Han ride

Chapter 406
She knew that Emperor Chongzhen was very busy, almost every day he went to court with five drums, tired for a long time, and then reviewed the memorials in Qianqing Palace.I was busy until the evening, and after dinner, I was still busy, and sometimes I basically went to bed after the third watch.Concubine Tian was curious. In the palace, she remembered that among the previous generations of kings, such as Wanli and Emperor Tianqi, they never read the memorials of the officials. Governance is well-organized, but when Emperor Chongzhen came, he had to do everything by himself. Could it be that there were no trusted ministers in the whole Ming Dynasty to help Emperor Chongzhen govern the world?Concubine Tian has never understood this truth.

In fact, this has a lot to do with the character of Emperor Chongzhen. After Emperor Chongzhen inherited the Datong, he changed the employment policy of the previous generations of emperors. In addition, he was self-willed and suspicious by nature, so he was always alone in the memorial. take care of.Because there were too many documents, Emperor Chongzhen was afraid that he would not read them in time and missed important memorials.He adopted the method of the Song Dynasty, asking the Secretary of General Administration to read it first, write out the reasons in the memorial on yellow paper, and then paste it on the front, that is, "diverting the Yellow River", and then use yellow paper to write out the approximate content of the memorial. The content is posted at the back, which is called "posting pornography", so that he can read the quotation and posting pornography first, and don't have to read the full text of the less important ones.Once there are important pond newspapers and emergency military reports, they will be sent to the palace at any time, so that there will be no yellow quotations and yellow stickers, and Chongzhen can only see from the beginning to the end.In this way, Emperor Chongzhen fell into the sea of ​​books and literature.

Sometimes, when Emperor Chongzhen felt tired, he asked the eunuchs to read him the memorials and pond newspapers, and draw up orders for him.But he couldn't be completely assured of the eunuchs around him, and he always suspected that they were colluding with foreign ministers and concealing important court affairs, so most of the time, he still struggled to review documents and draft edicts in person.In the Ming Dynasty, the two famous ones were the bills and the draping of red. The bills were used by the cabinet ministers to express their opinions on the matter, while the red draping was generally for the affairs of the ceremonial supervisor's office. The combination of the two, sometimes, can On behalf of the imperial decree, it is sent to all parts of the country, but it is different here with Emperor Chongzhen. There are only bills and no red. Modify by hand.As long as one's energy is limited, let alone Emperor Chongzhen.

Concubine Tian glanced at Emperor Chongzhen, then at Wang Chengen who was serving at the side, and glanced at Wang Chengen, but Wang Chengen shook his head.Concubine Tian can only be secretly angry, she is the emperor's woman, but in terms of trust, the eunuch in front of her is not as favored by the emperor.

"Your Majesty, urgent memorial." At this moment, a eunuch's panicked voice came from outside Chengqian Palace.The voice was shrill and pierced the silence of Chengqian Palace. Emperor Chongzhen suddenly raised his head and looked outside. After Wang Chengen was stunned for a moment, he hurried out of Chengqian Palace, and a trace of resentment appeared on Concubine Tian's face.According to the previous rules, Emperor Chongzhen should stay at Chengqian Palace tonight, but since there is an emergency military situation, it means that Emperor Chongzhen will go to Qianqing Palace, or go to other places.

"What's the matter? Is it Hong Chengchou's? Or Lu Xiangsheng's, or Yang Sichang's?" The eldest son of the Chongzhen Emperor opened his eyes, and there are only three important memorials to look for him.

"It belongs to the Duke of Liao." Wang Chengen's face showed a gloomy look.

"He still has the guts to write a letter?" Emperor Chongzhen burst into anger when he heard that it was Li Xin's, and couldn't help roaring.After Yang Sichang arrived at the Xuanfu, he found that the seven families of the Shanxi merchants had withdrawn to the Datong area. Although he closed down several shops of the Shanxi merchants and harvested 10,000+ taels of silver, it was only a drop in the bucket for the imperial court.When the news reached Chongzhen's ears, Emperor Chongzhen even smashed his beloved jasper cup.At this time, I heard that the memorial was sent by Li Xin, and suddenly I was furious and roared loudly.

