Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 150: Split Nanzhi and threaten the Jiangnan gentry with a knife!
That night.

Zhu Xizhou walked out of the Forbidden City with a heavy heart.

Logically, he should be happy.

After he finished his explanation, the emperor was very satisfied and gave him an edict to appoint him as the Governor-General of the Southeast with the title of Right Censor-in-Chief and Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

In the name of cracking down on smuggling and combating pirates, he was asked to carry out a grand strategic pilot project to divide Nanzhi into two provinces, and in the future to conduct a pilot project of silver adjustment and public ownership reform in the entire southeast.

otherwise.

The emperor would not send him, an official who knew nothing about war and only knew the ins and outs of the Nanzhi gentry, to fight smuggling and pirates.

But he couldn't be happy.

The core of Zhu Houcong's current economic reform is to rectify the currency in order to regain the court's absolute dominance in currency.

This means that the imperial court needs to recover more of the large amount of silver that has flowed to the south.

The way to recycle is either to increase taxes or to send more of the local annual revenue to the central government.

The public collection of fire consumption silver means that the local fire consumption silver is added to the national treasury, and then distributed in the form of salary silver and reward silver.

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty is particularly casual about fire consumption. Some officials can fill in any amount they want in the fire consumption column when collecting tax grain.

The collection of fire consumption money became a cheap tool for bureaucrats all over the world to set up as many small coffers as they wanted for themselves.

and so……

Taking advantage of the future split of Nanzhi and the silver reform, it would be natural for the court to pilot the nationalization of fire consumption and regain monetary power.

of course……

This also helps the court control the local areas.

Crack down on excessive taxation by local officials.

This is to prevent local officials from over-enforcing the tax increase and taking the opportunity to increase the proportion of fire consumption, thereby inciting civil unrest.

Because sometimes you really do encounter local officials who are extremely greedy and are even more ruthless than eunuchs in plundering people's wealth.

Therefore, if the Ming Dynasty court had always given local officials the power to freely decide the proportion of loss collection, there would definitely be officials who would have the courage to increase the fire consumption to dozens of times the regular tax.

In short, since Zhu Xizhou pointed out that Nanzhi was too rich, so rich that it was a rival country and no longer listened to the court.

Then Zhu Houcong gave him a chance to be a wise minister.

But Zhu Xizhou's opportunity to become a wise minister was not without a price. The price was that he had to expose all of Gu Dingchen's accomplices who knew him as well as he did, to prevent Gu Dingchen from deliberately concealing the truth.

then.

Many Nanzhi officials who thought they had escaped punishment were also included in the Jinyiwei's arrest list.

When Huang Kai learned that the Jinyiwei came to arrest him, he asked unwillingly, "Gu Dingchen betrayed me?"

"Gu Dingchen! It's fine if you're the one in trouble, but why do you have to drag us, your fellow countrymen, into this?"

Huang Kai was very confused for a moment.

Zhu Xizhou, who was passing by on his way out of the palace, also saw this scene.

Zhu Xizhou couldn't help but look ashamed.

Huang Kai also saw Zhu Xizhou.

all of a sudden.

Huang Kai understood something and shouted, "You came out of the palace so late, are you selling us out?"

Zhu Xizhou did not answer.

"Mr. Zhu, do you dare not admit it?!"

"speak!"

Huang Kai couldn't help but shout.

But Zhu Xizhou still ignored him and walked away quickly.

Snapped!
Huang Kai is here.

The Jinyiwei who arrested him slapped him in the face.

"Shut up!"

"You censors are really arrogant."

"He is a high-ranking official in the ministry after all, how can you be so rude!"

Huang Kai was furious: "How dare you hit me!"

Snapped!
"What's wrong with hitting you?"

"Would you like to try again?"

Snapped!
"You are smuggling and plotting rebellion. What you did is not much cleaner than the eunuchs. Do you still want people to respect you as gentlemen?"

Huang Kai finally behaved himself.

As for Zhu Xizhou, after returning, he told his family:

"Immediately write a letter to my family, saying that I have successfully cut off the Gu Dingchen case and saved my life, so that my relatives and friends can rest assured. I will also tell them that if they have any grievances, I will help them, including those involved in the Gu case, to repay their tolerance for humiliation."

Zhu Xizhou said in despair.

The family members breathed a sigh of relief and left the study with a smile.

Let’s talk.

