Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 208 A life-and-death struggle, severe punishment!

"Holy water is useless, kneel down!"

I don’t know who it was, but after seeing Zhou Fuyao being killed despite drinking the holy water, he regained his senses and shouted loudly.

Then many monks, nuns and believers knelt down.

Jingtong was shocked when he saw this, but he reacted quickly and hurriedly took a few monks and nuns to run away.

Seeing this, Ma Jixian immediately drew his bow and shot an arrow.

As Lao Bianyong was born, he was naturally good at archery.

His arrow hit Jingtong's leg.

"what!"

Jingtong screamed and fell to the ground.

The monks and nuns who followed him did not dare to escape anymore and quickly knelt down.

Ma Jixian tied the hands of these people behind their backs, tied their mouths with strips of cloth torn from their clothes, and then took them back.

It is no coincidence.

Inspector Dong Guan and other inspectors also arrested many monks and nuns who were attending the gathering.

Since it was a period of severe crackdown, these people were taken to the riverside for execution after being arrested and interrogated, instead of having to wait for the emperor of the capital to make the decision before being dealt with as in the past.

boom!
boom!
For a time, there were constant sounds of gunfire along many rivers in Huguang, and many unproductive monks, nuns, slaves, and local ruffians were executed.

Zhu Houcong increased the number of local officials in Huguang, especially a large number of inspectors, and made good use of their roles.

Miao Shan, who was still in the Liao Palace, did not know for a while that the people she had instigated had not succeeded in causing large-scale unrest in Huguang.

The gentry and wealthy people who watched these monks and believers gather to cause trouble in secret, and even secretly sent their servants to stir up trouble, did not know for a while that the court had strengthened its grassroots management power in Huguang.

According to past practice, public security at the county level and below was basically maintained by gentry organizing local militia, which was equivalent to assuming some public functions for the government.

in fact.

It’s not just about law and order, either.

Public services that cost money and food, such as relief, epidemic prevention, and water control.

In many cases, it was the gentry who bore the cost, especially when the government was unwilling to pay or was in financial difficulties.

But now, the court has lowered interest rates, which has harmed the interests of these gentry. Naturally, these gentry will no longer actively undertake these public services for the government, and they are likely to use this to blackmail the government, especially in terms of public security. They also allow monks to gather and even begin to spread evil religions.

Zhu Houcong also knew this would happen, so he wanted to strengthen the power of local governments after the fire consumption was returned to the public, and the first thing he did was to set up a large number of inspection offices.

Before Jue'an returned to the capital, he learned about Xiao Cong's murder through the contents of the "Dibao" on the way.

This made him suddenly understand why Yuan Zonggao was not killed and why Xiao Cong did not appear in the governor's office again.

"It turns out that it was Guo Xun who betrayed Xiao Cong!"

Jue'an had suspected Guo Xun long ago after learning that Yuan Zonggao was not dead, because he knew that only Guo Xun knew that Xiao Cong wanted to kill Yuan Zonggao, but he was still worried that Xiao Cong would change his mind at the last minute, so he never confirmed it directly.

Now, he confirmed it and gritted his teeth because of it.

Not long after, he learned from reading the "Di Bao" that the court was carrying out a civil service reform in Huguang and would add a large number of inspection offices and patrol stations.

This made him even more frightened, and he hurried back to Jiangling, Huguang in late July of the second year of Jiajing to meet Miao Shan.

"Go quickly!"

"It's impossible to instigate the monks from Huguang to cause trouble! Even if the royal family and local gentry secretly support us, it won't work!"

Jue'an pulled Miaoshan onto the boat and started talking as they walked.

Miao Shan was very surprised after hearing this: "Why?"

"Zhu Houcong has already set up a large number of inspection offices here to strengthen the government, and it should have played a role. In addition, Guo Xun and the new governor will be his people. We can't accomplish anything here."

"Even the King of Liao may not be able to protect himself, let alone us!"

Jue'an stopped walking as he spoke.

Because many Jinyiwei suddenly appeared on the boat he rented.

Jue'an couldn't help but look back and found that many Jinyiwei were also coming behind him.

……

……

Forbidden City.

Zhu Houcong was standing on the Tiger City next to the Leopard House, admiring a pair of white tigers sent here by Wang Hong.

Zhu Houcong didn't know whether the pair of white tigers were Bengal white tigers, but he really hoped that the pair of white tigers presented by Wang Hong were from Bengal.

Because it means Wang Hong knows someone who can go to Bangladesh.

For Zhu Houcong, strengthening the power of local government would certainly prevent local forces from causing too much trouble due to the reform, but the side effect of strengthening the power of local government was that it would increase fiscal expenditure. This meant that he needed to increase more income, and to increase more income, looking overseas was naturally a very promising direction.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong naturally hoped that Wang Hong knew someone who had been to Bangladesh.

After seeing the white tiger, Zhu Houcong went to the inner treasury on the west and north sides of the Leopard House.

Zhu Houcong's inner treasury was actually not just the inner treasury, but also the inner treasury of Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Guangying, Guanghui, and Guangji.

