stubborn thief

Chapter 646: Offering Money to Recruit Death Soldiers

During this period, Chen Qiuyu was in a difficult situation both internally and externally, and felt hopeless every day.

This was not because he did a bad job, on the contrary, he tried his best and mobilized all the forces he could in the city.

Even the princes, dukes and crown princes of the Qin vassal state in the city made the greatest compromise under his persuasion and sent their two sons to set up eight porridge stalls at the four gates of the city to cook porridge every day.

Without the strong support of the Qin vassal, the Xi'an city would have collapsed long ago with the remaining military supplies.

Of course, Qin Fan's distribution of porridge was not Chen Qiuyu's original intention. On this point, he blamed the old King Qin for being pedantic and cowardly.

But the King of Qin had a frank talk with him, mentioning the difficulties brought about by his position. If he was forced to donate his family property to support the army, he would have no choice but to hang himself in the royal city.

By the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, only three vassal states had a transcendent status: Lu, Rui and Fu, which were established by Emperor Wanli.

Firstly, when Wanli conferred titles on these three princes, he gave them extremely abundant wealth and rights. Also, because they were new fiefdoms, there were not many clan members who divided up the wealth within the fiefdom, so the princes had absolute wealth and power.

Secondly, it was because they were not blood relatives within the five degrees of mourning between them and Emperor Chongzhen.

To the emperor, other vassal states were more like distant relatives, with whom he had no feelings at all.

At the same time, the relationship between the princes and the bureaucrats was neither superiors and subordinates nor colleagues, but in fact more like opponents.

Every local official regarded the useless vassal states that absorbed a large amount of wealth as a thorn in their side, and wished to make the vassal state problem disappear during their tenure.

The old Qin King Zhu Yizhu is already seventy years old this year.

Throughout his long life, he had long been aware of other people's "prejudice" that he was "a problem of the Ming Empire."

That to him was prejudice.

At that time, his brother was the Prince of Qin. Due to the regulations on the management of the royal family in the 40th year of Jiajing, Zhu Yi was only given the title of Lieutenant of Fengguo. It was because his brother quarreled with the Ministry of Rites every day that Wanli gave him the title of Prince of Ziyang.

His elder brother succeeded to the throne for six years and died at the age of twenty. Zhu Yizhu, as the Prince of Ziyang, was the first in the family order and met the requirement in the "Regulations on Royal Family and Vassalage" that only a younger brother could inherit the title, thus becoming the new generation of King of Qin.

Therefore, he only cared about one thing in his life, that is, since the throne has fallen into our family, I cannot let it fall into the hands of others.

Zhu Yizhu spent his entire life arguing with the Ministry of Rites, and was most concerned about the issue of ennobling titles for his brothers and heirs.

Over the past fifty years, he has requested that his half-brother be granted the title of King of Chongxin, and has also secured the status of crown prince for his half-son Zhu Cunshu, thus providing double insurance.

In fact, he originally wanted to take out six layers of insurance. He had four other sons, and Emperor Tianqi agreed at that time to confer the title of prince on all four sons for life.

It means that the title of king is granted, but it is not hereditary.

But the Ministry of Rites kept dragging its feet and kept cursing, so the Emperor Tianqi finally had to give in and issued an edict allowing Qin Fan's sons to receive the title of Lieutenant of Fengguo.

Every official knows that the royal family is a problem, so they are the people in the world who most hope that the royal family will die out. But dying out is not enough, it would be best if the country is abolished, and then the problem will be solved.

But problems never want to be solved themselves.

Why the hell should I disappear? I won't!

The Qin vassal state has been passed down for thirteen generations, during which there have been five extinctions, either the younger branch succeeded the older branch, or the younger brother succeeded the elder brother. The vassal state has been struggling on the line between life and death due to the extinction of the line and is in danger.

Therefore, cowardice and fear have long been ingrained in the bones of the Qin clan.

As early as the siege began, Chen Qiuyu went to the King of Qin in Xi'an Prefecture and persuaded him to donate money to support the military expenses.

But it was not uncommon for vassal kings to donate military funds in the Ming Dynasty. It was not that simple and you could not just donate whenever you wanted.

It's not that the royal family of the Ming Dynasty did not provide financial support to the court. Since the defeat at Sarhu in the late Wanli period, this had become extremely frequent.

