The monarch and his ministers had four dishes and one soup, but they also enjoyed the meal very happily. Zhang Huangyan sighed repeatedly, deeply feeling that the emperor's kindness was profound.
After the meal, he was given a pot of tea.
After drinking tea, Zhu Yihai even personally took him to the palace gate, where the palace eunuch Liu Chao brought him a tray covered with red silk.
"Cang Shui, you will go back to Guangdong immediately. I don't know when the next time I see you again. I'll give you some parting gifts today."
The red cloth is lifted.
Python jade gold medal sword medal.
A big purple python robe, a nine-ring jade belt, a goldfish talisman bag, a silver seal with a number, a Shang Fang sword, and a royal flag.
There are six items in total, and each one is incomparable.
This big purple python robe alone is the highest level of clothing. Since the Shao Dynasty, the emperor has been strict about the clothing system. He no longer gives clothes casually as in the past. The situation where eunuchs are all pythons is no longer the case.
Generally, only academicians can be given bullfighting and unicorns.
Only admirals, commanders, and other generals may be given flying fish.
As for the python robe, it is even more rare. Even if the prince is granted a title, he is rarely given a python.
But now Zhang Huangyan was given a purple python.
"What do you think you can do, I deserve this gift!"
He didn't know that the name Zhang Huangyan was very special to Zhu Yihai. He was one of the Three Heroes of West Lake, alongside Yue Fei and Yu Qian. Not to mention, Zhang Huangyan in the original historical time and space was not only Lu Jianguo's confidant, but also a confidant of Lu Jianguo.
It was the unyielding backbone of the Han people in the late Ming Dynasty.
This scholar spent his whole life explaining what loyalty is.
He persisted in resisting the Qing Dynasty for twenty years and had no regrets even though he died. Finally, he died heroically in Hangzhou.
This alone is enough for Zhu Yihai to treat him specially. What's more, he has always used Zhang Huangyan in a special way since he started his army, and his performance is also very good.
Even though in the past two years, many Yuan Cong who were at the beginning of the Zhejiang Eastern Uprising have now become academicians, ministers, ministers, governors and governors, etc., Zhang Huangyan is still just a patrol officer, but he has not complained at all.
Zhu Yihai had already written down such ministers in his little red book and reserved a place for him as a bachelor.
The python robe, jade belt, gold and silver charms are all just to allow this young man who was previously just a patrol governor to have more dignity in his appointment as governor of Guangdong and to be respected by the officials and people of Guangdong. After all, Zhang Huangyan is indeed very young, only twenty-seven years old.
, it’s just a matter of family background.
Although my father had served as a member of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, he was only a 27-year-old governor during the special founding period of the country. Otherwise, how could he convince the public?
Zhu Yihai specially gave the purple python, jade belt and gold fish talisman just to take advantage of him.
These all show that the emperor's favored ministers are far beyond the ordinary governor's favor and trust.
The latter three are even more unusual.
The title-granting of silver medals actually originated from Renxuan and was carried forward by Jiajing. Jiajing, a foreign vassal, succeeded to the throne and it was not easy to control the court. After the great ceremony, he awarded silver medals to the ministers who supported him.
There are also four-character titles on the silver medal, such as loyalty and forbearance, loyalty and integrity, loyalty and quietness, etc. Ministers who have the imperial silver medal have the right to give the emperor a silver seal.
This is actually the earliest secret folding system.
Jiajing gave several close ministers silver seals, and then secretly communicated with them on a single line to discuss major political affairs, leaving the rest of the court behind.
This was quite remarkable at the time. After all, all memorials from ministers had to go through the General Affairs Department and the Cabinet, and were even made public.
Only the cabinet ministers have the right to disclose secrets to the emperor. Even the secrets of the cabinet must be known to the entire cabinet and are not real secrets.
