When he was still about ten meters away from Kunning Palace, he saw a figure walking back and forth in front of the door. Suddenly he saw Chang Yu approaching and hurriedly greeted him.
He was an old man, and he looked very familiar. Chang Yu immediately thought of this man, Zhou Kui, the head of the country! It was the same Gua Shen who yelled at him during the last encounter.
He was about to salute in a hurry, but Zhou Kui looked anxious: "Eunuch Sun, please go and inform the queen again..."
"Master Guo Zhang, it's really not my fault that I didn't inform you. It was the Queen who said she was missing!" The eunuch next to Chang Yu interrupted Zhou Kui directly, with an apologetic look on his face: "I'm sorry, Master Guo Zhang, we We still have things to do at home, so let’s go first.” He said, pulling Chang Yu into Kunning Palace in a hurry.
Chang Yu probably had this in his mind but still couldn't help but ask the eunuch named Sun next to him: "Why doesn't the queen see the father-in-law?"
"This matter, it's really strange to say it. Last time, the father-in-law came to the palace to visit the queen, but for some reason he angered the queen. They had a quarrel in the palace, and directly kicked the father-in-law out, and said that he would never Goodbye".
Eunuch Sun was confused.
"But it's about donating money?" Chang Yu said deliberately, and Eunuch Sun gave him a look that everyone knew: "I didn't expect that Eunuch Chang also knew about it."
You deserve it, Chang Yu secretly cursed in his heart, Zhou Kui is a weirdo, his life is simply a legend, he was originally a fortune teller, but because his daughter Zhou Yufeng achieved enlightenment alone, chickens and dogs ascended to heaven, and his career changed from a fortune teller to an entertainment company (Lefang) The boss formed a band, and the most famous artist signed to his name was Chen Yuanyuan, yes, the Chen Yuanyuan who later became a beauty in a rage of brother Sangui...
After moving to the capital, he made money everywhere. He loved money as much as his life, but he was extremely stingy and stingy to the point of abnormality. As early as the beginning of the year, the imperial treasury was in short supply. Chongzhen ordered all the emperor's relatives and ministers in the court to donate their salaries. Knowing that the father-in-law had money, Chongzhen He even sent the eunuch Gao Ding to borrow money from him to collect military pay, but the old dog strongly objected and said that his family was extremely poor...
After hearing this, Empress Zhou secretly lamented to Chongzhen that her father was short-sighted. How could he save his tens of thousands of wealth if thieves broke into the city, so she called her father to reprimand him, but Zhou Kui had no choice but to donate 5,000 taels (some say 2,000 taels).
But at this time, because this old dog had caused a very bad and extremely bad influence, other emperors, relatives, relatives, civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty followed suit, deliberately making their homes dilapidated and putting them up for sale. Donate money, wear old clothes to go to court, sit in a sedan chair instead of walking, and then only donate two or three thousand.
The most speechless thing is that Queen Zhou saw her own father being so cunning, secretly selling off her jewelry in exchange for five thousand taels of silver, and asked someone to hand it over to Zhou Kui to donate money in his name to set an example and not let others laugh. , but the funny thing is that this guy actually kept two thousand for himself and reluctantly donated the remaining three thousand. His face was extremely ugly.
This still does not reflect that he loves money as much as his life. After the thieves broke into the city, they captured the nobles in the city and tortured them for money. Zhou Kui, as the head of the country, was a key target, but this guy was so stubborn that he had no money, so my wife The daughter-in-law was killed, but still not there; the eldest son was killed, but still not there.
So Li Zicheng, who specializes in dealing with all kinds of dissatisfaction, went online personally, tied up Zhou Kui, his youngest son and nephew and whipped him with a riding crop until he was about to die. Only then did this guy understand a truth, it is useless no matter how much money is left after a person dies, so he recruited .
Three million taels! (Some say 700,000. It’s better to exaggerate when writing a novel, so I’ll use the figure of 3 million here.) At that time, the national treasury was only less than 200,000 taels.
It only costs about one hundred thousand taels to organize a tough battle.
Three million taels, Chang Yu thought silently in his mind as he walked straight towards Kunning Palace. He turned back and glanced at the old man waiting anxiously at the door, with a playful smile on his face.
"Where did you go last night?" Before Chang Yu could reach Kunning Palace, Prince Zhu Cixiang walked out of the palace upon hearing the sound, trotted down to Chang Yu and asked in a low voice.
"I went to the house to do some errands, but I didn't come in just one step away. I stayed out for one night," Chang Yu whispered as he walked.
"Prince, Prince..." At this time, Zhou Kui, who was not far away, saw Zhu Cihong with his sharp eyes and shouted loudly.
Zhu Cixiang frowned, unable to hide his disgust, and turned to the eunuch named Sun and said: "Blow him out, and he will not be allowed to enter the palace in the future."
"Hey, things have come to this." Chang Yu sighed slightly,
"It's okay that he is greedy, stingy, and unsympathetic, but I will never forgive him for harming my child." At this time, Queen Zhou appeared at the door of the palace, looking into the distance with a sad, but extremely determined look on her face.
