A knife in love

Chapter 194

Liu Yong couldn't help turning his head to look at Li Qiufeng after hearing what the Huashan School disciple said.

Li Qiufeng said to Liu Yong: "Mr. Liu, I will go with you."

Liu Yong said: "It's so good. It's just Li Shaoxia's injury..."

Li Qiufeng stood up and said: "My injury is fine, Mr. Liu don't need to worry." After saying that, he went to the inner room to get his long knife, and then went out with Liu Yong.Seeing that Murong Danyan wanted to follow, Li Qiufeng winked at her and pointed at Ma Dongqing who was sitting on the side crying.Murong Danyan knew that Li Qiufeng was afraid that something would happen to Ma Dongqing's grief, so he wanted to stay by her side.Although the boss in his heart was not happy, he finally stopped.

Li Qiufeng and Liu Yong left the Zhou family mansion and walked towards the east city gate.It was only a hundred steps away from Dongcheng, and the two of them walked quickly, and they arrived at Dongcheng in a short while, and walked up the horse path to the top of the city.At this time, many heroes of the world have already stood on the top of the city.Seeing Liu Yong and Li Qiufeng arriving, the heads of the various factions came up to welcome them.Xu Chenghe, head of the Qingcheng faction, said: "Just now a person came from outside the city, claiming to see Li Qiufeng and Li Shaoxia. We dare not make decisions on our own, so we invite Mr. Liu to come over for an idea."

Li Qiufeng looked down the city with his hands on the crenel, but saw a person standing under the city, wearing a commoner coat and carrying a burden on his shoulder, like an ordinary traveling businessman.But Li Qiufeng recognized that this person was one of Sang Liangtian's two confidants, he hurriedly waved his hand towards the city, then turned his head and said to Liu Yong: "Mr. Liu, I recognize this person, please let him enter the city. "

Since the Tartar soldiers were repulsed, Sang Liangtian's camp has not changed, but at noon, people were sent to remove the corpses of the Tartar soldiers from the city.After learning that the forward troops of the reinforcements had arrived in the west of the city, although the defenders in the east city were doing as usual, they were not as panicky as they were in the previous two days, so they let this man go all the way to the bottom of the city.Liu Yong saw that Li Qiufeng really knew this person, so he told the leader of the garrison in the city.The leader ordered the gates to be opened and the people to be let into the city.It's just that the city gate only opened a gap that only allowed one person to pass through. After that person entered the city, the city gate was tightly closed again.

Li Qiufeng came down to the city, met the man at the city gate, and led him to an empty corner of the Wengcheng before stopping.

The man cupped his hands and said: "The villain sees Master Li."

Li Qiufeng clasped his fists to return the salute, and said, "Thank you for your hard work, brother. I don't know how to call him?"

The man said: "The villain's surname is Bi, and his name is precious. He works under General Sang's tent. He is ordered by General Sang to come to see Lord Li."

Li Qiufeng said: "General Sang, do you have a letter?"

Bi Baogui said: "This is an extremely confidential matter, General Sang let the villain know me by heart, so I came here to see Master Li."

Li Qiufeng thought to himself: "Although Sang Liangtian is a general who leads troops and releases horses, his scheming is no worse than those civil officials." Immediately he said to Bi Baogui: "Please talk to Li."

Bi Baogui said: "General Sang said that the reinforcements from Xuanfu and Datong towns have already arrived. It's just that the [-] vanguard troops have set up camp in the west of the city, but the army and horses of the headquarters stopped fifty miles west of Yong'an City. I don't know what I'm watching. The Shanhaiguan troops in the Nanshan Mountains had assembled in large numbers this morning, but they suddenly dispersed to the camps at noon. General Sang thought that the troops in Xuan and Da towns were acting suspiciously, and seemed to know what the Shanhaiguan troops wanted to do. We want to sneak attack on the capital, that’s why we suddenly gave up going east. The situation is unclear now, General Sang has already sent people to the capital to investigate, and I hope Lord Li will tell the guards of Yong’an City that they must not relax their vigilance, so as not to be taken advantage of by others.”

Li Qiufeng originally thought that after the soldiers from Xuan and Da towns arrived, the army of Shanhaiguan commander hidden in Nanshan would move westward. At that time, the first part of the Sang army would block it on the way and reach Xuan and Da Liang towns in Yong'an City. The town reinforcements chase and kill from behind, which can defeat the enemy.Unexpectedly, the situation suddenly changed, and the original plan fell through completely.He thought to himself: "Could it be that Sang Liangtian has a different intention and wants to build Yong'an City again?" But then he thought: "If he wants to take down Yong'an City, why did he send someone to tell me to strengthen the guard?"

Li Qiufeng thought for a moment, then said to Bi Baogui, "Does General Sang have any other orders?"

Bi Baogui shook his head and said, "General Sang only needs the villain to talk to Lord Li so much. He said that if Lord Li has something important to discuss, he can go to the camp to find him."

