Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 42: Kill the official and silence him, eight hundred people in a hurry!
Hangzhou Prefecture.

The sky was gloomy, covered with thick clouds, and thunder could be heard faintly in the sky.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the leaden clouds seemed to be split open by lightning. Lightning flashed in the gap between the clouds and then returned to calm.

At this time, in Shen Yishi's living room, there was a large round table with wine and chopsticks, and several dishes had been served.

Zhejiang Governor Zheng Michang, Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Commissioner He Maocai, Hu Boqi, and the owner of this place Shen Yishi were still sitting on the seats on both sides of the hall, but had not yet sat down. They were obviously waiting for the eunuch Yang Jinshui, the chief executive of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau and Zhejiang Maritime Customs.

Several people knew that the Xin'an River dike was overturned and the water was surging. Hu Zongxian, the Governor-General of Zhejiang and Governor of Zhejiang, blew up the dike to divert the flood into the mountains and divert the flood to Chun'an.

If there are no floods in the eight counties of Jiande, the rice fields will not be destroyed, and the people’s lives will not be greatly affected, so they naturally will not sell their fields.

The only county that suffered the disaster and turned into a swamp was Chun'an, and the entire county had only more than 300,000 acres of farmland.

This was far from the previous expectation of buying one million acres of land from the nine counties of Xin'anjiang. Yang Jinshui should have been in charge here, but he left again.

A long-servant walked in quickly, approached Zheng Michang and whispered a few words. A trace of anger flashed across Zheng Michang's eyes, and then disappeared. Then he stood up and said, "Eunuch Yang is not coming!"

"what?"

He Maocai immediately became angry. "Eunuch Yang is in charge of the land purchase. He is in charge of how much land to buy and how to divide the purchased land. It is time to make a decision. If he doesn't come, what's the matter?"

Buy land.

It was a task assigned to the Zhejiang officialdom by the Chief Minister Yan Song, the Minister of Revenue Xu Jie and the Junior Cabinet Secretary Yan Shifan.

At that time, with the cooperation of Yang Jinshui's Weaving Bureau and River Administration, who were eager for progress, the Zhejiang officials dared to promise Yan Ge Lao and Xu Shang Shu to get 500,000 acres of land this year.

To this end, the young cabinet minister, in the name of his father, sent a letter on behalf of the cabinet to Hu Zongxian, ordering him to go to the front line to draw a coastal defense map. Minister Xu even used his connections with the abbot of Chaotian Temple, Lan Shenxian, to obtain the decree on the summer drought in Zhejiang.

In Beijing, we helped everyone, whether we could or couldn’t.

Now, there is trouble in the Zhejiang officialdom. If he cannot give a satisfactory explanation to the Yan and Xu families, his career may be over.

But there are only so many fields in Chun'an, and the Weaving Bureau also wants them, so they have to discuss it, otherwise it would be bad if there was a conflict when buying the fields.

But Yang Jinshui suddenly disappeared. Could it be that he wanted to monopolize Chun'an's territory?

Shen Yishi, who was familiar with Yang Jinshui, had a trace of worry on his face. After many years of doing business, he knew Yang Jinshui well. Yang Jinshui was definitely not the kind of person who would destroy the bridge after crossing it and then abandon it after it has done its work.

If Yang Jinshui didn't come this time, he must have encountered some other changes.

Hu Boqi, who had always been taciturn, suddenly said, "When Eunuch Yang left, he said someone from the palace had come. I think the palace had a judgment on the 700,000-piece silk business between the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau and Western merchants.

If the palace agrees to the business of 700,000 pieces of silk, it will recognize the achievements of Eunuch Yang. When the silk business is completed, Eunuch Yang will enter the Imperial Household Department.

Given Eunuch Yang's desire for the Imperial Household Department, when he learned that only Chun'an County was flooded, he might have thought of monopolizing the farmland in Chun'an County, but he would never do it.

Because those fields were wanted by Junior Grand Secretary and Minister Xu. As long as Eunuch Yang was not confused, he would know that he could not make an enemy of them, even if Eunuch Yang could enter the Imperial Household Department as he wished.

Eunuch Yang would only try to buy as much land in Chun'an as possible, or negotiate to temporarily borrow all the land in Chun'an to complete the business with Western merchants first.

