Chapter 514 Obtaining loyal servants and establishing the world
In the past half month, Shi Kefa's leader was eagerly awaiting the arrival of reinforcements. However, Li Zicheng's rebel army was in full swing and swept through the surrounding prefectures of Baoding, Hejian Prefecture, Zhending Prefecture... they fell one after another and fell into the hands of the enemy. Baoding Prefecture closed the south gate.
The lonely city is like a small boat facing the huge waves.
After Li Zicheng cleared the surrounding state capitals, his army came to the city, and with an air of dominion over the world, he was waiting to give way, and persuaded Shi Kefa in the city to surrender.
After being scolded several times by Shi Kefa, seeing that Shi Kefa was stubborn, he began to prepare to attack the city. At this time, there were no more than ten thousand soldiers in Baoding City! The reinforcements were blocked hundreds of miles away, and the situation was precarious.
"Do you have a good strategy to defeat the enemy?" Emperor Chongzhen finished talking about the situation in Baoding in one breath. When he saw Chang Yu frowning, his heart tightened.
"Your Majesty, did you ask me to go south to defend against the enemy?" Chang Yu smiled bitterly. After leaving the capital, he came back after fighting a battle. Shi Kefa's side had just set up their posture.
Who else but you now? You have fought against the intruder, how confident are you now?" Chongzhen asked quickly.
Chang Yu bit his lip: "Don't be afraid of the traitor army, but what I fear most is the people's hearts!"
Chongzhen suddenly looked lonely and sat down slowly: "I don't know that the intruder is good at deceiving the people. At this time, he is holding hundreds of thousands of people hostage. His momentum is astonishing. It is like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger. If it continues like this, it will be a big disadvantage.
”.
"Subduing the enemy's troops without fighting is the most vicious method used by thieves. Throughout his Eastern Campaign, he has conquered cities and plundered unstoppable territory, but he has hardly fought any battles. He only relied on deceiving the people and taking advantage of the trend!
"Chang Yu sighed.
"The people are ignorant, ignorant, are thieves really that carefree?" Chongzhen cried out sadly!
It's not that they are ignorant or carefree, but that they have food to eat, and if they don't follow the trend, they will be killed immediately. They are just trying to survive. Chang Yu secretly sighed in his heart!
"At the moment, the top priority is to appease the people. There is nothing we can do for those who are being held hostage, but it is very necessary for the areas that have not yet fallen." Chang Yu thought for a while and said: "The requirements of the people are actually very simple. They have food to eat and can survive.
Contented, the emperor can issue a decree to exempt Henan from taxes for three years. The people will feel at ease. If they cooperate with a victory, I believe that no people will be willing to help the thieves, and even the refugees who have been kidnapped also have the intention to retreat."
There is food to eat, life to be around, and hope to look forward to. Who doesn’t want to live and work in peace and contentment, and who wants to become a thief and rebel?
As night fell, Emperor Chongzhen gave a banquet, saying that it was to cleanse Chang Yu from the wind and dust, and to accompany him with his consort Gong Yonggu. In fact, he gathered his confidants to discuss matters. Although the Qing troops outside the pass retreated, the banditry in the south was urgent. There were intruders approaching the capital and the Yangtze River.
Bai Wang broke through Jiujiang first, then forced Anqing, and went to Nanjing with his sword, and then went to the southwest. Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan and Qin Liangyu killed them fiercely. The slogan of the Daxi regime has been shouted out. If he waits for him to enter Sichuan and take a firm seat, he will be a big trouble.
In addition to these military disasters, there were also natural disasters. Drought, locust plagues and plague came one after another, causing widespread resentment among the people.
Emperor Chongzhen was anxious and angry. Sadly, there were no generals to extinguish fires in the civil and military affairs of the entire dynasty. He only had a family of servants who were tired of running around in the fire. They had just returned from outside the customs and were about to go south to exterminate the thieves.
"The most important thing for the whole country is to love you!" Emperor Chongzhen did not dare to speak to the eunuch when he was outside, but behind closed doors Chang Yu was a loyal minister, unrivaled in the civil and military affairs of the entire dynasty!
Chang Yu was ordered to face the danger, but he had no idea how to retreat from the enemy. He only had to improvise on the ground, and Emperor Chongzhen had expectations again. Before leaving the border, he was also frowning and had no good strategy. Unexpectedly, it was settled twenty days later, but
I hope this time is also a surprise.
