Zhang Xianke stubbornly retorted: "The minister only knows that for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, he doesn't know what selfishness he has!" I don't know what the portal sees! However, His Majesty keeps saying that he is a friend, but he doesn't know what party is in His Majesty's heart, and what party is Yang He? ”

"You-" Chongzhen was overwhelmed by Zhang Xianke's words, and he was speechless for a while, and the anger in his chest suddenly exploded, he stood up and shouted: "No need to say it again, go down!" ”

"Your Majesty, every word of the minister is for the sake of the country, and there is no selfishness. The minister is not afraid of death today, but he is afraid that His Majesty will believe the words of Yang He's traitorous minister, and ruin the ancestors for three hundred years! ”

"Go out and wait for the order!" The green tendons on Chongzhen's forehead had already bulged out, and he forced himself to keep a trace of clarity in his mind, and did not issue an order to give Zhang Xianke a court staff.

"Your Majesty, Yang He's trip has brought disaster to the country and the people, and the ministers do not say anything today, and the ministers are responsible for Your Majesty and the people of the world. Your Majesty kills the ministers today, and Your Majesty loses the ministers! ”

Zhang Xianke's last words finally destroyed Chongzhen's last trace of patience, and he shouted loudly: "Take it down for me, such a rebellious person, take it down and fight it hard!" Suddenly, several brocade-clothed guards dragged Zhang Xianke up from the ground and pushed him out. Chongzhen patted the imperial case and roared: "Really fight!" Give me a real fight! ”

The civil and military officers of the Manchu Dynasty were shocked and trembled, regardless of whether they were friends with Zhang Xianke on weekdays or not, they were afraid that he would die under the court staff today, after all, he was already in his fifties. Zhang Xianke was staggered out of the noon gate, took off the crown, took off the court clothes, and pushed him to the ground. This stubborn old man was not afraid of the stubborn arrival of the court staff at this time, but it was a pity that his exhortation did not save the mind of the Son of Heaven, and he was not able to arrest Yang He, a traitor who was doing misdeeds in the northwest, back to Beijing, and now a catastrophe is inevitable, all like an invisible poisonous snake gnawing at his heart. Zhang Xianke struggled to raise his head, wanting to take another look at the Son of Heaven inside the noon gate, but the city wall blocked his vision, he closed his eyes in despair, raised his hands to the sky and shouted: "Oh my God! Oh my! ”

The Xiqi outside the noon gate had already prepared for the execution, but Wu Mengming, the leader of the Jinyi Guard on duty, had not yet issued the order for execution, he looked at Cao Huachun on the side with an inquiring gaze, but he couldn't see anything on Cao Huachun's face, and finally had to whisper: "Gonggong Cao, it's time to start, right?" ”

Cao Huachun shook his head gently, he planned to wait in the noon gate to see if there was a courtier reason to say two good words for Zhang Xianke, so as to avoid this court staff. He knew very well how much torture such torture as the court staff on Zhang Xianke, a world-famous Qingjie minister, would damage Chongzhen's reputation, but since the Son of Heaven had given the order, as the slave of the Son of Heaven, he could not fail to carry it out.

After a while, there was still no order to exempt the court staff, Cao Huachun nodded slightly, and Wu Mengming, who had been waiting a little impatiently, shouted, and the court staff began.

With Wu Mengming's order, Zhang Xianke was pressed face down on the ground, his hands and feet were tied with ropes, and the four brocade clothes and flags were tightened from all sides, making his body unable to move. Wu Mengming saw that his subordinates were ready to be executed, and looked back at Cao Huachun, and saw that the other party had no intention of objecting, so he shouted: "Shelving sticks!" ”

"Shelving sticks!" More than 100 brocade guards around responded in unison, and an echo was immediately heard in the wide square outside the noon gate. As soon as the shout landed, a big man in red walked out of the ranks and put a red lacquer stick on Zhang Xianke's thigh. Wu Mengming shouted, "Fight!" More than 100 subordinates below also shouted in unison: "Fight!" The big man hit him three times, and Wu Mengming shouted again, "Really fight!" The subordinates also repeated the "real fight". The big man intensified his technique and hit him five times, and then changed a person for every five blows.

Zhang Xianke's face was on the ground, his nose and lips had already been broken, and there was blood everywhere on his gray beard. During the torture, he shouted "Heaven" for a while, and "Two Ancestors" for a while, but he did not beg for mercy. As the torture progressed, his voice grew weaker and weaker. By the time he was beaten to forty sticks, he could no longer feel any pain, and could only dimly feel a faint shout in the distance, and at the same time seemed to feel his body shake with each blow. After another moment, he was completely unconscious.

