Qiang Ming 520_Qiang Ming full text free reading_Chapter 520 Business comes from (.)
Gong Yonggu added: "Your Majesty, since this matter comes from Qian Duan, naturally I should not say anything more. But thinking about the Queen Mother Xiao Ding..."
Chongzhen sneered softly through his nostrils and said: "I knew you wanted to mention the Empress Dowager Xiaoding! This country is not only my country, but also the country of the Empress Dowager Xiaoding and the country of my ancestors. The difficulties of the court and my difficulties, even though you have Even if I don’t know, my ancestors will also know everything. How can I bear to ask Qi Wan for help if I don’t have to?”
Liu Wenbing bravely said: "Your Majesty has worked hard for the country, and I know it very well. But today the court is in trouble, and it cannot be rescued by asking several Qi Wan to help. What's more, the country is not at the end of its rope today. The emperor blames Li Guorui too much and will May the spirit of Empress Dowager Xiaoding be in heaven..."
Chongzhen shook his head and said: "You really don't know. Don't say this to outsiders. We are almost at the end of our rope." He looked at the four royal relatives, his eyes suddenly became moist, and he sighed, and then said: "I govern the world with filial piety. , Don’t you know, sir? The Empress Dowager Xiaoding is my great-grandmother. If she didn’t have all her money and no military pay, how could I bear to do this? Since ancient times, loyal ministers have destroyed families and rescued people, and there are endless records in history. As a relative of the country, Li Guorui, even more We should use our money to advocate for our subjects, which is far worse than the ancients who ruined their country and rescued their families!"
Ran Xingrang, the elder and respected prince-in-law, quickly stood up and said: "The country is in trouble, and I and others are also very aware of it. But today Qi Wan is very different from previous years. The land is desolate, and the income of the farmland is limited. He is a relative of the emperor, and the expenses cannot be paid. There has been a sharp decrease. Although Wu Qinghou’s family was relatively prosperous in previous years, in recent years it has actually been reduced to nothing.”
Chongzhen smiled coldly and said: "You are all relatives of the emperor. Naturally, you will only think about the relatives of the emperor. If the world is peaceful and the country is rich, and more rewards are given to the relatives of the emperor every year, everyone will not complain."
The royal relatives did not dare to speak anymore and returned their seats with their heads lowered. Chongzhen looked at everyone and asked:
"What else do you have to say?"
Everyone stood up and looked at each other, not daring to say a word. Gong Yonggu knew that Zhang Guoji would never dare to speak, so he touched the old prince-in-law Ran Xingrang with his elbow. Seeing that there was no movement, he had no choice but to take two steps forward and kneel down. Played:
"I dare not plead for Li Guorui, but I just think that Li Guorui is having difficulty in getting two hundred thousand taels of silver at the moment. Can your Majesty be extra kind and ask him to pay less to show compassion, so that this matter can be settled as soon as possible?"
Chongzhen had thought about this issue repeatedly. He also understood that the amount he wanted now was too big and it would not be easy for Li Guorui to come up with it, but he was unwilling to give in immediately and wanted Li Guorui to bargain after he knew how powerful he was. He sneered. :
"You can't lose a penny of silver. When the ancestor of the gods was young, a lot of gold and silver from the inner treasury was transported to their Li family. Today, the country is in trouble, and I only want him to return the gold and silver from the inner treasury." He turned to Ran Xingrang and asked: "Nian Qing Gao. Do you remember what happened at that time?"
Ran Xingrang bowed and replied: "In the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng died, and God's ancestor took charge of the government. It was nearly sixty years ago. There were rumors in the past that the Empress Dowager Xiaoding often rewarded the Li family with gold and silver from her inner treasury. But it was because of the stupidity of the ministers. See, even if it happened, it would have happened before the tenth year of Wanli. Sixty years later, it may not have been hidden until today."
"Sixty years of living, that's more." Chongzhen smiled and continued: "You are entrusted by the Li family to come to intercede. Although I don't agree, you have done your best. I am mentally exhausted today.
I have many difficulties that I cannot tell you in detail, so you know. You can go."
