Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 440 Take it for your own use
Li Zicheng committed a serious crime in Yinchuan, and escaped with Wen Xinghu and Li Guo. They went north under different names and finally arrived at the border of Gansu.

Wen Xinghu found his friends at the border. They were very happy to see each other. When they heard that the three of them were here to join the army, Wen Xinghu's friends were even happier. After all, as the saying goes, good iron is not used to make nails, and good men don't become soldiers. Life in the border army is very hard, so who would join the border army unless they had no other choice?
The Gansu border army has always been short of manpower. The banner he is in is full of old and young, and the three of Li Zicheng are all young and strong men. Moreover, Wen Xinghu is his friend, so naturally he would not refuse such a good thing.

They immediately helped them settle down temporarily, and then reported the matter to the higher authorities. After learning about it, the higher authorities met with Li Zicheng and the other two and briefly asked about their identities. Li Zicheng naturally concealed his identity and did not mention the matter of Yinchuan at all. In this way, the three of them suddenly became frontier soldiers, put on battle jackets, and ate imperial food.

Not to mention that Li Zicheng had settled down at the border, news also came from Pingyang Prefecture in Shanxi that the imperial court had closed down the post stations. When Zhu Shenzui, who was personally teaching his two sons to read, heard about this, his brows immediately frowned.

The closure of the post station may seem like a small matter, but it is actually a big deal.

The post stations of the Ming Dynasty were set up by Zhu Yuanzhang. There was a post station every sixty miles along the official road. The sizes of the post stations varied. The larger ones had a post station master, postmen and about ten related personnel, while the smaller ones had four or five people.

The post station not only provided accommodation, but also provided transportation such as horses, and also played the role of the postal service in later generations. There were tens of thousands of people in the entire Ming Dynasty who relied on the post stations for their livelihoods. If the post station-related occupations and other non-staff personnel were added, the number would be even greater.

On the surface, the court closed down the post stations to save money, which could save 685,000 taels of silver per year. But in fact, the impact of closing down the post stations on the Ming Dynasty was extremely significant.

First of all, the post station was gone and its original functions were also gone.

The post station not only served as a guesthouse, but also had the main function of postal delivery.

The delivery of documents from the central government to local government offices across the country relied on post stations. Now that the post stations have been abolished, there will be no one specifically responsible for these functions, which has led to a significant increase in the workload of each government office and caused problems in the implementation of government policies in various places.

Secondly, the post stations had intelligence functions, and many post station chiefs were members of the Jinyiwei, just like Zhou Anmin back then. A post station was basically an intelligence base for the Jinyiwei, and the Jinyiwei relied on the post stations that were densely distributed across the country in Silla to maintain the entire intelligence network.

Now that the post stations have been closed, the Jinyiwei have lost the strongholds they relied on, resulting in a lack of information sources for the Jinyiwei and a significant weakening of their control over all parties.

In addition to the above problems, there was also the ineffective management of mule and horse carts, which caused problems in the transportation of personnel and materials. In addition, after the post stations were abolished, those who originally relied on them for a living lost their jobs. The unemployed became a factor of social instability, which inevitably caused many hidden dangers. The court only saw the benefits but not the disadvantages, and they didn't know which bastard came up with this bad idea. Emperor Chongzhen was even more confused and actually agreed to it.

Zhu Shenzhu was a little confused. It was fine that Emperor Chongzhen was young and didn't understand these things, but didn't any of the ministers in the court understand the truth? Didn't they know what the consequences of closing the post station would be? Didn't anyone remind Emperor Chongzhen?
But this is exactly what happened. After the order to close the post stations came down, there was a cry of grief at the post stations everywhere. In Shanxi alone, thousands of people were laid off at once, including many non-staff members of the Jinyiwei. Not to mention the other problems that occurred due to their unemployment, the Jinyiwei alone became half blind and half deaf, and had one arm cut off.

"This is simply outrageous! How could the emperor do such a thing? Are all the officials in the court blind?" Zhou Anmin was the most angry about this matter.

You have to know that he was originally a postmaster, and later worked his way up to his current position.

The closure of the post station not only made him feel indignant, but what was even more terrible was that after the closure of the post station, the Shanxi Jinyiwei under his control lost many of his informants. Many affairs that were originally running well, including surveillance and intelligence sources in various places, disappeared all of a sudden. Faced with such a situation, Zhou Anmin was simply speechless.

Shaking his head silently, Zhu Shenzhui was also speechless about the court's action, but this was not something they could stop. The closure of the post stations was a foregone conclusion and it could not be changed. He could only comfort Zhou Anmin with a few words.

"Could this be a deliberate targeting of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?" Zhu Shenzhui poured Zhou Anmin a cup of tea and asked.

Zhou Anmin frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head and nodded. To be honest, he was not very clear. Because of Wei Zhongxian's fall, his sources of information within the Jinyiwei were not as good as before. Zhou Anmin had always refused Wei Liangqing and Tian Ergeng, and did not go to the capital to take up a post. He had always stayed in Shanxi, away from the center.

