The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 69 How Dark Can Human Hearts Be
The next morning, before dawn, the entire capital seemed to be still asleep and peaceful.

Suddenly, a thunderous sound of horse hooves was heard in the imperial city.

This scared all the officials who got up early and rushed to the major government offices to report for duty.

The little emperor just issued an order to arrest all nine clans of Zhang Cheng yesterday. Why is he going crazy so early in the morning?
Soon, a group of hundreds of Jinyiwei swarmed out from the left gate of Chang'an and headed straight for the Jinyiwei Yamen in the south.

Wanli was among them.

He seemed to be addicted to impersonating a Jinyiwei, and he felt that after putting on the Feiyu suit and a fake beard, he was like a different person. Few people could recognize him, and it was very convenient for him to act.

So, he simply put on a Feiyu suit and a fake beard, hid among the Jinyiwei, left the imperial city directly, and headed straight for the Northern Pacification Office.

The reason why he got up so early was to interrogate Li Wenquan. He had to interrogate Li Wenquan before Empress Dowager Li received the news, otherwise, that stupid woman would definitely make trouble with him again.

At this moment, the Northern Pacification Prison was extremely dark, and the oil lamps in the holes in the wall were flickering, as if they would go out at any time.

Li Wenquan, the son of Wuqing Marquis, lay on the cold stone floor, looking at the shadow of the cage pillar swaying back and forth with the light, his eyes full of panic.

He had been up all night and couldn't fall asleep.

The pain in his mouth was only one factor; the key issue was that he was anxious.

This is the imperial prison, the most terrifying place in legend. Once you enter the imperial prison, losing a layer of skin is the least of your worries. Countless people have died in the imperial prison.

He is afraid.

Zhang Cheng rebelled and his entire clan was implicated. Could his nephew Wanli forgive him?

He really didn't know if he could get out of the imperial prison alive.

Although it was the middle of summer, he felt a chill in his heart, as if he had fallen into a bottomless abyss.

He was just daydreaming when several jailers suddenly came running towards him.

Soon, the cell door was opened.

The two jailers picked him up and dragged him out without hesitation.

The sound of the handcuffs and leg irons dragging on the ground was very pervasive.

Are they going to be dragged out and beheaded or tortured?

He couldn't help but said in panic: "What do you want to do? I'm not rebelling."

The jailer ignored him and dragged him into an interrogation room full of torture instruments and threw him on the ground.

Li Wenquan raised his head with horror and took a look, and was stunned.

The five Jinyiwei here are actually the same five from Zheng’s Cloth Shop yesterday!
However, at this moment, there was only one person sitting behind the desk, and two were kneeling in front of a small table beside it, apparently responsible for recording the confessions, and the other two were standing on both sides of the desk.

Rumor has it that one of these five was Wanli in disguise, and Zhang Cheng was charged with treason because he led the Dongchang men to assassinate Wanli.

He was stunned for a moment, then took a closer look in the light of the lamp. Then he couldn't help but fall to the ground and cry out, "Your Majesty, please spare me. I didn't know it was you yesterday."

Do you recognize me now?

You are as stupid as that stupid woman, Empress Dowager Li.

Wanli said coldly, "You don't even know who it is, so why are you taking the Beijing Camp Guards to Zheng's Cloth Shop to arrest him?"

Didn’t I see my brother-in-law Zhang Xin being beaten?

No, this kid Zhang Xin will definitely be implicated and can no longer recognize him as his brother-in-law.

Li Wenquan quickly explained, "Your Majesty, I really don't know what happened. It was Zhang Xin who tricked me away."

You are such a pig!

Wanli was quite annoyed and said, "You took the Beijing garrison to arrest people without knowing what was going on. Do you still have any respect for the law?"

Zhang Xin, you are really killing people.

Li Wenquan said weakly, "Your Majesty, it was Zhang Xin who deceived me, saying that the Jinyiwei were lawless and even dared to attack him."

There are some serious problems with this Zhang Xin, and we must examine him carefully later.

It seems that Li Wenquan was really unaware and was deceived.

Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you want to be implicated or not?"

Of course I don't want to be implicated. If I am implicated, I will be beheaded! Li Wenquan said with hope on his face: "Your Majesty, I really had no idea that Zhang Cheng was plotting treason. Your Majesty, please spare my life."

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "I can forgive you, but you must tell the truth to everything I ask you from now on. Otherwise, you will be Zhang Cheng's accomplice and must be executed according to the law!"

Li Wenquan nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, okay, I will tell you the truth."

Wanli asked solemnly, "Are you doing business with the three great families of Puzhou in the field of military uniforms?"

what?
Why are you asking about business?
Compared to treason, this is nothing.

Li Wenquan nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, yes, we have been partnering with them in the border army uniform business."

Always?
Wanli asked, "When did you start this business with them?"

Li Wenquan recalled, "It was probably the second or third year of the Longqing reign. I can't remember exactly, because it was my father who started it with them."