Everyone kowtowed silently and filed out. But as soon as they walked out of the Wenhua Gate, a eunuch came out with a message, telling the consort Gong Yonggu to return to the Wenhua back hall. The rest of the royal relatives did not dare to leave for the time being, waiting to be summoned.
.Everyone was surprised and a little surprised at first. Then Ran Xingrang and Zhang Guoji had second thoughts at the same time, thinking that the emperor must have changed his mind and Li Guorui's matter had turned around. Unconsciously, they were secretly happy and exchanged glances with each other.
Chongzhen had already left his throne and was walking around in the middle of the back hall of Wenhua, with a frown on his face and an anxious look on his face. When he saw Gong Yonggu coming in, he walked to the middle, leaned against the imperial desk, and stood facing south, with a stern expression on his face.
It was scary. Gong Yonggu kowtowed, kneeling on the ground with half hope and half anxiety, waiting for questions. After a while, Chongzhen asked his brother-in-law:
"What complaints do the royal relatives have about this matter?"
Gong Yonggu was suddenly startled, kowtowed and said: "The royal relatives have not a single complaint against Your Majesty."
"Humph, there won't be any complaints!" After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "When Emperor Wanli was alive, the old royal family members often received rewards. In the early years of Chongzhen, although things were not as good as before, I also rewarded a lot every year.
.Now that we are relying on the royal relatives for military pay, how can we not complain?"
Gong Yonggu did hear a lot of complaints. The biggest complaint was that the royal relatives said that there were many princes in the clan, such as King Jin in Taiyuan, King Qin in Xi'an, King Lu in Wei Hui, King Zhou in Kaifeng, King Fu in Luoyang, Chengdu
The king of Shu, the king of Chu in Wuchang, etc., each of them can give out millions of silver. It is not difficult to give out at least hundreds of thousands. Why not let them help with military pay? There are three or four families who can give out silver, which is enough for a year's military pay.
That's enough. In the end, the emperor favored the people of the Zhu family. He ignored many extremely wealthy princes, but made plans over the heads of several royal relatives! Even Gong Yonggu himself had such thoughts. However, he knew very well
Due to the emperor's character and temper, even though he was a close relative of Chongzhen and deeply favored, he did not dare to say a word about what the emperor's relatives were talking about behind their backs. He just lay on the ground and remained silent.
Seeing that his brother-in-law was silent, Chongzhen ordered him to go out. Then he walked out of Wenhua Palace with a heavy heart and took a chariot back to Qianqing Palace.
It was already the third watch of the drum beat, and he was still leaning on the royal couch, thinking about raising wages. He thought that if he caused a few more respectable royal relatives to get into trouble tonight, Li Guorui would not dare to continue to resist; as long as he
He expressed his apology and was willing to give out 100,000 or 80,000 silver. He could also grant special favors to the emperor without any punishment. He also thought to himself that the Queen's Qianqiu Festival was coming soon, and the best way to ask for help from the royal relatives would be under the Queen's control.
It should be done before the birthday, so as not to cause trouble for the palace and Qi Wan.
When Li Guorui, the Marquis of Wuqing, saw that the relatives of the emperor who were interceding for him were frustrated, he realized that he had made the emperor angry. Even if he tried to give out 30,000 to 50,000 silver, he would not end the matter. Within a few days, he alone
Several eunuchs of the emperor's right and left, such as Wang Dehua, Cao Huachun and others, had already spent thirty thousand silver. Other second- and third-rate eunuchs also took the opportunity to extort money from him. Li Guorui saw that nearly five years of money had been spent like running water.
Ten thousand taels of silver, but not even one tael of silver has reached the emperor's hands. After much deliberation, and repeated secret discussions with his trusted Qing guests, he decided to just go to the court to beg for mercy and complain, and promised to give out 40,000 taels of silver. One more tael of silver would not come out.
What he relies on is that he is the nephew of the Empress Dowager Xiaoding and the cousin of the current emperor, and he has not committed any other crimes. It is unreasonable for the emperor to ask him to give out a lot of money for no reason, and he cannot give out a lot of money without violating the national law.