This side of Nanzhi.

Many Nanzhi nobles also learned that Gu Dingchen's plot to murder Wang Yangming had been exposed.

Therefore, many Nanzhi nobles have begun to worry that the imperial court will find out that they are also involved in smuggling, and will then increase the intensity of taxation on them, or even plunder their property in more violent ways.

After all, many of these Nanzhi nobles and wealthy businessmen are related.

Many of the clans behind Nanzhi officials such as Gu Dingchen and Tao Zhongfu were families that shared weal and woe.

They were also very worried that the imperial court would really raid their homes.

In particular, thousands of soldiers from the Yongwei Camp are still stationed in Jinshanwei and Kunshan, monitoring the Gu family and other families involved in the case day and night.

For them, this is like having a sharp knife pressed against their chest at all times, making them unable to sleep or eat.

"Think of a solution quickly!"

"How can we prevent the imperial court from taking this opportunity to start a big case in my Southern Zhili?"

Tao Xiang, the former Minister of the Ministry of Rites, expressed his great concern to several relatives and friends from the aristocratic families.

Jin Wei, a local official, said: "In order to make the court's big issues small, the best strategy is to arouse the people's anger and make the court be cautious! Otherwise, if we, the noble families, directly oppose the court, it will not only damage our reputation, but also give the court an excuse to suppress us in the imperial examinations and official careers."

"It's time to stir up public indignation! This will lead to a civil uprising."

"As long as there is a civil uprising, the imperial court will naturally lose more than it gains by sending troops to suppress it. We can only appease them. If we can use our strengths to persuade them, we can naturally reduce a major incident to a minor one."

Another local official, Dong Tianqian, also echoed the sentiment.

Tao Xiang continued to ask: "The question is how to arouse public anger?"

"Of course we have to make a fuss about the Yongwei Battalion!"

"Force them to violate military discipline to arouse public anger!"

"This will force the emperor to be cautious about sending a large army to the interior in the future, and it will also satisfy the wishes of other places."

Jin Wei sneered.

Everyone nodded.

As a native of Shaanxi, Zhou Shangwen naturally didn't know much about the situation in Nanzhi.

But as a general, he had led troops for so many years and knew what methods the local clans would use to drive away the government troops they did not want to see.

Therefore, Zhou Shangwen called Li Bing, Zhang Bin and other officers together early and admonished them:
"Brothers, you all know now that His Majesty sent us to Nanzhi to ensure that the people of Zhejiang do not die in vain and that the rules and regulations of the court are upheld!"

"Although you are all brave warriors, you should know that sometimes the most difficult thing about working for the court is not fighting for the court on the battlefield, but fighting against evil villains for the sake of the country and personal honor. Don't really think that people will be afraid of you and dare not deal with you just because you hold a knife."

"On the contrary, people look down on you even more, thinking that you are a rough person who can be used as a pawn to force the emperor to compromise."

"This is also why I have always emphasized the importance of strict military discipline, especially when we are going deep into such a prosperous place to eliminate traitors, military discipline must be even stricter!"

"Be careful, if you don't pay for a bowl of noodles or your dog is stepped on, people will make a fuss out of it and even kill you!"

"So, from now on, you must be careful and not allow anyone to leave the camp to spend money without permission. You must be tolerant when there are disputes, and you are not allowed to talk back even if you are insulted!"

"Secondly, the people of the Gu family are locked up, but we need to send them food and meet their requests as much as possible to prevent people from accusing us of mistreating the children of unconvicted nobles!"

"Finally, when you are resting, try not to go out. If you have to go out, don't give food or money to outsiders, and don't help with good deeds to prevent being taken advantage of. In short, don't pretend to be a good person!"

Zhou Shangwen asked, "Have you remembered everything?"

"remember!"

Zhou Shangwen nodded and asked the officers to retreat.

Although Zhou Shangwen had already given instructions in advance, there was nothing that could be done as the tree wanted to be still but the wind did not stop.

It is impossible for the emperor's personal army and the Nanzhi gentry, who have natural conflicts of interest, to coexist peacefully in Suzhou and Kunshan.

Because for the Nanzhi gentry, they must have the final say here.

What's more, the emperor's personal troops are here, and there is a threat of a mass purge of them at any time in response to the imperial court's orders.