The executioner Jin Yiwei used cold water to wake up Zhang Xianke, Wu Mengming glanced at Cao Huachun, obviously this old gentleman's body and bones could not withstand the remaining more than fifty court rods, but Cao Huachun's face did not have any expression, Wu Mengming had to turn his head and signal his subordinates to continue the execution, but Zhang Xianke passed out for the second time after receiving a few more rods. Cao Huachun knew that if he continued to fight, he would die, so he ordered Wu Mengming to temporarily suspend his sentence and personally go to Chongzhen to ask for an order, leaving Zhang Xianke to live. At this time, the anger in Chongzhen's chest had not subsided, and he really wanted to put Zhang Xianke to death to give those courtiers a little color. Therefore, he glanced at Cao Huachun coldly, and said coldly: "Twenty more canes!" ”

Cao Huachun's forehead immediately oozed a layer of fine beads of sweat, he knew very well that the Son of Heaven at this time and the one in the dormitory on weekdays were completely two people, but thinking of Zhang Xianke's bloody body lying on the ground, he gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Zhang Xianke is a person who is a direct introduction, if he is killed like this, I am afraid that it will be a little unpleasant when I talk to Bi Shangshu later." ”

Cao Huachun's words cleared Chongzhen's mind, he snorted coldly, and said in disgust: "Then it's just today, remember that he is old and mediocre, suspend the punishment of the crime, and let him talk back, if he is not punished, he will be punished more heavily, and he will not be lenient!" ”

Chongzhen said that he was still unfinished here, and wanted to say a few more words to show the majesty of the Son of Heaven. But at this time, a gust of wind mixed with fine sand swept in, and immediately blew down the Yuluo umbrella cover above his head backwards, and the eunuchs and brocade guards around him were in a mess, and the iron horse on the eaves of the city tower behind him was also blown off, and he fell to the ground with a loud bang. Chongzhen's face changed suddenly, as an emperor with a good Confucian education, he had always regarded himself as the "Son of Heaven", and the great changes in the heavens in front of him made him have to have a year of fear in his heart - could it be that God was dissatisfied with his behavior to warn him? He waved his hand at Cao Huachun with a pale face, signaling the other party to quickly take Zhang Xianke back, and quickly boarded the imperial chariot and returned to the Qianqing Palace surrounded by the eunuchs of the brigade. And the ministers outside the noon gate were also in a mess, running towards the noon gate in a panic, and the honor guards composed of the majestic elephants, brocade guards, and Han generals also scattered in the wind.

Chongzhen, who returned to the Qianqing Palace, was in a heavy mood, and his mind began to constantly reproduce Zhang Xianke, who had just knelt on the ground and tried to advise, and the sudden wind, the anger not long ago had turned into a trace of regret, did he really do something wrong? The images of loyal ministers in those books I read when I was a teenager appeared in front of Chongzhen's eyes one by one, the difference is that I am in the position of a faint monarch this time, could it be that my behavior today will also fall on the history books and leave a stench for thousands of years? As soon as he thought of this, Chongzhen's mood became more and more irritable, he stopped and said to Cao Huachun, who was standing aside: "Father-in-law Cao, you have someone take some medicine for the wound and send it to Mr. Zhang." ”

"Mr. Zhang?" Cao Huachun was stunned when he heard this, and then reacted, and hurriedly responded: "The slave obeys the order!" ”

"Don't make a big deal of it, and besides, say to Mr. Zhang's family that you let you send it." Chongzhen's mood at this time was very conflicted, he didn't want to be regarded as a tyrannical faint monarch by later generations, and he was afraid that sending medicine would be regarded as a sign of weakness by the ministers, so he gave such a somewhat contradictory order, but he didn't think at all that the identity of Cao Huachun, who was the eunuch who raised the celebrant and held the seal, determined that what he did could not be interpreted as a personal act. He hesitated for a moment and asked in a low voice, "Gonggong Cao, do you think it's right for me to do this?" “

Cao Huachun lowered his head and replied cautiously: "The old slave heard that 'thunder, rain and dew, all are Jun'en!'" ', Fang just in front of the noon gate court staff is to punish him for rudeness, now the gift of medicine is to pity him and old and loyal, although the emperor has done Yao Shun Jun can not be added, presumably Mr. Zhang can also understand His Majesty's mind! ”

