"Got it?"

Niu Bantou's words surprised everyone in the teahouse, and the prefect personally went down to the county to read the county order, which has never happened since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the people in the teahouse are all ordinary people, after thousands of years of feudal society, they still know some basic common sense, in the feudal period, the power of officials is authorized, and this authorization is directly authorized, and there is only one source of power, that is, the emperor. Whether it is the prefect, or the prefect, the governor, the governor, until the three ministries and nine ministers of the capital, they have high and low official positions, but they have no direct subordinate relationship with each other, they are all imperial court officials, and they are all authorized by the emperor. The prefect obeys the prefect's orders, which is just a procedure for the operation of power, and the purpose is to do errands for the emperor and the imperial court, and the power of the prefect is not given by the prefect. Therefore, even the lowest level of the Ming political axe, that is, the magistrate, is an official appointed and evaluated by the imperial court.

For example, sometimes when the emperor was happy, he would personally meet the new magistrate, which was a symbolic message. Therefore, although the lower-level officials at that time were also very flattering to their superiors, it was because after all, the world was too big, and the communication was backward, and the imperial court's grasp of the information of officials at all levels was limited, and it would be very troublesome to offend the superiors, because the immediate bosses also had the right to participate in the impeachment, promotion, and assistance in the evaluation of officials. Despite this, the personal dependence of the prefects on the prefect was not very strong, and unlike 500 years later, their official positions were appointed by the imperial court, and the higher authorities could participate in the impeachment and promotion, but could not directly appoint or remove them

Because neither the prefect nor the governor has the power to directly remove the prefect, the only person and department with this power are the emperor and the ministry.

Now listen to Niu Bantou say this, things become intriguing, all say that the teahouse is mixed, but the news is also the most well-informed, recently I haven't heard of the holy decree and the official document of the ministry to Jinan, why did you suddenly dismiss the two counties?

Everyone looked at each other a few times, and Boss Huang couldn't help but ask softly tentatively: "Niu Bantou, is he going to want a huge person?"

"Shh

Niu Bantou stretched out his index finger and put it on his lips and made a silent movement, and said in a low voice: "Lao Huang, you know about this, don't spread it, that's the business of adults, as long as we can live a peaceful life, we will be content, and the above things have nothing to do with us." ”

"Yes, yes, yes"

Boss Huang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and nodded again and again, he was self-aware and knew very well that they couldn't afford to mix these things.

But there are also those who are not afraid of death, a man wearing a cloth coat that is brand new, but it doesn't look like the workmanship is very good, and the man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks said disdainfully: "Cut, Boss Huang's courage is also small, you don't dare to say that I said, this is already a lice on the bald head, is it a clear thing, the huge people now want soldiers and soldiers, and they want silver and silver, and our governor of Shandong is his father-in-law again, and now he must eradicate dissidents." ”

As soon as this person said this, someone next to him was unhappy: "Eh, I said Zhou Monkey, how do you speak, what is the eradication of dissidents, it is obvious that those officials do not know each other before they were picked up by the prefect." ”

"That's it, according to me, those officials who occupy the pit and don't shit should have gotten out a long time ago, everyone think about the good things they have done, you can understand, originally huge people ordered to reduce our taxes, some officials refused to live or die, huge people want to collect taxes from those merchants, and those officials are crying and shouting what to say about competing with the people for profit, I bah, who doesn't know that they and those businessmen are wearing the same pants. Some people also threatened to sue adults, but they were beaten up by adults, and then they became honest. ”

Everyone is talking about the nots of those people, in short, it means that those officials who don't listen to the words of the huge people should not be taken, and the benevolent government that hinders the implementation of the huge people is kept.

"Ahem"

Just when everyone was stirring up a mess, Niu Bantou spoke, only to see him cough loudly a few times in a row, and everyone then remembered that there was a public head here, and their faces were unnatural, after all, they were a Pingtou people here to openly discuss the government, and they had already committed a major crime in terms of the Ming law, and Niu Bantou had the right to arrest them back to the yamen for questioning.

