Li Laiheng took the generals of the Little Tiger Team to Prince Fu's Mansion to attend a celebration banquet, because Li Zicheng wanted to show his differences from Prince Fu and other ordinary Ming Dynasty princes and nobles. The dishes of this banquet were actually very simple, and Li Zicheng also asked Li Shuangxi and
Dang Shousu led his troops to knock down a section of the palace wall, so that Luoyang citizens could come and go to the palace to watch, and exposed the simple side of the invading army to the people of Zhongzhou.
"Is this Qi Weng's handiwork?"
Li Laiheng laughed softly. He guessed that Li Zicheng always showed his sincerity to others, but this method of deliberately showing the simplicity of the army to the people of Luoyang was too deliberate and not like Li Zicheng's method.
Niu Jinxing stroked his beard and smiled, his eyes were full of energy, and he replied with a look of wisdom on his face: "Yes! I suggested to the marshal to show the simplicity of the Chuang army in Zhongzhou, especially compared with King Fu's wine pool and meat forest, to highlight the simplicity of the Chuang camp.
The wind competes for the hearts of the world."
He continued: "Since the Ming Dynasty, the division has been undisciplined. King Qin who travels to and from Henan to support and suppress soldiers and horses mostly asks for more than they need. They will definitely leave no trace of chickens and dogs wherever they pass. The people of the world have been fighting hard for a long time. As long as they break into the camp and show different behavior from the officials
If we bring out the frugal temperament of the army and carry out the banner of suppressing the troops and bringing peace to the people, we will definitely win the hearts of the people."
Suppress the troops and calm the people!
Although Li Laiheng felt that Niu Jinxing's tactics were a bit too deliberate, he also knew that his words of "suppressing the troops and calming the people" really hit the mark of the current situation.
The towns where the government troops passed through were looted, and the wells became ruins. Henan was originally a necessary route for armies from all over the country, and the guest armies from the north and the south often passed by. The local soldiers in Henan had reduced the villages in the wells to ruins, and the guest soldiers and the
The locals have no nostalgia connection and behave more cruelly.
For example, Zuo Liangyu's army plundered women and engaged in public prostitution in the market, "unspeakably obscene." As a result, in the places where Zuo Liangyu passed by, the people "not hate thieves but hate soldiers."
And it is not only the Zuo Army that is notorious. When Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, was stationed in Huai'an, his soldiers broke into private houses during the day and went straight to the inner rooms in the name of "following the order of the military general and wanted to borrow hundreds of taels of silver to help pay."
While the master Fang Cuo was asking, thieves were robbing the women and fighting for each other." When the old servant sounded the gong and called for help, "two women have been defiled."
As for the Qin army, which had fought the most with Chuangying, there was nothing to talk about. Sun Chuanting, who was known to be incorruptible and was known as the last purple beam of the Ming Dynasty, also adopted the destructive three-guang policy in Henan, including Tangxian and Baofeng.
Kill all the residents of the city.
It is even more common to ask fellow villagers to borrow military merit, such as "if you kill five thousand thieves, all of them will have the heads of women".
"Qi Weng's great advice has hit the nail on the head." Li Laiheng nodded frequently and continued, "The officers and soldiers have become a great danger to the world. They can't control the captives externally, and they can't calm the people internally. They keep saying that they want to suppress thieves and put an end to chaos, but in fact they themselves have already failed.
We have become the thieves in the world and the source of great chaos. Since the government and the army cannot pacify the internal and external affairs, we naturally have to replace the government and the army, enemy the Eastern captives externally, and undermine the power of the gentry internally, so as to take over this responsibility."
"Hahaha! What I have said is brilliant, but the fact that officers and soldiers are the harm to the world is just a symptom, not the source. How can we trace the source of the river without knowing the source? The source of the great chaos does not lie in the word "military".
Li Laiheng suddenly heard a weird laugh, the voice was hoarse and unpleasant. He couldn't help but turn his head and saw a short black man with a mustache and a wretched appearance standing there.
Is this person the charlatan fortune teller recommended to Li Zicheng by Niu Jinxing, Song Dwarf Song Xiance?
Although Black Dwarf was ugly in appearance, his expression was unusually arrogant. He was not tall, but his eyes seemed to reach to the top of his head, and he did not even look at Li Laiheng.
"Both the gentry and the king are causing great harm to the world. The Ming Dynasty has been suffering from evils for 280 years. The land is extremely uneven and the wealth gap is extremely disparate. There are more than 7,013,900 hectares of land in the world, but there is no land or land everywhere.
People who have very little land. Where has all the land gone? This is the great harm to the world, and this is the root cause of the chaos in the world."
The image of Song Xiance is very different from the charlatan Li Laiheng imagined. This fortune teller was actually a cynical person with a "second disease" style, speaking with certainty as if he wanted to kill all the gentry and clan members in the world.
"Nine out of ten fields in the world are occupied by emperors, vassal kings, eunuchs, ministers, and rural eunuchs. The gentry sucks the marrow, and the princes demolish their houses. Where can ordinary people cultivate the fields? The saints will not die, and the thieves will not stop.
Only by eradicating this nest of snakes and rats can the world have hope."
