I

  Chapter 232 230【Emperor and Empress】

  Wang Tiaoding is young, he must not have lived enough, how dare he speak the truth?

   Immediately clasped his fists and said: "This Zhao Yan is an outstanding man, rare in this world. However, there are two disadvantages of his nature, one is circuitous, and the other is benevolence."

   Chongzhen asked strangely: "Is benevolence also harmful?"

  Wang Tiaoding explained: "This benevolence is the benevolence of a woman. Your Majesty, do you know that Zhao Yan's army is flourishing, but he is still confined to half of Jiangxi?"

   Chongzhen was a little sullen, what does it mean to be confined to half of Jiangxi? Is it too small to occupy half of Jiangxi?

Chongzhen did not answer, Wang Tiaoding could only continue to say: "The officials and soldiers under his command are all eager to fight, and they want to expand their private land and get promoted. However, Zhao Yan's wife's benevolence, every time a large-scale army is sent out, it must be in the summer harvest and autumn harvest. After that, the army will be stopped for at most two months. As he said, too many troops will make life difficult for the people. Is this not the benevolence of a woman? With his prestige and military strength, he could have swept Jiangxi two years ago."

   "The bastard's words, the imperial court has many generals, how can he take Jiangxi as soon as he says it!" Chongzhen was furious.

  Wang Tiaoding hurriedly bowed his head, not daring to speak again.

  Actually, Chongzhen already believed this, and combined with the evaluations of Chen Yuding, Liu Tongsheng and others, he outlined a vivid image of Zhao thief in his heart.

  In Chongzhen, Zhao Han is the kind of Confucian scholar who believes in "benevolence and righteousness". Because of his own experience, he hates the court and the big clan, but cares and loves the common people very much. Therefore, Zhao Han forcibly distributed the rich family's land to ordinary people. Even in the case of being able to occupy the whole of Jiangxi, because they were afraid of using too many troops and affecting the lives of the people, they only sent troops for one or two months each time, and they closed when they occupied a little territory. Never to force the common people to pay more taxes in order to expand the territory.

   This is a traitor with ideals, morality, and responsibility, completely opposite to those like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

   Seeing Wang Tiaoding kneeling on the ground, Chongzhen stopped his anger and asked: "This is the benevolence of a woman, so what is circuitous?"

Wang Tiaoding said: "Zhao Yan is pedantic in doing things. He regards the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" as his standard, but those who break the law must be severely punished. It can be said that the officials are honest and honest. Because they were drunk and insulted a good prostitute, they were sentenced to hang according to the "Law of the Ming Dynasty".

  Chongzhen actually began to defend Zhao Han: "How can this be regarded as pedantic? If you are an official, you should abide by the rules!"

  Wang Tiaoding said: "Your Majesty, those who do great things don't care about trivial matters. Killing a clean and honest official for the sake of a good prostitute, causing many gentry to flee. This is really pedantic."

   Chongzhen said angrily: "You scholars just don't obey the rules, and the world is like this! You should be killed, you should be killed!"

   Zhao Han's image in Chongzhen's mind has added another "iron face and selflessness".

  Benevolence, righteousness, love for the people, stern and selfless, it would be great if this kind of person came to be an official for me, but it is a pity that he turned out to be a traitor. It's all because the corrupt officials in Jiangxi forced a moral and well-behaved scholar to rebel!

   Chongzhen asked again: "Are there many scholars in Jiangxi who follow thieves?"

Wang Tiaoding replied: "There are also children of rich families who follow the thieves, but most of them are poor scholars. Jiangxi's literary style is at its peak, and poor families study more. Such scholars have no hope of imperial examinations, no way to serve the country, and no livelihood. Give them the land, so they flock to become thieves. Although Zhao Yan is pedantic, he does not stick to one pattern. Prostitutes, tortoises, and domestic slaves can all be officials. It is rumored that the person who is in charge of money and food for him is a family slaves."

   "How well does this slave manage money and food?" Chongzhen asked curiously.

