Jiajing Chengming

Zhu Houcong knew from Zhang Zheng's secret report that some powerful families with military forces, that is, military landlords, were planning to rebel because of the military household reform.

Moreover, he had anticipated the outbreak of war before deciding on the military household reform.

He remembered that this kind of thing happened during the Zhengde period when Liu Jin investigated military settlements in border towns and violated the interests of military landlords.

However, before doing so, Zhu Houcong provided sufficient military pay to the officers and soldiers in the border towns.

He even dismissed and questioned those officials who wanted to reduce the income of border troops by taking advantage of the monthly grain discount, while maintaining a relatively high military salary.

But what he is doing now is ultimately infringing on the interests of the military landlords and preventing the military landlords from enslaving the military households, which will naturally likely cause extremists to rebellion.

However, Zhu Houcong did not choose to retreat, but insisted on pushing it forward forcefully.

This is mainly because he believes that this step of improving the status of military households must be taken!
He couldn't be afraid to take this step just because he was afraid of offending the military landlords and fearing that they would rebel!
He would do this even if there was no price, and he would do this even if there was a price!
Because improving the status of military households and revitalizing the military aristocracy were key steps in putting the Ming Dynasty on the track of external advancement.

He could no longer allow the Ming Dynasty to continue on the old path of "defending the interior and weakening the exterior".

Ordinary military households cannot become victims of maintaining superficial peace in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong did not retreat for fear of causing unrest.

Even when he learned in the winter of the sixth year of the Jiajing reign that a large group of rebels had emerged in Jiangxi under the pretext of "clearing the court", he was not particularly nervous or panicked.

Instead, he felt relieved.

Because he finally knew which military landlords would be the first to lose their patience.

Before this, he was reluctant to send a large army there in advance because he could not determine which military landlords would rebel because of the military reform.

After all, sending a large army to conquer is very expensive.

Therefore, the army cannot move at will. Only after the coordinates of the rebellion to be suppressed are determined can they suppress it at all costs without worrying about the expenditure of money and food.

Now, he naturally doesn't have to worry about not being able to determine the coordinates for suppressing the rebellion.

"Sure enough, the rebellion started in the South first!"

Zhu Houcong just said this with a smile in front of Yang Yiqing and other ministers in the Imperial Study.

The reason he said this was because he and the ministers in the Imperial Study believed, after analysis, that this kind of reform, which had the nature of liberating the lower-class military households, would make it more likely that rebellion would occur in the south first.

And it was not just him and the ministers in the Imperial Study who thought so, many other ministers also thought so.

Yang Yiqing also said at this time: "As Your Majesty expected, it seems that we should immediately send an order to Wang Yangming who has already gone to Nanjing. According to the previous agreement, he should be reinstated as the Minister of War and Right Censor-in-Chief of the Seven Southern Provinces, and go to Nanchang to mobilize troops to quell the rebellion! At the same time, send an order to Wu Tingju, the Minister of War in Nanjing, and order him to immediately raise food, grass, and military equipment."

Zhu Houcong nodded: "Approved!"

before this.

Zhu Houcong, Yang Yiqing and others had discussed that if there was unrest in the south, they would reinstate Wang Yangming, who had already completed his mourning period. They also issued a special decree to Wang Yangming in advance, asking him to go to Nanjing under the pretext of giving lectures to await orders.

It is worth mentioning that Wang Yangming’s father died in the third year of Jiajing, and lived only one year longer than in history. Therefore, Wang Yangming stayed at home in mourning and occasionally went out to give lectures.

Zhu Houcong and the imperial court naturally did not forget him, and had long been prepared to have him deal with any emergencies in the south.

However, Zhu Houcong, Yang Yiqing and other ministers of the Imperial Study did not only consider that the south was most likely to rebellion first, and only prepared in advance a commander to go to the south to lead troops to quell the rebellion. In order to avoid instability in the nine northern borders at the same time as the rebellion occurred in the south, Zhu Houcong, Yang Yiqing and other ministers of the Imperial Study had already discussed and decided to let Wang Qiong go to the nine borders as the Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Palace and the Minister of War to inspect on behalf of the emperor in order to suppress the rebellion.

Wang Qiong was familiar with border affairs and was cunning and resourceful, so it was natural for him to go to the north.

Moreover, as early as August of the sixth year of Jiajing, Wang Qiong bid farewell to Zhu Houcong and left Beijing for the nine frontiers.

So, now only Yang Yiqing and Zhang Cong are left in the imperial study.

Wang Ao has been recuperating at home because of a recurrence of his old illness in recent days. However, he has not submitted his resignation because his fellow villagers still need him as a banner.

Because Wang Ao was a law-abiding and loyal person, and had taken the blame for him before, Zhu Houcong could not dismiss him directly. He just asked him to recuperate and often sent eunuchs and imperial doctors to see him from time to time.

A rebellion broke out in the south, and the Ming state apparatus began to operate in response to it.

Not only did he issue an imperial decree to Wang Yangming, who had already gone to Nanjing in advance, to mobilize troops to quell the rebellion, but Zhou Shangwen also led the more than 15,000 elite soldiers of the emperor's personal guards from the Mighty Camp who had been prepared, and headed south as the general of Jiangxi.

Although there were only more than 15,000 of them, they were Zhu Houcong's trump card. They went to the local areas to participate in the suppression of bandits, but they were mainly used by Wang Yangming to serve as the central army, to supervise the battle and maintain combat order, and they were also the main force.

For the Ming Dynasty court, it was not necessary to send out all the elite troops from the capital to quell a local rebellion.

