I have a cornucopia

Chapter 265: The quarrel between the ruler and his subjects at Longjiang Pass

The soldiers were somewhat panicked by the sudden sound of gunfire and quickly sought shelter...

When they saw the flintlock pistols in the hands of the Guangdong soldiers under Zhang Jiayu, they became even more panicked and looked for cover.

They were all matchlocks, after all.

Moreover, they were just maintaining order and had not considered an exchange of fire. Even the fuse wrapped around their hands had not been lit!
"Zhang Yuanzi, what are you going to do?"

Fang Fengnian said angrily.

However, Zhang Jiayu took a new pistol from his personal soldier and pointed it directly at Fang Fengnian. With obvious anger on his face, he looked at the former Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Dongke Academy.

"Mr. Shiluan, I would like to ask you what you want to do?"

He said.

At the same time, Fang Fengnian's guards also pointed their flintlock pistols at him.

Now this weapon that Yang Feng used first has become widespread. At first, it was bought from Shandong. After all, the dog-lock bolt still requires technology, and the pressure plate spring inside also needs heat treatment process. But in less than a year, the craftsmen in Wuhu and Foshan imitated it almost at the same time. Now, with the increase of such craftsmen and the promotion of short gun prices, the three southern provinces, Fujian and Guangdong can all manufacture it. In the final analysis, as long as the price is high enough, in an era that has actually entered free capitalism, the speed of flooding is extremely fast.

This is the advantage of free capitalism.

Especially since the Ming Dynasty currently has no institutional protection, imitation has become a trend in various places, and the war has stimulated the booming arms business, and there is no regulation, so that blacksmiths in some counties can now make matchlock guns.

At this moment, as hundreds of flintlock muskets from both sides were aimed at each other, His Majesty the Emperor and Wang Chengen were watching trembling.

In addition, the militia on the shore had completed their preparations and aimed their muskets at Zhang Jiayu and his Guangdong soldiers.

Fang Fengnian looked at Zhang Jiayu with a gloomy face, and the latter also looked at him angrily.

Longjiang Pass, which used to be as bustling as a market, was now silent. Everyone was staring at this scene in confusion. Of course, many people left in a hurry to report the news to the city. The defenders on the city wall also discovered the abnormality here, and the Lion Rock Fort raised flags to inquire.

Of course, no one noticed that Boss Hu and his sailors had already pushed out four small cannons...

It makes sense for cargo ships to carry cannons these days.

Nothing surprising.

After all, there are countless pirates.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

His Majesty the Emperor suddenly had a seizure and started laughing wildly.

Then he pushed Wang Chengen who was blocking the way in front of him, walked directly to the bow, and pointed his guns at the militiamen...

"I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. If you want to kill me, just shoot me!"

He roared somewhat ferociously.

Lao Wang quickly caught up and stood in front of him.

"This is Your Majesty, our Wang Chengen. Do you want to kill the king? Put it down. Who dares to kill the king? Who wants to kill all nine clans? The Xiaoling Mausoleum is right behind you. You dare to kill the king in front of Emperor Taizu Gao. Aren't you afraid of heaven's punishment? The princess is in the palace. Do you dare to kill her father? Elder Fang, you were also a minister in the cabinet back then. Do you dare to kill the king? Aren't you afraid of being infamous for thousands of years?"

Lao Wang roared.

Except for Fang Fengnian and Zhang Jiayu, everyone around was in chaos, and the militiamen were so scared that they quickly put away their muskets.

It’s not that they don’t dare to kill the king.

They are purely mercenaries of the local elders' councils. Not only do they receive military pay from the elders' councils, but they are also young and strong people from the local elders and clans. It can be said that their interests are completely bound together. As long as there is an order, they really dare to shoot at the emperor.

but……

These are the militia from Yingtian Prefecture. Fang Fengnian, a veteran from Zhejiang, is not their real boss.

In order for them to actually shoot at the emperor, they would at least need the order from the elders of Yingtian Prefecture.

At the same time, Chongzhen also turned to Fang Fengnian. The Emperor looked at his former cabinet minister with murderous intent.

"Mr. Fang, I never thought that my former Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion would welcome me like this. What do you have to say? Are you saying that I am a fake? My daughter is in the city, just let her come out and see me. There are many civil and military officials in Nanjing who have seen me. Where is Han Zanzhou? Let him come out too. Where is Ma Shiying? Where is Liu Zongzhou? Let them all come out. Where is Qian Shisheng? Let him come out too. They are all my old ministers. Come out and recognize me."

Chongzhen said.

This is his plan.

Let's burn our boats and go straight to the point.

He didn't go anywhere else, but went directly to Nanjing and forced these people to make a choice.

Either accept him as the emperor, or tear off all your disguises and reveal your true face as a traitor, and don't even think about deceiving the world with those lies anymore.

Fang Fengnian took a deep breath, then bowed down to Chongzhen...

