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

Chapter 246: Smuggling in Jiangnan, report to His Majesty immediately!
After the Jinyiwei put away their swords, no one else on the entire deck dared to stand with a sword in hand except the Jinyiwei.

Those who were still alive had been so frightened by the thought of killing that they dropped their knives and knelt down to beg for mercy.

Those who had the courage to resist with knives were all killed.

Qinglong shook off the blood beads on the knife and looked with cold eyes at Yu Yunzhong who was sitting on the deck in fear.

Qinglong sheathed his sword and slowly walked towards Yu Yunzhong.

"You...what are you going to do?!"

"No! Don't come over here!"

"Stop! Stop right there! If you come any closer, I'll jump down!"

"..."

Yu Yunzhong's scalp numbed at Qinglong's vicious and violent gaze.

The deck was filled with corpses, which not only frightened the servants of the Yu family, but also frightened him, the head of the Yu family, out of his wits.

Yu Yunzhong pointed at Qinglong with one hand and crawled towards the railing next to the deck.

He tried to threaten Qinglong with his own life and death.

But Qinglong didn't take Yu Yunzhong's words to heart at all.

Qinglong walked towards Yu Yunzhong without stopping, while at the same time giving orders to his Jinyiwei.

"You, go to the cabin and tell the crew to turn back. Those who keep giving orders will be killed!"

"Yes, Second Master!"

"You guys, go to the warehouse and take a careful inventory to see what they took out to sea."

"Yes, Second Master!"

"You guys, continue searching the boat and count the number of people on board. Except for the ones who are driving and rowing, tie all the other men to the deck."

"Those who resist will be killed without mercy!"

"Yes, Second Master!"

"you……"

The Jinyiwei who was chosen by Qinglong immediately took the order and left after hearing his mission.

Under Qinglong's arrangement, the Yu family's ship immediately restored order from the chaotic state just now.

The Jinyiwei each performed their duties and maintained the operation of the ship.

During this time, screams and wails continued on the ship.

Most of these noises were made by the women.

Because most of the men are dead.

Among them, only Chen's scream was the loudest and sharpest.

And ever since the Jinyiwei came on board and started killing people, she kept screaming and screaming, she never stopped.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!"

Such a sharp cry made Qinglong's eardrums hurt, and he felt even more unhappy.

"Shut up!"

Qinglong dug his ears, frowned, and looked at Yu Chen who was not far away with disgust.

"If you make any more noise, I will kill you right now!"

Originally according to Zhu Youtang's order, they should have killed Yu Yunzhong and others immediately after capturing them.

But after Qinglong saw such a huge ship preparing to depart from Nanjing Port, he changed his mind.

Since the Hongxi period, the maritime ban has been one of the basic national policies strongly supported by officials along the southeast coast.

But now, these southern officials who have been insisting on a maritime ban actually have so many large sea vessels at home.

Qinglong keenly realized that this might involve a shocking case spanning decades, involving hundreds of thousands of people and involving multiple provinces.

This matter was far beyond Qinglong's ability, but he dared not keep it secret.

Therefore, Qinglong decided to capture these members of the Yu clan alive, and then take Yu Yunzhong and others to the capital to hand them over to His Majesty for disposal.

Therefore, at this moment, Qinglong really had no idea of ​​killing Yu Chen and others immediately.

Qinglong threatened Chen just because he hoped she would be quieter and stop making so much noise that it gave him a headache.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!"

But Yu Chen didn't know whether she was frightened or just used to being arrogant, and she didn't listen to Qinglong's words at all.

She closed her eyes and screamed, venting the fear in her heart.

He turned a deaf ear to Qinglong's words.

Qinglong could ignore their words.

But if they ignored Qinglong's words, the consequences would be something they could not bear.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!"

Yu Chen's scream continued, and a fierce look flashed in Qinglong's eyes.

"Still screaming!"

Qinglong drew the sword from its sheath with his right hand and stabbed it into Yu Chen's mouth accurately. The tip of the sword went through the back of Yu Chen's head!

The tip of the knife was covered with red and white things.

Yu Chen's face was filled with horror, her eyes were wide open, blood was flowing from her mouth that made the noise, and her scream was trapped in her throat.

The world finally quieted down.

Qinglong pulled out his knife, and Yu Chen's body fell limply to the ground.

"lady!"

Yu Yunzhong, who had already run to the deck railing, looked at the scene with anger and let out a heartbreaking cry.

Qinglong put away his sword and looked back, his eyes sweeping over every Yu family captive who was gathered on the deck by the Jinyiwei.

"Everyone be quiet! Anyone who makes any more noise will suffer the same fate as her!"

