Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 271: Nanzhi is powerful and will kill without mercy!

The next day.

Royal study room.

When Zhu Houcong heard Fei Hong say that Xu Jie met him last night, he was not very surprised.

After all, he has always believed that such a person who will be remembered by future generations will not be content with the status quo and will definitely do something unexpected.

"So what did he tell you?"

"He said that someone else was responsible for the death of Dr. Zhou."

Fei Hong replied.

Zhu Houcong nodded: "I know this."

then.

Zhu Houcong looked at him: "Does he know who these people are?"

"Return to your majesty!"

"He didn't know either. He was just contacting some of the clear scholars on behalf of the Minister of Rites Wu Yipeng. For example, he exchanged poems with Yao Lai and Huang Wan from the Hanlin Academy and exchanged views between different schools of thought. He had contact with both Neo-Confucianists and Wang Xueyan."

Fei Hong replied.

Zhu Houcong asked, "Then how did he know that they were going to instigate an uprising in Huai'an, and how did he plan to destroy the new warships that I asked Zhang Fujing to build there after the uprising?"

"He found out through the Minister of Rites Wu Yipeng."

"Because they revealed through Yao Lai that Wu Yipeng had secretly assisted Jin Maoren, the son of the former Grand Secretary Jin Gui, and Wu Xun, the former eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, in arranging for Concubine Shun to enter the palace for selection. Therefore, Wu Yipeng had to cooperate with them to do this."

Fei Hong replied.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this.

Only then did he realize that Concubine Xue Shun, who spoke with a soft Wu accent, was secretly brought in by these Nanzhi nobles.

But Zhu Houcong had to admit that Concubine Xue Shun was really fragrant, fair and beautiful.

He has been tormented by it a lot.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong asked Fei Hong again: "Is the Jin family still married to Wang Ao?"

"Yes!"

"Not only did Lord Wang marry into the Jin family, he also married into the Shouning Marquis family."

Fei Hong told Zhu Houcong everything.

Zhu Houcong said: "I know this!"

"So, Your Majesty, what do you plan to do?"

Fei Hong asked.

Zhu Houcong looked up at Fei Hong and asked, "What does Yuanfu think?"

"In my humble opinion, food should be eaten bite by bite, and things should be done one by one."

"The Nanzhi Party is still powerful. In the palace, there are not only old people like the Empress Dowager Zhaosheng, but also new people like Concubine Shun. However, the more powerful they are, the more cautious we should be. We should use them to realize the opening of the sea first!"

Fei Hong replied.

Zhu Houcong nodded: "As for Wu Yipeng's matter, I can hide it for now and break the law. The implementation of the new policy is to unite the majority and crack down on the small number of stubborn people."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

Fei Hong hurriedly bowed and praised.

Zhu Houcong waved his hand: "Don't talk about this for now, I just want to know who they are!"

"Not only did they dare to harm my imperial physician, they also dared to instigate the thieves to rebel in Huai'an! They even wanted to kill a salt transport commissioner from Liangzhe, a fourth-rank official!"

“What a great spirit!”

Zhu Houcong laughed when he said this, and asked, "Am I the Son of Heaven, or are they the Son of Heaven?"

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

Fei Hong bowed and replied, "The key now is to protect Huai'an and prevent them from killing the governor of the Grand Canal, Wu Tingju!"

Zhu Houcong nodded.

Then, Zhu Houcong asked Fei Hong: "So, do you think that Yang Hong, the general of the grain transport, and Zhang Kui, the lieutenant general of the grain transport, rebelled?"

"Of course they don't dare, but they certainly won't be satisfied with the change in the grain transport system, so they will sit back and watch the officers of the garrisons in the transport army make trouble!"

"In any case, the ones who will suffer the most from the change in the canal transportation are the generals and officers of the garrisons along the canal, because they can no longer rely on their official positions to exploit the military households at will."

"Besides, the Datong Incident did show them that mutiny is not impossible."

Fei Hong replied.

Zhu Houcong sneered: "How can that be the same? The Datong mutiny was the officials forcing the soldiers to rebel, so the soldiers had no choice but to rebel. What are they?"

