Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 253 Only with a sharp sword can you be invincible!

Xia Zhibai was not surprised that Lian Zining guessed what he was thinking.

How can any official in the court be truly simple?
Many of them are smiling tigers, or they are very secretive, or they know how to advance and retreat. These people rarely show up, but they also rarely put themselves in danger. What's more, the emperor now is Zhu Yuanzhang, who is known for his violent temper.

Xia Zhibai continued: "Since it is a breakthrough, we can't just stop there."

"There must be an explanation for what happened in the South."

"There has to be a result."

"These actions are ultimately just to disrupt their plans, but they have been deeply rooted in the local area for many years. If they are really determined not to take any action, I don't have a good solution. Without clear evidence, it is not easy to let the Royal Guards take action directly."

“So we have to step up our efforts.”

"And this requires the help of your hands."

"You don't actually have to do much. Just convey some words to the south for me."

"The first thing is to tell the South."

"The Ming Dynasty has been established for so many years, and corrupt officials have been rampant despite repeated bans, but there have been few incidents in the south. You can pass on my message to the south. It is far more terrifying to have a corrupt official with no news than to have a corrupt official with news."

Hear the words.

Lian Zining's expression suddenly changed.

There was a hint of horror and fear in his eyes.

He could naturally hear the warning in Xia Zhibai's words.

Aren’t there any corrupt officials in the South?

Have.

And definitely a lot.

However, in the past few major cases, few people in the south were caught.

Even if there were any, most of them were officials of the imperial court who were dismissed or implicated in the incident. There were actually very few cases that were actually caused by the South itself. Xia Zhibai directly stated this, which in itself was not normal.

If the water is clear, there will be no fish.

The fact that the officialdom in the South is too clean is a problem in itself.

There could only be one possible scenario, that is, there was serious mutual protection among officials in the South, and the court was having difficulty in conducting a thorough investigation.

This situation can be big or small.

It all depends on what Your Majesty thinks.

If Your Majesty feels that the South is well governed and does not take this matter to heart, then let it be for now.

If Your Majesty becomes alert to this, the officials in the South will probably become uneasy.

All crows are black, and it is impossible for a large-scale accident to occur. How can the South be independent? It can only be that someone is protecting it, or that the place has become independent and cannot be penetrated by water drops or oil spills. This is a taboo.

If this sentence were to reach the ears of officials in the south, it would probably cause them to tremble.

Lian Zining asked, "Brother Xia, do you really want to spread this message?"

"That's a lot of words."

"If your Majesty hears this, it may cause your Majesty to be suspicious of the local authorities. By then, the local authorities will impeach you with numerous memorials, which may even directly lead to your Majesty's dissatisfaction. You should be cautious."

Xia Zhibai nodded calmly.

He sneered and said, "If you want the South to retreat as much as possible, you must make the South feel afraid."

"Otherwise, given the strength of the Meritorious Group, how could they be willing to give in?"

"Since I am responsible for resolving the chaos in the south, naturally everything should be focused on resolving the problem. What kind of disturbance these words may cause is a matter for the future. And if I don't say it, does it really mean that no one will think about it? I never try to cover up the truth."

"If you're going to do it, just put it out in the open."

Lian Zining swallowed, sweat already oozing out of his forehead.

Xia Zhibai’s idea was too crazy.

This is almost forcing the South to make concessions. If they don't, there is no telling what shocking words Xia Zhibai will say. These shocking words, although seemingly useless, have a huge intimidating effect on Southern officials.

Big enough to keep Southern officials awake at night.

Xie Min and Ding Zhifang looked at each other, their eyes filled with fear and anxiety.

They were also frightened by this sentence.

They are court officials, how could they not know the weight of this sentence?

This almost directly points out that there is a problem in the South.

Xia Zhibai ignored the astonishment of the others and continued, "The second sentence you want to spread is not that exaggerated. It just requires the local government to actively resettle the stove owners and ensure their daily lives according to the previous requirements, and let them inform the stove owners."

"Just say it's the court's attitude."

"The people have opinions and complaints, which means that the solutions and resettlement policies provided by the local governments have problems. The court will make specific rectifications to this chaos and will definitely give the local people a satisfactory response."

"The Ming emperor rose from the common people and understood the hardships of people's lives."

"The Ming Dynasty is definitely not a country that would investigate and file a case as soon as it hears people's discussions, especially when faced with some sharp issues. After the court investigates the situation, the stove owners who were illegally arrested by the local government will be released one by one."

"And the corresponding illegal officials will be punished."

"The Ming Dynasty will severely punish those officials who are estranged from the people and refuse to listen to them."

"We will never tolerate it."

"Besides."

"The imperial court will send Jinyiwei to conduct secret visits to investigate the local situation."

"."

