Fu Shanhe

Chapter 143: Dismissal of Factory Guards
Yangzhou Prefecture.

When Li Mu received the news of the rebellion in Guangxi, he did not take it seriously.

Peasant uprisings have never ceased in feudal dynasties.

More than 90% of the rebellions can be dealt with by the people in the county government, and the remaining garrison soldiers will be enough.

Less than one percent of them can cause a big mess.

It just so happened that the rebellion in Guangxi became part of that one percent.

The local officials underestimated the social contradictions in Guangxi and did not take the White Lotus Rebellion seriously immediately after it broke out.

After hastily sending troops to quell the rebellion and suffering three consecutive defeats, they had no choice but to ask the imperial court for help.

The six departments in Nanjing, which were the first to receive the news, should have taken measures immediately.

Because of the fierce party struggles in the court, the bureaucrats who did not want to cause trouble chose to hand over the decision-making power to the capital.

Guangxi was too far away from the capital after all. When the letter for help reached the capital, the besieged Sicheng Prefecture had already fallen.

After receiving the request for help, the court did not make a decision immediately, but instead fell into a new round of party struggles.

The Qingliu Party, led by Yin and Zuo, took the opportunity to attack the eunuch party.

The two sides were fighting to the death, and no one cared about the war situation in Guangxi.

Realizing that the eunuch party was doomed, a number of ministers who had secretly supported Zuo Guangen turned around and added insult to injury.

It's not that everyone is immoral, it's just that the struggle in officialdom is a game of the jungle.

We are all bureaucrats, even if our moral integrity is slightly higher, the essence is still the same.

Knowing that the eunuch party was finished, the first thing everyone thought of was to divide the benefits.

At one time, a large number of eunuch officials were thrown into prison.

The chaos in the court created favorable conditions for the expansion of the rebels.

When the news came that the governor of Guangxi had died for his country, the officials who had been busy infighting realized that the situation was not good.

At this time, the rebels had occupied most of Guangxi and began to spread to surrounding provinces.

“It’s just playing the piano!”

Li Mu, who received the transfer order, immediately cursed.

Recently, he has been training his troops and has not paid much attention to state affairs.

When I came to my senses, I realized that the bureaucrats in the capital had caused such a big mess.

Four months have passed since the outbreak of the rebellion.

During this period, the imperial court had many opportunities to put down the rebellion, but they were missed in the end due to factional struggles.

Now the eunuch party’s guilt has indeed been confirmed, but the rebels have also grown stronger as a result.

Having witnessed the harmfulness of party struggles, Li Mu deeply detested those who only cared about fighting for power and ignored the national interest.

“Sir, we shouldn’t discuss the affairs of the court.

Now that we have received the order from the Ministry of War, we just need to do our best to suppress the rebellion."

Lan Linjie persuaded tactfully.

It’s okay for ordinary people to criticize the government, but for court officials to discuss these issues, it is very sensitive.

It seemed that the court had returned to normal operations, but party struggles continued.

With Li Mu's identity, he doesn't need to be afraid of trouble, but he also doesn't need to ask for trouble.

"Forget it. Send an official document to the six ministries in Nanjing, saying that the Yangzhou Battalion has been ordered to land in Guangxi by sea to quell the rebellion.

Please ask them to mobilize one hundred large ships within ten days to transport troops.

The news was secretly spread that the remnants of the eunuch party were unwilling to accept defeat and attempted to prevent the court from sending troops to quell the rebellion.

Make up more stories, such as withholding food and fodder from the army that was suppressing the rebellion, deliberately setting up restrictions to hinder the army's advance...

The bigger the disturbance, the better. Officials from the six ministries in Nanjing must all know about it."

Li Mu said calmly.

After seeing the style of the officials in the court, he had to deal with the villains first and the gentlemen later.

If we don't put pressure on the six ministries in Nanjing, who knows how long those bureaucrats will continue to shirk their responsibilities.

The Ministry of War ordered him to arrive in Guangxi within two months.

