Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 119: Five Prefectures in Jiangnan, Supporting the Ming Court

There is a Jing River in the northeast suburb of Wuxi County, Changzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili, and there is a small town called Jingli on the bank of the river.

As the first month of the lunar year approaches, the town becomes bustling again.

Not only were the ancestral temples and inns gradually becoming full, but the dozens of newly built study rooms south of Gu's residence were also almost full.

They were all scholars who came to study because of Gu Xiancheng's fame.

The town will once again become a place where the sound of reading can be heard during the day and the bright lights of school fires can be seen at night, making passers-by stop their boats to admire and travelers want to leave.

Although the previous generation of the Gu family had served as village chiefs and ran a small workshop selling tofu, grains, and rice in this small town by the river, they could not be considered a large family.

In this generation, the brothers Gu Xiancheng and Gu Yuncheng successively passed the imperial examinations and became Jinshi, which was a very significant event.

What makes the young scholars nearby even more excited is that the brothers Gu Xiancheng and Gu Yuncheng are well-known in the court and the country, and now they have returned to their hometown to teach for more than six years.

They were all dismissed and sent back to their hometowns because they angered the emperor with their uprightness, and integrity was more to the liking of young scholars.

The lecture was held at Gu's house. After the two brothers had taught each other amiably, they returned to the back hall.

"Brother, do you really want to go there in person?" Gu Yuncheng asked worriedly.

Gu Xiancheng is fifty-two years old this year, and he is in good health and spirit. He has thick hair and beard, and has not taken any time to rest. At first glance, he looks like Zhong Kui, but his eyes are not wide open. His small eyes are sharp, with heavy bags under his eyes.

"Of course I want to go."

Gu Xiancheng stood there with his arms open, and a servant beside him changed his clothes.

"If there are not many like-minded people this time, there is no need to believe that the new emperor will definitely restore the throne." He said calmly, "Besides, the edict of enthronement did not mention exemptions, and now he has been conferred with honors. Wang Xijue has returned to the court, Shen Rumo is used to mediating, and Shen Jianwu..."

Gu Xiancheng chuckled, then put away his smile: "After several years of teaching, I have achieved some hope. But now, I still need a place to give lectures every day. This journey is inevitable. We need Changzhou Prefecture and Nanzhili to approve the reconstruction of Donglin Academy, and we also need to raise funds for the Industrial Bank."

"As long as we are prepared, ICBC..."

Gu Xiancheng looked at him and said, "How can it be the same? I heard that Li Daofu is also upright and honest. Now, as the governor of the grain transport department, he dares to make the decision on the transportation of grain. I will be away for some time. You can arrange the lectures and the transportation of grain at home."

Gu Yuncheng was still unsure about many things: "An urgent letter arrived in Jiangnan the day before yesterday, and I'm afraid many people know about it. Although the court has not yet made a decision, the additional 200,000 taels of gold and silver..."

"Don't worry about that. The grain tax is still 4 million dan, and the more than 200,000 dan of white grain from the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou has not been mentioned. You guys in Nanjing will fight for these things."

The servant changed his clothes for him. Gu Xiancheng straightened his clothes and told his brother: "Remember, we just need to do the lecture well!"

At this moment, although the official decision of the court had not yet been heard, in many places in the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou, the white grain prepared by the local big families was basically ready to be loaded and shipped.

They must cross the Huai River by the end of March at the latest.

Before crossing the Huai River, you have to cross the Yangtze River.

On the Caohe River, in addition to the ordinary 4 million shi of grain, there were also more than 218,000 shi of white grain.

The difference between them is that all grain was transported by the grain transport army, while the white grain was still transported by the public.

Among the more than 218,000 shi of white grain, more than 174,000 shi were white cooked glutinous rice, which was to be transported to the palace treasury for signature and supplied exclusively to the palace; the remaining 44,000 shi were supplied to various warehouses in Beijing and were exclusively supplied to the civil officials in Beijing.

The reason why it is the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou is because the original capital was Nanjing, and there is enough rice here, which is good.

The reason why the transportation is still done by the people is because it is the filial piety of the subjects of the world to the emperor and the court. Why should the court raise additional soldiers and spend additional money to transport the goods?
The five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changjia and Huzhou can afford it.

In the city of Nanjing, Duke Wei's mansion remained the same as before.

After the young Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji (who had inherited the title, as corrected in the previous article), returned from Beijing to congratulate the new emperor on his ascension to the throne, he was promoted from the original Nanjing Rear Army Commandery to the position of commander-in-chief, in charge of the rear office affairs, and in charge of garrisoning Nanjing.

Naturally, he could not convince the people, but he was a duke after all.

The civil officials in Nanjing would feel more at ease if he were appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing garrison.

The official customs in Nanjing are naturally very different from those in Beijing.

There is no need to report for duty, as everyone usually has other places to gather.

