The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 193 Officials force people to rebel

The next day.

In the main hall of the governor's office, Li Xianmu sat upright, with an image of the sun in the blue sky hanging high behind him, inscribed with the four characters "Great Sun and Universe". In front of him was a table with various command tokens on it.

Below the hall, two rows of chairs were arranged on each side, each with more than a dozen chairs. The Imperial Guards and the Eastern Depot agents were on the left and right, their eyes gleaming and exuding a menacing aura.

Officials of the fourth or fifth rank and above from Shandong Province walked in with trepidation, stared at by the fierce-looking Imperial Guards behind them, and dared not even sit down fully in their chairs.

Looking up at Li Xianmu, the governor of Shandong, he saw that this demon who had devised the law of killing one official for every two officials still had a cold face and was as indifferent as a clay sculpture.

Li Xianmu looked down at the crowd.

Crisis, crisis, but within crisis lies opportunity.

The chaos in Shandong certainly turned the province into a living hell, but it also created more opportunities for covert operations.

Just as some people wanted to take advantage of the chaos to attack Li Xianmu.

Coincidentally, Li Xianmu thought the same thing.

In Qufu, Shandong, the residence of the Duke Yansheng, Li Xianmu couldn't help but fantasize that it would be perfect if he could lead a mutinous army to Qufu and massacre the Duke Yansheng's mansion.

While it is impossible to sever the lineage of the Duke Yansheng, it will certainly severely damage the Duke Yansheng system and create some preconditions for the Li family to replace the Duke Yansheng in the future.

Moreover, even from a personal emotional perspective, Li Xianmu was quite dissatisfied with the Duke Yansheng's mansion. This corrupt and stinking family was a disgrace to the entire Confucian school and even the Han people, and should have disappeared from this world long ago.

As the Left Vice Minister of Shandong entered the main hall, Li Xianmu withdrew his thoughts, looked around at everyone, and got straight to the point: "When I came here, my elders told me that I must use both kindness and severity to motivate you to do your work and end the Shandong rebellion as soon as possible."

But you beasts are not worthy of my grace.

In my presence, there is only authority.

Those who are willing should work hard to survive; those who are unwilling should speak up now, or I will order the execution of their entire family.

Li Xianmu's revisiting of the old matter caused the atmosphere in the hall to freeze instantly, as if even the air itself was about to solidify.

Almost everyone held their breath, panic flashing between their brows. Troops were stationed outside Jinan City, while the Imperial Envoy's residence and the Governor's Office inside the city were protected by layers of Embroidered Uniform Guards and Imperial Guards. Ordinary people who approached were warned and driven away the first time, and shot dead the second time.

With such tight security, it was obvious to everyone that Li Xianmu was guarding against the Shandong officials resorting to desperate measures.

What does this mean?
This shows that Li Xianmu was not joking at all; if he were ranked in the bottom half, he really would kill someone!
They feel a sense of pleasure when they bully others, but when the guillotine falls on their own heads, they are filled with fear and trembling.

Li Xianmu waited a few moments, then said calmly, "Since none of you are speaking, it must mean that you all agree with what I said yesterday and are willing to live."

well.

Whether you live or die depends on how great your deeds are.

Today marks the first day of official recording.

"I now wish to understand the situation in the counties under the jurisdiction of each prefecture and state in Shandong. The clearer and more accurate the information, the greater the reward. Let's begin with the Prefect of Jinan."

Want to know about the situation in Shandong?

Everyone involuntarily turned their gaze to the Imperial Guards and the Eastern Depot agents. They simply couldn't believe that someone as intelligent as Li Xianmu would be completely ignorant of the situation in Shandong and come to ask them for information.

This must be another trap!

Li Xianmu must have already investigated the general situation in Shandong. If anyone here speaks falsehoods, they will immediately be killed.

Thinking this, the prefect of Jinan was already sweating profusely, feeling that there were deadly traps and deadly dangers everywhere in front of Li Xianmu.

These officials were indeed quite intelligent, but unfortunately, they only guessed half of it correctly. In fact, while Li Xianmu was setting a trap for them, he did not completely trust the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot.

There was also the idea of ​​using these Shandong officials to keep a close eye on the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot.

At any time, the worst thing you can do is to listen to only one side of the story; you should always listen to opinions from multiple sources to make the right decision.

