"Ms. sir, what's wrong?" The red lady naturally knew that Li Yan had lied just now.
And since she and Li Yan had been together in the past, it was clear that Li Yan had been depressed during this period.
Although she had some guesses in her mind, she didn't say them outright.
After hearing this, Li Yan turned to stare at her. Suddenly, his expression became resolute. He immediately ordered the female soldiers of Hong Niangzi's bodyguard to close the door and not let anyone in. Then, he pulled Hong Niang.
The lady sat down on the coffee table with her hands, and then asked the red lady with a serious expression: "What do you think of the notices from the imperial court?"
"A notice?" Seeing how solemn he was, Madam Hong also turned serious. She thought about it seriously before saying, "Is it a notice to kill Zuo Liangyu?"
Li Yan listened and nodded.
When the red lady saw him, she answered him: "It's quite surprising. In the past, it seemed that no matter what Zuo Liangyu did, the court would at most give him a punishment and meritorious service, and then nothing would happen. What should he do?
Anyway!"
"That's right!" Li Yan nodded seriously and said, "It can be seen that the imperial court has really made up its mind this time. It dares to strictly enforce laws and disciplines for the commander-in-chief who holds heavy troops! I feel that the emperor has indeed changed!"
Having said this, he suddenly stood up, walked to the desk, pulled out a few pieces of paper from a pile of papers, looked at it himself, then walked back to the coffee table, spread out the papers, and then said to Hong
The lady said: "This is the newspaper I asked you to collect before."
The red lady listened and nodded. Of course he knew the imperial newspaper, but she didn't know most of the words.
Of course, Li Yan also knew this, so he pointed to a few articles and said: "Madam, please read, the imperial palace newspaper said that the emperor has decreed that all the gardens of all government offices, civil and military officials, etc., should plant a kind of
Something called sweet potato. And here, this news is that the emperor ordered the Ministry of Personnel to assess the performance of local officials, one of which is the yield of this sweet potato. It also states that original grain fields are not allowed to be invaded. And this
…”
The red lady followed his finger and looked at it. She didn't know the words, but that didn't stop her from nodding in response.
Li Yan pointed at the contents of the newspaper and explained to the red lady. After talking for a long time, he took back his hand and said seriously to the red lady: "It can be seen from these news that the emperor is paying the most attention now."
Regarding people's livelihood, filling people's stomachs is the top priority. If these measures are implemented, even if they are cut in half, I estimate that many people can survive."
At this point, he paused and suddenly sighed and said: "I don't know how many people have died in the north due to years of war, famine, natural and man-made disasters. Your Majesty attaches so much importance to these things now, I estimate that in the future, there will be more people in the north."
It’s hard to be hungry anymore.”
After hearing this, the red lady sneered and said, "What has this old emperor been doing?"
She comes from a poor family, and it can be said that she has experienced all the joys and sorrows of the world. And for a woman, she will remember these things more clearly. Therefore, it would be a lie to say that she has a good impression of the government!
Li Yan did not answer directly to Lady Hong's words. Then he pointed to the news in the newspaper and said to Lady Hong: "Madam, look here again. This is the property of Zhou Yanru, the chief minister of the imperial court who confiscated the house before. And this,
This is Chen Xinjia, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, who copied the family. This is the Duke of Cheng, who was granted the title of Duke when he was the ancestor. And here are the eight major Shanxi merchants from Tonglu, and these are the top ten salt merchants in Yangzhou..."
At this point, he retracted his finger and continued: "In addition, Sun Chuanting raided the palace of Wei Huilu before. Of course, this must be the emperor's will, otherwise Sun Chuanting would not dare. From these things, you found out
What?"
When the red lady heard the question, she said without thinking: "I think the emperor is addicted to confiscation of homes and has disowned his relatives!"
"..." When Li Yan heard this, he was a little speechless. After he came to his senses, he had to say to himself, "Didn't you notice? The emperor no longer levied taxes on the people, but on those high-ranking officials and corrupt officials.
There are also those profiteers who have taken action. With money and food, we can train a strong army, which can even win against the rebels, and pay attention to people's livelihood, so the people will no longer suffer as before!"
"Well, that's pretty much it. It's like being an emperor!" After hearing this, the red lady nodded with approval.
For ordinary people, the emperor is generally good, but there are treacherous ministers around him. Only the more extreme ones will scold the emperor.
As for the Red Lady, she is considered to be more extreme. Scolding the emperor is not a problem for her. However, what she hates more is naturally corrupt officials and profiteers who can't afford to start early because she has been hurt.
The most direct source is these people.
Now that Emperor Chongzhen is attacking these people, for the Red Lady's simple view of right and wrong, it means that the emperor is good!
After hearing this, Li Yan did not comment on her words, but continued to say what he wanted to say: "There is also the previous one, saying that the emperor discovered a method to prevent and cure smallpox, and that after vaccination, you will never get smallpox again.
.And even the pimple disease can be removed, and it is said that it is caused by fleas on rats biting people..."
