Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 181 Two out of ten houses are empty, and all officials fall!
For a whole month.

The sound of artillery fire in Huizhou Prefecture has not stopped.

More than 3,600 Hui merchants were killed, along with their nine clans.

Chen Ping, the prefect of Huizhou Prefecture, the magistrates of Shexian, Yixian, Jixi, Wuyuan, Qimen, and Xiuning counties, and more than a thousand officials in the prefecture and six counties were all killed, along with their nine clans.

All the troops of Huizhou Prefecture were killed, and their entire families were executed.

The rebels recruited by Chen Ping and the Hui merchants were all killed, and their entire families were also executed.

The people of Huizhou Prefecture and six counties collectively returned the stolen goods, with their names and fingerprints intact. Anyone who refused to return the stolen goods was considered a traitor.

If one person does not return the silver and grain, he will be killed. If ten people do not return the silver and grain, ten people will be killed. A hundred people, a thousand people, ten thousand people, a hundred thousand people...

Under the king's law, nothing is omitted.

Tens of thousands of soldiers from the Xiaoling Guard, the Southeast Army, and the Zhongdu Liaison Office never put down their weapons.

This caused the sky above Huizhou Prefecture to be filled with a thick blood fog. The sky and the earth were neither clear nor turbid, but instead appeared bright red. Both day and night were grey and it was impossible to tell the boundaries between them.

The Jinyiwei did not have a complete statistics, but more than 500,000 people were killed or implicated.

The entire Huizhou Prefecture was cleared of all households, but had 560,000 households and 2.5 million people, a decrease of 20%.

One of the reasons why there were so many merchants in Huizhou Prefecture was that there were too many people and too little land. After this incident, the balance between people and land became much more balanced.

However, there were dozens of mass graves in one prefecture and six counties. In order to prevent the spread of epidemics, the imperial court ordered that all corpses be burned.

He also sent imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau to monitor the situation for several months, and if an epidemic occurred, Huizhou Prefecture would be immediately sealed off.

All is done.

The Xiaoling Guard, the Southeast Army, and the Zhongdu Liaison Office troops withdrew one after another, leaving behind the ruins of Huizhou Prefecture.

Wang Zhen, the pacification commissioner of the Nanjing Pacification Office, and his Jinyiwei have not withdrawn yet, and the stolen wealth returned by the Hui officials, merchants, and people who were executed or implicated is still being counted.

According to incomplete statistics, the silver and grain seized have exceeded 500 million taels, which is unlikely to catch up with the 1 billion rich Shanxi merchants.

After being silent for such a long time, the imperial court disclosed for the first time the crimes committed by Huizhou merchants, officials and people in Huizhou, causing an uproar across the country.

The reputation of Jinyiwei commander-in-chief Lu Bing as "King of Hell" spread like wildfire.

In some prefectures and counties close to Huizhou Prefecture, it even has the effect of stopping infants from crying.

The Shanxi merchants and the Huizhou merchants, the first and second ranked merchant groups in the Ming Dynasty, committed major treason cases, collaborating with the enemy, betraying the country, and making money from the national disaster, which made countless Chinese people angry.

The anger was so intense that even ordinary merchants in the two capitals and thirteen provinces were greatly affected, but they could only complain secretly in their hearts.

The initial proposal for separation of military and political power submitted by Zhang Juzheng's cabinet to Yuxi Palace and the news of expulsion of nationality had spread throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Influenced by the merchants from Shanxi and Anhui, many people opposed the separation of household registration or even opened a special registration system for merchants, considering it a lowly registration and a lowly profession. Countless people were ashamed to even mention business.

The country's business has suffered a heavy blow!

The situation was reported to the cabinet, and the five elders who knew more of the inside story had no choice but to go to the palace to meet the emperor and seek a solution.

……

Ok Hee Palace.

Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, and Chen Yiqin arrived. Unexpectedly, Jinyiwei Commander Lu Bing was also here. The weather was cold, and Lu Bing put on a cloak. The bright red bullfighting suit was very dazzling to the cabinet members.

Seeing this red is like seeing the blood of the Hui people, so enchanting.