There were no expressways in those days, and the actual distance from Yangzhou to Guangxi was probably more than 4,000 miles if we had to take a detour.

Considering the time required to raise food and fodder, the time period is quite tight.

Theoretically, the local officials along the way would cooperate, but Li Mu was not confident about these guys.

Historical experience tells him that if you rely on others for logistics, you will suffer a great loss sooner or later.

Not wanting to argue with the local government offices along the way, I simply chose to take the sea route.

Dayu's navigation technology is already quite mature, and near-shore navigation is no problem at all.

Now that he had the opportunity to quell the rebellion, he used the excuse of transporting troops to ask the court for ships.

After transporting the soldiers, the next step was to transport food and fodder to the army.

Anyway, the battle in Guangxi will not end in a short time.

Even if the rebels are wiped out, there are still neighbors to the south to deal with.

During the idle period of transportation, it seems reasonable to lend some ships to the navy for training.

Li Mu was under a lot of pressure as he was urged by the naval commanders for ships every day.

"Sir, you have to find a way!"

Lan Linjie said slowly.

The longer he followed Li Mu, the more he felt that he lacked knowledge.

There are actually quite a few military generals who have connections, but those who dare to control civil officials are basically concentrated in the nine frontiers.

Military generals in inland areas must bow their heads and behave themselves.

When it came to Li Mu, all these conventions were broken.

In dealing with local officials, we always hold the initiative.

……

The capital, Hall of Supreme Harmony.

"Where have the troops from various places gone? How long will it take them to reach the battlefield?"

Ji Zhaoshun asked with concern.

As the behind-the-scenes promoter of the anti-castration movement, Ji Zhaoshun was undoubtedly the big winner in this political struggle.

Not only did he successfully establish his authority in the court, but he also took control of the Imperial Household Department.

The price was that the integrity of the bureaucracy further declined, which led to a new era of party struggles in the Dayu Dynasty and the rebels in Guangxi took the opportunity to grow stronger.

The danger ahead will not be felt for a while.

However, the growing strength of the rebels in Guangxi made Ji Zhaoshun feel threatened.

"Your Majesty, the troops from Guangdong, Huguang, Yunnan and Guizhou have all gone to the front.

The rebels are being besieged at the moment, and the rest of the troops will take some time to arrive due to the distance.

If everything goes well, the rebels can be contained within Guangxi within this year and the rebellion in Guangxi can be quelled next year.

The biggest uncertainty now is the Le Dynasty in the south. The contemporary King of Annan is ambitious. He has not paid tribute to the court for many years and often harasses the border.

When the late emperor was alive, he had considered using military force against the Le Dynasty to recover the lost Jiaozhi Provincial Administration.

Because of the last defeat in the Liaodong battlefield, they were forced to cancel the plan.

If these people join in, the Guangxi battlefield is likely to be protracted.

The biggest problem at the moment is that military pay is not allocated in a timely manner. The soldiers in Yunnan and Guizhou cannot be put into battle in a short period of time due to the issue of military pay.

For the rest of the reinforcements, the imperial court only gave 80% of the travel expenses.

The cost of marching thousands of miles along the way is definitely not small.

If money and food are not allocated in time, the soldiers are likely to harass the local area and cause greater chaos."

Jing Guoliang replied seriously.

Today's Dayu is facing internal and external troubles.

If the imperial court did not quell the Guangxi rebellion immediately, it would certainly further stimulate the ambitions of the Annamites.

The reason why no action is taken now is to let the rebels consume Dayu's strength.

When the war to quell the rebellion enters its later stages, those rebels are likely to defect to the Annanites.

With a group of guides, the price Dayu will have to pay to retake Guangxi will definitely be high.

Guangxi is connected to Guangdong in the east, Yunnan in the west, Beibu Gulf in the south, and Hunan and Guizhou in the north. It is a battleground in military terms.

Whether the court is willing or not, this war must be fought.

After getting the definite answer, Ji Zhaoshun's face looked very ugly, and the desire to rule the country himself became stronger in his heart.

