The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 248 Regret
Jin Yiwei ordered him to prison.

Zhang Jin, the general envoy, was lying on the straw covered in blood.

The commander of the Jin Yiwei, Mou Bin, looked at him with regret, and couldn't help but speak softly.

"Master Zhang, why are you doing this?"

"You have been known as a virtuous person for three dynasties, why do you have to do these things?"

Zhang Jin laughed miserably and said sadly: "Whether Tishuai believes it or not, this officer did not do this."

"The General Administration Department is the emperor's eyes, ears and mouthpiece. How could I deliberately withhold memorials to cause rebellion and such acts as a national traitor?"

Mou Bin frowned upon hearing this.

He really didn't believe that Zhang Jin did this.

Because this Zhang Jin does have a good reputation. He has served in three dynasties and has always been an upright official. He is a well-known talented and capable official!
But last time, Zhang Jin was instigated by Li Dongyang and Liu Daxia. When Huang Xingfu, Zhu Maogong and others plotted against the Marquis of Zhongshan, he played a role and strongly requested His Majesty the Emperor to send Zhongshan Marquis Tang Hao to immediately lead his army to Qingzhou to quell the rebellion.

Therefore, that time, His Majesty the Emperor was not in a hurry to take action against Zhang Jin, but only sent factory guards to keep an eye on this man secretly.

After receiving such an answer, Mou Bin couldn't help but feel a little angry.

"A mere fifth-rank official, is he crazy or stupid to commit a serious crime such as detaining a memorial and decapitating him?"

"In addition, there is news from the East Factory that Zhang Jin will be transferred to the right deputy censor of the capital. He will be responsible for supervising waterways to transport grain. He will also be responsible for exterminating Huainan bandits. He must leave Beijing immediately!"

"Da Jue, Master Yang, tell me, who did this?"

Zhang Jin just wants to be an upright person, nothing more.

But on the surface, there was nothing wrong with Zhang Jin's actions. After all, someone was rebelling, and the court should immediately mobilize troops and generals to quell the rebellion. He was just following the trend, and it was naturally not a fault.

However, after a series of severe torture, Zhang Jin never let go, and judging from his attitude, it seemed that he was really unaware of the matter.

"Master Zhang, why did you add fuel to the flames last time and plot against the Marquis of Zhongshan?"

But this time, it was clear that someone had done it deliberately, and Zhang Jin, the general political envoy, was naturally involved.

So, there's nothing more to say.

"This person is a fifth-grade Councilor of the Department of General Affairs. After learning of the incident, he committed suicide out of fear of the crime and took the blame alone."

Afterwards, His Majesty the Emperor came to his senses and realized that he and the Marquis of Zhongshan were being plotted against, so naturally he also focused on Zhang Jin.

Zhang Jin trembled when he heard this, but still did not answer.

"It's so stupid, you just wait..."

"Sir, there is news from Dongchang that the person has been found."

For a moment, Mou Bin couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Moreover, he was demoted from the general political envoy of one of the Great Nine Ministers to the right deputy censor of the capital. This punishment is not too severe. At least if Zhang Jin cannot make any outstanding political achievements in the future, then he will stop at this level in his life. That’s it.

Zhu Houzhao was still very unhappy.

"But Zhang Jin, have you ever thought about it, are those bastards embezzling national interests, corrupting and accepting bribes, right?"

"What a clear conscience!"

"The guilty minister Zhang Jin...accepts the order!"

Zhang Jin struggled to get up and knelt on the ground, then kowtowed respectfully to thank him.

How should he speak?
Liu Daxia and Li Dongyang were very helpful to him!
The favor of career promotion is more important than Mount Tai, and it is not so easy to repay.

After thinking for a moment, he asked a question.

"Master Zhang, did you hear everything?"

Last time, Zhang Jin seemed innocent of any crime, so it was difficult for His Majesty the Emperor to take action.

"According to Jin Yiwei's investigation, Liu Daxia had a favor to recommend you in the past, right?"

Since Zhang Jin became an official, he has never done anything illegal or disciplinary, but it was because of that wrong choice that he aroused His Majesty's fear and suspicion, laying the foundation for today's unwarranted disaster.

Chen Kuan remained silent because Yang Tinghe was present and there was no need for him to speak.

There is no doubt that after this incident, even if Zhang Jin was not dismissed from office, his career path would probably be cut off.

After hearing this, Mou Bin was secretly stunned. His Majesty the Emperor didn't even send a eunuch, but gave him an oral order. He obviously had deep opinions on Zhang Jin.

