The days when I ransacked the house in Jinyiwei

The fire devoured the last hope of King Ning. His flagship was engulfed in flames.

Prince Ning fell into despair. Liu Yangzheng shouted: "Your Highness Prince Ning, jump off the boat and escape!"

Prince Ning was furious: "I am a descendant of Taizu, how can I escape for my life?"

He was tough on the outside but honest on the inside. He jumped directly into the water. Half an hour later, several Hakka soldiers captured King Ning alive.

His capture marked the end of the rebellion.

Prince Ning planned the rebellion for ten years, and it lasted for a full thirty-five days.

Because the opponent he met was Wang Shouren, a figure who could be called a saint.

On the shore of Poyang Lake, County Magistrate Wang Mian supported the seriously injured Wu Wendi and came to Wang Shouren.

Wang Shouren held Wu Wendi's hand and said, "Brother Wu, we won."

Tears welled up in the eyes of Wu Wendi, a tough guy. "I am lucky to have fulfilled my mission. It is the greatest honor of my life to be able to follow Governor Wang."

When the Ning Wang Rebellion first started, there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, sweeping across three provinces, and the bandits were extremely powerful. Wang Shouren had no generals and not even a full army.

Who could have imagined that Wang Shouren, with six civil servants, could completely suppress the rebellion and capture Prince Ning alive in just 35 days.

On that day, Zhang Zhong, the junior eunuch of the Imperial Horse Administration, and Wu Ren, the eunuch guarding Nanchang, came to the shore of Poyang Lake with a team of cavalrymen on horseback, and asked to see Wang Shouren by name.

After the fierce battle on the battlefield, the fierce battle in the court began from then on.

Inside the big tent, Wu Wendi said to Wang Shouren happily, "Wang Futai, based on your achievements in annihilating hundreds of thousands of rebels and capturing Prince Ning alive, the court should at least confer you a title of marquis! Zhang Zhong and Wu Ren must be here to represent the court to comfort the army. The imperial edict to confer the title may arrive soon."

Wang Shouren smiled bitterly and said, "Wrong! Anyone who tries to quell this rebellion within 35 days will surely die!"

Wu Wending was horrified: "Dead?"

Wang Shouren nodded: "Die!"

Wu Wending was confused: "I have made great contributions to the court, but the court does not reward me, but instead wants to kill me? How can this be justified?"

Wang Shouren leaned close to Wu Wendi's ear and lowered his voice: "Just because I stole the emperor's merit in suppressing the rebellion!"

In fact, Wang Shouren had already guessed the intention of Emperor Zhengde. The reason why he risked his life to suppress the rebellion was not for the sake of becoming a noble or a prime minister, but for the sake of the people in the south of the Yangtze River.

This is the simplest truth. The longer the rebellion lasts, the more suffering the people of Jiangnan will suffer.

Emperor Zhengde did not care about the safety of the people in the south of the Yangtze River, but Wang Shouren did.

Zhang Zhong and Wu Ren walked quickly into Wang Shouren's tent.

Zhang Zhong's face turned pale: "Wang Shouren, who allowed you to recruit, mobilize and command troops without permission?"

Wu Ren shouted, "Wang Shouren, you are plotting military affairs. You are plotting evil and intending to rebel!"

Wu Wending cursed, "Are you going to let Wang Futai watch helplessly as the rebels fight their way to Yingtian?"

"Pah!" Wu Ren slapped Wu Wendi in the face without saying anything: "Who the hell are you? Do you have the right to speak here?"

During this rebellion suppression, Wu Wendi was Wang Shouren's right-hand man.

The sage said, "Don't hit someone in the face." The sage also said, "A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated."

Wang Shouren was not one to sit quietly when his right-hand men were beaten. He coldly ordered his men, "Come on, drag the eunuch Wu Ren, who is guarding Nanchang, away and behead him on the spot!"

Wang Shouren's army of soldiers don't recognize you as a garrison eunuch. These guys who came from bandits only recognize their governor, Wang.

Zhang Zhong was stunned: "Wang Shouren, are you crazy? How dare you kill the eunuch who guarded the city?" Wang Shouren asked Zhang Zhong in return: "When Prince Ning rebelled in Nanchang, Wu Ren ran faster than a rabbit and hid in Yingtian. Does this count as deserting the battlefield? As a small governor of the imperial court, Nangan, is it against the law to kill a deserter?"

