Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 156 These Civil Servants Are Really Haunted

On this day, Zhu Houzhao had just started to deal with government affairs when Ma Yongcheng, the governor of the East Factory, came to him in a hurry and said, "Your Majesty! The eunuchs are guilty! The craftsmen who killed the court officials were taken to the imperial prison and suddenly died yesterday. The duty supervisor of the East Factory also hanged himself! There is also a very suspicious supervisor named Qiu Ye, but he has escaped! His family members have all disappeared suddenly!"

"What's going on? These craftsmen are the key to finding out the truth behind this case. If they die like this, won't it become a headless case?"

Zhu Houzhao asked with a hint of anger. He didn't expect that such a mistake would occur in the East Factory.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me! I was careless. It seems that there must be a traitor in the East Factory. Please give me a chance. I will clean up the mess and rectify the East Factory so that such things will never happen again!"

Ma Yongcheng replied with some fear. He didn't expect that such a thing would happen just because he was a little late.

"How can you investigate? The person has hanged himself! It seems that the people behind this are also very resourceful. You go to the Imperial Household Department to accept the punishment. However, if I know that the East Factory has messed up things again, you will have to retire on your own! At that time, your share of the shares will also be taken away!"

Zhu Houzhao said in a very stern tone.

Although Zhu Houzhao knew that it was inevitable that opponents of the reform would infiltrate his East and West Factories and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he also had to put some pressure on the people around him to prevent them from relaxing and making it easier for the enemy to infiltrate.

"As ordered! I guarantee with my life that this kind of thing will never happen again in the East Depot!"

Ma Yongcheng gritted his teeth and said, he couldn't help but swear secretly that if anyone wanted to take over his East Factory and seize his wealth, he would make sure that person was torn to pieces!
At this time, the cabinet chief, Ma Wensheng, could not help but say, "Your Majesty! These people were able to bribe the people of the East Factory to do such a cruel thing. I think the power behind them must not be underestimated. I also think they will not give up. It is obvious that they want to stop Your Majesty from abolishing the craftsman registration system. I dare to ask, does Your Majesty still want to abolish the craftsman registration system?"

"Cancel! Must cancel! You, Ma Wensheng, have been the Minister of War, and you, Xu Jin, are the Minister of War now. You, Jiao Fang, have also served as the Vice Minister of War. You should know better than me what kind of weapons these forced craftsmen are making! Only six out of ten firearms are usable; armor is thinner than paper! There are even fewer craftsmen, some have fled, some have gone into hiding. If this continues, how can the Ming Dynasty have weapons that can be used in battle and skilled craftsmen who can make weapons!"

Zhu Houzhao shouted loudly.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I understand your painstaking efforts and know that the craftsman registration system must be changed. Your Majesty's move is indeed a move to love the people, but I want to say that your Majesty's move has indeed blocked the financial path of others. These people are so bold that if your Majesty refuses to compromise, based on my understanding of them, they will definitely continue to commit crimes! The court official who died today, I am afraid that the one who will be killed tomorrow is..."

Ma Wensheng didn't say it directly, but Zhu Houzhao also understood what he meant. He laughed in anger and said, "I understand what you mean, but since ancient times, there has been no reform without sacrifice. I believe that with you, my dear ministers, as long as my Ming Dynasty still has the hearts of the people, no one will dare to do anything to me or you! We can't be intimidated by some scoundrels. Issue an order to urge the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to quickly complete the transfer of the native places of the people with artisan registration and the reward of rice and salary, as well as the recruitment of craftsmen!"

"Since ancient times, there has never been a reform without sacrifices!"

For some reason, when Ma Wensheng, Jiao Fang, Xu Jin, Liu Jin and others heard this, they couldn't help but burst into tears. For a moment, Ma Wensheng choked up and said, "The outside world says that Your Majesty is very violent, but no one knows that Your Majesty is an eternal wise monarch who does not hesitate to sacrifice his own life and death and honor for the sake of the people of the world! I will draft an edict now!" So, under Zhu Houzhao's insistence, the Ming court continued to insist on abolishing the craftsman registration system, and the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works Ye Heng had to follow the edict and began to convert the native places of all craftsmen into civilian registration, and gathered all these craftsmen to prepare to distribute the rice rewarded by the court.

These craftsmen had never expected that the court would suddenly give them their freedom and even give them a stipend of rice. At first, they were a little bit unconvinced and asked an official: "Excuse me, sir, from now on, can we really do whatever we want to do for a living? And we can also receive a stipend of one stone of rice!"

"Yes! You have come to a good time, a peaceful and prosperous era. The emperor has mercy on you and allows you to be treated like ordinary people. You can farm, do business, continue to do your old job and make money with your ability, or study and become an official in the future! Go and get the rice! Don't delay the people behind you!"

A Ministry of Revenue official said impatiently.

The craftsmen were not angry. After all, they were used to being insulted and beaten by officials. Now the tone was just harsher, which was nothing to them. Instead, they smiled even more happily and sighed:

"I have met a great emperor! Fortunately, I did not pay the officials in the Ministry of Works to redeem myself, otherwise I would not have the chance to receive the salary and become a commoner today. Long live the emperor!"

The craftsmen were very grateful for Emperor Zhu Houzhao's policy, and began to have a good impression of the Ming Dynasty. They began to feel that the court not only wanted to exploit them, but also would favor them sometimes.

However, at this time, Zeng Jian, the Minister of Works, was naturally very unhappy and angry when he learned that the court still ignored the memorials of the Minister of Works and the fact that the craftsmen had killed the court officials and continued to implement the abolition of the craftsman registration system to return the craftsmen to freedom.
"Since these craftsmen have been silenced, they should know the benefits and disadvantages here. Is it that Zhu Houzhao doesn't know, or that Ma Wensheng and other cabinet ministers don't know how to persuade them! Don't they know that the gentry in the world are very dissatisfied with them and even intend to kill them! Since they just killed the court official today, they can kill them tomorrow! Instead of stopping the act of releasing the craftsmen for the people, they still insist on doing it their own way! And they also want to rob people of their wealth! Don't they really know how to write the word death?"

Although Zeng Jian, the Minister of Works, was concerned about his salary, he had to pretend to be sick. He met with his confidant in secret after midnight and said, "Let them do it again, so that the court can fully understand the benefits and disadvantages of this! This time, let's drag the nobles along. Then I want to see if the court dares to force these craftsmen to serve the people!"

……

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao also received a report from Gu Dayong the next day: "Your Majesty! Our people reported that the Minister of Works Zeng Jian has been crying out in pain, and the imperial physicians sent in could not find any clues. However, he suddenly disappeared at midnight last night! The spies we planted in his house secretly checked and found that there was no one on the bed, and there was no cry of pain!"

"There is indeed something fishy going on with these civil servants. Continue to keep a close watch on them and try to find solid evidence, but remember not to alert the enemy!" Zhu Houzhao ordered.

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(End of this chapter)