Walking slowly with the little eunuch in the imperial garden, Pang Gang discovered a strange thing, that is, there were very few eunuchs and palace maids along the way, and Pang Gang actually felt a trace of decay in this originally warm spring season.

Pang Gang, who felt strange in his heart, couldn't help asking: "Dare to ask this father-in-law, this official has found that many places in this imperial garden have not been cleaned all the way, doesn't the father-in-law in charge of affairs take care of it?" ”

The little eunuch smiled bitterly when he heard this: "The general doesn't know, the current saint is a diligent and thrifty son of heaven, in order to raise the salary of the silver and the two armies, the saint even has his hair gray, in recent years, the saint has repeatedly reduced the expenses in the palace, and now there are less than 1,000 people in the palace, so the manpower is only enough to listen to errands in some important places, how can he take care of them one by one." ”

Pang Gang nodded after hearing this, it seems that it is not a lie that Chongzhen is the most frugal son of heaven in the Ming Dynasty, as can be seen from his reduction of palace expenses and a large number of eunuchs and palace maids.

While they were talking, the two of them had already come to a small pavilion, and Chongzhen was sitting on a stone bench.

The little eunuch led Pang Gang to the side of the small pavilion and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, the slave maid was ordered to lead the Dingyuan general Pang Gang to meet him. ”

Chongzhen nodded, and when the little eunuch saw this, he immediately made a gesture of invitation to Pang Gang, and Pang Gang strode into the small pavilion and knelt down on one knee in his official uniform and saluted: "General Weichen Dingyuan, commander of Qingzhou, and general of Lingdong Road Sanzhou Pang Gang see the emperor." ”

Chongzhen raised his hand and said softly: "Aiqing is flat!" ”

"Emperor Xie!"

Looking at Pang Gang who was standing respectfully on the side, Chongzhen pointed to the stone bench beside him and said, "Aiqing, you can sit too." ”

Pang Gang bowed and sat on the stone bench beside him, at this time he finally had the opportunity to take a closer look at the last king of the Ming Dynasty, at this time he no longer had the majesty of the morning court, a pale and pale face was full of tiredness, and even the smile that looked at Pang Gang was also a little lonely.

Soon, two palace maids brought two food boxes, and soon there were four dishes and one soup on the stone table, and a bowl of white rice and chopsticks were placed in front of each of them.

Chongzhen picked up the chopsticks and said to Pang Gang: "I heard that Aiqing has made great achievements in resettlement, reclaiming displaced people and reclaiming wasteland in Qingzhou. ”

Pang Gang looked at the two meats, two vegetables and one soup in front of him, and couldn't help but shake his head and said: "Your Majesty, you are so frugal, how can the palace not shorten your food and clothing." ”

Chongzhen smiled bitterly: "There is no way, now silver is used everywhere, Jiubian will have to pay five million taels a year, and the imperial court's annual tax is only four million, if I don't save a little, how can I still pay silver to the soldiers of Jiubian." ”

Pang Gang was speechless after hearing this, the current Ming Dynasty is not without money, but very rich, but the money is hidden in the cellars of the rich gentry in Jiangnan, especially at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the industry and commerce in Jiangnan have been unprecedentedly developed, and even the rudiments of capitalism have appeared. But why are the households of the Ming Dynasty still so poor, because in the late Ming Dynasty there was a "strange phenomenon" - any country's policy of strengthening control over private economic activities, any country's attempt to increase industrial and commercial taxes, will inevitably be resolutely and unanimously resisted and rejected by their spokesmen in the imperial court, the Donglin Party, and such boycott activities have almost invariably been successful, and this success further convinces them of their correct surname. "Don't compete with the people for profit, hide the wealth from the people" has almost become their invincible theoretical magic weapon, "agriculture and business" in their meaning is just that if your country wants to fight, you can only fight the idea of agriculture, you want to increase agricultural taxes, you can discuss, if you want to increase industrial and commercial taxes, then don't think about it! "Don't say profit, only say righteousness", that is what you say to the country's political axe and to the emperor, which means that your political axe, your emperor only needs to say righteousness, and it is not good to say profit, it will be dishonorable!

Originally, the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty was already very low, only one-thirtieth, if this tax rate could be put in the future generations to make all the merchants crazy, but such a low tax rate was still too high in the eyes of those Donglin Party members, so after their unremitting efforts for many years, in the end even the thirtieth of the tax was exempted. In the end, the court became poorer and poorer, and finally lost the entire country.

Ironically, however, in 1644, when King Li Zicheng and his army of rogues attacked Yanjing, the thirty-five-year-old Emperor Chongzhen had his eunuchs ring the bell to summon the officers and soldiers in a state of emergency. But in normal times, none of the Donglin Party who were impassioned in the court appeared, and they had long since dispersed. Only the eunuch Wang Chengen was by his side. He really became a lonely man and hanged himself on a locust tree in the coal mountain north of the Forbidden City.

When Chongzhen hanged himself, the eunuch's evaluation was, "If Wei Zhongxian was still there, the world would not be like this." ”

The evaluation of the civil official is: "A single husband gives the head, what a way!" ”

However, Emperor Chongzhen's evaluation was: I am not the king of the dead country, and all the ministers are the ministers of the dead country.

