Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 719 Dissatisfaction
Putting aside the secret memorial system for the moment, Zhu Shenzui concentrated on the issue of the resettlement of prisoners raised by Sun Chuanting in his memorial.

Sun Chuanting implicitly pointed out that Hong Chengchou suggested killing the prisoners, but was stopped by Sun Chuanting. It was not that Sun Chuanting could not do it, but he felt that the consequences of killing the prisoners were too serious. If so many prisoners were killed, it would certainly shock the whole world. Not only would the other bandits never surrender when they learned about it, but it would also add many uncertainties to the battle between the Ming army and the bandits.

In addition, the upright officials in the court will not sit idly by. Once the news of the killing of prisoners spreads, these upright officials will surely rise up and attack. Not only will it be of no benefit, but it will also cause a lot of trouble.

Both Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou were scholars who had to save face. Even though they knew that killing prisoners was the only way to eliminate future troubles, they still had many concerns before they could really do it. So Sun Chuanting was a little hesitant and threw the issue to the court, hoping to see if the court had any good solution.

This problem is indeed difficult to deal with. The cabinet also mentioned this matter when discussing escorting Gao Yingxiang and others to Beijing. Some people suggested that perhaps these captives should be released. After all, the bandits were originally ordinary people. They became bandits because they were forced by Gao Yingxiang and others. Many people were even forced to become bandits. They are essentially different from people like Gao Yingxiang.

Since the bandits have been captured, then they can be released. As for the common people, they can be settled in the local area, and the court will give them some money and food to let them live a stable life. It won't take long for them to become common people again. This arrangement is the best. The court only needs to spend some money and food. As long as there is no famine, and proper arrangements are made, there will be no more disasters as time goes by.

This suggestion was approved by nearly half of the cabinet, but Zhu Shenzhui did not comment and put it on hold. If the current situation of the Ming Dynasty was not like this, such a resettlement would be fine, but now the Ming Dynasty is full of hidden dangers in all aspects, and this resettlement method is simply asking for trouble.

The resettlement of nearly 40,000 people is not an easy task. 40,000 people is not a small number. They need a lot of food every day. The court is currently short of military funds for the nine border armies. How is it possible to allocate so much money and food to resettle these people?

Moreover, the settlement of these people in the local area is also an uncertain factor. If the imperial court cannot meet their needs and they cannot survive, they will inevitably take the risk of rebellion again. By then, not only will all previous efforts be wasted, but banditry will also occur again.

Just like wild dogs, wild dogs were originally domestic dogs. Domestic dogs that used to guard the house lost their living conditions and became wild dogs. In order to survive, they would eat anything, even human flesh. It was not uncommon for wild dogs to eat human flesh. Whenever a wild dog eats human flesh, its eyes turn red. When people see such wild dogs, there is only one solution, which is to kill them directly.

If they are not killed, these wild dogs will gather in packs and pounce on and bite anyone they encounter. This is a truth that every ordinary person knows.

The same goes for the captured bandits now. Although they are essentially ordinary people who have been coerced, since they have been coerced into becoming part of the bandit group, almost all of them have been on the battlefield, and a large number of them have blood on their hands.

The same is true of wild dogs that have eaten human flesh. They have gone from being civilians to bandits, and have been stained with blood and human lives. Can they still be treated as ordinary people? Isn't this the story of Mr. Dongguo and the wolf? And the farmer and the snake. Temporary kindness often brings the opposite consequences. This uncertainty must be resolved as soon as possible. The longer it takes, the more burden it will place on the court and the more instability it will cause in the local area.

From Zhu Shenzhu's point of view, killing all these captives is the simplest and most convenient way, which can easily eliminate the hidden dangers. This is no different from Hong Chengchou's idea.

Hong Chengchou's suggestion was very much to Zhu Shenzhu's liking. Moreover, Hong Chengchou was a very capable person, ruthless yet decisive. He was a rare talent with both literary and military talents.

No matter how Hong Chengchou is evaluated in history, his ability and skills cannot be denied, and the current Hong Chengchou is not the Hong Chengchou who defected to the Qing Dynasty in history. Zhu Shenzhu can even use Wu Sangui now, let alone someone like Hong Chengchou? In troubled times, a sharp blade should be used, and Hong Chengchou is such a sharp blade. He and Sun Chuanting each have their own strengths, and once used well, they can play a great role.

However, Zhu Shenzhui also felt that Sun Chuanting's suggestion was correct. The consequences of killing prisoners were too serious, especially if the Qingliu learned about it and attacked them collectively, it would be very troublesome. It was difficult to kill them all directly, and these were all living lives! Zhu Shenzhui also did not want to leave a bad reputation for himself in history books.

After thinking about it, Zhu Shenzui suddenly came up with a solution. Since these prisoners could not be killed or settled on the spot, it would be better to send them all away.

As for where to send them, Zhu Shenzhui had also considered it. Tumed was short of people, and these 40,000 people were Gao Yingxiang's elite main force. He would take them all to Mongolia and hand them over to Wang Hai for disposal. He would use part of this force as herdsmen, and send the other part to the battlefields of Tumed and other Mongolian tribes.

As long as they put in some effort, within a few years these people would no longer be a threat. They would either die in battle on the Mongolian grasslands, or be divided and become Han Chinese living in Mongolia, or even become slaves of some Mongolian nobles. Their fate had nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, they could use this method to gain some benefits from the Mongolian tribes, using people to exchange for Mongolian cattle, sheep, horses, or other supplies, etc. It could be said that they killed three birds with one stone.

