Zhu Youxiao spent all his time telling the King of Jin and the Crown Prince a lot of truths, but the central idea was to fool them into supporting him.
He also learned the moral hijacking tactics of civil servants.
You are a member of the royal family. At this critical moment, you don’t contribute money or support, and you still want to protect yourself?
I have to say that it was really useful. At one point, the father and son had no words to refute. After all, they ended up living in the way they hated the most.
Zhu Qiugui knew that he had fallen into the hands of the emperor today, so he had to respond repeatedly, saying that he had completely figured it out and understood. You can rest assured that I will obey his orders from now on.
As for the emperor's request for the crown prince Zhu Shenxuan to accompany him to Sichuan, Zhu Qiugui was not at ease, but he had no way to object. The emperor's tone did not allow him to refute at all.
"Every day, countless people in Shaanxi die of hunger. Now that the funding for disaster relief has been agreed upon, there should be no further delay. The King of Jin will prepare a few warrants and hand over the money and food tonight!"
"Your Majesty, such a large amount of grain, rice and silver is not a small amount. Regardless of how many people are required and how many batches are transported, even if it is transported from various warehouses to the city for centralized loading, I'm afraid it won't take three to five days. ah!"
"The King of Jin is right. 700,000 stone grains, without tens of thousands of soldiers escorting them back and forth in batches, I don't know when they will all be transported to Shaanxi!"
"But Prince Jin, please listen carefully. I just talked about the handover, not the escort!"
Zhu Qiugui quickly bowed his head and explained to the emperor:
"My ears are clumsy and I misinterpreted His Majesty's intention!"
Zhu Qiugui is more concerned about the money and food than Zhu Youxiao. Although he has promised to donate all of it for free, at least he is still holding onto it now.
Zhu Youxiao stood up and dusted his buttocks twice, and then said while moving:
"With so much grain, I don't have enough manpower to escort it for a while. What I mean is to find a large warehouse in Taiyuan City to temporarily store these grains and rice. What does King Jin think?"
Zhu Qiugui thought about it, where could there be such a large warehouse in Taiyuan City? Even temporary construction is too late. This is a big project and it will take up a lot of land.
He asked doubtfully:
"Could it be that His Majesty wants to store these grains, rice and silver in Taicang in Taiyuan Mansion?"
Zhu Youxiao shook his head, and then said:
"The warehouse in Taiyuan is too small to store 700,000 stones of grain. The autumn harvest season is approaching, and the government's warehouse still stores tax grain. If I use it, where will the tax grain be stored? Therefore, it cannot be requisitioned!"
"I can't trust those officials either. Isn't it rare in the past for such officials to commit theft themselves?"
At this point, Zhu Qiugui no longer dared to talk. Anything related to state affairs and officialdom was the most taboo thing for the vassals, let alone the person in front of him was the emperor.
Zhu Youxiao suddenly looked at Zhu Qiugui with a smile on his face, which made him panic. Then he heard the emperor say:
"In my opinion, Jin Palace is a good choice. The palace is located in the center of the city, and there are high walls around it. No one can enter or leave the palace on weekdays. I will dispatch an army when I arrive, which can prevent food supply. Even if there are thieves, it can protect the safety of the King of Jin, and the food can be stored in a centralized manner for easy guarding!"
Although the King of Jin had promised to donate so much money and food, most of it was still stored in Taiyuan City, and Zhu Youxiao became worried.
Not only was he worried about the civilized officials, he was even more worried about the King of Jin who was having a bloodbath this time.
These money and grains lasted for tens to hundreds of years. The Jin kings of the past dynasties slowly accumulated them. When I stood in front of him, I could force him to obey, but what if he left Taiyuan?
How could Zhu Qiugui not be jealous of these assets that belong to him? Maybe as soon as you leave, he will start to secretly transfer the money and grain to the name of Jin Fan.
If he is really pushed into a hurry, it is not impossible to burn down your warehouse for storing food. These people are all extreme egoists.
When Li Zicheng's army came to the city, only a few wise men such as King Zhou and King Fu knew how to recruit warriors with heavy sums of money to defend the city and repel Li Zicheng.
Other vassal kings still had no money at the time of life and death. Some generals and officials made a special trip to visit the vassal kings and begged these vassal kings to provide some money and grain to supplement military expenses and defend the city, but they were bombarded by them. come out.
