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Chapter 948: One whale falls and everything comes alive

Why did they use such a shameful method to get rid of the Mu family, which had guarded Yunnan for more than 200 years for the imperial court? It was still two words: interests.

The Mu family did make contributions to the Ming Dynasty, at least the previous generations did, and they could be called pillars. However, the evaluation of merits and demerits is not completely fixed, and will change over time.

For example, did Li Chengliang make any contribution to the Ming Dynasty? In the early days, he certainly did, and it was not small. But as he grew older, his status rose, and his needs changed, his contributions gradually turned into harm.

If he had not kept the enemy in the interests of his own people, the Jianzhou Jurchens would not have been able to accumulate strength smoothly, annex the various Jurchen tribes, and threaten the security of Liaodong Town.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, he wanted to seize military power, and he immediately became the biggest obstacle. If he was not removed, the annual taxes from the court would have to flow into Liaodong Town, and Hong Tao would never be able to gather enough resources to develop the navy.

Did Li Chengliang want to harm the Ming Dynasty? Definitely not. In his original intention, he did not want the Ming Dynasty to decline. Did Hong Tao want to harm the Ming Dynasty? Not at all. Neither of them was a traitor to the country. It was just because of their different perspectives and different interests that they became enemies to the death.

The same goes for the Mu family. They occupied too much land in Yunnan and absorbed too many tenants, turning the taxes that should have been paid to the court into their own income.

Why is the Mu family so prestigious among the ethnic groups in Yunnan? On the one hand, it was created by their ancestors, and on the other hand, it was earned in this way. The Mu family allowed many chieftains to pay less or no taxes, or even evade labor service, forming a chain of interests, so naturally some people supported them.

But from the emperor's perspective, the Mu family was undermining the Ming Dynasty and using national taxes to form cliques and factions to consolidate their foundation. This was absolutely intolerable.

In addition, the Mu family occupied too many resources, which was also an original sin. Yunnan was originally poor, and whether it was the reform of the native officials or the large-scale immigration, it needed resource support. However, all the resources were in the hands of the Mu family and the local officials and chieftains, and they did not give any of them out. How could the emperor feel embarrassed!

If the Mu family was not touched, then he would have to go to war with all the chieftains, take back the resources from them, and distribute them to the supporters of the reform and the new immigrants. Between offending the Mu family or offending all the chieftains, Hong Tao chose the former without hesitation.

It's not that the family of a meritorious official cannot be allowed to grow stronger, nor is it that one is jealous of someone who is too rich, but that power and wealth cannot be held in the hands of one family, especially when this family is located in a remote border area.

Although the Mu family was divided up into military power, they still had hundreds of Mu villages and tens of thousands of tenants under them, and they could also command the private soldiers of local chieftains. Tolerating such a family to continue to exist would be irresponsible to the country.

In fact, if Mu Rui had half the brains and foresight of Ruan Xiangjiang, and could see the general trend, he should have taken the initiative to give up some of his interests, completely cut off contacts with local chieftains, and honestly become a wealthy vassal king, so that he would not suffer such a catastrophic disaster.

Unfortunately, Chen Yongbin's advice and Zhou Jiamo's impeachment were both obvious warnings, but Mu Rui and his father Mu Chaobi didn't take them seriously at all. This forced Hong Tao to take the final solution. He couldn't let the reform of the four southwestern provinces be shelved indefinitely because of the Mu family.

When Zhou Jiaqing led the Jinyiwei to Yunnan, it was too late for the Mu family to change their mind. The two places were thousands of miles apart, and it would take nearly two months to send a message using the fastest express delivery.

By the time the Mu family's memorial of changing their attitude was sent to the court, Zhou Jiaqing and Yuan Keli had already begun their actions. When the imperial edict was sent to Kunming after more than a month, it was estimated that the Mu family had been wiped out by the Jinyiwei and the army, and the prisoners should have been sent to Annan and escorted back to Beijing.

