prosperous age

"This humble official greets Grand Secretary Wei."

"This humble general pays his respects to Grand Secretary Wei."

At the Binjiang Wharf in Hangzhou, banners were fluttering, and the surrounding area had been placed under martial law by government troops.

At the dock, a group of civil and military officials knelt to welcome Wei Guangde, the second-ranking minister of the cabinet, who had come from the capital to Hangzhou.

Wei Guangde stood on the dock, looking at the kneeling officials, especially the one in the scarlet robe at the head, and couldn't help but snort coldly.

"Governor Wu, your name is Shanyan. So how do you plan to explain the matter of Luomuying in Hangzhou to the imperial court?"

Without following the usual pleasantries and asking the Hangzhou officials to rise, Wei Guangde directly questioned Wu Shanyan, the governor of Zhejiang.

This reform, which originated in the sixth year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, has been in full swing since last year and has finally reached its climax.

To prevent any unforeseen events, Wei Guangde issued a document through Zhang Ke of the Ministry of War to the generals and garrison commanders in various regions, requiring each army to closely monitor the local areas and to directly dispatch troops to suppress any unrest without waiting for orders.

With the palace keeping a close eye on things, the cabinet dared not be careless, even though Wei Guangde patted his chest and said nothing would happen.

In fact, as the imperial edicts were issued, although there was much discussion in the court and some officials even submitted memorials to oppose them, the cabinet and the palace were of one mind and forcibly pushed forward the reforms.

Some officials from Jiangnan conspired to block the palace gates and cause trouble, but this was forcefully suppressed by the Imperial Guards.

This time, several officials were dismissed to quell the incident.

Zhang Juzheng displayed a domineering attitude towards civil officials, demoting or even dismissing those who opposed major reforms.

With the officials in the capital dealt with, the local authorities lost much of their confidence.

With the performance evaluation system in place, there was a limit to how much local officials could shirk responsibility; otherwise, those disgraced officials in the capital would have suffered the same fate.

Meanwhile, the clerks in the local government offices, who were most prone to causing trouble, were actually the most at ease because the imperial court officially granted them official titles and provided them with monthly salaries.

The salary was not much, and might even be less than what one could earn on their own. However, even those who were ranked below the ninth rank and were considered low-ranking, received 2 shi of rice per month and an annual salary of six to eight taels of silver.

It should be noted that according to the imperial court's salary system, the lowest-ranking official of the ninth rank was entitled to a salary of seventy shi of rice per year, but after being converted to silver, it was only fifty shi. The thirty guan of paper money was practically the same as nothing. This time, it was changed to ten taels of silver.

With the officials appeased, local officials couldn't cause any trouble even if they wanted to.

After all, they don't do it themselves; they always arrange for others to do it.

But now that these people have official positions, they are naturally unwilling to risk their careers.

In reality, they couldn't really be considered to have entered officialdom, but there was always room for advancement within the government offices.

Therefore, after the new law was implemented, it was useless for local gentry and powerful families to seek help from local officials or officials in the capital. Meanwhile, the soldiers, whom they usually looked down upon, were now watching with predatory eyes.

Even if these powerful families have many skilled guards, what good is that?

On the battlefield, they're nothing.

Therefore, although the memorials from various places all expressed boiling public resentment, in reality, they did not cause much trouble; they were all much ado about nothing.

According to the results of the secret investigation conducted by the Censorate in various places, although the actual taxes paid by farmers did not decrease significantly after the reform of the tax and labor service system, they felt more at ease because they no longer had to worry about being forced into labor service.

Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde both knew what the people feared most, so when they were spreading the word, they emphasized that the court would no longer assign corvée labor to the people.

In the past, projects that required corvée labor from the people will now be scheduled to recruit workers during the off-season for farming. If people are willing, they can go to work and will receive a certain amount of wages every day, so it will no longer be free labor.

A year after the new law was implemented, the Ming Dynasty was relatively stable and no major incidents occurred. The inner court and the cabinet thought that the matter had landed smoothly. However, the soldiers of Luomu Camp in Hangzhou Prefecture launched a mutiny due to a dispute over military pay, which shocked the court and the public.