"Your Majesty is right, but in their opinion, they should be more noble than the military households!"

Fei Hong replied.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this and said: "I am afraid that the officers of the garrison will also think that civilian households should be more noble than military households."

The status of military households declined and they became the most miserable group in the Ming Dynasty. This was related to the overall trend of the Ming Dynasty since Yongle, when civil officials were more respected and military officials were less respected.

because……

First, military power was transferred to the Ministry of War, which was under the charge of civilian officials.

Then, the power to appoint, dismiss, promote or demote military officials was transferred to the Ministry of War.

and so……

Gradually, the status of military personnel became lower than that of civil servants, and as a result, the status of military households also became lower than that of civilian households, and they had to bear the greatest sacrifices.

For example, the transportation of grain has now been changed from civilian transportation to military transportation, which has certainly reduced the burden on civilian households, but at the cost of increasing the burden on military households.

It would take a long time for Zhu Houcong to change this situation.

After all, even the hereditary officers of the military households would be happy to lower the status of the military households, which would be more conducive to their exploitation. Therefore, Zhu Houcong said so, and after thinking about it, he asked Fei Hong: "Did Wu Dinghou lead his troops to the Qingjiangpu Shipyard?"

Fei Hong nodded: "They arrived at the end of December. The emperor's personal troops guarding the shipyard have been resting for a month!"

"Then give Guo Xun a secret order and ask him to lead his troops to Huai'an as the commander of the river troops to assist the governor of the grain transport, Wu Tingju, in suppressing any possible rebellion!"

"In addition, give Wu Tingju another imperial decree! Let him be transferred from the Governor of the Grand Canal to the Governor of the Rivers and concurrently the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Governor of Fengyang. Together with Wuding Hou Guo Xun, he can deal with all the officials, gentry and civilians who plotted rebellion, including the hereditary commanders of the various guards!"

"In addition, the cabinet has clearly issued an edict that the grain transport will be changed from official transport to commercial transport, the Southern Zhili will implement the "One Whip" policy, the court will purchase grain with silver dollars, and tax deduction will be gradually implemented!"

Zhu Houcong thought for a moment and then gave the order.

Fei Hong nodded in agreement.

The next day.

The cabinet officially issued an edict to change the canal transport to commercial transport on the grounds that it could not ignore the will of the people and the military.

Because Yan Song had been organizing scholars and people to petition for this matter in order to observe customs and rectify social practices, people in the court and the public were not unfamiliar with the emergence of this decree. Also, because even Wang Ao was forced to publicly express his support for the reform, no official submitted a memorial to dissuade him from doing so.

However, under the seemingly calm government and public order, undercurrents had already been surging, and there were many violent incidents.

such as……

First, Wu Tingju had to take the initiative to report to the court and impeach Prime Minister Fei Hong because he received evidence that the Prime Minister Fei Hong accepted bribes from Deng Zhang, the former Minister of Granaries of the Ministry of Revenue, and that the Minister of Revenue Sun Jiao had only criticized but not punished the General of the Grain Transport for embezzling more than 1,000 dan of grain and the General Yang Hong for delaying the transportation of grain and asked the court to punish them.

For this reason, the censors submitted memorials one after another, requesting an investigation into the matter.

Fei Hong also impeached himself and asked for resignation because of this.

Zhu Houcong tried to retain Yang Hong on the grounds that pardoning Yang Hong was my personal order and the allegation of the Prime Minister taking bribes was a fabrication.

After that, Zheng Yipeng, an imperial censor, impeached Wu Tingju for his old age, illness and frailty and requested that he be dismissed from his post.

Soon after, Wang Shouyao, the governor of Shandong, reported that bandits were disturbing the river, killing more than 200 soldiers and officers of Pingshan Guard, seizing more than 100 horses, and fleeing to Yanggu and Dong'e areas;
The Southern Zhili Provincial Inspector also reported that pirates appeared in Haizhouwei and killed more than 300 soldiers and civilians, and fled to Shuyang and Andong.

