The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 637 Controlling the Southeast
On April 18th of the second year of Guangde, the land survey work in Taicang Prefecture was completed.

After two and a half months, Zhang Yunxiu, Kang Guangxu and others discovered more than 835,200 acres of hidden farmland in Taicang, Suzhou and surrounding counties, recovered more than 1,787,000 taels of overdue farmland tax, and 2,386,000 taels of overdue commercial tax.

Together with the cloth, grain and antiques seized from the house searches, a total of four million taels of silver were collected in more than a dozen prefectures in the southeast, equivalent to one-fifth of the annual income of the former Ming treasury.

This does not include the huge wealth that Wang Heng took away.

The country's finances and taxation rely on the southeast.

It's true.

On April 21, the memorial from the Governor of Suzhou and Hangzhou, along with dozens of large boxes, was delivered to the Forbidden City in Nanjing by twenty large horse-drawn carriages.

When Liu Zhaosun, who was reviewing memorials, heard about this, he couldn't stop laughing.

"What a great way to share wealth with the people! I want to thank the former Ming emperors for leaving so much silver and land to the Great Qi."

Dongfang Zhu brought eight young eunuchs and moved the large wooden box into the Wenhua Hall.

The chief steward moved for half an hour and was so tired that he lay on the ground gasping for breath.

The Emperor asked with concern, "Is the move complete?"

Dongfang Zhu stood up quickly and said, "Your Majesty, there are still dozens of boxes."

"Keep moving."

After all the boxes were moved in, Liu Zhaosun crushed a copper lock and opened the box.

Wow, a box full of ancient books.

I picked one out and glanced at it.

"The Principles of the Taiyi Golden Flower, written by Lü Dongbin."

Twenty boxes of Taoist classics, from the Western Jin Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty, many of which are rare copies.

The contents of the books are also varied, including those about health preservation and life extension, dual cultivation between men and women, and alchemy and medicine making.

There is also a book that teaches Taoist priests how to gather people to rebel...
Liu Zhaosun laughed.

Seeing that the emperor was very pleased, the eunuch said quickly:

"Your Majesty, these are all the spoils from the Taicang raid. Kang Guangxu took great pains to pack them up and sent them to Your Majesty overnight."

The Emperor put down Lü Dongbin's health secrets and laughed:

