stubborn thief

Chapter 216

The night is already deep.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The wooden soap boots lightly stepped on the smooth square bricks, making a faint sound.

Since the emperor was still the king of Xin, Cao Huachun, the eunuch who had been on his left and right sides, slowly walked around the pillars of the palace and approached the figure at the desk, holding the memorial in his hand.

In the dim light, he put a few memorials on the imperial case, took the round fan from the hand of the little eunuch, stood beside the dragon chair and fanned it lightly, and winked at the fifteen or sixteen year old little eunuch, telling him to go out and shake off his soreness Numb hands, don't make the emperor take a nap.

In the empty hall, the bright and clean floor tiles reflected the moonlight outside the hall, so quiet that a needle could be heard.

Cao Huachun raised his head, and the "Nine Thoughts" plaque was hung high on the hall. The emperor's calligraphy has the shadow of Yan Zhenqing, with thick ink and strong strokes.

Lowering his head, the imperial cases were piled up with the memorials presented by the cabinet, waiting for the imperial pen and Zhu's approval, which were arranged extremely neatly.

On the opening page, Zhang Lun, the governor of Sichuan, said that the four cities of Zunhua had been restored. Please stop the summoning of Qin Liangyu, chief soldier of the chieftain of Shiba, and his concubine King Mingqin of Qin Yi.

Cao Huachun sighed silently, he felt sorry for the emperor.

His father was the son his grandfather didn't like the most. When he was five years old, his mother was ordered to be killed by a cane. The stepmother appointed by his grandfather was the enemy who killed his brother's biological mother.

The two brothers depended on each other at the center of the vortex of power in the world, and eventually became emperors successively.

Thinking of this, Cao Huachun couldn't help showing a bit of a bittersweet but also disappointed smile on his face.

The world is impermanent. He entered the palace 30 years ago in Wanli. He was only twelve or thirteen years old at that time. He was a child of a poor family. The atmosphere was like this back then.

It's just a nice way to say that the emperor is close to raising relatives, and the eunuchs were so powerful back then.

His family wanted him to stand out in the palace, so he was diligent and studious, and he was good at poetry, calligraphy and painting, so he was appreciated by Wang An, the chief eunuch who was in charge of ceremonies, and appointed him to be a companion in Xinwang's mansion.

Xin Wang is the same as he was when he was a child, quiet, introverted, modest, studious, kind, even cowardly and fearful, but at the same time, he is full of energy in his heart.

It's just that Cao Huachun couldn't understand for a long time, this kind of inferiority complex, this kind of power that smells of poverty from head to toe.

How could it appear on the emperor's son?
It was only later that he realized that they were different.

He had no choice but to retreat and fight for the top, and he didn't want to end his remaining life, so he could only stand out and stand out for himself.

His master has always tried his best to prove that the son born to the maidservant is also okay, and that his brother is right.

You can be a good emperor, you can be a good prince, you can be a good king, you can be a good emperor, you can even... deal with yourself to the end.

But the people in the world who can encourage him and praise him are long gone.

Cao Huachun thought about these things until the chiming bell in the corner of the imperial case rang and echoed in the hall.

The bell rang three times, and Zhu Youjian, who was taking a nap at his desk, propped up his forehead with his arms.

After closing his eyes for a while, the emperor got up and moved his numb arms, smiled wearily at his companion who turned his head, and walked slowly and stiffly around the imperial case to regain consciousness in his legs.

Cao Huachun persuaded: "Your Majesty has not returned to the palace to rest for two days, go back to the palace and have a good sleep."

Zhu Youjian sat back on the dragon chair, yawned and turned a deaf ear to this, and took up a pen to write down the memorandum of the governor of Sichuan: He has been transferred for a long time, and he still invites you at this time.

After the approval, he leaned on the dragon chair and said: "The bureaus of the Southwest and Northwest Fufu have not yet been decided, and the Taikuang Bank is less than one month old. I know that it is useless to be impatient, and the country is precarious. How can I sleep peacefully?"

Zhu Youjian took another memorial, glanced at it, put it back, and looked at Cao Huachun: "You have moved the memorial, this should be the memorial for Liu Kexun, governor of Shuntian, to ask for money and food."

Cao Huachun hurriedly prostrated himself and kowtowed: "The servants dare not move, it's just that grandpa has been too anxious recently, thinking that these few new memorials may make grandpa feel better."

Cao Huachun knew very well that the kitten, who had been harmless to humans and animals under the protection of his elder brother for three years since he ascended the throne, has been forced to be moody by the situation.

Zhu Youjian was angry, and looked at Cao Huachun unkindly for a long time, then sighed, and said, "Get up first, just this once."

When Cao Huachun got up, Emperor Chongzhen looked at him and said, "How difficult is it for the emperor? Since I came to the throne, the country's affairs have gradually failed. It is because I am not virtuous or talented enough to allow God to take back the drought. Without the knowledge of people, it is difficult to distinguish loyalty from villainy."