However, Niu Bantou was obviously in a good mood today, and he didn't care about their gaffes, but just said with a calm face: "Okay, you are all flat-headed people, and it is always inappropriate to talk about the government behind your back, so I don't think I heard it today, and I won't take it as an example." ”

After that, Niu Bantou drank the bowl of tea in his hand, picked up the waist knife on the table and strode downstairs.

As the sound of ponging faded away, the originally peaceful teahouse began to boil again

There is no impermeable wall in the world, Pang Gang's attack on Shandong's "disobedient" officials soon spread throughout Shandong, in less than a month, dozens of officials in Shandong were cut down by him, these vacancies were all filled by Pang Gang's people, so after a round of reshuffle, Pang Gang's control over Shandong was greater.

The evening of the third day of the ninth month of the tenth year of Chongzhen

After about a watch, the whole Yanjing City seemed unusually quiet, and at the same time, it was particularly gloomy and desolate. At the intersections of the main streets stood soldiers, lazily watching passers-by. Many large houses have red or white paper lanterns hanging outside their gates, emitting dim lights.

In the center of Yanjing City is the center of the Ming Dynasty and the Forbidden City, the center of power.

The huge Forbidden City is like an old giant beast silently lying on the ground in the night, the Forbidden City is very large, and at the same time it is covered with many long alleys, in these narrow and long alleys, there are often givings carrying small lanterns, knocking on broken gongs or bangs, and the shadow of the cowering appears and disappears into the darkness; The slow, listless sound of gongs or bangs faded away in the wind, and most of the people fell asleep in the middle of the night.

But there are exceptions, such as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen did not sleep, and at the moment he was walking around in the courtyard of the Qianqing Palace. The two palace maids stood silently on both sides of the Dan Xiang with two silk palace lanterns, and the other eunuchs and palace maids who were on duty stood far away in the dark shadows, not even daring to come out. Occasionally, a cool north wind blew, and the iron horse at the corner of the palace made a sound of dingdong, but Chongzhen didn't seem to hear it. His mind was thinking about the terrible situation that he could not help but worry about, and he sighed from time to time. After visiting for a long time, he lowered his head and walked to the Huixiang Pavilion with heavy steps, and sat down again in front of the imperial case.

Up to now, there is no place in the entire Ming Dynasty that does not make him worry, Jiangbei, Huguang, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei half of the Ming Dynasty, everywhere is a catastrophe, there are rebellions everywhere, although there are usually rebellions and generated rogues, but at most tens of thousands of people can reach the sky, generally hundreds to thousands of people, but now according to Henan's Jinyi Wei to report, Li Zicheng has more than 100,000 people after he fled to Henan, captured a small half of Henan, and finally besieged Luoyang, Fortunately, Pang Gang, the general soldier of Shandong, came to the aid to defeat the Liukou, otherwise Luoyang would not be protected.

After receiving this news, Chongzhen's mood was not happy at first, but panic and anger, this Pang Gang occupied Shandong, and now he has extended his hand to Henan, is he so impatient? There are also Lu Weiqi and Li Xianfeng, don't you know that introducing Pang Gang into Henan is definitely to lure wolves into the house? Although he later received news that Pang Gang had withdrawn his troops back to Shandong, Chongzhen still had a knot in his heart, but soon his heart was stunned by the news reported by Hubei.

This news is like adding fuel to the fire for Chongzhen, although the rogues in Hubei abound in the past, but they are generally hundreds, and there are thousands of people in the sky, and now Li Zicheng led tens of thousands of rogues into Hubei, these rogues have gathered under his command and quickly gathered into an army of seventy or eighty thousand, which has posed a serious threat to Hubei.

What bothered Chongzhen even more was that south of the Yangtze River, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and other places also had famines and turmoil, and even the so-called land of fish and rice in Suzhou and Jiaxing also encountered drought and locust plagues, and grain prices soared. The situation in the whole Ming Dynasty is getting worse and worse, and now there is almost no quiet land in sight.

