Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 370 Anti-Enclosure Movement

Oxfordshire.

At this time, Catsi was patrolling a field with a team of Ming army officers and soldiers.

He is now the first inspector of Oxfordshire in the Kingdom of England. His duty is to inspect the British nobles and the bourgeoisie for encroaching on farmers' land.

The system of inspectors that Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zaiyun to set up was naturally the same as that of the Ming Dynasty's inspectors, with the power to inspect local military, politics, criminal law, finance, etc.

The Inspector-General was a central government official, so Zhu Houzhao's decision to appoint Zhu Zaiyun to the post naturally meant strengthening central power and weakening the autonomy of local judges in England.

Catsey was an English scholar.

Influenced by the Ming Dynasty's policy of encouraging Confucian scholars to establish Confucian schools in various places, and the fact that Henry VIII wanted to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty and not only intermarried but also allowed Ming Dynasty Confucian scholars to establish Confucian schools in England, there are still some Western Confucian scholars in England today.

And Cartesi was naturally one of the Confucian scholars educated in these Confucian schools.

But Catsey's Chinese was not very good, and even his attainments in Confucianism were only able to read the Three Character Classic.

However, if Zhu Zaiyuan wanted to establish Confucian rule, he could only rely on people like Catsey.

Catsi was born into a commoner family, otherwise he would not have come to study Confucianism. It was because Confucian schools were free and also provided subsidies.

As someone from an opposing class, Catsey naturally hated the enclosure movement of the rich and powerful and the bourgeoisie.

Therefore, now that he has become the Inspector General, he is also carrying out the anti-enclosure movement in Oxfordshire very seriously.

At this time, Baron Jonale was directing his slaves to drive out the farmers who had the right to use the public fields, intending to turn this fertile land into his own wool production base.

But unfortunately, Catsi happened to appear and asked the Ming army to help him execute these enclosurers.

The pair of Ming army officers and soldiers following Catsey were originally ordered by the retired Emperor Zhu Houzhao to assist the county inspectors in clearing out lawbreakers. Naturally, they did not hesitate and immediately raised their guns to shoot at these bourgeois running dogs who were driving the farmers.

Snapped!
Jonale's son, Laws, was also shot and fell dead on the ground.

Jonale also discovered the Inspector Catasi and his Ming army officers and soldiers, and tried to escape, not caring about his son who was lying on the ground or the land he was going to occupy.

The Ming army officers and soldiers caught up with and captured Jonale and brought him before Catsi.

Catsi interrogated Jonale and immediately decided to execute Jonale and confiscate all of Jonale's estates and properties as state property.

Upon seeing this, Jonale burst into anger and cursed: "I am a baron, and you, a lowly commoner, have no right to execute me!"

Pfft!

Catsey stabbed Jonale to death with a bayonet: "So what if he is a baron? I am now the inspector appointed by His Majesty the King. I have the power to execute first and report later. Moreover, the anti-enclosure law has already clearly stipulated that those who enclose land, no matter who they are, will be killed without mercy!"

Jonale naturally died on the spot!
Catsey continued to say to the farmers who were also shocked: "Please feel free to farm. This is your land, you can still farm it without worry! Don't worry about it being occupied by others. The emperor and king from the east will protect your land, and the king has issued an edict in accordance with the order of the emperor, prohibiting the sale of land! Therefore, no one has the right to take away your right to use the land!"

"Long live the great emperor and king!"

After Catsi finished speaking, he shouted in English that this was the order from above and he had to carry it out.

The farmers in England were naturally grateful to Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Zaikun for protecting their private property, and they followed suit by shouting "Long live the king".

"Long live the great emperor and king!"

The Inspector General Catsi was the sower of the royal power and grace. While telling Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Zaikun that he would protect their lives, he also let them watch the royal court punish officials who did not act.

The Chief Justice of Oxford County was captured by Catsey and his men and brought to the execution ground because of his inaction and even his continued assistance to the powerful and the bourgeoisie in enclosing land. In the presence of the people of Oxford County, Catsey ordered the execution of the Chief Justice of Oxford County.

It is no coincidence.

Such cases were repeated in every county of England.

Many capitalists who enclosed land in England were lined up and shot one after another!

For a time, every county was flooded with blood.

The inspectors sent by Zhu Zaiyun, backed by the Ming army sent by Zhu Houzhao, implemented the anti-enclosure policy very forcefully. Even the dignitaries and the bourgeoisie who had already enclosed land to establish livestock ranches and plantations would all be shot!

Wool, sheep or other products were directly confiscated. If they could not be handled, they were simply destroyed.

