On the thirtieth day of the first month of the tenth year of Chongzhen, the king of Joseon, Li Liang, knew that Jianghua Island had fallen, and the reinforcements were all defeated, and under the threat of force that the Manchu Qing Dynasty had transported and set up cannons to prepare to bombard the mountain city of Nanhan, he changed Tsing Yi and walked out of the city on foot to the camp of Huang Taiji to perform the gift of three kneels and nine knocks, and presented the imperial seal of the Ming Dynasty and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Send the prince to Shengjing as a hostage. The terms of surrender proposed by the Qing army were all accepted.

In the first month, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and others went out of Huguang to meet the Zuo Jin King and Ge Li, who were known as the camp of the king of Gezuo. On the sixth day of the first month, the company camp forced Anqing for 100 miles, "the beacon fire reached Huaiyang", and Nanjing was shaken. Chongzhen Zhao Zuo Liangyu, Ma Yi, and Liu Liangzuo joined forces to rescue. Both sides fought under the city of Anqing and suffered heavy losses. Xianzhong and others retreated to Qianshan Tianwang Village. Soon, the governor of Anqing, Zhang Guowei, the general soldier Zuo Liangyu, searched the mountain, Liangyu should not, let the troops plunder the women, and the soldiers were stationed for more than a month, and they went north.

In the first month, Li Zicheng, who visited his father and fellow villagers in Mizhi, Yan'an, Suide and other places in northern Shaanxi, led his army to cross the Wei River from Fengxiang, defeated the Ming army in Baoji, and entered Jingyang and Sanyuan, where he met with the stars and scorpions. Soon, Shaanxi governor Sun Chuanting and general soldier Cao Bianjiao came to attack, and after seven days of fighting, Li Zicheng's troops could not resist the desire of Sun Deaf and Cao Bianjiao's troops to exchange their heads for armor and were defeated. Scorpion block Tuoyangkun surrendered to the Ming army; And the Heavenly Star Department fled to Henan.

In March of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang, the secretary of the military department, went to Beijing, and the emperor summoned him. Si Chang is involved in literature and history, knows a lot about the history of the first dynasty, and has a good pen, and has eloquence. The emperor and the language, the great faith and love, each pair must be moved, please listen to all the plays, saying: hate to use the night.

In March, when Emperor Chongzhen received a seal from Tianjin from the Governor Nancao Maritime Eunuch. When I learned that 500,000 silver dollars and 200,000 stone japonica rice had arrived, I immediately felt a lot more confident. It is no wonder that although the annual income of the Ming Dynasty is 10 million taels, there is very little money that can be used for maneuvering, except for the operation of the bureaucracy in various places and the expenses of the clan's rice. All of a sudden, there was an increase of 500,000 yuan, which gave Chongzhen almost one-sixth more of the net income of the state treasury.

"Spread the decree, commend Li Shouhan! Let the people who escorted the money and grain enter Beijing to meet him. I want to give you some comfort. ”

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's a little troublesome. Governor Li was diligent in royal affairs, and had led his division to Guangdong to suppress thieves, so that his eldest daughter Li Huamei led a fleet to come. This woman is a woman. Second, there is no fame on him. If the emperor wants to summon her, this is considered by the gentlemen of the cabinet to be quite inappropriate. ”

"This group of stupid gentlemen! I can't see it, so please ask the queen to come forward and appease her! Tell the cabinet and your celebrant to come up with a charter. Let's see how to add some canons to Li Shouhan and his children. Don't let people think that the court is mean and unkind! ”

Chongzhen did so. Most of it is for those generals who lead the troops.

However, Li Huamei's arrival provided a good conversation material for the lonely concubines in the deep palace.

Listen to the eunuchs tell the story of this Miss Li in a colorful voice. Since he was a few years old, he followed his father to fight in various places, and he personally led the gunboats to chase the north with Hongmaoyi, pirates, and Japanese people at sea, and the artillery bombarded each other. This made these women who were often in the deep palace full of curiosity about this eldest lady of the Li family.

However, fortunately, in the Ming Dynasty, there were regulations after the election of concubines from the ancestors, and they must be among the people. Therefore, although these women are full of curiosity about Li Huamei, they don't imagine her too outrageous.

"Sister, do you say that the eldest lady of the Li family will be like the one sung in the play, with a pheasant tail on her head?"

"Sister, that's what I sang in the play! If you want me to say, it should be at least a big waist and a round waist, similar to the stable woman in the government. Otherwise, how can you go into battle and kill the enemy? ”

"But when Mrs. Qin's soldiers and horses came, I saw the same."

