Chapter 3 Chapter Three: Deep in the Dragon's Heart
Emperor Wanli snorted "um" in his throat, then snorted for a while, then opened his mouth and spit out a mouthful of phlegm.
The little eunuch kneeling by his side had long been used to all his actions. He picked up the silver spittoon in his hand and pointed them at each other—he was well-trained and practice made perfect. He was always able to use the silver spittoon in his hand to strike one after another impartially; also because of this unique skill, he became one of the most indispensable people around Emperor Wanli, and because of this, he heard all the secrets of the palace——
After spitting, Emperor Wanli's throat cleared, his throat became loose, and he spoke neatly. Therefore, he issued a very clear and definite order: "In the past two years, how much ore has been brought in?" Tax—one tael—clearly point out the two—the total amount for each year, and report it clearly to me!”
It's the end of the year again, the sky and the earth are silver and white, and the palace is already busy preparing for the New Year's Day celebration ceremony. The atmosphere is very different from usual; but he was touched by this particularly busy atmosphere-the end of the first year, Isn't it time to take a good inventory of your private money?
The first time he thought of the envoys of the mining tax eunuchs—since the mining tax eunuchs were dispatched in the 25th year of Wanli, in a blink of an eye, hasn't it been three years?
In the past three years, actual numbers would float into his ears almost every month, such as: "In December of the 25th year of Wanli, Shandong Mining Tax Supervisor Chen Zengjin mined more than 530 taels of silver - Henan Lu Kun, the Mining Tax Supervisor, took in more than 7,400 taels of silver—"
Every number is not unclear or clear; however, as it floats into the ears one after another, these are fragmented and incomplete, and become blurred after a long time, and even the total number is not known at all— —He felt that it was necessary to count and count.
As for the eunuchs who were standing sideways, when they heard this order, they immediately cooperated impeccably - several of them fell to their knees with a "snap" in unison, and all of them uttered the eunuch's characteristic squeaky voice in unison. A high-pitched voice shouted: "Slave obeys the order!"
The leader even added a sentence when the lingering sound was about to rest: "Slaves and servants will do it now!"
Although several people know that this task is trivial and complicated, and it will take a lot of time and manpower to complete it, it will undoubtedly make things worse at this busy end of the year, and it will make people busy to death; but, who dares to say What not to do?Who dares to disobey the meaning of Emperor Wanli?
As an eunuch, he is the person who is closest to the emperor—that's why he understands the phrase "accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger" better than ordinary people!
As long as they have been in the palace for a while, there is no one who is a senior eunuch who does not understand: Emperor Wanli favors eunuchs on the surface, but in fact he is not; Emperor Wanli is a person who does not trust anyone at all. An eunuch was truly favored; even, Emperor Wanli's methods of eliminating eunuchs who were too powerful often tended to be cruel.
From the time when Feng Bao, whom he called his "big companion" when he was young, came to a bad end, not only did not all the great eunuchs who gained power last for a long time, but none of them ended well:
Zhang Jing, who overthrew Feng Bao, became the eunuch of the East Factory, and Zhang Cheng became the eunuch of the Supervisor of Ceremonies and Hand Seal; among the two, Zhang Jing was the first to be "popular" for a while, but was dismissed within a few years. Living the days of "retirement" and "waiting for death"; then, Zhang Cheng became very popular, and his power was also great, and he gathered a group of cronies and cronies, who ran amok without telling the Emperor Wanli, amassing money for personal gain; the result was that in a few short days Within a year, he lost everything. He himself was demoted to Fengyu, punished to Nanjing Jingjun, guarded Xiaoling, his private wealth was confiscated, and his cronies were either imprisoned or executed!
After all these changes, everyone finally understood:
Although Emperor Wanli was lazy in the court and neglected political affairs, he was not a person who was easily deceived. It is absolutely impossible for Wang Zhen, Liu Jin and others to control the government and power for a while, as in the previous dynasties. !
