"Mr. Yuan, we are going to Xi'an on a high mountain and a long road. You'd better take my carriage."
Chen Yiqing, the owner of Qingfeng Restaurant in the city, stood up and said: "Don't refuse. You are old. You have rested on the road. Only when you get to Xi'an can you better devote yourself to disaster relief. This can be regarded as an indirect contribution to the fellow villagers in Shaanxi." ”
"Brother Chen is right, Brother Yuan, please don't refuse."
An elderly man stood up and said to Cui Ming, the general banner of Jinyiwei: "My lord, this is one hundred taels of silver, which is a little bit of my gratitude. Please take good care of Mr. Yuan on behalf of us, the people of Sui County, along the way." elder brother,
This is our brotherhood, not considered bribery! "
"Mr. Yuan, these are freshly boiled tea eggs. You can take them with you to eat on the way."
"Master Yuan, here are the steamed buns and steamed buns that have just come out of the cage. They are still warm. Please bring some!"
"Brother, I run a clothing store, nothing else, but I have a lot of clothes. It's winter now, and you have to go out again when you go to Shaanxi. Brother, I will give you a big cloak to keep out the wind and cold."
…
One after another, common people stood up and gave gifts. Yuan Keli stood on the carriage without saying a word for a long time.
Cui Ming was full of emotion while riding on the horse. If he didn't love the people like his own son, how could the people love him so much.
"Mr. Pavilion, please accept it. What they said is right. You are not as thick-skinned and thick-skinned as our martial arts practitioners. After Shaanxi is over, I will report the truth to the court. I believe that Your Majesty will not care about this matter." . ”
Cui Ming persuaded, Yuan Keli was silent for a moment, and then he cupped his hands in all directions and said: "I thank you all brothers."
It took half an hour for the carriage to leave the small Suizhou County, and then gradually disappeared from the sight of the people in Suizhou County.
At the same time, in Dongnuan Pavilion, Chongzhen stood in front of the huge map of the Ming Dynasty.
"Daban, judging by the time, the person delivering the order should have arrived in Suizhou, right?"
"Going back to your Majesty, according to regulations, those who carry out the imperial edict must enter Suizhou County at the Youzheng hour tonight at the latest."
"Dad companion, do you think there is a possibility that the people who participated in the Shaanxi civil uprising will swear not to surrender after receiving my imperial edict?"
Wang Chengen was shocked, and after a few breaths he whispered: "Your Majesty, with Mr. Yuan Ge here and the two and a half million taels of silver allocated by the imperial court, the Shaanxi disaster and civil commotion will not be a problem."
"maybe!"
Chongzhen responded noncommittally.
During the Shaanxi Civil War in the previous life, the imperial court appointed Yang He as the governor of the three sides. The imperial court also focused on appeasement, but it failed in the end.
Subsequently, Shaanxi became like hell. Natural disasters continued for fourteen consecutive years, and civil unrest swept the entire Shaanxi Province, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Ningxia and other places.
In the first year of Chongzhen's reign, the number of troops involved in the civil uprising had reached 60,000. Later, all kinds of monsters and monsters came out, including the thirty-six battalions of Chuang Wang, Zijin Liang, Man Gypsophila, Scorpion Block, Bang Taotian, and Hunshi Wang.
"If the appeasement fails, then don't blame me for being ruthless. I will fight the border town to withstand the invasion and attack of foreign enemies. I will also directly mobilize the army to destroy you."
Chongzhen stared at the map with murderous intent in his eyes.
Before fighting against the outside world, we must first settle the internal situation. This popular uprising is like a spark that can start a prairie fire.
He cannot be soft-hearted just because these people are the people of the Ming Dynasty. You must know that this uprising greatly consumed the military finance and energy of the Ming Dynasty, and eventually led to the entry of slaves into the customs, and tens of millions of people were massacred.
Compared with tens of millions of people, these few thousand people are nothing.
