Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume 5: Lying on the salary and tasting the guts

Chapter 4 Painstaking management of the initial army

Section 5: Questioning

Late at night, in the capital, Wei Zhongxian's courtyard.

In a small side hall, Liu Yunwei sat on a mahogany chair with an angry face, and Wen Poyu and Lu Ying stood quietly behind Liu Yunwei on the left and right; Opposite the three of them, Wei Zhongxian was wearing a splendid robe, drinking tea expressionlessly on the front, and a complete set of blue and white porcelain tea sets from Ru kiln were placed on the desk next to him. At this time, the four people in the side hall were all silent, the whole room was quiet, and the atmosphere in the room was very depressing, making people feel uncomfortable.

After a long while, Liu Yunwei said fiercely: "Grandpa Wei, I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation!" Now that Liaodong is making a comeback, Jiannu is gathering a large army, ready to launch an offensive against Shenyang and Liaoyang at any time, at this juncture, why did the imperial court dismiss Lord Xiong Tingbi? Can that Yuan Yingtai withstand the onslaught of Jiannu! This is a joke on the situation in Liaodong! ”

"Mr. Liu, don't be impatient." Wei Zhongxian put down the teacup and said: "In the future, it's not that the miscellaneous family has to embarrass Xiong Tingbi, it's the Donglin Party that wants to put Xiong Tingbi to death!" Speaking of which, the miscellaneous family has not helped Xiong Tingbi secretly, but his temper is too stinky, and he doesn't know what to do. ”

Liu Yunwei sneered and said: "I don't understand what Gonggong Wei said, now the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty know that Xiong Tingbi has fallen out with his father-in-law because of the Liaodong grain and salary, and it didn't take long for him to be dismissed by the imperial court, doesn't it have anything to do with his father-in-law?" What's the matter with the Donglin Party? ”

"Haha, Mr. Liu, you're still too young." Wei Zhongxian laughed and said, "Do you think Xiong Tingbi was dismissed because of a conflict with me?" Haha, naïve! Mr. Liu, listen to my advice, you are not suitable to get involved in the affairs of the court, so you should lead the troops to fight with peace of mind. You must know that this court is a place that is 10,000 times more dangerous than the battlefield, and if you are not careful, the nine clans will be wiped out and there will be no place to bury! ”

Liu Yunwei frowned and said, "Am I naïve? Then ask Gonggong Wei to teach me, what is the secret of this matter? ”

Wei Zhongxian stared at Liu Yunwei with a smile, looked at it for a while, and asked, "Liu Zongbing really wants to know?" ”

"Of course!"

"That's good!" Wei Zhongxian said: "Then I'll talk to Mr. Liu." However, before I say it, I would like to ask Mr. Liu, do you think there are traitors in the DPRK today? ”

Liu Yunwei couldn't help but be stunned, a little unclear what Wei Zhongxian meant by this, thought for a while, and asked, "Does this have anything to do with Lord Xiong Tingbi?" ”

"Mr. Liu replied to the miscellaneous family first." After Wei Zhongxian finished speaking, he looked at Liu Yunwei for a while, and saw that he was still frowning and refused to speak, so he said with a smile: "Haha, does Liu Zongbing not know, or is it inconvenient to say?" Liu Zongbing must have thought in his heart: You Wei Zhongxian is the biggest traitor, right? ”

Liu Yunwei sneered, but still didn't speak.

"Mr. Liu, let me tell you, although I, Wei Zhongxian, am not a good person, but the miscellaneous family knows how to measure! The miscellaneous family knows when to be greedy for some money and when to hold some authority; But when it comes to the critical time, the miscellaneous family will not be a little ambiguous! The miscellaneous family is a person who has no roots, so for the miscellaneous family, the Ming is here, the glory and wealth of the miscellaneous family is there, if the Ming is gone, then the miscellaneous family will have nothing, and the Ming is everything of the miscellaneous family. Therefore, the miscellaneous family has always been of the same mind as Mr. Liu on this major issue of right and wrong, and those who are not of the same mind as Mr. Liu are traitors in the court. I see? After speaking, Wei Zhongxian picked up the blue and white teacup again and drank the tea by himself.

Liu Yunwei secretly said in his heart: "What Wei Zhongxian said is right, according to my judgment of his personality, he is unlikely to put Xiong Tingbi to death, which means that this matter does have a hidden secret, and most of it is related to the Donglin Party!" ”

Thinking of this, Liu Yunwei said: "Father-in-law Wei, why did Xiong Tingbi form an enmity with the Donglin Party?" ”

When Wei Zhongxian heard this, he gave Liu Yunwei a thumbs up and said, "General Liu is really smart, and he immediately thought of the crux of the problem!" Yes, the reason why Xiong Tingbi was dismissed was because he offended the Donglin Party. I'm afraid this matter has to start with the aftermath of the current Holy Succession. ”

"I want to hear about it."

Wei Zhongxian pondered for a moment and said, "When Your Majesty first ascended the throne, there was not much silver in the treasury, and the court was reaching out for money everywhere, so Your Majesty discussed with miscellaneous families how to make the treasury full as soon as possible. So, the miscellaneous family offered His Majesty a plan: increase taxes! ”

"Tax increases? Now that the people everywhere have long been miserable, doesn't my father-in-law know that Henan, Shaanxi and other places are already full of chaotic people? Why do you need Your Majesty to raise taxes? Liu Yunwei asked angrily.

