Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 349: Traitor
At the teahouse table, Zhao Kuo listened to what Chen Bozong said, and his face was full of envy.

These sea merchants traded in various oceans, and often made several or even dozens of times the profit from a single trip. In terms of profit alone, the grain store business of the Risheng could not compare with these sea merchants.
But even the top merchants at this time had to be humble in front of the Sunrise.
The wealthy merchants who were able to expand their businesses across the provinces like the Sunrise were already on a different level from the ordinary merchants who were only looking for profits.

Zhao Kuo thought of this and sighed softly.

"The Hai family owns the Rishenghao and the Wang family owns the Ronghenghao. These two are the most prosperous businesses in Guangzhou now."

"I heard that when the Tartars besieged the city a few years ago, these two families gave their all to help, and that's how they won the appreciation of His Highness, and then they soared to fame,"

"The grain business of these two families has already reached the Ministry of Revenue in the imperial court. They are real imperial merchants. It is said that the heads of the two families have official positions in the Ministry of Revenue. How can ordinary people compare to them?"

Chen Bozong was envious when he heard this. The Hai and Wang families were just ordinary businesses in Guangzhou.

But it was because Hai Shuzu and Wang Jiyuan resolutely placed a heavy bet in defending the city the year before that they became wealthy businessmen in the court.

In just two years, these two grain stores have opened in Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. No matter which county you go to, you can almost see these two stores.
This is the real rare commodity, which is profitable. Compared with this, the so-called huge profits from maritime trade are nothing.

It's a pity that they were not in the city at that time, and missed this golden opportunity.
Chen Bozong shook his head, picked up a piece of three-fresh spring roll, and asked again

"Is there any other news worth noting?"

"No, the rest are just the trivialities of the city."

"There is another piece of news from Chaozhou. The imperial guards broke through the Nine Armies' mountain stronghold. All the leaders of the Nine Armies died and fled. There should be no Nine Armies in the future."

Chen Bozong was also stunned when he heard this, and said

"Aren't wars in the court always published in the main edition? How come the Ninth Army is a well-known bandit in Guangdong Province? Why is it published in the supplement?"

"Maybe there wasn't enough space in the main issue, so it was moved to the supplement. In our eyes, the Ninth Army is a giant bandit, but in the eyes of the court, the Ninth Army is probably just a small bandit group, not important at all."

Zhao Kuo finished reading the supplement and put it down, then picked up the main issue on the table and started reading.

This time, Zhao Kuo's expression was much more serious. He looked at it for more than a quarter of an hour, then put down the newspaper in his hand and said in a cold voice:

"Your Highness has been fighting for years, and now the people of Guangdong Province like me have had a few days of peace. I never thought that those villains in Huizhou would dare to collude with the Tartars. These people really deserve to be put to death."

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court's maritime ban policy had been relaxed, but this relaxation was only aimed at those sea merchants who were able to bribe officials and gentry, or even those who were officials and gentry themselves.
For private sea merchants like Zhao Kuo, the imperial court's maritime ban could still crush them at any time.

Even though Zhao Kuo and his men had made a fortune from the sea, they still had to hide themselves as much as possible after landing, for fear that their identities as sea merchants would be discovered and they would be arrested by the government.

The Guangdong government completely lifted the ban on sea trade last year, although a number of small sea merchants also had to pay ship taxes and tariffs.

But what followed was that Zhao Kuo and other small sea merchants who used to be sneaky on weekdays began to show their identities in the city openly, no longer having to hide their identities and worry about it.

In the Guangdong court at that time, apart from the officials in the central government, the small sea merchants in Guangzhou and coastal areas were probably the most supportive of the Guangdong court.

Chen Bozong had also finished reading the main issue at this time, and raised his head, unable to help but sigh softly.
"Your Highness is really generous. Each imperial guard is given 50 mu of land, which is hundreds of taels of silver. There are tens of thousands of imperial guards in the court. How much silver and how much land would that require? Your Highness actually distributed them all like this."

The content of the official publication was very small. The first half was the details of the rebellion case uncovered by the court, and the second half was a notice from the court that the land would be distributed to the army.
Zhao Kuo heard this and said directly

"If the division is good, the land of these two prefectures should be taken and distributed to the soldiers in the court."

"Your Highness is leading the imperial army to fight the Tartars in the front, but the gentry of these two prefectures are secretly colluding with the Tartars and rebelling against the imperial court. If we don't punish them, who else should we punish? The gentry of these two prefectures deserve the punishment they deserve!"

As Zhao Kuo finished speaking, a young man at the next table suddenly snorted and said

"What this brother said is absurd. Every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt has its creditor. If someone rebels against the imperial court, the imperial court should punish those traitors."

"But at this time, the court punished both governments, not even sparing the innocent people in the two governments. How unfair!"

Zhao Kuo looked at the young man in the long gown and replied without hesitation.

"How can it be unfair? The court has never said that all the people in the two prefectures will be punished. The newspaper clearly stated that only the wealthy households with more than 100 acres will be fined this time, and the common people in the two prefectures will not be involved."

The young man in the long gown was even more angry when he heard this.

“This is the greatest injustice!”

"The two governments were forced to surrender to the Qing invaders. If the imperial court really believes that the two governments are guilty, then they should be punished equally." "But now the imperial court is punishing the gentry of Huizhou alone. Are the gentry of Huizhou worse than those foolish people?"

Zhao Kuo did not hesitate at all and spoke again

"The gentry in the two prefectures are not even as good as the common people. The court punishes the wealthy families in the two prefectures who have more than 100 acres of land. They are called wealthy families, but apart from the gentry in the two prefectures, who else can have so much good land?"

