Chapter 404 Canal Dredging Fee

In November of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Liu Guoneng accepted the appeasement. Zhang Xianzhong suffered a defeat in Jiangbei and ran to Huguanglai, under the banner of the official army, planning to attack Nanyang. As a result, in the spring of the eleventh year, he encountered Zuo Liangyu in Nanyang. Zhang Xianzhong, who was keen on the cause of rebellion, was hit hard again, and in the chaos of the battle, he was shot in the shoulder by Zuo Liangyu and slashed again.

Zhang Xianzhong turned around and ran to Huguang, and when he arrived in Macheng, he met Liu Guoneng, who had just accepted Zhao'an. In the past, the relationship between the two was not good, and there were often conflicts. Liu Guoneng surrendered with tens of thousands of people, so he mixed up with the position of garrison. When I was thinking about making progress in the career of the official army, of course, I was not polite at all. When he rebelled, Liu Guoneng, who broke into the sky, sent someone to tell Zhang Xianzhong, this road is not passable, you go to a different place to stay, for the sake of the past, I won't beat you.

Zhang Xianzhong ran to Gucheng, which can be regarded as temporarily settling down. In the spring of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang's ten-sided ambush plan made great achievements. Li Zicheng was dying, Liu Guoneng surrendered, and Zhang Xianzhong was trapped in Gucheng. The other rebel teams were all small units, and they were beaten out of shape. There is no shadow of the kind of rebellion climax of Chongzhen's nine years at all.

At this time, Xiong Wencan was very smart to sit in Anqing, there was a Dengzhou camp here, and the thieves did not dare to come, and the safety was guaranteed. As for Chen Xie's neglect of him, Xiong Wencan was very smart not to mention it. After Liu Guoneng surrendered, Ma Shixiu and Du Yingquan also surrendered. At this time, Zhang Xianzhong was very hard, in the words of the textbook. The "revolutionary cause" has entered a low ebb.

To Jiangbei, the territory of the Dengzhou camp, I didn't dare to go at all, I couldn't afford to provoke it, and I was unlucky to go. went to Henan, Zuo Liangyu was waiting for him, and there was no possibility of pleasing him. Go to Sichuan, Liu Guoneng still doesn't agree. The Yangtze River is in the way south, and there is no way out.

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong got an important news. Chen Hongfan, who saved his life at the beginning. At this moment, as the chief soldier under Xiong Wencan, Zhang Xianzhong sent Sun Kewang to bring gold, silver and jewelry to Chen Hongfan as a gift, so that he could say good things for himself, and at the same time asked Chen Hongfan to give a generous gift instead of Xiong Wencan. Expressing a willingness to accept appeasement. Received benefits. Xiong Wencan, who was originally going to be appeased. Of course, it was overjoyed and said that it was acceptable. But there are different voices in the court, who is Zhang Xianzhong. The guy who dug up Zhu Youzhen's ancestral grave, this hatred is not shared.

Zhang Xianzhong has a trick, and he has a subordinate surnamed Xue, a native of Hancheng, and Xue Guoguan, the first assistant, is an uncle and nephew who does not have five suits. Zhang Xianzhong asked him to go to Beijing, give gifts everywhere, and then there were more people who spoke for him. Let's not mention the past, wouldn't it be Gao Yingxiang taking the lead? So, Zhang Xianzhong also surrendered, and at this time, Zhang Xianzhong first had tens of thousands of people and three thousand elites. Stay in Valley City and be his county magistrate. The identity changed from a famous rebel to a cadre in the Ming Dynasty system, and he turned gorgeously.

What happened next was even funnier. Seeing Xiong Wencan, who has achieved great results in his career of appeasement, he is really proud. I can't listen to other opinions at all, and I want to appease them. He didn't want to think about what the premise of these thieves was willing to appease. Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, these two thieves have no place to stay, the Dengzhou camp is in Jiangbei, and the thieves dare not cross the border at all.

Anyway, these external factors were all ignored by Xiong Wencan in the end, pacifying the civil strife, and in his twists and turns, it was completely his correct idea of appeasement that was flashing. In order to achieve a perfect career in the cause of appeasement, Xiong Wencan continued to hold high the banner of appeasement. What Luo Rucai, what Yizhangqing, what a little dragon king, what a dragon. You're not surrendering, are you? I, I, I, I'm sending you wine and meat, you're full of food and drink, it's time to surrender, right? The name says: Ask for a thief!

Such a strange thing, Xiong Wencan did it, it is really breathtaking. It's a pity that Luo Rucai and they didn't buy it, drank the wine and ate the meat, and continued to rebel.

It can be said that Xiong Wencan, who has been in Chongzhen for eleven years, has been making jokes constantly, and Chen Xie, who returned to Jinan to concentrate on farming, has a twist and turn after hearing the news of Xiong Wencan's "begging for a thief". "The minister, the governor Xiong Wencan, used wine and meat to support the enemy, begging the thief to surrender. This move has never been seen before. The minister thinks that the reason why Zhang, Li, Luo and other thieves are thieves is not because they have no livelihood, but because they are in their nature. Now the thieves are in trouble, and they should have been surrounded and suppressed on all sides and destroyed in one fell swoop. Xiong Wencan's response with a strategy of appeasement may succeed for a while, and he will suffer from it in the future. Once there is something in the world, they will rebel. ”

This recital was folded to the Jingshi in May of the 11th year. Zhu Youzhen attached great importance to Chen Xie's opinion, called a cadre of ministers to open fire, and asked them with a fold: "Everyone tell me, what is Chen Sihua's opinion on this fold?" ”

Xue Guoguan, who received the benefits, was the first to jump out and said: "Alarmist, only jealous." The implication is that Chen Xie is jealous of Xiong Wencan. That is, now Chen Xie is a civil servant, and he has Zhu Youzhen's trust, otherwise Xue Guoguan can scold "Chen thief!" ”

Zhou Yanru, who had just returned to the cabinet, chose a calm tone and said: "Chen Sihua is insightful, and he can make Xiong Xing divide Zhang and Liu's two departments. However, Chen Sihua disrespected the officials first, and then impeached him later, so he had to quit him. What does this mean, let Xiong Wencan win over and divide Liu Guoneng and Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates, and weaken the two thieves who surrendered. Chen Xie, this guy is disrespectful to his boss, he needs to talk about him, he can't be like this. It's all like this, I can't do this job.