In an instant, the entire Chengqian Palace, from the concubine Tian to the maids and eunuchs, were all in fear, not even daring to vent their anger.At this time, if anyone utters a word, it will definitely be unlucky.

"What did he say?" After a while, Emperor Chongzhen snorted coldly, his voice full of irritability and majesty.He was also very depressed. In fact, he was the one who played Li Xin, but he didn't expect Li Xin to be so cunning. Going is for these people.But the news from Chen Xinjia completely turned him off.The relationship between Yang Sichang and Shanxi merchants was not very good. When these people heard that Yang Sichang was coming, they naturally all ran away.

"Go to the Wenhua Palace. Call Wen Tiren and the others here." Emperor Chongzhen immediately said another sentence.Emperor Chongzhen was a very self-disciplined person. He attached great importance to the "ancestral family law". There is a situation in this ancestral family law, that is, the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics. Incidents like this are rare.When it came to Emperor Chongzhen, he attached great importance to this point. Even the empress would only say a few words unless she had to. Otherwise, she would never ask a word.

"The emperor is driving." Wang Chengen didn't dare to neglect, quickly put away the memorial, and shouted loudly to the outside, and the dragon chariot was ready in an instant.Emperor Chongzhen got on the dragon chariot and came towards the Wenhua Palace. In the night, the lights of the imperial palace walked slowly. Wang Chengen served at the side, passed through the gate of culture, and walked through the white marble corridor. Emperor Chongzhen got off the dragon chariot with a gloomy expression. He walked straight into the apse of culture, and sat down on a dragon-carved armchair covered with bright yellow cushions in the east room, and did not allow Wang Chengen to present the memorial, but just sat there, waiting for Wen Tiren and others to enter the palace , Wang Chengen smiled bitterly in his heart, he could only stand aside, not knowing what to do.

After waiting for nearly a quarter of an hour, Wen Tiren rushed over. He was on duty in the cabinet today, so he rushed over early, and the others might be delayed.Following the little eunuch, Wen Tiren entered the apse of the Wenhua Palace, and respectfully bowed to Emperor Chongzhen once and kowtowed three times. This is not necessary for ordinary cabinet ministers, but since the court issued a After Yang Sichang, Wen Tiren also felt a sense of crisis. After meeting Chongzhen, he would not be as casual as before, but followed the rules and saluted respectfully. Sure enough, this made Emperor Chongzhen treat him a lot better.

"Sir, get up and talk." Emperor Chongzhen nodded and said.

Wen Tiren kowtowed again, then stood up, with his hands down, waiting for Emperor Chongzhen to continue speaking.But at this moment, thousands of thoughts flashed through my mind. Wen Tiren also had dinner in the palace just now. He is the chief minister of the cabinet. Naturally, the food was okay, but he was called by Chongzhen after eating half of it. There was obviously something important going on inside.It's a pity that the person sent to summon him was just a young eunuch who didn't know what was going on, only that Emperor Chongzhen was in a bad mood when he received a memorial.

"Sir, take a look at this memorial. It's from Li Xin." Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen pondered for a while before handing the memorial to Wen Tiren.

"The emperor hasn't read it yet." Wang Chengen whispered a few words in Wen Tiren's ear, and then backed off.

Just as Wen Tiren took the memorial, his hands froze for a moment, his eyes showed strangeness, he pondered for a while, and then opened the memorial. After reading a few lines, his complexion changed drastically, his eyes turned, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

"Why, did Li Xin make another request?" Emperor Chongzhen said gloomyly.The last time he tried Li Xin, he didn't succeed. Li Xin did him a favor, which caused him a lot of losses.This made him very uncomfortable. If it hadn't been for the rebellion within the imperial court that made Emperor Chongzhen at a loss, Emperor Chongzhen might have sent troops to attack Li Xin long ago.

"Li Xin wants to enter the customs through Shahukou, pass through Shanxi, first eliminate the rebellion in Shanxi, and then attack the Central Plains." Wen Tiren thought about his words before he said softly.

"Enter through the Shahukou?" Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Wen Tiren and Wang Chengen, and said, "If Li Xin enters the customs, must he go through the Shahukou?" This place has always been an important pass for the Central Plains to defend the grasslands.

"The Killing Pass is much closer to Li Xin's Yunzhong." Wen Tiren said hastily: "It would be reasonable for him to enter the pass through the Killing Pass. It's just that I am a little worried."