Of course, the amount of financial aid each time was not too large. Usually a vassal state would donate between one thousand and three thousand taels of silver.

This is not only a lot, but an exceptionally huge amount of wealth.

Because the princes and royal family were restricted by the system, they were a very special group of people.

In their cognition, they have nothing to do with the outer world at all.

The vast majority of these people were born within the walls of the imperial court, grew up within the walls of the imperial court all their lives, and eventually died of old age within the walls of the imperial court.

  What's the difference between donating money to the court to support its military expenses and throwing the money into the palace lake?

The answer is that if you throw it into the lake, it will skip on the water.

Therefore, it is simply unrealistic to expect the princes to destroy their property and give out more of their property to help a world that has nothing to do with them.

The most they could do was to be like Zhu Changhao, the King of Hanzhong Rui, because he grew up in the Forbidden City during his childhood, adolescence and youth, so he had memories of that place and also had some idea of ​​what the world was like.

It just so happened that his great nephew was now the emperor, so he donated money to support the military every year, sometimes even twice a year, and received two imperial edicts of honor. He felt very happy after spending the money.

But for most other princes, they could not attend funerals or pay homage to the emperor. The Forbidden City, the Qianqing Palace and the world were just distant and mysterious nouns.

Their relationship with the emperor is not even as close as that with their pen pal Liu Chengzong, so they don’t care at all what is sitting on the throne.

No idea.

On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty had the "Regulations on the Imperial Family and Vassal States", and the vassal states had their own rules. They had their own procedures for donating money to support the military, which was different from the donations made by officials to support the military.

The princes were not allowed to hand over money and grain directly to the local governments.

  When a vassal state wanted to contribute funds, it had to first report to the local chief official, usually the governor. The governor would report to the court, and the emperor would write in red: Well done!

Then the emperor issued an order to the Ministry of Revenue, asking them to prepare to receive the money and grain.

The governor took the money and sent someone to deliver it to the capital or the provincial branch of the Ministry of Revenue.

This procedure is called "Youzhi Fushou". The first two words are the emperor's preferential edict, and the last two words are an order for the Ministry of Revenue to reply after receiving the money.

This was also a common practice for vassal states to provide financial support.

Of course, sometimes there was no favorable decree, for example, last year the King of Tang had been arguing in the court over the replacement of royal family members. On the surface, he supported Chongzhen, but Chongzhen did not like the princes to dictate national policies.

So when the King of Tang donated money to support the military last year, Chongzhen only gave him a commendation.

As for directly taking out money and grain and distributing them to the local garrison as military supplies, if it is ordinary people or officials and gentry, there will most likely be no problem, because their parent official is the county magistrate, who can decide on the collection and allocation of money and grain.

When the imperial court found out about it, not only would it not blame him, it would also bestow upon him a crown and a robe of honor, and would erect a memorial archway to commend him.

But the vassal states could not do this because their parent official was the emperor.

The army belongs to the country, not the Zhu family; and the country belongs to Zhu Youjian, not Prince Zhu.

If the princes did the same thing, it would not be called helping with military expenses, but rather offering money to recruit soldiers to die.

You dare to offer money to recruit soldiers today when Liu Chengzong comes, what will you want to do tomorrow when Liu Chengzong is gone? Even Chongzhen dare not even imagine it!

But Chen Qiuyu's wish was to let the old Qin King Zhu Yizhu offer money to recruit soldiers to die for him.

He didn't want the King of Qin to donate money and grain to the government and go through the formalities.

Because Chen Qiuyu knew best that once the money reached the government, it would be difficult for it to actually fall into the hands of the soldiers defending the city.

There is no need to consider whether there are people who are obsessed with money and embezzle the money donated by others.

Even if everything was normal, it would be fine if Chen Qiyu didn't have money, but once he had some, everyone would target him - there is no such thing as adequate preparation before a war begins.

The city wall needs to be repaired, and after the repair is completed, sheds need to be added. With sheds, cannons are needed, and with cannons, ammunition is needed. With enough cannons, muskets, rockets and other weapons are needed.

Not to mention all the small bits and pieces that require money.

When there is no money, everyone can find a way, whether it is donation, asking for money, or even extortion, to mobilize the people to defend the city without compensation.

But once people knew he had money, it would be unreasonable not to take it.

