stubborn thief

The turn of spring and summer in the ninth year of Chongzhen.

While Liu Chengzong and Huang Taiji were competing with each other in bravery and wits outside the border, Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City was still competing with his court officials.

Everything is normal in Beijing.

Although the Later Jin army had broken through the border and reached the outskirts of Changping, people had long been accustomed to the border beacons, and there was no sign of panic in the capital.

Even the vast majority of people didn't know that the Later Jin had already broken through the Shanxi Strait, and they all acted as if nothing had happened, fighting for power and grabbing profits.

Of course Chongzhen knew the military situation.

He was anxious too, but his empire had too much to deal with.

Besides, there's no point in being anxious.

After all, the Later Jin only broke through through Xuanfu. There was Yanmen Pass to enter Shanxi and Juyong Pass to enter the capital. As for Xuanfu, in the eyes of the court, it was full of soldiers, so what was there to panic about?
Just tell Liang Tingdong to do his job well.

This matter is not even ranked in the top three in terms of importance.

The first one is of course Zhang Yichuan, whose official name is recorded as 'Zhang Zhi'. With the guidance of his fellow villagers from Fengyang Prefecture, this true dragon emperor conquered the five states and thirteen counties of Fengyang Prefecture in just ten days, and even burned down the old forest of the ancestral tomb.

Especially in Fengyang City, during the few days that Zhang Yichuan occupied the city, almost all the wealthy families were killed.

This was because the wealthy families in this city were the original villagers from the time of Emperor Taizu, such as the Linghu. The people who led Zhang Yichuan from outside were outsiders from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who had moved here during the time of Emperor Taizu, the people who later came to beggars in Fengyang Prefecture.

The conflict between the two sides was already so great that it could not be escalated. They led the way for Zhang Yichuan, and looting and killing rich families was their reward.

The commotion caused by this incident had a far greater impact on Chongzhen than anything else. He wore plain clothes and ran to the Taimiao to cry bitterly. He also ordered many troops south of the Yellow River to encircle and suppress the bandits.

However, Zhang Yichuan had gained a lot of experience after many failures. Ever since he entered Fengyang Prefecture, he realized that he had lost control of the army.

After resting in Fengyang City for only three days, Zhang Yichuan abdicated.

There was no other way but to abdicate. Along the way from Henan to Zhongdu, he had appointed more than 130 generals and commanders-in-chief, and about a hundred of them were generals and lieutenant generals.

After taking Fengyang Prefecture and getting the weapons and equipment of the imperial mausoleum guards, each group of troops became unwilling to submit to the other. Just the level of generals and lieutenant generals were dying at a rate of two a day. If he stayed any longer, he would be killed.

So he abdicated the throne to a Fengyang bandit named Wang Benren, and fought two battles with various militias, robbed a lot of military equipment and food, and finally led more than a thousand people and fled into Gaoyou Lake.

In fact, the development of this matter to this point is nothing more than a matter of building a tall building and then collapsing it, which is very normal.

But things took a weird turn afterwards. Chongzhen even wanted to behead Zhang Zhi and display his head to the public, send his head to the nine frontiers, and grind his bones to scatter their ashes.

However, Zhang Yichuan was recruited by the prefect of Yangzhou and appointed as the commander of Gaoyou Guard, in charge of the Gaoyou navy, and instantly became a subordinate of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Yichuan really acted like a pirate. Although he couldn't swim and most of his soldiers couldn't swim either, he relied on land battles to rob all the boats of Gaoyou Guards as soon as he arrived there. He also lured the pirates on the lake to the shore and wiped them out.

Whether it was the local army or the local bandits, they would collapse at the first contact. A dozen armored cavalrymen could disperse thousands of stragglers.

There hadn't been a war on both sides of the canal for many years, and the military equipment was so dilapidated that in some places even the troops could hardly move. No one had ever seen such a ferocious thing.

He was invincible in land battles there, and in naval battles he had ships, so he became the overlord of the lake.

Yangzhou prefect Han Wenjing saw that he could not defeat the enemy and did not know his background. He did not dare to report to the court during this turbulent time, so he thought of trying to recruit him.

He offered the treatment of a commander, thinking of asking for a sky-high price and then asking for a low return. It all depended on whether the pirate was willing to be recruited. If so, they could talk later.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yichuan was stunned when he saw the letter of recruitment.

I wonder, there are actually officials who dare to recruit me?

