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

Chapter 275: The Jiangnan War is about to break out!
The Minister of War that Ruan Chi mentioned was Zhang Peng, the Minister of War in Nanjing.

Although the six ministries in Nanjing were not purely for show, they were still far from the real six ministers.

Moreover, at this time, Zhang Peng himself could hardly save himself.

Following Yu Yunzhong's confession, Jinyiwei Zhuque has begun investigating various local tyrants and noble officials in the coastal areas of Jiangnan.

Among these lists is his name, Zhang Peng.

And these people definitely cannot withstand investigation.

At the same time, the team led by Ji Sheng, the third head of the Western Factory, and Li Qian, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, had also arrived in Minzhou.

And in accordance with Zhu Youtang's order, the Fuqing Shipyard and the Jiangnan Shipyard were reopened to supervise the construction of treasure ships for sea travel.

Rebuilding the treasure ship that went to sea was the real way to tap into the roots of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

Regarding this, the entire Jiangnan gentry was in an atmosphere of extreme anxiety.

……

Jiangnan Shipyard.

Jiangnan Shipyard is located in Haimen County, Songjiang Prefecture, Nanzhili Province, and is one of the three largest shipyards in the Ming Dynasty.

Most of the ships that eunuch Sanbao used to sail to the West were built by the Jiangnan Shipyard.

However, starting from the Jingtai period, there was no record of any large ships being shipped from the Jiangnan Shipyard in official statistics.

After Jisheng arrived at Jiangnan Shipyard, he found that it was well maintained and not particularly dilapidated. Many of the factory buildings still showed signs of recent use.

However, not only was there no record of a new ship being launched in the official records, there was not even any record of workers. Ji Sheng could not even find any skilled shipbuilding workers in Songjiang Prefecture.

This made Ji Sheng frown immediately. This sign was enough to prove that in the past few decades, someone was secretly using the Jiangnan Shipyard to build sea vessels.

This kind of thing has been concealed for more than forty years, which only proves that the entire Jiangnan region is rotten to the core!

Jisheng said nothing, but just asked the boat workers he brought with him to start the shipbuilding work immediately.

……

Fuqing Shipyard.

Fuqing Shipyard is located in Fuqing County, Fuzhou Prefecture, Minzhou.

During the Zhengtong period, Emperor Yingzong appointed Jiao Hong as the chief inspector of eight prefectures to supervise the construction of 120 ships for sailing to the West in Minzhou. Jiao Hong built the ships at the Fuqing Shipyard.

But like the Jiangnan Shipyard, there has been no record of any seagoing ships from the Fuqing Shipyard since the Jingtai period.

But unlike the Jiangnan Shipyard, when Li Kai and the craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry arrived at the Fuqing Shipyard, they found that the Fuqing Shipyard was indeed dilapidated.

The wild vines and weeds growing around it are almost burying the Fuqing Shipyard.

"Master Li, the Fuqing Shipyard has been abandoned for many years and lacks maintenance. It is now in a dilapidated state. Please don't blame me."

The magistrate of Fuqing County bowed and spoke cautiously.

Li Qian looked calm and waved his hand gently: "It's okay, I already know the situation of Fuqing Shipyard, it has nothing to do with you."

"Thank you for your insight, sir."

The magistrate of Fuqing County breathed a sigh of relief, and then took Li Kai and others into the shipyard.

Although the Fuqing Shipyard is dilapidated and desolate, the core construction tools are still intact and can be put back into production after a little repair and maintenance.

This made Li Kai feel somewhat relieved.

Just as they continued to inspect the interior of the shipyard, a scene suddenly appeared, causing Li Kai and his group to open their eyes wide in surprise.

Inside the Fuqing Shipyard, more than 40 Zheng He treasure ships that had been almost built were parked quietly in the shipyard.

These treasure ships all bear the marks of time, but their structures are still intact and their strength is not a problem.

As long as it is repaired and the finishing touches are completed, it can be put to sea like a new ship.

Moreover, upgrades and modifications can be carried out directly on these ships, so that they can be steam-powered ships with the world's most advanced steel-clad technology as soon as they leave the factory.

Li Kai soon realized that these similarly built ships were probably the ones that Jiao Hong supervised in Minzhou during the Zhengtong period.

However, before Jiao Hong finished building it, Emperor Yingzong encountered the Battle of Tumu, and these ships were sealed up.

"This...this...this is really God's help to me!"

Li Kai was extremely surprised. He never expected that he would receive such a big surprise.

With these almost completed ships, their construction period can be reduced by at least one third!