More than 15,000 soldiers are more than enough to stabilize the south.

Of course, even if only 15,000 soldiers were sent, it would still cost a lot of money and food.

What's more, Wang Yangming will have to mobilize local troops from various places, which will also cost some money.

In addition, if we use the most optimistic results, we will have to spend money on post-war compensation and rewards, and another amount of money will be spent on stabilizing the local area after the pacification. This is the so-called cost.

Fortunately, Zhu Houcong now has plenty of money and food.

The silver production at Iwami Silver Mine increased significantly, which greatly increased the annual revenue of the imperial court.

Besides.

He also reorganized the Ministry of Personnel, and through the reform of the Ministry of Personnel, he gave middle and lower-level officials hope that the court would get better and better.

In addition, he also solved the problem of royal family members so that they would not become facilitators of rebellion.

Therefore, he waited until this time to reform the military households so that he would not be afraid of the price to be paid.

He was prepared to take advantage of the opportunity of suppressing the rebellion to distribute a large amount of silver to the people in order to promote commercial prosperity and productivity improvement.

but……

Although Jiajing is now wealthy and powerful, he is not worried about bearing the consequences of rebellion.

But this price is still unbearable for the specific individuals where the rebellion occurred.

Not to mention the several princes of Prince Yi who were brutally killed by the rebels in Prince Yi's Palace and paid the price with their lives.

The military discipline of an army that is willing to betray loyalty and rebel for its own selfish interests is naturally not much better. Naturally, the price it brings to the local officials, gentry and common people is also not small.

Zhu Houcong also knew that specific individuals affected by the rebellion might bear the huge cost of his decision.

But as an emperor who wanted to accomplish great things, and wanted to prevent the Ming Empire from falling into despair and make Chinese civilization stronger, he could not be soft-hearted and compromise and give up because he was worried that some people would have to pay a heavy price when he needed to carry out reforms with an iron fist.

This is also a choice that reformers have to make.

Even though innocent people would die and their families would be destroyed because of his decision, he could not give up and could only choose to sacrifice these people.

Because there is nothing perfect in this world.

Originally, in this era, the conservative party headed by Yang Tinghe advocated reforms at the cost of suppressing the desires of the emperor and the inner court and harem behind him and sacrificing military households or military strength.

This direction of reform is most beneficial to the gentry and wealthy families. It is also beneficial in the short term for the common people, as they can get a period of respite due to the reduction in court expenses and taxes. However, because annexation is not curbed, the state's control over the local areas is weakened, which will make things worse in the future and will cause China to enter a period of chaos in the near future.

Moreover, it is absolutely not beneficial for the emperor, as he may fall into the water or encounter other dangers at any time because the people within ten steps of him do not give him enough benefits, which would become the price of reform.

This is generally how the reforms of the Ming Dynasty in the middle and late periods of history evolved.

But now, Zhu Houcong changed the direction of reform. He chose to sacrifice the gentry and wealthy families at home and make the foreigners suffer abroad. Then he would let his inner court, harem, nobles and relatives benefit, and also let the middle and lower class landlords and people benefit. So the people who paid the price changed.

At the Lantian Inspection Office in Jianchang Prefecture, the director Mao Zhong was bearing the cost of Zhu Houcong's reforms.

Because he had previously represented the court in Lantian Town to punish the powerful and wealthy, and had offended a powerful family, he was outnumbered and captured alive, and then hanged on a burning bonfire by the rebels.

Fang Chun, a captain of the rebel army, also looked at Mao Zhong, who was blinking and screaming in pain due to the smoke from the bonfire, and asked with a sneer, "Aren't you so arrogant in the inspection office? Aren't you showing off your power in front of our local nobles by relying on your status as a member of the imperial court? Are you arresting and beating our people? Now you are still so arrogant!"

"You traitors will die miserably sooner or later!"

Mao Zhong, who was being hung up and smoked, said this through gritted teeth.

He was a retired soldier from the frontier army who was transferred to the local area to serve as a grassroots military officer. He had never taken these local powerful people seriously, and he still does not take them seriously now.

"Turn up the fire, roast him and skin him!"

"Let's see if there are any brave Niaobian soldiers who dare to serve as inspectors, become the imperial court's lackeys, and become enemies of our local nobles!"

Fang Chun spoke loudly with a sullen face.

Mao Zhong called him a traitor, and he instinctively felt very angry, so he tortured and killed Mao Zhong even more cruelly.

"what!"

Mao Zhong screamed even louder.

Fang Chun smiled even more smugly, and said, "People in the world should understand that the imperial power cannot reach the countryside! Below the county level, we, the wealthy and powerful, have the final say! If you dare to be the minions of the government to suppress us, you should think about the consequences of pushing us into a corner!"

His purpose in treating the inspectors sent by Zhu Houcong to the grassroots level so cruelly was to let those low-ranking military officers who became inspectors of the inspection offices after Zhu Houcong set up inspection offices to strengthen local security control below the county level know that just because they represent the imperial power and the court at the grassroots level, they cannot really think that the local grassroots are no longer controlled by the local gentry, but by the court. They should know how to cooperate with the local gentry to fight against the government and the court, instead of honestly becoming tools of the imperial power to the countryside.

Not long after, Mao Zhong was burned to death.

The effect of the rebels was immediately apparent. Many nearby grassroots patrol forces went into the city one after another, and they no longer dared to go to the countryside to help the court and the government suppress the bandits and bullies at the grassroots level.

But fortunately, Wang Yangming is on his way here, and is also mobilizing troops from all over the country to gather here. (End of this chapter)