If it weren't for the dereliction of duty of these regent ministers, who immediately sent troops to suppress the rebellion in Guangxi upon receiving the news, the situation would not have deteriorated to its current level.

"Ministry of Revenue!" Ji Zhaoshun called out the name unhappily.

He did not forget that it was the Ministry of Revenue that took the lead the last time the ministers forced the emperor to abdicate.

The war in southern Xinjiang is urgent now and the Ministry of Revenue has run into problems again. They have absolutely no sense of the overall situation at all.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue has no money!"

Shangguan Yu replied expressionlessly.

Dayu now has too many places to spend money, and he wishes he could spend a copper coin in two.

The war in Guangxi is important and requires money. The war in Liaodong is equally important, so we still need money from the Ministry of Revenue.

The late emperor's mausoleum is under construction, so this expense cannot be saved.

Government offices at all levels are talking about cutting spending, but when it comes to budget accounting, spending has increased instead of decreased.

The Ministry of Revenue can only bargain with everyone and reduce fiscal expenditure as much as possible.

In order to save expenses, the officials increased the proportion of their salaries in banknotes by another 10% last month. I don't know how many people below are scolding him.

Even so, the court's financial deficit continued to expand.

"Didn't we just investigate a bunch of corrupt officials? How come the Ministry of Revenue is out of money?"

Ji Zhaoshun asked angrily.

“Reporting to your Majesty, the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple have confiscated the property of the criminals, totaling about 1.2 million taels.

Among them, there were less than 300,000 taels of silver in cash, and the rest was mostly real estate, which would take time to convert into cash.

Compared to the huge expenditure of the court, this little money is just a drop in the bucket."

Shangguan Yu replied calmly.

This is not the responsibility of his Ministry of Revenue. The total amount of property of the convicted officials that was transferred to him was just this much.

Compared with the actual amount of corruption, these assets are just a fraction at best.

Where the rest of the money went is a topic that cannot be discussed.

The Qingliu Party paid a heavy price to overthrow the Eunuch Party, and they couldn't do it for nothing.

From the moment the emperor handed over the task of confiscating property to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, it was doomed that the money collected would be greatly reduced.

Not only did the people in charge get a share of the money, but almost every major official in the court also got a share.

After living through such a long period of hardship under the previous emperor, we all need to find an opportunity to make up for it.

"Why so little?"

Ji Zhaoshun asked in disbelief.

He remembered that in the biggest rebellion during the previous emperor's reign, more than four million taels of silver and two hundred thousand taels of gold were confiscated.

Including various real estate, the total proceeds from the confiscation of property exceeded 10 million taels.

Relying on that huge income, the imperial court quickly recovered from the defeat in Liaodong.

There was also enough energy to wipe out the Lianghuai Salt Merchant Group and complete the reform of the salt administration.

The subsequent search and seizure of the remnants of the rebels also brought in a huge amount of income.

Relying on these revenues, the imperial court began to purchase war horses on a large scale and expand its military force last year.

By the time he succeeded to the throne, the Ministry of Revenue had more than 500 taels of silver in its deposits, and the inner treasury had 8 million taels of silver in its deposits.

It can be said that this was a rare period of prosperity in the Dayu Dynasty.

Only half a year had passed, and the court's finances had quickly turned from positive to negative.

Since officials are so good at making money, the eunuch party that controls the government should be able to make even more money.

According to Ji Zhaoshun's estimation, as long as the eunuch party was eliminated, not only would he be able to fill the financial gap he had created earlier, but it would also be easy to recover Liaodong.

"Your Majesty, the biggest corrupt official of the eunuch party is still recuperating!

Sometimes the wealth of a corrupt official can be as much as the combined wealth of countless people below him.”

The answer from Zuodu Yushi Lu Zhifan made all the ministers feel relieved.

This excuse is not perfect, but it is good enough to fool the new emperor.