Later he thought about it and realized that something was wrong. The person the Ming Dynasty wanted to capture was the Ancient Yuan True Dragon Emperor Zhang Zhi. What did it have to do with me, the Gaoyou pirate Zhang Yichuan?

Anyway, they had money and food in hand. If they relied on a few thousand people to fight through the Central Plains and return to Shaanxi, they would most likely die on the way. It would be better to find a place to stay in Yangzhou temporarily. So they agreed immediately.

In fact, Chongzhen was also confused at this moment.

Because the leader of the Gu Yuan rebels in the official documents became Wang Benren.

Not to mention that the imperial court didn't know what was going on, even the many militia leaders in Fengyang Prefecture didn't know what was going on. They were so busy fighting among themselves that they didn't care who was the emperor.

After research by the Ministry of War, people unanimously agreed that the so-called Ancient Yuan True Dragon Emperor was originally named Wang Benren.

He was from Shaanxi and was a centurion of the Yan'an Wei Saimen. In the third year of Chongzhen, he was killed under the pretext of suppressing a rebellion. He escaped and then left the army and rebelled under a false name. He became powerful in Zhongdu and then resumed his original name.

Because according to the military records of the Ministry of War, there was indeed a centurion named Wang Benren in Saimen, who died in the third year of Chongzhen.

That man always opposed the newly appointed captain, and was sent out by Ren Quaner to suppress bandits, but was shot dead by the bandits.

Chongzhen’s second most important thing was to hurry and get rid of the two people.

One is the King of Tang Zhu Youjian, and the other is Qian Shisheng, a student at Dongge University.

Chongzhen had long disliked the King of Tang, who always loved to show off, and he could hardly bear it any longer.

This month, the King of Tang submitted another memorial, reporting a severe famine in Nanyang and mentioning that mothers had cooked and eaten their daughters, and requested relief from the court.

This incident had a great impact on Chongzhen. Last month, only 35,000 taels were allocated for relief to Shanxi province, where people were cannibalizing each other. This time, 30,000 taels were allocated for just one prefecture.

Because it was difficult for the emperor to imagine what it was like for people to be so hungry that they could eat each other, but he had a daughter and could imagine what kind of situation would cause a mother to cook and eat her daughter.

However, although funds were allocated for disaster relief, it also made Chongzhen hate Prince of Tang Zhu Youjian even more.

I hate him so much that I want to kill him.

Since Nanyang was a prefecture, why was it that when something happened, it was the vassal prince Zhu Youjian who reported it?

Because all the capable and virtuous officials in Nanyang Prefecture had been sent to prison by the King of Tang under the clan law, when something happened, of course only he, the prince who usually didn't care about things, had to submit a petition.

Chongzhen believed that this guy was a pure enemy of the country and he must find a way to get rid of him.

It was because Zhu Youjian was too familiar with the clan law, and he took the matter very seriously, which made Chongzhen helpless.

Another Dongke Grand Secretary, Qian Shisheng, was also disliked by Chongzhen.

To some extent, Chongzhen was helpless about the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.

This court seems to be well-behaved, but it cannot solve the problem.

So he always likes to do things that are of a performative nature. His mentality is like a normal doctor can no longer save his life, so he uses his brain to collect folk remedies.

For example, the appointment of Zhang Renxue, the first general of Henan. At that time, Zhang Renxue, a civil servant, wanted to be transferred to a military officer. The court officials all gave suggestions. Zhang Renxue was brave enough to take on the responsibility, so the emperor gave him an additional assignment to supervise military affairs. They were doing the same job, so there was no need to transfer him to a military officer.

Chongzhen won’t work, the performance won’t be explosive enough.

He wanted to show his unconventional ability in employing talents, so he waved his hand and appointed Zhang Renxue as the commander-in-chief of Henan.

It doesn’t matter whether Zhang Renxue does a good job or not. What’s important is to let everyone in the world know that the current saintly ruler employs people in an unconventional way in the hope of getting some extraordinary talents.

Facts did develop in the direction Chongzhen wanted. Now every day there were people who broke the rules and ran outside the palace to try to make the emperor hear their voices.

For example, at the beginning of this year, a military candidate named Chen Qixin went to the outside of Zhengyang Gate to write a letter, saying that the court’s malpractice was the use of imperial examination candidates, and that the subject should be stopped and instead select filial and honest people instead.

Chongzhen also specially appointed this fellow who had passed the military examination as the Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel.

Chongzhen’s logic is very correct. Performance is performance, but one cannot joke about the court’s major policies.

