"No wonder you refuse to hand over the grain, it turns out that there are thieves who are here to deceive people, kill one of you, and protect your whole family."

The inspector shouted, and the Yanling knife in his hand was about to be chopped down.

"Ah........h

Screams came and went.

"Uh........"

The one who bleeds was not the boy, but the patrolman, his knife still in his hand, but an arrow in his throat.

"Ah.......h

The inspector looked at the arrow feathers that were still trembling, and felt the strength of his whole body passing, and before he lost his last consciousness, he saw a red turban, a red robe, and a big banner with the words "Beggar's Army" written on it.

*******************************************************************

The imperial court ordered the surrounding provinces, especially Shandong, Nanzhili and Huguang, to send grain to the officers and troops in preparation for a long war.

Huguang has always been a large grain-producing province, and the imperial court is particularly burdensome here, spring, which was originally the season of sowing, but in order to cope with the military needs of the Tiger Prison Pass, the officials of various prefectures, prefectures, and counties did not care about that much, and first collected the military rations to deal with the errands of the imperial court.

The people of the Ming Dynasty, even if their own rights and interests are infringed upon, can endure, but even living has become a luxury that they can't accept, as long as there is a mouthful of food to eat, they can live humbly, but even when this mouthful of food is about to be taken away by the government, the seeds of rebellion have been planted in the hearts of the poor Ming people.

As soon as the beggar army arrived, it took root and thrived.

The Ming Dynasty is unkind, and the people are used as dogs; The gentry are not benevolent, and they win the hearts of tens of millions with the heart of one person; Break into the king and be benevolent, relieve the people from hanging, hang the people for crimes, and not join the beggar army, did he die at the hands of the court?

Xunyang fell into the hands of the begging army, Xiangyang fell into the hands of the begging army, King Xiang died, Yiling, Zhongxiang, Jingzhou, Wuchang, Changde, Yueyang, echoing inside and outside, a year, they actually fell into the hands of the beggar army, and the vassal kings who were sealed in Huguang died.

After a year of expansion, the military strength of the beggar army actually reached 400,000.

The urgent documents were sent to the imperial court at a high price, and these documents were summed up in saying one thing, the beggar army was attacking, Huguang was falling everywhere, and the vassal kings were killed one after another.

The vassal king died, and Xuan Mo's plea was also sent to Jingshi one by one.

Chongzhen never thought that a little thief would make a fuss to this point, gathering hundreds of thousands, and it is still increasing, the official army is only 20,000, and he is still being dragged in the tiger prison, can he only watch Huguang continue to fall into the hands of the thieves, then Jiangxi, and then Nanzhili?

A deep sense of crisis completely surrounded Chongzhen, that Li Zicheng is far from being comparable to ordinary thieves, if he can't be completely wiped out this time, wouldn't the Ming Dynasty be ruined in his own hands!?

We can't wait any longer, we must do our best to mobilize all the available troops of the Ming Dynasty, and destroy Li Zicheng first.

In Zuo Shunmen, Chongzhen faced these seemingly loyal courtiers again, and said his decision: "I want to transfer Cao Wenzhao, the chief soldier of Shanxi, Zu Dashou, the chief soldier of Liaodong, Wu Xiang, the chief soldier of Ningyuan, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Beijing, Yang Zhaoji, the chief soldier of Jizhen, Zu Dabi, the chief soldier of Jinzhou, and the soldiers of He Kegang, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, a total of 110,000, Gao Qiqian is the supervisor, Xuan Mo is still the supervisor, and Li Zicheng is fighting to the death, and Shaanxi is over there, and Hong Chengchou is also sent the border army into Tongguan to respond, what do you think?" ”

When these names were pronounced from the emperor's mouth, the courtiers were shocked, and when the emperor finished reading all the names, Wen Tiren's brows were furrowed.

"Dare to ask the emperor, why do you want to transfer all the elites of my Ming Dynasty to the south, the last elite soldiers of my Ming Dynasty are all in the borderlands, if all of them are transferred to the south, Jiannu will attack, what can I do? I beg the emperor to make it clear. ”

Zhang Fengyi knows the soldiers, this word needs to be said by him.

Chongzhen listened, smiled blankly, and replied: "You all know that Liu Renyu fought with Jiannu before, and Jiannu was defeated, shrunk into the lair, trembling, for fear that Liu Renyu would attack. Now the northern captives no longer exist, and Jiannu was suppressed by Liu Renyu. I, Daming, have relied on a feudal lord to eliminate foreign enemies, so who is this nine-sided elite to defend? ”

The emperor knows who the border army is defending now, and the ministers know better, so there is no need to make it clear.

