Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 233: Chu Zong Chaos
Of course, it was because the amount of money, more than 13 million taels, was too outrageous and could easily stir up public opinion and the lower-level princes and vassals.

This is almost a direct message to the emperor and all the officials in the court: the reform of the princely system is imperative!
Otherwise, with such wealthy vassal states, why should we only start with the common people to increase income?

"The Administration Council should be careful about summer taxes and autumn crops this year." Shen Li sneered, "It was too late last year, but this year, as long as we continue to strictly implement preferential exemptions, we will see whether the tenants and common people will be exploited even more."

Shen Li did not get along well with Shen Shixing and Shen Yiquan. He was a very upright person. He admired Zhang Juzheng's ambition to serve the country, but he would not flatter him.

Now he reminded Wang Xijue because Wang Xijue was doing something that was beneficial to the country. He agreed that the clan system should be reformed, but he was also very clear about the local methods and tricks.

The court wanted to collect more from the gentry and wealthy families, so they simply raised the rent for the tenants who rented their land starting this year.

Wang Xijue sighed and said, "Thank you, Zhonghua. If we can take back the land of the royal family, it will be able to alleviate this thirst. If all the officials and gentry in the world are willing to be self-denying, we can only rely on the education of the Jinxian Academy."

Who doesn’t have difficulties?

Wang Xijue was so determined to promote the reform of Zonglu because he also wanted to ease the contradiction after the strict implementation of preferential treatment and exemption.

If the gentry and wealthy families could gain more new benefits, they would at least not exploit their tenants more - this is what Wang Xijue believed.

But Shen Shixing was confused for a moment: Educate? How long would that take? Would it be useful?

Now he just said sternly: "There must be no more trouble in Huguang. If Wuchang Prefecture is anxious to make a decision..."

They started the fire, and now they can't control it.

In Wuchang Prefecture, Huguang Governor Zhao Kehuai was in distress.

The robbers claimed their family background by claiming to be relatives, so it was not difficult to catch them. However, it was said that there were hundreds of people involved in the robbery, but only more than 30 people were caught. Of the 20,000 taels of silver, only less than 3,000 taels were found, and the rest had obviously been divided up.

At this moment, the two bandit leaders Zhu Yunqin and Zhu Yunhong were still saying arrogantly: "We are all descendants of Taizu, and these silvers are originally the money of the Chu clan. In the past, the rice salary was sometimes short of weight. Since he is a foreigner, it is fine that he does not sympathize with his relatives and appease the people's hearts on weekdays, but now he actually took out 20,000 taels in one breath and wanted to present it to Your Majesty! This is the business of our Chu clan, and only Your Majesty and the clan office can ask about it!"

These words were not harsh at all, as they had previously also cursed Zhao Kehuai and the Tongpan of Wuchang Prefecture himself.

Now that they are relying on their status, Zhao Kehuai cannot punish the clan members, and secondly, he cannot interrogate more accomplices. How will this matter end?

Gong Nai felt very lucky: the case happened in Hanyang County, not Jiangxia County. The matter was serious, and it was not his turn as the magistrate of Jiangxia County to intervene.

But the master came again in a state of despair: "Master, it's bad! People inside and outside the city are saying that the governor insulted the royal family and punished them. Now many people in the Chu clan are very angry and are gathering. There are already hundreds of people at the Prince's Mansion."

Gong Nai was horrified: "Prince's Mansion?"

Three princes later joined Zhu Huaqian in impeaching Gong Nai, and Gong Nai knew about it.

Now they are only afraid of rescuing the people who robbed the gang and winning over the people's hearts.

"Prince Wugang, did you know that your father was also in charge of the palace? Now it's all over Jiujiang, saying that the old man Dingyuan Hou has deposited countless gold, silver, treasures and farms in our Chu vassal state, and now there are more than 13 million taels!"

The former Prince of Wugang has passed away, and the current Prince of Wugang is still young. He was stunned and a little scared when he heard this.

Never heard of it...

But the poor relatives of the Chu vassal state who had gathered here at the moment didn't care about all this. All of them had red eyes and looked at the Prince of Wugang with great anticipation.

If Zhu Huakui was really a son of an outsider, and the Prince of Wugang inherited the throne of Chu, what could he use to meet the expectations of these people?
More and more Chu clan members gathered in front of and behind the various princely mansions in the south of the eastern foot of Gaoguan Mountain. One thousand, two thousand, three thousand people...

