Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 377 Going Against the Heavens
The wind and snow outside the tent seemed to know the boundless desolation in Lindan Khan's heart, and their howling grew even more mournful.

Although Zhu Youjian did not witness everything that happened in Lindan Khan's tent, he was fully aware of it.

His fingertips tapped lightly on the imperial desk, where a fine Da Hong Pao tea from Wuyi Mountain, made from blue and white porcelain from the Jingdezhen imperial kiln, was exuding a rich aroma.

However, at this moment, there was not a trace of smug satisfaction on Zhu Youjian's face.

Instead, a deep worry, even more profound than the wind and snow outside the window, settled between his brows.

The reason is that overthrowing Ligdan Khan was merely cutting off one of the most pressing threats to the Ming Dynasty, while another invisible and silent storm, far more intense and deadly, was already brewing in the heart of the Ming territory.

At that moment, a guard's deep voice announced from outside the hall: "Your Majesty, the Governor of Zhejiang, Hong Chengchou, has been summoned to an audience."

"Xuan."

A moment later, a figure dressed in a scarlet official robe walked in hurriedly.

This man had a lean face and piercing eyes. Although he was travel-worn and his brows showed the weariness of a long journey, he stood up straight and took each step with a steady and powerful stride, displaying an indomitable spirit.

It was Hong Chengchou, Hong Hengjiu.

As soon as he entered the warm pavilion, he immediately straightened his clothes, knelt down, and respectfully kowtowed, his voice booming: "Your Majesty, I, Hong Chengchou, have arrived late by imperial decree. I pay my respects to Your Majesty, long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

Looking at the capable minister he had personally promoted, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.

To be honest, it was not Hong Chengchou's wish to be dragged from the rich and gentle land of Zhejiang back to this icy and snowy frontier.

Zhejiang is a land of fish and rice, a beautiful place in the southeast.

The silks of Suzhou and Hangzhou, the rice wine of Shaoxing, the misty rain on the shores of West Lake, the music and songs on the Qinhuai River... compared with the barren, starving Loess Plateau of Shaanxi, they are like heaven on earth.

Hong Chengchou worked tirelessly and risked his life to supervise grain production in Shaanxi, finally earning a tremendous achievement.

Zhu Youjian transferred him to Zhejiang, where he used his iron fist and competence to deal with the deeply entrenched and disobedient gentry and Donglin Party members in Jiangnan.

This is a win-win situation.

Hong Chengchou had only been in office in Zhejiang for a few months, and although the time was short, the reports he submitted already showed a swift and decisive effect.

He knew full well the emperor's profound intention in placing him here; it was not merely to rectify officialdom, but to open up new sources of revenue for the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, his policies involved both destruction and construction, with each step closely linked to the next.

Its solution lies in reforming the tax system and investigating hidden households.

He implemented the same iron-fisted policies used to suppress bandits in Shaanxi as he did in Zhejiang, ignoring the gentry of Jiangnan who cited classical texts and lamented the laws of their ancestors. He only recognized the compatibility of the fish-scale register.

Anyone found hiding land or evading taxes was severely punished. Several wealthy and influential families in the area were confiscated and their property seized under the pretext of disregarding the law. Their assets were all confiscated and put into the government treasury. This swift and decisive action made an example of them. Under this thunderous approach, the Jiangnan literati who were used to dealing with the government and making excuses once again truly experienced the imposing power of the imperial law!

His proposal was even bolder, advocating for government-run maritime trade and the revival of the Silk Road! He strongly advocated for the establishment of "government-run maritime trade offices" in Ningbo, Zhoushan, and other places, requiring all merchant ships going to sea to be registered and for the collection of maritime taxes and port taxes based on the value of the goods. In this way, the huge profits that had previously flowed into the pockets of private individuals and pirates would be returned to the state.

What was particularly ingenious was the government-run brokerage system he established for the most renowned silk industry in Jiangnan.

With the power of the government, large and small silk workshops in Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places were integrated, and unified standards for quality, size and pattern were established. The best silks were stamped with the gold seal of the imperial supervision and were exclusively for export and the inner court; the second-best were sold domestically.

Then, the government would negotiate directly with the Portuguese and Dutch merchants, using the government's reputation as collateral for large-scale transactions.

