When he saw Qichunian with his iconic cockscomb hair style again, Chongzhen was furious. No matter how he looked at it, he felt it was not pleasing to his eyes. He wished he had an extra pair of scissors in his hand and cut him a few times until it looked pleasing to his eyes.
until.
"Your Majesty, I don't have anything on my face. Why are you looking at me like this?" Qi Chunnian asked strangely while sitting on a soft chair.
"Be bold!"
Zhu Youjian was furious, slapped the back of the chair hard, pointed at Qichunnian's nose and said: "I want to ask you what Xujiazhuang wants to do? The imperial army went to encircle and suppress the bandits, but Xujiazhuang took advantage, deceived the officers and soldiers, and robbed my people.
More than five hundred thousand, you Xujiazhuang are so bold, what do you want?!"
Facing the emperor's thunderous wrath, most people would have been reduced to chaff and would have knelt down to beg for mercy.
Qichunnian said calmly: "Xujiazhuang spent tens of millions of silver dollars to buy so many refugees to work in the mines. What bad intentions could there be? Of course it was to dig more mines. If Xujiazhuang invested tens of millions of
Funds are used to expand the army and prepare for war. That is something worthy of Your Majesty's concern. Now it is just a small move in Xujiazhuang's business, why should Your Majesty make such a fuss?"
"you--"
Zhu Youjian was shocked by this straightforward and shameless answer. After thinking about it carefully, there was nothing logically wrong with it, but he immediately threw the thought out of his mind and said with a gloomy face: "You colluded to seduce the imperial army.
, plundering and enslaving more than 500,000 of my people, this is actually just a small move, to what extent do you want to be wanton and reckless, do I need to make a fuss?!"
There was endless coldness in Chongzhen's words, and it could be said that he was already murderous. If Qichunnian said something that made him dissatisfied, then he would not be able to walk out of the palace intact.
"To be precise, there are more than 637,000 people. About one-third are young and strong, and the rest are old, weak, women and children."
Qichunnian changed to a more relaxed posture: "Xujiazhuang does not treat them as consumable slaves. The work in the mines is a bit harder, but the income is definitely much higher than farming. It is also conservative in droughts and floods, long-term stability, and resistant to droughts and floods."
The risk capacity is much higher than farming. Xujiazhuang has given them a more promising career, and it also eliminates the possibility of them becoming bandits again. Your Majesty, Xujiazhuang paid for it himself to solve such a big hidden danger for the court, and they can’t get even half of it.
Forget it with the word "thank you", but in exchange for such suspicion, Xujiazhuang regards your majesty as an important partner, and the cooperation between the two parties has brought huge benefits, but your majesty's actions make Xujiazhuang feel quite chilled."
"Shut up, don't use forceful arguments, just slap me down!"
Zhu Youjian's nose was almost crooked with anger. He glared at Qichunnian and said: "I will give you one month to repatriate all the people in Taihang Mountain. You are not allowed to have any private connections with the imperial generals in the future. If you ignore them, you will be responsible for the consequences!"
Chongzhen spoke harshly and issued an ultimatum. Although this tough ultimatum was not based on strength, for the interests of the Ming Dynasty and the face of the imperial power, he could not be weak and compromise anyway.
Shake his head.
But Qichunnian shook his head repeatedly and said: "This is impossible. First, Xujiazhuang spent more than 10 million silver dollars to recruit these refugees. Will anyone return the money? Second, all the more than 600,000 people were repatriated.
, without money and food to accommodate them, they will only become rogue bandits again and destroy everything. Are you going to ruin the great situation brought about by the victory in Taihang Mountain? Your Majesty, this matter is a done deal and irreversible. It is better to turn a blind eye and let it go."
He began to persuade the emperor to lie down again.
"Come here, drag this bold and rebellious person down and kill him with a stick!"
Zhu Youjian stood up, with red eyes, and said something surprising.
Immediately, several tall and burly Jinwu guards walked in and were about to capture Qichunnian.
Angry.
Chongzhen was really angry. Qichunnian's life was in danger. If he quickly surrendered and begged for mercy and stopped saying irritating words to the emperor, he might still have a chance to survive.
"Your Majesty, Qi's life is not worth mentioning and he can be killed at any time. However, Your Majesty, please think about the gains and losses. Is it worth ruining the relationship with Xujiazhuang just to teach Qi, a little person?"
