"I know that you are actually a people who have been coerced by thieves, and you have no choice but to follow the thieves! Therefore, I have decided to forgive you for what you have done during this month, and you can go home! But ......"

When Sun Hanqing listened to it at first, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. The emperor was merciful, and he really wanted to let them go home, which is really good. As far as he could see, he could see that everyone else had happy expressions.

However, they didn't have time to be happy, but they heard Emperor Chongzhen say a "but", and suddenly, the happy expression condensed on his face, should it be, after all, there will be a price, right?

Emperor Chongzhen watched their expressions change, and knew that they had misunderstood, so he continued: "But I know that many of you have been plagued by thieves, your wives have been separated, your family has been ruined, or your family's fields or shops have been ruined......"

Hearing this, Sun Hanqing and the others suddenly remembered what happened to them, and their hearts immediately became heavy. There are even many people who can't help but cry because of the sadness that rises from the bottom of their hearts.

Some were a little restrained, just crying silently; However, some people can't help but whine when they think of their dead relatives and their former happy home.

Among the nearly 100,000 people, even if only a small number of people cried, the sound of this convergence was loud enough.

This time, Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and signaled the soldiers below not to reprimand them, so let them cry for a while and vent.

Although some thieves have been doing it for a long time, they have forgotten their sorrows. However, at this moment, there are still many people who think of their own experience, think of memories that have been deliberately forgotten, even if they don't cry, they are very heavy.

It took a long time before Emperor Chongzhen spoke. As soon as the people below heard that the emperor had begun to speak again, they wiped their tears and consciously stopped making a sound.

"The court is to blame for such a thing, and I am also responsible......"

Emperor Chongzhen's words made many people a little surprised.

You know, all along, they have heard that the emperor will not be wrong, the emperor will always be right, and even if there is a mistake, it is the fault of the courtiers below.

If people who are familiar with the emperor and deal with the emperor every day, they will naturally be no strangers to the emperor, and they will know that in fact, the emperor is also an ordinary person, but he was born well. Inevitably, mistakes will be made.

However, for ordinary people, and even ordinary soldiers, the emperor is far away, so there may not be such an opinion.

Although Emperor Chongzhen has issued several edicts against himself, he also admits that he has a problem; However, now, the emperor is in front of them, personally saying that he is responsible, which shocks them.

This is the emperor, in front of so many people, he said that he was responsible!

Li Guo, Li Dingguo and the others, who had not spoken all this time, heard this, their eyes suddenly widened, and they looked up at the emperor at the head of the city, with a trace of admiration on their shocked faces.

As for Emperor Chongzhen himself, he didn't think it was so rare, but continued: "...... Therefore, not only can you go home, but I have also decided to issue you a silver ticket, a silver ticket from the Ming Royal Bank, five taels per person. This silver ticket can be exchanged for cash at the branches of the Daming Royal Bank in various provinces, and it can be exchanged at any time and will never be in arrears. If there is a situation where the silver ticket cannot be exchanged for silver, you can go to the capital to file a complaint, or you can go to the local Metropolitan Procuratorate to complain, or you can file a complaint with the factory guard; I know it, and I will definitely punish it severely! ”

The soldiers and thieves at the bottom have actually heard of the silver ticket of the Daming Royal Bank before, which is what everyone is passing on, and the emperor used this silver ticket to exchange money and grain with the vassal palace. Therefore, the people present did not hear inexplicably and knew what was going on.

The little common people naturally have their own ideas, they think that those vassal kings are all members of the Zhu family, and they are all members of the emperor's clansmen, and this silver ticket of the Ming Imperial Bank should not be fake, otherwise, the emperor's own clansmen will not suffer.

With such an understanding, and Emperor Chongzhen made another promise in front of so many people, guaranteeing that this silver ticket would definitely be exchanged for Dao Yin. There is also the good impression that the emperor gave them before, and all these factors add up, and most people believe that this silver ticket is real and can be exchanged directly with the silver. In other words, it's money!

And this, in fact, is also a purpose for Emperor Chongzhen to take the opportunity to promote the silver ticket.

Nearly 100,000 people, although most of them are from Henan and Hubei, but after they disperse, the scope they can cover is still not small. With so many people, using silver tickets can at least achieve a wide publicity effect.

In order to establish credibility and eventually use as currency, the silver notes of the Daming Royal Bank must first be known by enough people. This time, using the silver ticket as severance pay, or compensation pay, can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

For this point, only Emperor Chongzhen knows it, even the two feudal officials around him, Chen Qiyu and Zheng Chongjian, are not clear.

Hearing that the emperor announced this decision, he understood that not only did he not have to pay the price, but also received a sum of money, which made Sun Hanqing and others couldn't help but be grateful, and they didn't know who took the lead, and while kneeling down, they spontaneously shouted "Your Majesty, long live, long live, long live."

