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

Chapter 253 Since you are so committed to upholding the ancestral system, I will send you to see Emperor Taizu!
Zhang Ning, who had been frightened to the point of not daring to say much, now echoed what the two men said.

"Your Majesty, what Huang Yun and Xu Lao said is true. Going to the West is not profitable at all, and the risks are high. The Japanese pirates are rampant and the people along the coast are suffering."

"Your Majesty, opening the sea is really harmful and has no benefit. Please think twice and severely punish those who smuggle illegally, but you must not open the sea!"

"Once the sea is opened, there will be endless troubles and it will damage the foundation of the country!"

After Zhang Ning finished speaking, a large group of Jiangnan officials all knelt down, kowtowed repeatedly, and begged Zhu Youtang to reconsider.

Now, the purpose of this group of Jiangnan civil servants is very clear. Zhu Youtang can investigate the smuggling case at will.

Whichever family is found will consider themselves unlucky and can be killed or cut into pieces as you wish.

But opening the sea is absolutely not allowed!

They gave two reasons in total. One was that going into business was risky and unprofitable.

One is that the Japanese pirates are rampant and will bring serious disasters to the people of the Ming Dynasty along the coast after the sea is opened.

Each of these two reasons was so outrageous that Zhu Youtang felt it was extremely absurd.

"If we open the sea, the Japanese pirates will plunder. If we close the country, there will be no Japanese pirate invasion. What kind of bullshit is this?!"

"We can't prevent the Japanese pirates, we can only kill them. Closing the country and banning the sea because of the Japanese pirates is really a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater!"

"In the future, I will vigorously eliminate the Japanese pirates. My Ming navy will kill the Japanese pirates wherever they are seen, until they dare not come ashore!"

"As for not making money in the sea..."

Zhu Youtang smiled coldly, not wanting to waste any more words with these officials. Instead, he slapped the table and gave the order immediately.

"Summon Jinyiwei Commander Mou Bin and bring Yu Yunzhong to the court!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

When the southern officials heard Yu Yunzhong's name, they felt a chill in their hearts and had a bad premonition.

Zhu Youtang gave an order, and in a moment, Mou Bin brought the wounded Yu Yunzhong to the court.

At this time, Yu Yunzhong's body was covered with wounds of varying sizes, with dried blood stains.

Yu Yunzhong had a dull look, lifeless eyes and a wooden expression. No one knew what kind of inhuman torture he had endured in the Jinyiwei prison.

"Your humble servant...Your humble servant greets Your Majesty..."

Yu Yunzhong came before Zhu Youtang and knelt down and kowtowed to him like a walking corpse.

Such a strange scene made all the Jiangnan officials in the court shudder and feel sad.

Zhu Youtang looked at Yu Yunzhong and asked calmly, "Yu Yunzhong, tell me yourself, how much profit did you make from your repeated smuggling?"

Yu Yunzhong's eyes were dull and his expression did not change at all. He replied word by word in a rigid manner, as if he was reciting something.

"Your Majesty, a ship of the Yu family can carry 2,300 cargo boxes, and each box is worth an average of 11 taels of silver."

"On average, each box can be sold for 69 taels of silver per voyage. 25,300 taels of silver can be turned into 158,700 taels in eight months."

"The profit is roughly six times..."

The data provided by Yu Yunzhong is shocking.

With profits of more than six times every year, how can you call this not making money?

Such high profits are worth every capitalist going crazy for, taking risks for, and shedding the last drop of blood in their family for it!

Yu Yunzhong's words made these Jiangnan civil servants feel even more uncomfortable than if they were sentenced to death on the spot.

Yu Yunzhong has exposed the secrets of the Jiangnan smuggling group.

If the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty knew that sailing to the West could bring such huge profits, how could he remain indifferent?

The officials in Jiangnan screamed and denounced Yu Yunzhong like cats whose tails were stepped on.

"Yu Yunzhong, stop spreading rumors and causing trouble here! Smuggling is a life-threatening business, how can there be so much profit?!"

"This is nonsense! Your Majesty, please do not believe it. After Yu Yunzhong was arrested and imprisoned, he must have harbored a grudge against Your Majesty and deliberately lied about the data to lure Your Majesty to open the sea and wait for an opportunity to inflict heavy damage on our Ming Dynasty!"

"If Your Majesty really believed Yu Yunzhong's words, then you have fallen into his trap. Please understand Your Majesty!"

"..."

Zhang Ning, Huang Yun, Xu Lai and a group of Jiangnan civil servants all spoke up to defend themselves and continued to maliciously accuse Yu Yunzhong.

When Yu Yunzhong heard the noise beside him, his ears moved slightly, as if he had just come back to his senses.

He turned to look at Zhang Ning and others, his eyes full of resentment.

Just now, he was outside Fengtianmen Square and heard Zhang Ning and others' proposal to execute him.