"Uncle Wang...did the governor torture them?" Prince Wugang asked Prince Dong'an Zhu Yingsui with some concern.

"This……"

However, at this moment, they were unable to control the gathered tribesmen.

"Hurry... hurry and report to the governor, the governor and the governor..." Gong Nai was very scared.

The Jiangxia County Government Office is located in the northwest corner of Wuchang City. To the east are the government office and the provincial government office. To the south, east of the Yellow Crane Tower, are the Censorate and the Dusi.

Between them and the Chu clan relatives who had already gathered together was the huge Chu Palace.

But I don't know where they will hit first.

Just because they dare to rob the emperor’s carriage, do they not dare to make a big scene?
Gong Nai trembled with fear, then said: "No, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall! I will go to Hanyang Gate first to check the city defenses!"

After that he slipped away.

His judgment could not be said to be inaccurate, as the city of Wuchang eventually became chaotic.

There were many officials like him who believed that a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall. Many officials from the Huguang government offices in Wuchang City fled in a hurry.

But the people in the Huguang Ministry Office could not escape. Zhou Yingzhi, the deputy military envoy of the Provincial Surveillance Department, was leading people to arrest the clan members who robbed the pillars. As an official of the Provincial Surveillance Department, he naturally went to the yamen first to deal with it.

At this moment, the Chu clan relatives had only surrounded the governor's office.

Seeing that everyone outside had a bad look on their faces and many of them were holding knives, guns, sticks and clubs, Zhou Yingzhi couldn't help but change color.

He is the deputy envoy of military preparation, but he is also a civil official. How many soldiers are there in the governor's office at this moment?

They are all facing members of the royal family, and they are restricted in what they can do.

"What are you going to do? Rebellion?" Zhou Yingzhi started to accuse them, trying to scare them off.

The result seemed to ignite emotions.

"You tortured the descendants of Taizu into confessing. I think you dog officials are the ones who want to rebel!" "That outsider asked you to arrest people, and you did it? His Majesty ordered the governor to investigate the Chu Zong case, and he obeyed that outsider. Who wants to rebel?"

"Don't waste time talking to him, rush in and rescue the clan member who stood up for us!"

The situation immediately got out of control. Since Zhou Yingzhi opened the door to deal with it, these emotional relatives of the Chu vassal rushed in. If the yamen runners or soldiers guarding the gate were even a little bit afraid and hesitant, the governor's office would be lost immediately.

"There was no torture...ah!" Zhou Yingzhi only said this once before he was beaten with fists, kicks and sticks, and even someone stabbed his hand without any scruples.

At this moment, the Governor's Office was in chaos, and everyone in the Prince of Chu's Palace had an extremely ugly look on their faces.

"You are so bold!" Zhu Huakui's lips trembled with anger. He looked at the three princes in front of him, "You instigated the clan members to cause such a mess. If His Majesty blames you, the Chu clan will be destroyed in your hands!"

"The matter has not been concluded yet, I will call you the prince's nephew for the time being." Zhu Yingsui's eyes were cold, "You were so harsh in the past, and the clan members were upset. We came here on the pretext of interrogating you about the clan salary, which was to protect you. Otherwise, they would rush to the palace and kill you first! Since you have 20,000 taels of silver presented to Your Majesty, why don't you pay the overdue clan salary? It's obvious that you treat your clan members harshly!"

"Rebellion... Rebellion..."

"It has come to this, and only Your Majesty has the final say!" Zhu Yingsui stared at him, "Even if you are really the blood of the previous king, as the clan leader you treat your clan members like this, what difference does it make whether the Chu clan is eliminated or not?"

"Of course, the King is..."

"That should be asked by your majesty and decided by the clan affairs office!"

In the Chu Palace, the conflict caused by unfair distribution of interests for many years broke out completely.

In the city of Wuchang, the unrest caused by the relatives of the Chu vassal had spread from the governor's office to the provincial government's office. They were secretly coveting the treasury silver, and some of them even returned to the Chu Palace to rob.

The three Princes of Wugang were naturally afraid that this matter would really be endless. If they were not allowed to rescue their clansmen and go to the Prince of Chu's Mansion to see whether there were so many treasures, these people would not be able to disperse.

Their previous excuse of not going to the governor's office with these clan relatives still had some room for defense.

It was only after they had "escorted" Zhu Huakui in the Prince of Chu's palace and tried to persuade the resentful clan members to disperse and avoid disaster that they heard about what had happened in the governor's office.

