Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 382
If you don't make trouble, you won't be called Donglin!

When this Song Qingshu was salvaging Zheng He's tripod in full swing, Zhang Pu, Huang Zongxi and other dozens of fellows were also enthusiastically filing a letter of impeachment, accusing Song Qingshu of wanting to take the country's important weapons and silver as their own. After discussion by the Six Departments of Nanjing On March [-]th, Zhao Shilang from the Nanjing Ministry of Rites personally led the Nanjing Imperial Army to copy the salvage site in Jiangyin.

A large number of Nanjing Navy ships surrounded them from all directions, and the ships were full of sailor officers and soldiers carrying guns and sabers. However, the officers and soldiers of the Qihuo Army guarding the scene also refused to give way. These guys from the First Division of Ge Zuo Except for Song Qingshu and He Jin, no one recognized it, and directly raised the firecracker at the navy's big ship.

"Presumptuous, raising knives and guns at the imperial army, are you going to rebel?"

At this tense moment, an official appeared from the bow of the ship, and seemed to turn a blind eye to those deadly firecrackers. His voice was shouting with confidence, and his appearance was like Bao Zheng angrily scolding Grand Master Pang. If it weren't for him They were here to steal money, Song Qingshu almost believed it.

"What are you doing, put it down, didn't you see Zhao Shilang coming?"

Strolling out from the salvage site, he yelled at the soldiers under his command to put down the firecrackers, but Song Qingshu turned his head and yelled at the ship without any hesitation.

"Master Zhao, the imperial army is on your boat. Could it be that the imperial army is on my island? Could it be that the imperial court's offer of peace to Song was false? I will write a letter to the imperial court when I turn around. come out!"

Zhao Shilang couldn't help being dumbfounded when he heard this. In the eyes of these scholar-bureaucrats, Song Qingshu is a thief no matter whether he recruits or not. , His responsibility is too great, he was speechless for a long time, and this guy just blurted out the sentence "Follow you".

The two-faced king saw the king, but they couldn't fight anymore. The Yangtze River Navy moved the boats for landing, and the begging army made room for these guys to land. In the eyes of contemporaries, the firecracker is the guy who burns fire sticks up close. This Zhao Shilang followed suit courageously, and walked up to Song Qingshu swaggeringly again.

"According to the order of the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing, this is the sacrificial vessel thrown into the river by the Sanbao eunuch at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty. It must not be privately owned. I hereby lead the troops to receive it. Song Zongbing, please hand it over! By the way, Song Commander-in-Chief, why does this officer look familiar to you?"

Hearing this, Song Qingshu shrunk his neck a little guiltily, and then laughed and shook his head and said: "Unfortunately, the last general was also ordered by Governor Lufeng to salvage these ritual vessels and silver, and use them as military pay. "

"Presumptuous! This is Jiangyin. Even the governor of Lufeng has to obey the orders of the Nanjing Ministry of War. Song Zongbing, do you want to disobey?"

His beard and hair were all stretched out, this Minister Zhao was full of spirit, he pointed his halberd righteously at Song Qingshu's nose and asked, if he hadn't stared at the large ingot of official silver that had been salvaged, he would have been so famous Minister's demeanor.

When Zhao Shilang said this, Song Qingshu seemed to be really hesitant. He was in a daze for a few minutes, and then he showed a look of helplessness and pain on his face, and he seemed to agree reluctantly: "It's not impossible to accept, but since Zhao Shilang received it in the name of the Ministry of Rites, so he must record the official documents in the name of the Ministry of Rites, how much money he has received, and it will be easy for Song to go back and find Governor Lufeng!"

I used to think that Song Qingshu was so difficult to deal with, but this time he brought more than 1000 soldiers, and Zhao Shilang was even ready to do it. Who knew that Song Qingshu would just spit out the meat he ate in his mouth so easily Unexpectedly, he nodded in surprise.

"So good!"

It’s really called a tiger’s mouth to snatch food. It’s been more than 20 days since it was salvaged by relying on boats and boats of sand. Chen Yin, who was used as a bait by the Sanbao eunuch, has only fished up dozens of boxes. A box is about 1000 taels. Zhao Shilang alone received as many as 6 taels, and there were not many left under the water.

These bastards don't know how to be polite, even the big sand boats in the Longjiang Shipyard were detained, causing Song Qingshu to call another boat when he went back. Seeing more than 300 officers and soldiers of the begging army going up the current in desperation, this Dong Zhao Shilang, who was born in Lin Academy, couldn't help standing in contempt on the captain of the navy's big blessing ship and seeing him off.

This guy is so weak and deceitful, sooner or later he will be their housekeeper for those properties in Nanzhili!Zhao Shilang thought viciously.

In the next few days, it was the turn of the adults from the Sixth Ministry of Nanjing to shovel up the sand and fish for silver. The salvage lasted for another fifteen days or so, and a total of 11 taels of silver was brought up, which is somewhat unique. The rare treasures of the South China Sea are also worth 4 to 5000 taels of silver, but it is said that it is state-owned, but in fact it is just a profit division. Qian, the other servants range from two to three thousand. Zhang Pu, Brother Zhang Cai, and Hou Fangyu, who are well-known among the scholars who are picking things up this time, also get a bonus of one thousand or two. , and only Huang Zongxi rejected the money, everyone has a share.

