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

A few days later, all the shops of the eight merchants near Taiyuan had been raided and all the people there had been detained.

The accounts and letters obtained from the confiscation of property were all collected in the main account held by Inspector Zhu.

Looking at the mountain of papers, Prosecutor Zhu's lips curled slightly as he thought to himself: Arresting people first and then gathering evidence is indeed more effective than gathering evidence first and then arresting people...

These accounts record the purchase and sale of grain, ironware, cloth, salt, and other supplies from various places.

In Shanxi, the Prince of Jin's and Prince of Dai's mansions sold the most land to them, which stemmed from the amount of land the two princes occupied in Shanxi.

"Zhang Bingwen led his men to ransack the Prince of Jin's residence!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Bingwen, the governor of Shanxi, bowed and said, "As you command!"

After Zhang Bingwen left, Zhu Jian turned around and said, "Liu Guoneng, arrest all the shops and gentry connected to the Ba family and confiscate their property!"

"yes!"

Just then, a messenger strode into the tent.

"Urgent report from Datong Town!"

Upon hearing this, Prosecutor Zhu immediately stepped forward, grabbed the letter, and began to read it quickly.

After reading it, he clutched the letter in his hand: "That Prince Zhu Chuanji of Dai really doesn't know how to write the word 'death'!"

"Issue an imperial decree for Zhou Yuji to immediately capture Prince Zhu Chuanmi of Dai! Search and confiscate the Prince's residence!"

Hong Chengchou, who was standing nearby, quickly stepped forward and asked, "Your Majesty, what brings the Prince of Dai here?"

Zhu Jian handed the letter to Hong Chengchou: "Look for yourself. The Prince of Dai has been recruiting able-bodied refugees these past two days, and there are already two thousand. What is he planning to do?"

When the Prince of Dai heard that Prince Zhu Shenxuan of Jin had been placed under house arrest by Zhu Jian and that troops had been sent to surround the Prince of Jin's residence, he began to prepare to recruit an army in preparation for a rebellion.

It was nothing new for Shanxi merchants to resell goods to the Qing court in recent years. He, the Prince of Jin, and some others were involved. They felt that since they were not directly selling goods to the Qing court, they turned a blind eye and made a fortune from the national crisis.

Now that the emperor has arrived in Shanxi, he has placed Prince Jin under house arrest on this charge. Although no further action has been taken, Prince Dai, Zhu Chuanmi, feels that he will be next, so he begins to recruit troops.

Once the people had gathered, Zhou Yuji, who was stationed in Datong, received the news and secretly reported it to Inspector Zhu for a decision...

After reading it word by word, Hong Chengchou's expression turned grave: "This matter still requires His Majesty's decision!"

"Perfect timing, Prince Jin now has company..."

Zhu Jian would not miss such a good opportunity. Now that the Prince of Dai's actions have confirmed that he is plotting a rebellion, whether the Prince of Dai is protecting himself or has some other intention, the final charge will be aiding the enemy and rebelling!

Zhu Jian paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. After a moment, he stopped and said, "Send Lu Xiang-sheng with 20,000 troops to Taiyuan!"

"Send an imperial decree to Li Banghua, ordering him to summon an accountant from the capital and bring him here!"

Zhu Jian felt that the 50,000 soldiers he brought were not enough, so he had to transfer another 20,000 from Lu Xiang Sheng to Shanxi. There were also not enough personnel for inventory; a large number of items had been sealed up and had not yet been tallied… If some more people weren't sent, it would probably take another two months to complete the inventory…

"Furthermore, send an imperial edict to Sun Chuanting, ordering him to train another 150,000 new soldiers!"

"yes!"

After the soldiers left, Zhu Jian slowly walked to the outside of the main tent, looking at the gray-white city of Taiyuan and the bare hillsides on both sides. He tightened the cotton robe he was wearing: "Winter is coming..."

Hong Chengchou followed suit: "Yes, it looks like next year will also be a severe drought!"

