Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 335 Can be checked but not checked
"Uh!"

"Hurry up to me!"

With the waving of the whip, there was a shrill scream, but such a sound made a man sitting in the courtyard tremble uncontrollably.

After a while, an old slave with a money rattail came in and saluted the man:

"General, Mangul Tabel ordered us to hand over six hundred men..."

"boom--"

When the old slave's words were spoken, the man immediately slammed his fist on the stone table and cursed angrily:
"It was agreed in the past that the Han people should be treated kindly, but now there are 30 Han people out of ten, and I want to hand over my soldiers!"

"General, be careful that walls have ears!" The old slave was taken aback by the man's words, and hurriedly tried to dissuade him, but the man said:

"Regret that I betrayed Ming Dynasty and surrendered gold!"

His words were heard by the old slave, and the old slave couldn't help sighing, and his identity was Liu Aita, the number three general among the Han generals of Jin Kingdom, and his Chinese name was Liu Xingzuo.

Unlike Tong Yangxing and Li Yongfang, who had a great fortune and took refuge in Nurhachi, Liu Xingzuo was originally a commoner.

Although the three brothers in the family have all read books, they didn't read too much, and their family fortune fell because of the chaos in Gaohuai and Liao.

Therefore, like most Liaodong people two years before Tianqi, he hated the Ming government from the bottom of his heart.

Later, he was whipped by Kaiyuan Bingbei Dao for wearing a Confucian scarf and Confucian uniform without entering the guard school. In order to avoid punishment, he fled to the then Jianzhou Guard.

Because of his literacy, he was also appreciated by Nurhachi, who was the commander of the Jianzhou Guard of the Ming Dynasty at that time, and was awarded the post of imperial defense, and he was given a Jurchen name "Aita".

From the 33rd year of Wanli to the 39th year of Wanli, Liu Xingzuo was responsible for appeasing the Han people who fled to the north under the banner of Zhenghong in Daishan. communicate.

At the same time, unlike other Han generals who only knew how to exploit Han fleeing north, he would use his special status to protect the Han people under his command.

After some Han people were bullied by the Jurchens, Liu Xingzuo would also scold and punish them.

For people like Daishan and Manggurtai, what he did was nothing more than eating inside and out, so Daishan and Manggurtai often seized his fields and livestock.

However, Liu Xingzuo didn't care about this, because at that time Nurhachi lacked political talents, and often after things happened, Nurhachi would scold Daishan and Mang Gurtai.

In this situation, even after Nurhachi rebelled against Daming and captured Tieling, Kaiyuan, Fushun and other places, there was still no change. Liu Xingzuo still used his power to protect the Han people.

It's just that this situation has completely ended since the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty.

When Nurhachi, who fled north with tens of thousands of people beyond the Great Wall, faced the situation of insufficient food, he immediately tore off the mask he had disguised, even Liu Xingzuo's dissuasion was of no avail.

There are more than [-] Han people in northern Liaoning, and in less than five years, less than one-third of them are left.

Huang Taiji is the only one who still supports Liu Xingzuo's kind treatment of Han people.

However, even Huang Taiji treated the Han people as "slightly precious consumables".

Watching the Han people who used to call him "General Liu" being forced to death one by one, Liu Xingzuo fell into a mood of internal friction.

Is he going to rebel?What is he rebelling against?
Although Jin Guo had more than 5000 Han soldiers, the five battalions were in charge of Fan Wencai, Fan Wencheng, Tong Yangxing, Li Yongfang and Liu Xingzuo respectively.

He, Liu Xingzuo, only has a battalion of more than 3000 soldiers. If he dares to rebel, he may be surrounded and suppressed by the other four battalions of Han camp soldiers before he has left the boundary of Xingjing City, without the need for Jianzhou Eight Banners.

Therefore, in such a situation, it is not difficult to understand that he fell into the emotion of self-infighting.

"General, the savage Jurchen Tiger sent someone to give you a gift."

Just as Liu Xingzuo was complaining, a Han boy ran into the backyard again, and Liu Xingzuo frowned when he heard the words: "Is it specially for me?"

"No, it is said that there are generals and Lord Baylor in the city." The boy replied, and Liu Xingzuo waved his hand and said, "Let someone come in."

"Yes……"

The boy saluted and retired, and then went to the front yard to pass the report. After a cup of tea, the sound of footsteps came from a distance, and Liu Xingzuo also picked up his wine glass and began to drink.

