Chapter 356: Princess Changping

356 Princess Changping

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In the late Ming Dynasty, the party struggle in the court had completely lost control, and the struggle between various factions such as the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party was truly endless.

What's more, the competition between them is not benign.

In other words, the power struggle between them is completely for themselves, and they will not take into account the interests of the imperial court at all.

Among them, the Donglin Party is the most powerful and deep-rooted force in the imperial court, and they are also the spokesmen for the interests of major businessmen in Jiangnan and other places.

Every year, those big businessmen will send a large amount of silver to the Donglin Party and bribe them, so that these Donglin Party officials can fight for their interests in the court.

Whenever the court or Chongzhen wanted to enact policies that were unfavorable to them, these Donglin Party officials would jump out and come up with a set of reasons to stop them.

Among them, "not competing with the people for profit, hiding wealth from the people" has almost become their invincible theoretical magic weapon.

At the same time, these pedantic Confucian scholars still quote scriptures one by one, and even completely distort them, just to achieve their goals, and the Confucian scholars of this era have already changed their taste.

According to their explanation, "agriculture is the end of business", that is, the country wants agriculture is the foundation of the country, and commerce is the end, and it cannot be put on the table.

Since agriculture is the foundation of the country, agriculture has to contribute more to the country than commerce, and the imperial court can negotiate if it wants to increase agricultural taxes.

But if we want to increase the tax revenue of industry and commerce, then don't think about it, our business is not the foundation of the state, and it is not valued by the state, so why should we collect taxes.

Originally, the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty was already very low, only one-thirtieth, and if this tax rate was put into the future, all merchants would be crazy.

But such a low tax rate is still too high in the eyes of those Donglin Party members.

So, after the unremitting efforts of these moths for many years, in the end, even the thirtieth of the commercial tax was exempted.

As a result, the court is getting poorer and poorer, and finally the entire country is lost.

However, even more ironically, in 1644, when the king of Chuang Li Zicheng led his army of rogues, he broke through the city of Beijing.

The thirty-five-year-old Emperor Chongzhen asked the eunuchs to ring the bell in an emergency to summon the officers and soldiers to King Qin.

But in normal times, none of the impassioned Donglin Party officials in the court appeared, and they had already planned their own ways out and scattered.

In the end, Chongzhen was only accompanied by the eunuch Wang Chengen and hanged himself from a locust tree on the coal mountain north of the Forbidden City.

Some people will say, no, after the Tartars entered the customs, many Ming Dynasty officials went to the south and continued to resist the Tartars, which can be said to be disloyal.

To Li Zixiao's ears, these are pure bullshit, and those people fled to the south to continue to resist the Tartars because they were defending their own interests.

This is also the main reason why after Li Zixiao entered Beijing this time, except for Lu Xiangsheng, he did not have contact with any court officials.

At this time, in the imperial court, Donglin Party officials occupied half of the country, and officials from other factions occupied the other half.

Therefore, in Li Zixiao's mind, these court officials will not be of any use to him in the future.

Maybe these guys still think in their hearts that no matter who does the country in the future, they will be used to govern the country.

Whether Li Zicheng became the emperor, or the Tartars entered the customs and occupied the magpie's nest, they were inseparable from these people to govern the country.

But Li Zixiao never thought that he would use these people to govern his territory in the future, and perhaps he would select some of these loyal ministers to appoint.

After all, among the Confucian scholars in the world, there are still many people like Lu Xiangsheng who are dedicated to the country, but it is a pity that none of them have been valued by the imperial court.

On the contrary, it is a group of traitors who are greedy for life and afraid of death, who only know flattery, corruption and bribery, but occupy high-ranking officials, and such a country should also die.

It can be said that most of the Confucian scholars of this era have been completely degenerated, and they have not only lost their bloody nature by castration, but even their proudest loyalty.

I really don't know, if Confucius a thousand years ago knew that these unfilial children behind him were like this, he would be so angry that he jumped up from the ground.

At the same time, this also made Li Zixiao see the huge drawbacks of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who 'deposed a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone', which has been completely magnified after thousands of years of fermentation.

The Confucian scholars of this era were more selfish precisely because they did not have competition from disciples of other schools.

Anyway, the vast majority of scholars in the world are Confucians, your emperor Lao Tzu doesn't need us, who else can you use, don't use us, who do you rely on to govern the world.

Anyway, only Confucian scholars can be officials in these years, and the Confucianism of this era, after thousands of years of evolution, Li Zixiao feels that it is unbearable, but it is not as good as the orthodox Confucianism of Confucius back then.

At least the Confucian scholars in the Qin and Han dynasties, they knew that there was a dynasty that swore allegiance to the monarch and fought for power and profit, but most of them would not go too far and would still put the interests of the country first.

