In the first month of the second year of Chongzhen, there was a festival in the palace of the Ming Dynasty.

As the Emperor of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, Zhu Youzhen, the Emperor of Chongzhen, was watching the eunuchs hang lanterns.

Zhu Youzhen was originally the younger brother of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse had no heirs due to the chaos in the court between the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family. Therefore, when Emperor Tianqi died, he passed the throne to his younger brother Zhu Youzhen, that is, Chongzhen.

Chongzhen was only seventeen years old when he succeeded to the throne, and he had been in a dangerous palace environment for a long time, which made this seventeen-year-old young man introverted, shrewd and resolute. However, Chongzhen grew up in the emperor's family since he was a child, and he didn't know anything about the people's suffering, so at the end of the Ming Dynasty, although Chongzhen wanted to revive the Ming Dynasty, he couldn't fundamentally solve the social contradictions.

However, after Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, he judged the situation and captured and killed the great eunuch Wei Zhongxian and his henchmen who brought disaster to the country and the people in a very short period of time, winning praise both inside and outside the court.

Chongzhen changed the bad habits of the two emperors of Wanli and Tianqi who ignored the government and government, worked diligently every day, and bowed to everything, winning the good reputation of Yao Shun's reincarnation.

However, in the process of purging Wei Zhongxian's henchmen, the crackdown was too widespread, resulting in many internal contradictions among officials and many friends. Since then, the struggle between friends has begun, so that officials only know how to compete for power, and mutual attacks and prevarication in the court have become capable things, and governing the country is secondary. This was something Chongzhen didn't expect.

Therefore, if the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty is traced back to the root cause, Chongzhen, who is known as the Ming Jun, really has an unshirkable responsibility, and Chongzhen himself is completely unaware.

Chongzhen is in a very happy mood now, after clearing the Wei Party, the pressure on Chongzhen's body has plummeted, and his mood has suddenly brightened.

In the first two days, Chongzhen took a few little eunuchs out of the palace to secretly go out of the palace to inspect the people's situation, the people of the capital were very happy because of the death of Wei Zhongxian, and the Lantern Festival was approaching, the lanterns had been hung everywhere inside and outside the capital, the lanterns were of different shapes, or small, or atmospheric, the people pinned their hopes for the future on the lanterns, and the lanterns were beaming with joy and joy, a peaceful scene.

Chongzhen was outside the Qianqing Palace at the moment, and the eunuch Wang Chengen, the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi, was directing the little eunuchs to hang lanterns. These two big lanterns are hung at both ends of the temple gate, and there are nine lanterns for each hanging, all of which are made by craftsmen in Jiangnan with tenacious spotted bamboo and precious red light yarn specially supplied by the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau.

Behind the lantern are two couplets with big characters, the upper one reads 'Guotai Min'an People Health', and the lower one reads 'Yao Shun is reborn and everything is prosperous'. Although the words and sentences are very ordinary, they make Chongzhen's mood very appropriate, and Chongzhen is also more satisfied with this couplet.

This couplet was dedicated by Tian Hongyu, the father of Tian Guifei, who was deeply favored by Chongzhen, and it was even a sacred heart. Chongzhen decided to sleep in Qixiang Palace tonight, which is the palace where the noble concubine Tian Xiuying lives.

Tian Guifei's ancestral home is Xi'an, Shaanxi, but she was born in Yangzhou, which inherits the beauty of northern women and continues the euphemism of southern women. In addition, Tian Guifei is proficient in talent, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, horseback hunting, and silk, everything is fine, and more importantly, she is naturally beautiful, but also with a strange fragrance, according to historical records, "although hot food in the hot summer, or in the scorching sun, the muscles are not sweaty, and there is a fragrance between the pillows", which can be called a fragrant beauty.

What's more, Tian Guifei has a quiet temperament and never talks about government affairs, which is even more favored by Chongzhen.

Seeing Chongzhen's arrival, Tian Guifei hurriedly ordered someone to hurry up and set up food.

Chongzhen likes to be frugal, so there are only a dozen dishes. Chongzhen's favorite dish is stewed three silks, three silks are the thin shredded meat of the ham and cut the thin shredded fish maw and cucumber shreds, the soup of the stewed three shreds is made with the little rooster of the year, plus scallops, abalone, dried scallops, ham, etc., when the soup is stewed, the fish maw shreds and ham shreds are stewed for a quarter of an hour, and the cucumber shreds are sprinkled on the pot before the pot, the milky soup is white fish maw, pink ham and green cucumbers, not only beautiful, but also delicious.

