Chapter 166 Checks and Balances
Zhang Hu, who was stationed in the dam, knew that it was not far to the southwest, and after passing Ningqiang Prefecture, he would return to Guangyuan in northern Sichuan. However, he would never dare to go in this direction. Although he made such a big trip to Shaanxi Xingdusi and captured a lot, and his subordinates were said to have a hundred thousand people, whether it was being chased and killed by Yan Minwang or the defeat in Gongchang Mansion, everyone knew it. : These are all picked up cheaply. This group of people is just rogue bandits, and they are completely incapable of fighting seriously against the army. The core at the moment is a dozen combat barracks, less than half of which are the Sichuan army led by Fang Ge. Needless to say, Sichuan Province is probably well prepared. Chaotian Pass is definitely more difficult to defeat than Dashan Pass, and it will definitely not work to continue on the old path. Now I am not victorious in every battle and my morale is as high as a rainbow. The Sichuan army is homesick. If I'm not careful, there may be people who flee to the army in droves. Even if they don't tie me up to find a way out, as long as there is someone to do this, At the beginning, it is highly likely that it will be scattered into ashes and smoke.
The side of Hanzhong Prefecture close to Sichuan is Daba Mountain. It is impossible to walk all the way east along the junction of the two provinces: barren mountains and wild ridges, it is absolutely impossible to provide enough supplies for so many people to survive. In many places, there are no roads, and they will be trapped to death. Wilderness is a matter of time.
Therefore, the only feasible way is to march eastward along the Han River, and we can only march on the south bank of the Han River - Wenshui, Xun (pronounced "continued") water, Yishui, Luogu water, Youshui, Ziwu water... They all flow from north to south, endlessly flowing into the east-west Han River. The endless river means countless obstacles and dangers. So here comes the question: neither the Hanzhong Prefecture nor the Third Division of Shaanxi Province can hide these situations. My marching route is here. Can those dog officials cooperate and let me pass smoothly?
It really works.
In order to bypass the Hutou Pass, Zhang Hu headed southwest along the Ju River and crossed the Han River without much effort. When heading east, the officers and soldiers on the wall in Mian County just stared at each other across the river without doing anything. reaction. Then in Xixiang, Hanyin, and up to Pingli, more or less hundreds of grains of grain were seized in each place. The quantity was not large, but it invisibly outlined a route for Zhang Hu and his group to walk without any danger. Arrive at the eastern boundary of Hanzhong Prefecture, and then go forward, over Nuwa Mountain, and you will reach the wealthy Huguang!
With a livid face, the Holy Emperor waved the victory report from Gongchang Mansion and shouted to Li Shizhong: "Great victory! What a great victory! If it weren't for the news from Dongchang, I would have been deceived by the Shaanxi Third Division again! I am so thin. How dare they bully you so blatantly!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down." Li Shizhong was also furious. "I'm thinking, Xi Junyu's guy is so brave that Zhang Thief snagged so many refugees in Gansu Town. Will the same be true in Shaanxi? Guan Shengyun in the previous article That group of people kept reporting "great victories" all the way to the local area. The greater the victory, the stronger the thieves were. They almost caused a disaster when they went to Huguang, but fortunately they were rescued in the end. So after the old slave sent Chu Jingwu out, he added I sent a group of people to Shaanxi. I never expected that the three Shaanxi divisions would dare to collude with a group of Yin and Zongliu thieves!"
"Take them all down to me! I will personally ask them where their conscience lies!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down, you must not do this at this time!" The person who spoke was Ma Quan, who was also serving as an attendant. After joining the duty today, he was specially kept by the Holy Emperor. Seeing that the Holy Emperor was furious, he hurriedly spoke out and remonstrated, "I sincerely ask your Majesty to think again. Shaanxi Xingdusi has been completely eroded, and Shaanxi Province is also covered with three feet of ice. If the ax is used, great chaos will occur. For example, a person who has been sick for a long time will be weak. It's unbearable, it needs to be adjusted slowly, and strong medicine is not allowed, Your Majesty."
