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

Chapter 855 Fury

Zhu Shenzhui was indeed angry. He did not expect that the officials and local gentry in the south would be so bold that they dared to do things that were expressly prohibited by the imperial court in a high-sounding manner.

The Wanli Emperor opened mines for money. In the early years of the Tianqi Emperor's reign, his father, the Taichang Emperor, issued an edict to ban mining, so mining was stopped for a while. But later, the Tianqi Emperor and the Donglin Party soon fell out. With the rise of Wei Zhongxian, the ban on mining became a decoration, and the mining supervision set up during the Wanli period was restored to its previous scale.

Tianqi asked Wei Zhongxian to open a mine for silver. After all, there were always wars on the Liaodong battlefield at that time. How could the country fight without silver? The fiscal revenue was insufficient and the tax revenue had been falling year after year. As a knife in the hands of Emperor Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian naturally had to help his master get silver. He not only targeted the taxes in Jiangnan, but also set his sights on mineral resources in various places.

In this way, the war in Liaodong was maintained with the help of Wei Zhongxian, and the situation in Liaodong was very good under the command of Sun Chengzong. If Emperor Tianqi had not died of illness, allowing him to live a few more years, how could there be the later Huang Taiji?

When Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, the Donglin Party, which had been tormented to death by Wei Zhongxian, suddenly turned the tables. Under the counterattack and instigation of the Donglin Party, Emperor Chongzhen not only killed Wei Zhongxian first and eliminated the "Eunuch Party" headed by Wei Zhongxian, but also made many changes according to the Donglin Party's suggestions.

For example, the elimination of institutions such as the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the closure of post stations, etc., all these actions brought great harm to the imperial power and control over the world. In addition, the levy of Liao salary and increase of other taxes made the burden on local governments continue to increase, which eventually led to chaos in the world and bandits everywhere.

In addition to the above, the Donglin Party also deceived Emperor Chongzhen under the banner of "not competing with the people for profits" and "not disturbing the people and increasing their burden", and made Emperor Chongzhen order the closure of mining industries in various places again and recall the mine supervisors, tax supervisors, etc. stationed outside.

As the Donglin Party's tactics succeeded, the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue further declined, and the court's finances were tight. However, the Donglin Party ignored the actual situation and instigated Emperor Chongzhen to continue to increase taxes, which made the already very bad situation of the Ming Dynasty even worse. It can be seen that the real culprits for the chaos in the end of the Ming Dynasty were not others, but these moral gentlemen who claimed to put the people of the world first.

Zhu Shenzhui couldn't suppress his anger when he thought about how these Donglin Party bastards openly asked the court to ban mining, but secretly opened mines themselves, saying one thing in public and another in private.

The mine in Niutou Mountain alone generates an income of 150,000 taels of silver a year, which translates to a huge amount of 1.5 million taels in ten years. This money originally belonged to the country but has now gone into private pockets. If it weren't for this secret memorial from Lou Laoer, Zhu Shenzui would not have known about this.

And this is just Yiwu. There are countless mines in the whole south. Even if it is not all of them, even if it is calculated as half, the silver lost by the country in a year is simply an astronomical figure. How can Zhu Shenzhui not be angry?
You must know that since Zhu Shenzhui became regent, he has been engaged in border trade and has spent a lot of effort to open up the sea in Shandong for maritime trade. After all his hard work, the silver he earned in a year was limited, and he invested almost all of this silver in state affairs, such as subsidizing tax reductions and exemptions in northwestern provinces, maintaining court expenses, paying military salaries, paying salaries to officials, purchasing grain from the south and transporting it to food-deficient provinces in the north, etc.

But now, let's not talk about other things for now. The silver that these bastards got from the mines in a year without telling the court is equal to the total amount of silver that Zhu Shenzhu worked so hard to earn, or even more. What does this mean? It's clearly to steal Zhu Shenzhu's money! You have to know that although the Ming Dynasty belongs to the people of the world, it is still the Zhu family after all. Zhu Shenzhu is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. His ministers and local gentry are doing one thing in front of the court and another behind the scenes. They secretly get money from Zhu Shenzhu and use such shameless means. How can he not be angry?
"Good ministers, truly good ministers!" Zhu Shen laughed in anger. These bastards were so bold and shameless that it was beyond his imagination.

However, although Zhu Shenzhui was angry, he did not lose his mind and he quickly calmed down.

"Zhou Anmin!"

"Chen is here!"

"Investigate this matter carefully for me. The incident at Niutou Mountain is probably not an isolated incident. There may be similar incidents in various places. Aren't you going to reorganize the Jinyi Offices in the southern guards in the near future? Start with this incident and investigate it thoroughly for me!"

"I understand. I will investigate it thoroughly for Your Majesty and will not let anything go!" Zhou Anmin replied firmly, with a hint of ferocity on his face. These bastards were so bold. Did they really think that the Jinyiwei was just a decoration? Did they think that they could not reach the south? The Jinyiwei in the south was probably rotten to the core. He had no information about such a major event. Needless to say, they must have colluded with those bastards.

Now that the emperor has spoken, Zhou Anmin, who originally planned to proceed step by step, has made up his mind to take this opportunity to clean up several Jinyiwei offices in the south. When the time comes, these guys who are disloyal should be arrested and killed without mercy. Zhu Shenzhui was very satisfied with Zhou Anmin's attitude, and he also saw Zhou Anmin's determination. But just when Zhou Anmin decided to take this opportunity to conduct a major purge within the Jinyiwei, Zhu Shenzhui told Zhou Anmin that he could investigate, but not make big moves, and should investigate secretly instead of openly. The same applies to the treatment of Jinyiwei internally, and remember not to alert the enemy.

