Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Kill them on the spot!

……

The unrest in Ningxia has gradually subsided.

The total number of people who died as a result of the rebellion, including the mutinous soldiers who were killed, was more than 60,000.

More than 80% of the large landowners and pastors were either killed during the suppression of the rebellion or captured and executed.

The remaining 20% ​​of survivors were filled with fear and anger, but they had no choice but to accept the division of their land and pastures.

The first "Grand Military Judge" of the Ming Dynasty, who was the chief judge of the highest military court, personally led the military judges and supervisors to Ningxia and Shaanxi.

This general's real name was Fu Yuanheng, and he was the true initiator of the movement to follow Zhao Yuan in organizing troops.

Chapter 3888 Demotion

He was born into the prominent Fu family of Suzhou, and his grandmother was from the Gong family of Suzhou.

One of the Gong family's ancestors even sacrificed his entire family to defend the Southern Tang Dynasty in the early Northern Song Dynasty.

Even the two little girls in the family were killed by the Song army that stormed into the city.

Fu Yuanheng's family fortune was completely destroyed by Fang La.

He despised the incompetent emperor and treacherous officials, so Zhao Yuan was exiled to Guizhou. Among the students of the Imperial Academy, he was the first to advocate following Mr. Zhu to Guangxi.

However, after Zhao Yuan raised an army in rebellion, Fu Yuanheng changed his name to Fu Shou and was among the first to agree with the uprising.

Lei Guan also entered officialdom at the same time as him, but unfortunately Lei Guan died young, otherwise he would certainly have become a high-ranking official as well.

This time, the military supervisory system is very important.

In addition to the censors of the Censorate, Zhao Yuan also drew personnel from the legal departments of various prefectures and counties.

Most of them are young people, with an average age of only thirty.

Since they do not interfere in the daily or wartime affairs of the military, they do not need to be proficient in military regulations; they only need to be familiar with the military structure and relevant laws.

Fu Yuanheng was an honest, upright, and conscientious man.

Yes, his handwriting is also excellent; he was a calligrapher in history.

Fu Yuanheng received his new official position and headed straight for Linzhou with his subordinates.

……

Linzhou.

Civil and military officials gathered together.

Yao Pingzhong occupied the main position.

Because Yao Pingzhong's official rank was much higher than that of Prefect Hu Xiang.

He was not the commander of Linzhou, but the general of Linfu!

Because the Western Xia dynasty was destroyed last year, the Linfu region was divided up.

A portion remained in Shaanxi, while a large area of ​​former Western Xia territory was carved out and incorporated into Linzhou as a new administrative region.

A portion of it was incorporated into Shanxi, becoming the northwesternmost part of Shanxi.

A very small portion was also assigned to Xihe Prefecture and became part of the Ningxia Governor-General's Office.

Along with this came changes in the garrison.

The core troops were transferred to Linzhou for garrison duty, and the remaining troops were moved to various prefectures in Ningxia, leaving only a small number of troops in Fugu—because Fugu had been transformed from the front line into the rear.

Many of Yao Pingzhong's troops received awards last year for their meritorious service.

General Wang De was even directly granted the title of Marquis, and his military rank was promoted two levels, but his military position did not change much. He was transferred to Yinchuan Prefecture with his troops.

As for Yao Pingzhong himself, his rank was raised by one grade, and his fief and real estate were increased.

He was promoted two ranks in his military rank, and received a large material reward. His family was posthumously honored for three generations, and his wife was also granted additional titles.

His military rank will remain unchanged for the time being, but the imperial court has promised that once the local administration is stable, Yao Pingzhong will be transferred to be the commander-in-chief of Shanxi.

His troops were split up, and his defense zone was suddenly reduced to a smaller size. This was only a temporary arrangement to facilitate the intimidation of the Dangxiang tribes in western Linzhou.

The Ministry of War's official document made this very clear: he could be transferred to a high-ranking position in at most two years, and he wasn't the only one arranged to do so.

