Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Then wouldn't this mean I'm left alone?"

When Zhang Shikang heard this, he immediately glanced at Xing Fangjun and said.

"Hehe, if the water is too clear, there will be no fish, sir." Xing Fangjun said warmly.

“First, show me the records of those who have committed illegal acts.

Then take people to raid the homes of Luo Yangxing and others. You are in charge of criminal justice, so you should know what to do.

Be efficient, I will wait until dark." Zhang Shikang ordered.

He would not dismiss all of them just because of this person's one-sided words.

Now is the time to recruit people, and the Donglin Party will never give up. He must reorganize the leadership team of the Jinyiwei as soon as possible, and then expand it.

After Xing Fangjun received the order, he hurriedly left the yamen with a group of people.

Zhang Shikang waited until it was getting dark, and Xing Fangjun really completed the task as expected. He brought more than 100,000 taels of silver and several large carts of various valuables that had been confiscated into the yamen.

At this time, Zhang Shikang had also finished reading the files of those officials who had committed illegal acts and had a general understanding of the officials present.

He dismissed officials who he thought had gone too far, such as framing others, taking bribes, and temporarily retained those who had only made minor mistakes but were doing a decent job.

After dealing with these, only half of the officials in the Jinyiwei Yamen were still in office.

But Zhang Shikang was not discouraged. As he told his brother Chongzhen, there was never a shortage of people who wanted to be officials in the Ming Dynasty.

He used the silver he had seized from Luo Yangxing to immediately pay off the salary arrears of all the Jinyiwei officials.

Many times, no matter how much you say, it’s all empty talk; only money is real.

Taking advantage of the boost in morale, Zhang Shikang said:

“For those of you who have committed illegal acts in the past, I will not punish you for your past, but from now on, you must perform your duties conscientiously.

If I hear from the Criminal Police Envoy that you have done something bad again, don't blame me for being merciless.

I will give you what you deserve without hesitation, but I need you to show your power and point your sword at my majesty's enemies.

Time is running out, so I won’t say more. Just work hard these days and I will promote you based on your performance.

The matter of expansion will be temporarily handed over to Xing Fangjun. In half a month, the number of Jinyiwei available in Beijing should reach 6,000. "

Finally, Zhang Shikang raised his voice again and said:

"Everyone, the Ming Dynasty has reached a critical moment. Your Majesty trusts me, and I trust you.

I look forward to working with you to restore the glory of the Jinyiwei!"

After saying this, Zhang Shikang left the Jinyiwei Yamen.

The officials present all had a hint of excitement on their faces. In the past, the Jinyiwei were so powerful that even important officials in the court would be wary of them. Who would not yearn for such a scene?

Xing Fangjun was also very excited. Even though other officials disliked him, Xing Fangjun said that he didn't care.

When Zhang Shikang left the Jinyiwei Yamen, it had already become completely dark, but he still did not go home.

He still had something to do, so he took a carriage to the East City military camp where Cao Bianjiao was.

He felt like he was really a firefighter, rushing to several government offices a day.

When they arrived at the city defense army’s base, Cao Bianjiao was chatting with several of his subordinates, but when he saw Zhang Shikang in person, he immediately went forward to salute excitedly.

It has been almost two months, and Cao Bianjiao thought that Zhang Shikang had forgotten him.

Although Cao Bianjiao is the general of Lintao, he has been traveling back and forth between various places in the interior to suppress bandits in recent years. Although the task of guarding the city defense is safe, it is very boring, and he is almost fading away.

"General Cao, I have something important to entrust to you." Zhang Shikang didn't waste any words and spoke directly after sitting down.

"Marshal, please give the order. I, Cao, will never frown even if we face dangers." Upon hearing this, Cao Bianjiao immediately became energetic, with his mouth grinning from head to neck.

He already knew that the emperor had appointed many military generals, so he became even more eager about the war.

"Go to Chongqing Prefecture and support Qin Liangyu."

"I obey your orders." Cao Bianjiao immediately bowed, but then said:

"The Marshal must be worried about Zuo Liangyu, right?"

"Oh? You know this person well?" Zhang Shikang asked with interest.

"Well, I have fought with this fellow several times in the past few years of suppressing bandits. He is a person of small mind, and is almost the same as Yang Gebu.

However, he was much worse than Yang Sichang. He often allowed his men to rob civilians, rape women, and even kill innocent people to claim credit.

After suffering a great defeat last year, this man has been conserving his strength and keeping his troops to himself. Although he does not have many military achievements now, he has a force of 50,000.

If the Marshal is planning to promote General Qin, Zuo Liangyu will be unhappy." Cao Bianjiao said truthfully.

Since the court didn't pay him, this guy went plundering without even having to find a reason. The court had been preoccupied with internal and external troubles for a long time, and didn't want to force Zuo Liangyu to rebel and make the situation worse.

Although Zuo Liangyu's army was in the name of an official army, it was actually no different from bandits. It was a group of legal bandits, which was really ridiculous.

"That's why I ordered you to go and support us. This time, I will give you one million silver coins to expand the White Spear Army. General Qin will be in charge of the specific matters, and you just need to follow his orders." Zhang Shikang explained.

"I think you know what happened in the court today. Maybe soon, the whole Ming Dynasty will be in chaos.

Remember, no matter how chaotic the situation is, you and General Qin have only one mission, which is to stop the bandits in Sichuan."

Zhang Shikang was extremely cautious when he said this. If the two bandit leaders escaped and the country was in turmoil at the time, the consequences would be disastrous.

"Don't worry, Marshal. Unless I and my six thousand men are all dead, I will not let a single bandit escape from Sichuan."

Cao Bianjiao knelt on one knee and signed a military order.

……

Half a month passed quickly, and during this half month, the atmosphere in the entire capital was very strange.

The capital city and even Shuntian Prefecture were filled with notices of conscription by the Beijing Barracks, the East Factory, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

In the imperial court, officials would resign almost every day, and the emperor of the time would approve all of them but would not allow them to leave the capital.

Within half a month, at least four to five hundred Beijing officials resigned, resulting in many vacancies in government offices.

While Emperor Chongzhen was promoting officials, he also issued an edict to recall old officials who had left their posts for various reasons in recent years.

Even so, the vacancy situation in various government offices cannot be resolved in a short period of time.

Ten days ago, with the overtime work of new cabinet ministers such as Cai Guoyong, Li Banghua, and Ni Yuanlu, and after several debates and revisions, the new industrial and commercial tax policies were finally finalized based on the discussions between Zhang Shikang and Emperor Chongzhen.

According to the new national policy, the Ministry of Revenue was forced to post notices to recruit failed students, and the Ministry of Revenue needed more manpower to participate in tax verification.

In this era with low literacy rates, there were not many people who knew mathematics, and only students could barely do the job.

However, the Ministry of Revenue's recruitment notice had been posted for a long time, but not many people came to apply, and the Minister of Revenue Cai Guoyong was so worried that he couldn't sleep.

He seriously suspected that Zheng Sanjun and others were behind the incident. He had heard that these people had great influence among the gentry class.

As soon as the decree on tax reform was issued, people on the streets were talking about it, and the merchants in the capital were filled with indignation.

At first, ordinary people were not affected much, but until three days ago, most of the merchants in the capital city raised their prices collectively as if they had agreed.

The price increase covers all daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil and salt that are related to the lives of ordinary people. What's more, the price increase even exceeds the income from commercial taxes.

Zhang Shikang immediately realized that it was that group of people who were behind the incident.

This was the Donglin Party demonstrating against him.

……