Da Ming: I told you to die for your cause, why are you actually going to die?

Chapter 193 This is simply... a real-life version of tragedy! [Requesting double monthly votes]

After returning to the official residence, Zhang Biao did not immediately take action.

He recalled his plan and realized that a crucial element seemed to be missing.

The previous "wage claim" movement, coupled with the later "audit" storm, although driven by his "desire to die" and a catharsis for the suffering of the world's underclass, ultimately resonated with people.

If those people hadn't truly suffered, they wouldn't have gone mad with Zhang Biao.

It's like in modern society, where everyone has meat to eat and clothes to wear. If you say we should rebel, people will just think you're crazy.

Therefore, now that we have the design plans for the upper level, we still need to build the foundation for the lower level.

Thinking of this, Zhang Biao remembered Shen Lang and the other four.

If Lao Zhu and the others remember him, then Shen Lang and the other four will definitely not forget him.

However, it's clearly too late to go find them now.

Because there is still one day before Zhu Yunwen is made crown prince.
"Yes! We must create a stir within a day! Catch Old Zhu off guard! Make it impossible for the grand court assembly to proceed!"

"but."

Zhang Biao pondered for a moment, then muttered something slightly odd:
"Does Old Zhu still have the mind to hold a grand court assembly?"

"The eldest grandson of the emperor died under mysterious circumstances. As the biggest beneficiary, did the second grandson, Zhu Yunwen, really have no suspicions at all? That doesn't make sense."

"Besides, even if Zhu Yunwen is too young to do such a thing, what about his mother? Lady Lü can't escape responsibility, can she?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Biao suddenly remembered something and sat up in bed.

He remembered that Lady Lü was made the official wife by Crown Prince Zhu Biao in the sixteenth year of the Hongwu reign, while Zhu Xiong Ying died in the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign.

Although there was a difference of several months in time, the key point is that if Zhu Xiong Ying were alive, she would never have been promoted to the position of official wife.

Only when Zhu Xiong Ying died and had no eldest son could his son Zhu Yunwen have the opportunity to become the nominal eldest son.

From this perspective, she certainly had a strong motive.

Zhang Biao stroked his chin, the more he thought about it, the more something seemed off.

However, given Old Zhu's suspicious nature, he couldn't possibly have been unaware of this situation.

So why didn't he punish Lady Lü? Was it because Lady Lü was truly innocent? Or was he deliberately ignoring the matter for Zhu Yunwen's sake?

After all, in his eyes, Zhu Yunwen was quite good; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone on a killing spree for Zhu Yunwen, causing the "Lan Yu Case."

Unfortunately, he was still old and his eyesight was failing, so he misjudged the situation.

Zhu Yunwen was the "pure and filial" imperial grandson in front of him, but after his death, he was like a completely different person, a two-faced individual.

Ugh, the Zhu family's affairs are so dramatic, each one more outrageous than the last.

[Their descendants won't have much of anything good.]

However, you can investigate your family's affairs yourself; I have important business to attend to!

Thinking of this, Zhang Biao shook his head, trying not to think about the Zhu family's affairs. Then he got up from the bed and prepared to go through the procedures at the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue to set up the "Great Ming Anti-Corruption Bureau".

He wanted to use the name of the Anti-Corruption Bureau to make Old Zhu shoot himself in the foot.

After all, in his eyes, Zhu Yuanzhang was the biggest parasite of the Ming Dynasty.

In particular, Old Zhu's private treasury was no different from a 'silver-insect incubator'.

However, just as he reached the door, there was a sudden knock.

"Thump! Thump—"

After a knock on the door, a slightly anxious voice called out, "Zhang Qingtian, are you home? We need to speak with you urgently!"

"Ok?"

Zhang Biao was slightly taken aback, thinking to himself, "Why are they here? Aren't they afraid of death?"
He had warned those wounded veterans who came before not to come again. He knew their intentions.

Moreover, the information they revealed to Zhang Biao was common knowledge and could not be considered illegal.

Therefore, Zhang Biao felt that Lao Zhu probably wouldn't make things difficult for them.

But what happens next is hard to say.

After all, given Old Zhu's morbid mentality, it would be difficult for him to tolerate everyone associated with "madman" Zhang Biao.

Shen Lang and the other four were already Old Zhu's bottom line.