These civil servants in Jiangnan were previously close allies with common interests.

But now, one by one, they wish that Yu Yunzhong would die sooner and that the Yu family would be wiped out sooner.

We are all vested interests in the Jiangnan smuggling group, so why do we, the Yu family, have to suffer inhuman torture in the Jinyiwei prison?

And you can wear court robes and arbitrarily decide my life and death, and the life and death of the Yu family in the court? !
Now that the Yu family is finished and being exterminated by Zhu Youtang is just around the corner, Yu Yunzhong has nothing to worry about anymore.

If you civil servants in Jiangnan are unkind, don't blame me, Yu Yunzhong, for being unjust!
Since Yu Yunzhong is going to die and the Yu family is going to be exterminated, he will not let these people from Jiangnan have an easy time!
"Zhang Ning! You know better than me how high the profits from smuggling are!"

"Your Zhang family also has two sea vessels, and you go out to sea for smuggling every year. You are more active and diligent than my Yu family!"

"The money your Zhang family has earned over the years is no less than that of my Yu family!"

"And you, Huang Yun, Xu Lai, you have made a lot of money from smuggling, but now you are pretending to say that it is risky to smuggle. You are really disgusting and shameless!"

Yu Yunzhong fought back on the spot, pointing the finger at Zhang Ning and other Jiangnan officials.

Even though Zhang Ning and others were mentally prepared, they were still terrified when Yu Yunzhong exposed their family's smuggling in front of Zhu Youtang.

"Your Majesty! This is slander. He is slandering me, your humble servant!"

Zhang Ning panicked and said, "Your Majesty, this must be because Yu Yunzhong holds a grudge against me, so he is slandering me and framing me. Please, Your Majesty, please look into this matter!"

Zhang Ning's words were immediately echoed by the civil servants from Jiangnan in the court.

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is Yu Yunzhong's false accusation. Your Majesty, please do not believe it!"

"Your Majesty, I am wronged! Yu Yunzhong has slandered me. Please, Your Majesty, help me!"

"Your Majesty is wise. Yu Yunzhong is about to die, but he still wants to frame the loyal officials in the court. His heart is worthy of death. Please execute him quickly to prevent him from misleading people and spreading rumors!"

"..."

The civil servants in Jiangnan all said that Yu Yunzhong was spreading rumors, slandering, talking nonsense and smearing others.

Yu Yunzhong was so angry that his whole body was shaking, his chest heaving rapidly, and even the wounds on his body were oozing tiny beads of blood.

The attitude of the civil officials in Jiangnan towards Yunzhong was such that they wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.

The person who wronged you knows better than you do how wronged you are.

Zhang Ning knew that Yu Yunzhong was telling the truth, so he was even more eager to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Zhu Youtang slammed the dragon table and shouted angrily, "Enough!"

"I will make the final decision on Yu Yunzhong's words."

"Whether he lied about going to sea or not, I will make the final decision."

"I will also investigate whether he has wronged you."

When Zhu Youtang said this, he looked at Zhang Ning and other civil officials in Jiangnan, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes. "But I must open the sea."

"Li Qian!"

"Chen is here!"

As Zhu Youtang called out his name, Li Qian, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, stood out from the queue, holding a tablet in his hand, and bowed deeply to Zhu Youtang.

"I order you to be the chief inspector of the eight prefectures, reopen the Jiangnan Shipyard and the Fuqing Shipyard, and supervise the construction of 200 ships for the voyage to the West in Minzhou!"

"Once the treasure ship is built, we will set sail immediately and sail to the Western Ocean for the eighth time!"

Li Kai, a Jinshi in the eighth year of Chenghua, was gifted with intelligence, dignified bearing, and profound wisdom.

He had served in the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Justice, the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Household Department, and was an honest and upright official.

Of course, the most important point is that he was from Tangyin County, Anyang Prefecture, Yuzhou, and was a native northerner.

Zhu Youtang would never entrust the task of supervising the construction of ships for the voyage to the West to a southerner, especially a person from Jiangnan.

At that time, Emperor Yingzong selected Jiao Hong to go to Minzhou to supervise the construction of sea ships because he was from Ye County, Runing Prefecture, Yuzhou.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Li Kai knelt on the ground to receive the order, his face showing no emotion, neither sad nor happy.

However, this order almost drove the Jiangnan officials in the court crazy.

They tried their best and spoke out to stop it many times, but why did they end up back at the issue of opening the sea?

They tried every possible method but were unable to stop Zhu Youtang from opening the sea. These civil servants in Jiangnan could only use their last resort.

"Your Majesty, this is absolutely not possible! This sea ban is an ancestral rule of our Ming Dynasty!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, the maritime ban policy was established by Emperor Taizu during the Hongwu period. I humbly hope that the Holy Dynasty will rule the world with filial piety. Your Majesty must not violate the ancestral system!"

