I'm really not doing business

Chapter 697: Compared with Zhang Juzheng, the emperor is like a conservative
Zhejiang was the main battlefield of the Japanese invasion during the Jiajing period and the place where conflicts were most intense. In order to destroy the Japanese, the people were allowed to build villages and towns to resist. That is, the soldiers and civilians were allowed to spontaneously manufacture weapons, build city walls, build villages, and ports and docks for self-protection. Therefore, there were a large number of weapons and equipment in Zhejiang, ranging from firearms to swords, spears, halberds, and armor.

The reason why Chen Mo ordered a direct assault was that among the seventy or eighty people who got off the boat, more than fifty of them were armed with various weapons, and more than ten were wearing cotton armor. This meant that this group of people were definitely not good people. A head-on attack would definitely result in heavy casualties. Moreover, they came in a hurry, and each Ti cavalryman only carried long and short guns, and no large artillery.

"Crouching tiger cannon!" Chen Mo ignored Ye Yongchang's screams and continued to command the battle, launching another attack on the trapped enemy in the bunker.

A total of ten tiger squat cannons were placed on the ground, with the tail of the cannon stuck into the soil. A large iron rod was used to fix the iron bolt at the tail of the cannon, and the iron claw was raised. Another soldier poured the gunpowder in the paper bag into it and tamped it quickly. The fuse was put in place at the same time. The firing procedures of the tiger squat cannon were not complicated, but it also took fifteen breaths to complete.

Such a long time was actually enough for the enemy to organize a defense, but this group of people were obviously not as well-trained as the elite soldiers of the Beijing Camp. Within fifteen breaths, some of the people on the dock looked for the enemy behind stones and earth walls, some held their heads and lay on the ground, shouting for mercy, some were so scared that they stood there, and some ran towards the ship trying to escape.

"Fire!" Chen Mo waved the small flag in his hand again, and the tiger squat cannons began to fire.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon is the most commonly used firearm by southern soldiers and was improved by Qi Jiguang. It mainly fires in a curved pattern and is suitable for combat areas such as mountains, forests, and paddy fields that hinder the mobility of large artillery. It is deeply loved by soldiers because it is easy to carry and flexible. It has a range of only four hundred steps and can fire at a high elevation, making it no longer difficult to attack from above.

Every ten people in the Ming Dynasty's Beijing Camp were equipped with a tiger squat cannon. One cannon, including the gun body and gunpowder, weighed a total of 36 kilograms. No matter how small the tiger squat cannon was, it was still a cannon. Ten tiger squat cannons fired at the same time, like thunder out of a clear sky. The projectiles shot out and went straight to the target, and then exploded in the air. Dozens of iron pieces in the projectiles shot out and scattered on the not-so-large dock.

Chen Mo was a little worried and fired twice more. The gunpowder would have to be stored back when he got back, so it was better to fire it out.

After three rounds of volleys, Chen Mo observed carefully and gave the order: "It seems that the enemy has no resistance at all. Don't be careless. Three people in a team, go forward!"

The Tiqi walked towards the dock very cautiously. No one on the dock dared to take up arms to resist. These people were also a little confused. Was it necessary to fire three rounds of tiger squat cannons to attack them? Why didn't you Tiqi bring the general cannon and just kill them all with cannons? !

The capture was very smooth. Every three Ti cavalrymen were equipped with a set of iron armor and were responsible for clearing the way, while the other two were responsible for providing support from the side and one for the rear guard. Each team of three worked closely together to get on board and began to clear out the enemies on the boat.

"Captain, aren't you good at snatching swords with your bare hands?" A captain kicked open a small door on the boat, looked inside, and laughed out of the blue.

The cabin was extremely small. A sturdy man in the room, holding two knives in his hands, shouted loudly: "Don't come over! The knives in my hands are blind! I learned the sword skills from Chen Hu, the mandarin duck knife master from Jiangdong, for twelve years!"

Chen Mo looked at the man carefully, and found that he was the target of this trip, so he smiled and said, "I am not good at snatching the blade with bare hands, I am good at snatching the blade from the air, I will show you."

