Chapter 214 Both sides are raising their own dignity
Chongzhen's latest reward decree for Zhu Shuren was sent from the capital towards the end of mid-March.
The person delivering the order is still the prince who went to supervise the army before. The journey back to Beijing will take longer than the previous trip. It will take about late April to arrive in Chongqing, which will take more than a month.
The reason why it took so long was, on the one hand, that the order did not need to be rushed this time and could be carried out more relaxedly.
Secondly, on the return trip, the 1,500-mile Yangtze River from Jiangling to Chongqing is going upstream, so the sailing speed will be much slower. This section of the river alone will take five or six days longer than traveling downstream.
On the third day, Chongzhen also realized that it was very troublesome to send orders to Sichuan once, so he had to get more things done each time. Therefore, he also added a clause in his order, asking the prince to stop in Wuchang when he went south.
Pick up the escorts from Prince Lu's Mansion and Chongzhen's cousin, the young princess Zhu Yuchan.
Taking advantage of the title of governor, he directly granted marriage to Zhu Shuren and settled the matter, thus saving him troubles in the future.
The prince himself did not need to go to Hefei to find King Lu. Chongzhen would naturally ask Wang Chengen to send two more eunuchs to take the Grand Canal and travel south to Hefei and Nanjing respectively.
On the way to Hefei, I naturally notified Chongzhen's Uncle Prince Lu, so that everyone in Prince Lu's Mansion could prepare in advance to send the little princess off.
On the way to Nanjing, of course, I went to see Shen Tingyang, the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing - in the Ming Dynasty, when nobles got married, there was no reason for the woman to send her daughter directly to the door, so where would the woman put her face?
Outsiders who don't know about it think that they are forced to move out because they can't get married.
What's more, in Prince Lu's Mansion, this is a prince marrying a princess. If something goes wrong, the honor of the royal family will be lost. You must not be negligent.
Therefore, even if the military affairs were in disarray during the war, and Zhu Shuren could not come to pick up the bride in person because he was supervising the war, at least the Shen family would have to send someone to come to Hefei to give gifts, accept gifts, and drink wine to get married.
After Shen Tingyang and Prince Lu personally handed over, the little princess also paid a visit to her parents-in-law. Shen Tingyang could go back to Nanjing, and then asked Xu to take her daughter-in-law to Wuchang first, meet the eunuch who passed the decree, and then go to Sichuan together, so she reluctantly
It can save the face of Prince Lu's palace.
In this way, it is not that Prince Lu's palace showed his unmarried daughter and sent her to Chongqing to be married. Instead, she paid homage to her parents-in-law first, and the mother-in-law took her daughter-in-law to visit her husband.
Finally, in Chongqing, I just added a "husband and wife worship". (In ancient times, only the man's elders were worshiped at the high hall, not the woman's, so Zhu Shuren did not need to worship his parents-in-law, and he did not need to go to Hefei, which was acceptable to Prince Lu's Mansion)
…
The relevant edicts were sent to Nanjing and Hefei respectively on March 25th. It only took seven days to set off from Beijing, which was considered very fast, traveling more than 300 miles a day.
The decree sent to Nanjing certainly did not mention Zhu Shuren's promotion to governor.
After all, one thing is another, Nanjing and Hefei only need to know about the marriage grant, the rest has nothing to do with them, the promotion order is sent directly to Chongqing.
Therefore, Shen Tingyang was deprived of the ecstasy of double happiness. He could not know about his son's promotion and his marriage in one day.
But this was enough for Shen Tingyang. It can even be said that Chongzhen's arrangement objectively avoided the risk of Shen Tingyang's hypertension.
Otherwise, if so much glory hits his head all at once, it is possible that Shen Tingyang will be so excited that he becomes insane like Fan Jin.
As it is now, even if he was mentally prepared, after receiving the order, Shen Tingyang couldn't help but go back to his house where the ancestors were temporarily placed (not a formal ancestral hall, the official ancestral hall is in his hometown of Taicang, Suzhou, here in Nanjing)
The minister's residence only has a temporary hall for memorial tablets),
With snot and tears, she burned incense for her ancestors and murmured about how promising the descendants of the Shen family were: "Father, grandfather, you have all seen it... we, the Shen family, can be married to the princess of Prince Lu's palace by the emperor, and our ancestors will be honored."
…”
After Shen Tingyang stabilized his mood, he confirmed the etiquette, property, and scale needed to welcome the bride, and then with a stroke of his pen, everything was arranged according to the top grid.
Anyway, the Shen family has nothing but money!
