Chapter 645: Offering money to recruit dead soldiers
During this period, Chen Qiyu was in difficult circumstances both internally and externally, and felt depressed every day.
This is not because he did not do well, on the contrary, he tried his best and mobilized all the forces that could be mobilized in the city.
Even the Qin vassal princes, county princes and princes in the city made the greatest compromise under his persuasion and sent his two sons to set up eight porridge sheds at the four gates of the city to cook porridge every day.
Without the strong support of the Qin vassal, relying on the remaining military supplies in Xi'an Fucheng, it would have been defeated long ago.
Of course, it was not Chen Qiyu's intention at the beginning to give porridge to Qin Fan. At this point, he complained that the old King of Qin was pedantic and fearful.
But the King of Qin had a frank talk with him, mentioning the difficulties brought about by his position. If he had to donate his family wealth to help the army, he would have no choice but to hang himself in the royal city.
From the Ming Dynasty to the Chongzhen period, there were only three vassals with transcendent status. They were the three vassals of Lu, Rui and Fu granted by Emperor Wanli.
Because first of all, when Wanli canonized the princes of the three vassals, he gave them extremely rich wealth and rights, and because of the new vassal, there were not many clan members in the vassal to divide the wealth, so the prince had absolute wealth and power.
Secondly, it was because they and Emperor Chongzhen were blood relatives who had not been together for five years.
To the emperor, other vassal states were more like relatives who could not be touched with a pole and had no feelings at all.
At the same time, the relationship between the feudal king and the bureaucrats was neither superiors nor subordinates, nor colleagues. In fact, they were more like rivals.
Every official who is in charge of a local area regards the useless vassal state that absorbs a lot of wealth as a thorn in his flesh, and wishes that the problem of the vassal state would disappear while he is in office.
The old Qin King Zhu Yizhen is seventy years old this year.
Throughout his long life, he had long been aware of the "prejudice" of others towards him as "the Ming Empire's problem".
This is prejudice to him.
When his elder brother was the King of Qin, subject to the imperial clan management regulations of the Jiajing 40th year, Zhu Yizhen was only granted the title of Lieutenant of Fengguo. It was because his elder brother quarreled with the Ministry of Rites every day that Wanli granted him the title of Prince of Ziyang County.
His elder brother succeeded to the throne six years ago and passed away at the age of twenty. Zhu Yizhen became the new generation king of Qin because he was the first in the royal family as the prince of Ziyang County and met the conditions of the "Zongs and Vassal Regulations" that only his biological brothers could inherit the title.
Therefore, he only values one thing in his life, that is, since the throne has fallen to our team, I cannot let it fall into the hands of others again.
Zhu Yifeng had been quarreling with the Ministry of Rites all his life, and was most concerned about the issue of titles for his brothers and heirs.
In the past fifty years, he had requested the title of King Chongxin for his concubine brother, and also resolved the identity of his concubine Zhu Cunshu as the heir apparent, thus providing double insurance.
In fact, he originally wanted to get six-fold insurance. He also had four other sons. Emperor Tianqi agreed at that time and would give these four sons the title of county king for the first time.
It means to be granted a royal title, but it is not hereditary.
However, the Ministry of Rites delayed the decision and continued to curse, so Emperor Tianqi finally had to give in and decreed that several of Qin Fan's sons receive the title of Lieutenant of Fengguo.
Every official knows that the clan is a problem, so they are the people in the world who most hope that the clan will be exterminated. Absolute heirs are not enough. It is best to eliminate the country and the problem will be solved.
But the problem never wants to be solved by itself.
Why the hell should I disappear? I don’t want to!
The Qin vassal has been handed down for thirteen generations, and five of them have lost their heirs. Either a small sect succeeded a larger sect, or a younger brother succeeded his younger brother. The vassal state has been struggling on the line of life and death due to the issue of heirlessness, and is in danger.
Therefore, being timid and fearful has long been engraved in the bones of the Qin Fan clan.
As early as the siege began, Chen Qiyu went to the King of Qin in Xi'an Prefecture and persuaded him to donate money.
However, it was not uncommon for vassal kings to provide financial aid in the Ming Dynasty. It was not that simple. Donation was not something you could just donate if you wanted to.
It was not that the clan of the Ming Dynasty refused to provide aid to the court. Since the defeat of Saarhu in the late Wanli Dynasty, it had become extremely frequent.