When the bilateral trade was going on, Zhou Anmin also took the initiative to give up the trade leadership because of Tian Ergeng and acted low-key, which might have implicated Wei Zhongxian and others. Before Wei Zhongxian's fall, Zhou Anmin and Wang Rong had already made preparations. Zhu Shenzhui also asked Zhang Xijun to help them privately and took out a lot of gold and silver to smooth things over. It was precisely because of this that the fire did not burn them in the end. As the incident gradually faded after Wei Zhongxian's fall, they are now safe.

But even so, neither Zhou Anmin nor Wang Rong are without some impact at the moment. The biggest impact is that many things are not as convenient to handle as when Wei Zhongxian was in power. In addition, without the backing of the capital, the power in their hands has been partially restricted. As for information, they are not as well-informed as before.

Zhou Anmin's biggest headache now is the closure of the post station. After the closure of the post station, many non-staff members affiliated with the Jinyiwei have nowhere to go. If the post station is disbanded, Zhou Anmin will not be able to bear it. After all, he was one of them back then. More importantly, without these basic personnel, the Jinyiwei's control will be much weaker.

The same is true for Wang Rong. After Wei Zhongxian's fall, the private salt trade and other businesses were also affected, and the losses were not small. However, compared with Zhou Anmin's problem, Wang Rong's problem is better. After all, this business will continue. Without Wei Zhongxian, there are still other big guys. As long as the business is under control and a certain price is paid, there will definitely be people willing to cooperate.

"It is not clear whether it is targeting the Jinyiwei or not, but to be honest, since the new emperor ascended the throne, the court has paid less attention to the Jinyiwei. Especially these days, the Jinyiwei in various places have had a hard time."

Zhou Anmin frowned and shook his head as he said this.

The imperial court is not only suppressing the Jinyiwei, but also the Dongchang is less powerful than before. This situation has never happened before. You must know that both the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang are the minions in the hands of the emperor and are the tools for the emperor to rule effectively.

How could an emperor disarm himself and attack his own minions? In the years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, has every emperor not paid attention to these secret agencies? It's just that the balance of power between the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang is often different, or in order to restrain the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang, the new Xichang and even the Neihangchang were opened to effectively control them, but it is the first time that the emperor has joined forces with the civil service group to suppress these departments.

Zhou Anmin couldn't understand why this happened, and he had no idea what was going on.

Zhu Shenzui did know a thing or two. It was nothing more than that Emperor Chongzhen was not a qualified emperor at all. He was fooled by the Donglin Party and other civil service groups before he became emperor. In addition, they hated and were wary of Wei Zhongxian, so they disliked special agencies such as the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang from the very beginning. So after dealing with Wei Zhongxian, Emperor Chongzhen suppressed the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang. What he did was exactly what the civil service group was happy to see. Naturally, they cheered and shouted that he was wise, but they would never remind Emperor Chongzhen of his mistake.

"The storm is coming!" Zhu Shenzui couldn't help but sigh in his heart and shook his head speechlessly.

It has not even been a year since Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, but the things he has done are really speechless. It seems that he has carried out drastic reforms, but in fact, everything he has done is just messing around with the already broken ship of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, after Wei Zhongxian's fall, the eunuch party was destroyed. Now the court is full of the former Donglin Party and the civil servant group that calls itself the clean stream. How badly they were suppressed by Wei Zhongxian in the past, how crazy they are now, and they don't care about the safety of the country at all, only care about their own interests, and constantly instigate Emperor Chongzhen to make trouble. How can this continue?

"Brother-in-law, have some tea. The court is too far away. You and I should focus on what is in front of us." Zhu Shenzhui picked up the teacup in front of him and reminded Zhou Anmin with a double entendre.

Zhou Anmin thought for a moment, picked up his teacup and drank the tea in it, then put it down again and nodded, "You're right. There are some things we really can't take care of. We can only take care of ourselves now. Hey, if it really doesn't work, little brother, I still need your help here."

"We are family, why talk about helping or not." Zhu Shenzhui smiled. He naturally understood why Zhou Anmin suddenly came to him. He was already prepared before Zhou Anmin came. He immediately took out an envelope and handed it to him. After Zhou Anmin took it and opened it, he saw that there were more than ten Hengtong silver notes of one thousand taels in it, which added up to more than ten thousand taels.

"The closure of post stations will have a huge impact. The court can ignore the placement of personnel, but you cannot be lax. At least you have to make arrangements for your brothers. So I think you need this money, brother-in-law, and it will be useful. In addition, I have already told Kang Youfu that you can go find him later. Other provinces are fine, but some of the post stations that have been closed in Shanxi can be taken over by Hengtong, and the government can change them to civilians and use them as inns. How to arrange the personnel before that is up to you, brother-in-law. No matter what, this is also my humble contribution to my brothers."

Zhou Anmin was stunned at first, then he was delighted, nodded repeatedly, and looked much more relaxed. He was having a headache with this matter, and didn't know how to deal with it. Now Zhu Shenzhui not only gave him money, but also pointed out a way to resettle him, which made Zhou Anmin overjoyed. According to this operation, although the court closed the post station, the main body and core personnel of the post station were still retained, which was a good thing for all parties.

(End of this chapter)