Yue Yang's words made Wang Pu's eyes light up on the side, and he slapped his thigh and shouted: "It's such a reason, they also have a share in the grain, grass and silver that they want to come, why should we let the people of Xuanda Town do this kind of work that offends people, if you want to offend people, you will offend together, this is the right reason!" ”

Speaking of Wang Pu in this era should be an official of the second generation and the second generation of wealth, the family is not short of money, he Chongzhen three years to his father repeatedly moved to the Beijing battalion deputy general, to Chongzhen six years, advanced to the right governor, Chongzhen seven years Cao Wenzhao town guard Datong, into the left governor and Datong general soldier, this official road is enviable. Sometimes Yue Yang is very envious of this goods, and he worked hard for several years to get to the position of general, but he just became an official and was a deputy general, followed by the right governor and then the general soldier, if it weren't for this guy who was too afraid of death in the Battle of Songjin and ran away, he would have to occupy a place in the history of the Ming Dynasty with his achievements in the past few years.

When he first met Wang Pu, Yue Yang didn't have a good impression of this runaway general, but after a long time of contact, Yue Yang also felt that this guy was not bad, at least he was more righteous and good at taking care of his friends, because Yue Yang's relationship with him was okay, and now he took the initiative to speak for himself, which was quite buddy. Thinking of this, Yue Yang decided in his heart that he could give them an extra share of Datong's salt market share after going back this time.

It's just that after Wang Pu's words were finished, Lu Xiangsheng glared at him and shouted in a low voice: "General Wang, be cautious!" I don't want to hear this kind of gossip anymore, do you understand? ”

"Yes!"

Wang Pu was also a cheeky person, and he didn't care about grinning and didn't speak, but quietly grimaced at Yue Yang.

Yue Yang smiled secretly in his heart, don't look at Lu Xiangsheng drinking Wang Pu, but everyone will have selfish intentions, Lu Xiangsheng is the governor of Xuanda, and the balance in his heart will naturally be biased in favor of the generals of Xuanda, he thought about it for a while or gathered the generals to everyone: "Everyone." Everyone has seen what happened just now, yesterday the official asked the court for silver and food, but now the state affairs are difficult, and the court can only take out 20,000 taels of silver and 1,000 loads of grain to us, to be honest, this bit of food is enough for us for three days.

What if there is not enough food? I had to raise money, and the holy decree also said that the imperial court sent General Yue to collect grain from the rich families in the capital......"

Speaking of this, Lu Xiangsheng continued: "But everyone also knows that every rich family in the capital is simple, and Lord Yue will inevitably encounter many difficulties when he goes. Lord Yue Yang also said that he is probably not able to support himself alone, and he needs to find a helper to help him, you all said, which of you would like to go out with General Yue to raise food for the rich households? ”

"Whoa......

After everyone looked at each other, they had a tacit understanding to be dumb, the water in the capital was too deep, none of them were stupid, and they would not jump into the pit stupidly.

It seems that this situation has been expected for a long time. Lu Xiangsheng said lightly: "Since everyone is reluctant to go, then you have to ask Lord Yue to choose by yourself." Lord Yue, you said it yourself, who do you want to send with you to raise food? ”

Yue Yang on the side smiled faintly. He arched his hand towards Lu Xiangsheng and said: "Governor Lu, now that my camp has gathered elites from Xuanda Town and Liaodong Town, this food raising naturally requires people and horses from the two places to go out together, and the last one will be from Xuanda Town." This time to raise food, it is natural to pick another general from Liaodong Town to go with him. ”

Hearing this, the generals of Xuanda Town were fine, but those generals from Liaodong couldn't help but change their faces in their hearts. Especially Wu Sangui secretly complained, in his opinion, this Yueyang and he had a holiday the day before yesterday, and this time needless to say, he will definitely drag himself to jump into the pit together.

It's no wonder that Wu Sangui thinks so, and Wu Sangui feels that if he changes his heart, he will also drag a person he doesn't like to jump into the pit.

