stubborn thief

During the Shangyuan Festival in the seventh year of Chongzhen, Lanzhou city was filled with lanterns, red yarn and books, and all kinds of strange lanterns made this largest city along the Yellow River reflect the sky full of stars.

On the south bank of the Yellow River, a huge lantern wheel rises with colorful lights; on the arched gate of Nanguan, a tall lantern tower is built, shining brightly; inside the Xiuchuan gate of Xiguan, servants of Sufan hold up lantern dragons and meander through the street with the lion dance team.

Countless women and girls dressed up and walked together. According to the custom of suffering from all kinds of diseases, the team crowded shoulder to shoulder and boarded dozens of pontoon boats connecting the two sides of the Yellow River along the city wall to cross the bridge and pray for blessings.

There are even boys and girls who love each other traveling together, chasing and playing with lanterns, and setting off fireworks outside the city.

Lanzhou city was full of laughter, gongs and drums. In the grand night banquet of King Su's Mansion, the invited officials and nobles raised their glasses to celebrate. It was also a festive scene.

Only in the Fuyun Building on the north wall of the Wangcheng, the atmosphere was particularly dull.

Su Wang Zhu Shihong invited Lanzhou general Shi Xiang and others to go up to the Fuyun Tower during the banquet, and looked at the Yellow River rushing down the city. The bright lights upstairs reflected a worried face.

Zhu Shihong is 30 years old this year, and has been in power for 17 years since he succeeded to the throne at the age of 13.

Among the many clans, Sufan can rank high in terms of poverty. This result is not because their vassal state is in Lanzhou, but mainly because of two reasons, one is poor management, and the other is excellent family education.

Su Fan’s fiefdom was not rich, but they owned horse farms, so they were not poor at first. They used to be sponsors of war horses of the Ming Empire. During the Yongle period, they donated thousands of war horses twice for national use; Respond to the court's war horse needs.

Sufan was poor, since Zhu Yuhui in the early Ming Dynasty was poor. Emperor Taizu established the ancestral system, and Su Wang Lumi was five hundred stones.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang is not bad to his youngest son. Lumi is less because of the remoteness of Sufan, so he has allocated a lot of pasture land and farmland. King Su has a total of more than 44 mu of farmland in Gansu, Liang, Lan, and Gu. The tax he can receive every year More than 1 shi were converted into grain.

It is also because of this that Sufan can always pay horses to the court, and Emperor Renzong Zhu Gaochi raised Lumi for King Su, up to a thousand stones a year.

However, during the Longqing period, Su Fan’s financial resources declined sharply. At that time, the Dazong was extinct. Zhu Shihong’s grandfather, General Zhu Jinyu, requested to succeed him as Su Fan’s Xiaozong. Naturally, the imperial court would not miss this opportunity to take back the fief. .

There are two conditions for Zhu Jinqiu's succession to the throne. The first is that he succeeds King Su, but he still enjoys the [-] shilumi of the Fuguo General; It was used as military expenses of Gansu and Guyuan counties.

More than 40 mu of Zhuangtian, and more than 30 mu of Zhuangtian was handed over at once. Zhu Jinxie was thinking about one thing when he succeeded to the throne, and he wanted Su Fan's Zhuangtian back from the court.

From the fifth year of Longqing to the 16th year of Wanli, Zhu Shihong's grandfather struggled all his life, asking for more than 240 mu from the court; when his father succeeded to the throne, Su Wang Lumi offered another discount, eight hundred shi in name, but actually Get [-] shi every year.

However, Zhu Shihong's father is a hard-core virtuous king. During his reign, he paid horses to the court every three years, and also took the initiative to give performances to the court. Send officials to repair the archway for his father.

It was Zhu Shihong's turn to succeed to the throne. His annual income was only more than [-] shi.

Since Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, Zhu Shihong's good family education made Prince Su, who was not considered extravagant, even poorer. He donated 1000 taels of silver to the emperor twice.

He also tributed horses three times, but the grand occasion of his ancestor’s tribute of a thousand horses could not be repeated. He struggled to collect a hundred horses, and he could only tribute fifty horses each time.

To add insult to injury, Liu Chengzong even robbed Su Fan of his estate income once, and even wrote a letter saying that some of his subordinates were greedy for ink and laughed at him.

It's already like this, and relatives still write letters from thousands of miles to deceive him into prodigal.

Zhu Shihong received a letter from Han Fan yesterday, saying that General Yang and Ren Commander, who supported Lanzhou in Yan'an Prefecture, had led the army into Pingliang.

Han Xiaowang wrote a letter, using what Liu Chengzong taught him to teach King Su: If you want to live, it depends on people's hearts. Come on, donate a piece of money.

King Su's branch didn't have the slightest business sense. Zhu Shihong felt that what King Han said made sense, so he took advantage of the Shangyuan Festival to call Lanzhou General Shi Xiang to Fuyun Tower and asked, "General Shi, if you Liu thief comes to attack Lanzhou, what are the chances of winning?"

What are the chances of winning?

