The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 376 Southeast is in chaos again
While the vassal state of Korea was launching a frantic counterattack, the capital of the Ming Dynasty remained unusually calm.

The war thousands of miles away seemed to have nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty.

Who could have guessed that the reason Wanli ordered his men to launch this counterattack in Korea, a vassal state, was to resolve the unrest caused by craftsmen in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty?
At this time, Zhu Guozuo, the governor of Zhejiang, Zhili and Fujian provinces, had already arrived in Nanjing City.

He seemed helpless in dealing with so many craftsmen causing trouble, and he even didn't dare to go to places like Suzhou Prefecture.

This guy is actually just staying in Jinling City and worrying about it!
The Zhejiang Party still thought that Wanli really had no way to deal with these troublemaking craftsmen, and they even began to secretly instigate the craftsmen to gather together and rebel.

However, this time the craftsmen did not fall for it immediately and actually gathered together to rebel.

Rebellion and running outside the yamen to ask for wages are completely different things.

They had some reason to go outside the yamen to ask for their wages. As long as they didn't use force, the government would not be able to punish them even if they arrested them.

Rebellion is a different matter. If you are caught, your entire clan will be exterminated.

The craftsmen are very clear about this.

They didn't want to be emperor, they just wanted to get their wages back and pay off their debts. Why would they rebel?

Seeing that the craftsmen were unmoved, the Zhejiang Party prepared to use another vicious plan.

This vicious plan was actually very simple, which was to use the local tyrants and gentry to force the craftsmen to rebel.

Aren’t the craftsmen unwilling to rebel?
Then let the local tyrants and gentry rob their wives and daughters, bully them at will, or even sell them!

If the craftsmen could not bear it and had conflicts with the local tyrants and gentry, people would die.

They would even secretly send craftsmen to "help" the craftsmen kill a few local tyrants and gentry.

As a result, the craftsmen were forced to rebel.

Perhaps, some people would think that these craftsmen and local tyrants are fools. How could they fall for such a trick?
actually not.

It is inevitable that they will be deceived.

Poor people also need to eat. No matter how poor a person is, he or she will try his or her best to survive.

The rich want more and more wealth, more land, and even more women.

Craftsmen are poor people, they also need to eat, and they cannot watch their families starve to death.

The pirates robbed the merchants' goods. The merchants had no money to pay the workshops for the goods, and the workshops had no way to pay them their wages.

They have no way to solve these problems, they can only try their best to survive. At this time, if someone is willing to lend them money and food, what else do they have to consider? Just survive first, there is no need to worry about death.

Local tyrants and gentry are rich people. Naturally, they want to have more and more wealth. They know how much money they have lent out, and they can definitely make a lot of money by selling the craftsmen's houses, wives and daughters.

If the craftsmen could not pay their taxes, they would even pick out some of their beautiful wives and daughters and have sex with them as interest.

Let’s skip these for now, those who understand will understand.

In short, everyone has ideas, and some people are good at using people's ideas to achieve their goals.

They call this method of exploiting human nature to manipulate others to achieve their goals playing chess.

It can be said that most people in this world are chess pieces, but some are already on the chessboard, while others are still in the chess jar.

Whether a chess piece appears on the chessboard is determined by the person playing chess, not by the chess piece itself.

The local tyrants and gentry are actually pawns.

The chess piece may become a discarded piece.

The Zhejiang Party's goal is to win this game, so they naturally don't care about the life or death of the chess pieces.

Wanli didn't care at all and was ready to eat all these chess pieces!
As for how to eat it.

He has already laid out the chess game.

That night, a burst of violent artillery fire suddenly sounded in the southeastern waters of the Ming Dynasty.

The roar of the artillery was so deafening in the silent night that many people along the coast were awakened.

This is the navy suppressing pirates.

The common people and local gentry along the southeast coast all knew about it.

There has been constant roar of artillery fire at sea these days, and they have become accustomed to it.

However, this night seemed a little unusual.

Because the roar of artillery was too dense and seemed to continue non-stop, from around midnight to around one hour of the common people without any sign of stopping.

What was even more disturbing was that the roar of the artillery was getting louder and louder as it came closer and closer, and it seemed that the shells were about to fall on their heads!

The pirates won’t be chased ashore, right?
Everyone became panic-stricken.

At this time, flames suddenly shot up into the sky near the coast and even in rivers and streams.

I don't know how many people were shouting, "Chase them quickly, don't let these pirates get away."

Japanese pirates!

