Chapter 716 Good News
When the news of Gao Yingxiang's capture reached the central army, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, who had been waiting for the news, finally felt relieved. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Congratulations, Brother Boya."

"Congratulations, Brother Hengjiu!"

The two congratulated each other in unison, and as soon as they finished speaking, they burst into laughter at the same time.

Gao Yingxiang, the rebel leader who caused great upheaval in the Ming Dynasty and fought in eight provinces of the Ming Dynasty, was finally arrested. This is indeed great news.

This battle not only annihilated Gao Yingxiang's troops, but also captured Gao Yingxiang himself. Gao Yingxiang's troops were destroyed. It can be said that the largest and most powerful bandit group of the Ming Dynasty was gone. Next, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other inferior bandits were eliminated one by one, and the Ming Dynasty was no longer troubled by bandits.

Such a great achievement is not an exaggeration to say that it is earth-shattering. The success of this battle is closely related to Sun Chuanting's judgment and decisiveness, and the same is true for Hong Chengchou. Without Hong Chengchou's support and trust, even if Sun Chuanting guessed that Gao Yingxiang would go to Ziwu Valley, he would not be able to stop Gao Yingxiang at the entrance of the valley.

Now that Gao Yingxiang has been captured, he has made a great contribution. With this achievement, the court will definitely reward him handsomely. By then, it is possible that Sun Chuanting will be promoted from the governor of Shaanxi to the central government. Moreover, Sun Chuanting already has the title of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, so he may be directly promoted to the Minister of War.

In addition, Sun Chuanting's relationship with Zhu Shenzhui might allow him to serve as a cabinet minister after being transferred back to the capital. The same is true for Hong Chengchou. As the governor of three borders, he will be promoted to a high position of minister. As for entering the cabinet, there is a bright future ahead of them!

The two were so happy that their next reaction was to report the good news to the court as soon as possible, so that the court would know about their great victory. As for how to deal with Gao Yingxiang after he was captured, it would depend on the court's opinion. After discussion, Sun Chuanting wrote a memorial and a victory report in his own handwriting, and Hong Chengchou signed it and sent it to the capital as soon as possible.

However, before sending the memorial and the victory report, Hong Chengchou thought of a problem, that is, how to deal with the captured rebels. In the battle of Heishui Valley, Gao Yingxiang's troops lost 10,000 people, and the remaining number, including the wounded, was nearly 40,000.

These people are not just a few hundred or a few thousand, but 40,000 people! Although some of these people surrendered voluntarily, and some were captured in the last battle, how to deal with these people is a difficult problem.

Hong Chengchou suggested that they should just kill them. The hands of these bandits were stained with blood. No matter they took the initiative to follow Gao Yingxiang or were forced to join the rebellion later, they were not good people. Moreover, it would take a lot of food to feed so many people. If they were released, it would be unsafe. Who knows if these people would cause trouble again? After finally solving the problem of Gao Yingxiang, Hong Chengchou did not want to revive the rebellion. His plan was to kill them all to prevent future troubles.

But Hong Chengchou's suggestion was opposed by Sun Chuanting. Killing a few hundred or a thousand people would be fine, but the problem was killing a full 40,000 people! The consequences of doing this, and killing prisoners, were too great. Once the news got out, they would be the target of public criticism, and the impeachment of the clean stream in the court would instantly drown them. Moreover, killing prisoners has always been an ominous omen. In the Battle of Changping, Bai Qi killed 400,000 Zhao soldiers. This incident directly nailed Bai Qi to the pillar of shame and he has been scolded for thousands of years. Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou were both Jinshi graduates and serious scholars. How could they do such a thing?

Seeing Sun Chuanting's objection, Hong Chengchou thought about it and said why not write this issue in the memorial and let the court decide how to deal with it. However, Hong Chengchou believed that no matter how to deal with it, these people must not be let off easily. After all, these people were Gao Yingxiang's subordinates, and they might continue to rebel even if they were dismissed.

