Being able to see the emperor up close certainly made the people of Zunhua City feel a little excited, and they forgot some of their pain for the time being. But after this excitement, some people began to worry about their future lives.

A woman whose husband was killed in a street battle outside the city, and whose house was burned down, leaving only her in-laws and three and a half children as she was left behind, suddenly squeezed out of the crowd and knelt in front of him as Chongzhen passed by, telling her story to the emperor in a backward voice, as if begging for the emperor's mercy.

The Ming soldiers who were maintaining order on the side were about to surround and stop the woman, but Zhu Youzhen waved at them, signaling that they didn't have to step forward. He bent over and took the woman's hand, listened to her weeping, and patted her hand from time to time as a sign of comfort.

The surrounding people were originally extremely worried that this woman who came out of nourishment would be punished for offending the emperor, and they wanted to come forward and say a few words for her. However, seeing Chongzhen treating this woman so kindly, these people couldn't help but stop their actions. Looking at the woman's chattering appearance, some people who had also lost their relatives couldn't help but cry.

Seeing the sadness of the people around them, Sun Chengzong and other officials became nervous one by one, and they were all worried about whether someone would rush into the emperor because of their emotions out of control, and couldn't help but step forward to urge the emperor to enter the city as soon as possible.

However, Zhu Youzhen has no fear of such a crowd, because these people are all people who have shed blood for the Ming Dynasty, and they may be dissatisfied with the losses of their own families and the casualties of their relatives in the defense of the city, but as long as the superiors are willing to listen to their hearts, they will be the most solid foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

And for the people who have just shed blood for the Ming Dynasty, or for themselves, it is also a matter of course that they want to complain to themselves or have something to appeal. Because they have this qualification, they demand a reward for shedding blood from themselves, who are regarded as the masters of the Ming Dynasty.

After spending nearly half an hour listening to the woman's story, Zhu You ordered the two women on the side to step forward and help the woman kneeling on the ground, before he straightened up and said to everyone: "I already know about your arduous resistance to Jiannu in the past month, and no matter what I say at this time, I will not be able to repay you and your family for the bloody sacrifice of Daming.

Although I can't make any specific promises to you right now, I can guarantee that not a single drop of the blood that has been shed for Da Ming will be in vain.

I will definitely guarantee that the bereavement and preferential treatment promised to you by the officials of Zunhua City will be distributed to you in full, and the imperial court will also compensate you for the property you lost in this war.

In order to ensure that everyone can survive this winter, I will ask everyone to give a temporary allowance to support their living expenses this winter. As for your burned houses, the court will allocate funds to rebuild them, and until your burned houses are restored, you can still live in your current residence, and the court will pay for your rent..."

Zhu Youzhen's speech to the Zunhua military and civilians outside the east gate was not long, but it successfully dispelled the doubts in the hearts of these people. After the withdrawal of the Houjin army, they were most worried about two things, one is that after the war, they will be driven out of the place where they live now. After all, the place where they lived was forcibly borrowed from some large family; The second is whether the promise made to them on Wednesday before the war can be fulfilled.

When Chongzhen walked into the city, Sun Chengzong approached the emperor with some nervousness, and whispered to him: "Your Majesty, there are more than 18,000 households in Zunhua City, Santun Camp City and other border villages that have been affected by the war, and if it is according to the compensation standard that Your Majesty has just promised, it will be 100 yuan per household, and it will also exceed 1.8 million yuan.

If you have to build houses for the people whose houses have been destroyed, it will be an astronomical amount. Before the minister came to Jizhou, the 5 million yuan war bond had been almost spent, although His Majesty issued a second public bond, but the money could be used to reward the soldiers. The minister thought that it would be difficult for the imperial court to prepare such a huge expenditure. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled at Sun Chengzong and said, "Mr. Sun, rest assured, I will try to solve the reconstruction funds of Zunhua, Santun Yingcheng and various border villages, and I will not take advantage of the rewards of the soldiers." ”

Sun Chengzong couldn't help but blurt out, "How does Your Majesty want to solve it?" ”

Zhu Youzhen said disapprerovingly: "The case of Lianghuai Salt has dragged on for so long, and it should be closed." Those merchants who fought against the imperial court to evade salt taxes must be severely punished, and the remaining salt merchants must always show an attitude to prove their allegiance to the imperial court. If they were not loyal to the imperial court, what right would they have to continue to occupy such a lucrative property? Salt and iron are the lifeblood of the country's economy, and I will not allow a group of mercenary merchants to control these industries. ”

Sun Chengzong subconsciously said: "The gentleman is righteous, and the villain is profitable." Merchants are just some small people who chase profits, how can they be made to pay for the court to settle these people? If Your Majesty forcibly pushes this matter, I'm afraid it will cause public criticism, right? ”

Zhu Youzhen said disdainfully: "The so-called criticism is nothing more than the clamor of some corrupt Confucians and bad literati who have been funded by salt merchants. As long as the imperial court has a correct mentality, resolutely suppresses the voices of those corrupt and bad literati, and guides the people to think with correct public opinion, then there will be no criticism. ”

Sun Chengzong was silent for a while before continuing: "If Your Majesty does this, I'm afraid that there will be a speech official who will write a letter, which is blocking the way of speech." ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said, "Blocking the way of speech? If this can be regarded as blocking the way of speech, I think it is really time to rectify the system of speech officials, whose officials are they doing? ”

Because of Chongzhen's arrival, Wang Yuanya gave up his Fu Ya. After Zhu Youzhen entered the Fuya to wash and rest for a while, he summoned Sun Chengzong, Wang Yuanya and other local officials in the flower hall in the second hall and listened to their reports on the current situation of Zunhua City.

