stubborn thief

Chapter 431
On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month in the sixth year of Chongzhen, an urgent report was sent to the Qianqing Palace through the post station on the Great Wall.

This letter was sent by Cao Huachun from Xining. It can be seen that the soldiers and postmen along the way did not dare to neglect, and it took only six days to send it to Beijing.

In fact, there was no important information in the letter he sent, otherwise the letter would not have been reviewed and sent from Hehuang. The content of the letter was just to report to Chongzhen the progress of Liu Chengzong's wedding preparations.

In addition, it is recommended that the emperor issue an edict to purchase a set of rituals for the prince's wedding from Lanzhou and give it to Xining.

Cao Huachun has been in Xincheng for a while, and he can feel that the temperament of Liu Chengzong, an armed group, has changed drastically since the last time he met.

The Marshal's Mansion has many advantages. Their army is highly motivated, well-equipped, and has stable food income and military manufacturing. It is stronger than before. It is not an exaggeration to say that it has turned the world upside down.

But he didn't come to find advantages for the rebels. On the contrary, he must find the shortcomings of the rebels this time.

Taking the Lion Army in the past as an example, Cao Huachun managed to find a shortcoming, that is, the generals of the Marshal's Mansion had a better attitude towards him, and their hostility decreased.

In the past, the Lion Army's attitude towards the imperial court was the primary enemy and absolute hostility, but this time Cao Huachun entered the new city, not to mention receiving good treatment, at least he chatted with many senior generals, Jin Yifanzi, and the guards of the Marshal's Palace about ordinary things that have nothing to do with military affairs Things can be said to be very happy to talk about.

It is also very simple to think about it. People’s thoughts can be guided by public opinion. In Qinghai, their primary enemy is Mongolia. The stability is not of much benefit.

But the victory lies in the establishment of a political power with sufficient soldiers and food, which is reflected in people's behavior that they pursue promotion and fortune.

No one in the Marshal's Mansion is ashamed of getting promoted and getting rich. Everyone from the gatekeepers to the generals and school officials has no taboo in pursuing promotion and making a fortune, and they do not hesitate to practice, study and do things for it.

They believe in their ability to pursue wealth and power in an upright manner, and they believe that the Grand Marshal can give them a chance to prove themselves.

To be honest, Cao Huachun originally wanted to use the imperial court as an example to discover the shortcomings of the Marshal's Mansion, but later found that using the imperial court as an example, he could not find any shortcomings in the Marshal's Mansion. doubt.

This should not have been a question.

Cao Huachun entered the palace at the age of 13 and studied in the inner school since he was a child. All his teachers were Jinshi of the Imperial Academy. Not to mention piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, Confucian classics are not weaker than scholars.

Scholars pay attention to sincerity, honesty, and self-cultivation. Getting promoted and getting rich should be the process of life rather than the goal. In other words, there should be higher pursuits in life than getting promoted and getting rich.

However, compared with the court's ethos of flaunting sincerity and righteousness, Cao Huachun really doesn't know which is better, the naked pursuit or the secret obscenity.

In any case, Cao Huachun believes that the ups and downs of the Marshal's Mansion at this time are more chaotic spiritually than during the Lion Army period.

First of all, Liu Chengzong's wedding preparations had long been overridden. The exquisitely crafted dark pattern leather robe, although it was dark pattern, Cao Huachun could still see the twelve chapter patterns clearly, he was most familiar with that thing.

Dragons, pythons, it doesn’t matter, these things are not casually worn in Daming, but not to mention the dragon patterns on the cotton armor military uniforms, there are too many people who can wear such bestowals as flying fish and bullfighting python robes and dragon robes.

There are only twelve chapter patterns, from Emperor Shun to Ming Dynasty, and only the emperor's ritual system was interrupted in the Qin Dynasty. Only the emperor can wear all twelve chapters on his body.

Especially when Liu Chengzong mentioned the theory of unreasonable people, he could clearly feel a huge sense of crisis.

Those words were not addressed to him, but to the generals of the Marshal’s Mansion who were seated in the courtyard at that time, awakening people’s latent hostility towards the imperial court, and guiding the soldiers and civilians under the Marshal’s Mansion to have higher pursuits than getting promoted and making a fortune ——Change the destiny.

Eliminate the unscrupulous people who do not do their job properly, do nothing to produce and occupy wealth, for the happiness of more people, and for more people to have the opportunity to freely pursue power and wealth, respond to others, and launch the Eastern Expedition.

As the saying goes, if the name is not right, the words will not go well, and if the words don't go well, things will fail. Obviously Liu Chengzong is unifying his thinking and wants to hold righteousness in his hands.

When Cao Huachun saw this opportunity, he thought badly about Liu Chengzong.

Liu Chengzong rebelled as a deserter in the past, violated the law and would be exterminated, but if the extermination could not be exterminated, even if the letter was thrown in Chongzhen's face, Chongzhen could not be morally blamed, because he could not eat enough due to arrears. The imperial court did not do a good job in the imperial court.