As they were talking, Wu Ren's screams were heard outside the tent. Not long after, a burly soldier walked into the tent carrying Wu Ren's head and threw it on the ground.

Zhang Zhong's hair stood on end, thinking to himself: Wang Shouren is too cruel. Forget it, I'd better not bother with him for now. Wait for the emperor to come to Jiangnan, Wang Shouren will have a good time! If I anger him now, he will go crazy and kill me.
Zhang Zhong didn't dare to think any further. He bowed to Wang Shouren and said, "Ah, Governor Wang, please don't argue with me. I will return to Yingtian and wait for you to come."

Wang Shouren looked at Zhang Zhong with a smile: "Eunuch Zhang, goodbye."

Three days later, in Northern Zhili.

After learning that Wang Shouren had captured Nanchang, Emperor Zhengde ordered the Southern Expedition Army to march south day and night.

That night, he was discussing the route to the south with his generals and ministers in the big tent. Jiang Bin rushed in anxiously: "Father, something bad has happened! Good news!"

Chang Feng frowned: "Since it is a good news, why does Jiang Shuai say that the big thing is not good?"

Jiang Bin ignored Chang Feng and knelt down before Emperor Zhengde: "Father, the Imperial Horse Supervisor Zhang Zhong sent a military report. Wang Shouren wiped out all the rebels of Prince Ning and captured Prince Ning alive!"

Emperor Zhengde was stunned: "What?!"

Jiang Bin said, "I have a plan."

Emperor Zhengde asked: "What's the plan?"

Jiang Bin replied: "Why not let Wang Shouren release Prince Ning. Prince Ning still has 10,000 or 20,000 remnants in Jiujiang and other towns."

Emperor Zhengde laughed and said, "Great idea!"

Chang Feng was stunned by the conversation between the emperor and his minister! He had never thought that the current emperor and his favorite ministers would be so shameless!
Wang Shouren finally won the war and captured the culprit of the rebellion. Jiangnan was finally stabilized. But they wanted to order Wang Shouren to let Prince Ning go, and wait for the southern expedition army to reach Jiangxi, and then play the game of eagle catching chicken again.

I don’t know how many people will die because of this.

Chang Feng was furious. He shouted, "Jiang Bin, you bastard! How dare you instigate the emperor to release the tiger back to the mountains?"

Jiang Bin said: "Mr. Chang, you don't know the emperor's good intentions."

Chang Feng could no longer bear it: "As the emperor, his good intentions should be for the benefit of the people! Not to bring disaster to the people!"

Emperor Zhengde said: "Everyone go down, Chang Feng stay."

Everyone left the big tent, leaving only Emperor Zhengde and Chang Feng in the tent.

Emperor Zhengde asked, "Do you think I condoned Prince Ning's rebellion just to achieve unparalleled merit during my southern tour?"

Chang Feng cupped his hands and said, "Yes."

Emperor Zhengde said: "You underestimate me."

Chang Feng asked back: "Does the emperor have any other reasons?"

Emperor Zhengde asked: "Where is the lair of the civil officials in the court?"

Chang Feng replied: "Jiangnan."

Emperor Zhengde said: "If Prince Ning's rebellion spreads across Jiangnan, the scholars in Jiangnan will have only two choices. Either surrender to Prince Ning or not. If they surrender to Prince Ning, I have reason to kill them and then carry out a crackdown to purge the civil officials in the court. If they do not surrender to Prince Ning, Prince Ning will rob them of their wealth and kill their entire family. When I arrive in Jiangnan and put down the rebellion, those riches will become my legitimate spoils of war."

Chang Feng had not expected that this was the real intention of Emperor Zhengde—to use Prince Ning to purge the civil service group originating from Jiangnan.

What a great move to kill someone with a borrowed knife!
Emperor Zhengde said again: "Civil servants are the cancer of the Ming Dynasty. Sooner or later, they will cause the Ming Dynasty to fall! I want to purge the civil servants, and I must kill them decisively. Since ancient times, there has been no such thing as having both. For the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty, I can only make the people of Jiangnan suffer!" (End of this chapter)