"Your Majesty is here!" A eunuch shouted in a voice as sharp as a chicken's.
This sharp sound, as high as two octaves, is like cracking through gold and stone.
It suddenly became calm and silent outside, and they did not expect that the emperor would come out to see them.
Although there was an uproar outside and the attack on the courtyard wall was happening, almost everyone heard it. In this era, the people had already enshrined the emperor as a god. As soon as they heard that the emperor was coming, their knees softened.
In the psychology of these lower-class people and officers and soldiers, the emperor has always been good, but there are treacherous ministers who deceive the emperor and deceive the superiors and subordinates. The emperor was deceived by them. This is why these heinous bad policies appeared.
Now when they heard that the emperor had come to see them, they all burst into tears and fell to their knees.
"Your Majesty, what a small injustice."
"Your Majesty, you have to make decisions for the common people."
"There are treacherous ministers in the imperial court, and they won't give us a way to survive."
Chongzhen's calves kept shaking, but when things came to a close, he had no choice but to be bold. Today he couldn't walk or run. He had to face these angry officers and soldiers. He had to solve the problem for them. Otherwise, there would be no way to end it. Suppression would lead to more violence.
Start a mutiny.
As soon as Chongzhen stood on the top of the wall, the officers and soldiers below kowtowed like a roaring tsunami and shouted long live.
At this moment, the corners of Chongzhen's eyes became moist. The heartfelt love from the officers and soldiers warmed his heart, and it seemed that his back no longer hurt so much.
The Ming Dynasty's rule of more than 260 years is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people at this moment.
He tried his best to calm down and asked calmly: "You are all my warriors. You followed Dingyuan Marquis on the thousands-mile expedition, defeated the Mongolian Mongolia in Monan, and defeated Mongolia in Mongolia. You are all heroes of the Ming Dynasty. Why are you today?
Surrounding Xingzai, don't you know this is a serious crime?"
The crowd below immediately complained angrily about their grievances.
"Your Majesty, you guys don't dare to disturb the Holy Master. We are really forced to do nothing."
"Your Majesty, I only received half salary for three months. I have a small family to support."
"Your Majesty, there is no way to extract money."
Chongzhen did not speak. When the crowd below finished speaking, they slowly calmed down. Chongzhen turned around and asked, "Wang Chengen, have military pay been paid to the Ministry of War on time?"
Wang Chengen hurriedly came up and said: "I pledged my support to the nine clans, and military expenses are paid to the Ministry of War ten days in advance every month. But why the Ministry of War did not pay the full amount, I don't know."
Chongzhen asked again: "Then I took out 300,000 taels of silver from the internal funds and gave each of the officers and soldiers 20 taels of departure fees, and they were paid in time."
Wang Chengen said loudly: "Reporting to your Majesty, I sent the money to the Ministry of War one day before departure. Not even a copper coin is missing."
At this moment, it could be heard clearly below. Suddenly there was a bang, and the whole ground exploded.
The anger of the officers and soldiers immediately went towards the military headquarters. It was like a boiling pot was boiling down below, and there were all curses.
After they scolded for a while and calmed down, Chongzhen said calmly: "People from the Ministry of War came forward to speak."
Li Zhe, the left minister of the Ministry of War, who was accompanying the army on the expedition, was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground. Two Han generals carried him up to the wall.
Seeing Li Zhe, the anger below burst out again. If they weren't afraid of disturbing the holy driver, they would have thrown all the compressed biscuits over and beat him to death.
"Let me ask you, the Ministry of War has received the monthly military pay on time and in full, but the Chief of Ceremony has not owed even a penny."
"No, no," Li Zhe said with a white face and trembling body.
"Let me ask you again, the 300,000 taels of silver were transferred to the Ministry of War before the departure."
"It's here, it's here, exactly." Li Zhe replied tremblingly.
This is a fact. It is easy to find out. He cannot deny it at all. The crime of deceiving the emperor is punishable by nine tribes. How dare he talk nonsense at this juncture. He was sent by the Ministry of War to accompany the army. Now the emperor can only find
He is in charge.
Chongzhen's voice was as cold as ice, "Tell the officers and soldiers below why they didn't receive the money."
"I, this, is, is..." Li Zhe seemed like a hen whose throat was pinched. He held it in for a long time, speaking incoherently, and did not tell where the money went or why it was not distributed.
"Yes, we have made compressed biscuits. We have made biscuits." If Li Zhe dares to tell the truth, if he really tells it, even if His Majesty does not kill his nine tribes, those greedy civil servants will still kill his old man.
Life.
Bang! A compressed biscuit as hard as a rock hit his head. Li Zhe screamed, blood flowed out, and his eyes were instantly blinded. Everything he saw was blood red. He screamed in horror.
"Well done, kill this turtle grandson."
"Let him tell you where the money went."
…
Chongzhen threw the bloody "bricks" down the high wall with a look of anger. The officers and soldiers under the wall suddenly cheered. After His Majesty came out today, he was so relieved. These dog officers should be beaten to death.
"Tell me, where is my money?"
"I am guilty, please convict your Majesty, I am guilty..." Li Zhe trembled and spoke incoherently, but did not say where the money was. He couldn't say it, and he didn't dare to say it. There was a big hole in the Ministry of War, and it was about to explode.
They had no choice but to temporarily fill the hole with their expropriation money and half of the military expenditure for the past three months.
Li Zhe didn't dare to say it even if he was beaten to death. He gritted his teeth and said nothing, but those people could still rescue him. He might still get out of the imperial prison, but if he told it, he might not even be qualified to stay in the imperial prison.
Chongzhen looked at his cowardly appearance and lost interest in tormenting him. Chongzhen said coldly: "Since I can't ask, let the brothers from the Beijing camp below ask for me."
With that said, he pushed hard and threw the unlucky guy off the wall and fell directly into the crowd.
Li Zhe screamed and fell into the crowd.
The temple was blown up all of a sudden, and with a bang, countless big feet came trampling on it. The officers and soldiers' scoldings were mixed with Li Zhe's screams and begging for mercy, but soon Li Zhe was silent.
Chongzhen looked at the crowd below who were frantically venting their anger on Li Zhe's body, and said loudly: "This case naturally needs to be investigated, but now that the army is about to leave, it is not the time to investigate the case. The top priority now is to make up for the salary. Who is suffering?
We can’t make our officers and soldiers suffer, Wang Chengen!”
"My slave is here."
"You go to Zunhua Xinghe Bank and bring out three million taels of silver. I will give the officers and soldiers additional military pay and marching money. The rest will be used as rewards for military merit. I have enough silver here, one for the slaves and the Tatars."
The head level is fifty taels, how much you can take depends on you." Chongzhen said loudly.
Suddenly, people below cheered.
These days, isn’t it just for money to be a soldier? Without money, who would be willing to sleep in the open air, put their head in their belts, and risk their lives in battle?
Gao Qiqian quickly shouted: "Brothers from the Jingying camp, hurry up and get out of the way. The prince will go to Xinghe Bank to collect the money and reissue it to everyone."
The whole crowd immediately moved out of the way in front of the government office gate. Everyone was beaming with joy. They heard that the emperor was giving out money, just like celebrating the New Year.
The gate opened, and carriages drove out, heading straight for Xinghe Bank in the northwest corner of the city.