The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 627: Son of Zhang Juzheng

In March of the second year of Guangde, the city of Taicang was like a pot of boiling water, roiling and boiling.

The Great Qi and the Former Ming Dynasty, the central government and local governments, northerners and southerners...all kinds of contradictions are intertwined and entangled in this southeastern metropolis.

In mid-March, as Zhang Yunxiu vigorously promoted the new land measurement policy, the core interests of the wealthy families in Taicang were seriously threatened, the situation became increasingly turbulent, and various overt and covert retaliatory actions against the new law and inspections emerged one after another.

The fundamental contradiction between the Great Qi's polarization and the former Ming's slavery was finally thoroughly ignited in the heart of Jiangnan in the spring of the second year of Guangde.

Starting from the land survey on February 11th, by March 20th, the Taicang land survey led by Zhang Yunxiu achieved initial success.

This group of fearless officials of the Great Qi fought for more than 1 days, cleared more than 120 hectares ( hectare is mu) of farmland in Taicang (and surrounding prefectures and counties), recovered taels of silver equivalent to land tax, commercial tax, and banknote customs duty, punished a total of households for concealing land properties and evading taxes, and seized countless pieces of cloth, silk, and grain from their homes.

Judging from the income from clearing land and recovering unpaid taxes, what they caught were just small fish and shrimp.

The real big fish has not been caught yet.

For example, the Taicang Wang family, the three major families, and the masters of the weaving bureau and the banknote customs...

If all these rats were eliminated, the tax revenue from the fields would be more than ten times the amount above.

Just dealing with those small fry caused Zhang Yunxiu to suffer heavy casualties.

Out of 120 inspectors, 26 died.

among them:

Five people were stabbed to death in the street by an assassin. The murderer was either crazy or insane, or he committed suicide before being arrested.

The three people disappeared. Many years later, a group of craftsmen who were renovating the garden dug up the bodies of the three people in the backyard of Taicang Prefecture School.

The four men rushed to Wu County to investigate the case. They stayed at a guild hall that night and were burned to death. Wu County explained to Zhang Jinglue that "whale oil leaked that night, the fire spread, and it was too late to rescue them."

Four inspectors were also drowned.

On their way back to Taicang from Jiading County, the four of them boarded a black-sailed boat. When they reached the center of Loujiang River, the bottom of the cabin suddenly leaked. In a moment, all the people on the boat, including the boatman and the Jiading farmland map that had just been measured, were eaten by fish...

Ten people submitted petitions to resign and fled back to Nanjing overnight.

There were three other people who were frightened into madness for some unknown reason.

As for the inspectors who were beaten and injured during the land survey, there were countless of them.

In addition, memorials impeaching Zhang Yunxiu were sent to the Forbidden City in Nanjing at an average rate of 125.5 copies per day, as if the rice paper in Jiangnan was very cheap.

The contents of the memorials were all the same, all threatening and pressuring the young emperor:
If we allow the treacherous Zhang Yunxiu and others to continue to harm Taicang, Taicang will become the next Suzhou.

The Suzhou riots, which lasted for several days, caused losses of more than one million taels. A large number of looms were burned and large tea plantations were destroyed.

As for the losses caused by the mob looting, burning and killing, they were astronomical...
To paraphrase the words of the righteous hero Yan Weipei in "The Epitaph of Seven Men", "Tea, treasures, and silk should be destroyed rather than handed over to treacherous officials. We must not let the northerners think that we have no one in the south of the Yangtze River!"

The local tyrants in Taicang were certain that the young emperor of Qi could not afford the huge losses in Suzhou, so they used this as a threat in an attempt to control the court.

The reason why they are so cruel is not complicated at all.

Although the land surveying operation led by Zhang Yunxiu was not as thorough as the "Land System of the Qi Dynasty", it accurately hit the weak points of the local tyrants and evil gentry, cutting off the lifeblood of these rats.

The four major families in Taicang, together with the masters of the weaving bureau and the banknote office, were polite to each other on the surface, but secretly they wanted to eat Zhang Yunxiu's flesh and sleep on his skin. It was said that Wang Heng offered a reward of 5,000 taels of silver for Zhang Yunxiu's head.

Zhang Juzheng's youngest son knew very well that in this magical land, there were at least a million ways of dying waiting for him every day.

However, he and his father Zhang Juzheng have the same temper. Once they set their sights on a path, they will stick to it until the end.

When Zhang Juzheng was in love, Wang Xijue, the president of the Hanlin Academy, brought dozens of Hanlin scholars and other officials to break into Zhang's house to ask for an audience.

Zhang Juzheng wore mourning clothes and refused to see guests.

Wang Xijue broke into Zhang's house to mourn and pleaded with the censor in person to spare the convicted censor.

Zhang Juzheng said, "It is the Emperor who is angry and wants to punish them in court. I am powerless."

Wang Xijue said, "Even if the emperor is angry, it's because of you that the emperor is angry."

