The turn of spring and summer in the ninth year of Chongzhen.
Liu Chengzong and Huang Taiji fought bravely and wits outside the border, while Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City continued to fight with his courtiers.
Everything in Beijing is business as usual.
Although the Hou Jin army had broken through the border and reached the outside of Changping, people had long been accustomed to Bian Feng, and the capital could not detect any turmoil.
Even the vast majority of people didn't even know that Hou Jin had come in through Shanxi, and they were just like normal people, fighting for power where it was due, and grabbing profits where it was due.
Of course Chongzhen knew the military situation.
He is also anxious, but his empire has too many things to deal with.
Besides, there's no point in being anxious.
After all, Hou Jin only broke through Xuanfu. He entered Shanxi through Yanmen Pass and entered Gyeonggi through Juyong Pass. As for Xuanfu, in the concept of the imperial court, it was full of soldiers, so what was there to panic about?
Just instruct Liang Tingdong to do his job well and that's it.
This matter is not even ranked among the top three in terms of importance.
The first one is, of course, Zhang Yichuan, whose official name is recorded as "Zhang Zhi". This True Dragon Emperor relied on the guidance of his fellow villagers in Fengyang Prefecture and captured Fengyang Prefecture's five prefectures and thirteen counties in just ten days.
Even the old forest in the ancestral mausoleum was set on fire.
Especially in Fengyang Fucheng, in the few days that Zhang Yichuan occupied Fucheng, almost all the wealthy households were killed.
Because the rich families in this city are the original Linghu and other fellow villagers from the Taizu Emperor's time, and the people who led Zhang Yichuan outside were the outsiders from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who moved here during the Taizu Emperor's time, those who later came to Fengyang Mansion to beg for food.
people.
The conflict between the two sides was already extremely serious. They led Zhang Yichuan's way, and in return they robbed and killed wealthy households.
The news of this incident had far greater impact on Chongzhen than anything else. He dressed in plain clothes and went to the Ancestral Temple to cry bitterly. He also ordered many soldiers and horses south of the Yellow River to surround and suppress the flag thieves.
However, Zhang Yichuan had gained a lot of experience after many failures. As soon as he entered Fengyang Mansion, he realized that he had lost control of the army.
After only three days of rest in Fengyang Fucheng, Zhang Yichuan gave in.
There was nothing he could do if he didn't give in. On the way from Henan to Zhongdu, more than 130 military officers and marshals were granted the title of commander-in-chief. If there was a man with number 100, he would be the chief soldier and general.
After capturing Fengyang Mansion, and with the weapons and equipment of the Imperial Tomb Guards, no one from all walks of life was willing to submit to anyone. Even the first level of the generals and generals were killed by internal strife at the rate of two people a day. If he stayed any longer, he would have to get someone to do it.
die.
So he abdicated the throne to a Fengyang bandit named Wang Benren, and fought with other civilians, robbed a lot of weapons, food, and wages, and finally led more than a thousand people and fled into Gaoyou Lake.
In fact, when this matter developed to this point, it was just a matter of building a tall building and then the building collapsed, which is quite normal.
But then things started to develop weirdly, and Chongzhen wanted to show his head to the public, spread it to nine sides, and crush his bones into ashes.
However, Zhang Yichuan was recruited by the Yangzhou prefect and given the title of Commander of the Gaoyou Guards, in charge of the Gaoyou Navy, and became a subordinate of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Yichuan was really a water thief. Although he didn't know how to swim, and most of his soldiers didn't know either, he used land battles to rob Gaoyouwei's boats as soon as he got there, and also deceived the water thieves on the lake to the shore and wiped them out.
.
Whether it is a Turkish army or a local bandit, they will collapse at the first touch. A dozen armored horsemen can disperse thousands of stragglers.
There hasn't been a war on both sides of the canal for many years, and the armaments are so depleted that in some places even the queues can hardly move. No one has seen such a ferocious thing.
He was invincible in land battles there, and in water battles he only had a boat, so he became the overlord on the lake.
Han Wenjing, the prefect of Yangzhou, saw that he could not be beaten, and did not know his background. He did not dare to report to the court in such troubled times, so he thought of trying to recruit him.
I was treated like a commander, thinking about asking for a lot of money and paying back the money. I just wanted to see if the water thief had the intention of being recruited. If so, we could negotiate later.
I never expected that Zhang Yichuan would become stupid when he saw Zhao Anxin.
I wonder, there are still officials who dare to recruit An Zhen?
