The center of Chengdu Mansion, the nominal supreme ruler of the Zhu Ming Dynasty in Shu - Shu Wangfu.

The night was deep.

The huge square outside the carrier hall was empty, and not half of the ghost shadow could be seen. The iron hooves rattled on the gold bricks, startling a flock of dozing chaffinches. After passing the Chongxin Gate, Zhu Pingjin saw Cao Yicheng leading more than a dozen eunuchs, bowed and waiting beside the steps in front of the platform of Changchun Palace.

Zhu Pingjin turned over and dismounted, threw the reins to Li Sixian, and strode towards Cao Yicheng:

"Old man Cao, why do you need to greet you in person?"

"Slaves and maids welcome the world! The princess misses you to death! With a whimper, Cao Yicheng led a dozen eunuchs to kneel.

"Old man Cao, hurry up! Where is the concubine now? Lead the way! ”

Cao Yicheng wiped away the tears on his face and got up from the ground. I haven't seen him for more than a month, and his hair is all white, and people have a lot of complaints.

"What disease did my mother have? Has the good doctor come to see him? Zhu Pingjin ran up the steps of Changchun Palace and asked as he ran. It wasn't until he got on the platform that he saw Cao Yicheng panting and following him far away. Zhu Pingjin had no choice but to turn back and go down the stairs and reach out to lead him.

"The slave and maid can't keep up with the world! The slave and maid are old, so they are about to go to see Lord Duan! Cao Yicheng shook his head, very sad, "The good doctor has come to see Niangniang several times, and he said that there is no serious illness!" But the mother just can't get better! A few days ago, there was a civil unrest outside the city, and the prince was angry......"

The Duan Wang Ye in Cao Yicheng's mouth refers to Zhu Xuanqi (QI), the king of Shuduan. Zhu Xuanqi, the king of Shuduan, was the great-grandfather of Zhu Pingjin and the grandfather of Zhu Zhishu (SU), the king of Shu. From the 40th year of Jiajing to the 40th year of Wanli, he served as the king of Shu for a total of 51 years, and he was the king of Shu for the longest time, even surpassing the first generation of Shu king Zhu Chun (Note 1). Because of the longevity of Duan Wangye, Zhu Pingjian's grandfather, Zhu Fengquan, the king of Shu Gong, was in charge of government affairs back then, and passed away that year, and only a few months later, the quasi-Shu king was addicted.

"My mother is sick, she must be missing me! As soon as I come back, she'll be fine in no time! Zhu Pingjin said confidently, and stepped into the gate of Changchun Palace with one foot.

"Son...... You're finally back! The princess sat on the bed with a haggard face. Seeing Zhu Pingjian, he hugged his son and cried.

It seems that she has really had a hard time lately.

"As soon as you go out, you won't hear from you......" The princess was still crying.

"The Son is ......"

"Mom knows, you replied to Mom, and you were robbed by the rioters outside the city!"

Every mother is willing to trust her children, even if their behavior is always so unreliable!

"Mom, my son gave you the two counties of Renshou and Pengshan, and also got back the gold, silver and grain...... It doesn't matter if Wang Zhuang is robbed! We've had some hard times this year, but next year we'll have a better time. ”

"Next year? You won't be able to see your mom next year! The princess began to weep bitterly. Cao Yicheng and several palace maids who accompanied him did not dare to come over to persuade him.

"Something big must have happened in the house!" Zhu Pingjin's heart tightened, and he waved his hand quietly, letting Cao Yicheng and the others retreat.

"Mom, my son is back now, no matter how difficult we are, we can overcome it!"

Zhu Pingjin walked to the dresser and took a comb to comb the princess's hair. As soon as the comb is up, the hair gradually smooths out. The princess's mood was like her hair, slowly soothing.

"My son has grown up, and I know that I feel sorry for your mother." The princess wiped her tears with a silk handkerchief, "Your father blames your mother!" said that it was the Zhuang Household Rebellion, but your mother looted too much, which ruined his reputation as a virtuous king! He...... He's going to abolish your mother's title! ”

"Abolish my mother's title? Strange thing! If it weren't for my father's annual expenses of hundreds of thousands, could my mother be so powerful? Zhu Pingjin was indignant.

With her son's unwavering support, the princess's courage immediately grew.

"That's it! Your father plays with women every day, and Zhu Bajie will hit a nail rake! Do you know that your father spent 190,000 taels of silver last year! There are still more than 30,000 silver to repair the palace and the courtyard! This money must be repaid this year.

There are more than 5,000 left guards in the palace, salaries, rewards, weapons and armor, and Liu Fatzi asked for another 100,000 taels! Zuo Wei has his own military field, and he hasn't seen what soldiers he has trained, and most of this silver was still collected by your father!

There is also such a big palace as this palace, there are seven or eight thousand people up and down, and the annual expenditure is at least 200,000 taels!

