The day after Ping Liaohou's old illness recurred, Emperor Tianqi's edict and reward were delivered to the Taishi Mansion.
Wang Chengen, the chief eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department, respectfully held the edict and directed the younger eunuchs to carry the gifts from the emperor to Marquis Pingliao:
"Instruction to Taifu Liu: I haven't seen Taifu for several days. I heard that he will recover after treatment. I hereby give him eighty taels of silver and a python robe as a token of my memory. Taifu accepts it." (1)
Liu Zhaosun led Jin Yuji and others to receive the order and thank him.
Emperor Tianqi cared deeply for Taifu Liu, and the gifts he gave him were carefully prepared.
One mouthful of fresh pig, one cavity of fresh lamb, sweet pickled melon, eggplant, two stones of white rice, ten bottles of wine, eighty taels of silver, two boxes of sweets, two boxes of dry snacks, and one portion of roasted rice.
Marquis Ping Liao asked Shen Lian and Wu Xiao to accept the gifts and led the crowd to kowtow and thank the emperor again.
After the Marquis of Ping Liao knelt down and bowed, the fifteen-year-old Wang Chengen stepped forward quickly, helped Liu Zhaosun up, and said:
"Taifu Liu, please get up quickly! Your Majesty is thinking about Taifu in the palace. Hearing that Taifu was ill, he sent our family here early this morning."
Liu Zhaosun said with a pleasant look, "I am very grateful for the Holy Emperor's favor."
In the battle of Jingnan, the Duke of Pingliao, Xu Xianchun, the factory official, was killed, and Tian Ergeng, Liu Ruoyu, Li Yongzhen and others were also beheaded.
Most of the high-ranking father-in-laws among the ceremonial supervisors are dead, and most of the surviving eunuchs are either old and frail, or juniors like Wang Chengen, who cannot be used.
As Wang Chengen's playmate who grew up with King Xin, and as Zhu Youjian's confidant, Wang Chengen was highly regarded. As soon as Emperor Tianqi ascended the throne, he was directly promoted to the chief eunuch of the ceremonial department.
Liu Zhaosun saw that Wang Chengen was only fourteen or fifteen years old and had not participated in Xu Xianchun's assassination, so he did not attack him and let this man be the head of the ceremony supervisor.
Wang Chengen is a smart kid, and he is also very knowledgeable. He often speaks for Taifu Liu in front of Tianqi.
While reading the edict, Wang Chengen secretly looked around.
The Grand Master's Mansion was the same as usual, nothing had changed.
Ma Shiying, Qiao Yiqi and others whom Wang Chengen had met before all looked at him with smiles.
Especially Ma Shiying, who came over to chat with me. When she heard that she and Wang Chengen were from the same hometown, she became even more enthusiastic.
Wang Chengen was quite dissatisfied with Liu Zhaosun's talkative subordinate, but after all, he was in the Grand Master's Mansion, so he did not dare to get angry, so he could only look around and chat with Ma Shiying.
Wang Chengen suddenly caught a glimpse of a woman standing behind Taifu Liu whose horse-faced skirt was a little untidy. It should be noted that according to the emperor's instructions, disheveled clothes were a serious sin.
The prince was about to reprimand him when he suddenly recognized that this woman was the wife of Marquis Ping Liao, General Anyuan Jin Yuji, and she was the royal wife of the royal family.
He was secretly glad for himself. If he had spoken, it would have ended badly.
Looking at Jin Yuji's flushed face, the eunuch had already guessed eight or nine points, and he was surprised in his heart:
It's strange. The Marquis of Ping Liao was in danger yesterday, so why can he enjoy himself today? It's really strange.
After the ceremony, Marquis Pingliao ordered Ma Shiying to send the prince and his father-in-law back to the palace.
Ma Shiying has been dealing with officials from various places in the past two years, and is already familiar with welcoming people. After seeing Wang Chengen out of the Grand Master's Mansion, he and Wang Chengen talked while walking. The two burst into laughter from time to time, like a pair of close friends who had not seen each other for many years, which attracted the attention of the surrounding Kaiyuan generals.