So, on this day, when Zhou Shangwen himself was coming from the post station to Gu's house to check the siege situation, a schoolboy threw an inkstone at him from the window on the street.

The inkstone hit Zhou Shangwen's shoulder.

Fortunately, Zhou Shangwen was wearing armor, so he was not seriously injured.

Li Bing, who was with him, couldn't help but rush in to ask what was going on.

But Zhou Shangwen stopped him: "Forget it, don't cause trouble. Before the imperial edict arrives, be patient as long as you can!"

Li Bing also retreated.

"You traitors, you bully the nobles and murder the loyal and good people!"

But not for long.

Suddenly, several schoolchildren came out from the alley, pointed at them and cursed them, and then threw brushes, inkstones, and even watermelon peels and bricks at them.

Zhou Shangwen, Li Bing and others immediately hid away.

But Li Bing could not help but get furious and said to Zhou Shangwen: "Marshal, they are really going too far!"

"People are waiting behind your back for you to lose your composure."

"Hold it!"

Zhou Shangwen said this with a smile and started to wipe the ink off his armor.

And this time.

When Zhang Bin came to a rice shop on orders to buy rice, he was rejected by the shop owner: "We have no rice to buy."

"Aren't these rice?"

“It’s not like we don’t want to pay!”

Zhang Bin pointed to a large vat of new rice that had just arrived at the rice shop and threw a small bag of silver dollars over.

"We won't sell our rice to the treacherous party that oppresses the loyal and good people!"

The shopkeeper said this.

"Who do you say is the traitor?"

Zhang Bin suddenly became angry.

He didn't expect that the merchants in Nanzhi were so concerned about politics.

Of course, Zhang Bin, who came from the north, didn’t know that the merchants in these places had long been controlled by the gentry.

At this time, Wei Changgui, who was following Zhang Bin, persuaded Zhang Bin:

"Brother Zhang, don't be angry. We have worked so hard to be selected into the Brave Guard Battalion. If we risk our lives or cause trouble, it will not be worth it. You still owe a lot of loans."

After hearing this, Zhang Bin held back.

The rice shop owner laughed contemptuously.

But Zhang Bin and others later discovered that other rice shops would not open to them, and some even closed when they saw people from the Yongwei Camp coming.

Not only Zhang Bin, but other officers and soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion who were ordered to purchase goods were also targeted by merchants from Nanzhi as they went on strike.

However, in order to march to Nanzhi faster, and considering that commerce was developed in the south and necessities could be easily purchased, the Yongwei Camp did not bring much food, but instead brought more silver and copper coins for portability.

Therefore, this was extremely unbearable for the officers and soldiers, and their resentment grew. Some even began to doubt themselves, wondering if they were really unpopular and had become accomplices of the treacherous party?
Therefore, Zhou Shangwen was also quite angry after knowing this, and punched the wall lightly: "They are forcing us to death!"

"Commander!"

Li Bing came running over and said to Zhou Shangwen with an angry look on his face:

"A gentry captured our soldier and paraded him through the streets. He was coming towards us, saying that our soldier stole his ducks and wanted us to give him an explanation!"

After hearing this, Zhou Shangwen hurried out.

Soon, he met a group of people escorting his soldiers from the Brave Guard Battalion.

The student who led these slaves spat at the soldier and pointed at him and said to the people along the street:
"That's him. He stole my duck. It wasn't just any duck."

The student's name is Jin Kun.

When he saw Zhou Shangwen and other generals coming over with sullen faces, he puffed out his chest and said:
"You must be his superiors. He stole my ducks. Please give me an explanation!"

"General! I didn't steal anything. I was just ordered to go out of town to buy groceries when I was ambushed and caught in a net!"

The soldier explained loudly.

"nonsense!"

"You are just quibbling. We all saw with our own eyes that you stole the duck from our classmate's house!"

At this time, another student came over, followed by many other students.

Seeing this, Zhou Shangwen had no choice but to solemnly order Li Bing: "Bring him here and execute him on the spot in front of everyone!"

Li Bing: "Marshal!"

The soldier also shouted: "Marshal, I am innocent!"

"You southerners are so despicable. I shouldn't care about military discipline. I should kill you all!"

The soldier couldn't help but curse.

Jin Kun and others laughed secretly with pride.

"stop!"

"Who gave you students the power to command the emperor's personal army?"

At this time.

A rather majestic voice suddenly appeared.

(End of this chapter)