Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 264 Taking the opportunity to blackmail

If you can't come up with a solution, then I will have no choice but to lead the army myself.

In the eyes of the three cabinet ministers, this was probably just an excuse, but in Zhu Cilang's view, it was more like a form of coercion.

Yes, at this stage, Zhu Cilang has no plans to leave Yingtian for the time being, and the so-called personal expedition is just a way to force the three to reach an agreement.

In the final analysis, we should make the best of it.

Now that he is back, he should first sort out the situation in the court. In his impression, the situation in the southwest should change within a month or two. Even if the two people fight fiercely, there will be no problem in the short term.

To be honest, although he had always been sufficiently vigilant against the civil service group, he even took advantage of the honeymoon period with the civil servants to deploy various checks and balances in an unnoticeable manner.

But it is undeniable that the smooth sailing in the past few months did make Zhu Cilang look down on the civil service group.

This is not surprising. Putting aside his military achievements and the like, he took advantage of the infighting within the civil service group to deal with Liang Yungou, the first person to jump out, and used the method of killing with a borrowed knife to weaken the local forces in Hangzhou.

Afterwards, he not only used the profits from maritime trade to lure the wealthy families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to help him eliminate the possible food crisis, but he also reached out to the local areas without the officials being aware of it.

With all these things happening one after another, if it were someone more eccentric like Zhengde, he would have been extremely arrogant. But Zhu Cilang has remained low-key until now, so there is really no need to blame him for anything.

But then again, his ability to gain the complete upper hand also had its own particularities.

First, the real leaders of each faction had actually surrendered in Beijing. To put it bluntly, the civil servants in his small court were just losers in the struggle.

For example, Qian Qianyi lived his whole life in the shadow of the real boss of Donglin; Ma Shiying was just a pawn of the people in Beijing; and people like Huang Daozhou and Liu Zongzhou were more like teachers than court officials.

These people are either ignorant of general affairs or lack a sense of the overall situation. If Zhu Cilang cannot even suppress them, he will really become the same as Hongguang.

Another factor was the help from the Qing army.

Although the officials did not stop fighting among themselves when facing a powerful enemy, it is undeniable that the banner of resisting foreign enemies did reduce the resistance Zhu Cilang encountered to some extent.

Otherwise, given the nature of the civil servants, how could he possibly keep the military power in his own hands?

You know, in the history of the Ming Dynasty, except for Taizu and Chengzu, every emperor who tried to get involved in military power died inexplicably.

Needless to say, Zhengde was a typical example of a person who was easily soluble in water. Even his grandfather, who had plowed the border areas outside the Great Wall three times, would have been a person who was easily soluble in water if it were not for Wan Zhen'er's tight control over the palace. Who knows?
Don't think that this is just a ridiculous conspiracy theory. You should know that in later generations, the president-elect Mike McCarty also had such an experience, not to mention that this dynasty lasted a lifetime.

No more gossip.

It was precisely because he knew all this that Zhu Cilang became uneasy after seeing the huge imperial palace.

It was precisely because of this uneasiness that he suddenly realized that his upper hand was only temporary. If he really underestimated the civil service group, then what he was going to do would inevitably be easily dissolved.

It is really difficult to suppress a group with an individual.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but sigh. Then he looked at the empty warm room and said to the eunuch waiting beside him, "What's your name?"

After a busy day yesterday, Zhu Cilang discovered that this young eunuch had been following him, but he didn't know whether it was because all his attention was tied up in various rituals or he didn't want to alert the civil servants. Anyway, when he called people, he only called them "that person" and never spoke to the young eunuch seriously.

"Your Majesty, I am Zhou Quan, a servant from Xinye. I have been working in the Sishejian before, and was transferred to the Qianqing Palace a month ago."

After hearing the report from the young eunuch, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but nod secretly.

Although I haven't seen Wang Fuping for a while, he is very efficient in his work.

Zhou Quan was not from the south of the Yangtze River, and he only worked in a powerless place, so he was the perfect person to be investigated.

"How old are you?"

"Your Majesty, I am fifteen years old."

"Oh, that's pretty much the same as mine."

After hearing this, Zhou Quan said he dared not. Zhu Cilang wanted to ask something else, but then he changed his mind and thought that there was a long time to come and there was no need to rush. What's more, there were several ministers waiting outside, so he said something to the outside.