However, Yao Pingzhong still harbored resentment, believing that this was Zhang Guangdao's retaliation.

Now he dares not complain anymore, because he has already messed things up!

Prefect Hu Xiang said, "The disaster relief grain has been distributed, and the farmland and grassland have also been distributed to farmers and herdsmen."

"However, due to the rebellion, very few Western Xia immigrants remained there, and Han Chinese had to be relocated to cultivate and graze there."

"Are the Han people willing to migrate?" Yao Pingzhong is now trying his best to make amends in order to reduce the punishment imposed on him by the court.

Hu Xiang was also trying to make amends: "I heard that we can get land and grassland, and the Han people of Linzhou are willing to migrate there."

"They were already right next to each other, so the migration was completed in ten days to half a month."

Chapter 3889 Baron

"Moreover, many of the so-called Han people in Linzhou are actually Western Xia serfs and mountain barbarians who have fled here in the past ten years or so."

“The Tangut people over there are almost all dead, and they have vacated all the land, so the people of Linzhou are naturally willing to relocate.”

Yao Pingzhong sighed and said, "I'm sorry to trouble you, Prefect. Please make sure there are no more mistakes in relocating the people."

"I would never dare," Hu Xiang said.

The civil and military officials of Linzhou were all filled with sighs at this moment.

While fearing punishment from the imperial court, he also resented the cunning remnants of the Western Xia.

The various Dangxiang tribes in Linzhou rebelled, yet they did not attack the city, nor did they attack the various fortified villages, and they were even too lazy to plunder the Han countryside.

They directly dragged their families across provinces, catching Yao Pingzhong, who had long been prepared to quell the rebellion, completely off guard and unable to cope.

In comparison, the rebels in Xuanzhou were much more obedient. They foolishly went to attack the county seat, only to be defeated in a single battle by five hundred garrison troops, who then wiped out the remnants in just half a month.

If the rebel tribes in Linzhou were a little less intelligent or moved around a little slower, Yao Pingzhong could quickly stabilize the situation.

……

During the agonizing days that felt like years, the people of Linzhou completed their westward migration and received enough oxen, livestock, seeds, clothing, and farm tools.

The population of those former Western Xia territories that were incorporated into Linzhou was essentially replaced.

More than 90% of them were Han Chinese who had migrated there, while less than 10% were the original inhabitants of the Western Xia.

The land is vast and the people are sparse.

The population was even smaller than during the Western Xia dynasty!

Finally, the imperial envoy sent by the court arrived, accompanied by some civil and military officials.

The civil and military officials of Linzhou greeted the emperor ten miles outside the city, but the imperial messenger responsible for conveying the imperial decree remained expressionless.

The emperor's attendant immediately announced the contents of the imperial edict: "Hu Xiang, the prefect of Linzhou, Du Wenyuan, the prefectural judge, and Li Jun, the clerk of the Household Department, are hereby detained pending trial."

"If there is no evidence of corruption or bribery, each of them shall be demoted three ranks and placed under temporary employment."

"If corruption or abuse of power is found, it will be dealt with according to the law! Other civil officials will not be investigated for the time being, but those found to be involved will be dealt with according to the law."

The three civil officials who were named immediately collapsed to the ground.

With so much disaster relief money and supplies in their hands, how could they not be corrupt?

Out of fear of the law, they didn't embezzle much. If things hadn't escalated, they certainly wouldn't have been investigated, but now they're escalating the matter!

The other civil officials had mixed feelings. On the one hand, they were glad that they hadn't been named, as the court clearly didn't want to escalate the situation.

On the one hand, they were afraid of being implicated in a corruption case and being taken advantage of and prosecuted.

The generals shared similar thoughts at this point.

The imperial court only named three civil officials, which doesn't seem like they're going to massacre the officials in Linzhou. I guess they won't be too harsh on the military officers either.

The emperor's attendant turned to the other side: "Yao Pingzhong!"

"exist!"

Yao Pingzhong immediately knelt down, and even kowtowed several times in fright.