However, since the person had arrived and seemed to be in a hurry, Zhang Biao couldn't simply ignore them.
For a moment, Zhang Biao was caught in an unprecedented dilemma.

"Imperial Censor Zhang shouldn't be here. We're doomed."

"Damn it! I might as well fight them to the death! I've been wanting to die for a long time anyway!"

"No, Lao Zhou! What about your wife and children? What about them?"

"Crench--!"

Just as the wounded veterans were about to turn and leave, the door was gently opened.

"Brothers, come in and let's talk!"

The familiar voice reached the ears of several veterans, causing them to tremble involuntarily and turn around almost choked with emotion: "Imperial Censor Zhang."

"Alright, enough talk, come in!"

Zhang Biao waved his hand.

The veterans looked at each other, and soon they quietly entered Zhang Biao's room.

"What's going on? Didn't I tell you not to come?"

Zhang Biao looked around at the group and asked bluntly, "Why are you still acting like you're going to die?"

The veterans exchanged glances, and then the one-armed veteran explained the reason.

It turns out that the issue of military registration was set up by Old Zhu.

Once registered in the military, one becomes a military household for generations, with one's sons and grandsons all required to serve in the army.

Want to renounce your citizenship? That's harder than climbing to heaven!
If a male member of the family dies, a replacement must be found from among his sons, nephews, or even members of the same clan.

Those officials, under the guise of "recruiting laborers," forcibly conscripted men, driving families to ruin and death.

“My nephew was farming at home when a group of officials suddenly rushed in, tied him up without saying a word, and were going to send him to Gansu, thousands of miles away, to serve as a soldier. The reason was that one of his distant grandfathers, whose names he couldn’t even remember, was a military household.”

"A soldier ran away from our village, and as a result, the whole village was implicated, and even the village chief was exiled three thousand miles away!"

"This world is simply unbearable to live in! Zhang Qingtian!"

"Yes, it's truly a case of 'sitting at home and disaster strikes out of nowhere'!"

Hearing the sighs and lamentations of several wounded veterans, Zhang Biao was momentarily at a loss for words, or how to comfort them.

It has to be said that the garrison system that Zhu Yuanzhang implemented was a complete disaster.

So, what is the garrison system?
Simply put, it means that the state allocates land to soldiers, and you are farmers in peacetime, growing your own land to support yourselves.

In times of war, you are soldiers, picking up your weapons to defend your homeland.

The government will provide the equipment; you will have to figure out your own wages and food rations.

Doesn't that sound perfect? ​​It's practically the Ming Dynasty version of an "iron rice bowl," complete with official status and guaranteed land allocation.

According to the "Veritable Records of the Ming Taizu Emperor", each military household was allocated 50 mu of land, and even oxen and seeds were provided.

In the early years of the Hongwu reign, this system operated incredibly smoothly.

The Jiubian military settlements can harvest more than 20 million shi of grain a year. The border guards are well-fed and watered and can even have a little surplus.

Back then, being a soldier was an honorable profession; soldiers were true pillars of the nation.

However, the more lofty the ideal, the more skeletal the reality.

Who could have imagined that this 'perfect closed loop' designed by Old Zhu himself would, in just a few decades, become a giant sinkhole that swallowed countless families and stretched for nearly three hundred years?

Where does the problem lie? It lies in two words: human nature.

The imperial court said the land was for military households to cultivate, but what about the land deeds? They were firmly held by military officers and government officials at all levels.

This is like a company promising you shares, but the share certificates are always in the boss's safe.

Over time, the land became the private property of the officials.

During the Zhengde era, the powerful eunuch Liu Jin seized more than 10,000 mu of military farmland by himself.

What does this mean? More than three hundred military households, who should have been protecting the country, were transformed overnight from state civil servants into tenant farmers working for them.

The grain they grew was no longer military rations, but the private property of the eunuchs.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

You think soldiers only need to farm and defend cities? How naive!

The officers treated them as free 'all-purpose tools'.

Soldiers were responsible for everything from building mansions and transporting smuggled goods to even babysitting the children of officers' wives.

During the Chenghua era, soldiers in Yansui Town complained:

A minor campaign every three days, a major campaign every five days—are we soldiers or slaves?

This isn't defending the country; it's clearly selling oneself into servitude.

What's worse, much of the land around Jiubian is barren saline-alkali land, desert, and Gobi. In some garrison posts in Datong Town, "the land is all sand and gravel, and the yield per mu is no more than three dou." Even if you work yourself to the bone for a year, after paying the rent, you'll be left with nothing.