Now Chongzhen is in a very bad mood, and recently there have been five eunuchs and two palace maids who have been ordered to be pulled down and killed by him because they have made a small mistake, which makes the eunuchs and palace maids of the entire palace honestly frightened.

Chongzhen, who was sitting in front of the dragon case, picked up the recital and wanted to review the recital as before, but when he picked it up, he felt that his heart was disturbed, and he couldn't stand it no matter how strong he was fighting.

In the end, I had to lean quietly on the dragon chair, only to feel that my brain was a mess, and after a long time, Chongzhen stood up and slowly walked to the door, but saw a couplet, which was written:

The four seas are leveled, and the green and graceful explore the six books;

Ten thousand times of time, Yao weaving is more than three.

This couplet is still Zhang Juzheng's own handwriting, written very full of ink and round, dignified and vigorous, is the best in the pavilion body, Chongzhen also likes its battle work steadily, but now in Chongzhen's view, this couplet is full of irony.

"What is there now 'the four seas are leveling', and what are the 'tens of thousands of clearances', I am just struggling now, and I don't want the foundation of my ancestors to be destroyed in my hands!"

Chongzhen said and spoke, tears couldn't help but fall, and several eunuchs and palace maids behind him saw the emperor crying, and they all knelt down and shouted in fear: "The emperor is angry, slaves and maids should die!" ”

Hearing the words of these eunuchs and palace maids, Chongzhen turned his head in disgust and shouted loudly: "You slaves can say anything other than saying this all day long, come on, take these slaves"

Just as Chongzhen's last sentence was about to be spoken, a gentle voice came from the door, "Your Majesty, why are you angry again, you have to take care of your dragon body." ”

With the voice, a fragrant breeze came from the door, and a middle-aged beautiful woman in her thirties walked in with lotus steps, followed by two palace maids, one of whom was holding a tray in his hand. After she came in, she put a cloak on Chongzhen's shoulder, and said with concern: "Your Majesty, it's late at night, it's okay if you don't sleep, why don't you pay attention to take care of the dragon body, if the dragon body is sick, who else can we count on to go." ”

As soon as Chongzhen saw the arrival, his originally angry expression slowly calmed down, and he took a deep breath before he said slowly: "Zitong, why are you here, you are not in good health, why don't you stop at such a late hour?" ”

The person who came was Queen Zhou, the status of Chongzhen's original partner in Chongzhen's heart was very high, Chongzhen was still a king of letters, but he was bullied by Wei Zhongxian very badly, so that the prince could not distribute it on time, and even said that life was tight, and for a while he relied on the embroidery made by Queen Zhou to sell money to help, and the two supported each other for many years.

When King Xin became Chongzhen, Chongzhen still respected and loved the queen who had shared weal and woe with him, and he also respected Queen Zhou, and now when he saw Queen Zhou coming, his anger was mostly gone, and he waved his hand impatiently to several eunuchs and palace maids who were still kneeling on the ground, signaling them to get out.

When these eunuchs and palace maids fled like amnesty, Queen Zhou thoughtfully took Chongzhen's hand and sat down in front of the dragon chair, took out a small bowl painted with gold edges from the palace maid's tray, opened the lid, and gently scooped the camp stalk spoon, put it next to her cherry mouth and tested the temperature before handing it to Chongzhen.

"Your Majesty, this is the white fungus lotus seed soup made by the concubine herself, you can drink some of it."

"Okay, I'm a little hungry too." For the queen's kindness, Chongzhen generally does not refuse, he took a bowl and drank a few sips, feeling a warm current flowing from his throat into his stomach, and a feeling of comfort welled up in his heart.

"Well, it's delicious, what Zitong makes is good."

After drinking a bowl of lotus seed soup, the expression on Chongzhen's face began to relax.

