When Tian Hong met Tian Daguozhang these days, he was like an ant on a hot pot. Whether he went to court or stayed in the mansion, he could neither sit nor stand. The sighs came one after another.
Of course, the food is no longer delicious. Even the songs and dances of the concubines I bought from Yangzhou, which I used to like the most, are now completely inaudible and tasteless. This panic and uneasiness almost caught up with the situation two years ago when my precious daughter Tian Guifei passed away.
He really wanted to immediately go to Beijing, a place of right and wrong, instead of going to Nanjing, the capital, and return to his hometown of Yangzhou to become a rich man. So this morning when he listened to the prince washing horses and Chen Rui urging him to donate money outside the Meridian Gate, he was quite moved.
He is different from those old nobles who have lived in the capital for generations. He is the father of the daughter. Before her daughter became the imperial concubine, she was just a Qianzong in Yangzhou, and it was only in the past ten years that she became famous. Therefore, there is no intricate network of relationships in Beijing, and he does not dare to put all the family property obtained through hard work of corruption and bribery in Beijing... Most of his family property is located in his hometown of Yangzhou, mainly land and shops. Here in Beijing, the total amount of money we have on hand is only a few hundred thousand taels, but it is enough to buy an edict to leave the city.
Because of the demonstration effect of Wang Zhixin and Cao Huachun, and because the bandit army had already arrived at the city, a considerable number of officials and nobles chose to believe that Zhu Cihong's "leave the city order" was valid.
Of course, most officials and nobles in Beijing did not buy this life-saving edict. They either have no money - not everyone who is an official in Beijing has money! Either the family property is too big and they are reluctant to abandon it. Or just like Tian Hongyu, he didn't dare to buy orders from Zhu Cihong.
But Tian Hongyu didn't dare, which was different from Luo Yangxing, Chen Yan, and Wei Zaode. Although he holds the official title of Commander of the Imperial Guard, he does not have much real power. If there is more of him in the capital city, it will not be too much, and if there is less of him, it will not be too much. After the death of his daughter Tian Guifei, he became a figure with no sense of existence.
But when his daughter was still alive, she always fought for favor with Queen Zhou. And Zhu Cixiang happened to be Zhou Hou's son... Tian Hongyu was worried that Zhu Cixiang would vent his anger on his mother's behalf and accuse him of corruption and perversion of the law.
Even if you don't punish your own sins, if you leave the capital city gate, you will be in a lawless world! Tian Hongyu's family doesn't have many servants and thugs, so he's just a fat pig after leaving the city? Isn’t it a piece of cake for Zhu Cixi to kill the Tian family father and son?
Therefore, Tian Hongyu could only bite the bullet and stay in Beijing, living one day at a time!
But he is still afraid of death! He was only in his forties, and his life was much richer than that of Emperor Chongzhen, but of course he did not live enough.
But if the city of Beijing is destroyed and thieves invade, will he still be able to survive? Even if you are alive, can you still have glory and wealth?
So when the sound of gunfire came from the west of the city today, he was frightened to death and almost lost his temper. Fortunately, news came that the bombardment of Li Zicheng and the bandits had temporarily retreated, and this made Prince Tian come back to life.
Just when he was thankful that his life was temporarily saved, someone suddenly sent an invitation from the residence of Duke Cheng, Zhu Chunchen, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, inviting him to have a drink at Duke Cheng's residence.
This Zhu Chunchen participated in the battle of Fuchengmen this afternoon, and it is said that he made great achievements. So Tian Hongyu must go and curry favor with him, and ask about the battle situation... There won't be any good news, but Tian Hongyu still wants to hear it!
Therefore, Tian Dahuang immediately asked his son Tian Dungen to go with him, took a few antique calligraphy and paintings, got on the sedan chair and went to the Chengguo Duke's Mansion for the banquet.
The sedan swayed and came to a steady stop. The steward of Tian Mansion lifted the front curtain and poked his head in: "Master, we have arrived at Fuxue Alley. But today is a good day. There are too many cars, horses and sedans, and the road is blocked. We can’t move forward any further, is the master going to feel aggrieved now?”
Encountered a traffic jam, Tian Hongyu had nothing to do. Not to mention that he doesn't have the support of his imperial concubine and daughter, even the old emperor's relative Zhou Kui (the queen's father) has no choice but to walk alone when this happens. If you want others to make way for you, you have to become a bachelor of Shoufu University!
