Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 209 Chongzhen and Li Zicheng were drinking and chatting happily? !

Chongzhen originally wanted to change his clothes, but it was too late because Li Zicheng had already arrived outside the palace and people came in to report.

"Please come in!" Chongzhen took a deep breath and winked at Lao Han.

"Yes!"

quickly,

Chongzhen first saw a group of people walking in from outside.

After Niu Jinxing came in, he bowed to King Xiang and said, "Greetings to King Xin..."

Old Han quickly pulled him back, "Eh? This is Prince Xin's father. This is Prince Xin."

Niu Jinxing raised his head and looked at Prince Xin in front of him, his scalp tingling. "You... May I ask how old you are this year?"

"I didn't expect Prince Xin to be so young?" Li Zicheng looked at the young man in front of him who was only in his early twenties. The waves in his heart were far more shocking than the scenes he had just seen on the street.

What is youth? Youth means unlimited opportunities and more opportunities for trial and error.

It means that you can fail again and again, but it also means that you can wait. As long as you are still alive, you have the capital to accumulate.

Li Zicheng had been following his uncle for more than ten years, and only luckily survived his uncle and sat on the throne of the King of Rebellion, but...

At this moment, Li Zicheng's brain suddenly felt like it had crashed.

He was stunned for five full breaths before he reacted and clasped his fists with Prince Xin. "When we first met, I really didn't expect that Prince Xin, at such a young age, has already surpassed us, the Thirteen Families of Xingyang, in such a short time. The young are really afraid of us, as we are too old!"

Little did he know that Chongzhen was also stunned for a few breaths when he looked at Li Zicheng.

"It is said that Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, had 'high cheekbones, deep cheekbones, owl eyes and a thick nose'. I never thought that Li Zicheng grew up to be so upright!"

Under his thick eyebrows, Li Zicheng's eyes were like the deep night sky, shining with a unique glow in the light.

There seemed to be a story hidden in her pupils. Every time she gazed at him, there was a sincerity and courage that could not be easily escaped.

Both parties clasped their fists to each other and extended their hands almost at the same time.

"please!"

"please!"

The two men were polite to each other, but in the end Chongzhen asked Li Zicheng to go first on the grounds that the other party was his senior.

"Come on, serve the food and welcome King Chuang!" Chongzhen ordered his men.

……

"These are the famous dishes of Wuchang Prefecture. Prince Chuang, please try them."

There was no room for everyone in the house, so they simply moved the wine table to the courtyard of the Governor's Mansion and put several tables together.

The two sides exchanged words and soon the atmosphere became harmonious.

"Prince Xin, where is your hometown?" Li Zicheng found an opportunity and asked the question he had always wanted to ask.

“I was originally a scholar from Xiangyang Prefecture. Later, I got into a lawsuit and had no choice but to join the rebel army. Fortunately, my brothers supported me.” With the experience and lessons learned from the last time, Chongzhen naturally would not say that he was the first in the Xiangyang Prefecture case.

"I heard that King Chuang was a postman, why did he rebel?" Although the court had already reached a conclusion, Chongzhen still asked.

Since he became a rebel, he discovered that the imperial court said one thing and the people below said another.

As an emperor, I am too detached from the people below.

"Speaking of which, it was the Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Youjian who was blinded by greed. The treasury was out of money, so he didn't dare to offend the bureaucrats and gentry. Instead, he abolished the post station. In order to treat my mother's illness, I owed debts and was sued by the creditor to the county government. The county magistrate sentenced me to be shackled and paraded in the market and was about to be put to death. Later, my wife had an affair with someone else, so I killed her..."

The corners of Chongzhen's mouth twitched and his old face turned red.

Prince Xiang on the side raised his head with a burning gaze. He had never thought that there was such a story behind Li Zicheng. He couldn't help but sigh, "If you don't rebel, I'm afraid you really won't be able to survive."

Li Zicheng smiled bitterly and sighed: "Among us who rebel, who didn't rebel because we couldn't survive?"

"Take him for example. His family has been farmers for generations. His father just wanted to farm well, harvest the crops in autumn, sell the money, and go to the girl's house at the east end of the village to propose marriage to him. He was so happy that he worked hard in the fields and imagined the future." He pointed at Li Shuangxi and continued:

"As a result, there was no rain for three years, and all the seedlings dried up. Not only could we not save money for him to marry a wife, but we even had trouble getting food."

"I had no choice but to find some manual labor, working as a boatman or carrying sacks for the passing government ships. But in the end, I became sick from exhaustion, but I didn't get any money, because all the money was taken away by those corrupt officials and middlemen."

"The most hateful thing is that even though they can't afford to eat, they still have to pay taxes and do corvée labor. The Ming emperors caught laborers who didn't want to be paid and tortured them to death."