Later he thought about it, no, the Ming Dynasty wanted to capture Zhang Zhi, Emperor Zhenlong of the ancient Yuan Dynasty. What does Zhang Yichuan, the Gaoyou water thief of Gaoyou, have to do with him?
Anyway, if you need money and food, you will probably die on the way back to Shaanxi if you rely on thousands of commandos to get through the Central Plains. It is better to find a place to live in Yangzhou for the time being, so I agreed immediately.
In fact, Chongzhen was confused at the moment.
Because the leader of the Gu Yuan rebels in the official document became Wang Benren.
Not to mention that the imperial court didn't know what was going on, even the many leaders of the militia in Fengyang Prefecture didn't know what was going on. They were just preoccupied with internal strife. Who could care about who was the emperor?
After research by the Ministry of War, people agreed that the so-called ancient Yuan Zhenlong Emperor was originally named Wang Benren.
A native of Shaanxi, he was born in a hundred households in the Yan'an Guards Gate. In the third year of Chongzhen Emperor's reign, he was killed in charge of suppressing a rebellion. Jin Chan escaped from the shell. Later, he left the army and carried out rebellion under a false name. He became famous in Zhongdu, so he adopted his original name.
Because according to the military registration of the Ministry of War, there really was a Wang Benren of a hundred households in Saimensuo, who died in the third year of Chongzhen.
That person was always at odds with Qian Hu, who had just taken office. He was sent out by Ren Quan'er to suppress thieves, but was killed by a cold shot by the exiled thieves.
The second most important thing for Chongzhen was to seize the time to send the two of them away.
One is Zhu Yujian, the king of Tang Dynasty, and the other is Qian Shisheng, a college student from Dongge.
Chongzhen had a long-standing dislike for the showy King of Tang, and he could hardly hold back his nose.
This month, the King of Tang sent another memorial, reporting the great famine in Nanyang, saying that the mother had cooked her daughter, and asked the court for relief.
The incident had a great impact on Chongzhen. Last month, Shanxi Province, which was planning to rescue cannibals, only allocated 35,000 taels. This time, only one prefecture allocated 30,000 taels.
Because it was difficult for the emperor to imagine what it would be like for people to starve and eat each other, but since he had a daughter, he could imagine what circumstances would lead to his mother cooking her daughter.
However, although funds were allocated for disaster relief, it also made Chongzhen hate Tang Wang Zhu Yujian even more.
I hate him so much that I want to kill him.
Since Nanyang is a government, why did the feudal king Zhu Yujian report it when something went wrong?
Because all the capable officials in Nanyang Mansion were sent to prison by the Tang Dynasty King with the clan law in hand, of course he, a prince who usually didn't care about anything, could only go to jail when something happened.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Chongzhen believed that this kind of thing was simply an enemy of the country, and he must find a way to get rid of him.
In fact, it was Zhu Yujian who was so familiar with the sect's laws and followed the laws of his body, that Chongzhen was helpless against him.
Qian Shisheng, another Dongge scholar, also made Chongzhen dislike him very much.
To a certain extent, Chongzhen was helpless with the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.
This court seems to be in good order, but it can't solve the problem.
Therefore, he always likes to do things that are performance-like. With a mentality similar to that of a normal doctor, he can no longer save his life, so he puts all his brains into collecting folk remedies.
For example, the appointment of the first Henan Commander-in-Chief Zhang Renxue. At that time, he wanted to become a military general. All the ministers in the court gave him suggestions. Zhang Renxue was brave enough to serve, so the emperor gave him a job to supervise military affairs, and he did the same thing.
There is no need to transfer to military attaché.
Chongzhen can't do it, because the performance wouldn't be explosive enough.
He wanted to show his eclectic use of talents and waved his hand to Zhang Renxue for the title of Chief Military Officer of Henan.
It doesn't matter whether Zhang Renxue does well or not. What's important is to let everyone in the world know that the Holy Master today employs people in an eclectic way in the hope of recruiting some talented people.
The facts have indeed developed in the direction Chongzhen wanted. Now every day there are people who are outside the rules and run outside the palace trying to make their voices heard by the emperor.
For example, at the beginning of this year, a martial arts examiner named Chen Qixin wrote a letter outside Zhengyang Gate, saying that the shortcomings of the imperial court were the use of imperial examination candidates, and that the subjects should be discontinued and filial piety and integrity should be promoted.
Chongzhen also gave this guy with a martial arts background a special civil service title to Shizhong.
Chongzhen's logic is very correct. Performance is performance, but you can't make fun of the imperial government.
