The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 404: Eastern Official

On June 1th of the first year of Wuding, the Linqing Banknote Customs and the Ministry of Revenue’s Tax Office (Note ) met at the intersection of Henan and Bei. Standing tall on the bank was the most famous Wanghe Tower in the state capital.

Li Dongyang (Note 2), a Grand Secretary during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, wrote in his poem “Aotouji”:
Ten miles of houses stretch along both banks, their tall buildings reaching into the blue sky. Official ships and merchant vessels pass by one after another, and the sound of drums and gongs can be heard everywhere.

It describes the prosperity of Linqingzhou City on the canal.

Linqing is a place where merchants gather and the population is dense, so it goes without saying that the Wanghe Tower in Aotouji is a place with flourishing literary culture and is a gathering place for literati, poets, and hangers-on.

On weekdays, the upstairs would be crowded with people who came to listen to stories and drink tea, and listen to the failed candidates who were blocked by rain on their way home, venting their anger and reciting stories such as "General Xuanwu's Battle with Jin Bayala" or "The Romantic Affair of Emperor Wuding" to pass the long summer.

However, today Wanghe Tower was deserted and no one was seen. Not to mention the storyteller who was commenting on the romantic affair between Emperor Wuding and Dayuer, not even a beggar could be seen.

As the Eastern official said, "You can catch a bird with a basket."

At noon on the 30th, Mr. Dongfang, the owner of the drug store in Bao'an Hall on the west street of the city, invited several prominent figures of Linqing to discuss matters in a private room on the second floor.

After three rounds of drinks, Dongfang Zhu thought of asking Li Guijie from Lichunyuan to drink with him, so he asked his servant Daian to call her.

Dai'an went for a while and came back sweating profusely.

"Master, all the women in the state capital have been dragged by soldiers to make armor plates. They say the soldiers from the south are coming!"

Mr. Dongfang was getting impatient and angrily said to Dai'an:

"I don't care if the soldiers fight or not. I'm waiting for Sister Gui to have a drink. Where is she?"

"Sister Li Gui asked the soldiers to do some work, saying they would pay her ten cents for half a day."

Hearing that his friend was being forced to weave armor, Dongfang Zhu was immediately enraged:

"Useless thing, I'll slap you on the head!" Dongfang Zhu slapped the servant on the head and cursed in a thick Linqing dialect.

The servant Dai'an covered his face in grievance. Fortunately, he ran fast, otherwise he would have been caught by the soldiers on the street and stoned.

After beating the servant, Dongfang Zhu looked up at the other people sitting in the private room and raised his glass to drink with them. They were all dressed as officials, like clerks in the Linqing Prefecture government office.

Dongfang Zhu drank it all in one gulp, slammed the glass heavily on the table, his face reeking of alcohol, and said angrily:

"These Liaodong bastards have actually established themselves in Linqing City and won't leave. Now they've ruined a lot of banknote businesses! They're truly despicable!"

A clerk sitting opposite Dongfang Zhu trembled his chopsticks, picked up a piece of greasy venison, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it without chewing.

"These damn Kaiyuan soldiers, just after wreaking havoc in Jining, are now running to Linqing. They've been distributing land to the peasants, recruiting boatmen, and even taking in a lot of Shaanxi bandits. It seems they don't want to leave!"

The fat clerk next to them listened to the conversation between the two and said with disdain:

"The emperor is dead, Liaodong is in turmoil, and the ships in Dengzhou have been burned by bandits from Shaanxi. Where can these soldiers escape to? They claim to be helping us suppress the White Lotus, but in reality they want to occupy the city, recruit soldiers, and steal our taxes!"