"What are you worried about?" Emperor Chongzhen said disdainfully: "Could it be that he wants to occupy Shahukou? Or does he want to occupy Datong?"

"I don't dare to occupy it. It's just that Li Xin thinks it's difficult to transfer his food and grass, so he wants to store his food and grass in Shahukou, and send some people to guard Shahukou, so as to facilitate the transportation of his food and grass." Wen Tiren was choosing his words carefully, very Euphemistically stated Li Xin's method.

"Isn't that called occupying?" Emperor Chongzhen was taken aback when he heard the words, and finally sneered: "Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou, so you can borrow it or not!" Emperor Chongzhen was not a fool, he looked at Wen Tiren coldly, although Wen Tiren said It was more tactful, but Emperor Chongzhen was still very clear about Li Xin's plan, which was to kill Hukou on the pretext.Shahukou is the most important passage outside the customs and the Central Plains. In this place, most of the grassland peoples entered the Central Plains through Shahukou. It is precisely because of this that this place is called "Shahukou".Once Li Xin is allowed to occupy the Shahukou, he can attack Datong and other places at any time.

"I'm afraid Li Xin doesn't have the guts yet. Datong has 10,000+ troops, and all the elites in the world come from Datong. Even if Li Xin occupies Shahukou, after leaving Shahukou, there are still two counties, Zuoyun and Youyu. The Mongol tribes also attacked Datong back then, and they suffered a great loss under the two counties." Wen Tiren said nonchalantly, "Shanxi is an inner and outer river and mountain, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Datong has countless elite soldiers who want to attack Datong, unless Li Xin brings out [-] elite troops. I have estimated that although Li Xin has quite a few troops, he must at least keep most of them on the grasslands. Otherwise, no matter how strong his troops are, he will lose If you leave the grassland, you will lose your foundation. Li Xin would not be so stupid. He can use only [-] to [-] troops to put down the Central Plains rebellion. Li Xin had a good time. I thought that no matter how powerful Li Xin was, he was no match for the elite soldiers of Datong. Jiang Xiang, the defender of Datong, was the next general. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s okay for General Yuan to sit in Shanxi.”

Emperor Chongzhen nodded, and after a while, cabinet ministers Wang Yingxiong, Wu Zongda and others came to the hall, and Chongzhen let everyone read Li Xin's memorial.

"Your Majesty, I think Li Xin's move is aimed at Peigong, but what I'm worried about is that what he wants is Datong." The one who spoke was Wang Yingxiong, who also knew a little bit of strategy, and he immediately saw the problem.

"Datong has a lot of soldiers and horses. The city is high and the pond is deep. If you want to attack Datong, I'm afraid it's not that simple!" This time it was Wu Zongda who spoke.Wu Zongda was named after Yu, and his name was Qingmen.A native of Wujin, Jiangsu.The third Jinshi in the 32nd year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty.He was awarded the editorship of the Imperial Academy.Promoted to Guozijian Jijiu.Served as the vice president of "Shenzong Veritable Records".Chongzhen entered the cabinet with Wen Tiren in the third year as the auxiliary minister. He was an upright man, and it was difficult to show his talent for a while.He is decisive, lenient and moderate, and caring for others.Those officials who offend Tezhi always turn to Zongda for help. He is always kind to others and helps others as appropriate.Therefore, he is deeply loved and respected by courtiers and speech officials.This is very different from Wen Tiren.

However, this person has a bad reputation among the people. This is also due to Wen Tiren and the Donglin Party members. Wen Tiren and the Donglin Party members are life and death enemies. After Wen Tiren came to power, he began to suppress the Donglin Party members, but Wu Zongda and Wen Tiren personally The relationship is relatively good, so after entering the cabinet with Wen Tiren, the Donglin party members slandered the cabinet headed by Wen Tiren.

"The cabinet was turned into a brothel, and Wugui Wang's bamboo strips were always plagued (warm)."This ballad is alluded to by surname and place of origin. "Wugui" means tortoise, which refers to Wen Tiren, the chief assistant of Wucheng nationality; It means those who accompany others to study, play chess, draw pictures, etc., similar to the current three escorts. It is used here to refer to Wu Zongda, another cabinet minister.This is the excess of the Donglin Party members.

