Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 869: The massacre in Shanxi shocked the whole country and the inventory of fields surpassed that of Hongwu
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Shanxi merchants could do whatever they wanted, be used as dogs to the Jin people, and betray the interests of the Han people to their heart's content.

But now, the imperial power is at its peak, and it has really reached the point of using swords and guns. Shanxi officials, gentry, powerful people, and merchants can only be captured without mercy.

As an important town in Shanxi, Datong has always been a thorn in Zhu Qiyu's side and a thorn in his side. Over the past ten years, Jin Yiwei has already collected the list. As soon as they entered Datong City, they arrested people according to the order and sent the whole family to a specially built prison camp outside the city.

Then they ransacked their homes, not letting go of any gold, silver, treasures, shops, or property.

Suddenly, in the city of Datong, the wind roared and cranes roared, ghosts cried and wolves howled.

Zhang Yong and Wang Qin went to the battle in person to check the largest houses.

Li Bing had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow behind. Offending so many people is like being on a pirate ship and unable to get off.

Wang Shan casually picked up a copied treasure and looked at it, while comforting Li Bing from time to time.

Li Bing muttered in his heart: In the past, the great eunuch Shu Liang was polite when he saw you, but now the other two great eunuchs Zhang Yong and Wang Qin are also respectful when they see you. Of course you are not afraid of such a tough background. It's really Easier said than done.

But thinking about it, Li Bing also understood that as a governor, if he didn't rush forward desperately for the emperor, he would only die faster.

After thinking for a moment, Yan Li chose to take the blame. If you want to have prestige and speak with strength, how can you do it if you can't handle things.

Even more helpless than Li Bing were the officials, gentry, powerful men and businessmen of Shanxi. The emperor chose this timing too cruelly. Now that Meng Yuan has been destroyed, the external danger is gone. The authority of the internal emperor reached its peak, and no one dared to compete with it.

Yan Li took a look and said, "Good guy, no one wants to take responsibility. They all want me to take the blame."

In the Hehuan Hall, Zhu Qiyu sneezed several times.

Therefore, I have to use the wealth of those Shanxi gentlemen to make up for the shortfall, then nationalize their land, and then rent it to the people for farming. "

"Yeah, that's true. That means the Shanxi people are scolding you. They're too harsh this time."

"Oh, who is scolding me? If we unite as one and form a connection between heaven and man, it will rain at night."

When mentioning Shanxi, Zhu Qiyu immediately showed a vicious expression: "This is called killing one person to serve as a warning to others. We want the whole world to know that there is a price to pay for bullying the emperor. It's not like changing the emperor and just patting the butt and nothing will happen.

Lin Xiangyu smiled and said: "I guess your concubines got together to kill you. You have been sucking breasts and licking your feet all day long. It's strange that no one scolded you."

Several garrison and six important ministers gathered at the garrison yamen every three days to discuss affairs.

Ningxiang sat on Zhu Qiyu's lap and asked with a smile: "Aside from revenge and establishing prestige, your husband is still interested in the wealth of those people, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we fought against Meng Yuan for a year, and we spent a lot of money. We spent a lot of money on food, but the benefits were very little.

Moreover, the only remaining elite soldiers in Nanjing were the Xiaoling Guards, who were also completely under the control of the emperor.

On June 27, Nanjing garrisoned the Yamen.

Lin Xiangyu smiled and said: "My husband, this emperor is really ridiculous. This is the first time I have heard of an emperor who is so polite to his children. Ordinary people have long been arrogant and bossy."

That attentive attitude was as if I were their son.

……

So now no one in Nanjing dares to compete with the emperor.

Xungui had no objection, Zhou Xuan looked at Zhou Chen again, and Zhou Chen asked Yuan Cheng and Yan Li: "Yuan Gong, Yan Gong, what do you two think?"

Yuan Cheng saw Yan Li: "Old Yan, just say it, I will listen to you."

……

Otherwise, if they cheated Zhu Qizhen today, they will cheat our descendants tomorrow.

Now the Nanjing garrison yamen has officially become the center of power in Nanjing.

When the Ming Dynasty's national power was at its peak, it could not tolerate their traps. By the end of the dynasty, the trap was over in three or two attempts. "

After several changes, the garrison in Nanjing has all been replaced by the emperor's men.

It has been exactly ten years since the Tumubao Incident. It is a true gentleman's revenge. Ten years is never too late.

Zhou Xuan shook his head: "It's too late. The memorial will come and go for at least ten days. Even if the Holy Spirit approves it by then, all the prisoners in the prison will have already been infected with the epidemic."

"When I'm not doing it, I respect you very much. In fact, as long as you don't mess with me, I'm quite gentle to everyone."

It would be fun if all the prisoners ran away.

When the Duke of Wei heard this, he stopped talking. Anyway, Wei Guogong just asked casually. No matter what, Zhou Xuan must bear the consequences.

Zhu Qiyu snorted again: "Come on, I have never said a harsh word to any of my sons in ten years. I am always amiable and gentle to everyone I meet.