"Or we can open the window and tell the truth: Did Liu Daxia and Li Dongyang, the Huguang Township Party members, participate in the case of colluding with Japanese pirates for smuggling and profiting?"

"The reason why you did this last time was because you were instigated by Liu Daxia?"

Hearing this, Zhang Jin did not answer, but chose to remain silent.

"Zhang just wants a clear conscience, that's all."

Yang Tinghe thought for a moment and finally gave an ambiguous answer.

Until this time, someone in the General Affairs Department deliberately withheld the memorial of Xiong Xiu, the left minister of the Ministry of War, which caused the military situation to be delayed and the thieves rebelled. His Majesty the Emperor finally could no longer bear it. He justifiably suspected Zhang Jin, the General Affairs Envoy, and had him imprisoned directly. He was tortured in prison and tortured.

At the same time, inside the Qianqing Palace.

"Tishuai doesn't need to ask anymore."

Before he finished speaking, someone hurried over.

"Your Majesty, since this person committed suicide out of fear of crime, it means that all the clues have been cut off here."

"And the forces behind it can make a fifth-grade official commit suicide to bear the responsibility, so naturally it cannot be underestimated, even... many forces."

"At present, there are rebels in Zhili, and everyone in the capital is in danger and uneasy. I think it is better not to cause trouble."

Yang Tinghe was Zhu Houzhao's imperial master. After so many years of teaching, he naturally understood Zhu Houzhao's temperament. To put it bluntly, Zhu Houzhao just couldn't swallow his bad breath and wanted to let the factory guards continue to investigate and even make a move to incite a big jail.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but frowned after listening to Yang Tinghe's advice.

The rebellion of the horse thieves was so high-profile that even if the court wanted to conceal the news, it could not.

After all, Zhili is right next to the capital. How could such an earth-shattering event be concealed by those rebels who killed officials and rebelled.

Therefore, the entire capital is indeed a little uneasy now and is quite concerned about this rebellion.

And this also puts a lot of pressure on Zhu Houzhao, because the wild man Tang Hao is deliberately delaying time at this moment!

"Speaking of which, what do you think of Tang Hou's approach?"

Zhu Houzhao spoke again and asked his two confidants for their opinions.

Chen Kuan said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, this move by Marquis Tang may arouse criticism, and a large number of courtiers will definitely impeach and criticize him!"

What he said was somewhat incomprehensible, but he was expressing his attitude indirectly, that is, he supported Tang Hao's cruel approach, using this rebel bandit to purge the gentry and country gentry in Zhili and redistribute the fields they annexed to the people!

why?
Because Chen Kuan was a eunuch, and eunuchs were the emperor's domestic slaves, naturally all actions must be based on the interests of the emperor.

If Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan, did this, would he gain anything?

Besides suffering more infamy and being criticized and impeached by the gentry all over the world, what else can he gain?
After all, I am loyal to His Majesty and to the Ming Dynasty!
So why not support it?
After Chen Kuan expressed his stance, Zhu Houzhao turned to look at Yang Tinghe.

The newly appointed chief minister of the cabinet has shown quite superb skills in a short period of time. At least according to the information detected by the factory guards, many court officials have already addressed Yang Tinghe as "Yuanfu".

Yuan Fu, this is the honorific title given to the chief assistant of the cabinet. For example, like Liu Jian, the first assistant of Hongzhi, even Zhu Houzhao had to respectfully call him "Yuan Fu".

And Li Dongyang came to power by colluding with eunuchs and eunuchs, and succeeded Liu Jian as the chief minister of the cabinet. However, the court officials did not buy it at all and directly called him "Li Xueshi". This is the best proof. Not all chief ministers of the cabinet can receive the honorific title "Yuan Fu".

However, Yang Tinghe was able to surrender some court officials in such a short period of time, which shows his ability and means.

Yang Tinghe thought for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Although Tang Hou's move is a bit cruel and ruthless, it is beneficial to the country and the people, and your Majesty should naturally support it!"

The first sentence is a direct statement. Yang Tinghe also supports what Tang Hao did.

People don't care about themselves, they would rather bear the infamy and the hatred and revenge of the gentry, but also be loyal to the country and your Majesty. Such loyalty and virtuous people, Yang Tinghe naturally supports.

However, support is support, and some problems still need to be solved.

"However, if this is the case, then this rebellion will last for a long time. If some methods are used, I am afraid it will shake the foundation of the country's rule."