During these days, Zhu Houcong earned a lot of interest by letting Xingming Bank lend money to various powerful people, which led to an increase in the silver dollar inventory.

Looking at the abundant inventory, Zhu Houcong felt particularly satisfied, for he knew that this was the basis for him to maintain his power.

However, after seeing the dazzling gold, silver, jewelry, silk and satin, Zhu Houcong felt satisfied, but he was still worried about how to make more of the treasury flow out and then flow back in double.

After all, if money does not flow, it cannot promote the prosperity and strength of the country. Keeping it in the treasury will only increase the sense of security but will not bring about the progress of the entire civilization.

But the world's wealthy and powerful obviously don't like him to let more money flow.

After returning to Qingning Palace, Zhu Houcong read several memorials that had already been approved by the drafter, namely Zhu's copies.

Although, in order to reduce his burden and to have advisory opinions to refer to in order to avoid more misjudgments caused by subjective assumptions, Zhu Houcong basically had memorials drafted by the cabinet before approval.

However, Zhu Houcong would usually take a look at the memorials that had been approved by the cabinet when he had free time. If he felt that the cabinet's draft was wrong, he would summon the cabinet ministers to ask whether the previous decree should be changed.

Zhu Houcong couldn't help but become more and more annoyed as he read these copies of Zhu's books.

Because these memorials were all written by the censors and local officials to impeach Yuan Zonggao, Liang Chu and others for competing with the people for profit.

This made Zhu Houcong realize that there were obviously still many officials who were dissatisfied with these people for lending at low interest rates for the emperor and allowing more silver dollars to flow among the people.

The content of the cabinet's proposal was naturally to reprimand these censors and local officials in the name of the emperor for not knowing right from wrong and being biased.

Zhu Houcong had no intention of overturning the previous decree and asking the cabinet ministers to draft it again.

After all, there are hundreds of new memorials submitted every day. If he has to overturn every one of them, he won't be able to do anything else, let alone rest.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong would not refute or overturn anything unless it particularly needed to be refuted or overturned, especially the impeachment from the censors. As long as the cabinet did not deviate too much from his own intentions, he would not overturn it.

However, many officials accused Yuan Zonggao, Liang Chu and others of competing with the people for profits by lending low-interest loans to help farmers for the inner court. This indeed made Zhu Houcong angry and he also felt how great the resistance to the monetization of the silver dollar was.

However, what Zhu Houcong did not know was that Shu Sheng, Gui E and others directly felt even greater resistance at the local level.

Because they not only face impeachment from many officials, but also have to deal with private message bombardment from many colleagues, local officials, and eminent monks. In addition, there are accusations from royal nobles and rebellious scholars, as well as resentment from the clerks under them.

After all, the monks, nuns and believers mobilized by Miao Shan did not cause any trouble, and the Yuan family was able to continue to issue low-interest loans with confidence, which naturally made the royal family and local officials even more disappointed. After the power of the local government was strengthened, it further affected the interests of the royal family and local officials, because many of their slaves were punished by the inspection department for oppressing the people.

This will naturally cause their dissatisfaction.

In short, lending low-interest loans to ordinary people has become a terrible thing that all rentier classes regard as a scourge.

If we give money directly to the common people, it will probably cause more resentment, accusations and criticism.

While on patrol, Gui E learned from the scouts of the inspection station that scholars near the place he passed by had gathered in a temple to hold a memorial service for an executed monk named Jing Tong. At the meeting, they also scolded him and officials such as Shu Sheng and slandered the court.

Gui E personally led his troops to surround the temple, ransacked the temple, and arrested all the scholars.

Afterwards, Gui E saw these scholars writing an epitaph for Jing Tong.

to this end.

Gui E asked these scholars in a deep voice: "You are speaking up for a demon monk and even writing an epitaph for him. In the epitaph you slander the court and the court officials. Have you read all the books?"

Pooh!
One scholar spat at Gui E and cursed, "You traitors! You allow the rich and powerful to compete with the people for profits, and you kill monks and destroy Taoism, creating terror. You are a shame to our Confucian school!"

"Who among you is the mastermind behind the mourning of the evil monk?"

"Who wrote this epitaph?"

Gui E ignored the scholar and asked in a deep voice.

No scholar answered.

Gui E then pointed at the scholar who had just scolded him and said, "Give him a hundred strokes of the cane right here in the court! He slandered his superiors and defamed the court. He should be punished severely during the crackdown!"

The scholar was pressed down on the stone table by the soldiers and beaten with a stick on the spot.

Soon, the scholar was beaten to death on the spot.

Gui E then asked, "Still no one has come out to admit it?"

None of these scholars answered, and some began to tremble.

"Then keep fighting!"

Gui E shouted, pointing at a scholar who was shaking the most violently: "Drag him out first, and beat him with a hundred sticks! During this period of severe crackdown, anyone who sympathizes with the evil monk will be severely punished!"

"I said, it's Mr. Qingzhai, the headmaster of our academy!"

The scholar had to speak out loudly.

(End of this chapter)