"Your Excellency, Jinan Prefecture was relatively well-prepared this time, so the disaster it suffered was not too severe. It could have protected the people. However, because the rebel bandits were causing trouble mainly near Mount Tai, in order to maintain the stability of the country, it was necessary to conscript people for military service, which is why there is chaos in Jinan Prefecture."

The Jinan prefect spoke in a low voice, with a hint of guilt, “Currently, there are four major rebel groups in Jinan Prefecture, all gathered near Mount Tai. The previous commander failed to suppress the bandits effectively, leaving this legacy to this day.”

The prefect was merely a civil official, and in principle, matters such as rebels were not under his jurisdiction. It was normal for him to shift the blame to the commander-in-chief.

In addition, Mount Tai has always been a place where rebels have been entrenched. Among them, the Mount Tai bandits during the Three Kingdoms period were quite famous. They eventually formed the Qingzhou Army, which became one of the largest military forces under Cao Cao.

It wasn't until the reign of Cao Pi that the separatist situation ended and the military power of Qing and Xu provinces was completely reclaimed.

These words essentially absolved him of all responsibility. Just as the prefect of Jinan was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he saw something flying towards him. The next instant, he felt a sharp pain on his forehead, and then with a "clang," a wooden plaque the size of a palm fell to the ground, stained with traces of blood.

He looked up at his forehead in a daze and touched it. He stared blankly at the glaring blood in his hand. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he realized that his head had been smashed open and was bleeding. Just as he was about to scream, a quick-thinking Imperial Guard stepped forward and covered his mouth, leaving him only able to make muffled sounds. Once he came to his senses and stopped struggling, the Imperial Guard slowly released him.

Looking at Li Xianmu, who sat at the head of the table, with his extremely cold eyes, the prefect of Jinan did not dare to ask why he had been beaten.

Then, to everyone's astonishment, a physician who shouldn't have been there suddenly appeared and went to apply medicine and bandages to the prefect of Jinan, just like...

It was as if they had known this would happen all along.

The Jinan prefect who had been beaten dared not speak, and the others dared not speak either, fearing that they would be the next to be beaten. The atmosphere became increasingly oppressive, the air was completely frozen, and even breathing became difficult.

After a long silence, Li Xianmu closed his eyes slightly and asked calmly, "Do you know why I hit you?"

The prefect of Jinan stammered, "Reporting to the governor, this official...this official does not know."

"Why do you think these people are rebelling? Why are they choosing to be traitors instead of obedient subjects of the court?"

The prefect of Jinan naturally quoted the definition that has been around for thousands of years: "Naturally, it is because they have never read the books of sages and do not understand what propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame are, so they do such shameless things."

There was a famous saying in the Ming Dynasty: "It's better to be a mantis trying to escape the starvation than a starving corpse." Whether scholars actually said this is unclear, but they certainly thought this way.

There is an even more famous saying in Neo-Confucianism: "Starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a great matter." This saying was naturally said to women, but it can be understood from Neo-Confucianism's concept of chastity.

Therefore, Li Xianmu was not surprised that the prefect of Jinan would say such a thing. He simply asked again, "Then why do you think the late emperor rebelled? And why do you think the current emperor didn't wait peacefully in Yan for Jian Shuren to kill him?"

The Jinan prefect was instantly speechless, his face turning deathly pale in the blink of an eye, sweat dripping down his face and running into his eyes, but he dared not raise his hand to wipe it away.

There are some things that could be said in the past, but cannot be said in the present Ming Dynasty.

Because the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty rose from beggar to emperor, emerging from the surging rebel armies at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Li Zhongwen had a clear definition of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty while he was still alive.

The current emperor rose to power by suppressing rebellions and ascended the throne under the pretext of eliminating tyrants.

"Throughout history, only Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, have risen from commoners to become rulers of the world. If they could live well, who would choose the path of rebellion, a path of no return?"

Li Xianmu spoke calmly, but everyone could hear the anger in his voice: "I believe there must be troublemakers like the White Lotus Sect among the people who have always wanted to rebel."

But aren't most ordinary people forced to—because of corrupt officials like you?

Li Xianmu's voice suddenly changed from calm to stern, "Is it because the officials forced the people to rebel?"

Officials! Forced! People! Revolted!
The four words silenced the entire room completely; not a sound could be heard!

(End of this chapter)