If you want to be a military general, I can let you lead troops to try; if you think there are problems with the imperial examination system, then you can be a Censor-in-Chief, monitor the six ministries, criticize officials, and find out who has the problem.

But it's easy for you to want the King of Ideas, but when the King of Ideas really comes, just don't be afraid.

This month, a military student from Jiangnan named Li Yan submitted a petition to the court to ignite the imperial court. Li Yan said that governance depends on a sufficient country. Only when the victims of disasters are saved and the soldiers have food can the country be governed. Therefore, he asked the emperor to search for the wealthy and powerful families in Jiangnan and let them sign up to help with the military expenses.

The most cruel thing was that Li Yan invited the wealthy to plunder and even limited the area to Jiangnan, and he himself was from Jiangnan.

To be honest, Chongzhen felt very happy when he saw this memorial.

It was a pleasure that went from the top of my head to my heels, and my toes were curled up.

I've been wanting to do this for a long time, to plunder all the wealth of the people!
But his reason kept telling him that this was not the right way to go, and it would not work anyway.

If the imperial court wants to get money, it can come up with a better-sounding name.

Just like in the past when people donated salaries to the court to help with financial support, the ministers took the lead and the court officials responded, and the response was very good.

Asking the Emperor to plunder the wealthy and powerful, is that human language? It sounds as if the civil and military officials are unwilling to give it.

But when such a scoundrel really appeared and submitted a memorial to the court, Chongzhen was really pleased to hear it and was in a very good mood.

Moreover, no matter what his trusted close ministers, such as Wen Tihen and Xue Guoguan, thought in their hearts, at least they acted as if they could really do a good job, which would be really good.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Xue Guoguan felt that he was not worthy of having his property confiscated because he really had no money.

It’s not that he is absolutely honest, but he has only been in office for a short time.

To be honest, he was a Jinshi in the late Wanli period. He was not young anymore, but he had only worked as a magistrate in the local area for five years. Later, he became a censor, and he worked in the household and military departments. Finally, he was promoted to the chief of the criminal department.

He is only of the seventh rank.

Later, when Wei Zhongxian was in power in his early years, he impeached many members of the Donglin Party; later, when Chongzhen ascended the throne and punished the eunuch party, he returned home.

After returning to the court, he still worked as a Censor-in-Chief until he was promoted last year.

To put it bluntly, how could Xue Guoguan accumulate wealth when he worked in an inspection office where people only cursed in public?
Not to mention that his hometown was in Hancheng, the last stronghold of the Ming Dynasty in Shaanxi. Whenever Liu Chengzong was in a bad mood and sent troops, his house would be raided without the court having to bother with any effort.

Wen Tiren’s thinking is clearer. He is already the prime minister. Why would a prime minister be afraid of having his property confiscated?

Most of the prime ministers would eventually have their property confiscated.

He had already accepted this setting psychologically.

But for others, it is not so easy to accept.

Especially the Grand Secretary Qian Shisheng.

People from Jiaxing are truly Jiangnan.

Qian Shisheng wrote a memorial: There are too many villains who have found excuses to get promoted recently. This Li Yan proposed that the gentry and wealthy should sign up and hand over their wealth to the government in order to confiscate their property. This is a chaotic politics that will lead to the decline of the world, and yet he dared to tell the emperor about it with such recklessness!
What's more, this man hates the rich taking over the common people. The rich families in the city are also the source of food and clothing for the poor. Now, he is blaming the rich families for the war and confiscating their properties. Once this proposal is made, desperate and scoundrels will make things difficult for the rich families one after another, and chaos will begin from then on.

People like this must be sent to prison and severely punished, and the Ministry of Justice must arrest them for interrogation!
But the emperor refused to listen and Wen Tiren also disagreed.

Wen Tihen understood Chongzhen very well. He knew that this memorial was just a way for Chongzhen to listen to nice words and satisfy his desire, and there was no room for maneuver at all.

What everyone is talking about now is Li Yan's memorial to the emperor, but if you really argue about this matter, I'm afraid it won't be Li Yan who will go to jail, but you, Qian Shisheng.

So he changed Qian Shisheng's draft to imprison Li Yan, and said to Qian Shisheng: Although this person's head is full of fallacies and heresies, and he talks nonsense, the emperor is allowing people to express their opinions freely. What you said is too harsh, and the punishment is too severe. The speaker is not guilty.

Qian Shisheng pretended to be ignorant even though he knew the truth, saying that this matter would shake the foundation of the country and must be fought for.

In fact, at this time, all the court officials were guiding Chongzhen.