"Let the Ministry of Justice come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sound of footsteps that gradually faded away. After ten breaths or so, another sound of footsteps was heard, and then Ruan Dacheng's voice was heard at the door of the warm room.

"Your Majesty! The Minister of Justice, Ruan Dacheng, pays respect to Your Majesty."

Since he reported his ideas about working in the Ministry of Justice in Hangzhou, Ruan Dacheng started his work according to Zhu Cilang's suggestions.

Although he has a bad reputation, his abilities are really good.

Although he only handled two cases during this period, and at most only involved a few officials of the fifth or sixth rank, and there was no crackdown on corrupt officials, one case occurred in Hangzhou and the other in Suzhou, which happened to be at important nodes of the canal, and they really had a deterrent effect on some people.

Therefore, when he became the first person to be called among the officials in the various government offices, he immediately felt the emperor's recognition of his work.

"sit down."

After Ruan Dacheng finished his ceremony, Zhu Cilang pointed to the chairs that had been brought in for the three elders.

The performance of the eunuch party in this matter far exceeded Zhu Cilang's expectations.

According to his estimation, if a few major cases were not uncovered, how could the greed of each family be curbed? But who would have thought that Ruan Dacheng, who was like a mad dog during the Hongguang Dynasty, behaved extremely rationally during this period, and achieved the goal of suppressing the rise in grain prices with just a small disturbance.

Regarding this situation, Zhu Cilang was glad that he didn't have to discard this sharp blade too early, but he also regretted not being able to open a few more gift packs.

But in his spare time he couldn't help but sigh: even the losers in these political struggles are so sharp, how difficult will those people in Beijing be to deal with?

"You and the Ministry of Justice have made great contributions to preventing any trouble due to food shortage this time."

"Your Majesty, you are too kind. If you hadn't raised a large amount of food from overseas, it would have been useless even if I had captured all the great families in Jiangnan."

"If you do your job well, then it's good. I'm not one to praise people with empty words, so there's no need to be modest."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ruan Dacheng put on an look of "a gentleman willing to die for his friend". Afterwards, he wanted to express his gratitude several times, but he seemed to be so moved that he could not speak. He really looked like he was "willing to die for the emperor".

Faced with such behavior, Zhu Cilang had to cooperate. But he knew clearly in his heart that if this guy really wanted to die, how could he behave so rationally when he had a rare chance of revenge?

After a while, the show ended successfully. After helping the tearful Ruan Dacheng back to his chair, he gradually changed the topic to the main business.

"Did you notice anything while investigating the case, my dear?"

Hearing this, Ruan Dacheng was stunned. Afterwards, he kept recalling in his mind, while at the same time trying to find some clues from His Majesty's expression.

He knew very well that since the question was asked in this way, it meant that His Majesty had already discovered something unusual through his own channels, or even had a rough judgment of these unusual things, and what was lacking was just someone to get the job done.

But what exactly could this be?

"I am an old minister, but I am not very smart. Your Majesty, please enlighten me."

"Oh? My dear, you are so thoughtful, but you haven't discovered anything?"

If you want to know, just tell me. Why go around in such a big detour?

After listening to what Zhu Cilang said, Ruan Dacheng couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Although the situation in Jiangnan had generally stabilized at this time, the war was about to end. Under such circumstances, how could he, the Minister of Justice, not discover anything?

But then again, can he really sort out all the details one by one?
Not to mention whether Your Majesty has the time to listen to his nagging, even if he does, some things really shouldn't be brought to Your Majesty's attention so blatantly.

In this way, Ruan Dacheng took several breaths to find a few things that seemed big but not harmful and said them out.

"Your Majesty, as far as I know, there are rioters in the Jintan area called the Nose Cutting Group; there are also scattered Qing troops in the Susong area who have turned into bandits."

"Well, these can be considered as the powers and responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice." When Zhu Cilang saw Ruan Dacheng stopped talking, he knew that it was unlikely that he could get anything more out of him. He then briefly recalled what Wu had said in his mind, and then gave a brief account of what had happened.

When Wu Changrui first arrived in Huating, he just thought that this job was a way out given to them by His Majesty, so he just spent his time there without paying much attention to it.

But who would have thought that after only three or five days of this, he was summoned by the new county magistrate on the grounds that "this matter is serious and someone is needed to testify."

