qian Qianyi pretended to sigh, "I am just an idle official in the Ministry of Rites, I have no power to do anything!"

Cheng Jiming glanced at the crowd, and those neutral parties immediately understood, apologized and retreated.

In the Wenhua Hall, there were only Cheng Jiming and Qian Qianyi. Cheng Jiming whispered, "I heard that His Majesty wants to strengthen the cabinet. Brother Qian, why don't you fight for it?"

(End of this chapter)