stubborn thief

Chapter 679: Chongzhen's Breakthrough

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, it snowed.

On the fourth night of the first lunar month, heavy snow fell in the two prefectures of Yanqing in southern Mobei and northern Shaanxi.

The two prefectures of Xi'an and Fengxiang in Guanzhong followed closely and saw snowflakes falling, which were better than nothing.

Afterwards, Lanzhou and Gansu in Hexi also had light snow, but Xining was almost snowy. The clerk who sent the news had just got on the rail carriage, and before he reached the post station of the Five Towns of Hehuang, the snow had stopped.

I had to go back and rewrite a document stating that it was snowing but the deadline had come, and then send it to the post station.

In Xi'an Prefecture, Liu Chengzong's mood also improved because of the good news of snowfall in various places.

He climbed up the bell tower wrapped in a fur robe, brewed a cup of hot milk tea, and while warming his hands, he admired the beautiful scenery of the majestic city covered in silver.

At this age, it is a truly rare sight.

However, he did not come to the Drum Tower specifically, but the snow brought too much joy to the generals in the Marshal's Mansion.

People called the light snow, which was less than a finger-knuckle thick, a great auspicious sign, and made a far-fetched connection between it and Liu Chengzong's invasion of Guanzhong.

There are even too many people who have beautiful sighs: the terrible drought in Shaanxi is finally over.

It’s a pity that this beautiful wish is undoubtedly an absurd delusion for Liu Chengzong.

However, he did not want to disturb other people's fun, so he took his servants to the bell tower and enjoyed some peace and quiet.

Among the attendants was Xue Xing from Hancheng.

This person was a relative of Xue Guoguan, the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty. He was a learned man who was well-versed in classics, familiar with riding and shooting, and had beautiful handwriting.

However, because of his background and appearance, he was despised by the generals in the Marshal's Mansion. Since he joined the Marshal's Mansion, he was called the Squint-eyed Monster.

However, Liu Chengzong felt that Xue Xing might not be a spy of the imperial court.

Because of his appearance, he had basically no chance of fame or official position in the imperial court.

Whether you are taking an exam or becoming an official, there are requirements for appearance and physical condition. It does not matter how good-looking you are, but at least you must have regular facial features and healthy limbs.

Xue Xing was born with squinting eyes and had no achievements.

When Liu Chengzong asked about fame and fortune, Xue Xing looked calm and composed, and even told it as a joke, he only felt a little regretful.

But when Liu Shizi heard it, he could feel the resentment towards God.

The Xue family of Hancheng was a prominent local family. Xue Xing and Xue Guoguan were one branch of the family and lived outside the northern gate of Hancheng.

When he said this, in order to make it easier for Liu Chengzong to understand, Xue Xing raised his hand and drew a map of Hancheng.

There are mountains to the west and south and a higher plateau to the north, and the terrain is like a small basin.

In the middle of the basin is the Lingshui River, which flows from Tumenkou in the northwest to the southeast. From the north bank of the river to the northeast plateau, there is Hancheng.

There is only one road from Hancheng to the Northeast Plateau, which is just outside the North Gate, so this is a very prosperous place in the area.

Because the northern part of the county town was full of government offices, and the scattered residential houses in the south were next to the river and not as vast as the large plateaus and fertile fields in the north, many officials and landlords settled outside the north gate.

The Xue family's house is a family property with three rooms and four courtyards passed down from their ancestors.

As soon as he described it, Liu Chengzong had an idea of ​​what was going on. He nodded and praised, "The house is not big, so you are still a decent family."

Liu Chengzong has a set of mathematical theorems accumulated from experience in his mind, which can see at a glance the relationship between the size of a house and the owner's property.

There was no other way but to lead troops to sweep across the northwest, conquer cities and seize land, and develop a vision that was unmatched by others.

Even the most outstanding architects of this era do not have the discerning vision of Liu Shizi.

  After all, the architect only built a few rooms, how could he demolish as many as our Liu Er?

There are two important concepts about the area of ​​a house: one is the structure, and the other is the entrance and exit.

Ancient buildings are supported by beams and columns.

"Jian" refers to the space between the four pillars; "Jia" refers to the framework composed of beams and rafters above the four pillars.

For an official residence with brackets, the width can be calculated based on the bracket mouth, while for a civilian residence without brackets, the width can be determined by the number of beams.

Generally speaking, the width of a room is about ten to thirteen feet, and the width of three rooms with six pillars is ten to thirteen meters.

Therefore, the imperial court stipulated the ritual system, that is, the princes' houses were called "mansions" and the officials' houses were called "houses", and they could be built from three rooms and seven frames to five rooms and nine frames.

The common people’s homes cannot exceed three rooms and five frames.