If the original owner of some occupied land cannot be found for a while, it will be confiscated. People would rather leave it idle than allow the wealthy and the bourgeoisie to continue operating it.

If the wealthy and powerful and the bourgeoisie enclosed land to build factories, the factories would be demolished directly.

When Zhu Houzhao learned from Zhu Zaikun that the anti-enclosure movement was quite effective and even caused a sharp decline in England's industrial output and serious damage to the textile industry, he was extremely proud.

"Very good, Er, you don't have to feel bad about the destruction of England's textile industry. Commoners in England don't have to worry about having no clothes to wear. The cheap textiles of the Ming Dynasty are enough to meet the cloth needs of these commoners in England. If you really can't bear it, you can show mercy and lower the import tariffs on Ming Dynasty textiles. This way, the commoners in England will not only not suffer losses due to the blow to the domestic capital industry, but will benefit from your lowering of tariffs!"

Zhu Houzhao said.

Zhu Zaiyun did as he was told. He knew that England's textile industry had been monopolized by the powerful and capitalists, so as a king he did not feel bad about the bankruptcy of England's textile industry. He was just worried that the bankruptcy of the textile industry would affect the civilians' favorability towards him. Now that lowering tariffs could solve the problem, he was naturally willing to do so.

As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao's real goal was to curb the development of capitalism in England.

As far as he knew, the embryonic stage of capitalism in England was because the bourgeoisie obtained primitive accumulation of capital through the enclosure movement, which gradually led England onto the capitalist road.

Now that he had used tough administrative orders to stop the enclosure movement in England, it was naturally possible to prevent England from taking the capitalist road.

However, the anti-enclosure movement that Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zaiquan to carry out was just in England at that time, and was safeguarding the interests of the vast majority of ordinary people in England.

Therefore, the anti-enclosure movement received the support of many civilians, so much so that the favorability of King Zhu Zaiquan and even the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao among the people of England increased rapidly.

What Zhu Houzhao had to do was to unite the common people in England to curb the development of the bourgeoisie. The anti-enclosure movement was only one aspect, and it was only a temporary policy to protect the interests of the common people.

Now he and his son Zhu Zaiyuan wanted to establish the imperial examination system, which was to truly use the desire of the common people to join the nobility to buy the common people and use the common people to rule the whole of England for a long time. England was not large in area, not as large as a governor of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty already had a mature imperial examination system.

Therefore, it was not difficult for Zhu Houzhao to ask Zhu Zaiyun to replicate the imperial examination system in England.

When the common people of England learned that they could pass the exam and become officials and nobles of the kingdom, they were extremely excited and felt that this was what a wise King of England should do.

Even some bourgeois could not help but feel tempted by this. You have to know that in the past, only aristocrats could become officials of the kingdom.

Of course, the King of England's plan to establish the imperial examination system was opposed by many dignitaries and the bourgeoisie. Their reason for opposition was that the imperial examination system examined Eastern Confucianism rather than the doctrines of the state religion, and that it was requiring common people not to believe in religion and was a betrayal of the church.

However, Zhu Zaiyun himself explained that the purpose of studying Eastern Confucianism was to better carry out secular rule, and it did not prohibit the freedom of civilians to believe in religion.

In any case, because passing the exam would allow one to become an official or even a noble, when the districts in various counties of England began to conduct academy examinations according to the imperial decree, many students still rushed to take the exam.

Because England's territory is not large, the entire imperial examination system in England only has four types: academy examination, provincial examination, metropolitan examination, and palace examination. There are no county examinations and prefectural examinations under the academy examinations of the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial examination was naturally not difficult. Even during the joint examination, as long as one could recite the Four Books and Five Classics, one could become an English Jinshi.

But this did allow Zhu Zaiyun to have the first batch of scholars from the common people to employ, which undoubtedly helped the English royal family to break away from relying on the powerful and big capitalists to rule.

The establishment of the imperial examination system naturally promoted the development of Confucianism in England, and a large number of Confucian schools began to be established.

Zhu Zaiyuan even personally funded the establishment of the Imperial College of England and appointed Xu Wei as the chief academic officer of the Imperial College to further strengthen Confucian rule over England.

……

of course.

It was natural that there would be no obstacles when Zhu Houzhao allowed Zhu Zaiyun to promote the anti-enclosure movement and Confucian rule in England so forcefully.

Even shortly after Zhu Houzhao forced Zhu Zaikun to force the Anti-Enclosure Bill through Parliament, the dignitaries and bourgeoisie throughout England learned about it and expressed great anger at King Zhu Zaikun's behavior, even including some senior generals of the royal army.