Now, in a quiet courtyard in the city, a few people gathered, all in plain clothes. If anyone knew them, they would recognize that they were the most important people in the Nanjing government: Nanjing Revenue Minister Zhang Yi, Nanjing Military Minister Hao Jie, Caojiang Capital Censor Geng Dingli, Nanjing Rites Right Assistant Minister Ye Xianggao.

After the capital was moved to Beijing, Nanjing still had central government offices, but the real center of power was the Garrison Hall Meeting.

The garrison eunuch is the emperor's representative.

The commander-in-chief of the Nanjing garrison was usually the Duke of Wei. When his qualifications and prestige were insufficient, someone else would take over.

Half of the joint garrison troops were led by Admiral Cao Jianglai, and now it is Li Chenggong, the Earl of Xiangcheng.

In addition, the Nanjing Minister of War generally assists in Nanjing garrison maintenance.

So it’s not surprising that Hao Jie is important.

The reason why the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue is important is that it is responsible for collecting tax grain from Nanzhili and Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang provinces, which account for nearly half of the entire Ming Dynasty. It is also responsible for grain transport and the storage and management of the national salt permits and the national yellow book.

Caojiang Censor-in-Chief was used to check and balance the Admiral Caojiang. Under his command was Nanjing's only combat-capable Yangtze River navy.

The Nanjing Ministry of Rites is actually the idlest place and is a real nursing home. Ye Xianggao is here because of himself.

The Nanjing Ministry of Personnel is only important during the Beijing inspection, because the Beijing Ministry of Personnel does not interfere in the Beijing inspection.

As for the Nanjing Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Works, although they had some power, they were not very important.

Now it was Geng Dingli who was asking Hao Jie: "The Duke of Wei has returned to Nanjing, but the Earl of Xiangcheng has not come back yet. Could it be that he wants the newly appointed Earl of Pingyi to come?"

Hao Jie shook his head: "I have submitted the question, but still no response."

Zhang Yi sighed, "I issued several decrees to exempt most of the crops from taxation in the prefectures and counties that were hit hard by drought last year. I don't know what will happen to the summer and autumn crops this year."

"The first thing we need to do now is to transport the grain that was supposed to be shipped last year."

The youngest here is Ye Xianggao, who is 43 years old this year and is in the prime of his life.

He has completed the first half of his career as a Qingliu scholar. After passing the imperial examination in the 11th year of Wanli, he became a scholar-official, an editor, and the director of the Nanjing Imperial College. Now he is the right vice minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites. However, the current Nanjing Minister of Rites has not been reappointed since his death, and the position of left vice minister has not yet been filled.

He is already a third-rank official. Given his age, it is only a matter of time before he is promoted to a minister, and it is also only a matter of time before he enters the cabinet.

After he finished speaking, Zhang Yi nodded and sighed, "Yes. If it weren't for Li Daofu, I'm afraid the grain that was supposed to be shipped in the first month would have been delayed. Now many prefectures and counties in Jiangnan are still arguing about the issue of exchange and rotation, and the court has not yet reached a conclusion."

All four of them looked worried.

At this moment in Suzhou Prefecture, there are five grain transport troops responsible for transporting grain to Suzhou Prefecture, namely the Nanjing Naval Left Guard, Nanjing Naval Right Guard, Longjiang Left Guard, Longhu Left Guard, and Henghai Guard.

They were assigned to transport grain for Suzhou Prefecture last year. They were already complaining bitterly, and now it is even more difficult.

"We don't understand what you mean by poor water quality in Suzhou! Now we have rowed our boats to your private warehouse, how can we not inspect them? Shangguan wants to make a new one!"

A deputy captain of the Dragon and Tiger Left Guard was filled with resentment as he looked at one of the fifty-seven households in Suzhou Prefecture that was in front of him.

The other party was even angrier than he was. "It rained a lot when the autumn crops were harvested. We in Suzhou Prefecture still have the burden of white grain, and the imperial grain is not exempted. The taxes and labor service have long been heavy! Now it's time for spring plowing. Where is the time, where is the people to dry and screen all this imperial grain?"

"Last year, you kept delaying the delivery of summer grain, forcing us to collect it from the private warehouse. You didn't check it, and when it arrived, there was sand and chaff in it. Was it also mixed with water? It was soaked and rotten in the dog days of summer, and our commander was dismissed from his post!"

"Master Qian Hu, are you going to use your power to oppress us good people? Don't spit blood on us! It's even harder for us to collect grain. We have to collect grain, grind it and dry it according to the court's requirements, and transport it to the Shuici warehouse for exchange. We are so busy that we don't have time to do anything. Do we, the poor people, have the guts to do anything?"

"Are you going to blackmail me again?"

"You damned officers and soldiers, they want us to have no chance of survival, so we have to fight them to the death!"

"We need good white grain, clean new grain, and consumable rice, and now we are extorting you. Does Your Majesty know that we are almost being forced into a dead end?"

The deputy commander looked at the angry crowd behind the grain chief, and the arrogance in the grain chief's eyes.

Now that there are two ministers in Suzhou Prefecture in the court, who is using power to suppress others?

(End of this chapter)