The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 430 Cutting out the roots
Blow out the silver lamp, undress and lie down on the pillow.

That night, smoke covered the bamboos in the courtyard, and the moon slanted over the corridor. The night was short and the love was long, it was wonderful beyond words.

After a dark sleep, the sky was getting light. When I woke up, I saw a little bloodstain left by the beauty in the dim light. Thinking of all the experiences last night, I felt as if it was a lifetime ago and still felt unsatisfied.

Dujuan stood behind the screen and said in a soft voice:

"Your Majesty, General Pu and others have been waiting outside for a long time."

"Got it, help me change my clothes."

"Ah, yes."

Dujuan hummed softly, then pushed open the screen and came in. She looked at Emperor Wuding with a dazed look. Liu Zhaosun asked where Chen Yuanyuan had gone. Dujuan said that Miss Chen went to the east wing alone, and Amber went in to help her wash and was driven out.

Then let her be alone for a while. Some things need to be digested carefully.

He arranged for Dujuan to keep an eye on the woman and prevent her from committing suicide.

But after what happened last night, I don't think she would seek death. If she really wanted to remain chaste and die, she would have died a month ago.

“Everyone is trying to survive.”

Dujuan's face flushed, and it took her a long time to dress the emperor properly.

Before leaving, the emperor told Dujuan:

"Take good care of Miss Chen. I will stay overnight."

~~~~~~
The living room of the Chaoguan Yamen.

The spacious and bright living room was full of people. Pu Gang, Xing Zhongyi, Zhang Dong, Li Sanguang, Francisco, Lu Xiangsheng, and Dong Dazhong sat below the emperor.

At the beginning of the morning hour, the emperor entered the living room accompanied by two guards. Everyone knelt and saluted. Liu Zhaosun shouted, "No need for formalities," and asked everyone to sit down and talk.

The emperor sat in the highest seat, and Zhang Dong stood guard, holding a goose-feather knife in his hand.

Liu Zhaosun looked at everyone with sharp eyes, but only the magistrate of Guantao County lowered his head and did not dare to look directly at him.

This was the first time Dong Dazhong met Emperor Wuding, and the emperor's aura would frighten many people.

County Magistrate Dong did not belong to the Kaiyuan system, nor was he a disciple of Emperor Wuding.

Before the first year of the Tianqi reign, he had been the magistrate of Guantao for eight years, but whether due to incompetence or excessive incorruptibility, he was never promoted. After the Qi army entered Linqing, he inexplicably became a new member of the Wuding Emperor's team.

Liu Zhaosun turned his gaze away from Dong Dazhong and said to Pu Gang and Xing Zhongyi:
"Tell me about what you've gained in the past few days."

Pu Gang hurriedly took out a thick stack of account books.

"Your Majesty, the pacification troops have recovered a total of 12,870,000 taels of unpaid taxes from 127 grain merchants, Shanxi merchants, and Anhui merchants. They have also seized 353,800 dan of grain, 203,800 bolts of cloth, 14,000 jin of smuggled salt, and 8,000 jin each of tea and pepper..."

Emperor Wuding's gloomy expression relaxed slightly.

With this batch of military supplies, we can raise a troop of 30,000 to 50,000 people in half a year to kill all the monsters and demons who betrayed Da Qi.

Then he drank water from the Yangtze River and continued his slaughter.

The emperor listened patiently to the report and said in a deep voice, "We must also investigate the banks, farmland, and mines. None of them can be left out."

Pu Cangjiang looked up at Zhang Dong. Zhang Mazi whispered something to the emperor. Liu Zhaosun looked a little unhappy:
"Speak louder, I can't hear you clearly!"

Zhang Dong said it again.

"Speak louder! I can't hear you clearly!"

Zhang Dong knew that the emperor was moody, so he had no choice but to clear his throat and shout to the people around him:

"The officials and soldiers we sent to Guanxian, Qinghe, Gaotang, Xiajin, Liaocheng, Dong'e, and Pingyuan counties were murdered before they even arrived at the government offices! I don't know who did it!"

Among the people present, except Pu Gang and Zhang Dong, no one else knew about this. The living room immediately became an uproar, and everyone started talking about it.

Many people clamored for revenge against these states and counties.

It should be noted that these prefectures and counties had just recently sent people to Linqing to show their goodwill and willingness to submit to Emperor Wuding. Unexpectedly, they turned against us in the blink of an eye and even killed the officials sent by the emperor!

Emperor Wu Ding patted Zhang Dong on the shoulder, then looked up at the crowd. A sudden hush fell. "Hahahaha, I went too far in killing people in Linqing. Word got out, and the local tyrants and wealthy families in Shandong are all scared. They're afraid I'll kill them after I've killed people in Linqing. So they're rushing to turn against me. A cornered dog will jump over the wall. Hahahaha!"

The emperor clapped his hands and laughed, his laughter was permeating and had an indescribable breathtaking power.

"It's good to be afraid, it's good to be afraid! I want them to be afraid! If they are afraid, they will make mistakes! If they make mistakes, they will die in my hands!"

Emperor Wu Ding laughed twice, and suddenly snatched the newspaper stained with the blood of the Da Qi officials from Pu Gang's hand, unfolded it and read it carefully.

Li Sanguang sighed to the sky. This one-armed civil official who had always been indifferent to worldly affairs now realized that the emperor was going to start another massacre.

The missionary Francisco was still busy making the sign of the cross and muttering something.

The object of prayer for the Portuguese priests had changed from the archbishop to the God of True Martial Arts, that is, Emperor Wu Ding himself. Emperor Liu Zhaosun was now the God of True Martial Arts. The events surrounding Liu Zhaosun's deification are summarized in the "Research on the Manifestations of the Great Emperor Zhenwu" (Note 1).

The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites of the Great Qi Dynasty have decided to rebuild the 72 pavilions of Taihe Mountain (Wudang Mountain). The scale of the project is expected to far exceed the renovation of Wudang Mountain by Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the repair work can only start after the Qi army captures Junzhou Prefecture, but the believers have already started to raise funds. It is said that the recent fundraising funds are more than 10,000 taels...

Liu Zhaosun still doesn't know much about how he became the Zhenwu Emperor.

He walked quickly to the map, compared the several locations mentioned in the newspaper, and marked them one by one on the map with a pencil.

"With the place of the incident as the center, within a radius of eighty miles, all the gentry and wealthy families were slaughtered. The murderer is among them."

The so-called place of incident was the place where Emperor Wuding's officials were attacked on the way.

Everyone looked ashen, and even several military commanders looked embarrassed.

With the current strength of the Linqing Qi army, it is impossible to march into the six surrounding counties and prefectures at the same time, to retaliate and kill so many people.

Pu Gang glanced at Xing Zhongyi standing next to him, and the instructor stepped forward and advised:

"Your Majesty, the Linqing War has just ended, and the state capital is in ruins. The powerful have just been executed, and the people are uneasy. If all the troops are transferred out, I am afraid..."

Emperor Wu Ding looked coldly at the chief instructor, his sharp eyes seemed to want to torture Xing Zhongyi to death.

Emperor Wu Ding was too lazy to mention the trivial matters between the instructor and Dongfang Zhu. After all, Dongfang Zhu had become a eunuch now.

The emperor's mind is unpredictable. After the Wanggongchang explosion, Emperor Wuding's temperament changed drastically. Even the Linqing officials, Kang Yingqian, Qiao Yiqi, and other core members of his team, were probably unable to fathom his thoughts.

Just when everyone thought the emperor was going to be furious again, they heard Liu Zhaosun say with a smile:

"You are right. The civil unrest has not yet been quelled, so we shall not mobilize the surrounding powerful forces for the time being. However, killing only these merchants and unruly people in Linqing is far from enough. Next, I will deal with the three shifts of yamen runners and the six rooms of clerks (Note 2). These parasites, like the ivory traders, must not be spared! My two magistrates."

Liu Zhaosun looked up at Lu Xiangsheng and Dong Dazhong who were standing in the distance.

"Many clerks from your two counties participated in the Linqing merchant rebellion. My opinion is that we should not keep any of them alive. I would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one escape. At noon tomorrow, find a pretext to bring them to the Bank of China. I will personally send them off. If they don't show up, or if they show up in small numbers, I will kill you two."

Lu Xiangsheng slowly raised his head, his eyes calm. Sweat beads appeared on Dong Dazhong's forehead. Under the tremendous pressure, his hands and feet began to tremble uncontrollably.

After Emperor Wuding said this, he left.

Everyone in the living room was in an uproar and started talking again.