This is also inevitable.

Tang Hao, Marquis of Zhongshan, was not busy suppressing the thieves. Instead, he deliberately chased the rebels everywhere and allowed them to harm the gentry in Hebei. Once the news spread, the common people would only feel that the court was becoming more and more powerless, and even The mere rebels cannot be exterminated directly, but the gentry and gentry will think that His Majesty the Emperor is tyrannical and unjust, and will only work against them!
It is naturally not an option to continue like this.

The will of the people is the kingly rule. Any court that loses the support of the people will eventually collapse!
Zhu Houzhao naturally understood this truth, and he was also troubled by this matter at the moment.

Damn savage, if you don't put down the rebellion well, you have to chase this rebel bandit everywhere to harm the gentry. He is having fun, but Zhu Houzhao is under a lot of pressure!
Those gentry and gentry were not fools. How could they not see the insidious plans of the savages? Then Zhu Houzhao would face even greater pressure.

And the key point is that the imperial court cannot exterminate the rebels in time. This is the best evidence of weakness. If it takes longer, people with evil intentions all over the world will follow suit and rise up, not to mention the White Lotus Sect. You demons, these rebellious professionals!
Zhu Houzhao didn't want to play around and destroy the Ming Dynasty. The country and the country would fall into the hands of others. When the time comes, he would really have no face to meet his ancestors!
"Master Yang, do you have any good ideas?"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Yang Tinghe with hope.

The latter obviously prepared a draft, so he gave solutions.

"First, the Secretary of General Affairs should vigorously publicize the results of Tang Hou's suppression of thieves. The rebels did not dare to be enemies of the king and fled everywhere. This is also true. It is best for Zhongshan Marquis to kill a few thieves from time to time. In this way Only then can people’s hearts be calmed.”

"Second, publicize the fact that the people of Zhili have suffered greatly from Ma Zheng's rule, and behead Wu Tinghuan and other corrupt and bribed Taipusi officials to show the public the canonical punishment, so that the common people and scholars can understand the whole story of the rebellion and kill these The culprit is more reassuring.”

"Third, the imperial court's measures to reform the horse administration should be put in place as soon as possible, and this incident should be used to complete the reform of the horse administration of the country..."

With Tang Hao's careful help, Yang Tinghe, the future wise prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, became the chief minister of the cabinet one step ahead of schedule, and he was still in his prime.

Therefore, the chief minister of the cabinet, who was deeply stimulated by the appointment of Marquis Zhongshan, is now eager to realize his political ambitions. He joins hands with Marquis Zhongshan and His Majesty the Emperor to work hard to revive the Ming Dynasty!
After Yang Tinghe's measures were discussed, Zhu Houzhao immediately issued an official decree.

As a result, the common people's scholars truly understood the whole story of the rebellion, and they hated corrupt officials such as Taipu Temple Minister Wu Tinghuan.

After learning that the imperial court would punish these corrupt officials in ten days, the entire capital was immediately rejoiced. The common people and scholars were looking forward to it, but they directly ignored the rebels who were running around at the moment.

Well, after all, the Marquis of Zhongshan is chasing these Bazhou rebels, so what else could go wrong?
Just need to wait quietly for some time, and there will definitely be news that the Bazhou rebels have been wiped out.

At this moment, the Bazhou rebels, who have been forgotten by the common people and scholars, are hiding in the deep mountains and forests in embarrassment. The 30,000 rebels who used to be huge in strength now only have more than 3,000 people, and most of them are ragged and skinny.

There was no way, they suffered a fatal blow!

Just after Fan Wen became the rebel army and mapped out a grand plan for hegemony, and Qi Yanming led his troops southward in high spirits, a large army appeared inexplicably behind them. They did not take the initiative to attack them, but waited for them to break through a city before attacking them. , chasing them around.

The rebels were chased all the way from Bazhou Prefecture to Hejian Prefecture, and then to Zhending Prefecture, Shunde Prefecture, Guangping Prefecture...

These damn officers and soldiers are obviously frighteningly powerful in combat. They also possess a terrifyingly sharp firearm in their hands, the kind that can penetrate armor. However, they refuse to annihilate them in one go. Instead, they deliberately chase them around, as if A cat catches a mouse.

It was a battle in Jingzhou. Qi Yanming's troops once reached 50,000, so he felt that he had the strength to compete with the officers and soldiers behind him.

