Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 152 The whole clan is imprisoned, and nine clans are mining!
Zuo Zi turned around in a daze.

"Tell me, which noble family actually appointed you as the postmaster at the post station?"

According to the Ming Dynasty system, the official who managed the post station was the post station chief.

This position is usually obtained through donations from wealthy families.

However, the appointment of postmasters would also implement an avoidance system, meaning that people from the local area could not serve as officials here.

Historically, in a post station with a lot of money, the position of a postmaster was worth as much as three thousand taels of silver.

Therefore, every policy from the top has a countermeasure from the bottom.

The postmasters of many post stations would be replaced by their own people after the wealthy families bribed the clerks from other places to change the household registration.

Places like Nanzhi are full of wealthy and powerful families.

Naturally, the main officials and clerks in the government offices of prefectures, counties, post stations, and inspection offices had basically been replaced by their people long ago.

What's more, they also have people in the court.

In addition, each of them is rich enough to rival a country and has the money to spend.

Therefore, if a county magistrate came here to take office, it would be common for him to be sidelined or even killed if his methods were not strong enough.

Not to mention the county magistrates, there were also many high-ranking officials such as governors and governors who were forced to death in history.

Important officials such as Zhang Jing and Zhu Wan during the Jiajing period in history are all examples.

of course.

You have Zhang Liangji, I have a wall ladder.

For an official like Wu Tingju who had served as the Tongzhi of Songjiang Prefecture in Nanzhi, he was not unfamiliar with the real situation in places like Nanzhi.

Therefore, since he had decided to offend the Nanzhi gentry, he would naturally take precautions.

Seeing that Zuo Zi did not answer, Wu Tingju simply waved his hand and ordered his soldiers to restrain Zuo Zi and others.

At this time, Wu Tingju had received an imperial edict from the court ordering him to imprison the entire family of Gu Dingchen, Tao Zhongfu, Huang Kai, and the corresponding officials and civilians.

So, the next day, Wu Tingju went to Tao's house first and met Tao Xiang.

Tao Xiang was shocked to see Wu Tingju was still alive, and asked in a trembling voice, "Why did you come here?"

"Mr. Tao, are all the people of your clan here?"

Wu Tingju asked this question with a smile.

Tao Xiang became even more nervous after hearing this and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Do you even need to ask this, sir?"

"As the clan leader, wouldn't you know what your family has done?"

Wu Tingju still asked with a smile.

Tao Xiang couldn't help but take a deep breath, and said with a folded hand: "Sir, can you please spare me a moment to talk?"

Wu Tingju nodded.

then.

Tao Xiang brought Wu Tingju to his study, and after sending the servants away, he suddenly knelt down in front of Wu Tingju.

"What is this, Mr. Tao?"

"It was wrong of us to set fire to the Zhongcheng, so please be magnanimous and give us a chance to reconcile with you!"

Wu Tingju stroked his beard, anger suddenly flashing in his eyes, and asked, "So this matter is indeed related to you?"

"If you hadn't stood up for the Brave Guards, we wouldn't have resorted to this desperate measure!"

Tao Xiang replied.

then.

Tao Xiang added: "Since you are a military officer, you want the emperor to see your ability and make more use of you. We understand that, but you should know that we can't just sit back and watch whoever the emperor wants to make progress!"

"Your words are outrageous."

Wu Tingju replied with a smile.

Tao Xiang said: "You are a wise man. Now that things have come to this, I can only speak frankly."

"You're right."

"But this is an open conspiracy!"

"I have no other choice. If I die in your hands, my family can still keep the hereditary position of a thousand households. But if I die in the hands of the emperor, I am afraid I will lose this position too!"

"You know, although this fifth-rank Thousand Households official is not a very valuable position, it is hereditary, and it is better than having all my clansmen become commoners in the future."

"You should know that there is no official family in this world that can guarantee that there will be a number of Jinshi for more than three generations, and that they can be exempt from corvée and miscellaneous taxes!"

"You are also unlucky to have met such a Holy Son of Heaven!"

Wu Tingju smiled and asked Tao Xiang: "Do you think we should thank Yang Xindu? He really has a keen eye and is worthy of being the late emperor's imperial tutor!"

Tao Xiang was in no mood to joke, so he said with a gloomy face, "Let's make the price public."

"too late!"

