I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 194 You Live Up To Me And I Live Up To You
Chapter 193

In Wen's mansion, the lights are dim in the middle of the night, and the cold wind is howling.There are snowflakes falling outside the window, and a layer of light snow covered the inside and outside of the small courtyard. The deep and shallow shoe marks on the bluestone slabs seem to be a few sketches lightly drawn on plain white rice paper.

Wen Tiren sat frowning under the lamp, and opposite him was Hou Xun, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. On the table in front of the two of them, there was a booklet, which was the "Changping Army Draft" drafted by Hou Xun. .

The draft is not too many, about [-] to [-] articles, and more than a dozen pages have been written.

This draft has been on Wen Tiren's desk for several hours. From the afternoon until now, he has read it over and over again, wishing he could dig out every word and eat it. His brows are getting tighter and tighter, and he hasn't made a sound for a long time. .

Hou Xun didn't speak all the time, drinking tea lightly, the servant who served beside him barely opened his eyes, and felt a little drowsy.

"Lord Wen, that warrior!"

The martial artist in Hou Xun's mouth refers specifically to Cheng Shijie.

Wen Tiren nodded and said, "It's unstoppable!"

Originally, he wanted to take advantage of a brainless Zhang Jin, but the problem is that Zhang Yan, the queen, is not a brainless person. She half-truthfully told Emperor Chongzhen that Zhang Jin had drugged her and made him faint. .

The so-called half-truth is that Zhang Jin gave her the medicine, and she was unprepared and drank it.Zhang Jin saw Zhang Yan's elder sister's complexion was not good, and wanted to find a doctor to prescribe Zhang Yan a prescription to replenish Qi and soothe the nerves.

Zhang Jin told his cronies about this matter after drinking.

Therefore, Zhang Jin did not doubt Meng Zhihe, so he prescribed a prescription according to the miracle doctor Meng Zhiqiang found, and gave it to Zhang Yan. Afterwards, the miracle doctor asked Zhang Jin to send Queen Zhang to the fragrant room of Miaoying Temple to rest, and then ordered Empress Zhang's entourage should also bathe and change clothes to show the devotion of the gods and Buddhas.

Never thought that when Queen Zhang Yan's attendants were bathing in Miaoying Temple, their clothes disappeared, and they would not know what happened next.

Emperor Chongzhen never doubted Zhang Yan's words, so he ordered Jinyiwei and Wang Zhixin of Dongchang to jointly handle the case. Wang Zhixin took the first step and arrested the governor of the General Secretary Meng Zhihe. After a lot of torture, he could not answer the so-called Who is the genius doctor? As a result, Wen Tiren learned that Meng Zhihe was arrested, so he could only temporarily cut off contact with Meng Zhihe.

In this way, Meng Zhihe was silenced in Dongchang, and the clues were cut off.

Jin Yiwei couldn't find out what happened next, so he could only let it go.

Of course, Zhang Jin, an idiot, was sent to the Imperial College to study, and he went to the Imperial College in Nanjing. He probably would never even think about returning to the capital in his life. Tai Kangbo was fined 4 taels of silver.

The problem is that Wen Tiren's wish to deal with Cheng Shijie has come to nothing.

Hou Xun smiled lightly and said: "Jinshang, who has been lonely and helpless for half his life, values ​​family the most. Once that warrior marries Jinshang, if he doesn't turn against him, no one can move him. His official position will only grow bigger and bigger, and he will not be able to deal with it. If so, I will ride on your head!"

In this regard, Hou Xun's vision is still very unique.Although Zhu Changluo, the father of Emperor Chongzhen, had seven sons and ten daughters, the problem is that five of these seven sons died young, and seven of the ten daughters died young. Emperor Chongzhen now has no brothers, and only three sisters left. personal.

Therefore, in this case, unlike other emperors, he did not care about brotherhood.

As Hou Xun analyzed, Emperor Chongzhen has no intention of dealing with Cheng Shijie at all, but trusts him very much. You must know that from the perspective of current power, Cheng Shijie controls the entire Liaodong in name, but his future general , definitely not limited to Liaodong.

Now Emperor Chongzhen has posthumously named Cheng Shijie's "biological father" Cheng Yongxing as the Prince Taibao, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Tongzhi of the Dudufu of the Five Armies.