Unfortunately, none of these prisoners could reach the capital. The weather on the sea changes rapidly, and it is common for a ship to sink. The navy is also human, not gods, and they cannot withstand strong winds and waves. The rise and fall of a big family often depends on the height of the head of the family and a difference in thought. The Mu family is too famous, so Hong Tao does not intend to let them return to the capital for trial and suffer the torture of the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division again.

It also avoided the strong intervention of the three judicial departments. I believe there are many people in the court waiting to see the joke. Once the Mu family is handed over, the result will be uncontrollable, which will greatly harm the strict compliance with the Ming Dynasty law advocated by the emperor.

Let them all return to the sea, saving both sides a lot of pain and trouble. The newspapers will not criticize and criticize, but will expose all the scandals of the Mu family and use a magnifying glass to find faults, thus preserving the reputation of the Mu family's ancestors. There can be no conviction without trial, so the Mu family is still a meritorious official of the Ming Dynasty, and their names will be engraved on the stone tablet outside the Meridian Gate!
"This is politics. Politicians never pursue fairness and justice, but management efficiency and goal achievement. As long as it is beneficial to the system, they can use any means and even turn right into wrong.

Most of you will serve in the court in the future, and some of you may even reach very high positions, so you must remember everything that happened today and put it into practice.

Okay, let me tell you about the situation in various places. From next month to next summer, I hope there will be no large-scale wars, and the government and the people will remain relatively stable. "

When Gao Panlong and his three companions went to eat barbecue outside Chaoyang Gate, the emperor in the Yangxin Palace was giving a lesson to a group of young staff officers of the General Staff. The staff officers also attended the imperial meeting today and were told in advance that they were not allowed to speak.

The purpose of this move was explained after the meeting. Needless to say, the staff officers knew that this meeting was just a show. They deliberately forced the ministers of the General Staff to not speak out by going to Yunnan, and then sent the Jinyiwei out to take advantage of the situation and do what they want.

However, they did not know the whole story until the emperor told them in person. Some people must have questioned whether this was reasonable, but they were used to thinking in the same way as the emperor, and would adjust themselves first if they found that the direction was wrong.

Since the beginning of winter, Hong Tao has entered a state of hibernation. He no longer inspects and rarely holds imperial meetings. Interestingly, from Outer Khalkha, Wala, to Yarkand, Yunnan and Myanmar, they have all entered hibernation together, and the war reports that used to be sent every few days have disappeared.

Since nothing major happened, the court officials were happy to have some free time. No, they couldn't have some free time, as the annual budget period had come again. All departments were nervously calculating next year's expenses, and they spent the whole day negotiating with the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, trying to get more projects reported to them so that the funds would be more ample.

Unfortunately, Sun Yuanhua and his young officials were like reefs on the shore, standing still no matter how the waves beat against them. All projects that violated the regulations were eliminated, and the ambiguous projects were submitted to the emperor for approval.

Whenever an official wanted to express his sincerity in various ways, the Ministry of Revenue officials would point to the plaque hanging in the hall. On it were written six large characters that were neither crooked nor straight, with a loose structure but full of poetry: Man acts, God watches!

That was the emperor's imperial edict, and it was the only one in the capital. It was also a death warrant. Since the implementation of the budget law, there were 21 officials from the Ministry of Revenue who had their homes confiscated and were forced to do hard labor by the Jinyiwei because of their sincerity in accepting the budget. Often, they would just accept the budget on the first day and cry on the second day.

There must be a traitor! This was the consensus of the officials in the Ministry of Revenue, but no one could tell which colleague was the informer, so they looked at everyone as a possible suspect. In this environment, no one dared to accept it, and no one dared to leave the Ministry of Revenue.

21 of the 19 colleagues were not accepted by the Ministry of Revenue, and still could not escape the fate of being caught. So maybe God is really watching, and if you really can't help it, you can report those who express sincerity. Seeing others suffer misfortune will always make you feel more balanced.

(End of this chapter)