Chapter Fourteen Taking the opportunity to make money
() Since Dongchang was ordered by Emperor Chongzhen not to leave the forbidden gate unless ordered to do so in the first year of Chongzhen, it has been idle, occasionally running errands, and has never had the same glory as before. This time, following Emperor Chongzhen’s imperial edict, he searched for the assassin’s accomplices and held back for a while.
All the energy was exposed. Except for the queen, the concubine and Wang Chengen, there was no chaos in the palace. The investigation was really intimidating.
In the beginning, it was just Cha Pingsu and his chamberlain Wang Hengwu who were walking around. However, Wang Hengwu was almost killed by the late emperor and was rescued by Wei Zhongxian. Now Emperor Chongzhen is the main one who attacks Wei Zhongxian. There are still a few people who dare to follow him.
Wang Hengwu walked around. Naturally, he couldn't find anything, so he began to expand the scope and began to investigate people who were relatively close to Wei Zhongxian's influence before.
In fact, this assassination incident was very simple. Wang Hengwu had always regarded Wei Zhongxian as his savior, but he was killed by Emperor Chongzhen. It was just that he had never had a chance before. Zhong Jinwei happened to appear and was assigned to the side hall where he was on duty.
, Emperor Chongzhen thought that the palace was relatively safe, and Zhong Jinwei's incident shocked him. Even Wang Chengen did not pay close attention to Emperor Chongzhen's security work.
In addition, in the late Ming Dynasty, the discipline of the internal guards guarding the palace had become very loose. (It is said that the palace was visited by thieves during the Tianqi period. The guards did not see even a shadow of the thief, and only traced a stick from the wall.
It was just a rope hanging down from the top.) This gave Wang Hengwu an excellent opportunity to assassinate Emperor Chongzhen. The poison of the foul throat sealing insect was accidentally obtained when he was on duty in the Royal Horse Prison. This is the reason for the assassination.
all.
Naturally, the incident gradually began to deteriorate. Those who had grievances took revenge, those who had grievances complained, and those who had no grievances and no grievances got rich. Of course, these were all tacitly approved by Cao Huachun, and some were even ordered by him. This opportunity was
Once in a lifetime.
On this day, Archi had just finished feeding Zhong Jinwei liquid food, then held his cheek and sat in front of Zhong Jinwei's bed and looked at Zhong Jinwei's unconscious face. Now, Zhong Jinwei is considered the most important man in Archi's life, not to mention that Archi has been
Emperor Chongzhen rewarded Zhong Jinwei. Just from getting along with her in the past few days, Archi felt that Zhong Jinwei did not treat her as a servant girl, or anything similar. It gave her a feeling that Zhong Jinwei treated her as an equal.
A person, a friend, or a person who simply admires him. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but blush. In fact, Archie still has a feeling of admiration for the strong, or for the capable people, but he didn't realize it.
That's it. Archie silently prayed to the Bodhisattvas and gods in the sky to help Zhong Jinwei get better quickly.
At this time, the door of the side hall was violently pushed open, and two Dongchang fans broke in. The guards at the door shrank aside, obviously not daring to show any resistance.
One of the Dongchang fans said to Archie: "You are Archie, right?"
Archie stood up in a panic and whispered: "Yes." Then the man said: "You have done something wrong, come with us."
Archi was stunned and said: "What, what's the matter? I didn't do anything."
Fanzi waved the steel knife in his hand and said: "The assassins who assassinated His Majesty have confessed, and you have a share. If you still haven't confessed, just follow us and you will suffer less."
Archie was so frightened that he froze. It took him a while to react and said in panic: "No, no, I'm not. I'm not an accomplice of the assassin. They must have remembered it wrong."
In fact, there was no such thing as a confession from the assassin's comrades. Every place in the palace that could be scratched had been scratched. The two fans suddenly remembered that they heard that there was a maid named Archie in the palace who was very clever and handy.
I must have made a lot of money by carving some good things myself and taking them out from the palace, so I came here to blackmail them.
When the two fans saw that the little girl was almost frightened, they looked at each other, and the one who had been silent until now spoke: "Looking like this, you don't look like an associate of the assassins. Maybe it's a misunderstanding."
When Archie heard this, he nodded quickly. Fanzi did not let Archie start, so he continued: "But now that we have a confession, even if we are willing to exonerate you, it is still very troublesome. You also know that this matter inevitably requires that person."
." After saying that, he gestured with the silver with his hands.
Now Archie understood that he originally came here for the money. But now that the form is stronger than the person, he just treated it as spending money to ward off disasters. He nodded, went to his room, took out his savings, and said to the two fans
Said: "Thank you two big brothers for your help. Here are all my savings. Please help me make accommodations."
The two beggars looked at each other and smiled, thinking that it was quite good. But as soon as they weighed it in their hands, their expressions changed, and they scolded Archie fiercely: "It's just such a small amount of money, and you're sending me away to a beggar!"
Archie took a step back in fright and said aggrievedly: "I only have 42 taels of silver in total, and they are all here." For an ordinary palace maid, this might be about the same, but it is said that Archie sold a lot of her carvings.
Money, at least more than 100 taels, and half of the money here is not available. The two fans felt that they were teased, and said angrily: "I sold so many things to the palace for so little money. Since you love money more than your life, I will
I'll help you and take it away."
Archi was actually unjustly accused. Firstly, rumors are always exaggerated; secondly, she did have more skills than other palace maids and could be sold for some money, but she entrusted the guards to sell them. Those guards bullied her, a weak woman.
, who had been in the palace for a long time and didn’t understand the market, so he responded to her at a very low price and swallowed up a large part of the money.
Archie knelt down directly and cried: "I really only have this little money, and I still have to take care of the young master. Please do me a favor and help me. My young master has saved the Lord, and he is the most valued by the Lord.