"Your Majesty, I have seen you. I just thought you were a thief pretending to be me, and I acted on impulse!"

He gave an explanation as casually as if he hadn't explained anything at all.

There's no point in playing anything else now.

Although he really wanted to order the militia to shoot and shoot Chongzhen to death, it was not impossible. After all, the militia had no loyalty to the emperor, and there were a bunch of guards behind him. He only needed to shout that this traitor was impersonating the emperor and shoot him to death. However, he would also be shot to death, because Zhang Jiayu's short gun was still pointed at him, and the few unruly people next to Chongzhen also pointed their guns at him. He would die in front of Chongzhen before he could finish his words.

If Zhang Jiayu hadn't interfered, he would have captured Chongzhen in the first wave and shut him up first, so of course he could have made any explanation he wanted.

But if this step fails, there is no need to say that Chongzhen is fake.

After all, there were many people in Nanjing who knew Chongzhen after him. Besides, his biological daughter was still alive, and it was impossible for the princess to say that her father was fake.

Of course, the princess can be kept from coming out.

But that would be a confession, and the people would immediately understand that this is the real emperor.

Therefore, it is meaningless to be stubborn now, he might as well just admit it. After all, he is not the only one to bear the responsibility, there are still a bunch of elders in the Elders' Council behind him.

But if a real fight breaks out, he would be the first to die.

but……

Admitting is admitting, but it does not mean that he accepts Chongzhen. In Chongzhen's obviously surprised eyes, he smiled with some contempt.

"Just now, Eunuch Wang said that the Xiaoling Mausoleum is right behind us, in front of the Emperor Taizu Gao. That old minister would like to ask Your Majesty, how can Your Majesty face the Xiaoling Mausoleum? In front of the Emperor Taizu Gao, don't Your Majesty feel ashamed? For seventeen years as the emperor, Your Majesty has ruined the country of the Emperor Taizu Gao, and the people have suffered. The country is in turmoil, the ancestral temples are lost, and you have colluded with the rebels, lost the capital, and even gave your own son to the rebels. Your Majesty, as a king, did not protect the ancestral temples, and as a father, did not protect your children. You even abandoned your wife and children, and used your subjects to feed the rebels. How can Your Majesty face the Emperor Taizu today, how can you face the people of the world, and how can you step into the old capital?

Where are the Twelve Tombs? "

He said.

Chongzhen...

His Majesty the Emperor's face turned red instantly.

"How dare you, old thief?"

He roared like a madman and rushed straight towards the cannon.

Lao Wang quickly hugged him.

There are a bunch of short guns pointing at us from the opposite side!
"Your Majesty, I have already been on your list of the three tribes to be exterminated, so there is no need to be shy about it. I was once a cabinet minister, and I know how your Majesty governs the country. Before the death of the previous emperor, although the Ming Dynasty was not peaceful, the rebels outside the Great Wall and in the southwest, such as the Wenxiang Sect, were either pacified or severely damaged. Even Nurhaci was killed. However, only two years after your Majesty ascended the throne, the Jianlu troops approached the capital from outside, and bandits rose up in the northwest from within. In the past ten years, the world has collapsed.

Although we, your ministers, are incompetent, Your Majesty cannot escape blame.

There have been many loyal ministers and capable generals over the past ten years, but where are they now?

Your Majesty is stubborn and self-righteous, suspicious of loyal and good people, changes his orders every day, and trusts a group of villains. Even Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting could not escape being framed. How many loyal ministers and generals have been killed by your Majesty's suspicion in the past ten years?

The world has been in chaos for more than ten years. Although it was caused by natural disasters, Your Majesty has imposed heavy taxes and levied more than 10 million taels of silver on the three taxes, causing the poor to go bankrupt and still be unable to support Your Majesty. How many bandits have rebelled because of this?
There are starving people everywhere, how many of them were taken away by your Majesty's tyranny?"

Fang Fengnian continued calmly.

He was very clear about the Emperor's level. Even if he exploded again, it was just at that level. Although this move did make everyone very embarrassed, it was actually just a sudden thing. With his level, he couldn't even be considered an average person if he became the emperor. Elder Fang had an IQ crush on him. It would be good enough for someone to pass the scholar level in the imperial examination. How could he compete with the first place in the second class?
"Even if I am incompetent, wasn't it your factional struggles that destroyed my kingdom? You said I levied heavy taxes, wasn't it you who taught me to do so?"

Chongzhen roared.

"I am guilty, I deserve death, but I have been convicted and dismissed by Your Majesty. But Your Majesty is guilty, what will Your Majesty do?"

Fang Fengnian said.

Chongzhen...

"I have committed a crime that has brought the world to this point, and I bear the responsibility. Even if Your Majesty thinks that dismissal is not enough to punish me, I am willing to be punished by the axe. However, Your Majesty is also guilty, and I ask Your Majesty to bear the responsibility."