Some royal relatives secretly encouraged the Li family to continue to push the envelope, while trying to find a way to ask the queen and the empress of Donggongtian to say a good word in front of the emperor. Everyone believed that as long as the empress or the very favored empress of the east palace said a word, things would be settled.
There is a turning point.
For several days, Chongzhen sent eunuchs to force Li Guorui to come up with 200,000 taels of silver every day, but Li Guorui had no choice but to complain. Chongzhen was even more angry, and without considering the consequences, he simply gave Li Guorui 400,000 taels of silver within ten days without delay.
When Li Guorui saw that the emperor was so angry and unreasonable, he was naturally frightened and quickly sent people to secretly ask the royal relatives for advice. Everyone knew that Chongzhen was in a hurry and had nothing to do. That's why he issued this unreasonable and strict decree. They believed that there were only a few days before the Queen's Qianqiu Festival.
For more than ten days, as long as Li Guorui holds the broken jar and smashes it until the Qianqiu Festival, if the queen says something, he will be forgiven. Someone else came up with an idea for Li Guorui: sell off the property with great fanfare. So Wu Qinghou
The servants of the government took out all kinds of furniture, clothes, jewelry, calligraphy and painting, and antiques. Everything that could be sold was placed on the street, marked for sale, and filled the street. After two days, they began to demolish the house.
The archway was demolished and bricks, tiles, wood, stones, animal spines, etc. were piled up into two long streets.
A red paper poster was pasted on the pile of miscellaneous items. It read: "Due to imperial restrictions, our house is in urgent need of funds. Everything is sold at a low price. If you want to buy it, hurry up!" This is a great anecdote that has never happened before in the history of Beijing.
Everyone was in a commotion. Every day, the people in the capital went to the area around Wuqinghou's Mansion to watch the lively crowds, as if rushing to a meeting, but no one dared to buy anything for fear of getting angry. There were many discussions among the people, and some blamed Wuqinghou for doing this.
They deliberately put dust on the emperor's face and resisted to the end like a dog. Some said that the emperor had gone too far and could no longer get 200,000 taels of cash, so they forced him to give 400,000 taels, forcing Li Wuqing to
They had no choice but to jump over the wall; in addition, early one morning, anonymous posters appeared at Damingmen, Qipan Street and East and West Chang'an Streets, praising the current emperor as a wise and sage king, which was deeply popular among the people.
All these situations were reported to the palace by Cao Huachun, the eunuch of Dongchang. Chongzhen was very angry and ordered Li Guorui to be deprived of a title. He went to Zhenfu Prison to pursue a huge sum of 400,000 silver. At first, he was not interested in the incidents that appeared in Qipan Street and other places.
Wuming was satisfied with the post, which increased his determination to fight Qi Wan. But one day later, when he learned that public opinion also criticized his actions, he immediately sent an order to Dongchang and Jinyiwei, strictly prohibiting the people of the capital from "arbitrarily discussing the government."
Violators who write secretly and anonymously will be severely punished.
Chongzhen originally hoped to successfully complete the matter of asking Qi Wan for help before the Queen's Qianqiu Festival, but unexpectedly the first shot was not fired, resulting in a deadlock on Li Guorui's matter. Although he wanted to fight the emperor's relatives to the end, but in his heart
He felt a little regretful. On the second day after Li Guorui was imprisoned, he almost felt that there was nothing he could do to Li Guorui, so he summoned his chief assistant Xue Guoguan into the Qianqing Palace and asked worriedly:
"Li Guorui stubbornly resisted, so the request for help from Qi Wan could not be carried out smoothly. Unexpectedly, it is so difficult to raise wages. What are your ideas, sir?"
Xue Guoguan disagreed with Chongzhen's willful behavior in his heart, but he did not dare to say it. He knew very well that Qi Wan and Xun Jiu were now secretly twisted into a rope, desperately resisting the emperor's help. He was afraid that once things changed, he would
There was an unexpected disaster, so he knelt on the ground and answered an ambiguous question:
"Li Guorui should not be so recalcitrant. But he is the nephew of the Empress Dowager Xiaoding, and he is not comparable to ordinary foreign ministers. I don't dare to say anything about how he should be punished."
