Early the next morning, everyone wanted to board the ship and go to the north bank to face the saint, but Meng Yeluo was nowhere to be found. They searched everywhere but still found no whereabouts. Seeing that the time was coming, the generals had no choice but to board the ship first. At the dock on the south bank, Admiral Zhang was about to take him with him.
We boarded the ship with our own soldiers and horses, and suddenly a soldier rushed out from beside him. His hat brim was lowered and his face could not be seen clearly. He whispered in a low voice: "Sir Admiral, wait a moment."
Admiral Zhang turned his head and looked around, wondering: "Mr. Meng, why are you dressed like this?"
Meng Yeluo said: "I've heard the wind. This trip is very dangerous. Don't board the ship yet, let them go first."
Admiral Zhang was dubious, but he still stayed because of his belief in Meng Meng Yeluo. The other generals boarded the ship and arrived at Pukou Pier on the other side with the wind. They never came back. At night, news came that these
The generals had been identified as rebels by the emperor and all of them were executed.\
Admiral Zhang was so scared that he was shaking all over. Even though his head was big, he couldn't wear the big label of rebel. You must know that the crime of rebellion was to punish the nine tribes. He started from a small navy and has grown to this day.
I don’t know how much effort and money was spent on the position of admiral of the Ningbo Navy. Not to mention Guangzong Yaozu, he also supported hundreds of relatives. Now it’s all over. Not only his head can’t be saved, but also the five-room concubine at home.
House, six children, a large family, all of them need to die.
Thinking of this, Admiral Zhang's hands and feet felt cold, and he pulled Meng Yeluo as if it was a life-saving straw: "Brother, what should I do? You should give me an accurate answer."
Meng Yeluo said coldly: "It's a knife to extend one's head, and it's a knife to shrink one's head. Let's just go against it. The world is in such chaos. In two years, we still don't know who will be the emperor. We are just for a title."
Do you really want to sell your life to Zhang Shicheng, a wife who shines in the family?"
Admiral Zhang looked sad and thought for a while before nodding helplessly: "This is the only way."
…
The rebellion was quickly put down. What the emperor hated most in his life was others using military power without authorization, so he killed all the generals who secretly deployed troops to bombard the capital. The emperor was still a little suspicious of Yang Feng's secret report, thinking that he was being framed out of thin air.
But Meng Yeluo's sudden disappearance verified the authenticity of this matter.
The emperor has always trusted his co-organizer, one of the double walls of the Zhou Dynasty's cabinet, and the youngest and most promising minister, turned out to be Yuan Feng's sworn brother. This reality was a nail planted by the rebels within the imperial court.
It was difficult for the emperor to accept.\
Similarly, it was difficult for Cao Shaoqin to accept this fact. He had really played like an eagle all his life, but in the end he was blinded by the eagle. Meng Yeluo ran away and abducted more than a dozen warships of the Navy. This pair of inner factory
, it was a serious blow to him personally.
On the contrary, the status of Jin Yiwei and Yang Feng has increased.
At the west gate of the capital, the emperor was driving back to the capital. On the tall city walls, curtains were hung. This was to cover up the traces of cannon bombardment. The emperor's entourage of carriages and horses was as grand as when they set off for the expedition, but under the bright sun in May,
But he seemed listless. In the windless weather, even the flags were lazily hanging low. Hu Weiyong and Yang Feng stood at the gate of the city to greet the emperor, but they only waited for a eunuch to deliver the order.
"Your Majesty is feeling unwell and has returned directly to the palace. There is no need for you to greet him.\" The eunuch casually dropped a word and turned away. Only Hu Yang and Hu Yang were left looking at each other.
It's not that the emperor didn't want to see them, it was just that he looked too bad. Yesterday, he killed thirty officers with more than one thousand households in Jiangbei. The emperor was also in a bad mood. He fell ill that night. When he crossed the river today, he saw the flames of war again.
After seeing the devastated scene, I was even less in the mood to show up.
Walking through the streets with few pedestrians, the emperor returned to the Forbidden City. It was also a scene of depression. Due to the civil war in the capital the day before, the concubines in the harem had even packed their luggage and were ready to run away at any time. As far as he could see, people were in panic. The emperor was now even
His anger was gone, so he locked himself in Fengtian Hall and did not come out for a long time.
Fengtian Hall is the place where the great dynasty meets. It is a spacious and tall palace, deep and cool. The emperor sat on the pure gold throne with a coiled dragon. He thought blankly for a long time. On the way back to Beijing, he had been thinking about the situation he was facing.
At the same time, he was also thinking about whether to adopt the strategy offered to him by his second son, but he never made up his mind.
Unconsciously, it was already dusk, and a group of ministers were anxiously wandering outside the Fengtian Palace. The emperor had been away from the capital for a long time, and many important court affairs could not be dealt with, which had accumulated a lot. Now that the emperor is back, he has locked himself in the main hall.
This is not like the wise and mighty emperor in everyone's mind.
When the stars filled the sky, the emperor's call finally came from the Fengtian Palace. The eunuchs opened the palace door, and the civil and military ministers filed in. Countless lanterns were lit in the hall. Under the bright lights, the emperor's face was obviously paler and thinner than before.
Many ministers knew that the imperial army returned in defeat in the Central Plains War to suppress the rebellion. They lost their troops and lost their generals in the hinterland of the Central Plains. Even the emperor's last brother, King Zhang Shixin of Chu, was killed on the battlefield. However, no one dared to mention this matter and could only report it.