In this way, not only were Ming Dynasty merchants prevented from being maliciously pressured to lower prices by foreign merchants, but more importantly, the imperial court gained control over the pricing of this luxury silk that was popular in both the East and the West!

He transformed the once fragmented silk trade into a cohesive force, turning it into a golden pipeline that continuously injects real money into the national treasury.

Each and every item was carried out in an orderly and efficient manner, with full force.

This drastic approach of simultaneously destroying and establishing has caused both lamentations and praise in the Jiangnan region.

But no one can deny that in just a few months, the taxes and profits that Zhejiang Province turned over to the national treasury have exceeded the total amount of the past few years!

A treasure trove capable of gathering rare and precious items from all over the world for the nation is slowly being forged in Hong Chengchou's hands.

It can be said that Hong Chengchou is bringing Zhejiang, the most prosperous but also the most difficult region to govern, back under the control of the imperial court.

Unless there is a major upheaval, Zhu Youjian would never easily take action against him.

However, things did not go as planned.

……

"Hengjiu, rise." Zhu Youjian's voice was much gentler. "You must be tired from your long journey. Please take a seat."

"Your subject dares not!" Hong Chengchou kowtowed on the ground, refusing to rise.

"If I say you dare, then you dare." Zhu Youjian's tone left no room for argument. "Between you and me, ruler and subject, there's no need to be bound by these formalities. Sit down and let's talk."

"Your Majesty, I thank you for your divine grace."

Hong Chengchou then carefully stood up and sat upright on a rosewood round stool next to him, barely touching half of his buttocks.

Even under such circumstances, he felt the emperor's extraordinary favor and affection.

The slight confusion and unease that Hong Chengchou felt due to his sudden transfer vanished instantly.

Back then, he was just a minor grain inspector in Shaanxi, with little influence and no opportunity to realize his ambitions.

The emperor recognized him at a glance among thousands of officials and promoted him without regard to convention, directly elevating him to the position of governor of a province.

This divine grace is higher than the mountains and deeper than the sea!

Even if he were to die immediately, Hong Chengchou would not utter a single complaint.

Therefore, his summons was not merely out of a sense of duty to the emperor, but also out of a heartfelt sense of gratitude and loyalty.

Hong Chengchou was puzzled as to what earth-shattering event could have caused His Majesty to risk disrupting the chess game he had set up in Zhejiang and urgently summon him here.

"Hengjiu, I know you have doubts in your heart." Zhu Youjian seemed to see through his thoughts and did not beat around the bush. He went straight to the point and said, "I summoned you here for one matter. This matter is more troublesome and more dangerous than pacifying the bandits, subduing the southern desert, or even dealing with the Jurchens."

Hong Chengchou felt a chill run down his spine and immediately began to breathe softly.

What a terrifying situation it must be for His Majesty to use such words.
He simply couldn't imagine it.

Zhu Youjian did not speak, but simply pulled out the top one from the thick stack of memorials on his desk. On the cover, several startling characters were written in red ink: "A Compilation of the Abnormalities of the Heavenly Cycle in the Year of Gengchen".

He gently handed the intelligence report, compiled by the Andu Prefecture, the Eastern Depot, the Western Depot, and the governors and viceroys of various regions, to Hong Chengchou.

"Look at this first."

Hong Chengchou took the booklet with both hands, feeling as if the thin booklet was incredibly heavy. He slowly turned to the first page.

The book contains seemingly unrelated, scattered information collected from various parts of the Ming Dynasty over the past year, especially in the last two months.

"In Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, it is reported that not a single snowflake has fallen since the beginning of winter, and the earth is parched and hot. A military officer traveled two hundred li along the old course of the Wuding River, where the riverbed was cracked like the scales of a giant python. When he scooped up some soil in his palm, it crumbled into dust without the wind blowing it away."

As an elderly local farmer knelt to receive the relief grain, he wept and told the military officer, "This year is strange! In previous years, during the great drought, even though the wells dried up, there was still mud; this year, the bottom of the wells is rocky, as dry as fresh bones dried in the sun for three days. I think that Your Majesty's relief grain may save people temporarily, but the earth's veins have been damaged, and life has been extinguished. This is a sign of a pot without water at the bottom. Without water, even if there are thousands of divine seeds next year, they will be like trees without a source."

