One day in the fifteenth year of Jiajing's reign in the Ming Dynasty (1536), Li Shi'ao, the prefect of Jingzhou Prefecture, had a dream at night. He dreamed that the Jade Emperor of the world ordered him to give a jade seal to a boy. After he woke up, he felt that the dream was very strange.
, I couldn’t figure it out in my mind. The next day was the imperial examination, and as the prefect, I was naturally the examiner.
Among the Confucian scholars who were taking the exam, he found a twelve-year-old named Zhang Baigui with very outstanding blood, and concluded that this person must be the boy in his dream. So he immediately changed his name to Ju Zheng, hoping that he would behave in the right way when he grew up.
, become a pillar of talent.
At the age of 12, the scholar was already a child prodigy. His father, Zhang Wenming, took the provincial examination seven times after becoming a scholar, but failed. Later, at the age of 13, Zhang Juzheng went to Wuchang, Huguang again to take the hometown examination, which was also the provincial examination. The examiner at that time admired him very much.
However, at that time, the governor Gu Lin believed that if he was allowed to enter the official career early, he would be complacent and complacent. He wanted to practice more, so he issued it specially.
Three years later, Zhang Juzheng passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi at the age of 23, and he embarked on his official career from then on.
Later, during the Wanli period, he became the chief minister of the cabinet and showed his great ambitions. He started to reform the shortcomings of the court at that time, which indeed had some effect. The court, which had been unable to make ends meet, could receive an income of 20 million taels per year, making the Ming Dynasty shine again.
.
It seems that His Majesty has always wanted to imitate Zhang Juzheng, but Zhang Juzheng's end was not good. Only nine months after his death, the title of Zhengshang Zhuguo and Taishi was canceled by Shenzong. His posthumous title of Duke Wenzhong was also canceled.
, ordered his son Jin Yiwei to only do simple cultivation for the people, and even canceled all reform measures.
Moreover, although the situation at that time was not good for Zhang Juzheng, at least it was not such a chaotic situation. If it were to be carried out forcefully, it would surely cause another turmoil.
"I just want to get more money for the court. My Ming Dynasty has always been based on agriculture. Tax increases are first of all on the people. Even if they have to collect taxes from the rich, they collude with the officials to hide the truth from the court.
, assigning most of the heavy taxes to the people is actually an act to destroy our Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Ling has really made up his mind today. He knows that once it is implemented, a large number of people will secretly resist his policy. However, reforms have always had difficulties since ancient times. If he shrinks when encountering difficulties, then he might as well surrender.
Li Zicheng became an idle prince.
"Some officials tyrannically concealed their land, and even took advantage of the disaster year to buy the people's land at low prices, and finally turned them into slaves. After that, they made huge profits by not having to pay taxes to the court. Such behavior is the true symbol of our Ming Dynasty
The disadvantage is that even if the North is liberated, there will still be a risk of destruction."
After hearing His Majesty say so many words, Zu Xiangyang also burst into tears of gratitude. He is just a small judge, and to be favored by the Holy Family today is already a merit of his ancestors. Now His Majesty summoned him privately and said such heartfelt words to him.
I want to put my life in His Majesty's hands.
"I will live up to your majesty's trust and do my job with all my heart!" Zu Xiangyang immediately knelt down and bowed to Zhu Ling. His voice was almost crying.
Seeing that his words had an effect, Zhu Ling secretly breathed a sigh of relief, finally not wasting his rest time to summon him. He immediately let him go and continued: "I will give you soldiers to thoroughly investigate Cangzhou and
Anyone in the surrounding area who occupies land but does not pay taxes will be recorded on the list and then handed over to me for review. Don’t do anything yet.”
"Send people to closely monitor the movements of these people. If anyone dares to connive with bandits and has bad intentions, his home will be ransacked."
"I obey the decree!" Zu Xiangyang's voice sounded again.
"Remember, it is useful for me to keep a wealthy businessman's family. But remember, the family should not have too much property. It is best not to have many children and the elderly in the family are still there. Secondly, look at their character. It is okay to be greedy, but don't be treacherous."
Although Zu Xiangyang didn't understand His Majesty's intention of retaining a wealthy businessman for a while, he still nodded. If you don't understand, then you don't understand. Sometimes it might not be good for you if you understand. Instead, you just go to do things without asking anything in order to get His Majesty's favor.
reuse.
After Zu Xiangyang retired, Zhu Ling did not go directly to rest. Instead, he immediately asked Wang Guoxing to come to the room and gave him some instructions. They only wanted to send some people to supervise Meng Zhangming, Fan Xianchao, Huang Bodang and Zu Xiangyang.