"I hope Yuan Keli will work harder and not make the same mistake as Yang He, otherwise I will really raise the butcher's knife!"
Chongzhen sighed secretly in his heart, and then asked: "Where is Qin Liangyu?"
"Your Majesty, according to the news compiled this morning, General Qin's white-armed soldiers have arrived in Fenyang. They are still about half a month away from Beijing. This is consistent with General Qin's scheduled march plan."
Chongzhen let out a gentle breath, clenched the hand hidden in his sleeve tightly several times, and secretly said to endure it for another half month.
"Your Majesty, these are some of the situations and thoughts that I have had while reviewing the Imperial Horse Prison files. Your Majesty, please take a look at them."
As soon as Chongzhen was half lying on the soft couch, Fang Zheng entered Dongnuan Pavilion and handed the compiled files to Chongzhen with both hands.
Chongzhen continued without reading, "You can report it directly!"
Fang Zhenghua took a step closer and said softly: "Your Majesty, after investigation by the Jiajing Chu Hu Department, there are 20 stables and 56 pastures under the Royal Horse Supervisor, covering a total area of more than 24,000 hectares. Compared with Zhengde In the early years, the pasture under its jurisdiction more than quadrupled, but there were only 3,900 horses, camels, donkeys, etc. on the pasture."
"In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, there were only more than 14,000 hectares of pastures under the jurisdiction of the Royal Horse Prison, and the number of horses, camels, and donkeys in the pastures was less than 3,000. During the past hundred years, the people in the Royal Horse Prison and some of the emperor's relatives , the noble gentry occupied more than 10,000 hectares of pasture.”
One hectare is equal to one hundred acres, and one acre is equal to 666 square meters. Fourteen thousand hectares is converted into a square with a side length of sixty miles, but only three thousand horses are raised. What a waste.
Chongzhen did not express an opinion after hearing this, but asked: "Tell me about the finances of the Royal Horse Supervisor and the four guards of Tengxiang."
"Your Majesty, there are a total of eighty-one imperial mansions and shops under the supervision of Yuma. If they operate normally, the annual income will be around 440,000 taels of silver. From the first year of Tianqi to now, the annual income is less than 100,000 taels."
"The full strength of the Tengxiang Four Guards is 22,400. The current record of the Tengxiang Four Guards is more than 30,000 people. However, I have investigated and found that the actual number is less than 12,000, and their combat strength is inflated. It is much lower than the number of people fighting in the Beijing camp. People are better, but they are limited.”
"Liu Yingkun, the eunuch in charge of the Royal Horse Prison, is a member of Wei Zhongxian, and most of the other subordinates in the Royal Horse Prison are Wei Zhongxian's people."
"But the Tengxiang Four Guards are not as corrupt as imagined. Only one of the four commanders is attached to Wei Zhongxian. The other three are still loyal to the imperial power, but they are also very corrupt."
Chongzhen's expression finally changed.
If pastures are invaded, it doesn't matter. When you have the power, you can just trace them back. You can also enrich your internal funds by confiscating the houses of corrupt people and exterminating their clans.
It’s not too much to embezzle thousands of hectares of pasture and make out five million taels of silver!
But I didn't expect that the emperor's personal army, the Four Guards of Tengxiang, known as the Forbidden Army, would be so corrupt that they were paid empty wages, pretended to be false, had inflated combat power, and relied on power.
This is true for the emperor's own troops, not to mention the nine frontier armies and the garrison troops stationed in various places.
After a while, Chongzhen calmed down: "What are you going to do if you take over?"
Fang Zhenghua's face began to switch between confusion, fear, anger, pride, etc. After hesitating for nearly a cup of tea, his face became serious, as if he had made a decision.
He knelt down on the ground, pressed his head tightly to the ground, and said in a trembling voice: "Thanks to your majesty's trust, my next words are a bit disrespectful. Please forgive me!"