"It is indeed the talent of the Holy Lord Mingjun in his bones—"
Everyone knows in their selfish heart that Emperor Wanli's suffering from being severely disciplined by Zhang Juzheng was not in vain - in front of Emperor Wanli, it is impossible to have a "power minister" or a "power eunuch". " appeared!
When this point is realized, everyone will obey the "king's order" even more - especially since Emperor Wanli appointed Tian Yi as the eunuch in charge of ceremonies and Chen Ju as eunuch in charge of ceremonies and holding pens, the situation has become more and more serious. obvious.
Tian Yi and Chen Ju never took the fate of Zhang Jing and Zhang Cheng as warnings all the time. They not only restrained themselves from time to time, but also repeatedly reminded everyone to restrain themselves in many ways——
Who wouldn't want to keep their head?
Therefore, even if you are exhausted from being busy, you have to complete this task as soon as possible without sleeping or resting——
The eunuchs soon paid off, and a complete statistical data was sent to Emperor Wanli, and he recited it clearly: "Twenty-five years, silver, nine thousand seven hundred and ninety taels; twenty-six years , silver, one hundred and forty-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-five taels, gold, thirty-five thousand one hundred and sixty-nine taels; twenty-seven years, until mid-December, totaling two hundred and forty-nine thousand one hundred and ninety-nine silver Ten taels, gold, seven thousand seven hundred and fifty taels—"
Hearing this report on the first day of the lunar new year, Emperor Wanli subconsciously let out a "huh" and then nodded, as if appreciating the hard work of the eunuchs. The hearts of the responsible eunuchs felt hot and they immediately knelt down together , ready to thank you.
Unexpectedly, after the "hmm", Emperor Wanli suddenly changed his mind, frowned suddenly, and asked with straight eyes, "Why are there so few?"
Then, his voice also became colder and harder: "I have sent so many people out, and it took three years before and after, to enshrine such a little gold and silver?"
Then, he asked sharply: "These people, when they go outside, don't do their best for me? One by one, perfunctory? Fooling around?"
Although the mining tax eunuchs he scolded were not in front of him, he was still furious and scolded endlessly.
And those who knelt and trembled in front of him were not the parties involved, but a group of innocent people, drenched in fear in the middle of winter——he finally got him to shout angrily: "Here is a decree for mine tax eunuchs everywhere!" Step up, next year, the limit will be doubled, otherwise, you will be recalled to Beijing to discuss crimes!"
Although this sound came from "Longyan's fury", to the eunuchs, it was no different from "the emperor's amnesty"; so, they shouted in unison and neatly: " The servants obey the order - the servants will do it immediately!"
Then kowtow three times—after the sound of "dong dong dong", several people retreated one by one until they reached the long corridor outside the Qianqing Palace, and then let out a long breath. Dare to speak out, but they all shouted in unison in their hearts: "Lucky!" As if they had passed through a life-and-death crisis, they secretly congratulated themselves, saying that the head on their necks was finally saved again; and then they started working together—— Drafted edicts, wrote letters, and emphasized the tone of the wording as much as possible, so as to force the mining tax eunuchs to pay more gold and silver as soon as possible.
"Tianyan was furious, repeatedly condemned, we waited for a dangerous move to be severely punished, narrowly escaped death, and went to the spring several times—"
A document issued in the form of a private letter explained the seriousness of the situation, and also gave a serious warning to the eunuchs of the mining tax, because the "near death" encounter is more likely to happen to those who neglect their duties. The reason for "Yan Zhennu" is that there are too few tributes. Who is the real dereliction of duty and the one who really needs to "nearly die"?
The officially issued imperial edict said: "All the expenses in the palace are not enough. You waited for a long time to waste time, and the papers you brought in are really a debt of kindness to the king—"
All kinds of documents were sent out as quickly as possible, and then, all the people prayed secretly: "I hope that those who see it will be vigilant—the gold and silver will be doubled in the coming year, so as to win the favor of the emperor—"
However, these prayers have been said over and over again, which shows that none of these people really understand Emperor Wanli——
Emperor Wanli's heart will never be satisfied, and he will never be truly happy!
