Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 638
On the third day after Lu Xiangsheng arrived in Nanjing, the governor's office in Jiangsu issued a notice prohibiting private slaves, requiring all big households to terminate their relationship with private slaves within one month, return the deeds to relevant people, The current occupation is changed to a hired worker, and wages are paid on time every month.

In the circular, the Governor's Yamen cited an example of one of the crimes of the four surnamed maritime merchants in the case of Songjiang Mansion, which was to harbor private slaves with unruly intentions. This situation is checked by hand, and if there is any disrespect within the time limit, the head of the family will be arrested and imprisoned immediately.

After the announcement was issued to the local governments, Lu Xiangsheng met with Zhu Guobi and Xu Wenjue in the official post, led by Zhu Guobi and Xu Wenjue. The two sides exchanged views frankly on the upcoming new policy.

Zhu Guobi and others said that Nanjing Xungui will actively respond to the call of the Holy Majesty, and take the lead in dismissing the private slaves, setting an example for others. As for the clearing of the land and the grain, it will also be carried out simultaneously with others according to the actual situation.

Lu Xiangsheng originally thought that the group of nobles who had the greatest resistance to the new policy was the group of nobles, but he did not expect that the other party's attitude was very clear. This surprised him, and at the same time, most of the pressure in his heart was relieved.

Lu Xiangsheng knew in his heart that the nobles put forward the statement that the later events were in sync with others. Since they had already stated that they would dissolve the private slaves first, the officials and gentry would be the first to respond.

As long as the nobles take the lead in making gestures, Lu Xiangsheng believes that, as officials and gentlemen who have read poetry and books and understand righteousness, the probability of obstructing them should not be very high, even if some people cannot see the general situation clearly and try to force the court Withdrawing this decree will not affect the overall situation.

Nanjing may not be the tough nut to crack in my imagination.

But Lu Xiangsheng misread the faces of the big gentry this time.

In order not to harm their own interests, the so-called righteousness is worthless to them.

On the afternoon of the day when the nobles of Nanjing were received, several waves of officials and gentry who were counted in the Nanjing area came to the official post to meet Lu Xiangsheng.

Among these people are high-ranking officials who have returned home, some who were in the same year as Lu Xiangsheng's mid-term exam, and some who are in power, and even Lu Xiangsheng's elders and children in his hometown in Changzhou.

No matter what the names of these visitors came to visit, after simple narration to close the relationship, without exception, they all turned the topic to the matter of the gentry's payment of food, and their attitudes were surprisingly consistent, all citing classics to show their respect for the gentry. Opposition to the New Deal.

All the visitors stated explicitly or implicitly that since Lu Xiangsheng was born in the south of the Yangtze River, he should stand up at the critical moment, list the possible serious consequences to the emperor, and immediately abolish this measure of robbing the people of the interests of the people and protect the interests of the people in the south of the Yangtze River. Vital interests.

In order to express their sincerity, all the visitors brought thick gift lists, including gold and silver antiques, as well as property shops. Although Lu Xiangsheng hadn't seen them before, he could guess the value of these gifts, as long as he accepted them The gift list, then the Lu family will soon be among the ranks of the richest people in the south of the Yangtze River.

Because of his lack of sympathy, Lu Xiangsheng patiently received these waves of guests one by one, but in the end he returned all the gift slips and told everyone that the New Deal is a fait accompli. Clear the situation, actively cooperate with the implementation of this policy, and don't make mistakes and make mistakes, so that disasters happen without reason.

A group of visitors who felt ashamed either walked away with a sneer, or turned away with embarrassment, but they were all very dissatisfied with Lu Xiangsheng in their hearts.

Lu Xiangsheng didn't care about this, and he immediately ordered the guards on duty at the gate of the official post not to let anyone in to visit except the chief officials of Jiangsu Province and Nanjing Mansion.After several days in a row, after a total of more than a dozen waves of visitors were rejected, the talents who came to visit gradually disappeared.

On the fifth day after the notice to disband the private slaves was issued, the governor's office of Jiangsu issued a notice to implement the Qingzhang Tianmu in the province, requiring local governments to officially start it on the first day of February in the 12th year of Chongzhen.

The content of this order is the same as the plan formulated by the Suzhou government, but the time has been delayed a lot. This is also considering that the end of the year is approaching, and everyone's thoughts are on buying new year's goods and preparing for the family's New Year's needs. If you start now If it is implemented, the enthusiasm of the book office officials who are on business will be greatly reduced. It is better to wait for the New Year's Day to be completely over before implementing it.

"This Lu Jiandou has been an official for more than ten years, and he has no reason in the officialdom, and he doesn't know how he got to the current high position!
His words and deeds are extremely pedantic, how can we have the flexibility to think about it?Such people are really unworthy of living in temples! "

In the study of a mansion in the southeast of Nanjing City, Xu Wenyuan, the former servant of the small court of Nanjing, said indignantly with a sullen face.

The Xu family has nearly 2 mu of fertile land in Wuxi County, and Xu Wenyuan also has more than [-] mu of land in Nanjing. If the new policy is implemented, the Xu family will be cut off a small piece of meat every year. How can this make Xu Wenyuan reconciled?
Since the last time he escaped from the case of inciting civil unrest in Suzhou, Xu Wenyuan was forced to resign from his position as a servant of the Ministry of Officials and transformed himself into an official gentry.

After getting the news of the imperial court's new policy, Xu Wenyuan immediately took action, using his connections when he was in office, lobbying and colluding everywhere, encouraging the big gentry to unite and fight against the unfair move of the imperial court.

Xu Wenyuan has been an official in Nanjing for many years, has a wide network of contacts, and has common interests with the gentry, so it didn't take long for Xu Wenyuan to become the chief figure in this confrontation.

All of a sudden, Xu Mansion, which was quite deserted, became full of people again. The distinguished gentry in Nanjing came to Xu Mansion one after another. Due to miscellaneous leaks of secrets, the gentry unanimously elected five figures known for their wits as a small center to discuss overall strategies and specific methods.

"What brother Xu said is true, such a person who doesn't know how to adapt is really rare, and such an outlier in the officialdom will hardly end well!
However, now Lu Jiandou has gained the trust of the present, and now he is here to supervise Nanjing with Tianxian in his mouth. If he wants to prevent the implementation of evil policies, he is an extremely important person, and he is also a hurdle that we cannot get around. We must find ways as soon as possible , Open the gap from its body! "

The person who answered the conversation was Wang Duo, who is currently offering sacrifices to the Imperial College. Historically, after the city of Nanjing was breached, he was the first to shave his hair and change his clothes as a Nanming University scholar, and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

"Brother Juesi, all my efforts and invitations to invite countless people are all in vain. This Lu Jiandou simply refuses to be soft and hard, and he is determined to be an enemy of the Jiangnan gentry. Now it seems that there is really no way out. Could it be that brother Juesi? What's the trick?"

The person who spoke was Tang Shiji, the censor of Zuodu, the former small imperial court in Nanjing.

After Zhu Youjian decreed to abolish the Nanjing small government last year, Tang Shiji was unwilling to move north to the capital to become an idle official, so he simply resigned from his official position on his own initiative, and became a rich man in Nanjing with peace of mind.

"Brother Yunchu's remarks are somewhat exaggerated. Lu Jiandou will not eat soft ones, but not necessarily hard ones!"

(End of this chapter)