Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 82 Accounting for Pay Arrears
When they walked onto the street cautiously, they found that the street didn't seem much different from before. There were no traces of the military disaster, which made them feel a little relieved.

Later, a crowd slowly gathered at the place where the notice was posted in the capital, and they finally understood that it was actually very different from before.

Surprise, shock, surprise, etc., all of them.

"No way, it turned out that three princes rebelled, but they were suppressed by the emperor's troops!"

"Look, here are their crimes. There are many of them, including abusing power for personal gain, enriching one's own pockets, taking empty pay... and deceiving the emperor and intending to rebel!"

"Did you see that it turned out that several ministers of the cabinet were also killed, and the chief minister was also killed..."

“Hey, Uncle Jiading’s house was confiscated and exiled!”

"..."

The more prestigious the dignitaries were, the more likely they were to bully the common people. In the late Ming Dynasty, rituals and music collapsed and laws and disciplines were lacking, and the common people suffered even more.Therefore, ordinary people mostly applauded the punishment of these dignitaries.

Of course, if you are an upright official and a good person, it may be different.In short, the people have a strong balance in their hearts!

Soon, everyone's attention was attracted by one of the announcements.

"The emperor has decreed that the three rates are abolished. Haha, there will be no more three rates in the future!"

"Also, more importantly, those with grain fields under one hundred acres will be exempted from paying taxes for one year!"

"..."

These are all related to their vital interests, and they are naturally the most concerned about it. The official suspension of three wages made them all smile.In addition, for ordinary people, it is impossible to have more than one hundred acres of grain fields, which means that ordinary people who still have grain fields, that is, homesteaders, can reduce a lot of their burdens.

Almost visibly, the atmosphere in the capital quickly changed from worry to celebration.

In troubled times, it is really rare to have such a time!
As for the announcements about the plague, they were skeptical and a little unbelievable. So many people died. Could it be that it was all the fault of rats?

Based on the principle of preferring to believe what is there rather than what is not, the hygiene in the capital city immediately improved.

Although the capital city looks similar to normal, there are many things that the powerful do not dare to do as they please.Otherwise, the emperor's sword was stained with blood and he wouldn't care about more blood.Especially in Meridian Square, the ground is still dark red, which makes people feel frightened just looking at it.

On the Wu Mansion side, after learning that martial law had been lifted in the capital, Wu Xiang immediately sent his confidant Wu Laifu to rush to Shanhaiguan to deliver the message.In just these few days, too many things happened in the capital, big things.

No, just listen to what he said: "After handing in the letter, let the young master not rush to reply, think more clearly, and see if I am right."

Wu Sangui has long been on his own, even surpassing Wu Xiang in some aspects, so Wu Xiang still wants to hear what his son thinks, rather than asking his son to do what he wants.

After hearing this, Wu Laifu agreed immediately and hurried on his way.

What he didn't expect was that he was stopped right at the city gate.

According to his usual temperament, Wu Laifu immediately got angry and said: "Bold, I am from the Wu Mansion, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, who dares to stop me?"

Under the city gate, the leader of the General Banner heard this and sneered: "Who cares whether you belong to the Wu Mansion or not? Go and read the notice yourself. Money and materials are not allowed to leave the capital. You can leave, but your horses must stay!"

If it were in the past, Wu Laifu would definitely go crazy relying on the power of the Wu Mansion, but he immediately remembered that the emperor had just chopped off the heads of three princes.What happened to the Wu Mansion? Can it compare with the previous Duke's Mansion?
The commander-in-chief looked dumbfounded at him, and then continued: "We have blocked more than ten waves this morning. If you dare to break through, we will kill you. If you dare to make trouble again, the gentlemen of Jinyiwei are resting in the barracks over there. , do you need to invite them over?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Laifu did not dare to say anything more and quickly returned to report to his master.

After Wu Xiang found out, he didn't believe what the prince would do to him, because his son controlled Shanhaiguan. If he was really pressed, he would force the Qing army to enter the pass. In other words, in the future, Shanhaiguan would be controlled by the Qing Dynasty, and the capital would be in danger. The imperial court absolutely cannot bear such consequences.

