Dragon Soul in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 20 The Difficult Choice Between Public Complaints and Public Support

From the appearance of the red-clothed thief near the capital to the attack on Tongzhou, the capital had only been out of food for a day, and the price of rice had risen from two taels of silver per stone to eight taels of silver per stone. You must know that the monthly salary of an ordinary eighth-rank official is only six stones of rice equals 12 Two taels of silver, if instead of rice, the most common family of three would not have enough money to buy anything except porridge.

People can live without salt, but they can’t stop eating rice. Although the capital is not under siege, the news from Tongzhou, coupled with the fact that the price of rice has risen to eight taels of silver per stone, has made many people in the capital Already completely panicked, fearing that the red-clothed thieves would once again assemble an army and turn around, they began to pack their bags and hurried out of the city to flee to the countryside, or to Yanshan in the north, while the capital was still in and out.

Zhang Yan did not return to the Palace of Compassion and Ning after the morning court, but rested and dealt with government affairs in the Palace of Qianqing. Although there is a cabinet below that can handle everything with full power, she does not trust the cabinet, and the eunuch Cao Huachun is just waiting aside.

Looking at the long and boring sour words in the folds, Zhang Yan really wanted to throw these things into the trash can, but finally endured her anger and finished reading it, and threw it on the imperial case. Tiredness was written all over her face, making her look so delicate.

Suddenly he stood up and slammed the table hard, knocking everything on the imperial case to the ground. His eyes flowed like a pool of autumn water, and his anger had a certain charm. Finally, he fell back into his chair and said to Cao Huachun beside him: " Was it wrong for His Majesty to put the factory guard, the tiger, in a cage..."

Cao Huachun's expression changed, he knelt on the ground in fear, kowtowed repeatedly and said, "This slave is terrified, this slave deserves to die..."

Zhang Yan supported her forehead, opened her red lips lightly and said, "What's wrong with you, get up! Aijia was also angered by these villains, did they think they could deceive Aijia? They really regarded Aijia as a canary in a cage ,do not know anything."

Cao Huachun stood up cautiously. Although he was Zhu Youjian's big companion, Zhu Youjian also trusted him and used him, but after all, he had a layer of diaphragm with the queen in front of him, and he couldn't communicate with him. Some gestures still had to be made , quickly squatted down to pick up the memorials scattered all over the ground, not daring to go beyond.

Zhang Yan found the previous letter from the memorials scattered all over the place, handed it to Cao Huachun and said, "Look! They are bullying the orphans and widowed mothers of Aijia. Once Tongzhou City was destroyed, the price of food in the capital immediately soared. Tongzhou How did the city break down, and how much did the people here who don’t want to serve the country do with their backs behind their backs.”

Cao Huachun took the memorial, read it quickly, and roughly understood what was said, then read it carefully, put the memorial aside, and said in a deep thought: "In the view of the slave, Wang Chengen is by no means domineering and impolite. He has a heavy responsibility, and he is in charge of the affairs of Tongzhou, which is very likely to be slandered, and Bali Bridge is occupied by red-clothed thieves, if you want to investigate the news carefully, you have to go a long way!"

"The Ai family has given you an important task. Put up the shelves of the West Factory, and don't let the other eunuchs in charge of ceremonies know that the Ai family no longer trusts Jin Yiwei and the East Factory. In addition, send someone to check the details of these grain merchants. Let’s see when they found out about the collapse of Tongzhou City... and there are no honorable children in the [-]th Regiment Battalion, remember to find loyal ministers who are loyal to the emperor and serve the country..."

Zhang Yan dictated one by one to Cao Huachun, she had too many things she wanted to do, but there were too few people who could be trusted and capable, and she didn't want to reuse those eunuchs who were greedy for money, and she was full of justice, The literati who steal men and women behind their backs will make her feel tired, but the most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty lacks money. The Ministry of Military Expenditure of the Twelfth Regiment Battalion did not approve it at all, and there was no military expenditure in the internal funds.

Looking at the empty Qianqing Palace, she also gradually felt a sense of powerlessness in her heart. Is it really dead?Thinking that Zhu Youjian is wearing red here, working until early in the morning every day, and having to go to the morning court after a few hours of rest, he is the most diligent emperor since the Ming Dynasty, even the Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, but such a mess is still there. Can you clean it up?

Facing Zhang Yan's doubts, Zhu Qian really wanted to tell her at this time that whoever cleans up this broken stall will be unlucky. He only knew after entering Tongzhou City that it is easy to enter the city and difficult to leave the city. It is not that there is any danger, but that there are too many Many people wanted to join the Red Army, and even the officers and soldiers came here wearing trumpets and armed with weapons. They were not here to fight, but to pay the Red Army.

He planned to quickly stabilize Tongzhou, and then sent troops to pretend to move towards Tianjin Wei, but now he has to clean up the mess in Tongzhou City, who made him not want to leave now.

"How about those rebellious soldiers?" Since entering the city, they haven't met a decent resistance. After entering the city, they are almost gathering the rout soldiers everywhere, and attacking the robbers who murdered and set fire. On the contrary, they are more like an official army. And Zhu Gan also repeatedly ordered and enforced the military discipline of the Red Army, and the entire old city of Tongzhou quickly stabilized.

