Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 169: Feng Quan Gong avenged his personal revenge, and the army and the army were defeated in two battles (please subscribe for monthly tickets)
The armed tax resistance that broke out in Jiangnan was unprecedented in scale, alarming not only Wei Zhongxian, but also Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao.

Without him, the taxes of the Su and Song governments were too important to the Ming Dynasty.

The taxes of Suzhou, together with its neighboring Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou prefectures, accounted for almost 3% of the Ming Dynasty's taxes.

If this place is in chaos, I'm afraid the entire Ming Dynasty will be in complete chaos.

Although the war in Liaodong has stopped, the famine in the world shows no sign of stopping.

Shaanxi has been experiencing severe drought for two consecutive years. The Guanzhong Plain, the original source of grain production, now has to rely on government relief to survive.

Hanoi, Shandong and other places still need relief from the court.

The burning of Xushuguan directly caused the suspension of the Hangzhou-Suzhou section of the Grand Canal.

If the money and grain from the south of the Yangtze River cannot be transported to the north through the canal in time, the entire north will face a food crisis.

Now that the Donglin Party members have been completely driven out of the court, the "[-]-year-old" Wei Zhongxian naturally wants to take charge of this family.

There are also big differences within the party on how to deal with this eunuch.

In addition to the Chief of Ceremonies and the confidant eunuchs of the inner court, the two most trusted confidants of the "[-]-year-old" Wei Zhongxian are Feng Quan, the Minister of Personnel, and Cui Chengxiu, the left governor and censor.

The two teamed up to use this year's "Beijing Chao" to expel the Donglin Party members from the court.

But it also created a problem.

There was originally a vacancy for the chief minister of the cabinet, and Feng Quan, a member of the cabinet, was very hopeful to become the chief minister of the cabinet.

Unexpectedly, Cui Chengxiu secretly made trouble and promoted Gu Bingqian, another cabinet minister who had taken refuge in Wei Zhongxian, to the position of chief minister on the grounds that Feng Quan was too young to convince the public.

Although he has been an official for nearly ten years, Feng Quan is still only 28 years old.

Feng Quan's life is undoubtedly a cheating life for many people.

He was a high school scholar at the age of 18 and became a scholar in the Hanlin Academy at the age of 19. Not only was he handsome, but he also had good handwriting.

Xiao Feng Hanlin's hairpin flowers in regular script are very famous.

However, the Hanlin Academy was mostly controlled by southerners at that time. He, a northern talent, was bullied by many Donglin Party members in the Hanlin Academy.

Last year, Feng Quan tried his best and joined Wei Zhongxian. Not only did he become the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, he also became a cabinet minister.

However, Feng Quan did not have much power of his own in the court. Only Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Jin Yiwei, had good relations with Feng Quan.

This age is indeed a bit of a disadvantage for Feng Quan. In addition, he had been humiliated by Donglin boss Miao Changqi and others before. Rumors that Feng Quan used masculinity to serve others and gain power spread in the capital.

Not only were there rumors that Feng Quan and Tian Ergeng slept in the same bed, but there were even rumors that Feng Quan seduced Wei Zhongxian into power with his male lust.

Under such criticism, Feng Quan is naturally unable to compete for the position of first assistant.

Through Tian Ergeng's investigation, it was revealed that the driving force behind it was Cui Chengxiu.

When Cui Chengxiu was the governor of Huaiyang in the first year of Tianqi, he paid a salt tax of up to 250 million taels of silver a year, setting a record in the history of the Ming Dynasty and winning the trust of Wei Zhongxian.

He is also better at managing connections than Feng Quan. Wei Zhongxian's nephew Wei Liangqing and his current chief assistant Gu Bingqian are all good friends with him.

Even though he knew that Cui Chengxiu was secretly plotting against him, Feng Quan could only tolerate it for the time being.

The two had huge differences over Jiangnan's tax resistance incident.

As a northerner, Feng Quan has never had a good impression of these southerners. He advocates cutting off the knot quickly and suppressing these armed riots as soon as possible.

To prevent it from continuing to expand and affecting more areas.

In addition, we can take this opportunity to get rid of some Donglin Party members in Jiangnan.

After all, Cui Chengxiu had served as governor of Huaiyang and knew the power of these southern businessmen.

The reason why he was able to receive so much salt tax was mainly because he reached an agreement with the salt merchants in Yangzhou. He gave all the salt from Lianghuai to the gradually emerging Huizhou merchants, allowing them to monopolize the salt industry in Lianghuai.