Dongfang Zhu became more and more angry as he listened, and gnashed his teeth and said:
"Ever since this soldier came into the city, my eighteen shops have been charging an extra two qian for each bottle of King Kong Powder and Changting Pills from Jiangnan! When the medicinal materials arrived in Yangzhou, no one was willing to take them. In just six months, I've lost over thirty thousand taels! When Magistrate Huang was in power, he would never have competed with the people for profit like this! Damn, he's even more ruthless than the tax collectors of the Wanli Dynasty!" (Note 3)

After hearing this, the fat clerk put down his wine glass, pointed at Dongmen Zhu's nose, and said with a lewd smile on his face.

"Hahaha, it's even better if you can't sell those aphrodisiacs in your shop. Don't you have one wife and six concubines at home? Just keep them for yourself!"

"The great master of Dongmen has more than one wife and six concubines. Almost half of the women in Linqing Prefecture are his mistresses!"

"Don't talk nonsense, there's more to Linqing than just the North Grand Canal, south to Qinhuai, north to the capital, the East Gate official, the flower garden veteran, everywhere they leave their traces..."

Several petty officials laughed lewdly with their bellies sticking out. Dongfang Zhu's face turned pale and red, but he couldn't get angry, so he just tilted his head back and drank a few more glasses of wine.

Dongfang Zhu is thirty-five or thirty-six years old this year. He is originally from Qinghe County, Shandong Province. His parents offended the local bully Wu Dalang, so the whole family had to move to Linqing and opened a medicine shop. When the business came to Dongfang Zhu, he relied on his cleverness and intelligence to make the business bigger and bigger. He also made friends with the local prefect and heard that he also had connections with Deng Yushi in the capital.

Dongfang Zhu was born in a very frivolous way. He wore a tasseled hat, a golden bell-shaped hairpin, and a gold and jade railing ring on his head. He had a long waist and wore a green pleated dress. On his feet he wore Chenqiao shoes with fine soles and clear cloth socks. In his hand he waved a gold-sprinkled Sichuan fan.

In the words of Wang Ganniang, who works in a tea shop on East Street in Linqing, this great man from the East has the looks of Pan An, the money of Deng Tong, and is a desirable person.

Pan Lu and Deng Xiaoxian each took up four. "This year has been one bad thing after another. Let's go to the Goddess Temple tomorrow to pray! I dare you to get rid of the bad luck!"

Just after the Lantern Festival, the grain transport soldiers stationed at the bank demanded pay, and the military officers stormed the county government office. The prefect, Mr. Huang, had a lot of trouble to calm the situation down, but then the remnants of the White Lotus sect came again, robbing merchants and burning grain ships. It was not until Jining (the Kaiyuan military base) sent more than 4,000 soldiers that the White Lotus sect was suppressed.

As soon as General Pu killed the White Lotus Sect and left, a group of bandits from Shaanxi fled from the east of Henan to Shandong. The bandit leader was Liu Fangliang, who led the elite troops of the old camp to burn, kill and loot everywhere, all the way from Qingzhou Prefecture to Linqing.

There are less than 2,000 grain transport troops stationed in Linqing. They can do nothing but extort and bully the white ships and demand pay. They are like mice seeing a cat when they see the bandits.

So the prefect Huang had no choice but to once again ask the Qi army, which had just returned to Jining, to come back for the rescue.

After a fierce battle, Pu Yingguan led 4,000 soldiers to drive away Liu Fangliang and forced the bandits back to Henan. In the blink of an eye, it was the sixth day of May. Suddenly, there was a loud thunder and an upheaval in the capital. It was said that Emperor Wu Ding had disappeared and most of the emperor's soldiers had died.

When the Qi army stationed in Linqing heard the news, they simply did not return to Jining, but gathered the defeated soldiers who had fled from various places, guarded the canal, and began to take root in Linqing.

Everyone in Linqing knew that the Emperor Wuding in the capital was originally a military commander in Liaodong before he became famous. It was said that he was even a servant under General Liu Jing. Somehow, his ancestors had accumulated good merits and their tombs were filled with smoke, and he became an emperor in just seven or eight years.

