I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 228 Wei Dazhong (please subscribe)
Ye Xianggao not only deliberately encouraged Han Xu and others to deal with Liu Yishui, but also repeatedly protected Li Sancai and the local gentry who were evading taxes in Zhejiang.

His statement just now only caused him to break with his previous allies in the court. Although Zhu Youxiao was satisfied with this, he was not satisfied yet.

His goal is to punish the tax-evading gentry in Jiangnan.

Therefore, as their sympathizer, Ye Xianggao must continue to express his stance to let Zhu Youxiao see his true determination.

Seeing the emperor "pressing harder and harder", Ye Xianggao had already resigned himself to his fate. Since he dared to say that just now, he would naturally not sympathize with this corrupt and corrupt gentry now.

"Guilty deserves punishment. Nowadays, ministers in the court are punished for making mistakes, let alone these gentry.

It’s just that I believe that the gentry has complaints against the court. Even if there is evidence now, we should not act too hastily. We must first recover the debt and then take action. Your Majesty. "

Ye Xianggao saw Zhu Youxiao thinking deeply after hearing this, and was secretly afraid that the emperor would suspect that he was still protecting these gentry, so he immediately added.

"Otherwise, the gentry involved will definitely be anxious to collect the arrears and be held accountable. They are deeply entrenched in the local area. If they continue to incite trouble and gather people to cause trouble, I am afraid it will be very detrimental to the court's plan to collect the arrears."

Zhu Youxiao nodded and felt that Ye Xianggao's analysis made some sense.

"Bi Ziyan has already started collecting debts in Jiangnan. I believe that soon, when the news of Li Sancai's treatment reaches Jiangnan, these Jiangnan gentry will not dare to make any mistakes. But according to Bi Ziyan's title book, they are lawless There are a lot of gentry, and I'm afraid that large-scale punishment might trigger a backlash."

Ye Xianggao shook his head when he heard this, feeling that the emperor was too worried.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. If the evidence is irrefutable, then the imperial court has a rightful name. These gentry will definitely not make mistakes. Besides, these squires themselves are colluding with the local prefecture and county yamen. Doesn't the imperial court's punishment of them show that the imperial court is aware of everything and will do nothing wrong?" Let the people be grateful, but it is not enough to deal with these gentry and ordinary officials."

Ordinary officials can't?

Hearing that Ye Xiang Gaoyi had pointed out something, Zhu Youxiao Rao became interested.

"What do you mean by Aiqing's words?"

"We can learn about the rise and fall of history by taking history as a mirror. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty reused the capital of Zhi and used violence to control violence. The noble court officials were afraid of him like a tiger, looked sideways and called him 'Goshawk'. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty reused Zhang Tang to attack the wealthy businessmen and punish the powerful. When he merged with the family, the powerful people fled away when they heard that he took office. I believe that these can be used as lessons from ancient times."

Zhu Youxiao understood that Ye Xianggao's intention was to let him use ruthless officials to fight against the powerful gentry who were corrupt and perverted the law.

After the cruel officials have dealt with these gentry and the local people's resentment boils over, then the cruel officials will be pushed out as scapegoats to relieve the people's anger.

After understanding what Ye Xianggao meant, Zhu Youxiao shook his head. Although this method was quick to produce results, he was very reluctant to do so. He couldn't do it yet just throw away the people who worked for him loyally.

"This method is definitely not feasible. These gentry are already dissatisfied with the court. If they use cruel officials again, wouldn't it give them a reason to cause trouble? If the court compromises, wouldn't it bring disgrace to the court and put it even more in danger of severe cold? Well."

Hearing the emperor's repeated objections, Ye Xianggao also thought to himself that it was a pity that the emperor was still too young and soft-hearted to do these things of punishment.

There is no shortage of officials who want to be famous for a while in the officialdom. As the saying goes, if a husband does not have five pots of food to eat when he is alive, he will have five pots of food to cook his ears when he dies. As long as the emperor lets the wind go, there are many officials who want to do this for the emperor, and there is no need for an emperor at all. I feel guilty, who dares to guess the heart of an emperor.

But now that the emperor was so opposed to it, he couldn't say anything, so he could only agree reluctantly.

"Since Your Majesty is unwilling to use cruel officials, there is another way for me to do it. It is said that if you are upright, you will not obey orders; if you are not upright, you will not obey orders.

To deal with these corrupt gentry, in addition to using heavy codes, you can also select upright and honest ministers to go on inspections, just like Ying Tian, ​​the governor of Haigang Peak, so that even if the gentry complained, they would have nothing to say. "

Hai Rui was famous throughout the world for his uprightness.

In the third year of Longqing's reign, he was promoted to the imperial censor of Youqiandu and was assigned to be the governor of Yingtian.Yingtiannan Zhili area is a prosperous land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River.The subordinates were afraid of Hai Rui's majesty, and many corrupt officials resigned voluntarily.

There were prominent dignitaries who painted their houses red to show their luxury. When they heard that Hai Rui was coming, they all painted them black.The eunuch was supervising the weaving in the south of the Yangtze River. When he saw Hai Rui coming, he reduced his entourage of chariots and horses.

After Hai Rui arrived, he did get rid of the current disadvantages, promoted advantages and disadvantages, restricted land annexation, and even refused to give Xu Jie, the former chief minister, the face, forcing his family to withdraw from the land, and gave Xu Jie a few orders to disgrace him, but nothing happened. There is something to be said.

"Hai Rui is famous all over the world. I have often dreamed of having ministers like Hai Rui, but there are too few ministers in the world who are not afraid of powerful people and are not greedy for corruption. I want to use this method but cannot use it."