However, a few days earlier, who would have thought that the emperor would chop off the heads of several princes and personally lead the army on an expedition?

The emperor seems to have jumped over the wall and found an excuse to kill three big fat sheep for use in the military. He is crazy. Can he explain it according to common sense?

After thinking for a long time, Wu Xiang didn't have the courage to really try the possible results.

Finally, he asked Wu Laifu to leave Beijing on foot, and then bought a horse and rushed to Shanhaiguan.

There are many others like him.After all, what happened in the capital in the past few days is too big, and the news must be conveyed to the outside world.

At the same time, martial law was still in place inside Xuanfu City.However, from time to time, fast horses would come to Xuanfu City, and the sound of horse hooves could be heard from time to time on the streets leading to the governor's office.

In the Huang Mansion, someone was watching the situation close to the crack of the door, and then spread the news to the lobby every once in a while.

The owner of the Huang Mansion, Huang Yongfa, was like an ant on a hot pot, walking back and forth in the lobby. Occasionally he walked to the table and drank the tea poured by the maid.

"What on earth is going on? Isn't the real power here in the hands of Eunuch Du and Marshal Wang? They didn't come to tell me what happened?"

"Who are you from? Why would you go to Eunuch Du and be rejected by those soldiers?"

"..."

While Huang Yongfa was mumbling to himself, his steward hurried over and reported: "Sir, I just saw several waves of people riding towards the governor's office. They all seemed to be officers. Even our Zhangjiakou garrison had people. Came back!"

When Huang Yongfa heard this, he immediately asked: "Master Liao is here too. Didn't he say anything when he passed the door of the mansion?"

"No, I just turned around and glanced at the gate of our mansion, but went directly to the governor's office without stopping." After the steward answered this, he thought of something and immediately added, "Looking at Mr. Liao's face, it seems that there is something wrong It's a good thing, it's like... it's like he's going to grab money. Yes, that's the expression, the expression he always wears when he comes to our house!"

When Huang Yongfa heard this, he became more and more confused. What is going on?
At this moment, another servant came over quickly and reported to him: "Sir, I went up to the roof to take a look. The governor's office is heavily guarded, and there are soldiers on guard even on the roof. I just looked around for a while. , and was discovered by the people over there.”

After hearing this, Huang Yongfa became even more curious: What is going on at the governor's Yamen?
At this moment, a maid came out from behind and saluted him: "Madam said that I haven't eaten anything for breakfast. It's almost noon now. If you have lunch early, even if you have something to do, it's not as important as your health."

After hearing this, Huang Yongfa felt that he was indeed hungry, so he nodded and said, "Well, let's wait and see what happens in the afternoon?"

………………

Zhangjiakou guard Liao Hu was just wondering as soon as he entered the city: Why is the city so heavily guarded, and the streets are under martial law, but no ordinary people can be seen at all?
He probably knows what kind of person Zhu Zhifeng, the governor of Xuanfu, is, and he doesn't think the governor has the courage to enforce martial law.But what he also didn't understand was that it was pie in the sky, so why did he still send an order to settle the unpaid wages?
He felt that it was related to money, so of course he had to do his part. Regardless of anything else, it would be the best if he could get money!

Therefore, Liao Hu hurried to the governor's office with more than a hundred officers under his command, not to kill the one who delayed but did not arrive, but because he was afraid that someone else would pay him first and he would be gone when it was his turn!

No one would believe you if you say that you have no money for issuing orders with such great fanfare, including three military orders in a row!

Liao Hu was even sure that if he didn't bring any money back this time, the soldiers who had been aroused and expected to have money would be disappointed and might mutiny!He didn't believe that when the governor passed this military order, he didn't know the consequences!Especially when Li Zicheng's army has already invaded Shanxi, would he dare to trigger a mutiny?