To be honest, Shi Xiang didn't want to think about it.

At this moment, he was also feeling uneasy, shaking his head and said: "Lord Su, it depends on whether the Western Army attacked the city before General Yang arrived, or after they arrived."

Originally, Shi Xiang should be the person who is least worried about being beaten in Lanzhou City. The fall of Zhuanglang Weicheng, which looks dangerous to others, is the amulet of Lanzhou City in his eyes.

From the perspective of others, Liu Chengzong marched into Gansu, and Lanzhou City was his stumbling block, but Shi Xiang believed that with himself as a general, Liu Chengzong might not waste his troops in the direction of Lanzhou, and would probably focus on focusing on Gansu.

However, Yang Yanchang, the general of Yan'an, came with his army. This news made others happy, but made Shi Xiang very frightened... The situation suddenly became extremely dangerous for him.

Because his looting accomplices did not account for half of the officers in the Lanzhou battalion, and he could not control the entire battalion to defect, the risk of internal strife was very high, and once there was a strife in Lanzhou City, the probability of him being hacked to death was greater than the risk of internal strife.

It's not impossible to lead cronies to defect, but he and Liu Chengzong don't have a deep foundation of mutual trust. He has to hold this battalion in his hands and go to Liu Chengzong to be at ease.

For him, this is the pursuit of wealth and wealth.

So in the next time, he hoped that Liu Chengzong's army had better not come over, at least not have any plans to storm Lanzhou City.

Su Wang Zhu Shihong asked in puzzlement, "What if General Yang hasn't arrived yet, so what if he arrives?"

"If General Yang leads the army into the city, Lanzhou can stand firm and wait for reinforcements; if the Marshal's Mansion attacks the city before General Yang enters the city, I am afraid that the city will not be able to defend it."

"Why, he didn't capture this city last year."

"My lord, it's not that I didn't capture it last year, it's because the Marshal's Mansion didn't want to break the city at all." Shi Xiang reminded King Su: "But this time, they are likely to attack Lanzhou before the imperial reinforcements arrive."

Zhu Shihong nodded. He has a high attainment in calligraphy, but he doesn't know anything about military affairs. Even if Shi Xiang made it clear, he was still confused, but this did not hinder his desire to do good things. He asked, "What about Lanzhou City? If there is any need for repairs, the palace can pay for it."

Shi Xiang shook his head and said: "My lord just spent 400 taels of silver to build the city in autumn. There is nothing to repair on the city wall, but what is guarding the city is people's hearts. Lanzhou's general soldier Yang Qi and his family defected to the enemy. The old department, under the cooperation of the inside and the outside, the city cannot be defended."

"People's hearts! Yes, yes, people's hearts!"

Zhu Shihong thought about it, and the king of Han said the same thing, he said: "Then, this king will reward the sergeant with eight silver taels, no, 1000 taels, and 1000 taels of silver to help the army!"

Shi Xiang thought to himself, isn't it your fault for me?
What's more, your prince is poorer than me, and you are still so poor and generous. He frowned and said: "The prince has been paying for the past few years, paying tribute horses and donating silver. I am afraid that Su Fan has no money."

But Zhu Shihong doesn't think he is poor, on the contrary, he thinks he is very rich.

Because the two generations of Sufan princes did not have the bad habit of bullying men and women, they lived a very comfortable life, and there were not many places to spend money, so although they earned less, they were extra generous in doing things.

Their two generations of princes did one big thing to spend money, and they handed over the "Chunhua Pavilion Post" to the people of the world.

"Chunhua Ge Tie" is the earliest collection of calligraphic ink marks in the history of Chinese calligraphy. It consists of ten volumes and contains 420 works by [-] people including emperors, officials and famous calligraphers from the pre-Qin to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Because it was compiled by the Gaoliang River Chariot Organization in the third year of Chunhua, it is called Chunhua Getie.

The original version was destroyed in the fire during the Qingli period, and the folk reprints have been rubbed back and forth. So far, they have been misunderstood and the level is uneven.

When Zhu Yu became a fan, Zhu Yuanzhang gave him a Song version of "Chunhua Ge Tie". The first eight volumes were the original extensions of the engraved version of the Northern Song Dynasty court.

In order to prevent unworthy descendants from destroying the national treasure, Zhu Yu left a message on it, saying that Mianfu Xiaoziyun is not allowed to share with others.

Therefore, for 200 years, this "Chunhua Pavilion Tie" has been kept secret in the inner treasury of the palace. The children of the Sufan clan are fortunate to use it to practice calligraphy, and outsiders have no chance to see it.

Until the 43rd year of Wanli, Zhang Heming, a rightist in Shaanxi Province, accidentally obtained an incomplete reprint of "Chunhua Pavilion Tie".

Zhu Shihong's father made a decision against his ancestors. He not only lent the calligraphy copybook to Zhang Heming, but also felt that the royal palaces had made little contribution to the country, so he decided to invite Wen Ruyu and Zhang Yingzhao, the famous gold and stone engravers at that time, to carve this precious copybook into stone. , Let the scholars of the world rub the seal.

