"Long live my lord, Duke Cheng Guo paid a visit to the Jiading Count's Mansion last night."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was a little curious and asked: "What did he do? What did he say?"
The title of Duke Chengguo is hereditary, and the first one was Zhu Neng, the hero of the Yongle Jingnan.
Emperor Chongzhen also trusted Zhu Chunchen, the current Duke of Chengguo, and asked him to governor the capital. Even when Li Zicheng was in danger of attacking the capital, he thought of him first and wanted him to assist the prince and help the Ming Dynasty.
"The slaves only saw outside that Duke Cheng Guo stayed for about a quarter of an hour. As for what happened inside the Jiading Mansion, we still need time to find out!" Wang Chengen replied quickly, then thought of something and quickly added
, "Mr. Cheng Guo entered through the back door!"
Emperor Chongzhen, who was in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, was already very suspicious. When he heard this, he immediately frowned.
At this time, his mind suddenly remembered what Liu Weichao had defined for him as "sightless but blind"! He immediately wondered whether this Duke Cheng was also the person he had misjudged?
Because if he is right about Cheng Guogong, based on his level of trust in Cheng Guogong, or his expectations for Cheng Guogong, he will definitely leave his name in history, right?
But Liu Weichao never mentioned Cheng Guogong at all. Instead, he mentioned Zhou Yuji, Sun Yingyuan and Huang Degong!
Thinking like this, Emperor Chongzhen kept this matter in mind and planned to go back and ask Liu Weichao if there was any news about Duke Cheng in later generations.
Thinking like this, he put aside the matter for the time being and looked at Wang Chengen.
Seeing Emperor Chongzhen looking at him, Wang Chengen understood his intention and continued to report: "The civil and military officials attending court today are very different from the past!"
"What's different?" Emperor Chongzhen asked curiously upon hearing this.
Wang Chengen hesitated for a while, then replied with a firm look: "When they went to court, they all cheered in front of each other, rode in sedans, and rode horses. They were all selected. I mean, slaves shouldn't say things like that.
They are all suspected of exceeding the rules. But today in court, they kept everything simple. I feel like I have returned to the time of Emperor Taizu!"
"Oh?" Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but feel a little surprised after hearing this, and asked, "Is this for..."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly came back to his senses, and his face suddenly became very ugly.
Why else could this be, just pretending to be poor!
To be honest, although Emperor Chongzhen listened to Liu Weichao's explanation of the situation, he still felt a little lucky in his heart. He felt that all civil and military officials, especially those civil servants, were all Jinshi. They were children of Confucianism and knew how to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country. But they were not allowed to do so.
Fighting in battle and serving the country with your life is just a little extraneous thing, not too ugly.
But now, he was hit!
He can even imagine what the fundraising situation will most likely be like after going to court!
If he had had his previous temper, he would probably have gone to court angrily.
But he thought a lot last night and repeatedly played the voice message Liu Weichao gave him. One thing was very inspiring to him.
That is to focus on the key points when doing things. Just like in the case of Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting, if we grasp the key to their strategy of collecting food and clearing villages for payment, then there will be no wrong decisions in the future.
Nowadays, raising money is the most important thing! Other things can be put on hold for now!
So Emperor Chongzhen immediately rushed to see Empress Zhou and asked her to summon Jiadingbo for questioning immediately.
To be honest, Queen Zhou was actually very worried about his father, because she must know his father.
Hearing that something seemed to be wrong, she felt a little angry. She immediately summoned her father, but as soon as they met, she didn't care about etiquette and couldn't wait to ask: "Dad, have you changed your mind about what you promised your daughter yesterday?"
?”
"Ah?" Zhou Kui was a little surprised when he heard this, but he looked normal and immediately replied, "How could dad change his mind and agree to his daughter taking the lead in donating money? I will definitely do it!"
However, Queen Zhou knew him too well. As soon as she heard this, she immediately asked: "How much did you promise your daughter to donate?"
At this time, Zhou Kui paused. He looked around and suddenly said to Queen Zhou: "Ah, it's getting late. Look, it's almost dawn. It would be bad if you are late for the court. Your Majesty will be angry."
It’s time for me to go!”
When Queen Zhou saw him, her face turned a little ugly.