Zhu Youxiao doesn't know what kind of person Zhu Qiugui, the current King of Jin, is, but he must be on guard against others, and there is nothing wrong with being careful in everything.
Putting this money and food in the palace is much safer than putting it in an outside warehouse. Those who can enter and exit the palace are internal personnel of the Jin Dynasty. If there is any loss, it can be traced directly from the King of Jin.
He believed that Zhu Qiugui was not so stupid as to risk being punished for a small amount of money and food by guarding and stealing.
Zhu Qiugui secretly smiled bitterly in his heart. The emperor was really thoughtful and had already considered all aspects. This was to completely tie him up.
As for the emperor's binding, of course he would not just sit back and wait. He immediately replied:
"Your Majesty, although the palace is large, there are many people and many hands. If some servants become greedy and lose money and food, I will not be able to recover even if I die. Please think twice!"
"Didn't I just say that I will send a trusted army and royal guards to the palace to guard the money and food? Of course, they will not affect the daily life of Jin Palace. King Jin can just forget about them, and they will not It’s easy to appear in front of King Jin.”
How could this be possible? Even if he wanted to take his son as a hostage, he also wanted to put himself under house arrest. He would never accept it!
"Your Majesty, this kind of troops stationed in the palace has never happened since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and it is not in line with the instructions of Taizu's Emperor Ming!"
"What King Jin said is wrong. Rules and systems are dead but people are alive. Everything must change with time. If you blindly follow the rules, doesn't it mean you don't know how to adapt? You don't want to make progress?"
"I am also trying to be a sure thing. This batch of money and food is too important to allow any mistakes. It is stored in the palace for safety and security. I can also take care of it for my brother. After all, he is my brother, so I can rest assured. Some!"
Zhu Qiugui just wanted to scold his mother, and he said it nicely, like one of his own brothers, and you didn't think of your own brothers when you tricked me.
"Your Majesty, it is really difficult for me to take on such a big responsibility. I have nothing to do but eat, drink and have fun. If I miss your Majesty's important mission, I cannot bear the responsibility!"
"I said you can do it, you can do it. You only need to supervise the people entering and leaving the palace and the maids and eunuchs inside. What's so difficult about this?"
"Just leave the rest to the Imperial Guards and the Royal Forest Army!"
"I will divide the area tonight. All you need to do is to tell us that this is a forbidden area. Those who know the information should also warn them to keep it strictly confidential. Anyone who dares to reveal the slightest bit of information will be punished by the entire clan and will not be merciful!"
Zhu Youxiao had lost the patience to keep talking to Zhu Qiugui, and he actually dared to mention the ancestral precepts of the Emperor Ming in front of him, and he was not afraid of using his tongue.
If it weren't for the fact that keeping him was still useful, Zhu Youxiao really wanted to find out the crimes committed by the Jin Palace and find a reason to abolish the Jin vassal.
Seeing that the emperor's tone was already angry, Zhu Qiugui once again gave in.
There were dozens of emperor's trusted guards in the palace, and Zhu Qiugui felt frightened just by looking at them. If he still fought hard with the emperor, he didn't know if these killers would rush up and chop him down directly.
Although he did not care about state affairs and officialdom, he had heard about what the emperor had done in the past year.
He had just whipped a guard eunuch half to death in front of him. He would not be fooled by the emperor's words about one of his own brothers.
Zhu Qiugui had no objections, and the next thing was much easier to handle. Zhu Youxiao first personally urged him to write several warrants.
Xu Xianchun was then ordered to take his gold medal and go out of the city to the military camp to mobilize troops into the city.
Then he asked the middle-aged eunuch who served King Jin to read an oral order to several civil servants in Taiyuan City, asking them to come to the palace as quickly as possible to see him.
At this time, he no longer intends to hide his whereabouts. The key is that it is difficult to hide even if he wants to. With so many things happening in Taiyuan City and Jinwang Palace, people will know sooner or later.
The most important thing is that if the army wants to enter the city, it needs approval from the Ministry of War. The emperor's orders have little effect in the provincial areas. Civil servants only recognize the documents of the six cabinet ministries.
Without approval from the Ministry of War, local officials have the right to refuse troops from entering the city, even the Habayashi Army.
In the history of the late Ming Dynasty, such things were common. If you encountered a tricky civil servant, whether the Ming army won or lost the battle, without the approval of the Ministry of War, he only needed to close the city gate, and the Ming army would be defeated. Drink the northwest wind in the wild.
