The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 379 Anyone who dares not to be honest will be killed
Wanli issued a secret order, and a strange scene suddenly appeared in the southeast.

The craftsmen who had originally caused trouble suddenly stopped.

These guys actually packed up their belongings and ran away with their families on a boat!

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Guozuo, the Governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, ordered the house to be searched.

After the Jinyiwei and Shenshuying soldiers spread out and posted the confessions, they simultaneously started to raid the homes of the local tyrants and gentry.

They loaded gold, silver, valuables, food, even pots, pans, and household items onto the chariots, and when they were full, they pulled them onto the boats.

This kind of confiscating is quite time-consuming. If you only confiscate gold, silver and other valuables, it might take several trucks to load them.

After all, these are just local tycoons and gentry, not corrupt officials in the court, and it is impossible for the gold, silver and other valuables in their homes to pile up like mountains.

The problem is that if you add food, pots, pans, and household items, it's a different story. These things take up a lot of space. It would probably take at least dozens of trucks to empty the house of a wealthy country gentleman.

This is a bit abnormal. These things are not worth much. Why go through all the trouble to steal them?
Are they just bored or are they mentally ill?
In fact, they did it on purpose. They were waiting for someone to stop them.

If they just wanted to confiscate gold, silver and valuables, they would rush in and confiscate everything, load them onto the chariot, and then drive away. It would only take a few hours to confiscate the gold, silver and valuables from a wealthy country gentleman's house.

In this case, the relatives and friends of these local tycoons and gentry might have already loaded their gold, silver and other valuables onto the ship and left before they could even react.

They copied so slowly, moving things around constantly, that they might not be able to finish copying every family in a day, so the relatives and friends of the local tycoons and gentry had plenty of time to react.

So, do the relatives and friends of these local tyrants dare to stop them?

Zhu Guozuo used many tricks to lure the relatives and friends of these local tyrants and gentry into taking action. This deliberate slow copying was just a small trick. He also deliberately concealed the news.

He did not behead those local tyrants and gentry in public. He did it in Longjiangzhou, and after beheading them, he ordered people to take them to a deserted island overseas and bury them without leaking any information.

In this way, the relatives and friends of these local tyrants and gentry would think that they were still alive, and they would not dare to attack them.

In addition, he deliberately dispersed the Jinyiwei and Shenshuying soldiers and did not gather them together to search one house at a time.

There were five to six thousand local tyrants and gentry arrested this time. Among the 120,000 soldiers of the Shenshu Camp, there were only about twenty people in each family. Among the tens of thousands of Jinyiwei, there were only one or two people in each family. If the navy soldiers who were originally seized were included, there were less than thirty people in each family.

More than 20 of them ran into someone else's territory and raided their house so brazenly, and no one dared to stop them?

That is of course impossible.

These local tycoons and gentry have at least a few relatives and friends, and if you add their servants, guards, and confidants, there would be more than thirty people.

What's more, some local tyrants and gentry have dozens or even hundreds of relatives and friends, so it's impossible to scare them with such a small group of people.

The Jinyiwei and Shenshuying soldiers had barely made one move when someone came out to stop them.

The relatives and friends of the local tyrants and gentry came with dozens or even hundreds of people, looking very aggressive and ready to take action if the search and seizure did not stop.

The Jinyiwei and Shenshuying soldiers were not vague either. After giving a warning, they started to arrest the ringleaders.

They caught him, pressed his finger, and stabbed him with a knife!

Anyone among these people's servants, guards or close confidants who dares to attack them will be killed with a knife!

If there are too many people taking action and they feel they are overwhelmed, they will run to the boat.

The naval officers and soldiers on the ship raised their guns and fired without hesitation!

To be honest, this is a bit too much.

There is no such article in the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

It was wrong for people to stop the Jinyiwei and Shenshuying teams from confiscating property. It could be said that it violated the laws of the Ming Dynasty, but it did not warrant the death penalty.

The Jinyiwei and Shenshuying soldiers caught the man and killed him with a single knife, which was really a bit too much.

By doing this, they have stirred up a hornet's nest again.

Countless officials at the local level and in the imperial court submitted impeachment petitions. Many people called Zhu Guozuo a butcher, saying how could he kill innocent people so indiscriminately?
When these impeachment memorials reached the cabinet, Shen Li was shocked.

