Chapter 58: Cultivating nature and falling, Chongzhen is full
"In this way, if I obey the decree, I will not disgrace His Majesty's orders."
"Haha, okay, official rewards are under planning, but I can guarantee that the horse general officer will be upgraded to one level.
At the same time, when the new army comes, it will lead 3,000 men alone. If there are not enough suitable men for the white-pole soldiers, the age can be relaxed to forty years old, or the best ones can be selected from the Beijing camp."
The white-armed soldiers who came to the capital with Qin Liangyu were all veterans of hundreds of battles. They had been emperors for three generations and were qualified even to serve as small flags. However, the new army needed young and strong men to play a greater leading role.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will select soldiers who meet the requirements when I get back."
Qin Liangyu thought for a moment, did not refuse, and left with Ma Xianglin. Chongzhen whistled and ate the Fat House Happy Meal happily.
Xiangyang Prefecture.
After shrinking for half a month, Yang Sichang, who had just recovered his health, rushed to Xiangyang and met Wang Chengzeng, the prefect of Xiangyang.
"Your Majesty really didn't summon me back to Beijing?"
"Sir, there are still intruders in the north. Your Majesty trusts you, so he will let you go back later."
"But I'm not in good health anymore."
Yang Sichang and Wang Cheng once discussed that this Xiangyang defense battle really shocked him into a cold sweat, and even his already poor health almost healed from the shock.
Especially when he arrived in Xiangyang, Wang Cheng once described the process to him in detail. Knowing that his messenger had been robbed and that there was an internal response in the city, Zhang Xianzhong's heart was pounding even more after he traveled 500 miles a day.
If Chongzhen hadn't gotten the news from nowhere and asked the prefect of Xiangyang to guard Xiangyang, he would have had no choice but to hang himself.
"But Your Majesty obviously knows this, why didn't you inform me? Who is next to Your Majesty now? Why do you feel that you are targeting me?"
Wang Chengzeng listened to Yang Sichang's complaints and lowered his head without saying anything. His eyes were bright and he could already see where Yang Sichang might have angered His Majesty.
"Governor Yang, the intruders from the north are powerful. General Zuo and the capital are sending people to protect them for the time being. You'd better send people to appease Sichuan as soon as possible.
General Qin has just left, but the remnants of the Sichuan rebels have not yet been calmed down."
"Yes, I will leave first. When you arrive in the capital, remember to tell the emperor more about my difficulty."
"This is natural, sir, please don't worry."
Wang Chengzeng said respectfully that although His Majesty did not mention Yang Sichang this time, Yang Sichang was a minister who had been favored for many years, and no one dared to look down upon him before he fell.
Yang Sichang walked out of the Xiangyang Palace in despair. In fact, he also understood that Chongzhen's series of actions were also arrangements to not let him return to Beijing.
"I don't know which bastard it is. Give me eye drops and don't let me find out."
After Yang Sichang cursed a few words, he walked towards the governor's barracks. Until now, he still thought that someone was dealing with him.
Capital
After Qin Liangyu and his son left, Chongzhen contacted Chen Ye.
"Chongzhen: Shopkeeper, Qin Liangyu and his son Ma Xianglin have arrived in the capital. I have personally received them. Qin Liangyu is old and unwilling to lead the army."
"Chen Ye: It's understandable. Her son is now older. If she hadn't guarded the family business, she would have retired a long time ago. It's really not easy for a woman to hold on to the family business for her son."
Chen Ye thought of Qin Liangyu and admired her very much. Women are weak by nature, but mothers are strong.
"Your Majesty, Commander Li asked to see him and said that Luo Yangxing's family property has been cleared."
"Oh? It's finally settled. Let's call him over. I want to see how much money this commander of the Royal Guards, who has served for three decades, has."
Chongzhen closed the chat excitedly and rubbed his hands. Since Luo Yangxing was imprisoned in mid-February, he handed it over to Li Ruolian as soon as he responded to the investigation.
Later, Chen Ye was coming to inspect the Imperial Guards and the capital camp. Chongzhen almost forgot that he had slaughtered a fat pig.
Li Ruolian held a document in his hand and put it in a metal safe. Under the leadership of the eunuch, he walked into Wuying Hall.
"Your Majesty, after Luo Yangxing was imprisoned, I led people to conduct an inventory and found a total of 178,000 taels of silver hidden in the Luo family.
There are thirteen shops in the outer city of the capital, with 40 acres of farmland, and 720 acres of farmland in Yongzhou, Huguang, with a total value of 190,000 taels."
"What a good minister. Did he recruit all these?"
Anger welled up on Chongzhen's face, but gradually dissipated. He thought about the history that Luo Yangxing had paid 30,000 taels to buy his life from Li Zicheng's army.
"Your Majesty, he did it all. Luo Yangxing said that although he was corrupt, he was willing to change his ways. I beg your Majesty to spare his life."
"Cut it down, but it is not a crime of treason. Spare his family and tell him that if it were during the reign of Taizu, he would not be skinned."
Chongzhen waved his hand and said nothing. Luo Yangxing had a very open-minded idea of surviving. He surrendered to Li Zicheng and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. It was not an exaggeration to say that he was a slave with three surnames.
"Your Majesty, those are all money and land. There are also many bribes and treasures in Luo Yangxing's house.
There are an inverted agarwood Guanyin, an inverted agarwood log, a bucket of pearls, seven jade tablets, four jade bracelets, and several famous paintings, with a total value of more than ten thousand taels."
"Well, that's good. I'll exchange the farmland and silver for gold, or use it to buy the best-looking jade, jade, and the like.
Keep the pearls and send them to the Ministry of Finance. Although it is a drop in the bucket, it is better than nothing. You can bring me the remaining agarwood, pearls and jade plaques."
Chongzhen said, showing Luo Yangxing's assets to Chen Ye. He remembered that Chen Ye had mentioned the prices of various timbers, but did not mention agarwood.
So he couldn't figure out the price of agarwood, which is both wood and spice.
"Chongzhen: Shopkeeper, good news, I have become rich, worth more than 200,000 taels of silver."
"Chen Ye: More than two hundred thousand taels? Whose house did you rob?"
"Chongzhen: Well, how did the shop owner know that this was the proceeds of a house raid? I did raid Luo Yangxing's house."
Chen Ye didn't even bother to complain. Although Chongzhen's shop was closed, it still supplied goods to wealthy families normally. Because of the continuous price reduction, it only cost 10,000 silver per month.
Therefore, you can make a one-time profit of 200,000 taels, and you don't have to think about it to know which Fatty Pig you copied.
"Chen Ye: Is it Luo Yangxing? I have been in Jinyiwei for more than ten years and have been trusted by you. I have taken over everything. It is not surprising that I can accumulate hundreds of thousands of taels."
‘Don’t the shopkeepers feel strange? I suddenly felt that the Ming Dynasty should die. I thought that during the reign of Taizu, fifty taels was enough to behead someone.
Nowadays, Luo Yangxing is a commander, but he has hundreds of thousands of property. The shopkeepers think it is sparse and ordinary. The Ming Dynasty is really terrible.'
Chongzhen felt tired. The Jinyiwei commander made hundreds of thousands of taels of income. What about other officials? Each military household could have hundreds of thousands of taels.
What about those local officials, whether they are doing business or taking a share from the state, they don’t pay a penny of taxes to themselves, so how much do they have?
"Kill! Kill! Everyone should be killed!"
Chongzhen's eyes were red, he pinched the list handed over by Li Ruolian and gritted his teeth on the words, which made Li Ruolian, who lowered his head, feel trembling.