Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 399 I'm afraid the robbers are educated
In February of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, Zhu Shenzui once again set out for the grassland.

At the same time, the Emperor Tianqi in the capital was suffering from illness. He was very healthy last year, but now he has become a sickly person. His chubby face has become thinner at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his complexion has lost its original rosy color and become a little sallow.

"Your Majesty, it's time to take the medicine..." Half lying on the couch, Emperor Tianqi looked at the memorials sent from below, but his energy was not as good as before after his illness. In the past, these memorials were nothing to him, and he would still be in the mood to do some carpentry work after reading the memorials every day. But now, he felt dizzy after reading only a few memorials, and the occasional violent coughing made him extremely uncomfortable.

"Who wrote the prescription?" Emperor Tianqi looked up when he heard the voice and saw Wei Zhongxian walking in carefully with the medicine. The pungent smell of the medicine made him feel nauseous.

"Your Majesty, it's the Imperial Hospital..."

"I don't want to drink!" Before Wei Zhongxian could finish his words, Emperor Tianqi directly refused. As soon as he said this, he started coughing because of his intense emotions. This cough was so heart-wrenching that his face turned red.

Wei Zhongxian quickly put the medicine in his hand aside and ran to the side of Emperor Tianqi. He supported the coughing Emperor Tianqi and patted his chest and back. After a while, Emperor Tianqi's coughing gradually stopped and his breathing became calmer.

"Your Majesty, the imperial physician said that you should rest and not get angry..." Wei Zhongxian said with concern.

"Imperial physician? The imperial physician again!" A trace of anger flashed across Emperor Tianqi's face. He got angry when he heard the imperial physician. He just fell into the water and didn't feel any big problem after falling into the water. Later, after drinking the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician, he didn't know why his health became worse day by day, and his cough was getting worse and worse.

What made him even more angry was that it had been almost half a year, and he had no idea how much medicine he had taken, but his health was sometimes better and sometimes worse. The imperial doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau were all good-for-nothings and had no skills at all. They made him drink such bitter medicine every day, which would have been fine if it could cure his illness, but after such a long time, his illness still hadn't been cured.

"Don't mention the imperial physician to me anymore. Let me ask you, did you find the famous folk doctor I asked you to find before?" Emperor Tianqi asked.

Wei Zhongxian hesitated. He was speechless because of Emperor Tianqi's distrust of the imperial physician. To be honest, he had already asked the Imperial Medical Bureau about the emperor's condition. The conclusion given by the imperial physician was that the cold air entered the emperor's lungs after falling into the water, which damaged the root of the disease and caused the lingering illness.

According to the imperial physician, although this disease is not a serious one, it is not a minor one either, and there is no good treatment method. It can only be controlled by medication, and it is also related to the season.

Now it is spring, and the disease is more common in spring. It is natural that the condition is slightly severe. When the weather gets warmer, the condition will ease. Then we can use good medicine to regulate it. As long as we are patient, the emperor's disease will gradually get better. As the saying goes, the disease comes like a mountain falling, and the disease goes away like a thread. Don't be impatient.

The Imperial Hospital was the highest medical institution in the country, and the doctors there were all famous doctors in various fields. In terms of medical skills, the status of the Imperial Hospital in the medical community can be imagined. However, Emperor Tianqi became less and less trustful of the doctors because of his lingering illness, and always clamored to seek treatment from famous doctors among the people. In his opinion, the doctors in the Imperial Hospital were all good-for-nothings, and the medicines they prescribed could neither kill people nor make them better. If he continued to let them treat him, he might become the second Emperor Wuzong, and Emperor Tianqi did not want to end up like this.

But Wei Zhongxian found it difficult to meet the request of Emperor Tianqi. Although he knew that there were famous doctors among the people, the problem was that those folk doctors were often bold in using medicines. The emperor was the supreme ruler, and it was okay for ordinary people to use medicines, but they were treating the emperor. Not to mention whether the folk doctors had the courage to treat the emperor, even if they did, Wei Zhongxian would not dare to let the emperor take the medicine prescribed by the folk doctors!
In addition, the Imperial Hospital had always been against letting civilian doctors treat the emperor. The Imperial Hospital was full of talented people, but the emperor didn't use civilian doctors instead? Isn't this a slap in the face of the Imperial Hospital? Although Wei Zhongxian was ruthless and would not show any mercy to the Donglin Party, he did not dare to offend the imperial doctors of the Imperial Hospital.

People get sick, and when they get sick they need to see a doctor. Wei Zhongxian ate whole grains and was old. What if he got sick and needed to see a doctor one day? He had offended the imperial physician, and the imperial physician refused to treat him in the future. How could he solve this problem? Faced with this dilemma, Wei Zhongxian could not make a choice.

"I am working on this matter, but most of the famous doctors in the folk are not worthy of their reputation. It is too difficult to find a real famous doctor. I have instructed my subordinates to do it as soon as possible..."

"Not as soon as possible, but immediately! Immediately!" Emperor Tianqi shouted. Is it so difficult to find a few doctors? Wei Zhongxian couldn't even handle such a small matter? But Emperor Tianqi still trusted Wei Zhongxian in his heart. He knew that Wei Zhongxian would never harm him. Since he said so, it was probably true.

