Emperor Chongzhen's father-in-law, Zhou Kui, was really a strange existence in history! In the early years, he made a living by telling fortunes on the streets of Beijing, and it was indispensable to do some tricks and fraud. I don't know what blessings I cultivated in my previous life, but this guy actually gave birth to a good daughter at the age of 13, that is, the later Empress Zhou.
With his father and daughter as noble, Zhou Kui was given the title of Jiadingbo, and since then he has embarked on the road of soaring yellow and Tengda. To say that the contrast between the father and daughter is also amazing, they are all survived by a hard life, zhou kui after the beginning of the stinginess, but greedy to the extreme; and empress Zhou is dignified and generous, frugal. The difference is so big!
With the development and growth of the vigorous peasant uprising movement at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Chongzhen Emperor, who was tired of coping, was overwhelmed but helpless. Why? Fighting wars requires money. The greatest pain in this world is that a person who lives without money, and this person is still the emperor. In line with the principle of 'raising officials for a thousand days and using officials for a while', the Chongzhen Emperor treated these ministers under him on weekdays. Borrow some silver to fill the military salary, you can't fight when you're hungry! So the real performance that belonged to Zhou Kui began...
To say that Chongzhen can level a bowl of water no matter what good or bad things are, thinking of his own relatives. Since it is a donation, let's start with my father-in-law and start with an example.
In January 1644, Chongzhen sent the eunuch Gao Ding to borrow silver. Before Gao Ding could speak, Zhou Kui cried first: 'I said brother! You also see, this is not, really not. Gao Ding looked at Zhou Kui, who was wearing a satin dress and had a blessed figure, and said, "Don't worry, Don't mind, Lord Guozhang, the old slave came according to the will of Long Live, and the first one of them thought of Guo Zhangye, how can you give face!" ’
Zhou Kui did not expect that an eunuch would be so difficult, borrow money to borrow money, you move the face of the emperor, you don't know that the emperor is my son-in-law, there is no lizi, provoke a high and low condemnation of your crime. It was another clash of lips and swords, and Gao Ding actually couldn't leave, and he couldn't go to tea?
'Well, tall man, my family really doesn't have one, you either have to wait a while, and I'll go to another house to borrow and see.' Zhou Kui said the next word and ran to the backyard to rest. From time to time, someone was sent to the front hall to inquire whether Gao Ding was gone. He obviously underestimated, and the best thing the eunuchs in the palace were able to do was to wait. Well, in order to get by with all the face, Zhou Kui gritted his teeth and sent someone to bring five thousand taels of silver, saying that it was a patchwork loan and a few boxes of jewelry to get it. Gao Ding looked at it, and this iron rooster was bleeding heavily today.
The next day, Zhou Kui ran to Chongzhen to wipe away his tears and cry, and incidentally sued Gao Ding for taking advantage of the situation to blackmail. Chongzhen had no choice but to hehe, who knew that after Empress Zhou knew, she personally reprimanded her father: 'The country is going to be gone, and no amount of silver you have can buy the coffin book.' 'Truly, father and daughter!' Into what system. 'Well, Father, daughter, this has saved five thousand taels, and you will take the lead in donating it tomorrow!' ’...
When Chongzhen knew that his father-in-law was going to donate again, his mood was so excited, or the governor could rely on it, this time he had to donate a lot! On the third day, when Gao Ding came to the door again, he was really surprised: the palatial Guozhang Mansion the day before yesterday was quite dilapidated today, the door frames were painted off, and the tiles of the roof were exposed to holes, which would leak rain!
Zhou Kui dressed in cloth came out to greet him, saying that he had pawned several ancestral properties and gathered three thousand taels of silver: "The tall man has taken the power to do his best for the country." I've donated eight thousand taels!" Lo and behold, this number is auspicious, may my Ming Dynasty prosper. Chongzhen in the palace was shocked to lose his jaw, he couldn't imagine that his father-in-law's family was so poor; Empress Zhou was also shocked to lose her jaw, wasn't it five thousand taels, alas, this father really couldn't be saved!
The scene of the drama begins, the officials in the capital are like a model, everyone tacitly agrees with each other, selling houses and selling ancestral property, wearing torn clothes, pawning jewelry... They all came out to serve the country. The most bitter minister asked if he could buy his daughter... To the first assistant of the cabinet, Wei Zaode, was even more ruthless, saying that the family smashed the pot and sold iron to gather five hundred taels... After more than half a month, Chongzhen raised 200,000 taels of silver, which is not to mention the national army, that is, the Beijing camp defending the capital is less to eat for a month. Alas, there is better than nothing, consolation prize. When Zhou Kui learned of this, he was complacent: "Let me just say, I am not the only one who is poor!" ’...
On March 20, Li Zicheng ascended the throne in Beijing the day after Chongzhen hanged himself. On the third day, he sent people to Zhou Kui's mansion to collect military salaries, and alas, another one asked for money. 'I really don't, so let's, my grandson, the three brothers of Crown Prince Zhu Cixi, and Princess Changping are in my palace, and I can count it as a great achievement!' Zhou Kui fantasized that he could escape the disaster...
Liu Zongmin said to Li Zicheng: "The emperor is still too benevolent, and the matter of military pay is entrusted to me, and within half a month, all the soldiers will be rich." So he first took the first assistant of the cabinet, Wei Zaode, to open the knife, and the old boy also insisted that he did not, and then he was tortured to braid and raided the house with eighty thousand silver taels. The most painful thing in this world is that people die, and money becomes someone else's. When the Ministers of the Ming Dynasty looked at it, this lord really dared to kill people, and Chen Yan took the lead in taking the initiative to pay forty thousand silver and two atonements, and the military salary gradually increased. Those who disobey will kill their heads and raid their homes...
When it was Zhou Kui's turn, his attitude was much more resolute, and the family could not open the pot, and he had eaten the green vegetable porridge for two days. Without saying a word, Liu Zongmin killed Zhou Kui's wife and daughter-in-law, and also hacked one of Zhou Kui's sons to death. Although Grandpa Guozhang was afraid, but the words were spoken, how to continue to lie, wood has wood and real wood has. Liu Zongmin beat Zhou Kuipi in front of Li Zicheng's face, 'Come on, go to the tiger stool.' ’
'Don't, don't mind, yes, I recruit!' It's really 'hard mouth, afraid of the bench'! Good fellow, Zhou Kui's family actually has nearly three million taels, the richest man in Beijing! Li Zicheng tossed the ming dynasty loyalists' belongings to a huge amount of seventy million silver and two huge, and Chongzhen would have cried and fainted if He knew about Izumi. The money was handed in, but Zhou Kui was sick, sometimes muttering to himself, not knowing what to curse...
On 3 May, Dorgon entered the city. In order to show his condolences, he gave Zhou Kui a few hundred taels of silver and hundreds of good silk horses, but this thing was not worth the old miser's glance, he was still thinking about the previous millions of two net worth ah...
Finally, after witnessing his son-in-law and daughter reburied with the ceremony of the empress, Zhou Kui finally died of illness at the age of 46. I just don't know, at the end of his life, whether he has regretted anything in this life...