No one could have imagined that the two brothers were fighting to the death, but now the younger brother is determined to avenge his elder brother.

Duke Wei asked, "Should I report it to the Holy One before making a decision?"

Zhu Qiyu's calculations were so loud that the government and the public were helpless for a while.

Lin Xiangyu smiled again and said, "Maybe your son is scolding you?"

The former prince who had lived in Nanjing for a short time had gone to Changsha to become a vassal, and the former emperor who had lived in Xiaoling for a long time had also passed away. The ministers no longer had any worries.

Isn't this ridiculous?

Zhu Qiyu snorted coldly: "I close the door at home and play with my own sex slave. I can do whatever I want with it. It's none of their business."

After all this, if they still scold me, it would be too heartless. "

On this day, everyone was chatting, and Zhou Xuan said to everyone: "It's too hot. A summer epidemic broke out in the prison in the capital, and a lot of people fell ill. I plan to send all the criminals home except for the felons, and let them cool down again." return."

Zhou Xuan's words were not surprising, and everyone else was shocked. This kind of thing is rare. Everyone has heard that Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, did it. He released the felons.

So Yan Li praised Zhou Xuan greatly, saying that he cared about the people, was kind and generous, and expressed his willingness to share responsibilities with Zhou Xuan.

With Yan Li's words, the others unanimously approved Zhou Xuan's proposal, and immediately wrote a memorial and reported it to the court, while Zhou Xuan presided over the temporary dismissal of minor prisoners in prison.

The few people discussed some other political matters and were about to leave when the edicts and official documents from Beijing arrived.

Everyone had to gather together and read the edict and official documents.

Yan Li was overjoyed when he saw that the emperor ordered him to create sixty eunuchs to manage the salt administration. This is the best of the best, the best of all.

To translate the emperor's edict into plain language, Yan Li had full authority to select sixty reliable eunuchs and put them into practice in salt administration. As long as there are results, these eunuchs will be trained intensively.

And according to the emperor's hint, Yan Li could recognize these eunuchs as godsons. Yan Li's power suddenly became huge, and he became a hot power official almost instantly.

Yan Li also knew it well. This was the emperor's reward for his meritorious service in guarding the Xiaoling Mausoleum. If there weren't any outsiders present, Yan Li would have immediately kowtowed nine times to the north.

If there is an explicit edict, there must be a secret edict. Soon, Yan Li left the garrison office and hurried back to the Royal Horse Prison.

Sure enough, the secret edict had already arrived, and it was more detailed and comprehensive than the explicit edict. He even made it clear who should accept the favor. Yan Li knew that it was Shi Niangniang who spoke for him and the emperor agreed, so he got such a fat job. He quickly knelt on the ground, kowtowed to the north, and thanked the emperor and empress again. . This is the true support. In just a few years, Yan Li transformed from a young eunuch looking after the warehouse to a senior internal official in charge of all royal affairs in Southern Zhili.

After kneeling down and worshiping, Yan Li ordered to his subordinates: "Send the order. All the internal officials and envoys of Southern Zhili can sign up and select 60 people to supervise the salt administration."

Everyone hurriedly agreed in unison, as long as it was related to the salt policy, it was a fat job.

At the same time, Zhou Xuan came to the Penal Department Prison and ordered the jailers to take out all the minor prisoners and gather them in the small square.

The prisoners didn't know the reason at first, but they heard Zhou Xuan loudly announce to everyone: "Nowadays, the summer epidemic is rampant, and the prison is dark and damp. If you continue to stay in the prison, I'm afraid you will contract the disease and lose your life."

So please register and then go home. When the weather cools down and the epidemic passes, I will order the Yamen servants to inform you again, and I will call you to come. It will be easier for both parties. "

The prisoners were all stunned. Is there anyone else doing things like this?
Zhou Xuan was still there waving people away, telling the prisoners to register quickly and go home.

For those who were farther away from home, the Ministry of Punishment also paid for travel expenses.

On the fifth day of July, Zhu Wenfang, the prince of the country, received a report from Nanjing.

Zhu Wenfang smiled at He Yi and said, "You will come when I call you. This Minister of Zhou is really interesting."

He Yi replied: "Shang Shu Zhou is indeed a rare talent."

Zhu Wenfang asked: "Is he a close aide of my father?"

He Yi shook his head: "No, in the words of the Holy Master, Zhou Shangshu is a technocrat. He has strong administrative ability, but is not involved in political struggles. If the court wants to be stable, it needs more such talents."

Zhu Wenfang asked again: "What about Li Bing?"

"Li Bing, it's the same. He is not a close associate of the Holy Emperor, but he is very capable and dares to offend the powerful.

In fact, his own political tendency was to restrain the powerful tyrants in Shanxi from annexing land and occupying guard posts.

It's just that the Holy Emperor's attitude towards Shanxi is much more radical than Li Bing's, so it seems that Li Bing is a bit conservative. "

Zhu Wenfang nodded, and then sighed, being an emperor is really difficult.