The Jiajing edition of the "Guyuan Town Chronicle" records an incident where a soldier was watering the fields in the middle of the night. He was so tired that he fell asleep and was then carried off by a wild wolf.

It's heartbreaking to hear.

Even so, there are still many people who praise the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Yuanzhang!
Zhang Biao sighed and shook his head, then looked at the veterans and asked in a deep voice:

"Aren't you disabled veterans? You should be receiving preferential treatment, so why are you being dragged into this too?"

These words were like opening a floodgate.

Bloodshot veins appeared in Old Zhou's cloudy eyes, and his voice became extremely hoarse:

"Preferential treatment? Imperial Censor Zhang, you don't know! We old folks have to pay a share when we receive our disability pensions! Do you think they'll let us take it for free?"

"Most of the things you gave us as 'debt settlement' were 'gifted' to them!"

"Otherwise, they will find ways to make things difficult for our families!"

"Yes! Although we weren't implicated, which of our relatives and friends wasn't? Compared to us, the young men in the garrison are suffering even more!"

Old Li, with his limp, wiped the rain from his face with his rough hands and replied, his tone filled with resentment:
"It's called a military settlement, but all the good fields and land have been taken over by the lords of the thousand and hundred households, as well as the estate managers of those princely mansions!"

"What we military households were allocated were all barren mountainous areas and riverside depressions. After a year of hard work, the grain we harvested wasn't even enough to pay the imperial taxes!"

"Imperial grain?"

Blind Old Sun sneered and tapped the table with his finger:

"The regular taxes are manageable, but the most troublesome are the countless miscellaneous levies and additional charges!"

"This prince has to 'assign' money to build his mansion, that duke has to 'give gifts' to celebrate his birthday, and superiors have to 'show respect' to everyone they meet!"

"Ahem. Yes! There are so many names that we can't remember them all!"

Old Qian, who was injured and ill, coughed and echoed:
"If we don't have enough grain, we'll use the little silver and cloth we have to pay for it. If that's still not enough, we'll have to sell our children!"

Zhang Biao frowned deeply: "Don't the officers of the garrison care? Doesn't the imperial court care?"

"Tube?"

Old Li scoffed, his voice tinged with endless sorrow: "Officers? They're the biggest parasites! They suck the blood of soldiers and embezzle salaries! How could anyone do without them?"

"A full-strength garrison should have 5,600 men, but in reality, we're lucky to have 3,000!"

"The remaining quota and salaries all went into the pockets of officials!"

"As for the imperial court? Fu Youwen, the Vice Minister of Revenue, and Ru Chang, the Minister of War, are the imperial court!"

Old Sun stared at Zhang Biao with his only remaining eye, his voice trembling:
"That's not all... Some princes have even wilder ambitions!"

“They secretly raised private soldiers in the fiefdoms, not daring to do it openly. Instead, they used officers from the garrison to smuggle able-bodied soldiers into their royal estates through various means. Nominally, they were tenant farmers, but in reality, they were their private soldiers!”

"The provisions, pay, and equipment are all squeezed from us, the military households!"

"Yes! I know about this!"

Old Zhou slapped his thigh suddenly: "Take Xi'an Prefecture for example, the Qin Prince's Mansion... Sigh, there are some things I dare not say, but the brothers in the garrison there are suffering terribly!"

“The military farmland was forcibly seized, and the people were sent to mine and build villas for the Prince’s mansion. If they disobeyed even slightly, they would be severely beaten, or even die of illness for no reason!”

"Ahem, and the Prince of Jin's residence too."

"Yes, although they have been stripped of their titles, the Prince's Mansion's disgraceful deeds in the fiefdom continue."

The veterans spoke one after another, tearfully recounting the corruption of the garrison system, the tragic fate of military service, and the illegal collusion between the princes and officers.

They may not be able to explain profound truths, but the tragic events they personally experienced or witnessed are more impactful than any other information.

Zhang Biao listened silently, his fingernails digging into his flesh, unaware that blood was seeping out.

His heart, like the rain outside, was chilled to the bone.

He knew that the Ming Dynasty's garrison system had problems, but he didn't expect it to have deteriorated to this extent.

Keep in mind that this was only the 26th year of the Hongwu reign, meaning that more than two hundred years of decay were still to come.