After these two spoke, Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, couldn't help but speak, Xiong Wencan was recommended by him, Chen Xie attacked Xiong Wencan, and he looked at him. Yang Sichang's character, where is he willing to let go of this opportunity? Immediately followed Zhou Yanru's words and said: "Your Majesty, Chen Sihua has always been domineering, and he should be severely reprimanded, and ordered him to guard Shandong and Jiangbei, and not to discuss the situation in vain, so as not to mess up the current good situation." ”

This is said very skillfully, first saying that Chen Xie is domineering, and then not mentioning any severe punishment. It is to let Zhu Youzhen issue an order to reprimand. As long as Zhu Youzhen doesn't trust Chen Xie, the next tricks can be used. It's a pity that after Zhu Youzhen heard this, his trust in Chen Xie did not waver in his heart. What are you kidding, after Chen Xie went to Shandong, he became a big profit and tax collector in the imperial court. The emperor can pay a fine of 500,000 taels for drought relief and disaster relief, where can I find such a worry-free and capable governor?

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said, "Since that's the case, let's not talk about this matter for now." Let's talk about how to deal with the thieves. "The matter is over, Yang Sichang is very sorry in his heart, Zhou Yanru has nothing to regret. It's not that he hasn't done Shoufu, the previous things made him remember a theorem, don't deal with Chen Xie, you can't do anything with him.

Jining, a big city by the canal. The wharf was busy, and a fleet of ships left Jining and traveled only five miles north before it had to stop. There are boats blocking the way in the river, and the red flag of the Dengzhou camp is hanging on the boat, and everyone knows that this is the soldiers of the canal Caoyun Guard Station to open an inspection.

Hu Xin is from Jiangnan, and he transports a boatload of tea, and the transaction is not large, and it is four or five hundred taels a year. It depends on luck, if you are unlucky, you may lose money. Hu Xin's boat was the first, and after being stopped, soldiers boarded the ship, and an officer stood on the deck, waiting for him to come over and salute first, and then said: "What are you transporting?" To be honest, otherwise the prohibited items will be found and all will be seized. ”

Hu Xin hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Master Jun, it's all tea, a few years of new tea, a small business, a small business, this is an account book, please take a look." According to Hu Xin's idea, where the soldiers are literate, they are here to blackmail. Give two taels of silver to drink tea, and it is estimated that it will be fine. I have seen too many things like this before, small business is easy to bully, big business is done, and those who are soldiers dare not go on the boat to check on people's homes.

The officer took the account book, flipped through it a few times, found the last page, glanced at it, and said, "Well, it's all tea, and your ship has to pay five taels of silver according to the new rules." "What? Five taels of silver? Hu Xin's heart hurt bitterly, and two silver yuan quickly slipped from the cuffs, and when they fell into the hands of the officer, Hu Xin smiled and said: "Master Jun, it's convenient, it's not easy to do business with a small capital." ”

The officer shook it in his hand, looked at him and smiled: "It's okay if you don't understand, you'll understand later." Pay three more silver dollars, come to someone, and open a bill. After the officer finished speaking, he walked aside, and a dozen or so soldiers were still checking to see if there was any contraband. The so-called contraband is illegal salt, pig iron and the like.

Hu Xin reluctantly took out three more silver yuan, handed them to the officer, and said in his heart that he would open the bill, and there were many nonsense. Unexpectedly, the officer really took out his notebook and opened a slip to show it. Hu Xin took a look, and the upper line was "receipt", and there was a line written in the middle, "A boat of tea, and the canal dredging fee is five silver yuan." The slip was handed to Hu Xin, and the officer smiled: "Take it, go all the way to Tongzhou, and make sure that no one will ask you to collect money again, but this trip back is not easy to say." It depends on whether you bring the goods or not. ”

Hu Xin's boat passed, looked back at the next big boat, and suddenly argued with the officers and soldiers, and a man in silk appeared on the boat, shouting on it: "This is Uncle Guo's boat, you dare to stop it?" ”

Hu Xin immediately asked the boatman to slow down and pull over to watch the excitement. Soon he was dumbfounded, and more than a dozen soldiers fired directly into the sky, and the thump was terrifying. Do you really dare to do it? On the deck of the big ship, the house slaves climbed all over the place. The soldiers got on the boat, the butts of their guns were smashed, and the muffled sound of popping sounded sore at the roots of their teeth.

It was still the same officer, standing on the deck, holding a loudspeaker and shouting: "Listen, all passing ships will be inspected from now on, and fees will be charged according to their size, and those who resist and do not obey will be killed on the spot." ”

"I think you dare?" There are really people who are not afraid of death, standing on the deck and jumping their feet. As a result, the two soldiers rushed up, smashed the butt of the gun, and directly knocked people to the ground, and a house slave was kicked into the cold canal, fluttering, holding the boat and shivering. (To be continued......)