It is even more difficult to be a good person after becoming an emperor.

The next month was uneventful. Only Shanxi is constantly arresting people, arresting people, arresting people.

There were many officials in the court who were sympathetic to Shanxi, and people were panicked for a while.

At the beginning, there were officials who came forward to intercede or advise.

Zhu Qiyu personally ordered a group of officials to be arrested and dismissed, and no one dared to speak out again.

Within two months, thousands of people were captured and taken to the capital.

The three judicial departments held a joint trial, and Zhu Qiyu personally negotiated the verdict and publicly executed a large number of people. Anyone involved in smuggling to Mongolia will be killed; there are also those who take advantage of others and force people to die; all the old accounts have been revealed, behead those who deserve to be beheaded, exile those who deserve to be exiled, and send those who deserve to be sent to the Jiaofang Division Jiaofang Division.

Previously, a large number of officers, military generals, civil servants, and imperial guards who had informed Agabarji were arrested, and all of them were beheaded.

Especially for some distinguished nobles, their wives dared to taunt the imperial concubine in a sinister manner. Now that the old and new grudges have been settled together, all their female relatives have been sent to the Jiaofang Department, so that the men in the capital can work together to teach them the principles of life. .

In the second half of Jingtai's tenth year, the main theme was killing, and the entire capital was full of heads.

People were beheaded almost every day, and women were sent to the Jiaofang Department almost every day.

Time flies, and months pass.

It’s the end of the year in a blink of an eye.

On December 27, Zhu Qiyu came out in person to preside over the last court meeting of the year.

This time the people came in a particularly neat manner. Civil servants of fifth rank and above, military attachés of third rank and above, princes, princes, dukes, marquises and uncles all attended.

Zhu Qiyu and Zhu Wenfang sat on the Dragon Throne together, received the worship of hundreds of officials, and then began to listen to the six chapters summarizing the year.

The protagonist this year is the Ministry of Hubu. Zhu Qiyu ordered Shen Yi, the Minister of Hubu, to speak first.

Shen Yi looked relaxed and said calmly: "Your Majesty, after a year of land and population census, the original 13 provinces in the two capitals had a total of 8.4 million hectares of grain and grass fields and ponds in the Hongwu Dynasty. Before this inventory, only 4.28 million hectares were left.

After this comprehensive inventory, a total of 8.88 million hectares was recorded. "

As soon as Shen Yi said this, there was discussion in the hall.

This is really cruel. The land collected for grain and grass even exceeds that of Taizu's era.

In the past, after Taizu inspected the fields, he established tax quotas for each province. He collected a lot, but not too much.

Taizu has said that the quota will always be fixed and no more will be collected, so naturally the newly cultivated land in the future will be concealed if possible, and concealed if possible.

This time the imperial court was there to survey the land, while at the same time the emperor was assiduously killing people.

Especially Shanxi's experience frightened other provinces.

Therefore, all provinces are trying their best to inventory the land to avoid being targeted by the emperor.

In the end, when the amount of land in each province was added up, it actually exceeded the amount of land in Taizu's time.

Zhu Qiyu wanted to laugh in his heart. Sure enough, the Qing Dynasty was right on this issue. He had to kill and kill to death. Talking about Confucian benevolence, justice, etiquette and wisdom is all in vain. Only by killing people and convincing them can the problem be solved.

Zhu Qiyu also understood the difficulties of the powerful gentry. What worries them most is that they cannot attract external forces. There was it before, there was the Qing Dynasty in the future, but now there is nothing.

A negative example, in the 17th year of Chongzhen, everyone was looking forward to King Chuang coming to Beijing and quickly replaced Chongzhen, this terrible emperor.

In the end, he was indeed replaced, but Li Zicheng did not follow the script, tortured and plundered the capital, and offended all the gentry and officials.

At this time, the gentry officials had another option: to attract external forces, that is, the Manchus to enter the customs.

I can't control the imperial power myself, but I can bring in external forces.

This is also the origin of Hongguang Dynasty's bizarre national policy of "uniting the captives and quelling the invaders".

Everything happens because of the background of the times.

Zhu Qiyu had enough historical lessons to attract, so he chose the tenth year of Jingtai to conduct a land inventory.

Now that there are no foreign enemies, the gentry want to attract Yexian, Dorgon and the like to come in, but they really can't find anyone to flirt with.

Moreover, Zhu Qiyu had just destroyed Meng Yuan, and his prestige was extremely high. In addition, Ming Dynasty had all the elite combat power under his control, so he had no fear of internal rebellion.

Zhu Qiyu hoped that someone would rebel. The hundreds of thousands of pro-troops including the three battalions and three guards alone were enough to suppress the local rebellion.

Now I want to go on a killing spree, but I can't find an excuse. The local gentry were powerful and not stupid. With Shanxi pearls and jade in front of them, who would dare to give them to the emperor?

(End of this chapter)