On the surface, there was nothing wrong with this approach. Even if all these people died on the Mongolian grasslands, it would have nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty. Besides, Tumed was Zhu Shenzhui's territory. Wouldn't Zhu Shenzhui be able to control these people in Tumed? The more he thought about this method, the better it was. Zhu Shenzhui made a decision immediately and wrote two secret letters. One was given to Zhou Anmin's Jinyiwei to bring to Sun Chuanting, and the other was sent to Guihua to Tana, asking Tana to discuss and arrange this matter with Wang Hai.

Once this hot potato is thrown away, this problem will no longer exist.

By the way, one more thing is that before dealing with this matter, all the prisoners must be screened, and all the generals and leaders among the prisoners must be executed to avoid trouble caused by the leaders. Even ordinary prisoners need to identify each other, and anyone who has killed too many people and is fierce and violent must also be killed. After all these uncertain factors are eliminated, the remaining prisoners will be much easier to arrange.

While Zhu Shenzui was thinking about these things in the palace, Zhang Fengxiang, Fang Kezhuang, Wu Weiye, Yang Tinglin, Xiang Yu and others gathered at the residence of Minister of Rites Fang Fengnian.

"Have you heard about what happened today?" Zhang Fengxiang and Fang Fengnian had equal official positions. He sat on Fang Fengnian's right, and below them, the rest of the people took their seats in order.

Everyone nodded silently. Wu Weiye couldn't help but say, "Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou were so lucky that they blocked Gao Yingxiang's way in Heishui Valley. Gao Yingxiang is really something. He actually thought he was smart and planned to use the Ziwu Valley strategy, but he didn't think that the Ziwu Valley strategy would really succeed? Back then, Zhuge Wuhou didn't dare to go through Ziwu Valley, but he went there anyway. Now, his entire army has been annihilated. It's really..."

As he spoke, Wu Weiye could not help but shake his head with a look of regret. If he had not been wearing the official uniform of the Ming Dynasty, one would have thought he was a subordinate of Gao Yingxiang based on just these few words.

"Brother Meicun, be careful with your words! If this kind of talk gets out, someone will surely file a memorial to impeach him!" Xiang Yu frowned slightly and could not help but give him some advice. Although he looked down on Zhu Shenzhui just like Wu Weiye and was even more resentful of the court, after all, this great victory had captured Gao Yingxiang and wiped out Gao Yingxiang's elite troops in one fell swoop, which was a good thing for the Ming Dynasty. Even though they had different political views, he felt that he was just unwilling to let Zhu Shenzhui's reputation rise, not that he did not want Gao Yingxiang to be destroyed.

"You are too cautious." Wu Weiye said nonchalantly: "We are all family here, how could this word spread anywhere else? If outsiders know about it, then it must be you who said it, right?"

"You!" Xiang Yu glared at him and was about to argue with Wu Weiye, but Fang Kezhuang beside him quickly advised him, "Don't be angry, Zhongzhao. Brother Meicun didn't mean that. He just said the wrong thing because of his temper. Meicun, why don't you apologize to Zhongzhao?"

Wu Weiye looked a little uncomfortable. Although he was not convinced, they were all family after all. He did not think before he spoke, so he was a little uncomfortable. After thinking about it, he took the initiative to bow to Xiang Yu and said, "I said the wrong thing just now. Please don't mind it, Zhong Zhao."

"Forget it." Xiang Yu waved his hand and said, "I know Brother Meicun is upset, and so am I. But business is business, and we can put aside other matters. This matter is beneficial to our Ming Dynasty, so it's okay for Brother Meicun to say it here. Once it gets out, it will cause a lot of trouble, so please be careful with your words."

Wu Weiye nodded silently. He admitted that Xiang Yu's words made sense, so he stopped arguing. At this time, Zhang Fengxiang coughed and said, "This matter will probably spread all over the world in a few days. After this great victory, that person's position has become more stable. If he continues to be in charge of the government, it will not be a good thing for our Ming Dynasty. Do you have any countermeasures?"

Everyone was silent. After a while, Fang Fengnian, who had been silent, said, "This matter has been settled. We don't have any good solutions. We can only think of ways to deal with it from other places. By the way, Brother Yangchu, you are currently the assistant military officer of the Beijing Camp. What's going on in the Beijing Camp now?"

Fang Kezhuang smiled bitterly and shook his head: "That person has good means. At first I thought that I could control the Beijing Camp by taking the position of Assistant Military Affairs Manager, but I didn't expect that I was wrong."

"Why do you say that? Could it be that Wang Jinwu is a hypocrite who pretends to obey your orders but actually disobeys them? If so, let's impeach this warrior directly!" Before Fang Kezhuang could finish his words, Wu Weiye jumped out impatiently and said angrily.

"That's not the case. Wang Jinwu was able to say those words in the court that day, so he certainly wouldn't pretend to obey. Otherwise, I would have impeached him without waiting for Meicun. But the problem is that the current Beijing Camp is not the same as before. I only found out about this after I went there. Although I am in charge of the military affairs of the Beijing Camp, it is of no use at all."

"Why is this?" It was the first time that everyone heard about it and they couldn't help but ask.

(End of this chapter)