"Hearing that the prince loved Kun Opera, Marquis Pingliao asked someone to buy a troupe from Jiangnan..."
Wang Chengen waved his hand to interrupt and said to Ma Shiying:
"I would like to thank Marquis Pingliao for his kindness on our behalf, but His Majesty is waiting for a reply in the palace. We will come to Taishi Mansion to listen to the Peony Pavilion another day."
After saying that, he got up and got into the sedan. Ma Shiying had quick eyesight and quick hands. He quickly stuffed two thousand taels of silver notes in under the cover of the sedan curtain.
Wang Cheng'en refused repeatedly, telling his fellow villagers that "intermediate officials are not allowed to make friends with foreign ministers or break the court rules", but finally accepted it.
~~~~
Hall of Dezheng in the Forbidden City.
The Emperor of Tianqi, Zhu Youjian, announced an edict to summon Li Banghua, the minister of the Ministry of War, and Li Mingrui, a concubine of the Hanlin Academy, and asked two close ministers about "urgent strategies to defeat thieves."
Li Banghua glanced around and saw two censors on the palace looking at the three of them.
The Minister of War estimated that this censor was Liu Zhaosun's spy, as well as those Han generals with sly eyebrows in the distance.
He quickly winked at the emperor and the sage, then summoned up all his strength and shouted in a measured tone:
"Holy Majesty, bandits have been rampant in Shaanxi recently. From what I can see, it is all due to the serious famine in northern Shaanxi and the epidemic, and many people have died. The day before yesterday, the Ministry of War received a report from Tang, saying that this year, Mizhi, Yulin, and Yansui There is no rain in the moon, thousands of miles of red land, spring seedlings die of drought, and summer grain grains are harvested. Grass and trees are gone, and people eat each other. And the officials are greedy and greedy, and they are even worse. On the sixth day of April, the thief Wang Er in Baishui River gathered the unruly people. Hundreds...”
Taking advantage of Li Banghua's loud report, which resounded throughout the Dezheng Hall, Li Mingrui whispered to Tianqi:
"Your Majesty, since I was summoned, I have inquired about the details of Liu Thief. Liu Thief's minions, such as Shen Lian and Lin Yu, have enmity with the Japanese country. Liu Thief plans to start a war with the Japanese country very recently."
Several palace maids looked this way, and Li Banghua quickly stopped talking.
Li Mingrui's high-pitched and powerful voice still echoed around:
"Wang Er entangled with bandits, wielded swords and weapons, and painted his face with ink as his ambition. When he arrived at Chengcheng County, he led a crowd to attack the county seat and killed the county magistrate Zhang Douyao..."
After Shujishi recited for a while, Li Banghua lowered his voice and continued:
"This is a time when the survival of the sincerity is at stake. Your Majesty must be careful! If the Liu thieves are allowed to attack the Japanese and return home triumphantly, their reputation will grow day by day. At that time, their arrogance and usurpation will become even more powerful. It is unimaginable!"
The twelve-year-old little emperor was shocked by these words and pretended to be calm:
"This matter is important and should not be taken lightly."
Having said this, Zhu Youjian pointed to the sky and said worriedly: "Can heaven know?"
Li Banghua hurriedly said: "The secret of destiny is all about human affairs. Human beings are determined to defeat Heaven. Your Majesty's move to kill Liu Thief is in line with Heaven's will. A slight deviation would be a thousand miles wrong. The situation has reached such an extreme level that we should stop being disturbed by it!" "
Zhu Youjian heard his tone and knew that he had a plan, so he quickly asked:
"In Li Qing's words, what should we do?"
Li Banghua quickly stopped talking and winked at the concubine. Li Mingrui picked up a memorial from the imperial case and read aloud:
"I am only leading the land to pay tribute, and it is my duty as a minister. Since it is not extremely urgent, how can I dare to appeal to heaven? I have been in a stalemate with the She'an thieves in the siege of the city (Chengdu) for two hundred days. I have gathered five people in succession. Sixty thousand, but the funds are insufficient. I have to compare with Zhou Zhuo, the chief envoy. I have already spent more than 100,000 taels of silver, but the amount is not enough, so we will write a certificate together..."
