On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month in the sixth year of Chongzhen, an urgent report was delivered to the Qianqing Palace via the Great Wall Station.
This letter was sent by Cao Huachun from Xining. It can be seen that the military postmen along the way did not dare to neglect it, and it only took six days to deliver it to Beijing.
In fact, there was no important information in the letter he sent, otherwise the letter would not have been reviewed and sent out from Hehuang. The content of the letter was just a report to Chongzhen on the progress of Liu Chengzong's preparations for the wedding.
In addition, he suggested that the emperor issue an edict to purchase a set of princely wedding rituals from Lanzhou and give them to Xining.
Cao Huachun has been in Xincheng for a while, and he can feel that the temperament of Liu Chengzong's armed group has changed drastically from the last time they met.
The Marshal's Mansion has many advantages. Their army has high fighting spirit, is well-equipped, and has stable food income and military manufacturing. It is stronger than before. It is no exaggeration to say that it is earth-shaking.
But he is not here to find the advantages of the rebels. On the contrary, he must find the shortcomings of the rebels during this mission.
Taking the Lion Army in the past as an example, Cao Huachun managed to find a shortcoming, that is, the generals in the Marshal's Mansion had a better attitude towards him and their hostility was reduced.
In the past, the Lion Army's attitude towards the imperial court was the primary enemy and absolute hostility. However, this time when Cao Huachun entered the new city, not only did he receive good treatment, at least he chatted with many senior generals, royal guards, and marshal's guards about ordinary matters that had nothing to do with military affairs. It can be said that we have a lot of fun talking about everything.
It’s very simple to think about it. People’s thoughts can be guided by public opinion. In Qinghai, their primary enemy is Mongolia, but the generalissimo’s foreign policy is not to be hostile to destruction, but to build a community through annexation. This policy itself is very harmful to them. There is not much benefit to the stability.
But victory lies in having sufficient troops and food and establishing political power, which is reflected in people's behavior in pursuing promotion and wealth.
No one in the Marshal's Mansion is ashamed of getting promoted and making a fortune. From the gatekeepers to the generals and school officials, everyone pursues promotion and making a fortune without any scruples, and they do not hesitate to practice, study, and do things for it.
They believe in their ability to pursue wealth and power upright, and they even believe that the Grand Marshal can give them the opportunity to prove themselves.
To be honest, Cao Huachun originally wanted to use the imperial court as an example to discover the shortcomings of the Marshal's Mansion, but later found that using the imperial court as an example, he could not find the shortcomings of the Marshal's Mansion at all. Even whether pursuing promotion and wealth was a shortcoming was a question in his mind. doubt.
This shouldn't be a question.
Cao Huachun entered the palace at the age of thirteen and studied in the inner library since he was a child. His teachers were all Jinshi of the Hanlin Academy. Not to mention music, chess, calligraphy and painting, Confucian classics were not inferior to those of scholars.
What scholars pay attention to is sincerity, integrity, and self-cultivation. Getting promoted and getting rich should be the process of life, not the goal. In other words, there should be a higher pursuit in life than getting promoted and getting rich.
But compared to the court's tendency to advertise sincerity and integrity, but in fact have dishonest intentions and evil intentions, Cao Huachun really didn't know which one was better, naked pursuit or covert innuendo.
No matter what, Cao Huachun believed that the entire Marshal's Mansion was mentally and mentally more chaotic than during the Lion Army period.
First of all, the rituals of Liu Chengzong's wedding preparations had long been overridden. The exquisitely crafted leather robe with dark patterns, even though it was dark patterns, Cao Huachun could still clearly see the twelve chapters. He was most familiar with that thing.
Dragons, pythons, it doesn't matter. In the Ming Dynasty, these things were not worn casually, but not to mention the dragon patterns on the cotton armored uniforms, there were too many people who could wear them just like the flying fish, bullfighting, python robes and dragon robes.
There are only twelve chapters, which is an imperial ritual system that was interrupted only in the Qin Dynasty from Emperor Shun to the Ming Dynasty. Only the emperor can wear all twelve chapters on his body.
Especially when Liu Chengzong mentioned the theory of being unfaithful to the people, he could clearly feel a huge sense of crisis.
Those words were not meant for him, but for the generals of the Marshal's Mansion who were sitting in the courtyard at that time, awakening people's hidden hostility towards the imperial court, and guiding the soldiers and civilians under the Marshal's Mansion to have higher pursuits than promotion and wealth. ——The destiny of change.
Eliminate those unscrupulous people who do not engage in production and seize wealth. For the sake of the happiness of more people, and to allow more people to have the opportunity to freely pursue power and wealth, they obey the will of nature and launch the Eastern March.
As the saying goes, if the name is not correct, the words will not be smooth, and if the words are not smooth, the things will not be accomplished. It is obvious that Liu Chengzong is unifying his thoughts and holding the great righteousness in his hands.
When Cao Huachun saw this opportunity, he thought bad about Liu Chengzong.
In the past, Liu Chengzong rebelled as a deserter and violated the law and had to be exterminated. However, if the extermination could not be carried out, even if the letter was thrown in Chongzhen's face, Chongzhen could not blame him morally because he did not have enough food to eat. The court did not do its job well.
