At the mention of silver, the suspicious and irascible emperor immediately lost his temper.

In fact, the successive emperors of the middle and late Ming Dynasty Yanjing loved silver, and it was not ordinary love, and Chongzhen was no exception. There is no way to force it, whether it is the treasury or the inner government, it is poor, in recent years, even the night pot in the palace has been secretly sold for silver, Chongzhen, who can now glow green when he sees silver.

At this moment, seeing that someone was actually preparing to fill the imperial treasury with one million taels of silver, it would be a lie to say that he was not moved, and even the title of Pang Gang began to change.

Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang couldn't help but swallow their saliva at this time, one of them is the first assistant, the other is the secretary of the military department, I don't know how many people reach out to them, and their words are also sad, now I see that there is a big man who wants to fill the treasury with silver, and it must be a lie to say that I am not excited.

However, the final decision on this matter is still in the hands of the emperor, and they can only pretend to wait for Emperor Chongzhen's decision.

Chongzhen rang for a while, and then asked with some distress: "Two Aiqing, what do you think of the self-defense excerpt sent by Pang Gang?" ”

"This" Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang glanced at each other, and nodded in unison with a tacit understanding. ”

Yang Sichang took a step forward and said: "Your Majesty, the ancients said: Knowing mistakes can improve the great way. Although Pang Gang dared to rebel against the imperial court, he was not without bitterness, and he was also willing to donate one million taels of silver to atone for his sins, the emperor was merciful, why couldn't he forgive him once? ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wen Tiren also persuaded: "Your Majesty, although Pang Gang is hateful, the minister thinks that the governor of Zhejiang, Wu Yadong, is even more hateful, thinking that as the governor of Zhejiang, the taxes paid by Zhejiang in recent years are only more than one million taels. That Pang Gang was able to hand over so much silver to the imperial court just after a few days around Hangzhou, and Zhejiang only had so much tax silver a year, which shows how derelict he was as a governor. On the other hand, although Pang Gang's surname is reckless, he is loyal to the court and the emperor, and the emperor should also be lenient on this point. ”

Chongzhen still didn't say anything after listening to their words, just leaned his head on the dragon chair and closed his eyes without saying a word.

After a long time, Chongzhen opened his eyes and muttered: "The officials in Zhejiang are too incompetent, and it's time to make a move." ”

Although Chongzhen's words sounded like they were clueless, Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang were both old fritters who had been mixed in the officialdom for decades, how could they not hear what Chongzhen meant, the two of them looked at each other in understanding, nodded slightly, and immediately retreated after the two confessed.

Although the meaning of Chongzhen's words is difficult to comprehend to outsiders, the meaning is not very complicated. To put it simply, now Pang Gang has grown into a local surname armed force that people can't ignore, and although the court of this force has the ability to deal with him, the cost is too great to be cost-effective, since he is now willing to open real money to atone for his crimes, then there is no need to fight with him to lose both. Well, now here's the problem.

If you want to pardon Pang Gang now, you must find a reason, and this reason must be sufficient and strong enough, so strong that the government and the opposition cannot find a reason to oppose it.

In fact, it is very simple to find a reason, that is, to find a scapegoat, who to find? Whoever sues Pang Gang, let's look for whomever we want.

Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang's movements were very fast, early the next morning, the two of them played a piece at the same time, Wen Tiren wrote to intercede for the commander of Qingzhou and General Dingyuan, saying that although he had a small mistake, he was loyal to the court and the emperor, and asked the emperor to treat him with benevolence.

Yang Sichang sued Wu Yadong, the governor of Zhejiang, Xi Lianglin, the envoy of Zhejiang, and others for framing Zhongliang, deceived the saints, and forced Pang Gang, the commander of Qingzhou, to be cornered, and asked the emperor to strictly investigate the matter.

As soon as these two letters came out, the officials in the court seemed to be suffering from collective sluggishness, and they were all dumbfounded, not that I didn't understand, but that the world was changing too fast. Why did he shout and kill Pang Gang yesterday, and today this one has become Yue Wumu, who is being persecuted.

And Chongzhen was also furious on the spot in the court, and immediately ordered the removal of Wu Yadong, Xi Lianglin and other cadres, and ordered Jinyiwei to immediately arrest him and return him to Beijing for trial.

Qingzhou commanded the Yamen, and Pang Gang was pulling Liu Zeqing to drink tea in a small courtyard, and the two chatted while talking. Since Liu Zeqing was captured by Pang Gang, Pang Gang did not put him in a cell, but let him live in a courtyard of Reading Power, except that he could not go out, everything was no different from the guests.

Liu Zeqing smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Pang, I am grateful to you for your hospitality, but you have to understand that I am a small person with a family, and I will not betray the emperor." ”

"Hahaha" Pang Gang laughed, he said with a smile: "Brother Liu, where do you want to go, you and I are colleagues, how can I harm you?" Come and come and drink tea! ”

"Colleague, I'm afraid not now!" Liu Zeqing smiled bitterly and shook his head, the old brother in front of him seemed to be like a fan, as the contact increased, he felt more and more that this old brother was terrible, as if everything was under his control.

Liu Zeqing took a sip of tea and asked: "Brother Pang, Brother Ransom said bluntly, although you defeated me, but with the strength of your state, you can't fight the imperial court in a duel, you better go, go as far as you want, and never come back." ”

Pang Gang didn't expect Liu Zeqing to say such a thing, and after being stunned, he laughed out loud, laughing so much that Liu Zeqing was inexplicable, and finally said angrily: "Brother Pang, are my words so ridiculous?" ”

"No, no, no!" Pang Gang waved his hand, and was about to say something, when Shi Bowen, the captain of his personal army, walked in and said respectfully: "Lord Qiqi, the Qin sent by the imperial court has arrived, and he is waiting for you in the front hall." ”

"Oh, so soon? Who is the Qincha this time? ”

"Back to my lord's words, the Qin mission who came this time is the eunuch Cao Huachun's father-in-law!"

"Hehe, it's not small." Pang Gang smiled slightly after hearing this, but Liu Zeqing on the side was stunned, and asked with a stammer: "Why did the imperial court send Qin again, what is going on?" ”

Pang Gang stood up and patted Liu Zeqing on the shoulder, "Brother Liu, you can be wronged here first, I will go to the front hall to receive the holy decree first, you can rest assured, it won't be long before you can go back to Jinan." ”

After speaking, Pang Gang strode over to the front hall, leaving only Liu Zeqing in confusion

(To be continued)