Therefore, Jiajing gave silver seals to his close ministers, so that they could have the right to have direct access to heaven without having to go through other people. It was completely confidential and would not be copied and archived by the six departments afterwards.
It is tantamount to giving it to one's own confidants in disguise, and is not the core power of cabinet ministers.
However, in the later years of Jiajing, when he took control of the government and the public, he no longer granted silver seals. Later, Yongzheng and Kangxi of the Tatars carried forward this system and no longer used dense silver seals.
There are more than a thousand officials in power.
However, Zhu Yihai also launched a secret memorial system before, and the scale was even greater.
The effect is pretty good, but the silver seal was really not available before.
Zhu Yihai personally handed over the silver seal to Zhang Huangyan.
Zhang Huangyan came from a family of officials, so he naturally knew about the secret allusions of the silver seal. Even before, he was on patrol and had obtained the right to report secretly to the emperor. He often reported secretly to the emperor.
Hold the silver seal in your hand and read the words on it.
"Emperor Lai Zhongliang."
When he saw these four words, he was stunned.
Isn't this the silver seal that Emperor Wanli rewarded Zhang Juzheng? In Wanli's time, the system of dense silver seals was actually gone, but Emperor Wanli still gave several silver seals to ministers. Zhang Juzheng's name was these four characters, but at that time
, the silver seal only represents a kind of honor, not the role it had during the Jiajing period.
"Zhang Juzheng was the first assistant to the Wanli Dynasty in our dynasty. Although some people call him a powerful official, in terms of his governance, he is the greatest politician after Wang Anshi. His whipping method and other reforms also made great contributions to the country.
Today I am giving you the silver seal of loyalty given to Zhang Juzheng by Wanli. I want to tell you that now we are also carrying out great reforms, even far exceeding the reforms of Zhang Jiangling. I am not Shenzong, and you are not Zhang Jiangling.
, but I hope that our monarchs and ministers can create a better situation.
I will give you three to five years, and I hope you can live up to my expectations.
In the future, when you have successfully returned to the court, you will pay homage to the prime minister and enter the cabinet!"
"This Sword of Shangfang and the flag of King's Order are both to give you power and power. Anyone who dares to hinder you from carrying out the imperial government's new policy reform plan will be killed first and then reported!"
Zhang Huangyan held this small silver seal and didn't know what to say.
"Your Majesty is in Guangdong. If you have anything to do, you can report it directly to me. If it is urgent and important, stamp it with the silver seal of the emperor's loyal minister, and you can guarantee that it will be rushed to me eight hundred miles away without any delay."
Zhang Huangyan felt extremely excited in his chest.
Finally, he bowed deeply to the emperor and left with tears in his eyes.
······
After sending Zhang Huangyan away, Zhu Yihai was so excited that he could not calm down for a long time.
He turned around and picked up a pen and wrote directly on the screen behind the throne in the imperial study behind him, the seven characters "Zhang Cangshui, Emperor Lai's loyal minister."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After a long time, Zhu Yihai calmed down and continued to review the memorial.
Wen Hu, the assistant counselor of the left side of Shence Town, wrote a memorial. When he talked about Xie Qian's killing of Sun Zhixian, when he saw the fate of Sun Zhixian described by him, which was worse than that of a pig or a dog, he couldn't help but write a reply directly, "He deserves it."
However, after seeing how Xie Qian punished the Sun and Han families later, he couldn't help but frown a little.
All the men with a sword above the waist were beheaded, all the men with a sword below the waist were castrated and sent to the palace as tribute, all married women were sold into brothels as prostitutes, and unmarried girls were required to pay tribute to the palace.
He picked up the pen again and wrote a reply to Wen Hu, telling Wen Hu that the castrated boys from the Sun and Han families should not be sent to Tokyo. My palace does not want to use them, and neither should the women be sent.
Send them all to Taiwan, take out those who were sold to brothels, and exile them all to Taiwan.
This was the emperor's last bit of mercy.