After taking a sip of wine, he took a deep breath and said, "The taste of this sweet potato wine is still not as good as Liaodong's rice wine."

Sweet potato wine, the word appeared in Liu Xingzuo's mouth.

Sweet potatoes have already been planted in the Kingdom of Jin, and the origin of sweet potatoes comes from the sweet potatoes obtained by Mangurtai's attack on Daning Mansion during the Ming Army's second North Sweep campaign.

They captured some of the captives of the Liao people, and after learning about the yield of sweet potatoes, they returned north with sweet potatoes.

However, the promotion of crops does not happen overnight. Zhu Youjian used millions of acres of fields to cultivate sweet potatoes and promote them. It took six years to secure more than 4000 million acres of sweet potato fields.

The sweet potatoes that Mangurtai looted back from Daning Mansion were only a few thousand shi. Even if Nurhachi tried his best to promote it, it is only more than [-] mu.

In addition, Xingjing City is too far north, and the cultivated land is not intensively cultivated, so the yield of sweet potatoes can only reach five stones per mu.

But even so, sweet potatoes have become the main food in the Kingdom of Jin since last year.

More importantly, the existence of sweet potatoes offset Warhorse's dependence on soybeans, which allowed the Kingdom of Jin to free up a lot of land to grow rice.

Starting from this year, the Kingdom of Jin can achieve self-sufficiency of 42 people, and this so-called self-sufficiency is based on the corpses of more than [-] Han people.

The grain is richer, so naturally a small amount of grain can be used to make wine.

However, when it comes to wine, Jin Guo's internal control is still very strict.

Niulu Erzhen can only enjoy one catty of sweet potato wine a year, Jiala Erzhen and the generals of Hanying and Mongolian camps can enjoy ten catties of sweet potato wine a year, Gushan Ezhen can enjoy ten catties of rice wine, Baylor thirty catties, and Nurhachi himself five Ten catties.

After careful calculation, it did not consume too much food, and the reason why the drinking was allowed was also a policy that the top leaders of the Jin Kingdom had to implement.

Since rushing to the outside of the customs, the depression of more than four years has made many people feel resentful. Appropriate open drinking can soothe the emotions of the middle and lower generals, and it is a good means.

Liu Xingzuo was drinking, and the naturalized Jurchen under Guo Sangdai also walked into the backyard, bowed to Liu Xingzuo and said:
"Beishan Nuzhen Gaotai, see General Liu, this is a gift from our leader entrusted by the great shaman."

After all, Gaotai also handed out a gift list with both hands, and the person next to him took it and handed it to Liu Xingzuo.

Liu Xingzuo didn't pay attention at first, but when he opened it, his expression changed instantly.

It's not that Guo Sangdai and Gaotai blatantly wrote a letter to persuade them to surrender, but the contents of this gift list.

In this gift list, there are a lot of special products of Kaiyuan and Tieling, and these special products are difficult to obtain even in the Kingdom of Jin, because the Ming army has almost cut off all smuggling.

So here comes the question, how did Beishannu, who is far away in Nuergancheng, get something that the Jin Kingdom, which is close to Liaodong, can't get?
"The gifts you give to other generals and Baylor are also like this?"

Liu Xingzuo quickly closed the gift list, while Gaotai said with a smile on his face:

"That's right, ten taels of gold, 300 taels of silver, and some furs and ores from Beishan."

What Gaotai said was far from what was on the gift list. Liu Xingzuo's eyes were cloudy, and then he said:
"If there are more similar things, please send them in the next tribute."

"Please rest assured, general, there will be a tribute team coming in the first month of next year." After Gaotai said, he also bowed with his chest folded:

"The gift has already been delivered, so don't bother the general."

"Hmm..." Liu Xingzuo waved his hand to signal him to retreat, but he didn't hand over the gift list to the old slave next to him, but walked into his study with it.

He opened the gift list again, and then a servant entered the study with two baskets of gifts.

Liu Xingzuo asked people to put their things down, and then drove them away.

After everyone left, he stepped forward and opened some wooden boxes wrapped in fur.

Among these wooden boxes, many things related to Kaiyuan appeared one after another, and when the last wooden box was opened, a box full of hair appeared.

When he saw these hairs, Liu Xingzuo touched the top of his head subconsciously, but only touched the ugly money rattail.

When he touched the braid, he seemed to lose his strength, fell backwards, and sat limply on the ground, not regaining consciousness for a long time.

It took a quarter of an hour before he realized it, and then he put away all the things related to Kaiyuan, including two jars of Kaiyuan rice wine, which he carefully stored under the bed.