What matters now.\
The communication between the north and the south of the Great Zhou Dynasty has been cut off, the territory north of Xuzhou has completely lost contact, Shaanxi, Henan, northern Zhili are all under the control of rebels, Jiangnan, Fujian and Guangdong are also in a state of decay. In almost a year, the originally strong
The great Zhou Dynasty fell apart.
What's even more frightening is that there is not a single tael of silver left in the national treasury. The last bit of money that was taken out from the hands of the people in the reform of the tax system has been wasted. Now if we want to collect taxes again, I am afraid that we will force the last group of people loyal to the court to rebel.
.
"I don't care how difficult it is for you, I just want to know how many troops and horses and how much food can the court mobilize if you are given three months?" the emperor asked weakly.\
Zhou Ziqing, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, came out and said: "The taxes for the following year have been collected in advance. If we collect them again now, I am afraid it will trigger a civil uprising. At present, the only way to raise the funds is to increase the trade taxes of the three coastal cities."
A sum of money, based on the trade volume during this period in previous years, can collect approximately 600,000 taels of silver."
The emperor waved his hand: "Double the collection, I will need 1.2 million taels of silver to be enough."
"But..." Zhou Ziqing hesitated and looked at the Minister of War next to him.
After Lan Yu's rebellion, the Minister of War was temporarily acting in charge of the Ministry of War. He had just straightened up his position and could not help but act a little arrogant. Then Zhou Ziqing said: "To your Majesty, our court currently has three shipping divisions, each located in Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province.
, Quanzhou Prefecture in Fujian, Guangzhou Prefecture in Guangdong, only Guangzhou is still under the control of the imperial court. If the tax is doubled, I am afraid that those ocean-going cargo ships will not unload their goods in Guangzhou, but will choose ports controlled by the rebels.\"
The emperor wondered: "How come Ningbo and Quanzhou are both in the hands of rebels?"
The minister said: "Quanzhou Prefecture has been captured by the rebel Hu Dahai Department, and Ningbo Prefecture has also surrendered to the rebel Mu Ying Department. This happened not long ago."
The emperor shook his head and sighed. The world was in such chaos that even the ports could not be controlled. He asked with some reluctance: "Where is the imperial navy? Where are the three giant ships supervised by the Ministry of War? They should be almost completed now.
, which can be used to deal with rebels."
The ministers exchanged glances and did not dare to say a word. Finally, the bold minister reported: "Back to the emperor, those three giant ships have been kidnapped by the rebel Meng Zhiqiu and incorporated into the rebel navy."
"
After saying that, the ministers knelt down together, preparing to welcome the emperor's storm. However, unexpectedly, the emperor was not angry, but sat blankly on the dragon chair. He did not say a word for a long time. The ministers quietly raised their eyes and said,
Under the candlelight, the emperor's eyes were sunken and his expression was haggard. It seemed that he was not an emperor who controlled the lives and deaths of millions of people, but an old man who was dying.
"That's it, you all get up, I want to go out for a walk." The emperor suddenly said this.
It was already midnight, the Forbidden City was wide open, and the Royal Guards escorted the emperor all night long. Fortunately, the place he went to was not far away, just the Great Baoen Temple outside the south gate.
The emperor led his ministers to the glazed pagoda of Dabaoen Temple, left everyone behind, and walked into the pagoda alone.\
He did not climb to the top of the tower, but opened the secret door and walked along the damp and smooth stone stairs into the dark bottom of the tower.
This is a tomb, the tomb of the former emperor, the tomb of the man who was once considered by the world to be the proud son of heaven. He was only more than thirty years old when he died. It was the age in which he was in his prime.
Zhang Shicheng could not understand any of these strange and arrogant words: to make the Chinese nation stand tall among the nations of the world, to massacre Japan, colonize North America, dump opium in Europe, herd sheep in Australia, and hunt in Africa.
In the underground stone chamber, there is a huge coffin. The outside is a stone-carved shell, and the inside is a golden nanmu coffin. It is extraordinary and magnificent, but after so many years of storage, the color of the shell has peeled off.
The emperor gently stroked the sarcophagus and said softly: "Brother, how have you been doing for so many years? Now that your son has become successful, he has taken away half of my country in less than a year. This is very much like you. If you know anything,
It’s time to rest in peace.”
Pine oil torches were lit on the four walls of the stone chamber, and they were burning brightly. The flames were shaking constantly, seeming to be responding to the emperor. The emperor sneered and said: "I forgot, you are suppressed by this glazed tower."
If you are here, you cannot go to heaven or earth or enter reincarnation. You can only be trapped in this small space and be tortured. No matter how capable you are, you are still subdued by me."
The fire flickered a few more times, and the emperor laughed conspiratorially: "Do you think your son can really turn the tables? It's just a wishful thinking. Even if my Zhang family doesn't do it in this world, it won't be your turn to be the descendant of a monster of unknown origin.
Do it!" As he said that, he punched the coffin hard.
…
At dawn, the civil and military ministers waiting outside the Glazed Pagoda finally came to the emperor. The difference from when they entered was that the emperor was obviously in a state of excitement at this time, with a sickly flush on his face. As soon as he came out, he ordered: "Stop."
I'll go to the Fengtian Palace and summon all the officials of the sixth rank and above in the capital. I have an important decision to announce."
book.
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