Luo Rucai was well aware of the power of Guan Ning's army and was afraid of encountering their ambush again, so he simply stopped chasing the emperor. If they captured such a large capital in front of their army, they could directly tell the world about it.
Even though the emperor is still in power, he is not afraid.
Therefore, the army was ordered to rest on the spot, and then people were sent to look for Li Guo. Even if it was a corpse, they had to bring it back. After all, they had to report to King Shun when they returned. If they were blamed, just put the blame directly on him.
.
After defeating Li Guo's 30,000-strong army, the southbound troops here have not encountered any enemies in the past few hours. Although they were frightened along the way, they walked peacefully.
In order to ensure that His Majesty would not be trapped again this time, Yang Kuo and Wang Guoxing privately sent out hundreds of scouts to investigate the enemy's situation for dozens of miles around in order to respond promptly.
After this battle, the ministers all seemed quite confident, and their eyes no longer looked so dejected. They even kept laughing and chatting along the way, and there was no trace of the flight-like depression at all.
Zhu Ling was persuaded for a long time, hoping that he would return to the dragon chariot in case there was an ambush by archers around him. But he knew very well that a large number of probing horses were dispersed around him. If there was another ambush, they themselves would probably be killed.
I'm sorry to die.
However, the advice of these civil servants could not be ignored, so they had to endure the dissatisfaction and return to the dragon chariot. Only then did the ministers have smiles on their faces.
The team continued to walk eastward, passing through several prefectures and counties on the road. After walking for several hours, they stopped to rest. But during this rest time, the surrounding prefectures and counties scrambled to organize to welcome the team, even within a few seconds.
A large number of tributes were prepared.
There are dozens of rare and exotic animals, furs, silks, delicacies, and even women.
Seeing this grand scene, the people naturally rushed out to the field to watch. After all, no one had seen His Majesty Long Yan. Although they were in awe, they were also very curious.
The teams greeted by these officials came one after another, and even the southbound team chased after them after a long time. They knelt on both sides of the team and asked to present the gifts they brought to His Majesty. Wang Chengen could not refuse them directly and shouted loudly outside the dragon chariot.
Report: "Master, people from the surrounding states and counties have brought many things, saying they want to honor the Lord Long Live. Do you think?"
After hearing this, Zhu Ling was already a little irritable inside. If he encountered such a thing again, he would naturally refute it immediately: "Let them go back! Take good care of the prefectures and counties under your jurisdiction. Keeping them safe is the best gift for me.
"
The master said so, that means no.
After carefully getting off the dragon chariot, Wang Chengen casually called a young eunuch and asked him to tell the state officials to go back.
After receiving the order, the young eunuch rode up to the officials kneeling on both sides. He rode on the horse and said loudly: "Everyone, please go back. The master said, take all the things back and guard the prefecture and county to prevent the rebels from breaking through."
It is the best gift to Your Majesty."
Hearing this, the kneeling officials were instantly at a loss. They finally brought such a valuable thing, but were rejected by His Majesty. He must have thought they were flattering.
But one person immediately stood up, took out a piece of precious jade and some silver from the carriage behind him, went up to meet the little eunuch, and said with a smile: "Father, these things have been prepared by me for many days. If all these things are brought together,
It’s not appropriate to go back, so let’s do this. Since Your Majesty doesn’t want them, my father-in-law will give you face and accept them.”
After saying that, he covered his hands with his body and quietly stuffed the things into the eunuch's hands.
The little eunuch suddenly felt something being stuffed into his hand. After hearing these words, he immediately turned his eyes. When he found that no one had noticed, he immediately put the thing away and quickly smiled and said: "My lord is so loyal to His Majesty, so naturally he has a good heart."
"Jian."
"Father, I wonder where the team is going?" The man's voice immediately dropped.
"Don't tell others that the imperial court is going south, first to Tianjin, and then to Yingtian by boat." The young eunuch also replied quickly, for fear of being discovered.
"Have you not encountered any intruders on the highway?"
"Of course we met, but ah, we won. Those intruders were vulnerable. Before they could get close, they were frightened by His Majesty's dragon power and were naturally defeated." The little eunuch gave an exaggerated description, which made
The man in front of me looked incredible.
"Okay, okay, the team will leave soon, so our family will leave first."