Looking at the white-haired emperor who was not yet thirty years old, Pang Gang opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he thought of the later generations' evaluation of Chongzhen's indiscriminate killing, suspiciousness, greed for money, harsh government, mediocrity and many other dead kings, although it may not be absolutely correct, but it is absolutely not wrong to summarize Chongzhen's life with the words "powerless to return to heaven". The current Ming Dynasty is already terminally ill, and anyone who wants to save this dynasty will be dragged into the endless abyss by him.

Thinking of this, Pang Gang silently swallowed the words in his heart back into his stomach. Eating the rice in the bowl without saying a word, the rice in the bowl was eaten by Pang Gang after a while. Pang Gang, who refused to be given food by the palace maid, stood up and gave Chongzhen a salute to thank the emperor for the banquet.

Chongzhen put down the dishes and chopsticks, looked at Pang Gang, and said warmly with encouragement in his eyes: "After going back this time, I hope that Qing can stabilize the situation on Shandong East Road, and I must live up to my intentions." ”

Even though Pang Gang already knew the ending of the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he couldn't help but be a little moved in his heart, and bowed down and replied solemnly word by word: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, Weichen is wrongly loved by the emperor, Weichen is grateful, it is the responsibility of Weichen to protect the territory and the people, and the minister dares not to be unsatisfied?" ”

A smile appeared on Chongzhen's tired face: "That's good!" Stand down. ”

"Emperor Xie!" Pang Gang gave a salute and silently took a few steps back before walking backwards under the leadership of a little eunuch.

When Pang Gang and the little eunuch just walked out of the imperial garden, three palace maids happened to come from the front, led by a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl in palace clothes, the little eunuch immediately led Pang Gang to stand on the side of the road and waited for the palace maids to pass, but when the palace maid walked in front of Pang Gang, her sharp eyes turned on Pang Gang, but Miaoman's figure stopped. The little eunuch didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly said: "The slave maid has seen Princess Kunxing, Princess Jin'an!" ”

"Excuse me!"

Pang Gang, who was standing on the side of the road with the little eunuch bowing his head, only heard a crisp voice sound, and Pang Gang looked up and saw that a girl with an elegant temperament was standing in front of him. Listening to her spit out like a pearl, her voice is soft and crisp, very beautiful, Pang Gang glanced at her a few times, and saw that she looked innocent, delicate and naughty, her cheeks were flushed, although she was young, but her complexion was beautiful and elegant, she was really better than the one who came down in the painting, and she would have such a handsome character like a pearl and a beautiful jade.

Pang Gang's heart moved, and he said secretly: "Is this the former Daming Kunxing princess Zhu Yujiao, who will be called Princess Changping in later generations?" I didn't expect her to be so beautiful at such a young age. ”

Princess Changping at the end of the Ming Dynasty has many legends in later generations, such as folk legends that she is the master of the famous heroes Gan Fengchi, Bai Taiguan, Lu Siniang and others during the Yongzheng period. But Pang Gang knew the real truth, but this beautiful princess Kunxing first fell into the hands of Li Zicheng after Yanjing was attacked by Li Zicheng, and then fell into the hands of the Manchu court, and died of illness in less than a year because she missed her parents too much. The poet Wu Weiye once wrote "Elegy for the Eldest Princess of Siling" for her: "Your lord's voice is beautiful, the life of the previous dynasty is light, Hongwen is far and near, and he mourns the rise and fall."

Facing such a bleak princess of the Ming Dynasty, Pang Gang also sighed in his heart, and hurriedly bowed down and said: "General Chen Dingyuan and Qingzhou have commanded Pang Gang to see Princess Kunxing. ”

Princess Kunxing Zhu Yujiao's face was slightly red and said to Pang Gang: "It turns out that General Dingyuan, this palace and yesterday also saw the heroic posture of the general and the Tartar in the city, and the general Gao Yi is very admired by the palace, please accept the palace!." ”

After speaking, Zhu Yujiao bent down and saluted Pang Gang, and Pang Gang quickly bowed down and saluted when he saw this, claiming that he didn't dare.

After seeing the ceremony, Zhu Yujiao asked with some curiosity: "General Pang, aren't you afraid of being so dangerous when you fight with the Tartars?" ”

Pang Gang was stunned for a moment before replying: "So that the princess can know, if she is not afraid, it is a lie, but the situation was critical at that time, and the last general was a thousand households, and it was the duty of the last general to take the lead." Otherwise, the soldiers under him will learn the same, so wouldn't it be a mess? ”

Zhu Yujiao was silent for a long time, a trace of sadness appeared on her originally innocent face, and she said a little gloomily: "This palace has been taught, whether it is for a general or a king, it is not easy!" ”

Listening to Zhu Yujiao's young but somewhat old-fashioned words, Pang Gang glanced at her deeply and said softly: "If the princess has nothing important to order, then she will leave." ”

Zhu Yujiao nodded, and walked forward with the two palace maids, leaving only a faint fragrance

(To be continued)