Chen Mo took out his own cavalry gun. This cavalry gun was the same model as the emperor's, and it was a detour in the development of firearms. It was one foot long, had a flintlock, and was ignited by two cents of gunpowder. The reason why it was a detour was that this thing looked good and was very reliable, but its range was not as good as the long gun or the bird gun, and its power was only slightly greater than that of the hand gun, and it used more gunpowder.

Moreover, because the barrel is strengthened, the rifling needs to be engraved in a yin-yang manner, and the complicated process makes the cost expensive. It cannot be equipped on a large scale. It is only a toy for a few people and most of the time it is used as a reward.

"Put down your weapons. The musket in my hand has no eyes." Chen Mo pointed the musket at the opponent.

This twelve-year disciple of Chen Hu, Master of the Double-edged Sword, looked at the musket and finally put down the double-edged sword and his pride. He put his hands on his head, stood against the wall, and was then detained by the imperial guards.

From seven steps away, the gun is fast; from seven steps away, the gun is both accurate and fast.

"Xia Anjie from the Xia family in Renhe." Chen Mo identified his identity and confirmed that he had caught the direct culprit who burned down the Renhe government office.

"It's him, it's him!" Ye Yongchang was overjoyed. He came up to Xia Anjie and looked at him carefully for a long time. He knew that his chance of survival had come.

The Emperor's order was a "disorderly order" because it was a bit of an exaggeration. It was just a government office that was burned down. Why was he so furious? What a stingy person.

But once the criminal was caught, His Majesty's order was no longer an arbitrary order, because there was the most direct evidence that the purpose of the fire was indeed to kill the emperor.

This is the only chance for Ye Yongchang, the magistrate of Renhe County. After making up for His Majesty's actions, he can live. Although he has made mistakes, he is not without merit. If he completes the task assigned by His Majesty, he can really beg for His Majesty's forgiveness. If His Majesty forgives him and doesn't let him die, it will be difficult for others to kill him.

"Alive, alive!" Ye Yongchang pinched his waist and laughed loudly. As he laughed, he began to cry, and as he cried, he began to laugh again.

Chen Mo thought he was crazy and continued looking for the escaped fish. During the battle just now, some people jumped into the Qiantang River, only four people.

Soon, the arrest operation was over. The two men couldn't hold their breath and emerged from the water, were shot by a strong bow, and floated to the surface of the river. They were searched and captured on the shore.

"Xia Anjie, you are about to die, but you still refuse to speak. Are you still going to cover up for them?" Ye Yongchang returned to the county government office and began to interrogate the criminal Xia Anjie. He found that this guy was very stubborn.

Chen Mo said indifferently: "It's okay. It doesn't matter if you don't say anything. When you send him to the dismemberment hospital, he will tell you naturally. But it's useless to say it then. Who cares who he is?"

As long as Xia Anjie admitted that he was going after the emperor, Chen Mo didn't care about anything else. The emperor directly expanded the scope of the attack, and all the local celebrities, gentry, and powerful people in Zhejiang suffered an unexpected disaster. This is collective punishment, and it is also the law passed down by ancestors.

Xia Anjie shuddered. He was actually bargaining. When he was caught, he realized that death was inevitable. He wanted to use the information he had to change the way he died. The dismemberment hospital was still very scary, but his wish was dashed. He took a deep breath and said dejectedly: "In fact, someone instructed me. They said they would come to pick me up! But there was no boat at all."

"I had no choice but to send people to find a boat, but we were late and were blocked by the navy in the Qiantang River. We had to return the same way."

Xia Anjie allowed his servants to leave before they set the fire. He promised his servants that he had prepared a backup plan to help him escape, but Xia Anjie was not prepared at all. Similarly, some people promised Xia Anjie that as long as they carried out the assassination, there would be a boat to pick them up at the dock, but when he arrived at the dock, Xia Anjie did not see any boat, just like he had not prepared a backup plan for his servants.

What goes around comes around, the boomerang during the Wanli period came so quickly.

If it hadn't taken some time to find a boat, he would have really escaped. Xia Anjie later found the snakehead and the boat at a high price and fled in a panic. However, the ships of the Ming Navy blocked the river. There were a total of twenty ships, with large iron chains and iron chains across the river, blocking the mouth of the Qiantang River, and no one could leave.