But the King of Qin did not dare to do this. Not to mention recruiting soldiers to die, he did not even dare to provide meals for the soldiers, so he could only let his fourth son Zhu Cunji and fifth son Zhu Cunqi do it.

The fact that the King of Qin allowed his two young sons to cook porridge for the government troops was already a sign of sensible behavior.

After all, the King of Qin had never lived outside since he was a child, and his lifestyle and thoughts were very different from those of normal people.

The old King Qin thought to himself, you are making fun of me.

Our family has been racking our brains to preserve the vassal state for generations. Now it's my turn, and you want me to just stick my tail out and let others pull it?

I will die, I will die here. If one of my five sons runs away and does nothing wrong, the Emperor must let him inherit the throne of the Qin family.

He told Chen Qiyu: "Three thousand taels of silver and three thousand dan of rice. The official document has been written by the chief official of the palace. The military commander reported it to the emperor. The emperor approved it with a favorable decree. The Qin Palace immediately transferred the money and grain, and reported the next official document of three thousand taels of silver and three thousand dan of rice to the military commander."

Chen Qiyu thought to himself, go to hell!

  The damn city of Xi'an is surrounded by enemies. I want to communicate with the emperor, but the letter has to be sent out!

If I could send the letter, I would ask the emperor for it myself. Why would I come to you?

It is not necessarily a crime for the prince to do this, nor will he be punished.

It happened for a reason.

But no matter how Chen Qiuyu tried to persuade the King of Qin, the old man remained unmoved, with an expression that said, "Do whatever you want. I'm not far from being reincarnated anyway, so nothing you say will be of any use."

In fact, the old King Qin thought things through very clearly. Being timid and fearful might be part of the reason for his decision, but it was by no means the only reason.

But in the current situation, no matter what he does, the outcome will be similar.

He is so old and in poor health with a lot of diseases. He will definitely not live long and it is impossible for him to escape.

Being a parasite and miser, he failed to defend the city and lost all the money and food. If one of his five sons ran away, someone would be able to inherit the title of Prince of Qin. If one of his five sons was lucky enough to survive and not run away, he could use the wealth of Qin to present him to Liu Chengzong and perhaps save his life.

The result is not bad.

The city was defended, the money and food were gone, but the five sons were still there, and the fiefdom was inherited as usual.

The results weren't bad.

The national treasury was opened and money was offered to recruit soldiers to fight to the death. The city was defended, but the money and food were gone.

Later, the imperial court blamed them and said that all the achievements went to others. They, the Qin vassal, were guilty of having private relationships with officials and hiring assassins. They were lucky not to be held accountable. If they were held accountable, at best they would be thrown into the high walls of Fengyang, or at worst their vassal state would be gone.

The results were not good.

The sons who failed to defend the city and did not escape would certainly be blamed by Liu Chengzong and killed; those who escaped might even be blamed by the emperor and thrown into the high walls of Fengyang, and be finished.

The result was the worst.

In Chen Qiuyu's heart, he could not imagine that the old King of Qin was seeking profit and avoiding harm, he just thought... it was all Liu Chengzong's fault!

He felt that the King of Qin was acting like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water, all because Liu Chengzong was a rebel in the northwest and was not scary enough.

They were rebels, so why were they good people? They captured Lanzhou and killed the famous and virtuous Prince Su. When they reached Pingliang, they chopped the foolish Prince Han into pieces, and killed thousands of vassal states and royal family members.

You see, the King of Qin was afraid. His army must have been still eight hundred miles away, so he offered a reward to recruit soldiers and took the initiative to fund the repair of the city wall.

If that were the case, things would be easy.

The problem now is that the little bastard King Han is alive and well outside the city, and he would run to the city wearing a dragon robe to persuade him to surrender.

When Chen Qiuyu saw the King of Han's dragon robe, he was so angry that he had a cerebral hemorrhage.

What decent person would run around in casual clothes?

The casual dress looks good, but it is a formal dress.

In this era, formal wear is work clothes.

From grassroots officials to the emperor, everyone only wore casual clothes when they were at work.

Clothing etiquette stipulates what people of certain status cannot wear, rather than what people of certain status must wear.

Who wears casual clothes in leisure time? Like a big fool, Chen Qiyu was unwilling to wear casual clothes with patches when he was working outside except for the audience.