He just uses gold and silver to fill the emptiness in his heart, but this emptiness is a bottomless pit that can never be filled; It's just a false appearance, an illusion—his heart is still empty, and after this short illusion passes and disappears, he is still oppressed and chased by the sense of emptiness, so he has to resort to the effects of drug ointment To escape, but when he wakes up, he has no choice but to order more gold and silver to be brought in—he goes round and round, not only does he need more gold and silver, but he will never be happy!
However, this kind of thinking of his is hidden at the bottom of the bottom, becoming the most unknown secret; he himself does not know it, and the eunuchs around him do not know it—even the ministers in the court have no way to know it.
Especially the officials of the household department who are in charge of the annual collection of money and food, facing the financial deficit every day, already want to cry without tears, how can they have the heart to experience the inner world of Emperor Wanli?
Mining tax eunuchs levied violently everywhere, and the result of their wanton actions was that the people suffered, and then led to civil uprisings; and when there was a civil uprising in a local area, it would inevitably lead to short collection of taxes and affect finances—that is, the Linqing civil uprising in Shandong Said that it was originally an important place where the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal passed through and goods were transshipped from the north to the south. The prosperity of trade was the highest in the country, and the annual revenue of commercial taxes was also the highest in the country. With the sharp decline in prosperity, the tax revenue has also shrunk sharply. Once the count is made at the end of the year, the figures will be clearly presented immediately!
And this situation didn’t just happen in Linqing—everywhere in the country where there was plenty of “oil and water”, Emperor Wanli sent eunuchs for mining taxes, and civil uprisings were constantly lit, burned, and spread everywhere like wildfire. Liaodong, Huguang, Guangdong—all over the country, civil uprisings occurred one after another, followed by tax shortfalls!
No one dares to predict how much tax will go into the national treasury next year - the prosperous days of the Ming Dynasty seem to be over, and many senior officials often recall the situation in the early years of Wanli like "Baitou Palace women talk about Tianbao", At that time, the annual income increased year by year, but the annual expenditure rarely increased, so "every year was more than enough", and it was necessary to build a warehouse for storage soon; what about now?
The various expenditures are astonishingly large, the cost in the palace is more than five times that of the previous ones, and the military expenditures for building the Dingling Mausoleum, aiding the dynasty, and conquering the Southwest have already emptied several warehouses, but the annual revenue has dropped drastically!
An official was staring at the year-end accounting records in a daze, wishing he could go underground to raise money to fill the financial deficit—however, he could only stare at the figures in front of him with worry and a sad face in a daze; I understand that after a few days, the grand New Year's Day congratulatory ceremony will cost a lot of money, and then, when spring begins, Emperor Wanli must come up with various reasons to ask the Ministry of Households for money; Yang Yinglong rebelled again, and the memorial to send troops to conquer again has also been approved, and the army will be used in the spring!This again requires a large sum of money!
"Order the Ministry of Households to raise wages—"
However, as an official of the household department, he didn't know where to raise funds to solve this financial embarrassment——
"I'm really helpless, powerless—"
Sitting alone until late at night, he felt his whole body was cold, and he was so oppressed by this unsolvable problem that he almost burst into tears—and it was not until dawn that he made up his mind to resign—now there was no need to worry—he just It took less than half an hour to write the memorandum of resignation, and then he breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and walked out of the yamen of the household department without looking back.
However, resigning from office only brought him personal relief—a few months later, the military expenses for enlisting Yang Yinglong were still spent.
The source of the military expenditure was still raised in the worst possible way—the government treasury was empty, and the Ministry of Households was in short supply. In a hurry, Emperor Wanli finally thought of a solution, and he immediately ordered: "Add the land tax of Sichuan and Huguang— —Order the officials of the two places to complete the collection within one month and transfer it to military expenses!"