Xia Anjie had to go back to the dock and make long-term plans. He had nowhere to go because the Ming navy had released inspection ships to patrol the river to prevent anyone from escaping by water.

"The wealthy families in Zhejiang are resentful of Your Majesty. For so many years, the wind of new policies has never blown to Zhejiang." Xia Anjie chattered on and on about the resentment of the wealthy families in Zhejiang. The court did not care about Zhejiang because Zhu Wan committed suicide to express his will. Everyone knew that Zhu Wan was a clean person, and they also knew who forced Zhu Wan to death.

This problem has resulted in many new policies not being implemented in Zhejiang. Although these powerful and wealthy people criticize the new policies all day long, they still know whether the new policies are good or bad.

For example, in the wealthy areas of the Ming Dynasty, there was acceptance exchange at Huitong Guanyi. That is, if you handed over silver to Huitong Guanyi, you would get a ticket, which you could withdraw at another place for trade. It was very dangerous to carry a large amount of silver on the road, but with the ticket of Huitong Guanyi, it became much simpler.

"Many of the ruffians are actually illiterate, so you only need to prepare some loose change to get rid of them. Other places, even Jiayuguan, have Huitongguanyi that specializes in handling acceptance and remittance, but Zhejiang is the only place that doesn't have it." Xia Anjie clenched his fists, feeling somewhat helpless.

The acceptance and remittance business was only a trivial link, and merchants in Zhejiang had to go to Nan Ya and Songjiang Prefecture to handle these matters.

Chen Mo said angrily, "You are confusing cause and effect. Why doesn't Zhejiang have a Huitong Posthouse? Is it because Your Majesty doesn't want to set one up? No one has asked for permission. Who knows what you local tyrants in Zhejiang are thinking? Wang Jiaping even went to kowtow in front of Wang Chonggu in order to set up the Huitong Posthouse in Guangzhou."

"If you don't tell me, how will the court know?"

"There is no shipyard in Zhejiang, and the imperial court has not forbade you to build your own. You can build your own shipyard and build ships. How can the imperial court block your road to wealth? Nonsense." Chen Mo has been writing furiously. These wealthy families in Jiangnan have a lot of complaints, but they have never thought about their own reasons.

"We are all subjects of your Majesty, so why does Songjiang Prefecture eat more and Shuangyu eat less? Songjiang Prefecture has received at least 30 million silver coins in investment for opening up the sea over the years, but what about Zhejiang? Zero! Not a single cent of silver. The new port of Songjiang Prefecture has twelve docks, and each dock has nearly a hundred berths. However, Shuangyu, which also has a Maritime Customs, has only seventy-two berths, but the court did not build a single one." Xia Anjie knew that he was going to die, so he spoke boldly.

Chen Mo was flipping through the confession. When he heard what Xia Anjie said, he immediately said, "You can raise the money yourself. How can the emperor not allow it? The berths in Songjiang Prefecture were not all built by the court. At least three docks and more than 300 berths were donated by Sun Kehong and Songjiang Ocean Trading Company. Sun Kehong can donate, but you can't, right?"

"Now do you remember that you are His Majesty's subject? Why didn't you remember when you set the fire?"

The towering city walls of Nan Ya were not all built by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, but also funded by donations from merchants. The prosperity of the new port of Songjiang Prefecture was the result of the policies of the imperial court and the joint efforts of local powerful people, local gentry, and poor laborers. In Xia Anjie's words, the failure of Ningbo Shuangyu Maritime Customs to compete with Songjiang Maritime Customs was considered as the emperor's favoritism.

Why is the emperor biased? Why does he have a knot in his heart but avoids talking about it?

"And as for the Maritime Academy, they always say that the court gave too little. As for the Songjiang Maritime Academy, it was not donated by the Ocean Trading Company, but by Sun Kehong himself. He has donated more than one million silver coins over the past ten years. Why are the wealthy families in Zhejiang unwilling to donate? Songjiang Prefecture guards the Yangtze River and connects nine provinces. It is normal that they cannot win. But they lose so badly and blame it on the court?" Chen Mo frowned. He could not understand the thoughts of these wealthy families.

