Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 397 Are there officials along the coast colluding with the Japanese pirates? !
Wuying Palace.

After taking a bath, Tang He arrived at the palace to meet the emperor.

Zhu Yuanzhang was still very excited and looking forward to Tang He's return. He waited in front of the palace gate early. When he saw Tang He, he greeted him warmly and said, "Tang He, you are back. I let you stay in the south for several months. You won't blame me, right?"

Tang He laughed and said, "How dare I blame Your Majesty?"

"It's just that the weather in the south is known to you, Your Majesty. It's always gloomy and cold in winter. My legs shiver with cold. It's only because I'm thinking about what Your Majesty has asked me to do, otherwise I would have quit long ago." Tang He replied half-jokingly.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Then follow me into the palace. The fire in our palace is very strong."

Entered the temple.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked Pu Gou'er to bring a chair to Tang He, and the emperor and his minister sat around the stove.

Tang He only dared to sit on half of his butt.

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes and said, "What about the salt administration in the south? Are there any officials in the south who dare to secretly obstruct it? And which garrisons in the south are there? Do you know the situation clearly? Don't worry, tell us slowly, one by one."

Tang He nodded quickly and said, "The salt administration in the south is progressing smoothly now. The people that Xia Zhibai asked His Majesty for are all capable. Although they were a little overwhelmed in the early days, they worked very efficiently after getting familiar with the situation. Moreover, these people are very pragmatic. They basically stay outside the major salt factories all day and rarely go back to the county government offices."

"Under the watchful eyes of Hua Lun and his men, there is little resistance to the advancement of the Southern Salt Administration."

"It's just that your majesty"

Tang He hesitated for a moment and said, "In fact, many officials in the south have complained, because Xia Zhibai's move directly caused the south to lose more than 100,000 people, most of whom are young and strong. When I came back, many local officials complained to me and wanted Your Majesty to reduce local taxes to a certain extent."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and sneered: "Tax reduction?"

"It's good enough that we didn't raise taxes on them. In the past, these cooks were all supported by the imperial court. When is it their turn to make decisions? If these bastards had better eating manners, they wouldn't have made it so difficult for these cooks to survive. Now that the cooks don't want to stay in the local area, they have something to say."

"Did we give him face?"

"No!"

Tang He smiled slightly, not very surprised.

He just brought the words of the southern officials to His Majesty truthfully.

Tang He added: "A large salt factory is being built in the south. Under the leadership of Lian Zining and other officials, the steam equipment that was hidden was being seized. Many conflicts occurred and officials almost lost their lives. If Jiang Li had not arrived in advance, Lian Zining and others would have been in danger of their lives."

"But Jiang Li later arrested all of these people."

"I sentenced these people to death without your Majesty's approval. It is a waste of food if they are kept alive."

"Your Majesty, please forgive me."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hands, not taking it seriously, and said contemptuously: "It's just killing a few blind people, what's the big deal? We let you go here to solve local problems. We gave you the power of life and death, you can use it as you like, we are not stingy people."

"Those who deserve to be killed must be killed!"

"But it seems that the salt factory has high profits, otherwise these people would not take such a risk and attack court officials in order to protect some machines."

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking. Tang He said in a deep voice, "It's high, and very high. The more important thing is not the salt, but these people want to protect the sea lanes. According to Jiang Lin's investigation, some places in the south smuggled a lot of tea, salt, farm tools, silk, etc. from our Ming Dynasty overseas, and exchanged them for expensive spices overseas, and then made huge profits from it."

"It's just that Jiang Li hasn't figured out exactly how many people were involved yet, so I didn't specify that in my memorial at the time."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

He snorted, his eyes flashing with anger.

He hated smuggling the most.

Because these things were originally supposed to be the exclusive property of the royal family, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, these people were thieves and thieves who were stealing the money that should have belonged to his Zhu family.

Zhu Yuanzhang hid his anger and said, "We know about this, and we want to stop it, but the coastline of our Ming Dynasty is too long, and we are powerless. But if they dare to go against us, we will let them know that if they take our things, they will pay a price!"

"We don't care how many people are involved in private, or how many officials profit from it and cover it up. They'd better pray that we don't find out. If we do, we will make them feel skinned and flayed."

Tang He added: "Apart from these things, there is basically nothing major happening in the South."

"With the thunderous actions of the Jinyiwei, Hua Lun, Lian Zining and others, whether it is relocating the population, recovering the steam engines, or moving the factories, everything has gone relatively smoothly. It shouldn't take too long for the several large salt factories in the south to be reassembled."

"Then the imperial court will have a greater control and understanding of where the salt in the south goes."

"As for the guard post that Your Majesty asked me to investigate."

"The situation is not optimistic."

Tang He took a deep breath, his face turned serious, and he said in a deep voice: "In recent years, there has been no war in the south for a long time, and these garrisons have gradually become deserted. Many of the fields of military households have been occupied by some officers privately for reasons, and a large amount of fields distributed by the court have been occupied artificially."

"The reason why the incident with the kitchen owner in front of us became such a big deal."

"To a certain extent, it has something to do with these military households."

"Many of them lost their land and could not make a living, so they had to find other things to do. Therefore, many military households fled privately, and many of them set their sights on selling private salt. As a result, the court promoted steam engines, which made it impossible for private salt to be sold, so these people joined together to cause trouble."

"The worst hit areas are Suzhou, Mingzhou, and Taizhou."

"According to my secret investigation, many military households were threatened to participate in maritime smuggling, and some even colluded with the Japanese pirates. From what I have found so far, the places where the smuggling ships docked the most are Fuzhou and Mingzhou!"

"It's just that the number of participants is too large, and I haven't found out yet."

"Your Majesty, please forgive me."

Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned completely black.

Smuggling was already something he could not tolerate, but now his military households of the Ming Dynasty were colluding with the Japanese and engaging in smuggling with them. Are they still military households of the Ming Dynasty? Can such military households really protect the sea borders of the Ming Dynasty?
No wonder accidents often happen along the coast. It would be strange if nothing happened in a garrison like this.

These people must have been secretly colluding with each other for a long time. How could the imperial court prevent them? As the saying goes, you can prevent thieves from within your own home. How could he prevent the Japanese pirates? How could he prevent the officials along the coast from stealing from the government? An internal and external collaboration?
"These people are looking for death!" Zhu Yuanzhang was completely furious.

(End of this chapter)