But now that time has passed, Cao Huachun believes that this wedding is a good opportunity to weaken the justice of Liu Chengzong's rebellion.

What he meant was that Liu Shizi's arrogance was a certainty at this time anyway, and there was no way to stop it. It would be better for the emperor to issue an edict to buy it from Lanzhou and give him a set of rituals for a prince's marriage.

It is better to send another 10 sets of salt to Lanzhou, and allocate 300 taels of domestic salt price to buy [-] million catties of green salt from the Marshal's Mansion as wedding expenses, to show the court's love and benevolence to him, and to show it to Hexi.

In this way, if Liu Chengzong wants to raise troops in the future, not to mention that the hearts of the soldiers and the people inside will make him restrain his hands, at least the Hexi soldiers and civilians will be more determined to resist him.

The ruler, the ruler, and the ministers, mean that the king should do the work of the king, and the ministers should do the work of the minister.

Cao Huachun felt that his suggestion was very good. Although the price of salt in the Marshal’s Mansion was much more expensive than that in the mainland, the salt market in Hehuang was saturated. Liu Shizi used this to make a profit. The output of the salt lake far exceeded the consumption of Hehuang. Come to buy, although it is a low price for him, it is a bigger market, and he can earn extra money, so he will not refuse.

On the other hand, the imperial court allocated [-] yuan in silver and [-] yuan in quotations, and the cost was finally borne by the salt merchants. Moreover, there was a flood in Hanzhong and the price of salt was high. Maybe the imperial court could earn some money from it.

Emperor Chongzhen's reply was faster, and it took only four days to enter Hehuang, and was handed over by the postman to Liu Chengzong, who was offering sacrifices to heaven and earth at Riyue Mountain.

In this one-third of an acre of land, whether Cao Huachun sent or received letters, he couldn't hide it from Liu Chengzong.

Liu Shizi knew that he wrote the letter to the emperor, and he read the letter with Yang Dingrui long before submitting it to Lanzhou. He didn't know whether Cao Huachun's starting point was good or bad, but this suggestion was indeed good or bad for the Marshal's Mansion.

The good aspect is naturally economic income, and the bad aspect is the loss of prestige, which makes him take a high look at Cao Huachun, the faithful king's companion, and there is indeed something.

However, whether the letter should be delivered or not, Liu Chengzong has no fear, and the initiative of the matter is ultimately in his hands.

Now that Emperor Chongzhen wrote back, Liu Chengzong handed it directly to Cao Huachun without unpacking it.

Cao Huachun was looking forward to this letter so much, he opened it in his hands, and raised his head nervously when he opened it halfway, and asked, "Would you like to read it, Commander?"

Liu Shizixin said that all the letters have come back, what else should I read, no matter what the letter is, I will know by your reaction.

He waved his hands and said with a smile: "You don't want to read it, you just read the letter written by the emperor."

Cao Huachun was relieved, but his face was full of joy and anticipation, which froze on his face the moment he opened the letter, turning into ashes.

The emperor understood all his thoughts, and rejected his proposal with righteous words, and spent [-]% of the letter in the letter, explaining to him the reason why it was impolite to do so.

After the end of the sacrifice to heaven, the team returned to the new city. Yang Dingrui and Cao Yao said hello to Liu Chengzong and went back first. They were going home to prepare for the rituals of Najib and Nazheng.

Liu Shizi will hold two weddings successively, the first is to marry Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi and Yun Jiaoyue, and the second is to marry the eight empresses of Chahar.

The eight maidens in Chahar all have their own relatives in the Ordo tribe, and there are too many of their maiden families.

But Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi, and Yun Jiaoyue are all family members, and only Sanlang has a car, so they are cheap relatives without blood relationship.

Therefore, they recognized Yang Dingrui and his wife as adoptive father and adoptive mother, Cao Yao's wife as god-sister, and took Yang Dingrui's family as their natal family.

The problem of no one in the family is not only caused by the three of them, but also in the entire Marshal's Mansion.

According to the etiquette, Liu Chengzong did not go to pick up the bride in person, but sent a minister with a son and a daughter to pick up the bride on his behalf. The problem came, there were many people with sons and daughters under the Marshal's Mansion, but it was too difficult for the minister.

It has only been five years since they started the incident. When people joined the Lion Camp and the Lion Army, most of them were bachelors. In recent years, they have never stopped fighting, and they often march thousands of miles. in one place.

Many senior generals got married in this year. Where did the baby come from? Only Yang Dingrui and Sunday Qiang were able to live in Hehuang with both children.

Just the three dolls of Yang Dingrui, both of them were picked up by the mother-in-law and aunt when Ansai was in famine.

Therefore, the task of picking up the bride can only be handed over to Sunday Qiang.

Including offering sacrifices to heaven, the entire wedding process will last for seven days. The Marshal's Mansion must prepare the throne, case, festival case, stew pot, color jade and other utensils, and Yang Dingrui's family must also prepare.

