Emperor Chongzhen had always been firmly opposed to his relatives interfering in politics, and he knew that Zhou Kui was acting for the benefit of their group. Not only did he not listen to the advice, but he became even more severe. He issued an edict to deprive Li Guorui of his marquis title, and ordered the internal government offices to recover the money on schedule.
.Li Guorui was angry and frightened. He fell seriously ill and died just like that.
When things got to this point, there were some unfair discussions in the palace. Whether it was the court officials or the eunuchs, they all knew that the emperor would take action against him after breaking through the barrier of noble relatives. Therefore, in terms of public opinion,
We all sympathize with Li Guorui's misfortune.
The emperor's relatives were even more shocked. In order to protect the interests of the group, some people headed by Zhou Kui secretly colluded with the palace maids and eunuchs to carry out a conspiracy to resist the emperor. The target of the attack turned out to be Emperor Chongzhen.
A five-year-old boy.
The empress of Emperor Chongzhen, Empress Zhou, was a typical lady of that era. She knew etiquette, followed women's ways, and was good at handling household disputes. After becoming the empress of the world, she lived in Kunning, which symbolized the highest status of women in the world.
She was in charge of the internal affairs of the palace, combining leniency and strictness, and managed the palace in an orderly manner. It should be said that she was a virtuous wife of Emperor Chongzhen.
Of course Emperor Chongzhen had a deep relationship with Empress Zhou, but the one he doted on the most was Concubine Tian. Concubine Tian was elegant and versatile. She was usually taciturn and seemed to have a touch of sadness that could not be erased. But once she entered the art field, she was full of energy and energy.
She is omnipotent in playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and is omnipotent in playing Cuju and riding. It is said that her Zongfa Zhong, Wang, has reached the state of mastery, and her paintings and splash-inks are also quite famous. The most outstanding thing is her attainments in music. She
She plays the flute well and plays the harp, which is a unique skill of hers. It should be said that she is both talented and beautiful.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Concubine Tian’s father, Tian Hongyu, later organized a purchasing group of thousands of famous prostitutes from the south of the Yangtze River. Among them, they purchased a top-notch product - Chen Yuanyuan. Of course, this is a story for another day.
There was another one, Concubine Yuan, who entered the Shixin Residence at the same time as Concubine Tian.
It is said in history that Emperor Chongzhen was not fond of women, but this is not necessarily true. He also had nearly a hundred concubines. But he was particularly nostalgic, so among the many wives and concubines, he always only paid attention to the one and two concubines who shared his hardships. And
Like most emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen attached great importance to family ties, so this family was quite harmonious.
The fifth son of the emperor, who was only five years old, was the youngest son and the son of his beloved concubine Tian, so Emperor Chongzhen loved him very much. But just when Emperor Chongzhen went to war with his relatives in order to collect donations, the fifth son of the emperor got...
A serious illness, which seemed to be dysentery, was very dangerous. When the nobles outside the palace heard about this situation, they decided to use this child to scare the emperor.
So the nobles bribed the eunuchs and maids in the palace to act like gods and ghosts around the fifth son of the emperor. They asked an old lady to dress up in a weird way and mysteriously said to the sick child: "I am Jiu.
Lotus Bodhisattva, the emperor is unkind to his relatives. If he doesn’t change his ways, he will let all his sons die!" He said this several times.
The fifth son of the emperor was just a child. Of course he remembered everything the old lady said in his extreme panic. When Emperor Chongzhen came to visit, he told him exactly what he said.
Emperor Chongzhen was shocked when he heard this. It turns out that the so-called Nine Lotus Bodhisattva is a name in the palace for the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva sitting on the lotus throne. At that time, the biological mother of Emperor Wanli, Empress Dowager Li, once enshrined a statue of a great scholar in the palace. It was said that it was very popular.
Somewhat efficacious. After the death of Empress Dowager Li, there was a legend in the palace that the Empress Dowager was the reincarnation of the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva. Everyone knew this. In fact, this is like calling the Empress Dowager Cixi "Lafayette". Anyway, the courts of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
It's the same.
And Li Guorui is the great-nephew of Empress Dowager Li from her natal family. The deceased ghost of the old Empress Dowager came to seek justice from the prince for the benefit of her natal family. It is hard to believe both emotionally and rationally.
Unfortunately, the original plan of the relatives may have been to stop there. However, the fifth son of the emperor was seriously ill and frightened, and died within a few days. The people who participated in the conspiracy took the opportunity to spread rumors.
, describes the arrival of Nine Lotus Bodhisattva vividly.
To be honest, when Emperor Chongzhen met such a relative, he was simply "lucky". No one in the Ming Dynasty was willing to contribute to him.
People in the Ming Dynasty were very superstitious, and Emperor Chongzhen was no exception. After losing his beloved son, he immediately rushed to make amends to prevent the bad luck from befalling his other beloved sons. So Emperor Chongzhen gave Li Guorui a pension.
He also returned the title of Marquis Wu Qing to the Li family, and of course he didn't dare to ask for the 400,000 taels of silver again.
Therefore, the donation from noble relatives ended in vain. Even Emperor Chongzhen believed that it was Xue Guoguan, the first assistant, who advocated the exploitation of noble relatives, which was the main reason for the death of his beloved son. From then on, he secretly remembered Xue Guoguan in his heart.
The next one will be settled in the future. This Xue Guoguan is also unlucky enough.
Since there is no way to think about it, let's continue to drink poison to quench our thirst! So after going around in a circle, the burden was still borne by the people. At this time, Yang Sichang, the minister and minister of the Ministry of War, only paid for the soldiers and did not care about anything else. In order to strengthen the training of the border guards, he proposed again
Extra dispatch. Anyway, the matter of military pay is a matter for the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, so he doesn't need to worry about it.
At this time, someone else put forward a rational suggestion. Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yang Dezheng proposed: In order to deal with the mobile peasant army, local armed forces also need to be strengthened. Each government, state, and county should train hundreds to thousands more militiamen.
, which requires a large amount of salary. This suggestion is good and in line with the actual situation, but doesn't it make the imperial court's finances even worse?
But at this time, Emperor Chongzhen was already frustrated. He felt that he had to add more troops anyway. Adding less would be adding, and adding more would be adding. It would be better to add all at once. So with a stroke of his pen, he agreed to send all the troops.
The expenses for training border soldiers and militia were all added to the people, so the total amount reached more than 7.3 million taels, which was called "training pay".
As a result, the total amount of additional taxes during the Chongzhen period has reached more than 16.9 million per year, which has exceeded the original regular tax revenue of 15.3 million. As a result, there are more political proverbs circulating among the people.
Then one: "Chongzhen Chongzhen, re-conquer every year."
Moreover, the people are not only facing heavy requisition, but also the exploitation and recruitment of local officials, so the situation of people's livelihood is getting worse. As for the millions of elite border soldiers and militiamen who should be trained on paper? That is to say
Just look at the numbers on the paper and have fun.
But when it comes to this, I actually admire the integrity of the Ming Dynasty court and Emperor Chongzhen. The principle of "private property is sacred and inviolable" is so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that even in such a crisis, Emperor Chongzhen only dared to choose to help
Donate, don't dare to rob openly. You must know that when any country in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, is in danger of annihilation, no one will be soft on the rich.