If you want to be a military general, I will help you lead the troops. If you think there is a problem with the imperial examination, then you can become a minister, supervise the six ministries, correct the officials, and see who has the problem.
But it’s easy for you to want the King of Ideas, but when the King of Ideas comes, just don’t be afraid.
This month, a martial arts student named Li Jing from Jiangnan, Shangshu, blew up the imperial court.
Li Jing Shangshu said that the country can be governed only when the disaster victims are rescued and the army and food are available, so he asked the emperor to search the wealthy gentry in the south of the Yangtze River and ask them to sign up for financial support.
The most ruthless thing is that Li Jing asked to raid the wealthy gentry, and also limited the area to Jiangnan, and he himself was from Jiangnan.
To be honest, Chongzhen felt happy when he saw this memorial.
It was from Tian Ling Gai Shuang to the heel, and the toes were all hooked.
I've been fucking thinking about doing this for a long time and taking away all the people's wealth!
But his reason kept telling him that this would not work, let alone that it would not work.
If the court wants money, it can definitely get a better name.
Just like in the past when people donated salaries to the imperial court, the ministers took the lead, and the courtiers responded, and the response was very good.
Asking the emperor to search the wealthy gentry's house, is this a human saying? It sounds like the civil and military officials are unwilling to give it.
But it turned out that such a fool came out, and the last memorial was sent to the court. Chongzhen was really happy to hear it, and he was in a very good mood.
Moreover, the trusted ministers around him, such as Wen Tiren and Xue Guoguan, no matter what they think in their hearts, at least show that they are really capable of doing this, which is not bad.
Xue Guoguan felt that he was not worthy of having his house confiscated because he really didn't have much money.
It's not that he is absolutely incorruptible, but that he has only been in office for a short period of time.
Let me tell you, he was a Jinshi in the last years of Wanli. He is not too young yet, but he only served as a local official for five years. Later, he became an official in the Department of Education, worked in the household department, military department, and finally worked in the criminal department.
In the matter, he became the leader.
He is only at the seventh level.
Later, when Wei Zhongxian gained power in the early years, he impeached many Donglin Party members; later, when Chongzhen ascended the throne and punished the eunuchs, he returned home.
When he returned to the imperial court, he was still successful in all his subjects, and he was promoted until last year.
To put it bluntly, how could Xue Guoguan accumulate wealth in an inspection yamen that specialized in scolding high-ranking officials?
Not to mention that his hometown was still in Hancheng, the last fortress of the Ming Dynasty in Shaanxi. Whenever Liu Chengzong was in a bad mood and sent troops, his home would be ransacked without bothering the court at all.
Wen Tiren's thinking is clearer. He has become the chief assistant. Is the chief assistant still afraid of having his house raided?
Most of the chief assistants will eventually have their homes confiscated.
He has long accepted this setting mentally.
But for others, it is not so easy to accept.
Especially Qian Shisheng, a bachelor.
Jiaxing native, proper Jiangnan.
Qian Shishengshangshu: There have been too many villains looking for excuses to get into the government recently. This Li Jing suggested that the right gentry of the Jin gentry sign up to lose money to the government. He is trying to find a way to get rid of the official status. This is a chaotic government that is ruining the world. He dares to tell the emperor about it.
, unscrupulous!
What's more, this person hates the rich annexing the small people, and the rich families in the city are also the source of food and clothing for the poor. Now that the rich families are blamed for the military famine and their homes are confiscated, once this idea is proposed, the desperate scoundrels will make trouble for the rich families one after another, and the chaos will begin.
here we go.
People like this must be sent to prison and severely punished, and have to be arraigned by the Ministry of Punishment!
But the emperor didn't listen, and Wen Tiren didn't agree either.
Wen Tiren knew Chongzhen very well, and he knew that for Chongzhen, this memorial was just a matter of listening to obedient words and enjoying his life, with no room for manipulation at all.
What everyone is talking about right now is Li Jing's memorial, but if you really argue about it, I'm afraid it's not Li Jing who will be imprisoned, but Qian Shisheng, who will be promoted.
So he changed Qian Shisheng's plan to imprison Li Jing, and told Qian Shisheng: Although this person is full of fallacies and nonsense, the emperor is spreading the word. What you said is too serious, and the punishment will be too harsh.
It's too serious, and the speaker is not guilty.
Qian Shisheng pretended to be confused, saying that this matter would shake the country's foundation and that it must be fought.
In fact, at this time, the courtiers were guiding Chongzhen.