"...What? The governor...was beaten to death?"

"The two deputy military envoys were seriously injured... and they also stole the more than 2,000 taels of silver that were recovered..."

"Weren't we just trying to rescue them? Why were they tortured?"

"No……"

Zhu Huakui burst into laughter when he heard this: "You suspected that I was a son of another family, and now you have beaten and killed an official, and he was the governor of a province! If you don't want me to live, then you all die! You three are inciting the Chu clan to rebel, thinking you can drive me off the throne?"

"...How could it be us who instigated the commotion? It was you who donated the 20,000 taels, and there were rumors that Marquis Dingyuan had deposited treasures..." Wugang County Prince Zhu Huazeng immediately explained.

Zhu Huakui stared at him. "In the sixth year of Xuande, the fourth year of Tianshun, the sixth year of Tianshun, and the eighteenth year of Chenghua, the palace was repeatedly hit by fire. In August of the eighteenth year of Chenghua, there were three fires in one month, and the palace was burned to the ground. If there were so many gold and silver treasures, how could your father not know when he was in charge of the palace? Now there are only more than 100,000 taels of silver in stock. Just now you allowed them to plunder everywhere. How much did they find?"

Zhu Huazeng was speechless.

"Where did the money in the palace go? Did it all go to the Wang family?" Zhu Yingsui was furious. "You are the head of the clan, but you have more than 100,000 taels of silver in your bank account, but you don't help your clan members. For many years, you have only been kind to the Wang family. Are you the blood of the previous king or the blood of the Wang family?"

Zhu Huakui was also speechless.

The wealth of the Chu clan was well-known throughout the world, and saying that they only had more than 100,000 taels of silver in reserve was indeed not enough to convince the clan members.

It is really unjustifiable to have so much savings but sit back and watch some clan members go hungry and still owe them clan salaries.

But now he could only sneer after being at a loss for words: "You should worry about yourselves! Beating up a provincial governor, let's see how you can get away with such a serious crime! At worst, we can all go to Fengyang to argue behind the high walls!"

The decree from Beijing finally arrived on the third day after the Chu Zong rebellion in Wuchang City.

But it was too late, and at this time, the urgent military intelligence about Chu Zong's rebellion had already reached the capital.

This time, Tian Le, who was presiding over the military examination and preparing for this year's Beijing camp competition, also came before the emperor.

He watched Wang Xijue kneel down in agony and plead guilty: "I was the first to initiate the reform of Zonglu, which led to great disaster. My crime is unforgivable."

Zhu Changluo was silent for a long time before he spoke: "I didn't refute this proposal immediately, and the fault is not only yours. I know you are all planning for the long-term prosperity of the country, but I don't need to say more about where the root of the trouble is now. Which officials and gentry are taking advantage of this issue to fan the flames? It's time to investigate thoroughly."

After that, he paused for a while, then he sighed and said, "Treat Zhao Ningyu well. I heard that he served as the governor of five provinces, and when he was as poor as a scholar, he was posthumously awarded the title of Minister of War and Prince Taibao, and his son was admitted to the Baijia Garden."

"I am ashamed..."

"Okay, let's stand up and discuss the matter. The decree must have reached Wuchang by now, so we should appease the locals first. The one that should be investigated is not the Chu vassal." Zhu Changluo's eyes were extremely cold. "It's only been three months since the incident, but it's like a raging fire, one thing after another. Even if it's just to comfort Zhao Ningyu, you should investigate the person who fanned the flames behind the scenes!"

It is tacitly known to everyone that Zhao Kehuai is just a victim in this incident.

Now that Chu Zong's rebellion has already taken place, the regulations on the clan and vassal system must be adjusted, but the initiative has been transferred to the hands of the emperor. It depends on how he handles the Chu Zong case and how he uses the Chu Zong case to reform the clan and vassal system.

What the officials in the court wanted was to control the growth of clan salaries, and preferably to have a large additional annual income.

This was still in the emperor's interest.

If the King of Chu did not rebel, how could the emperor be "very angry" and how did he severely admonish the vassals?

But the emperor cannot be harsh. There are reasons why Emperor Chuzong rebelled.

No one cared who was the person fanning the flames behind the scenes. Perhaps what Wang Xijue really wanted was to start with the reform of the clan salary system in order to continue to warn officials and gentry to strictly implement preferential treatment and consolidate the results.

Who among us is not dirty?
(End of this chapter)