"It seems that this is a family, the disadvantages of occupying the imperial court!

There is no sense of crisis, so that the Confucian students of this era no longer know what courtesy, righteousness and shame are, they study only to be officials, just to make money.

It seems that my original decision was correct, and in the future, my subordinates must not only be Confucianism, maybe I can try to reproduce the theory of the hundred schools.

Even if we can't make the theory of the hundred schools of thought renewed, the most important doctrines of the Legalists, farmers, and doctors, these important doctrines must be re-promoted. ”

At this time, Li Zixiao thought a lot in his heart.

Looking at this emperor who was not yet thirty years old and already had a white head, Li Zixiao's mouth opened, and he originally wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say it.

Because, Li Zixiao suddenly remembered that the Chongzhen in front of him was not a good person, and according to historical records, Chongzhen was suspicious by nature at this time, and it was wrong to say it at this time.

The best way is to talk less, even if Li Zixiao sincerely sympathizes with Chongzhen, he doesn't dare to risk his own life.

Moreover, in Li Zixiao's view, Da Ming at this time was a terminally ill and terminally ill patient, and anyone who wanted to save this dynasty would be dragged into the endless abyss by him.

Li Zixiao has always been very aware of this, so from the beginning, he didn't intend to save Da Ming, he did everything to replace Da Ming.

It's just that when the time comes, he will replace the Ming Dynasty, which is better than letting the Tartars enter the Guan and occupy the magpie's nest, and the alien rule of the Han nationality is not a social regression in history.

This is like letting a group of primary school students have to be leaders for a group of doctors and postdocs, a typical 'not enough brain'.

The four words "powerless to return to heaven" can basically summarize Chongzhen's life, but 'born at the wrong time' is his truest portrayal.

Thinking of this, Li Zixiao didn't say a word, and ate the rice in the bowl with his head bored.

After a while, the rice in the bowl was eaten by Li Zixiao, and then he refused the palace maid to add rice to him, he stood up and gave Chongzhen a salute to thank the emperor for the banquet.

At this time, Chongzhen also put down the dishes and chopsticks, looked at Li Zixiao's eyes, revealing a look of encouragement, and said softly: "After going back this time, I hope that Qing can stabilize the situation along the coast of Jiangbei, and don't let me down."

In the past two years, there have been more and more reports of Japanese invaders and plundering by Japanese officials, and at this time, the imperial court has to exterminate the rebel army and guard against the Tartars, and even has no energy to estimate those Japanese invaders.

Fortunately, with Zheng Zhilong on the southeast coast and his widows on the southeast Fujian coast, he will not take much advantage, and the Jiangbei area is lacking human guards. ”

Li Zixiao didn't have much loyalty to Chongzhen, but 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."

Wechen is grateful, after arriving in Xuzhou, it is the responsibility of Wechen to protect the territory and the people, and the minister dares not to be dissatisfied?

I must let those Japanese cowards know that the majesty of our Ming Dynasty is not something that they can infringe upon as a small country. ”

After Chongzhen heard Li Zixiao's words, he was more satisfied, and a smile appeared on his tired face, and he waved his hand and said, "That's good, I'm tired, Aiqing retreat!" ”

"Emperor Xie!"

Li Zixiao gave a salute, silently took a few steps back, and under the leadership of a little eunuch, he prepared to leave.

However, when Li Zixiao turned around and was about to leave, Chongzhen said something to him: "Li Aiqing, I like the gift you sent this time."

If Aiqing can still send such a gift in the future, he can really acquiesce to Aiqing in Jiangbei and have the right to act cheaply. ”

At this time, Li Zixiao, who had already turned around, stopped directly in shock by Chongzhen's whole sentence.

In this gift, of course Li Zixiao knew what Chongzhen said, it was the 1.4 million taels of silver, you like it, of course you like it, and Lao Tzu likes it too.

But what shocked Li Zixiao the most was Chongzhen's last sentence.

What is the 'right to act cheaply', according to Li Zixiao's understanding, Chongzhen means that as long as you can still send silver, if you are foolish in Jiangbei, Lao Tzu can turn a blind eye.

Of course, this premise is that Li Zixiao does not rebel and does not betray the Ming Dynasty, but at this time, Li Zixiao really has no intention of rebelling against the Ming Dynasty in the next few years!

In this way, Chongzhen's condition made him too excited, after all, he was only the commander of Xuzhou, and it stands to reason that he is only responsible for local defense.

He is not qualified to meddle in local administrative and civil affairs, but if he can act cheaply as Chongzhen said, it means that he can interfere in the administration of the local government.

Of course, the premise is that Li Zixiao can send silver to Chongzhen, but this is really not a problem for Li Zixiao.