Cheng Yongxing's wife, Mrs. Li, presented it as a posthumous gift to Mrs. Yiguo.

Cheng Shijie's first wife, Xiang Shi, gave him a first-class wife.

Cheng Shijie's eldest son, Cheng Jialong, is a hereditary Jinyiwei Qianhu.

These things are also the attitude of Emperor Chongzhen, showing his trust in Cheng Shijie and Cheng Shijie's status in Emperor Chongzhen's heart.

At least for a long time in the future, Cheng Shijie's status is unshakable.

Cheng Shijie marries Zhu Weiti, Princess of Le'an, which is equivalent to adding a talisman to his body.

Wen Tiren pointed to this herb, and said with a smile: "Dazhen, you must have prepared for this herb!"

"Since the defeat of Linghe, Grandfather of the Guanning Army, Dashou, has not listened to greetings. This vicious dog wants to devour the Lord, and he can't keep it anymore. It's just that he refuses to move his nest, so it's inconvenient to attack him!"

Hou Xun's analysis was very good. In history, Zu Dashou found out that he was cheated during the battle of Daling River. From then on, his relationship with the imperial court was in harmony with each other until he surrendered and became a slave.

Hou Xun continued: "Now our only way is to have an army in our hands!"

"Lu Jiandou's Tianxiong Army..."

"Lu Jiandou is not of one mind with us after all!"

Hou Xun smiled wryly and said: "Lu Jiandou has changed, he betrayed our fellow scholars!"

Wen Tiren naturally understood what Hou Xun meant, but the problem was that he didn't want to make a wedding dress for Hou Xun. Everyone knew that Zuo Liangyu was Hou Xun's disciple, and that the Changping Army had almost become Hou Xun's private army. The [-] Changping Army under his command is not in a good place at present, but the problem is that Hou Xun wants to strengthen the Changping Army.

Wen Tiren hesitated and did not express his opinion directly.

Hou Xun continued: "Lord Wen, Xun has already inquired about it. The martial artist relies on nothing more than guns and cannons. Ning Haijun's cannons are fast-firing and powerful. At present, the staff bureau is unable to imitate them. The warrior bought artillery, and that warrior is short of money now, so why not buy 36 cannons from him and set up the Changping Army Artillery Battalion, and then buy [-] firecrackers to form the Changping Army Shenhuo Battalion!"

"How much does it cost?"

"Xun did the math, it's less than 200 million taels of silver!"

"Where did the two million taels of silver come from? Is there any money in the household department?"

"No, but it can be moved from the Liao pay!"

Hou Xun said with a smile: "The Changping army was transferred to Guangning and then stationed in the guard. After this, isn't it solved?"

Hou Xun's idea is very good. Now that Jiannu has been beaten by Cheng Shijie so much that he can't take care of himself, the original Ningjin front line has now become the safest place.

Transferring Zuo Liangyu to Guangning Houtunwei, stationed on the west bank of Liaohe River, can not only embezzle Liao's salary openly, but also give a little color to the disobedient Zu Dashou. The most important thing is that the bigwigs in the court did not any loss.

Wen Tiren sighed slightly: "I'm afraid that martial artist won't sell it!"

"There is nothing you refuse to sell, as long as the price is right!"

Wen Tiren shook his head and said, "Let's discuss this matter again!"

The subtext of "Rediscussion" is that Ben Shoufu disagrees.

Hou Xun is also a bigwig in the imperial court now, Wen Tiren disagrees, he also knows that this matter cannot be supported by himself, but as the Minister of the Ministry of Households, he has the money bag of Daming, he has a lot of ways.

If you can't do it clearly, then do it secretly. Didn't Emperor Chongzhen want to send fifteen guards to Liaodong?Directly order Henan Dusi and Shandong Dusi to sell what the fifteen guards can sell.

Although the guards are poor, no matter how poor the guards are, there are tens of thousands of mu or tens of thousands of mu of military land. Once these guards are moved away, the military land becomes the biggest piece of fat for them to command and envoys. There are many people who want to eat it, but it is absolutely impossible to eat it in their mouths without giving some benefits to the higher authorities.

Under Hou Xun's operation, these fifteen guards and eight independent thousand-household offices sold a total of more than 35 taels of silver.

……

"and many more!"

