On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month in the sixth year of Chongzhen, an urgent report was delivered to the Qianqing Palace via the Great Wall Station.
This letter was sent by Cao Huachun from Xining. It can be seen that the military postmen along the way did not dare to neglect it, and it only took six days to deliver it to Beijing.
In fact, there was no important information in the letter he sent, otherwise the letter would not have been reviewed and sent out from Hehuang. The content of the letter was just a report to Chongzhen on the progress of Liu Chengzong's preparations for the wedding.
In addition, he suggested that the emperor issue an edict to purchase a set of princely wedding rituals from Lanzhou and give them to Xining.
Cao Huachun has been in Xincheng for a while, and he can feel that the temperament of Liu Chengzong's armed group has undergone earth-shaking changes from the last time they met.
The Marshal's Mansion has many advantages. Their army has high fighting spirit, is well-equipped, and has stable food income and military manufacturing. It is stronger than before. It is no exaggeration to say that it is earth-shaking.
But he is not here to find advantages for the rebels. On the contrary, he must find the shortcomings of the rebels during this mission.
Taking the Lion Army in the past as an example, Cao Huachun managed to find a shortcoming, that is, the generals in the Marshal's Office had a better attitude towards him and their hostility was reduced.
In the past, the Lion Army was the primary enemy and absolutely hostile to the imperial court. However, this time Cao Huachun entered the new city. Not only did he receive good treatment, he at least chatted with many senior generals, Jin Yifanzi and the guards of the Marshal's Mansion about ordinary things that had nothing to do with military affairs. We can talk about everything happily.
It’s very simple to think about it. People’s thoughts can be guided by public opinion. In Qinghai, their primary enemy is Mongolia, but the generalissimo’s foreign policy is not to be hostile to destruction, but to build a community through annexation. This policy itself is very harmful to them. There is not much benefit to the stability of the system.
But victory lies in having sufficient troops and food and establishing political power, which is reflected in people's behavior in pursuing promotion and wealth.
No one in the Marshal's Mansion is ashamed to be promoted and make a fortune. From the guardsmen to the generals and school officials, everyone pursues promotion and wealth without any scruples, and they do not hesitate to practice, study, and do things for it.
They believe in their ability to pursue wealth and power with dignity, and they even believe that the Grand Marshal can give them the opportunity to prove themselves.
To be honest, Cao Huachun originally wanted to use the imperial court as an example to discover the shortcomings of the Marshal's Mansion, but later found that using the imperial court as an example, he could not find the shortcomings of the Marshal's Mansion at all. Even whether pursuing promotion and wealth was a shortcoming was a question in his mind. Question.
This should not be a question.
Cao Huachun entered the palace at the age of thirteen and studied in the inner school since he was a child. His teachers were all Jinshi of the Hanlin Academy. Not to mention music, chess, calligraphy and painting, Confucian classics were not inferior to those of scholars.
What scholars pay attention to is sincerity, integrity, and self-cultivation. Promotion and wealth should be the process of life rather than the goal. In other words, life should have a higher pursuit than promotion and wealth.
But compared to the court's tendency to advertise sincerity and integrity, but in reality it is dishonest and has a wrong heart, Cao Huachun really doesn't know which one is better, naked pursuit or covert innuendo.
No matter what, Cao Huachun believes that the entire Marshal's Mansion is more mentally and mentally chaotic than during the Lion Army period.
First of all, the rituals of Liu Chengzong's wedding preparations have long been overridden. The exquisitely crafted leather robe with dark patterns, even though it has dark patterns, Cao Huachun can still clearly see the twelve chapters. He is most familiar with that thing.
Dragons, pythons, it doesn’t matter. In the Ming Dynasty, these things were not worn casually, but not to mention the dragon patterns on the cotton armored uniforms, there were too many people who could wear the flying fish, bullfighting, python robes and dragon robes alone. There are only twelve chapters, which is an imperial ritual system that was interrupted only in the Qin Dynasty from Emperor Shun to the Ming Dynasty. Only the emperor can wear all twelve chapters on his body.
Especially when Liu Chengzong mentioned the theory of being unfaithful to the people, he could clearly feel a huge sense of crisis.
Those words were not spoken to him, but to the generals of the Marshal's Mansion who were sitting in the courtyard at that time, awakening people's hidden hostility towards the imperial court, and guiding the soldiers and civilians under the Marshal's Mansion to have higher pursuits than promotion and wealth.
——The destiny of change.
Eliminate those unscrupulous people who do not engage in production and seize wealth. For the sake of the happiness of more people, and to allow more people to have the opportunity to freely pursue power and wealth, we will obey the people and launch the Eastern March.
As the saying goes, if the name is not correct, the words will not be smooth, and if the words are not smooth, the things will not be accomplished. It is obvious that Liu Chengzong is unifying his thoughts and holding the righteousness in his hands.
When Cao Huachun saw this opportunity, he ruined Liu Chengzong's affairs.
In the past, Liu Chengzong rebelled as a deserter and violated the law and had to be exterminated. However, if the extermination could not be carried out, even if the letter was thrown in Chongzhen's face, Chongzhen could not blame him in the slightest morally because he did not have enough to eat because he owed wages.