On the way back to the city, Cao Huachun was worried, but Liu Chengzong was very relaxed and said with a smile: "The emperor did not agree."

Cao Huachun nodded: "The emperor said this is not right, it is not in accordance with the rules of etiquette."

Liu Chengzong grinned silently, and then said to Cao Huachun earnestly: "The emperor is right, you must listen!"

Cao Huachun interpreted this as a taunt, which made him very angry, and said with a stiff neck: "The emperor has worked hard to govern, and he is not a troublemaker as the commander-in-chief said. Honesty and sincerity should not be laughed at!"

All of a sudden, the people in the team who could hear their conversation stopped talking, and everyone carefully looked at Liu Chengzong who was contradicted. To everyone's surprise, Liu Chengzong was not angry.

Even his face didn't have a stiff look of suppressing anger, the whole person was normal, and he still spoke earnestly, repeating: "The emperor is right, you have to support him."

He said this with complicated thoughts, mostly sympathy.

When Yang Dingrui wrote to Chongzhen a few years ago, he said that etiquette is the father and son of the monarch and ministers. Even if Chongzhen communicates with the rebels, he must pay attention to etiquette. It can be seen that he is quite pedantic.

And in this pedantry, what Liu Chengzong saw was despair.

There is nothing advanced about human beings, just like Xiao Zhuanfeng, dogs have instincts, and humans also have instincts. Dogs have someone to tame them, and humans have society to tame them.

Everyone's behavior pattern is playing games with the society. If you call twice for meat, you will call twice when you are hungry; , After being severely beaten, he thought of other ways, and finally formed a person's cognitive and behavioral patterns.

Chongzhen is different. This person guides his life strictly according to the principles he knows. He hits a wall everywhere. He lives in a desperate world with almost no positive incentives. in the profession.

Seeing such a person, who wakes up early and works hard every day, leading the country to the road of no return, what can Liu Shizi be harsh on as a colleague, no.

"You are a close minister of the emperor. I don't blame you for saying these things. In the future, don't persuade the emperor if you have nothing to do. Support him. Everything the emperor does is right."

Liu Chengzong confused Cao Huachun with a few words, and asked, "What do you mean by the commander?"

"The emperor ruled the world by relying on the ritual and music system. Thaksin and he did so. Even if the situation is so bad, the world has not yet fallen apart, because there is no reason for the world to fall apart."

Liu Shizi shook his head and said: "I didn't mean to laugh at the emperor. I didn't understand it in the past, but now I have some experience. My experience is completely different from that of the emperor. The environment we live in is also different. I can't help it. Go laugh at him."

Those who are loyal to Liu Chengzong in Hehuang and those who are loyal to the emperor of the Zhu family in the world are two kinds of people, Wan Quan, his experience cannot guide the emperor at all.

"Don't persuade the emperor to do something deviant just because you saw the scene in Hehuang. What you see will not help the emperor, but will harm him."

Cao Huachun's eyes widened. He did go back and talk to Emperor Chongzhen about the changes in Hehuang earlier.

Because Liu Chengzong was a ruler of a foreign vassal in his eyes, and he also managed this kingdom without a title system very well, he thought that many things might have guiding significance for Ming Dynasty.

But now that Liu Chengzong said this clearly, it made him a little hesitant: "Marshal, let the villain dare to ask, why?"

"Is the emperor a faint king? It's not that the country's affairs started to go bad from him. He just has no ability to restore it. In this flood, drought and locust plague, it's the same as whoever you change to sit in his seat. Daming can't keep it, unless..."

Cao Huachun asked eagerly, "Unless what?"

"It's nothing unless, the emperor has requirements for himself, and the framework restricts him too much, but if these frameworks are dismantled, Daming will be gone."

Did Cao Huachun say that he was so desperate?

How to take care of a country, let Liu Chengzong say that it feels like the country will perish tomorrow.

In fact, to a certain extent, Liu Chengzong believed that Chongzhen was good because he was pedantic, and he would not be able to keep the country if he was not pedantic. He dared to use some extraordinary measures, and he himself killed the legitimacy of his rule.

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "Like this, even if the country perishes, the emperor's reputation after death is not bad; if he does something else, I am afraid that not only the country will perish in the end, but he will become a real subjugated and stupid king."

"No one can say for sure about the change of dynasty. We are old acquaintances. Mr. Cao is just passing by. If you can't do it, come and vote for me. Don't talk about it...you don't have to worry about food and clothing."

In the middle of Liu Chengzong's speech, he saw the smoke and dust rolled up by several horsemen in the direction of Xincheng. After a short while, he rushed to the front. The trusted guard got off his horse, clasped his fists and said, "Marshal, Wang Huishou is here, bringing an urgent report."

Wang Huishou is for the king's own use.

As soon as Liu Chengzong frowned, everyone around was turned away, and he heard the guard report: "Commander, Wang Huishou said that Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, has entered Gansu."

Hong Chengchou.

Liu Chengzong exhaled slowly, thinking to himself: what a wedding gift!

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)