There is no way to deal with people like Sun Zhixian too much, but those young children cannot help but make people feel pitiable. In the end, it is considered to be a liberal one. I hope they can support themselves in Taiwan.
The content of Wen Hu's secret book is quite long, and there is no format. It is all in vernacular. I write whatever comes to my mind. One moment, the weather is good in Zichuan, another moment, the corn harvest has just begun, and the next moment, the coal mines and porcelain kilns here are working.
It's pretty good.
Then Zichuan County is quite beautiful.
He rambled on and on, and even said that he had given the emperor some local specialties from Zichuan.
Finally, he said that because of Xie Qian's powerful method of killing the Sun thief, the gentry in Zichuan were greatly frightened. Now they took the initiative to pay the tax arrears to the new county magistrate Gu Xianshou, return the occupied fields, and reissue mining licenses, etc.
Even local county officials are proactive in filling the shortfall.
In a short period of time, the Qing Dynasty withdrew from countless land occupations, took the initiative to declare many hidden reclaimed lands, etc., and paid many tax arrears, most of which were converted into gold and silver and put into treasury.
Gu Xianshou announced to the county the emperor's benevolent policy, and that all past debts and debts would be waived. This year's land, land, silver, etc. would be exempted. However, the gentry said that they wanted to help pay and reward the army and make contributions to His Majesty. Wen Hu said that he had heard about this
This was what Gu Xianshou and others taught the squires so that they could collect the money and grain into the treasury.
Now Gu Xianshou has sent a team of village warriors to hand over the money and grain to Qingzhou Mansion.
However, as far as he knew, Gu Xianshou and others, new local officials, were relatively well-behaved and did not take the opportunity to greedy for money. All the money and food were indeed handed over by the gentry on their own initiative, as salary and donations.
Looking at these secret music, Zhu Yihai picked up the tea cup and tasted it carefully.
Gu Xianshou and the others did do this with the intention of achieving political achievements, but those squires were frightened by Xie Qian, not because Gu Xianshou threatened them, nor did they force them to be recruited.
It is true that the money and food that were paid were owed or misappropriated by the powerful gentry in the past, and there is nothing wrong with them being willing to pay up now.
Zhu Yihai indeed issued an edict to waive all past debts and deficits in the Jiangbei area. After all, the way these places are now, it is not easy to recover the debts. Besides, for the sake of stability, it is better to just waive them and save this bad debt.
I don’t know for sure, but I’m not so short of money and food now, so this can appease people’s hearts.
After all, Jiangbei is now the front line against the prisoners.
With this policy, in the future, the gentry and powerful people in the Tatar-controlled areas will probably no longer be of the same mind as the Tatars, and will secretly support the Ming Dynasty, and even support, join, etc.
Finished a cup of tea.
Zhu Yihai also made some calculations and decided that since people like Zichuan took the initiative to make up for the payment and withdraw, he would just accept it.
However, the powerful gentry in these places still need to be appeased.
He picked up his pen and wrote.
For these Zichuan gentry who raised money and grain to support their salaries, an archway was built to commend them, and they were given the qualification to send their sons to study in the Imperial College.
An archway and the qualification to supervise students may seem inconspicuous, but Zhu Yihai knows very well that in fact these things are still very important.
After all, he was just facing a country squire from a county town.
In addition, according to the example of donating officials, those who reach the corresponding donation amount can also be awarded the corresponding San rank. For example, if you donate 500 taels, you can be awarded a ninth-grade San rank. If you donate 5,000 taels, you can be awarded a seventh-grade San rank.
, if anyone donates 50,000 taels, then he should be given a fifth-grade official and be rewarded with silver feathers.
Zhu Yihai did not blame Gu Xianshou and other Zichuan local officials for their actions. No matter what, the result was still very good. He recovered ten years of unpaid debts, paid off so much money and food, and even paid off the mines in Zichuan.
Fields, workshops, and shops were all registered and standardized at once, which facilitated future tax collection and other matters.