After listening to Cao Huachun's words, Chongzhen's mood was a little better, and at this time, the little eunuch outside passed the news of the household department to Bi Ziyan to wait outside, Chongzhen hurriedly returned to his seat and ordered him to come to the audience. After a while, Bi Ziyan came in under the guidance of the little eunuch, he was an old man who was not amazing, short and thin, his shoulders could barely support the wide official robe, Bi Ziyan just bowed, and the anxious Chongzhen stretched out his hand and said: "Mr. Bi is exempt, come here, move a chair for Mr. Bi, sit down and talk!" ”

Bi Ziyan did not back down, and after sitting down, he said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty's invitation to the old minister today should be for the matter of asking for money from the governor of the three sides, Lord Yang He, right?" ”

"Well, old man, you've also read the Di newspaper!" Chongzhen nodded: "This morning, Zhang Jike also made a little trouble outside the noon gate, forcing me to have no choice, if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have executed him." Speaking of this, Chongzhen sighed: "I don't know why Zhang Xianke is like this?" Could it be that Yang He is not appeased in the northwest? ”

Bi Ziyan glanced at Chongzhen and replied in a deep voice: "The old minister has never been to Shaanxi, and I don't know whether Governor Yang's appeasement is right or wrong, but the old minister is very supportive of one thing he mentioned in the excerpt. “

"Oh?" Chongzhen was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "What's the matter?" “

"Change the salt lead, clean up the military tun!"

"What?" Chongzhen almost couldn't believe his ears, the latter is just that, after all, cleaning up the military tun is Bi Ziyan's consistent proposition, as soon as he took office as the head of the household department, the first thing he did was to clean up the warehouses in Beijing, and the second thing was to inspect the nine sides to clean up the military tun, but the salt tax was one of the most important sources of finance and taxation in the Ming Dynasty, Yang He's practice obviously undermined the salt policy, why Bi Ziyan, who was the head of the household department, would actually support the other party.

"Not bad!" Bi Ziyan still looks like he is not shocked by honor and disgrace: "I don't understand military affairs, and it's not easy to talk nonsense." However, Mr. Yang's approach to financial management has won my heart. The ancestors set up the government of salt introduction not to accumulate people's wealth, but to let the border soldiers have grain and horses, the people of the world have salt to eat, the Son of Heaven is rich all over the world, and the people who seek nothing but the peace of the country and the people. After filial piety, Ye Qi changed the old system to a merchant to replace rice with silver, pay the transportation division, and then distribute it to the nine sides, and the border soldiers have hunger and cold worries, what is the use of Taicang silver to one million? As for Juntun, not to mention, the reason why the Northwest Rebellion can make such a big fuss is because Juntun is occupied by the arrogant and cunning people, and the strong men in the army have no way to make a living, so they have to become thieves and become a big disaster. “

Hearing Bi Ziyan's words, Chongzhen nodded. For most of ancient China, the government levied taxes on the common people in many forms: coins (including copper coins and silver taels), grain, cloth, various special products, and labor, which seemed to many modern people to be completely absurd, because such an intricate tax system was not only difficult to collect, transport, and store the money collected, but also difficult to determine the total amount of tax to be collected according to the budget. For example, it is difficult to calculate how much silver and copper should be converted into a hundred sheaves of hay paid by the people to the post station, and it is difficult to convert into taxes the free labor of a hundred young and middle-aged laborers levied for the construction of a road.

Therefore, many modern sinologists accuse ancient China of being a government with almost no public services, and that a large amount of wealth collected from the people was unplannedly distributed and spent, while the people who paid the taxes had no budget to spend when they encountered sudden disasters such as bandits and floods, and could only temporarily levy a new tax on the people to deal with it. The solution proposed by these sinologists was to collect taxes in the form of a single currency, rather than in various forms of goods and labor, so that the central government could first establish a scientific budget according to the system of payments to be made, and then collect taxes according to this budget, so as to prevent the people from being exhausted by endless labor and various taxes. And why didn't ancient China do this most of the time? These "smart" sinologists simply attributed it to the fact that the ancient Chinese scholars were very poor in mathematics, or that they were too lazy to study mathematics and kept the state finances in a state of "chaos", so that these lazy people could control the state politics for a long time. So is this really the case? If we know more about ancient Chinese history, we will find that these sinologists are just making a suggestion that "looks beautiful".