Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 396: The Jiajing Dynasty carried out a large-scale massacre, and the night of long swords appeared!

Ye Guizhang was slightly startled, his face suddenly turned pale, and he smiled awkwardly: "How could it be?"

"Well, I really recognized you as my confidant in vain!"

"Ben was still thinking about covering for you."

"I didn't expect that you didn't treat me as your own!"

Zhang Zheng said this and turned and left.

Ye Guizhang hurriedly caught up with him and said, "Please stay!"

then.

After Zhang Zheng stopped walking, Ye Guizhang confessed to him: "I was involved in this matter!"

Zhang Zheng's mouth curled up slightly.

I was secretly happy.

"If you are willing to conceal it for us, we are willing to give you 300,000 acres of land and send it to various places in the world."

Ye Guizhang stated his conditions here and directly took out the bargaining chips he wanted to bribe Zhang Zheng.

"Can I meet everyone involved in this?"

"I want to discuss with them what to do next. Since we failed to stop His Majesty by burning the military household register, we should think of other ways!"

Zhang Zheng replied.

Ye Guizhang nodded: "Then wait for my news!"

Zhang Zheng also bowed and said, "Thank you for your trust. At this critical moment for the status of the gentry, I am willing to do my best with you to stop the treacherous party from disrupting the government!"

But that night, Zhang Zheng submitted a secret report to Zhu Houcong, informing him of these people and asking him for his instructions.

Because the substitute imperial envoys were all temporarily following him in the name of staff.

Everything he did was monitored by these substitute imperial envoys and would be reported to the emperor in a timely manner.

Therefore, it is impossible for him to betray the emperor for the benefits of 300,000 acres of land, the other generous gifts that Ye Guizhang had brought him before, and the interests of the gentry and wealthy families.

In particular, when he saw Zhang Jiuxu, the deputy imperial envoy, excited when he heard him deliberately tell Ye Guizhang that the current military household reform was not conducive to the gentry treating people as livestock, he knew that he could not fulfill the wishes of Zhang Jiuxu and others now.

Although he did not have much real sympathy for the common people, and when he was managing the river, he forced the migrant workers to work to death in order to show his superiors that his project was completed quickly and well, he really did not dare to act recklessly in this matter, let alone show his incompetence in this matter.

"Give Zhang Zheng a decree and have him ask the Duke of Wei, the garrison commander of Nanjing, for troops. Execute these people on the spot for treason! There's no need to arrest them and bring them to the capital, lest we alert the enemy!"

Zhu Houcong issued such an edict after receiving Zhang Cheng's secret report.

Because burning the military household register was indeed tantamount to rebellion. After all, there was an intention to prevent the imperial court from controlling the military households.

The fact that the people who did these things were able to burn the military household registers in the South shows that they had their own power among the officers and soldiers stationed in Nanjing, and it is very likely that people from the Nanjing official army were involved.

Therefore, if the imperial court were to send people to arrest him, it would likely encounter military conflict, so it would be better to execute Zhang Zheng directly on the spot.

As for why Zhang Zheng was asked to ask Duke Wei for troops.

This is because Zhu Houcong knew that the current Duke of Wei, Xu Pengju, was still reliable. Otherwise, he would not have taken the initiative to request to organize craftsmen to develop Western muskets. It was obvious that he still wanted to work for the court and consider the national interest. After all, if he did not do this, the craftsmen in Nanjing could be used by him to do private work for himself.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong asked Zhang Zheng to ask for troops from Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei.

A month later.

The eve of Mid-Autumn Festival in the sixth year of Jiajing.

Many leading figures in Nandu returned to the city to reunite with their families.

Zhang Zheng also received the imperial edict at this time, and secretly met with Xu Pengju to convey the emperor's secret order to him.

Therefore, Zhang Zheng made an appointment with these people through Ye Guizhang the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and said that he would introduce a nobleman to them, so as to make more detailed plans for another major event to be done next.

Another major event was that the literati and civil and military bureaucrats, who would rather destroy their families and clans than accept the emperor's military reforms that would completely suppress the power of the scholars, were ready to rise up and support Prince Yi.

This is just like during the reign of Emperor Zhengde, when many scholars and civil and military bureaucrats could not accept Emperor Zhengde's strengthening of military power and instigated Prince Anhua and Prince Ning to rebel.

But after all, the endings of King Anhua and King Ning were not good.

Therefore, when it came to raising an army, these most radical and reactionary forces among the southern gentry had to be extremely cautious. They were worried that they were not strong enough, and they were also afraid that there were not enough people in the powerful families who were dissatisfied with the government.

It is precisely because of this that they welcome Zhang Zheng’s joining, and their excitement is greater than their suspicion.

As the saying goes, greed blinds the mind.

In addition, they really attached great importance to their own interests, to the point of disregarding everything else, so naturally they generally believed that Zhang Zheng sincerely wanted to support them.

And now, Zhang Zheng said he wanted to introduce a nobleman, so they all came without any undue doubt.

Then, they discovered that this nobleman was a young nobleman who inherited the title during the Jiajing period - Duke of Wei Xu Pengju.

"Duke Wei doesn't even support military reform?"

Ye Guizhang and others were still more excited than suspicious about Xu Pengju's appearance.

Therefore, Ye Guizhang asked with a smile.

Of course, Ye Guizhang's words also hinted at his desire to know why Xu Pengju did not support the emperor.

