Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

In fact, Emperor Chongzhen had previously disliked Zhang Shikang, a member of the British royal family.

Before this, the reason Emperor Chongzhen knew about this guy was probably because Zhang Shikang had a fight with the son of a nobleman and someone reported it to him.

Such unlearned and unskillful people are generally not in his eyes, until today.

Today in the court, Duke Chengguo and Duke Yingguo had a huge fight, which directly disrupted the discussion on increasing military pay that was going on at the time.

In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen scolded them. Before leaving, Duke Yingguo Zhang Zhiji praised his son a lot, saying that he had never seen anyone with such a thick skin.

Before leaving, Zhang Zhiji even handed him a letter mysteriously.

Originally, Emperor Chongzhen didn't take it seriously at all, but out of curiosity, he opened the letter which was said to be written by the third son of Zhang Zhiji.

He just wanted to see what this uneducated guy could write for him.

It was precisely because of this letter that Emperor Chongzhen specifically asked Luo Yangxing, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, to gather information on Zhang Shikang's whereabouts and words in recent days, which led to this sudden summons.

"Your servant Zhang Shikang pays homage..."

"Excuse me, is what you said in the letter true?"

Just as Zhang Shikang was about to pay his respects, he was interrupted by Emperor Chongzhen, who took out the letter again and looked at it.

"Your Majesty, I, Zhang Shikang, have risked my life to report this to you. If you impose three additional taxes, your country will be destroyed. We have silver in the Ming Dynasty, plenty of it. I know where it is."

The letter was very short, with five or six typos in the thirty or so words. The wording of the first half was fairly neat, but the second half was written in vernacular, which was really laughable.

As for saying that imposing three additional taxes will lead to the destruction of the country, it is purely brazen and alarmist.

Not to mention Emperor Chongzhen, if you told anyone at that time that the Ming Dynasty would be destroyed in a few years, even a three-year-old child would not believe it.

Emperor Chongzhen did not intend to waste too much time. He felt that a group of unlearned guys could never accomplish anything. He only summoned him reluctantly out of curiosity and very small expectations.

Zhang Shikang was not angry. In fact, he had figured it out along the way. If it was about Zhu Zhengliang's matter, he could just issue an oral order and be done with it. There was no need to summon him alone, especially in the evening.

That could only be because of his letter. As for the content of the letter, he had originally wanted to make a long speech expounding on the current ills, but he had limited ink, so he could only make it brief and write down the part that he thought Emperor Chongzhen needed most.

He made the right bet. As long as it was about raising money for the imperial court, Emperor Chongzhen really took the bait.

"Ha, that letter, of course, is real."

Zhang Shikang was not restrained either. He just stood in the hall and spoke casually.

Emperor Chongzhen was wearing purple casual clothes and a black gauze Yishan hat on his head. His majestic face revealed a hint of fatigue.

Perhaps due to long-term lack of sleep, his complexion did not look very good, so Zhang Shikang could not believe that the emperor in front of him was only 28 years old.

He would believe it even if you said he was forty.

Emperor Chongzhen motioned him to continue. If he was satisfied with what he said, that would be great. But if this guy really came to deceive and amuse him, he would make sure to let him know what the wrath of an emperor was.

"The bandits cannot be wiped out because the people are starving to death. Let me ask you, Eunuch Wang, if you were starving to death and you could survive by rebelling, would you choose to die or rebel?"

As he spoke, Zhang Shikang looked at Wang Chengen who was serving beside him.

Wang Chengen was so annoyed. The emperor asked you to talk about the matter, so you just talked about it. Why did you have to mention our family when there was nothing to do?

Is the question you are asking a question? You are asking for someone's life!

"I have received great favors from the Emperor, so I would rather die than rebel."

The position must be expressed, and Wang Chengen answered word by word in a sonorous manner.

This will not be a problem for Zhang Shikang. You say he is lying, but he did die for the Ming Dynasty.

