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Chapter 842: Bone scraping to cure poison
"...I, your old servant, will obey your Majesty's command..." Upon hearing this, Wang An's whole body stiffened. He lowered his head and remained silent. After a moment, he slowly knelt down and kowtowed.

"Stand up and talk... Don't make it seem like we're parting forever! I just think you're not fit to engage in intrigues with the ministers anymore, that's all. Always remember what I said when I was the crown prince: If you don't let me down in this life, I will never let you down.

If you understand, please prepare to record it. I want you to go to Nanjing as an imperial envoy, for no other reason than to conduct a thorough investigation of the Nanjing court from top to bottom in preparation for its abolition.

There is no need to be so surprised. My court does not need two sets of teams. Since the new Ministry of Taxation has been established, the taxation and labor services in Jiangnan are managed by dedicated people. What is the point of keeping Nanjing?
You don't need to explain anything to anyone on this trip. You will be screened one by one according to the list. Those who still have some energy will be transferred back to the capital for use, and those who are old and feeble and have no business doing anything will all be dismissed.

Zou Yi will lead a battalion of 1,000 warriors to accompany him, and the army will also send two guards to Nanjing. Anyone who disobeys orders, spreads rumors, gathers a crowd to cause trouble, or plots against the law will be treated as treason. I will give you the right to execute first and report later, regardless of your status!"

Originally, this matter should not be explained in detail in advance, but seeing Wang Ansheng's hopeless look, Hong Tao couldn't bear it, so he simply explained it to him clearly, so that he wouldn't get sick from thinking about it again. After all, he is over 50 years old, and extreme joy and sorrow are harmful to his health.

"...I will not refuse even if death is the cost!" With Wang An's political sense, he immediately heard the core content of the emperor's words. He was so shocked that he half opened his mouth and took a deep breath before he barely came to his senses and quickly kowtowed to accept the emperor's order.

I thought the crackdown on salt and tea was cruel enough, but I didn't expect that even crueler things were still to come. Finally, they were going to take a cruel approach to Nanjing, and this move was likely to cause a major shock to the government and the opposition.

The fact that the emperor entrusted him with such a confidential and important task was enough to show one thing: the emperor still trusted him. As a eunuch, as long as he could gain the emperor's trust, that was everything.

"Don't be in a hurry to die. Remember the lessons of Tian Yi and Chen Ju. Don't think too much. Doing everything as ordered is the greatest help to me. Whether you will be cursed a hundred years later is nonsense. Not to mention you, even I can't stop future generations from commenting on you. It's useless to think too much."

In fact, from Tian Yi to Chen Ju to Wang An, they were all good at handling government affairs. If they were not eunuchs, they would have no problem being a minister in the court. It's a pity that they always consciously or unconsciously yearn for scholars, and over time they even automatically belonged to the scholar class, and had no regrets even if they were not recognized.

Hong Tao wanted to give Wang An a push, taking advantage of the opportunity of abolishing the Nanjing court to make him stand completely against the scholar class. It was not intentional harm, but a way to stop him from going too far. It was better to be hated by the scholars than to be suspected by the emperor.

As for whether this would cause a major turmoil, compared to Wang An's fear, Hong Tao was more relaxed. The problems of the Nanjing court should have been completely solved long ago, and they were capable of solving them long ago, but it was delayed until today in order to be as consistent as possible with the outside world.

Now that the northern border threat has been completely resolved and there will be no major outbreak of hidden dangers in the surrounding areas for the time being, it is a good time to make some moves on internal issues and most of the forces can be mobilized to be ready for battle.

As the saying goes, it takes three years for a scholar to rebel. It's not that I look down on the scholar class, but I really don't take those hypocritical and corrupt scholars seriously. They are hypocritical and selfish, and Zhu Yuanzhang has broken their spine for more than 200 years. What else can they fight against me except talking nonsense?
In the past, they could incite landlords, craftsmen, and farmers to cause riots in the local area, or unite with military generals and nobles to stage a coup. But since the new policy has shown its effect, fewer and fewer people are willing to listen to their nonsense.

Even if there are still some, it is useless without a single soldier. At most, there will be another disturbance by the Caoding, but the rabbit's tail will not grow long. Instead, their actions will be exposed and they will be eradicated together. It would be better if they could come a few more times to save the Statistics Department, the East Factory and the Jinyiwei from investigating everywhere. But Wang An and the two guards and the army alone are not enough to completely suppress the provinces in Jiangnan. After all, there are still some guards in the area that have not been abolished in time. Although they are not good at fighting, they are good at causing chaos in the countryside. Even if they can't cause any large-scale trouble, they still need to be prepared in advance.

"I think Guangdong and Fujian will not only not have any problems, but will also applaud the new salt and tea law and the abolition of Nanjing. Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan are remote and isolated from the news, so there should not be any major changes. In addition to Nanzhili and Zhejiang, the focus is on Jiangxi, Huguang, and Sichuan, among which Sichuan is the worst hit. Your Majesty must make arrangements in advance."

When Yuan Yingtai and Yuan Keli learned that the emperor not only wanted to enact new laws but also abolish the Nanjing court, they not only did not object, but also gave great affirmation. It seems that not all scholars are hypocritical, at least these two can put state affairs first.

However, Yuan Yingtai disagreed with the emperor's arrangement. He believed that the key defense areas should not only be Nanzhili and Zhejiang, but also Jiangxi and Huguang, and Sichuan was the most threatening.

Why? Yuan Yingtai also gave a detailed explanation, speaking for quarter of an hour, but it can be summed up in one word: people!

Sichuan is geographically located in a remote corner, surrounded by mountains, with abundant water systems and fertile land, and has very favorable natural conditions. It should have developed well, but the reality is not so.

Precisely because of its geographical location, rich resources and self-contained nature, it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. Time and time again, it has been devastated by wars, leaving the people living in poverty and industries in decline.

Not to mention the distant past, Sichuan experienced half a century of war during the transition period between the Song and Yuan dynasties. The population dropped sharply from nearly 1000 million to 60. Almost all of them were slaughtered, and many places became uninhabited areas.

Sichuan did not develop during the Yuan Dynasty, and its population and economy were basically stagnant, with taxes always at the bottom. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, wars broke out again. It was not until the establishment of the Ming Dynasty that Zhu Yuanzhang began to migrate to Sichuan on a large scale, which was known in history as the "Huguang Filling Sichuan".

By the 146th year of Hongwu, the population of Sichuan registered in the Yellow Book had reached 400 million. According to the tax revenue in the th year of Jingyang, the population of Sichuan had recovered to at least million. Most of the Han people were from Huguang, Jiangxi, Shaanxi and other places.

In addition, there are many ethnic groups living in Sichuan. Due to factors such as transportation, culture, and management, it is impossible to effectively register them, and the exact number remains a mystery. According to the estimation of the Sichuan governor, it may be between 50 and 200 million.

These are the people Yuan Yingtai was talking about. Most of them have lived in the mountains and forests in a tribal way for generations, and some even live in caves. They have language but no written language, making it extremely difficult to communicate with them. They cannot even read newspapers, so it is impossible to convince others with reason.

(End of this chapter)