Chapter 537: Killing with a Knife
After returning to the city after getting the acquiescence of the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, he regarded himself as the plenipotentiary agent of the Great Song Dynasty and began his reckless performance in Huining City, and his behavior also made the officials and people in the city completely disappointed, understanding that he was not a bodhisattva, but just a scoundrel who brought disaster to the country and the people, tended to be inflammatory, and was as timid as a mouse.
It is gratifying that first of all, the royal family of Wanyan from Taizu to three generations was detained in the imperial city in the name of protection, and sent cronies to take care of and supervise them, prohibiting them from leaving the palace and not letting them run around. Because he knew that these people must be the target of the Southern Dynasty, and they could use this to get rid of all the clan bloodlines, then in the future, people with royal status would become rare, and their own family would definitely be able to establish their own family, and there would be no competitors.
In order to express his sincerity as a vassal, he thought that there was no better way to express his loyalty than white silver and yellow gold, and the Southern Dynasty also had to receive 500,000 taels of gold and 10 million taels of silver before he was willing to withdraw from the army. But the problem is that the Jin Kingdom has been living a tight life all these years, and a large amount of real money and silver, in addition to paying the New Year's coin, most of them have been taken by Wushu to repair the boundary trench, and in order to deal with the Northern Expedition of the Song Army, the treasury has long been empty, and it is cleaner than some people's faces.
There is no money in the treasury, it does not mean that there is no money in the pockets of individuals, those imperial relatives and important ministers have made a fortune in all the wars of aggression, and they are estimated to have not been defeated for so many years, and they all have a large number of slaves and fiefs, and there must be a lot of savings in their families, and those who fled into the capital from all over the country have many business tycoons, and they also have their families with them. Kexi put his mind on these people, and a silver bracket campaign was in full swing.
Although there was a failure in the operation at the beginning of the siege, Wan Yan Kexi didn't care, he thought that it was because Wan Yan and the others were too gentle that it didn't succeed, and if he was in charge of this matter at the beginning, there was no possibility of failure. In addition to the pain of cutting flesh in the world. It's just that it hurts to pay for it, the country is on the verge of extinction, and the emperor and the army can't point to it. Only money can still make people feel at ease and help them survive in these chaotic years. Naturally, no one wanted to turn it in.
Huining City, which had already become a purgatory on earth, had been upgraded to eighteen layers of hell in the blink of an eye, and the scope of this search included all the kings and even officials in the city, and it could be said that no one was spared from top to bottom. The gratifying method is very simple, fight if you don't have money, and by no means scare and scare, but fight to death until you squeeze out the last penny. For a while, there was another bloody storm in the city, and the soldiers of the Haw Par Army were not good people. Doing this kind of thing is definitely an expert, and if you don't comply, you will be tortured.
Wanyan Qi is the eldest son of Han Li, and was awarded the general of the town as a clan, and was later moved by his father to the special advance, and was crowned as the envoy of the Anwu Army, but this son was mediocre, cowardly and talentless, and was demoted to receive the three grades of Yulu, and stayed in Beijing to be invited by the court. After hearing about the silver, he immediately offered 20,000 taels of silver in order to pass the test. I'm glad it's off to a good start. also gave a verbal reward, but he didn't expect someone to report that he had a lot of silver hidden in his home.
Kexi immediately sent people to search, and dug up 100,000 taels of silver from the courtyard. He hated him for concealing it and immediately ordered someone to be punished, and Wan Yanqi was frightened and immediately recruited, and 'sacrificed' hundreds of taels of gold and a large number of jewels. Seeing this trick, he was pleased to think that Han Li had not attacked the Khitan back then, went south to Bianjing twice, and looted countless gold and silver treasures, which must be more than this, so he arrested his other two sons, Wan Yan Jing and Wan Yan Wen, and tortured them, and made them include silver.
Wan Yanjing also relied on the identity of the son of the sect to mix up a Hanlin bachelor's will. is also a national history, in fact, he is an official who mixes up his name and makes money. Everyone thought that he had no oil and water at all, and that his family did not have much money to spare. I won't get much money out of tossing for a long time. Fortunately, he personally went down to the hall and slapped his cousin with more than a dozen big mouths and intimidated him. Wan Yanjing was so frightened that he peed his pants, saying that there was silver under his central hall. He sent someone to dig it, and the floor was covered with silver.