Of course, the amount of each stipend was not very large, usually a feudal government donated one thousand to three thousand taels of silver.
This is not only a lot, but also an extremely huge amount of wealth.
Because the feudal clan was limited to the system, they were a very special group of people.
In their cognition, they have nothing to do with the wider world.
Most of these people were born within Xiao Qiang, grew up within Xiao Qiang their entire lives, and eventually died within Xiao Qiang.
What is the difference between donating money to the imperial court and throwing it into the palace lake?
The answer is that if you throw it into a lake, it will float away.
Therefore, it is simply unrealistic to expect the feudal lord to destroy his family and provide relief for a world that has nothing to do with him, and to use more of his family property to support his family.
The most they can do is to be like Zhu Changhao, the Rui King of Hanzhong, because he grew up in the Forbidden City during his childhood, boyhood, and youth. He has memories of it and a concept of the world.
It just so happened that his great nephew was now the emperor, so he donated money every year, sometimes even twice a year, and received two excellent edicts. I felt very happy after spending the money.
But for most of the other vassal kings, they could not attend funerals or attend court. The Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace and the world were just distant and mysterious terms.
Their friendship with the emperor was not even as good as Liu Chengzong's pen pal, so they didn't care at all what was sitting on the dragon chair.
No idea.
On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty had the "Regulations on Suspensions and Vassals", and the vassal government had its own rules. They had their own procedures for donating stipends, which was different from officials donating stipends.
The feudal king could not directly hand over money and food to the local government.
When the vassal state wants to help with payment, it needs to be reported to the local chief official, usually the governor. The governor will report it to the court, and the emperor Zhu will say: Well done!
Then the emperor sent an order to the Ministry of Household Affairs to prepare them to receive the money and food.
The governor accepted the money and sent people to transport it to the capital or the provincial branch of the Ministry of Revenue.
This procedure is called "Excellent Decree Receipt". The first two characters are the emperor's edict of preferential treatment, and the last two characters are the order for the Ministry of Revenue to receive the money in reply.
This is also a common practice for vassal states to provide assistance.
Of course, sometimes there is no good purpose. For example, the king of Tang had been quarreling at the court last year over the change of clan titles. On the surface, he supported Chongzhen, but Chongzhen didn't like the vassal king to dictate national policies.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! So last year when the Tang Dynasty King donated money, Chongzhen only gave him praise.
If the money and grain are directly taken out and distributed to the local garrison as military supplies, if they are ordinary people or officials and gentry, it is most likely no problem, because their parents are magistrates, and the magistrate can decide to collect the money and grain and allocate the money and grain.
When the court found out, not only would they not blame him, but they would also give him a crown, a belt, and a memorial arch to show his commendation.
But the vassal government could not do this because their parents were the emperor.
The army belongs to the country, not the Zhu family; and the country belongs to Zhu Youjian, not Prince Zhu.
When the vassal king did the same thing, it was not called aid, but money was offered to recruit dead soldiers.
You dare to offer money to recruit dead soldiers today when Liu Chengzong comes. What should you do tomorrow when Liu Chengzong leaves? Chongzhen doesn’t even dare to think about it!
However, Chen Qiyu's wish was to let Zhu Yi, the old Qin king, spend money to recruit dead soldiers.
He did not want the King of Qin to donate money and food to the government and follow the procedures.
Because Chen Qiyu knows best that once the money reaches the government, it is difficult for it to actually fall into the hands of the soldiers defending the city.
There is no need to consider whether there are people who are obsessed with money and waste the money donated by others.
Simply speaking, even if everything is normal, Chen Qiyu will have no problem if he has no money. Once he has money, everyone will be interested in the war. There is no such thing as sufficient preparation before the war begins.
The city wall needs to be repaired. When the repairs are complete, sheds need to be added. Once the sheds are in place, artillery is needed. Once the artillery is available, ammunition is also needed. Once the artillery is enough, muskets and rockets are needed to defeat thousands of people.
Not to mention all kinds of little odds and ends, all of which require money.
When there is no money, everyone can think of something, whether it is donating, asking for it, or even blackmailing, or forcefully mobilizing people to defend the city and serve for free.
But once people knew he had money, it would be unreasonable not to take the money.
But it happened that King Qin did not dare to do this.