After finishing all this, he threw the gift list into the incense burner in the house, and he was relieved to see the gift list being ignited and finally burned to ashes...

"how?"

"He didn't expose me, maybe he is trustworthy as His Highness said."

While Liu Xingzuo solved the hidden danger, Gaotai also returned to the post house and chatted with Guo Sangdai about Liu Xingzuo's attitude.

They didn't just send things about Daming to Liu Xingzuo alone, but they sent things about Daming to Tong Yangxing, Li Yongfang, Fan Wencheng, Fan Wencai and others.

However, in terms of gifts for these people, Guo Sangdai selected some gifts that the Ming Dynasty gave to the commanders, thousands and hundreds of Jurchen guards in Beishan in the past.

Therefore, once Fan Wencheng and others saw these gifts, they would suddenly stand up and ask where the gifts came from with gloomy faces, and Gaotai would use it as a gift from Emperor Wanli back then as an excuse.

Although such a move would arouse suspicion, is there any danger in spying on intelligence?Besides, they all made the gifts old, and anyone who saw them would know that they were left over from many years ago.

Therefore, although Fan Wencheng and others were taken aback by these gifts, they did not become too suspicious afterwards.

The reason is very simple. It is more dangerous to go to Nuer by sea from Jingcheng. After all, this sea area is not as safe as it seems.

Fan Wencheng and others also don't believe that the emerging forces of Beishan Jurchen were supported by Daming, because they don't understand that Daming's current delivery capacity is several times, or even ten times that of Wanli years.

Therefore, Fan Wencheng and the others were fooled, but their attitude was clearly seen by Gao Tai.

Even Li Yongfang couldn't be very calm when facing the gift list, but Liu Xingzuo was very calm.

From this point alone, Liu Xingzuo is a person who can be contacted.

"Continue to test until he himself is willing to surrender."

Guo Sangdai, who was sitting in the room, chose Liu Xingzuo after hesitation, and Gaotai also bowed in response.

"To avoid long nights and dreams, we will withdraw to Nu'ergan tomorrow, and incidentally tell His Highness about Jianlu's acquisition of sweet potatoes."

Guo Sangdai narrowed his eyes, and Gaotai also frowned and said:
"Sweet potatoes should have been plundered by Mangurtai from Daning Mansion. Looking at the scale outside the city, I'm afraid they will be able to cultivate more than [-] mu of sweet potatoes after this year."

"If the food problem is solved by them, they may seek to relocate, or invade south."

"Well, you go down..." Guo Sangdai felt a little uneasy, and finally arranged for Gaotai to pack up the schedule, while he went to Mangurtai's mansion and said that he was going to leave.

But just as he thought, Mangurtai didn't bother to see him, so he asked Jia Laerzhen of the mansion to tell him to leave if he wanted to, and gave him a wooden pass for customs clearance.

Although he was slighted, Guo Sangdai was very satisfied with the result.

So in the early morning of the second day, in order to avoid Liu Xingzuo's possible betrayal of them, Guo Sangdai, Gaotai and others left Xingjing City early in the morning.

They went north to Shangjing, but they cleverly used the excuse of grain trade to lure Huang Taiji away.

After Jierharang came forward, he did not agree to the so-called grain trade issue, but sent them away with an excuse.

Avoiding Huang Taiji's scrutiny, they took a boat down the Songhua River in the south of Shangjing, joined Heilongjiang, and then flowed all the way to the north.

By the time they arrived at Nuergancheng, it was already August 25th.

There was no time to rest, Guo Sangdai immediately sent someone to sail south and sent the news to Jingcheng.

However, when their news was sent to Jingcheng, Beijing's Forbidden City held a permanent court as usual.

"Hey—"

"Long live Long live Long live……"

"Mu... bang!"

The sound of congratulatory gifts and the sound of cleaning whips sounded at the square of Huangji Hall at the same time, and Zhu Youxiao, who had not seen each other for a month, appeared in front of the officials again on the first day of September.

It seems that when King Qi reorganized the government, Zhu Youxiao became more and more lazy.

In the first year of Taichang, he had a daily court, but in the first year of Tianqi, it changed to one court every three days, and one court every seven days.

At the beginning of the second year of Tianqi, there was a court every ten days, and in the third year of Tianqi, it changed to a court every fifteen days.

At the beginning of the fifth year of Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao even began to think that the [-]-day dynasties were too much, so he went directly to the [-]st month, and this rule has been established for almost three years.

