Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 147 Natural and Man-made Disasters
The Liu family in Huayin is not an ordinary family of officials and eunuchs. Their ancestors were quite brilliant. In the Hongwu Dynasty and the Yongle Dynasty, Liu's family had people who were inscribed on the gold list, and they all became the six ministers of the third rank, which can be described as eminent for a time.

Although the Liu family did not produce any Jinshi again, every generation has people who have obtained meritorious service, and most of them are Juren.

It can be said that the Liu family is the number one official family in Huayin, and it is quite famous in Huayin.

Under the guidance of Liu Yingkui, more than 100 people from Taichang's group entered the city gate without any obstruction, but the guards at the city gate looked at them in a strange way.

What about that look?

It's as if they are causing trouble!
After a group of people entered the city, Taichang observed secretly again, and found a particularly strange thing.

Everyone in Huayin County has the same expression as Liu Yingkui, everyone seems to have lost the joy of life, full of sadness, and no one talks on the street, making the whole county like a ghost town, without a trace of life.

What is going on here?
Taichang really couldn't figure it out, even if the disaster here is serious, there are still people who can eat their stomachs, after all, there are several porridge restaurants outside the south gate.

Why does everyone seem to be suffering more than the disaster victims outside the city?

A group of people walked for about a quarter of an hour, and finally arrived at the Liu Mansion.

This Liu family is worthy of being a family of officials and eunuchs for nearly 200 years. Not to mention luxurious, the area of ​​the mansion is quite large. Looking at it from a distance, it gives people a majestic feeling.

If it was an ordinary family, hundreds of brocade guards probably wouldn't be able to squeeze in, but if they entered Liu's residence, these hundreds of people were nothing.

Liu Yingkui led the crowd to the hall dedicated to welcoming guests, and politely pulled Wang Zheng to the right of the guest seat. How could Wang Zheng dare to sit on the guest seat? He looked at Taichang who was sitting on the right of the guest seat as if nothing had happened. , simply took the initiative to sit down on the right side of the guest seat.

This is strange. Could it be that this young man is more than a fourth rank?
Liu Yingkui was stunned for a moment, but still didn't ask. Since people didn't say anything, there was a reason for not saying it. If he insisted on asking, it would be a bit ignorant.

This is very likely to be a high-ranking official above the fourth rank, in front of others, he has to be savvy.

He simply pretended that he didn't notice anything, ordered people to serve tea, and then looked at the Jin Yiwei lined up all over the courtyard and asked cautiously: "Liangfu, are these people all right?"

These are the emperor's personal guards, what's the problem?
Wang Zheng took a careful look at Taichang on the opposite side, and simply asked: "Brother Wenhe, what's the matter with you, why are you so nervous? We brought these people from the capital, so naturally there is no problem."

Unexpectedly, Liu Yingkui shook his head and sighed: "Oh, it's the eunuch's world right now, so I have to be careful!"

This is what I said, the eunuch's world, this world belongs to the emperor, okay?

Don't keep saying these things in front of the emperor!

Wang Zheng hurriedly urged: "Brother Wen He, let's not talk about the eunuch party, what's going on with you, you should talk about it!"

Liu Yingkui sighed leisurely: "Do you still remember the dog Zongxiang?"

What did you say about your son?

Wang Zheng nodded helplessly and said: "Remember, your son is talented and intelligent, and he has been admitted as a scholar in less than [-] years. He should already be a candidate by now. It shouldn't be a problem to be named on the gold list in the future."

Unexpectedly, Liu Yingkui sighed softly again: "Zong Xiang has already passed the high school exams, but I'm afraid there will be no chance to be named on the gold list."

What do you keep telling me about your son?
This is not what the emperor wants to hear!

Wang Zheng took a careful look at Taichang, but found that the emperor did not look anxious.

He could only follow the trend and ask, "What happened to Zong Xiang?"

Liu Yingkui said with a complex expression, "Zong Xiang's fame will be revoked."

Ah!
Removing a person's fame is tantamount to killing someone's life. It is very difficult for a scholar to obtain a reputation. If he is revoked, his life is basically over.

However, fame is not something that can be removed casually.

Wang Zheng asked cautiously: "Zong Xiang committed a crime?"

Liu Yingkui said with pain on his face, "He must have made a slip of the tongue after drinking. He shouldn't have, absolutely shouldn't, he shouldn't have gone drinking with people with ulterior motives, and he was tricked into making disrespectful remarks. Alas, more than 100 years Well, our Liu family has finally produced such a descendant who is expected to be nominated on the gold list, this time, I am afraid it will be ruined."

What disrespect?

Is it possible to change the name of Juren just because of one sentence these days?

Wang Zheng had never heard of such a thing, and he couldn't help asking curiously, "What did Zong Xiang say?"