Wei Guangde was completely bewildered when he saw the report, and only then did he realize what was happening.

The border troops' pay was paid through the Ministry of War's accounts and distributed by the Ministry of War, while the local garrisons' pay was paid through the local government's retained portion.

In its early years, the garrison had all its income, but the imperial court did not pay a single penny of military expenses.

However, with the collapse of the military-agricultural system, the imperial court has now directly distributed the military-agricultural land to military households during this land survey, issuing land deeds to the Ministry of War.

From now on, no matter how military households live, as long as one person from each household serves as a soldier in the garrison, that's fine.

The military equipment was taken back and the military households were no longer allowed to keep it. Their income mainly came from the farmland they were allocated. The imperial court was only responsible for the food and clothing of the soldiers who entered the garrison, and would give them a reward of one tael of silver every year.

This was the treatment of regular garrison soldiers in the mainland, but seeing that the memorial reported the officers and soldiers of Luomu Camp, Wei Guangde guessed that they were not garrison soldiers, but camp soldiers recruited by the local authorities.

Although these officers and soldiers were registered with the Ministry of War, they were not under the Ministry's jurisdiction and were entirely supported by the local authorities.

When Zhang Ke arrived, he explained what exactly was going on with Luomu Camp.

Just as Wei Guangde had guessed, these were not soldiers drawn from the garrison, but rather soldiers recruited by Zhejiang itself in its early years to protect Hangzhou.

"During the Jiajing era, when Japanese pirates harassed the southeast, Governor-General Hu Zongxian recruited a large number of Zhejiang people as soldiers. Because the Zhejiang soldiers made outstanding contributions in the fight against the Japanese pirates, after the Japanese pirates were quelled, the court did not dismiss these anti-Japanese Zhejiang soldiers, but reorganized them for the purpose of protecting the city and defending the flood."

This group of more than 40,000 Zhejiang soldiers were organized into 9 battalions, of which 2 battalions were used to guard Hangzhou and 7 battalions were used for flood control. They would go on patrol in March and return to their barracks in June when the flood season ended. They were paid 9 qian of silver per month.

This system began in the late Jiajing period and continues to this day.

The group protesting over unpaid wages was the Luomu Camp, stationed outside Yongchang Gate in Hangzhou.

This is what Zhang Ke said in the cabinet: the troops that should have been supported by the Zhejiang governor's office have now mutinied due to lack of pay and caused trouble. The Ministry of War is naturally unwilling to take the blame.

As for Wei Guangde's visit, in addition to understanding the situation, he also wanted to see Songjiang Prefecture; otherwise, it wouldn't have been necessary for him, a Grand Secretary, to personally travel south to handle the matter.

In fact, after the mutiny occurred, the South China Sea Navy stationed in Hangzhou Bay was mobilized and directly surrounded the Luomu Camp's garrison, preventing the mutineers from storming into Hangzhou City.

The city was also cleared out, and the officers and soldiers of each battalion on the streets were driven back to their camps. Among them were people who had escaped from Luomu Camp, who were all temporarily detained.

Since the matter involved the Governor of Zhejiang, Yu Dayou took no further action. After the report was submitted, it was no longer of much concern to him. He simply waited for someone from the capital to handle it.

So Wei Guangde came here.

“Grand Secretary Wei, it was all troublemakers causing trouble. I have already investigated and found that the officers of Luomu Battalion, Ma Wenying and Yang Tingyong, led a group to cause trouble. Fortunately, the officers and soldiers fought bravely and quelled the matter in time.”

Wu Shanyan, the governor of Zhejiang and a censor-in-chief, hurriedly organized his words to answer Wei Guangde's question.

"Heh, have the men from the Hangzhou Hundred-Household Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrived yet?"

The South China Sea Fleet did not get too involved in the Luomu Camp affair, after all, it involved the dignified Governor of Zhejiang, and Yu Dayou now knew to avoid suspicion.