In the discussion of Empress Zhou, Concubine Tian and the princesses, Li Huamei entered Beijing at the behest of the queen.

Seeing that the little girl in front of him, who was about the same as his daughter, was able to lead a gunboat to haunt the waves of the ocean, he couldn't help but be surprised after Zhou. ("This General Li is too ruthless, isn't it?!") How can such a girl's family live on the sea with a group of rude men in the waves of gunfire on the ship?! ”）

The little girl in front of her is neither like Qin Liangyu, the chief soldier of the stone pillar, nor wearing a pheasant tail helmet on her head as Concubine Tian said, and it has nothing to do with the big shoulders and round waist that the princess said, but a little delicate.

If it weren't for the female guards with eight tattooed Tianzu narrow sleeves and several silver rings on their ankles, which showed Huamei's difference, I am afraid that the concubines would think that this is a girl from an official eunuch in the capital.

And Xiao Huamei's preparations for entering Beijing this time are also quite sufficient, and the tentacles that are prevalent in Youlong are all over the capital, and she knows all kinds of preferences for interpersonal relationships in the palace, and she can also prescribe the right medicine.

From Empress Zhang of the Emperor of the Apocalypse to Empress Zhou of Emperor Chongzhen, several concubines and princesses have prepared targeted gifts. What was given to Empress Zhang was a statue of Guanyin made of jasper, and what was given to Empress Zhou was a landscape carved out of huge ivory. For Concubine Tian and others, they are all pearls and gems measured in liters.

Before Huamei entered the palace, Long Shengxing's office went to the palace of Zhou Kui, the abbot, and the two sides held cordial and friendly talks on further deepening business and trade cooperation, and signed a series of commercial contracts and documents.

"What should I give this kid a reward?"

Several women are caught in a dilemma.

Reward some gold and jewels? Don't be funny, most of the things in the palace that can be seen and suitable for the girl's family are the tributes from Li Shouhan when he entered Beijing last time, and he can't use other people's things to reward other people's daughters, right?

While settling Huamei in the palace, Zhou Hou, Concubine Yuan, Concubine Tian, Princess Wang and several other women gathered in the residence of Empress Tianqi and Zhang Yan, who was honored as Empress Yi'an, and invited the imperial sister-in-law, who had lived in this cold palace for ten years, to come forward to solve this problem for themselves.

This imperial sister-in-law, but even the famous eunuch Wei Zhongxian can't fight her character!

(As an aside, one of the things that this Empress Yi'an may regret most under Jiuquan is that she canonized her little brother-in-law, Zhu Youzhen, as emperor.) Originally, it was possible to legitimately choose a child from the clan to succeed to the throne under his own name. Then he came to the court as the queen mother, just like Wanli's mother, the Empress Dowager Li. But he chose his brother-in-law as the emperor, so that he could only live in this deep palace as a widowed sister-in-law. ）

"Give to others, first, to give him what he wants, what he desperately needs, and second, to give him what he likes. The Li family is not short of money, gold, jewelry, and shellfish, and they have just been awarded an official position by the emperor and many honors. But in the eyes of officials and clans everywhere, the Li family is still an upstart! Think about it, what does the Li family want most now? ”

Seeing the looks of several younger brothers and daughters-in-law looking at each other at a loss, the former five thousand beauty audition champions swelled with happiness in their hearts.

"Nature is face and glory. The rank and official position is the name of the national canon. And it's not suitable for this girl from the Li family. You might as well think of other ways. ”

Something else? It's easy to say. It's not that easy to do.

Empress Zhou took several concubines to salute the imperial sister-in-law and then withdrew from Zhang Yan's bedroom. And Zhang Yan herself continued to sit firmly on the futon and opened the Buddhist scriptures to the Guanyin carved from jasper.

"Xiao Nizi of the Li family, no matter what, this palace has already returned the favor you sent to this Bodhisattva statue in this palace."

That night, when Zhu Youzhen entered a bowl of fragrant japonica rice with great interest. Zhou Hou saw that he was very interested. and tested his feelings.