Wu Tingju sighed and said, "The imperial edict has arrived. Let me first imprison your entire family! Your entire family will definitely be implicated."

"Imprison my entire clan?"

Tao Xiang was startled, and then asked, "Could it be that my son was sold out by Gu Dingchen?"

Wu Tingju didn't say much, just walked out and waved his hand.

"Yes!"

The generals under Wu Tingju immediately took action.

"First, arrest them together, and then put them in the shackles according to their age!"

"Yes!"

For a while.

A large number of officers and soldiers rushed into the inner courtyard of Tao's house.

"go!"

"Dare not to leave? Then eat the stick!"

"If you dare to resist, it is disobedience and you will be executed on the spot!"

The children, wives, and servants of the Tao family all cried out in panic.

Those who were usually domineering and arrogant were quickly beaten up like defeated fighting cocks and were escorted out with dishevelled hair and dirty faces.

A large number of money and contracts in Tao’s house were also collected and stored.

Tao Xiang himself seemed to have blocked out all of this and just stayed in the study in a daze.

Wu Tingju walked up to the soldiers who were about to go to other places to confiscate property and said, "Divide into teams and arrest the nine clans of Gu, Tao, Huang, Han, and Zhou who are related by marriage and put them in jail first! We will prepare for the emperor's judgment!"

"Yes!"

Suddenly, the sound of barking horses and dogs was heard in Kunshan, and then cavalry speedboats began to appear in Suzhou, Songjiang, and Changzhou.

While the Nanzhi side was arresting people, the Jinyiwei also arrived in Zhejiang, preparing to arrest Zhejiang Governor Sun Run and Inspector General He Yue.

After receiving Zhu Xizhou's letter, Sun Run and He Yue chose to cover up the crimes of the Nanzhi gentry in order to preserve the dignity of the literati. This was equivalent to choosing between the power of the literati and the power of the emperor, and choosing to yield to the power of the literati.

But at first, neither of them felt that this was the right choice.

After all, the emperor is far away.

According to their experience, the emperor would not find out whether they were deliberately delaying the rescue and allowing the pirates who invaded Yuyao to retreat calmly in advance, or whether they were just unlucky.

But what they didn't know was that the emperor was a man who was very suspicious of bureaucrats and literati like them, or in other words, he was not such a naive young emperor, and he didn't care so much about the lives of the people.

They instinctively felt that the emperor might be like them and not care much about the unnecessary deaths of some Yuyao people.

But as an ordinary person from later generations, Zhu Houcong would instinctively value the lives of ordinary people, especially those of his own clan.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong would never let it go.

Sun Run was shocked when he heard the Jinyiwei announce that the emperor was going to imprison them in the capital because they concealed the truth from the emperor and falsely claimed that a large number of pirates who invaded Yuyao were annihilated in Yuyao.

Because even he himself didn't know that the withdrawn pirates went to Jinshanwei.

"What kind of emperor have I met? He actually knows the place so well!"

Sun Run secretly complained in his heart, and at the same time he was extremely scared and regretful.

The Inspector General He Yue was also quite shocked when he learned that he was going to be imprisoned in the capital for deceiving the emperor and concealing the truth.

He really didn't expect that the emperor, whom they had always despised, would be so difficult to deceive.

"Don't really think that my eyes can only see the capital city."

"I know everything you know."

"I know things that you don't know."

"So, hiding the truth from me will do you no good."

"They say a good wife can hide the truth from both sides."

"But are you wives?"

"You are the ministers I chose to manage my household! Don't really think of yourselves as women!"

Zhu Houcong also admonished the court officials during the court trial of Gu Dingchen.

The court officials were all silent and listened to the instructions respectfully.

Many of them just secretly cursed Yang Tinghe, wondering why he chose such a smart emperor who truly loved his people like his own children.

originally……

They all thought that a prince who was willing to pretend to be frugal, polite and cowardly would be the same as them, just pretending to love the people like them, even if he was different from them and was truly simple.

But they didn't expect that the new emperor not only loved his people like his own children, but was also extremely cunning.

"Your Majesty is right. If we count the things that have happened since Your Majesty ascended the throne, we will find that the problems all stem from dishonesty in serving the emperor and disrespecting Your Majesty."

"Fortunately, your majesty is wise and has uncovered all these crimes."

