A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 348 Shocked
Wu Zhi, governor of Yanqing Prefecture, soon heard about the actions of the Shun Township Army. How dare they suppress scholars and businessmen?
Wu Zhi was furious at first, and soon news came that his son Wu Lue's concubine was actually a spy of the Qing Dynasty, which was already confirmed beyond doubt.His son was also controlled as a suspect.Wu Zhi stood in a daze for a long time, tears streaming down his face: "The family is unfortunate..."

When the Shunxiang army entered the mansion, Wu Zhi regained his composure, and said: "This old man has no way to teach his son, and he will impeach himself to the court."

As for Chen Enchong, who was guarding Yanqing, when the Shunxiang army broke into the gate, he was horrified at first, and then became furious, shouting at the captured sergeant: "I am a high-ranking official of the imperial court, and you have no right to arrest me unless you summon me." !"

For this kind of defiance, the Shun Township Army always killed them on the spot.

Most of the guards in his mansion were killed and injured on the spot, and Chen Enchong's right arm was chopped off with a knife, and he passed out screaming.

If Wang Dou didn't move, it was astonishing. Not only Yanqing Prefecture, Yongning City, Huailai City, Bao'anwei City and other places took action that day.Huailai's garrison Huang Changyi suddenly changed his face, and cooperated with the Shun Township Army who entered the city to fight the scholars and merchants in the city, which made people unable to react.

Zhong Xiancai led a group of soldiers to Jinghu Fort to arrest Song Jiaxuan, a "traitor agent". As a defender, he resisted stubbornly.His troops were defeated in just a quarter of an hour, and Song Jiaxuan was smashed into a honeycomb by dense firecrackers on the spot.

Facing the sudden approach of the city's Shun Township Army, Chen Qinluan defended Goubao on Thursday, Ding Fangming defended Heihanling Fort, Guo Cairong defended Liu Binbao and others obediently captured them without the slightest thought of resisting.After listening to the arrest warrant from the General's Mansion, they all collapsed to the ground.

The east road is close to the frontier fortresses, only Sihaiye Fort guarding Zhang Wenru is safe, at that time he was having a drink with his subordinates, gnawing on a wild boar.When the news of the arrest of Song Jiaxuan and others by the Shun Township Army reached everyone's ears, all the generals fell silent.

After a long time, Zhang Wenru scolded: "This group of fresh goods hook up with the Tartars, and they deserve to be caught."

He stroked his beard and boasted: "People are not ruthless, and they can't stand steadily. What my old Zhang said is right."

"...Well, General Dingguo's methods suit my taste."

……

The thunder attack from the General's Mansion stunned everyone, and the entire east road was completely silent.Unexpectedly, Wang Dou was so unscrupulous, swiping the bloody butcher's knife at the merchants, scholars, and warriors at the same time.But like the wind swept away, all the plots and all the opposing forces disappeared.

In just one day on the [-]th, the Shun Township Army had completely controlled all the places on the East Road. During this day, many people were frightened, especially those merchants who went on strike and students who went on strike.

For the scholars and students who went on strike, they were even more terrified. Wang Dou suppressed them in the name of Tonglu and slaves.

——Indeed, there were Qing spies among them, and Wang Dou did not wrong them.The dignified Xuezheng of Guanshan Academy in Yanqing Prefecture, his son is actually a secret agent of Dongnu, and Wu Zhizi, Wu Lue, the prefect, is also suspected of being a spy.

These people are the instigators and masterminds of the school strike. In other words, if they act together with these people, all students and instructors who are on strike are suspected of spies.When the court pursued it, the serious ones lost their lives, and the light ones might also lose their official careers.

Maybe their interrogation will be innocent in the future, but under the suspicious eyes of the world, they may live their lives wearing the hat of spies, which is more painful than killing them.

They no longer care about the "righteous act" of resisting commercial taxes. They are more worried about their own future and lives. On that day, I don't know how many people were so scared that they couldn't sleep.

