Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 102: Skinned and Strawed, Lingchi Execution, Immediate Execution! (Part )
Wang Zhi had a clear idea in his mind and knew what to do.

After he returned to Fengtianmen Square, he waved to the guards from the Western Factory.

The guards from the Western Factory immediately captured Zhang Hai and Wang Yuan, who were kneeling on the ground, and took them to the execution ground in Caishikou!
Along the way, Zhang Hai and Wang Yuan screamed and cried their hearts out.

But now no one cares about the life or death of these two people.

When the two crying people were escorted out of Fengtianmen Square.

The civil and military officials in the court, who had been shocked, frightened, and numbed by fear, gradually came to their senses.

Their first reaction was that the sky was falling!

If Zhu Youtang really wanted to govern the country strictly in accordance with the "Imperial Edict", then the most important thing for these officials to do was to immediately submit a letter of resignation.

But Zhu Youtang had already completely blocked the retreat route of retirement.

All retired officials must be investigated by the Censorate to find out the source of each of their assets.

Among all the civil and military officials in the court, who has the courage to let the imperial guards check their property?
But if he does not retire, under the constraints of "The Imperial Edict", being an official would be really frustrating and miserable!

Every law in "The Great Imperial Edict" is forcing them to be good officials and honest officials!
This is simply going against the will of Heaven and is too much of an act of bullying the officials!
But from now on, if you don’t act carefully, the lives of your entire family may be in danger.

Are we going to see the days of the prosperous Hongwu era again, when officials wrote their wills before going to court and every household prepared a coffin in advance?

All the civil and military officials were filled with sorrow, and suddenly they saw the four cabinet ministers Xu Pu, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian at the front of the team. Their anger suddenly swelled up and they could no longer suppress it.

It’s all the work of these four cabinet ministers!
Why are you amending the constitution?

Now it’s good, once it’s repaired, it can go back to the Hongwu Dynasty!

The great efforts made by the Four Gentlemen of Jianwen were all wiped out by the treacherous, flattering and treacherous ministers in the cabinet!

All the officials in the court rushed to Xu Pu and the other three. In their anger, they had long forgotten about the distinction between superiors and subordinates, and regardless of the fact that they were still in the court, they issued harsh questioning to Xu Pu, Liu Jian and others.

"Lord Xu! What do you mean?! Are you going to force us officials to death before you stop?!"

"We are all officials in the same court. Even if we can't say we should be considerate of each other, we shouldn't be so quick to draw our knives on our colleagues, right?!"

"Yes, Lord Xu, you are from Nanzhili, your family is not short of money, you can be an honest official, a good official! But have you ever thought about us inland officials?!"

"The years of hard work of the Four Gentlemen of Jianwen were wiped out by just one sentence from you, Lord Xu. Lord Xu, you are so arrogant!"

"Xu Pu! You have done something perverse and restored the Imperial Edict. You will not live a happy death!"

"..."

All the officials in the court were extremely angry. They did not dare to scold Zhu Youtang, so they could only vent their anger on Xu Pu.

He said whatever nasty words he wanted to say without any scruples.

And Xu Pu himself is still confused.

When he heard Peng Shao read out the four words "Imperial Edict", he felt sick all over.

He tried his best to make the Ming Code more lenient.

As a result, Zhu Youtang's casual remark about restarting the "Imperial Edict" turned all his efforts over the past few days into nothing.

Now the punishment for officials has not only not been reduced, but has been increased several times.

Such a result is completely contrary to his purpose.

Xu Pu was still immersed in the confusion of his failed plan, unable to extricate himself. The shouting and scolding of the officials in the court seemed like a blow to the head, waking him up.

When Xu Pu heard the officials scolding him, his face turned green with anger.

Xu Pu was so angry that he was shaking all over. He racked his brains and tried, with the determination to die, to persuade Zhu Youtang to agree to amend the constitution. Wasn't it for the benefit of all officials in the world?
As a result, Zhu Youtang's simple words made Xu Pu the target of public criticism.

Not only did these officials in the court not thank Xu Pu, they also cursed him.

This made Xu Pu feel very aggrieved, and this aggrieved feeling turned into anger after a word from an official.

"Before you open your mouth, you must think carefully about whether you can say this!"

"What I do has nothing to do with whether I am from Nanzhili or not!"

"Stop slandering me!"

A disdainful sneer came from the circle of officials surrounding Xu Pu: "Forget it, Lord Xu. Every official in the world knows that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River have made a lot of money by shipping..."

"Who! Who is slandering me?"

"Stand up and speak in front of me!"

Xu Pu roared angrily. This incident made him extremely angry. He would never forgive anyone who brought up the maritime ban!

"Don't say anything careless! No matter what you say, you must be responsible!"

"The maritime ban was a national policy set by Emperor Taizu Gao himself. For more than a hundred years, no one has dared to disobey his order!"

"Who is slandering the Jiangnan gentry? Come out and I will have a fight with you!"

"..."

Xu Pu seemed to have been hit in the foot and clamored for someone to stand up and argue with him.

This sentence was like water falling into a frying pan. The officials who had originally been united in targeting Xu Pu were instantly divided into two factions.

All officials whose hometowns were in the Jiangnan region turned their guns on the man who had just spoken, jumping up and down and cursing at him.

"We Jiangnan people have been abiding by the national policy of maritime ban for many years. No sails are allowed to go out to sea. How come you say that we rely on sea transportation?" "What sea transportation?! What sea transportation?!"