Chang Yu hurried forward to salute, but was shocked in his heart. The haggard look on Queen Zhou's face after not seeing her for several days showed that her inner torment in the past few days was very comparable to other people's. After all, acne hurts whoever it is on.
"Come in and talk." Queen Zhou withdrew her gaze from afar, forced a smile to Chang Yu, and then walked closer to the palace.
Soft seat, hot tea, Chang Yu sat down as calm as water.
"I met with the Emperor last night." Queen Zhou took a sip of tea, waved away the other eunuchs and maids around her, and glanced at Chang Yu, only to see that he was still looking at his nose and heart, holding the teapot in his right hand and gently caress.
"There is also the prince," Empress Zhou continued: "Not as the emperor, queen and prince of the Ming Dynasty, but as a family of three, we sat down and talked for a long time, talking about the future of the Zhu family, the future of the Ming Dynasty, and That dream”.
Chang Yu stopped his hand and looked up at Zhu Cihong, only to see that he was crying silently. Queen Zhou knew what he meant by looking at him with sharp eyes.
"Don't worry, I didn't mention you. As you said, there is no point in carrying you to the court except wading in those muddy waters and getting dirty. Instead, it's better to work peacefully behind the scenes."
After a pause, he continued: "The dream has become a reality, and it is being verified one by one. Although everything is destined by God, we still have to do our best. In the end, it is really difficult to go against the destiny of God, so we have to accept it."
Chang Yu nodded silently.
Empress Zhou continued: "The emperor is busy with state affairs at the moment, and the matter of moving south has been brought up to the court. The most urgent thing at the moment is the dispatch of troops and generals, and the preparation of food and wages. But these are all matters of the court, we can't do anything about it. The only thing I want to do is do what I can in the harem."
After saying this, he paused again and glanced at Chang Yu: "I have also mentioned the matter of transferring the treasures in the palace to the emperor. The emperor also has the intention but is worried. This matter must be done to the extreme." It’s secret, I guess you know the reason.”
Chang Yu nodded, of course he knew that, let alone the transfer of royal treasures, it would make many people jealous, it would require a large number of guards, and it would require trustworthy people to do it, but who could Chongzhen trust at the moment? It turned out that he could trust him Those people later proved to be more disgusting than the last.
And the most important thing is that if the news is not kept secret and leaked, it will definitely cause panic. Even the emperor has begun to pack up. You can imagine how big the impact will be...
It was also because Chang Yu had written some lists of loyalties and rebels, which shocked Chongzhen and took a breath of cold air. He suddenly felt that no one could trust him. Li Guozhen, Zhu Chunchen, Zhou Kui... these confidants...
"Of course I and the prince trust you the most, but in order to hide your identity, they strongly recommended Gong Yonggu. In fact, you are still fully responsible..."
Only the Prince Consort, Captain Gong Yonggu, had always been trusted by Chongzhen. At this time, the Prince strongly recommended Sui Yin as his confidant. However, the Prince Consort was also not allowed to serve as an official and hold power, and could only participate in court discussions as a confidant.
Queen Zhou kept talking softly and slowly, Chang Yu listened quietly, and Zhu Cixiang obediently wiped his tears beside him, and time passed by minute by second.
"In the name of re-registering and inventorying the treasures in the palace, pack and seal those items, and then I will arrange for trustworthy people to transport some of them out every day..." Chang Yu suggested, and the three of them began to add up again.
"Queen, I have one more thing to ask of you," Chang Yu suddenly said after some deliberation.
"Just say it, I will do my best to satisfy you," Zhou Huanggong said solemnly.
"I want an exit token, which allows me to enter and leave the ninety-six city gates in seven areas outside the capital at will within twelve hours."
When Queen Zhou heard this, she was silent for a moment. It would be impossible for it to be the access token of the imperial city, but there are inner and outer city gates, although they are very few, such as the commanders of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division, and the Governor of the Nine Gates of the Beijing Camp. There is.
"Let me take care of this." Zhu Cixiang, who had always been a good baby, took over without waiting for Queen Zhou to speak.
Afterwards, several people discussed secretly for a while, Chang Yu took his leave, saluted and turned around to leave.
"Eunuch Chang" Queen Zhou suddenly called him again.
Chang Yu turned around and saw Queen Zhou looking sad.
"This, can this dream be interpreted?"
"Queen, obey destiny and do your best." Chang Yu closed his eyes slightly and took a long breath: "Your Majesty, by dispatching troops and generals, you may be able to change destiny!"
He said with a slight smile: "I remember in the dream that Zhang Linran, the prefect of Pingyang Prefecture, surrendered to the intruders. The reason was that Zhang Xiong offered the city, and the court did not know the specific attack route of the rebels. But now, Zhang Linran has been dismissed from office, Zhang Xiong has been banned, and none of them have Given the opportunity to surrender and present the city, the imperial court also formulated a plan for the intruders' attack route. This shows that we have quietly changed the pattern. It is really hard to say in the future, but we still have to have confidence. Everything we are doing now is just for the sake of peace. It’s just preparation for the worst outcome.”
Empress Zhou burst into tears and nodded: "I hope, but...the imperial court can't even come up with 100,000 military pay...".
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