Failure in the competition means that all the maritime merchants of Songjiang Ocean Trading Company will earn more. Seeing others making money is more painful than losing money yourself.

Xia Anjie's face flushed and he slammed the table, saying loudly, "You don't know what those dog officials in the court are like? If you can avoid doing it, don't do it, because not doing it is not bad. If the court asks you to do it, you have to be cautious, for fear of counterproductive results! If the court doesn't say or swallow and doesn't clearly support us, even if we rush into the government office with silver and want to build a port, a maritime school, an iron smelting plant, and a weaving bureau, do you think these dog officials will agree for the sake of their official hats?"

"will not!"

"That's right." Chen Mo nodded in agreement. This is how the Ming bureaucrats behave. If you do more, you have to take responsibility. In the Ming officialdom, many people who do things have to guess. The immediate superiors will not easily express their opinions. They are vague and let the subordinates guess. If something goes wrong, the subordinates will take responsibility. There are very few officials who issue clear instructions.

"The pirates from Shuangyu Maritime Customs were not even cleared out by the Ming navy!" Xia Anjie clenched his fists and said forcefully, "Many ships have been robbed and looted by these pirates!"

"You complain about being in charge too much, and then you don't care about anything and you complain about the court treating you differently. The former Zhejiang governor Wu Shanyan never reported to the court, so how can you expect the court to intervene? If Wu Shanyan didn't say anything, do you have no mouth? You are so capable on weekdays, and you ask your relatives and friends to report to the court. How can the court ignore it? Or you just don't dare to let the court intervene." Chen Mo was so angry that he laughed.

Confusing cause and effect and putting the blame on someone else.

Wu Shanyan ended up being beheaded in public, and the direct reason was that he cut the food and wages of the Nine Battalions of Zhejiang. The reason why Wu Shanyan made things difficult for the soldiers was not because he had no money, but because he had too much money to spend. The dam that the Nine Battalion of Zhejiang built during their inspection was too good, and they even brought scales with them, which caused complaints from local gentry, powerful people and wealthy people.

But in the eyes of these powerful and wealthy people, it was all the fault of the court and the emperor. It didn't make sense. To put it bluntly, Wu Shanyan had to collude with the local nobles and wealthy families because of Zhu Wan's previous experience.
Chen Mo discovered that the logic of these powerful and wealthy people was that they would not be satisfied until they had taken all the benefits.

Chen Mo, who was familiar with the theory of public and private, felt that this idea was wrong. The Ming Dynasty was a whole. If one class took all the benefits, what would the rest of the people eat and drink? If they had nothing to eat or drink, wouldn't they start to rebel? Some of the benefits should be distributed to the lower classes. The situation in Zhejiang has come to this point today because of this idea of ​​taking everything.

"Today's interrogation ends here." Chen Mo sorted out the files and ended today's interrogation. After Chen Mo handed the files to Commander Ti, he took his men out to carry out the emperor's orders.

All the local celebrities and extravagant households in Renhe County who own more than 50 hectares of land will be arrested and their property will be confiscated. This will not stop just because Xia Anjie was arrested. This is the emperor's thundering wrath.

"Xie Qian returned to the court in the sixth year of Jiajing to stabilize the government. After Xie Qian's death, Emperor Shizong gave him the posthumous title of Wenzheng. In the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing, Xie Qian's descendants were killed by the so-called Japanese pirates. Emperor Shizong was furious and sent Zhu Wan to Zhejiang to investigate. In the end, Zhu Wan also committed suicide. They said that I was prejudiced against Zhejiang and had a knot in my heart." Zhu Yijun finished reading the file, looked at Feng Bao and said, "Do you think I shouldn't have this knot in my heart?"

"It's his duty." Feng Bao said very clearly. Xie Qian helped Emperor Shizong to settle the dispute in the sixth year of Jiajing. After Xie Qian's death, his entire family was exterminated. The provincial governors sent by the emperor could not find out the truth and died in the end. The emperor was wary of Zhejiang. It would be strange if he was not wary of it.

"They complain that I am biased against Zhejiang. I am indeed biased. Besides being biased, I don't know what to do with Zhejiang. It's not good to be too lenient, and it's not good to ignore it either." Zhu Yijun put the file aside, spread his hands and said, "So now that I am here, I can only take ruthless action, because Zhejiang will not be cured if I don't sort it out thoroughly."