They still deserve credit, so they should be commended and recorded in the assessment.
He got up, came to the map on the side, and looked at the map of Shandong.
Zhu Yihai pondered.
The Ming army has launched an offensive in Shandong. For more than a year, the Ming army has been making small fuss in Shandong, focusing on containment and harassment, which made the Tatars in Xuzhou and Jinan extremely uncomfortable.
He wanted to fight a decisive battle, but the Ming army did not give him a chance. He gathered troops and horses, harassed his supply line, and even threatened his rear.
He retreated to defend the city, so he cleaned up his surroundings.
The Qing army also launched several attacks and even carried out raids, but now the Ming army is in Shandong, with forts everywhere and fortified cities everywhere, especially in the countryside. The roads and intelligence lines are smooth, and the news is timely. As soon as they are dispatched, the news spreads
Out.
Every time they came up short.
I couldn't help but want to attack a few castles and strongholds, but in the end I found that the Ming troops stationed there were too powerful, and the Ming troops on all sides moved quickly. If there were police on one side, the other places would surround them.
You will be surrounded at any time.
Anyway, they have been fighting like this for more than a year. The Tatars have become more and more difficult, unable to get more supplies and reinforcements, trapped in the city of Chou, and even completely lost control of the countryside.
On the contrary, the Ming army was like a fish in water.
Now that the time is right, Zhu Yihai prepares for a full-scale counterattack, dispatching several forces at the same time and advancing all the way.
In the end, it is necessary to capture one of the two important towns of Xuzhou or Jinan. The Tatars will either have to hold on to each, but in the end they will not have enough troops and will be defeated. Or they will abandon one and defend the other, and the Ming army can easily occupy an important town.
If they dared to defend both ends and tried to divide their forces, the Ming army could besiege the city for reinforcements, or even take the opportunity to capture another city.
At this stage, Zhu Yihai is confident that he has the ability to tackle difficult problems.
Before, he didn't dare to attack the big town or face a decisive battle, but now he is no longer afraid.
Shence's army left Qingzhou and advanced in two directions.
Zhongsu and other people from several towns also launched an attack together and swept all the way.
Zichuan Town was only a small part of this major counterattack. It almost fell without a fight. The response of the Zichuan gentry and people was very good.
In the current autumn harvest season, soldiers and horses can even resupply on the spot along the way, which also greatly reduces the burden of food and grass supply.
Xie Qian is a ruthless character.
His White Robe Club, together with Ding Keze, was reorganized into the Zichuan regiment training camp and was given the camp name White Horse. It was also a rare riding camp.
In essence, there is no difference between Xie Qian and the Yuyuan Army. These people are not exactly peasant armies, nor are they necessarily rebels.
In times of war and turmoil, everything is based on survival. What's more, Xie Qian is from the White Lotus Sect. In the past, when he attacked local tyrants to steal money and food, not every local tycoon and landowner he killed was a traitor like Sun Zhixian.
Of course, in this era, many things cannot be studied deeply, nor should they be studied deeply.
Since Xie Qian chose to surrender to the imperial court and accept reorganization, Zhu Yihai would forget about the past.
From now on, he will eat the food of the imperial court and serve the imperial government. It doesn't matter where Xie Qian is from or what he has done, as long as he does a good job in the future.
Just like Shunying and Xiying.
It is said that after Zhang Xianzhong died, among his four adopted sons, Zhu Yihai was granted the title of Hou Bo and the title of General.
He has always emphasized that as long as he surrenders to the imperial court, fights against the Tartars together, and revives the Ming Dynasty together, the rest can be forgotten.
"Give the Zichuan regiment training guerrilla Xie Qian a golden mace and two royal horses, and the garrison Ding Keze a golden whip and a royal horse."
"Give the divine counselor Wen Hu two horses, a telescope, and two self-generated fire-hand blunderbuss."