"This Li Aiqing is really a believer! It's just spring. He ordered someone to send money and grain, and as soon as his more than 200,000 stone japonica rice entered Beijing, the price of rice sent by Jinyiwei and other places in Beijing fell by less than one percent! ”

"Yes! It's rare to be full of loyalty. Li Aiqing himself supervised and led his men and horses to Guangdong to suppress bandits. Fearing that there would be a mistake on the road, his son was young, so he sent his daughter, a timid little girl, out to escort the money and food into Beijing. This loyalty, Your Majesty, how should we commend it? ”

Compared with the arrogance and arrogance of the general and deputy generals of the general army in the interior and border towns, who did not listen to the dispatch of arsonists, harassed the people, raped and burned them, Li Shouhan was simply a perfect man through the ages. The troops can fight, dare to fight against Jiannu, and are highly disciplined. Compared with the white pole soldiers of that year, the most important thing is that not only does not need the imperial court to pay a penny or a grain of rice, but can send a large amount of money and grain to the inner government to supply expenses.

Since Qian Liang arrived in Tianjin, Chongzhen obviously felt that there had been a lot of changes in the attitudes of the ministers and gentlemen in the cabinet and the documents of the generals who led troops in various places. He knew that there was only one reason for these changes, that he had money in his hands!

For such loyal ministers, it is necessary to praise them and set a benchmark and an example for the generals who lead the troops everywhere!

However, what else can the imperial court take out to reward Li Shouhan at the moment? You can't just give him the title of prince right away, right?! If that's the case, wouldn't it be easy for him to become arrogant?!

When Emperor Chongzhen was hesitating, Wang Chengen, who was rewarded by Chongzhen and Queen Zhou, bent down and spoke.

"Your Majesty, the queen, the slave maid has a little shallow opinion, and is willing to say it for the queen and the mother to laugh at."

"Otomo, you say."

With Chongzhen's permission, Wang Chengen first glanced around the house, today is a family banquet, and Zhu Youzhen's family is basically here. Because of Zhu Youzhen's rare good mood, the room seemed happy.

Sitting behind a table, Princess Zhu Yujiao of Kunxing, is only eleven or two years old, but she is dignified and beautiful, she has a slender body, and gives people a feeling of weakness, she is a well-known name and title for all of us, that is, the famous Princess Changping, the one-armed Shenni, the Nine Difficulties and the like, the master of Lord Wei and so on. However, the title at this time is Princess Kunxing. Her biological mother died of hemomorphosis shortly after giving birth to her, and she has been raised in the palace of Queen Zhou, who raised her by Queen Zhou.

After taking a closer look at Princess Kunxing, Wang Chengen had a plan in his heart.

"Emperor, queen, it's not a slave interfering in government affairs, it's just that the current errand must be handled by General Longhu. If the emperor wants to reward the dragon and tiger generals, it is better to send him a few more messengers, the so-called capable people work hard. ”

A few days ago, when Yang Sichang, the secretary of the military department, presented the emperor with a net of four positives, six corners and ten sides, the monarch and ministers agreed on military expenditures to realize the strategy of four positive and six corners, which required an additional 120,000 troops and an increase of 2.8 million salaries. In order to raise food and wages, in addition to the original additions and removals, Yang Sichang privately discussed with the emperor and suggested that he open the sea ban in Fujian, Guangdong and other places. Similar to Longqing's opening of the sea, it raised food and military expenses from the sea.

Such a secret can be hidden from the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, but it cannot be hidden from Wang Chengen.

"Your Majesty, the slave maid has two humble opinions."

After a calculation like lightning in his head, Wang Chengen felt that Chongzhen should be able to accept this method.

"Speak!"

A few days ago, Yang Xianggong proposed to open the sea ban in Guangdong, Fujian and other places to raise food and wages. The slave maid is foolish, this happens to be the place where General Longhu suppressed the bandits in Liangguang, and General Longhu happens to be good at being a sailor. It is better to hand over the matter of opening the sea in Guangdong and arresting bandits and villains on the sea with the Guangdong sailors. He was ordered to try out the opening of the sea in Guangdong, and agreed on the amount of taxes to be paid for one year. So. General Long Hu has another way to serve the country. The emperor and the court also had an extra amount of food, and they were even exempted from the cost of food. ”

"That's an idea. Li Shouhan was ordered to try out the opening of the sea in Guangdong, and the amount of taxes was agreed upon, and he was ordered to pay the full amount. What else do you have in mind? Keep talking! ”

"Aren't the emperor and the queen mother worried about how to reward the eldest lady of the Li family? In the foolish opinion of a slave. Princess Kunxing and the eldest lady of the Li family should not be much different in age. It's better to let Her Royal Highness the princess come forward to talk to Li Huamei for a few days. Let her see the style of the heavenly family, and Her Royal Highness the princess will make a look of Corporal Lixian folding the knots, and the eldest girl Li will definitely be grateful from now on. ”

I heard Wang Chengen's idea. couldn't help but Zhu Youzhen, Empress Zhou, Yuan Guifei, Tian Guifei and others all stopped eating, and their minds were analyzing whether there was anything inconsistent with the etiquette system in this practice.