Li Mingrui read aloud the Tong Bao sent by Sichuan Governor Zhu Xieyuan in April from 800 miles away from Chengdu.
This memorial letter for help was also signed by Qin Liangyu, the imperial wife. However, when the memorial arrived at the cabinet, it was detained by Xu Xianchun, so Ping Liaohou never saw it.
"Your Majesty, for our current plan, we have three strategies: upper, middle and lower."
"The best strategy is for your Majesty to issue an edict and command the world to raise troops to eliminate the thieves. At present, the main forces in Xuanda, Shaanxi, and Shaanxi border towns are still there, which is enough to fight against the Liu thieves, not to mention there are millions of strong troops in the south of the Yangtze River. The middle strategy is thick. Reward the Liu thief and allow him to return to Liaodong. From then on, taking Korea as an example, he will be the Eastern Fan of the Ming Dynasty. As a next step, he will send dead soldiers to assassinate the Liu thief."
After Zhu Youjian finished listening, he remained silent and looked up at Li Mingrui, who was still reading the memorial aloud.
Li Mingrui read two memorials in one breath, and his mouth was already dry.
"I beg the Emperor to take care of the important land in the southwest, which has been devastated to the extreme, and Shu is safe and all the neighboring provinces are safe. Shu has always been rich and self-reliant, and its safety is in danger. It is tied to the gangsters. I beg for permission to send another 800,000 yuan in gold and send officials They will be released to Central Sichuan one after another."
Zhu Youjian took a breath. The memorial more than half a year ago was only sent to the capital now. He didn't know whether Chengdu had been captured by the rebels.
Thinking of the mess that Emperor Taichang and Emperor Chongzhen had left for him, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but groan secretly.
The top, middle and bottom strategies that Li Banghua just mentioned are probably not feasible, and you know they won't work even if you don't try them.
The Liu thief was so powerful that there were countless of his masterpieces in the Forbidden City.
If he were to be assassinated suddenly, with Tianqi's current strength, he would not be able to control the capital at all. Those arrogant and powerful generals from Kaiyuan would not be able to overthrow the capital by then! Those warriors would never be more merciful than Liu Zhaosun when they killed people.
Furthermore, it is not reliable at all to summon the strongest armies in the world. Nearly half of the elites from the nine sides have defected to Liu Zhaosun's men. The other border towns are just grassroots. Before the Kaiyuan army is destroyed, they will never easily stand on the side of the imperial court. side.
Zhu Youjian looked around and saw that several eunuchs and censors who were monitoring him were not there for the time being, so he said anxiously:
"I have wanted to do this for a long time. Even though I am young, I know that this is absolutely impossible. Please consider it carefully and discuss it later."
Li Banghua sighed and was about to say goodbye to Emperor Tianqi when he heard the emperor's instructions:
"This matter is important and should not be disclosed lightly, otherwise you will be punished!"
Li Banghua hurriedly said: "This is all my plan, how dare you leak it? But please make a holy judgment early! Don't let the thieves harm the Ming Dynasty."
At this time, Li Mingrui finally finished reading the Sichuan governor's plea for help.
"Rong Chen and the governors will join forces with the soldiers from the three provinces to eliminate the enemy in advance, capture and sacrifice the evildoers, and use Zhang Tian to attack and lay the foundation for the place. Now that the thieves have been calmed down, it will be easier for the princes to control the border. Peace can be seen in the southwestern half of the wall again. It was played on December 30, the third year of Taichang.
Suddenly an idea flashed in Zhu Youjian's heart, and he started clapping the case:
"Why not send Marquis Pingliao to the southwest to suppress the bandits?"
Note:
1. Excerpted from Zhang Juzheng's Memorial Chapter 10: "Thanks to the Holy Edict for preserving the text and bestowing silver taels and other items"