The imperial court did not do its job well.
But now that times have changed, Cao Huachun believes that this wedding is a good opportunity to weaken Liu Chengzong's rebellion and justice.
What he meant was that it was certain that Liu Shishi would overstep his bounds and could not be stopped. It would be better for the emperor to issue an edict to purchase it from Lanzhou and give him a set of wedding rituals for a prince.
It would be best to send another 10,000 sets of salt to Lanzhou, and allocate 100,000 taels according to the domestic salt price to purchase 3 million jins of green salt from the Marshal's Mansion as wedding expenses to show the court's love and righteousness for him, and to show it to both inside and outside Hexi.<
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In this way, if Liu Chengzong wants to raise troops again in the future, not to mention the internal sentiments of the soldiers and people will restrain him, at least the soldiers, people, officers and soldiers of Hexi will definitely be more determined to resist him.
The king, the king, and the ministers mean that the king should do the king's things well, and the ministers should do the ministers' things well.
Cao Huachun felt that his suggestion was very good. Although the salt price in Marshal's Mansion was much more expensive than that in the mainland, the salt market in Hehuang was saturated. Liu Shizi used this to make profits. The output of the salt lake far exceeded the consumption in Hehuang. Using the domestic salt price
Come and buy, even though it is a low price for him, but it is a bigger market and he can make extra money, so he will not refuse if he thinks about it.
On the court's side, it spent 100,000 yuan in silver and 10,000 yuan in gold, and the cost was ultimately borne by the salt merchants. Besides, there was a flood in Hanzhong and the price of salt was high. Maybe the court could still make some money from this.
Emperor Chongzhen's reply was faster. It took him only four days to enter Hehuang and was handed over by the postman to Liu Chengzong, who was offering sacrifices to heaven and earth at Riyue Mountain.
In this three-acre land, whether Cao Huachun was delivering or receiving letters, he could not hide them from Liu Chengzong.
Liu Shizi knew that he had written a letter to the emperor. He and Yang Dingrui had read the letter together before submitting it to Lanzhou. He did not know whether Cao Huachun's starting point was good or bad, but this suggestion did have good and bad consequences for the Marshal's Mansion.
The good aspect is, of course, the financial income, but the bad aspect is the loss of prestige, which makes him take a high look at Cao Huachun, the trusted companion of the king, which is indeed something.
However, the letter must be sent anyway. Liu Chengzong was confident, and the initiative in the matter was ultimately in his hands.
Now that Emperor Chongzhen had written back, Liu Chengzong did not open the envelope and handed it directly to Cao Huachun.
Cao Huachun was so looking forward to this letter that he opened it as soon as he held it in his hand. Only when he had opened it halfway did he raise his head anxiously and asked, "Don't you want to read it, Commander?"
Liu Shixin said that the letter has come back, what else should I read? No matter what the letter is, I will know it by your reaction.
He waved his hand and said with a smile: "If you don't want to read it, just read the letter the emperor wrote to you."
Cao Huachun was relieved, but the joy and expectation on his face froze at the moment he opened the letter and turned into ashes.
The emperor understood all his thoughts and rejected his suggestions righteously. He also spent 90% of the letter explaining to him the reason why it was not etiquette to do so.
After the procession of worshiping the heavens, the team returned to the new city. Yang Dingrui and Cao Yao said hello to Liu Chengzong and went back first. They were going home to prepare for the rituals of Naji and Nazong.
Liu Shizi has to hold two weddings, first to marry Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi and Yun Jiaoyue, and secondly to marry the eight empresses of Chahar.
The eight Chahar empresses all have their own relatives in the Or'er tribe, and their natal families are too numerous.
But Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi, and Yun Jiaoyue all have no one in the family, so Sanlang only has Che, a cheap and unrelated relative.
Therefore, they recognized Yang Dingrui and his wife as their adoptive father and mother, Cao Yao's wife as their god sister, and together they regarded Yang Dingrui's family as their natal family.
The problem of no one at home is not just limited to the three of them, but also to the entire Marshal's Mansion.
According to etiquette, Liu Chengzong did not go to the wedding in person, but sent a minister with a son and a daughter to do it on his behalf. The problem came. There were many people with a son and a daughter under the Marshal's Mansion, but in the scope of ministers, it was too difficult. p>
It has only been five years since they started the uprising. When people joined the Lion Battalion and the Lion Army, most of them were singles. In the past few years, there have been constant wars and they often marched thousands of miles. In the past, it was difficult for people to have families.
In one place.
Many high-ranking generals got married this year. Where did the baby come from? The only ones with both children and children living in Hehuang were Yang Dingrui and Sunday Qiang.
These are the three Yang Dingrui dolls, both of which were picked up by my mother-in-law when there was a famine in Ansai. They have two children, but only one is stronger on Sunday.
Therefore, the task of picking up the bride can only be left to Sunday Qiang.
The entire wedding process, including the sacrifice to heaven, will last for seven days. The Marshal's Mansion must prepare a throne, a wedding ceremony, a banquet, a pot of bread, a colorful carriage and other utensils, and Yang Dingrui's family must also pack and prepare.
