unclear

Chapter 851 Taking advantage of the topic
Jurchens, Eight Banners soldiers! Before long, reports of bloody suppressions began to spread from the coastal areas of Zhejiang and the mountainous areas of eastern Zhejiang, along with even more shocking news.

Those foreign troops wearing red, yellow, blue and white armor were not Mongolian soldiers at all, but the Eight Banners soldiers of the Great Jin Dynasty. The Great Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the emperor, and these soldiers became prisoners. Who would have thought that they would suddenly appear in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Compared with the Mongolian cavalry, the Eight Banners soldiers were equally matched as cavalry and had a clear advantage as infantry when dismounted. They were particularly good at mountain warfare and would often dare to go deep into the mountains with only a few hundred people, without carrying any supplies at all.

They eat anything they see, whether it's flying in the sky, running on the ground, or growing on trees. When they get anxious, they just kill horses. At night, they climb trees if there are trees, or find rocks if there are no trees, and then fall asleep. They have a very strong ability to survive.

Even more powerful was their murderous intent. They would destroy any bandit village or mountain stronghold they targeted, and after killing one person, they would chop off his head and hang it around their waist, then continue to hunt down the next one. Sometimes, they would quarrel or even fight with their own people in order to kill one more person.

In less than two months, the riots throughout Zhejiang and the coastal areas of Southern Zhili died down, or were killed. The Eight Banners Army not only attacked salt fields and mountain strongholds, but also held people accountable through confessions. They arrested all those who had participated in the riots but later decided to quit because they felt the situation was not right.

After this ordeal, the coastal prefectures of Zhejiang and Nanzhili were attacked by Japanese pirates again. Many villages were directly emptied and coffins became a scarce commodity.

On the city gate towers of Wenzhou, Taizhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Yangzhou and Huai'an, there was a row of wooden cages filled with severed human heads.

If they were not bandits, salt guards, or leaders of private salt trafficking, or they were salt merchants, gentry, or landlords who were behind the scenes, as long as they were accused by many people and then interrogated by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, they would be dragged to the main street of the city and be stabbed to death without being brought to justice by the government and regardless of whether they had any honors or not, for the charge of treason!
The main culprit was executed, his property was confiscated, and his entire family was forced to do hard labor. Batches of confiscated property and hard labor prisoners were taken to ships in Hangzhou and Ningbo. Their property was sent to the capital to be counted and stored as the imperial treasury. It was said that they would be sent to a seaport tens of thousands of miles away to farm with the dark ghosts. It was highly likely that they would never come back in this life.

At this time, Wang An and the army, who had been in Nanjing, also moved, dividing their troops into more than ten groups and rushing to Luzhou Prefecture, Anqing Prefecture, Chizhou Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, Guangde Prefecture, and Zhenjiang Prefecture.

The local guards, gentry, landlords and officials who participated in and supported the salt-making riots were uprooted. Although the murderous intent was not as heavy as that of the Eight Banners Army, the outcome was exactly the same: the property was confiscated and the prisoners were sent to hard labor.

A month later, the imperial edict was issued, in view of the serious redundancy, inefficiency, clique-based, illegal plots and disturbances among the people, officials in Nanjing should be dismissed immediately. All officials involved should go to Beijing for external inspection, and those who passed the inspection should be retained at the discretion of the court, while the rest should be demoted to civilians and never employed again.

Nanzhili was also abolished and changed to Jianghuai Province. Zhang Chunjin, the Chief Censor, was transferred to the Left Governor of Jianghuai, Hao Laiwu, the Left Counselor of Guangdong, was transferred to the Right Governor, and Wang Mingxuan, the Secretary of the Dali Temple, was appointed as the Censor. Officials in the province were re-evaluated and recommended in preparation for the implementation of the new policy one year later.

Wang An was removed from his post as the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, but was instead appointed Governor-General of Jiangnan, with his seat in Nanjing, and garrisons in Nanchang and Wuchang.

It was under the jurisdiction of the 17th and 18th Army Guards as well as the Eight Banners Army, and was responsible for maintaining public order in the three provinces of Jianghuai, Jiangxi, and Huguang, and had the power to submit memorials to impeach all officials in the three provinces.

After more than 20 years of two capitals and provinces, it has now become one capital, provinces and two special zones, or simply one capital and provinces. Nanzhili, where the bureaucratic forces are most entrenched, has been fighting against Emperor Jingyang for nearly years, but unexpectedly failed at the link that they are best at.

The series of riots following the promulgation of the Salt Law became the swan song of the bureaucrats and gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. The gentry and landlords who had been trying to maintain their privileges and opposed the new policy were killed in half a dozen or so riots. The rest were all frightened by the bloody butcher's knife and could only keep their tails between their legs to protect themselves.

But they thought too simply. The emperor not only wanted to kill people but also to uncover the root of the problem. During the period of the salt and salt riots, Banyuetan and Shangbao published a series of articles on the truth of the suppression of bandits in various places, and published some of the confessions intact.

Now the true faces of some people who incited the people to riot for their own selfish interests could no longer be hidden. All of their lies were made public, allowing the cannon fodder to understand who was using them, and focusing on striking at the influence of the bureaucrats and gentry among the people.

When the common people learned from the newspapers how much property and land some Nanjing officials and gentry owned, and how they concealed and passed on taxes and evaded labor, no matter whether they were from the same village or not, they probably felt uncomfortable.

When they learned that the land confiscated by the court would be sold to landless farmers through local government and Sun Moon Bank in the form of farm loans, their hatred for the court's brutal killing might have been reduced a little.

In the final analysis, human hatred and love are nothing more than emotional feedback on gains and losses. If someone lets you eat more, you will have a good impression of him; on the contrary, if someone takes away the benefits that should belong to you, you will definitely dislike him.

In the past, due to lack of information, knowledge and experience, most people could not calculate the amount and could only be deceived by others. Now, there are newspapers, and people can help calculate the amount and make the answer public.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t read. There are clerks at the gate of the yamen to explain every day. Sometimes they will go from street to street to villages and farms to give classes, specifically to preach the laws of the court.

What spreads the fastest among the people? It must be rumors, or word of mouth. If one family understands it, the whole village will soon know about it.

Is the logic right? It doesn't matter. Anyone who thinks it's wrong can discuss it. If you don't argue, you won't understand. As long as there are conditions for debate, plus official explanations and channels for communication, in a month, a year, three years... there will always be a time to figure it out. It's much better than being kept in the dark for generations.

The aftermath of the promulgation of the Salt Law had not yet ended. At the end of the year, the emperor issued another decree. This time it was not to create any new laws or rules, but to issue an edict of self-criticism.

The general meaning is that he is very disappointed with the many officials in the court who are just sitting there doing nothing and embezzling the people's money. Although the emperor has fulfilled his duties, he is the father of the officials after all. If the officials make mistakes, the father must be blamed and must admit his mistakes!
But admitting a mistake is only the beginning. Since it is a mistake, it needs to be corrected. How to correct it? You must first find the root cause of the mistake and know why you made the mistake so that you can avoid it in the future.

(End of this chapter)