Liu Yingkui thought for a while, but still gritted his teeth and said, "He said that the emperor is really crazy to replace Donglin with eunuchs. No matter how bad Donglin is, he wouldn't act like this!"

"what!"

When Wang Zheng heard this, his expression changed drastically.

You, you, you actually said in front of the emperor that the emperor is crazy!

This is a disaster!
The expressions of the others also changed, and they were stunned.

Seeing this, Liu Yingkui quickly explained: "Don't misunderstand, Zong Xiang is not like this usually, he was really drunk and seduced by others to say such things."

Because one sentence will abolish Juren's fame?

Taichang thought thoughtfully: "Is there someone who cares about the nonsense that your son uttered after being drunk?"

Liu Yingkui said with a full face of resentment: "That's someone else set him up. As soon as he finished speaking, he was arrested by those gangsters and imprisoned in the county government prison. The next day the county magistrate Li Yingjian sent someone to come Threats, saying that Zong Xiang's reputation will be removed! This county magistrate is really lawless, relying on the backing of the eunuch party, no matter who, even if they say a few bad things about him, as long as he finds out, he will be arrested and punished Banzi, beat him to death!"

Sure enough, the rumors are true, the eunuchs love to play this game.

In history, Wei Zhongxian was really powerful. In the capital, anyone who dared to speak ill of him would have his tongue cut off at the slightest, or skin cramps at the worst, so that people in the capital could only communicate with their eyes when they met on the road. say.

It seems that Huayin City is about to become like this.

No wonder the people on the road dared not speak, it turned out that something like this happened.

However, there's something else that's weird.

Why did Li Yingjian, the county magistrate, punish others when he was arrested, but threaten Liu Yingkui's son when he was arrested?

Taichang couldn't help but asked curiously: "Brother Wenhe, have you made enemies with Li Yingjian, the county magistrate?"

Unexpectedly, Liu Yingkui said with a face full of disdain: "What kind of enmity do I have with that eunuch? It is that eunuch who wants to marry our Liu family. He just took a fancy to our Liu family's prestige in Huayin and tried to get married through marriage. Take control of our Liu family and let our Liu family be used by him. Hmph, he wants our Liu family to help the tyrant, there is no way! With his virtue, he still wants to marry my precious granddaughter, dreaming! Such a shameless person, marrying him, I All the ancestors of the Liu family will be ashamed!"

Taichang subconsciously asked: "Is your granddaughter beautiful?"

How about this?

Liu Yingkui sighed helplessly: "Oh, I don't know which swinger saw our family Yuanyuan and ran out to talk nonsense, saying that Yuanyuan was born beautiful, and he was astonished as a heavenly man. Rumor has it that Yuanyuan is said to be the number one beauty in Guanzhong, alas, these people eat too much!"

Sure enough, it seemed that this Li Yingjian was really recommending him. He went to the local government to become a parent official, but he even wanted to forcefully marry his granddaughter and control the local officials and eunuchs.

Uh, it seems to be far away.

Taichang simply asked directly: "Brother Wenhe, just outside the city you said that you were using your own money and food to give out porridge. Didn't the imperial court distribute money and food for disaster relief? Didn't the county government organize people to give out porridge?"

When Liu Yingkui heard this, he couldn't help but snorted coldly: "The county government even organizes people to give porridge! It's not bad for Li Ying to recommend this eunuch if he doesn't beat the bones and suck the marrow to suck the people dry."

These people really dare to be greedy!
Taichang asked calmly: "What do you mean, Li Yingjian corrupted all the relief money and food?"

Liu Yingkui gritted his teeth and said, "Not only did he greedy all the money and food for disaster relief, but he also took advantage of the Liaodong War and the Southwest Rebellion to impose all kinds of exorbitant taxes. Whoever refused to pay, he ordered the local ruffians under him to beat him to death. Let’s fight again! Now, farmers in Huayin don’t dare to plant land anymore, because the little harvest they plant is not enough to pay taxes, so it’s better to let the land go uncultivated and beg for food everywhere.”

These beasts!

Taichang clenched his fists, held back his anger, and continued to ask: "Didn't the Ministry of Households exempt the disaster area from taxes this year? Don't you all know?"

Liu Yingkui couldn't help but hate and said: "So what if you know, they came here specifically for this. They don't have a backer and they don't come to this kind of place. But all these crazy and corrupt officials just go to this kind of disaster-stricken place, because Not only can they be greedy for the disaster relief money and food from the ink court, but they can also collect the taxes that should have been exempted into their own pockets, which is more than twice that of other parties!"

Hateful!
No wonder those lands are left uncultivated.

No wonder the disaster victims in Shangzhou rebelled.

Natural disasters continue, and man-made disasters are especially severe. It's no wonder the common people don't turn back!
(End of this chapter)