"Your Majesty, please abide by the ancestral system and strictly observe the maritime ban to comfort the spirit of Emperor Taizu in heaven!"

"..."

Jiangnan officials such as Zhang Ning, Huang Yun, and Xu Lai repeatedly challenged Zhu Youtang's bottom line.

This time, they even went so far as to bring up Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, trying to scare Zhu Youtang away by using Zhu Yuanzhang's name.

But this action deeply angered Zhu Youtang.

Originally, Zhu Youtang looked at the sparse officials in the court and did not want to start killing again.

But these civil servants in Jiangnan were really arrogant and did not know what was good for them. They challenged Zhu Youtang's bottom line again and again.

Zhu Youtang tried to communicate well with these officials, but now it seems that he has failed.

He simply couldn't communicate with this group of officials, and only violence could solve the problem efficiently.

Zhu Youtang looked at the people kneeling in front of him with a sneer on his face.

"Since you, my dear ministers, are so obedient to our ancestors, I will grant your wishes and allow you to follow Emperor Taizu immediately!"

"When you get to Emperor Taizu's place, you should follow the ancestral rules set by Emperor Taizu. I'm sure Emperor Taizu will be very happy when he knows about it."

what? !

Zhang Ning, Huang Yun, Xu Lai and other civil servants from Jiangnan looked at Zhu Youtang blankly, with a flash of horror on their faces.

The next moment, Zhu Youtang shouted sternly: "Mou Bin!"

"The humble position is here!"

Mou Bin, who was standing aside, quickly took two steps forward and knelt down to listen to the order.

"Drag out all the officials who previously prevented me from opening the sea, and behead them in public!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Upon receiving the order, Mou Bin immediately called upon several Jinyiwei who were standing near the Fengtian Palace Square waiting for orders, and asked them to escort these Jiangnan officials to the execution ground.

Faced with the pressure of death, Zhang Ning and others were still concerned about the Jiangnan smuggling group and uttered their last wail.

"Your Majesty! I don't mind dying, but you really can't open the sea! If you do, the entire southeast coast will be in chaos!"

"Your Majesty! For the sake of the people along the entire southeast coast, the sea must not be opened!"

"Your Majesty! The sea ban is an ancestral system! It is the most effective and stable governance method implemented by previous emperors. It must not be abolished!"

"Your Majesty! I beg you to severely punish the smuggling officials and uphold the maritime ban policy!"

"..."

In the face of death, these civil servants in the south of the Yangtze River still chose to persuade Zhu Youtang to ban the sea. The ignorant people might really think that they were loyal and upright ministers who cared about the country and put life and death aside!
But only those who know the full story, who know all the interest relationships and interest chains, know how hateful they are.

Zhu Youtang not only wants them to die physically, but also wants them to die in their hearts!

Zhu Youtang stood up and said in a sharp tone: "Okay! Since you two have both died advocating a maritime ban, then I will follow your wishes. From now on, the Ming Dynasty will continue to implement the maritime ban policy!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ning, Huang Yun, Xu Lai and other Jiangnan officials were overjoyed.

If Zhu Youtang really continued to implement the maritime ban policy, then they would have no regrets even if they died!

But Zhu Youtang's next words left this group of civil servants dumbfounded.

"From now on, except for the ships of the Ming Dynasty, no other civilian ships can sail into the sea!"

"No private ships are allowed in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Once discovered, the entire family will be executed!"

Zhu Youtang's order made these Jiangnan officials pale and almost collapse.

In this case, wouldn't the Ming Dynasty return to the Hongwu and Yongle periods?

Ordinary people are forbidden to go to sea, and only the Ming court is allowed to go to sea. In this way, it would be better to just open the sea!

At least after the sea is opened, these Jiangnan smuggling groups can still make a living.

Zhu Youtang's move was to completely cut off their source of income!
Zhu Youtang looked coldly at the group of Jiangnan civil servants and spoke slowly.

"I want to conquer this Western Ocean."

"I will also investigate the Jiangnan smuggling case!"

"Once verified, the family will be exterminated and their property will be destroyed. No mercy will be shown!"

Zhu Youtang's words were undoubtedly the last straw that broke the camel's back.

They have risked their lives to give advice for so long, and have used every excuse and reason possible.

But it was still in vain. Apart from losing their own lives, they could not change anything or stop anything!

"Think twice, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, please do not go to the Western Ocean! Going to the Western Ocean will only bring harm and no benefit!"

"Your Majesty, please follow the teachings of our ancestors. Please follow the teachings of our ancestors!"

"..."

"take away!"

Zhu Youtang waved his hand, and Mou Bin immediately led the Jinyiwei to drag this group of noisy Jiangnan civil servants out of Fengtianmen Square.

(End of this chapter)