Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 372 Our gentry’s money was seized by the emperor!

Xu Jie knew that his fellow townsmen did not want him to go to Japan to be an official easily.

"I will naturally make the decision for you."

At this time, Huating County Magistrate Zhou Zongming could not help but respond to the disheveled woman and glanced at Xu Jie with a slightly apologetic look.

The woman suddenly pointed at the student Bai Zhengbiao who was laughing in the crowd of local celebrities and said, "I sue him for destroying my innocence and forcing me to be sold to the Xu family as a slave!"

Bai Zhengbiao and the local officials present were immediately shocked.

This was naturally a big surprise to them.

Huating County Magistrate Zhou Zongming himself was also surprised.

Xu Jie also looked at Zhou Zongming and asked, "County Magistrate Zhou, is there any misunderstanding here? Although I don't know this woman, she didn't say that I took her by force, but said that the third son of the Bai family raped and forced her to sell."

Zhou Zongming said with embarrassment: "There must be a misunderstanding here!"

"I just saw a woman's uncle sent a complaint to the Criminal Office saying that his niece was forcibly taken away by the Duke to satisfy his lust. It seems that the woman's uncle is making a false accusation, or he may have listened to other people's rumors."

"Anyway, this matter has nothing to do with you."

After Zhou Zongming said this, he had the disheveled woman brought to the shore, and then he also ordered Bai Zhengbiao to be detained.

Bai Zhengbiao was furious and shouted at the woman, "Bai Zeng, you adulterous whore, what benefits did the Xu family give you to slander me?"

"Do you know this woman's husband's family and her parents' family?"

At this time, Xu Jie couldn't help but ask Bai Zhengbiao a question.

Bai Zhengbiao was suddenly speechless, his face became panicked: "I, I!"

"say!"

"How do you know this woman's origin?"

At this time Zhou Zongming had no choice but to scold and question the student Bai Zhengbiao.

Bai Zhengbiao could only say with a frustrated look on his face: "Please forgive me, my dear parents, I am only doing the work for money, and I have no intention of slandering Mr. Xu's innocence!"

"It seems that Xu was really wronged."

"I still have important matters to attend to at the imperial court. I will rely on my parents to make the decision for me on this matter."

Xu Jie said this at this time, then bowed to Zhou Zongming, and then asked someone to start the boat, and glanced at his fellow townsmen on the shore.

Many of these gentry looked lost, and some even had gloomy faces.

Because this result disappointed them.

Xu Jie also knew that his fellow townsmen would be unhappy about this.

However, he personally volunteered to go to Japan only because he wanted to make progress.

But his fellow gentry were not targeting him, but the fact that the court sent officials to Japan.

Any official who wants to expand strategic resource space for the country at sea.

No matter whether this person is a scholar-official, a eunuch, a military general or even a relative by marriage.

The gentry of the world will make it difficult for it to go out to sea.

Because this behavior itself goes against their interests.

His fellow gentry from the same hometown would be no exception, and they would not sit idly by and watch him go to Japan easily just because Xu Jie was a gentry from Songjiang, Nanzhi.

Therefore, Xu Jie had long been prepared for this move, and had asked reliable people in his mansion to keep an eye on the situation in advance to see if anyone had bribed the people around him.

During his stay at home, Xu Jie learned that someone was bribing people around him to create trouble for him and ruin his reputation, as a warning to officials who wanted to advance in the country. Xu Jie took the initiative to inform the Jinyiwei about this.

The Imperial Guards also helped him force Bai Zeng to cooperate with them, and reminded him to expose the real mastermind in front of the magistrate Zhou Zongming if anyone made a fuss about this matter.

Therefore, when Zhou Zongming wanted to detain Xu Jie on the charge of abducting a woman, Bai Zeng suddenly came out and gave away Bai Zhengbiao, allowing Xu Jie to leave smoothly.

Because of this incident, Xu Jie had to admit that it was indeed not easy to make progress. It was not enough to just be able to judge the situation and not be afraid of the difficulties and obstacles of natural conditions. One also had to be careful at every step and not be afraid of the evil of human nature.

After all, the situation in this world is always volatile. Since I have chosen to endure temporarily and only be a minister that the emperor likes, I must be prepared that my former friends will become my enemies. No one will show leniency to me just because I am also a member of the southern gentry class.

But no matter what, the cautious Xu Jie successfully went to Zhejiang with the help of the Jinyiwei.

As a result, some of his fellow townsmen had to come to see Zhou Zongming overnight.

"This Xu Zisheng, he dares to wade into this muddy water, he really has some ability."

The gentleman Zhang Jin said this to Zhou Zongming with an unhappy look on his face.

Zhou Zongming said: "The one who dares to take this job is naturally not a simple person! But didn't we also say that the purpose is not to really do anything to him, but to let those officials who only know how to please the emperor and don't know how to rely on the gentry know that this road is not easy to take. If you don't follow the wishes of the gentry, you'd better be prepared to be embarrassed at all times."

Zhang Jin nodded, sneered and said, "That's right! He escaped a disaster in Songjiang, but that doesn't mean he will be smooth sailing in Zhejiang. A local wealthy businessman Xu Shouyu went to Hangzhou after returning from Beijing and is waiting for him."

"I hope Zhejiang can make him suffer a little, so that it can further shock the people of the world."

"What we are most afraid of now is that the imperial court will bring back more wealth from the East. This will gradually make people in the world more inclined to cater to the emperor and support his expansion abroad!"

Zhou Zongming stood up and put his hands behind his back, frowning.

Zhang Jin nodded.

"You are right. If that happens, there will not just be one Xu Zisheng, but many Xu Zishengs!"

"That's terrible!"

As soon as the two finished talking, Zhou Zongming's aide Zhu Hongren came over quickly: "Master, something bad is happening!"

After hearing this, Zhou Zongming hurriedly asked in a serious tone: "What's wrong? Zhang Guancha is not an outsider, just say it directly!"

"Yes!"

"The fifth master who works as the postmaster at Shuangxi Post has sent an urgent letter saying that the inspector general Huo Tao and his men have returned, bringing back three million dan of grain and two million taels of silver. It is said that the Japanese Ouchi clan actually offered them a mountain of silver!"

"The Fifth Master also learned this from their followers. Now the money and grain that were transported back have been sent to the Southern Capital!"

After Zhu Hongren said this, Zhou Zongming and Zhang Jin looked at each other.

"What you fear will come true."

Zhou Zongming suddenly said with a wry smile, looking extremely depressed.

"Yes!"

Zhang Jin also echoed the sigh, and said with great sorrow: "Just as my parents said just now, bringing so much money and grain back to the country in batches will cause chaos in the world!"

Zhu Houcong had also received the urgent memorial brought back by Huo Tao, and learned that the Ouchi clan had also paid the Ming Dynasty three million dan of grain as compensation for colluding with pirates and plundering the southeast of the Ming Dynasty. They had also "willingly" ceded the stone and taken the initiative to trade, allowing the Ming Dynasty imperial merchants to earn two million taels of silver in taxes from the first batch of trade at the Ouchi clan's Yan Port.

This made Zhu Houcong very happy.

This has indeed made people all over the world more confused.

"That was originally our gentry's money!"

Wang Xuekui, who could no longer go to the capital's expensive restaurants to indulge in luxury, just drank at home. He said this with great sorrow because he knew what had happened.

(End of this chapter)