Emperor Chongzhen looked at them and sighed slightly in his heart. In fact, the people of this era are still very well managed. Just be kind to them and they'll appreciate it and won't have too many ideas! It can be described in one word, it is "unpretentious"! You must work hard and strive to let them live a good life!

Of course, for these thieves who have been under a month, or the people who have been coerced, Emperor Chongzhen will not only issue silver tickets from the Ming Royal Bank, but also ask Chen Qiyu, who has dealt with the aftermath, to pay attention to the placement of them by the local government.

For example, the land, shops, houses, etc., which belonged to them, must be returned to them. These things, although trivial, are the personal affairs of these people, Emperor Chongzhen can't worry about so much, let Chen Qiyu follow up, but it is the most reasonable, who made him the governor of the five provinces, these people are in his charge.

After dealing with these people, Emperor Chongzhen turned his head to look at another queue, that is, when the thieves were more than a month and less than a year.

These thieves also knew that the emperor was going to deal with them, so they couldn't help but hold their breath one by one to see what the emperor said.

Truth be told, with the previous examples, many of them are optimistic. Some people even think that the emperor will not only pardon them, but maybe they can also give some silver tickets, but it may not be as many as five taels.

Just as they were thinking about it, they heard Emperor Chongzhen's face be serious, and he had already spoken: "You have been a thief for more than a month and less than a year, and you have done a lot of evil things. Look at the nearly 100,000 people on the side, and the suffering caused to them is your share. You may have been forced to do so, but the harm done to other people is there. ”

In terms of thief experience, he may be a bit absolute. However, for the vast majority of people, it will not be wronged. Therefore, when the people in this queue listened, some turned their heads to look at the queue before, some lowered their heads, and some felt a little bad in their hearts after hearing the emperor's words.

The people in the queue before were turning their heads to look at them, with more or less hatred in their eyes. Because Emperor Chongzhen was not wrong, those who coerced them into thieves certainly had the share of these people.

I only heard Emperor Chongzhen continue: "Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, I have decided to give you the opportunity to atone for your sins, and you will form an army to save the people and do things for the people; At the end of the year, they are pardoned for the people. Of course, you can continue to stay in the army and still do things for the people; This one is free to choose; If you choose to continue to stay in the army, then you will be paid, and if you perform well, you will be promoted. ”

When he said this, he used his hand to guide the city of Yang and said: "For example, what you have to do next is to build houses for the people of Nanyang, and then rebuild the moat near this Nanyang, rebury the people who were killed before, build water conservancy, and so on. The suffering you have brought to Nanyang Mansion and Xiangyang Mansion will be repaid with your labor. ”

When these thieves heard this, while disappointed, they felt that it was okay, as the emperor said, it was to atone for the people of these two provinces, and the period was not long, only one year. When the year is up, I am free. Stay up, and it's over.

At this time, they had not yet thought about continuing to stay in the army for this purpose of construction a year later. However, Emperor Chongzhen will explain to Chen Qiyu that he cannot be harsh on this army, and I believe that after a year, there will definitely be some homeless people who will continue to stay in the army and become the backbone of this army.

The purpose of Emperor Chongzhen, this kind of army for the purpose of construction, will always exist in the future. A person with experience in this area, even if he was a thief before, can still be reused.

Since then, the Ming Dynasty must spend more effort on infrastructure construction. And this, this kind of army building is indispensable.

Of course, in this queue, there must be people who envy the queue just now, and they are unwilling to do this year's work. However, the emperor made a decision, and they had no right to fight, so they could only accept it.

There is one point, Emperor Chongzhen did not say, that is, in this year, if you are lazy and slippery, when the time comes, Chen Qiyu will not be polite. Because in this year, they are still prisoners, and if they are not reformed well, they will be severely punished, and they will never be spared.

After finishing the second queue, Emperor Chongzhen turned his head to look at the queue with the smallest number of people.

When Sun Kewang and the others saw it, they knew that the time had come to decide their fate, and they all became a little nervous. Because they themselves understand that as a thief for more than a year, in the eyes of the emperor, it must be the greatest sin. According to the emperor's previous punishment, how many years he has been a thief, how many years of work he has to do, so if he doesn't have more than ten years, it is equivalent to working like this for a lifetime?

To be honest, people who think the same way as him are reluctant to work for the future of more than ten years. These old thieves are the highest status among the thieves, and they usually eat and drink spicy food, and their treatment is basically much better than before they became thieves, and they are used to enjoying them.

While they were thinking, they heard Emperor Chongzhen say solemnly to their queue: "You are all thieves for more than a year, and I believe that some of you have more than ten years of thief experience. The suffering brought to the people of all parts of the Ming Dynasty, and the people who have been harmed by you, are already difficult to tell......"