In this case, Eunuch Yang would rush over to discuss with Lord Zheng and Lord He.

On the contrary, there was only one reason why Eunuch Yang did not show up here: the palace did not agree to the silk business with Western merchants, or did not agree to the business of 700,000 pieces of silk with Western merchants.

The palace did not agree to change rice to mulberry!" Hu Boqi showed wisdom that was no less than that of his father, the Governor of Zhejiang, and explained the reason why Yang Jinshui did not come.

If the palace disagrees with changing from rice to mulberry, it means that they are unwilling to increase the mulberry fields. Then if Yang Jinshui conspires with the Zhejiang officials in advance to destroy the dikes and flood the fields, he will not get the approval and endorsement of the palace.

Without the endorsement of the palace, all of Yang Jinshui's actions were considered illegal, and the Imperial Household Department and the Eastern Depot had their own rules for evil slaves who broke the law.

The eunuch Feng Bao, the former commander-in-chief of the East Factory, could still go to Chaotian Temple to practice Taoism. But once the deeds of Yang Jinshui and the Zhejiang officialdom were exposed, Yang Jinshui would probably have to use bones as a pestle and human skin as a drum.

As for the fate of Zhejiang officials...

Hu Boqi closed his mouth again.

Zheng Michang and He Maocai both had gloomy looks on their faces and sat there in a depressed mood.

The hall was very large, and the lamp oil consumed during the night shift was very large. Several people were still sitting there until the end of the night watch. Shen Yishi, the richest businessman in Jiangnan, personally went upstairs to add lamp oil.

The delicious food and wine on the table had already gone cold.

The morning light reflected into the hall, bright red and exceptionally gentle. Zheng Michang drank the cold wine in his glass in a gulp and said sternly, "We want to live, but some people can't!"

The sluice gates at the nine counties of Xin'an River were closed, the magistrates of the nine counties disappeared, and the dikes of the nine counties were flooded. Without the approval of the palace, the court would definitely send an imperial envoy to Zhejiang for a detailed investigation.

The Governor's Office and the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Office just stood by and watched, and were able to withstand the inspection.

But the magistrates of the nine counties absolutely could not resist, so the magistrates of the nine counties had to die.

Similarly, the Weaving Bureau could withstand the inspection of the imperial envoy, and the River Administration Office supervised the eunuchs. Yang Jinshui's adopted son Li Xuan would die if he could not resist.

As long as all these people die, it can be reported as a natural disaster.

"There is no legitimate reason to kill the magistrates of nine counties and the eunuchs in charge of river supervision. Anyone can see at a glance that this is an attempt to silence them." He Maocai said worriedly.

The magistrates of the nine counties were officials appointed by the imperial court, and the eunuchs in charge of supervising the rivers were the emperor's servants. They could not be killed at will.

"Who said there is no legitimate reason?" Yang Jinshui entered the hall in the glow of the sunset, with the river supervisory eunuch Li Xuan tied behind him, crying and laughing like a madman. After attracting everyone's attention, he said sinisterly: "The disrepair of the river is not a reason? Is being idle and doing nothing a reason?"

The disrepair of the river was the charge for Li Xuan’s murder, and occupying the position without doing any work was the charge for the murder of the nine county magistrates.

Yang Jinshui thought very clearly that night.

"According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, even the Censorate has no right to execute officials appointed by the imperial court..." He Maocai said with difficulty.

"Then let Hu Zongxian, who holds the royal banner, do the killing. If Hu Zongxian doesn't want his mentor Yan Ge to die, doesn't want our Ming Dynasty to fall into chaos, and doesn't want the Zhejiang officialdom to be purged, then he knows what to do!"

……

On the official road outside Beijing.

"Eight hundred miles in a hurry! Eight hundred miles in a hurry!" A whirlwind of yellow dust rolled up, and a horse galloped over. A figure flashed and jumped off the horse. He shouted: "Eight hundred miles in a hurry! The emperor has granted me a golden medal. Anyone who blocks it will die, and anyone who resists will die!"

Then smoke and dust were seen rolling, and the rider in brocade clothes had already left!
At this time, clouds gathered over the ancient road and the sky was clear!

(End of this chapter)