Now that I'm gone, no one will take care of you."
When the two gangsters took the prisoner away, no matter what reason they had not heard, they would not believe it, so they directly stepped forward and locked up Archie.
When passing the gate, Li Li and Zhu Guozhong who were guarding the gate (the previous two guards were punished for poor guarding) mustered up the courage to say: "This, this, cannot be taken away. He is the person arranged by the Holy One to take care of Mr. Zhong."
." The two fans looked very angry. Seeing that there were still two outstanding birds coming out, they took them away together.
At the gate of the Governor's Mansion in Zunhua and Shuntian, there are two archways, namely Fu'an and Jingjing. There are soldiers with guns standing at the gate, which looks solemn and solemn. When ordinary people have to pass this way, they try to go to the other side of the governor's gate.
Walk along the side of the road.
On this day, the weather was as hot as ever, there were few pedestrians on the road, and the soldiers standing at the gate seemed lazy and could not lift their spirits. Suddenly, there was a sound of horse hooves. At this time, those who were still running on the road were either crazy or mentally ill.
It was an emergency. Several soldiers looked up and saw from a distance that riding on horseback was a middle official and two guards. The little leader guarding the gate was well-informed and knew that he was here to deliver the imperial edict. He quickly arranged for a soldier to come.
Report inside and arrange for someone to pick up the horse.
When they came closer, several soldiers stepped forward to hold the reins of the horses. The middle officer did not say much and said directly: "I have a decree for Governor Shuntian Youqiandu Censor Wang Yuanya to lead the way."
Wang Yuanya, whose courtesy name was Puhe, was from Taiyuan, Shanxi. He was resting in the back. After hearing the edict from the Holy Sage, he quickly changed his clothes and set up the incense hall in preparation for receiving the edict. After the Zhongguan came over, he stood in the center of the hall and said: "The Holy Sage has spoken and patrolled.
Wang Yuanya, the censor of Tianyouqiandu in Fushun, accepted the order, while others stayed away."
After everyone else had exited, two guards in golden uniforms guarded the area around the door, and then stood on both sides of the door.
When everything was ready, the Zhongguan began to convey Emperor Chongzhen's oral instructions: "There are changes in Liaodong. I think it is very likely that Jianlu will bypass Shanhaiguan, pass through Mongolia, break into Qing's defense area, and attack the capital. Therefore, you should be more vigilant and train your troops diligently.
If Zunhua is attacked by the Jianlu, we must hold on to it. I will mobilize the army to fight the Jianlu and annihilate the Jianlu in one fell swoop. This is top secret, and you only need to know it."
Wang Yuanya couldn't help but be stunned after hearing Emperor Chongzhen's oral instructions. She had heard that Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Jiliao, had killed Mao Wenlong, the commander-in-chief of Pidao, but why did the Holy Master presume that Jianlu would come to attack my defense area instead of attacking Yuan Chonghuan?
It's impossible to go around that far, and I've never been here before.
Wang Yuanya thought so, but Emperor Chongzhen said so. What else can you do as a part-time worker? You can only do it. So he said: "I obey the order."
After the formalities of conveying the order were completed, the lieutenant general was about to leave. Wang Yuanya took out a piece of silver from his sleeve and handed it to the lieutenant without leaving any trace. Then he said: "Your Majesty is far-sighted and I admire you deeply. I wonder if you know that your majesty has made such a judgment."
Is there any other basis?"
"We don't know," the lieutenant general accepted the advantage and said something in general. He paused and then lowered his voice and said, "But I heard that there is a strange person in the palace who gave your majesty some advice." He did not dare to talk about gods and monsters, even civil servants.
It was like this. If anyone dared to talk about gods and monsters, he would have to utter monster words to confuse the crowd. After he finished speaking, he was afraid that Wang Yuanya would ask again, so he left quickly and left.
Wang Yuanya no longer paid attention to the middle official who passed the order, and thought to herself: "What a strange person, what a strange person, to give such a bad idea to the Holy One, and it will cost money and food. Since the order has been passed down, you must do it, and you must do it."
No, if it really happens, if you don’t have any preparation, you will have to walk away without food." Waiting for someone to come over for a military meeting.
In the past, we promoted the elimination of troops, which almost led to a mutiny. Now the world is not at peace. We have no choice but to eliminate the troops. This is because the army is short of food and food, and the court cannot provide it. It is a cheap strategy. Now we have to prepare for war again, and we have to use all our toes.
No one knows that there will be another war of words over military pay, food and grass.
Wang Yuanya also had some military pay and food stored in his hands. This was the only advantage of reducing his troops before, and it was also the basis for him not to oppose Emperor Chongzhen's oral instructions. As soon as several generals came and heard what Wang Yuanya said, they started to make a fuss. This
One said that the soldiers under his command were lying on the bed hungry and just swallowing saliva, saving food, and had no time to train; one said that military pay had been delayed for so long, and there was no motivation; the other said that the armor was broken, and even the uniforms had to be replaced.
I have made up for it again and again, and now that my butt is exposed, I want to see if I need to give some basic information; anyway, there are just a bunch of reasons, and the military seminar has become a grievance meeting. If you, the governor, want to train troops, you can meet the basic conditions first.
Wang Yuanya also relied on these people to do things, and he had already anticipated their reaction, so he started bargaining, and finally decided that the soldiers would be trained every 10 days, and they would be scattered on the Mongolian grasslands without harvesting at night. He would pay a certain amount of military pay, food and grass in exchange for the price.
After the military meeting ended, Wang Yuanya grimaced, feeling sorry for the military supplies he had finally accumulated. The generals went back happily, wondering how many of the things given by the governor would actually go into the hands of the soldiers. It was obvious to see the smiles on their faces.