Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

Chapter 92: Where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure.

"Zhou Yuji, lead the Divine Martial Guards forward and persuade these people to leave. Leave the one who made the decision behind to come before me and report!"

Zhu Jian pointed to the people in front of him and said.

These people, dressed in coarse linen clothes, without armor or standard weapons, mostly carrying farm tools, were practically useless in the face of the Imperial Guards.

"As you command!" Zhou Yuji, still on horseback, clasped his hands in a salute, then led nearly a thousand Divine Martial Guard soldiers forward slowly.

Meanwhile, Song Xuezhu, the Shandong governor, and Li Wenyuan, the prefect of Laizhou, who were on the city wall, saw the cavalry and dragon banner below the city and hurriedly went out of the city to greet them.

"Your Majesty, your humble servants Song Xuezhu, Governor of Shandong, and Li Wenyuan, Prefect of Laizhou, pay their respects!" Song Xuezhu and Li Wenyuan knelt beside Zhu Jian.

"I've heard that seven counties in Laizhou and Dengzhou prefectures are still collecting taxes?"

Prefect Li Wenyuan of Laizhou was taken aback. He hadn't expected that Inspector Zhu would inquire about this matter without even entering the city.

He quickly replied, "Your Majesty, my investigation has revealed that the landlords and gentry in these seven counties have not reduced or exempted taxes as ordered by the court. The land belongs to these people, and they decide for themselves how much rent they should collect."

"You mean these people are all tenant farmers?"

Upon hearing this, Song Xuezhu quickly responded, "I don't think so. The gentry are exempt from taxes, and tenants can return their land. As I mentioned in my memorial, this is a tax issue, a matter between the landowners and the government!"

"But the situation that Prefect Li described did occur."

After listening, Zhu Jian pondered for a moment and had a rough idea in his mind: the gentry had joined forces with the county officials to collect taxes together in order to collect more rent from tenants. As a result, the common people and tenants did not know the specific reason. They thought that the court had not exempted taxes because of the war, or that the common people did not know about this at all. Now that the news of the Ming Dynasty's complete exemption of taxes had spread, they organized themselves to begin resistance.

When Li Wenyuan heard Song Xuezhu explain the deeper reasons, sweat poured down his back. He knew a little about what was going on, but he turned a blind eye, since he had received benefits.

"Li Wenyuan, explain yourself clearly, or I will only kill you. If you don't, I will exterminate your entire family!"

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... I only accepted some benefits and turned a blind eye to the counties below. They collected taxes because of the local disaster and the lack of aid, so... I could only collect taxes," Li Wenyuan explained haltingly.

"Which other officials in Laizhou Prefecture were involved in this matter?"

"The magistrate, the sub-prefect, the judge... they all... took bribes!" Li Wenyuan said in turn, adhering to the principle that the law does not punish the masses.

"Where are those people?"

"Your Majesty, it's inside the city!" Song Xuezhu replied.

"Hu Dawei, dispatch a centurion to accompany Song Xuezhui into the city to arrest people and confiscate their property!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Hu Dawei said, clasping his hands in a fist salute.

He then designated a centurion and ordered him to lead his troops into the city with Song Xuezhu, the governor of Shandong.

Just then, Zhou Yuji, who had gone to question them, returned with more than forty people and came before Zhu Jian: "Your Majesty, these are the organizers from the seven nearby counties."

"Your Majesty, please have mercy on us! We are truly at our wits' end..." These people knelt before Zhu Jian as if they had seen a savior, and spoke all at once.

Zhu Jian pointed to the burly man at the front: "You go first."

"Yes, I am from Gaomi County. I heard from my cousin's family in Huai'an Prefecture, Southern Zhili, that all provinces of the Ming Dynasty had exempted people from taxes and corvée labor. So I went to the county government to inquire, but I was told that it was all unfounded. However, I went to Huai'an Prefecture myself and found that it was indeed true. So I went to the prefectural city to complain to the prefect. But when the prefect heard about it, he not only refused to accept the case, but also beat us up and told us that if we continued to cause trouble, we would all be imprisoned and executed." The burly man said in detail.

"That's right, I went to Huai'an Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture with Liu San."

"I'm going too!" several people echoed the burly man.

"Li Wenyuan, don't you think so?" Prosecutor Zhu asked.

"It was...it was the magistrate who did it, I...I...I had no knowledge of it!"

"You're lying! You were the one sitting in the lobby at the time!" the burly man retorted directly.

"I see you're not just turning a blind eye, you're acting as a protector for the county officials!"

"Hu Dawei, send another centurion into the city and bring Li Wenyuan's entire family to the city gates!"

"As you command!"

Upon hearing that his entire family was to be arrested, Li Wenyuan panicked: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty said you would only kill me! Now, now!"

"What I said is true. If you explain yourself clearly, I will kill you alone; if you don't explain yourself clearly, I will exterminate your entire clan. Now that you are only vaguely explaining yourself, I have no choice but to kill your whole family!"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am a fourth-rank official. According to the system, I need to be jointly tried by the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate."

"Oh? You have superiors in these three places? Tell me who they are?" Prosecutor Zhu asked.

The system was utterly meaningless to Zhu Jian. Don't even mention a fourth-rank official; even a prince could be killed without hesitation. What was a fourth-rank official? In the Ming Dynasty, there were more fourth-rank officials than turtles in the Laizhou River…

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty did not..." Li Wenyuan truly did not. If he were to make baseless accusations, it could result in the execution of three or even nine generations of his family. A few days ago, when the Shandong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, the Prefect of Yanzhou, and the Prefect of Dongchang were arrested, he sensed something was wrong and ordered the local authorities to stop collecting autumn grain. However, not only did they not comply, they also rushed to collect the grain, thinking that the collection would begin next year. Now look what happened; a popular uprising has broken out.

Just then, Hu Dawei's centurion, escorting the prefect, assistant prefect, and magistrate, arrived outside the city. Upon seeing Inspector Zhu, they immediately shouted, "We are innocent!"

"I was merely following the orders of Prefect Li!" said the deputy prefect.

"Won't you submit a memorial?"

"I have no authority to submit a memorial to the cabinet," the Assistant Magistrate argued.

"Then why don't you report this to the governor's office?"

Upon hearing Zhu Jian's words, the Assistant Magistrate of Laizhou was speechless. He indeed had no authority to submit memorials to the Military and Political Bureau or the Cabinet, because the power of a fifth-rank official was too low. Only the Prefect had the authority to submit memorials to the Cabinet and the Military and Political Bureau.

However, he had the authority to submit a memorial to the Shandong Provincial Governor's Office. He could submit it directly to the Shandong Provincial Governor, Song Xuezhu, without going through the Laizhou Prefect, or even to the Shandong Provincial Treasurer. But neither the Shandong Provincial Governor nor the Shandong Provincial Treasurer knew this, which clearly meant that he had no intention of submitting a memorial.

"Forget it, I'm too lazy to ask anymore. Zhou Yuji, take these two people and their families to the open space in front and behead them all."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuji dismounted and had his soldiers lead the group toward an open space in the distance.

The two men were pulled back, crying out, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we are innocent!"

Zhu Jian waved his hand, making it clear that he didn't want to listen to them. If this matter wasn't handled properly, who knew how many other prefectures and counties in other provinces would outwardly comply but inwardly defy him and continue to collect taxes.

This group is digging up the roots of the Ming Dynasty, and the roots of the emperor himself. Zhu Jian certainly won't exile the weaver, since there are already enough refugees. Killing them would be more effective in deterring them.