King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 819: Drink from the Golden Cup

A banquet was held in Wuying Palace. The officials who could attend today were either powerful figures in the court or people with outstanding achievements.

Someone chose to cry at this time, and it was obvious that his intention was not simple. Although Zhu Jinghong did not show any abnormality, he was very concerned about the truth of the matter.

The banquet went on as normal and various ceremonies were carried out one after another. About half an hour later, the investigation results were reported to Zhu Jinghong.

"The envoy is crying for only one thing. Men and women in his country have been arrested year after year and then sold to various parts of the Ming Dynasty. In some counties, nine out of ten houses are empty, and there is no one living for dozens of miles..."

In other words, someone has started a human rights business in Japan, and it seems to be very large, ridiculously large.

Needless to say, it must be another mess of the Andong Xingdusi. Thinking of the Sun Shaozu case that was investigated just two years ago, and the Jiubian kidnapping case two years earlier, such incidents are really endless.

Why is it so popular even though it is banned? In fact, the profits are so huge that it can be said to be a business with no capital.

"We must investigate, investigate thoroughly... I want to see who are the people who are so poor!"

For this emperor, human trafficking can be put on the back burner. Ignoring his repeated warnings and continuing to commit crimes is an unforgivable crime.

"Yes!"

The banquet was going on as usual. It was impossible for Zhu Jinghong to ruin the good atmosphere of the banquet for such a small matter, but he still had to make necessary warnings.

"I have something to say!"

There was a lot of noise at the scene due to the clinking of glasses, so he asked for silence when he wanted to speak. He said this to let the eunuchs stop everyone.

"quiet……"

The eunuch's words were much more effective than those of the censors. After just two shouts, the scene became quiet and everyone sat facing the emperor.

Sitting on the throne, Zhu Jinghong raised his wine glass. Everyone present stood up, then bent over and held the glass in both hands.

"We have already drunk more than three cups of wine. I say that today's fun should belong to you meritorious officials. I won't disturb your fun..."

"But today's grand event is really something I look forward to. How can I stand aside from it?"

Hearing this, everyone present laughed. The emperor was so friendly and reassuring. There were many good days to come.

"Our ancestors reestablished the country, and the previous emperor pioneered and advanced. Now that the world is stable, I will not let my ancestors down!"

Zhu Jinghong raised his glass higher, in high spirits: "Today is a great celebration... I will enjoy it with all the nobles!"

Zhu Jinghong then stood up, walked around the imperial desk, and said in a louder voice: "My dear ministers, drink with me!"

"Your Majesty, please!" everyone below said.

After the emperor and his ministers drank together, they handed the wine glass to Yu Hai who was accompanying them, but Zhu Jinghong stood there without moving.

Since he was standing on the steps, everyone knew that he still had something to say, so they all continued to stand where they were respectfully.

"You are all meritorious officials, and you are all very proud today. However, in the midst of this joy... I am worried!"

This doesn't sound right, especially at a time like this, when such inappropriate words should not be spoken.

But since the emperor did this, it was obvious that he had a reason to do it. The smarter people had already understood the hidden meaning and knew that someone must be causing trouble again.

Slowly walking down the steps, Zhu Jinghong said slowly: "The so-called success makes you lose your composure. You must not rely on your achievements to become arrogant and domineering... do illegal things!"

Hearing this, the general who had just noticed something said in his heart, "As expected."

Of course, those with less political acumen are also gradually realizing the problem. After all, there are no stupid people here.

Standing at the "waist" of the steps, Zhu Jinghong was now closer to his ministers.

After looking around at everyone present, he continued, "The Ming Dynasty has laws. You are my backbone and meritorious officials. If you violate the law...how should I deal with you?"

Yes, how should we deal with you? Just because you are a meritorious official, can the laws of the Ming Dynasty not apply to you?

When everyone came up with the answer in their hearts, Zhu Jinghong had already turned around and climbed up the imperial steps.

The scene was unusually quiet, with everyone looking at the emperor walking up to the higher place. At this moment, there seemed to be a huge gap between the emperor and his subjects.

Then, a cold voice rang out at the scene: "In the past, when the Grand Ancestor held a banquet for his meritorious officials, he told his subjects: Let's drink from the golden cup..."

When he said the last word, Zhu Jinghong had already walked up the stairs, then he turned around again with a very serious expression.

At this moment, everyone present bowed their heads. Even those who had nothing to hide did not dare to look Zhu Jinghong in the eye.

"No mercy for the sword!"

Zhu Jinghong's voice was not loud when he uttered these five words, but they sounded like thunder in everyone's hearts.

He showed no mercy to his enemies in battle. This is not just a rhetorical device, but an objective fact. Taizu really killed a lot of people back then.