However, Tian Hongyu leaned out of the sedan but did not move forward immediately because he saw the lights in Fuxue Alley were brightly lit and the prince's guard of honor was parked outside the Duke Chengguo's mansion. Moreover, there were hundreds of carriages accompanying the prince's ceremonial guard. Some of the carriages had already been piled with large boxes with seals attached and tied tightly with ropes. There are still some empty carriages, and the servants are constantly carrying boxes out of the palace to load the empty carriages.
This posture looks a bit like a house raid...
"Are you a relative of Emperor Tian?"
When Tian Hongyu was in a daze, he suddenly heard someone calling him again. He quickly turned around and saw that it was the British Duke Zhang Shize.
Duke Yingying and Duke Cheng Guo are neighbors. They both live in Fuxue Hutong in Zhongjiaofang. Now they are walking to Duke Cheng Guo's mansion with a few followers.
Tian Hongyu immediately bowed and said, "Young Master, will you also go to Chengguo Mansion?"
"Yeah, let's go together."
"Okay," Tian Hongyu nodded, and then pointed to the scene of ransacking the house, "My lord, do you know what this is doing?"
"I don't know," Zhang Shize shook his head, "I just returned home... I have been busy all day today, and I have to continue tomorrow."
"What are you busy with?" Tian Hongyu asked as he walked.
"Block the door."
"Whose door is blocked?"
"The gates of Beijing City!" Zhang Shize said, "Thousand-year-old master has sent missions to block six of the nine gates in Beijing City and all seven gates in the outer city."
"Is it all blocked?"
"Yes, only Chaoyang Gate, Dongzhi Gate, and Zhengyang Gate are not blocked." Zhang Shize said, "But the blocked doors are not blocked firmly. We will have to continue tomorrow."
"This is a big job!" Tian Hongyu smiled, "There's a lot of oil and water, right?"
"What kind of money is there? My family put money into it." Zhang Shize sighed, "The Ming Dynasty has already been like this, why do we need to raise money? The city is going to be destroyed, and we, the noble relatives of the emperor, have to die as a family! "
die……
Tian Hongyu felt a chill on his neck. There were no words at that moment, and he just followed the British father to the gate of Chengguo Mansion.
The servant of the Chengguo Mansion who was guarding the door recognized the British father-in-law. The two mansions were very close to each other. They usually visited each other as if they were at home. They went in as soon as they were asked. So we didn't report it now, and just invited the British public and Tian Hongyu in. After entering the gate and walking not far, the British father and Tian Hongyu realized that they could not walk any further. Because they were blocked in the courtyard outside the outer hall of Chengguo Mansion, a large number of distinguished royal relatives who had received invitations from Chengguo Mansion were crowded here.
The courtyard was also brightly lit, and a bunch of royal family members and dignitaries were standing there without even having a seat!
"What's going on?" the British Duke asked casually.
"Master Chitose is here... Oh, it's the British Master! Please, please..."
There are not many father-in-laws in Beijing now. Zhang Shize is naturally noble. Even among a group of nobles, he is also a top figure. When everyone sees him coming, they naturally let him go. Tian Hongyu also followed him and pushed forward together. When he got to the front, he found that someone was moving boxes of Chengguo's silver out!
But it wasn't a house raid, because Zhu Chunchen and his sons were standing there happily, watching their beloved silver being moved away. Next to Zhu Chunchen was an imperial chair, on which Zhu Cixiang, the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, sat.
What exactly is going on?
It doesn't look like a house raid. Would Zhu Chunchen still be laughing if his house was raided? But Cheng Guofu’s money was really moved out in boxes!
The money was almost moved and the people were almost there. Zhu Cihong coughed, stood up from the chair, and looked at the stunned nobles and royal relatives with a smile.
"Today, I invite you all to come to Chengguo Mansion to commend Duke Chengguo in public!" Zhu Cixi explained, "You should also have heard that today on the Fuchengmen battlefield, Duke Cheng took the lead and killed the traitors. Du Xun made his first contribution by shelling the leader of the thieves, Li Zicheng!
Not only that, Duke Cheng Guo has now donated 250,000 taels of silver to cover his expenses...Having such honorable people is really a blessing to our Ming Dynasty! Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, is really a role model for all the nobles of our Ming Dynasty!
You all should learn from Duke Cheng Guo! "