A simple sentence, written by the eunuch Bingbi into an imperial decree, and sent out immediately - the burdens of the people in Sichuan and Huguang have increased a little bit, and the resentment has also risen a little bit, but everything is imperative.
Yang Yinglong's rebellion cannot be ruled out—the trouble caused by Yang Yinglong who was uncertain about rebellion is too great; in June, he gathered 80,000 troops and attacked Qijiang. There were only 3,000 guards in Qijiang City. Of course, they were outnumbered. After a few days of hard work Was broken into and fell; Yang Yinglong, who drove straight in, simply ordered the massacre of the city, killed all the people in the city, and threw the corpses into the river. The entire river was bright red for several days——
Since the seventeenth year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong began to gather crowds to rebel, roaming all over the state, burning, killing and looting, and attacking cities and lands. It has been a full ten years; And leaving future troubles gave him the opportunity to "make a comeback" and cause the immediate consequences-this time, the decision of the Ministry of War had already made the decision to "break the boat", and finally got the consent of Emperor Wanli to march on a large scale.
Because this is a big matter, Li Hualong, who has been the "former Minister of the Ministry of War and Governor of Sichuan, Lake, and Guizhou Military Affairs" since March, dare not take it lightly-especially after the tragedy in Qijiang, which made him deeply aware of the situation in front of him. The opponent is an unusual person, but he must be eliminated. This time the task is "only success is not allowed to fail"; otherwise, not only your fame, but also your head will be lost!
Therefore, he took great pains to mobilize Liu Ting, Ma Gui, Chen Lin, Dong Yiyuan and other famous generals who had made outstanding military exploits to support them, and actively deployed them as soon as New Year's Day passed.
In February, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty divided into eight groups and entered Bozhou.
These eight groups of people marched from Sichuan, Guizhou, and Huguang provinces and eight places, and Li Hualong led the Chinese army to support it in Chongqing, and ordered Guizhou governor Guo Zizhang to station in Guiyang. The officials of Fengjiang personally sit on the front line to supervise the formation, which is rare in terms of momentum. The morale of the Ming army, which has suffered several defeats in a row, is first boosted, and the military appearance is also three points more majestic.
Among the Eight Route Army, Liu Ting's troops are the most brave and skilled in fighting, and Liu Ting himself has the most prestigious reputation, so he took on the most difficult task - to attack the Qijiang 1st Road where Yang Yinglong's camp is located.
"From Qijiang to Hailongtun—we will swear to the death to take Yang Yinglong's head!"
Before setting off, Liu Ting led all his subordinates to swear an oath to the sky and shouted in unison. The big knife he was accustomed to using on the battlefield shone brightly in the air, which was eye-catching and showed his determination to win. ——On February 15th, he arrived at Sandong, and marched with the tactics of dividing his troops and besieging on three sides. He won the first battle and captured Sandong in less than a day.
Yang Yinglong had tasted the defeat, and he did not dare to take the prestigious Liu Ting lightly, so he sent his eldest son Yang Chaodong to lead the most elite main force to resist Liu Ting's attack; in March, the two armies clashed, and Yang Chaodong was defeated. He fled, and lost more than half of his troops.
Liu Ting took advantage of the victory and pursued, pushing towards Loushanguan, the front gate of Laolongtun where Yang Yinglong's camp was located.
Loushan Pass is located on a small path only a few feet wide in the middle of Wanfeng Mountain. Pole, stone base, several layers of fences below, hugging big trees to cross the middle of the road, digging deep pits, and placing bamboo sticks - he bet on all kinds of natural dangers like gambling: "If you can take advantage of this If the natural danger blocks that Liu Dadao, I will have the rest of my life—”
However, the god of luck did not favor him.
In this battle, although Liu Ting fought very hard, he overcame all difficulties. He first sent infantry to detour around the back of Loushan Pass in two ways, and he himself led the main force to attack. Going up the fence, he attacked from three sides with the left and right armies, and captured Loushan Pass.