Listening to Xia Zhibai's words, Lian Zining was sweating profusely. He was so shocked that he couldn't speak. How could Xia Zhibai break the deadlock? This was clearly forcing the local government to death.

He stabbed at the local people's heart everywhere. The more the local people feared something, the more he would target them.

Just what Xia Zhibai said was enough to cause an uproar in the South.

It is also enough to replace most of the officials in the south.

Moreover, Xia Zhibai's words were very sharp, and he even said "disowning the people". If this crime is really brought, how many officials in the South can withstand the investigation? Xia Zhibai had already made up his mind to fight to the death.

He was almost doing things with the intention of perishing together with the South.

Xie Min said in a trembling voice: "Brother Xia, aren't you going a little too far with what you said?"

"If this continues, I'm afraid only one in ten officials in the South will survive."

"I'm afraid the court won't agree."

Ding Zhifang laughed bitterly and echoed, "The words you asked us to pass on are really too scary. How can this give the southern officials a chance to survive? It's clearly putting them on the spot, and it's also trying to deceive His Majesty. Why are you doing this?"

"Isn't this a lose-lose situation?!"

They now had no choice but to speak up and persuade him.

Xia Zhibai was clearly drunk.

He no longer cared about anything and was just trying to save his life.

After this operation, Xia Zhibai's reputation will be completely ruined, and the local people will be extremely disgusted with him. Whatever Xia Zhibai wants to do in the future, he will probably be resisted by all parties, and his official career will basically be ruined.

It may even cause dissatisfaction to His Majesty.

This is completely unnecessary.

Xia Zhibai smiled slyly and said calmly: "You can spread it as much as you want, nothing will happen, if you are going to act, then do it in its entirety. What I said is my attitude. If they don't give me respect, I will make sure they don't even think about giving me respect."

"I want to let them know what kind of opponent they are facing."

"Not crazy, not live."

"If they were not afraid, why would they retreat?"

"How can the problems in the south be solved quickly?"

"Besides, aren't the words I said true? If they are wise, they should reflect on whether they have gone too far in recent years, or even deceived themselves for too long and finally got themselves into trouble."

"I am deliberately sounding the alarm for the South!"

"People in the South won't wake up unless they are beaten hard."

Xie Min smiled bitterly and said, "But if you do this, you are putting them in danger. Aren't you afraid of something going wrong?"

Xia Zhibai smiled slightly and sneered: "Do you really think that the court will take action against the Meritorious Group because of my words? No, the court has no such intention at the moment. I just used your majesty's tiger skin to force the local government to submit."

"As the saying goes, the real and the fake, the true and the false, it is hard to guard against them."

"Besides."

"This is for you to pass on the message privately."

"It is not something that is said openly to the public."

"But if they really are fooling around, I don't mind exposing it."

"Having a sword and not using it are two different things."

"I need a sword with me!"

"Only by having a sharp weapon can one be invincible and have more options. These meritorious groups in the Ming Dynasty are all arrogant because of their achievements. They have no one else in their eyes. The only one they take seriously is His Majesty."

“So this is a helpless move.”

"I have now made my demands, goals, and bottom line clear. As for how to respond, that is up to the local authorities. I have given them a month, which is enough time for them to make a choice."

"I, Xia Zhibai, do not care for fame."

"Not even at the cost of life."

"I'm sure they'll make the wise choice."

“This is indeed a threat!!!”

Xia Zhibai did not hide his intentions at all.

He was using this power to threaten the local authorities to compromise and make concessions. Otherwise, given the power structure in the South, it would be difficult to achieve anything in a short period of time. He could afford to delay, and so could the local officials, but the kitchen owners could not. If a civil uprising really broke out, it would be too late to regret.

He must take a risky move!

Thirty-six strategies, attack the heart first.

Only by going crazy first, by going mad first, can you achieve something.

This is a kind of helplessness.

It is not time to resolve the issues in the South, at least not yet, otherwise he would really want to plow the South hard, but it is obvious that Zhu Yuanzhang does not really have this intention, and still adheres to the principle of "keeping things peaceful", although he appeases the South mainly by means of threats.

And his actions were just cooperation.

Let the South voluntarily hand over some people to show their attitude and loyalty to the court.

At the same time, let the issues in the South be resolved as quickly as possible.

Xia Zhibai was not worried that those people would do something desperate. The salt administration involved a lot of interests, but it was not yet at the stage where they would risk their lives. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty had just been founded, and it was far from the point where Li Zicheng, a horseman at Yinchuan Post Station in later generations, would raise his arms and shout, causing the nine provinces to be torn apart.

After all, the number of people that the kitchen owner can influence is too small.

Lian Zining and the others were completely speechless and felt numb all over.

They looked up at Xia Zhibai, who seemed calm and composed, and could only smile bitterly.

In terms of courage and ruthlessness, they are far from Xia Zhibai.

(End of this chapter)