Hong Chengchou's gaze was fixed on that phrase, "a tree without a source," and he felt as if a fishbone was stuck in his throat. He had fought against that scorched earth when he was supervising grain production in Shaanxi, and he knew its cruelty all too well.

Although Your Majesty possesses the divine seed technique, this calamity of waterlessness is beyond even the gods' ability to save you!

He thought that Sun Chuanting and he himself had exhausted all their efforts to extinguish the sparks, but he never expected that the lava underground had never cooled down, but instead accumulated an even more terrifying power.

He forced himself to turn to the next page. When the words "In Guide Prefecture, Henan, the Yellow River is so high that one can walk across it" came into view, his breath caught in his throat.

What an ominous sign it is when the Yellow River stops flowing!
As I continued reading, my heart was in turmoil. The imperial government's relief grain was like a giant hand, temporarily holding back the volcano that was about to erupt, preventing the human tragedy of selling children from unfolding on a large scale.

But who can suppress the remnants of the White Lotus Sect who are growing insidiously? Drought is a natural disaster, bandits are a man-made calamity, but this cult is a poison that destroys the soul! It attaches itself to the most vulnerable parts of people's hearts, feeding on despair and fear. Once it gains momentum, its destructive power will be a hundred times greater than that of bandits!

However, what chilled him to the bone the most were the last few lines of the secret report about the capital region.

In Shuntian Prefecture and Baoding Prefecture, right under the emperor's nose, in the heart of the capital, even winter wheat had withered and died! This was already alarming. But when he saw some officials colluding with grain merchants to hoard grain and drive up prices, causing a slight increase in rice prices in the capital, a surge of anger ignited within him!
While Hong Chengchou was meticulously managing the national treasury in Zhejiang, engaging in a battle of wits with the gentry of Jiangnan, soldiers on the northwestern border were eating slightly reduced rations in the freezing cold; the people of Shaanxi, in despair, were gnawing on tree bark in the gaps between the government's relief efforts... Meanwhile, in the capital, these parasites of the nation were making a fortune off the national crisis, sucking the marrow out of the empire!
Snapped!
He closed the booklet gently, which, in the deathly silent warm room, was nothing short of a thunderclap.

Hong Chengchou slowly raised his head. On his thin face, the weariness and confusion had faded away, leaving only a solemn expression as if cast in iron.

He finally understood why the emperor had to urgently transfer him from Zhejiang, that land of plenty, even at the cost of disrupting the existing plans.

The Ming Dynasty is not merely suffering from superficial sores; its internal organs are showing signs of decay!
Overthrowing Ligdan Khan and dealing with the Jurchens was merely repairing the walls; what this booklet reveals is the danger of collapse, where the pillars are rotten and the foundation is about to crumble!

Every single detail, every single event, is an ominous sign.

If you look at these pieces of information separately, they might just be ordinary local disasters, which would be reported to the imperial court, and then either relief or appeasement would be given, and that would be the end of it.

However, when the secret agents of Andu Prefecture and the Eastern and Western Depots gathered all this seemingly unrelated information from all over the country and marked it one by one on a huge map, a chilling scene emerged.

Looking across the entire Ming Dynasty, the heavens and earth were in disarray, the earth was in disarray, yin and yang were reversed, and the five elements were disordered, presenting a chaotic and perverse scene!
Hong Chengchou's palms were sweating and his back was cold. He suddenly raised his head, his lips were dry, and he spoke with difficulty, "Your Majesty... this... this is what you were talking about..."

"good."

Zhu Youjian's voice carried an indescribable weariness and solemnity. "I call these intelligence reports a map of the Ming Dynasty's ailments. You see, the drought in the north is spreading southward at a visible speed. Meanwhile, the floods in the south are also gathering strength. The clash between north and south, the imbalance of cold and warm climates, will inevitably result in the following spring and summer: the north will be a barren wasteland, plagued by locusts; while the south will surely suffer devastating floods!"

"Hengjiu," Zhu Youjian turned around, his gaze piercing, "I will make this clear to you: this is the result of deduction based on all the information gathered by Andu Prefecture, taking into account dozens of factors such as geomancy, meteorology, local conditions, and phenology."

