stubborn thief

Chapter 544 Sharp Weapon
In the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Liu Chengzong took a large family back to the Marshal's Mansion in Lanzhou.

He lived in Xincheng for seven days during the Chinese New Year. Apart from going hunting with his wives, he was not idle during those few days, and even secretly did some minor things.

On the morning of the tenth day of the first lunar month when I returned, I was having dinner with my parents and wives in the side hall, when Habayashi rode outside the hall and said, "Marshal, Xining sent some books."

"Got it, put it in the study and go eat quickly."

It's not that Liu Shizi is sympathetic to his subordinates. It's because his schedule is already full. Today, the Huangshui Dragon King Temple on the west bank of the river mouth is completed. In Xigu to help the underserved victims, Habayashi Qi was able to have a full meal this morning, and then he had to eat fried noodles on the road.

In fact, Liu Shizi doesn't believe in this, but who made respect for the people's beliefs the background of the Marshal's Mansion? If the people need it, they have to repair it, and he has to go.

In fact, the common people may not all believe it. After all, there is no Dragon King Temple anywhere. The previous Dragon King Temple in Hehuang was smashed by angry mountain people because it didn't rain last year. That's why the Marshal's Mansion built another Dragon King Temple.

Liu Chengzong felt that it was not good for the common people to smash the Dragon King Temple, and he had already reprimanded the common people: When you ask for help, you have to act both hard and soft. Attitude to work?

So not only did he have to meet the Dragon King today, but he also had to apologize to the Dragon King.

An apology is an apology, and the rewards and punishments must be agreed in advance. The weather is good, and others don’t say it. He Liu Chengzong personally went to the Dragon King Temple to offer incense to the Dragon King. He should kowtow and bow. The big temple is not a problem either.

But if you take the benefits and don't work, that's ugly.

The Dragon King Temple was built at the mouth of the Yellow River in the lower reaches of the Huangshui River. It is a specially selected location. The terrain is very low.

If it doesn’t rain when it’s supposed to rain, there’s one thing to say, and you’ll be pulled out to dry if it’s time to dry it out. If the clay-body golden statue doesn’t rain after it’s cracked, Liu Shizi will ask someone to put a big guillotine in the Dragon King Temple , the leader will give you a guillotine.

Our Marshal's Mansion doesn't care about idleness!
As for the relief of the victims, it was Liu Chengzong's job. After two locust plagues last year, most of the autumn grain was destroyed, not to mention that there was no harvest.

The Xining Mansion implements the tax law of equalizing the land to buy grain and the military garrison of land, which brings great help to the Marshal's Mansion in normal times, but when encountering troubles, it also has higher requirements for the administrative capabilities of the Marshal's Mansion.

Last year, the summer grain was very good, but the autumn grain production was reduced by more than half. The Xining Mansion did not buy anything. Only the Army Tuntian, because it was in the Yaoshui River Basin, avoided the locust attack, and could still support 15 shi of grain. But this grain was not covered by the Marshal Mansion If it is hot, it has to be taken out to help the people.

After planning, Yang Dingrui, the prefect of Xining, planned to give 16 shi of rice grain and 12 taels of silver to give relief to Xining Prefecture. A tael of silver.

But to say the least, Liu Chengzong is the only person in the world who can spend this money on the common people at this moment.

It’s not that Liu Shizi is a great benevolent person. He has no choice. The tax law of the Marshal’s Mansion is different from that of other places. In essence, this monster relies on the division of land to break the influence of clans, landlords, and nobles. The prohibition of smuggling leaves the people helpless. , further use silver to buy grain, and collect the grain in the hands of the people; finally, use the materials produced by the Baigong Bureau to recover the spent silver.

This set of things allowed him to support a huge army with a small population and build a huge amount of military resources, but the consequence was that he had to take care of it when something happened, because he was responsible for the isolation and helplessness of the people. The more power you take away from people, the more things you have to manage.

A system is a machine with all its key components well coordinated. If a part is broken, the machine will stop allowing it. If it is left unattended, the system will be broken.

At the dining table, Liu Xiangyu saw that he was mysterious and had almost finished his meal, so he asked, "What books did Xining send you?"

Liu Chengzong said with a smile: "I'll go and see it with you, it's a treasure."

The two went to the study room together. As soon as Liu Xiangyu entered, he saw the red cloth package on the table, opened it and saw that there were several thread-bound books, and immediately frowned.

Because these books are all the same, they are printed by engraving, and the cover is a beautifully painted Xueyuan Dahe, called Zhongyi Zhiyong Hexi Biography, which confused Master Liu: "This is... a comic strip with embroidered portraits?"