Wang Tiaoding replied: "Because of his lowly status, this slave is very grateful to Zhao Yan and works hard for the official. He learns from Zhao Yan in everything he does. They don't keep slaves, they only live on salary, and they pass countless money and food without taking a cent."

   "I am also diligent and frugal in government, why are all officials corrupt, and there are so many honest officials under Zhao Yan?" Chongzhen was very interested in this, and asked, "How does Zhao Yan rectify the administration of officials?"

Wang Tiaoding replied: "Zhao Yan employs people regardless of their background. Even if you raise someone to be an official, you must start from a small official. If you have meritorious service, you must be rewarded, and if you have done it, you must be punished. Every year there are corrupt officials. At least he will be assigned as a miner."

   Chongzhen frowned, making it even more incomprehensible. He must be rewarded for his meritorious deeds and punished for his deeds. How come all the civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty are corrupt officials?

  Chongzhen really couldn't figure it out. He was diligent and frugal, and never made a big construction project. The imperial palace was leaking, and he couldn't bear to spend money to repair it. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty all took money from the treasury for private use, but he used money from his own private house to raise soldiers. When it comes to being selfless for the country, he is the first among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty.

  A good emperor like him, why is the country turned into such a situation?

   Even if God punished him, he was already financially distressed, and this year there was a national catastrophe, and rich people like Nanzhili and Zhejiang were cannibalistic.

  Suddenly, Chongzhen lost all interest in talking, waved and said, "Let's go."

  Wang Diaoding did not dare to say much, and was taken away from the Forbidden City by the eunuch.

  Chongzhen went to Queen Zhou's place, didn't say a word, just sat there.

   Empress Zhou sighed secretly, came behind Chongzhen, and silently pressed Chongzhen's shoulders and back. She didn't dare to say more, because it was useless to say it. In history, when Beijing was besieged, Chongzhen ordered his concubine to commit suicide. Empress Zhou finally complained: "I have been married to you for eighteen years, but you didn't listen to a word, and that's why you're in this situation today."

  Empress Zhou hinted that Chongzhen moved south, but Chongzhen pretended not to understand.

   "Am I the king of subjugation?" Chongzhen asked suddenly.

  Empress Zhou did not dare to tell the truth, nor did she dare to point out Chongzhen's faults. She only comforted: "Your Majesty is diligent in government and loves the people, and he is not a king of subjugation."

Chongzhen stared blankly at the candlelight, and whispered: "Nanzhi, Zhejiang catastrophe, people eat each other. Jiangxi rebels want to join hands with me to stabilize food prices, but I have been urging taxes in these two places. I even have one Is it worse than rebels? How to train troops and suppress thieves without taxation?"

  Queen Zhou comforted and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, you can send capable ministers..."

"Where is the capable minister?" Chongzhen interrupted abruptly, "The civil and military officials of the whole dynasty are all greedy for contemptible people, even the slaves under Zhao thief's command are inferior! That house slave is in charge of money and food for Zhao thief, and works hard without greed. What about my ministers? I really don’t know, half of the nine sides’ food and salaries have disappeared before leaving Beijing. Civilian officials and military generals are greedy for money, and the eunuchs I sent to supervise the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Industry are also greedy for money. No one is obedient , should be killed! Let’s say that Wang Yongzhong, I let him guard Jiangxi, but didn’t let him collect taxes, and was beaten to death by merchants for extorting money!”

  Queen Zhou didn't know how to persuade her. She just felt sorry for her husband. These years were too tiring.

  She wished her husband would not be the emperor, but still be the trustworthy king before. She was sitting in front of the dressing table, Xinwang secretly pulled her hair, she was startled by the movement and suddenly turned her head, her hair flung Xinwang's face. The **** was too frightened to speak, but King Xin laughed.

   At that time, King Xin was so cheerful and funny, but now the emperor is irritable and irritable.

   "It's time to kill, it's time to kill!"

  In the middle of the night, Empress Zhou was awakened with a start. After listening to a few more sounds, it was the emperor who was talking in her sleep.