Seeing this, everyone perked up, thinking that the poorest guy had so much family background, and the third guy had to be interrogated even more after Yan Wen, and this guy was once sent to the Department of Corruption as an official, because it was shoddy, and he embezzled more than 10,000 yuan of taxes and silver before he was dismissed from office, and he must be rich in oil and water. So as soon as he came up, he used a big punishment, cut off all his ten fingers with a clamping stick, and forced him to say where the silver was hidden.
Of course, Zisong, another hero who invaded the Song Dynasty, Zong Han, was not spared. His grandson Brother Xiange is also a master who can catch money, once served as the envoy of the Hosu Pavilion, and later served as the governor of Tokyo, but because of the private use of official property, he was investigated and deserved to die according to the crime, which shows that the embezzled public funds are by no means a small amount, and only because his grandfather was meritorious, he was only removed from the list. Later, he was reactivated, but his bad habits did not change, and he was dismissed for accepting bribes, he originally wanted to escape from Beijing before the siege of the Song army, but he failed to make the trip because of too much family property, and it was gratifying that it was cheap.
Such a big tiger not only has a rich family background, but also has the ability to accumulate wealth, of course, he must focus on taking care of it, and ask him to come up with 500,000 taels of silver. Brother Xian became a model of frank and strict, and before he handed over a sum of money, the punishment was escalated once, and finally he begged bitterly that there was really no more in the family, but no one believed it anymore. The soldiers were ordered to intensify the torture, and they 'served' him for a total of five days and five nights, and finally all the bones in Brother Xie's body were broken, his head was cracked by a splint, and his brain flowed out and he died. And Zong Han's eldest grandson, Wanyan Bingde, escaped because he was captured in the Battle of Jinzhou, I really don't know how to feel......
In just ten days, Yan Kexi gathered five million taels of silver, and the cart was sent to the Song camp, but the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty was very dissatisfied, this was only 30% of the military expenses, saying that if he could not get what he needed within five days, he would send troops into the city to help him complete the task, but the matter of peace would have to be re-discussed. Fortunately, he was shocked and ordered to take all means to include silver.
In order to make up enough money for the Southern Dynasty, the gratifying bank made the nobles of the Dajin Kingdom miserable, and he ordered the soldiers of the Haw Par Army to take any silver at will, even on the side of the road and the street. The Haw Par Army also lived up to expectations, searching for belongings and enriching their pockets. 'Punishment can be used by everyone, and punishment can be used everywhere' has become the most commonly used method. All of a sudden, the sticks flew wildly. The cannons were branded, the eyes were gouged out, and the miserable howls of the Dajin officials were heard everywhere, and they even arrested the officials or the chief squad of the various yamen for interrogation. Let them confess where the gold and silver of a certain gentry were hidden, and then go and plunder. As a result, countless people have been tortured to death.
The Haw Par Army, who seek the greatest pleasure in money and cruelty, has completely lost control, they have squeezed out the money of the powerful, and the rich people in the city have been regarded as a new source of wealth, and they have begun to capture the rich at will, and the city has become even more chaotic. Officials, wealthy people, and residents, as long as they seem to have money in their families, will definitely be tortured, and more than 1,000 people died under torture. The entire capital was plunged into the White Terror.
Seeing that the tiger and leopard army had made a fortune in the silver, those Jin troops who had fought with the Song army were empty-handed, and could only eat some horse food to survive, they couldn't help but complain, feeling that the prison was not interesting enough, so they privately led the camp to prostitute and plunder. In this way, the streets were full of soldiers with ropes in their hands, and when they saw that they were well-dressed and obese, they suspected that they were rich people, and immediately tied them up and chased them with capital punishment. A little erection of the door wall, no one is lucky enough to escape".
While chasing money from the rich and powerful, there is no good life for the common people. In broad daylight, shops and residents were often robbed, all the wages and rice were looted by the soldiers, and the people's horses, mules, and bronze utensils were ordered to be lost to the camp, so the people of the city were all exhausted for the army. But Kexi turned a blind eye to it, and his connivance was that the silver had changed from looting to prostitution, and soldiers were all over the people's houses to rob money and commit adultery. There are also many incidents of robbing people's women, and there are more than 300 women who were killed overnight in the prime minister's mansion alone.