Not to mention recruiting dead soldiers, he didn't even dare to provide meals for the officers and soldiers, so he could only let his fourth son Zhu Cunji and fifth son Zhu Cunqi do it.
If he could allow his two young sons to cook porridge for the army, it would be considered a wise act of the old King Qin.
After all, King Qin had never lived outside since he was a child, and his lifestyle and thoughts were far different from those of normal people.
The old King of Qin thought to himself that you are teasing me here.
Our family has been racking our brains to preserve the vassal state for generations. It's my turn. You want me to stretch my tail and let others pull it?
If I die, I will die, and I will die here. If one of the five sons escapes and makes no mistake, the emperor will have to let him succeed the vassal king of Qin.
He told Chen Qiyu: "There are three thousand taels of silver and three thousand shi of rice and grain. The official document has been written by the official of the palace. The military gate reported it to the emperor. The emperor Zhu approved the order to recover it. The Qin government immediately handed over the money and grain and sent it to the next emperor.
An official document of three thousand taels of silver and three thousand shi of rice and grain was submitted to the military gate."
Chen Qiyu said to her heart, “Fuck your mother’s balls!”
The whole city of Xi'an is under siege. I really want to write a letter to the emperor, so I have to deliver the letter!
If you can deliver the letter, I will ask the emperor for it myself, and why not come to you?
It is not necessarily a crime for the prince to do this, nor is he necessarily punished.
Things happen for a reason.
But no matter how Chen Qiyu worked for the King of Qin, it didn't work. The old man was always indifferent and looked like you do what you want. Anyway, I'm not far away from reincarnation, and nothing you say is of any use.
In fact, the old King of Qin thought things through very clearly. Being timid may be part of the reason for his decision, but it is by no means the whole reason.
But in the current situation, no matter what he does, the outcome will be similar.
At such an old age, he is still in poor health and has a lot of diseases. He will definitely not live long and it is impossible for him to escape.
Being a moron and a miser, the city cannot be defended, and the money and food are gone. If one of the five sons runs away, one of them can inherit the Qin vassal prince. Fortunately, one of the five sons has survived and has not run away. With the wealth of the Qin vassal, he dedicated it to Liu Chengzong.
Maybe you can save your life.
The result is not bad.
The city was defended, the money and food were gone, but the five sons were still there, and the vassal state continued as usual.
The result is not bad either.
The treasury was opened and raised money to recruit dead soldiers. The city was defended, but the money and food were gone.
The imperial court blamed others, and the merits were all other people's. Qin and Fan had personal friends with officials, and it was good luck that they were not held accountable for the crime of privately recruiting dead soldiers. Once they were held accountable, the old man would be thrown into Fengyang's high wall at least, and the feudal lord at worst.
The country is gone.
The result is not good.
The city was not defended and the sons who did not run out will definitely be blamed by Liu Chengzong and they will be killed. Those who ran out will probably be blamed by the emperor and thrown into the high wall of Fengyang, and they will be finished.
The result was the worst.
In Chen Qiyu's heart, he could not imagine that the old King of Qin sought advantages and avoided disadvantages. He only felt that...it was all Liu Chengzong's fault!
He felt that the King of Qin looked like a dead pig who was not afraid of being scalded by boiling water. It was entirely because Liu Chengzong was a rebel in the northwest separatist regime and was not fearful enough.
Now that they have become rebels, why are they good people? They captured Lanzhou and dragged out the virtuous King Su and slaughtered him; when they reached Pingliang, they cut the little confused King Han into pieces, along with thousands of others.
The clan members of the vassal state were all killed with one sword.
You see if the King of Qin is afraid or not, the army must be still 800 miles away, so he offered money to recruit dead soldiers, set a reward, and took the initiative to fund repairs to the city wall.
If that were the case, things would be easier to handle.
The problem now is that the little bastard King Han is jumping around in the city, and he is always wearing a dragon robe and running to the city to persuade him to surrender.
When Chen Qiyu saw King Han's dragon robe, he was so angry that he had a brain hemorrhage.
Who is a serious person running around in regular clothes?
Regular clothes look good, but they are dresses.
In this era, formal wear is work clothes.
From low-level officials to the emperor, they only wear regular clothes when going to work.
Clothing etiquette stipulates what people with a certain status cannot wear, rather than stipulating what people with a certain status must wear.