This guy Zhu Guozuo probably kills tens of thousands of people a day!
Early in the morning at about noon, Wanli had just come to the imperial study and sat down when Shen Li ran in with a pile of memorials.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Shen Li said anxiously, "Your Majesty, it's bad. Zhaolong is killing people indiscriminately in the southeast!" Oh, the killing has begun.

Wanli took the impeachment memorial calmly and read it, and couldn't help but sneer.

Butcher Zhu?
If this nickname is given to a civil servant, it means that this guy has gone too far and treats people like pigs.

There was also a butcher named Zhu during the Jiajing period.

At that time, Zhu Wan killed people without any regard for the consequences, which caused local and court officials to impeach him frantically.

As a result, Emperor Jiajing could not withstand the pressure and dismissed Zhu the butcher from his post, investigated him, and brought him back to the capital to vent his anger. Zhu Wan was forced to commit suicide by drinking poison.

Now local and court officials have begun to join forces to put pressure on him. They also want to kill Zhu Guozuo to vent their anger.

Can the butcher I sent out help you vent your anger?

Wanli calmly read the impeachment memorial and then said calmly, "Zhaolong's killing is not indiscriminate. He sent people to confiscate the property, and someone dared to stop him. These guys are trying to make trouble."

If you let Zhu Guozuo continue killing like this, they might really want to rebel!
Shen Li said anxiously, "Your Majesty, Zhaolong has killed too many people. It's only been one day, and I'm afraid he must have killed tens of thousands. Moreover, it will take at least two or three days for the memorial and news to reach the capital. I don't know how many he has killed in these few days."

What are you afraid of?
Wanli said calmly, "It's time to clean up the local forces. They even dared to stop the Jinyiwei and the soldiers from the Beijing Camp sent by me. I don't know how arrogant they are in the local area.

These guys are used to bullying others by taking advantage of their power. They must have oppressed the common people a lot on a daily basis. They think that they can do whatever they want because the emperor is far away. I want to let them know what the law is.

You are right.

The problem is, we can't just kill them without caring about anything.

Shen Li was still worried and said, "Your Majesty, Zhao Long didn't kill just one or two people, or one or two thousand, he killed tens of thousands.

If these local forces are killed, they will risk everything and unite to fight against the imperial court, which will cause great trouble. "

Tsk, I'm not afraid of shit!
Wanli remained calm and said, "Zhonghua, you probably don't know how many troops I have, right?

Now there are 360,000 troops in the Beijing Camp alone, and each border town has 100,000 troops. There are also naval officers and soldiers, and the local chieftains of the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Regional Military Commission. All these add up to more than two million.

I have told you this, please don't spread it out. It's not that I don't have troops to reinforce my vassal state, Korea. I am just waiting for the opportunity. The time has not come yet, so I have not sent troops to reinforce.

If those local forces in the southeast dare to unite and fight against the imperial court, I will send troops to kill them all! "

Shen Li was stunned when he heard this.

He never cared about the affairs of the border troops and navy officers and soldiers. The food and wages of these people were not paid by the Ministry of Revenue. As for the local chieftains and soldiers of the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Xingdusi, he had no idea how many there were.

Wanli wouldn't have asked about these things unless he told him.

Originally, he thought that Wanli relied on the 360,000 soldiers of the Beijing Camp, but who knew that the Ming Dynasty now had more than two million troops!

If this is the case, then those local forces in the southeast are really nothing.

He was stunned for a moment, then slowly nodded and said, "Your Majesty is wise, I was overthinking it."

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "You can't blame me for overthinking it. I have been deliberately hiding the exact number of troops in the Ming Dynasty from the officials in the court.

You just need to know this, and don't tell anyone else. There are still many traitors in the court who are collaborators with the enemy and the country, and I have to hide it from them.

You don't need to worry about Zhaolong's affairs. Let him kill anyone who dares to disobey. This time, I want to clean up the local forces in the southeast."

Shen Li bowed repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Well, go and do your thing. Remember, don't tell anyone what I told you."

Shen Li quickly bowed and took his leave.

Wanli looked at his back and thought carefully, then said decisively: "Xiao Hai, tell someone to pass on my oral instructions and tell Zhaolong that he doesn't need to care about how others impeach him. He only needs to remember one sentence: whoever dares to act lawless will be killed!"

What this means is, good job killing, keep going, I fully support you.

(End of this chapter)