But now that times have changed, Cao Huachun believed that this wedding was a good opportunity to weaken Liu Chengzong's rebellion and justice.
What he meant was that it was certain that Liu Shishi would overstep his bounds and could not be stopped. It would be better for the emperor to issue an order to purchase it from Lanzhou and give him a set of wedding rituals for a prince.
It is best to send another 10,000 sets of salt to Lanzhou, and allocate 100,000 taels according to the domestic salt price to purchase 3 million jins of green salt from the Marshal's Mansion as wedding expenses to show the court's love and benevolence for him and to show it to both inside and outside Hexi.
In this way, if Liu Chengzong wanted to raise troops again in the future, not to mention that the hearts of the soldiers and people inside would restrain him, at least the soldiers, people, officers and soldiers of Hexi Province would definitely be more determined to resist him.
The king, the king, and the ministers mean that the king should do the king's things well, and the ministers should do the ministers' things well.
Cao Huachun felt that his suggestion was very good. Although the price of salt in Marshal's Mansion was much more expensive than that in the mainland, the salt market in Hehuang was saturated. Liu Shizi used this to make profits. The output of the salt lake far exceeded the consumption in Hehuang. Using the domestic salt price Come to buy, even though it is a low price for him, it is a bigger market and he can make extra money, so he will not refuse it.
On the court's side, it spent 100,000 yuan in silver and 10,000 yuan in gold, and the cost was ultimately borne by the salt merchants. Besides, there was a flood in Hanzhong and the price of salt was high. Maybe the court could still make some money from this.
Emperor Chongzhen's reply was faster. It took him only four days to enter Hehuang and was handed over by the postman to Liu Chengzong, who was offering sacrifices to heaven and earth at Riyue Mountain.
In this three-acre land, whether Cao Huachun was delivering or receiving letters, he could not hide them from Liu Chengzong.
Liu Shizi knew that he had written a letter to the emperor. He and Yang Dingrui had read the letter together before submitting it to Lanzhou. He did not know whether Cao Huachun's starting point was good or bad, but this suggestion did have good and bad consequences for the Marshal's Mansion.
The good aspect is naturally the financial income, and the bad aspect is the loss of prestige. This makes him take a high look at Cao Huachun, the trustworthy king's companion, which is indeed something.
However, the letter should be sent anyway. Liu Chengzong was confident, and the initiative in the matter was ultimately in his hands.
Now that Emperor Chongzhen had written back, Liu Chengzong did not open the envelope and handed it directly to Cao Huachun.
Cao Huachun was so looking forward to this letter that he opened it as soon as he held it in his hand. Only when he was halfway through did he raise his head anxiously and asked, "Won't you read it, Commander?"
Liu Shixin said that the letter has come back, what else should I read? No matter what the letter is, I will know it by your reaction.
He waved his hand and said with a smile: "If you don't want to read it, just read the letter the emperor wrote to you."
Cao Huachun was relieved, but the joy and expectation on his face froze at the moment he opened the letter and turned into ashes.
The emperor understood all his thoughts and rejected his suggestions righteously. He also spent 90% of the letter explaining to him the reasons why it was not etiquette to do so.
After the ceremony, the team returned to the new city. Yang Dingrui and Cao Yao said hello to Liu Chengzong and went back first. They were going home to prepare for the rituals of Naji and Nazheng.
Liu Shishi has to hold two weddings, first to marry Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi and Yun Jiaoyue, and secondly to marry the eight empresses of Chahar.
The eight Chahar ladies all have their own relatives in the Or'er tribe, and their natal families are too numerous.
But Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi, and Yun Jiaoyue all have no one in the family, so Sanlang has Che Cai, a cheap relative who is not related by blood.
Therefore, they recognized Yang Dingrui and his wife as their adopted father and mother, Cao Yao's wife as their god sister, and together they regarded Yang Dingrui's family as their natal family.
The problem of no one at home is not only limited to the three of them, but also to the entire Marshal's Mansion.
According to etiquette, Liu Chengzong did not go to the wedding in person, but sent a minister with a son and a daughter to do it on his behalf. The problem came. There were many people with a son and a daughter under the Marshal's Mansion, but among ministers, it was too difficult.
It has only been five years since they started the uprising. When people joined the Lion Battalion and the Lion Army, most of them were singles. In the past few years, there have been constant wars, and they often marched thousands of miles. In the past, it was difficult for people without family members to have family members. in one place.
Many high-ranking generals got married this year. Where did the baby come from? Yang Dingrui and Sunday Qiang were the only ones with both children and children living in Hehuang.
These are the three Yang Dingrui dolls, both of which were picked up by my mother-in-law when there was a famine in Ansai. They have both children, except Sunday.
Therefore, the task of picking up the bride can only be left to Zhou Qiang.
The entire wedding process, including offering sacrifices to heaven, will last for seven days. The Marshal's Mansion must prepare thrones, wedding banquets, festival banquets, pottery cups, colorful flowers and other utensils, and Yang Dingrui's family must also pack up and make preparations.