Who wears regular clothes in their leisure time? Like a big fool, Chen Qiyu is not willing to wear regular clothes with patches except for going to the Hajj and working outside.
What's the point of the King of Han wearing a regimental dragon robe to the city? Isn't it just to show off? It disturbs the morale of our army!
Chen Qiyu wished that the soldiers would mistake the King of Han for Liu Chengzong and shoot him to death with one arrow.
Besieging a city is very depleting of morale, and being besieged is also very depleting of morale.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! This incident not only tested Liu Chengzong, but also tested Chen Qiyu.
As Liu Chengzong remained in siege for a long time, the military discipline of the defenders in the city became increasingly lax.
From time to time, hungry soldiers would descend on the city at night with silver coins in their arms, and sneak into the besieged camp to have a meal.
This kind of thing was forbidden many times, because at first there were people who succeeded in doing it without weapons and only wearing mandarin duck jackets.
I went to the open-air restaurant in the market and ordered horse meat soup and roasted meat. I was so happy with the meal that I even bought some roasted meat and ran back to the city.
Later, more and more people started doing this, and some of them were detained. It also depended on who detained them. Anyway, it was just luck.
If you are unlucky and run into Mongolian soldiers, your money will be taken away, and a lock of hair will be cut off behind your ears. You will be told that you have died once. Surrender immediately when attacking the city. If you are captured again, you should be beheaded and released.
city wall.
If you are lucky and encounter Han soldiers, you will most likely be beaten for trespassing into the camp. Then someone will come forward and ask what you want to buy, such as dried vegetables, pickles, and fried noodles. You can buy enough for two or three people to last for a few days.
, but the price is relatively expensive.
But it's cheaper than in the city.
Then they will instigate them, saying that the silver is not needed by the military master. Next time, bring gunpowder, arrowheads, spearheads and armor leaves. Those are valuable. Not only can they exchange for food, they will also have milk wine.
Of course, it is indispensable to give two small signs, saying to carry one with you and put one on your door in the city to save your life if the city is broken.
Finally, we are all brothers, and the generalissimo is the king's army. Our troops have all gone to Henan, and there is only one Fucheng left in Shaanxi. How can we serve the court if we don't have enough to eat? Surrender as soon as possible when the war begins.
Then let the Mongolian soldiers hanging around the camp safely deliver the people to the city.
Chen Qiyu knew about this situation, but he had nothing to do, because Liu Chengzong did not attack the city, and he could not find an opportunity to go out to fight.
Until recently, Liu Chengzong was reorganizing the new army outside, and his momentum could not be concealed from him.
The changes in military organization and the relaxation of the siege defense line gave Chen Qiyu hope, and he immediately dispatched the defenders to go out to attack.
Unfortunately, although the marshal's army was constantly rotating, there was always a part of the army outside the city that maintained combat readiness. The Ming army inside the city organized two assaults and one night attack, but they all ended in failure.
But at this time, Liu Chengzong ordered his soldiers to shoot hundreds of letters at the top of the city.
The letter contained news that Emperor Chongzhen had dispatched officers and troops. To the defenders of Xi'an Fucheng, it was news of reinforcements.
Faced with the news that Liu Chengzong sent troops to massacre the Tongguan guards, and that Zhang Yichuan, the commander-in-chief of the Marshal's Office in Henan, was aggressively attacking Henan, first attacking Nanyang and then Luoyang, the emperor once again chose Zhang Renxue as the censor and supervisor of Henan Province.
The army was stationed in Kaifeng, aiming to reverse the decline of Henan.
This letter spread widely in Xi'an, and by the time Chen Qiyu got the letter, almost everyone knew the news.
That night, the west gate of Xi'an Fucheng was opened, and the defenders summoned the marshal's troops to enter the city.
The Mongolian brigade that besieged the west camp turned a blind eye and refused to enter the city. The two sides were in a stalemate for half an hour. More than 300 defenders tied up the west gate guard Li Ke and came out of the city to surrender.
On the same night, the defenders at the East Gate mutinied, guns and cannons were fired, and the fighting was not quelled until dawn.
Both Liu Chengzong and Chen Qiyu, both inside and outside Fucheng, knew that the city could no longer withstand it.
-
Note 1: The five-character name for the King of Qin is Zhu Cun’s wooden cauldron, qi. This character is not available in the input method, so use Qi instead.