As soon as he woke up, Chongzhen felt refreshed. Seeing that Wang Chengen was not in the house, he got up to wash and change clothes.
I don't know how long it had been, but Chongzhen pushed open the wooden window, and dim light came to his face along with the smell of earth. Light rain was falling outside the house, and judging from the water on the ground, it must have been raining for a long time.
When it rains in spring, the vegetation grows in anger. This rain may be a good sign for Datong.
After finishing cleaning up, he walked to the side hall, where he usually eats all three meals in the house. Chongzhen rubbed his belly and wanted to go in to see if any meals were prepared.
In the hall, Wang Chengen sat at the dining table with a helpless face, while Yang Boxian and his wife Yang were kneeling beside them, kowtowing.
"What's going on?" Chongzhen said with a sullen look on his face as he didn't know what was going on.
When Wang Chengen heard this, he felt terrible. Long live the Lord, he woke up and the old slave was not around to serve him. Mr. Yang, Mr. Yang, you are hurting me. He didn't dare to look at Chongzhen's face. He stood up and knelt beside the two of them, complaining.
He bumped Yang Boxian with his elbow.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, don't blame the prince, this... this, you tell me!" Uncle Yang stammered first, and when he was nervous, he completely forgot what Yang told him. After he finished speaking, he looked at Yang as if asking for help.
Chongzhen wanted to laugh when he saw Yang Boxian's cowardly look, but had to hold it back.
Yang was once a lady from an official family. She read books and knew how to write. Unfortunately, her family fell into decline and she became a commoner. That's why she could vaguely detect the Tian family temperament in Chongzhen.
She took her time and said in a soft voice: "My husband, Mr. Yang, and my daughter, Yang Lianbing, have blind eyes and do not recognize the true nature of Mount Tai. They have done many arrogant things in the past. I beg your majesty to forgive me."
After hearing this, Chongzhen shook his head, walked to the dining table, sat down, and said, "Can you all get up and have a good meal together?"
Seeing that the three people did not move, Chongzhen had to add: "I am not asking you."
At the dinner table, Mrs. Yang and Uncle Yang didn't even dare to touch the edge of the table with their hands, only placing them on their knees, let alone touching the dishes.
Chongzhen felt exhausted inside, and his identity felt like a curse at the moment.
Taking advantage of Wang Chengen's opportunity to give him a bath, he said, "Originally, I planned to choose a time to say it myself, but I let you expose it first."
Uncle Yang stopped talking and looked at Mr. Yang doubtfully. It turned out that Ms. Yang was stepping on him with her foot under the table.
"Since I let you eat at the same table, don't you still know my feelings?"
Uncle Yang spoke quickly and couldn't hold it in any longer. He ignored the force of his wife's soles and said, "We won't deal with that vain person. Brother Huang, just tell me whether you recognize me as your brother."
Chongzhen laughed heartily and said, "Of course I do! What I want is your words, hurry up and eat, the food is already cold."
The atmosphere gradually relaxed, and Yang Boxian no longer restrained himself. He picked up the bowl and ate it, and excitedly reported the recruitment situation to Chongzhen.
This time, Yang Boxian recruited a total of 260 people, most of whom were porters and tenant farmers in villages and counties. They had rough skin and thick flesh, and could endure hardships.
At first, everyone sneered at this matter. People said that a thief is like a soldier combing a grate, which shows that soldiers are hated by others. Until Uncle Yang took out the money, two taels per month, which was a big deal.
, after repeatedly confirming that it was not a joke, they signed up to join the army.
"Brother, before I left, I heard that Jianlu had entered the Pass. Some people with families said they wanted to bring their children with them. I couldn't bear it, so I took it upon myself to bring them along with me."
"You should, you did the right thing."
"Hehe, where is it?"
Uncle Yang was praised first, but he felt embarrassed and behaved like a little lady.
Chongzhen rolled his eyes at him, put down the bowl and chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and said solemnly: "Actually, I am just like you, an ordinary person. From now on, in this house, we will remain as we are today, regardless of you.
I'm having fun, okay?"
"well."
"But outside, you are a monarch and your subjects are ministers. You must not act recklessly. Be careful that my civil and military ministers will punish you for your crimes."
Yang Boxian and his wife nodded in agreement.
"Mr. Bo, from today on you will be the training camp coach of the Datong regiment. These two hundred people will be entrusted to you to take charge of their training and daily life."
"Brother, I really don't understand the ways of being a soldier."
"You can learn if you don't understand. You can put them in the mansion to rest today. If they can't live in it, Song Xiancai still has a few vacant houses, so just let Cheng'en take you there. Gather everyone tomorrow morning, and I will demonstrate it myself.
, you will practice according to my method from now on."
"That's fine. If you don't do well, brother, don't blame me."
Chongzhen stood up and replied: "Do your best, Mrs. Yang. From now on, you will be able to take care of everything in the house. If the family members in the regiment training camp are willing, they can be hired to do chores at home, and the wages will be paid."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Yang stood and bowed, making a salute.
"By the way, from now on, meals should be kept simple and there should be no extravagance and waste. Cheng'en, let's go."
After Chongzhen and Wang Chengen left, Yang held Yang Boxian's hand and said excitedly: "Master, grab me quickly, I'm afraid I'm dreaming!"
Uncle Yang smiled and tugged at her nose, and said with great pride: "What do you mean? Brother will not harm us. Look at you, your hair is long but your knowledge is short."