Qinglong pointed at Yu Chen's body on the ground and shouted sternly.

In an instant, all the prisoners were so frightened that they covered their mouths and dared not make any sound.

At this time, Qinglong continued to walk towards Yu Yunzhong.

Faced with the tremendous pressure brought by Qinglong, Yu Yunzhong only had time to feel sad for Yu Chen for a second before he was unable to take care of himself.

"Stop! Don't come over!"

"I'm jumping! I'm really jumping!"

"Stop! I beg you, stop!"

"..."

Half of Yu Yunzhong's body was already sticking out of the railing of the deck.

In fact, Yu Yunzhong didn’t know what the purpose of his doing this was or what effect it would have.

Under tremendous pressure, Yu Yunzhong was at a loss as to what to do and could only use this method to pray that Qinglong would stop.

Qinglong's eyes were cold and he walked closer expressionlessly: "Jump! Why don't you jump?"

"You are the prefect of Yintian Prefecture, an official appointed by the imperial court. If I catch you, I have to report you to the imperial court. You will be tried by the three judicial officials, and only after the approval of His Majesty can I execute you."

"This whole process will take at least ten days to half a month."

"If you jump down now, you will die on the spot, and we won't have to waste time escorting you back and forth!"

Qinglong's words seemed to be indulging Yu Yunzhong to jump into the sea, but his words implicitly left Yu Yunzhong with hope of survival.

Whether it is emphasizing the many review processes and long review cycle for the death penalty, or emphasizing the many departments and diverse personnel involved, it is actually giving Yu Yunzhong a chance to survive.

The more processes are required and the more people involved, the more room there is for manipulation.

But in fact, Zhu Youtang didn't have to go through so many procedures to kill someone. With 130,000 troops at his disposal, it was just a matter of a word to kill anyone he wanted. Who would dare to object?
For Zhu Youtang, killing someone was easy.

Even if you are the chief minister of the cabinet or the minister of one of the six ministries, it is just a matter of talking.

But the problem he faced could not be solved by killing a few prime ministers and ministers.

What Zhu Youtang faced was the political system that had accumulated over hundreds of years in the Ming Dynasty, the intricately intertwined interest groups, and the interest alliance involving millions of people.

To solve these problems, absolute suppression by force is an indispensable foundation.

It is not something that can be solved by just some verbal attacks or political maneuvers.

Whether it is reform or revolution, people will die, many people will die.

The blood of the North has been shed, now it is the turn of the South.

Closer to home.

Qinglong's words did work and made Yu Yunzhong stop what he was doing.

He sat on the railing with his head down, his whole body shaking, and his expression looking very conflicted.

Qinglong smiled contemptuously in his heart. He knew that rich people like Yu Yunzhong, who were used to a life of luxury, were the ones who feared death the most.

They had everything they needed, and when the weather got cold, they had young and beautiful concubines to warm their feet.

They live such a happy life that they would not let go of any chance of survival.

Only the lower-class people who can't even get enough food to eat have the courage to fight.

If Yu Yunzhong really wanted to commit suicide, he would have jumped into the sea long ago and would not have lingered on the railing with him for so long.

After Qinglong slowly walked to a sufficient distance, he suddenly exerted force with his legs, rushed to Yu Yunzhong in one step, and grabbed him off the railing.

Yu Yunzhong, who was captured alive by Qinglong, had a gloomy face, but he actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Qinglong guessed correctly, he really did not have the courage to commit suicide.

When the choice of his life and death was no longer in his own hands, he felt relieved.

After Qinglong tied up Yu Yunzhong, he threw him to the center of the deck and held him together with a group of Yu clan members.

After waiting for a while, the Jinyiwei who were sent by Qinglong to check the ships also came back.

"Second Master! All the cargo on the ship has been checked!"

Qinglong turned around and asked in a deep voice, "Tell me, what's on this ship?"

"Master, there are two boxes of muskets, five boxes of gunpowder, ten boxes of weapons, ten boxes of armor, and sixty-three boxes of silver on this ship."

"In addition, there are fifty boxes of Suzhou embroidery, eighty boxes of porcelain, one hundred and twenty boxes of silk, and one hundred boxes of tea..."

After listening to the data reported by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Qinglong became more certain that this was a cargo ship going out to sea for smuggling.

If Your Majesty intends to investigate this matter, there will be another bloody storm in Jiangnan.

At the same time, the Jinyiwei who were sent to the cabin also came back to reply that the crew on the ship were turning around and returning to Nanjing Port.

The ship's propulsion is mainly powered by wind, supplemented by human paddling.

We had not yet completely left the harbor, so the sails were all furled and we were powered only by manpower.

