Take a plane to the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 324 Xue Guoguan's Bad Idea

Chongzhen paced back and forth in the main hall without stopping for a moment. After all, this kind of large-scale battle was the first time since he ascended the throne.

It can be said that in this battle, the input is the elite forces of both sides.

In addition to the 15 Guanning iron cavalry in the hands of Wu Sangui in the Ming Dynasty, there are also 13 elite soldiers from Liaodong, plus the 40 elite soldiers that Yang Sichang filled in from Shaanxi before, plus the elite soldiers transferred from various places on the Nine Sides this time. The total number of troops is [-], and the chief engineer of Ming Dynasty has deployed nearly [-] troops in Liaodong. Moreover, this is a real number, not an exaggeration.

On the other hand, on Huang Taiji's side, there were only 16 infantry and cavalry, which was less than half of the Ming Dynasty.

It can be said that if the victory or defeat in a war is measured by the number of people involved, then the Ming Dynasty would have thrown away Huang Taiji [-] streets long ago.

Unfortunately, the reality is cruel.

Don't say that 16 is against 40, even if it is against 80, those who should win should still win, and those who should lose should still fail.

"How is the battle now?"

Chongzhen asked.

"Return to Your Majesty!" At this time, in the main hall on the platform, none of the officials above rank three were allowed to go home, and they all waited in the main hall to be summoned by His Majesty at any time.

Jiang Fengyuan stood up and said: "It is reported that both sides are stepping up the deployment of troops and generals. Both sides are extremely restrained. Although there have been some small-scale conflicts, a major battle has not yet started."

"However!" Jiang Fengyuan said again: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, Huang Taiji sent cavalry to harass our army's rear day and night, intending to cut off the food road of our Ming army."

"No problem!" Xue Guoguan came out and said, "Your Majesty, our army has a large number of people, so we can definitely attack more with less. The governor of Liaodong is a veteran Hong Chengchou, so there shouldn't be any problems."

After hearing this, Chongzhen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Hong Chengchou is a good veteran. When he attacked Li Zicheng in Shaanxi, he couldn't take care of himself, and he won every battle without a single defeat.

Based on this, the emperor believed in Hong Chengchou very much.

"Your Majesty, I think you should not take it lightly at this time!" Liu Zunxian staggered out of the queue. He hadn't seen him in the past two years, and Liu Dashangshu was much older. It will last for a long time, I am afraid it will be difficult to continue, the old minister please Your Majesty, you should make preparations as soon as possible to ensure the military rations of the soldiers in front."

"Sure!" Chongzhen looked around, looked at his courtiers, and said, "Do you have any specific plans for raising food?"

The people below look at me and I look at you. When it comes to doing practical things, no one speaks.

"Your Majesty!" Liu Zunxian continued: "The military in Liaodong is different from that of Shaanxi. I think the court should tell Governor Hong to step up his guard and not to underestimate the enemy. The situation in Liaodong is related to the fate of the Ming Dynasty, and it is even more important to guard the throat of the imperial capital. This is a big deal. , I think it's better to fight steadily."

Chongzhen nodded and said with a smile: "Shan, the cabinet is just drafting an order!" Then, he said with some worry: "The imperial treasury is empty. If we want to fight steadily, we must have a large amount of military pay to support it. What can we do?"

This is also a fact, there are many soldiers in front, and they are very capable of fighting, but if they are hungry, they will stop fighting.

But once the emperor asked the question of military rations, the officials below seemed to have taken dumb medicine and stopped talking.

The emperor was so angry that he had no choice but to leave the main hall by himself, and came to rest in the side hall behind the hall. At this time, Xue Guoguan entered the secret concert, saying that there was a way to solve the military salary, but he could only play it secretly.

Emperor Xuanxue met him in the side hall, welcomed him to his seat, and asked, "What can Xue Aiqing do to solve my urgent problem?"

Xue Guoguan bowed his head and bowed, and said: "The current treasury is empty, but those princes and nobles who have been favored by the Ming Dynasty for generations, especially after the nobles, who are not rich and rich can rival the country, but now that the country is in crisis, no one is generous for the country. !"

"What does Xue Aiqing mean?" Chongzhen looked at him suspiciously.

"Benefit!" Xue Guoguan said: "Let those rich guys take out their money, and the court will not treat them badly. They will follow the loan method and wait until the war in Liaodong is pacified and the tax collection comes up next year before repaying. It can be solved quickly!"

"But!" The emperor thought for a while, shook his head again, and said, "It's not right!"

Of course not, for an imposing emperor who is so poor that he borrows money from his ministers, his reputation will naturally be bad.

Of course Xue Guoguan understood the meaning of the emperor, smiled slightly, and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, those foreign ministers, I will let the ministers do it for me. As for the relatives of the emperor, I am afraid that your majesty will have to make the decree yourself!"

Chongzhen still shook his head to express his disagreement.

However, Xue Guoguan said again: "The matter of Liaodong is the most urgent, so there is no delay!"

It means that now you don’t have to lose your face, morals, and gods, as long as you keep the things left by your ancestors, and keep the tombs of your ancestors. Otherwise, if Huang Taiji hits you in the face, you will lose your wool.