Cheng Shijie's wedding is coming soon, he is free, but Sun Chengzong is too busy, just when Zheng Qi was reporting to Cheng Shijie that the big men in the court gave gifts, he suddenly heard Hou Xun's name.

Cheng Shijie asked: "How much gift did Hou Xun give this commander?"

"Daxing has [-] acres of fertile land, [-] cattle, and [-] good horses!"

Cheng Shijie frowned, the ceremony was too heavy, and he had no contact with Hou Xun, which was beyond the scope of the ceremony.

If it is placed in later generations, this will definitely be punished.

Although the Ming Dynasty was too loose, the problem was that Cheng Shijie really didn't want to have any relationship with Hou Xun.

Sun Chengzong came over, looked at the gift list, and said with a faint smile, "Beiping, you're not used to it, are you?"

"Yes! Students really don't want to owe them so much favor!"

"I'm afraid you won't owe these favors."

"why?"

"This time you defeated Jiannu and blew Jiannu to pieces with artillery. What a glorious record, how can the soldiers and leaders all over the world not be tempted? They tried their best to win you over and gave you money, nothing more than I want to buy this kind of cannon from you, because this kind of artillery and staff can't be manufactured, and the only way they can do it is to buy it from you!"

Sun Chengzong smiled and said: "If you agree, they will get powerful cannons, and the combat effectiveness of the army will rise sharply. You will get a lot of money that is urgently needed, and everyone will be happy; if you don't agree, you will be their enemy. Your hind legs, such a powerful weapon for the country, are only in your hands, how can your majesty sleep soundly?"

Cheng Shijie nodded. He knew very well that as the saying goes, three people make a tiger, and one mouth makes a fortune. Emperor Chongzhen's ears may not be so hard, I'm afraid he will think too much at that time.

The emperor's thinking is checks and balances, that is, eggs are not put in one basket.

Sun Chengzong felt a little depressed: "This is normal. The tree is beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy it. Now you are that towering tree. If you can't let them stand by, they will definitely uproot you by any means... Many can This is how the great general Zheng Shanzhan died, and there is nothing I can do about it.”

What Sun Chengzong didn't know was that Cheng Shijie's so-called sharp artillery was far from a ceiling, not to mention that the technical barrier of the artillery itself was not too big, and the key to the problem was nitrocellulose.

Cheng Shijie can sell cannons, or even the monkey version of the three-inch cannon. He only needs to replace the nitrocellulose with granular black powder. This is not difficult for the Gun Bureau in southern Liaoning.

In fact, this time, not only Hou Xun wanted to buy Cheng Shijie's cannons, but Hong Chengchou, the new governor of the three sides, and Lu Xiangsheng, the new governor of the Six Northern Zhili Prefectures, also wanted to buy his cannons.

In fact, Lu Xiangsheng wants to buy more things, including Ning Haijun's crossbow machine, armor and sabers. The quality of the Tianxiong Army's soldiers is good, but the problem is that Lu Xiangsheng does not have Cheng Shijie's management skills, so the Tianxiong Army's equipment is actually not good. .

In Ming Dynasty, the Tianxiong Army’s equipment didn’t even rank in the top ten. They were either inferior swords and guns from the Bingzhang Bureau, or they were made by themselves. But the problem is that not everyone has the ability to develop weapons. The quality of the swords, guns and armor manufactured by the Ordnance Institute is not as good as that of the Staff Bureau.

The firecracker, if you don't fire a few shots, it will explode. The probability of killing the enemy is high, but the probability of not injuring yourself is high. This makes Lu Xiangsheng very depressed. After hearing about Cheng Shijie's victory, he searched all the information However, it was not found that Ning Haijun's muskets had exploded, not a single one, and the artillery had not exploded.

Lu Xiangsheng's requirements are a bit low. As long as the chamber does not explode, it is a good gun for him. As long as the artillery does not explode, it is also a good artillery.

Cheng Shijie was very happy to find that so many people wanted to buy his own equipment. You must know that many of his factories are actually Minsheng factories, and he cannot make huge profits.

For example, in coal mines, the briquettes produced need to be cheaper than dry firewood. The price of firewood in the Ming Dynasty was not fixed. It was roughly one hundred catties of dry firewood, which was equivalent to the price of a bucket of rice.