Li Shuangxi was also reminded of the past, his eyes reddened, "The officials and landlords had delicacies from land and sea, and reveled every night. The uneaten, discarded, and spoiled food were transported out from the mansions every day. Every time, a bunch of hungry people like wolves and dogs would rush to grab it. The old man who couldn't grab it was pushed and fell to the ground, trampled, and lost consciousness, struggling in pain.

"I almost starved to death, but the government had no intention of opening the granaries to release grain. They left the bodies of the starved people to rot in the mass graves outside the city."

"You may not have drunk the dead soup, but King Chuang and I have..."

Chongzhen and Prince Xiang couldn't help but look at Li Zicheng when they heard this, only to see that Li Zicheng clenched his fists, his eyes red, "There is no other way, I can't survive without drinking."

Although he spoke calmly, he used the chopsticks to pick up food twice but failed to put it into his own bowl, which showed that he was not at peace inside.

"They are all miserable people!" Chongzhen said this after being stunned for a long time. He wanted to pick up a piece of vegetable and put it in his mouth, but he didn't pick it up.

Li Zicheng glanced at the setting sun and said, "Su Qin said, if you only have two hectares of land in the suburbs of Luoyang, how can you wear the seals of the six kingdoms?"

Chongzhen's eyes suddenly froze. This statement came from the "Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Su Qin" by Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty. It said that when Su Qin was poor and humble, all his relatives and friends looked down on him. This led to Su Qin's determination to become a powerful country and returning home in glory with the seals of six countries.

Not only him, but even King Xiang, Old Han and the old blind man all had changes in their expressions, and they all heard the unusual meaning in it.

Li Zicheng was unaware of Chongzhen's expression and continued, "I have been rebelling for so long, and I don't know when the dawn will come."

"I understand that the creation of heaven is vague, and the people are ignorant." Chongzhen said with emotion: "Everything will be fine, everything will be fine."

Li Zicheng replied calmly, "Then I'll borrow the letter from Wang Jiyan."

The two then talked about the dynasty's land tax.

"Prince Xin's idea of ​​collecting industrial and commercial taxes is brilliant!" Li Zicheng asked casually, "Why did Prince Xin think of using this method?"

Chongzhen put down his wine glass and said sincerely, "The tax rate has been 30% since the Han Dynasty, and it has been 10% at its heaviest. Although the emperor often said that he would never increase taxes, almost every dynasty followed his lead. There is also a population tax, and the people suffer the most from corvée labor. Since I am a rebel king, how can I watch the people suffer? Those corrupt officials can bully others, but we can't just turn a blind eye."

"I thought, since I'm rebelling, I'll make a fuss about the biggest pain point..."

"Great!" Li Zicheng agreed with a gleaming look in his eyes. "How many civilians were killed or injured while the imperial court was building palaces, government offices, transporting military rations, and repairing riverbanks?"

"Zhu Youjian is too arrogant. The people are suffering. How many people are there in the Ming Dynasty? There are more than two million people doing corvée labor alone, including the elderly, children, and women. That means one out of every four or five people is doing corvée labor."

"Now that Prince Xin has abolished corvée labor, and has also stipulated that the tax silver consumption rate cannot exceed 10%, compared to the people in Shaanxi and Henan who are starving and suffering from cold and hunger, the people in Wuchang Prefecture are really too comfortable. No wonder Prince Xin's momentum is developing so rapidly..."

"The King of Rebellion was praised and killed. If it weren't for you supporting us from the front, how would we have the chance to rise?" Chongzhen raised his wine glass with a red and blue face to hide his embarrassment.

"..."

After talking about taxes, the two talked about the general situation of the country. As an emperor, Chongzhen had a natural advantage and always inadvertently said a "secret" in the court, which shocked Li Zicheng.

"I never thought that Prince Xin was so well-informed that he even knew the affairs of the court so clearly."

"We have investigated many officials, but we just like to get to the bottom of things..."

For some reason, the two sides seemed to have endless topics to talk about, and they chatted with each other.

Enjoyed talking.

It was not until the sun was about to set that the two sides said goodbye to each other.

……

Li Zicheng's eyes suddenly regained their shrewdness and wisdom when he came out of the Governor's Mansion. Although his face was still red, he was not drunk, because there were some questions that could only be asked when one was drunk.

He sighed deeply, "This person is much more powerful than I thought!"

"King Chuang." Niu Jinxing's face was sinister. "I think this man is very ambitious. When two tigers fight, one will be injured. If he gains power in the future, he will definitely destroy all the heroes and dominate the world. In the future, the only one who can compete with King Chuang for the world is him."

"The King of Rebellion should have made plans early and acted decisively to avoid future troubles!"

"Avoid leaving any trouble for the future?" Song Xiance also came over at this moment. "Prince Xin is an extraordinary person. Whether in terms of program or system, he is perfect. How can we have a chance to take action?"