In this way, the size of the house was basically determined, which laid the basis for the prevalence of three-bay houses among the people in later generations. It was also because Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty was more magnanimous towards the people.

House rituals are not something that only emerged during the Ming Dynasty.

As early as the Song Dynasty, common people were only allowed to build a two-story house with five beams.

Xia is not a big house, it means a small house or a wing.

A Guangsha is a big house.

Therefore, there are very few residential buildings in the Song Dynasty that have three rooms. Most of them have one room with two side rooms.

In the earlier Tang Dynasty, the regulations were even smaller. Common people were not allowed to have more than three rooms and four frames, and three rooms and five frames were the treatment for sixth-rank officials.

But regulations are regulations. They only state what people cannot do, but do not stipulate what people can do.

So there are loopholes in the regulations.

The imperial court did not stipulate how many houses a family could have.

So there are several courtyards.

"Enter" means to go deep. After entering through the three-bay door and passing the patio, you will see the bottom of another three-bay room. This is called the first courtyard.

The second three-bay courtyard leads to a patio, and another three-bay courtyard leads to the bottom, which is called the second courtyard.

The same goes for three in, four in, and five in.

These houses are surrounded by walls to form courtyards.

This can also be considered as part of the "Zhu Daquan". The characteristic of Ming Dynasty architecture is the wall.

From the smallest courtyard of a private house to the largest village fortress, and from the largest brick wall of a city, the whole world is encircled.

Therefore, the three rooms and four courtyards of Xue's house probably have twelve main rooms and six side rooms, and together with the yard, it is over a thousand square meters.

It’s not big, it can’t be called a mansion, at most it’s a respectable home.

The ancestors of the Xue family were officials. When they built this kind of house, it was obvious that they were honest officials. It was built completely according to the style of a commoner's house, and was the layout of a small landlord.

A house with three rooms and four courtyards can also be built larger.

Because based on the word "jian" and "jin", there is also a concept called "luo", which means courtyard.

That is, a central axis is added horizontally on the left and right of several rooms and entrances, forming a layout of two or three courtyards in parallel, connected by a corridor in the middle.

Liu Chengzong concluded that Xue Guoguan must not be a bad person.

Because Xue Xing said that when Xue Guoguan returned home for the New Year, his clan members suggested that he expand his house. Some of his family members had even negotiated with several neighbors to buy other people's yards and expand them.

He had just been promoted to the Minister of Rites. According to the etiquette, he could use a house with five rooms and seven frames, and could also build a seven-room wide hall.

However, Xue Guoguan neither allowed it nor paid any money. Instead, he left 100 taels of silver for Zuo Maodi, who was returning to Hancheng with him.

Because he wrote a memorial to the emperor, requesting that the national treasury not be touched and the people's money not be burdened, and he returned to his hometown to mobilize the gentry to cover the earthen walls of Hancheng with bricks in preparation for any eventuality.

He didn't even expand his own house, and even summoned the gentry to build bricks for the city wall to protect the villagers. How bad could it be?

Liu Shizi even felt that Xue Guoguan was a bit mean to his family. Building a house didn't cost much money, and his descendants could live in it even if they had no achievements.

However, his suggestion to cover Hancheng's earth walls with bricks made Liu Shizi very unhappy - grandson, who the hell are you guarding against?

Xue Xing grew up in the ancestral house with three rooms and four courtyards. His family was not rich, but they had always supported him to study full-time, and he studied hard for twelve years since he was young.

A few years ago, he finally got a seat in the examination room, but because he was born with squint, the examiner noticed that he was glaring at him when he was making his rounds and kicked him out.

Liu Chengzong was very happy when he heard this and comforted Xue Xing: "It's okay. My brother and I have both been kicked out of the examination room before."

However, although he said so, Liu Shizi also felt that Xue Xing was always glaring at him.

There's nothing I can do, that's just how my eyes are.

He thought it was a good thing that he was driven out that year.

The examiner saved you, but it would be fine if you didn't have real ability.

If you have real ability and make it to the palace examination, given Emperor Chongzhen's unconventional approach to employing talents, maybe he really won't care about your appearance and will give you a good background.

The problem is that if Xue Xing had really become a Jinshi, he would probably be in jail if he wasn't dead.

  Let's just say that with this terrible situation, you can make Chongzhen so angry that he resurrects from the dead three times in one day. If you can't help but look at the emperor with sidelong glances and contempt, how can Chongzhen not deal with you?

Liu Chengzong couldn't say whether Xue Xing was a spy sent by Xue Guoguan to him. But in any case, Xue Xing was definitely a spy sent by him to Xue Guoguan.