At the beginning of April, Liu Ting had already attacked Baishikou, and Yang Yinglong fought in person, but was defeated and fled; Liu Ting chased to Yangma City, joined several other army troops, smashed the dragon claws and sea clouds, and surrounded them. Hai Longtun.
The terrain of Hailongtun is even more dangerous than Loushan Pass, and it is said to be a natural barrier that birds, apes, and monkeys cannot overcome; The protection has become another siege!
Beginning on May 18th, the officers and soldiers began to attack in turn: However, as if the heavens intended to delay the battle for a longer period of time, it began to rain, and it torrentially continued day and night; Tossing and fighting hard in the mud—until June 4th, the sun suddenly cleared.
And Liu Ting, who has rich experience in war, immediately judged that this was a good opportunity not to be missed. He immediately blew the trumpet to gather the troops and beat the drums to urge them forward. Several outer gates and earthen cities are advancing towards the inner city.
Knowing that there was no way out, Yang Yinglong gave up fighting or surrendering, took his wives and concubines to hang himself, and set fire to his corpse; his younger brother Yang Zhaohan and son Yang Chaodong were captured alive.
The ten-year-long chaos finally came to an end—the good news was sent to the capital by "eight hundred miles of fast transmission". As soon as the Ministry of War received it, it saw that it was great news and sent it to the palace immediately.
It was the end of June, and the weather was extremely hot; however, the ice cubes sealed in winter had already been moved to the Qianqing Palace, and they were placed in hollow wooden cabinets, and a few maids were sent to play fans behind the wooden cabinets. Let the icy cool wind blow slowly to Emperor Wanli to cool him off from the heat.
And Emperor Wanli enjoyed the blessings and the cool breeze at the same time, and then slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
However, everything around him did not stop because of his falling asleep. The court ladies who played fans did not dare, and the eunuchs and court ladies who stood and stood around for several times did not even dare to sit with him. Concubine Zheng at the side also sat next to him as if he was still awake, with a sweet smile on her face.
It was a hot day, and she was wearing a weft-colored "half-air" dress; the translucent gauze was as soft as onion's wings and as thin as a sheet of paper, and her pair of arms as white as snow and as smooth as fat were faintly reflected in the wide sleeves. The double bracelets on the wrist exude seductive charm at any time.
But now that Emperor Wanli had fallen asleep, her charm was useless; although there was still a sweet smile on her face, that smile was just a habitual performance, meaningless, and it did not represent her heart.
In fact, her heart is not happy, there is no smile.
Life had passed like a dead body—a shell, though still gorgeous and majestic, and a growing emptiness in her that filled her being.
For Emperor Wanli, she couldn't tell what kind of feeling it was, but something was wrong - after more than ten years day after day, on the surface, Emperor Wanli loved her as usual, and would not be without her. Happy, and obeyed everything she said—but, she faintly felt that something was different, something was wrong.
It seems that love has disappeared, although his people are still by her side, but her heart is no longer there; even, sometimes, she will suddenly wonder whether she has grasped Emperor Wanli's heart Woolen cloth?
"There really is no other woman in his heart—"
That's all that's certain, but what's the point?The absence of other women does not necessarily mean that there is her—she feels that she does not fully understand Emperor Wanli, let alone grasp Emperor Wanli—it seems that his heart is always floating, and nothing can be decided.
Especially the reaction in the past few days - she has mentioned to Emperor Wanli several times that the Ciqing Palace under construction is about to be completed. It is a palace specially built for the appointment of the crown prince. She hopes that the owner is Chang Xun: "Long Live Lord promised my concubine—"
However, Emperor Wanli's reaction was not as one-hearted with her as before, but he was just nice and nice, coaxing her as if to deal with it: "Ah, people in the court talk a lot, I can't help it—heh— —Haha—I have to perfunctory them for a while!”
