The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 165: Incorruptible and Black-hearted
Wanli was very concerned about the miracle doctor who saved his life.

He didn't want to be like Taichang and Tianqi in history, who were sent to hell by the red pill and Lingyinlu.

To this end, he specially ordered people to invite the family of Li Shizhen, the genius doctor who knew the most about medicinal properties, and also won them over.

Not only did he help Li Shizhen fulfill his wish of publishing the Compendium of Materia Medica, he also promoted Li Shizhen's son Li Jianzhong to be the director of the Imperial Medical Service.

That was not all. He also personally sent the family of the genius doctor Li Shizhen to settle down in Wanshou Palace, and hosted a banquet for Li Shizhen and his three sons Jianyuan, Jianfang and Jianmu.

He also ordered Deng Zilong to send a navy speedboat to Huguang to pick up the descendants of the genius doctor Wan Mizhai.

After all this busy work, he suddenly remembered that there seemed to be no news of Jiang Guohua.

The whole family of the miraculous doctor Li Shizhen has been taken over, so why is there still no news about Jiang Guohua?
The next morning at about noon, he summoned Luo Sigong to the imperial study.

After the king and his ministers exchanged greetings, he couldn't help but ask, "How's Jiang Guohua's case going?"

This one.

Luo Sigong quickly explained, "Your Majesty, I have already found out that Jiang Guohua has returned to his hometown to retire.

However, his hometown is in Zhejiang Province, and the people I sent are estimated to arrive in the next two days. It will take another five or six days to get the news whether the man has been caught or not.

Also, the people I sent to the Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission arrived in Xi'an a few days ago. They sent back an urgent message over 800 miles saying that they could not find any information in Xi'an City. People there say that Jiang Guohua is incorruptible, not greedy or opportunistic, and is a good official.

Humph, the officials of the three major wealthy families in Puzhou are said to be clean-handed, because the way these guys make money is different from other officials.

Wanli snorted inwardly, then asked, "Did they say what to do next?"

Luo Sigong nodded repeatedly and said, "They found out that Jiang Guohua rarely stayed in Xi'an. During his tenure as the Right Counselor of the Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission, he spent most of his time in Shangzhou, which is over 200 miles away from Xi'an.

They have already rushed to Shangzhou to gather information, and they will probably send an expedited message back within the next two days."

What on earth did this guy do in Shangzhou? He couldn't even be suppressed by the three powerful families of Puzhou who dominated the northwest at that time, and had to demote him.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Well, when the news comes back, you will report it immediately."

This tone made His Majesty a little anxious.

Although Luo Sigong could not see any problem with a Censor of the Ministry of Revenue submitting a memorial requesting the establishment of a crown prince, he could see that Wanli was anxious to deal with Jiang Yinglin.

This guy doesn't dare to be negligent at all.

The next day, after the hour of You had passed and the sun had set, he actually ran to Kunning Palace to ask to see Wanli.

At this time, Wanli had finished his meal and was considering whether to continue making babies with Queen Wang.

However, when Luo Sigong arrived, he immediately called this guy into the kitchen.

After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, Luo Sigong immediately pulled out an envelope from his bosom and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, this is an urgent dispatch from Shangzhou, sent over 800 miles. It's sealed. I've carefully checked it, and no one has opened it yet."

There was also a secret report.

What exactly happened in Shangzhou?
Wanli took the envelope, tore it open and took a closer look. He was so angry that he slammed his hand on the table and roared, "These beasts!"

He was really pissed off.

These guys are really not human.

It turns out that Jiang Guohua stayed in Shangzhou all the time because there were many coal mines and iron mines there. This guy helped the three major wealthy families in Puzhou to mine and smelt iron in Shangzhou.

If that were all, it wouldn't be a big deal.

He had known for a long time that the three powerful families in Puzhou were secretly smelting iron and selling it to the Northern Tartars, but this alone was not enough to make him so angry.

The key point is that there were originally tens of thousands of miners in Shangzhou, but the miners were registered with the imperial court and were monitored by mining supervisors.

The minerals they mined were all recorded. They could not mine randomly, nor could they smelt iron privately and sell it.

At that time, iron was a banned commodity. If you smelted iron privately and sold it, you would be beheaded if you were caught.

As a result, when Jiang Guohua went there, he actually said that the miners were stealing and were mine bandits!
Then, the then Minister of War Yang Bo mobilized a large army to wipe out tens of thousands of miners there!

These beasts didn’t leave any of the tens of thousands of miners alive, and they even slandered them as mining bandits!
Is it possible for miners to steal minerals?
This cannot be ruled out. It is possible that some miners steal ore and smelt iron for profit.

