Whenever there is a war, many people are bound to be involved. When this happened today, strict control was immediately implemented in the city, and a large number of soldiers were immediately added to guard the city gates. Anyone leaving the city would be subject to interrogation and even body search. For a time, people were resentful.
The situation was boiling, and some people were even more panicked, thinking that something big must have happened.
However, thanks to the concerted efforts of Huang Bodang and He Zu Xiangyang, as well as the support of Zhu Ling, all the two thousand soldiers in Cangzhou City were dispatched. Although there were still many old and weak among them, in special times they had to
Be particular about it. Originally, Zhu Ling wanted to take some money from the treasury in Cangzhou City.
When I went there, I discovered that the Cangzhou government office had less than 50,000 taels of silver left in the treasury, but there was still a full 300,000 taels left in the account. Apparently, all the 250,000 taels of treasury silver were used by Ma.
Kui and other officials searched and carried it away.
Fortunately, at least Ma Kui's family is still in Cangzhou. Two days ago, his family tried to sneak out of the city with some jewelry, but were stopped on the spot by the Jin Yiwei who had been monitoring them. They had no choice but to return to the house.
Zhai finally shed tears, but today can be regarded as ushering in their ending.
Zu Xiangyang personally led many Cangzhou soldiers to break down the two men's house. Hundreds of soldiers immediately entered the mansion with spears and began to search for the gold, silver, jewelry and treasury silver that Ma Kui had looted. Of course, the most important thing was the treasury silver.
His family members huddled in the hall and cried together, they were scared out of their wits. But at this time, Zu Xiangyang, who had been promoted to the seventh rank of Tongzhi, didn't care about them and just ordered his soldiers to search vigorously.
It seemed that after a search, no treasury silver was found. Zu Xiangyang was furious and immediately pointed a knife at one of Ma Kui's children and loudly asked his wife: "Tell me, where is the treasury silver hidden by Ma Kui?"
Already?"
At this time, Ma Kui's head wife was in tears and burst into tears. Originally, her husband was the magistrate of Cangzhou. Although the past few years have not been very peaceful, at least they have been living well. They are not like so many refugees who have problems with food and housing. But
But for some reason, my husband suddenly seemed to be half crazy and provoked the intruder.
It is naturally a serious crime to collude with intruders. But by chance, he met His Majesty who led an army to this place, and was then imprisoned. The day before yesterday, his own butler went to rob the execution site when he was beheading. You can imagine what the end will be.
He will undoubtedly die. But he knows the gentleman in front of him. He was just a small judge before, but today he is a seventh-level judge.
"The daughter of the people really doesn't know." She cried loudly, which made Zu Xiangyang very irritable.
"You don't know where Ma Kui put the money? Is there any hidden compartment? Or a secret passage or something like that?"
"My husband never lets me ask about this matter. Once I ask, I will be scolded. How do I know where the money is?" She cried even louder and kept sobbing.
Hearing this, Zu Xiangyang had no choice but to give up. Although he didn't win the exam, he was still a scholar after all, and he still couldn't do anything to orphans and widowers. Therefore, in the end, he could only seal the entire Ma Mansion and move all his belongings to the house.
Yamen, and naturally all his family members became slaves.
On the other side, Wang Jiayan, who had received the order, also sent some messengers to Nanjing to summon Shi Kefa and his troops. Counting the messengers sent out in the past few days, this was already the third wave. In addition, several minor officials ordered by His Majesty before
He informed Cangzhou that if there were any grievances, he could beat the drums to complain, so he had to find a few more prestigious officials to preside over it.
However, Zhu Ling has been recruiting new candidates. In addition to Shi Kefa from the past few days, he said today: "I remembered that there was a good person, but he was imprisoned before on the grounds of "collaborating with thieves" and "the thieves left but the army did not disperse."
I feel very sad to suddenly learn that such a loyal minister and good general has been slandered by some people, which is really a sign of the ignorance of our court."
Wang Jiayan had some memories after hearing His Majesty talk about this person. His name was Zhu Dadian, and he was also a fierce general. He served successively as the inspector of Fujian, the chief envoy, and the censor of Youqiandu and also the governor of Shandong. After that, all the wars he presided over were great victories.
After returning, he was directly promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of War, governor of water transportation, and governor of Lu, Feng, Huai, and Yang.
However, he was demoted one after another because he overstayed his time and lost his prefecture and county. Soon after, he was appointed governor of Jiangbei and Henan and Huguang military affairs, and he was still governor of Fengyang. But this person could not be honest. To put it bluntly, although he had ability, he was just a corrupt person.
people.