Zhang Juzheng, who had already reached the highest position in the government, suddenly knelt down, took off his sword, handed it to Wang Xijue, and shouted:

"The emperor wants to keep me, but you want to drive me away. The new policy needs me, but the court officials won't tolerate me. Where should I go? Come! Come! Come! I'll give you a knife, and you can kill me! It will all be over!" Wang Xijue had never seen such a scene before, and he fled in fear.

~~~~~
"In the early years of the Wanli reign, my father fought with Wang Jingshi (Wang Xijue) to implement new laws. Now, I, an old man, am fighting with Wang Jingshi's son to implement new policies. What a cruel fate! It couldn't be more cruel than this! My father and Wang Xijue were only arguing over right and wrong, a harmless dispute. But today, between Wang Heng and me, it's either he dies or I die. Alas..."

"Zhang Jinglüe, when Prime Minister Zhang vigorously implemented the new laws, it was only then that the Wanli Restoration came about. Jinglüe will do the same as your father, bringing eternal peace to our Great Qi!"

March 16th, Taicang Prefecture General Office.

"Thank you for your kind words."

Zhang Yunxiu, the governor of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and Dai Li, a lecturer at the University Hall, walked towards the gate of the yamen together.

Li Zicheng led his guards to watch the surroundings vigilantly, guarding against possible assassinations at any time. The wall of the Jinglüe Mansion behind them was temporarily raised and reinforced, and there were still rubble left on the ground from the construction.

A thin willow coffin was placed at the gate. This coffin, which was so simple that it could not be any simpler, could not escape the disaster in this life-and-death game.

The originally pitch-black coffin board was splashed with a layer of red paint, like a blooming blood flower, which was out of tune with the inky black.

Obviously, these plum blossoms were not made by the coffin shop craftsmen.

"If I can't defeat him, I'll die in Taicang, and my blood will splatter five steps away, spilling on the gate of his Wang family! Let Wang Xijue see what a beast his unfilial descendants are!"

Dai Li looked at Zhang Yunxiu with respect.

As Zhang Jinglie spoke, he reached out to the mottled thin coffin, towards his final destination.

Li Zicheng, who was on patrol, suddenly turned around and saw this scene. He hurriedly shouted: "Sir, no! Be careful, the paint is poisonous."

The young and strong Dai Li quickly pulled Zhang Jinglie over.

"If the new policy is not completed and anything unexpected happens to the economic strategy, we will be ashamed to the emperor!"

Zhang Yunxiu shook his head helplessly, looked at Li Zicheng, and asked, "General Li, have you found anything recently?"

Li Zicheng's hawk-like sharp eyes fell on the few sneaky thugs in the street. Hearing Zhang Jinglie's question, he quickly arranged for his men to continue monitoring and came to Zhang Yunxiu.

"Reporting to the governor, at noon the day before yesterday, two crickets climbed over the wall and entered the courtyard, intending to poison them, but were killed on the spot by the guards. Last night, someone set fire to the courtyard wall, and then this coffin was splashed with paint in the middle of the night. I don't have enough manpower, so it's inconvenient to send anyone out to investigate..."

Zhang Yunxiu patted Li Zicheng on the shoulder and smiled slightly, saying, "General Li, we have less than two hundred soldiers now, and the enemy is everywhere. We are outnumbered, and our emperor is busy suppressing the rebellion in Suzhou. You and I might die here. Do you regret coming to Taicang?"

Li Zicheng saluted and said, "I am a mere warrior, but I am able to follow the governor to accomplish such a great cause, to kill these parasites and relieve the emperor's worries. I will surely leave my name in history, and I will have no regrets even in death."

Zhang Yunxiu stroked his beard and laughed, then said loudly to the bustling crowd on the street:

"Hahaha! They killed my subordinates before, and now they point their spearheads at me. Hahaha, they are impatient and can't wait any longer. They are eager to kill me. What should I be afraid of? Even if I die, my Great Qi still has countless loyal ministers and generals. How can they kill them all?"

~~~~
A month ago, on the day when the land measurement was carried out, Zhang Yunxiu prepared this coffin for himself.

He said to the crowd, "If I am killed by a villain, please bury me."

On the eve of the Suzhou riot, Zhang Yunxiu, following the advice of Kang Guangxu and others, withdrew all the inspectors and soldiers stationed in the counties surrounding Taicang back to the prefecture capital, totaling 260 soldiers and over 80 officials.

The new policy harmed not only the interests of local gentry and wealthy families.

Whether it was clearing up commercial taxes or rectifying the currency exchange, groups such as thieves, shrews, gossips, porters, etc. lost their jobs. According to the new policy, these industries were either directly banned or nationalized and replaced by people from the Da Qi Chamber of Commerce. They spontaneously united and fiercely resisted the new policy.

Compared with the conspiracies and tricks of the gentry and wealthy families, the means of intimidation and resistance are simple and crude.

And even bloodier.

More than fifty soldiers and officials were killed by these people.

Zhang Yunxiu waited for a long time, and finally the eunuch sent by the court to announce the imperial decree arrived.

In view of the fact that the mobile forces of the Great Qi were used to quell the Suzhou rebellion and were temporarily unable to take care of Taicang, Emperor Guangde allowed Zhang Jinglue to "act at his discretion" in Taicang in his imperial edict and only sent an instructor to Loucheng to "convey the new policies" to the common people.

In other words, there were no reinforcements.

Zhang Yunxiu had no complaints. He sent away the emperor's favored eunuch Fang and immediately announced it to the whole city.

"As long as the land is not cleared and the unpaid taxes are not recovered, I, the governor, will not leave Loucheng and will see this matter to the end!"

(End of this chapter)