"Ah, Arada Vanani oh Shimashka!"

"Autumn bean sack, autumn bean sack, yama dama!"

"Oh my god, look at me, I'm so tired!"

A chaotic, strange cry echoed through the night sky, and everyone who heard it was horrified. These were truly pirates!

The navy officers and soldiers actually chased the Japanese pirates ashore. What should we do?

Under the illumination of the blazing fire, countless naval soldiers and Japanese pirates were running around, and the roars and strange cries resounded throughout the night sky.

The Japanese pirates have come ashore. Is there going to be chaos in the southeast again?
Everyone quickly closed the doors and windows, fearing that the Japanese pirates would suddenly break in.

It seemed that those Japanese pirates only targeted wealthy families. Many wealthy gentry had their doors kicked open, causing chaos and screams.

The navy officers and soldiers didn't care and rushed in to chase, kill and search.

The scene seemed chaotic, but in fact, the navy officers and soldiers were just performing for show.

They were not hunting down the Japanese pirates at all.

Many people were carrying the corpses of the Japanese pirates and rushing towards the homes of local tyrants and gentry.

As for the surviving Japanese pirates, their legs were tied with strong ropes and they kept kicking them inside.

If the Japanese pirates did not go in, they would stab them with guns or even shoot them with arrows.

It was difficult to see people clearly in the dark night, and the common people and local gentry were afraid of the Japanese pirates, so no one dared to chase them around like a spectator.

As they acted like this, everyone naturally thought they were hunting down Japanese pirates.

This chaotic scene lasted for two or three hours until around the hour of Mao, when a ray of dawn appeared in the sky and the southeast coast gradually calmed down.

However, this is just the beginning.

In other words, the show has just begun here.

The navy officers and soldiers are still performing.

They seemed to be searching for Japanese pirates. Teams of them were knocking on doors from house to house, shouting, "Fellow villagers, have you seen any Japanese pirates enter the house?"

Of course there is no such thing.

The Japanese pirates are under their control, but they still ask questions knowing the answer.

When the common people heard that it was their own navy officers and soldiers, they quickly replied: "No, no."

It won’t work without that.

The navy officer immediately shouted, "Then open the door and let us search it thoroughly. The Japanese pirates are very cunning. If they sneak into your house and hide, you will be finished."

With such a scare tactic, people naturally opened the door quickly.

The navy officers and soldiers pretended to search and then left.

There were no Japanese pirates in the homes of ordinary people.

It’s different for the wealthy country gentry who borrow money at high interest rates.

The navy soldiers ran in and found their targets every time they searched.

These people all have Japanese pirates in their families, and some families have more than one.

Moreover, these Japanese pirates seem to be hiding and not saying a word.

After the navy officers found the pirates, they cut off their heads like cutting cabbage, and then they pretended to be surprised and shouted: "Hey, how come the wounds of these pirates are all bandaged? Who bandaged them?"

Who knows this?

The local tyrants and gentry were all confused when they heard this.

The navy officer suddenly shouted in a stern voice, "I suspect you are secretly collaborating with the Japanese pirates. Be honest and come with us. I will seal off this house for me."

what?
Secretly communicating with Japanese pirates!

Do they dare not go with the navy officers and soldiers?

Anyone who secretly communicates with the Japanese pirates will be beheaded.

If they dared not to follow the navy, they might be killed directly.

As a result, countless local tyrants and gentry in the two southeastern provinces and the capital were arrested.

Their crimes were all the same, that is, they had secret dealings with Japanese pirates, and there was irrefutable evidence, as the Japanese pirates were found in their homes.

At the beginning, no one noticed anything was wrong.

However, the Zhejiang Party soon discovered that something was wrong.

These are all their pawns!

The local tyrants and gentry captured by the navy were all loan sharks who lent money at high interest rates to the craftsmen.

Moreover, after capturing these local tyrants and gentry, the navy officers and soldiers did not send them to the provincial capital or county government office, but directly took them to Longjiang Prefecture in Nanjing for custody!
This is obviously not right.

They are the leaders who are secretly communicating with the Japanese pirates. How could they not know who is really communicating with the Japanese pirates and who is not?
These local tyrants and gentry did not have any secret dealings with the Japanese pirates!
To put it bluntly, he is just a rich landlord in the village. Why would he collude with the Japanese pirates?
They don't need these people to collude with the Japanese pirates.

It is obvious that this is the work of the little emperor.

The little emperor wanted to use this trick to quell the craftsmen’s riots!

Is this still available?

(End of this chapter)