This was also one of the reasons why Zhang Juzheng agreed with the emperor to suppress the rebellion. Not only the emperor, but even the officials in the court did not know what to do with Zhejiang. This was the heartland of the country, but many governors of Zhejiang had encountered troubles in this evil place. It would be wrong for the court to give orders, and it would also be wrong not to give orders. In the end, it could only use the old method to maintain the status quo.

Maintaining the status quo is already a remarkable political wisdom. The more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make; and if you do nothing, there will be no mistakes. In the end, it has led to the point of disunity.

"Shen Shixing encountered some resistance, but it was quickly dealt with by the Beijing camp." Feng Bao briefly reported on the situation on Shen Shixing's side.

Specifically, many wealthy families in Hangzhou chose to resist, and then the Beijing Camp pulled artillery over. When the servants saw the artillery, they simply put down their weapons. It would have been fine if the servants had to fight the bandits, but it was like an egg hitting a rock to fight against the elite troops of the Beijing Camp. Due to the huge disparity in power, the whole process was somewhat unexpected, but relatively smooth.

The standard set by the Ming Emperor for Renhe County was more than 50 hectares of land, which is 5,000 acres. A local gentry with 5,000 acres of land was already considered a wealthy family. The standard for the entire Zhejiang Province was 100 hectares, which is more than 10,000 acres. A family with 10,000 acres of good farmland was already considered a powerful and wealthy family.

"How's the land return going on there, sir?" Zhu Yijun asked about the specific progress of the land return.

"If you have more than one hectare of land, you must hand it over to the government within a certain period of time and give a certain amount of compensation. If you refuse to hand it over, we will forcibly requisition it." Feng Bao said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Majesty, aren't you being a little too hasty in your request?"

When it comes to returning land to the people, the emperor and Zhang Juzheng both seem like conservatives.

Zhang Juzheng's methods were extremely cruel. All landowners with more than one hectare of land were targets. Only those with more than fifty hectares of land were targeted when the emperor was suppressing a rebellion. Zhang Juzheng's actions were indeed very radical.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "That's not the case. The standard of one hectare was deliberately set by you, sir. It seems a bit troublesome to explain, but it is actually similar to the Enfeoffment Order of the Han Dynasty. Your target is the clan."

Zhang Juzheng's standard of one hectare seems very scary, but the real purpose is to force the clan to divide the land. Each person can only have one hectare of land under his name, so the clan cannot hold so much land and it has to be divided among specific individuals.

Unlike the clans in later generations where the grass on the graves is ten feet high and people gather together to worship at the ancestral temple during the New Year and other festivals, the clans during the Wanli period were concrete entities. The land was collectively controlled by the clan leaders, who looked for tenants to rent out the land, and then the eldest son of the clan distributed the profits. The relationship was one of complete personal dependence.

No matter how talented Li Kaifang was, he had to build momentum for his younger brother Li Kaizao. All of Li Kaifang's achievements were attributed to him by Li Kaizao.

Individuals could not own more than one hectare of land. In order to avoid having their land confiscated, clans had to divide the land among others. Even if it was only in name, the rest would be simple, as the struggle for interests could be life-threatening.

Even brothers settle accounts clearly, let alone this big family. Once the land is divided, there is no possibility of taking it back.

Zhang Juzheng has always been a down-to-earth person. Without eliminating clans, a deformed social product, it would be impossible to truly return the land to the land.

"The clan, which was already full of contradictions, has completely fallen apart after taking this drastic measure." Zhu Yijun had almost read the order to return the land to pieces, and he knew Zhang Juzheng's plan very clearly.

Feng Bao suddenly realized and said, "Sir, you are still smart! If your majesty hadn't told me, I wouldn't have realized that the target was actually a clan!"

Zhang Juzheng was very talented. In history, he had completed the land survey, but returning the land to the people was his unfinished business. Zhang Juzheng was very cautious about every step of returning the land. After extending the land to others, Zhang Juzheng had a backup plan.

The gentleman is tall, Qi Shuai is strong, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is both tall and strong.