He raised his finger and scanned the imperial case: "A letter of memorial is in front of me, I don't know which one is true and which one is false; I send each suggestion in person, and I don't know which one can be used and which one can't."

"I haven't finished reading yesterday's, but today's is sent again. You are kind, but only this time, I am the lord of the country. Could it be possible to hide the memorial by covering it?"

After all, Chongzhen took the memorial from the imperial case and put it back to the imperial case. With a sigh, Cao Huachun discovered that the emperor's eyes were shining brightly, as if there were tears.

"It's been a long time since I dreamed of the late emperor's eldest brother, Zhi Xuzi, go and fetch the late emperor's rockery."

Cao Huachun bowed his head in response, and walked quickly to the bedroom. When Chongzhen was finally left alone in the Qianqing Palace, the tremendous pressure and grievances of successive defeats surged into his heart like mountains and seas, and finally made Chongzhen shed tears in his eyes.

He just remembered that when his elder brother became the throne when he was ten years old, he was still ignorant at that time, and seeing everyone respecting his elder brother, he held Tian Qi's hand and asked: "Brother, what kind of official is the emperor?"Can I be emperor?

At that time, my elder brother was already 16 years old, and he understood what the emperor meant. The palace servants kowtowed one after another in fright, but my elder brother just smiled and said: "I will do it for you after a few years."

Later, he became the King of Faith, read well, knew the difference between superiority and inferiority, his childhood jokes were completely forgotten, and he only wanted to be a good king, not to embarrass his mother or elder brother.

I just thought that the emperor's brother fell into the water and was dying of illness, and when he was called into the palace, he stepped on the dragon couch with a bad face, and said: Why is my brother so thin, take care of yourself in the future.

The older brother was powerless to speak, so he just said, "Come on, my younger brother will be Yao and Shun."

Chongzhen burst into tears like rain, how much he would like to lie on the bed and die soon.

Emperor Tianqi's last words were only four words, and he said with a smile: My brother loves me.

In the 300 years of the Ming Dynasty, brothers are willing to die and only this time.

In the empty Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen burst into tears, his face was ferocious, and the dim light cast a shadow on the plaque, like a huge, angry, wounded beast, roaring silently.

When Cao Huachun brought the agarwood rockery made by the late emperor from the bedroom, the emperor in the Qianqing Palace looked as usual, and was writing an edict for the Ministry of Rites instructing Qin Liangyu, the chieftain of the stone pillars, to reward coins, livestock and drinks.

At the same time, he also wrote a poem to praise Qin Liangyu's achievements.

"The robes of the Shu Brocade were cut by themselves, and the peach blossoms immediately asked for long tassels. There are so many strange men in the world, who is willing to travel thousands of miles on the battlefield!"

He holds the agarwood rockery in his hand, which was made for Chongzhen when Emperor Tianqi was still the prince.

At that time, they were raised by Xi Li and were often abused. Zhu Youxiao often told him that the servant Xi Li chose was not your biological mother. Your biological mother was buried in Xishan, and you must remember to worship when you grow up.

But Zhu Youjian lived in the palace for many years, and only knew the west, but never seen the mountain.

Zhu Youxiao made this wooden rockery to let his younger brother know that the mountain looks like this.

For a long time, this small rockery was Zhu Youjian's sustenance to miss his mother, but now it has become a way to miss his brother.

Agarwood started, and seeing that his eyes were about to get wet again, Chongzhen quickly put the rockery on the case, and asked Cao Huachun in a calm tone: "Zhi Xuzi, where is Yuan Chonghuan?"

Cao Huachun was stunned for a moment, then replied: "Your Majesty, Yuan Chonghuan's head arrived at Xuanfu last night."

Chongzhen leaned back in his chair, looked up at the chandelier of Qianqing Palace, with hatred on his face: "Two years, 15 troops, 80 million taels of silver, I searched for the people's fat and anointment, and gave him all the treasury."

"Donglu hit the Forbidden City... They are all liars!"

After all, Chongzhen picked up the memorial of the governor of Shuntian again, which said that he would collect [-] shi and [-] silver to prepare for Zunji’s emergency. middle.

The two ministries must cooperate fully, one providing money and food, and the other manufacturing ordnance.

Cao Huachun kept looking at the few memorials he brought, and finally couldn't help it anymore, said: "Your Majesty, among the memorials brought by the servants, there is one written by the Taipu Temple to note the master Shaoqing."

Chongzhen frowned, he didn't like others to remind him what to do, because no one could be trusted.

But when he heard the name, he thought for a while, this should be the person he sent down, so he asked: "Is he the supervisor?"

"Yes, His Majesty sent him to supervise Fujian's payment."

Those who take money, the imperial court is very short of money, Chongzhen quickly picked up the memorials to read, after a look, he was in a good mood, and couldn't help saying happily: "Well done! You will report to all officials!"