"Those are all bulk goods shipped from Guangdong and Guangxi by water!"

"The records in the Maritime Customs Office are crystal clear. Why are you slandering us out of thin air?"

Xie Qian, a cabinet minister who usually kept a low profile, was so angry that his face turned red and his neck became thick, and he roared angrily.

He was from Yuyao, Zhejiang, and like Xu Pu, was from Jiangnan.

In addition to Xie Qian, there were hundreds of officials who jumped up and down and roared in anger, and the court was so frightened that no other voices of opposition were heard.

Xu Pu cleverly seized upon an unintentional remark by an official and successfully diverted the fire directed at himself to the dispute over the maritime ban in the Jiangnan region.

Jiangnan has a developed economy and abundant educational resources. Historically, most of the successful candidates in the southern list have been from Jiangnan.

If the Ming Dynasty had not divided the selection of scholars into the Southern List, the Northern List and the Central List, I am afraid that scholars from the north and the southwest would have no chance of entering the officialdom at all.

The entire Ming Dynasty officialdom will be monopolized by scholars from Jiangnan.

It is worth mentioning that after Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne, he immediately listened to the advice of Fang Xiaoru and others and abolished the North-South List system established by Zhu Yuanzhang.

At the same time, official schools in the north were closed, which for a time basically deprived northern scholars of the channels to become officials.

Yu Qian, a native of Jiangnan, also abolished the North-South list system after coming to power.

It was not until the restoration of Emperor Yingzong that the system of selecting officials from the north and south was restored.

Because of the surge in the number of Jinshi in the south during the Jingtai period, even though thirty-one years have passed since the Jingtai period.

The number of southerners in the Ming Dynasty court was overwhelming, outnumbering those from the north and southwest.

Among the southerners, the largest number are from Jiangnan.

In the entire Ming Dynasty court, officials from the three places of Nanzhili, Zhejiangzhou, and Ganzhou alone accounted for 40% of all officials.

During the Jingtai period, the data was even more terrifying.

In the imperial examination in the second year of Jingtai's reign, a total of 201 Jinshi were admitted, and 42 of them were from Ganzhou alone, accounting for more than %.

The number of admissions from Nanzhili and Zhejiangzhou will be even higher.

Therefore, once the Jiangnan officials in the court became angry, the entire court fell silent, and no one dared to say anything about the Jiangnan maritime ban.

Just then, a young eunuch from the Imperial Household Department came to Xu Pu with a tray covered with red cloth.

"Lord Xu, this is a special reward from His Majesty."

Xu Pu was puzzled, but he did not dare to be careless. He quickly saluted towards Fengtian Gate and said, "Your Majesty, I am your humble servant, Xu Pu. Thank you for your grace."

After the ceremony, Xu Pu dared to lift the red cloth on the tray and handed out fifty one-string Hongzhi Baochao notes.

Xu Pu looked at the fifty strings of precious coins and his head was buzzing.

The young eunuch even urged with a smile: "Lord Xu, please accept these fifty strings of cash quickly, so that I can go back and report."

Xu Pu stretched out his hand tremblingly and took the fifty strings of cash.

As long as he accepted the fifty strings of cash awarded to him by Zhu Youtang, this pot would be like yellow mud falling into a trouser pocket, which would be shit if not shit.

Looking back, the officials from the north and south, who had been in a tense atmosphere, once again united their front and opened fire on Xu Pu.

"Lord Xu, you have devoted all your energy and efforts to His Majesty just for these fifty strings of cash!"

"Lord Xu is indeed deeply trusted by His Majesty. I'm afraid you, Lord Xu, are the only one who has been rewarded with treasures by His Majesty?!"

"Lord Xu, it seems that you are the only loyal, good, and wise minister in the Ming Dynasty!!!"

"..."

Xu Pu held the treasure banknotes awarded by Zhu Youtang in his hand. Looking at the excited civil and military officials in the court, he was at a loss and unable to defend himself.

……

On the other side, Zhang Hai and Wang Yuan were also dragged to the execution ground in Caishikou.

Unlike Wang Yuan, Zhang Hai, as the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, is somewhat well-known in the capital.

Moreover, the government office of Shuntian Prefecture was located in the capital city, and there were countless people in the capital city who knew Zhang Hai.

As he walked along the road, countless people followed him along the street, spontaneously clapping and cheering.

"Prefect Zhang is greedy and insatiable. The prefect is never full!"

"Kill corrupt officials, eliminate foreign relatives, and the people will be better off during the Hongzhi era!"

I don't know who started it, but this doggerel began to be sung in every corner of the street.

Zhang Hai and Wang Yuan, shackled and chained, were pushed to the execution ground in Caishikou by the guards of the Western Factory in a miserable state.

The people along the way cheered and jeered loudly, and some even spat at them and threw garbage at them.

The two men were filled with regret, hating themselves for not being good officials in the first place.

But regret was of no use, as the Caishikou execution ground was already at hand.

　I can't stand it anymore, I will post the second chapter this afternoon. From now on, the update time will be changed to one chapter at 10:30 am and one chapter at 4:30 pm. At the same time, I am begging for monthly votes and recommendation votes, and I am begging for full subscription! If you don't read the foreshadowing in the front, the sense of excitement will be much worse, and the plot and emotions will not be so coherent. Dear readers, if you enjoy reading it, please vote more to support it!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)