This report of explaining the regulations put Li Laiheng under a lot of pressure. After he walked out of the second hall of the Yamen, he felt a lot of cold sweat on his back. Although Li Zicheng arranged things without delay and spoke very kindly, he
The personnel arrangement seemed casual but also had a hint of subtlety, which made Li Laiheng couldn't help but think a little more, and felt a bit of a profound and unpredictable flavor.
Is Li Zicheng's arrangement unintentional? Or intentional? Maybe it's just Li Laiheng's own overthinking. After all, from his current observation, the organizational structure of the camp is extremely simple. Li Zicheng has an absolute dominant position in the camp. There is no
It's too necessary to use some tricks.
While he was thinking, Li Guo also walked out of the second hall of the Yamen. A tiger tilted his head slightly, and his nose was very straight. Under the light of the courtyard lights, the shadows on his face were deep, making him look more solemn.
"Laiheng, you've done a great job and everyone accepts you."
Li Guo's voice was low. He adopted Li Laiheng as his adopted son. At first, it was just a whim joke between him and Li Shuangxi. But as he watched Li Laiheng grow up, from a cunning civilian husband to a calm organizer, he still felt in his heart
A sense of pride suddenly arose.
Although Li Guo and Li Zicheng are uncles and nephews, they are close in age and get along like brothers. Li Guo has followed Li Zicheng since he was a boy, receiving all the protection and encouragement, so the relationship between the two is similar to that of a father and son.
Such feelings. To him, Li Zicheng was both a brother and a father. Naturally, he felt a mixture of admiration and respect for King Chuang.
Today's Li Laiheng allows him to see some shadows of his past self, which makes Li Guo want to correct his position and play the role of a leader like Li Zicheng.
"I told Yufeng about you during the day today. He admires you very much. Yufeng's status in the camp is only lower than that of the old man and you, General Liu. With Yufeng appreciating and helping you, I am very grateful to you.
It will definitely be a great help to continue to integrate into the camp in the future.”
"ah!"
After hearing this, Li Laiheng realized why Tian Jianxiu suddenly came to him today. How could the third-in-command of the Lao Eighth Team open the door to let Yuan Zongdi give him a favor just because of his few words?
Where's all the equipment? It turns out that behind the scenes, there is Li Guo helping Li Laiheng and smoothing relationships in all aspects.
Li Guo usually spoke very little and always had a cold and solemn face. He was not very good at expressing those kind of pretentious emotions. He only knew how to work quietly and help his adopted son lay a solid foundation.
Since coming to this world, Li Laiheng, who had no direct relatives, lost his cute and clingy sister Youniang, and his sincere and enthusiastic senior Bai Youcai. He gained very little, but lost too much.
We can't help but have a little extreme hatred in this cruel world.
But at this moment, Li Laiheng thought that after all, he still had a cheap adoptive father, Li Guo, and he still had a collective camp that he could stay in. In this cruel and troubled world, how many people still don't even have a broken shelter?
, not even a drop of blood relatives left?
The world is in turmoil, the people are bustling, and human sentiments are boiling. Why?
It's just a place to stay, a bowl of gruel to survive, and a family to rely on.
"Father..."
Li Laiheng bit his lip slightly and said "Father" in a very soft voice from deep in his chest. Although the voice was so soft, this was the first time that he began to compare Li Guo, the cheap father, with "Father".
Heavy words, truly connected as one.
"Father...why did you choose to rebel?"
For some reason, Li Laiheng suddenly asked this question. He was a little stunned, why would he ask such a meaningless question? But he really wanted to hear Li Guo's answer, not the answer that followed Li Zicheng, but
An answer unique to Li Guo.
"Ha...my father's name is Li Zili, and he is also the eldest brother of our old boss." Li Guo smiled. He didn't feel bitter when he mentioned the past, his face just looked like he was simply recalling the past.
Li Guo sat on a low stone chair in the middle of the Yamen courtyard. He tapped the chair with his index finger and slowly recalled: "My father is much older than Lao Zhangpan. When I was young, he would sit on the chair every day.
I was ignorant and couldn't herd sheep well. I just followed Zicheng around and played around all day long. Haha, it was such a ridiculous life."
He probably recalled the childish days of playing with Li Zicheng in his childhood, and couldn't help laughing out loud, "Ha, later on, probably during the Tianqi years, for some reason, the border army's payment arrears became more and more serious.
, there are often some mutinous border soldiers plundering the Yan'an Prefecture area."