Not only Li Kai was happy, but the craftsmen he brought with him were also very excited. The entire Fuqing Shipyard was filled with laughter.

……

Compared to the ecstasy of Li Kai and others, the people in the entire Jiangnan smuggling group were so worried that they couldn't eat or sleep.

Jinyiwei commander Tongzhi Zhuque, with his Jinyiwei, once again surrounded a wealthy family's house.

This is the Zhao Family Compound in Fenyi County, Yuanzhou Prefecture, Ganzhou. Living there are the main descendants of the Zhao family, the largest wealthy family in Fenyi County.

Although the Zhao family of Fenyi had no high-ranking officials in the court, they were still on good terms with many southern officials in the court through marriage, investment, bribery, etc.

As a result, they also received very generous rewards. They were not only one of the largest local landlords in Fenyi, but also deeply involved in smuggling.

The name of Zhao Qingyun, the head of the Zhao family, also appeared in the transcript of Yu Yunzhong's confession.

At this moment, Jinyiwei Zhuque was arresting Zhao Qingyun and others.

Before this, more than two dozen officials, nobles, local tyrants and gentry in the entire Jiangnan area had been arrested on the spot by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

……

Southern Zhili, Xuzhou Prefecture, Feng County.

Wang Yan, Yang Jizong, Qin Lu and others have already completed the inventory of the number of acres of farmland in Feng County.

The data is shocking.

According to the original records of Feng County, there were a total of 670,000 acres of registered arable land.

Moreover, more than one-third of the land is in the hands of poor peasants and self-cultivating farmers.

But according to Wang Yan's measurement data, the arable land in Fengxian County has reached 1.37 million mu.

Moreover, more than one million acres of land are in the hands of the four major landlords: Sun, Wang, Zhou, and Li.

The amount of land hidden and annexed by landlords and gentry reached an outrageous level.

And this is just the data for a small county in the northernmost part of the Jiangnan region.

The situation of land annexation and concealment in the entire Jiangnan region is bound to become more serious.

The unbalanced distribution of land in the Jiangnan region has reached an incredible level.

After Wang Yan recorded the land data, he continued to lead the team to the next county town for an inventory.

……

Inside Zhang Peng's house, the core Jiangnan smuggling officials had gathered together early to discuss countermeasures.

After reading the letter for help sent by Ruan Chi, Zhang Peng threw it aside expressionlessly and looked at the Nanjing ministers in front of him.

"Ji Sheng and Li Qian have arrived at Jiangnan Shipyard and Fuqing Shipyard respectively."

"If these two shipyards are really allowed to build Zheng He's treasure ship, the maritime ban that we have painstakingly maintained for nearly a hundred years will be destroyed in an instant!"

"We can never allow this to happen!"

Zhang Peng's words immediately received a warm response from everyone present.

They understood the importance of this matter very well. Once the maritime ban was lifted, the imperial court could intervene in the maritime trade, which would be equivalent to cutting off their source of income.

Zhu Youtang was trying to dig up the roots of the Jiangnan gentry. Destroying someone's wealth was like killing his parents. The Jiangnan gentry would rather fight Zhu Youtang to the death than stop him from extending his hands to Jiangnan.

"The imperial court is really going too far. We have been tolerant and yet Your Majesty is pushing it even further. We can never retreat again!"

"That's right! If we retreat any further, we will lose everything! No matter what, we must let His Majesty know that the maritime ban must not be violated!"

"Especially those two shipyards, we must not let them build the ships!"

"If I remember correctly, there are still dozens of sea vessels built by Jiao Hong in the Fuqing Shipyard."

"If Ji Sheng and Li Qian can use this opportunity, it won't take long before dozens of ships are ready to go to sea. We don't have much time left!"

"..."

There is unprecedented unity within the Jiangnan smuggling group.

The real reason was that they had been forced into a desperate situation by Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang launched a devastating attack on the gentry and aristocrats in Jiangnan from three aspects at the same time.

The first aspect was that the imperial court built seagoing ships, reopened voyages to the Western Ocean, and abolished the maritime ban policy that had been maintained for nearly a hundred years.

The second aspect was to conduct a large-scale investigation of all the wealthy and powerful families, noble officials and officials who had previously been involved in smuggling cases, with the intention of catching them all in one fell swoop.

The third aspect is to re-survey the land data in Jiangnan, so that the lands that these wealthy and powerful families have annexed and hidden will be completely exposed under the eyes of the court.

The entire Jiangnan gentry was in a state of panic and united as never before, wanting to resist Zhu Youtang's series of drastic actions.