On the way back to the city, Cao Huachun was worried, but Liu Chengzong was very relaxed and said with a smile: "The emperor did not agree."
Cao Huachun nodded: "The emperor said this is wrong and against etiquette."
Liu Chengzong grinned silently, and then said to Cao Huachun earnestly: "The emperor is right, you have to listen!"
Cao Huachun understood these words as ridicule, which made him very angry. He scratched his neck and said: "The emperor is working hard to govern. He is not a cunning person like the commander said. He is sincere and should not be ridiculed!"
Suddenly everyone in the team who could hear their conversation stopped talking. People looked carefully at Liu Chengzong who was being contradicted. To everyone's surprise, Liu Chengzong was not angry.
There wasn't even a hint of the stiff look on his face that was suppressing sullenness. He was completely normal. He still spoke earnestly and repeated: "The emperor is right, you have to support him."
His thoughts when he said this were very complicated, mostly sympathetic.
When Yang Dingrui wrote to Chongzhen a few years ago, he said that etiquette belongs to the emperor, his ministers, and his son. Even if Chongzhen was communicating with the rebels, he had to pay attention to etiquette. It was obvious that he was a very pedantic person.
And in this pedantry, Liu Chengzong saw despair.
There is nothing advanced about people, just like Xiao Zhuanfeng. Dogs have nature, and so do people. Dogs have people to tame them, and people have society to tame them.
Everyone's behavior pattern is a game with society. If you bark twice, you will get meat. If you are hungry, you will bark twice. If you bark twice, you will be beaten. If you are hungry, you will have to act coquettishly. If you have positive incentives, you will continue to do it. , think of other ways after being severely beaten, and eventually form a person's cognitive and behavioral patterns.
Chongzhen is different. This man guides his life strictly according to the principles he knows. He encounters obstacles everywhere and lives in a desperate world with almost no positive incentives. He still remains true to his original intention and devotes himself full of energy to the great and complex emperor's mission every day. in the profession.
Seeing such a person, working hard every day from dawn to dusk, leading the country on a road of no return, Liu Shishi, as a colleague, has nothing to criticize, no.
"You are a close minister of the emperor. I don't blame you for saying these things. In the future, don't try to persuade the emperor. Support him. Everything the emperor does is right."
Liu Chengzong confused Cao Huachun with a few words and asked: "What does the commander mean by this?"
"The emperor rules the world by relying on the system of rituals and music. Thaksin believes in and does this. Even if the situation is as bad as this, the world will not fall apart because there is no reason for the world to fall apart."
Liu Shishi shook his head and said: "I didn't mean to laugh at the emperor. I didn't understand it in the past, but now I have some experience. My experience is completely different from that of the emperor. The environment we are in is also different. I can't Go laugh at him.”
Those who are loyal to Liu Chengzong in Hehuang and those who are loyal to the emperor of the Zhu family in the world are completely two types of people. His experience cannot guide the emperor at all.
"Don't persuade the emperor to do something deviant just because you see the scene in Hehuang. What you see will not help the emperor, but will harm him."
Cao Huachun's eyes widened. He had indeed gone back to talk to Emperor Chongzhen about the changes in Hehuang earlier.
Because Liu Chengzong was a ruler of a foreign vassal in his eyes, and he also managed this unsystematic kingdom very well, he thought that many things might be of guiding significance to the Ming Dynasty.
But now that Liu Chengzong said this clearly, he was a little hesitant: "Commander, may I dare to ask, why is this?"
"Is the Emperor a foolish emperor? It's not because of him that the country's affairs were ruined. He just couldn't fix it. It doesn't matter who else sits in his seat. The Ming Dynasty cannot be saved unless..."
Cao Huachun asked eagerly: "Unless what?"
"It's nothing unless the emperor has requirements for himself. The framework restricts him too much, but if these frameworks are dismantled, the Ming Dynasty will be gone."
Is Cao Huachunxin so desperate?
How to build a good country? When Liu Chengzong talks about it, it feels like the country will be destroyed tomorrow.
In fact, to a certain extent, Liu Chengzong believed that Chongzhen was good because he was pedantic. If he was not pedantic, the country would not be able to survive. If he dared to take some extraordinary measures, he would destroy the legitimacy of his rule.
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "Like this, even if the country is destroyed, the emperor's reputation will not be bad after his death; if he does something else, I am afraid that not only will the country be destroyed in the end, but he will also become a truly subjugated emperor."
"No one can predict the change of dynasty. We are old acquaintances. Mr. Cao can just muddle along. If you can't come to me, let alone many things... you will have no worries about food and clothing."
In the middle of Liu Chengzong's words, he saw smoke and dust rising from several cavalry in the direction of Xincheng. It didn't take long for them to rush to the front. His trusted guard turned over and dismounted, clasped his fists and said, "Commander, Wang Hui is here to bring urgent news."
The head of Wanghui is for the king's own use.
Liu Chengzong frowned, and everyone around him was kicked back. He heard the guard report: "Commander, the leader of the Wang Hui said that Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, has entered Gansu."
Hong Chengchou.
Liu Chengzong exhaled slowly and thought to himself: What a wedding ceremony!
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Good evening!
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