Therefore, Liao Hu was sure that the governor's Yamen didn't know where he got the money from, and he had to go and ask for it quickly!
For this reason, he went straight to the governor's Yamen.When he arrived at the gate of the governor's office, he saw that there were no more horse posts at the gate. It was obvious that the other guards probably had the same idea as him and had arrived early.

In a hurry, when he reached the door, he turned over and dismounted before his horse could stop, and then waved to his men: "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

However, the guard captain stopped them and only let them in after verifying their identities and taking notes.

When Liao Hu and his men turned around the door and entered the yard, they were stunned.

In the courtyard here, there were rows of guards in golden uniforms, which was very dazzling.

When did the Jin Yiwei captain come to the Xuan Mansion?
They were still in a daze when they heard the leader of the Imperial Guards shout to them: "Take off your weapons and armor, and then enter with the account books."

Liao Hu felt something was wrong. When he met the governor before, he didn't need to remove his weapons and armor, right?
However, the imperial guards in the courtyard were eyeing them, as if they would pounce on them immediately if they did not follow the orders.

In this case, although Liao Hu felt that what happened was very unexpected, he did not have the courage to confront the Jinyi Guards Colonel. He had to remove his weapons and armor. The Jinyi Guards Captain took them over and searched him to confirm that there were no weapons before putting them in. Enter the yard second.

The second entrance to the courtyard was very large, but Liao Hu found that it was already full of military attachés who had removed their armor and weapons and were just holding account books.He knew some of the faces.

However, as soon as they entered the courtyard, there were also guards in Jinyi standing around them looking at them. Although they were full of doubts, they did not dare to whisper to each other and could only wait quietly in the courtyard.

Liao Hu looked around, and a thought came to his mind: so many imperial guards came to the governor's office of Xuanfu, must they be some big shot?
But no matter how much he thought about it, he never thought that the current emperor would come!

After a while, and after several groups of officers arrived one after another, the yard was almost full.

Liao Hu looked up at the sky and found that noon, when the military order clearly ended, was approaching.He was curious, what would happen next?
While he was thinking about it, suddenly, he and other officers heard a strange noise coming from outside, which seemed to be the movement of a large number of cavalry. The sound of horse hooves seemed to be far away, and they were probably leaving the city.

What's the situation?
The officers in the yard looked at each other, only to find that everyone was confused.

At this time, I heard movement in the lobby. I looked up and saw a group of people walking out, and a voice immediately sounded: "The Emperor has arrived!"

While they were talking, they could see clearly that their governor and another man also wearing scarlet robes, along with a group of officials and generals, came out surrounded by a man wearing leather armor.

Most of the officers present had never seen Emperor Chongzhen.However, it is possible for generals and lieutenants to meet the emperor.Someone immediately recognized the man who was held in high esteem by the stars. Who else could he be but the emperor?
Immediately, they subconsciously knelt down on one knee to greet him.

Others who did not know Emperor Chongzhen, seeing this posture, naturally knew that the emperor was really here, so they ignored their surprise and hurriedly greeted him before speaking.

Emperor Chongzhen stood in front of the hall, looked at the middle and senior officers in the Xuan Mansion in the courtyard, and said calmly: "Ping Shen!"

When Liao Hu and others heard this, they stood up and began to wonder: Why did the emperor come to the Xuan Mansion, and he was wearing a military uniform? What's going on?

Just as they were thinking about it, they heard Emperor Chongzhen say: "I know that the frontier army has been in arrears of pay for many years. This time I am here to verify and settle the arrears. But before that, I will give you one more hour to start again. Verify the roster in hand, it must be consistent with your soldiers, wait until it is collected and then verify it, if there is any falsification, beheaded!"

After he finished speaking, a group of clerks came out from one side of the lobby, as well as some uniformed guards holding desks and pens, and came to the front of the yard to spread out, giving them a chance to modify the roster.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at these officers and said again: "Those who feel that the list is correct can be spared an hour to go inside to verify the unpaid wages."

After saying that, he turned around and walked back to the lobby.

Zhu Zhifeng, Fang Zhenghua and others also followed into the lobby and waited for the roster to be sent into the lobby.