Zhu Youxiao sighed softly and thought about it again, and felt that the most suitable candidate was Yang Lian. Yang Lian was not afraid of powerful people, hated evil as much as hatred, and had very good personal ethics, which was perfect for dealing with these local snake-like gentry.But now that Yang Lian is the governor of Liaodong, he has a heavy task and is not suitable to handle this matter.

Ye Xianggao also knew that the emperor would say this, but just because the emperor didn't have a suitable candidate, it didn't mean that he didn't either. "Your Majesty, although Haigang Peak does not exist often, it does not mean that it does not exist. Now there is a candidate who is upright and honest, and is not afraid of the powerful. He is just suitable to be sent to deal with this matter."

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he waved his hand.

"If Aiqing is talking about Yang Lian, then don't mention it. Yang Lian has a heavy responsibility now and is not suitable to go to Jiangnan to deal with this matter."

"No, I recommend the engineering major to Wei Dazhong. This man is upright and not afraid of powerful people. He is understandably the most suitable candidate for this matter."

Zhu Youxiao had heard about Wei Dazhong when he arrived and knew that he was a member of the Donglin Party. However, Wei Dazhong, Hui Shiyang and others impeached Liu Yishen in front of the Meridian Gate, which made Zhu Youxiao very unhappy, and finally found out that he was There was no behind-the-scenes instructions and no bribes were accepted, so there was no additional punishment against him.

Now Ye Xianggao actually recommended him to handle this matter, which made Zhu Youxiao confused.

"Your Majesty, Wei Dazhong is an upright official. Whenever he goes on missions, he wears light attire and travels lightly. He never accepts bribes. Not only does he not accept bribes himself, but he also accuses others of corruption and bribery to the court many times. Everyone in the court knows this and thinks that he is an honest man. Alien.

At the same time, he was not afraid of the powerful, spoke out and asked for orders for the people, and the people of Jiaxing praised him.Everyone in Nanzhili knows it.

If he was sent to patrol the Southern Zhili and punish the gentry who violated the law, it would be like Haigangfeng patrolling the sky. The gentry would be as afraid as a tiger, but they would have no choice but to bow their heads and obey orders without daring to complain. "

Ye Xianggao's words also reminded Zhu Youxiao that Wei Dazhong impeached Wei Zhongxian and others many times in history. In the end, he was hated by Wei Zhongxian and was framed together with Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou. He was thrown into prison and tortured to death. One of the Six Gentlemen of Donglin.

"As Aiqing said, this person can be used, but he has always been against Liu Yishen before, and he was always aggressive, asking me to remove Liu Yishen, Shen Guan and others. I guess he is not a general person. He Although he is honest, he is also good to the people.

But he was asked to go to Jiangnan this time to deal with the corrupt and corrupt gentry. He just didn't know whether he could withstand the pressure and whether he could take on the important task of relieving the court's worries. "

After these things, Zhu Youxiao had a very bad impression of Wei Dazhong, and even though Ye Xianggao strongly recommended him, he still had doubts.

"In October of the 46th year of Wanli, Wei Dazhong went to Datong as an envoy to ennoble his son Dingwei. All gifts were declined.

Later, when I was working as an engineer in the engineering department, I discovered that there were profiteers colluding with officials to use project fees to cheat and embezzle public funds. So I investigated and tried to uncover the traitors. These are all clear evidence.

Although Wei Dazhong had misunderstood Liu Yishen before, but now the court wants to send someone who is upright and upright and not afraid of the powerful to go to Jiangnan, and I think this person must be the best. "

Ye Xianggao's vocal support made it difficult for Zhu Youxiao not to change his attitude and support.

"Since Aiqing recommends this person in this way, I will trust him once and order him to serve as the censor of Nanzhili, patrol the south of the Yangtze River, and punish those gentry who reported Bi Ziyan one by one."

"Your Majesty knows people well and makes good use of them. I would like to thank your Majesty for your kindness on behalf of Wei Dazhong."

Upon hearing this, Ye Xianggao immediately bowed and thanked him.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said that letting Wei Dazhong go to Jiangnan was just a supplement to Bi Ziyan's plan to govern Jiangnan and regain financial power.

Even without Wei Dazhong, he would have asked Bi Ziyan, Sun Chuanting and others to do it. He just wanted Ye Xianggao's attitude.

Ye Xianggao was quite sensible, but he didn't expect to be very cruel to his former allies, which also made Zhu Youxiao quite satisfied.

"Ai Qing is so sensible and recommends talents to me. There is no reason for me not to use them. It's not just about Jiangnan. What's more important for me to use you is the equalization of land and service in the capital, although this matter is now left to Sun Chengzong. , but Sun Chengzong had no previous experience, and there were many nobles in Shuntian Prefecture in Gyeonggi Province, so it was inevitable that he would have some difficulties in doing it.

And you have been very experienced in promoting the equalization of land and labor in the Xu Min style. In the future, you should always keep this matter in mind, communicate with Master Sun more, and report to me often. "

Since Ye Xianggao's statement satisfied him, he must not hesitate to express his favor and let Ye Xianggao take on important responsibilities.

Nowadays, there is one south and one north. In the south, there is a large gentry family that collects debts and commits political corruption and perverts the law. In the north, there is no room for error in the law of equalizing land and labor in the capital.

In particular, Sunchon Prefecture in Gyeonggi Province is close to Mongolia and Liaodong, and the White Lotus Sect is rampant among the people. The court's move will definitely touch the interests of these gentry. If they are incited by the White Lotus Sect again, they may easily rebel and cause rebellion.

Although Zhu Youxiao also wanted to wipe out all the powerful locals and the White Lotus Cult in his heart, the risks involved were too great, and Zhu Youxiao could not guarantee success, so he dealt with them separately if they could, but now he is unable to do both.

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(End of this chapter)