If the price of rice is five renminbi, then a bundle of firewood is worth between 150 renminbi and [-] renminbi. In fact, in this period of time, the price of firewood is slightly higher, reaching about [-] renminbi. .

However, the price of briquettes is one and a half catties, worth only one penny. Even if a coal mine mines 60 catties a day, it can only be sold for more than 100 taels of silver.

Among the more than 100 taels of silver, there are also miners' wages, food, drink and laxatives. In fact, not even a tenth of it. A coal mine with a daily output of 60 jin of coal can earn 30 taels of silver a day.

But weapons and equipment are different, this is a huge profit industry.

After discovering that many people wanted to buy Cheng Shijie's weapons and equipment, he decided to hold a weapons exhibition in Cheng's mansion. Soon Wu Xun and the governor-level officials who came to give gifts to Cheng Shijie received a copy Invitation card.

This includes Governor Sun Yuanhua of Denglai, Cheng Shijie's immediate boss.

Sun Yuanhua took the invitation letter, and saw that it simply read: "Your Excellency, Prince Shaobao, Hai Guogong, Governor of Liaodong, General Zhenglu, Governor of Zuo, and Cheng Shijie, the commander of the Ning Navy, will be on XX at the seaside of Daxing County. The Duke's Mansion is holding the Ning Naval Equipment Exhibition, please come and visit us when it is introduced!"

At first, Cheng Shijie considered holding it directly in the capital, but the problem is that the capital is very inconvenient. Ballistas and artillery are prohibited items. You must know that if you set up cannons at Dongzhimen, you can directly bombard the Forbidden City. Can also hit most of the Forbidden City.

The consequences are too serious, no one dares to do this.

In desperation, Cheng Shijie had no choice but to put this equipment exhibition in his Haiguo Mansion in Daxing County. Anyway, it is big enough, and it can be fired directly at home.

The Haiguo Mansion is surrounded by Cheng Shijie's land, and there are no crops in the land now, so it can be bombed casually. If it is a big deal, it should be plowed in advance.

Sun Yuanhua looked at the staff beside him and said, "Did Hai Guogong's wedding date change?"

Xu Dacheng shook his head and said, "As far as the students know, there is no rescheduling!"

Sun Yuanhua looked puzzled and said: "Isn't this the day he got married?"

"This... students don't know!"

When Cheng Shijie sent out the invitation letter, he realized that he had made a big oolong, but the problem is, the invitation letter has already been sent out, how can the equipment exhibition be held without hosting it himself?

Sun Chengzong smiled and said, "Let Yongyan go!"

"That's all it takes!"

Cheng Shijie's marriage process is actually the same as that of ordinary folk marriages. It also requires six rituals, including surrender, marriage, and return.

These three ceremonies, in simple terms, coming out is getting married, getting married is the bridal chamber, and Guining is commonly known as returning to the door.

The day before the departure, the officials of the Zongzheng Mansion led the Luan Yi School to carry the princess's dowry to the son-in-law's house, and the son-in-law had to lead his clansmen to kneel three times and kowtow nine times outside the Qianqing Gate to welcome her.After the dowry is delivered, the wife in charge of the Zongzheng Mansion is responsible for the display.

Along with the dowry was sent to the son-in-law's house, there was also a "trial marriage maid",
Princess Le'an is a bit special. In order to avoid accidents, she canceled this procedure, because she had only one request, and Queen Zhou, the concubine, did not object.

When other princesses get married, they all cry and their eyes are swollen into peaches, but Princess Le'an Zhu Weiti is not, she wants to laugh.

Finally, she can escape from this cage. As far as she is concerned, as long as she can get married, no matter how hard the life is, she will not want to go to jail in the Forbidden City.

Since Zhu Weiti was born, she has stayed in the Forbidden City and never went out. She is very eager to see the outside world.

Since Cheng Shijie went to work in southern Liaoning, and after returning to Ningxia after marriage, she will go to southern Liaoning with Cheng Shijie, so she is in a good mood.

Gu Ziyi smiled and said: "Princess, I'm afraid this is not good?"

"What's wrong?"

Zhu Weiti smiled disapprovingly: "It's such a happy day, why are you crying?"

Concubine Li Kang was crying and crying, she choked up and said: "My son, if you surrender and I am bullied, what will you do?"

"Oh, don't pretend, you've always been the one who bullies others, how can anyone bully you!"