  What's the meaning of the King of Han wearing a dragon robe to the city? Isn't it just showing off? It will disrupt the morale of our army!

Chen Qiuyu wished that his soldiers would mistake the King of Han for Liu Chengzong and shoot him to death with one arrow.

Besieging a city is a very morale-draining thing, and being besieged is also very morale-draining.

This matter not only tested Liu Chengzong, but also Chen Qiuyu.

As Liu Chengzong besieged the city for longer without attacking, the discipline of the defenders in the city became increasingly lax.

From time to time, hungry soldiers would carry silver and sneak down the city walls at night to sneak into the besieged camp for a meal.

This kind of thing happens repeatedly, because in the beginning there were people who succeeded without weapons and only wore mandarin duck battle jackets.

He ran to an open-air restaurant in the market and ordered dried horse meat soup and grilled buns. He ate until his face was greasy. He then bought some buns and ran back to the city.

Later, as more and more people did this, some were detained. It also depended on who detained them. It was just a matter of luck.

If you are unlucky enough to encounter Mongolian soldiers, your silver will be taken away and a lock of hair will be cut off behind your ear. They will tell you that you have already died once and should surrender quickly when the city is attacked. If you are captured again, you will be beheaded and put back on the city wall.

If you are lucky enough to run into Han soldiers, you will most likely be beaten up for sneaking into the camp. Then a leader will come out and ask you what you want to buy, such as dried vegetables, pickles, steamed noodles, or fried noodles. You can buy enough for two or three people to eat for a few days, but the price is relatively expensive.

But it's cheaper than in the city.

Then they would instigate them, saying that the army had no use for the silver, and that they should bring gunpowder, arrowheads, spear heads and armor leaves next time, as they were valuable and could be exchanged not only for food, but also for milk wine.

Of course, they were also given two small signs, saying that they should carry one with them and stick one on the door of their home in the city to save their lives if the city was breached.

Finally, we are all brothers. The Grand Marshal is the king's army. Our army has fought to Henan, and only the provincial capital is left in Shaanxi. Why should we serve the court when we can't even get enough food? We should surrender as soon as the war starts.

Then let the Mongolian soldiers hanging around the outskirts of the camp escort the people safely to the city.

Chen Qiuyu knew about this situation, but he could do nothing about it. Since Liu Chengzong did not attack the city, he could not find a chance to fight outside the city.

Until recently, Liu Chengzong was reorganizing a new army outside, and the momentum was so great that it could not be concealed from him.

The changes in military organization and the loosening of the siege defenses gave Chen Qiuyu hope, and he immediately dispatched the defenders to attack out of the city.

Unfortunately, although the Marshal's troops were constantly rotated, there was always a part of the army outside the city that maintained a state of combat readiness. The Ming army in the city organized two assaults and one night attack, but all ended in failure.

But at this moment, Liu Chengzong ordered his soldiers to shoot hundreds of letters at the top of the city.

The letter contained news that Emperor Chongzhen was dispatching official troops, which was news of reinforcements for the defenders of Xi'an City.

Faced with the news that Liu Chengzong had ordered his troops to massacre the guards of Tongguan, and that Zhang Yichuan, the general commander of Henan Province, had launched a massive attack in Henan, first attacking Nanyang and then Luoyang, the emperor once again made decisions in an unconventional way and appointed Zhang Renxue as the inspector of Henan and the military supervisor, and stationed him in Kaifeng, intending to reverse the decline in Henan.

This letter was widely circulated in Xi'an. By the time Chen Qiuyu received the letter, almost everyone knew the news.

That night, the west gate of Xi'an City was opened, and the defenders invited the marshal's troops into the city.

Tuba, the captain of the Mongolian brigade that besieged the west camp of the city, turned a blind eye and refused to enter the city. The two sides were in a stalemate for half an hour. More than 300 defenders tied up Li Kecong, the defender of the west gate, and led him out of the city to surrender.

On the same night, the defenders at the East Gate mutinied, and there was a commotion of gunfire. The fighting was not quelled until dawn.

  Both inside and outside the city, Liu Chengzong and Chen Qiuyu knew that the city could not hold out any longer.
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Note ①: The five-character name of the King of Qin is Zhucun'mufu'qi. There is no such character in the input method, so use "qi" instead.

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