"Killing Hukou is an important military area, and it cannot be handed over to Li Xin." Emperor Chongzhen stood up, walked a few steps in the hall, and said, "I know the place of Killing Hukou. It is an important border town of my Ming Dynasty. How can it be handed over to the Zhengbei Army? It is easy to send it away, but it may be very difficult to return it. Could it be that after Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong and others are wiped out, I still have to ask Li Xin to kill Hukou?"

"But what Li Xin said is also reasonable." Wu Zongda hesitated for a moment before he said: "His foundation is in the grassland. The imperial court requisitioned his soldiers and horses, but did not give him food and grass. He had to prepare everything by himself, from the grassland to the Central Plains. It is extremely inconvenient to transport grain and grass for thousands of miles. He can only hoard grain and grass in Shahukou, or Zhangjiakou and other important border areas, and then recruit civilian husbands for transshipment."

"He can transport the grain and grass to Shahukou, or Zhangjiakou, and then the imperial court will help him transship it. If there is loss, the imperial court will make up for it." Chongzhen said without thinking.

Wen Tiren and the others looked at each other and saw the bitterness in it.What is food and grass? Although everyone has never fought a war, they also know some things about it.Food and grass are the lifeblood of an army. Whoever controls food and grass is equivalent to controlling an army. Who is Li Xin? He is a military master, how could he not understand this truth?Because of Hong Chengchou's cause, Li Xin had no choice but to lead the army into the city of Beijing to eat.At this time, Chongzhen wanted Li Xin to be controlled by the imperial court. It could even be said that Shahukou or Zhangjiakou should be controlled, whether it was Yang Sichang who guarded Zhangjiakou or Jiang Xiang from Datong. For something simple, Li Xin sent [-] shi of grain and grass, and I am afraid that only [-] shi could get it.Even if all the food is delivered, when will the food be delivered, how much will be delivered each time, etc., these cannot be in Li Xin's hands, how could Li Xin agree.Chongzhen is just whimsical.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid Li Xin will not agree because he is rebellious." Wang Yingxiong thought about it, and said very tactfully.He couldn't say that Chongzhen was naive, he could only say that Li Xin was suspicious.

In fact, after Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, he also felt that he had said the wrong thing. As soon as Wang Yingxiong finished speaking, he nodded and said, "Then what should we do? Don't let him enter the customs? I'm afraid Li Xin can't ask for it!"

"Your Majesty, why not let Jiang Xiang decide?" Wen Tiren said suddenly.

"Jiang Xiang? How about this person?" Emperor Chongzhen's face changed, and he looked at Wen Tiren curiously. He didn't understand things that he couldn't even handle. How could a small general of Datong do it?

"Although Datong has countless elite soldiers, there is a shortage of food and grass. If Li Xin hoards food and grass in Shahukou, the food and grass will eventually fall into Jiang Xiang's hands." Wen Tiren is old and cunning, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty can issue an imperial edict regarding the conquest of the Northern Army." Let Jiang Xiang deal with it at his discretion."

"Master Wen, Jiang Xiang knows a little bit about this person's dismissal. This person is proud and arrogant, and he has to be cautious when he is a general. If he is put in charge of this person, I am afraid that there will be some conflicts between the Zhengbei Army and the Datong Army!" Wu Zongda said a little He said worriedly: "Your Majesty, the old minister thought that we don't need to conscript the Northern Army into the Central Plains to quell the chaos. Now that the Northern Conscript Army controls the grassland, it is no longer of much use for Xuanda's elite troops to be stationed. At this time, we can mobilize some soldiers and horses, enough A large army has been formed." Wang Yingxiong and the others' eyes lit up, only Wen Tiren shook his head silently.

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen frowned and began to think seriously. In fact, he had also thought about Wu Zongda's idea.It's just that after thinking about it, he still doesn't quite believe Li Xin.More importantly, he still has a thought in his heart, which is to use the rebels in the Central Plains to continuously consume Li Xin's strength. After the rebels are put down, the more than 20 elite soldiers in Xuanda can quickly go north to the grassland, especially The soldiers and horses in the Datong area can quickly pass through Shahukou and attack into the cloud.

(End of this chapter)