He accompanied the county magistrate and the people from the advisory council all the way. Although they were not extremely close, they had some friendship.

What's more, it was just a testimony. Even if there was a huge connection, it would have nothing to do with him. So he went directly to the county government without thinking too much.

Only after he arrived did he realize that this matter was indeed a serious one.

After the Tartars retreated, the wealthy families in the county planned to take back the land that had been seized, but the new county magistrate felt that these should be regarded as traitorous property and must be approved by the court before they could be returned to the families.

As a result, the wealthy families in the county came to the government office to make trouble, and the new county magistrate also pulled Wu Changrui and the clerk of the Advisory Council to share the pressure.

If it were something else, Wu Changrui would naturally not say much, but when the Tartars were enclosing land, these wealthy families dared not say a word. Now that Your Majesty has just driven the Tartars away, they dare to cause trouble. Isn't this obviously bullying Your Majesty because they won't take action against them?
In such a situation, Wu Changrui would not tolerate it any longer. He did not know whether the murderous aura he brought from the battlefield took effect, or whether the giant Buddha behind him was intimidating enough.

Anyway, after the county magistrate said that he was just afraid of being implicated and that once the court spoke, he would definitely not interfere with the families taking back their land, these wealthy families said some harsh words and then dispersed.

When things got to this point, Wu Changrui thought that it had nothing to do with him anymore. However, who would have thought that about seven or eight days later, he unexpectedly learned that many ordinary people's fields were also classified as counter-property, and the government offices and local big families did not allow them to get close to their own fields.

If it were a normal time, it would be fine, but that period was the grain harvest season. If you missed the farming season, you can no longer count on the harvest.

Wu Changrui, who came from a military family, naturally knew what this meant.

Without the harvest, the people could not pay taxes to the court. If they could not pay taxes to the court, they could only sell their houses, land, children and daughters. A happy family would be broken up at this point.

He was smart and did not go directly to the county magistrate to argue. Instead, he wandered around as aimlessly as before, but at the same time, he began to pay attention to matters related to the fields.

Fortunately, his performance since arriving in Huating made everyone not pay much attention to this soldier with a missing arm, but within a day or two he discovered the strangeness.

That's why he went to Hangzhou to look for someone on the pretext of visiting relatives, and that's how he met Zhu Cilang.

After about half an incense stick of time, Zhu Cilang gave a general account of the matter. Seeing that Ruan Dacheng frowned as if he was thinking about something, he picked up the tea bowl from the table and moistened his lips.

"Your Majesty, do you want the Ministry of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter?"

"Let's not talk about the investigation first, tell me what you think."

When Ruan Dacheng heard the words, although he did not show any expression on his face, he could not help but groan in his heart.

He is not a person who is not good at practical matters, otherwise how could he have brought the Donglin Party in Southern Zhili into such a state?

But before he finished listening, he had already concluded that this incident could not happen in just one place, so he was naturally a little scared.

Why?

No matter how mad he was at the beginning, everyone knew that it was just a personal vendetta. Even though many people were ruined by him, they would not offend the public. But if he really took on this matter now...
Do I really want to become the knife in your majesty's hand?
Thinking of this, Ruan Dacheng couldn't help but swallow his saliva. After noticing the vague attention, he realized that he had reached the edge of the cliff.

"Minister, His Majesty is asking you a question."

Just as Ruan Dacheng was struggling with his inner thoughts, Zhou Quan's reminder came into his ears.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. This situation is appalling. It is unheard of! Unheard of!"

"Well, what did you see from it, my dear?"

"Your Majesty, I think this matter is definitely related to the Magistrate of Huating. It is possible that this situation is all controlled by him!"

"Oh~~?" Zhu Cilang dragged out the sound and then raised the tea bowl to his mouth. After taking a sip from it, he said, "Didn't those big families take the opportunity to annex land?"

When Ruan Dacheng heard these words, his heart suddenly skipped a beat, but at the same time, it was time for the experience he gained from many years of official career to come into play.

"Your Majesty, the big families are suspected of taking advantage of the opportunity to annex land, but in my opinion, the reason for this is that the Huating County Magistrate wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to blackmail the big families, and then the two sides may have colluded to target the ordinary people."

According to historical records, six months after Wan Zhen'er's death, Emperor Xianzong died of phlegm.

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(End of this chapter)