Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 279 Xie Qian knelt down at Zuo Shunmen and took the initiative to plead guilty!
Ever since Xie Di's property was raided, a large amount of bamboo and wood that the Xie family had obtained through plunder and smuggling were confiscated as official treasury, and Xie Qian was heartbroken about it.

He was heartbroken that the reputation of his Xie family would be greatly affected, and he was also heartbroken that his brother's family would be broken up.

Therefore, he hated Zhang Cong to the core.

Because all this was caused by Zhang Cong's forced inspection of bamboo and wood samples.

But he didn't expect this was not the end.

Because he soon learned that the court had reinstated Wang Qiong, imposed additional banknote tariffs, and even wanted to change the grain transport system!

This package of new policies can be said to have really hit the Xie family's vital point.

After all, his Xie family is a big player in smuggling trade.

Many goods smuggled in from outside had to go north via the canal to be sold to dignitaries and officials in the capital, and goods smuggled out from the capital had to go south via the canal to Liangzhe and go out to sea.

In this era, the Grand Canal was the most convenient and fastest transportation line connecting domestic and foreign trade, and the main artery of the Ming Dynasty's commodity economy.

The Ming Dynasty government imposed additional taxes and levies on banknotes and changed the grain transport system to eliminate smuggling, which would dramatically increase the cost of smuggling goods for the Xie family.

This made Xie Qian so angry that he cursed the incompetent officials in the court at home, and allowed Wang Qiong, Zhang Cong and others to continue to undermine the ancestral laws.

When Xie Qian received Wang Ao's letter saying that the Fei family had taken the initiative to buy grain and cloth everywhere and wanted to be the first beneficiary of the reform, and asked his family to participate quickly and not let the Fei family reap the benefits alone, Xie Qian became even more angry.

What made him angry was that Fei Hong was shameless, so he cursed Fei Hong as the number one sinner in the Ming Dynasty.

He was also angry because Wang Ao was too hypocritical. In order to prevent Nanzhi from suffering too heavy a loss, he used the so-called "serving the country and the people" to ask the Xie family to compromise, cooperate with the new policy, and come to Nanzhi to buy cloth.

You know, with the profits from his Xie family's smuggling, he simply looked down on the little profit he shared with other powerful people after the reform of the canal transport system.

Although that little bit of profit can be earned in a fair and aboveboard manner, the price of being fair and aboveboard is that the country and the people cannot be exploited too harshly, which means that huge profits cannot be made like smuggling.

It is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

Xie Qian was naturally unwilling to easily accept that his Xie family's annual income had dropped from millions of taels of silver to only a few hundred thousand or even just a few hundred thousand taels of silver.

Therefore, he did not agree to Wang Ao and compromise, but instead fought back.

He asked his son Xie Pi, who was an official in Beijing, to inform the Li family in the capital and the Liu family in Tongzhou who were collaborating in smuggling of the latest actions of the court.

This led to the Li family finally choosing to force the Liu family to kill Doctor Zhou, and instigated the garrison officers along the canal who were unwilling to change to the canal transportation to prepare to instigate the middle and lower-level officers to launch a mutiny and burn down the shipyard.

Xie Qian also knew that the Li family might end up getting into trouble if they did this.

After all, he also knew that the current emperor and people like Wang Qiong were not so easy to deal with.

So, he took the initiative to contact his students and old friends.

He asked them to contact some princes who were also involved in smuggling with him or who could be instigated because of their ambitions, and asked them to prepare memorials to plead for the Li family and the military heroes in order to win the favor of the upright gentry and military heroes in the world.

Xie Qian also asked them to give the memorial to him, which he would secretly bring to the capital as a last resort.

The reason why he chose to go to the capital was to learn the emperor's handling methods more quickly and to respond accordingly.

Therefore, Xie Qian actually came to the capital secretly at the beginning of the fourth year of Jiajing.

But neither the emperor Zhu Houcong nor the ministers in the court knew about it.

Xie Qian also did not let Xie Pi and other family members tell the outside world.

Xie Qian has been observing the development of the situation in the capital these days.

He had to admit that things were not going smoothly.

Liu Yinghuai was discovered after all!
The mutiny in Huai'an also failed because of a betrayal.

Even Liu Wentai's family hiding in Tongzhou were confiscated.

Later, the Li family was actually dug out!

His son Xie Pi was also forced to take some upright people to Zuo Shunmen to cry out for advice.

And he himself had to eventually hand over the prepared memorials from the princes to the clan house and have the person sent by the princes to be by his side.

Now, Xie Qian is waiting for the news his son will bring back.

That day, when Xie Pi returned home with a disappointed look on his face, Xie Qian was reading Wen Bao with his glasses on.

The issue of Wen Bao that he was reading contained an article in which Yan Song criticized the wise ministers and famous assistants of the court for shifting the burden of grain transportation and corvee labor to military households in order to reduce the burden on the people, and for sacrificing the country's military strength to solve the current situation of poverty and destitution.

Xie Qian became angrier the more he looked at it.

Because, in his article, Yan Song almost denounced these so-called wise assistants of the world as worthless, and even almost called them people with evil intentions.

However, Wen Bao was originally intended to criticize the government, and Zhu Houcong deliberately allowed Yang Tingyi and others to use criticism of the government to promote the new policies. This not only showed that the emperor was not intolerant of sharp criticism, but also gave Zhu Houcong more reason to carry out reforms. It also allowed people who truly cared about the country's destiny and the people's sentiments to understand the truth, and not be fooled by some sophisticated and selfish spokesmen for the powerful and wealthy to really believe that the maintenance of the ritual system was the key to a strong country and a prosperous people.