"Right away, I'll do it right away!" Seeing that Emperor Tianqi was a little impatient, Wei Zhongxian quickly changed his words, and then went on to persuade Emperor Tianqi, saying that the doctors in the Imperial Hospital were not useless, and the previous medicine still had some effect. Before finding a truly good doctor, the emperor should continue to take the medicine as instructed by the Imperial Hospital to control his condition. If he did not take the medicine and his condition worsened, it would be troublesome. This was for the sake of Emperor Tianqi's body!

After listening to Wei Zhongxian's advice, Emperor Tianqi's irritable heart gradually calmed down, and he felt that Wei Zhongxian's words were not unreasonable.

With a sigh, Emperor Tianqi nodded slightly. Wei Zhongxian was overjoyed and quickly brought the medicine to Emperor Tianqi to drink. The medicine was very bitter, and Emperor Tianqi drank it with great difficulty. After seeing the emperor finish drinking it, Wei Zhongxian took out the honey water that he had prepared long ago and fed Emperor Tianqi two more sips. The sweet honey water diluted the taste of the medicine, and Emperor Tianqi felt much better.

After drinking the medicine, the half-lying Emperor Tianqi asked, "Has there been any major events in Liaodong recently?"

"Your Majesty, Yuan Chonghuan sent me news a few days ago, saying that the Jiannu are willing to negotiate, and the two sides are in contact. Since the slave Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he has been much closer to our Ming Dynasty than I was before. In addition, my people in Liaodong also sent back news that Huang Taiji's attitude towards the Liao people has become much more moderate, and is much better than my brutality..."

Emperor Tianqi frowned slightly, thought for a moment and said, "Has Huang Taiji changed his attitude towards the Liao people? Tell me in detail."

Wei Zhongxian recalled the news brought by his subordinates and reported it to Emperor Tianqi in detail. After Wei Zhongxian finished speaking for a while, Emperor Tianqi frowned even more tightly.

"Do you think this is a good or bad thing?" Emperor Tianqi suddenly asked.

Wei Zhongxian hesitated for a moment, then said, "Since I started my rebellion, the Liao people have been plagued by wars year after year. Moreover, I am reckless, cruel, and have killed people like flies. The Liao people are miserable under my rule. It's ok for them to be treated like slaves, but the Jiannu even enjoy slaughtering people for fun."

"After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, his attitude towards the Liao people became much more lenient. It is said that Huang Taiji is a book lover and admires our Han culture. His character is different from the brutality of the old slaves. Now that Huang Taiji has ascended the throne, he has abolished the harsh laws against the Liao people during the reign of the old slaves and restricted the Jian slaves from slaughtering them at will. This should be a good thing for the Liao people."

"Haha, good news?" Emperor Tianqi sneered, looked up at Wei Zhongxian, and was about to say something, but in the end he didn't say it.

He was different from Wei Zhongxian. Although Wei Zhongxian was extremely powerful and was the agent of Emperor Tianqi in the court, he was also a knife in the hands of Emperor Tianqi. But Wei Zhongxian was just a gangster, and he didn't read books, and he couldn't even recognize a few characters. How could he understand deeper things?
In addition, Wei Zhongxian only saw the living conditions of the Liao people on this issue, but failed to understand the real key.

Wei Zhongxian's judgment from this perspective was indeed correct. What Huang Taiji did eased the living conditions of the Liao people. Life under Huang Taiji's rule was much happier than under Nurhaci's rule. At least the Liao people no longer had to worry that one day the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty would break into their homes and kill people with knives without restraint, and they would live a precarious life.

The problem is that although Huang Taiji's actions were good for the Liao people, they were not good for the Ming Dynasty. The Jiannu in Liaodong had always been the biggest enemy of the Ming Dynasty. When Nurhaci started his rebellion, the Ming Dynasty suffered heavy losses in Liaodong. After so many years of fighting between the two sides, the Ming Dynasty not only failed to wipe out the Jiannu in Liaodong, but also suffered heavy losses in Liaodong.

The Liaodong war had not been resolved, which also caused the Ming Dynasty's military expenditure to remain high in recent years. If it were not for Wei Zhongxian's ability to get money from Jiangnan and commercial taxes, and if it were not for the fact that he suppressed the Donglin Party and made his imperial power surpass the power of the civil officials, Emperor Tianqi really didn't know how to maintain the Liaodong war.

But even so, the Liaodong War consumed a huge amount of Ming Dynasty's wealth in the long run. Coupled with the manpower and materials, etc., Ming Dynasty could not devote more energy to pacifying the local areas during the famines in various places in recent years, and could only put the Liaodong War first.

After a long time, even Emperor Tianqi could not stand it anymore, but he was still clear-headed and understood very well that the war in Liaodong must be resolved. If it could not be resolved, the Ming Dynasty would continue to be consumed by Liaodong, and its strength would gradually be weakened.

Since last year, natural disasters have occurred frequently in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, especially in the northwest region, where there are signs of severe drought, which made Emperor Tianqi very worried.

Although the imperial court had done disaster relief work, the Emperor Tianqi had no idea how much it could alleviate the situation. In his heart, the Emperor Tianqi wanted to put more energy into local governance. After all, the Liaodong war had not been resolved, and the Ming Dynasty must not be in chaos. Once chaos broke out, it would be a big trouble.

Sun Chengzong's strategic deployment in Liaodong proved to be reliable, but the problem was that the military and economic blockade took too long to take effect. Now Sun Chengzong had long since resigned, Yuan Chonghuan became the governor of Liaodong, and Nurhaci died and Huang Taiji took over. In view of the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Tianqi had to listen to the opinions of his subordinates and had the idea of ​​peace talks.

(End of this chapter)