At the end of August in the ninth year of Chongzhen, at the gate of the county government office in Huanggang County.
Tang Liu thrust a small package containing silver into the hands of a middle-aged man dressed as a scholar, then cupped his hands and said, "Thank you sir."
The middle-aged scribe looked at the weight of the small package and replied calmly: "It doesn't matter! But Mr. Tang doesn't come to Huanggang."
Tang Liu gritted his teeth, tried hard to swallow the anger in his heart, and replied: "I will take the people away right now."
After finishing speaking, Tang Liu greeted the dozens of followers he had brought, loaded the two bruised and bruised people who had been thrown out of the county government office into the cart, and then walked out of the county town.
This time Tang Liu went out to look for a dock for the navy of the Runing Army. With Tang Liu's connections in the Caobang, things went smoothly at Hongze Lake. However, when he arrived in Huanggang County, he was immediately tricked by the local evil gentry.
I won’t go into the specific process of being defrauded. To put it simply: Tang Liu took a fancy to a piece of land that could be used to build a dock, and the gentry who owned the land immediately raised the price.
Tang Liu swallowed his nerve and bought it at a high price, but the gentry secretly mobilized the locals to sabotage it. Tang Liu spent money to pacify the locals again, but when he saw that Tang Liu was stupid and had too much money, the gentry immediately colluded with the government and even took away the money.
Grabbed it.
Tang Liu was so angry that of course he wanted to argue, but the magistrate captured two of Tang Liu's followers, beat them up and threw them into prison. If Tang Liu hadn't been given an official status by the Runing Army, maybe Tang Liu would have
Will be caught and thrown into jail.
So Tang Liu immediately sent a letter to Wu Shigong asking for help. Unexpectedly, the reply was: ignore the lawsuit, rescue the people as soon as possible and rush back to Runing Mansion.
Of course Wu Shigong would not explain to Tang Liu that the Runing Army was about to start a battle with the peasant army in Xiangyang, so all nearby Runing Army personnel would be evacuated.
So Tang Liu was quite depressed after leaving Huanggang County. He thought angrily: "I must get back this thing!"
Not to mention Tang Liu's depression, Wen Tiren, the first assistant in Beijing, was also quite depressed.
In fact, Wen Tiren has many similarities with Emperor Chongzhen. They are the same self-sufficient; the same headstrong; the same mean and cruel; the same easy-to-use and clever; and the same infatuated with power. Perhaps it is this kind of personality fit.
, is the real basis for the encounter between their monarch and his ministers.
However, as the war situation at home and abroad became more and more corrupt, people in the government and the public, and even ordinary people, became more and more dissatisfied with the imperial court. In particular, the Manchu Qing Dynasty twice ravaged the suburbs of Beijing, causing the nobles and people in the capital to lose a lot of property.
This caused the officials and people in the capital to become increasingly dissatisfied with the imperial court.
Of course, those in the government and the public did not dare to target Emperor Chongzhen, so they focused their hatred on the chief minister Wen Tiren.
In the seventh year of the Chongzhen Examination, Wen Tiren was the chief examiner. One of the examinees, named Qi Yuan, dared to borrow questions in the examination paper. He secretly accused Wen Tiren of being disrespectful. Wen Zhenmeng, the examiner who marked the paper, saw that
I was overjoyed to see such an article and commented: "I want to see this person with my eyebrows raised."
Wen Tiren knew that he was scolding himself, but he still chose Qiyuan calmly. Only after the exam did he complain in the cabinet: "Outsiders said that we would enter the examination room to recruit a few disciples. Our status today cannot depend on our disciples. What's more, the examination room
Someone here scolded me."
Colleagues asked what was going on, and he said: "At the end of his eight-part article, he talks about how disrespectful ministers are. How is disrespectful ministers doing? Isn't that a curse? It's just that I have approved 'raise your eyebrows to resist, want to see the person', where is it?"
How dare you not take him? How dare you not take him?"
From this point of view, at this time Wen Tiren already knew that he had become a scapegoat to be blamed for Emperor Chongzhen, and he also realized that he had betrayed everyone.
Later, the scholars in the capital compiled a couplet based on current affairs, because Huang Shijun, the Minister of Rites, was the number one scholar in Dingweike. The left and right ministers Kong Zhenyun and Chen Zizhuang were ranked second and third in the rankings respectively. The three chief officials in the first department happened to be Sandingjia.
It is said to be a good talk, so the first couplet is "The Ministry of Rites has reopened the ranking list. The number one, the second, and the top three are a little frightened (Huang, Kong)", although it is a bit mocking, it does not lose its good intentions.
But the second line is very unsightly. It uses the homophones of the hometowns of several cabinet ministers. Wen Ti Ren Wucheng is from Gui'an, and Wang Ying is from Xiongba County. Wu Zongda is a smooth and uncontroversial person, and is called Mipian. Therefore, he said "Cabinet"
Translated into a brothel, turtle (gui), tortoise (ba), bamboo strips, always suffer from plague (warm)."
In order to relieve their anger, this couplet calling the cabinet a brothel was widely circulated inside and outside the capital, and the cabinet ministers could only smile bitterly when they heard it. It should be said: the scholars who compiled this kind of couplet are definitely writing now
Weibo is a master of short messages. As for whether he will forward it 500 times? That depends on his luck.
If Wen Tiren only used his mouth, he would not be afraid of being scalded by boiling water, but at this moment, someone took action.
The mother of Chengde, the former magistrate of Ziyang County, who was severely punished, waited for Wen Tiren's sedan chair on Chang'an Street for days in the ninth year of Chongzhen. When she saw it, she threw bricks and stones at him and cursed him loudly and harshly.