It's good to be happy when I first entered Beijing. The people of the capital had high hopes for the army of King Qin led by him, but he soon imprisoned the emperor. The arsonists burned, killed, looted, and did all kinds of evil. For such a brutal army, the inhabitants of the city were naturally miserable, and more and more people wanted to escape. In order to prevent the residents from escaping, the method of joint sitting was used. They ordered ten families to be kept safe, and if there was one fugitive, ten families were cut down together, and they sat back and watched as the people who had been plundered were all gone, and starved to death.
Those who were released finally fully understood that the Dashun Dynasty they wanted to be loyal to was a bunch of bandits, and they must not hold out a little hope. At this time, the Dashun army did degenerate into a group of robbers, and after the release of the detainees, the torture and plundering had not stopped, and the frenzied Liu Zongmin continued to take civilians and businessmen under the knife, and the destruction of military discipline was still serious.
At this time, the officials of the Jin State finally understood that the gratification of their current allegiance is actually an unreliable person, and a person who lacks political acumen, but with this kind of thinking and character, being a black boss is almost the same, and being a politician is far from it!
This is not only from the point of view of its actions, but also from the perspective of its employment. Although the most elite of the Haw Par Army under his command fought bravely, after all, they were bandits, hooligans, and brutal by nature, and they could not be afraid of their ruthless methods when fighting against the Five Nations Ministry, and it was debatable that they could be used to maintain their rule, after all, they were not facing enemies, and now they have fully recovered their 'original duties' and become a group of bandits who do all kinds of evil.
If he is a wise man, he should be wary of these unruly and brutal fellows after taking power, but it is gratifying that they have entrusted them with the work of including silver, which is very oily and watery, but it is very easy to get out of control. Maybe he thought that there were no people around him who could be trusted, maybe he wanted to reward these people who followed him in return, and it was out of righteousness that he entrusted him with a heavy responsibility. But now it's too late......
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Wan Yan sat alone behind the imperial case and poured himself a drink in the main hall that could accommodate hundreds of people at the same time, and from time to time there was a loud sound of soldiers smashing the door and picking the lock, and the screams of the women, as well as the men's cruel smile, he knew that it was the tiger and leopard army guarding the palace ban carrying property from the warehouse, molesting the maids and concubines in the palace. But all he can do now is turn a blind eye and a deaf ear, powerless to stop this offending behavior.
"Your Majesty is good?" Just when Wan Yan was secretly sad, the door of the palace was pushed open, and Wan Yan Kexi walked in, in fact, strictly speaking, he broke in, he arched his hand slightly at the emperor and said.
"Fortunately, the King of Liao needs to take care of his work day and night for state affairs!" Wan Yan got up and squeezed out some laughter and said, and his heart was already angry, he was wearing a bright yellow robe, a jade belt around his waist, and a treasure knife that Taizu had used.
"Your Majesty, I have something to discuss!" Wan Yan Kexi sat down next to the emperor and said.
"Military affairs, King Liao can handle it, you don't have to ask me." Wan Yan waved his hand and said, this sentence may be the most said in his life. First Zong Gan, then Zong Han, Zong Xuan, and Wushu, and now it has been replaced by Keg.
"This matter must be Your Majesty, and no one else can replace it!" Look at the emperor's cautious look. Kexi said with some amusement.
"King Liao, please speak!" Wan Yan said with a smile.
"The emperor of the Southern Dynasty asked for a huge amount of military expenses, and although he tried every means to raise it, it was still far from it. Seeing that the five-day period is approaching, I would like to ask Your Majesty to go out of the city and explain to the Emperor a thing or two, and then give a few more days. Wan Yan said with a sigh.
"Isn't it enough to donate all the things in the palace?" Wan Yan was taken aback, this was obviously a deal with no return, but it was obvious that he didn't dare to go to let himself die.
"Your Majesty, the country has long been empty, and the things in the palace are still being checked and calculated, and I don't know if I can make up enough. I knew that the country was so ruined, so why should I wade into this muddy water. Wan Yan Kexi glanced at the emperor and said regretfully, obviously because he was a loser and made the treasury empty, which caused him to work hard to make money by extraordinary means.