However, it is impossible for tens of thousands of miners to steal minerals.

If tens of thousands of miners were to start stealing minerals and smelting iron like crazy, they could produce millions of kilograms of pig iron in a single day.

Is this possible? Are they seeking death?
Local officials and mine supervisors are not blind. Even a blind person can see how many furnaces are needed to smelt millions of pounds of pig iron a day.

Moreover, the imperial court would send inspectors to local areas from time to time, and places with iron mines would be the focus of the inspectors' inspections.

Therefore, it is definitely true that some individual miners steal minerals, but it is impossible for all tens of thousands of miners to steal minerals, and the scale of such theft cannot be concealed at all.

If someone steals a mine, they will be called a mine bandit, and tens of thousands of miners will be wiped out!

This can no longer be described as lawless, it is simply inhumane.

Chen Lu, the then magistrate of Shangzhou, could not stand it anymore and directly submitted a memorial to criticize Jiang Guohua.

As a result, Chen Lu was dismissed and investigated, while Jiang Guohua was only demoted!

This was because Zhang Juzheng was in power at the time, and the three major families in Puzhou did not want Zhang Juzheng to investigate the matter, so they handled it this way.

If Zhang Siwei was in power instead of Zhang Juzheng, Chen Lu would have surely died and Jiang Guohua would have been promoted step by step.

They also said that all the coal mines and iron mines in Shangzhou were sealed off, but the local people there clearly saw that there were always convoys pulling things out from there, and it was not until last year that they stopped.

Needless to say, the three great families of Puzhou came there just to refine pig iron and even forge wrought iron.

The fifth year of the Longqing reign was the time when the three major families of Puzhou pushed for a joint agreement. After the agreement, they could do business with the Tatars, the Oirat and the Jiannu through the Tumed tribe.

What do the Northern Tartars need most besides food?
That must be pig iron and wrought iron!

Where did the weapons and equipment for the 60,000 households and 500,000 to 600,000 troops on the left and right wings of the Tatars come from?
They don't know how to mine or smelt iron.

So much pig iron, wrought iron and even refined iron can only be purchased from the three major wealthy families in Puzhou.

In order to hide their tracks, the three powerful families of Puzhou had no choice but to choose Shangzhou, which was full of mountains.

No wonder we didn’t find them mining coal and iron ores on a large scale in Shanxi. They actually went to the mountains of Shangzhou to do this.

These guys are honest and upright, but their hearts are even darker than ink!

Wanli panted for a while, took a deep breath, and then said coldly: "Jiang Guohua must be captured. I want him alive. I want him to experience all the tortures in the imperial prison."

What's going on?
What exactly did Jiang Guohua do in Shangzhou?
Luo Sigong was startled. He quickly bowed and said, "I obey your order."

Wanli stuffed the secret report into his hand and said solemnly, "They have done a very good job. Send an urgent order eight hundred miles away. Tell them to wait there until I send people to take over the coal and iron mines there. Don't spread this matter first."

When Luo Sigong took the secret report and read it, he couldn't help but be shocked.

These guys are so inhumane, aren't they?
There are tens of thousands of miners. So what if they stole some minerals?
There's no need to mobilize a large army to wipe them out, right?
There is no such article in the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

Even if they gather together to rebel, it wouldn't be that serious, right?

Leave no one alive!

They even said they were mining pirates. These guys are even worse than Japanese pirates.

After reading this, Luo Sigong gritted his teeth in anger and said, "Your humble servant understands."

Wanli waved his hand slightly, signaling Luo Sigong to leave.

Immediately afterwards, he ordered someone to summon Yang Wei, the Minister of Works.

When the Minister of Works Yang Wei saw Wanli's unfriendly expression, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

Is this little emperor going to punish him?
After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli said expressionlessly, "Are the coal and iron mines in Shangzhou still being mined?"

This one.

Yang Wei recalled, "No, Your Majesty, during the Longqing period, there seemed to be a mining robbery there, and then all the coal and iron mines seemed to be closed, and they have never been mined."

Humph, the three powerful families in Puzhou have some good tricks.

Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Go down."

what?
What does it mean?
You called me here just to ask this?
In fact, Wanli just wanted to know whether the Ministry of Works still managed the coal and iron mines in Shangzhou. Since it didn't, he could directly let Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi and father-in-law Zhang Zhen organize craftsmen to go there for mining and smelting.

He urgently needs money now, the more the better. Once he starts to conquer the northern barbarians, he doesn't know how much it will cost.

(End of this chapter)