In the past two years, Xiaowan spinning machines and flying shuttle looms have continued to develop vigorously. The Shen family's textile business has almost monopolized Nanzhili, and any item has a revenue of one million taels. As for the Yellow Sea Sea Trade
, it has always been a monopoly, and the imperial court's water transport capacity has been increasing at a rate of several percent every year.
The Shen family's least profitable business has an annual income of about one or two million, and the income of more is three or four million, which is not enough to cover the entire business.
When Zhu Shuren first took up the title of governor in the 14th year of Chongzhen, the wealth of the Shen family was about one-third that of the Zheng Zhilong family (history was only about one-twentieth of the Zheng family).
Now after more than a year and a half of development, the Shen family's wealth has snowballed to more than half of the Zheng family's! It has almost reached 60%, and the catching up is extremely fast!
If this growth curve remains unchanged and according to this ratio, within two or three years, the Shen family's wealth will equal or even surpass that of Zheng Zhilong.
Under such circumstances, how can the eldest young master of the Shen family save money by marrying the eldest young mistress?
Within just a few days, everything was ready.
In addition, because the wedding process this time is quite special, the groom himself will not appear, but the husband's family will send someone to serve wine to welcome the bride, so it is necessary to invite some more guests as witnesses - somewhat similar in nature to the witnesses of later generations, but different.
.
Considering that the Shen family went to work on the land in Hefei, and here in Nanjing, Shen Tingyang was already the Minister of the Six Southern Ministries, and there was no one with an obviously higher status than him. There was no local official in Hefei who had a higher status than Shen.
Tingyang is high.
Finally, we negotiated and confirmed with Prince Lu's Mansion, and invited the Governor of Water Transport and Shi Kefa, who had just served as the Minister of War in Nanjing this year, as the chief guests to witness.
Naturally, Shen Tingyang had to give generous gifts to the guests who were witnessing the wedding. Not to mention, an upright official like Shi Kefa was so excited when he received several buckets of Korean pearls from Shen Tingyang.
However, Shen Tingyang was just reciprocating a daily favor, not bribing him to bend the law for personal gain. Shi Kefa had no reason to refuse, so he had to accept it.
…
As soon as Shen Tingyang took action, his etiquette was definitely not only shocking to Shi Kefa.
On the day when the Shen family arrived in Hefei, King Zhu Changzi of Lu was stunned when he saw the invitations and gift lists sent in advance.
No matter how rich Prince Lu's palace is, the combined savings and family property of the two generations in the past forty years are less than 10 million. During the previous escape, more than 2 million were scattered, and all the real estate of the palace was lost.
into the enemy's hands.
Now that Zhu Changzi can take it with him, he can get all the fine property in Hefei, which adds up to only two million taels.
Seeing the betrothal gift sent by the Shen family, Zhu Changzi felt that he was a bit unable to handle the return gift from Prince Lu's palace.
Finally, his daughter Zhu Yuchan reminded him privately: "Father, your reputation for elegance is known all over the world, so why should you care about the size of your property? I heard that the Shen family has been a maritime merchant for generations, and when Shen Shangshu donated an official to become an official, he did not ask for any money in return. , I just want to be decent. If you give back some elegant things made by the palace, Shangshu Shen will definitely be happy."
Zhu Changzi thought it made sense, so when Shen Tingyang came to visit, Zhu Changzi was at the banquet, also in front of Shi Kefa and other important guests, and Yun Dan calmly returned the greeting to Shen Tingyang:
"The Shen Ge Department is so rich that it rivals the country. It is really enviable. I am just an idle man in the mountains. My life's interests are only to study ancient times and study music. Some trivial things may be looked down upon by the Shen Ge Department."
Then, he sent someone a row of Boshan stoves and other incense burners supervised by Prince Lu's Mansion, a pile of expensive incense, a set of antique chimes that he had painted himself, and several personally made "Lu Qin".
Shen Tingyang was originally a nouveau riche. It was only in his generation that the Shen family became a maritime merchant, and they began to give away official positions with real power. It turned out that those who were higher up were just those with rank but no real power, so of course Shen Tingyang also liked to be arty to decorate his appearance. of.
The musical instruments produced by Prince Lu's Mansion were the best in the world during the Chongzhen Dynasty. From harps to chimes to incense burners, which one was not the most elegant thing?
Shen Tingyang was overjoyed after receiving this gift. He thanked the prince repeatedly for the generous gift. He also said that after returning home, he would definitely enshrine these bronze incense burners.
As for those musical instruments...he will definitely urge his son to learn music well in the future so that his son and daughter-in-law can play the instruments in harmony.
Other guests at the meeting couldn't help but come over to watch, such as Shi Kefa and others, who also knew some music and were much more elegant than the Shen family. When they saw these Luqin pieces, they all praised them.