There was no way to fend off the enemy, so they changed the topic. Chang Yu talked about some profiteers in Zhangjiagang, and Chongzhen finally showed a rare smile. Although he didn't say exactly, Chang Yu also knew that the income was high, at least a millionaire. As for the heavy levy of commercial taxes and tea taxes that he proposed, although they were strongly resisted by the cabinet, they were finally implemented under the joint pressure of Chongzhen, Dongchang and their imperial guards. The reason why the cabinet took a step back was, in addition to Chongzhen's In addition to the resolute attitude, there is also the idea that the tax proceeds will go into the national treasury to stop the civil servants from "competing with the people for profit". Moreover, this commercial tax only targets Sanwu (Jiangnan Zhejiang area) and the capital and Nanjing and other rich places.
Since there was money in the treasury, Chang Yu said that Octopus would advance funds for the preparation of military rations: The war in the north has stopped, and settlement needs to be settled. After all, the amount of funds advanced is not a small amount, which puts great pressure on civilians and businesses.
Chongzhen knew that the relationship between Chang Yu and the Octopus Chamber of Commerce was unclear, and since Chang Yu had just made military exploits, he nodded in agreement and asked him to inform the Octopus people tomorrow to go directly to the Ministry of Accounts to settle the account.
It was late at night, and Emperor Chongzhen knew that Chang Yu had many things to deal with just after returning to Beijing, so he asked him to leave and finish the matter as soon as possible and go south as soon as possible.
Chang Yu left, and in the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen and his son and Gong Yonggu continued their tea conversation.
"How about Wei Zhongxian?" Chongzhen was suspicious by nature. If there was only one person at this time, no matter whether it was a foreign minister or an eunuch, that he absolutely trusted and confided in, it was Gong Yonggu.
"It's more than anything but worse." Gong Yonggu knew that Emperor Chongzhen was asking Chang Yu: "It's just that his methods are a little softer, not as ruthless as Wei Zhongxian's".
"This is his brilliance, restraining his sharp edge and overcoming strength with softness!" Chongzhen stroked his beard and smiled: "This way he won't be as infamous as Wei Zhongxian, and people will complain and God will be angry!"
As the old saying goes, history has no truth!
History is written by the victors. No matter whether it records a certain person or something, how many historians can avoid being influenced by those in power? Not to mention that the history of the Ming Dynasty is written in a mess, which is the most common. A historian can use the Spring and Autumn style of writing to make a matter appear specious and deliberately guide public opinion based on his personal preference.
Just like Wei Zhongxian, there are many records of killing loyal people, forming parties for personal gains, extorting excessive taxes, and specializing in government affairs... But what about the facts? Didn't the civil servants form parties? What is the Donglin Party? Why did Wei Zhongxian form parties and private parties? In order to deal with the things of the literati group Lin Dang, in order to consolidate the imperial power, rather than let the government be controlled by a group of civil servants.
Civil servants are the most selfish. For most of them, they are no different from the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Dashun Dynasty. They just change their masters. They consider their own interests. Whoever becomes the emperor has little impact on them. Wei Zhongxian is different, he is a eunuch, he only serves the emperor.
The so-called extortionate taxation means Wei Zhongxian was born in poverty and never raised taxes on the common people. He only levied taxes on merchants in the rich areas south of the Yangtze River.
As for saying that he specializes in government affairs, it seems that it is fortunate that he firmly suppressed the Donglin Party's "specialization in government affairs", otherwise the Ming Dynasty might have collapsed earlier.
At the end of the day, Ren Manqing tried his best outside the pass, but there was no big wave. Why? There is money in the court, and there are hawks in the court! The money was earned by Wei Zhongxian, and the hawks were also headed by him.
Because of this, he touched the interests of the civil service group, and he became the mortal enemy of the civil service officials all over the world, which is why his reputation is so bad! Because it was the civil service group that controlled public opinion at that time, and it was the civil service officials who wrote the history of secretaries, so later generations will see It's just that this big eunuch is bad.
And Emperor Chongzhen, who didn’t know how expensive food, rice, oil, and salt were, was an angry young man back then. He fucked Wei Zhongxian after he came to power. However, it took a few years to realize that people who are good to you, loyal to you, and considerate of you
, only the group of duckweeds around us who had no choice but to rely on the emperor, that is, the group of eunuchs!
After realizing this, Emperor Chongzhen realized how important and wonderful it was to have a loyal eunuch who could protect him from wind and rain. He regretted it and ordered Wei Zhongxian to be buried with honors to vindicate him.
It's a pity that it was too late to wake up. The Ming Dynasty was already seriously ill, and there was no one like Wei Zhongxian around him. The dynasty eventually fell, not because he killed Wei Zhongxian, but at least Wei Zhongxian's fall accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
But now, Chang Yu turned out to be born, giving him hope. He tried his best to get rid of the nightmare of the prince. Hope lies in this little eunuch. (To be continued)