Chongzhen looked at the ministers, smiled coldly, and continued: "You all know that if Liu Renyu makes a rebellion now, I will have almost no power to fight back, so why let these soldiers go?" Liu Renyu doesn't dare to make trouble for the time being, we can ignore him, but you remember, Li Zicheng's slogan is to kill corrupt officials and inferior gentry. ”

Chongzhen bit the words of corrupt officials and inferior gentry very hard, and the courtiers trembled for no reason.

"The whole world is not the king's land, my family is the biggest landlord in the Ming Dynasty, if Li Zicheng kills him, my family can die for the ancestors' society, you ........"

Chongzhen originally wanted to say that if you want to change the court, you may not be accepted, but considering that you still have to rely on these people to do things at the moment, you can only hold back.

He continued: "You may not be able to escape with Li Zicheng, Liu Renyu still has concerns in his heart, Li Zicheng has no worries at all, not to say that for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, just say that for your own sake, I should also send troops to suppress Li Zicheng."

Otherwise, the south is in chaos, if Liu Renyu makes any changes, where can our monarchs and ministers retreat, avoid its edge, and call on the world's soldiers to serve the king? ”

"Your Majesty, the monarch is worried about the humiliation of the ministers, the monarch is humiliated and the ministers are dead, the emperor has so many difficulties, but the ministers can't share the worries for the emperor, and the ministers are guilty of capital crimes."

Wen Tiren spoke again, nonsense as always, but what he said made the courtiers have to kneel on the ground again to plead guilty.

Chongzhen waved his hand and motioned for the courtiers to get up, and he continued: "This is already the last family foundation of my Ming Dynasty, the elite soldiers and strong generals are all here, success or failure is in this move, Sheji is in this battle, Zhong Aiqing, the army is drawn, the salary and silver must be issued, the silver must be given, and the Anjia silver must be given, my internal treasury is empty, and the treasury is also empty."

Suppress Li Zicheng, the money is not enough, should you Aiqing donate money to repay the service. The money donated is a lot, and I don't say that you are greedy for ink, I know about your family background, and the imperial court collects business taxes, Liu Renyu's industry pays fifty percent, and the others add up to less than one percent. ”

When Chongzhen said this, he stopped and stared at the courtiers, as if he was smiling but not smiling, as if he was angry, although it was spring at this time, but in the main hall, the courtiers wearing thick court clothes still felt a chill down their backs.

The emperor looks like this, he must have mastered something, but to what extent, the courtiers have no bottom in their hearts, and today it seems that they can only pass the test by donating money, but how much to donate is appropriate, and the courtiers have no bottom in their hearts.

No one dares to talk nonsense, it is difficult to guess what the holy will is, whether it is a blessing or a curse, and it is difficult to predict.

Even Wen Tiren had beads of sweat on his forehead, he was a cabinet minister, the ministers were watching him, and the emperor was waiting for him to speak.

Wen Tiren thought about it for a long time, so he could only go out of work and kneel on the ground, and played: "Your Majesty will not give up, and you will be ranked in the Taiwan Pavilion, and the credit of the society is not large, the emperor wants to donate military salaries, and the minister hates to be full of gold and silver mountains at home, and move it to His Majesty, but there is really no surplus wealth in the minister's family, so the minister will go and sell the house and pledge one hundred taels." ”

One hundred taels!? Who will you bluff if you still sell your house?

The courtiers all thought that Wen Tiren was only afraid of seeing the sin in front of the king today, but who knew that the Sacred Heart did not use it as a pestle.

Chongzhen nodded, and said warmly: "Elder Ge, your house is given by me, given by the Son of Heaven, if you want to sell it, who dares to buy it?" That's it, the old man is honest, the government and the opposition all know, one hundred taels, I helped you out. ”

"The minister can't share the emperor's worries, and the minister is ashamed."

Wen Tiren knelt down.

"You don't have to be ashamed, you have a clear conscience, but some people may not be, you get up."

Chongzhen's words came out, the courtiers were confused again, Wen Tiren passed the test, but Wen Tiren and everyone are not the same heart, nor are they all the way, this one hundred taels must not be used as a ruler, you must think separately.

When testing the Sacred Heart, of course, you need to go first and explore the way, if the emperor approves it, everyone will follow up, if the emperor is angry and someone goes to prison, it will take a little effort to get it out.

A Zuo Tongzheng received the eyes of everyone, thought about the current market, and thought about it for a while, then stepped forward, knelt on the ground, and said loudly: "The country has difficulties, and the monarch also has difficulties, after all, those of us who are ministers are not, the emperor has said this part, how dare the ministers not think of repaying the service, and the ministers donate ....."

Zuo Tongzheng gritted his teeth and said ruthlessly: "The minister pledged to donate five thousand taels." ”