However, she felt that it was herself who was perfunctory!
Sometimes, she was sober enough to force herself to face the reality: "Li Changxun's hopes are about to come to naught—Long Live Lord can't help it, and I'm already thinking about Chang Luo in my heart!"
Every time she thought of this level, she felt cold all over her body, and each time it became more and more serious--in the end, she gave up dejectedly and tried her best to fight again.
Although the feeling of unwillingness is still there, she feels that she is tired and discouraged—desperate!
Emperor Wanli's snorting became heavier, and after a short while, she let out a "snoring, snoring" sound. She unconsciously withdrew her dazed eyes and turned to look at him.
His mouth is slightly open, his eyes are closed tightly, and hot air is blown out of his nostrils; years of not seeing the sun have made his skin extremely white, and there is no blood on his face; he has a lot of fat and looks fat, and his chin overlaps several layers , are all loose fat, and have been naughty by excessive sex and wealth, like floating lard, lifeless at all.
She couldn't help but shuddered when she saw it, and a sad thought crept into her heart bit by bit: "How can such a person deserve to be loved?"
If it wasn't for his status as the "emperor"——she clearly remembered every distraction, every effort, every process, and every dedication she had put on him for nearly twenty years—
Everything was in vain——she smiled sadly, wanting to cry, but turned her eyes away from him, and looked down at her hands.
She didn't grasp anything—the palms of her hands were empty, but these hands were exquisitely beautiful, soft and white, with ten slender fingers, which made her fascinated by them.
A few eunuchs came in, holding a stack of memorials in their hands—knowing that Emperor Wanli would not read them, so they sent them in the same way, waiting for his instructions—these eunuchs were also "veteran", and When I came in, I saw that he was taking a nap, and I knew what to do: several people held the things in their hands upright, and stood in the corner to wait for him to wake up.
After waking up, he may ask someone to read it to get a general idea; or he may order it to be sent to the warehouse for archiving without even wanting to hear it—these memorials will be frozen forever.
Whether the things reported on these scrolls can reach the "Tian Ting" is all in the "one thought" of Emperor Wanli. There is no reason at all, it all depends on luck; Major accidents made Emperor Wanli attach great importance to them; or things that had left a deep impression on Emperor Wanli, he would ask people to read them when he remembered them—thus, these senior eunuchs I also understand that among the many memorials sent in today, the one that is most likely to be ordered by Emperor Wanli to "read" is the memorial of Li Hualong from Chongqing; because Yang Yinglong from Bozhou is not only a great event, but also a great joy. It will definitely make Emperor Wanli "Dragon Heart Joy"; most of the rest are requests from ministers to "abolish the mining tax", which will never be favored; Writing in the name of the "King of Jianzhou and other places" is a trivial matter—whether Emperor Wanli will pay attention to it is still unknown, but since he arrived at the same time as the Jie from Sichuan, he is already doomed to be frozen fate.
"On this occasion of great joy, how can Long Live Lord care about such trivial matters?"
And the guesses of the eunuchs were not wrong at all—after waking up, the Emperor Wanli really focused his attention when he heard the word "good news".
He ordered someone to recite Li Hualong's memorials aloud in detail, and when he heard a few paragraphs describing the situation of the war, his emotions rose first, and he interrupted the reading excitedly from time to time, applauding vigorously: "Okay—— Good—good fight—killed so many thieves, he really is the brave general of our court!”
On the one hand, he also added from time to time: "These people must be rewarded——"
When he heard the end, when Li Hualong said that he had captured several culprits alive and was about to set off to deliver them to the capital, he became even more excited, and said repeatedly: "Okay - good - when I came here, my relative Yuwumen was captured - —I want them to confess their crimes with their own mouths!"
Then he immediately ordered: "Immediately order Li Hualong to release the prisoners as soon as possible!"
After finishing speaking, he couldn't stop laughing; and the other memorials were just as the eunuchs expected, and he didn't have the heart to listen to them at all.
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