Those salt merchants reciprocated the favor and took the initiative to pay back part of the salt tax arrears over the years.

Cui Chengxiu believed that this matter should not be expanded, and the water pirate "Langli Fei" who attacked Xushuguan must be eliminated as soon as possible.

But for the matter of beating the Suzhou tax supervisor to death, they arrested a few Donglin Party members to take the blame and turned the big issue into a minor one.

If something goes wrong, it will be out of control.

Regarding the armed riots in Suzhou, "Nine Thousand Years Old" was naturally very angry, and this was not the first time.

After all, he is now in full power, how can he still swallow his anger?
Feng Quan also saw this, and Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Jinyiwei, was adding fuel to the fire, saying that the Jinyiwei would do their best to quell the riots in Jiangnan.

So Feng Quan was appointed as the imperial envoy and rushed to Jiangnan to quell the unrest.

Tian Ergeng, the commander of Jinyiwei, accompanied him south.

Wei Zhongxian even ordered Cui Wensheng, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, to fully cooperate with Feng Quan to ensure the early restoration of taxes and water transportation in Jiangnan.

Although the Six Ministries in Nanjing were regarded by many people as nothing more than a nursing home for officials, officials who failed in political struggles were generally demoted to Nanjing.

However, the garrison eunuchs and the Six Ministries in Nanjing still held considerable real power.

Needless to say, the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs is responsible for the money and grain of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Huguang provinces, as well as the exploration and cooperation of water transportation and salt production.

It can be said that the financial lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty lies in the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs.

The Ministry of Rites in Nanjing is also an important department.

Although the Ministry of Rites is only responsible for some sacrificial ceremonies in Southern Zhili, such as paying homage to the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty.

However, there were generally vacancies in the Ming Dynasty's cabinet, and the vacancies were usually filled by the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Rites.

Especially the chief ministers of the cabinet, many will hold the title of Minister of Etiquette.

There is also an unwritten saying that the chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty must have served as the main hall of the Ministry of Rites.

But there is only one Minister of Rites in Beijing, and the chief minister of the cabinet often serves as the minister.

For example, the previous chief minister of the cabinet, Han Xu, was the minister of rites, and the newly appointed chief minister of the cabinet, Gu Bingqian, is also the minister of rites.

Therefore, the value of the Minister of Rites in Nanjing is reflected. The Minister of Rites in Nanjing is a reserve minister and even the chief minister in the future.

There is no capital commander in the Southern Zhili region, so the power to mobilize troops in Southern Zhili is actually under the direct jurisdiction of the Nanjing Ministry of War, while the power to command troops is the responsibility of Nanjing military generals and Nanjing garrison eunuchs respectively.

The Nanjing Ministry of War also manages matters such as military examinations and promotion of generals in Southern Zhili, and also manages the affairs of officials, horses, official posts, and official ships in Southern Zhili, so the Nanjing Ministry of War is also very rich.

Because the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing can directly mobilize troops, the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing is usually given the title of "Counsellor and Mechanical Affairs", and together with the Nanjing garrison eunuch and Nanjing military generals, they form the three giants of Nanjing's military power.

At this time, the garrison eunuch in Nanjing was Cui Wensheng, the garrison in Nanjing was Wei Guogong Xu Hongji, and the Minister of War was Yuan Keli, a member of the Donglin Party.

Yuan Keli was still able to serve as the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing and control the military power because Nanjing's Peking and Inquisition was conducted independently. Although Feng Quan was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Beijing, he had no right to interfere with the Peking and Inspection in Nanjing.

The Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji, was a distinguished noble. The Duke of Wei sent people to expropriate people in the south of the Yangtze River, which directly affected the income of the Honorable Group.

Xu Hongji and other Nanjing dignitaries must have secretly supported Suzhou's tax resistance.

Yuan Keli is a member of the Donglin Party and is definitely not willing to cooperate with the Eunuch Party.

And Cui Wensheng is Li Xianzhong's man. Li Xianzhong naturally hopes that the chaos in Jiangnan will be better. He hopes that these Jiangnan gentry will directly organize an insurgent army to fight against the imperial court, so that the imperial court's attention will naturally not be on Liaodong.

The local officials in Suzhou have long been colluding with local wealthy businessmen, and they will not help Feng Quan catch the real culprit.

Therefore, when Feng Quan and Tian Ergen came to Nanjing, the officials of Southern Zhili made almost no progress in resisting the tax.

Cui Wensheng said: "The prefect of Suzhou has arrested a dozen people who caused trouble. However, the scene was quite chaotic at that time, with tens of thousands of people participating. As for who did it, there is no way to find out who did it."