The emperor's messenger said, "Yao Pingzhong is demoted to baron. His military rank and position are both reduced by five levels. He must return to the capital immediately to await further instructions."

Yao Pingzhong immediately collapsed there.

It's over, it's over.

His title was stripped, and his military rank and position were both reduced, as if he had returned to the pre-Ming Dynasty era.

Even if he could still serve as a military officer, it would definitely be a sinecure, and he would never be able to lead troops into battle and earn merit again.

At the same time, Yao Pingzhong also felt a sense of relief at surviving a disaster.

At least they preserved his title of baron and allowed him to return to the capital to serve as a sinecure; they didn't confiscate his property or exile him.

Chapter 3890 Military Power

Fu Yuanheng walked up to Yao Pingzhong, patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "Hand over all your assets here honestly, or I'll have to investigate."

"His Majesty has already left room for maneuver; you should think it through carefully."

"Yes!" Yao Pingzhong's body trembled.

Yao Pingzhong did not have any powerful backers, but Wu Jie, Wu Lin, Wang De, and others were all former subordinates of Yao Pingzhong.

Even the Liu brothers served as Yao Pingzhong's subordinates for a year.

Moreover, when Yao Pingzhong and his son led their troops to surrender, they voluntarily handed over tens of thousands of troops and the Hehuang region.

All of these factors must be considered in light of their impact.

As I said before, the emperor has many things to consider and cannot condemn Yao Pingzhong outright.

Yao Pingzhong's later life was already arranged; he was sent to Luoyang Military Academy as a teacher, where he would teach some of the most basic military subjects.

Fu Yuanheng ignored the civil officials and left the matter to the relevant personnel.

The person who temporarily took over Yao Pingzhong's post was Yang Yun, a Qiang general transferred from Hebei.

Yang Yun was already a marquis and his original position was the General Commander of Hebei. He was more than capable of intimidating Yao Pingzhong's former subordinates.

Summoning all the generals to the General's residence, Yang Yun said, "The imperial court has established the Military Supervisor, which is under the jurisdiction of the Censorate. This Mr. Fu is the Military Supervisor."

"A military supervisory office has also been set up in Linzhou. From now on, military laws and regulations will still be managed by military judges, but other military-related cases will be handled by the military supervisory office."

The officers were utterly shocked.

Fu Yuanheng said, "When the imperial court thoroughly investigated the corruption and abuse of power by civil officials, it said that apart from murder cases, cases committed before a certain date would not be investigated."

"Now that the military supervisory commission is thoroughly investigating all military units, we are giving you a chance. From the date the military supervisory commission is established in your unit, any cases committed before that date will be forgiven, except for murder cases."

"Also, hand over the money and grain you embezzled after destroying Xia! Those were either military funds or disaster relief funds and grain."

"If you hand it over voluntarily, the court will pretend nothing happened. But if it's discovered later, the Military Supervisor will be dealt with according to the law!"

If he acted solely on his personal whims and sought only to vent his own desires, Zhao Yuan would have severely punished the soldiers.

However, the results of a thorough investigation of civil servants across the country in previous years have shown that excessive investigation can lead to serious problems.

At the time, it terrified officials across the country. Everyone was in a state of panic, and they couldn't even do their jobs. Many provincial, prefectural, and county government offices were shut down, and even tax collection was delayed.

Left with no other choice, Zhao Yuan had to order a halt to the investigation, announcing that the investigation would cease after New Year's Day of the following year.

At the same time, a timeline was drawn up, indicating that past crimes would not be punished, but future offenses would be tried together with past crimes, and the "Great Ming Code" was amended after major cases.

This decision restored calm to the national bureaucracy and allowed government offices at all levels to resume their work after being shut down.

The emperor's goal was not to punish corrupt officials or make all corrupt officials deserve their punishment.

Instead, the goal is to curb unhealthy trends and rectify official corruption across the country; achieving this objective is sufficient.

Achieved.