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

"Your Majesty, I knew about this several days ago. That's not right. I had expected it before the national policy was announced."

Zhang Shikang sat on the small wooden stool.

The price rise in the capital was just a prelude. Zhang Shikang put out this evil fire with lightning speed. Zhou Kui, Earl of Jiading, and Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, were the victims of the battle to defend the capital's prices.

This is how the world is. Without sufficient understanding of the situation, everything you have may be lost in an instant.

A few days after the Earl of Jiading suffered a stroke, he passed away.

Zhu Chunchen is still drinking porridge in the cold imperial prison.

Surprisingly, when the Duke Cheng's mansion was searched, more than 200,000 taels of silver were unexpectedly seized. It turned out that this old man had a trick up his sleeve.

With the arrival of Zhang Shikang, the five ministers finally calmed down and sat up straight, and Emperor Chongzhen finally stopped wandering in the hall.

"Since you have already anticipated it and have a countermeasure, why are you reluctant to tell me?" Emperor Chongzhen said dissatisfiedly.

However, ever since Zhang Shikang arrived at the hall, Emperor Chongzhen's brows had stopped frowning, and now he even looked a little calm and composed.

Just as Zhang Shikang had predicted that merchants would drive up prices, Emperor Chongzhen had also long anticipated that this guy Zhang Shikang would definitely have a way to solve this problem.

"Your Majesty, when will you control your temper? You are the emperor," Zhang Shikang advised.

In fact, this was not the first time he had given advice. He had known for a long time that Brother Chongzhen was a bit eager for quick success.

If it were an ordinary person, it wouldn't be a big deal to have this small shortcoming, but this guy is the emperor. If he doesn't correct this problem, who knows how much trouble he will cause in the future.

Fortunately, he is keeping an eye on everything now, but Zhang Shikang didn't intend to be a firefighter forever, so he certainly hopes that this old man's bad habits can be improved to some extent.

The most important thing is that Zhang Shikang discovered that, except himself, no one dared to criticize the emperor.

Although it does hurt Brother Chongzhen's self-esteem a bit, I have to say it.

I originally wanted to just lie down and live a comfortable life, but now I am almost forced to become a model worker. Who can I go to for justice?

Emperor Chongzhen was not angry when he heard this. He actually knew in his heart that Zhang Shikang had no other intentions.

The ministers in the left and right halls were all on his side, and they discussed matters together every day, so he just thought that this kid needed to be punished again.

"I just don't want the people to suffer. Don't change the subject. Tell me what you think."

Zhang Shikang was still not in a hurry. He looked at Fan Jingwen who was present and said:

"Do you have any ideas, please share them."

Although the court nowadays is somewhat outrageous, the emperor and Marquis Guanjun are almost in the same boat, and the emperor does not pay much attention to other people's opinions. Most of the time, he follows Zhang Shikang's opinions.

But Zhang Shikang never thought of being the only one who had the final say. As long as what you said made sense or was more effective than his own methods, he would listen to you.

Of course, if you keep talking a lot of nonsense and can't make any sense, then you can't blame Zhang Shikang for being unsportsmanlike.

Fan Jingwen glanced at Li Banghua and found that he had no intention of speaking first, so he said:

“Your Majesty, it is almost certain that the merchants raised their prices at almost the same time and with the same excuses.

I believe that there must be someone behind this group of merchants directing them. Being able to mobilize so many merchants to act at the same time, the identity of this person must be extraordinary.

I also thought that the person who ordered this might not be just one person. The Ming Dynasty is vast and rich in resources, and the distance between the north and the south is long.

Perhaps they had planned this in advance and had already made arrangements in the north and south of the Yangtze River.

For now, I think the best solution is to require local governments to take a tough stance to curb prices.

Businesses that raise prices too much will be punished, but it is difficult to frame the charges, as this does not count as hoarding.

The best strategy is to find out all the people behind this. Without the leader, the merchants will be left without a backer, and everything will be solved easily."

Zhang Shikang listened carefully and nodded slightly from time to time.

In the absence of sufficient channels to obtain information, being able to figure out some clues from the traces can be considered as rich experience.

However, Zhang Shikang still felt that it was too conciliatory, so he looked at other people.

Minister of Personnel Ni Yuanlu took over the conversation and said:

"Mr. Fan's words make sense, but I think Mr. Fan shouldn't have too high expectations of the officials of the various state governments."

After saying this, Ni Yuanlu shut up.

Everyone present was pondering the underlying meaning of Ni Yuanlu's words, but Zhang Shikang looked at him with admiration.

Yes, if all officials in the world stood with the court, perhaps there would not be so many problems.

The bad thing lies in four words: collusion between officials and businessmen.

The Donglin Party members were not only in the capital, but more of them were distributed across the country. They might be students, teachers, retired or dismissed officials, and of course also those in office.

We cannot place our hopes on uncertain things. If local governments collude with that group of people and merchants, then everything I just said will be invalid.

“If even local officials cannot be trusted, then this matter will be difficult to handle.

The Censorate should be ordered to patrol various places, and if any collusion between officials and businessmen is found, it should be investigated and dealt with immediately and severely punished.

This may prevent other officials from being too presumptuous." Li Banghua frowned.

Zhang Shikang smiled slightly and said to Li Banghua:

"As far as I know, the Censorate has always been the base camp of the Donglin Party. Can these people really be trusted?"

Zhang Shikang knew that nearly half of the large boxes of memorials that impeached him were given by the Censorate.

"Humph, Master Zhang, you shouldn't generalize. There may be some corrupt officials in the Censorate, but there are also many loyal officials in the 110 censors in the 13 provinces and 13 provinces who are loyal to the court.

When treacherous officials were in power, they had no choice but to do this. Now that the government is clear and transparent, many people have visited me, hoping to join this struggle that concerns the court's major plans."

Li Banghua obviously disliked the unruly Zhang Shikang, and he was too lazy to even pretend.

This is the confidence to not fear death.

But Zhang Shikang was not angry, and there was even a smile on his lips.

“Even if 30% of them are loyal to the court, there are only 30 people. Even if these people run around to the two capitals and thirteen provinces, how long will it take to investigate and handle the case and finally implement it?

How long can the people who cannot afford to buy food wait?"

Whether it is Li Banghua or Fan Jingwen, the countermeasures they discussed may be effective, but their efficiency is too slow.

In fact, it is not their fault. If we follow their ideas, even if the tax system needs to be reformed, the process from initial discussion to reaching a conclusion and then to final implementation will take years.

But Zhang Shikang shortened the process to one month, which caused all the conflicts to erupt at once.

After Zhang Shikang said this, the other ministers fell silent. Yes, even if there were twice as many people, the efficiency of supervising officials across the country would not be improved much.

How long can the people endure this? What if, halfway through the investigation, the people can’t help but rebel? Who will be able to take responsibility for this?

Upon seeing this, Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Zhang Shikang, and his meaning was very clear.

Stop pretending, kid. If you have something to say, just say it.

Zhang Shikang then said seriously:

"Hey, you guys don't think that the millions of taels of silver that the court has spent recently were all wasted, right?

The 10,000 soldiers of the Eastern Jishi Factory are now ready.

The eight thousand imperial guards of the Imperial Guard are ready to go.

The 40,000 new troops in the Beijing camp train day and night, and the 40,000 veteran soldiers are ready for battle at any time.

They have been waiting for this day for a long time. "

……