However, Feng Quan didn't seem to care. He said, "Since the government can't find the real culprit, let's catch the mastermind behind it."

"As for the investigation of the case, I won't bother the Suzhou Prefecture. I believe the Jin Yiwei will have the answer soon!"

Tian Ergeng said: "Don't worry, Imperial Commissioner Feng. The Jin Yiwei have already got a clue about the mob beating the mine supervisor to death. I believe the mastermind behind it will be found out soon!"

Feng Quan had already thought about this. They would definitely not be able to catch the real culprit, and it was impossible to arrest all the tens of thousands of Suzhou people as a mob.

Then they would simply arrest the Donglin Party members in Jiangnan as the masterminds.Take the opportunity to resolve these stumbling blocks!
Of course, we still have to make some appearances, and Jin Yiwei still has to pretend to investigate.

However, compared to such a major case as the burning of Xushuguan, killing a few tax supervisors in Suzhou is nothing at all.

Feng Quan said: "Now that we know that the mastermind of Xushuguan is the Taihu water bandit 'Langli Fei', can we wipe out this water bandit?"

Yuan Keli, the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, said: "The Ministry of War has mobilized the Navy Huihui and Su Song to conduct multiple raids on Taihu Lake. However, these water bandits were cunning, and the officers and soldiers were able to defeat them several times!"

Feng Quan said: "The emperor and Eunuch Wei, the chief ceremonial officer, took this matter very seriously and requested that this group of water bandits must be eradicated and the 10 taels of silver they snatched from Xushuguan be recaptured."

As soon as Feng Quan said this, several people looked at each other.

I thought that you, Feng Quan, are too shady. Where did you get the 10 taels of silver from Xushuguan?

This group of eunuchs must have swallowed up the money that Xushuguan had previously transported to the capital. Anyway, now that people are dead and Xushuguan has been burned, this bad debt has been directly blamed on the water bandits.

If you see through this kind of thing but don't tell it, they didn't pay for it anyway.

Cui Wensheng said: "Feng Qin sent the Governor of Tian to go all the way south. We have specially prepared a banquet to welcome you two."

So he invited Feng Quan and Tian Ergen to come to the Qinhuai River.

But Feng Quan didn't expect that there would be "heaven and earth" beside the Qinhuai River.

The two of them are naturally no strangers to "Heaven and Earth", but after all, this is the land of fireworks in the south of the Yangtze River. Both the maids and the "Yangzhou skinny horses" who serve here are better than those in the capital.

In order to prove that they did not have a habit of cutting off their sleeves, Feng Quan and Tian Ergen each chose a "Yangzhou thin horse" to spend the spring night together.At this time, on the beach of Chongming Island, Shen Zhengzong, a big businessman in Wujiang, was trading with Zheng Zhilong's Dongliuqiu Company.

Shen Zhengzong was a member of Guimao Juren in the 31st year of Wanli. In the 35th year of Dingweike, he was awarded the Jinshi. He was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Works, promoted to wailang, and later transferred to the Ministry of War.

However, Shen Zhengzong publicly defended Gu Xiancheng and other Donglin Party members, saying that Gu Xiancheng and others were good officials who were dismissed and returned to their hometowns.

Since then, he has been running the family business. The Shen family is a wealthy family in Wujiang.

At this time, he also had another identity, that is, the big financial backer behind Fushe, and he was also one of the masterminds of the attack on Xushuguan.

I saw Shen Zhengzong saying to a young man: "Brother Yiguan, it's really hard for you to come and trade in person this time."

Zheng Zhilong said: "Brother Shen, please think carefully. The silk, tea, and porcelain you used to trade this time are worth 50 taels!"

Shen Zhengzong said: "The Portuguese are unwilling to sell warships to us. Now only Brother Yiguan's Dongliuqiu Company can meet Shen's needs!"

郑芝龙指着停在江面上的三艘战船说道：“这三艘是西班牙盖伦商船改造的战船，满载排水量480吨，装有48门6磅佛郎机火炮以及8门12磅红夷大炮。”

"This kind of firepower is enough for Brother Shen to dominate the Yangtze River."

"There are also 1000 high-quality bird cannons in the cabin. The armor-piercing range is more than 60 steps, ensuring that you have a range advantage when facing the army."

"In addition, there are 20 Tiger Crouching Cannons and 12 Franco Machine Cannons, as well as a large number of artillery shells."

"As for cold weapons, I brought 100 pieces of armor, 1000 pieces of heavy cloth armor, 300 iron shields, and 5000 spears and broadswords."