Behind the bead curtain, Emperor Chongzhen stopped listening. With the same anger, he turned around and shouted in a cold voice: "As expected, Uncle Jiading, you dare to mess around, don't think that I can't kill people!"
He didn't say punishment, but directly said murder!
The sudden appearance of Emperor Chongzhen initially startled Zhou Kui. Then he was startled again when he heard the words of murder.
To be honest, even Queen Zhou next to her was shocked. Kill? Kill who? Kill Jiading Bo?
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen had strode up to Zhou Kui with a gloomy face. He stared into Zhou Kui's eyes and shouted coldly again: "What did Duke Cheng Guo come to see you for last night? Tell me the truth! Otherwise, don't blame me."
To be merciful, I'll take action on you!"
He had never spoken so nakedly before, and Zhou Kui suddenly broke out in sweat.
However, he did not answer immediately, but immediately turned to look at his daughter.
When Empress Zhou saw him, she originally wanted to tell Emperor Chongzhen to talk nicely or something. However, she thought of Emperor Chongzhen's situation in the past two days and couldn't sleep at night. She was really worried about national affairs.
In addition, the appearance of Taizu's treasures also greatly affected Emperor Chongzhen.
Thinking of all this, Queen Zhou immediately changed her mind and took a few steps forward to reach Emperor Chongzhen. She also said to Zhou Kui: "At this time, don't be confused anymore!"
Zhou Kui felt a little chilled after hearing this, and turned back to look at Emperor Chongzhen. Suddenly he couldn't stand the way Emperor Chongzhen stared at him. He felt the majesty of the emperor that he had never felt before, as if he was in front of a tiger. His legs went weak.
Then he knelt down and said: "Gong Chengguo told me... that I must never start this thing. If it happens once, there will be a second time. If I ask you to take the lead in donating too much, everyone else will complain about me."
.So...therefore, I want to donate a thousand taels..."
"Dad..." Queen Zhou heard this with her own ears, and immediately shouted with hatred. But for a moment, she didn't know what to say about her father, and finally continued with hatred, "My daughter gave it to you.
There are seven or eight thousand jewelry, right? You...you...are confused!"
"I...I..." Facing his daughter, Zhou Kui obviously wanted to make a few excuses, but because Emperor Chongzhen was right in front of him, "I" couldn't come out.
When Empress Zhou saw this, she went crazy and said to her father: "Are you still not convinced? Do you know that you are being used as a weapon? You are really... you are really being sold and you can still give it to others.
Count the money!”
"No...it's impossible?" Zhou Kui was a little surprised after hearing this. He felt that he was being called a fool. Facing his daughter's accusation, he finally said, "Lao Zhu and I are close friends. There is no way he can harm me."
Ah, don’t you think what he said makes sense?”
After hearing this, Queen Zhou felt like she was going to faint. She took a few deep breaths, and then said in a hateful voice: "You are my father, the prince's grandfather, why are you afraid that everyone will blame you? If you take the lead to contribute to the court, it is also for you.
You, work hard for the future of the Zhou family! If the court is good, you can be good; if the court is not good, how can you be good? Why are you so confused?"
When Emperor Chongzhen heard what Empress Zhou said, for some reason, he suddenly thought of what Liu Weichao had said to him.
When doing things, looking at people, etc., we must grasp the root and essence of things.
What the Queen said should be in line with this principle.
But Zhou Kui couldn't see the essence clearly, so he was deceived by others!
Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but think of his past self again. Thinking of his past self, he was similar to this Zhou Kui. Suddenly, he was a little ashamed!
Could it be that in the minds of those ministers, they were as easy to tease as Zhou Kui?
Thinking like this, his face became very ugly.
"I...I..." Zhou Kui still wanted to distinguish, but he found that he couldn't seem to find a reason.
Then in a blink of an eye, he suddenly found that Emperor Chongzhen's face was very ugly, and he was shocked. He thought that Emperor Chongzhen was really going to operate on him.
So, he was so frightened that he was sweating all over, and he began to beg for mercy a little incoherently: "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong! I won't dare to do it anymore..."
People from a small family are easily bewitched and petty, but they are also easily frightened! Especially when faced with the cannibalistic Emperor Chongzhen.
For the sake of the overall situation, remember your purpose...
After Emperor Chongzhen thought about it several times in his mind, he finally suppressed his anger and sent the order to court.