You should know that although Chengde, the former magistrate of Ziyang County, was responsible for the loss of the city, his time in office was so short that even Emperor Chongzhen thought he was somewhat innocent. Wen Tiren never mentioned the word probation, and Chengde was eventually executed.
But when Emperor Chongzhen found out about this, he specially sent 50 guards for Wen Tirenjia, but he was unwilling to fight a violent old lady. This made Wu Shigong feel humiliated.
Of course Wen Tiren also knew about this bad situation. In order to keep his position as chief minister, he decided to establish his power. This time his target was Qian Yiqian, one of the leaders of the Donglin Party. Wen Tiren was determined to really kill a big guy.
Show the tiger to the officials.
But Wen Tiren didn't know that, unknowingly, a minister quietly replaced Wen Tiren's position in Emperor Chongzhen's mind, and that was Yang Sichang.
Yang Sichang, whose courtesy name was Wenwei, was born in a scholarly family. Both Yang Sichang and his father Yang He served as military governors.
Yang Sichang was the son of Yang He, the former Governor of the Three Borders of Shaanxi Province. Yang He was arrested for failing to encourage the peasant uprising. He was serving as the Shanhaiguan Military Preparation Road, and he petitioned to be punished on his father's behalf. Emperor Chongzhen therefore exempted Yang He from the death penalty and sent him to guard the border areas.
Wei Chongjun.
So from this point of view, Emperor Chongzhen had a personal favor for Yang Sichang, and Yang Sichang was very grateful for this, and he was loyal to Emperor Chongzhen. Yang Sichang was erudite, had a strong memory, and had been in the military for many years, so he was very good at military strategy.
He was very talented in literature and eloquence, and was good at expressing his views. Therefore, he was highly appreciated by Emperor Chongzhen when he repeatedly discussed pacification strategies and called for counterarguments. The most important thing is that Emperor Chongzhen believed that Yang Sichang was a loyal minister and filial son.
In the summer of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang was promoted to be the censor of Youqiandu and the governor of Yongping Mountain and Sea, taking on the important task of defending the Qing army. In the autumn of the seventh year, he was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of War, the censor of Youqiandu, and the governor of Xuanda. But in the second year
His father died in the garrison, and soon his stepmother also died at home. As usual, he left his job and returned to his hometown to guard the system. Normally, he should not be appointed again by the court at the discretion of the court after the expiration of three years. However, when the country was in urgent need of talents, Emperor Chongzhen finally decided to
It was decided to seize love, and Yang Sichang was appointed to succeed the Minister of War.
It should be said that Yang Sichang was a very capable man and had unique military insights. He was not at all a man of great ambition and talent as described in some novels.
However, Yang Sichang had two major flaws in his character: one was jealous of talents and wanted to dominate power alone; the other was that he was entrusted to others and was unable to shoulder his due responsibilities. Therefore, in the chaos of the late Ming Dynasty, his
The performance is destined to be a tragedy.
Because the Qing army entered the interior one after another, it was like entering an uninhabited land, which gave Emperor Chongzhen a great stimulus and stimulated his desire for capable military talents. Before this, he had personally promoted Wang Qiahe
Liang Tingdong was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War, but he was not satisfied with it. Because the Qing army came to the city, one was executed and the other committed suicide.
At this time, the two important positions of Minister of War and Governor of Xuanda were vacant. He hoped to appoint someone who was truly talented and courageous and could help him save the situation.
After careful consideration, Emperor Chongzhen finally decided to transfer Lu Xiang, the prime minister and military affairs officer of the five provinces who was on the front line to encircle and suppress the peasant army, to be promoted to governor of Xuanda, and appoint Yang Sichang, the former governor of Xuanda, who was mourning at home, as minister of war.
In the nine-year reign of Emperor Chongzhen, this personnel arrangement was probably the most careful and appropriate. Lu Xiangsheng was young and resolute, and was good at running the army. He showed extraordinary talents in dealing with the peasant army for many years, and was recognized as
He is one of the courtiers with the most military ability.
Moreover, because the situation of the peasant uprising after Gao Yingxiang's capture had eased slightly, Emperor Chongzhen promoted Lu Xiang to an important town in the north. On the one hand, he wanted to strengthen the defense force in the Gyeonggi region, and on the other hand, he also wanted to conduct further examinations of him nearby in preparation for his future leadership.
Candidates for the Ministry of War.
As for the appointment of Yang Sichang, it was beyond the surprise of ordinary courtiers. Because the Ming Dynasty has always flaunted its rule of filial piety, and under normal circumstances, it always tried to avoid things that took advantage of love. Occasionally, it would mostly arouse criticism from the court officials. But Chongzhen
The emperor clearly knew that this decision might be opposed by many people under the situation where the courtiers were singing Neo-Confucianism, but he still made up his mind.
The appointment of Lu Xiangsheng and Yang Sichang seems to indicate that Emperor Chongzhen has been in power until now, and he feels more keenly the importance of using practical talents with real talents and learning. Although Wen Tiren is easy to use and easy to communicate with emotionally, he needs to rely on
They are somewhat unreliable to get out of the crisis.
It was probably this thought that caused his love for Wen Tiren to suddenly cool down. Although emotionally he still liked this veteran minister who had a similar connection with him, he no longer had the same enthusiasm as in the past to defend his position as chief minister.
However, it is too early to tell all this now. How Yang Sichang performs will depend on Wen Tiren stepping down.
As for the current Runing Army, all their attention is focused on Xiangyang where the peasant army is gathered. (To be continued...)