After Wang Yuanya and other local officials reported some information to Chongzhen, Zhu Youzhen saw that Wang Yuanya looked hesitant, as if he had something to say. He couldn't help but look at Wang Yuanya and said, "Does Governor Wang have something to say to me?" ”

Hearing Chongzhen's question, Wang Yuanya couldn't help but be surprised, quickly stood up from the chair and saluted Chongzhen and said, "Yes, Your Majesty." There is indeed a small matter here, and I don't know if I should report it to His Majesty. ”

Zhu Youzhen said disapprerovingly: "What trivial things can make you, the governor, restless, let's tell me about it." ”

Wang Yuanya, who was still hesitating, could only say to the emperor at this moment: "Back to Your Majesty, in fact, if you really want to talk about this matter, it can't be regarded as a trivial matter.

Before Jiannu broke through, Jingzhong sent Zhou Staff Officer to convey the orders of the General Staff... Some time ago, after the siege of Zunhua was lifted, the local gentry heard that although the General Staff sent Staff Officer Zhou to convey orders, they did not authorize him to collect the city's materials and implement the wartime ration system. There was also no plan to train the young women and children of the city to guard Zunhua City.

Therefore, the representatives of the local gentry were very angry, believing that Staff Officer Zhou had falsely passed on orders, which had caused the people of Zunhua to be poisoned by the Houjin army, and the loss of personnel and property was huge, so they complained to the county and the governor's yamen, demanding that Staff Officer Zhou be punished..."

Zhu Youzhen raised his right hand, turned to Sun Chengzong on the left to look at him, and asked, "Stop, Mr. Sun, do you know about this?" ”

Sun Chengzong was silent for a while, then nodded and said: "The minister knows, but the minister thinks that there is a reason for the incident, after all, it was the time of the Houjin invasion, and Staff Officer Zhou was also in a hurry..."

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly interrupted him and said: "I didn't ask about this, I asked about someone in the General Staff who leaked confidential information to the outside world, does Mr. Sun know who did this?" ”

Sun Chengzong, who originally wanted to excuse Wednesday, suddenly couldn't turn around and was stunned. Zhu Youzhen looked at Sun Chengzong and said regretfully: "It turns out that Mr. Sun doesn't know, in my opinion, compared to Wednesday's behavior, revealing the content of the meeting of the General Staff without permission is the real bastard."

The Houjin army was able to make a detour to invade the Jizhou border pass this time, and I already have news that someone colluded with Houjin to pass on the truth in my pass to Houjin, which made these Jiannu greedy and wanted to enter the pass and loot.

Who are these people who have betrayed the country? As far as I know, among these people are merchants who walk outside the border, generals and soldiers in border towns, local officials, and those gentry and big families. For the sake of their own selfishness, these people do not hesitate to lead the enemy into the customs and slaughter their compatriots, which can really be described as a group of well-dressed deer.

Revealing the secrets of the General Staff to the outside world is a felony. If they leak the information to those Houjin spies, wouldn't the soldiers who fought bloody battles in front of me have to shed blood and die in vain?

Governor Wang, do you have a list of the gentry who complained to you? ”

Looking at Chongzhen's suddenly stern tone, Wang Yuanya was a little at a loss, and subconsciously wanted to intercede for them: "Your Majesty, those are all big families in this city, and they are all good people." ”

Zhu Youzhen stared at him and said, "Good people? Is Governor Wang willing to guarantee his life? ”

Wang Yuanya was speechless for a moment, and Zhu Youzhen said meaningfully: "Back then, Wang Huazhen relied on Sun Degong as a confidant, but this general of the Ming Dynasty betrayed hundreds of thousands of Liaodong soldiers and civilians in one go, and more than 100,000 lives were lost in his hands.

The imperial court remembered that Nurhachi's father and ancestor sacrificed for the country, so he has always been quite favorable, and after Nurhachi was full-fledged, he raised a butcher's knife to my Ming army and people.

I, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, accepted the small tribes in the border with the ideals of the four seas, and took in the various tribes in the frontier to live in Liaodong, but after these people enjoyed the preferential treatment of my Ming Dynasty, the old slave betrayed my Ming Dynasty and went to the old slave. For example, Tong Yangxing and others, weren't they the local gentry and good people in Liaodong at that time? ”

Hearing Chongzhen's anger, Wang Yuanya and several other local officials suddenly didn't dare to defend those gentry, and Wang Yuanya was shocked to report a series of names.

Only then did Zhu Youzhen turn his head to Lian Shanxiang and said: "Send someone to temporarily detain them, search their homes, confiscate all the objects with words, and then screen and interrogate, if there is indeed collusion with Houjin, I must be severely punished, in order to comfort the souls in heaven who sacrificed the people in Zunhua City..."