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

Chapter 731: Cancellation of Liao Military Recruitment
Gao Yingxiang unceremoniously tore off the fig leaf of Emperor Chongzhen and criticized every action he had taken over the years.

Not only did Emperor Chongzhen plunder the people, but he also allowed officials to abuse the people. In Gao Yingxiang's view, although the people's lives were not very good during the Tianqi period, Emperor Tianqi used Wei Zhongxian for the Liaodong war and sent mining supervisors and tax supervisors to the local areas to solve the military expenditure problem. However, in any case, the methods of Emperor Tianqi and Wei Zhongxian were completely different from those of Emperor Chongzhen. They targeted gentry and merchants, but did not increase taxes on the people. Not only that, in the event of natural disasters, the court would reduce taxes and allocate relief.

The common people were simple-minded. They didn't care about the eunuch party or not. They just knew that they could barely get by when Wei Zhongxian was around. And because a large number of eunuchs were sent out, although these eunuchs were greedy for money, they could suppress local officials, so that these officials did not dare to exploit the people too much, so the people's lives were stable.

But everything changed after Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne. With the fall of Wei Zhongxian, the eunuchs sent abroad were recalled, and even the factory guards became decorations under the instigation of the civil service group. Those officials were instantly unrestrained and acted recklessly. When the court was unable to solve the military expenses, Emperor Chongzhen not only increased taxes and levies, but also levied Liaoxiu. All these pressures were suddenly placed on the people. How could the people be well?
In just less than two years, the common people could no longer survive. That was not all. Emperor Chongzhen also closed down the post stations under the pretext of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. This caused many postmen who relied on the post stations to lose their livelihoods. Just like Gao Yingxiang's nephew Li Zicheng, if he had not lost his job and his source of livelihood, Li Zicheng would not have encountered the things that happened later. Isn't this the fault of Emperor Chongzhen?

The funny thing is that until now, Emperor Chongzhen still thinks that he has done nothing wrong, and that all the mistakes are the fault of the people. How can Gao Yingxiang bear this? Gao Yingxiang knows that he will die. What can a person not say at this point?

Faced with Gao Yingxiang's blunt questioning and the facts he said, Emperor Chongzhen's face was extremely ugly. He wanted to meet Gao Yingxiang today to vent his anger and denounce this traitor. But who would have thought that Gao Yingxiang would mock him instead and even say something that made him feel ashamed.

For a while, Emperor Chongzhen's face changed constantly, first flushed, then pale, then blue, and finally black as the bottom of a pot. Gao Yingxiang's rebuttal made him speechless. How could a great emperor of the Ming Dynasty be humiliated like this? What's more, Emperor Chongzhen, who always thought highly of himself, didn't know until today that he was so unbearable in the eyes of the world. He was not a wise ruler, but a complete tyrant.

The collapse of belief is the most hurtful, and this is what happened to Emperor Chongzhen now. Seeing him like this, Zhu Shenzhui remained calm, because he had known this would be the result, or that was the purpose of him bringing Gao Yingxiang to see Emperor Chongzhen.

Although he was captured, Emperor Chongzhen always felt that he was unlucky, or that Zhu Shenzhui had taken advantage of him. Every time he saw Zhu Shenzhui, he looked unconvinced, and even regarded himself as a wise ruler. In the final analysis, Emperor Chongzhen had never reflected on himself, or he didn't know what the problem was, but today Gao Yingxiang hit him hard on the head, pulling Emperor Chongzhen from his only fantasy into the cruel reality, stripping him of his only fig leaf.

Since the goal has been achieved, there is no need to continue. Moreover, looking at the state of Emperor Chongzhen, if Gao Yingxiang scolds him more, he might get so angry that he will have a cerebral hemorrhage and die. For safety reasons, Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand to stop Gao Yingxiang from continuing to speak, and asked Zhou Anmin to take Gao Yingxiang back to the Tianlao and place him properly, waiting for the execution by the Three Law Departments.

After Zhou Anmin took Gao Yingxiang away, Emperor Chongzhen slowly came to his senses. Although his face was still ugly, it was much better than before.

"This Gao Yingxiang is so shameless. His words just now were quite offensive. A dying man is talking nonsense. Your Majesty should not take it to heart." Zhu Shenzhui said lightly.

Emperor Chongzhen did not speak, but remained seated. After a moment, he looked at Zhu Shenzhui with a complicated expression: "The regent's intentions today are far-reaching. I underestimated the regent."

"Your Majesty, I don't know what you mean by that. I didn't say anything just now. I never expected that Gao Yingxiang would be so rebellious and offend Your Majesty."

Emperor Chongzhen did not speak, but shook his head slightly, then stood up and said, "I am a little tired, I want to rest, please do as you please, Regent."

After saying this, Emperor Chongzhen turned around and left. The guards beside him hurriedly followed and led Emperor Chongzhen to the side hall where he lived. After Emperor Chongzhen left, Zhu Shenzhui didn't care. He stood up and waved his sleeves and strode out of the Qianqing Palace. When he was outside the hall, Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help laughing up to the sky. A few days later, the three judicial departments tried Gao Yingxiang according to the law. No matter what the reason was for Gao Yingxiang to rebel, his crime had no reason to be pardoned, and he was bound to die. Not only Gao Yingxiang, but also several of his subordinates. After the verdict of the three judicial departments came down, Zhu Shenzhui approved the verdict in the name of the regent and chose a day to execute Gao Yingxiang.