After hearing what Xue Guoguan said, Chongzhen finally nodded his head in agreement.

So, the next "help!" began.

Xue Guoguan is the chief minister of the cabinet, No.1 in the dignified court, one person is under ten thousand people, although the prestige among the foreign ministers is not very good, but as long as there is a righteous reason for the minister to serve the country, no matter the official More or less, even if there are only three taels of silver in the family, you still have to hand over two taels, right?
Most, though, are perfunctory.

For example, Jiang Fengyuan, a well-known rich man who is the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, only took out 100 taels of silver when it came time to borrow money, and said that the silver was saved by his daily frugality.

Go cheat.

Don't say that these people are disloyal and patriotic, but in this situation, even if they want to donate more, they can't, otherwise it will become a handle in the hands of others, evidence of corruption and bribery.

Therefore, although Xue Guoguan went to the foreign ministers to "borrow", but not many borrowed money, less than 10 taels of silver in total. Once the money was put into the big pit in Liaodong, it instantly turned into water, even [-]% not enough.

But in any case, Xue Guoguan's mission was completed, and the resistance was not too great.

But the task of Emperor Chongzhen was not so easy to complete.

Although he is an emperor, it sounds like he is hanging, but the person he asks for money is also hanging.

For example, he found his brother-in-law and asked for money. The brother-in-law just agreed to pay the money, and ran to his sister, Queen Zhou, crying poorly. Before a quarter of an hour, the queen would run to the emperor and cry poorly.

Well, the queen usually has a dignified manner, and it's not easy to be in charge of the sixth house, so give her some face, forget it.

Ask Zhang Guoji, Zhang Guoji went to his daughter's ex-queen Zhang Yan to cry for poverty, but Zhang Yan didn't ask Chongzhen to settle the score, but the crown prince stood up for him, and Zhang Guoji didn't pay in the end.

Later, Chongzhen asked his uncle for it, and the uncle hanged himself even more. He ran to find his mother, and the queen mother was furious, asking for more money.

This group of people can't be messed with, so pick a soft persimmon and pinch it.

Who is soft?
The uncle couldn't pinch it, the brother's father-in-law couldn't pinch it, and the brother-in-law couldn't pinch it either. After much deliberation, Emperor Chongzhen finally thought of one person.

Since you can't pinch too close, let's pinch a little farther away.

Li Guorui, Marquis of Wuqing!

Who is Li Guorui?
Daming's relative, Huan Nima is a relatively wealthy relative, and Emperor Chongzhen wouldn't look for him if he had no money, would he?

The point is, this guy has no backing.

Uh no, it should be said that the backer has fallen.

Li Guorui is the nephew of Chongzhen's grandfather and Ming Shenzong Zhu Yijun's mother; that is, the nephew of Chongzhen's great-grandmother.

Well, it's a mouthful to put it this way, let's put it another way: Li Guorui is the old cousin of the emperor's grandfather!

After finding Li Guorui, Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief. Now that I am asking you for money, I don't believe you can go to the harem to find someone to intercede with you?

Looking for the old lady, sorry, no more!
It has to be said that Chongzhen was too ruthless, and demanded 40 taels of silver from his grandfather's old cousin as soon as he opened his mouth. It is estimated that in his old man's heart, the money was blown by the strong wind.

After Li Guorui received the imperial edict, he cried when he returned home.

To be honest, it's not that he doesn't have so much money, he started accumulating wealth as early as the reign of Shenzong, let alone 40 li, even 80 taels.

But who is willing to give their wealth to others, even if that person is the emperor.

But he doesn't have any backing, what should he do?
Li Guorui is worthy of being a family member of the Ming Dynasty, and he came up with a method that has never been seen before or since: set up a stall!
Uncle Li Guo returned home, first handed over the emperor's 40 taels of silver, and then sent his wife and children to his hometown. He took his servants and demolished his house by himself. I took all the furniture I could get, and ran to the south of the city to sell it at a stall, saying that I would use it to get by.

At this time, the city was full of trouble.

Emperor Chongzhen was furious, and ordered Li Guorui, Marquis of Wuqing, to be deprived of his title and demoted to a commoner.

Of course, this sad and old Lord Hou was overly frightened, and the history hastily ended.

After Li Guorui's death, everyone in the imperial family was in danger and even spread rumors, saying that: Empress Dowager Xiaoding (Zhu Youjian's great-grandmother) accused the emperor of being too mean to his relatives in heaven, and that he would be punished by heaven, and the emperor's son would die young.

Nonsense, this is of course a rumor, no one will believe it, not even Emperor Chongzhen himself.

But the strange thing is here. It didn't take long for Emperor Chongzhen's youngest son (forgive me, this is Nima's third prince Zhu) to die suddenly.

Well, whether others believe it or not, Chongzhen believed it anyway: his great-grandmother got angry.

In desperation, Chongzhen personally prayed to his great-grandmother, and had no choice but to make Li Guorui's son Wuqinghou, and repaid the Li family's money in full.

Xue Guoguan's bad idea finally came to an end.

(End of this chapter)