Of course, these factors are also caused by the Ming army itself. Sometimes, the official army is more terrifying than the rebels.
Under the leadership of some warlords and generals, they robbed people everywhere legally and rationally, captured young men and refugees and forced them to join the army, and then developed and expanded, and demanded huge amounts of food and military expenses from the court.
In some places, the people were even willing to line the streets to welcome the rebels, but did not dare to even look at the officers and soldiers.
The court and the emperor had nothing to do about it, and they didn't even dare to rebuke loudly. They could only condone it, and even deal with it with some indifferent measures, such as committing crimes and meritorious services.
Although Zhu Youxiao has done a lot since he came to the throne, he has been limited to the capital and Liaodong. His authority as an emperor has not yet extended to these relatively stable areas within the pass.
The further away from the capital, the weaker the emperor's prestige and power.
If King Jin hadn't been careless today, he might not even be able to enter the palace unless he could prove his identity as emperor in person.
This is also the reason why he entered the city alone and left the army outside the city. After leaving the capital, he really couldn't move.
The centralization of imperial power still has a long way to go.
By the time the governor of Shanxi, the envoys on the left and right, and the magistrate of Taiyuan came to the palace to have an audience, it was already dark, and Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Qiugui were already drinking and talking in the palace.
"I see your Majesty, Your Majesty, your Majesty's greetings!"
"Get flat!"
As soon as Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, he picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks and put it into his mouth, and then chewed it with satisfaction.
Judging from the emperor's subtle movements, this bite of meat is really delicious.
Although these officials who had not yet had dinner did not dare to raise their heads and look directly, they could not help but see this scene from the corner of their eyes. It was really astonishing.
The always gluttonous governor of Shanxi even swallowed his saliva.
"Doesn't it feel very sudden? Why did I suddenly arrive in Taiyuan and you didn't notice it? You can't figure it out!"
As the top leader, the governor of Shanxi was the first to speak out and replied:
"I really feel that it is sudden. A few days ago, the cabinet sent a document to Taiyuan, saying that His Majesty has just left the capital. I have calculated the days and it seems that His Majesty has just entered Shanxi. Why did he suddenly arrive in Taiyuan? This Taiyuan is not The shortest way to Shaanxi!"
If it hadn't been for the eunuchs from the Jin Palace who came to give them instructions, they wouldn't have believed that the emperor had arrived in Taiyuan and was still having a hot dinner in the Jin Palace.
Yesterday they were still discussing whether the emperor would come to Taiyuan during his inspection tour of Shaanxi. Unexpectedly, only one day later, he had already arrived.
Zhu Youxiao wiped his mouth. He didn't need to explain too much to them. He just wanted to let them know that the person standing in front of them was the real emperor.
"The reason why I am ordering you to come here is not because of any important event, but to inform you that my army is about to enter the city. You should say hello to the garrison in the city to avoid conflicts!"
When the army was mentioned, the nerves of several civil servants immediately became tense. The army was entering the city? What does the emperor want to do?
They had long heard about the emperor's merciless killings of their civil servants in the capital, so they all had a sense of fear. The emperor would not go to Shanxi to find trouble and kill people under the pretext of patrolling Shaanxi, right?
The governor of Shanxi said in a tone that left no room for doubt:
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for being too bold to obey orders. Taiyuan Mansion has not received documents from the Ministry of War before, nor has it been notified that the army is about to enter Taiyuan City. I guess that the army must not have the approval documents, so I cannot violate the rules and release the troops privately. Enter the city!”
Zhu Youxiao slammed the table, startling the unprepared Zhu Qiugui and several civil servants, and said angrily:
"Is my imperial edict less effective than a piece of paper? Can I no longer make the final decision on the world's affairs?"
"It is precisely because His Majesty, as the emperor and the father of the king, cannot take the lead in violating the rules like this!"
"Don't you understand, your Majesty, that one thing means two? Our Ming Dynasty has its own regular system here!"
"If I ignore the imperial system and let the army enter the city today, wouldn't other provinces and places rush to follow suit?"
"This is the law of our ancestors. Are you going to violate the sacred law of our ancestors? I swear to the death that I dare not obey!"
"If your Majesty insists on troops entering the city, please report to the Ministry of War in the capital as soon as possible. With the approval from the Ministry of War and the seal of the cabinet, I will naturally open the city gates and come out of the city to welcome you!"
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