A group of officials led by Wen Tihen and Xue Guoguan believed that it was time to impose severe punishments and act harshly in times of chaos.

This was Chongzhen's original inclination.

Another group, such as Qian Shisheng and Tang Kaiyuan, guided Chongzhen to stop sending officials to supervise military pay, treat officials with kindness, be lenient in controlling the people, be simple in dealing with his subordinates, be humble in keeping his heart, and be fair in making policies.

This is the external performance of Chongzhen.

The political views of these two groups are completely opposite and incompatible.

As for Chongzhen, he could accept everything and act like a schizophrenic.

In fact, Chongzhen was trying to find a way to get money, so he asked Xue Guoguan to push this matter forward. It was impossible for him to rob openly as Li Yan suggested.

Their calculations are also acceptable to normal people.

The idea is very clear. The court's finances are not good now, but it needs money. The annual deficit is not that large. There are so many wealthy families in the country, so it is entirely possible to borrow money to solve the problem first.

It was even put on the agenda. Borrowing money from foreign officials was handled by Xue Guoguan; borrowing money from royal relatives was decided by Chongzhen himself.

Li Yan's memorial is like a dog trying to catch a rat.

Qian Shisheng is even more crazy. He actually controls the dog to catch the rat.

Originally, Chongzhen just wanted to listen for pleasure. There must be someone in the world who is willing to overturn the table so that Chongzhen can do things in a normal way.

Even a fool knows that the emperor can confiscate the property of a wealthy subject if he makes a mistake.

But we cannot confiscate the property of our subjects just because they are rich. If so, does the court still have legitimacy? His chief minister is not Liu Chengzong.

What really irritated Chongzhen was that he said he couldn't say anything? He was sent to the Ministry of Justice just for writing a letter to me?

In this case, it is obvious that you are the villain who is blocking the way for speech.

If I really follow your idea and put Li Yan in prison, then no one will be able to submit suggestions to me in the future. Even if they can, will they dare to speak up?
The most important thing is that if you are like Wen Tiren, you have a core skill of having a photographic memory.

You are a Jinshi graduate, and you have spent most of your life in Nanjing without doing any serious work. You have made your way in the world by relying on your many friends. Now that you have entered the cabinet, you keep whispering some correct nonsense in my ears all day long.

I can act, but you can act better than me!

Chongzhen always hated this kind of people the most.

What I need is someone who can solve problems, but you, a jerk, keep saying that the problem lies with my moral character. Isn't this a joke?

Even if the problem lies with me and I am the root of the problem, then you should only treat the symptoms and not the root cause. It will be fine if you can just treat the symptoms!
Your grandma’s!

This time, with the incident involving Li Yan, Chongzhen became even more annoyed with him. He never expected that Wen Tihen would come and report that Qian Shisheng still wanted to fight, and that Li Yan must be put in jail, and threatened to resign.

"Let him go!"

Chongzhen was already angry and was about to ask Qian Shisheng to go home, but he stopped and said, "Wait."

The emperor asked the eunuch to search the imperial desk and find a memorial from Liang Tingdong from the pile of memorials.

"Look, Liang Tingdong said that Liu Chengzong moved his troops to the border of Jizhen, saying that if there was an emergency, the court could provide 100,000 grains and fodders, hire them to help suppress the rebellion, and let Qian Shisheng go. Isn't he the Minister of Rites and the Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion? He recites scriptures to me all day long."

"Let him recite the sutras to Liu Chengzong, and teach him to be lenient in ruling the people, to be simple in ruling his subjects, to be humble in keeping his heart, and to be fair in making decisions."

Wen Tiren was stunned, not knowing how to respond: "Your Majesty, this..."

"Go tell him I don't want to see him."

Chongzhen waved his hands, indicating that he was just speaking in anger, and looked at Wen Tiren and said, "Didn't the Grand Marshal say before that Liu Chengzong is blocking the border, and that it is easy for the Eastern Tartars to enter the border but difficult to leave, and that we should be prepared for Shenyang to send troops to Zunhua and Yongping to support them?"

"It just so happens that Xue Guoguan said that Liu Chengzong planned to sell grain to Hancheng to provide disaster relief to Shanxi. He was kind-hearted and asked Qian Shisheng to go out of the border and discuss with Liu to stop selling grain."

Chongzhen let out a long breath, as if this was the only thing that made him feel good recently: "I will transfer 100,000 dan of grain from Tongzhou to the border, and he will transfer 100,000 dan of grain to Hancheng for disaster relief. What do you think, Lord?" (End of this chapter)