golden scales

Near the Qianmen of Yanjing, the flow of people is bleak, and the once bustling city is now desolate.The ongoing epidemic is only one of the reasons, and the other reason begins with the changes that have occurred in the second year of Chongzhen.Jiannu detoured thousands of miles several times, entered the customs and plundered, and the vicinity of Gyeonggi, as well as Gunzhou and Linqing in Shandong, were all seriously attacked by soldiers.

Just talk about the 15th year of Chongzhen, that is, the big plunder last year.Jiannu Dorgon led the army to massacre all the way to Gunzhou, massacred 68 cities, plundered 60 people, and the number of dead was even more numerous.Many places have been burned to the ground, and it will take 30 to [-] years to recover.

In addition, Linqing, a major canal town with a population of over one million, was slaughtered, and the canal was almost cut off.As an important hub for north-south freight transportation, business has naturally become impossible.Over the past few years, in the 16th year of Chongzhen, there was a plague not long after the beginning of spring, and now it has developed to the point where two or three hundred corpses are burned every day.

Li Banghua stopped on the empty street in a sedan chair.He got out of the sedan chair, his eyes flickered, he quickly shaded the sun with his hands, and with the support of the attendants on the left and right, he finally stood firm.

The old man sighed: After all, he is old.

He was a Jinshi in Wanli for 32 years and is now 69 years old.This life has been full of ups and downs, which made him see through the worldly affairs. He only hopes that he will be able to return home next year and enjoy the happiness of his family.However, the utter loyalty in his heart made him have to run outside to repair this crumbling imperial dynasty.

"Master, we are here." The follower at the side said.

Li Banghua looked up at the restaurant's plaque, which read "Come again".This restaurant is a favorite place for young scholars and business travelers who come to Beijing. Generally, Yushi who has become an official will not come here easily.Now the market is not good, the whole restaurant is deserted, and there are no people drinking and eating.

Xiao Er looked at the door for a long time, not sure whether these people were passing by or coming in for dinner.It wasn't until seeing Li Banghua walking towards him that he boldly greeted him: "Master guest officer, do you want a private room?"

"Furong Pavilion, I have reserved a seat." Li's parents followed up and responded.

Xiaoer smiled all over his face, and said: "It's a coincidence that the master came, the proprietor just went up. The master is going this way, the master please lift your foot."

The long follower shook off the reward, sent Xiaoer away, helped the master up the steps, and walked all the way to the private room on the second floor.

There was already a man with a long beard sitting in the private room, with gray hair and his appearance was not young anymore.He waited for the sound of Li Banghua's footsteps, and stood at the door. As soon as he met him, he bowed to the ground and said in his mouth, "The students have seen the chief constitution."

The general constitution is the honorific title of the capital censor.Li Banghua replaced Liu Zongzhou last winter. He was transferred from the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate to the Yanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate.

"Why should Taixu be polite?" Li Banghua nodded slightly, which was considered a return of courtesy.

The seats were divided between the two compartments, Li Banghua took the lead, coughed lightly, and said, "Tai Xu invited this old man out, why?"

Taixu is Li Mingrui's nickname.Li Mingrui and the chief constitution are both from Jiangxi, because of their fellowship.At the beginning, Li Mingrui was elected as the official of the East Palace and took the post of Zuo Zhongyun because of Li Banghua's recommendation.In the intertwined officialdom, it can be said that he is one of his own.

"It's really exhausting for the President to comfort Zuo Liangyu in March." Li Mingrui saw his benefactor's white temples, and felt a little unbearable in his heart.

"It's essential to be a courtier." After all, Li Banghua was getting old, but after a while, he felt a little tired.He cheered up and said: "I'm getting old, and my energy is low. If there is something too empty, let's just talk about it."

Li Mingrui lowered his head slightly, and was about to confide the finished manuscript, when he suddenly heard footsteps outside, and after a while, he heard someone pulling the chair and moving the table, shouting loudly, it turned out that a table of guests came from the next door.He chose this place to meet with the chief constitution of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, just because he didn't want to be known, but someone came in and made him smile wryly.

Li Banghua nodded to the attendant.The attendant understood and went to guard the door.