However, Linqing was not under the jurisdiction of Emperor Wuding. There were only a few thousand Kaiyuan soldiers, who were usually stationed in Jining and had no control over this place.

Dozens of merchants and hundreds of thousands of businesses in Ma Shi Street, Zhan Shi Street, Guo Shi Street, and the charcoal factory had no feelings for the shattered Emperor Wu Ding, let alone grief over the death of this emperor.

Just die.

However, after occupying the city, the Liaodong soldiers who remained behind in Linqing completely disregarded the rules. First, they confiscated the weapons of the grain transport troops, beheaded all the grain transport soldiers who had previously protested for pay, and dismissed the rest of the troops. They also controlled the banknotes, sent in some kind of civil affairs officials to collect taxes, and forced merchants to contribute to the defense of the city. They organized the over 200,000 civilians who hadn't fled the city. The men built walls, moved bricks, and dug trenches, while the women wove and patched armor. They acted as if they were determined to defend Linqing to the death, bringing the city into a state of chaos and smog.

"We can't let these soldiers oppress and bully us. They bribe the peasants with a few coins every day to get them to defend the city with their lives. They're using our silver!"

Dongfang Zhu slammed his wine glass on the table and looked at everyone fiercely.

The fat clerk squinted his eyes at the Dongfang official who had many wives and concubines, and said with a smile:

"What's the point of extorting a few taels of silver from you? Judging from the situation, the government office will have to be replaced by their people. We brothers are on the government payroll. If we want to get together for a drink like today again, we'll have to go to hell!"

Mr. Dongfang looked around and saw murderous intent on everyone's face.

He waved to the servant standing at the door of the private room, and Dai'an immediately retreated tactfully, carefully closing the door when he left.

After the servant left, another clerk said:

"When General Liu (Liu Zongzhou) surrounds Linqing, and there's no food left in the city, the soldiers will rob us and even kill us."

Everyone was silent, they knew this was the truth. It was said that this group of Kaiyuan soldiers did the same thing in Jining.

In their words: Fight the landlords and divide the land.

The fat official clenched his fists, the kind smile on his face disappeared, and he said viciously:

"Liu Zhaosun, that bastard, dared to kill even the Duke of Qufu Yansheng back then. What else would he not dare to do? We must prepare early and not be like meat on the table, to be slaughtered by others."

After hearing this, Dongfang Zhu suddenly stood up, pulled out a sharp dagger from his waist, and stabbed it hard on the table.

"Each family should contribute money and hire a few capable young thugs to go to Yangzhou to find Commander Liu. We should set a date, set a fire, and have the servants of each family come out to kill. Together, we can kill these Liaodong thugs. Linqing will be ours!"

After hearing this, several minor officials nodded in agreement, and then everyone began to discuss how much each family should contribute.

They started arguing after just a few words.

Finally, Dongfang, the local boss of Linqing, who was usually treacherous, greedy and lustful, took the initiative to say that he would take the lead in going to various merchants. He could pay more money than others, and only hoped to find the right people to get the job done.

Note:
1. See Zhang Tingyu, History of Ming Dynasty, Volume , Food and Goods, Commercial Taxes

2. Li Dongyang: Born on June 1447, the 7th year of the Zhengtong reign (21-1516), died on July 8, the 17th year of the Zhengde reign (July , -August , ). His courtesy name was Binzhi, and his pseudonym was Xiya. His ancestral home was Chaling, Huguang (present-day Chaling, Hunan). Due to his family's military background, he served in the imperial court and was a member of the Imperial Guards. He was the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty. He wrote many books.

3. Linqing Rebellion: In the 1599th year of the Wanli reign (), the eunuch Ma Tang levied taxes in Linqing, Shandong. Hundreds of his followers looted in broad daylight, charging those who resisted with breaking the law. The tax also included rice and beans. This sparked a popular uprising. Markets closed near and far, and citizens gathered in a crowd of to set fire to Ma Tang's government office, killing of his followers.

(End of this chapter)