More than a month later, in the city of Huai'an, many commanders, deputy commanders, or assistant officials of the various guards along the canal, along with many thousand-household and hundred-household officers, came to the governor's office without any prior arrangement, and brazenly surrounded the governor's office with their servants, demanding that the Grand Canal Governor Wu Tingju and Grand Canal General Yang Hong submit a petition to follow the ancestral system, restore official operations, and put an end to the rebellion.

As a result, the bureaucrats of the grain transport system, including the Governor-General of the Grain Transport Wu Tingju, the General of the Grain Transport Yang Hong, and the Lieutenant General of the Grain Transport Zhang Kui, had to meet with these commanders and deputy commanders.

As the governor, Wu Dinh Ju first asked these people in a deep voice: "Why do you want to obstruct the reform?"

"Because changing the grain transport system like this will encourage more military households to commit thieves."

Huai'an Wei Commander Lu Cheng said.

Wu Tingju said: "Nonsense! If the grain transport is changed to commercial transport, the military households will no longer have to transport grain, and they will not have to go into debt for transporting grain. The burden will be greatly reduced, so why would they be more willing to join the bandits?"

"Because when the soldiers have nothing to do, they will become bandits and thieves! Please understand!"

Ma Yue, the assistant commander of Haizhou Guard, followed suit.

Wu Tingju, who was born in the military, actually understood their intentions very well, so he sneered and said, "Don't think that I don't know what you are thinking. It's nothing more than that after the reform of the grain transport system, you can no longer use official positions to oppress the military households. You are here to say that the military households cannot be idle, otherwise they will become bandits!"

When these garrison officers heard what Wu Tingju said, they all glared in anger.

Wu Tingju continued, "Even if what you say is true, the court has already decided to change the official transport to the grain transport, so even if more military households become thieves, even if military households become thieves, it must be changed!"

"Du Tang wants to disrupt the Ming Dynasty, we cannot comply!"

Lu Cheng said at this time.

Wu Tingju said: "I did not disturb the Ming Dynasty, it was you who disturbed the Ming Dynasty. Without my order, who told you to leave your post and surround my governor's office?"

Wu Tingju shouted, "You are plotting treason and rebelling!"

"General Yang, Assistant Commander Zhang, I order you to lead your soldiers to arrest these people immediately and bring them to justice. If anyone resists, they will be killed without mercy!"

then.

Wu Tingju then gave orders to Yang Hong, the commander-in-chief of the Grand Canal Transport, and Zhang Kui, the lieutenant general of the Grand Canal Transport.

At this time, Yang Hong bowed to Wu Tingju and said, "Du Tang, please forgive me for not being able to obey your order!"

Zhang Kui also said: "I can't obey you either!"

"Why?"

Wu Tingju turned and looked at the two of them.

However, Lu Cheng, Ma Yue and other garrison officers sneered.

"Because this is a mess!"

"They are not rebelling, they are just worried!"

Zhang Kui replied first at this time.

Yang Hong was a little more lenient and said, "Please think twice, so as to prevent the Datong incident from happening again in my governor's office!"

"What do you mean?"

Wu Tingju felt more and more puzzled.

Yang Hong said: "I don't have any other intentions, I just hope that Du Tang understands that my soldiers may not be able to suppress them."

"You are not afraid that you can't suppress it, but you don't want to suppress it and don't want to lose your troops in this matter."

Wu Tingju asked coldly.

Yang Hong cupped his hands and said, "If the governor wants to think so, there is nothing I can do!"

After hearing this, Wu Tingju took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and asked Yang Hong: "What do you think?"

"According to their wishes, we should report to the court that there is great resistance to changing the grain transport system, so as to appease them and avoid the recurrence of the Datong Incident!"

Yang Hong replied.

After Yang Hong said this, Lu Cheng, Ma Yue and other garrison officers straightened their chests even more and looked at Wu Tingju with even more disdain.

"The imperial edict has arrived!"

At this time, the gatekeeper of the Caoyun Yamen ran in, shouting loudly that an imperial edict had arrived.

(End of this chapter)