Liao Hu and others looked at each other, and their expressions became very cautious: The emperor said that if anyone is found to be committing fraud, he will definitely be beheaded.If the governor could scare them, then there was absolutely no way the emperor could come all the way to scare them.

They quickly remembered the martial law in Xuanfu City. Could it be that they were preparing to kill some people?

Thinking like this, Liao Hu and others became a little scared and did not dare to send them to the roster immediately.For most of them, they thought it was the governor's business when they came here, so they had the courage to get more money.

But this situation is different now!
In the end, these officers changed the roster in the yard, mostly crossing out some names; some of the soldiers' years of enlistment were also modified accordingly.Some people are even very distressed. They can't remember some situations, and they are a little dumbfounded and don't know how to change it?

None of the officers in the yard sent the roster to the lobby immediately!

While they were still modifying the roster, I don't know when it started. There was a faint noise outside. Slowly, it seemed that it was coming from several directions. The movement was not small.

In the Huang Mansion in Xuanfu City, Huang Yongfa was having lunch while still thinking about the abnormal situation in the city.

His concubine saw that he was eating carelessly, so she tried to persuade him: "Sir, our officials in the Xuanfu have been replaced by generals. There have been many ups and downs, but it does not affect us. At most, the new officials must be filial. It’s just a pen.”

Hearing this, Huang Yongfa looked up at her, frowned and said: "Not all officials can be settled with money. Don't forget, I have been to Xuanda Governor Lu Xiangsheng before. He didn't accept this trick and stared at her. It’s a troublesome thing to do any food-related measures while holding our money bags!”

When his concubine heard this, she didn't care at all, but still replied with confidence: "Master, please don't forget, Lu Xiangsheng cannot be bribed, can't you also make him get out?"

At this point, she paused, and then said: "As long as it can be settled with money, it is not a big deal? The greed of officials is much greater. At most, the eight families can share some of it!"

After Lu Xiangsheng became the governor of Xuanda, in order to raise money, he implemented a grain-based policy, which was to levy taxes according to the amount of grain fields. If there was less land, less tax would be levied, or no tax would be levied. If there was more land, more would be levied. In short, the rich households would have to pay for it. Money; after Sun Chuanting became the governor of Shaanxi, in order to raise money, he implemented the policy of clearing the villages and remunerating them. In short, he also wanted the powerful tyrants who had annexed the villages to cough up money to raise troops.

The results were the same. Lu Xiangsheng left his job because his father died, and then he urgently resumed fighting and died on the battlefield. Sun Chuanting, on the other hand, went to the capital and was imprisoned for several years. It was not until the 16th year of Chongzhen that he was used because no one had any use for him.

On the surface, this seems to be the emperor's will.But in fact, it was because he offended the local tyrants and gentry.

At this time, Huang Yongfa heard what his concubine said, thought about it and smiled: "It's true, as long as it can be settled with money, it doesn't matter. It's my fault, sir! Come on, come on, eat!" "

Just as he was saying this, he suddenly heard a loud "bang" from outside, which seemed to be the sound of the door being forced open.

When Huang Yongfa heard this, he couldn't help but turn his head and look outside, frowning and asked: "What's going on?"

When the steward who was waiting at the side heard this, he quickly bowed and said, "I'm going to see who is violating the rules!"

However, before he could go out, he heard screams and chaotic footsteps from the front yard. It seemed that many people were coming this way.

Huang Yongfa was a little stunned. He couldn't sit still immediately, so he put down his bowl and chopsticks and stood up and said: "Let's go and have a look!"

As a result, as soon as he walked to the front of the hall, he saw a large group of people approaching the front courtyard gate. They were wearing red mandarin duck jackets, holding swords and guns in their hands, and they looked menacing. It was obvious at a glance that the person coming was evil.

In just a moment, these soldiers crowded into the lobby and watched them, and some soldiers continued to rush into the backyard quickly.

Huang Yongfa was stunned. He never expected that such a scene would happen in his house.

(End of this chapter)