Yue Yang's blazing eyes glanced around the bodies of the Liaodong generals, and the faces of everyone who were swept by his eyes changed slightly. Everyone is not a fool, they all know that this is an errand who offends people, but they can't say anything against it, otherwise they will say a good word, or you will be able to push you back if you don't get the silver and grain and grass back, and Wu Sangui is even more fingernails on both hands are pinched into the palms of his hands without knowing it.

Soon, a human life spit out from Yue Yang's mouth: "Governor, it's good for the last general to see Lord He Kegang, let him go into the city with the last general to collect grain this time." ”

"Hoo ......"

As Yue Yang's words fell, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Wu Sangui also let go of his nervous hands, and let out a long breath, as long as it wasn't himself, as for others, he couldn't care so much.

And when He Kegang spit out his name in Yue Yang's mouth, he was first shocked, and then a burst of anger surged into his heart, glaring at Yue Yang and asking angrily: "Lord Yue, how did this official offend you, you actually framed this official like this?" ”

Yue Yang also sneered: "Lord He's words are wrong, according to what you said, who did that official offend, and was actually sent to be this messenger?" ”

"You ......"

Although He Kegang is loyal and brave, he is obviously not good at playing with words, and he became speechless when Yue Yang asked such a rhetorical question, and there were so many colleagues around him watching, so he finally had to accept his fate with a long sigh.

Seeing that he could pull this Liaodong Zuodu Governor onto his boat, Yue Yang also became a lot happier, he arched his hand at Lu Xiangsheng and everyone and smiled: "Governor, my lords, since this is the case, the last general will leave first, everyone rest assured, it will not take two days for the last general to come back with Lord He." Lord He, without further ado, let's hurry up for everyone's sake. ”

After speaking, Yue Yang walked out of the big tent, and He Kegang had no choice but to follow him in a helpless muffled voice, looking at the backs of Yue Yang and He Kegang disappearing, Lu Xiangsheng suddenly felt that it seemed to be a mistake for the imperial court to send this guy to borrow grain from the rich in the capital this time, and if he didn't get it, this guy would poke out Da Louzi......

Out of the big tent, Yue Yang smiled and said to He Kegang: "Lord He, how many people do you say we should take with us to the capital?" ”

He Kegang, who was put on the table, said angrily: "The holy decree indicates that you are in charge, and you can just watch it." ”

Yue Yang was not angry, and still smiled: "Okay, in that case, let's bring a thousand soldiers and horses into the city, I'm afraid that we will be gossiped." Lord He, let's go into the city......"

…………

Today, Chongzhen retired from the court and did not correct the recital in the Warm Fragrance Pavilion, but drove to Cining Palace. Along the way, although the willow green and pink, the spring water and the sky compete for blue, swallows and yellow warblers come together. It can be described as a beautiful scenery, but Chongzhen does not have the slightest mood to appreciate the scenery, which is also human nature, after all, the Tartars are about to come to the city, and it is strange that he can be happy as the lord of a country.

Empress Zhou, who got the news, hurriedly led the palace maid and eunuch to pick up the car outside Cining Palace, Chongzhen got off the sedan chair and slowly walked to Queen Zhou, who was kneeling at the front, and said softly: "Zitong, what are you doing here?" Get up quickly, you know I don't like these courtesies. ”

Empress Zhou, who was dressed in a light yellow palace dress, insisted on saying, "Your Majesty, the ceremony cannot be abolished." Then he stood up. and a group of palace maids hugged Chongzhen into the hall.

Entering the palace, Queen Zhou helped Chongzhen take off the cloak and hand it to the palace maid behind her, and waited for him to clean his hands, took a clean white towel to help him wipe his hands clean, and then asked softly: "Your Majesty, why did you come here so early today, in the past, were you still in the Warm Fragrance Pavilion from time to time?" ”

Chongzhen walked to the side of the chair and sat down, leaned his head deeply on the back of the chair, took the teacup handed over by the palace maid and took a sip of ginseng tea. I closed my eyes. Feeling a warm current flowing from his throat to his stomach, he let out a long breath and said, "I have discussed the affairs of those ministers for a day today, and I feel tired, so come and sit here." After resting for a while, I went over to correct the folds. ”