After the little eunuch finished speaking, he left in a hurry.
His Majesty refused, and the county magistrates kneeling on both sides had to stand up and order people to send the things back. However, many people still gave some things to some people in the team, trying to find out some information.
It's nothing more than where to go, whether you encounter the invading army, how the capital is doing, and so on.
Being in the dragon chariot became more and more irritable, so he got out of the carriage, and the imperial guards quickly dispersed around him, forming a huge circle and blasting away all the other people, including the officials who knelt down to greet him.
First he stretched his body and moved around a little. In just a moment, the ministers gathered around him.
"His Majesty."
Wang Jiayan, Ni Yuanlu, Wu Linzheng, Li Banghua and Yang Kuo all gathered around. Seeing this situation, Zhu Ling naturally asked some questions. But a few of them were the first to speak.
"Your Majesty, I have just discussed it. You have said before that the business tax should be changed to one out of ten taxes. It is impossible to implement it." Li Banghua's first words immediately made Zhu Ling angry.
But he did not attack immediately, but simply asked: "What do you think?"
"Since Emperor Gao, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, merchants have been suppressed to make profits and even restricted in many aspects. Coupled with the policy of banning the sea, most merchants did not make a lot of money. However, several former emperors later opened up the sea.
The policy allowed our Ming merchants to spread all over the world quickly, and even sail across the western oceans, but what followed was that the merchants gained huge profits, and the government and businessmen colluded, and even harmed others."
Li Banghua said eloquently, lowering his head slightly and not noticing that Zhu Ling's eyes had changed a lot at this time.
"Many of those merchants already have strong connections in the local area. They once tried to collect business taxes and met with great resistance. They even concealed the truth from the court and deceived His Majesty. In the end, they still failed. What I want to say is that now is the time
The world is undergoing great changes, and if we continue to attack those merchants, it will inevitably arouse their resistance, and the imperial court will focus on the taxes in the south."
After saying that, Li Banghua shed many tears, obviously very sad about the suffering the country has suffered.
"Is this the case for you too?" Zhu Ling did not answer, but asked other ministers.
"I think even if I add some, it shouldn't be too much." Wang Jiayan stepped forward and said, but his tone was obviously much softer.
"Should we not collect taxes from merchants and continue to collect taxes from common people?"
Zhu Ling sneered, his tone suddenly became much colder, and his eyes looking at them became obviously dissatisfied.
"Everyone, why don't you think about it carefully? Who are Li Zicheng's soldiers? Most of them are ordinary people working in the fields. Why did they rebel? Don't you know?"
"Your Majesty, the people's rebellion is nothing more than food and clothing." Wu Linzheng stepped forward and replied. As a loyal and loyal person, at this moment, he naturally wanted to protect your Majesty first before talking about anything else.
"No."
Zhu Ling waved his hand and said, "It's alive."
"As long as they live, they will not rebel. This is the wish of the people. But when this humble wish will not be realized, they will either die or rebel in order to live."
"You said that because those businessmen have already gained strength and even have great influence locally and in surrounding prefectures, they will be deceived even if the taxes are increased. If they pay a few tens of cents in taxes, then they will be killed!"
"Your Majesty, please think clearly. Once those merchants rebel, it will not only shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty in the south, but also affect the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue. Now, reorganizing the capital camp and defeating the invaders only relies on money. Once there is no money,
I know the source, I am the Ming Dynasty..."
Li Banghua was still persuading Zhu Ling to retract this oracle.
"If you were given a choice, which one would you choose, the people's rebellion or the businessmen's rebellion?" Suddenly, Zhu Ling asked a question, and all the ministers present suddenly pondered.
"It's really difficult for me to answer." Li Banghua sighed, feeling that such a choice was quite difficult, and gave up directly.
Several other cabinet ministers also looked unable to answer and remained silent.
"Everyone, if you let me choose, I will definitely choose the merchants to rebel!"
[Author's digression]: There are some errors in the previous chapter where the eighteen cavalry charge against the invaders, for example: directly leap over the spear, jump into the formation and kill
After thinking about it, I still feel it’s inappropriate, and I’m already making changes. If you think there’s anything inappropriate or even untrue in the book, I hope you can tell me in time.