However, there does not seem to be such a specific regulation, and it seems that the ancestors did not expect such a situation to occur when they made the rules.

It was Queen Zhou, looking at Princess Kunxing in front of her, a girl with beautiful golden branches and jade seals, who heard that her father intended to send such an important mission to her, and couldn't help but bow her head a little nervously and shyly. Empress Zhou only saw her drooping neck.

"Your Majesty, is it appropriate to let Kun Xing do such an important thing? Is there something wrong? ”

Tian Guifei couldn't help but open her mouth to stop it.

However, the mother-in-law of the housekeeper of Cining Palace, who was next to Queen Zhou, had already received gifts and messages from the national abbot Zhou Kui, so she naturally knew the key to this.

"The emperor, the queen, Tian Fei Niang, Yuan Fei Niangniang, the slave maid thinks that with the tutor of General Long Hu, he can still cultivate a daughter who can contribute to his father's worries, not to mention my proud daughter?"

In one sentence, all the words of Zhu Youzhen's family were blocked.

Oh, yes! Li Shouhan is just a second-grade dragon and tiger general in the barren land of the South China Sea, his daughter can help her father go to the waves to do things, how can I be compared to the princess of the Ming royal family? Not even the ability to receive guests in your own home?!

Seeing that Zhu Youzhen and Queen Zhou couldn't stop nodding slightly, the housekeeper's mother-in-law was secretly proud in her heart, "Zhou Kui, your three thousand Nanzhong silver dollars, the old lady has already returned the favor!" ”

Zhou Kui sent someone into the palace a few days ago to send a message to this mother-in-law, asking her to find a way to make the relationship between Zhou Guozhang's Mansion and General Longhu's Mansion warmer. This woman also knows very well who the proprietors behind the shops that are the most popular in the capital now.

When this thing is done, the old lady has to knock you well! The mother-in-law looked at Princess Kunxing's little face with a little nervousness and excitement, but what she was thinking about was Zhou Kui, the national abbot.

"Kun Xing, my father asked you, are you willing to fight with that big girl Li for a few days? Is it a share of the burden for my father? ”

Although the mind has been decided, Zhu Youzhen still gently asked for his daughter's attitude, so as not to go wrong.

Hearing what her father said, Princess Zhu Yujiao of Kunxing hurriedly got up to avoid the table, "My daughter is willing to share her father's worries." Spending a few days with that big girl Li is also the intention of his father to encourage loyal ministers. What's more, what's more," her little face turned red, and she didn't know what to say for a while.

"What's more, how can my Royal Highness the princess of the Ming royal family be compared to the daughter of a subordinate?!" Zhu Youzhen's words broke his daughter's careful thoughts, and raised the wine glass in his hand to signal the queen concubines to drink this cup.

"Emperor, then the slave will arrange it?"

"Go ahead! Also, the people who sued the Dragon and Tiger General's Mansion did their best to transport the remaining more than 200,000 stone japonica rice to the capital! ”

The next day, Princess Zhu Yujiao of Kunxing came forward and traveled with Li Huamei in the palace for several days.

And Wang Chengen, who was in charge of Dongchang Jinyi Wei and other places, consciously released a rumor in the palace with the acquiescence of Chongzhen, which soon spread in the inner houses of the princes and ministers.

Princess Kunxing and Li Huamei, the daughter of Li Shouhan, got along very well, and the two became friends with handkerchiefs under the witness of the queen's mother. Li Huamei is older and is her sister, and Princess Kunxing is younger and is her younger sister. ”

And along with this rumor, it was sent to the governor of Guangzhou and Guangzhou, as well as the documents of the celebrant and the inner palace supervisor on urging the Shouhan to do their best to transport the remaining more than 200,000 stone japonica rice.

and a document issued by the Cabinet to Lee Shou-han.

"Supervise the trial opening of the sea ban in Guangdong? Asking us to pay 500,000 in customs duties every year? To serve as a military expense for thieves and a military salary for Liaodong? ”

Shouhan threw this document on the table, pouting his lips with disdain, "Give a document back to the old men of the cabinet and tell them that there are no 500,000 silver dollars!" 200,000 at most! Mother, how much is the salt tax and tea tax in the Ming Dynasty a year?! (To be continued......)