As soon as these words came out, Zhou Anmin immediately understood what Zhu Shenzhu meant. Zhu Shenzhu was planning to play the long game and catch the big fish, looking for an opportunity to catch them all in one fell swoop. Zhou Anmin immediately promised that he would do this matter carefully and do it properly for Zhu Shenzhu.

"By the way, how are Chong'er and Bin'er doing recently?" After finishing the business, just when Zhou Anmin was about to leave, Zhu Shenzhui asked.

"Your Majesty, I am truly grateful to Your Majesty for taking the time to ask after my two sons despite your busy schedule. I ..."

"Brother-in-law, you just said it was a political matter, but now you are asking about family matters. There is no need to be so polite." Zhu Shenzhu looked at Zhou Anmin, who was in a state of panic, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Was he too harsh before? He just asked casually, and Zhou Anmin's two sons were also his nephews. As an uncle, he hadn't seen them for a long time. It was human nature to show some concern for them. Why was he so polite?
Zhou Anmin calmed himself down and then answered Zhu Shenzhu's question. His two sons, the eldest son Zhou Chong and the second son Zhou Bin, were now in Beijing. He originally planned to let his two sons study literature, and if they could succeed in the imperial examinations and official career in the future, it would be a way out.

However, although the two sons were allowed to study since childhood and entered school, Zhou Chong and Zhou Bin were not really suitable for the imperial examinations. Although they learned some articles, they did not even pass the imperial examination to become a scholar. At best, they were only at the level of a student.

Later, with the help of Zhu Shencui, Zhou Anmin became an official Jinyiwei and the head of the Shanxi Jinyiwei. As a senior official of the Jinyiwei, his son was not unable to continue to take the imperial examinations, but it was inconvenient to take this path. Moreover, Zhou Chong and Zhou Bin were more interested in martial arts. Zhou Anmin had no choice but to hire someone to teach them martial arts, read some military books on weekdays, and prepare to become a military general.

Shortly after Zhu Shenzhui became regent, Zhou Anmin followed him to the capital. Last year, Zhou Anmin brought his family from Shanxi to the capital, and his two sons also followed his wife to reunite with him in the capital.

Although Zhou Anmin was the commander of the Jinyiwei at that time, he was in a high position and had great power. It would have been easy for him to use his power to arrange positions for his two sons in the Jinyiwei. However, Zhou Anmin did not do so, because he knew that it was easy to enter the Jinyiwei but difficult to leave, and as the commander of the Jinyiwei, he did not want his sons to wade into this muddy water, so Zhou Anmin privately found Wang Jinwu, and with Wang Jinwu's help, he arranged positions for Zhou Chong and Zhou Bin in the commander of the Beijing Guard, which was previously the Beijing Camp.

The position was not high, just an ordinary centurion, and the Beijing Guard was basically an institution for the elderly now. The real power had been transferred to the new army, and most of the children of nobles were only serving in the Beijing Guard.

It stands to reason that Zhu Shenzhu had set up the Imperial Guards before, with Xu Xiancheng as the Minister of Internal Affairs to lead the guards, and many sons of nobles were incorporated into the Imperial Guards to replace the previous Han generals. With Zhou Anmin's identity and status, including his relationship with Zhu Shenzhu, it was not difficult to put his two sons into the Imperial Guards. Moreover, as long as this matter was mentioned to Zhu Shenzhu, Zhu Shenzhu had no reason to refuse. After all, Zhou Chong and Zhou Bin were his nephews. The Imperial Guards could use even ordinary sons of nobles, so why couldn't his own nephews? But I don't know what Zhou Anmin was thinking, he didn't mention this matter at all.

Today, Zhu Shenzhui asked about this matter, and Zhou Anmin said nervously that his status was different, and he was afraid that his son would not be suitable to be a royal guard, so he had never thought of such an arrangement. Hearing Zhou Anmin's answer, Zhu Shenzhui was also amused and felt that Zhou Anmin was too cautious, but it was precisely because of Zhou Anmin's attitude that Zhu Shenzhui was more satisfied and trusted him a little more.

"The Imperial Guard is not a good place to go after all. Chong'er and Bin'er have grown up under my care since they were young. They are both good children. It would be unfair for them to serve in the Imperial Guard." Zhu Shenzhui sighed and shook his head. After thinking for a while, he said, "Let them serve in the palace, starting with the third-class guards. I trust my own children, and they can gain experience in the palace. By the way, I am planning to find an opportunity to reopen the martial arts school. After the martial arts school is officially opened, I will let them go to the martial arts school to learn well. After they have learned the skills, they can serve in the army. After a few years of experience, as long as they are not bad, they will have a future as a garrison commander or a lieutenant general."

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." Zhou Anmin was ecstatic. He didn't expect that Zhu Shenzhui would arrange his two sons in this way. If he followed Zhu Shenzhui's words, he wouldn't have to worry about the future of his two sons.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty is different now than it was before. Everyone can see that the original situation in which civil officials were valued and military officials were despised has changed. The status of military generals has been continuously improved, and the difference between civil and military officials will become smaller and smaller in the future. Moreover, Zhou Anmin is now a nobleman, and the title will definitely be inherited by his eldest son Zhou Chong. But even if Zhou Bin is the second son and cannot inherit the title, as his own sons, he must give them a future after all.

(End of this chapter)