Zhu Jian remained silent, gazing into the distance. Faced with natural disaster, he truly had no good solutions...

Several days later, in the early morning, the frost on the dry grass blades vibrated with the sound of horses' hooves.

Li Banghua led dozens of accountants to the city's outer camp where Zhu Jian was located.

After dismounting, he strode quickly into the central command tent: "Your subject Li Banghua greets Your Majesty!"

"Rise!"

"Banghua, you've had a tough journey!"

"Your Majesty's great favor has been bestowed upon me, and I dare not complain of hardship!"

Zhu Jian beckoned Li Banghua to come warm up by the stove: "I have already arrested Prince Jin, Prince Dai, Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, Huang Yunfa, and more than two hundred gentry and merchants associated with them!"

"More than a hundred Shanxi officials who facilitated their affairs have also been arrested and their homes confiscated! You've been summoned to Shanxi to tally up the exact amount of money and grain involved!"

Li Banghua was taken aback upon hearing this, then abruptly stood up and exclaimed, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty... so many people... and even the vassal kings...!"

Zhu Jian nodded slightly: "These people have been providing the Jurchens with supplies and intelligence since the first year of the Chongzhen reign, and it has been more than ten years now..."

Zhu Jian put it rather subtly: the smuggling of goods didn't just begin during the Chongzhen era; it could even be traced back to the Wanli era, though it wasn't on a very large scale then...

Li Banghua asked incredulously, "Even a vassal king... also aids the enemy?"

"The Prince of Dai recruited over two thousand able-bodied refugees, and I have ordered Zhou Yuji to imprison him in Datong. The recruited young men will temporarily be under Zhou Yuji's command!"

"The King of Jin provided nearly 30% of the grain, ironware, salt, and tea for the merchants who went beyond the Great Wall to supply the enemy!"

"This..." Li Banghua was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to do.

"After resting, I will register all the land, grain, antiques, calligraphy, and paintings. I want to know exactly how much wealth these people have amassed!"

Before Zhu Jian could finish speaking, Li Banghua quickly stood up: "Your Majesty, I will go and verify the figures immediately!"

Don't rush things!

"You will go with Zhang Bingwen, the governor of Shanxi, and first, allocate the confiscated land to the imperial estates, so that Zhang Bingwen can recruit displaced people to cultivate it! Although the disaster in Shanxi is more severe than in Zhili, there is still some land that can produce some grain!"

Last year, Li Banghua used the two million mu of imperial estates provided by Zhu Jian in Baoding to resettle many displaced people, and now Zhu Jian in Shanxi plans to do the same.

The land owned by the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Dai alone exceeded three million mu, not even counting the more than one hundred gentry families. The total amount was only more than the two million mu of imperial estates in Zhili.

"As you command!"

Li Banghua bowed and then left in a hurry.

Zhu Jian huddled in front of the stove, his hands outstretched to warm them: "Xiang Sheng, once Li Banghua has tallied the figures, send soldiers to transport all this gold, silver, antiques, and calligraphy back to the capital! Half of the confiscated grain should be used for military purposes, and the other half should be used to relieve disaster victims!"

"I obey the decree"

Lu Xiang-sheng did not hesitate at all. When he took office as the governor of Xuan-Da, he knew how arrogant the behavior of the princes was. Taking advantage of the natural disaster, they frantically annexed the land of ordinary people, but he could not do anything about it. Now, the two princes of Shanxi, along with more than a dozen princes, have all been detained by Zhu Jian, which makes him feel very gratified.

"I intend to abolish the grain distribution policy in the three towns of Shanxi (Shanxi, Datong, and Xuanfu). You will recruit able-bodied refugees to transport grain to the border towns!"

Zhu Jian felt that instead of issuing salt permits to merchants transporting grain to border towns, it would be better to recruit displaced people to transport grain themselves, thus saving on salt permits...

This method was very effective during the Hongwu and Yongle periods, but after more than two hundred years of development, this profit-making method was monopolized by the powerful and wealthy, and the excessive issuance of salt permits further damaged the system...