Seeing that her husband's mood was much better, Queen Zhou asked: "Your Majesty, you haven't been to the harem for half a month for state affairs, and the concubines in the harem are a little unhappy." ”

Chongzhen sighed lightly, pointed to the chapters placed everywhere on the dragon case, and said annoyedly: "Zitong, look at it, you see, all the chapters here are either asking for help or food, or asking for reinforcements, the entire Ming Dynasty has become a pot of porridge, how can you let me go to the harem again."

Just more than 20 days ago, Li Zicheng was driven to Hubei, and he began to make waves in Hubei, he united with other thieves to capture more than ten county seats, even De'an Mansion was captured by him, and now it is even more forced Xiangyang Mansion, and Hubei Governor Feng Longxiu is a rice bucket, in addition to constantly asking the court to send troops, it is not even useful at all, I might as well raise a dog for him! ”

The more Chongzhen said, the more angry he became, and even his eyebrows were raised. Empress Zhou didn't see it well, so she quickly diverted the topic, "Your Majesty, didn't you just say that Li Zicheng was driven from Henan to Hubei?" Who is so capable of forcing this thief into a corner? ”

After listening to Queen Zhou's words, Chongzhen's face was stiff, and he stayed for a long time before he said stupidly: "Who else can there be, it is the current Shandong chief soldier Pang Gang." ”

"Is it Pang Gang?" Empress Zhou was a little surprised, and exclaimed softly: "Isn't Pang Gang the chief soldier of Shandong?" Have you already ordered him to rush to Henan's aid? ”

Chongzhen smiled bitterly: "It's because I didn't make an order that I am so angry." ”

In the Ming Dynasty, everyone knows that it is a capital crime to mobilize soldiers and horses without the will and official documents of the emperor and the Ministry of War, Pang Gang dared to do this, and he was already naked and did not take the emperor and the court in his eyes, but Queen Zhou still didn't understand.

"Your Majesty, that Pang Gang will be so kind and take the risk to rush to Henan for no reason, is there any hidden reason in this?"

Chongzhen's teeth were gritted: "He is not kind, he is for the silver, Liu Yuliang, Lu Weiqi and Li Xianfeng, the three fools, gave him 200,000 taels of silver, and the good emperor uncle of mine gave him 300,000 taels of silver and 200,000 stone grain, so Pang would have been so "kind" to send troops just now, these chaotic ministers and thieves, what did they take the decree of the imperial court as, a joke?" I must kill them. ”

Looking at her husband's murderous face, Queen Zhou's heart was disturbed, and she couldn't help but throw herself into her husband's arms and cry: "Your Majesty, the concubine is a woman's family, and she doesn't know any national affairs, but the concubine knows that if Pang Gang came to help, Luoyang would be occupied by thieves, and now the court can give some money to keep Henan, why not do it!" ”

Listening to the sound of the queen crying, Chongzhen, who was originally angry, gradually came back to his senses, looked at the queen who was crying with pear blossoms and rain in his arms, felt guilty in his heart, patted her shoulder and comforted: "Okay, Zitong don't cry, it's not good for me, I shouldn't lose my temper with you, in fact, what you said is not bad, why not be a credit to be able to hug Henan for a little silver." ”

After Chongzhen finished speaking, he took out a handkerchief from his arms and gently wiped away the tears on Queen Zhou's delicate face, seeing that her husband was rare to be so gentle and considerate, Queen Zhou burst into tears and smiled: "Your Majesty, since that Pang Gang is so capable of fighting, you can transfer him to where there are thieves and gangsters this time." ”

"Hmm"

After listening to Empress Zhou's words, Chongzhen first raised his eyebrows, then shook his head and said: "This Pang Gang has already turned his face with the imperial court, and he will not listen to my dispatch now." ”

Empress Zhou said casually: "It's not your word that is not sent, as long as there are enough benefits, the concubines will not believe that he is disobedient." ”

"Huh"

After listening to Chongzhen Zhou's words, Chongzhen couldn't help but stand up and paced in front of the dragon case, and an idea slowly emerged in his heart

(To be continued)