In the past, Changchao was actually very dull, but the atmosphere of Changchao today is a bit weird.

With the launch of the Fourth Division Jingcha, a large number of officials were arrested, and Yanshan officials also began to occupy many official positions above the temple.

Because of Enke's background, most of them are between the ninth rank and the seventh rank, and among them, among the inspection censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the staff of the sixth division, there are tens of thousands of people from more than [-] counties in the world. Officials have become their stage.

The place is easy to talk about, but above the temple in Beijing, some things inevitably began to ferment.

"Long live! Jin Xuan, Minister of the Department of Officials, is in charge of impeaching Cui Chengxiu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and wantonly planting cronies in the Ministry of Officials!"

"Nonsense!"

The court hall in the early morning was full of gunpowder with the impeachment of Yanshan official Jin Xuan, and the officials of the eunuch party directly responded to each other.

"Long live! There are filth and filth in the Ministry of Officials. There are more than 2000 civil servants in the world. More than [-] people were killed by the Jingcha at once. Isn't it enough to explain that there is a problem with the selection of the Ministry of Officials?"

Jin Xuan took a step forward, speaking sincerely, while Liu Tingyuan, the left servant of the eunuch party, stood up and sarcastically said:

"The Ministry of Officials only promotes officials based on their achievements in the local area. Did Li Ge think that these officials who were dismissed were ineffective?"

"Naturally!" After all, Jin Xuan was a newborn calf, and he didn't understand the horror of words in the temple.

He admitted on one side, and Liu Tingyuan bowed to Zhu Youxiao on the high platform on the other side:
"Long live, the selection of the head of the Ministry of Officials, and the Jingcha has not presided over it for six years. During the six years, official corruption has always been checked by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Sixth Division, and the Jinyiwei."

"At the moment, Li Gezhong's words also explained that the officials who were picketed this time are all corrupt officials and sycophants who don't do anything."

"However, courtiers are the best at deceiving their superiors and inferiors. Therefore, when the Ministry of Officials selects officials, they are the best at forging merits. This should be something that the Sixth Division, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Jinyiwei should picket."

"It's obvious that they didn't picket in time, how can they blame the officials who don't have the power to picket?"

"Long live, I beg you to transfer the power of picketing to the Ministry of Officials!"

"I ask Long Live to transfer the power of picketing to the Ministry of Officials..."

Liu Tingyuan's aggressiveness made Jin Xuan at a loss for words, and the eunuch Wu Yangyang's act of kneeling in agreement caused the Qi Wangdang and Donglin Party even more headaches.

Gu Bingqian, the leader of the King Qi Party, and Bi Ziyan, the second person, followed Zhu Youjian to inspect Weibei, and they are still in Yan'an Mansion. After Gu Bingqian and Bi Ziyan left, the Qi King Party The No. [-] person in the family is Li Changgeng, the left servant of the household department.

Seeing that Yanshan officials were at a disadvantage, Li Changgeng could only sigh from the bottom of his heart, then stood up and bowed:

"Long live, I think that the corruption of officials in the bureaucracy is already obvious, so many years of bribery..."

"Long live! The minister selects and employs people based on merit, not the placement of cronies as some people say!"

When Cui Chengxiu saw Li Changgeng coming out, she couldn't sit still immediately, and quickly interrupted Li Changgeng's words, saluted and expressed her loyalty.

"Didn't you install a cronies?" Jin Xuan snorted coldly and said:

"Liu Zhixuan, the doctor of the Ministry of Officials, Liang Menghuan, the doctor of the official department of the Qing Dynasty, Ni Wenhuan, the doctor of the Qing Dynasty officials, Ni Wenhuan, the doctor of the Qing Dynasty officials, and..."

Although Jin Xuan can't talk about eunuchs, but in terms of evidence search, he is the best among Yanshan officials. How can he not understand how Cui Chengxiu works?
He named more than [-] people in a row, and at the end he made a mockery of Cui Chengxiu:
"Cui Shangshu, do you still want to put that old dog who is guarding the gate into the Ministry of Officials and eat a portion of the imperial food?"

"Hmph!" Cui Chengxiu snorted coldly, not thinking that Jin Xuan could do anything to bring him down.

To put it bluntly, as long as Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao don't end, no one can bring him down.

Therefore, he just looked at Zhu Youxiao, bowed his head and said, "I think I handle the case impartially!"

Well, Cui Chengxiu had a direct showdown, which brought the quarrel in the court to an end, and all eyes were on the emperor.