Wang Dou's thunderous means, understatement, reduced all resistance forces to ashes, and the massive "movement" became a joke.It also made more people re-evaluate Wang Dou's strength, ponder his unreasonable style of playing cards, and think about his family's standing in the future.

The situation calmed down very quickly, and it only took one day for the large-scale arrests and closure of shops. When the people of Yanqing Prefecture who were hiding in their houses panicked woke up the next day, the whole city had returned to peace.The street was clean, even the garbage was swept away, and the blood on the ground was also cleaned up.

If it weren't for the soldiers of the Shun Township Army patrolling in twos and threes on the street, many people would think that what happened yesterday was just a dream.

To the joy of the local residents, the mighty vehicles kept entering the city, loaded with grain, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea and other groceries.The shopkeeper and the clerk, speaking in a Baoanzhou accent, solicited business loudly: "It's time to buy grain, everyone, hurry up and buy grain. The market price is [-]% lower than usual. It's definitely high quality and cheap, and it's worth the money."

Headed by those housewives, everyone flocked to buy food and groceries, and everyone was smiling.

The profiteers of Gou. Day have driven up the price to dozens of times these days, and there is no market for the price.Everyone is usually miserable, and they have to be careful when buying rice and salt. They have stopped the market and raised prices, so they don't have to work.After all, cheap and easy-to-use grain and rice goods have arrived, how can we not buy more to prevent problems before they happen?
"Everyone, don't worry, there is plenty of food and rice, everyone has it, take your time, everyone is queuing up..."

This scene also happened in all the cities along the East Road at the same time, with the chaos rising and falling, and the supply of cheap goods being sufficient, the hearts of the people all over the place suddenly settled down.

In Huailai City, Ma Guoxi was also dazzled by the changes that happened in the city yesterday, and he didn't react for a whole day.Just to be cautious, he has been hiding in the mansion without making a sound.Until today, after listening to the detailed reports from my subordinates, I finally understood the situation in various places along the East Road.

Ma Bingbei walked to the street, the market has returned to peace, all smiles are soldiers and civilians queuing up to buy food and goods, everyone behaves well, dare not fight or grab.It was because of the Shun Township Army patrolling not far away.

Ma Guoxi sighed for a long time, stroking his beard that was as long as Guan Gong for half an hour, suddenly made up his mind, and ordered the Dao Biao battalion general who followed beside him to prepare his horse.He wants to go to Yongning City in person to discuss political affairs with Dingguo General Wang Dou.

General Dao Biao hesitated for a moment, according to the rules, he should have called Wang Dou to come to Huailai City to pay a visit, so it would be a shame to go there in person.

After listening to his words, Ma Guoxi shook his head: "Let's just follow the authority, there is no need to worry about these common etiquette."

After preparing the horses, Ma Guoxi led a group of personal guards out of the city. When he passed by the mansion of Guan Liangtong and Guo Shitong, the gate was closed and no one was there.With a sneer, Ma Guoxi hurried to the outside of the city.

……

For Wang Dou who was in Yongning City, wiping out all the resisting conspiratorial forces in a short period of time did not cause much disturbance in his heart.This result was already expected, and the next step is to deal with the aftermath, how to more securely control the entire East Road, and lay the foundation for his own strength accumulation.

All related matters are planned and carried out by members of the shogunate. Wang Dou only needs to consider the "strategic and forward-looking" issues. After hearing that Ma Guoxi, the soldier of the army, has arrived in Yongning City, Wang Dou smiled slightly: "This old fox is also shrewd." .”

The meeting between the two parties can be described as a group of harmony, after a quarter of an hour of flattering each other, the two sat down as guest and host.

Talking about the incident on the East Road, and seeing a large number of witnesses and material evidence submitted by Wang Dou, Ma Guoxi was heartbroken: "These people have been favored by the court, and they don't want to repay them, but they do such things that harm the country and the people. wild ambition."