Last year, there was a drought, and after the thieves, the county kings and clans all came to fight the autumn wind. One gives, and the other can you say no? Your third uncle has 20,000 yuan, and your fourth uncle has at least 18,000. These two gave, King Deyang, King Neijiang, King Nanchuan and more than a dozen county palaces, do you say to give it? Even the king of Huayang, who is far away in Huguang Lizhou, and his relatives who can't be beaten by eight poles, also wrote to say that the thieves disturbed the realm, and the embarrassment was very great, and they asked for money to eat!

Last year, the government owed us the royal palace again, and even your father's 10,000 stone Lu rice was only given 3,000 stone. Your Zhu family has tens of thousands of people in Sichuan, which one doesn't ask your mother for money? It cost another 200,000 here. At the end of the year, I spent a total of more than 800,000 yuan!

You are older now, and you have a lot of expenses, and you are going to get married again this year, and your mother has to prepare one or two hundred thousand for you!

People outside say that our Shu Wangfu is the richest among the vassal kings in the world. This is true, but the family has a big business and a lot of expenses! How much can we harvest in a year? In the past few years, the palace has been unable to make ends meet, and the old bottom of the family is about to be lost! Your father doesn't know what your mother is up to......

The princess counted down the princess and sobbed again.

Zhu Pingjin had no choice but to comfort the princess and said: "My son has built 150,000 mu in Renshou County, and Yazhou has about 100,000 mu. Two days ago, there was news from Pengshan County that we would have to earn at least 200,000 mu. That adds up to 450,000 acres of land......"

Listening to Zhu Pingjian's narration, the princess suddenly interrupted him and said, "It's difficult for you to support yourself this year, and my mother estimates that you will have to borrow 100,000 stone of grain!" There are 60,000 people in Renshou County, and the winter wheat will not mature until two or three months later. Before that, they all had to be supported by the palace. Three months for one person and nine buckets, to say the least, it will cost 50,000 stone of grain.

You drive three times a day to protect the caravan, which is the age of some long bodies, and one person is at least five or six stones a year.

You are in charge of the food and salary of Tianquan Toast, and you are still buying people, and 2,000 people will need at least 12,000 stone a year.

Peng Shan heard that the trouble is worse than Chengdu, there are mostly rice fields, now is the time to plant seedlings, at least one mu of one bucket of seed grain, 200,000 mu of this will cost 20,000 stones. In addition to recruiting some farmers who are short of food at home, Pengshan will need 50,000 stone this year.

In Yazhou, you have taken 9,000 captives, three stones a year for each person, which requires 30,000 stones.

These five items add up, and you need 200,000 stone of grain at least.

But how much can you get into your account? Yazhou, you copied the Fan family's grain stockpile, except for the local expenses and your caravan to eat and drink, you can give Renshou County and Pengshan County a maximum of 70,000 stones!

The balance of income and expenditure is at least 100,000 yuan.

As for the battle fought in Pengshan, it is estimated that your capture is not enough food for a year's captivity! ”

Without waiting for the princess to finish, Zhu Pingjin screamed Mom, sweating hotly.

Mom is so powerful, the calculation is accurate. There were many gold, silver and jewels captured in the first battle of Minjiang, but the food was insufficient, less than 40,000 stones.

How did my mother know about these top-secret numbers? Mole! There must be a big mole around!

"That's it! You, this child, are born a restless species, and like your father, he always thinks about the position of Jingshi! ”

As the princess spoke, she signaled Zhu Pingjin with her hand not to be nervous, meaning that she was safe here.

"After King Xiang was killed, your mother was so scared that she couldn't sleep. The imperial court can't even keep the heavenly family, who else can it keep? It's hard to say what will happen after that.

Later, your mother thought again, since the world is in chaos, it won't end in a few days. Let's keep a few more hands. Your father always thinks that one day the ministers will elect him. Bah! Just by virtue of the reputation of a virtuous king, do you want to be the honor of the Ninety-Five? Dream! Just because he can recite poetry and paint? In troubled times, there are no soldiers, no money and food, even if those ministers recommend you, don't they use you as a puppet to play? Your father still scolded me for having long hair and short knowledge! ”

The princess said, her face full of hatred that iron is not steel.

"You've done a good job with that caravan! My son is promising, a hundred times stronger than your father, a thousand times thousands of times! With hundreds or thousands of seeds that can fight, and then feed hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and tens of thousands of stone grains every year, after three or five years, we will be able to raise four or five thousand soldiers who can fight habitually! Liu Fatzi's left guard, what is it compared to?

There is also Liao Daheng, a few days ago, he asked Mr. Liu to quietly send a handwritten letter, saying that he was secretly contacting you to send troops to suppress bandits, and asked your mother to unify his rhetoric with him. My guess is that you must have colluded with him. It's no wonder you don't ventilate with your mom beforehand. Earlier, you secretly went to Mengding Mountain to train soldiers, and your mother disagreed. It's not that my mother is cowardly, but my mother didn't expect your Zhu family to be like this!

It's okay if you collude with Liao Daheng, at least the government will turn a blind eye to your military training, and there will be a lot less trouble. Come, tell Mom, how much silver did you give Liao Daheng? ”

I still can't hide my mother. When the princess asked about this, Zhu Pingjin had to explain the causes and consequences of his collusion with Liao Daheng.