However, Zhu Youxiao, who is the emperor, was looking at a memorial in his hand at this moment, not knowing what he was thinking.

The eunuch standing next to him is Wang An, he would be happy to see Cui Chengxiu fall, but he also knows that it is not the time yet.

So he reminded Zhu Youxiao: "Long live..."

"Well... I'm listening." Zhu Youxiao was not in a daze, but was thinking about something.

However, after being reminded by Wang An, he couldn't say nothing anymore, so facing the battle between the eunuch party and the Qi royal party, he looked directly at Cui Chengxiu and said:

"The rules of the official examinations really need to be changed. The previous selection is also a matter of rules and has nothing to do with you..."

"Long live!" Seeing this situation, Jin Xuan was unwilling, and took a step forward to continue going up, but Li Changgeng stretched out his hand and pulled him out.

Seeing Li Changgeng holding him back, Jin Xuan could only grit his teeth and back away, while Zhu Youxiao glanced at him and continued:

"However, the Jingcha also needs to be revised. The three-year inspection is indeed too long. Let's temporarily change it to a two-year inspection."

Zhu Youxiao's hand can be regarded as temporarily suppressing the anger of the two parties, but he also knows that this is only temporarily suppressing the conflict between the two parties, because as time goes by, Yanshan officials have successively occupied the temple, and the eunuch party and the Qi Wang party There will still be conflicts.

But the matter of the court, to put it bluntly, is to beat the drums to pass the flowers, if you can suppress it, you can suppress it, if you can't suppress it, then you will have to use another method.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao also got up and said: "Let's leave the court..."

After finishing speaking, he turned and left, and Wang An followed closely behind.

All the officials were stunned for a moment, they didn't expect that the imperial court would be declared disbanded shortly after the meeting, and Cui Chengxiu glanced at Jin Xuan after a moment of astonishment, and with a cold snort, he led the eunuch officials out of the Huangji Hall.

Seeing this, the officials of King Qi's party also withdrew one after another, while Li Changgeng held Jin Xuan back.

Jin Xuan was born in Daxing County, North Zhili Province. He was born in the 38th year of Wanli. Now, he only started his official career through Enke this year. Li Changgeng was born in the sixth year of Longqing, 38 years older than Jin Xuan.

Facing the young Jin Xuan, Li Changgeng sighed and said: "The old man has been an official for more than two years, and he has been an official longer than you. Today I will tell you some ways to be an official, and you should remember..."

"Please enlighten me, sir..." Jin Xuan was very respectful to Li Changgeng, and Li Changgeng also sighed:

"This officialdom must be cautious, every step needs to be treading on thin ice..."

"Don't be too clear when doing things, remember not to be confused about small things, but be confused about big things."

"Do you think His Highness doesn't know what Cui Chengxiu and others have done?"

"Your Highness knows, that's why the Jingcha was launched to arrest corrupt officials!" Jin Xuan was upright, obviously thinking that Zhu Youjian's opening of the Jingcha was a declaration of war against the eunuchs.

"Confused..." Li Changgeng shook his head and said:
"There are too many things involved in the eunuch party, more or less involved in the palace, so many people in the court know about it, who ever took the initiative to say a word?"

"His Royal Highness is not declaring war in Beijing, but to catch a group of big rats to ensure that the treasury is sufficient and reduce the burden on the people. This is throwing rats instead of using weapons."

"You mean... those corrupt officials are rats, and the palace is a weapon?" Jin Xuan understood everything, but he was puzzled and said:
"But all the rats below have been caught, how can the device not move?"

"No..." Li Changgeng shook his head and explained:

"If the rat is caught, it can be cultivated again, and then it can be found..."

"If you get angry and get angry because the mouse was caught, that weapon is not a weapon..."

"The truth is, you should study it carefully. Next time you go to court, don't look into these things again."

After finishing speaking, Li Changgeng shook his head and left, while Jin Xuan looked at his back, hesitant to speak.

Since he was a child, he couldn't get used to corrupt officials. That's why, as a native of Daxing County, he didn't study official studies, but went to study in Yanshan.

After more than five years of hard work, he finally achieved success in his studies, passed the Enke exam, and embarked on an official career, but now Li Changgeng told him that there are some things that cannot be investigated?

"If I can't check it, then what's the use of me as an official in the matter..."

After murmuring a few words, Jin Xuan also sighed, and left the Emperor Palace...

　This afternoon's update is estimated to be released at five o'clock

　　
　
(End of this chapter)