Hearing the emperor say this, the hearts of many old thieves sank, which is a bit bad!

“…… Although you may have your own reasons when you first became thieves, it is indispensable to the persecution of corrupt officials. When Emperor Chongzhen said this, he suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "However, this is not the reason why you have been a thief for so many years to harm other people. Corrupt officials and corrupt officials, I have just killed a few, and when I find out later, I will kill them all the same, and I will not tolerate them! And you, the thieves who have been in trouble for many years, should be killed cleanly with a knife according to my temper. But ......"

The emperor's words were much more serious than just now, but fortunately, there was a "but", so that these old thieves continued to listen to the emperor's fate with a heart.

After Emperor Chongzhen paused, he glanced at Li Guo and the others, and then continued: "...... There are still some of you who have a clear conscience and let me see that you still have a chance to be saved, so I have decided to give you a chance to atone for your sins as well. The people of Liaodong are now in dire straits, life is worse than death, although Jianyu has been kicked out of the customs by me, but the people outside the customs are still suffering. Therefore, I have decided that you will go to serve in Lu Xiangsheng's army, fight the prisoners, and save the people, so as to atone for your sins! ”

"As long as you go to fight the prisoners, I will pardon your previous crimes, and treat them as ordinary soldiers, and reward and punish them as ordinary soldiers. I trust Governor Lu to treat you fairly! ”

When Emperor Chongzhen said this, he glanced at the queue and shouted coldly: "Of course, whether or not to go to Liaodong to fight Jianyu is also voluntary. Right now, those who voluntarily go to Liaodong to fight for the Jianyu should go out and stand on your left. ”

Hearing this, Li Guo, Li Dingguo and the others, without the slightest hesitation, immediately turned around and left, walked to the left of their queue, and formed a new queue.

The other thieves, seeing them move, also followed them. Of course, the others did not drag their feet like Li Guo and others, and they more or less hesitated and thought for a while.

Emperor Chongzhen was very patient, and waited for the old thieves in this queue, three by two, and continued to go to the new queue.

But there are still many people who didn't move because they didn't want to go. For example, Sun Kewang, he was very hesitant.

Jianyu is so powerful, if you go to Liaodong to fight Jianyu, you will die there! If you're going to die, there's nothing left!

Thinking about it this way, it is better to work for ten years, and after ten years, I will at least have a life to live and be free.

There are many people who think like Sun Kewang. They would rather choose to work for ten years that were not recognized by them before, rather than go to Liaodong and lose their lives.

In fact, many of the border troops in Shaanxi at the beginning mutinied in the middle of the process when they were transferred to Liaodong. Because Jianyu has always been invincible, they feel that going to Liaodong must be a death.

Indeed, in the past, the army that was transferred to Liaodong, even the famous Qi family army and the white pole army, eventually died there.

It's one thing for these thieves to rebel and not be afraid of death, but it's another thing for them to fight and fight for fear of death.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't put enough pressure on them to go to Liaodong, but after he finished speaking, he watched quietly from the top of the city.

After a quarter of an hour or so, only about one-tenth of the thieves moved the queue, and then he spoke again: "I know that you may be afraid of Jianyu and think that Jianyu is strong. But I can tell you that the Jianju are also people, and just at the beginning of the year, they also suffered a great defeat, losing 30,000 horses. In the future, I will definitely drive the expedition and set foot in Liaodong. Jianyu, there is nothing to be afraid of. I will give you another quarter of an hour, I will not force you to go to Liaodong to fight the prisoners, it is all voluntary! ”

And when he had said that, he said no more, and the incense that marked the time was kindled on the city.

Emperor Chongzhen's words made some old thieves hesitate and start to walk towards a new queue.

After the incense was burned, Emperor Chongzhen did not delay any longer, and directly announced: "When the time comes, there is no chance to choose again!" ”

At this time, there were only about 5,000 old thieves who volunteered to go to Liaodong to fight Jianjiao, and nearly 10,000 others remained in place, waiting for the emperor to fall.

In their opinion, it should be ten years of work, or some other punishment. Anyway, it's definitely much better than going to Liaodong to fight Jianyu.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't immediately say the punishment for them, but just turned his head to look at the generals behind him.

When Cao Bianjiao, He Renlong, and Zhou Yuji saw them, they immediately responded with fists and hurriedly went down the city. The emperor didn't even need to say it, because he had already explained to them in advance.

After a while, the three of them returned to their respective subordinates and began to mobilize their troops.

Seeing this scene, many people were puzzled. Are you going to organize the 5,000 people into an army, or are you going to escort the 10,000 people to where they go? Or is it something else?

。