He scolded for a long time, squinted his eyes, and said to Wang Dou: "I don't know what General Dingguo's plans are for this incident, the people involved, etc."

Wang Doudao: "At the end of the day, the general captured Zeng Fuyang, Wan Mei'er and others. There is also Zhang Wanshan, who is a co-operator of captives and enemies, causing serious trouble. As the parents of Donglu, Bingxian must hand over the relevant suspects to Bingbei Mansion. Judgment by the court, please make a ruling."

Wang Dou, a scholar and civil officer in the road, has no right to dispose of them. Some of the guards and moral officers who were arrested, according to the laws of Ming Dynasty, military officials with a rank of three or more have committed crimes, and they need to obtain an order.If there is a crime below the fourth rank, a judge must also ask for a ruling after being convicted.

Wang Dou had already obtained the result he wanted, so there was no need to go out of his way to do it for him, it seemed too domineering.The relevant criminals should be handed over to Ma Guoxi, the highest official of the East Road.Of course, before that, there are some things that must be clarified.

Regarding Wang Dou's attitude, Ma Guoxi was quite comforted. At least on the bright side, Wang Dou, the general, still respected him.Of course, the more this is the case, the more Ma Guoxi feels that Wang Dou is not a simple person.Knowing that enough is enough, even the old officials who have been in the service for many years may not have Wang Dou's scheming strategy.

The chief officials of all the cities on the road were almost wiped out, and most of the scholars and gentry everywhere had something to do. It is expected that this matter will definitely be in the town, and there will be an uproar in the court.

But things have happened, the most important thing is to deal with the aftermath.This time is a crisis, but also an opportunity.Chaos rose and waned, the east road became peaceful again, and many people were captured carefully. Presumably, the princes in the pavilion, even the Holy One, would leave a deep impression on him.

How to turn a funeral into a happy event is a challenge for Ma Bingbei.

"Zhang Wanshan, Chen Enchong, and Song Jiaxuan are all insane, and they have to be severely punished for collaborating with captives and enemies. Although Huang Changyi has minor flaws, he can correct them if he knows his mistakes. There is nothing good about it. You can forgive him. The rest are scholars and businessmen. If the crime is not serious , you can make him correct after being punished, learn from the past and avoid the future, and warn the world..."

The joint trial of the three divisions is good, but how to convict after the joint trial depends on what kind of evidence Wang Dou and others provide beforehand?
Wang Dou's tone was to uproot the tyrants of the East Road, the big gentry, big officials, and big merchants, especially those who made a fortune by collaborating with the enemy, all of them would be eliminated, and no one would be left behind.In this way, no one in the road dared to resist his own forces.After confiscating the property of these people, at least 10,000+ acres of fertile land can be obtained, and assets exceeding one million can greatly ease their financial pressure.

Leaving some small businessmen, small literati can still win.After all, Tunbao needs scribe talents, as well as relevant merchants to operate.After the moth-like officials and merchants are removed, it will also benefit the business environment in the road.

In fact, after Wang Dou came to Daming, the reason why he didn't pay much attention to merchants was not only because of their bad habits of hoarding and driving up prices.It is also because most of the merchants at this time are circulation merchants, not the production merchants of later generations, so it is difficult to create value.

Businessmen of later generations said that to open a factory, they all need to recruit a large number of workers. Large-scale ones can even solve the employment problem of tens of thousands to tens of thousands of people.And they produce goods and create value.At this time, merchants only maintain the circulation of commodities, and have the functions of purchasing and transportation.

Wang Dou planned to encourage businessmen to open factories and workshops on East Road in the future to promote employment and train a new batch of business talents.

In this way, he killed one person to warn others, and avoided being too involved, causing the fear of ordinary people, and winning the hearts of those small businessmen and scholars.

A little rain and dew after Thunder's method made people feel more grateful.

(End of this chapter)