When Xue Xingyun came back from Hancheng this time, he brought several boxes of books. They were all rumors and gossip that he had copied at home during the New Year, as well as some matters that Xue Guoguan had instructed his family about, and official documents such as court reports that he had brought home.

One of the incidents was that Emperor Chongzhen was scolded by a military supervisor from Henan and his defense was broken.

This military supervisor was called Tang Kaiyuan, a young man from the Fushe Society, and an expert at swearing in the streets.

Fushe is a youth literary society in the southeast. It merged more than a dozen societies in Jiangnan. It has a large number of members, mainly young people.

This association was formed under the special background of a time when the literacy rate was high, there were many educated young people, and the living atmosphere in the southeast was relatively relaxed. This was a group of passionate young people.

A group of educated people from well-off families, who spend their days listening to music, writing poetry, and reading newspapers. They know a lot at a young age, have a strong sense of superiority, and yet have nothing serious to do.

In order to show off the smart brains on their necks, people get together and play politics on the keyboard.

Tang Kaiyuan was considered the big brother among them, because he became an official early. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 18 and went to Henan to serve as a magistrate. His status in Fushe was very high. He not only participated in government affairs, but also participated in the discussion of state affairs.

The children of Fushe were so envious that they cried.

Tang Kaiyuan is now a passionate middle-aged man with excellent literary talent, and he can really curse at the right place.

This man served as the magistrate of Henan in the second year of Chongzhen. After the capital was under martial law during the Ji Si Rebellion, he wrote a letter to Chongzhen, advising him not to disrupt the national law with severe punishments, and not to put anyone in the Jinyi Prison unless they were plotting treason and disrupting the country.

Chongzhen ignored him.

This time, it was because Chongzhen sent people to arrest Henan Governor Chen Biqian on the charge of dereliction of duty.

Tang Kaiyuan then submitted another memorial, saying that the emperor treated the governors harshly and favored the town officials. It would be a crime for a civil servant to dare to take office, and it would also be a crime if he did not dare to take office. On the contrary, the crime would be lighter if he did not take office. So no one would take office as governor from then on.

Chongzhen felt a little embarrassed and said that there was no concrete evidence that the governor would not take office. He told the governor to think it over before making any further comments.

Tang Kaiyuan turned around and made another move.

He named all the governors of Shaanxi and Shanxi since Chongzhen ascended the throne, and asked Chongzhen whether any of these governors were still alive, had not been imprisoned, or had not been stripped of their official position or demoted?

The imperial court has its own laws. The Ministry of Personnel is responsible for discussing punishments, the judicial department is responsible for discussing crimes, and the local officials are responsible for investigating and reporting cases.

  Why is it that when the emperor issues an edict, the Ministry of Personnel immediately carries out the demotion and dismissal, but no one is willing to submit a petition to the emperor saying that this is the wrong way to handle the matter?

As soon as he was brought to the three major judicial departments, he was immediately sentenced to exile or border garrison according to the imperial edict. No one wrote to the emperor to say that such a crime should not be imposed.

As for the investigation, the minister in charge of the investigation only told the story of what happened. Why was there no one to discuss the merits and crimes, and help the minister ask for forgiveness from the court?

Because of you, Your Majesty, many ministers cannot distinguish right from wrong because they know that Your Majesty is determined to inflict severe damage on them. Even if they are told, you will not listen and will instead put them in prison.

The imperial prison is full of talented people from the Ming Dynasty.

That is why the imperial court suffered successive failures, and was punishing this and that every day, but these things were of no help in eliminating the bandits and pacifying the people.

What is lacking now is fair rewards and punishments!

When this memorial was submitted, Chongzhen's defense was immediately broken.

If people accused Chongzhen of extravagance and waste, no matter how harsh the criticism was, the emperor would just smile it off.

After all, I don't have any problems, so just say whatever you want.

  But what did Tang Kaiyuan say? He said that I abused punishment and was unfair in rewarding and punishing!

Can Chongzhen tolerate this? He really has this problem.

It’s New Year’s Day, and you dare to blame me.

Chongzhen was furious and issued an edict to strip him of his title and dismiss him from his post and have him escorted to the capital.

The fact that Tang Kaiyuan was so good at scolding was somewhat related to his family background. He was from Linchuan and his father was Tang Xianzu.

In this letter from Chongzhen about the destruction of the defense, a name called Zhu Wanling was mentioned.

He was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli and the former prefect of Baoding.

He was in charge of military preparation when the peasant army crossed the Mianchi River. As the army was short of food and supplies and a great battle was imminent, he was so anxious that he lost sleep and food, and contracted a back carbuncle. As a result, he was stripped of his military service by Chongzhen and sent back home.

This man is nearly 50 years old and is now in Xi'an.