Qichunnian still looked like a dead pig who was not afraid of boiling water, and was not afraid at all.
Zhu Youjian quickly calmed down and fell into hesitation.
He completely fell out with Xu Jiazhuang, canceled all cooperation, and became sworn enemies from then on. Can he bear the price of this?
The nearly two million yuan in taxes and grains each year are all gone.
The Huangdian's annual profits of millions of taels from selling Xujiazhuang goods are gone.
There is also cooperation on the "Royal Farm Project".
The palace's dependence on Xujiazhuang for medical care.
And the need for borrowing-Xujiazhuang is his big creditor.
Etc., etc.
Just because of a moment of anger, they completely decoupled themselves from Xujiazhuang. Who will suffer the greater loss?
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian's face changed from gloomy to bright, a little regretful, but also a little angry, but he couldn't take back what he just said, otherwise where would he put his emperor's majesty?
"Stop! Your Majesty is just speaking out of anger, how can you really take action against Representative Qi?"
Fortunately, Fang Yizhi next to him spoke in time, helped find a step, and stopped the actions of several Jinwu guards. The Jinwu guards looked at each other, and seeing the troubled and depressed look on the emperor's face, they followed Fang Yizhi's advice,
Withdrew temporarily.
After experiencing this near-miss in the Qichun Year, I realized that I was indeed a little embarrassed and had hurt the emperor's face, so he lowered his posture, walked up to Chongzhen, raised his hands and apologized: "Your Majesty, Qi just made a mistake.
, there was indeed an inappropriate offense, and the crime is unpardonable. Fortunately, Your Majesty was lenient and spared his life. Qi thanked Your Majesty!"
Facing this step, Zhu Youjian's expression finally softened and looked better, and he no longer dwelled on the episode just now.
However, the core contradiction between the two parties has not been resolved in any way, and there is no room for compromise between the two parties. It is just because of the entanglement of interests that Chongzhen cannot imagine the consequences of a complete falling out.
We sat down again and drank tea for a while, after the awkward atmosphere had basically dissipated.
Before Zhu Youjian moved his mouth and was about to speak.
Qichunnian said in a formal tone: "Your Majesty, in fact, there is no conflict between Xujiazhuang and your Majesty. Instead, there is a lot of room for cooperation. The biggest obstacle to cooperation is actually those civil servants who slander and spread rumors about Xujiazhuang every day. They don't want to see us.
To get closer to His Majesty is to try every means to alienate our close relationship. This conflict was also caused by those civil servants. They themselves were unable to eliminate rogue bandits, nor could they manage various prefectures and counties well to avoid the emergence of rogue bandits, but they continued to create them.
The problem is that the common people have been forced to kill officials and rebel, creating a huge mess for Your Majesty to give you a headache. They have also committed corruption and increased taxes but cannot pay much food..."
"It can be said that all problems are caused by civil servants. If they had the ability to let the people live and work in peace and contentment, there would be no rogue bandits; if they had the ability to make the Ming Dynasty military strong, it would not lead to the establishment of slaves and the loss of the entire Liaodong.
; If they were loyal and reliable, had the ability to assist His Majesty, and handled all the things His Majesty told him, the world would not have become so rotten and bad... But in the end, they couldn't handle anything, and they blamed His Majesty.
.”
"At this time, Xujiazhuang appeared. Regardless of whether His Majesty likes Xujiazhuang or not, at least after our appearance, His Majesty began to have more money and food in his hands and became more comfortable. However, this violated the taboos of the civil servants and embarrassed them; now
Xujiazhuang also used economic means to solve the problem of bandits that the civil servants could never solve. This did not get any recognition. Instead, it was attacked by the civil servants and suffered their jealousy and hatred because the existence of Xujiazhuang showed their power.
Incompetent and redundant, so they want to slander and suppress, to make His Majesty suspicious of Xujiazhuang, and to destroy and alienate our relationship."
"It can be seen that the source of the problem has always been the civil servants. Their ability to do things is zero, and their ability to do bad things is perfect. They are jealous of the talented and have dark hearts. They are the biggest obstacle to a good relationship between Xujiazhuang and His Majesty! Even though Xujiazhuang has established close cooperation with the royal family in ten fields,
Civil servants can also come up with a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand reasons and methods to destroy this relationship and deepen the suspicion and anxiety in His Majesty's heart."