Zhang Peng's face was gloomy: "That's right, the only thing we can't retreat from is the maritime ban."

"But I don't need to tell you about your Majesty's tactics. I'm sure everyone should know it clearly."

"If we really stop the imperial court from building sea vessels, then we will definitely face a violent and violent attack from the imperial court."

"If you don't want to surrender, you will have to completely break off relations with the imperial court..."

"Are you guys prepared for this?!"

As soon as Zhang Peng said this, the faces of everyone present suddenly changed.

Zhang Peng didn't finish his words, but they all understood what he meant.

To put it nicely, it means starting to recruit soldiers and rise up to resist the tyranny of Ming Emperor Zhu Youtang.

To put it bluntly, that means fighting a civil war with the Ming Dynasty.

The landlord and gentry forces, mainly in the Jiangnan region, and the feudal imperial power in the north fought a real battle with swords and guns.

If they could successfully withstand the imperial court's offensive, they could even divide Jiangnan into two parts and govern it separately, obeying the imperial court's orders but not its decrees, and return to the prosperity of Jiangnan during the Jingtai period.

Even if they could not divide the country by the river, as long as they could force Zhu Youtang to give in and give up his plans to sail to the West and investigate the land in the south of the Yangtze River, they would be considered successful.

If everything goes exceptionally smoothly, they might even be able to fight their way to the capital and kill Zhu Youtang.

At that time, whether to replace a puppet emperor or simply change the dynasty will all depend on their wishes.

Of course, the worst result was that all of these Jiangnan gentry were annihilated, their hundreds of years of efforts were destroyed, and the imperial court completely took over the Jiangnan region.

But these Jiangnan officials always felt that the possibility of this happening was unlikely.

To wipe out all the Jiangnan gentry?
How many people would be killed?

If Zhu Youtang really killed all the nobles in Jiangnan, who would manage these untouchables in Jiangnan for him?
Since ancient times, imperial power has never extended to the countryside. Without these gentry, wouldn't these unruly people be in chaos?
They all had such a lucky mentality in their hearts, and they agreed without thinking for too long.

"Of course! His Majesty is not only opening the sea and building ships, he is also arresting people who were previously involved in smuggling, and is also investigating the land in Jiangnan."

"Your Majesty has offended all the people in Jiangnan at once. All the people in Jiangnan will stand on our side!"

"That's right. If we raise our arms, millions of Jiangnan people will respond. Why should we be afraid of the imperial court?"

"..."

Zhu Youtang's pressure was too great. These people from Jiangnan were determined to resist Zhu Youtang to the end!
Zhang Peng nodded solemnly: "In that case, let's give it a try!"

"You should quickly contact the wealthy and powerful families in Jiangnan and ask them to unite and build momentum. No one should be allowed to hold them back!"

"This is a war, you know?! War!"

"You can only win, you can't lose!"

"After seven days, we will start to make sure that there is not a single ship in the Fuqing Shipyard that can go to sea!"

Zhang Peng's words made all the officials present look stern.

They looked at each other, nodded silently, and then said goodbye and left.

Before leaving, Nanjing's Minister of Finance Zhang Sheng silently glanced at the dark clouded sky, feeling even more daunted in his heart.

The weather in Jiangnan is about to change.

After the officials left, Zhang Peng sat alone in the backyard and waited for a while.

After a while, a Japanese man, no more than five feet tall, came in front of Zhang Peng.

"My lord, what do you want to call me for?"

This person's Chinese is extremely strange, mixed with a Japanese accent.

Zhang Peng frowned unconsciously and said indifferently: "Seven days later, take people to burn down the Jiangnan Shipyard and Fuqing Shipyard."

"Do it cleanly and don't show your true colors."

"Yes, my lord."

The Japanese man cupped his hands, but his eyes were fixed on Zhang Peng: "Sir Zhang, this silver..."

Zhang Peng felt a little annoyed. These Japanese were really greedy, but this kind of dirty work could only be done by them.

"I know. One thousand taels of silver. Pay half first, and the other half after the matter is done."

The price of one thousand taels of silver obviously could not impress the Japanese: "Sir, these are two shipyards, at least... two thousand taels."

Zhang Peng took a deep breath and said, "Two thousand taels is two thousand taels, but the job must be done beautifully. I want those two shipyards to be completely reduced to ashes."

The Japanese then smiled with satisfaction: "Don't worry, sir, we are absolutely reliable."

After the Japanese man finished speaking, he turned around and left Zhang Peng's house.

(End of this chapter)