Of course, not all emperors have enough confidence to tell their ministers in public that “no mercy will be shown to the enemy”, but Zhu Jinghong definitely has enough confidence.

The banquet continued, and the atmosphere was subtly different, but on the surface it was still very harmonious.

Everyone remembered these five words "Don't show mercy to others" in their hearts, but it is hard to say how much effect they have.

Most people in the world are profit-driven. As long as the profit is big enough, they will not only break the law but also do things that may cost them their lives. They will never be scared off by a single word.

The banquet in Wuying Hall was over, but the incident of the Japanese envoy crying in the court was still continuing to ferment, and the people involved were already running around.

In the blink of an eye, a month has passed and the relevant situation has gradually become clear.

The situation is very simple. In the past five years, the Jurchens have sold at least 500,000 people abroad.

That's right, 500,000 people. This is an outrageous number. There are at least millions of victims because of it, while the current population of Japan is only 13 or 14 million.

Only a small number of human traffickers went to inland provinces, while the majority of the rest went to the Northeast region, where some big landowners bought land and needed a large number of people to open up the land.

Of course, some generals also occupied land in the South Pacific islands and needed people to cultivate the land. Anyway, the gap in the slave market was very large.

Because it is in the interests of all parties, this matter has been running secretly for several years and involves too many people.

This involves a lot of officials and gentry, and there are very, very many of them. Whether or not to deal with Zhu Jinghong requires consideration.

He could choose not to dig deeper and only deal with the Jurchens who were obviously involved in the case, so he wouldn't have to worry too much.

Whether trading in Japanese people was illegal was also a point that Zhu Jinghong was concerned about. At least it could not be compared with the Ming people. Dealing with too many people for these people seemed to make it seem like he could not distinguish between inside and outside.

Of course, what Zhu Jinghong cared more about at the moment was that in this incident, the Southern Pacification Office had disappointed him again.

It was Li Wenzhao who reported the situation. He was also under tremendous pressure at the moment, just like when the Sun Shaozu case happened two years ago.

Moreover, he encountered the same questioning as before.

"Why don't you report it to me?"

Yes? Why? After all, this incident did not involve the emperor's favorite generals, and the thousand households of North Korea were new people.

"You were also involved in this, and you took money to keep quiet?"

"Reply... Reporting to Your Majesty, no one from the Korean Thousand Households was involved in this, but..." Zhu Jinghong did not speak, which meant that he should continue speaking. Li Wenzhao would naturally understand.

"It's just that the Japanese are barbaric and the people below think... they are different from ordinary people, so... they think... this is not a big deal!"

The reason Li Wenzhao mentioned at this moment was the second point that Zhu Jinghong was concerned about, that is, court officials did not treat the Japanese equally.

"Also, during the Zhengtong period, the Korean Thousand Households Office had submitted a memorial, but the late emperor did not pay attention to it at the time, so he did not report it again later!"

Unlike last time, this time Li Wenzhao gave a serious explanation, and what he said made sense, so Zhu Jinghong could not find fault with him anymore.

There was silence in the hall for a while, and then Zhu Jinghong asked Li Wenzhao to leave. He had to think about how to solve the problem next.

This matter cannot be rushed, so he plans to convene a court meeting and listen to opinions before making a decision.

Soon another two days passed. Before Zhu Jinghong's court meeting began, the apologies from the various Jurchen tribes arrived first.

They said they were apologizing, but in fact, the main content of the documents from each department was to exonerate themselves, with the focus being on debating the "rescue of people".

This person said that it was a legal transaction, and that he had exchanged money and goods with the local dignitaries. He was just making a small profit from the difference, and there was absolutely no forced buying or selling.

Afterwards, a court meeting was held, and in addition to the six ministries of the cabinet, several people from the Five Military Governors' Office also participated in the meeting.

There were two main opinions on the nature of this incident. To sum up, the civil officials believed that it was against the harmony of nature, while the military officials believed that the transaction was consensual.

After arguing for a long time, the two sides finally reached an agreement that this should not be done again in the future. After all, the imperial court also has to maintain some dignity.

This matter has spread, and all countries are watching the Ming Dynasty's response. If it completely ignores it, it will make other countries feel disheartened.

The matter has been agreed upon and the past will not be pursued, but this cannot be done again in the future.

After that, Zhu Jinghong issued a special decree, strictly ordering all military generals, especially those stationed abroad, to focus on maintaining local stability and not to do anything that would harm foreign vassal states.

In the blink of an eye, it was the twelfth month of the fourth year of Qiansheng, and in a few days it would be the new year.