Li Qiufeng said: "Where is Zhao Zhen now?"

Bi Baogui said: "Now he is being detained in General Sang's camp, with fifty or sixty brothers guarding him, even if he has two wings, he can't escape if he thinks about it."

Li Qiufeng nodded and said: "Brother, you can go back and tell General Sang that everything is safe in the city. Just beware of Liu Shengzongyan sending people to assassinate."

Bi Baogui clasped his fists and said: "After the villain returns, he must report to General Sang. If there is nothing else, the villain will leave now."

Li Qiufeng said: "If you go back like this, will you be seen by the Tartar soldiers? I'll send you out from the south city. Even though it's far away, the Tartar soldiers won't be able to see you."

Bi Baogui laughed and said: "The Tartar soldiers suffered a big loss in the morning. The commander of Duoyan's three guards went to General Sang's camp to make trouble for a while, but was pushed back by General Sang. The commander said that he was going to attack the city." Let General Sang attack by himself, he doesn't care about it. Right now the Tartar soldiers are guarding the camp tightly, and they have a rift with us, and they will never send people out to patrol, Lord Li can rest assured."

The two talked a few more words, and Li Qiufeng sent Bi Baogui out of the city.After the defenders at the gate of the city asked the leader for instructions, they opened the gate of the city with a small gap that only allowed one person to enter and exit, and let Bi Baogui out.Li Qiufeng walked up to the top of the city quickly, and saw Bi Baogui's figure disappear into the camp of Sang Liangtian's army, and then dragged Liu Yong to a deserted place on the city, and told him everything Bi Baogui had said.

Liu Yong frowned, and said to Li Qiufeng: "Li Shaoxia, to tell you the truth, Liu is getting more and more incomprehensible now. Who is the mastermind behind it? What is the purpose of these people?"

Li Qiufeng said: "This matter is complicated and complicated, and simple and simple. But to explain the ins and outs of the matter clearly, we must start from the time when the late emperor was in power. When the late emperor was in power, he repeatedly wanted to use troops against the Tartars. Completely eliminate the threat of Tartar soldiers. This is because the late emperor loved martial arts, and he wanted to do a more remarkable career than Taizu and Chengzu. But when the late emperor wanted to raise troops, the Ministry of Households told the country that there was not enough silver in stock and could not supply the army for the northern expedition. The necessary military supplies. The first emperor was furious and asked where the taxes collected every year were spent. The Ministry of Household Affairs reported that the Japanese pirates on the southeast coast had become more and more violent, which had affected the supply of wealth in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Taxes in the south of the Yangtze River accounted for more than half of the Ming Dynasty's annual income. If the wealth and income were insufficient, it was impossible to send troops to the north. The late emperor sent several groups of ministers to the southeast to supervise the division, trying to eliminate the Japanese pirates, but it was ineffective. Later, the late emperor traveled privately and took with him Many Fanzi and Jinyiwei of Dongchang. These people spied on the news among the people and came back to tell the late emperor that the sharp drop in taxes in Jiangnan was indeed affected by the Japanese pirates’ rebellion on the one hand, but the impact was almost negligible. It made Jiangnan The main reason for the sharp decline in wealth is that officials and wealthy households merged a large number of lands. Officials and gentry did not pay taxes and were not required to perform labor services. As a result, the country’s wealth decreased sharply. In the names of these officials and gentry, you only need to pay them a small amount of money and goods, and you don't have to pay taxes to the country.

"The first emperor was furious when he heard the report of Dongchang and Jinyiwei. He called several senior scholars in the cabinet and scolded him. Then he ordered the land in the south of the Yangtze River to be measured and the lawless officials and gentry were severely punished. After the senior scholars went down, they discussed After a while, he sent the inspector censor to Jiangnan to preside over the land measurement. However, after three years, the inspector censor changed seven or eight people, and two of them still died in Jiangnan. Fu still only decreased, but did not increase. The first emperor was suspicious, and sent Dongchang and Jinyiwei to Jiangnan to secretly spy on the news. It turned out that it was okay not to check, but this investigation turned out to be a big problem.

"Dongchang and Jinyiwei will report the facts they have found. It turns out that the officials who annexed land in the south of the Yangtze River are not only local officials. Officials from other places regard the four provinces in the south of the Yangtze River as a big piece of fat, and send people to the south of the Yangtze River to buy land. and the officials in the capital even colluded with the local officials and gentry to cheat. These scholars made a fortune. After the first emperor ordered the survey of the land in the south of the Yangtze River, most of the inspection censors sent by several scholars were their students. When they arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, they not only did not check the land, but colluded with the local officials and gentry to purchase land wantonly. There are two People are not their disciples. After taking office, they really started to thoroughly investigate the land annexation. They were actually killed by local corrupt officials. When they reported to the capital, they died of a sudden illness. Both of these two major cases were suppressed. But as a result, land annexation in the south of the Yangtze River has become more and more serious, and the country's annual revenue has dropped sharply. gone."

(End of this chapter)