However, the Jinyiwei's Hundred-Household Office stationed in Hangzhou also relayed the news to the Northern Garrison Command immediately, but it took some time to investigate the cause of the mutiny.

After all, the mutiny was brought under control by the South China Sea Navy officers and soldiers in just one afternoon, and there was no need to send the news to the capital by express courier.

Therefore, although the Embroidered Uniform Guard's method of transmitting information was faster, it took half a day longer for urgent reports sent from Hangzhou to reach the capital.

Thus, the truth about the incident in Hangzhou Prefecture came to light: Governor Wu Shanyan had embezzled soldiers' pay, and Zhang Wenxi, the Deputy Military Commissioner of Hangzhou, failed to quell the unrest. Furthermore, a troublemaker named Ding Shiqing gathered a crowd to support him and incite unrest, which led to the riot.

The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard stepped out of the ranks. Wei Guangde asked the man's name, and then publicly inquired about the cause of the mutiny. In fact, everyone kneeling there knew the reason. Perhaps Wu Shanyan felt that he hadn't been making enough money this year, so he wanted to embezzle some of the soldiers' pay to line his own pocket. He just didn't expect things to escalate so much.

Actually, there were some coincidences involved, especially the clamor of the surrounding onlookers, which greatly stimulated the mutiny of the Luomuying officers and soldiers.

With the implementation of the new law, these people who lived in the city and made a living were relieved of the burden of the poll tax, and they were able to eat their fill and have nothing better to do.

While the officers and soldiers in the barracks were dissatisfied, they also stirred up trouble outside, saying how much they earned working in the city, which was not as good as being a soldier.

In the Ming Dynasty, if ordinary people lived in the city, they could earn more than one tael of silver a month if they were lucky, which was much better than the half tael of silver that soldiers earned each month.

This disturbance exacerbated the soldiers' discontent, which led to the detention of Zhang Wenxi, the deputy military commissioner, for demanding unpaid wages within the military camp.

Several of the people who had started the commotion have been arrested and imprisoned in the Hangzhou Prefecture jail.

“Governor Wu, the imperial court is giving you three salaries. Although everyone knows it’s not as good as before, these salaries are given by the imperial court, clean and honest, and not as good as those shady silver payments.”

Besides, the imperial court still maintains considerable influence in the provinces, and there haven't been many changes overall. Why then has such a major incident occurred? It's all due to your insatiable greed, and you only have yourself to blame.

Wei Guangde said something rather bluntly, but then stepped aside to let the imperial eunuch who was following him south make way for him.

"Eunuch Zhang, issue the decree."

The imperial messenger who had been following Wei Guangde stepped forward, took the imperial edict from the eunuch behind him, unfolded it, and read: "By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees that Wu Shanyan, the Governor of Zhejiang and Censor-in-Chief, be dismissed and investigated, and that Zhang Jiayin, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, be sent to Zhejiang to pacify the region. This is the imperial decree."

Wu Shanyan had long had a bad feeling, as no news came from his friends in the capital, and he felt as if he was isolated.

Upon hearing the imperial edict to dismiss him from his post and investigate him, he immediately collapsed to the ground.

Three Imperial Guard captains who disembarked stepped forward. One of them removed the black gauze hat from Wu Shanyan's head and returned to his original position, while the other two helped Wu Shanyan to the side.

“Zhang Shi, Governor Zhang, these are all your men, you should take over.”

Wei Guangde stepped aside, making way for Zhang Jiayin.

After exiting the canal and entering the Yangtze River waterway, Wei Guangde met with Zhang Jiayin, the Vice Minister of War in Nanjing, and together they headed to Hangzhou.

The imperial decree to Zhang Jiayin had already been delivered, and he was waiting on the river early on. He and Wei Guangde exchanged greetings and a few words at the bow of the boat.

"Everyone, get up."

Zhang Jiayin cupped his hands in greeting to Wei Guangde before addressing the group of people.