Fang Fengnian bowed to him and said.

"I have issued confessions many times!"

Chongzhen said confidently.

However, there was laughter all around.

Fang Fengnian also laughed.

"Your Majesty, the world has been in chaos until now, and more than tens of millions of people have died. Henan has been barren for thousands of miles, the northwest is full of corpses, and only one in a hundred people in northern Zhili has survived. Your Majesty has just issued a simple edict of apology. Can it be fair to the tens of millions of innocent souls? Your Majesty can erase all the guilt with a single edict of apology? Can tens of millions of innocent souls rest in peace? I dare not ask Your Majesty to commit suicide to thank the world and comfort these innocent souls. I ask Your Majesty to abdicate and stop causing trouble to the world. Is that okay?"

He said.

Now that things have come to this, we might as well just talk openly.

For the common people, Chongzhen had already been buried in the ground. At least Jiangnan was now accustomed to the princess regulating the country, and the emperor was a thing of the past.

If he had just been buried in the ground, he would still be the emperor of the past, and people would not have specifically remembered the darkness during his reign. But he actually insisted on crawling out and running in public to scare people, which easily made people recall the fear of being dominated by him. After all, no matter whether the Ming Dynasty had long-standing problems or was caused by constant natural disasters, the situation did completely collapse after he ascended the throne.

No matter how he calculated it, the situation was actually improving when it came to his brother.

The Wenxiang Sect was suppressed, the She'an Rebellion was coming to an end, and even Yezhupi was dead. How he died was another matter, but at least according to the propaganda, he was indeed killed by a cannon.

The bandits didn't show up either.

The Ming Dynasty at that time was indeed not a prosperous era, but for ordinary people, they could still live a peaceful life. Although it had indeed deteriorated a little compared to the late Wanli period, it was still within an acceptable range.

After all, this is how the world is. Nothing will stay the same forever.

But after he ascended the throne, everything changed in just two years, and it can be said that things took a sharp turn for the worse.

The Jianlu began to invade and plunder, bandits began to cause chaos, natural disasters became more frequent, and even his taxes increased...

Chongzhen's taxes were actually much higher than his brother's. After all, his brother had Jiu Qiansui to collect money. The latter was to Tianqi what Zhongtang was to Shiquan Laogou. In order to ensure the emperor's expenses, when taxes could no longer be increased, someone had to do the dirty work and collect money by means other than taxes. And this expense included all expenses, repairing palaces, feeding eunuchs and maids in the palace, and even rewarding the army. As long as the emperor needed it, you had to have silver, no matter where the silver came from.

Even if it is selling official positions.

There is no shame in selling official positions. The Qing Dynasty survived the Hongyang Rebellion only by selling official positions.

But after Chongzhen came to power, there was no such way to make money for him, so all the money that was originally collected by selling official positions and even corruption and abuse of power was turned into taxes and distributed to the lower-class people. The Liao tax added during the Wanli period did not increase at all during the Tianqi period, but it was more than doubled during the Chongzhen period. The Lian tax had never been increased before, but he directly increased it to more than 7 million. The three taxes alone were almost close to the total annual income of his brother. The normal annual income in the late Ming Dynasty was more than 20 million shi of rice and wheat, and the tax was levied according to the Yi Tiao Bian method, which was less than one tael of silver per shi. The amount of silver varied from place to place, but on average it did not exceed one tael. In fact, there were many places that did not pay silver, so it was actually only 20 million taels.

The taxes he collected from the three taxes combined were close to the amount his brother collected. In fact, it was equivalent to nearly doubling the taxes his brother collected on land.

Although the reality is another matter.

After all, the country was in chaos and he couldn't collect taxes in many places.

(The taxes he imposed were actually collected by the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty also collected Liao tributes and was destroyed. What a magical world.)
He now wants to show off his imperial power and make the people kneel at his feet again?
Then let the people recall his darkness of extortion and plunder.

He could say that Fang Fengnian and other ministers had done it with him. Well, we old ministers admit that we are all guilty. You have already dismissed us. If you think that is not enough and want to behead us, we old guys don't mind dying to apologize to the world, but will you die? We are guilty, you are guilty too, let's not talk about whose crime is more serious. We admit that we are guilty and are willing to die to apologize. Then are you willing to die to apologize as well?
We don't ask you to die as an apology. After all, you are the emperor, and you have already issued an edict of repentance...

It's so funny.

Are you using the edict of repentance to offset the sin of causing chaos in the world and the deaths of tens of millions of people?

Well, we don't dare ask you to die as an atonement for this, but can you just give up the throne and stop harming the people of the world?

Isn’t this request too much?
If you're willing to abdicate, we old guys really don't mind dying.

Anyway, we are all old, and there will be a lot of elders over 70 years old. It is worth it for us to sacrifice our lives for our descendants in exchange for your abdication.

(End of this chapter)