Looking at her husband's pale and haggard face, he is only twenty-five years old this year, he already has several deep crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, and his eye sockets are also a little dark, and he looks almost ten years older than his actual age. Queen Zhou felt a sour heart, and her eyes were a little red. She choked up and said, "Your Majesty, there are a lot of national affairs. Where is a person who can complete the correction, although you are the son of heaven, but you also have to take care of the dragon body. ”

Listening to Empress Zhou's choked throat with sincere emotion, Chongzhen slowly opened his eyes and looked at Empress Zhou and smiled: "Zitong, what are you doing here?" I'm just a little tired, so you don't have to be so sad, right? Since the ancestor handed over the Jiangshan Sheji to me, I have to govern him well, otherwise I will not be able to see the ancestors and ancestors in the future when I go underground, now the Dongnu has reached Changping, and will arrive in the capital in the near future, Lu Xiangsheng led the army to resist the Dongnu outside the city, but the army is short of silver and food, but the court can't take out the silver to reward the army, you say I can not be in a hurry to get on fire. ”

Queen Zhou and Chongzhen have been married for many years, naturally knowing her husband's temper, she walked behind Chongzhen and stretched out her slender jade hand on his temple and began to rub it, and suddenly a comfortable feeling came, Chongzhen moaned comfortably and said in a low voice: "It's still Zitong's intimateness, if you want to talk about this massage technique, there is no one in the palace who can compare to Zitong, or how to say that it is still intimate with the pillow person." ”

"Majesty, look at what you say." Although she was already the mother of two children, Queen Zhou was still shy, her fair face became pink, and she gently hit Chongzhen's shoulder with disgust, but the strength was as light as the breeze outside the window.

"Haha...... Look at you, did I say anything bad about you, why do you mind so much? Feeling the coquettish tone of the beautiful woman behind her, Chongzhen could imagine that Queen Zhou must be blushing at this time, and having been a husband and wife with Queen Zhou for so many years, Chongzhen naturally knows Queen Zhou's temperament. It is never an exaggeration to use the words "virtuous and virtuous" to describe her, she is the most dignified on weekdays, but she blushes for a while when she occasionally jokes with her.

After a while, Empress Zhou asked softly, "Your Majesty, is the matter in Gyeonggi really urgent?" ”

"Yes!" Chongzhen nodded: "Now Lu Xiangsheng with sixty or seventy thousand troops stationed outside the city, according to the convention, the war is imminent, the imperial court will reward the three armies, and allocate silver and grain and grass to stimulate morale, but the treasury is empty, and the Hubu Shangshu Hou Sui reported that the entire treasury is only more than 30,000 pieces of silver, and less than 2,000 tons of grain, which is a drop in the bucket. ”

"What...... Is there such a thing? How's that good? Queen Zhou was shocked, her originally ruddy little face turned a little white with fright, and she grabbed her husband's arm in a distracted manner.

Chongzhen gently pressed Queen Zhou's little hand, patted it lightly and said: "Zitong, you don't have to worry, later Chen Xinjia came up with an idea, saying that although there is no silver in the treasury, there are many rich gentry in the capital, as long as each household donates so many thousands of taels of silver or hundreds of loads of grain, a mere 200,000 taels of silver and 10,000 loads of grain can be easily raised. ”

"Does this Chen Xinjia have a grudge against that Yue Yang? How to throw such a hot messenger to someone. Isn't that harmful? ”

Empress Zhou frowned delicately, although she didn't pay attention to the affairs of the court on weekdays, she was not stupid, she knew how mixed the water in the capital was. It can be said that none of the rich families in the capital are fuel-efficient lamps, although she doesn't know who the general named Yue Yang is, but Chen Xinjia threw this messenger to others is obviously the rhythm of killing people.