As a result, no one expected that the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who had seen them weak and begging for mercy, turned out to be so strong that people were desperate. It was simply a one-sided massacre, and the 50,000-strong army was killed by 10,000 soldiers. Qi Jia cried for his father and mother, especially the strange firearms in the hands of the soldiers, which directly destroyed the morale of the rebels. Even Liu Liu and Liu Qi, who were brave and good at fighting, were so frightened that they fell off their horses and fled without fighting.

In that battle, the 50,000-strong army fell apart, and in the end only these more than 3,000 people were left loyally following Qi Yanming and Liu Liuliuqi.

But what's the point?

The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are simply impossible to defeat, especially the terrifying firearms in their hands!

Qi Yanming sat on a big tree in despair, staring at the surviving rebels in a daze.

He just couldn't understand why those imperial soldiers were so terrifying and their fighting power was so amazing.
Liu Liu carefully came over and took out a moldy steamed bun from his arms.

"Brother, eat quickly without being looked at."

When Qi Yanming heard this, he glanced at Liu Liu who was covered in blood. He was so shocked that he couldn't help but burst into tears and burst into tears.

He was just a failed scholar. He never thought that one day he would start a rebellion, but he was beaten by the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and fell into such a desperate situation!

A few months ago, he was the leader of the righteous and ruthless horse thieves. When he raised his arms, a crowd of responders gathered, setting off a great chaos that overthrew the Ming Dynasty!
Today, he has become a notorious rebel leader, running away in a panic, and will be reviled for eternity even after his death!
The huge gap is enough to make people despair.

"it's all my fault!"

"It was me, Qi Yanming, who harmed my brothers!"

"It's all my fault, Qi Yanming. I'm sorry, brothers!"

Qi Yanming's cry resounded throughout the audience. Hearing his words, the rebels felt sad and started sobbing unconsciously.

At this moment, an angry rebuke sounded.

"Why are you crying?"

"Aren't we all still alive?"

"There is still a chance! We still have a chance!"

Everyone looked for the voice and saw that the person speaking was none other than Fan Wencheng.

This Mr. Fan is also quite embarrassed at the moment, with disheveled hair and no longer calm.

In fact, Fan Wencheng was really shocked by the generosity of Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, or he never thought that this damn reckless man could be so cruel and ruthless.

The Jiangnan gentry behind Fan Wencheng wanted to delay time and make the Marquis of Zhongshan fall into the quagmire of counterinsurgency, so that he could not escape and take care of the Qinghe Shipyard, thus giving the Jiangnan gentry an opportunity to take advantage of.

Faced with this conspiracy, Tang Hao, a damned thief, actually did the opposite. He deliberately chased the rebels around to kill the gentry and gentry, and deliberately used this rebel force to cleanse the big gentry households in Zhili. Killed until rivers of blood and heads rolled in!
On the other hand, at the Qinghe Shipyard, Zuo Yidao, the Jinyi Guard Qianhu, was personally in charge. He also had 3,000 Imperial Guards and 2,000 Beijing Army soldiers under his command. The Jiangnan gentry could not spy on them at all. No matter what methods they used, they were blocked by Zuo Yidao. return!
If this continues, who can guarantee what this beast Tang Hao will do?

What if he really goes south after chasing this rebel and enters Jiangnan?

Then it will really be a disaster!
So at this moment, Fan Wencheng felt extremely regretful. After all, the gentry were one, and the gentry in Zhili were bloodbathed, and the gentry in Jiangnan would also be implicated, and the loss of profits was simply immeasurable!
Not to mention that they have no countermeasures at the moment, and there is nothing they can do against this damn beast Zhongshan Hou!

The only measure is to force Tang Hao to immediately send troops to kill the rebels, otherwise the gentry and the gentry will suffer even greater losses!

Fan Wencheng thought about it, but in the end he could only think of one place, where these three thousand rebels could go!

So Mr. Fan looked at Qi Yanming with a ferocious expression, and then shouted in a low voice.

"General, it's impossible to go south!"

"We changed our route from Dezhou to Shandong and made a surprise attack on Qufu!"

"What? Qufu? You mean...the Kong family?" Qi Yanming was shocked.

He subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Fan Wencheng had already prepared his words.

"Only by winning Qufu will we be qualified to negotiate with the imperial court and have hope of survival!"

"After all, Qufu is..."

Three days later, Tang Hao looked at Leng Hantie with a strange expression.

"You mean, these rebels fled to Shandong and went straight to Qufu?"

Leng Hantie nodded, that was the information.

Tang Hao was silent for a while.

what is this?
Little surprise?
(End of this chapter)