  Empress Zhou burst into tears. She didn't dare to cry, she just shed tears silently, holding her husband's hand to give some comfort.

  The next morning.

   Chongzhen received an emergency military situation, and Li Zicheng surrounded Chengdu, which made him feel incredible. Because of the military situation a few days ago, it was Li Zicheng who surrounded Hanzhong.

  In just nineteen days, Li Zicheng's main force quickly crossed the Qinling Mountains and came from Hanzhong to the outside of Chengdu!

   How does this make the bandit suppressing officers and soldiers chase after him?

  Yang Sichang's strategy of spreading the net on all sides is as leaky as a sieve, and the officers and soldiers can only eat ashes behind the **** of the rogues.

  However, Xiong Wencan is still very powerful. Not long after he ran to become the prime minister of the six provinces, he actually "surrendered" Zhang Xianzhong.

   It's just that Zhang Xianzhong's surrender was even more nonsense than Zhao Han's.

   This guy was injured in battle, and it’s not convenient to run around. If he’s idle, he’ll be idle, so let’s act with the court. While accepting the recruitment, while preparing the army for war, there is still time to invite someone to lecture on "The Art of War by Sun Tzu".

  Really, Zhang Xianzhong started to read, to be precise, he listened to books.

   And don't listen to "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", just listen to scholars' serious military strategies.

   Chongzhen ordered the front soldiers to rush into Sichuan to suppress the thieves, and then sent someone to obtain information about Wang Tiaoding.

  A child prodigy who was a scholar at the age of eleven, and became a Jinshi at a young age. When he was a county magistrate in Beizhili, his achievements included suppressing bandits, building a city, calming the people, and persuading farming.

   Those **** in the Ministry of Officials are so capable ministers, why didn't they transfer to the central government as officials?

  Wang Tiaoding waited and waited for more than half a month, and finally waited for Emperor Chongzhen's reply.

  Nanjing Hubu Shangshu and Zuo Shilang were imprisoned for questioning. Li Xuan, the right servant of the Nanjing household department, was promoted to the secretary of the Nanjing household department in place, and gave Shang Fang a sword to supervise the disaster relief in Nanzhili and Zhejiang.

  As for joining forces with the Jiangxi thief Zhao to stabilize food prices, he didn't mention it at all. Chongzhen couldn't afford to lose that person.

"Ugh!"

  Wang Tiaoding sighed, although he had expected it, he still felt sad.

  If the imperial court does not cooperate with Jiangxi, food prices will definitely not be able to be suppressed, and Zhao Han has nothing to do about it. Even if the grain merchants in Jiangxi are forced to sell the grain quickly, the grain merchants in the south of the Yangtze River will inevitably not ship.

   Moreover, Wang Diaoding was unable to leave Beijing, and he was appointed by Chongzhen as an official to Shizhong.

  Wang Tiaoding is very speechless, this official position is useful.

  In the late Ming Dynasty, there were no more than two kinds of officials. One is to accumulate reputation by trolling people, and the other is to attack political opponents by trolling people. There are very few people who really offer advice and suggestions, and Chongzhen basically doesn't listen, which leads to fewer serious discussions.

  The initial role of the six departments in the matter is to be the lubricant and supervisor of the cabinet and the six departments.

  During the Jiajing period, the power of the cabinet and the six departments was out of balance, and the status of the six departments became extremely embarrassing. During Zhang Juzheng's reform period, the power of the six departments rose sharply, and he has since become a running dog of the cabinet.

  Chongzhen repeatedly tossed the cabinet again, causing the cabinet, six departments, and six departments to completely lose their proper functions, and nothing could be done except political struggle.

  Some ministers want to do things, but they can't do things in the court at all, because the three power agencies have become dysfunctional.

   What Chongzhen should really do is to adjust the cabinet, six divisions, and six ministries, and redefine the scope of functions of the three major agencies, at least to make the court run a little more normal!

  (end of this chapter)