Imperial Palace: Qinzheng Palace

The emperor sat on the dragon chair and asked aloud, "Where is Han Rui and Han Qing?" An official stepped forward, "The minister is here." "I look at the twists and turns, Qing opposes my construction of the plum garden, and the rhetoric is very fierce, and even says that if I build the plum garden, it will be extremely mediocre, but it is the suffering of the people, but there is such a thing?" The minister said, "Exactly. The Emperor picked up his recital and looked at it carefully. The ministers were silent, not knowing what kind of medicine was sold in His Majesty the Emperor's gourd, but they saw that after reading the fold, he smashed it at the minister with his head covered and his face: "How dare you tell me like that?" You yourself buy thousands of acres of land at home, and the sedan chair you go out has to be carried by eight people, Lord Han! You are so powerful! I saw that Lord Han was kneeling on the ground, his body trembling like a sieve, and he didn't dare to say a word.

"Am I overwhelmed? I treat the people harshly? With your money, you can't buy a thousand acres of fertile land for me in two lifetimes! Needless to say, how luxurious your yard is at home. You are a civil servant, where did you get so much money! Liu Huizu! Liu Huizu hurriedly stood up, "The minister is here." "I copied his home, don't let go of a penny, I want to know, how much money can a small four-grade head of the ministry have!" "The minister commands." When he looked down again, the officials all lowered their heads and avoided his gaze. The emperor felt a burst of sadness, he had always thought that the military generals of the civil and military generals were admonishing because they were brave and loyal, and now this anonymous crusade against this small civil official made him know that the emperor was to be kept in the dark, and those scholars who were full of benevolence and righteousness would change their sanctimonious faces to oppress the people, and the officials were too corrupt.

Liu Huizu acted quickly in this matter, and it took him two days to copy out 100,000 taels of gold, 500,000 taels of silver, 13 houses, 1,355 acres of fertile land, 20 shops, and 23 singers, not including Han Rui's 12 aunts. When this result was placed on the emperor's table, he asked the chief chamberlain to read it on the spot in the early dynasty, observing the faces of the officials below, some people were uneasy, some people were shocked, and some people had angry faces. ”

The Emperor nodded, well, chilling. "Did you know that he wasn't just guilty for his words? He was convicted of oppressing the people and seizing fertile land, I ask you, is it true that the sons of the world are studying hard for the sake of prestige? Suppose, I'm going to raid your homes now, and have you found any illicit silver taels that I've found? A lot of things, I, it's not unclear, but don't be too presumptuous, Han Rui will be killed at noon today, and his students will all be exiled and never hired, and the singers and women in the family will be in the army, and the men, regardless of age or young, will be exiled to the north! ”

The ministers below were silent, and the emperor continued: "The two hundred thousand silver required for the construction of the plum garden will be allocated from the silver of his house!" The rest, fill the treasury, retreat from the dynasty! When he arrived at the harem, before he sat down, the chief chamberlain ran over panting, "What's the panic?" What's wrong? "Your Majesty, the Mongolian envoy has come to ask for a meeting." The Mongolian envoy was the empress's uncle Huaiwang, and I saw him come forward and salute the emperor: "Mongolian Huaiwang see the emperor of the Central Plains." The emperor said: "The envoys are invited, but I don't know what happened when they came from afar." King Huai said: "My king wants to sign a brotherly alliance with your country to consolidate the border between the two countries." ”

This is a good proposal, and the Emperor has no reason to refuse, he nodded, "Yes, I will send the Minister of Rites to consult with your courtiers." King Huai handed over a letter of state: "This is a condition proposed by our country, and I hope your country will accept it." The chamberlain took the silk book and handed it to the emperor, he read it carefully, and his brows wrinkled: "Give Mongolia 300,000 taels of silver every year, open the field, call each other brothers, 500,000 pieces of silk, 100,000 pieces of porcelain, are you sure this is Mongolia's condition?" King Huai nodded: "Exactly, it is not a secret, there have been frequent disasters in Mongolia recently, and my Great Khan remembered the friendship between the two countries, so he decided to sign a treaty with your country." This is a bit shameless, the emperor suppressed his anger and said: "I have been founded by the Great Zhou Dynasty for nearly a thousand years, and I have never signed a treaty that humiliates the country, and the friendship between Weng and his son-in-law is a little too much, when I married the current queen when I was the prince, the two countries have always been brothers, where did the Weng son-in-law come from!" I can't agree to this treaty. ”

King Huai's eyes rolled, and he lowered his head: "Since the Emperor of the Central Plains has such a tough attitude, I will inform my king of your attitude, and you will have every opportunity to take care of it, and the foreign minister will retire first." ”

Three months later, the Mongol army in the north pressed the border, and the border was tightened.

At this time, Xu Yuan's army was already able to go into battle to kill the enemy, at this time, the northern border was tight, and the domestic troops were empty, although it was still a stalemate, but Xu Yuan and Zhaoqian knew in their hearts that such a stalemate would not last long, either to sign a treaty, or to hold the Mongol soldiers to attack. Now they have 20,000 horses in their hands, Neiqiu, Yaoshan two cities, if they can take Longping, then the north and south of the three cities echo each other, can form a complete defense system, advance can be attacked, retreat can be defended.

On the night of October 13th, hundreds of artillery pieces quietly appeared outside Longping City, Xu Yuan gave an order, and hundreds of cannons were fired at once, and the Longping County Commander looked at the direction of the city tower drunkenly in the restaurant: "Alas, so many fireworks, how much silver taels are worth." "The city was broken, Xu Yuan ordered to slaughter a few rich families in the city to reward the three armies, and when the county order woke up in the bustle on the second day, the city was no longer under his control. It all went well, but for the next military plan, Ren Qiu had a dispute with Xu Yuan.

Ren Qiu thought that he should take advantage of the victory to pursue, only take Baoding, plus the incorporated Longping garrison, now there are nearly 50,000 people, if Baoding is taken, then Gyeonggi is in front of you. Xu Yuan thought that with only 50,000 people, he could not hold the three cities well, and he should go south to take Handan, so that the southern defense line would become, which could prevent the southern army from going north, and also stop the northern army from moving south. It's not too late to go north again. The two of them each held their own truths, and they were so red-faced that Zhaoqian was not in a hurry to persuade the two of them, let the two of them fight first, and he was still looking at Longping's supplies and personnel rationing.

As a large transportation county, Longping County has 1,000 cannons, 3,000 war horses, more than 30,000 swords and armor, and most importantly, grain and grass. Zhao Qian raised his head, looked at the two arguing, and asked, "Junrui, let me ask you, what is the most important thing for us now?" ”