"I think that these crimes should be compiled into a book and issued to the whole country to warn the governors, governors, prefects, prefects, prefects, townsmen and councilors."

Prime Minister Liang Chu suggested.

Zhu Houcong said: "Good! Let the cabinet do it."

Liang Chu bowed and said, "Gu Dingchen colluded with the pirates and wanted to murder the whole family of the ministers. He also wanted to sacrifice the people of the whole city. His heart is evil. It is necessary to punish all nine clans. However, in addition to the death penalty, killing all nine clans is too harmful to the harmony of heaven. After all, his relatives may not know his evil deeds, and even if they know his evil deeds, it is difficult to stop him."

"God has a benevolent heart, and I have always wanted to be a benevolent ruler."

"What's more, the Chinese are all my compatriots, and they are endowed with the best talents of our China. It would be a pity to kill them. We should expel them as much as possible to expand the virtue of our China!"

"So, except for myself who was sentenced to death, the rest were exiled to Donglai."

"According to the Jinyiwei who went to Donglai, there are a lot of gold and copper mines in the Jilong area of ​​Donglai. Let them go there to dig gold and copper for the court. It can be regarded as combining the example of copper fine in the Song Dynasty with exile. To motivate them, anyone who digs 100 kilograms of gold or 1,000 kilograms of copper can request pardon and return home."

"After all, the imperial court is currently in the process of reshaping the currency system, and it needs a large amount of gold and silver to boost the market. Mining domestic mines will inevitably damage feng shui and disturb the people. We should send criminals to mine in newly opened areas to benefit the country!"

"So, their female relatives no longer have to serve as official prostitutes. They are also sent to the place of exile, along with their families. They can marry each other or miners who are willing to migrate there to mine. Children are allowed to be taken to the place of exile with their parents."

Zhu Houcong said.

Many court officials were moved when they heard Zhu Houcong say that women did not have to serve as official prostitutes, and they all praised him sincerely: "Your Majesty is as benevolent as heaven, and it is a blessing for all the people!"

From then on, for a while, naturally no one dared to think of harming Wang Yangming again.

Wang Yangming continued to serve as the Minister of War, and the re-established Weiwu Camp continued to train.

Simultaneously.

The reform of adjusting the silver exchange ratio and returning the fire consumption to the public was also officially put on the agenda.

At the central level, it was presided over by Yang Yiqing, and at the local level, it was presided over by Zhu Xizhou who went to Nanjing.

But when Zhu Xi arrived in Nanjing on Monday, he found that officials and businessmen from various prefectures and counties reported that the number of clerks and runners in their government offices had suddenly decreased significantly.

"This is to show me your power!"

Zhu Xizhou couldn't help rubbing his temple and said something to his family who followed him.

then.

Zhu Xizhou picked up the "Official Guidelines" given to him by Zhu Houcong and began to read it.

……

"We just want to give Zhu Wuxian a warning!"

"The adjustment of the discount ratio is secondary. The key is that the fire consumption should be returned to the public. This will cut off the financial resources of our clerks!"

The new policy that Zhu Houcong was going to implement was now known to everyone in the southeast.

The people who were most dissatisfied with the new policy were the clerks in various government offices.

Because in the past, the fire consumption was determined by them at will, and at most a fixed portion was given to officials.

Now that the imperial court wants to return the fire consumption revenue to the public, it naturally means taking away their financial power.

Therefore, even the new clerks appointed by the Ministry of Personnel around Zhu Xizhou were discussing this matter behind the scenes.

A clerk named Hua Bangrui said this and then laughed:
"Now there is a shortage of officials in various places, and the fire consumption cannot be collected. How can it be returned to the public?"

However, after reading the official precepts given to him by Zhu Houcong, Zhu Xizhou suddenly slammed the table and stood up:

"My emperor is wise!"

"The pilot program of implementing the civil servant examination system will replace the selection by donation and punishment with the recruitment examination, so that poor and unsuccessful scholars can have more ways to enter the government!"

"That way we don't have to worry about the clerks suddenly disappearing in large numbers!"

"It can also ensure good governance! After all, donations are not as reliable as those passed the imperial examinations."

"And what my village lacks the most is scholars whose families have fallen on hard times and who cannot pass the imperial examinations due to poverty!"

(End of this chapter)