However, Zhang Juzheng and his companions knew that the bullfighting robe worn by Lu Bing had nothing to do with the Huizhou incident.

This was in the 18th year of Jiajing, when Lu Bing accompanied the emperor on a southern tour to Weihui. At night, the palace caught fire and Lu Bing risked his life to save the emperor. He was deeply favored and was awarded the Douniu robe.

In other words, Lu Bing exchanged his life for this dress, and no one can interfere.

However, the bullfighting suit is different from other clothes. The bullfighting suit, python suit and flying fish suit are not included in the official uniform system because their patterns are similar to the dragon robe worn by the emperor. Only the eunuchs and prime ministers were specially awarded these clothes.

Receiving this kind of clothing was considered a great honor in the court.

The patch on the bullfighting uniform is in the shape of a python's head and bull's horns, with two horns on the head bending downward like bull's horns. It was a uniform bestowed by the emperor. There were also examples of lecturers being bestowed with bullfighting uniforms, but it was an exception and was not granted easily.

In the 13th year of Zhengde, it was designated as the official uniform for first-rank officials by the Zhengde Emperor, the previous emperor.

The five cabinet ministers Zhang, Gao, Hu, Li and Chen also wore this.

Because it was too solemn, Lu Bing seldom wore it. He would only wear it when he was worshipping heaven and praying to his ancestors, then he would wear it to show his holiness in front of others.

Lu Bing's appearance today obviously has unusual implications. The Huizhou Rebellion actually has nothing to do with Lu Bing, Jinyiwei, or the "knife". However, Chen Ping and the Huizhou merchants identified Lu Bing and Jinyiwei as traitors in the court.

However, this matter could not be explained. Lu Bing could not tell everyone that he was not a corrupt official, and the Jinyiwei could not tell everyone in the country that the Jinyiwei was not a corrupt official.

The Jinyiwei were the royal henchmen, not the prostitutes in the Qinhuai River brothel.

Since he couldn't explain it, Lu Bing simply didn't explain it. He changed into the clothes bestowed by the bullfighting army, and combined with the "karma" that was stained on his body after the mass killings in Xishan, Zhejiang, Huizhou and other places, Zhang Juzheng looked at him and really felt that he had the face of a traitor.

Zhu Houcong looked at Zhang Juzheng and the others and said, "Lü Fang."

"The servant is here."

"Bring some embroidered cushions and let my ministers sit down and listen to the meeting first."

"Yes."

Lü Fang followed the order and brought a few embroidered cushions. Zhang Juzheng took a seat after expressing his gratitude, but he did not dare to sit down completely. His butt only touched half of the cushions, and he used strength in his legs so that he could stand up at any time.

Despite such an uncomfortable posture, the ministers remained calm and listened silently to Lu Bing's response.

"Your Majesty, in our great Ming Dynasty, the Huizhou merchants have corrupted 29,872 officials in the two capitals and 13 provinces. During the recent suppression of the Huizhou rebellion, 6,789 of them submitted petitions to appeal for the Huizhou merchants, or fanned the flames among the people to tarnish the emperor's name and encourage the Huizhou merchants with ill intentions. Now all 6,789 people have been arrested by the Jinyiwei, and the remaining 23,830 are also being watched by the Jinyiwei. Your Majesty, please tell us how to deal with them?" Lu Bing reported respectfully.

In the past, Yan Song was in charge of the cabinet for twenty years, and there were only ten thousand of his disciples and former officials in the court. Less than a thousand of them could truly follow Yan Song through thick and thin.

The Huizhou merchants operated in the Ming Dynasty for 200 years, but the number of people in the court and the number of loyal followers alone was several times that of the Yan Party.

Of course, the number of high-ranking officials in the Yan Party is far beyond what the Hui merchants in the court can match.

When you have enough money, it is true that money can make the world go round.

Zhang Juzheng's cabinet took a deep breath and calmed down.

Hui merchants are the cancer of the imperial court.

"Those who are loyal to the end will be executed, and the rest will be dismissed from their posts!"

(End of this chapter)