After hearing what Zheng Zhilong said, Shen Zhengzong seemed very excited and said: "That's great. I really didn't expect Brother Yiguan to actually get so many firearms and armor."

These warships were converted from the merchant ships that Li Xianzhong first bought from the Portuguese.

Now that the Liaodong Navy has long since upgraded to larger ships, it would be best if these second-hand ships could be disposed of at a high price.

As for those swords, guns and armor, they were naturally captured from the Tatars and can be regarded as waste.

Anyway, the ship belonged to the Portuguese and the other things belonged to the Tatars. Even if they were eventually captured by the army, Li Xianzhong would not be traced.

As for those artillery pieces, Li Xianzhong had already left the mark of the artillery commander of Bu Jia Lao, Macau.

Zheng Zhilong said: "I have also recruited hundreds of Portuguese sailors and artillerymen for Brother Shen. They should be able to enable your people to quickly master the use of these weapons."

"When I invited you to smuggle with me and become a maritime trader, you said you didn't want to do the business of killing people and selling goods. Why are you now going to rebel?"

Shen Zhengzong smiled bitterly and said: "How can Mr. Shen have such ability? It is really the eunuchs under Wei Zhongxian who extorted money and forced us businessmen like us into desperation!"

"Shen did this just to protect himself."

"Such a large amount of goods is not something that the Shen family can collect together. It was raised by the big businessmen in Suzhou. We will fight these eunuchs to the end this time!"

Zheng Zhilong smiled boldly and said: "A man is born between heaven and earth, so he naturally has to do a good job."

"Don't worry about the warships of our East Ryukyu Company. Although these three ships are small, they will have no problem dealing with the Yangtze River Navy of the Ming Dynasty."

"If Brother Shen really can't hold on anymore, just inform him. The warships under Zheng's command will definitely come to Brother Shen's rescue. Even if it doesn't work, we can take Brother Shen to Ryukyu. At least we can keep your family safe! "

Then he pointed to a young man next to him and said, "This is my brother Zheng Zhibao. He is proficient in water warfare and should be able to help Brother Shen!"

After that, Shen Zhengzong watched his mother, wife, children and other members of the Shen family follow Zheng Zhilong on the warship bound for Ryukyu.

Zheng Zhilong was also in a good mood at the moment. The Duke of Liao was right, selling arms was the most profitable thing. After all, you have no place to buy these things if you have money.

Even if the price is astronomical, there will still be people who will obediently pay for it.

What he is taking away now is goods, which are better than silver. Once these silks are resold to Japan, the price will be at least 100 million taels.

However, in this way, the Japanese market will not be out of stock in the short term.

As for tea and other things, you can go to Macau and sell it to the Portuguese. Anyway, there is no need to worry about no buyers for Ming Dynasty’s flagship products.

Feng Quan naturally didn't know all this. He was rushing to Jiangyin to meet an old acquaintance.

It was his old friend Miao Changqi from the Hanlin Academy.

Miao Changqi was a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli (1613). He was selected as a scholar of the Hanlin Academy and was awarded and reviewed.

In the first year of Tianqi, he was appointed Zuo Zanshan, and later promoted to Yude. He was an early figure of the Donglin Party. In "Dianjianglu of Donglin", he was called "Wu Yong with many stars in wisdom".

But since Yang Lian and others were killed, he felt a crisis.In addition, after Feng Quan took refuge with Wei Zhongxian and was re-employed, he was afraid of retaliation from Feng Quan, so he voluntarily resigned and returned to his hometown.

How could Feng Quan forget this Donglin boss who had humiliated him in public?

His main purpose of going south to Jiangnan this time was to seek revenge against Miao Changqi.

Soon the Jin Yiwei raided Miao Changqi's home and imprisoned him for inciting Suzhou people to beat the mine supervisor to death.

There is no way, who told the hometown of this Donglin boss to be so close to Suzhou?
When he saw Feng Quan, Miao Changqi's face turned pale. He knew that he was doomed this time!

Facing this 60-year-old Donglin boss with a gray beard, Feng Quan deliberately leaned on Tian Ergen's chest.

She said softly: "Old thief Miao, when you bullied me that day, did you ever think that you would end up like today?"

Tian Ergen had long known about Miao Changqi's rape of Feng Quan, so he was naturally greeted with various punishments in Jinyiwei's prison.

In addition to Miao Changqi, he also arrested Gao Panlong, Zhou Shunchang, Zhou Qiyuan, Li Yingsheng, Zhou Zongjian, and Huang Zunsu.