A group of officials headed by Wen Tiren and Xue Guoguan believed that this was the time to enforce strict rules and act harshly and harshly in these troubled times.
This is Chongzhen's original tendency.
Others, such as Qian Shisheng and Tang Kaiyuan, guided Chongzhen to stop sending officials to supervise their pay, treat officials with gentleness, be lenient in order to control the crowd, be simple in condescending, be humble with the heart of the house, and be gentle in politics.
This is the appearance of Chongzhen's performance.
The political views of these two groups are completely at odds with each other and are incompatible with each other.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Chongzhen can accept it, but he acts like a schizophrenic.
In fact, Chongzhen was thinking of ways to make money, so he asked Xue Guoguan to push forward the matter. It was impossible to rob it openly according to Li Jing's suggestion.
Their calculations are acceptable to normal people.
The idea is very clear. The government's current finances are not good, but it needs money, and the annual deficit is not too large. There are so many wealthy families in the country, so it is entirely possible to borrow money to solve the problem first.
It was even put on the agenda to borrow money from foreign ministers and let Xue Guoguan handle it; borrowing money from the emperor's relatives was decided by Chongzhen himself.
Li Jing's memorial is like a dog trying to catch a mouse.
Qian Shisheng is even more neurotic, he actually knows how to take care of dogs and mice.
Originally, Chongzhen just wanted to listen and feel happy. There must be people in the world who would overturn the table when they came up, so that Chongzhen could do things in a normal way.
Every fool knows that the emperor can confiscate the homes of wealthy subjects because of their mistakes.
But we can’t just confiscate the homes of our subjects just because they have money. Then does this court still have legitimacy? His chief assistant is not Liu Chengzong.
What really made Chongzhen angry about this matter was that he couldn't even talk about it? He just gave me a letter and he was sent to the Ministry of Punishment prison?
In this case, it is obvious that you are the villain blocking the way of speech.
If you really think of sending Li Jing to jail, what suggestions others have in the future can still be sent to my emperor. Even if they can be sent to me, will others dare to say them?
The most important thing is that if you are like Wen Tiren and have a core skill that you can never forget, that's fine.
You were born as a Jinshi, and have stayed in Nanjing for most of your life. You have never done anything serious. You relied on having many friends to get around. When you joined the cabinet, you talked nonsense in my ears all day long.
I can act, you can act better than me!
Chongzhen has always been most annoyed by this person.
What I need is someone who can solve the problem, but you, a dickhead, keep saying that the problem lies in my moral character. Isn’t this a joke?
Even if the problem lies with me and I am the root of the problem, then you can only treat the symptoms and not the root cause, but just treat the symptoms!
Your grandma’s!
This time the Li Jing incident came up, and Chongzhen was even more annoyed with him. Unexpectedly, Wen Tiren actually came over to report that Qian Shisheng still wanted to fight, and Li Jing must be jailed, and threatened to resign.
"Let him go!"
Chongzhen was already angry, and he opened his mouth to tell Qian Shisheng to go home, but he stopped when he finished speaking: "Wait a minute."
The emperor asked the eunuch to rummage through the imperial case and found a memorial written by Liang Tingdong among the piles of memorials.
"Look, Liang Tingdong said that Liu Chengzong moved his troops to the edge of Jizhen, saying that if there was an emergency, the imperial court could hire him to help with the suppression. Qian Shi was promoted. Isn't he a bachelor of Dongge, the Minister of Rites? God recites sutras for me."
"Ask him to recite sutras to Liu Chengzong, and teach him to be lenient in order to control people, simple to be humble, humble to be at home, and calm to govern."
Wen Tiren was dumbfounded and didn't know how to respond: "Your Majesty, this..."
"Go and tell him that I don't want to see him."
Chongzhen waved his hand to indicate that what he said was angry, and looked at Wen Tiren and said: "Didn't Great Sima say before that Liu Chengzong was blocking the border and it would be easy for the Donglu to get in and difficult to get out? We should be prepared for Shenyang to send troops to Zunhua and Yongping. Is there a support within the side?”
"It just so happened that Xue Guoguan said that Liu Chengzong planned to sell grain to Hancheng and let Shanxi provide disaster relief. He actually had a benevolent heart and asked Qian Shisheng to come out and discuss with Liu not to sell grain."
Chongzhen said with a long voice, as if this was the only thing that made him feel good recently: "I have transferred 100,000 shi of grain to Tongzhou to go out to the border, and he has transferred 100,000 shi of grain to Hancheng for disaster relief. What does Mr. Ge think?" "