Although Ye Guizhang knew that the military household reform was not a good thing for the powerful officials, especially for the military nobles who liked to use the military households to work for them. Otherwise, Jingyuan Bo Wang Jin, the right commander of the Nanjing Central Military Commandery, would not have become one of the participants in the plot to destroy the military household register and establish King Yi.

After Ye Guizhang asked this question, Xu Pengju replied: "I thought it would be fine to treat the craftsmen better, strengthen the firearms and the military equipment, but I never thought the court would want to kill us!"

"That's right, doing this is no different from taking our lives!"

Jingyuan Bo Wang Jin echoed this and walked towards Xu Pengju: "With the help of Duke Wei, if we really raise an army to support Prince Yi in the future, it won't be as difficult to capture Nandu as it was for Prince Ning!"

Xu Pengju smiled slightly.

Zhang Zheng, who was sitting next to Xu Pengju, also smiled slightly.

But suddenly...

Zhang Zheng stood up and threw the teacup in front of him to the ground:
"come!"

There was a crash.

All the windows and doors of the banquet hall were opened, and many soldiers in armor and holding muskets emerged.

At the same time, a team of soldiers armed with knives rushed directly to the banquet and surrounded these people.

Ye Guizhang and others were shocked when they saw this.

At this time, Zhang Zheng took out the urgent imperial edict from the cabinet from his sleeve and said, "There is an imperial edict, Jingyuan Earl Wang Jin, Nanjing Hanlin Shijiang Ye Guizhang, and Sijing Bureau Xima Liu Pu."

As Zhang Zheng finished reading this, Liu Pu had already been slashed in the neck by a soldier with a knife. Blood spurted out of Liu Pu's neck and he fell headfirst onto the table.

Ye Guizhang was so frightened that his face turned pale. He wanted to ask Zhang Zheng why this happened but he couldn't answer.

Jingyuan Bo Wang Jin was quick to act and grabbed Zhang Zheng's throat as he was about to read the decree: "What's going on? Why did you lie to us?"

"He can't help but lie!"

"Because if he doesn't seriously deal with you traitors who burned the military household register, we, the alternate imperial envoys, will have to take his place!"

At this time, Zhang Jiuxu came up from behind Zhang Zheng and replied in a cold voice.

"Alternate Imperial Envoy?"

Wang Jin and Ye Guizhang were both shocked.

"We are all imperial envoys-in-waiting!"

At this time.

Several other civil officials who served as Zhang Zheng's aides all stood up.

Pfft!

But Wang Jin had been stabbed in the back by the soldier at this time, and the blood from his heart had rushed out directly from the hole at the back, like a red plum blossom suddenly blooming in the air.

So, Wang Jin just said "Your Majesty is so powerful", then he let go of Zhang Zheng's hand and fell to the ground.

"Wait!"

At this critical moment, Ye Guizhang regained some consciousness, shouted to the soldier who was about to kill him with a knife, and then looked at Zhang Zheng:

"Since you have sold us out, you should have informed His Majesty. Killing us will let the powerful families who oppose the military reform know that our attempt to win over the imperial envoy to stop the reform is no longer feasible. The only way is to rebel!"

Zhang Zheng said: "I did inform you, but His Majesty is obviously not afraid of your powerful family rebelling!"

Ye Guizhang took a few steps back and said nothing more.

Zhang Zheng waved his hand.

The soldier behind Ye Guizhang walked forward and stabbed Ye Guizhang directly in the neck.

Ye Guizhang immediately fell to the ground, his head and body separated, and blood was spilled on the spot.

At this time, Zhang Zheng, Xu Pengju and others looked around the whole hall, and saw that in the whole hall, except for those who belonged to the emperor, all the other rebels were killed. They fell in a mess under the long swords of Xu Pengju's elite servants, and the long swords of these servants were all oozing blood.

clap clap clap!

Blood is dripping gently like a mechanical clock.

When the bodies of these rebels were carried out, everyone in Nanjing who saw them was horrified.

Many women in the attic screamed because of this.

After all, such a thing has not happened in the prosperous city of Nanjing for a long time.

The last time the Japanese pirates invaded, they were only outside the city, and most of those killed were common people and merchants.

But this time, the bodies were carried out from the highest-end large pleasure boat on the Qinhuai River, and those carried out were all corpses of high-ranking officials and dignitaries, which naturally caused a shock in the whole city, especially the upper-level officials and gentry, that is, the big bureaucrats and landlords who also gathered and enjoyed themselves in the CBD of Nanjing Qinhuai River.

"Though these rebels are easy to kill, the resentment caused by the military reform is not easy to eliminate!"

"Your Majesty, this time the military household reform is forcing the whole world to recognize that military households are more valuable than civilian households. This is not an enemy of a specific corrupt official, but an enemy of the entire party that advocates sacrificing military households in exchange for the peace of the country!"

"Moreover, Your Majesty is acting so strong and it seems that he will not compromise. I guess there will be people who will not hesitate to raise an army to stop Your Majesty from reforming the royal family and reviving the military households in the garrisons to realize the dominance of the imperial power!"

"After all, many of those who don't want the military households to live like human beings again are from the families of generals who lead troops and love war!"

After hearing about this, Nanjing War Minister Wu Tingju also poked his head out from a quiet and elegant attic, watched the scene of many corpses of high-ranking officials being carried out, and spoke to Yingtian Governor Zhou Jin with a serious expression.

(End of this chapter)