"Okay, okay. Guangxu is just like his father. I like him. Take Lü Dongbin's book, and keep the secret manual of dual cultivation, Pu Tuan. Give the rest to Xie Yang, and have the Chamber of Commerce sell it and pay the money to the national treasury!"

~~~~
The retired emperor held the yellow book of land in Suzhou Prefecture and Taicang Prefecture copied by Zhang Yunxiu himself, his fingers trembling and tears of excitement flowing down his face.

He looked up at Dongfang Zhu and said incoherently:

"I knew the Southeast was prosperous since ancient times, but I didn't expect it to be so wealthy... No, it's because they embezzled so much of my money!"

Eunuch Dongfang looked at the pile of yellow account books and said happily:
"Your Majesty, if you add the military farms and farmlands of the former Ming Dynasty, there are probably millions of acres, enough to recruit tens of thousands more troops..."

The emperor nodded excitedly.

Although they are all farmland, the fields in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Taicang are basically cultivated fields, and their value is naturally incomparable to that in the Central Plains, Liaodong, Shaanxi and other places.

Xie Yang once said that the annual output of one acre of medium-sized farmland in Suzhou is equivalent to that of two acres of large-sized farmland in Shaanxi.

It is no exaggeration to say that Suzhou and Hangzhou are so well-fed that the whole world is so well-fed.

"Okay, it's right to survey the land. Suzhou and Taicang alone can pay so much silver for the land. If all the land in the south were surveyed, I would become a rich man. Hahaha!"

Liu Zhaosun laughed three times and ordered someone to call Zhang Dong.

Zhang Mazi had just returned from Taicang and was still resting in the yamen.

When Zhang Dong saw the retired emperor and was about to salute, he was pulled up.

"General Kang's son has given me many treasures, but I'm not interested. What I want now is... Zhang Dong. Where are Wang Heng's skillful hands that can seize the fortune of heaven and earth?"

Zhang Dong's bright eyes suddenly became dim.

"What happened?"

Zhang Mazi fell to his knees with a thud, banging his head on the ground:

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for letting him escape!"

Liu Zhaosun helped Zhang Dong up and asked him to speak clearly first.

Zhang Dong angrily said, "That bastard Wang Heng had already made preparations. Before the Eighth Corps even set out from Nanjing, he had packed up his belongings and deposited them in Songjiang Prefecture. The day before General Zhao and I entered Taicang, he got the news from somewhere and fled overnight, leaving behind an empty house."

Zhang Dong suddenly glanced at Liu Zhaosun secretly and said nervously:
"That bastard not only took away millions of taels of silver and dozens of carts of antiques, but also plotted to assassinate Zhang Jinglie. The most hateful thing is that before leaving, he burned down the tea plantation, the orchard, and even the shops in the city."

"Oh? A desperate move, a desperate attempt to break free. I like that." The Emperor smiled and said, "A cunning rabbit has three burrows. This bastard ran away pretty fast. Where is he hiding now?"

Zhang Dong was slightly embarrassed. "I went to Songjiang Prefecture and found out that this guy had already fled to Japan. He set off more than ten days ago and should have reached Kyushu by now."

"Japanese country? Kyushu?"

Liu Zhaosun remained silent.

Zhang Dong stood by and saw that the emperor didn't say anything, so he didn't dare to say anything.

"If I remember correctly,"

The retired emperor pulled out a palm-sized notebook from under the imperial desk and opened it. It was filled with names of people, some of whom were circled in red with a vermilion pen.

"Zheng Sen was defeated in southern Liaoning last year and fled to Japan. Zuo Liangyu also fled from the Yangtze River estuary to Japan. My mortal enemy Song Yingsheng also seems to have defected to Tokugawa Guisun. Now, there's also Wang Heng."

After Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, he wrote the two words "Wang Heng" on the notebook stroke by stroke.

"Tokugawa Iemitsu is willing to take anything he wants to deal with me. From now on, it would be better if he were called Shogun instead of Shogun."

The emperor laughed.

Zhang Mazi couldn't laugh.

The book in the hands of the retired emperor is the legendary Book of Life and Death.

No matter who it is, once this book appears on their screen, they will soon die a violent death.

Zhang Mazi did not sympathize with Zheng Sen and others. He was just worried that the emperor would send the Suoyi Guard to Japan to carry out an assassination mission.

If that were the case, the Suoyi Guards would suffer heavy casualties.

Yuan Chonghuan and Zhao Lujiao were in Kyushu for less than two years. Only 2,000 of the 7,000 or 8,000 returned.

It's scary to think about it.

Unexpectedly, the emperor did not mention the assassination, but asked a question that Zhang Dong was puzzled about.

"Zhang Dong, did you know that this prince has a sister who is an immortal cultivator?"

Zhang Dong exclaimed, luckily he had done his homework in advance so he didn't panic.

"Your Majesty, Wang Heng does have three sisters. The eldest and second sisters were married during the Wanli period and are now in their fifties. The youngest sister, Wang Gui, practiced Taoism and died in the eighth year of the Wanli period..."

"He didn't die," the retired emperor corrected. "He ascended to heaven and became an immortal. Do you understand?"

Zhang Dong nodded repeatedly.

Wang Xijue and his wife had one son and three daughters. The eldest and second daughters were both married, to Zhou Bingzhong, a secretary of the Central Secretariat, and Wu Jiazheng, a student of the Imperial Academy, respectively.

The youngest daughter was named Wang Gui (with the courtesy name Taozhen).

"I have heard Master Zhang talk about this girl, Wang Gui, who was born in the 38th year of the Jiajing reign. She was born thin and frail, with scabies and yellow skin. She cried day and night, and had three wet nurses.

The Wang family thought they couldn't support her and treated her very coldly. Wang Gui was tired of the world and had been obsessed with Taoism since she was a child.

Zhang Dong understood why the emperor mentioned this woman.

As far as Zhang Dong knew - and almost all the people in the Ming Dynasty knew about this - in the eighth year of Wanli, in front of 100,000 people, Wang Taozhen (Yun Yangzi) passed away in Zhitang, Taicang.

There are many different opinions about the reason why Yun Yangzi passed away. Some say it was Wang Gui's own will, while others say it was a political conspiracy by her father Wang Xijue (in order to accumulate fame and return to the court).
"It is destined by God."

A breeze blew through the hall, and the emperor's Taoist robe fluttered in the wind, giving him an immortal air.

"I swore to kill the evil dragon in the East China Sea, but Yun Yangzi's brother Wang Heng chose to go to Japan. And I was destined to meet Yun Yangzi. Isn't this fate?"

"Your Majesty, that woman has been dead for more than fifty years..."

Zhang Dong was confused and had no idea what the emperor was talking about.

"Spiritual connection!"

"When you return to Taicang this time, remember to bring some offerings to her grave to pay your respects. I'll have Grand Secretary Qian write an imperial edict. You burn it for Wang Taozhen to let her know my difficulties and why I treated the Taicang Wang family this way. Let Yun Yangzi help me ascend to heaven soon..."

It is still an unreasonable demand of wanting more and more.

Zhang Dong understood that this was the emperor's trick to win people's hearts.

As far as he knew, there were no less than hundreds of thousands of believers in Yunyangzi (Wang Taozhen) in Taicang and Suzhou alone. A simple memorial service could win people's hearts, so such a deal was certainly a good deal.

"I know."

After Zhang Mazi left, Liu Zhaosun stared towards the southeast, muttering:

"I am about to take control of the southeast, and matters concerning ghosts and gods must be carefully considered."

(End of this chapter)