However, the faces of all the assistant ministers were very ugly. They knew that the bureaucrats in Dayu were corrupt, but they never expected that the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple would go so far.

If I had known that the people below were so cruel, I should not have accepted the gift before.

After a glance, several people immediately decided to find an opportunity to replace the officials of the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple.

Corruption was allowed in the Dayu Dynasty, but it had to be moderate.

Fortunately, the new emperor is easy to fool. If it were a smarter ruler, today's incident would definitely not end well.

If they investigate this issue further, they will all have no choice but to hand over power early and go home in disgrace.

"Forget it, if my brother wants to blame me, I will shoulder the responsibility.

The Ministry of Justice sent people to arrest Zuo Guangen and confiscate his property.

However, confiscating property can only solve the immediate problem. Can you think of a long-term plan?"

Ji Zhaoshun's words fell.

The faces of all the ministers changed drastically in an instant, including the Qingliu Party members, all of them showed surprised expressions.

Zuo Guangen was the regent minister. It was too ugly for him to be so anxious to take him down.

Everyone's eyes turned to the other seven ministers, but unfortunately, there was no change on the faces of these seven old foxes.

The ministers wanted to agree with the emperor, but were worried about offending the assistant ministers.

Compared to the fallen Zuo Guangen, these people are the ones who truly hold power.

Once you become envied, it is unknown whether you can survive until the emperor takes power.

The ministers looked around, and the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became awkward.

"Your Majesty, I have a plan to solve the court's financial difficulties."

Hearing this unexpected answer, all the ministers' eyes suddenly focused on him.

To solve the court's financial difficulties, this tone is really too big.

You should know that Dayu’s financial problems have always troubled monarchs of all dynasties.

Various measures were taken during this period, but they could only barely maintain the situation.

The most successful reform was during the previous emperor's reign, which resulted in the first fiscal surplus in a hundred years.

“During the reign of the previous emperor, the court cut redundant staff, reducing fiscal expenditure by 600,000 taels per year.

But that is not enough. If we want to better solve the problem, we must cut more redundant officials.

I, the Right Censor-in-Chief Qiu Jiaxi, earnestly request Your Majesty to abolish the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Since their establishment, these two institutions have done nothing for the country or the people except following the eunuch party in persecuting loyal and good people and bringing disaster to the country and the people.

Keeping them around would not only waste millions of taels of money and grain every year, but they might also be used by ambitious people.

Your Majesty, after ascending the throne, has put order into the chaos and wiped out the eunuch party, which is the best way to create a new atmosphere..."

A round of flattery and shocking remarks made Qiu Jiaxi successfully remembered by the officials.

Abolishing the Imperial Household Guards was the common dream of all civil and military officials.

As long as you are in the court, no one wants to be monitored.

But for the imperial power, the existence of the Censorate has extraordinary significance.

Seeing that Ji Zhaoshun did not refuse outright but fell into deep thought, everyone's mind changed all of a sudden.

"For the sake of the country, I beg Your Majesty to abolish the factory guards!"

"For the sake of the country, I beg Your Majesty to abolish the factory guards!"

……

One after another, the call to abolish the Censorate and the Imperial Guards soon spread throughout the court and the country.

"it is good!

I have decided to abolish the East Factory and the Imperial Guard from today on. I would like to ask all the ministers to come up with a plan for their abolition!"

Ji Zhaoshun's words shocked all the ministers.

Everyone was just talking about it, and no one expected that the emperor would actually agree to it.

The most confused were the seven ministers. Their heads were buzzing at this moment and they had no idea what the emperor was thinking.

However, this matter was in the interests of all officials and was agreed to by the emperor himself, so they certainly could not openly oppose it.

"I will obey your orders!"

After a brief hesitation, the seven people agreed in unison.

If you can't figure out why the emperor did this, then just don't bother thinking about it.

The incident was instigated by an inconspicuous censor, the decision was made by the emperor, and they were just doing what the emperor wanted.

If the emperor regrets it in the future, that is his own business.

(End of this chapter)