Even Mary I's granddaughter Catherine began to collude with her lover, the MP and Chief Justice Lering, and began to call on members of parliament to convene a parliament without King Zhu Zaiquan's participation.

The purpose of convening this parliament was to remove the king, on the grounds that he was a pagan and did not have the legitimacy to be the King of England.

"Miss Catherine, now except for Roger and Xu Wei, the new king appointee, all the parliamentarians have expressed their willingness to participate in the parliament to remove the king. Do you think the parliament will ask Roger and Xu Wei this time?"

Leilin asked Catherine.

Catherine slammed the table angrily. "Roger has betrayed the doctrine and is willing to be the king's lackey. He is no longer qualified to be the Speaker of the House of Lords! That Xu Wei, an Oriental, has no qualifications to be the Speaker of the House of Commons! The parliament does not need to look for them. I will recommend you to be the Speaker of the House of Lords, and the Archbishop to be the Speaker of the House of Commons, and we can convene the parliament directly!"

soon.

The parliamentary session will be held as scheduled without the Speaker of the House of Lords and the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Catherine also appeared in this parliament, but no member of parliament expressed opposition.

Catherine shouted directly at the meeting: "I believe you all have understood that our king has not only failed to be a devout believer, but is the incarnation of the devil, Satan! And Roger has obviously betrayed God and become the king's lackey. And that Xu Wei is not qualified to be our speaker. Therefore, Catherine proposes to the parliament today that Lei Lin be the speaker of the House of Lords and Archbishop Jian Zhong be the speaker of the House of Commons. Do you agree?"

"agree!"

"agree!"

Lei Lin and Jian Zhong were both supporters of the enclosure movement, so these councillors naturally had no objections.

At the same time, Catherine said, "Do you agree to nominate me as the new King of England?"

All the members of Parliament naturally agreed.

soon.

The parliament passed a bill to depose King Zhu Zaiyun and reappoint Catherine as the new king. Archbishop Jian Zhong even held a coronation ceremony for Catherine immediately.

……

"This is treason! Total treason!"

Zhu Houzhao learned about this from Zhu Zaiyuan and immediately defined the matter. At this time, Xu Wei ran in and said hurriedly: "Report to the Emperor and His Majesty the King, Catherine's supporter, the Earl of Essex, has led his troops less than five miles away from the palace, threatening to drive the Emperor and His Majesty the King out of the palace, arrest them for trial, and punish them for the crimes of indiscriminate killing and blasphemy against God!"

Seeing this, Zhu Zaiqi asked hurriedly, "Father, what should I do?"

"Don't be afraid. We have troops as well. How many soldiers does the rebel army led by the Earl of Essex have?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

Xu Wei said: "According to the people from the Imperial Guard, there are about 10,000!"

"It seems that the power of the nobles and the bourgeoisie in England is indeed not to be underestimated. They were able to gather tens of thousands of troops in such a short period of time. If I did not have 20,000 soldiers as a guarantee, I could not guarantee that the king could go against these vested interests with only the royal army. Moreover, who knows if these royal troops will also have supporters of the enclosure movement."

Zhu Houzhao then instructed Qi Jiguang, the commander-in-chief of his imperial guards, "Mobilize the imperial guards directly, take over the royal army's fortifications around the palace, and prepare for battle!"

Zhu Houzhao then instructed Zhu Zaiyuan, "Yuer, in addition to your own guards, let your royal army kill the members of parliament and that Miss Catherine. Now, they are all traitors, and their entire family should be executed and subjected to the death penalty by slicing to demonstrate the majesty of the royal power."

Zhu Zaiqi couldn't help but ask: "But father, I'm a little worried that some of their generals will take this opportunity to defect!"

"I'm not afraid of defections! There are only over 10,000 people. Even if they all defect, they can't pose a threat to my Ming Dynasty Imperial Guards. I asked you to do this to test their loyalty. If I don't kill a few of the rebel royal officers and soldiers, will you dare to use them in the future?"

Zhu Houzhao asked.

After hearing what Zhu Houzhao said, Zhu Zaiyun felt that his father was right, so he asked Roger to do as Zhu Houzhao said.

In addition, Zhu Houzhao also said: "Next, these people will definitely organize a parliament. You should immediately announce to the entire English people that the parliament is a rebellious organization. They intend to prevent the anti-enclosure policy and help selfish businessmen and lawless nobles seize the interests of civilians. Let the people know who to support. In addition, a propaganda department needs to be established!"

Thanks to my book friend kiwiying for the 100 starting coins reward

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(End of this chapter)