The Ming Emperor resided in Renhe and began to suppress the rebellion in Zhejiang with high pressure. At this time, the wealthy families in the Southern Yamen began to celebrate. After seeing the emperor's methods, they deeply realized that it was a rational decision not to fight with the emperor!

As a result, the public opinion in the Southern Court was all cursing that the wealthy and powerful families in Zhejiang were all traitors. The public opinion in the Southern Court had no intention of saving these wealthy and powerful families in Zhejiang. The wealthy and powerful families in the Southern Court were afraid that the fire in Zhejiang would spread to the Southern Court, which would be a disaster.

"It is really surprising that the nobles of the Ming Dynasty are so bold that they dare to attack Your Majesty. The prophet is worthy of being a prophet. He predicted their behavior in advance." Galileo once again confirmed the fact that His Majesty the Emperor is the embodiment of wisdom and a prophet. After all, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually avoided the attack in advance.

Li Yashi smiled and said, "There is no such thing as the embodiment of wisdom. They are all historical experience and lessons."

Xu Guangqi said with lingering fear: "The powerful and wealthy people in the Southern Court discussed in the newspapers that the rebels must die. They were glad that the knife of suppressing the rebellion did not fall on themselves. In comparison, your majesty's torture in the Southern Court was really very mild. Of course, I feel the same way."

Xu Guangqi, who could rely on his father completely, was now indeed from a wealthy family. He felt a little sad about the fate of the powerful and wealthy people in Zhejiang.

But no matter what, it was not Your Majesty who took the first action.

"Galileo, do you really want to follow Pang Xian to Hangzhou, Zhejiang? Why don't you follow me north? I will sponsor you to study and pass the examination for a doctorate in the Five Classics." Li Yashi looked at Galileo and asked. He was preparing to return to Beiya, and Xu Guangqi was also going north to find his teacher Jiao Hong.

And Galileo was going to Hangzhou Prefecture.

"No, I plan to follow the court pharmacist to Hangzhou to continue vaccinating civilians against smallpox. I need to do something to gain recognition from the Ming Dynasty, and vaccinating against smallpox is undoubtedly such an opportunity. Xu, how do you say the proverb that expresses loyalty?" Galileo learned a lot of commonly used Chinese words, so he had no problem with conversation, but he still had some difficulty understanding hyperlinked phrases.

"A token of allegiance." Xu Guangqi replied with a smile.

"Yes, it is a token of my allegiance. I will do something within my ability as a token of my allegiance to reassure His Majesty and the people of the Ming Dynasty. Only in this way can I pass the examination for a doctorate in the five sciences of nature without being widely questioned."

"You know, there is a debate between Chinese and barbarians in the Ming Dynasty, and no barbarian has ever passed the doctoral examination." Galileo said with a smile: "By the way, I want to earn some money to support myself. I can't take too much money from you. In addition to being a diplomat of the Ming Dynasty, you are also an envoy of His Highness Felipe. If I take too much money from you, people will think I am forming a clique."

Galileo was going to Hangzhou to continue vaccinating the people against cowpox. In addition to obtaining his letter of allegiance, he also had to carefully study the Ming Dynasty's theory of anatomy, theory of cowpox, mathematics, and the study of nature. Only by learning all of them could he pass the examination for a doctorate in the study of nature, without any delay.

No money is earned for free, and any investment requires a return.

"You learn very quickly. It seems that we have to part ways here. I can only wish you good luck in your adventure in Ming Dynasty." Li Yashi offered his sincere advice. It was indeed an adventure for a red-haired barbarian to live alone in Ming Dynasty these days.

"Everyone here is polite and very friendly. Compared to the West, it is very safe here. In my understanding, the "Yi" in the debate between Hua and Yi is more of a cultural identity. For example, many barbarians were given Chinese surnames and gradually became Han people." Galileo did not think this was an adventure.

If we make a horizontal comparison, the social security in the West is much worse. Daming is a high-security area, especially in the city.

The debate between Chinese and barbarians? That's too mild. Look at the general public opinion in the West. The West regards the people in the New World as a kind of ape, an animal, not a human being, so they feel at ease to enslave them.

In comparison, the Ming Dynasty did have a general high moral disadvantage.

(End of this chapter)