After hearing this answer, Chongzhen was very angry, but he endured it and did not show it. He decided to test whether Xue Guoguan was loyal to him, so he suddenly asked with a smile:
"How did you entertain yourself at home last night, sir?"
Xue Guoguan was suddenly startled, and his heart was pounding. He was afraid that if he told the truth, the emperor might reproach him and say: "Huh, you are a secret minister and the leader of hundreds of officials. The famine is so serious and the national affairs are so difficult. You should be diligent day and night."
The truth is to live in peace, how can you have such leisurely moments, drinking with concubines and playing chess with Qing guests until late at night?" He knew that the investigators of Dongchang often spy on the private affairs of his subjects and report them to the palace. It seems that he
The emperor already knew what happened last night. If he didn't tell the truth, he would be guilty of deceiving the emperor. In a moment, he weighed the pros and cons of the two aspects, paused and said:
"The humble minister is serving his duties in a poor manner. He cannot work hard day and night and work harder to relieve the emperor's worries on the last day of the night. He even had a drink with his family and played chess with his guests last night. Apart from these two things, he has no other entertainment."
"Sir, did you win twice on the 'f*ck horse'?"
"It was just two flukes."
Chongzhen was no longer angry with his chief minister. He was satisfied that Xue Guoguan's answer was completely consistent with the report he got from Cao Huachun, the eunuch of Dongchang. He nodded with a smile and said:
"If you don't bully me, you are worthy of being my loyal minister."
After Xue Guoguan sweated and withdrew from the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen fell into deep distress. In the past two days, he noticed that his trusted eunuchs Wang Dehua and Cao Huachun were not as enthusiastic about this matter as they were a few days ago. Could it be that he had suffered
Could it be that the bribes of the royal relatives were successful? He had no evidence, but he was very suspicious and cursed in his heart:
"Asshole, there is no one you can trust!"
Just at this time, Cao Huachun came. He went to the palace every day and reported to the emperor the developments of his subjects inside and outside the capital. Even the secret family affairs of his subjects were the materials he reported to the palace. Recently, he had spent a lot of Li Guorui's money.
, and was entrusted by some princes, Hou Xunchen, to speak more favorably for Li Guorui in front of the emperor. Today he bluntly reported in front of Chongzhen: Qi Wan, Xunjiu and Jin gentry all over the capital were concerned about Li Guorui's affairs.
Everyone was in danger, and every family was panicked. Cao Huachun also showed some signs of meaning, as if Li Guorui was not as wealthy as what was rumored outside.
After listening to Cao Huachun's report, Chongzhen became even more suspicious. He deliberately looked into Cao Huachun's eyes and smiled without saying a word. Cao Huachun avoided his gaze and lowered his head, feeling anxious and sweating on his back. Although he was the admiral of Dongchang.
, had great power, and the subjects in the capital were a little afraid of him, but after all, he was the emperor's domestic slave, and the emperor could punish him at any time with just a word, so he was extremely afraid that Chongzhen would become suspicious of him. After a while, Chongzhen suddenly
asked:
"Cao Banban, how good is business these days?"
Cao Huachun was shocked and turned pale. He fell to the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, saying: "I am a strict and law-abiding slave. Your Majesty knows this and never dares to be lax. I really don't know what your Majesty is talking about."
Chongzhen continued to sneer, and after a long while, he said slowly: "You have to be careful! Someone has a secret book, telling you that you took advantage of Dongchang's power and took a lot of bribes, and the people in the capital borrowed their words."
"This slave is unjustly accused! This slave is wrongly accused! Your Majesty, it is clear that this slave is really unjustly accused!" Cao Huachun said repeatedly, banging his head with a thud.
Seeing that Cao Huachun was very scared, Chongzhen was satisfied and thought: "These slaves are our own family after all, and they don't dare to do bad things." In order to make Cao Huachun continue to serve him loyally, he said in a gentler tone:
"Of course I don't doubt you, but you have to be extra careful in the future. If someone catches you, I won't be able to protect you."
Qiang Ming 520_Read the full text of Qiang Ming for free_Chapter 520 Business update completed!