This is practically a real-life version of "Tragic Life"!

"Zhang Qingtian, we know you are capable. Although your situation is not good, we have no other choice. We don't know what you think."

Seeing Zhang Biao's face growing increasingly grim, Old Zhou raised his hand to stop everyone from talking amongst themselves, then looked up at Zhang Biao, hesitant to speak.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Biao immediately came to his senses, looked at Old Zhou and the other veterans, and said in a deep voice, "What do you want me to do?"

"this."

The veterans exchanged glances, then Old Li sighed:
"Imperial Censor Zhang, it is the greatest honor of our lives to have met you. We know that coming to see you in this way is somewhat ungrateful."

"You've already helped us so much..."

"But we really have no other choice. We're just rough, useless people, no match for those officials. What we're hoping for is that while you can get back wages for Accountant Shen and the others, could you also get justice for us?"

"Yes, Lord Zhang, even if we can't save my nephew, we must save those innocent villagers who have been implicated!"

Old Zhou casually chimed in, "Their lives have been hard enough already. The village chief's three sons all died on the battlefield and he was exiled three thousand miles away."

"Cough, Zhang Qingtian!"

Old Qian immediately knelt down before Zhang Biao, coughing as he said, "Please, please help us... cough... help those young people."

Upon hearing this, the wounded veterans all knelt down.

"Imperial Censor Zhang!"

"Zhang Qingtian!"

"Master Zhang!"

Zhang Biao looked at them and was speechless once again.

Can he help? Of course he can! But he's like poison; at best, he can only fight poison with poison. To truly solve the Ming Dynasty's corruption problem, we need to scrape the bone to remove the poison.

However, given Zhu's current state, he probably no longer has the will to govern the country.

He is now obsessed with finding out the truth behind the deaths of his son, his grandson, and even his wife.

Although these were all proposed by Zhang Biao, it is undeniable that the deaths of Zhu Biao, Zhu Xiong Ying, and Empress Ma were indeed suspicious.

Moreover, if Zhu Yuanzhang hadn't thoroughly investigated the truth, he wouldn't have shaken his system of vassal kings.

In other words, the mysterious deaths raised by Zhang Biao were actually the driving force behind his reforms.

Seeking new life amidst chaos.

Damn it! I'm so worried about this world!

[Zhu Chongba, didn't you want to establish an heir?]

[I'll give you a 'big gift' to show you what kind of mess your chosen 'benevolent ruler' will leave you with in the future.]

Let's see if your determination to establish an heir is stronger, or the blood and tears of these million military households in the garrisons are stronger!

Zhang Biao's gaze gradually sharpened to the point of being razor-sharp. The embers in the charcoal brazier flickered, reflecting the almost ruthless determination on his face.

But then he said coldly:

"I can help you, but I'm a madman. If you're going to work for me, you have to be prepared to die! If not, get the hell out of here!"

"Don't even mention why Shen Lang and the others didn't die! That's their good fortune! Not everyone has that kind of luck!"

"What goes around comes around!"

"This"

Upon hearing this, the veterans exchanged glances again, each seemingly seeing hesitation, struggle, and a desperate refusal in the other's eyes.

"Imperial Censor Zhang! We are not afraid to die!"

"Yes! Our lives are over with these crippled bodies. Rather than living a wretched existence, let's go crazy one last time!"

"Zhang Qingtian! I'll follow you!"

"Me too!"

"it is good!"

Zhang Biao shouted, then glanced at the furtive figures outside the window, helped the veterans up one by one, and laughed:
"Back then, in order to get Shen Lang and the others their salaries, I trained them in 'persuasion to the death' all night long."

"Although you are not censors or high-ranking officials, you can still be trained."

"what?"

The veterans looked bewildered, but Old Zhou couldn't help but ask, "What does Imperial Censor Zhang plan to train us on?"

“Yes, Imperial Censor Zhang, we are all useless and uncouth men, what can we do for you?” Old Li chimed in.

Zhang Biao smiled and glanced at them, then without saying a word, he took out a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from the bedside table, spread them out on the dilapidated table, and began to write—

On the Comparative Advantages and Practical Skills of Disabled Persons in Intelligence Work

"????"

Several veterans' foreheads instantly filled with question marks.

Last day! Please give me double monthly votes!

Two more chapters to go!
(End of this chapter)