"You mean, the emperor also has medical skills, which is better than that of the royal doctor?" Upon hearing this, the red lady said a little doubtfully, "Could it be that his brother likes carpentry and he likes medical skills, so he doesn't do his job, and the people are miserable?
Bar?"
Li Yan was almost confused after hearing this. Why do women always think in a strange way?
When he came to his senses, he ignored the red lady's conclusion and said directly: "Have you noticed that the emperor has changed and become wise and powerful? Knowing what to do is the most beneficial thing for Ming Dynasty. If this continues, I'm sure
, the imperial court appears to be rejuvenating!"
"That means it's useless for us to rebel?" The red lady's response this time was exactly what Li Yan wanted.
Therefore, he nodded and said: "If the emperor is fatuous, the ministers are incompetent, and the people have no life, then rising up may not be impossible to change the dynasty. But if the emperor is wise, the ministers are capable, and the people can live, then who would think of rebellion? Don't look at today,
It seems that both the Central Plains and the South are in chaos, but I dare to say that if this continues, the days of peace in the world will not be far away!"
The Red Lady was not surprised when Li Yan said these words. Because at the beginning, Li Yan had no intention of rebelling at all. Forced by the situation, he finally embarked on the path of rebellion.
Moreover, Li Yan had different ideas from the general and had a conflict with Liu Zongmin.
While she was thinking about it, Li Yan continued: "As for the rebels in the world, the most powerful one is the general. However, the general is short-sighted. Sometimes, for the sake of immediate interests, he ignores the future. He pursues stolen money and pays.
Li Zicheng's policy was delayed and did not change, and he was not followed by more scholars; he was forced to excavate the Yellow River embankments in a hurry, and lost popular support; he also fought against his brother Luo Rucai for many years, and lost military morale; all these things, I dare to say that Li Zicheng is absolutely difficult to
It’s become a climate!”
After talking about it later, he changed his name to Li Zicheng, calling him by his first name, no longer showing respect.
After hearing this, the red lady's expression immediately became serious, she turned her head to look in the direction of the door, then turned back to look at Li Yan, and said affectionately: "I said before, whatever you do, I will do. In short, in this life,
, I’m committed to you!”
Of course Li Yan understood her heart, so he reached out, held the red lady's hand tightly and said: "Of course I understand your lady's heart, otherwise it would be impossible to say these words. The court has already issued a notice, except for Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin.
Except for amnesty, everyone else can be recruited. The fifth camp of Gezuo also accepted the recruitment! Therefore, I thought that I would take advantage of the opportunity to break camp and join the imperial court. Maybe I can live a peaceful life in the future!"
The life of men farming and women weaving has always been the most desirable thing for people in troubled times.
After hearing this, the red lady couldn't help but immediately showed a happy smile, but said in a low voice: "But...but I can't hold an embroidery needle, and I can only wield a sword. I can't go to the street to perform in the future, right?"
As soon as he heard this, Li Yan laughed and said immediately: "Don't worry, if your husband is here, how can you let your wife go out and perform on the street!"
After a pause, he said with a serious expression: "We have to leave as soon as possible and rush to tell Mr. Sun the news that Li Zicheng is going to Sichuan. In this way, we may be able to get some rewards..."
"Ah?" When the red lady heard this, she looked quite hesitant and seemed to disagree with this approach.
Li Yan saw her and immediately said to her: "Madam, think about it, if Li Zicheng is allowed to enter Sichuan, how many people in Shu will suffer? It is rare to see broken walls and bones everywhere during military disasters.
Is it okay? Wouldn’t it be good to end the troubled times as soon as possible and live a peaceful life as soon as possible?”
Hearing this, the red lady's face became solemn. She finally nodded and said seriously: "My husband is right. I don't want to see that either."
Seeing that he had convinced her, Li Yan immediately said: "If we have to bypass Zuo Liangyu's headquarters and rush to report to Master Sun, we will be very tight on time, so we should leave as soon as possible!"
"Okay!" After hearing this, the red lady did not hesitate and immediately nodded in agreement.
Therefore, Li Yan and Lady Hong got ready immediately. They basically didn't bring anything with them. They just brought their trusted female soldiers with them. On the pretext of patrolling, they left Xiangyang at high speed while all the battalions were busy breaking out.
In the evening of the same day, Gao Yigong, who was in charge of sentry duty, returned to the city and reported to Li Zicheng the news of Zuo Liangyu's troops, saying that Zuo Liangyu's troops would arrive at the border of Xiangyang in about two days.
Li Zicheng naturally didn't care about this, because in two days, his army would have marched westward into Shu.
What he didn't expect was that he heard Gao Yigong ask: "Since we are all about to break camp and march westward, I wonder what else the general will send brother Li Yan and Hong Meizi to do?"
When he came back, he met him. When asked, he said that he was acting on the order of the general. He didn't care at the time. But after returning to Xiangyang, he learned about Li Zicheng's military order to march west to Shu. It was a bit strange. He said it smoothly.