The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 75 Crazy House Raid
What else should be done before the massacre?
That is naturally a house search.

Historically, Chongzhen did not do this well, or did not realize it.

If the imperial court or the emperor has no money, then the corrupt officials will be investigated and confiscated.

Officials in the capital have plenty of money, especially corrupt officials. The money in their hands is definitely enough to organize and train a powerful army.

Chongzhen seemed not to realize this. For example, in the case of Wei Zhongxian's treason, the hundreds of eunuchs were all very rich, but Chongzhen did not even raid their homes. As a result, all their money was taken away by others!

There's a reason why this guy ended up being so poor that he had no money to pay food and wages.

It seemed that Chongzhen killed people just for the sake of killing, killing indiscriminately without any purpose.

For example, his killing of Yuan Chonghuan, Xiong Wencan, Zheng Chongjian, Liu Ce and other six high-ranking officials at the level of Shangshu is somewhat puzzling.

Emperor Hongwu had a purpose for his massacre.

So many people were killed in the Hu Weiyong case in order to take back power from the civil servants.

So many people were killed in the Lan Yu case in order to take back the power from the military generals.

So many people were killed in the Empty Seal Case in order to intimidate officials, clarify the administration of officials, and prevent the abuse of power for personal gain.

So many people were killed in the Guo Huan case in order to punish corrupt officials and prevent corruption in the officialdom.

Wanli's killing spree this time was not only to deal with Zhang Siwei's gang, but also to get money to develop military force.

He had thought of this a long time ago. He wanted to confiscate the property and make money.

No one knows how much benefit Zhang Siwei and his gang have seized from the Ming Dynasty. They all have plenty of money. It would be a waste if we don't confiscate their homes and use the money to develop military forces.

As for why the property had to be raided before the killing spree, it was because killing and then raiding was completely different from raiding and then killing.

Before he started killing, who knew who he was going to kill?
At this time, no one knew how many people he wanted to kill.

More importantly, even if the entire family is implicated in treason, the servants, guards and slaves in those people's homes will not be implicated.

If he hadn't started the killing spree, no one knew who would die.

The servants, guards and slaves in those people's homes naturally did not dare to act recklessly.

The master is still here, who dares to mess around? If they dare to mess around, if the master comes back, it would be strange if he doesn't punish them.

If he started a massacre and killed everyone, the servants, guards and slaves in those people's homes would probably scatter immediately.

Moreover, they will take as much property as they can. The owner is gone, so it would be a waste not to take it.

Therefore, before starting a killing spree, you must ransack the house. If you kill them first and then ransack the house, you probably won’t be able to find much.

After Wanli reprimanded Wu Dui, he immediately ordered people to gather Duke Yingguo Zhang Yuangong, Marquis of Penglai Qi Jiguang, Grand Secretary of the Cabinet Yu Youcai, Minister of War Liang Menglong, Left Censor-in-Chief of the Inspectorate Gao Maocai, Li Xuancheng, Shan Sinan and others to the imperial study.

These people are all his confidants, so he naturally doesn't need to pretend to doubt this and that anymore.

After everyone arrived, he immediately said solemnly, "This Zhang Cheng rebellion case has wide-ranging implications. Some people were deceived into coming here, some have nothing to do with the rebellion, and some, even though they had no direct involvement, must be punished. We must consider this carefully."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded solemnly.

But they didn't say anything because they didn't know who Wanli was going to implicate and how to deal with the implicated people.

Wanli then said coldly, "Marquis Wuding Guo Dacheng is the mastermind this time. He must be punished along with his entire clan and eradicated completely."

The line of Marquis Wuding must indeed be cleansed out.

During the Jiajing reign, once Wuding Hou Guo Xun came to power, he became lawless. Not only was he corrupt and abused his power, selling official positions and titles, he also excluded dissidents, implicated innocent people, bullied others, and committed all kinds of evil.

However, because Emperor Jiajing used Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, to overthrow the faction of Prime Minister Yang Tinghe, and also promoted Guo Xun to Duke Yiguo and Grand Tutor, severely punishing Guo Xun would be a slap in the face.

Therefore, no matter how the court officials impeached Guo Xun, no matter how many lawless things Guo Xun did, Emperor Jiajing did not investigate further.

Emperor Jiajing simply imprisoned Guo Xun and left him to fend for himself. He did not even strip him of his title of Marquis Wuding, but let his son inherit it.

This time, Marquis Wuding Guo Dacheng turned out to be the mastermind of the rebellion, so he must be eradicated and killed. Otherwise, if Marquis Wuding's family comes to power in the future, who knows how many people will suffer.

When everyone heard this, they nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Wanli decisively ordered: "Yingzhen, you order Lu Yi to throw all the relatives of Wuding Hou into the imperial prison."

Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen bowed without hesitation and said, "I obey your order."

Wanli then said coldly, "Although Zhang Jing was not directly involved this time, most of the people who took action were from the East Depot. The East Depot cannot allow this guy to be in charge any longer. My dear uncle, draft an imperial decree to promote you to the position of Chief Secretary of the Imperial Household Department and Commander of the East Depot."