"My father used to help a wealthy family herd sheep. Once, he unfortunately encountered mutinous soldiers. The sheep were killed and robbed by the rebels. The father couldn't afford to offend the rebels, so he blamed my father and insisted on
He paid for all the losses of the sheep. As a shepherd, how could he afford to accompany him? He had no choice but to commit suicide in front of the master's house. The master's family was afraid of causing further trouble, so they stopped pursuing the matter."
Li Guo's tone was very calm, but he told a very thrilling story. What kind of mood did his father, Li Zicheng's eldest brother, commit suicide in front of the creditor's house?
"So later, when the old boss was forced to pay debts by the Aiju people, I followed the others and simply killed the Aiju people. I would never make the same mistake as my father. Laiheng, the court collected so many taxes, and the generals were so rich.
, why are there arrears of pay? Aren’t the border troops used to deal with the Tatars outside the border wall? Why did he aim his knife at the common people?"
Li Laiheng knew that during the Tianqi period, due to the three major projects of Emperor Xizong and Zhu Youxiao building palaces and the unfavorable war in Liaodong, the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty deteriorated sharply. The nine-border frontier army was seriously in arrears of pay.
As many as more than four million taels. Did the decay and collapse of the imperial court begin in the Chongzhen year? Instead, Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Household Affairs in the early years of Chongzhen, established military camps, checked the acres of land, and ordered merchants to transport millet to the border, which was slightly hindered.
The speed of the disintegration of the Ming Dynasty has slowed down a bit.
This was caused by the overall corruption of the imperial court. Li Guowen couldn't find the answer. The royal family expenses of the emperor's son of the Zhu family alone accounted for more than half of the total expenses of the imperial court. Questions like where the imperial court's money went can only be answered with words.
You can't ask, you can only ask with a knife.
Later generations of Li Laiheng were also people who read "Wanli Accounting Records". Naturally, they knew that during the Wanli period, the burden of supporting the clan in the Ming Dynasty accounted for 29% of the total expenditure of the household department. If the emperor was also counted as a member of the clan, then
The expenditure of the entire royal family reaches 40%. Even if the Changying Treasury of the Taipu Temple of the Ministry of War and the Jieshen Treasury of the Ministry of Industry are added, the scale of the royal family's expenditure almost exceeds the military expenditure of the entire Ming Dynasty. Not to mention Taichang,
Since the Apocalypse and Chongzhen, the number of people and expenses of the clan have increased many times compared to the Wanli period. What's more, in addition to directly occupying the court's expenses, the clan also owns a large number of fields and shops, and relies on the clan's privileges to operate. It is really the biggest beetle in the world.
"So...the foster father followed the old master to rebel because he wanted to know the answer?"
Li Guo looked at the hanging moon in the sky and shook his head, "The old master told me that if we can't find the answer to the problem, we will go and eliminate the problem. I followed the old master and started a rebellion, just to eliminate those few problems.
.”
"I'll leave the answer to the question to you, Laiheng." In addition to being solemn under the moonlight, Li Guo rarely showed a gentle smile. He stretched out his right hand and rubbed Li Laiheng's head, leaving the task of finding the answer behind.
Left to the little tiger.
"The Diaoqiu is broken, the gold is gone, and the hero is trapped when there is no silver~" Li Guo saw that Li Laiheng fell into deep thought for a long time after hearing these words, so he smiled and sang a piece of Shaanbei Bangzi Opera.
The lyrics said, "A penny is too much for a heroic man. You helped organize the old camp today and you have done a great job. Don't worry about too many things."
"Well...Laiheng will firmly remember what his adoptive father said today, and he will definitely find out all the answers in the future."
Li Laiheng felt that his understanding of his adoptive father had increased. He was not a figure attached to Li Zicheng, but a hero with his own independent thoughts, independent soul and independent confusion. He knew that Li Guo in later history would be
Under the threat of the Manchus, he gave up the pursuit of the answer to the question and chose to join hands with Nanming to fight against the Qing Dynasty. What kind of nightmare did the Manchus bring about that made Li Guo temporarily give up the pursuit of the answer?
Li Zicheng had always called on everyone to practice economy, and the lights in the Yamen courtyard were burned out before nightfall. Li Guo took out a fire stick from his chest, covered it with his hand, relit a small lamp, and held up the lamp.
He got up and handed it to Li Laiheng, "Be careful on the road at night, Laiheng, go back to your camp quickly."