"Take the royal family as an example. Although all the land in the world belongs to the emperor, the royal family also occupies a lot of additional land, which is managed by the eunuchs in the palace and is called the royal village. Each region is divided into feudal lords and has many royal villages. Princesses, counties
The Lord also has farmland. The eunuchs have farmland. The ministers have farmland. They are all taken from the people, and the number is amazing. Therefore, the royal family and the vassal kings have the largest monopoly of land in the country, followed by their relatives, eunuchs, ministers, and rural officials.
I have heard that the old man from Qidong is familiar with the anecdotes of this dynasty, so he must point out the actual situation of this monopoly land from the source."
Li Laiheng knew that when the invaders later carried out torture and plunder in Beijing, the ratio was approximately "three-tenths of the noble families, three-tenths of the eunuchs, two-tenths of the officials, and two-tenths of the merchants."
, eunuchs, no one is innocent.
Niu Jinxing was a little unhappy with Song Xiance's rude behavior. He grabbed Song Xiance's sleeve, pulled it, and asked him to salute Li Laiheng. Then he introduced: "This is Song Xiance, the stranger from the world who I recommended to King Chuang."
Although Song Xiance was a fortune teller who sold divination in Daliang, he was actually very familiar with military matters in the world. Moreover, Song Xiance was very famous among the local craftsmen in Henan. With his contact, our activities in Henan were as smooth as a fish in water.
"
Song Xiance reluctantly bowed to Li Laiheng, but he still looked higher than his head, which made Li Laiheng find it particularly funny. He didn't care about Song Xiance's rudeness, but just asked Niu Jinxing: "Since Song
Sir, I said that Qi Weng is very knowledgeable about the political affairs of the world. Why don't you give me some advice?"
Niu Jinxing twirled his beard, hesitated for a moment, and replied: "The name of Huangzhuang began in the Xianzong Dynasty. But before Xianzong, there were many official villages, which were actually Huangzhuang. During Xiaozong's time, there were five in Ji Nei
There are more than 12,800 hectares of land in Huangzhuang. Within one month after Emperor Wu came to the throne, he built seven Huangzhuangs, which later increased to more than 300. Including the eunuchs and relatives, the total land was 200,900 hectares.
In addition, there are more than 20,200 hectares of farmland occupied by the emperor in previous years. After Wuzong, the status of the land occupied by Huangzhuang is unknown."
"In any case, since the emperor is the lord of the world and the king of the world, he seizes people's land and turns it into an imperial palace, causing countless small people to lose their land and become homeless. It is naturally a bad policy."
Niu Jinxing continued: "Looking at the kings, the amount of people's land they occupied is even more shocking."
"Currently, there are dozens of princes enfeoffed in various provinces across the country, and the number of county princes is several times more. In the case of Henan Province, not to mention the princes, there are eight princes. The one in Kaifeng is the king of Zhou, who has fertile land.
More than ten thousand hectares. In Nanyang there is the king of Tang, in Runing there is the king of Chong, in Yuzhou there is the king of Hui, in Zhangde there is the king of Zhao, and in Huaiqing there is the king of Zheng."
Song Xiance gnashed his teeth and cursed: "We in Henan are really unlucky. We can support seven vassal families with only one province of material resources!"
Niu Jinxing continued: "Each of these kings has thousands to ten thousand hectares of fertile land. King Lu in Weihui has 40,000 hectares of fertile land, most of which is in Huguang. Now King Lu is the second
In the dynasty, his father was the half-brother of Emperor Wanli. Before the Kingdom of Zhi, all the Wangdian, Wangzhuang and Wangzhuang residences that lived in Beijing were scattered throughout Jinei. After the Kingdom of Zhi, the Wangdian and Wangzhuang scattered in Jinei were all returned to the emperor.
, was renamed Huangdian and Huangzhuang. In addition to owning 40,000 hectares of fertile land in Henan and Huguang provinces, he also had a salt import patent granted by the emperor. Many of the king's shops were pawnshops, exploiting the common people at high profits."
Li Laiheng didn't sigh in his heart. He knew that King Lu was another strange person after King Fu. In the future, the dispute between Fu Fan and Lu Fan in the Southern Ming court would ruin any possibility of reviving the Southern Ming Dynasty.
===============
1 There are currently eight vassal families in Henan, seven prince families, and one county prince. In addition, there is a family of close vassals, Prince Hui, who has extinct heirs.
The seven vassal families: King Zhou, King Tang, King Fu, King Zhao, King Zheng, King Chong, King Lu, and King Hui were expelled from the country during the reign of Zhu Zai because they fought against the power of the Jiajing Dynasty.
The prince of the same family was King Wan'an who was enfeoffed in Yongning.
Therefore, it can be said that there are eight vassal families in Henan, seven of which are close vassals.
(According to some local materials in Yuzhou, after King Hui was expelled from the country, some branches of his royal family still retained some county princes. Due to inaccurate data, they are not included here.
In addition, it can also be seen from the story of the expulsion of King Yi who was originally granted the title of Luoyang that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the policy of "redeeming" the clan kings has also been very unsuccessful. The court used immeasurable money to "redeem" the clan kings.
power, but in fact, kings like Hui Wang and Yi Wang were expelled from the country for interfering in local governance, participating in court political disputes, and even turning into civil uprisings with the intention of "conspiracy". Feeding the vassal kings with millions of money is also
It does not make them honest. These people with unsatisfied desires still continue to do evil. Even from the perspective of the court, the king has become a source of chaos.)