Yang felt so sweet in her heart that she didn't bother to refute him. Uncle Yang asked again: "You said, we used to scold the emperor for being fatuous. Why is my eldest brother so fatuous? He is clearly a virtuous king! Then why do we still live so hard?
, Weird.”
"It's not Your Majesty who's confused, it's those corrupt officials. My family was framed by traitorous ministers back then. As the head of the family, you must do the things Your Majesty ordered properly."
"of course?"
…
Wang Chengen had never ridden a horse before, and he was afraid of delaying His Majesty, so he had no choice but to prepare to mount the horse. Unexpectedly, the horse suddenly neighed, and Wang Chengen fell to the ground in fright.
Seeing that Wang Chengen was fine, Chongzhen felt relieved and called out: "Old man, hurry up and help Wang Cheng'en mount his horse and lead him to the main town office."
After saying that, he put on his raincoat and bamboo hat, led his guards and rode straight to the government office.
When Chongzhen hurried to the main hall of the government office, Sun Xuanhuai and a group of people were already there, talking.
"You gentlemen, you have been waiting for a long time. The continuous spring rain has attracted people to sleep. I slept until noon. I really neglected my administration and deserved to be punished."
Some of the people present were gentry who had met yesterday, but there were also many new faces. Everyone looked at the middle-aged man wearing a raincoat and hat in surprise. Was this Emperor Chongzhen?
Immediately, many people wearing Yangming scarves but wearing linen clothes knelt down to perform the great ceremony. The hall could not move for a while, and the gentry could neither stand nor kneel.
"No need to be formal, just stand and talk."
Chongzhen sat in the hall, took off his raincoat and bamboo hat, wiped the rain from his face, and looked at Sun Xuanhuai questioningly.
Sun Xuanhuai walked up to Chongzhen with his sleeves folded, bowed down and explained: "Your Majesty, the people who just performed the ceremony are all scholars and scholars from nearby counties and counties. They all come from poor families and have never entered the officialdom. Considering that the government office is currently short of manpower, I decided to
I gave a greeting to the Commander-in-Chief, and Xingye went out of the city to summon them here."
"Well, what are your abilities? I mean doing things."
"Before your Majesty came, I talked to all my ministers one by one. We have sent away all the rotten scholars who were just trying to make ends meet. The remaining ones should be able to do some practical things."
Chongzhen touched the short beard on his chin. It was amazing how quickly Sun Xuanhuai stepped into the role. Moreover, as a businessman, he always focused on practical benefits when looking at people and doing things. This was very in line with Chongzhen's current employment strategy.
"Assign them to fill the gaps in government offices and restore the civil affairs in the city first. The current situation is unstable. All officials are temporary and their salaries will be paid. I will grant them as appropriate in the future."
"yes."
"You guys didn't have any rest last night, okay?" Chongzhen asked, looking at the people in the hall.
Everyone hurriedly thanked His Majesty for his concern and for not having to work hard. They had rested and shared His Majesty's worries.
"Today, I want to discuss the issue of food and salary with you in detail. One is for the army and the other is for the people. We need to talk about it separately."
"There are currently more than 13,000 soldiers stationed in Fucheng. Based on the consumption of three kilograms of rice per person per day, the entire army's food consumption is 325 shi per day, and 9,750 shi per month.
In addition, we also need various non-staple foods, such as wheat, beans, hemp, millet, fried coal, etc., which are about 10,000 dan per month. There are also salt and straw concentrates for war horses, etc. These are all written in my
The booklet in your hand, Mr. Sun will give it to you for circulation later."
Sun Xuanhuai took the army's food consumption booklet from Chongzhen's hand and looked at the reaction of the audience.
Chongzhen patted the gavel, and everyone who was whispering stopped talking.
"These are just one month's expenses, and I need to raise funds for at least half a year. This is a top priority. Do you have any objections?"
Seeing that no one spoke, Sun Xuanhuai said: "Your Majesty, we will do our best to raise funds."
"In lean years, grain is expensive. Does Mr. Sun know the current price of rice in the city?"
"Brown rice is worth two taels and five taels of silver per stone, and corn is worth about three taels per stone."
After hearing this, Chongzhen shook his head repeatedly. He had spent time visiting and asking about the income, taxes, distribution, hard labor, etc. of the common people under the Ming Dynasty. After careful calculation, the price of rice was one tael per stone, which was affordable to ordinary people.
The limit has now doubled or tripled. Who will sell it to eat?
If possible, he really wanted to spend time on eating, but Jianlu would not give him this opportunity, so Chongzhen could only spare the blood of the rich. This was the only way.
"Now is wartime. It is forbidden to hoard goods in the city. Violators will be severely punished. The three-year tax exemption policy promulgated before by the intruders remains the same and will not be changed for the time being."
Chongzhen signaled Sun Xuanhuai to come closer and whispered: "The price of rice must be reduced by half. I have no skills, so I can only entrust you with full authority. I don't want to push everyone too hard. You can discuss it with them and figure it out."
If you make five, I will make up half of the loss, how about that?"
"Your Majesty has arranged it this way, and it will be much easier for me to handle it."
"Also, there are tens of thousands of refugees who have been released into the city and are placed in the Prince's Palace. I will solve their food problem myself. You have to let everyone know about my painstaking efforts."
"I understand."
Chongzhen handed over the full power of the government affairs to Sun Xuanhuai for the time being, and hurriedly led his people to escort away the evil leaders of the Shun army who were imprisoned in the prison and rushed to other places.
He came and went in a hurry and did not chat with those poor scholars, but what he said in the hall has been deeply imprinted in the hearts of every scholar.