After Zhang Jiayin began speaking to the Zhejiang officials, Wei Guangde called several military officers aside.

"You are from the South China Sea Naval Camp. Where is Admiral Yu now?"

"The Admiral went to Dongfan Island half a month ago, where there was a disturbance caused by mountain people."

Without disturbing Zhang Jiayin's training of Zhejiang officials, Wei Guangde talked about the situation of the South China Sea Navy, and only then did he learn that the situation in Dongfan Island, which was under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, did not seem to be very optimistic.

Having grown accustomed to freedom, the mountain people of Dongfan Island were naturally unaccustomed to being managed by Ming Dynasty officials.

Listening to it for a short time is fine, but if you listen to it for a long time, it will often cause some trouble.

This is education; it takes a long time to get these mountain people to behave and accept the imperial court's orders.

Especially now that Fujian officials are registering the population and land on Dongfan Island, Yu Dayou is paying even more attention to things there.

After listening to the report from the battalion commander, Wei Guangde nodded.

The matter on Dongfan Island was only reported to the Ministry of War, and the reports were always brief and to the point, but Wei Guangde could still tell that this matter might be quite significant.

Wei Guangde initially thought there weren't many people on Dongfan Island, and even assumed that most of them were people from Zhejiang and Fujian who had fled there to avoid taxes and corvée labor.

However, there are actually many mountain people on Dongfan Island, divided into hundreds of tribes of varying sizes, with a population of nearly 100,000.

This has already reached the size of a medium-sized county.

"By the way, in your opinion, is there any point in continuing this Hangzhou garrison?"

After listening to Dongfan Island's report, Wei Guangde remained noncommittal, but suddenly inquired about the situation of the officers and soldiers of the Ninth Battalion in Hangzhou.

"Grand Secretary Wei, these soldiers are certainly useful."

Although the Japanese pirates have disappeared, there were not many garrisons in the interior to begin with, and most of the garrisons in Zhejiang were stationed along the coast.

Moreover, Zhejiang experiences severe flooding every year, requiring soldiers to guard the dikes, unlike inland provinces where garrisons can provide manpower.

The officer in charge of the camp began to explain.

When Wei Guangde came down this time, he actually went to the field to understand the situation and determine how to deal with the southern troops, whether to disband them or retain them, whether to keep them in the governor's office or transfer them to the military command.

Well, if it were under the jurisdiction of the governor's office, the Ministry of War could make transfers, but it would be very troublesome, and they basically couldn't manage it.

Ultimately, since the money doesn't come from the Ministry of War, the soldiers might not care about you.

Wei Guangde glanced at the battalion commander and asked in a low voice, "In your opinion, are the troops under the governor's jurisdiction still necessary?"

"This is a decision made by the imperial court; I was unaware of it."

The man reacted quickly and immediately bowed in reply.

Wei Guangde smiled and looked away.

He had another mission this time: to see whether or not this battalion should be retained.

To be honest, I was quite shocked when I saw the Ministry of War report that the Governor of Zhejiang actually had a battalion of more than 40,000 men.

It should be noted that at this time, the imperial court only provided 5,000 troops under the command of the governor of the northern border town.

Well, the governor of Zhejiang actually had more than 40,000 soldiers. What does that mean?

Of course, this is ultimately a historical issue, left over from the Jiajing Emperor's campaign against Japanese pirates.

But now that the Japanese pirates have been eliminated, it seems unnecessary to continue maintaining the garrison.

However, the battalion commander just mentioned the issue of flood control repeatedly. The main task of the more than 30,000 men in the Seventh Battalion every year is to guard the dikes. If they are to be reduced, it will indeed be difficult for the Zhejiang governor to mobilize so many people in a short period of time.

There are people, but they can't be mobilized in a short time, which would delay disaster relief efforts and is a serious matter.

At this time, Zhang Jiayin had finished his instructions and came over to invite Wei Guangde and the others to Hangzhou City to rest. A banquet had already been prepared in the city to entertain them.

"go together."

Wei Guangde addressed several naval officers. (End of Chapter)