As for the one that really fell into the country, there was only the big cauldron whose cover was blown off by Song Qingshu, and it was left alone in a warehouse in the Ministry of Rites.

Song Qingshu also seemed to have become a soft persimmon. In the next two months, there were obviously more people who troubled Jiaduobao.

However, before these Donglin gentlemen could laugh enough, at the beginning of April, Pei Tai, the eunuch newly sent by the imperial court to guard Nanjing, arrived.

Since the guarding of eunuchs in Gansu in the first year of Hongxi, it has become a common practice for eunuchs to gradually control the military and political power in key places. In terms of rights, the highest person in charge of Nanzhili is the eunuch guarding Nanjing. Even the Minister of the Ministry of War of Nanjing, who is the counselor of maintenance, has less power. After all, he is by the emperor's side.

According to the usual practice, new guards must issue an imperial decree, and the Six Departments of Nanjing and the ministers will also take the initiative to meet with them. This time is no exception. As soon as Pei Tai's car arrived at the Forbidden Palace in Nanjing, the officials from the Six Departments gathered together one after another. , See you together.

It was still the same practice in the officialdom. Everyone kowtowed to welcome the imperial decree and accepted some criticism and encouragement. However, most of the things that were really to be done were not written in the imperial decree. It was done after reviewing the etiquette. Wang Yongguang, the boss of the Ministry of War in Nanjing at that time, The man stepped forward and asked respectfully.

"I don't know if the Holy Majesty has any instructions?"

The new guard, Pei Tai, is obviously much more energetic than the previous guard, Cuisi. He is younger and looks sharp. His image, except for his black hair, is a bit like the martial arts admiral of the East Factory in the Longmen Inn. Cao Shaoqin, he didn't seem to understand the subtleties of officialdom, so he said directly with a stern face.

"This time the miscellaneous family came, and there was a holy order to escort Shen Yin, the eunuch of the Three Treasures of Jiangyinkou, to the capital for 50 taels for military use!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Shilang from the Ministry of Rites who was still wandering in the air let out a puff. He was stunned for a moment before he exclaimed in disbelief: "Grandpa, is it just a joke? what?"

"Hmph, the miscellaneous family asks you, did the Ministry of Rites take over the salvage of Chen Yin at the mouth of Jiangyin from Song, the general soldier of Lianghuai?"

Emperor Chongzhen once recalled all the guarding eunuchs because of Wei Zhongxian, but in less than half a year, he resumed sending guards to various places. The reason is very simple. These bureaucrats are really rotten to the root. Put a lot of silver that should have been collected by the court into his pocket, just like Li Sancai, the leader of the Donglin and the governor of the Water Transport, unceremoniously executed Chen Zeng, the middle officer of the guard, and some of his subordinates, but these would have flowed into the emperor's internal funds However, the mining tax silver that was used for emergency at the critical moment ended up in the pockets of the local rich, and the people were actually still being severely exploited.

These honest and upright ministers who plead for the people are just fighting for the interests of the landlord and scholar-bureaucrat class they belong to. Therefore, the middle-ranking officials sent from the capital to guard these places clearly have a sense of hostility towards these local officials. , Hearing Zhao Shilang's sophistry, Pei Tai was obviously full of anger and scolded him. Hearing this, Zhao Shilang's heart trembled again, but he scolded Song Qingshu.

This kid is really ruthless, he couldn't get it, and he stabbed it to the court!

However, Zhao Shilang was not very alarmed by this. After all, the entire Nanjing six ministries were involved in this matter. Rebutted confidently.

"Indeed, the Ministry of Rites salvaged some Sanbao eunuch Shen Yin last month. This is the silver sacrificed by Zheng He. It should not fall into the hands of vulgar warriors, so the Ministry of Rites took it. However, it is definitely not as much as 50 taels, and the total is only 3000. Two, if father-in-law needs it, he can escort the capital at any time."

Reluctantly vomited it all out, Zhao Shilang also left 2000 taels for himself, who knew that when these words came out, Pei Tai's eunuch's white face turned green.

"Fart! When the general soldiers of Lianghuai found Chen Yin at the end of February, they invited the censor of Lianghuai patrol, the governor of Lufeng, the capital of Lianghuai and other adults to jointly appraise that Chen Yin should be at least 50 taels. My lords It is also a letter to salvage this batch of heavy silver for national use. When the miscellaneous family arrived at the Huaihe River, the documents of the Huaihe General Army arrived. You and the Ministry of Rites forcibly confiscated the heavy silver. The silver taels received from Song Zongbing amounted to as much as 6 taels, and the military situation is on fire, and you guys are lying like this? Are you going to rebel?"

It's a real news, a few days ago, Zhao Shilang used rebellion to suppress Song Qingshu, and this time, some eunuchs used rebellion to suppress him, but listening to Pei Tai's roar, the faces of all the senior officials in the Six Departments of Nanjing turned black .

Damn it, it was a trap from the very beginning, they all fell into Song Qingshu's trap, no wonder, whoever salvaged the silver would report it to the court instead of keeping it quietly in his bosom!

(End of this chapter)