If you talk about making money, he thinks that he is more black-hearted than those corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and at this time he has thousands of people, but all of them are supported by the silver he has earned through various means.

Otherwise, it would be good to be able to feed a thousand soldiers in that small area of Yongcheng, how could it be possible to feed nearly 10,000 troops!

In an instant, many thoughts flashed in Li Zixiao's head, but he still immediately turned around and prepared to salute Chongzhen.

When he turned around, he saw Chongzhen's originally tired eyes, flashing with a sharp light, and Li Zixiao's heart was bursting.

"Aiqing, go!"

Chongzhen didn't let Li Zixiao speak again, and waved his hand again.

But Li Zixiao already understood what Chongzhen meant at this time, and it was really similar to what he thought, which shows how much Chongzhen was short of money at this time.

The reform of the imperial court cannot be carried out at all, and the imperial court can't collect much tax every year, and now it is hard for Chongzhen to see a cornucopia, how can he be willing to let it go.

Otherwise, Chongzhen would not have directly given Li Zixiao such a big real power, even if Li Zixiao made a lot of contributions.

When Li Zixiao followed the little eunuch out of the imperial garden, three palace maids happened to come from the front.

For a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl dressed in palace clothes, the little eunuch immediately led Li Zixiao to stand on the side of the road, waiting for the palace maids to pass.

It's just that when the palace maid walked in front of Li Zixiao, the waves turned around Li Zixiao, and Miaoman's figure stopped.

The little eunuch knew the identity of this woman, so he didn't dare to slack off, so he hurriedly said: "The slave has seen Princess Kunxing, Princess Jin'an!" ”

"Excuse me!"

Li Zixiao, who was standing on the side of the road with his head down, only heard a crisp voice, which rang out.

Li Zixiao looked up and saw a girl with an elegant temperament, standing in front of him slimly, listening to her spit out like beads, her voice was soft, crisp, and extremely beautiful.

Li Zixiao glanced at her a few times, and saw that her demeanor was natural, her cheeks were flushed, although she was young, she had a beautiful complexion and an elegant bearing, as handsome as a pearl and jade.

Li Zixiao's heart moved, and he said secretly: "Could it be that this is the princess of Changping who was called Princess Changping by later generations, the former princess of Kunxing of Daming, Zhu Yujiao?" 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.

For example, in the folk, it is said that she was the master of the famous heroes Gan Fengchi, Bai Taiguan, Lu Siniang and others during the Yongzheng period, and was a one-armed god and nun.

The old man Jin of later generations was also among him, and he also mentioned this princess many times.

But Li Zixiao knew the real truth, but it was the beautiful princess Kunxing who fell into the hands of Li Zicheng first after being attacked by Li Zicheng in Beijing.

Later, after the Tatars entered the customs and defeated Li Zicheng, she fell into the hands of the Manchu court and was renamed 'Princess Changping', but in less than a year, she died of illness because she missed her parents too much.

Facing this last princess of the Ming Dynasty with a bleak background, Li Zixiao also sighed in his heart, and hurriedly bowed down and said: "Chen Pingyuan, the general of Xuzhou, commanded Li Zixiao, and I have seen Princess Kunxing!" ”

Princess Zhu Yujiao's face was slightly red, and she said to Li Zixiao: "It turns out that General Pingyuan, this palace has also heard about the general's bloody battle against Tartar and his exploits in killing many enemies.

This palace admires the general's loyal behavior of serving the country very much, please accept this palace! ”

After speaking, Zhu Yujiao bent down and saluted Li Zixiao, Li Zixiao quickly bowed and returned the salute when he saw this, and even claimed that he didn't dare.

After seeing the ceremony, Zhu Yujiao asked with some curiosity: "General Li, now everyone in the court is afraid of the Tartars, saying that they are invincible.

When the general's record, but slapped many ministers, the general thinks that my Ming can defeat the Tartars? ”

Li Zixiao was stunned for a moment before replying: "The saint is wise, the minister believes that the Tartars outside the Guanwai, the barbarism has not yet been civilized, and sooner or later he will be surrendered by my Ming Dynasty." ”

When Zhu Yujiao heard Li Zixiao say this, her face was also happy, and she said: "Then I hope it can really be like what the general said, so that my father doesn't have to worry about it day and night." ”

Hearing Zhu Yujiao's words, Li Zixiao sighed in his heart, glanced at her deeply, and said softly: "If the princess has nothing important to order, then the general will leave." ”

Zhu Yujiao nodded and walked forward with the two palace maids.

"Hey, it's a pity that Princess Kunxing, who loves her country and father, if I have the opportunity in the future, I hope to save her once."

In the end, Li Zixiao glanced at Zhu Yujiao's distant back, and secretly decided in his heart.

(End of chapter)

Vertex Pen Qu Ge Reading Website: m.