Chongzhen sneered: "Chen Xinjia naturally has bad intentions, but that Yueyang is not a fuel-efficient lamp. Zitong, you don't know yet, in the past few years, that Yueyang has been doing a lot of things on Shanbei Road, and he not only gathered the displaced people to vigorously reclaim the wasteland. And he has done a good job, and he has paid a lot of food and silver to the court in the past few days, and he is indeed a capable official from this point of view! Not only that, but he has also made a lot of feats, and won the head of thousands of Dongnu, are you powerful? ”

"That's good!" Queen Zhou said puzzledly: "Such a talent, who can make money and fight at the same time, isn't what we lack such a capable official?" Your Majesty, you should reuse this talent, yes! ”

"But the problem is that this person is too good at tossing!" Chongzhen smiled bitterly: "Zitong, do you know, according to the Jinyi Wei report." He still has more than 10,000 troops in a small Shanxi North Road, which is already equivalent to the total army of a town, and last time Chen Xinjia united some imperial historians to join him, this person actually publicly said to the court that he would expand the army by another 10,000! According to the law of the Great Ming. Those who expand the army without permission will be punished for a crime, which shows that this person's courage is really boundless, because when Chen Xinjia said that he would make this person responsible for collecting grain from rich merchants, I agreed without thinking. It is most appropriate for this kind of offending people to be handled by a bold person like him, and those rich families in the capital should also be rectified! The big war is coming, and I can't help those generals with heavy troops. Can't you help them? Speaking of this, Chongzhen's eyes also showed a terrifying cold light.

Although Chongzhen is impatient and self-serving, he still has the skills of the emperor, and after being the emperor for nine years, he already knows a lot about the situation in the capital. Now although the treasury is so poor that rats have to come out with tears when they go in, but the treasury of those dignitaries and rich families in the capital is still full, these people who never pay taxes and do not pay grain are the richest people in the Ming Dynasty, as long as they are willing to fund the imperial court, not to mention 200,000 taels of silver and 10,000 loads of grain, even if it is more grain and silver, but it is not easy to take out the silver from the hands of these people, even if they are the emperor's honor, but they cannot forcibly collect silver taels and grain, Otherwise, the backlash will be unbearable.

However, although he can't do it himself, it will be no problem if another person does it, and even if something goes wrong afterwards, he can push it on Yue Yang's body, anyway, with a substitute for the dead ghost, the matter can't be involved in him anyway.

Thinking of this, Chongzhen couldn't help but smile slightly, he was proud of his intelligence, but he still underestimated the courage of some people. He also forgot that some people are born with the ability to hold chicken feathers as arrows, and they are still a big arrow!

Due to the imminent siege of Beijing by the Qing army, all the gates of Beijing City had been closed for several days, Yue Yang took He Kegang and a thousand cavalry to open the two inner and outer gates of Yongding Gate and Xuanwu Gate with the Holy Decree and waist card, and a thousand cavalry galloped on the streets of the inner city.

It was noon when I arrived in the inner city, but the streets were still full of pedestrians, and there were refugees begging on the streets. In the past few days, more than 100,000 people have fled from Changping and the eastern suburbs, and the government has no way to contain them, so many of them are sleeping under the eaves on both sides of the street. At night, many old people, women and children groaned, complained, and sighed. The women whispered to the old man, mourning and weeping. The children shrunk together in their mother's arms, crying and crying out for hunger, tearing apart the hearts of adults. But when the patrol soldiers sent by the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses approached, they were patient for the time being, and did not dare to say anything. Since martial law was imposed a few days ago, hundreds of refugees have died every day, and as many as two or three hundred. Although there are porridge factories in all five cities, the mortality rate is increasing, especially among the elderly and children.

Seeing the arrival of a thousand cavalrymen with bright armor, including Yue Yang and He Kegang, pedestrians couldn't help but give way, and even the refugees on the side of the road were so frightened that they stopped crying, for fear that these officers and soldiers would be unfavorable to them.

Seeing these refugees, Yue Yang's heart trembled, and he pointed to the refugees on the side of the road and said to He Kegang, who had not spoken to him along the way: "Lord He, don't blame me for pulling you to be this wicked person, you see, now that the Tartars have not yet hit the city, there are already so many refugees here, if we are defeated, I don't know how many people will die?" How innocent are the people! ”

"Hmph......" He Kegang snorted coldly, but he didn't speak, his heart was also shocked all the way when he saw it all the way, and his mood became more and more depressed. (To be continued......)