Concubine Li Kang smiled: "Don't let people make jokes!"

"Ha ha……"

Zhu Weiti smiled lightly: "I can finally leave this ghostly place!"

"Be careful!"

"This is a ghost place!"

Concubine Li Kang put her arms around Zhu Weiti and pulled her into her arms, but Zhu Weiti had already grown up, although her height was not as tall as the women of later generations, but she was half a head taller than Concubine Li Kang.

"It's not that simple!"

Concubine Li Kang said in a low voice: "Liaodong is booming, if you are well, you will be more comfortable as a mother in the capital! You have to remember..."

Zhu Weiti was a little puzzled and said: "Remember what?"

Concubine Li Kang said: "The people around you, except for the girl Gu Ziyi, are all the emperor's people. They have bad intentions. When you go to southern Liaoning, find a chance to kill them all, or send them far away. !"

Zhu Weiti looked stunned: "This...why is this?"

Concubine Li Kang said solemnly: "If you marry into the Cheng family, you are the Cheng family. You don't owe the Zhu family anything. Remember, the Cheng family is the most important thing in everything. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, you will be the first to suffer, not others. !"

Concubine Li Kang understood that Zhu Weiti was a tool to win over Cheng Shijie, but who would be willing to be a tool?

In fact, Emperor Chongzhen gave Cheng Shijie a large number of elderly maids and eunuchs as dowries in order to reduce the cost of the palace. not big.

But this matter, in the eyes of Concubine Li Kangzhen, was that Emperor Chongzhen was worried about Cheng Shijie, and asked more than two thousand eunuchs and maids to marry Cheng's family. Wasn't this trying to make Cheng Shijie empty?

As the commander-in-chief of an army, Cheng Shijie has the power of life and death in his hands, how could he be easily manipulated by others?

In this case, the most taboo thing is the disharmony between the husband and wife. If the husband and wife have a discord, it must be her daughter who is injured, not Cheng Shijie. In this regard, women are always in a weak position.

Zhu Weiti looked troubled: "Why...there are more than 2000 people, more than 2000 people, not all of them are eyeliners!"

"Better kill the wrong one than let it go!"

Concubine Li Kang shot a strong murderous look in her eyes: "Remember those maids, they must never marry the generals of the Ning Navy as wives or concubines. If anyone has strange thoughts, they must not be lightly forgiven!"

Concubine Li Kang taught Zhu Weiti the experience.

But Zhu Weiti was terrified, her little face turned pale with fright, and she couldn't even speak clearly.

In the Forbidden City, Cheng Shijie thanked Chongzhen.

Offer tea to Empress Zhou and Empress Zhang.

Empress Zhang looked at Cheng Shijie and heaved a long sigh.

"Cheng Qing is really a talent!"

"Thanks to the queen's praise, I am ashamed to be a minister!"

After some ceremony, Emperor Chongzhen took Cheng Shijie's hand and said: "Cheng Qing, sister-in-law, we will be a family from now on, one family, don't talk about two families, tell me the truth, if Jiannu is destroyed, you need How much time!"

Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "If Jiannu's strength had not been compromised before, I dare to guarantee that within three years, I can capture Huang Taiji in front of His Majesty, but now...at least five years!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked puzzled: "Jiannu's strength has not been damaged, why it only takes three years, but now it takes five years?"

"If in the past, Jiannu dared to fight when they saw Ning Haijun, they would have dared to attack the tens of thousands of Ning Haijun's army even with a few thousand troops, but now, they have discovered that their strength is far inferior to Ning Haijun's, so they will Stay away!"

This is Cheng Shijie's truth. If Cheng Shijie's entire army launches an attack on Shenyang now, and the army here is just about to set off, Shenyang's Huang Taiji will definitely run away and go to Horqin or Mobei Grassland to go around in circles with Ning Haijun , Once the Ning navy retreats, they will make a comeback.

After Cheng Shijie explained clearly to Emperor Chongzhen the advantage of Jiannu's cavalry and the difficulties of guerrilla warfare, Emperor Chongzhen said seriously: "Five years is five years, I can afford to wait! My eighth sister has suffered too much. Be kind to her!"

"I understand, I will definitely do it!"

Emperor Chongzhen patted Cheng Shijie on the shoulder and said, "You will not betray me, and I will not betray you!"

(End of this chapter)