"Since these gentry in the two prefectures passed the imperial examinations, they have been able to receive imperial grain and enjoy preferential treatment and all the grace and honor of the court. However, when the Tartars came, these gentry did not think about serving the country, but instead shaved their heads and surrendered to the thieves."

"The court wants to punish these unscrupulous officials from the two prefectures to warn the people of the world. These are clearly written in the newspapers. Didn't you even finish reading the newspaper?"

When Zhao Kuo said this, he suddenly remembered the young man's self-proclaimed name, and he reacted instantly.
Zhao Kuo stared at the young man opposite him with a bad look on his face and said in a cold voice

"Are you a traitor from Huizhou?"

The young man's face turned red, and he suddenly slammed the table and shouted angrily:
"Who are you calling a traitor?"

"Whoever gets a haircut will be scolded by his father, whoever gets fined will be scolded by his father"

Zhao Kuo did not give in at all. The young man looked at Zhao Kuo with a mocking face, his body trembling slightly, and suddenly shouted angrily

"Troublemakers, wait for these troublemakers"

The young man roared, suddenly stood up, took the teacup on the table and poured it on Zhao Kuo's face.
Zhao Kuo was caught off guard and was drenched.
Zhao Kuo was stunned and subconsciously wiped his face. After seeing the tea in his hand, Zhao Kuo came back to his senses.
Zhao Kuo's face was filled with rage, and he suddenly shouted
"You are such a traitor from Huizhou. You and other thieves from Huizhou surrendered to the Tartars and caused His Royal Highness the Regent to be trapped in the city. You also caused the tragic deaths of tens of thousands of people outside Guangzhou."

"We in Guangzhou haven't settled accounts with you yet, yet you still dare to come to Guangzhou and make trouble. Folks, hurry up and beat this traitor from Huizhou out of the building."

The Qing army surrounded Guangzhou that day. Although they failed to enter the city, they arrested civilians outside Guangzhou and drove them to attack the city.
In the Battle of Guangzhou, tens of thousands of people died outside the city. Almost every family in Guangzhou knew someone who died in the siege.

Under the propaganda of the imperial court, the people of Guangzhou hated the Tartars very much, and Guangzhou was also the place in Guangdong Province that was most hostile to the Qing invaders.
Of course, few people who dare to venture out to sea these days are easy to deal with. Zhao Kuo's face was furious, and he roared and rushed directly to the opposite side.
The five or six people in Huizhou's group naturally could not just watch the young man being beaten, so they all stepped forward to fight back.

The spectators in the teahouse were furious when they saw the Huizhou people bullying the minority.

Under the leadership of Chen Bozong, the tea drinkers in the teahouse surrounded the Huizhou people and the two sides immediately started fighting.

In the teahouse, the two sides fought each other, the sound of cups and plates breaking, angry curses and screams filled the air, and there was chaos all of a sudden.

The teahouse owner wanted to stop the fight, but when he found that the two sides were already fighting, he panicked and immediately ordered his waiter to go to the county government to report the incident.
After all, Guangzhou was under the emperor's rule at that time, so the county government responded very quickly, and the bailiffs quickly rushed to the teahouse.

A group of yamen runners armed with water and fire sticks rushed to the teahouse and immediately forcibly separated the two parties. Then they arrested all the people fighting in the arena and took them back to the county government office.
The two parties were causing trouble in the city. According to the rules of the county government, no matter who was right or wrong, the county government would definitely punish them severely to let these troublemakers know the laws of the court.

But when the county magistrate in the city heard that the two sides had just quarreled over the issue of clearing the land, his expression suddenly changed.
Since the news of the two governments' conspiracy spread in the court, the two governments' affairs and the matter of clearing the fields have become taboos in the court. The ignorant people in the city can comment on it at will, but the officials in the court are all silent about this matter.

Although the Huizhou youth took the initiative, Zhao Kuo was the first to provoke. The county government briefly asked about the cause of the incident and ordered Zhao Kuo to compensate the Huizhou youths with one or two taels of silver for the medicine.

The county government gave both parties a warning, and then drove them out without even filing a case. The Guangzhou county government did not want to have anything to do with this matter at all.

At the gate of the county government, both sides were bruised and battered.

Zhao Kuo looked at the people from Huizhou opposite him, took out a silver ingot from his arms, and threw it directly at the young man from Huizhou opposite him. The silver ingot hit the young man and fell to the ground with a ding sound.

Zhao Kuo looked fierce, looked at the Huizhou youth opposite him, and shouted
"You bastards from Huizhou, remember this is Guangzhou. If you dare to run wild in Guangzhou again, I will beat you up every time I see you."

After Zhao Kuo finished speaking, the Guangzhou residents who were watching began to shout loudly.

"Well said, these Huizhou thieves surrendered to the enemy and harmed so many people in Guangjing. They should be driven out of the city."

"Yes, I don't welcome these thieves in Guangjing"

“Drive these foreign thieves out of the city”

The people from Huizhou were angry when they saw Zhao Kuo's bad attitude, but when they saw the Guangzhou people who gathered around them with bad looks, their expressions changed slightly.

Seeing the crowds gathering, the young man from Huizhou did not dare to stay any longer. He picked up the silver from the ground and left in a hurry.
In front of the government office, the Guangzhou people cheered when they saw the Huizhou people fleeing.

After all the traitorous gentry in Chaozhou and Huizhou were brought to justice, the news of the two governments' conspiracy finally spread throughout Guangdong Province.
People in different places had different attitudes towards the two governments' conspiracy. Some cheered and supported it, some were angry and opposed it, and some were indifferent.

Amid the silence in the court and the uproar among the people, the land in the two prefectures and counties was finally confiscated.
(End of this chapter)