"In the new year, the Ming Dynasty will inevitably face an unprecedented natural disaster that will cover several provinces! Its intensity will far exceed anything we have ever seen in our lives! If it is handled improperly in the slightest, there will be tens of millions of refugees, starvation will spread throughout the land, people will eat each other, and people will exchange their own children to cook... At that time, the court will collapse and the world will be in chaos. This is no exaggeration! When I say that this is a living hell, I am not exaggerating!"

Hong Chengchou felt as if a thunderclap had exploded in his mind.

Purgatory on earth!

These four words are not just an adjective for him, but a deeply painful memory he personally experienced and witnessed!

Images of the severe drought in Shaanxi uncontrollably flashed before his eyes.

The land was so cracked it could swallow a fist; the tree trunks were gnawed down to bare bark; the groups of aimless migrants were all skin and bones, their eyes empty and filled with despair.

He seemed to smell again the stench of rotting corpses and despair that filled the air; he seemed to see again the Guanyin clay ground into powder to fill their bellies, and the people who, after eating this "food," swelled up like drums and eventually died in endless agony; he seemed to hear again the faint, chilling, suppressed cries of a mother drowning her infant child in the dead of night, emanating from the dilapidated village...

Because there is no longer a single drop of milk to nourish that innocent life.

Back in Shaanxi, he thought he had seen the deepest part of hell.

However, at this moment, the emperor who had single-handedly rescued him from that hell and shown him the prosperity of Jiangnan told him in an unquestionable tone—

The situation in the coming year will be even worse than that!
It was a hundred times more tragic than that!
"Gudong."

Hong Chengchou swallowed hard, feeling a burning sensation in his throat.

The last trace of warmth and refinement that lingered in him, brought from Zhejiang, was utterly shattered by this cold and cruel reality.

He shook his head slightly, his lips moving as he murmured to himself, "No... I dare not think... Your Majesty, I dare not imagine..."

He couldn't imagine what a scene would be a hundred times more tragic than the one in Shaanxi!
That was no longer hell on earth...

That... that means the human world no longer exists!
Zhu Youjian looked at Hong Chengchou's face, which had turned deathly pale and even showed a hint of horror, and sighed softly in his heart.

He knew how cruel these words were to a subject who had personally experienced the devastation of a severe drought.

But he had to say it.

Because he needed Hong Chengchou, a capable minister who could remain calm even in dire straits and demonstrate outstanding organizational and execution abilities.

He needed to awaken Hong Chengchou from his fear of past disasters and instead let him face an even more terrifying future.

"Hengjiu, I know this is hard to accept." Zhu Youjian's voice became steady and powerful again. "But I summoned you back from a thousand miles away not to sit here with you and discuss the Dao, lamenting the ruthlessness of Heaven."

He stepped forward and personally helped Hong Chengchou, whose body was stiff from shock, to his feet. He looked directly at Hong Chengchou, his eyes burning with an indomitable spirit.

"I want you to join me in a proper... showdown with the heavens and with this so-called destiny!"

"I want to tell you, and I want to tell the whole world. Heaven wants to destroy my Great Ming, but I will defy Heaven!"

"I do not believe in destiny; I only believe that human will can overcome fate!"

Hong Chengchou suddenly raised his head and looked at the young emperor before him. His eyes, which had been slightly unfocused due to fear, regained their light.

yes……

What's the point of being afraid and trembling here?
Since His Majesty had foreseen all of this and spared no expense to recall him, it means that he already had a plan in place!
What he needs is not a cowardly man who is scared out of his wits, but a sharp blade who can carry out his strategy without fail!

Having grasped this point, Hong Chengchou seemed to have undergone a complete transformation in an instant.

He suddenly broke free from the emperor's support and resolutely knelt down once again!
"Your Majesty!" Hong Chengchou's voice was hoarse, yet resolute and unwavering. "With natural disasters before us, I am willing to be Your Majesty's sword, a soldier on the front lines! Wherever the blade points, I will die ten thousand times without hesitation!"

"Your Majesty, please issue a decree!"

Looking at Hong Chengchou, who was lying prostrate on the ground, resembling a peerless, deadly blade that had been sheathed and had lost all its brilliance, waiting only to be drawn and drink blood, Zhu Youjian finally showed a relieved smile.

What he wanted was Hong Chengchou's current spirit!

A fierce and ruthless spirit that knows the road ahead is fraught with danger, yet still goes forward without hesitation, crushing the heavens!

(End of this chapter)