The Holy Emperor let out a long sigh: "Alas. If you don't tell me, I also know this truth. Didn't I follow Ma Aiqing's suggestion and let the Ministry of Punishment change the "Da Ming Code" in order to avoid being too implicated? I just said it casually out of anger. That's all. Now I can't help but wonder, are officials from all over the country like this? I think it should be about the same, at most it's just the difference between fifty steps and a hundred steps, right? This is the case in the local area, but what about the court? "
Deathly silence. No one dared to answer the Holy Emperor's question.
"Now that Thief Zhang is no longer in the way, Dongchang sent people to capture Xi Junyu for me! Let me guess, that guy is not just causing trouble in the place, there should be a lot of melons in the court, don't hand it over to the Sanfa Department. It will be up to Dongchang and Jinyiwei to interrogate! Shaanxi also needs to make some preparations. Let the officials select a few loyal and capable people and send them there first. After a while, when they have gained a foothold, we can take care of them."
"Yes. This old slave obeys the order." Li Shizhong responded respectfully.
When everyone left, Sheng Tianzi was still unhappy, so he picked up a book on the desk and started reading. As I watched, I gradually fell into trance. Slowly, I realized some truth, and my eyes shone with light.
Although they were both members of a noble family, Taizu ordered two completely different teaching materials: the reading materials for the princes and disciples were the same as those for all scholars. They were all Confucian classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics. In addition to these traditional teaching materials, the prince had to read more. Focus on studying monographs such as "Zhenguan Zhi Yao" and "Zi Zhi Tong Jian". Zhu Yuanzhang's move can be described as well-intentioned: Whether you are a vassal king or an imperial elite, you only need to be trained in loyalty and patriotism from an early age, while the princes of the Ming Dynasty need to study the art of emperors from an early age.
What the Holy Emperor inadvertently picked up at this time was the "Emperor's Illustrated Commentary" compiled by Zhang Juzheng, the former chief minister of the dynasty, for the young Emperor Wanli. Wanli was only ten years old at the time. Considering that those tomes were obscure and difficult to understand, Zhang Juzheng presided over the compilation of this special textbook with rich pictures and texts that was easy to understand. It was full of vivid short stories with the purpose of teaching the young monarch " Those who regard them as good should be taken as teachers, and those who regard them as evil should be taken as warnings." This book is divided into two parts. The upper part is titled "Sage's Rules" and contains a total of 81 cases of emperors whose good deeds are lawful. The lower part is called "Crazy Fool's Mistakes" and contains 36 cases. The opposite of "evil can be a warning". The Holy Emperor casually picked up the lower part and flipped through it. He flipped through it and saw two articles: "The Five Marquises Suited Power" and "The Appointment of the Six Thieves". He couldn't help but feel moved in his heart, so he closed his eyes and thought about it: The troubles of the Han Dynasty were in The eunuchs' relatives, the Tang Dynasty's troubles were in feudal towns, the Song Dynasty's troubles were in traitors... So, what about the troubles of this dynasty?
Eunuch? In the previous dynasty, Wang Zhen and Liu Jin indeed seemed to have all the power in the government. However, Wang Zhen died in the rebellion, and Liu Jin was even more like the Holy Emperor. What does it look like?
A feudal town? forget it. Those military leaders were almost tortured to death by the civil servants. A third-grade military general was spat on by a sixth-grade judge and did not dare to wipe his face. Such things were even heard in the palace.
Traitor? Who is the traitor? Xi Junyu must be one of them! Where are the people from Shaanxi Third Division? What about officials elsewhere? What about the one facing the inside? Leaving aside whether they are treacherous or not, those civil servants are really outrageous!
what to do? There must be another force to check and balance them - well, this power of check and balance must be tightly held in one's own hands!
In fact, the Holy Emperor had already vaguely had the answer in his mind before. It was only at this moment that he suddenly realized what he thought was a perfect solution. He then asked, "Where are the factory ministers?"
"Old slave is here." Li Shizhong, who was standing outside the door, responded.
Court meeting.