This is an incomparably huge project. Wen and Zhang attacked the stone day and night, like facing a wall, and Bodhidharma spent seven years in winter, cold, summer and summer. Su Wang Zhu Shenyao, who funded the project, passed away before he could see the completion of the stone carving. Shi Hung inherited the behest, and did not complete the 140 four carved stones until the first year of Tianqi.

In addition, the two generations of King Su didn't have much chance to spend a lot of money.

Zhu Shihong spread his hands in the big sleeves of the boa robe and said: "This king doesn't lend money, what do you need so much money for, if you don't keep the skin, how can you get the hair?"

The population is withered, and it is hard to speak.

In the past three generations, Su Fan had been single-handed, and it was not until the Jiajing period that he finally had six sons. After the end, he became extinct. It was replaced by Zhu Shihong's grandfather, and the population was still dying. The whole family added one piece, which was less than Liu Chengzong's relatives after marriage .

The entire clan receiving salaries in Lanzhou, including men, women and children from the large and small clans, is barely close to 200 people.

They really have nothing to spend money on.

"My lord, according to my humble opinion, the vassal state should make preparations early. If General Yang's reinforcements don't arrive and the rebels attack the city." Shi Xiang thought for a while and said, "My humble would like to send someone to escort the royal family to Pingliang to take refuge in the east, and leave me behind. Stay in the city and wait for help."

Shi Xiang has no bad intentions, whether he wants to or not, he can't harm King Su.

Because King Su has paid the army a lot in recent years. Although the money spent is not too much, he can really get some money for ordinary soldiers, not to mention the occasional labor with wine and meat.

In many cases, a few coins can save a tragedy and save the whole family.

With this amount of money, it is idiotic to ask the army to fight to the death for the country, but the grace of a meal is enough for a bloody man to fight for Zhu Shihong once.

In Shi Xiang's view, this is a big trouble, King Su must leave Lanzhou.

He threatened: "If Lanzhou falls, I am afraid that the vassal state will be in danger of extinction."

Unexpectedly, although Zhu Shihong was like a modest gentleman, he treated this kind of thing very calmly, saying: "Our ancestors determined that I will be a descendant of Su Fan, to support Zhenbi, to pay tribute to Zhenbi, to be loyal to gentry, to be rich and lucky, to be lucky Remonstrance at Hang Lung."

"If the country's affairs are really corrupted to this extent, the first to be captured is my vassal state. How can we flee first before the city is destroyed, leaving the soldiers to fight to the death in the city?"

"Tsk!"

Shi Xiang frowned and turned to the side, he could hear the implication of Zhu Shihong's voice, and it wasn't that he was determined to stick to it.

To put it bluntly, I still don't believe that this city will really be breached. What I want to do in my heart is to run, and I have to wait until the city is broken before running.

"My lord, the city is broken, but I can't escape."

Zhu Shihong waved his hand and said: "There is no need to persuade the general, it is still the Shangyuan Festival, so we have to wait until the Shangyuan Festival is over."

The Shangyuan Festival in the Ming Dynasty was a ten-day holiday set by Emperor Taizu.

Zhu Shihong thought to himself, Yang Yanchang had already entered Pingliang territory, why did he lead the troops to Lanzhou on the tenth day.

At this moment, there was a sudden noise of exclamation outside the palace, and Shi Xiang saw a rising flame reflected in Su Wang Zhu Shihong's pupils.

Looking back, the huge lantern dragon on the street was thrown on the ground, and the fire was burning from bottom to top, towards the high-spirited dragon head.

Someone rushed into the king's city in horror, shouting loudly: "The bandit soldiers are thin on the city, the bandit soldiers are thin on the city!"

In an instant, the dancing and music in the hall stopped abruptly, the porcelain plates shattered amidst the screams, and beasts in clothes and clothes came out one after another, each of them was a six-spirited man without a master.

Zhu Shihong also panicked, and his speech was incoherent: "Why, why did you come today!"

Shi Xiang's trusted guard rushed up with a knife, his eyes widened: "General, what should we do?"

"My lord, this is the end of the matter, please quickly pack your luggage and gather the clan to go east to Pingliang." Shi Xiang said, pointing to the trusted guard who rushed forward: "Hurry up and escort the clan of the palace out of the city from the east gate. Go to Pingliang."

After all, Shi Xiang clasped his fists and said before the king Su, who had lost his mind, came to his senses, "Don't worry, my lord, Shi and Lanzhou will live and die together, and people are in the city!"

The trusted guard didn't give King Su much face, and took him away even after dragging him.

Standing on Fuyun Tower, Shi Xiang looked around the city under the panic of many flames, closed his eyes and counted breaths calmly, until the hairs on his face stood up slightly, and finally took a deep breath and went downstairs.

"Please lead the army to fight the fire with Li Qian, and Zhang Qian to lead the army and stay in the camp."

Back at the camp, Shi Xiang ordered one after another: "The rest of the soldiers, follow me to the Xiuchuan Gate, life and death... depends on today."