"Eunuch Wang, what I mean is that you have to put yourself in the shoes of ordinary people. Ordinary people have not received the emperor's grace, but only the taxes imposed by His Majesty."

As soon as these words came out, Wang Chengen's face changed. He thought to himself, this kid must be tired of living. Isn't this like calling a thief a bald thief in front of a monk?

Emperor Chongzhen was indeed very angry when he heard this, but he held back.

"Eunuch Wang, don't be so stubborn. If you don't believe me, why don't you try not eating for three days?

Not to mention three days, in just two days you will almost forget all the grace the emperor has given you. This is human instinct.

Your Majesty, people must live.

What does the old saying go, "When you are well fed and warm, you will think about sex"... That's not right. When the granaries are full, people will know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they will know honor and disgrace.

How can a well-fed person understand the feelings of a starving person? "

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen had a stern face and was angry but did not stop him, Zhang Shikang continued:

Even a playboy like me knows about the disaster in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan. Your Majesty must know about it too, right?

They can no longer survive, and these three provinces are populous. If you impose additional taxes, wouldn't that be providing troops to Li Zicheng?

Even if Yang Ge's troops were really lucky and eliminated Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, Wang Zicheng and Sun Zicheng would still jump out at that time.

Even a playboy like Lian Chen understands such a simple truth.

With the three taxes and one levy, not to mention those three provinces, the people in the surrounding Shandong and Huguang would probably also show signs of rebellion.

I heard from my father that Yang Sichang said that the three additional taxes would be imposed on the gentry and landlords, and would not have much impact on ordinary people.

Your Majesty, Yang Sichang is guilty and should be executed!"

Zhang Shikang was a man who would not stop until he made a shocking statement. Fortunately, there were only three of them in the hall.

When Wang Chengen saw that Emperor Chongzhen's anger had subsided, he knew that the emperor had actually listened to him.

So he quickly trotted to the entrance of the hall and asked the big general at the door to retreat. He then stood at the entrance of the hall to prevent being heard by outsiders.

What a joke! You, a mere centurion official, actually asked the emperor to kill the cabinet minister and the minister of war.

That is the person that His Majesty trusts the most now. Wang Chengen didn't understand what was wrong with the emperor. According to his usual understanding of Emperor Chongzhen, the emperor should be angry with such words.

However, as a servant, he would never ask questions that were not necessary.

"Do you know what crime it is to slander the current Shangshu?" Emperor Chongzhen finally expressed his opinion, but he did not sound too angry.

"I don't know, but I didn't slander him," Zhang Shikang said frankly.

Just like Emperor Chongzhen, he came to see the emperor this time just to see what kind of person the legendary Chongzhen was like.

To put it bluntly, although he enjoys his current rich and comfortable life, it would be great if he could help the Ming Dynasty survive.

But if this emperor is really as described in history books, he is suspicious by nature, eager for quick success, mean and ungrateful, stubborn and irresponsible.

Then he is a three-in-a-row loser, there is no hope, just wait for death, goodbye.

He would never do such a thankless job.

"go on."

Emperor Chongzhen pointed to a wooden stool in the main hall, and Wang Chengen immediately trotted over and moved a wooden stool to Zhang Shikang.

The small wooden stool was particularly low, so low and so small that Zhang Shikang disliked it very much. However, adhering to the principle of never standing when he could sit, he still sat down.

"Because those gentry and landlords don't pay taxes at all! Most of the extra money will still fall on ordinary people.

Even the share paid by the landlords and gentry will be doubled and fall on the people who still own the land.

What happened next? The common people found that after working hard for a year and paying all the taxes they were supposed to pay, they still owed the government a large portion.

What to do? Either sell the land and become a tenant, or flee and eventually become a source of soldiers for bandits.

Yang Sichang said that he would curb land annexation. This is just a lie with open eyes. He is making a fool of your Majesty!"

……