"Humph!" Wei Zhongxian glared at Liu Yunwei and asked rhetorically: "Chief soldier Liu, which sentence of the miscellaneous family said that they want to raise taxes to the people?" ”

Liu Yunwei couldn't help but be stunned and asked, "Then who will collect taxes from?" ”

"The wealthy family of Jiangnan!"

"How daring!" Liu Yunwei was taken aback when he heard this, and said secretly: "This Wei Zhongxian is so bold, the vast majority of those wealthy families in Jiangnan are some big families integrating officials and businessmen, not only are they rich and rich enough to rival the country, but most of the wealthy families have clansmen who are officials in the court, and most of them are high-ranking officials!" Such a terrorist force Wei Zhongxian also dared to move, it seems that this Wei Zhongxian's power can really cover the sky with one hand! ”

Looking at Liu Yunwei's surprised expression, Wei Zhongxian said with a smile: "Haha, presumably Mr. Liu has already thought of it, the miscellaneous family is just going to knife those fat pigs!" However, the ministers in the court don't do it, almost all of those wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River have relatives in the court, some are officials in the six ministries, and some are even bachelors in the cabinet, Liu Zongbing can imagine how difficult it must be to do this. However, no matter how difficult it is, the miscellaneous family will pluck the feathers from these iron roosters! ”

"Why is my father-in-law like this?"

"Because the imperial court has no money, but the bottomless pit in Liaodong still needs a lot of money and grain to fill it. And Xiong Tingbi is almost a book a day, constantly asking the court for money and soldiers, if the miscellaneous family does not make such a decision, where can they raise money? If there is no money, Liaodong will lose it sooner or later. Liu Zongbing, you don't know, those wealthy families in Jiangnan are really rich and rival the country! After only a few months of collection, the miscellaneous family collected more than three million taels of silver for the treasury! ”

When Liu Yunwei heard this, he was instantly impressed by the big eunuch in front of him. With Wei Zhongxian's courage, vision, and courage alone, I am afraid that there is no second person among the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty.

"Father-in-law is magnificent!"

"Haha, where is the courage of the miscellaneous family, the miscellaneous family is just a little clearer, the court is good, the miscellaneous family is good, that's it!"

After Liu Yunwei listened, he arched his hand towards Wei Zhongxian, and then asked, "Dare to ask my father-in-law, why did the Donglin Party in the court have a grudge against Lord Xiong Tingbi again?" Supposedly, they should hate their father-in-law. ”

Wei Zhongxian smiled and said: "Mr. Liu, you don't know this, those Donglin Party people are all cowards who bully the weak and fear the hard, bully others, fight for power and profit, fall into the well, and bend the law for bribes, they are doing everything, and they have long since lost the arrogance and integrity of the original Donglin Party; However, once they encountered hard stubble, those Donglin Party members were all shrunken turtles. Regarding the matter of raising taxes in Jiangnan, although those Donglin Party members knew that this was the idea of the miscellaneous family, they did not dare to conflict with the miscellaneous family, and the grievances in their hearts had nowhere to vent, so they urgently needed to find a person to vent. ”

Hearing this, Liu Yunwei figured it all out, and said: "Most of the silver collected by my father-in-law during this period of time was used in Liaodong, so those Donglin Party members vented the anger in their hearts on Lord Xiong Tingbi!" ”

"Yes, that's it."

Liu Yunwei thought for a moment, and then asked, "What about the mutual impeachment between my father-in-law and Lord Xiong Tingbi?" ”

Wei Zhongxian shook his head and said, "Mr. Liu, you can't just look at the surface of everything, you have to look at the root of the matter!" If Xiong Tingbi is ousted by a miscellaneous family, at most he will be dismissed and go home; If he let that group of Donglin mad dogs bite him, he Xiong Tingbi will shed his skin even if he doesn't die. ”

"I see." After listening, Liu Yunwei's heart couldn't calm down for a long time, those Donglin Party members who shouted loyalty and patriotism all day long and flaunted morality turned out to be like this, and the eunuch party in the hearts of the world who should have brought disaster to the country and the people actually tried their best to protect the pillars of the national dynasty at a critical time? This is also incredible!

Wei Zhongxian said with a smile: "Does Mr. Liu feel a little hard to believe? You go back and ask your subordinate Yuan Mingxuan to check it carefully, and you will know whether what the miscellaneous family said is the truth. The miscellaneous family is actually similar to those Donglin Party members, they all like to accumulate wealth, like to form parties for personal gain, and they are all moths of the national dynasty; But the only difference between the miscellaneous family and them is that the miscellaneous family knows how to measure proportions, and the miscellaneous family will not knock down the towering tree of Daming! ”

Liu Yunwei knew in his heart that what Wei Zhongxian said should be true, it seems that he is really not suitable to participate in the government politics, the things here are too complicated, and they are completely beyond his understanding of the government and politics.

After thinking for a while, Liu Yunwei asked: "There is one more thing, Father-in-law Wei, Jiannu has already sharpened his sword, and Lord Xiong Tingbi has been dismissed again, so what about Shenyang and Liaoyang?" ”

"General soldier Liu can rest assured, the white pole soldiers of Shizhu Mansion in Sichuan and the Qi family army in Zhejiang are on their way north to Liaodong, with these two elites, Jiannu is rampant!"