The princess has regained her appearance as a strong woman.

She listened to Zhu Pingjian's explanation and said bluntly: "You gave Liao Tycoon too much!" This year, one county is five thousand taels, next year is seven thousand, and the year after next is eight thousand five. When the three-year covenant is over, it is ten thousand. Sichuan is not counting Tusi, there are more than 100 counties in a province, and he Liao Daheng will collect more than 1 million, and the province's annual field endowment is almost complete. Liao Daheng is a greedy person, he can't turn it in truthfully, at least half of it. He also wants to use Mr. Liu's name to invest in the tea and horse business for dividends.

Hmph, he can share dividends, but my family earns more! This year, the price of grain will definitely be more than two taels, and having grain and soldiers will make more money than anything! ”

Speaking of grain, Zhu Pingjin hurriedly interjected, and said that the methods of reducing rent and dividing fields, land development, and increasing grain varieties were said, and the princess showed a smile on her face, and praised Zhu Pingjin again and again for being a smart and obedient child she raised, how could she be deceived by Liao Daheng.

She told Zhu Pingjin that although the food reserves of the palace had suffered a great loss, the emaciated camels were bigger than the horses, and the grain reserves of the Shu palace were still huge.

In Guan County and Pi County, two large granaries were preserved, and each silo contained at least 100,000 stone of grain. Coupled with the inventory of Wangdian in more than a dozen other counties, it is estimated that 70,000 or 80,000 stone of grain can be gathered.

In Qiu Zigong, Zhu Pingjian's uncle in Chongqing Prefecture, there are also 150,000 stones of grain for sale. She said that she wanted to take advantage of the local riots in northern Sichuan and the high grain prices in eastern Sichuan to sell them at a good price. If you need it here, you can also ship it back. It's just going against the current, and it costs a lot of time and freight.

Finally, Chengdu is here. There are 100,000 stones of rice stored in the wide warehouse in the palace, and there are more than 200,000 stones of grain stored in the grain store of Chengdu Mansion in each royal mansion. If it is needed in Pengshan, it can be shipped soon.

Zhu Pingjin heard clearly, the princess wanted to give all the money of the palace to herself.

He was very excited, if he could fully mobilize the huge financial resources of the Shu Palace, then whether it was the surrender policy and the expansion plan of the caravan, it could be accelerated. As long as we grit our teeth and survive the first half of this year, then as soon as the autumn grain is harvested, the grain will be barely able to break even. If a few more prefectures and counties are added next year, then Zhu Pingjian's army will be able to compete with Zhang Xianzhong in terms of both military and food sources.

It was getting late, and the princess urged Zhu Pingjin to go back to the house to rest.

When the two broke up, she confessed: "You blame Cao Sanbao!" Your mother specifically told him to report it, and she didn't let him tell you. This man is loyal to our mother and son, and he is relieved, but he is a little timid. Cao Yicheng is already old, and your mother is ready to let him take over as the chief steward of Changchun Palace. ”

"Yes, Princess!"

"Mom is just your son, and I'm counting on you all my life! Your dad is now all fascinated by those two vixens, and he can't tell the difference between east and west, north and south! That day he threatened me to dethrone me as princess. As long as you have soldiers inside and Liao Daheng outside, your father's conscienceless won't dare to touch my mother and son. Those two vixens want to sit in your mother's seat, phew! Dream! At that time, you will let Liao Daheng participate in his book first, and then you will join him in his extravagance and debauchery, and there is no one like him! However, if you join your father, you will be joined by our whole family! This trick is a lose-lose situation, and we can't use it lightly until it is absolutely necessary! ”

Abolishing Zhu Pingjian's position as the fucking princess of Shu is equivalent to abolishing Zhu Pingjian's position as the son of Shu. Now Zhu Pingjin is most concerned about this matter, and hurriedly asked: "Mom, what the hell is going on, can you tell your son about it carefully......

"Your father has added another brother to you, and he likes it so much! Qiao'er's body is itchy, you find time to take a look on behalf of your mother. The princess was indifferent and murderous.

Zhu Pingjin returned to the prince's mansion, and the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace all came out to greet him. Zhu Pingjin asked his subordinates to arrange Cheng Xiangfeng's living, and he entered the Xinuan Pavilion of the main hall alone.

He watched Li Sixian skillfully spread the lamps and candles and tea, and felt sad in his heart. I didn't expect my mother to live so hard all the time, and it seems that the daughter-in-law of a wealthy family also has a scripture that is difficult to read. Since Cao Sanbao was asked to go by his mother, the housekeeper in this house has to find a new person.

He repeatedly weighed Wang Sizhong and Li Sixian in his heart, and then ordered his subordinates to go out.

He wanted to personally assign a task to Li Sixian.

This is not only a test, but also a certificate of nomination before ascending.

Note 1: Zhu Chun, the king of Shuxian, reigned for forty-five years.