When discussing Zhang Hu's trouble, Zuo Yizhi jumped out and accused Yan Minwang of failing to recover the treasure and betraying the Holy Grace. Unexpectedly, the Holy Emperor became angry that day and was the first to be dragged off on the spot. Qiao Nanxing went out to defend him again, but before he could finish speaking, he was also taken down by the Jin Yiwei. Everyone was dumbfounded now. They had never seen the Holy Emperor lose such a big temper. Wang Qingyuan, the censor of Zuoqiandu, relied on his position as the leader of the public speaking officials, and took out the ancestral system in order to turn the tide. Unexpectedly, the Holy Emperor threw Xi Junyu's corruption case and the recommendation memorial of the previous censor directly in Mr. Wang's face... ...So the three of them were pinned side by side outside the Meridian Gate, waiting to be beaten.
Court staffs are not uncommon, they have always existed in the past, and some people even wanted to beat the Emperor deliberately to provoke him - but most of the time, it was just a process: wear special cotton trousers in advance, and wear thick pads under the court clothes. The thick mats, the guards in uniforms didn’t really hit me. They hit the ground with one end of the board before it landed on their buttocks. They heard the excitement, and they were like normal people after receiving dozens of boards. They were able to jump up and down on the street and make noises about themselves, "Speak out and dare to speak out." "Admonition" heroic deeds. It is said that several people have mastered palm punishment skills to perfection. It is widely rumored that the same beating has three effects:
1. It hurts the skin but not the bones. You can beat the skin until the flesh is bloody, but the bones are intact, and you can walk as usual that night - wrap a piece of tofu in straw paper, remove the straw paper for a few boards and smash it into pieces, and the tofu is intact as before.
2. It hurts the bones but not the skin. There is nothing abnormal on the surface, but the leg bones have been broken inside, and the lifelong disability is relatively mild. It is not unusual for people to die in a few days - the soft cloth is wrapped with a green brick, the soft cloth is as usual, and the green brick has been Beaten to pieces.
3. The skin and bones are not injured, just a formality. That's it now.
The three people who didn't know that a disaster was about to happen kept shouting "I'm not guilty". Li Shizhong smiled sinisterly and came over to jail him. As soon as he opened his mouth, everyone was stunned: "Come on, give us some adults' pants." Get rid of him and beat him hard!"
Flesh and blood flew everywhere.
Zuo Yizhi was the worst. Of course, Li Shizhong wanted to vent his anger on his godson. With special care, the flesh on both sides of Lao Zuo's buttocks was slapped away. He didn't stop until he saw Bai Sensen's leg bones.
This signal is too obvious. That night, several groups of people knocked on Master Ma Quan's courtyard door one after another.
*The "History of the Ming Dynasty" states that Wang Zhen was killed by the Wala rebel army during the Tumubao Incident. "The Chronicles of the Ming Dynasty" says that "the guard general Fan Zhong walked from the emperor's side and beat the dead Zheng with his cudgel, saying: 'I will kill this thief for the sake of the world.'" Moreover, the entire responsibility for the defeat of Tumubao was placed on Wang Zhen. On the head - provoking the Oara conflict, instigating the Yingzong's personal expedition, diverting troops to Yu County and delaying the retreat, which directly led to the capture of the Yingzong... This statement is widely circulated and is believed to be true by the vast majority of people. However, is it true?
Haha, of course not.
Look at a simple fact.
Yingzong was also released first. After the restoration of Nangong, he immediately did something: "After the restoration of Yingzong, Gu Niazhen ignored it (no one cared about the funeral), gave Zhenzong sacrifices, summoned the souls for burial, offered sacrifices to Zhihua Temple, and gave them a shrine. 'Loyal'!"
Did you see that in the first year of Tianshun's reign (the first year of Tianshun's return to the throne), an edict was issued to rectify the king's name, use fragrant wood as his statue, and build a Jingzhong Temple to worship and bury his soul? Yingzong was a witness to the Tumubao Incident. He was first captured by Ye Xian, and then imprisoned by Emperor Jingtai for seven years. He was always worried about being killed. His son was deposed and the crown prince almost died... If he was really captured by the king The vibration pit is so miserable, can this be done? !
Let’s look at a few more records: Wang Zhen’s house was confiscated, and there were countless treasures. Liu Jin’s house was confiscated, and there were countless treasures. Wei Zhongxian’s house was confiscated, and there were countless treasures... right? Just a small question: Where have all these mountains of gold and silver gone?
There is only one conclusion: the civil servants are making it up.
