Jiajing Chengming

Qin Jin really didn't expect Gui E to do this in Suzhou.

He naturally guessed that this must have come from the emperor's instruction.

Because he knew that if the emperor had not given the order, Gui E would not be so bold.

And he did not expect that the emperor would use such a vicious strategy to deal with the Suzhou scholars and people who were originally "united", and even made the capture of traitors a target!

Of course, Qin Jin knew that the emperor's behavior was overbearing and completely unreasonable.

But Qin Jin did not dare to criticize this matter, just like the officials in Suzhou did not dare to criticize these big local officials.

Moreover, he knew even more that if the task of catching the traitors was really made into a target, forcing the Suzhou gentry to fight among themselves, many of his family's shameful deeds would be exposed.

The only thing he could do now was to plead with the Emperor while he was still the Minister of Works, one of the Nine Ministers, and ask the Emperor to spare his Qin family because of his position as the Minister of Works.

Anyway, the emperor's goal was only to deal with one-tenth of Suzhou's big local officials in order to deter the big local officials in other places who dared to imitate Suzhou's deeds.

In that case, not dealing with the Qin family would not conflict with the emperor's purpose.

"What crime has the Grand Marshal committed? He must come before me and confess himself."

After meeting Qin Jin, Zhu Houcong asked about Qin Jin.

Qin Jin knelt respectfully on the ground and raised the memorial above his head:
"It's not just my fault, but also the fault of my family. I have written it all in the memorial. I only ask Your Majesty to punish me and consider that I have made some small contributions to the country. Please don't let my family be labeled as traitors!"

As Qin Jin spoke, he bowed his head and began to cry after the eunuch took the memorial.

Zhu Houcong was reading memorials here.

After Zhu Houcong read the memorial, he threw it in front of Qin Jin and shouted sternly: "Your family has committed so many sins, how can I show you mercy!"

"I failed to discipline my family and kept secrets from Your Majesty. These are truly heinous crimes. I am willing to be punished!"

Qin Jin bowed his head again and replied.

"Your Majesty, it is rare for the Grand Marshal to be willing to report the truth, which shows that he is still loyal. More importantly, the court is currently promoting the land survey, and to complete this as soon as possible, the officials of the world need to be united. Therefore, in my humble opinion, since the Grand Marshal is one of the Nine Ministers, he should be given some dignity so that the officials of the world know that your Majesty is benevolent and righteous."

At this time, Prime Minister Zhang Cong expressed his love to Qin Jin.

This made Qin Jin very grateful to Zhang Cong.

After all, he had criticized Zhang Cong in the court not long ago, but now, Zhang Cong did not care about it and instead interceded for him, which naturally touched Qin Jin.

At that time, Xia Yan also said: "Your Majesty, what the Prime Minister said is that now the new policy needs to be implemented by the bureaucrats of the world, and the people of the world must know that the family with officials in the court will be loved by the emperor. Therefore, I also think that the family of the Grand Marshal should not be labeled as traitors, otherwise it will hurt the face of the court."

Zhu Houcong nodded.

He also knew that if the Qin Jin family, which was one of the Nine Ministers, was also labeled as a traitor, it would indeed damage the credibility of the imperial court.

Because this will make people in the world feel that even if they become a minister, they are not safe and may be abandoned by the emperor and labeled as a traitor at any time.

In this case, who in the world would be willing to work hard for promotion?

I am afraid that the enthusiasm of bureaucrats all over the world for promotion will be greatly reduced.

To put it bluntly, people want to be promoted for power, and judicial privileges are one of them. It is too harsh to label retired local officials as traitors, forcing people to admit that even if they become high-ranking officials, they will inevitably commit crimes and be labeled as traitors after returning to their hometowns.

If there is no preferential treatment for incumbent high-ranking officials, it will naturally make people feel that the official hats of the Ming Dynasty court are depreciating.

Labeling the retired local officials as traitors was a last resort. Zhu Houcong had to create a gap in Suzhou and break the monopoly of local power by the scholars.

As for the court, there is naturally no need to be nervous.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong had long intended to forgive Qin Jin, so after Zhang Cong and Xia Yan said this, he said:
"You are right. The court should have some dignity! The retired eunuchs were labeled as traitors. It can be said that they were not in my presence and were not often disciplined by me, so they went astray. But if the current nine ministers are also like this, it really makes people doubt whether I and you in power are really doing things to revive the country, rather than taking the opportunity to eliminate dissidents."

"Send it urgently to Gui E and Xiong Jia, and tell them not to label the Qin family as traitors."

Zhu Houcong threw Qin Jin's memorial in front of Huang Jin and said, "Burn this memorial as well. Don't mention it again."

After hearing this, Qin Jin kowtowed again and said, "I thank your majesty for your grace! I will spare the lives of my whole clan!"

"I let your Qin family go because the people of the world can reduce their burdens because of the successful land survey. You need to remember to strictly manage your family members and not do anything to let down the people of the world. Otherwise, I will not forgive you easily."

Zhu Houcong asked Qin Jinlai.

Qin Jinlian said he dared not.

Therefore, in Suzhou Prefecture, when the scholars and people of Suzhou cooperated more and more actively with the government to arrest and interrogate many high-ranking local officials and label them as traitors, they also set their sights on the Qin family.

However, the governor's office has already sent troops to protect the Qin family's high-ranking officials or those eunuchs who have deep friendships with His Majesty.

Because Gui E and Xiong Jia also understood that although they had to deal with the big local officials in Suzhou, the overall situation of land survey could not be disrupted. Therefore, the big local officials like the Qin family who had officials in the court could not be defined as traitors.

"Alas, it is better to have someone in the court who is a high-ranking official. Even the worst cruel officials will have to show mercy to such people for the sake of Your Majesty!"

"You must remember that if you can become a noble, you must become one. Only in this way can your family be safer!"

As a result, the gentry and wise men in Suzhou began to sigh with emotion.

The events in Suzhou did indeed have a huge impact on the gentry and dignitaries in other prefectures in Nanzhi.

The court's response to the incident of mulberry farmers killing officials was beyond their expectations, especially the method of identifying traitors according to proportion, which forced them to give up the method of letting "righteous people" come forward to stop the land survey.

As a result, bureaucrats in other places also fully realized the court's determination to survey the land and had to become more proactive.

Huizhou prefect Nie Bao became more active in the land survey and personally went to meet with the gentry and dignitaries of Songjiang Prefecture, hoping that they would cooperate with the land survey.

The gentry and wise men of Huizhou Prefecture all agreed to cooperate, but they used their control at the grassroots level to add the newly added land to the powerless common people.

Nie Bao turned a blind eye to this and told the Director of the Land Department that Huizhou Prefecture had already completed the land survey ahead of schedule.

Even Huizhou Prefecture became the first prefecture to complete the land survey. Zhang Cong was very happy about this and met Nie Bao's student Xu Jie: "Your teacher did a good job! He was the first to complete the land survey. I will ask for an imperial decree to commend him."

Xu Jie followed Yang Yiqing's advice and became close to Xia Yan, but after returning to the court, he became close to Zhang Cong. After hearing what Zhang Cong said, he couldn't help but express his gratitude to Zhang Cong on behalf of Nie Bao.

But after receiving Zhang Cong's memorial pleading for Nie Bao's merit, Zhu Houcong expressed doubts: "He surveyed the land so quickly, and the gentry are so cooperative?"

(End of this chapter)