These Donglin Party members were also from Jiangnan, like Zhou Shunchang and Zhou Zongjian, both of whom were from Suzhou.

They usually attack Jiu Qian Sui, and now they just use this excuse to take them down.

After many days of visits, Jin Yiwei finally discovered that the Taihu water bandit "Langli Fei"'s lair was in the Changbaidang area in the south of Taihu Lake.

Soon Tian Ergeng gathered more than 3000 troops from Su Song's army and the Ming army sent from Nanjing to launch a clearing campaign against Changbaidang.

Although they captured Feiying Island, the home of the water pirates, they only captured an empty nest.

Instead, they were led by these water bandits into the Changbai swamp. Facing the endless reed swamp, the officers and soldiers instantly lost their way.

And these water bandits even sent "water ghosts" with excellent water skills to secretly scuttle Feng Quan's boat.

If Tian Ergeng, who was proficient in water-based skills, hadn't saved him desperately, Feng Quan would have been feeding fish in Taihu Lake right now.

These water bandits took the opportunity to set fire to Changbaidang and burned many officers and soldiers to death.

Most of the Jinyiwei under Tian Ergen were northerners who were not used to water, so [-]% to [-]% of them were drowned.

In the end, instead of wiping out the water bandits, they lost more than 500 people.

Feng Quan, who was still frightened, no longer dared to go deep into Taihu Lake to suppress the bandits, so he had to order various officers and soldiers to blockade Taihu Lake and besiege this group of water bandits.

As the saying goes, "Good luck never comes in pairs, misfortune never comes alone." As soon as Feng Quan escaped from death in Taihu Lake, news of the Suzhou riots came.

When the Jin Yiwei arrested Zhou Shunchang, Zhou Zongjian and others in Suzhou, the people of Suzhou were dissatisfied. They protested against the Jin Yiwei's random arrests and went on strike again.

At this time, Feng Quan had no choice but to transfer the troops besieging Taihu Lake back to Suzhou.

As a result, they clashed with the people. Several Jinyi guards were beaten to death by Suzhou people. Of course, dozens of Suzhou people were also hacked to death and injured.

Although they eventually took away the prisoners, the whole of Suzhou came to a complete halt and merchants went on strike.

Countless people gathered in front of the Suzhou magistrate's office to demand that the government release a large number of innocent people arrested yesterday.

Looking at the extremely excited Suzhou people with hoes and wooden sticks in their hands, even Tian Ergeng, the always ruthless commander of the Jinyiwei, felt scared.

He said to Feng Quan: "My great scholar Feng, we can't go on like this. Now I only have a few dozen imperial guards left. If they really rush in, my brothers won't be able to stop them at all!"

Although Feng Quan was very reluctant, in the end he had to give in, released the people who were arrested for causing trouble, and promised in public that the matter would not be pursued again.

But the matter was not over yet. This was reported by the Wujiang County magistrate. Taihu water bandits "Langli Fei" and others took advantage of the official army's return to support Suzhou, broke through the blockade overnight, and went all the way down the Wusong River towards Chongming Island. went!
Feng Quan would not tolerate these water bandits. He knew that the officers and soldiers under Suzhou Bingbeidao were not reliable at all.

So he ordered the Yangtze River Navy in Zhenjiang to march eastward, and mobilized 2 Nanjing defenders to go to Chongming to suppress the bandits.

Unexpectedly, these water pirates turned into pirates in an instant, and three large Western sailing ships appeared on the Yangtze River.

Those Western sailing ships relied on their powerful firepower to sink seven or eight Yangtze River Navy ships in a short time.

The remaining naval warships quickly retreated when they saw something was wrong.

In this battle, the Yangtze River Navy lost thousands of sailors and infantry on board.

And those arrogant water bandits even occupied Chongming County.

Although Chongming Island at this time was not as big as later generations, it was only composed of several small islands.

However, there is a county seat on the island.

The water bandit "Langli Fei" even sent someone to deliver the message arrogantly.

He said that as long as the eunuchs did not stop their extortionate expropriation of Suzhou.

He will use Chongming to completely block the Yangtze River waterway, and even go up the river to block the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

But Feng Quan, who was threatened by "Lang Li Fei", was at a loss what to do.

He knew that this time Jiangnan's mission was ruined by him. Instead of recovering the tax revenue, he suffered even greater losses.

In desperation, Feng Quan had no choice but to ask the court to mobilize the Denglai Navy and Tianjin Navy to go south to suppress the rebellion!

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