On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhao Yushan, the Prime Minister who had been in charge of the cabinet for thirteen years, officially resigned from the post of Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace, leaving a vacant position in the cabinet.

Theoretically, there are three people who can take over this position, namely, the Minister of Revenue He Gujin, the Minister of Rites Jia Yucun, and the Minister of War Gao Zhiwen.

In comparison, Gao Zhiwen has less experience, so Zhu Jinghong mainly considers the first two.

Of course, he now has strong control over the court and can arrange anyone at will. That is why he decided to convene a court meeting to elect someone.

The time for the court recommendation was set on the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, which was after the daily court session ended.

It was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, two days before the court meeting was to begin.

Today is Laba Festival. Zhu Jinghong went to Kunning Palace and summoned all the concubines to celebrate the festival together. The festivals at the end of the year are usually a rare opportunity to relax.

Like ordinary people, the royal family also had to drink Laba porridge, but the cooking method was more delicate and the ingredients were more precious.

Including the people who participated in the selection, Zhu Jinghong's harem had more than 20 people, so the main hall was full.

In addition to the concubines, his children were in the side hall. The older ones knew the rules and sat properly, and even the younger ones were very well-behaved in this formal occasion.

"Some time ago, Jinling sent some seafood over, saying that it was carefully selected... Your Majesty will need some of it soon!"

This is naturally what Baochai said. The Jinling she mentioned actually refers to the Xue family.

After nodding slightly, Zhu Jinghong asked, "How is the profit from the Xue family's maritime trade now?"

Before, Xia Yuegui came to Beijing to approve ships, but was suppressed by Baochai. However, the trade became more and more prosperous in the past two years, and the court relaxed the control on issuing licenses, so the Xue family got the license without Baochai.

Of course, the scale of their business is not very large. After all, he is now an earl and he still has to maintain the reputation of the royal family.

Under Zhu Jinghong's control, the nobles now do not participate too much in it, because in Zhu Jinghong's view, the main task of military nobles is to fight, and doing business will only lower their war literacy.

"It's just a small fight, there are only about ten boats!"

A dozen ships are not bad, but in the eyes of people like them, they are indeed insignificant.

Zhu Jinghong asked again: "I heard that the Xue family also bought land in Nanyang?"

This was the second question, and it was asked consecutively to the Xue family, which made Baochai alert because they were in trouble again.

But she remained calm and replied, "We did buy some. The imperial court encouraged the noble families to open up the land and gave them various preferential treatments such as tax exemption. The Xue family also obeyed the imperial court's call!"

Not only Southeast Asia, but also the Northeast region were areas that the imperial court encouraged development.

In recent years, many aristocratic families have sent their illegitimate sons to explore the new world, which is also the reason for the sharp increase in the demand for slaves.

"Yes, we need to go out and explore the world. That is the key to becoming a strong country!"

Land annexation has always been a problem for feudal dynasties, but outward expansion to make the pie bigger or some technology to liberate productivity can prolong the dynasty cycle.

Zhu Jinghong did not dare to think about eternity, but only wanted to expand the living space of the country and nation through his own efforts.

The question just now was just a casual remark, so I changed the subject next.

But before he finished drinking the Laba porridge, Yu Hai came to him in a hurry. It was obvious that something bad had happened again.

"Your Majesty, the Northern Pacification Office reported that a civil uprising broke out in Sizhou, Jiangbei on the third day of the twelfth lunar month, and Sizhou City was breached on the afternoon of the fourth day..."

Before Yu Hai finished speaking, Zhu Jinghong had already put down the spoon, his face full of disbelief.

Sizhou is located in the eastern part of Jiangbei Province, south of Hongze Lake. The area is flat and fertile, and has always been an important tax collection area for the imperial court.

The outbreak of a civil uprising in such a place was indeed beyond Zhu Jinghong's expectations.

"Sizhou?"

"Exactly!"

Baochai was from Jinling and was quite familiar with the neighboring province of Sizhou. She was also very surprised at this moment.

"Where is Chen Yuntai?"

"Your Majesty, I will wait outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity for your summons!"

So Zhu Jinghong got up and went out of the Qianqing Palace without any delay. At this time, he had no appetite for Laba porridge.

The emperor stood up, and all the concubines stood up to see him off respectfully. They sat down again only after Zhu Jinghong left.

"What's wrong?" Daiyu stepped forward and asked.

Baochai sighed, "There's a civil uprising in Sizhou, Jiangbei... It looks like this New Year won't be a peaceful one!"

"A civil uprising in Sizhou?" Daiyu was also surprised, because she also knew that Sizhou was rich.

Baochai said, "I thought that if we won the war this year, the world would be at peace for a while, but now it seems that is just wishful thinking!"

(End of this chapter)