Sun Chuanting accepted this suggestion and emphasized this matter in his memorial to the court, hoping that the court could come up with a plan to properly deal with it.

After writing the memorial and the victory report, Hong Chengchou signed it and sent a fast horse to deliver it to the capital in the name of the two people. After the messenger left, the two of them continued with the rest of the work. The battlefield had not been completely cleaned up yet, and the prisoners had to be settled. In addition, although Gao Yingxiang was captured in this battle, whether all of Gao Yingxiang's subordinates had been found or not, this still needed to be checked to ensure that none of them were caught.

Capital.

The capital city today is no longer the same as it was a few months ago when Zhu Shencui attacked the city. As Zhu Shencui's position gradually consolidated, the capital city quickly returned to normal. Moreover, thanks to a series of measures taken by Zhu Shencui, the capital city's public security and other aspects are much better than before.

In addition, because of Hengtong, the capital's business recovered extremely quickly. In just a few months, the capital's prosperity even surpassed that of before. After the lives of the people stabilized, they had long forgotten what happened in the past and accepted the existence of Zhu Shenzui as regent.

Chongwenmen is one of the nine gates in the capital and the main entrance to the city.

Although the capital has nine gates, all of which can be used for entry and exit, the actual gate for entering the city is Chongwen Gate. In addition, during the Hongzhi period, a gate tax system was established at Chongwen Gate, and all commercial goods entering the city could only enter through Chongwen Gate, and not through other gates. As for leaving the city, there is no such restriction, and any gate is allowed. This is also a rule set since the Hongzhi period.

After Zhu Shenzhui took control of the capital, he sent people to take over the gate tax of Chongwenmen. He directly took the gate tax of Chongwenmen from Shuntian Prefecture and did not put it under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue. Instead, he set up a separate patrol censor and tax collector. Except for a few tax collectors who were retained before, most of the people were replaced. The gate tax was temporarily under the charge of the Silijian, and the eunuchs at the city gate were sent to supervise. In the future, this gate tax will continue to be separated from the Silijian and eventually be under the charge of the newly formed Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is only a transition at the moment, but even if it is a transition, Zhu Shenzhui is particularly concerned about the collusion of the gate tax, including the personnel, to ensure the normal collection of the gate tax, and at the same time it will not disturb the people and bring burdens to the people.

Today, Chongwenmen is the same as it was in the past, with common people entering the city, including merchants, lining up in long queues and moving in in an orderly manner.

Due to the special nature of Chongwenmen, there is a small town outside Chongwenmen. This small town was created because there are many people entering the city, and sometimes the waiting time is long, or people in a hurry cannot enter the city before the city gate closes at night, so they can only stay outside the city for one night.

So this small town was gradually formed. In the town, there was not only a market for people to trade, but also an inn and a coach station. People waiting to enter the city could stay overnight or rest in the town if they were not in a hurry or for other reasons.

Just like now, there is a teahouse near the city gate. Although this teahouse is very ordinary, there are many people who come here to drink tea and take a break. One big dollar can be exchanged for three bowls of inferior tea, so even ordinary people can afford it.

"I haven't been to the capital for a long time. I didn't expect it to be so lively." In the tea shop, a middle-aged man who was dressed like a businessman was drinking tea and looking at the crowded city gate in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh.

"That's right. The capital is the center of our Ming Dynasty and the best place, so it's naturally lively." A man dressed like a businessman next to the middle-aged man said with a smile.

"Cousin, didn't you say that the regent entered the city just now..." The middle-aged man looked around and asked in a low voice.

"My cousin, you said it was in the past. Since it was in the past, it is a thing of the past. What's more, the regent is in the court. The capital has been getting more and more lively in recent months. There is hope for the revival of our Ming Dynasty." The businessman surnamed Zhao said proudly.