Thanks to the efforts of the crew, the ship quickly returned to Nanjing Port in the direction it came from.

After dropping the anchor, tying the ropes and opening the cabin door, Qinglong, along with the Jinyiwei and the members of the Yu family, returned to the dock.

At this time, the dock was filled with soldiers from the Bingmasi.

But after seeing the Jinyiwei arresting the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, Yu Yunzhong, they all hesitated and did not dare to step forward.

Qinglong walked in the front, looking at the officers and soldiers who were hesitating to move forward, and shouted loudly: "Jinyiwei is doing business, all outsiders, get out of the way!"

Jinyiwei had a bad reputation, and Yu Yunzhong had already been arrested.

The remaining officers and soldiers did not dare to step forward to stop them, and just stood there and watched.

Qinglong sent people to escort Yu Yunzhong and others back to the capital for trial without delay.

At the same time, he sent people to continue searching for several other ships of the Yu family in the harbor.

The wealth and goods that the Jinyiwei found on these ships were even more astonishing.

Qinglong no longer hesitated and left behind a hundred Jinyiwei to guard the seized ships of the Yu family.

He then took the rest of the Jinyiwei and traveled day and night back to the capital to report the matter to Zhu Youtang.

Of course, Qinglong also reminded the Jinyiwei who stayed behind to guard the ships to be cautious and act prudently.

If you encounter an unexpected situation and nothing can be done, you can abandon the ship and leave, putting your own life first.

The lives of these Jinyiwei can make much more money than these ships.

At this moment, Qinglong was driving on the official road back to Beijing, not knowing what kind of disaster his decision would bring to the gentry in Jiangnan.

……

Ying Tianfu.

Nanjing City.

Zhang Peng's residence.

At this time, the Zhang family's mansion was filled with distinguished guests and beasts.

In the Ming Dynasty, civil officials had birds embroidered on their chests, while military officers had beasts painted on their chests, collectively known as "birds and beasts in human clothing."

Therefore, before the mid-Ming Dynasty, the words "beasts in human clothing" were just beautiful blessings and praises for a person, which also included some envy and jealousy.

But after hundreds of years of efforts, officials of the Ming Dynasty successfully turned "beast in human clothing" into a derogatory term.

Anyway, what they did was no different from that of animals, so it can't be considered a misunderstanding.

"Damn Yu Yunzhong, let him die, but he has to implicate us!"

"He tried to run away but failed. He was captured alive by the Royal Guards on the boat!"

"The ship is still alive and well, full of goods for the voyage to the West!"

"This bastard, he didn't rush to the sea to save his life when he was about to die, and he insisted on bringing so much cargo, delaying the time to go to sea..."

"Damn it, if I had known this would happen, I would have gotten rid of this bad bastard myself without the Jinyiwei having to do anything!"

During the meal, Zhang Peng angrily slammed the table, his face turning blue with anger.

Not only Zhang Peng, but other southern officials present also had extremely gloomy expressions, and even the surrounding air pressure dropped.

Zhang Peng's words were quickly echoed by everyone.

"That's right. If he wasn't Yu Qian's adopted grandson, he would have died countless times. He is so stupid!"

"He is so stupid and greedy. The Yu family relies on Yu Qian's golden signboard for their livelihood. He also took part of the benefits of going into business, and now he has implicated us... Alas, we shouldn't have helped him in the first place!"

"Having caused such a huge disaster, Yu Yunzhong is truly a scourge to Jiangnan!"

"..."

Some people complained, while others got straight to the point.

"Yu Yunzhong deserves to die, but what should we do now?"

"The Imperial Guards have already seized the Yu family's ship, and Qinglong is also taking the Yu family to the capital. Once they get there, the smuggling will definitely be exposed!"

Zhang Sheng, the Minister of Finance in Nanjing, was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks and felt itchy all over his body.

"How about... we take action in advance and let those pirates kill these Jinyiwei..."

Zhang Peng was horrified: "Absolutely not! The Jinyiwei are the emperor's personal army. If all of them die here, our situation will be even more troublesome!"

Talking about the issue of Japanese pirates again, Zhang Sheng, who was also one of the six ministers of Nanjing, seemed much more casual.

But Zhang Peng once again rejected the proposal and gave a seemingly reasonable reason.

But Zhang Sheng obviously didn't buy Zhang Peng's tricks.

"What are you afraid of? The murderers were Japanese pirates. What does it have to do with us?"

"Or are you unwilling to let those pirates you raised come out and risk their lives?"

Zhang Sheng’s words hit the nail on the head, causing Zhang Peng’s expression to change immediately!
(End of this chapter)