Liu Shizi nodded with a smile, flipped through a book, and said while reading, "I made up the story book, and I specially hired an artist to draw the embroidery. The painting is not bad... What do you think of this?"

He made up the script, and the plot is very familiar. He just looked at the painting skills, nodded with satisfaction, and asked Liu Xiangyu's opinion on this matter.

Liu Xiangyu didn't understand.

In his opinion, Liu Chengzong should focus on more meaningful things. It is a troubled time right now, and the majestic marshal actually wrote a storybook. You are not a scholar who didn't even pass the exam as a scholar!
Of course, taking a [-]-step back, the background of scholars, candidates, and Jinshi has long been meaningless to Liu Chengzong. The imperial examination is a means to win over talents and scholars during the peace season. Rebellion, so the questions are getting more and more confused and more pragmatic.

But now that the Ming Dynasty is at a critical moment, Emperor Chongzhen's palace examination is extremely pragmatic in order to select talents who can reverse the current situation... Those talents, the number one scholar, how can they compare with his second son!
Last year's palace examination questions were widely circulated, and Liu Xiangyu knew it. Chongzhen asked eight questions, namely, the improper style of scholar-bureaucrats, Guan Ning Dengjin's heavy troops to prevent captives, the spread of bandits to support the people and the army, the salt law in the fields but no effect, and the soldiers Food and war horses are broken and owed, how pirates and captives unite to do things outside the border, how frequent floods and droughts can be restored and eliminated, and why the civil and military separation is unbreakable.

It can be said that Lord Chongzhen threw out all the doubts in his heart, resulting in these eight questions, each of which is a blockbuster, and he wanted to select a talent who is world-class.

Are you kidding me?Who can answer this kind of question in a [-]-word test paper?

Those who can solve these eight questions will not take the palace examination at all, because without exception, they are the questions themselves.

Huang Taiji himself is one of the problems. He can solve the other problems, such as the improper style of scholar-bureaucrats, and play a card of Eight Banners of Manchuria to solve them.

Liu Chengzong himself is also one of the problems, such as the problem of the alliance of pirates and captives, it does not exist, it is the very obedient Lord of our Grand Marshal, united around Liu Dahan, how could it be a problem, as for other problems, Except that floods and droughts cannot be solved, nothing else is a big problem.

But it is unrealistic to expect a Jinshi to solve this thing. This is not an exam, but a wish.

Last year, the emperor finally selected an old No. 270 scholar named Liu Lishun who failed to win the ten-year test. He was originally [-]. He was hand-picked as the No. [-] scholar by Chongzhen. There was nothing meaningful in the answer sheet, and none of the eight questions were solved. , are all correct nonsense, which is very in line with the simple and crude fantasy of Lord Chongzhen, which can be regarded as a successful wish.

It's no wonder that the old number one scholar has no talent. Everyone is a great talent in the imperial examination, but manpower is limited. Emperor Chongzhen's eight problems cannot be solved by just one person.

Mr. Liu had too high expectations for his second son. Seeing that Liu Shizi actually put his energy into making comic books, he frowned and said, "Lion, I know that I like reading books, but now is not the time. You should see when you can give yourself a book. Get promoted."

Liu Shizi smiled when he heard the words, what his father said was that asking him to promote himself was a matter of being king.

Years ago, Yang Qi sent many long letters related to the battle in Monan, and the information was very detailed. The Marshal's Office compiled these information into a book, and had a clearer understanding of Houjin's strength.

The troops of the Three Khans of Mobei fought a few battles with the Mongolian troops of Harashen and Horqin. There were not many direct confrontations between the Governor’s Mansion of Monan and the Houjin Army. Only He Huchen’s troops had a battle with Kong Youde’s troops, which was regarded as suppressing Kong Youde. Beat up.

But that's all. The Hou Jin army was in a hurry to retreat and was chased by the Ming army. In order to win the battle, the Monan Governor's Mansion fought several battles with the later Ming army.

The Mobei army mobilized its troops and mobilized the crowd, but did not grab the profits; Tumot in the Monan successfully rebelled against the Houjin, but suffered too much loss due to internal strife; the Harashen tribe was scared away, and all the camp and military resources were lost; the Houjin army lost troops and horses Returning empty-handed, it has the face of going deep into the Ming Realm and breaking three cities.

The Ming army chased Houjin and got many heads, but Yang Qi took the spoils away again, losing both face and reputation.

As for Yang Qi, he robbed Harashen and the Ming army, but failed to achieve the mission of fighting the Eight Banners. However, he also had to deploy [-] Mobei troops, and faced the resentment of the Ming army, the finishing work was also very troublesome.