The day before yesterday, he took down the recruitment notice posted by the Marshal's Office in the Xianning County Government, and asked to see Liu Chengzong, hoping to vacate the arsenal in the city and restore the Guanzhong Academy.

This is also Feng Congwu's student.

Liu Chengzong had a talk with Zhu Wanling and it went quite well.

The old man refused to take up a government post, and Liu Shizi refused to vacate the armory. The two sides exchanged views very sincerely.

Of course this was not the main topic of the conversation, but just something that was not agreed upon.

At least Zhu Wanling knew Liu Chengzong's intention, and Liu Chengzong promised that Guanzhong Academy must be restored, and as the highest institution of learning in the Marshal's Office, it would also be expanded.

But not now, because the new armory is not yet completed.

  Moreover, the academy must operate under the management framework of the academic administration. The Marshal's Office does not even have an inspector now. How can it be restored?

Liu Shizi said: "Since you care so much about the academy, why don't you become my academic administrator?"

Liu Chengzong was already very sincere, and Zhu Wanling was even more sincere.

He said that I had been dismissed from my post during the Tianqi period, and now the emperor had stripped me of my official title. I had lived as a commoner for several years, and my life was not bad. I was in a dilemma as to whether to take up an official post or not.

The Ming army confiscated houses and demanded pay in the city, and the Grand Marshal punished those disorderly troops according to law and stabilized the situation in Xi'an Prefecture, which was a good thing.

I can also become an official, but not now.

At least the Marshal's Office won't be driven out after only three months in Xi'an. If that happens, I might as well not take up a career in office.

The Grand Marshal has asked for someone more capable to take on the important task of governing the country. Please allow me to take another look.

Liu Chengzong understood that this was bullshit.

The talk of punishing the rebellious troops was just empty talk. They were all smart people, and everyone knew who ordered those things to be done. It was just a fig leaf for the Marshal's Office to make money.

The real reason was that Sun Zhensheng and Liang Xing got the position of censor.

The scholars' minds were shaken.

Two businessmen with no background, no fame, and no achievements.

After just a visit to the Marshal's Mansion, he suddenly became an imperial censor in charge of the salt law and tea policy, holding great power.

This incident caused an uproar in Sanyuan, Jingyang and even the entire Xi'an Prefecture, and the evaluation of the priceless horse bone was polarized.

Not only because of their backgrounds, but also because of the official positions granted to them by the Marshal's Office.

  What is a censor?

Where did the imperial characters of the Marshal's Office come from?

People had complicated feelings about this matter. When more than three people gathered together, they all cursed Liu, saying that his intention to usurp the throne was obvious!

But if two people or even one person work behind closed doors, then the Jinshi (imperial scholar) and unemployed officials would have to think about whether there is any place for their talents in the Marshal's Mansion.

The official position of Censor has always been of low rank and its meaning is very simple.

Shi was the historian and secretary in charge of records for the emperor, princes, ministers, and mayors of the pre-Qin period.

The word "御" is easier to understand. In ancient times, the historian around the king was called "御史".

Since these people are in charge of confidential documents, they are naturally called the king's eyes and ears and take on part of the responsibility of reporting on others.

By the Ming Dynasty, censors no longer recorded history, but were specifically responsible for reporting on others, which fell into two main types.

One type is the one who is stationed in various places to report on others, called the Censor-in-Chief. There are 110 censors stationed in 13 places.

The second type is the names set up according to the circumstances, such as salt inspection and tea inspection, as well as the canal, agriculture, customs, river, city, field, warehouse and so on.

In short, if the emperor wanted to see a report from somewhere, he would send a spy over there.

Generally, candidates who are Jinshi or students of the Imperial Academy with clean backgrounds and no official habits are chosen to inspect local areas, with the intention of using their scholarly spirit to promote the good and eliminate the evil.

His official position was only seventh rank, and he had no power at all.

Only because it has the word "御" on it, its lethality is very strong. Just a small report on it can make people confused.

The granting of these two official positions had a great impact on the people's hearts and minds in Xi'an Prefecture.

It was at this time that many people finally began to seriously examine Liu Chengzong, trying to predict whether this aggressive rebel leader had the potential to rule half of the country.

But standing in the hazy smoke and fog of history, looking into the future is always unclear.

Liu Chengzong was very optimistic about the prospects and believed that the current state of confusion among Shaanxi scholars and officials was good news for the Marshal's Office.

At least it won't happen that he leads his troops to the north and then a fire breaks out in the backyard.

However, before the northern expedition, Liu Chengzong had to take Hanzhong first.

The person who will go to Hanzhong has already been decided, and that is Jiang Yingchang, the prefect of Pingliang.

good afternoon!