Only then did Li Mingrui lower his voice and said: "President Xian, there are people in the court who say that they moved south..."

Li Banghua raised his eyes, his eyes were cloudy.He stared at Li Mingrui, and said bluntly: "Do you want to move to Shunan?"

Li Mingrui smiled wryly: "The chief constitution knows everything."

Li Banghua sighed and said in a low voice, "I'm afraid it will be difficult."

"How can we, my subjects, shrink back in fear of difficulties?" Li Mingrui said with a serious face, "The capital has been playing tricks for a long time now, and the Holy Son of Heaven is just sitting in trouble, so it is better to jump out of here. Once we arrive in Nanjing, hundreds of thousands of volunteers will naturally follow, so why worry about bandits? Destroy!"

"Hundreds of thousands of rebels?" Li Banghua sighed: "Taixu has forgotten why the old man went to appease Zuo Liangyu in March? Speaking of it, the beginning of bandits is not the King Qin's army at the time of Jisi's change?" Without food and pay, how much difference can a loyal righteous man and a rebellious soldier make!He just thought secretly, but didn't say it out loud, so as not to hurt Li Mingrui's enthusiasm.

Li Banghua went to Zuo Liangyu's army in March. It was precisely because Zuo was in arrears of payment that thousands of warships sailed eastward along the river, claiming to go to Nanjing for food.But now among Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Lao Huihui and others, many of them are also Qin Wangjun who have changed their times. Because they have no food and pay to return to their original places, they have lost their surnames and rebelled.

Li Mingrui was bitten by Li Banghua, knowing that he was showing some timidity, he expressed his opinion as a scholar, while ashamed and indignant, he also hated those generals who refused to give their lives.He said: "Zuo Liangyu still has the face to ask for food and pay! Now that he is stationed in the Huaihe River, the imperial court can't adjust it, and he can't scold him. Is this the private army of the Zuo family or the imperial court's public weapon!"

"Okay," Li Banghua sighed helplessly, "It's good that he can hold Huai Shang, and this is the only time he's had no pay for two years. Don't force another King of the Mountain."

"Don't the President listen to what the people say? Thieves are like combs, soldiers are like grates! Zuo Liangyu's soldiers are worse than bandits!" Li Mingrui said bitterly.

Li Banghua shook his head and said, "What's the use of talking about it at this time? You came to me today because you just wanted to ask me to move to the capital. However, I can also tell you clearly that the proposal of moving south will not be mentioned."

"But President..."

"However, you can choose the next best thing." Li Banghua interrupted Li Mingrui's words, and said slowly: "Please ask Your Majesty to go to the army personally, or ask the prince to go to Nanjing to supervise the country."

"Personally enlisting..." Li Mingrui savored the shock brought by these two words carefully, and finally shook his head.Ever since Emperor Yingzong rashly conscripted himself, not to mention being captured by Wala, more than [-] high-ranking officials, including the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Minister of the Ministry of Household, died on the battlefield.This has become Daming's nightmare.Even the emperors of later generations were full of vigilance and fear of the civil fort change.

"With the civil castle in front, who would dare to persuade His Majesty to conquest in person? Moreover, it is not appropriate to let the crown prince supervise Nanjing. The crown prince is too young to do anything. If the crown prince is young, he will not be prestige, and if he takes orders, he will be disrespectful. It is better for the emperor to do it himself." Li Mingrui said.

"As an official of the East Palace, don't you know that the crown prince is about to leave the palace to appease the army?" Li Banghua said softly.

"What! The prince is going out of the palace to appease the army!" Li Mingrui cried out: "Isn't this nonsense! Pre-military affairs!"

Li Banghua remained silent, and the surrounding area became silent for a while.

Li Mingrui realized that he had made a slip of the tongue, and immediately shut up, but felt that the surroundings were strangely quiet, and there was no sound from the private room next door.

After a while, there was a dispute outside the door, but before the sound could be heard, Li Banghua's long attendant had been pushed into the door, and a strong man with a height of eight feet blocked the door of the private room tightly.

"You guys were talking about His Highness the Crown Prince just now?" the strong man shouted angrily.

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