Overall, it was a battle in which all parties lost.

Of course, there are also the winners who insist on taking millet from the fire. The generals of the Ming army who made contributions in field battles and defending the city were rewarded after the war. Among them, Pingyang general Fu Renxi shined brilliantly.

In fact, Fu Renxi's role in the war did not guard the power camp of the Longmen. He was head-on and allowed the Eight Banners to cremate thousands of corpses, but he himself lost more than half... But in fact, this is how the Ming army dealt with the Eight Banners The best means, it doesn't matter if you lose or win, just seize the opportunity to fight one by one, or even two by one, and if you fight for [-], the Eight Banners themselves will be afraid of fighting.

But Lord Chongzhen likes things that boost his energy.

More than 1000 others were killed, and [-] of them were killed or injured in the Zhongquan camp.

Fu Renxi killed more than 100 people himself, and killed more than 600 others, regardless of whether they were armored or not, cheer up!

Mr. Fu directly joined the general from an inland battalion, and he was promoted to deputy general of Datong.

After the war, Yang Qi led the troops to kill the tiger's mouth, and the villain first complained, saying that the later Jin army was scared away because they were afraid of him, but the Ming army went out to snatch his spoils, and planned to fight the Ming army at the border of Datong On the scene, Fu Renxi, who had just taken office, went in without knowing it, and led troops to the border to send envoys to fight with Yang Qi.

After chatting on both sides, Fu Renxi said that I was very grateful to Marshal Liu back then.

Yang Qi thought it was his own family, so he led the soldiers away in desperation, and Fu Renxi was rewarded by the court for this incident.

Of course, Yang Qi, Mobei Sanhan and even Tumed's Ombu were all rewarded by the emperor for sending troops.

No matter how confused Chongzhen is, it can be seen from this meeting that Liu Chengzong is indeed helping him deal with foreign enemies. With Yang Qi's army stationed in Monan, the scope of activities of the Houjin army can be limited to Shanhaiguan and Jizhen. It will not spread beyond the border of Xuanda.

What's more, he has always wanted to get back in his heart. Now that Hetao has been recovered by Liu Chengzong, and the Monan Governor's Mansion is so far away from the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion, the communication between them is not smooth. This is an opportunity. As long as Yang Qi is brought over, Hetao will come back ?
At this juncture, Chongzhen didn't even take the loss of land in the northwest seriously.

He even wanted to reward Liu Chengzong... The main reason is that he discovered that this Liu Shizi made such a big fuss in the Northwest, hitting here and there, hitting back and forth, he beat the household department and military department from a sad face to a happy brow.

Since the fourth year of Chongzhen, the taxation of the imperial court has entered the most difficult time. There are wars and disasters everywhere, so that the taxation is not going well, and the completion rate is only [-]%.

After all, the whole of Shaanxi is a big tax ower, so it is impossible to complete the collection; the food collected from Gansu did not need to be shipped before being eaten up by the Gansu frontier army, and they even asked the Ministry of War for food.

After Liu Shizi made such a fuss, Gansu and Lintao Gongchang were cut out, and the imperial court's levy completion rate increased to [-]% instead, which improved performance.

From Chongzhen's point of view: I have lost a little tax, a lot less expenditure, and my balance has increased instead!
But he was not thick-skinned enough to praise Liu Chengzong, so he could only turn around in his head and give up.

But for Liu Xiangyu, what he cares most about the letter sent by Yang Qi is that Huang Taiji's army can enter Xuanda and leave Xuanda, and drive the Han soldiers to fight without harming the root - this means that Liu Chengzong sent Yang Qi to fight for hegemony in the desert. In the south, Huang Taiji's event was broken.

The struggle between the two sides around Monan will become more intense. They must get through Ningxia as soon as possible and give support to the Monan Governor's Mansion.

If he acted in the name of Generalissimo of Qinghai and Daiqing Khitan Khan, it would be a bit dishonest.

Liu Chengzong knew what his father meant, but he didn't intend to proclaim himself king and emperor. Being a king meant little to him.

Chongzhen is alive, I don’t care about his nose or eyes, if you, Huang Taiji, help to send Chongzhen Master Longyu Bintian, I, Liu Shizi, will immediately become the sword of the landlord class. As the most loyal general of Ming Dynasty, Master Xingyi will avenge his father!

Faced with his father's puzzlement, Liu Chengzong smiled and said: "I'd better open and look at this comic book. I want to use this to set up the General Administration Department. This is a sharp weapon for us to enter the Guanzhong."

　good afternoon!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)