"What a wonderful piano! Absolutely unique!"
"There is indeed a huge difference between the ordinary Luqins that cost thousands of taels each on the market and the ones carefully selected by the prince himself."
Shen Tingyang was not very knowledgeable at first, but after hearing other people's comments, he felt a little ashamed and felt more and more that he was really vulgar.
In this way, one side of the two sides feels that the other side is really rich and unfathomable, and the other side feels that this place is really noble and elegant beyond description, and the situation becomes harmonious and equal.
Neither the husband's family looks down on the mother's family nor the mother's family looks down on the husband's family. Everyone has their own respect and needs.
A banquet was held for three days at the temporary Prince Lu's Mansion, and then Shen Tingyang returned to Nanjing. Mrs. Xu also set off again with her daughter-in-law who had paid homage to Gaotang, and they would meet in Wuchang before going to Chongqing.
…
It would take more than half a month for the eunuchs and the team from Prince Lu's Mansion to send off the bride to Sichuan.
However, this speed did not affect Zhu Shuren's layout and war advancement in Bashu, because Zhu Shuren had estimated in advance that Wang Chengen and Chen Xinjia would have a high probability of persuading Chongzhen to send Cao Bianjiao to Hanzhong to set up defenses in the Dashan Pass area.
There may be deviations in the specific candidates, but it is definitely necessary to send someone.
Chongzhen already hated Zhang Xianzhong so much that he certainly wanted to kill the traitor chief who dug up his family's ancestral graves and would never let him escape.
However, Cao Bianjiao first crossed the Yellow River westward from Hedong and Pingyang, entered Guanzhong, then went to Chencang, and then entered Chencang Road to Hanzhong. Even with only a few thousand troops, the march would take more than half a month.
The march of an army is much slower than that of a courier delivering a message. One can travel hundreds of miles a day, while another can travel up to seventy or eighty miles a day.
From Beijing to Taiyuan to Hedong to Chencang and then to Hanzhong, the total mileage for delivering the letter was about 1,200 miles, and the subsequent march was nearly 1,500 miles, which took more than a month in total.
Therefore, since Zhu Shuren had anticipated this situation, he would hold his troops temporarily and would not rush to attack Zhang Xianzhong's heart before Cao Bianjiao or anyone else had deployed Hanzhong's defenses.
Otherwise, if Zhang Xianzhong is forced to flee north and enter Hanzhong in advance, and another piece of territory is harmed, it will be waste of haste and complicate the problem.
Of course, not alerting the enemy in advance does not mean that other military actions will not be taken in more than a month. Zhu Shuren still needs to make adjustments and explanations to the frontline deployment.
Therefore, as early as a few days after Zhang Huangyan sent a letter, reporting that Sun Kewang had divided his troops to defend Leshan and strangle the Dadu River fortress on the Minjiang River, that is, when Zhu Shuren had just sent the prince and his father-in-law back to Beijing, Zhu Shuren immediately sent a reply letter to Zhang Huangyan, telling him that
Zhang Huangyan held back Sun Kewang and tried to divide Sun Kewang.
He also sent a staff member who was eloquent and good at explaining from the perspective of the overall situation to convey to Zhang Huangyan and Fang Kongzhen why he did what he did - in fact, Zhang Huangyan didn't need to explain too much, mainly explaining to Liu Guoneng, and also
There are Fang Kongzheng, Qin Liangyu and others.
Zhu Shuren didn't have many eloquent people around him, so this role naturally fell to Gu Yanwu.
Gu Yanwu set out on February 19th, and around February 25th, he arrived in Neijiang and Leshan successively, conveying Zhu Shuren's advice.
After Zhang Huangyan received the order, he didn't quite understand it at first: "Zhang Xianzhong is entrenched in Chengdu. Every few days, the people suffer more, and the spring plowing is also affected. Why should we slow down the progress?"
Zhu Shuren's original intention, of course, also had another consideration, that is, he did not hope that after killing Zhang Xianzhong, Chongzhen would immediately find an excuse to transfer him north to Beijing to serve as King Qin.
Therefore, Zhu Shuren hoped that after Zhang Xianzhong's death, Sun Kewang's untied remnants could be used as an excuse for him to support the bandits and delay it for another year and a half.
After all, it has been Chongzhen for sixteen years, and it is not too much to delay it for half a year with a military excuse. Wu Sangui could delay it for half a year, why can't he Zhu Shuren?
But he couldn't say this, not even to Zhang Huangyan, so Zhu Shuren didn't even tell Gu Yanwu. He just asked Gu Yanwu to publicly say another reason:
"Zhang Daotai, you are not an outsider. You have been fighting alongside Mr. Guoxing for many years. Don't you still believe him? He is trying to ask for orders from the imperial court through the prince.