"I heard from the people who surrendered to us that the rebellious soldiers have gone into the inner city, killing people and looting everywhere, and the people are full of resentment!" Originally, Gao Qiang's plan was to go into the city to rob, rob and kill people, but after seeing these rioters who murdered and set fire, The people were displaced, and they immediately felt compassion. After all, they have read some books, and they have not yet reached the point where their hearts are as hard as stone.

Zhu Gan looked at the skyrocketing fire in the inner city, and then snorted coldly and said, "Huh! Killers are always killed. We have to have our own bottom line in doing things. It is one thing to fight the dead, but another to slaughter civilians." The matter, now that we have entered the city, we cannot sit idly by, you take [-] troops from the headquarters, and [-] officers and soldiers from Xin Na surrendered to chase after the rebels."

Gao Qiang got the order, and immediately led the soldiers and horses towards the fire that soared into the sky.

Zhu Gan looked around, then called someone over and asked, "Go and ask the people below, if anyone knows how to swim, let me drive these boats to the shore."

Not far away, a large group of people rushed in, which immediately made the guards around Zhu Gan nervous, and they gathered together to protect Zhu Gan densely. Now there are not many available soldiers around him, so don't be here. Something went wrong at a critical moment. <Dao, he doesn't take the guard's nervousness seriously. Although his injury is still not healed, after all, he broke through the hail of bullets in his previous life. The people around.

These people are tall, short, fat, and thin, but they all have one thing in common, that is, they are dressed in gorgeous silk, and they look very smart. After giving a big gift, he cried out, "Your Majesty! You have to make decisions for the little ones!"

Zhu Gan was stunned, what was going on, did he regard him as an army of the imperial court?Let him call the shots.

The man immediately answered Zhu Gan's question: "The villain is Wang Haigui, the owner of Shanghao Rice Shop in the west of the city. He has joined forces with 38 shops in the west of the city and shopkeepers in 26 shops in the east of the city to jointly sue the Donglin Party. There are nine major crimes committed by people traveling in Mingze, bullying the city, robbing women, forcing women into prostitution, allowing rebellious soldiers to attack the city, etc. Please let the villains decide for you, Your Majesty!"

Could it be that these people's brains are broken, first of all let's not talk about Zhu Gan himself as a traitor, come to him to uphold justice.All the big and small officials in Tongzhou City surrendered and offered the city, and then came to ask Zhu Gan to kill You Mingze. You only need to inquire about this person in Tongzhou City, and you will know how important this person is in Tongzhou City. Having received his father's favor and promotion, he is the underground emperor in Tongzhou City, and even the intricate Cao Gang has to be at his disposal. If you move him a little, it is tantamount to going to war with the entire Donglin Party, even though Zhu Gan is daring , but now before he is strong enough, he is not willing to face such a terrifying behemoth.

Zhu Gan calculated the pros and cons in his heart. Whether it is from the perspective of probability or logic, it is a complete loss-making business. The idea of ​​making decisions for them just flashed in his mind and was quickly rejected snuffed out.

He said in a harmonious voice, "Let's talk about something when we wake up!"

Wang Haigui was a little short and fat. After kneeling on the ground for a while, he was already sweating profusely. Hearing Zhu Gan's polite words, a trace of deep disappointment flashed in his eyes. They had observed these red-clothed soldiers for a long time before they dared to organize Get up and come to ask for your life.

The red-clothed army has strict discipline. Although they hacked and killed big businessmen at the Bali Bridge, as long as they surrendered in time and did not resist, the red-clothed army would not be embarrassed. They traveled all the way and did not offend the villages and Tianyuanqiu on both sides of the official road. The same is true after entering the city.

They thought that a person who could lead such a red-clothed army, after taking Tongzhou City, would decide for them to cut You Mingze into pieces to appease the people's anger, but they didn't expect this person to veto it without asking the cause and effect, and gradually became disappointed. turned into despair.

Wang Haigui raised his head and glanced resentfully at the slender Zhu Gan, gritted his teeth and stood up with difficulty, his fat body kept shaking, looked up to the sky and said with a cold smile: "I will die no matter what, then I will die by your side today." In front of you, my ghost will follow you to see what retribution you will have in the future..."

After speaking, he took out a dagger from his bosom, frightened the guards beside Zhu Gan to rush forward, and was about to capture him, but unexpectedly, something happened suddenly, and he directly stabbed the knife into his heart, only a short distance away. At a distance of more than ten feet, his blood sprayed Zhu Gan's head and face directly.

Seeing Wang Haigui kneeling on the ground with his eyes open, there was a burst of exclamation, not only the small businessman behind him, but also Zhu Gan's personal soldiers. They really lacked the ability to respond to such a scene.

There was a bang in Zhu Gan's mind and he was in chaos. In his last life, he was just a passionate soldier who could think, but what he thought more about was how to keep himself and his teammates alive, but now there is a person who wants to let himself be the master. Let them live, but because of his refusal, he died like this.

That unrepentant gaze hurt people's heart even more than the enemy's hatred and contempt. His rock-solid heart was also loosening. Why was he so strong and what was supporting him.

People's grievances or people's hearts, how to choose.