"That's right." The middle-aged man nodded repeatedly. Although he was from the north, he went to the south to do business a long time ago. He didn't know much about the situation in the capital. The last time he came to the capital was during the Tianqi period. Many years have passed in the blink of an eye. Moreover, when Zhu Shenzhu moved into the capital, he was in Jiangnan. He only heard some things from hearsay, but didn't know much. He originally thought that the capital was ruined after the war, but today it is completely different. The capital is not only prosperous now, but also more prosperous than when he came.

"By the way, cousin, you asked me to come to Beijing this time. Are you serious about what you said in the letter?" the middle-aged man asked the other party in a low voice.

The businessman surnamed Zhao lowered his voice and said, "Of course I take it seriously. If you and I hadn't known each other for many years and were not real relatives, this good thing wouldn't have come to you. To tell you the truth, everything has been negotiated in Shanxi, and each company has divided up the trade share. Although you and I can't eat this piece of meat directly, we can still drink some soup with it."

"In addition, there is another important matter in this visit to the capital. It is said that the regent intends to open up maritime trade in Shandong. Once this maritime trade is opened up, the benefits can be imagined. You have been in Jiangnan for many years, and you are more familiar with maritime trade than I am, and you can recruit skilled sailors. Let's do this together, each contributing half of the capital. When it is done, it will be a mountain of gold and a sea of ​​silver!"

"Opening sea trade? Is this true?" The middle-aged man's eyes lit up instantly. He originally thought that he came to the capital only for Shanxi border trade, but who would have thought that there was actually sea trade. As a Shanxi businessman who has been doing business in Jiangnan, how could he not know the huge profits of sea trade? Unfortunately, the sea trade in Jiangnan, including Fujian and Guangdong, is monopolized by local aristocratic families. Small merchants like him can't get involved at all. Even if they reluctantly follow the trade, most of the profits will be taken away by those aristocratic families.

If Shandong can open the sea, it will be completely different. Although Shandong cannot open the sea to Southeast Asia, it can open the sea to Korea and Japan! Especially Japan's maritime trade has made a lot of profit. More importantly, this is the first time that the court has opened the sea in the north, without the intervention of the southern aristocratic families. If it is done well, won't they be able to rise to the top in one step? Become rich?
"Of course it's true, otherwise why would we rush you north? This is not the place to discuss this matter. Let's go into the city first and talk about it in detail after we settle down in the city. This matter cannot be explained in a few words."

"Yes, yes, my cousin is right." The middle-aged man nodded repeatedly, picked up the tea in front of him and took a big sip to suppress the excitement in his heart. He was just about to get up and call the merchant named Zhao to go into the city together, when suddenly there was a burst of hurried horse hooves. Turning his head, he saw a man and a horse galloping from a distance. The cavalryman was wearing military uniforms, and there was a flag on his back representing the urgency of the court.

"Eight hundred miles in an emergency! Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting and Sanbian Governor Hong Chengchou joined forces to defeat the bandits in Heishui Valley. The 50,000-man army of the rebel Gao Yingxiang was completely wiped out, and Gao Yingxiang was captured alive! Great victory! Great victory!"

"What? Cousin, did I hear it right? Gao Yingxiang was captured? The bandits were killed?" The middle-aged man was suddenly startled, stood up and looked at the riders.

The merchant surnamed Zhao was also very surprised. It was not until the fast horse shouted again and ran directly past them and ran straight towards the city gate that the merchant surnamed Zhao came to his senses and clapped his hands and laughed: "Good! Good! Good! The rebel Gao Yingxiang has been killed. The threat of the bandits has finally been resolved. That's great!"

Not only the merchant surnamed Zhao, but everyone who heard these words at the city gate became excited. Gao Yingxiang had caused great chaos in various provinces of the Ming Dynasty in recent years, and the imperial court had failed to completely defeat him in its many encirclement and suppression campaigns. But today Gao Yingxiang was actually captured, and his rebel army was completely destroyed by Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou. This was really great news. The world could finally be at peace!

(End of this chapter)

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