Furthermore, educated people are always arrogant and prefer to read articles that criticize the court and others. They will actively reject articles that praise the court and others.

Therefore, Wen Bao deliberately guided the reform from a critical perspective.

This also made scholars and literati prefer to read Wen Bao.

What's more, Wenbao also caters to the needs of literati and scholars and pays attention to writing style.

But the Wen Bao makes many scholars and literati more angry the more they read it.

That's what Xie Qian did.

Just as Xie Qian was getting angrier and angrier, he saw Xie Pi coming back, so he put down the newspaper and asked, "Your Majesty, have you compromised?"

Xie Pi shook his head. Xie Qian then noticed that Xie Pi looked angry, so he asked:

"Then what happened?"

"The Empress Dowager Zhaosheng issued an imperial decree, asking our Xie family whether we would follow the princes who petitioned the emperor and disrupt the country of the two previous emperors."

"So the son had to come back."

Xie Pi replied.

After hearing this, Xie Qian stood there in a daze.

Then his lips twitched a few times.

Then, Xie Qian's hands began to tremble as if he had gout, and he took off his reading glasses from his nose.

Xie Qian took off his quilt and glanced at his eldest son Xie Zheng who was also walking towards him. He then calmly ordered: "Except you, let everyone in the yard go out, close the door, and the eldest son stay outside the door!"

Xie Pi and Xie Zheng said yes.

Then, everyone except Xie Pi left.

Xie Zheng closed the door himself and stood outside.

When the room suddenly darkened.

Snapped!
Xie Qian threw the sword in his hand to the ground with all his strength.

"This stupid old woman, if she hadn't only cared about her two equally stupid brothers, the discussion of the ceremony wouldn't have ended like this!"

"It's not us who are sorry to the late emperor, it's her! It's this old woman!"

"She's the one who's been ignoring the gift!"

"She has been ignoring the importance of how to decide on the grand ceremony for the main sect!"

"She is the one who betrayed the late emperor!"

"This old woman, we Qingliu should learn from Wan Yanliang and let her go to see the late emperor's filial piety temple first!"

"I'm so mad!"

Xie Qian was roaring wildly in the dark and quiet study, waving his hands and looking at Xie Pi with flaming eyes, completely lacking the calm and composed demeanor of a veteran as before.

Xie Pi just lowered his head and said nothing, looking depressed.

Xie Qian did not vent his anger until he sat on the chair, bent over and lowered his head to face Xie Pi. He just said to Xie Pi calmly:
"Tell those princes not to rebel. If anyone does, the gentry of the world and my Xie family will become enemies!"

"Zhang has clearly stated that our Xie family is disrupting the country and society left by our ancestors. If they rebel again, it will really confirm Zhang's questioning of whether our Xie family is going to disrupt the country and society left by the previous emperor!"

"The emperor is really powerful. This is an open conspiracy! He let Zhang, the stupid woman with the highest status in terms of etiquette and law, expose our threats in advance and prepare to accuse us of disturbing our ancestors and the country. If there is a rebellion by the clans, we will be wearing this hat ourselves!"

Xie Pi tacitly agreed with Xie Qian's words, and at this time he said: "There is one more thing, which my son learned when he left the palace. The emperor has issued an edict to let Fei Hong take charge of the Ministry of Personnel and Wang Qiong take charge of the Ministry of War!"

After hearing this, Xie Qian looked even more desperate.

"it is good!"

"it is good!"

"What a wise Lord!"

"Sure enough, we started to make preparations for both scenarios."

"How can he, a foreign vassal king, be so wise?"

When Xie Qian asked the last question, he looked at Xie Pi.

Xie Pi did not answer, but knelt down and cried, "Father, does this mean that our sons will definitely die this time?"

Xie Qian did not answer.

But at this time, Xie Zheng outside also started sobbing and looked at the gloomy sky with despair in his eyes.

Xie Qian stood up and patted Xie Pi on the shoulder: "The Xie family has no other choice but to sacrifice our own family for the sake of justice and take the initiative to apologize for the crime, so that you two can enforce the law. Otherwise, we can only wait for the emperor to raid our house and find out that we are colluding with the Japanese. It will not be as simple as smuggling, but our clan will be wiped out directly!"

"Son, for the sake of the Xie family's continued prosperity, sacrifice your life for the sake of a good cause!"

"The only evidence they can obtain from the Li family now is the cargo list signed by you and your brother. So as long as you take the blame, I will offer the profits from the sea trade as a condition and ask for mercy from His Majesty. Only then can my Xie family be saved from extinction!"

Xie Qian burst into tears and comforted Xie Pi.

Xie Pi nodded: "Son, I understand!"

"Xie Zheng!"

Xie Qian shouted towards the door.

Xie Zheng outside the door replied: "My son also understands!"

So, without waiting for the Jinyiwei to arrive, Xie Qian changed into the dragon robe bestowed by the emperor in the past, wore a first-class Liang crown on his head, and first brought his two sons Xie Zheng and Xie Pi to Zuo Shunmen, and presented the memorial:
"Old minister Xie Qian has brought two disloyal and unfilial sons to Your Majesty to apologize!"

Zhu Houcong had just learned about the evidence of the Xie family's collusion with Li Xian in smuggling, and before he could issue an order to deal with it, he learned about it from Qin Wen.

"Excuse me?"

(End of this chapter)