Let the imperial court send another group of troops to Hanzhong to first block the opening where Zhang Xianzhong might escape northward after defeating him, and then engage in a decisive battle with him. Although the people of Chengdu may suffer for a few more months, they can avoid the poison from spreading to more places.
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In addition, Mr. Guo Xing estimated that Sun Kewang, who asked to divide his troops at this time, might have a different heart for Zhang Xianzhong. We must make full use of this. Mr. Guo Xing thought of a way to test Sun Kewang's sincerity. "
Zhang Huangyan raised his eyebrows and humbly asked for advice: "I would like to hear the details!"
Gu Yanwu asked someone to get a map. After unfolding it, he recounted the strategy Zhu Shuren taught him: "Zhang Daotai, please look at the intersection of the Qingyi River (Dado River) and the Min River, which is Leshan. Around Leshan, the confluence of the two rivers is
There are three county towns and guard posts in the three-pronged land.
To the east of the Minjiang River is Leshan County and Jiadingwei. To the west of the Minjiang River and north of the Qingyi River is Jiajiang County; to the west of the Minjiang River and south of the Qingyi River is Emei County.
If our army wants to march into Chengdu from here, it is necessary to storm Leshan County and Jiading Guards to the east of the Minjiang River, but it does not necessarily have to be completely eliminated to the west of the Minjiang River. Even if we let it go, it will still remain in the hands of the thieves, and our army's
Warships and troop transport ships can still pass..."
When Zhang Huangyan heard this, he immediately interrupted: "Isn't this too risky? It goes against the common sense of the art of war. If Jiajiang County and Emei County are not cleared, what if the siege of Chengdu continues to be protracted after our main force has passed, and transportation from the Minjiang River will be necessary.
grain.
And our grain fleet cannot be protected by heavy troops every time. What if Sun Kewang takes advantage of the situation to rob the grain? Wouldn't our army suffer heavy losses? In this march along the river, the reason why every confluence of waterways must be cleared is not for the sake of grain.
road."
Gu Yanwu was just a messenger, and of course he would not be angry when faced with doubts. He just explained in a friendly manner: "So, Mr. Guo Xing also prepared a second move. He hopes that you, Zhang Daotai, can try to contact Sun Kewang secretly, at least
It is also a combination of kindness and power to reach a tacit understanding.
For example, we first used a thunderous force to capture Leshan County, showing that if our army is willing to fight, regardless of the cost, it is absolutely capable of destroying Sun Kewang. However, after capturing Leshan, we are not in a hurry to cross to Minxi to expand our results, and we can let Sun Kewang do it.
Continue to occupy Emei, Jiajiang and other places.
Our army just pretended not to care about the way back, bypassed Sun Kewang with a small number of troops and marched north along the Minjiang River, but used heavy troops to protect the grain. As long as Sun Kewang came to rob the grain, he would be severely beaten! If Sun Kewang did not come to rob the grain, we would have been escorting the heavy troops to run away in vain.
One trip.
After doing this for two or three times, if Sun Kewang never robs food, it means that he understands the tacit understanding between the two, and we can continue not to offend each other.
However, under the pressure of Zhang Xianzhong's remote order, Sun Kewang sent troops to rob food once. After being beaten and hurt, he did not dare to go out again. Mr. Guo Xing asked you to spread rumors in Chengdu, saying only that our army had reached a secret agreement with Sun Kewang.
As long as he refuses to save Zhang Xianzhong in the subsequent battle of Chengdu, our army will allow him to stand on his own feet and not pursue him.
In this way, if Sun Kewang does not work hard to rob food, Zhang Xianzhong will definitely become more suspicious of him. If he works hard to rob food, he will hit the muzzle of our army's food guard again. In order to protect himself, Sun Kewang is likely to find another place.
Road, forced to reach a new tacit understanding with our army!"
When Zhang Huangyan heard this, his eyes suddenly brightened.
It has to be said that Zhu Shuren's combination of kindness and power is a bit like the psychological battle in the Battle of Pingjin in later generations - for the neighboring twin cities, first kill one of the neighboring twin cities with thunder to show muscles and show that we are not incapable of fighting, while for the other, we must be patient
Show sincerity and avoid hypocrisy.
Now, killing Leshan first and leaving Emei's soldiers behind is the same as killing Chen Changjie first and leaving Fu behind.
Now that Sun Kewang has split up with Zhang Xianzhong, it is impossible to say that he has no idea at all. Therefore, as long as you dig carefully, you can probably seize the opportunity to separate and disintegrate.