~~~~~
After leaving the bank and gazing at the deserted Linqing Prefecture, Emperor Wuding turned around and said to Zhang Mazi:

"I will miss those days in Hunhe. Back then, when a single call was made, hundreds of people responded in droves, and the Kaiyuan army was invincible. We also had capable officials like Yuan Chonghuan and Sun Baigu, who could kill without hesitation and make decisive decisions!"

"Your Majesty, if you kill all the county clerks, who will serve Your Majesty in the future..."

Liu Zhaosun's eyes became kind as he looked at the servant who had followed him all the way and patiently explained:
"Zhang Mazi, good question,"

"From now on, all government affairs and civil affairs will be directly taken over by Da Qi. All land in the country will belong to Da Qi. Land cannot be bought, sold, rented, or mortgaged. There will no longer be landlords, powerful people, or wealthy families in the world..."

Liu Zhaosun looked at the Linqing City that had surrendered to him, and his expression kept changing.

Note:
1. "A Study of the Manifestations of the Great Emperor Zhenwu" was written in the early Qi Dynasty. The authors are Sun Biyun, Taoist Priest of Wudang Nanyan Palace; Zhang Yixing, Taoist Priest of Shenyang Daqing Palace; and Zhang Guoxiang, Taoist Priest of Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi. The main story follows: Qi Taizu (Liu Zhaosun) cultivated in Wudang Mountain and achieved immortality. He guarded the north, barefoot and with his hair untied, he raised the black flag. Later, he pacified the world, fulfilled his merits, and returned to the ranks of immortals. When Emperor Wu (Liu Kan) ascended the throne, in the 1700th year of the Xiping reign (), he launched a western expedition against England. Fighting in the Mediterranean, he was aided by the deity Zhenwu, and the British were defeated. The Qi army returned victorious and built a temple dedicated to the deity Zhenwu in the Blue Mountains of Nandu (present-day Cape of Good Hope, Australia).

During the Ming Dynasty, clerks in prefecture and county offices were organized into six departments: Li, Hu, Li, Bing, Xing, and Gong. Officially, they were called Si Li, Dian Li, and Zan Dian, but were generally referred to locally as "Li Fang Shu Li" (li shu), "Hu Fang Shu Li" (hu shu liang shu), "Li Fang Shu Li" (li shu), "Bing Fang Shu Li" (bing shu), "Xing Fang Shu Li" (xing shu), and "Gong Fang Shu Li" (gong shu).

(End of this chapter)