Uh, I draft an edict to promote myself?

Hearing this, Li Xuancheng said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I can't leave your side. How can I manage this East Factory?"

This one is simple.

Wanli said without hesitation: "You will use Yuan Gong's relatives to manage the East Factory. All the thousand households, hundred households, big bosses, bosses, and general flags of the East Factory will be replaced by relatives of the Duke of Yingguo."

This is actually simple. The East Factory actually has only about a thousand people. All we need to do is replace the people in charge from top to bottom.

Li Xuancheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, I understand."

Wanli then said to Liang Menglong, the Minister of War, "Qianji, we can no longer leave the Wuqing Marquisate to make uniforms for the border troops. They use the worst cloth and cotton collected from scraps. I don't know if the border troops can wear a single coat for three years, and cotton clothes are not warm at all.

From now on, the uniforms for the frontier troops will be made by the Duke of Ying.

The Minister of War Liang Menglong bowed without hesitation and said, "Your humble servant obeys your order."

Upon hearing this, Duke Yingguo Zhang Yuangong's eyes lit up. That was hundreds of thousands of taels of profit a year. This good thing had finally come to him.

He thought for a moment, then asked carefully, "Your Majesty, are unlined garments still considered one tael per set, and cotton-padded garments two taels per set?"

Wanli nodded slowly and said, “Well, there’s no need to change this price.

However, you must use good materials. The best cotton cloth costs only one tael of silver for three bolts, so 400,000 to 500,000 sets of single and cotton-padded clothes would cost a little over 20,000 taels. The best cotton costs only about three taels of silver per dan, so 200,000 to 300,000 sets of cotton-padded clothes would cost 40,000 to 500,000 taels. You can't skimp on this money."

Duke Yingguo Zhang Yuangong nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, I will definitely use the best materials."

It seems that you have no business sense.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "What about Yue'er? Didn't her father say he would give her to me as a concubine?"

Oops, I forgot about this.

Duke Yingguo Zhang Yuangong slapped his forehead and said, "Okay, I will have Da Nian escort Yue'er to the palace."

Do you think I am only after beautiful women?
Wanli explained in detail: "After Yue'er enters the palace, I will give her the title of Fragrant Concubine, so that Danian will be the father-in-law of the emperor.

In the future, you should cooperate with Da Nian to develop the cloth and clothing business. You should build more weaving workshops, and the carpenters in the Summer Resort can make the spinning and weaving machines. You should recruit more people, because in the future, you will be responsible for making the military uniforms for the Beijing garrison.

There are also official robes, yamen runners' uniforms, etc. In the future, I will also provide special work clothes for various craftsmen, and I can let you make all of these.

However, most of the profits will be used for military expenses, and you and Da Nian can only take 10% each."

The Beijing garrison has to be expanded to 300,000 or 400,000 people, and we don’t know how many officials, yamen runners, and craftsmen there are.

If this business becomes successful, the profit will probably increase more than tenfold. By then, even 10% will be more than what we get now!

Duke Yingguo Zhang Yuangong nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, Your Majesty, we will open as many workshops as you say, and we will hire as many people as you say."

It’s hard to say now.

Wanli thought about it carefully and then said decisively: "Yingzhen, Yuanjing, you are responsible for confiscating the property. Go and confiscate all the relatives of Wuding Hou, all the relatives of Zhang Cheng, as well as the homes of He Qiming and Wuqing Hou's son Li Wenquan.

Remember, first send people to surround these people's mansions, drive out all the maids, servants, housekeepers, guards, etc. inside, and then search carefully one by one.

My dear Minister Gao, the Inspectorate will be responsible for keeping accounts. You should assign all the newly promoted censors this year to keep accounts. All financial property must be recorded clearly, and the gold and silver must be sent directly to the Qianqing Palace.

You should hand over all the property you have copied to the British public workshop, and sell the rest to the British shop. You should pay them 10% of the wages, and send the rest of the sales proceeds to the Qianqing Palace.

Upon hearing this, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen, Marquis of Penglai Qi Jiguang, and the Left Censor-in-Chief Gao Maocai of the Supervisory Office hurriedly bowed and said, "Your humble servants obey your command."

What followed was a frantic house search.

There are hundreds of relatives in the Wuding Marquis's Mansion. Although Zhang Cheng's relatives are not many, there are still dozens of them. The families of the Minister of Works He Qiming and the Wuqing Marquis's son Li Wenquan are so rich that it is unknown how rich they are.

The Jinyiwei and the soldiers of the Beijing Camp searched without any regard for anything, while the carriages carrying gold and silver continued to be sent to the Qianqing Palace, and there were even more carriages carrying other valuables.

The people of the capital city were really satisfied this time. No one knew how many houses that guy would raid. He raided from morning to night, every day, as if he would never finish.

The Shen Shixing and Zhang Siwei factions and those corrupt officials in the court were terrified.

The little emperor is so crazy about confiscating property, will it be their turn later?

(End of this chapter)