Niu Jinxing said, "There may be a chance. As long as we can meet, there will be a gap."

Song Xiance frowned, knowing that Niu Jinxing was going to use unorthodox methods again. "Now the Ming court is pressing us step by step, but our righteous army is bullying us first. Isn't this going to make our relatives sad and our enemies happy?"

Seeing the two arguing, Li Zicheng waved his hand to stop them, "Prince Xin is now the banner of my righteous army. This is the general trend. It will not be too late to discuss this matter after we have decided the outcome with the Ming court."

After saying this, he sighed. After seeing this today, Li Zicheng felt a lot more urgency in his heart.

"King Chuang, shall we go back to Henan for the next few days?"

Li Zicheng shook his head, "No, I will take this opportunity to have more contact with Prince Xin. Knowing yourself and the enemy will ensure victory in every battle. We must not only understand the Ming court, but also our friendly forces."

……

In the Governor's Mansion, Chongzhen sent everyone away and watched the setting sun, which was like a flame moving back and forth and burning in the clouds.

The meeting with Li Zicheng made him a little dazed.

He recalled every time in the court, the civil and military officials argued fiercely to kill Li Zicheng. Many things had happened along the way from Xiangyang. He was abducted to the mountains by Hong Niangzi, then followed the refugees, and later joined Zhang Xianzhong's team. The city was under dark clouds and the situation was tense.

Then came the arrival of Jinyiwei and Dongchang, and then the team was formed...

Chongzhen originally just wanted to accompany Prince Xiang to see the Ming Dynasty and fulfill his wish.

But along the way, he discovered that the Ming Dynasty's territory did not lie in the mountains and rivers, but in the common people, the bureaucrats, the gentry, and the anti-kings who jointly built the Ming people.

The people may not be able to read or write, but they are extremely pure. If you feed them well, they will form the most devout faith and will follow you in rebellion.

So many pedants and great scholars of the time are nothing but a group of cowards who are afraid to sacrifice.

These things had an extremely terrifying impact on Chongzhen's outlook on life, as great as the impact of the vast ocean.

It’s subversive.

Chongzhen murmured, "I thought Li Zicheng was a cruel and evil man, but I never thought he would be like this."

"Two hectares of fertile land near Luoyang... the request is so simple?"

"If I had known this, why would I have spent millions every year? Was it just to massacre these people?"

Chongzhen smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I never thought that the person I talked to the most and the one I could talk to the most these days was actually Li Zicheng?!"

"It's so ironic..."

He was in the middle of his words when he suddenly fell asleep.

Because the sun is setting.

When Zhu Changgan woke up and heard people around him discussing Li Zicheng, he realized that Chongzhen had actually met Li Zicheng.

Moreover, the two of them were drinking and chatting happily for more than two hours.

"What the hell..."

Zhu Changgan grabbed his hair, feeling extremely detached from this world.

One is the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the other is the most notorious traitor of the Ming Dynasty. How could the two of them sit together calmly, let alone have a pleasant conversation?
But the fact is that Chongzhen not only drank and chatted happily with Li Zicheng, but the two of them were still reluctant to part and agreed to talk again the next day.

"What do the two of you have to say?"

Countless possibilities flashed through Zhu Changgan's mind quickly, and he even had the urge to kill Li Zicheng on the spot in Wuchang Prefecture.

But in the end, all options were ruled out and he decided to sit tight.

After all, even if he killed Li Zicheng on the spot, King Chuang's troops had already become powerful and would soon elect a new King Chuang.

It’s hard to say what other unexpected events might occur. Let’s wait and see what Li Zicheng is trying to do.

And Chongzhen, why does it feel like this old guy's thinking has become more eccentric since he stopped being the emperor?
……

At the same time, a war broke out in Yuexi Mountain.

A conflict broke out between Hongniang's army and the imperial army. The second in command, covered in blood, led several thousand peasant soldiers to retreat into Yuexi Mountain.

"Second Master, we have as many people as they do, why don't we fight the government troops?"

"The boss is not here. Before he left, he told us to remember the nine-word mantra of 'build high walls, store up food, and slowly become king'. We must not fight to the death with the government troops. Preserving our strength is the most important thing." The second in command wiped the sword in his hand and said to the others.

He is tall and holds a knife in his hand. Although he is a little silly, he has a resolute trust in the boss.

As long as it was Lady Hong's order, he took it for granted.

If anyone disagrees, ask the knife in his hand.

Everyone was stunned for a moment. Are you kidding me? Who dares to ask about the knife in his hand?

"Second Master, where is the First Master?"

The second in command said in a muffled voice, "He said he was going to attend some kind of meeting."

"Wuchang Conference? Didn't you say you wouldn't go?"

……

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(End of this chapter)