"I think the best solution is to legislate as soon as possible! If the "Friendship Law towards Xujiazhuang" is introduced, if any civil servant dares to slander Xujiazhuang in the future, one will be killed, and ten will be killed! As long as these bad guys are
The civil servants have been killed, and they are so scared. From now on, Your Majesty will no longer hear the voices of dissatisfaction and dissension. Just like this great victory in Taihang Mountain, it is obviously a joyous event, but the civil servants have made them like this. This is not the civil servants.
It’s your fault or whose fault it is?”
"Your Majesty, don't be fooled by the civil servants, don't be suspicious of Xujiazhuang anymore. The purpose of establishing Xujiazhuang is just to make money and live a better life, because since ancient times, it is difficult to have both. Although your Majesty is rich in the world, you still have money.
How much money is it? Our village owner pursues wealth rather than nobility, and with the strength of Xujiazhuang, is it difficult to establish a new dynasty? Is it difficult to swallow up the Ming Dynasty? It is not difficult, it is really not difficult at all, but it is meaningless.
Any dynasty that only serves one family and one name cannot break the three-hundred-year historical cycle. This kind of change of dynasties is meaningless, but the people are always in misery. Therefore, the owner of the village wants to build a society where everyone is rich and noble, and at the same time, he wants to build a society where everyone is rich and noble.
Support the Ming Dynasty under the premise of conflict, so as to prevent the people from suffering too much sacrifice and harm in the end of the dynasty."
"Your Majesty, these words were spoken by the owner of the village himself. They are all true words. It's just that the wealth that Xujiazhuang pursues and the wealth that will assume reasonable obligations will not harm the imperial power at all, but it will inevitably harm the interests of the civil servants and gentry.
, this is the reason why they are madly attacking and slandering Xujiazhuang. They also hope that Your Majesty can clearly distinguish between loyal and traitorous people and not push potential allies into the opposite position. This would really fulfill the wishes of the civil servants and ruin all the good situations in front of us.
.”
After listening to these heart-wrenching words spoken by Qichunnian.
Chongzhen Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes slightly and fell into deep thought.
In fact, Chongzhen listened to the first half of Qichun's words as bullshit. The logic is too touching. Just because the civil servants pointed out the problem, as long as the civil servants are killed, the problem will no longer exist. This is bullshit logic.
As for what was said in the second half of Qichun Year, the mysterious owner Xu of Xujiazhuang, who only pursued wealth but not nobility, succeeded in attracting Chongzhen's attention. If you listen carefully, it seems to make sense, and with the strength of Xujiazhuang
, it is indeed not difficult to seize his Ming Dynasty - although Zhu Youjian finds this difficult to accept, the reality is there.
Although Xujiazhuang clearly has this kind of strength, it has only established more than a hundred manors in Yangzhou. It has not expanded aggressively for the time being, nor has it established a ruling system of emperors, generals and ministers. It can be seen that Xujiazhuang may be really pursuing power.
not interested.
But...who can say this kind of thing accurately, and who can guarantee it? The threat to Xujiazhuang lies not in its motives, but in its strength. As long as that powerful strength is there, Zhu Youjian will always feel uneasy.
.
Unless Xujiazhuang disarms himself and turns into a fat pig with no claws, then he can feel relieved.
This is obviously impossible.
Noncommittal.
Therefore, Zhu Youjian just nodded in agreement with everything Qichunnian said, without commenting in his heart. It was difficult for him to eliminate his fear of Xujiazhuang, and it was impossible for him to stay away from civil servants - even if Qichunnian's description was correct, civil servants were incompetent and could only
It will be bad.
But after this exchange.
The effect is actually there.
After repeated weighings and Fang Yizhi's admonishment to let him endure for a few more years, Chongzhen finally made a pragmatic decision: no longer pursue the matter of Xujiazhuang's attempt to lure the imperial army and purchase the population of the bandits. Anyway, the more than 600,000 people
Most of the population are indeed rogues. We cannot let the tiger go back to the mountains. It is better to let them mine until they die.
In addition, Yang, Wang, and Deng, the three generals of the imperial court who had an affair with Xujiazhuang, and the famous prefect Lu Xiangsheng, will not be held accountable by the court for their faults, nor will they be punished.
But forget about the reward!
No matter how great their achievements are, just because they have cooperated with Xujiazhuang, they should not expect to receive any rewards. They will be put into a separate book that will never be reused or promoted, so as to warn those who come after them not to follow suit.