Therefore, he was impeached by Shi Zhong and the censor, and was dismissed again pending trial. Later, Xu Du rebelled, and his son Zhu Wanhua recruited troops to quell the rebellion, but a county magistrate discovered that his name was on the rebel list. He immediately reported it to the court
, Zhu Dadian, who was still awaiting trial, was directly arrested and convicted, and his home was searched.
Now it seems that it was His Majesty who ordered the punishment at that time. That is - the person in front of me.
While thinking, Wang Jiayan couldn't help but look up at Zhu Ling, with a bit of helplessness in his eyes. Before, you ordered the arrests and punishments, and it was also the Jinyi guards who ransacked the house. But now he said that he felt very sad, and said that the court was fatuous. It was unavoidable.
A little too...
However, Zhu Ling, who knew nothing about this period of history, naturally did not understand Wang Jiayan's gaze. He thought it was strange that he remembered many things so clearly.
"I ordered Wang Chengen to draft an imperial edict to pardon Zhu Dadian and his son Wanhua from their crimes. He took over the official position of censor of Youqiandu and governor of Shandong and asked him to come quickly. In addition, I sent someone to Jiangyin to find a man named Yan Yingyuan.
, no matter how low his official position is, just find him for me."
Zhu Ling chose to ignore Wang Jiayan's gaze, feeling that his eyes were getting more and more wrong, so he continued to talk.
"In addition, I remember that I asked King Lu's messenger to tell King Lu to use his property to support Cangzhou. Is there any movement in Yanzhou Prefecture?"
"Reporting to your majesty, according to the spies, the Yanzhou Mansion is very peaceful and there is no movement." Wang Jiayan knew that it would be a joke to ask these princes to donate the land and property in the palace, and it was almost impossible.
I don’t know why Your Majesty doesn’t even know this. Would you really believe those princes who brought it out?
"Send a messenger..." At this point, Zhu Ling stopped abruptly. He paused and thought for a moment and asked, "How long does it take to get to Yanzhou Prefecture from Cangzhou?"
Wang Jiayan couldn't think of anything for a while, so he had to look at the map hanging on the side, and after thinking about it carefully, he came to the conclusion: "Your Majesty, if one person and two horses go day and night, it will only take two days. But.
I’m probably exhausted after I got there.”
He naturally guessed that His Majesty might want to order someone to lead the army or go to Yanzhou Mansion in person to summon King Lu. But Yanzhou Mansion is too far away from Cangzhou. Even on the map, it directly spans half of Shandong. Such a long distance can be
It cannot be reached by a quick horse, so your Majesty's idea is naturally not feasible.
But Zhu Ling was obviously unwilling to do so. He knew how much land King Lu had in his fiefdom. Moreover, after more than two hundred years of savings in the Ming Dynasty, even if some were taken away by the slaves, the rest would be enough to supply a government with enough money for several years.
And Li Zicheng's army will definitely attack Shandong within half a month at most, if all his property falls into Li Zicheng's hands.
It would make him so angry that he would vomit blood. That's a lot of soldiers' pay! Now that he can't even pay out the reward, these silvers are naturally a life-saving straw.
"Come here! Find Huang Bodang immediately and ask him how long the rainy day will last in two days?" Zhu Ling suddenly said excitedly. Seeing the hesitation of the Jin Yiwei beside him, he immediately shouted: "Hurry up and go!"
The Jin Yiwei rushed out in panic on the spot.
Seeing such a scene, Wang Jiayan also felt that His Majesty was a little impatient, but it was understandable. His Majesty had been staying in the palace for more than ten years, and the only source of confidence around him was the ministers of the court and the eunuchs Jin Yiwei.
Not having been so close to the war, he was naturally a bit immature.
After a while, the Jin Yiwei finally came to report: "Reporting to Your Majesty, Huang Zhizhou said that rainy days should last for seven consecutive days, or even more than seven days. He also suggested that Your Majesty should make arrangements for flood control as soon as possible."
Hearing this, Zhu Ling was overjoyed. He waved away the royal guards and looked at the map hanging on the wall. He said happily: "Seven days of rain, counting these two days, is close to ten days. If we can hurry up, we can walk by water in two days."
We can reach Yanzhou. Even if there will be some delays on the way back, we will be back in three days."
"But Your Majesty, the situation at King Lu's place is not optimistic. Some officials said that bandits there appear in groups. The troops are not enough. If there are fewer people sent, what should we do if we encounter bandits?" Wang Jiayan was Wan Wan.
I am absolutely unwilling to agree to this plan.
"They only ask for money, just give them some. But I want more than that."
[Author’s digression]: I’ve always wanted to build a fan group, but after thinking about it, I gave it up and I don’t have many fans.