On the day of Gao Yingxiang's execution, the capital was packed with people, and almost half of the people in the capital went to watch the execution. Gao Yingxiang and his subordinates were taken to the execution ground. Logically speaking, Gao Yingxiang's crime was worthy of being skinned alive, as Yuan Chonghuan was skinned alive that year. However, Zhu Shenzhui rejected the suggestion put forward by the cabinet and changed the skinning alive to beheading. After all, although Gao Yingxiang was a traitor, he was also a grassroots hero, and such a person should be treated somewhat. In addition, Gao Yingxiang's remarks to Emperor Chongzhen in the Qianqing Palace that day made Zhu Shenzhui very satisfied, which led to such rare preferential treatment.

The beheading took place at three o'clock in the afternoon. As the executioner's sword chopped down, Gao Yingxiang, the bandit leader who had been a threat to the Ming Dynasty for many years, ended his life. When the head fell to the ground and the body fell, cheers rang out in the execution ground and the people watching the execution smiled. In everyone's opinion, with Gao Yingxiang's bowing, the Ming Dynasty could finally settle down.

After Gao Yingxiang and others beheaded the bandits, their heads were disposed of and sent to various places to serve as a warning to the local people and deter other bandit groups.

These are all later stories. After solving the problem of Gao Yingxiang, Zhu Shenzhui still had many other things to do. On the one hand, he asked the various tribes to continue to encircle and suppress the remaining bandits, and to quickly and thoroughly solve the problems of the bandits in various tribes, especially the elimination of Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other tribes. These people were no less harmful than Gao Yingxiang. Gao Yingxiang's death did not mean that the problem of bandits was solved. As long as these people were still there, the bandits would still revive.

In addition to continuing to encircle and suppress the bandits, Zhu Shenzhui formally announced the court's decision to cancel the Liao salary at a court meeting. Not only did he cancel the Liao salary levy set by Emperor Chongzhen, he also made substantial tax reductions on the northwestern provinces. The reason, of course, was that the northwest had suffered severe natural disasters in recent years, the people were living in dire straits, and local rebellions broke out. In order to appease the people and restore production, if the court continued to collect Liao salary and taxes, it would inevitably make the situation worse. Now canceling these taxes and Liao salary is also a benevolent policy of the court.

In fact, Zhu Shenzhu had long been preparing to cancel the Liao Xing, including reducing taxes and levies, but the time was not ripe at that time. But now the time has come. Gao Yingxiang has been dealt with, the largest bandit group has been destroyed, and the prestige of the court has been improved. In Shanxi, border trade between Ming and Mongolia has also begun. With the smooth progress of border trade, the court has been able to obtain considerable taxes and benefits from border trade, which is enough to fill the gap in the original Liao Xing and taxes in the northwestern provinces.

Furthermore, because of the collection of Liao taxes and taxes, it seemed that the court had made a lot of money from these places, but in fact it was a loss-making act. The local rebellion caused by this practice led to the rise of bandits, and the destructive power of bandits in the local areas was very strong. In addition, to deal with the bandits, the court had to send troops to encircle and suppress them. The cost alone was far higher than the income from Liao taxes and taxes, which made the vicious cycle continue.

If this problem is not solved, the root cause cannot be solved. Zhu Shenzhui knew clearly that as long as the Liao salary and taxes continued to be collected, even if bandits like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were completely wiped out, there would be bandits like Wang Zicheng and Zhao Zicheng who would continue to emerge in the future. If this continued for a long time, the world would inevitably be in chaos.

Although Zhu Shenzhui had made this decision long ago and the cabinet headed by Wen Tiren had known about it long ago, there were still many people who opposed it when it was proposed in the court. These people opposed it on the grounds that canceling the Liaoxi salary would inevitably affect the war in Liaodong, and that tax cuts would lead to a reduction in the court's taxes. At present, the Ming Dynasty's finances were already in deficit and needed money everywhere, so doing so would inevitably lead to financial collapse.

Zhu Shenzui was not polite to these opponents. Without him having to take any action, the people arranged by Wen Tihen directly refuted the opposition in the court. They also brought up the total amount of Liao taxes collected in recent years, including taxes from northwestern provinces.

According to the huge losses caused by the local rebellion in terms of military expenditure and the destruction of local productivity, continuing to collect Liao taxes and levies would not only be of no benefit, but would also lead to the serious consequence of the resurgence of bandits. Although Gao Yingxiang has been executed, other bandits are still around. If these problems cannot be completely resolved, the damage to the Ming Dynasty's finances will definitely not improve.

In addition, don't the various parties headed by the Donglin Party often talk about the suffering of the people in the world, and the livelihood of the people should be the most important? Why don't they consider the people's problems at this time? Reducing the burden on the people and making their lives better, isn't this a good thing? As for the issue of Liaodong military pay and the fiscal deficit, this is not the issue to be discussed today. How to solve it and how to stabilize the finances, there are other ways. If they forcefully oppose this matter, then the court will directly announce to the world that it is precisely because of their opposition that the proposal to cancel Liaodong pay and reduce taxes was rejected. Let's see how the people of the world view these "upright gentlemen".

(End of this chapter)