People. But it doesn’t necessarily mean to supervise. It also means to observe and supervise.
Of course, it is also to prevent myself from falling into other people's opinions and not knowing anything about the outside world. If there is a minister who conspires against me one day, and I don't know about it, it will be the greatest sadness.
…
At this time, Li Guo and Gao Yigong, who had lost most of their troops in field battles and siege battles, also returned to the camp. Gao Yigong was also extremely uneasy. He didn't know what he was about to face. When he
The moment he entered, when he looked back and saw Li Guo still looking crazy, he couldn't help but shake his head.
As soon as he entered the camp, he suddenly felt something flying over him and hurriedly avoided it subconsciously. The flying object hit Li Guo directly on the forehead, and the huge impact knocked him unconscious.
Then he looked towards the direction where the thing was flying, and then he saw clearly that it was actually the thing thrown by King Shun. When he saw the anger on the other person's face, he immediately knelt down in fear, not daring to raise his head to look at him.
He was originally a fierce general, but at this moment he was so frightened by King Shun's anger that he did not dare to speak. He knew that this defeat would definitely make King Shun furious, but there was nothing he could do. As Li Guo's
The rear army watched helplessly as Li Guo lost ten thousand cavalry. This was Dashun's treasure.
Secondly, in order to reveal the secret of his merits and deeds, Niu Jinxing planned to capture Beijing and rescue Liu Zongmin, but he did not expect that the failure of the plan eventually led to the loss of many troops in the siege. For a moment, he really felt that he was on the verge of death.
Not far away.
And Li Guo didn't know what the situation was now or how long it would take for him to recover. Now he had to accept the punishment first. Thinking of this, he basically admitted his mistake and knelt there without saying a word, waiting for King Shun's punishment.
Unexpectedly, after a long time, King Shun remained silent. Just as he was about to raise his head to look, a voice sounded in front of him, and he hurriedly lowered his head again.
"You have lost more than 30,000 people this time, how should you be punished?" Hearing that the tone did not seem that serious, Gao Yigong's anxious heart was slightly relieved.
He hurriedly said: "The last general should be punished! This battle was a huge defeat with 30,000 casualties. He should be beheaded in public display!"
"Then what if you met the Prime Minister privately and then transferred tens of thousands of troops and siege equipment without reporting it to me?"
When it comes to this, Gao Yigong really doesn't know how to answer. Throughout the dynasties, mobilizing troops privately is tantamount to treason. No matter what your purpose is, you should be treated as treason. Moreover, he is now defeated and cannot escape death.
He simply said directly: "The general will finally realize his mistake and be willing to die!"
But Li Zicheng's words were beyond his expectation and did not make him think at all: "You owe Gu a life, so I will spare you for the time being. If Gu asks you to pay it back in the future, you must pay it back."
Hearing this, Gao Yigong breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said gratefully: "Thank you so much for not killing me! In the end, I will go through fire and water as your king!"
Li Zicheng was actually very helpless. He was defeated by the emperor in several battles. He was quite depressed about the Dashun army, which had always been invincible. Who would have thought that the tens of thousands of Beijing troops could be defeated instantly by them?
Why was the Ming army with less than 20,000 men so difficult to defeat?
Your Marquis Liu Zongmin was captured before, and now Li Guo has been beaten like this again. Even his right-hand general Gao Yigong and the Prime Minister failed to win. Could it be that this capital is destined not to be his?
"Your Majesty, we can't stay here for long now. You are being taken hostage in the capital, and we can't capture it for the time being. I also heard that Chongzhen's son has now fled to Tianjin, and we must not let him escape to Nanjing. Now the Ming Dynasty is in the south
There are still hundreds of thousands of troops, and we must not take it lightly."
Li Jin on the side stepped forward and admonished him. He was Li Zicheng's nephew, and he was deeply trusted by him in some aspects. As a brave and capable general, he was naturally highly appreciated.
"Forget it, the capital may not be mine for the time being." Li Zicheng also sighed helplessly and breathed a sigh of relief. He then said: "Let the army set off today. Leave 20,000 people to guard here. Don't let Beijing send aid to the outside world.
.The rest followed Gu from Tongzhou and went straight to Shandong."
"Now they must have arrived in Shandong, where we also have our army. Although I have suffered many defeats, I have never given up!"
[Author's digression]: Let me tell you something, I am really sorry for the Luo Rucai I wrote about before. Today I suddenly found out that this person was killed by Li Zicheng in 1642, but now it is 1644.
This historical mistake really shouldn't happen. The previous chapter has been changed to Gao Yigong.
Sorry! Everyone! I will send you a big red envelope during the Spring Festival, and I will tell you the group account then.