"I am the king of a country, and once I go out of the city to the Song camp, once I am detained, the country will have no owner." Wan Yan had to remind Kexi that he was still the emperor, and if he was detained, it would be over.
"This ......" is also glad to be finished, he still understands the truth that the skin does not have hair, the country is gone, and he is still in charge of the country. This is something he did not think about beforehand.
"King Liao, I have been on the throne for more than 20 years, and I know that there is no great evil. Death without hatred. The ancestors of the hated person have only been passed down for decades, and they have been extinct, and the king of desolation and rebellion since ancient times is the dead country, and this is the only one who is the middle of the ear. Look at the gratification, Wan Yan suddenly said with a sad expression.
"Your Majesty, what do you mean by this?" Kexi frowned and asked, he understood the emperor's words, which means that he has been an emperor for more than twenty years and has not done anything evil, and I am actually not afraid of death. But I hate not to continue the national glory of the Jin Kingdom and destroy the foundation of my ancestors. He is the same as those kings of debauchery and violence, but he looks like the emperor is explaining the aftermath.
"I want to pass it on to you. In order to continue the national line! Wan Yan stared at Kexi, and said his decision with difficulty word by word.
"......" Kexi was petrified in an instant, he didn't expect that the emperor would pass on to him, and the huge pie falling from the sky would hit him, but his heart was not ecstasy, but faintly uneasy and dazed......
Ascending to the throne is a thing that he is happy to yearn for and fear at the same time, and his biggest dream when he was far away in the frontier was to be crowned king, like a vulture, to be a powerful minister above ten thousand people under one person. Therefore, when he learned that the Jingshi was besieged, he knew that his opportunity had come, and he would lead the troops desperately after receiving the edict of King Qin. But due to long-term inertia, he didn't dare to act rashly after entering the city, he knew that his foundation in Beijing was still shallow, even if Wushu was seriously ill and was snubbed by the emperor, he didn't dare to call it out, and he didn't take power until Wushu died.
Another more important reason is that since ancient times, those who have ascended the throne have regarded themselves as the Son of Heaven, proclaiming that their throne is due to the will of Heaven, thus establishing political legitimacy. And the so-called providence is a political means for those who achieve great things, and it is also a real need in their hearts. The same is true of the emperor, who yearns for the power and glory of the emperor, but is afraid of being spurned and condemned by God and others after seizing the throne, so when he actually controls the power of the court, he does not dare to usurp the throne, so he still acts under the banner of the emperor and does not dare to cross the last line.
Now that the emperor is on the throne, I feel that this is also the will of heaven. Late that night, Wan Yan convened the last court meeting presided over by the hundred officials and the clan, preparing to pass the throne to Wan Yan Kexi, and went out of the city to the military camp to negotiate in order to relieve the suffering of the people and let him withdraw from the army. But he knows very well that this trip is likely to be gone and never returned, he has no heirs or brothers, and he is happy to be a descendant of Taizu, and now he is in charge of supervising the country, so he can succeed to the throne and continue the national lineage.
Now in the situation, Kexi has taken control of the whole city, even if he robs him by force, who can help him, since the emperor has a hundred officials in the Zen throne, he naturally agrees, and Kexi also accepts the throne with tears. Despite this, the ceremony is still indispensable, and everyone decided to carry out the ceremony of ceremonial transfer of the throne tomorrow morning. The next day, under the witness of the hundred officials, Wan Yan Kang and Wan Yan Kexi went through the procedures for the transfer of the throne.
On September 25th, after the Zen throne ceremony, Yan Yan immediately took the imperial city to the Song camp, his eyes stared at the hazy and confused pagoda in the mist, and looked at the devastated Huining City in front of him, and shed sad tears again. He knew that his journey might be the point of no return, and he would never have a chance to return to Jingshi. He knew very well that since ancient times, there was no immortal country, and the king of the dead country was often imprisoned, or sacrificed, or humiliated by the court, and the empty valley was closed, and he was humiliated in every way. What awaits them in front of them may be a humiliating and tragic fate, and in order to continue the national glory of the Jin Kingdom, Wan Yan Kang must make a painful and cruel choice...... (To be continued)