Chongzhen put down his chopsticks with satisfaction and smiled.

"The emperor is in a good mood, presumably after punishing the Wei Party, everyone will return to their hearts, and the world will be peaceful." Tian Guifei was happy to see Chongzhen and spoke the auspicious language.

"Except for the Manchurians outside the gate, there is nothing else to worry about. Although there are some bandits in Shanxi and Shaanxi, it is not a big deal, just small bandits. Chongzhen suddenly thought of Houjin outside Shanhaiguan, and the Manchurian people of Houjin became more and more arrogant. After thinking about it, Chongzhen was immediately relieved, it was all caused by Wanli and Tianqi ignoring the government, and he worked hard to govern the country, couldn't he conquer those fans outside the gate.

As for some bandits in Shanxi, Chongzhen didn't even think about it.

At this time, the peasant uprising in the Shanxi area had just begun, and if effective measures could be adopted, the Ming Dynasty would still have the ability to control the development of the situation.

However, during the tenure of Shanshan, Wu Zhiwang, the governor of the three sides, known as the 'Hongru of Guanzhong', and Yue Hesheng, the governor of Yansui, who was said to be a descendant of Yue Fei, were seriously ill at this time and could not perform their duties. The action of cleaning up Wei Zhongxian's remnants in the imperial court has not yet been completed, and the officials are all in danger, and no one cares about the government. The chaos in the Shanxi region has already shown a trend of sparks burning the prairies.

Among the many uprising teams, Li Zicheng and Li Guo's teams were very small. Therefore, after Li Zicheng rebelled, he took Li Guo and others to defect to Wang Zuohang, who had a large number of people.

Now, the people who followed Li Zicheng's rebellion were excited, at least the soldiers were not worried about eating and drinking.

Li Guo was very worried.

Li Guo didn't expect that the peasant uprising, which was quite praised in history, turned out to be this virtue, where could it be worthy of being called a peasant rebel army? Real bandits! Not only burned, killed and looted, but also forced and coerced the local peasants to riot together. ”

In fact, Li Guo carefully studied it, although there was a severe drought in the Shanxi region from the Apocalypse to the Chongzhen period, if the water conservancy could be built and the victims could be resettled, the famine might not be as big as imagined.

What is the reason for such chaos? Li Guo thought about it, land annexation! At the end of the Ming Dynasty, land was annexed to a large landowner. If the peasants have no land, they will not be able to eat, so will they not rebel?

In his spare time, Li Guo often talks to Liu Tichun. Liu Tichun has always followed Li Guo's side and is a loyal supporter of Li Guo. This is because Li Guo and Liu Tichun have been friends who grew up with bare butts since childhood, and it is also because some of Li Guo's ideas make Liu Tichun deeply admired.

"Pure body! Do you think this can last? Li Guo asked Liu Tichun what he thought about the current situation.

"Can't! This mess is hopeless. Liu Tichun was influenced by Li Guo and was a little open-minded.

"Not bad! It is short-sighted to kill people everywhere like this and wander around, and there will never be development without a stable base area! Li Guo looked at Liu Tichun, "I have to create my own base sooner or later, I think, this must be difficult, Tuchun, are you following me?" ”

"Brother, what are you talking about? I, Liu Tichun, don't do it with you, who will I do it with? Liu Tichun was a little anxious.

"If one day I get away from my second uncle, you will follow me?" Li Guo asked.

"What, are we going to get away from Uncle Zicheng?" Liu Tichun was a little strange, but he continued, "Then I will follow you too!" ”

Li Guo nodded, "Not for the time being, I actually told my second uncle and Jie Xuan what I thought, but they didn't agree." I think sooner or later, we're going to have to stand alone. Or as a partiality teacher of my second uncle, I can help him when he needs me! ”

Li Guo thought that Li Zicheng did not have a stable base in the original time and space, and was killed by the Qing army in Jiugong Mountain. Although Li Guo wants to make a career by himself, since the crossing, Li Zicheng, as the second uncle, has cared for Li Guo, which makes Li Guo unmoved. Maybe if you leave Li Zicheng, you can save his life in the future.

Li Guo looked up at the sky, as if to say to Liu Tichun, and as if he was saying to himself, "I want to create a prosperous era where the cultivators have their fields and the people can settle down and work in peace and contentment, and I want to create a new future!" ”