On the way back to the city, Cao Huachun was worried, but Liu Chengzong was very relaxed and said with a smile: "The emperor did not agree."
Cao Huachun nodded: "The emperor said this is wrong and against etiquette."
Liu Chengzong grinned silently, and then said to Cao Huachun earnestly: "The emperor is right, you have to listen!"
Cao Huachun understood these words as ridicule, which made him very angry. He frowned and said: "The emperor is working hard to govern. He is not a cunning person like the commander said. He is sincere and should not be ridiculed!"
Suddenly everyone in the team who could hear their conversation stopped talking. People looked carefully at Liu Chengzong who was being contradicted. To everyone's surprise, Liu Chengzong was not angry.
There wasn't even a hint of sullenness on his face. He looked normal. He still spoke with sincerity and repeated: "The emperor is right, you have to support him."
His thoughts when he said this were very complicated, mostly sympathetic.
When Yang Dingrui wrote to Chongzhen a few years ago, he said that etiquette belongs to the emperor and his ministers. Even if Chongzhen was communicating with the rebels, he had to pay attention to etiquette. It can be seen that he was a very pedantic person.
And in this pedantry, what Liu Chengzong saw was despair.
There is nothing advanced about people, just like Xiao Zhuanfeng. Dogs have nature, and people also have nature. Dogs have people to tame them, and people have society to tame them.
Everyone's behavior pattern is a game with society. If you bark twice, you will get meat. If you are hungry, you will bark twice. If you bark twice, you will be beaten. If you are hungry, you will have to act coquettishly. If you have positive incentives, you will continue to do it.
, think of other ways after being beaten severely, and eventually form a person's cognitive and behavioral patterns.
Chongzhen is different. This man guides his life strictly according to the principles he knows. He encounters obstacles everywhere and lives in a desperate world with almost no positive incentives. He still remains true to his original intention and devotes himself full of energy to the great and complex emperor's mission every day.
career.
Seeing such a person, working hard every day from dawn to dusk, leading the country on a road of no return, Liu Shishi, as a colleague, has nothing to criticize, no.
"You are a close official of the emperor. I don't blame you for saying these things. Don't try to persuade the emperor in the future. Support him. Everything the emperor does is right."
Liu Chengzong confused Cao Huachun with a few words and asked: "What does the commander mean by this?"
"The emperor rules the world by relying on the ritual and music system. Thaksin believes that by doing this, even if the situation is as bad as this, the world will not fall apart because there is no reason for the world to fall apart."
Liu Shizi shook his head and said: "I didn't mean to laugh at the emperor. I didn't understand it in the past, but now I have some experience. My experience is completely different from that of the emperor. The environment we are in is also different. I can't
Go laugh at him."
Those who are loyal to Liu Chengzong in Hehuang and those who are loyal to the emperor of the Zhu family in the world are completely two types of people. His experience cannot guide the emperor at all.
"Don't persuade the emperor to do something deviant just because you see the scene in Hehuang. What you see will not help the emperor, but will harm him."
Cao Huachun's eyes widened. He had indeed gone back to talk to Emperor Chongzhen about the changes in Hehuang earlier.
Because Liu Chengzong was a ruler of a foreign vassal in his eyes, and he also managed this unofficial kingdom very well, he thought that many things might have guiding significance for the Ming Dynasty.
But now Liu Chengzong said this clearly, which made him a little hesitant: "Commander, let me dare to ask, why is this?"
"Is the Emperor a foolish emperor? The country's affairs did not start to go bad from him. He is just incapable of reversing the situation. It will be the same no matter who sits in his seat. Ming Dynasty cannot be saved unless..."
Cao Huachun asked eagerly: "Unless what?"
"It's nothing unless the emperor has requirements for himself, and the framework restricts him too much, but if these frameworks are dismantled, the Ming Dynasty will be gone."
Is Cao Huachunxin so desperate?
How can we build a good country? When Liu Chengzong talks about it, it feels like the country will be destroyed tomorrow.
In fact, to a certain extent, Liu Chengzong believed that Chongzhen was only good because he was pedantic. If he was not pedantic, the country would not be able to survive. If he dared to take some extraordinary measures, he would destroy the legitimacy of his rule.
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "Like this, even if the country is destroyed, the emperor's reputation will not be bad after his death; if he does something else, I am afraid that not only will the country be destroyed in the end, but he will become a truly subjugated king."
"No one can predict the change of dynasty. We have known each other for a long time. Mr. Cao can just muddle along. If he can't come to me, let alone many things... he has no worries about food and clothing."
In the middle of Liu Chengzong's words, he saw smoke and dust rising from several riders in the direction of Xincheng. It didn't take long for them to rush to the front. His trusted guard turned over and dismounted, clasped his fists and said, "Commander, Wang Hui is here, bringing urgent news."
Wang Huishou is for Wang’s own use.
As soon as Liu Chengzong frowned, everyone around him was kicked back, and he heard the guard report: "Commander, Wang Hui leader said that Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, has entered Gansu."
Hong Chengchou.
Liu Chengzong slowly exhaled and thought to himself: What a wedding ceremony!
