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

The report said that in the prefectures south of the Huai River, merchants not only resisted paying taxes, but also united to drive up prices, using their wealth to secretly recruit refugees to cause trouble. The government turned a blind eye, and students took to the streets...

The Luzhou and Yingzhou uprisings in Huainan have caused public resentment in various places, and the bandits are making a comeback.

Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing, three of the four towns in northern Jiangnan, all rebelled, and the gentry and great scholars in the south of the Yangtze River have united together.

The bureaucrats were headed by Nanjing Minister of Personnel Zhang Shenyan, the Confucian scholars, scholars, and gentry were headed by Qian Qianyi, and the nobles were headed by Duke of Wei Xu Hongji.

The entire Huainan, Jiangbei and Jiangnan regions were in chaos. They shouted slogans to abolish the new tax system and punish the traitor Zhang Shikang.

An unprecedented disaster seems to be approaching...

Emperor Chongzhen was certainly mentally prepared for the possibility of unrest in the south, as Zhang Shikang had reminded him of this a long time ago.

But he never expected that the scale of the turmoil would be so large, involving almost all the people, including common people, students, gentry, merchants, bureaucrats, and nobles.

The shadow of the bandits was still vivid in people's minds. Now the whole of Jiangnan was in rebellion, and Emperor Chongzhen was really scared.

After Wang Chengen left, Emperor Chongzhen walked around the hall anxiously. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He even began to doubt whether the new tax system was really too excessive.

It was not until half an hour later when Zhang Shikang arrived in front of the hall that Emperor Chongzhen seemed to have found his backbone.

"Stop being so polite, Shikang. Do you know about the disaster in the south?" Emperor Chongzhen walked up to Zhang Shikang and asked anxiously.

"Your Majesty, you are anxious again. How could I not know about this as I am in charge of the imperial guards?" Zhang Shikang smiled calmly.

Under Wang Chengen's instructions, two eunuchs carried over an elegant mahogany armchair.

That was the benefit Zhang Shikang got after complaining about Xiao Mudun countless times.

"The world is in chaos! How can I not be anxious?

The current chaos is even worse than that of Zhang Zemin and Li Zicheng. Not only the refugees, but also the gentry, merchants, students, officials and even the descendants of the founding nobles have all rebelled! !

Shikang, since you already knew about it, why didn't you take precautions earlier? You didn't even tell me, how could you...how could you do this, how could you do this!"

Emperor Chongzhen had red eyes as he questioned and blamed.

This was different from the previous joking rebuke. Emperor Chongzhen seemed really angry and even a little regretful that he should not have listened to Zhang Shikang in everything.

After all, he has just turned twenty!

Zhang Shikang sighed when he heard this.

“I know your majesty is anxious, but please don’t be anxious.

Eunuch Wang, please give His Majesty a cup of scented tea to calm him down."

Although he knew that this brother would only cause trouble when it had nothing to do with him, Zhang Shikang was helpless when he was criticized by Brother Chongzhen right from the start.

How can you accomplish anything if you are not calm enough?

Emperor Chongzhen frowned when he saw Zhang Shikang's calm face. He also realized that what he had just said was too harsh, and he sat back on the dragon throne anxiously.

After a while, Wang Chengen came over with a teapot and poured a cup for Emperor Chongzhen first, and then poured another cup for Zhang Shikang.

It was the first time that Wang Chengen saw the Emperor and the Marquis arguing, and it was also the first time that he saw the Emperor angry with Zhang Shikang.

He said nothing, just quietly did his job and prayed in his heart.

I hope that the Ming Dynasty can safely get through this crisis, and I hope that the emperor and the marquis will not bear any grudges because of this matter...

"Your Majesty, the unrest in Jiangnan and Jiangbei has always been within my expectations.

Moreover, it can be said that I was the one who made this happen.”

Zhang Shikang picked up the tea bowl and smelled it. It was indeed chrysanthemum tea for reducing internal heat.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't say anything, but his brows furrowed even more tightly.

"In order to get them to this point as quickly as possible, I even helped them. My father and brother have a lot of business over there..."

The implication is that the Duke of England was also behind this matter.

Emperor Chongzhen's brows were twisted into knots and his hands were clenched into fists. It was unclear whether he was out of anger or regret. He regretted that he should not have given such great power to Zhang Shikang.

But he still didn't say it, and forced himself not to ask why he did so.

"Alas, what a pity! Those princes are so patient that even at this point, no one joined in.

But never mind, I just want to ask Your Majesty now, the time has come for the land issue I mentioned earlier.

Your Majesty, have you considered it?"

Zhang Shikang was as calm as ever. He still did not give any explanation for the turmoil. Instead, he raised new questions. After that, he looked at Emperor Chongzhen.

In his opinion, a far-sighted emperor should have been able to understand this situation, which was not too complicated, long ago.

Even if you don't understand, you should stay calm instead of becoming suspicious and questioning your life, and getting angry at the people around you.

This is really fucking annoying. No wonder people who wanted to contribute did not dare to give advice to Emperor Chongzhen in the last few years of the Ming Dynasty.

This year he has been busier and more tired than when he was delivering food.

"If this matter can be settled, I will not spare the royal family." Emperor Chongzhen frowned.

He has actually been thinking about this issue for some time. Although doing so would be somewhat unworthy of his ancestors, the world is now in chaos again and he doesn't care too much about it.

After saying that, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but ask:

“Are you really confident?”

As he said this, his body leaned forward, his face was anxious, and his eyes were sharp. It was obvious that he was indeed very anxious about the situation.

"Since I can sit here confidently, I certainly have confidence. Before, I said I was 60 to 70 percent confident, but it's different now.

Ninety percent, I am now ninety percent sure."

Zhang Shikang felt a little relieved and gave his answer very calmly.

The reason why the royal family was included is because a considerable portion of the Ming Dynasty's land annexation came from the royal family.

If this problem cannot be solved, no matter how hard he tries, the final land reform will be deformed and flawed.

The reason why he asked now was that Zhang Shikang guessed that only in such a critical moment would Emperor Chongzhen understand that the royal family was of no help in times of crisis.

The reason why the chaos in the south and north of the Yangtze River was caused and as many people as possible were involved was even simpler.

The four northern provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong not only suffered from successive years of drought, locust plagues and plague, but were also purged several times by bandits. The power of the gentry and landlords was weak, and even most of the royal family members died, leaving large tracts of land barren.

But it was different in the south and north of the Yangtze River. Even if Zhang Shikang could kill some people in the Donglin Party and take back the land they had occupied.

But what about the landlords, gentry, and royal family? Especially the latter.

In fact, Zhang Shikang was initially worried that the merchants, gentry, and royal family members in the south of the Yangtze River would really pay taxes honestly and stabilize prices.

Although he could still find other reasons, they would never be as legitimate as they are now.

Now, you all want to rebel, right? It's a good opportunity to achieve your goal in one fell swoop. Come on, let the storm come even more violently.

"Ninety percent! Are you serious?

Three of the four towns in the north of the Yangtze River have rebelled, and even the people are on their side. There are also more than a hundred guards in the south and north of the Yangtze River...

Shikang, this is a serious matter, you can't talk nonsense!" Emperor Chongzhen said seriously.

"When it comes to military and national affairs, I never joke. Ninety percent is probably too little. It should be at least ninety-five percent," Zhang Shikang added seriously.

Emperor Chongzhen was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

……