The salary paid by the supervisors of the teachers was more than 24 taels, but now it is 29 taels, which is strange. Compared with others, it is hard to know how many times stronger.

The ones sent to Shaanxi to transport silver cost only 13 taels, and they were robbed by the defeated servants.

Looking at the teachers, they brought in more than [-] taels, and all of a sudden the military pay in Jizhen, Zunhua and other places was settled.

In a moment of joy, he took the remaining two memorials and couldn't take his eyes off: "Han Fan?"

Many vassal states are actually relatives whom Chongzhen has never met. Family affection is especially precious to him, but those are the parents of brothers, couples and even wives, and these vassal relatives are not counted.

Chongzhen treats the vassal state very rationally, without any personal feelings, because he has never felt the love of his father, let alone those relatives who were divided 200 years ago.

But the feudal kingdom cannot fall, it is related to the expectations of his elder brother, and it is even more related to the country handed over to him by his elder brother.

Looking through it, these memorials can be described as describing the process of Han Fan being besieged and conquered from multiple angles. From the perspective of King Han, Yang He, and Sunday Qiang, they fully explain the process of the capture of Pingliang Mansion. up.

In addition, the king of Han begged for silver to rebuild the palace, and asked to be exempted from this year's land tax; Yang He also asked for payment for the Guyuan army and relief for the hungry people in Shaanxi.

It was a huge scandal. The Zhu family led the hungry people to break through the Zhu family's vassal state, but the court had no soldiers to use and no pay to send. The last one to rescue was a rebel army.

Zhu Youjian rubbed his temples.

He can kill everyone in this country, but he can't save this country that was already full of holes when he took over.

He reads these things every day, and he has no way of distinguishing whether what is said in each memorial is true or not. Everyone starts from their own perspective and has their own problems to solve.

The only thing in common is that they came to him to ask for money and food, as if after the Tianqi Year and the Eastern Barbarian War, after building a lot of border forts and cities, the more than 1000 million taels left by grandpa is still there.

This gave him a headache, and he felt sick and even wanted to vomit when he saw money and food.

Chongzhen really wanted to say "fuck you" to King Han who asked for money, but his status as the emperor prevented him from saying that, so he had to reply that he wanted to find a way to repair the palace, and he was not allowed to expand it. Remember to pay Wang Tian's tax.

In fact, Han Fan is not Zhou Fan in Henan or Jin Fan and King Qingcheng in Shanxi, otherwise he would even want to fine Lumi for half a year.

But think about it, Han Fan only collected 11 shi a year, even if he was fined half of it, the gain would not be worth the loss.

As for Yang He's request for the military salary of the Guyuan Army, Chongzhen carefully considered it, but in the end he only praised Yang He verbally. Ministry to make up their minds.

Chongzhen also wanted to provide disaster relief, but he really had no more money.

On the contrary, the last memorial made him feel very novel. He had heard the name of the thief for three years, but he had never seen a thief write to him.

The person who wrote this letter, named Liu Chengzong, brought it along with King Han's Memorial and sent it to the Forbidden City.

The font is a very neat pavilion style, which makes people look very comfortable. They should not be reckless and have received serious education.

Liu Chengzong's handwriting is much crazier than this. This letter was written by Yang Dingrui, but Liu Chengzong's name was used.

In the first few sentences, I wish the emperor good health, and then narrated his life, the son of Dianshi, a scholar, served as a frontier soldier, returned home hungry, saved his father from falling grass, and became the leader of the rebels.

Chongzhen read the letter, and a thought popped into his mind, this is a person of the same age as him, a few months younger than him.

Then he talked about what he had seen and heard. He led the army to live in pursuit of food. It was not what he wanted to attack the city and plunder the land. It was just that there were many poor people and the hunger was unbearable. I hope the emperor would not blame him.

Secondly, he mentioned the appeasement policy, saying that he was not unwilling to be appeased, but that the frontier soldiers had no pay and the local drought caused the bandits to rise because of hunger.

Now the imperial court has no way to provide them with military rations. Even if the grace of heaven is given to him to be the commander-in-chief, the sergeants under him cannot be stationed anywhere. to blame.

What's more, local officials are hostile, and neither side dare to trust them. I'm afraid they will die in the future.

Therefore, I boldly sent a letter to the emperor, just to show my heart, and I don't want to plunder the Quartet to do evil. I hope to get the post of Qinghai Propaganda Envoy, and I will eat the enemy when I go west to fight with the pirates. Zhenwei fence.

In addition, I asked for the post of Commander of Xining Guard for my elder brother, so as to prevent the frontier generals from closing their doors and leaving them isolated and helpless.

How to describe Chongzhen's mood when he saw this letter?

Not happy.

It's a grievance.

Three years, three years, finally a little brother told me that you are the emperor.

I don't want you to give me money, and I don't want to give me food. I don't even need the cooperation of the Ministry of Rites, the Cabinet, the Sixth Ministry and the local officials.

As long as the emperor opens his mouth and says a word, I will take care of things for you.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)