This has been going on for more than ten years?

Wanli then asked, "How much do you make in a year, and how much does it cost?"

Li Wenquan said without hesitation, "The uniforms of the nine border towns are rotated every three years. Every year, three border towns are replaced. Two sets of plain clothes and two sets of cotton clothes. Each border town costs at least 30,000 and up to 50,000. Plain clothes are one tael of silver per set, and cotton clothes are two taels of silver per set."

This may not seem like much, but it is actually quite scary. A border town can make at least 30,000 and as much as 50,000, with an average of 40,000. Three border towns make 120,000. Two sets of light clothes plus two sets of cotton clothes make 6 taels. In other words, they can do a business of 700,000 to 800,000 taels a year, and every year.

No wonder Yang Bo, Wang Chonggu, Fang Fengshi and Wu Dui have always wanted to hold the position of Minister of War. The military uniforms for the border troops alone cost hundreds of thousands of taels a year, and we don't know how much other food and supplies cost.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "How do you calculate the money?"

Li Wenquan said without hesitation: "They are responsible for providing materials, delivering goods, and collecting money, and we will hire people to do it. We can make about 10,000 sets a month, so hiring 400 to 500 people is enough.

Our costs are low, so we just send the materials to people and have them make them at home. They don't even need to build a workshop. They only need to pay a few thousand taels a year for labor. So, we get about 30%, about 200,000 taels, and the rest is theirs."

You guys are really making a lot of money, you can earn 200,000 taels with just a few thousand taels of wages a year!

How much does it cost to own the three great families in Puzhou?
Wanli pressed on, "How much does it cost them to buy the goods?"

This one.

Li Wenquan hesitated.

There is indeed something fishy here.

Seeing this, Wanli said coldly: "If you don't want to be implicated, tell the truth."

Hearing this, Li Wenquan gritted his teeth and said, "It seems that the cloth they imported was woven by someone else themselves. They only wanted to make it quickly, but the weaving was not good. The cotton cloth on the market costs about three pieces of one tael of silver, but with the weaving method they use, one tael of silver would probably cost more than six pieces.

One piece of cloth can make ten sets of single clothes or five sets of cotton clothes. The cost of importing the cloth is estimated to be around 10,000 taels.

As for the cotton, I don't know where they get it from, it's all clumped together and can't even be spun apart. I guess they only spend less than 10,000 taels of this rag-and-bone cotton every year."

This business makes a profit of 500,000 taels with a cost of about 20,000 taels?
Wanli said coldly: "The cotton has clumped into pieces, so it's definitely not warm. Didn't the border troops impeach them?"

This one.

It seems that I don't need to keep the secret for the three major families in Puzhou. If I don't tell the truth, I will be implicated.

Li Wenquan looked at Wanli's face and said honestly: "Many border army generals have impeached them. Liaodong is the coldest, and wearing that kind of cotton-padded clothes in winter is simply unbearable. The Liaodong border army generals impeached them the most.

However, Yang Bo was appointed Minister of War in the 34th year of Jiajing, and the Jianzhou Jurchens began to rebel in the 36th year of Jiajing. Moreover, Liaodong was constantly invaded by the northern barbarians. Three generals were killed in battle, five deputy generals were killed in battle, and four commanders-in-chief were killed in battle.

My father said that the three great families in Puzhou are very evil-minded, so it's best not to offend them."

The three great families of Puzhou!

You guys have really dark hearts!
No wonder Liaodong has been plagued by constant wars.

Liaodong is just a border town at this moment and there is no money at all. What are those guys going to rob?

If we say that the Jiannu rebellion was forced to face the Liaodong border troops, then it is barely understandable.

There is something wrong with the Northern Barbarians invading Liaodong every year!
They could easily invade the more prosperous Xuanda, Shanxi, and even the capital!
Liaodong has the largest number of border troops, with 25 garrisons fully staffed with a total of 140,000 border troops stationed there!

The border garrison of Jizhou Town is less than half of that of Liaodong Town. The Northern Barbarians left the rich land of the capital and went to the bitter cold land of Liaodong to fight with more than 100,000 border garrisons. Are they crazy?
It seems that the Northern Tartars are not sick, but the three major powerful families in Puzhou want to defeat the Liaodong border army so that they can make money!

The interests of the three major families in Puzhou in Liaodong are definitely more than just the money for the border troops' uniforms.

In the second year of Wanli, the Jianzhou Jurchen bandit chieftain Wang Gao was defeated by Li Chengliang. The Tatar Tumed tribe immediately joined forces with the Taining tribe to invade Liaodong, dispersing the Liaodong border army's strength from the west!
At that time, Altan Khan had already signed the Longqing Agreement and joined forces with the Taining tribe to invade Liaodong?

What is there to steal in Liaodong that is worth going thousands of miles against the agreement?
It seems that the three major families in Puzhou had close ties with the Jiannu during the Jiajing period!
(End of this chapter)