Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 174 Jiajing’s ultimate move, cutting off the roots of the Nanzhi gentry!

Zhu Qi had to stop Chen Pan at this time.

Since the pier was just outside the alley, he couldn't possibly wait for Chen Pan to leave by boat.

When Chen Pan saw Zhu Qi, his expression became solemn and he couldn't help but hold the knife in his hand.

But at this moment, the sound of swords being drawn came from behind him.

He couldn't help but look back, only to find that there were still lurking crossbowmen.

"We are from the Northern Pacification Division. If you follow our orders, you can at least save your family's lives. If you insist on not following us, your entire family will be implicated!"

Different from arresting Hua Bangrui, this time Zhu Qi arrested a military officer of a thousand households who was accompanied by strong and brave servants.

So, he was prepared to fight to the death, tightened the knife handle, and was sweating from nervousness.

But before deciding to fight, he still wanted to threaten and test the waters by using the sign of the Northern Pacification Office.

Because it is naturally better to defeat the enemy without fighting.

Bang!
Chen Pan obediently threw the knife to the ground and said, "You guys really came a long time ago!"

Zhu Qi didn't say anything, but asked his men to tie up Chen Pan and others. At the same time, he was secretly happy that he had found the opponent's weak spot.

He then ordered Chen Pan to be taken directly to his own home, and had Chen Pan's family members arrested. In front of Chen Pan, he put a knife to the neck of his family members.

Then, Zhu Qi asked Chen Pan: "Tell me, why did you refuse to carry out the order of Eunuch Liao?"

"This is what Eunuch Liao meant!"

"He is an inner court official. Logically, there is only one cloud above his head, and that is the palace. So if he wants to save his life, he can only side with His Majesty, not with the scholars crying in the temple!"

"But his heart is on the side of the scholars, so he asked me to do this to win the reputation of the scholars and gain the favor of the emperor."

Chen Pan replied.

Zhu Qi then asked, "Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to survive if you get such a good reputation?"

"But if I don't listen to him, not only will I die, but I won't be able to protect my family either."

Chen Pan replied.

Zhu Qi asked, "Are there any other reasons?"

"Have!"

"Say!"

Zhu Qi's tone was very stern.

"Why is it that one dan of grain was originally worth four qian of silver, but it has become seven qian?"

“And we have to clear our fields!”

"Everyone in the world knows that the land of the Nanjing Jinyiwei has long been the land of our hereditary officers. If we survey it, we will have to pay a lot of silver to the Ministry of War for the land."

"Although we don't know whether it was Wang Yangming from the Ministry of War who wanted to make money or whether it was His Majesty himself who wanted to make money, it still makes people feel unhappy!"

"Over the years, the imperial court has never paid the full amount of military pay, and has even used banknotes to make up for it, and has even defaulted on payments from time to time. As a result, now they have to pay us back and give us a discount, trying to get more money out of us."

(In fact, Zhu Houcong never lacked military pay, and even lent 5 million taels of his own treasury to the outer court to pay the military pay, but as in history, there was not much left when it came to the lower court.)
"So, it's hard not to feel that the court treats us worse than the local nobles and wealthy families in Yingtian. At least they give us, the Jinyiwei who patrol the streets, a lot of money every year!"

"So, don't say that Eunuch Liao didn't force me to do this. Even if he didn't force me to do this, we wouldn't be able to bear to do it to them! We don't want to lose their filial piety in the future!"

Chen Pan replied.

Zhu Qi said:

"You withheld the salaries of ordinary Jinyi Military School students, annexed the land given to them by the court, and enslaved them. The court did not punish you, so why didn't you speak up?"

"You only remember the grudges and not the kindness, right?"

Chen Pan was silent.

Let’s talk.

After the incident of crying in the temple happened, Zhu Xizhou also learned about it soon.

But just then, Nanjing Minister of Rites Wang Jun suddenly came to see him.

Zhu Xizhou met him first.

"That good thing Lin Tingxian did!"

"After he collected taxes and caused a death, the wife of the victim was hanged in the county government office. Now it has aroused public anger. Many scholars are crying in the temple and pointing the finger at you, Zhu Maozhong!"

"If I don't kill you, Zhu Maozhong, I won't pay taxes!"

"I have to say, these Southern Zhi scholars are simply too lawless!"

As soon as Wang Jun saw Zhu Xizhou, he started talking to him about this matter with a glare and seemed very angry.

Zhu Xizhou's face darkened after hearing this, and he ordered, "Pass the order, arrest all the school officials and students in Jiangning County! If anyone escapes, go to the sea to catch the clerks!"

Wang Jun was quite surprised and looked at Zhu Xizhou: "Sir, you can't do this!"

"Why can't we do this? Didn't the king say they were lawless?"

Zhu Xizhou asked with a sneer.

Wang Jun hurriedly said: "They are lawless, but aren't you exacerbating public anger by doing this?"

"How can this be considered as public indignation? It's just resentment among scholars. At most, it can incite some rich families and powerful slaves and lackeys."

Zhu Xizhou walked out and ordered, "Ask the deputy general Zhao Zhen to bring 3,000 soldiers to see me!"

"Two hundred thousand taels!"

Wang Jun gritted his teeth and whispered a number.

Zhu Xizhou couldn't help but stop and look at him: "What do you mean by that?"

"This morning a wealthy businessman came to see me and asked me to come see you. He said that if you are willing to show leniency to the people who cried in the temple and promise to resign in the future, he will give you the money."

"Wang Yizhi!"

"As a friend, you didn't refuse to reprimand me, and even wrote to the government to arrest this profiteer. You were willing to pass on their message. Are you still my friend? Are you worthy of your current status?!"

"You are humiliating me!"

Zhu Xizhou interrupted Wang Jun directly.

"Of course I shouldn't pass on the message for them, but I am your friend and I can't bear to see you being forced to death by them one day, so I have to pass on this message."

"I didn't intend to say it, but since you've said it to this point, I have no choice but to say it!"

Wang Jun threw his sleeves and put his hands behind his back, breathing heavier. Zhu Xizhou still sneered: "Since someone died, it won't end so well."

"But no one could have imagined that things would develop to this point, but it is also reasonable."

"Since ancient times, reforms to political systems have always resulted in deaths!"

"And most of the people who die in the end will be civilians!"

"It's just a matter of one thousand or ten thousand deaths."

"You are the top scholar, well-read in classics and history, so you naturally know more than me!"

"They just want you to resign now. You can just take the money and leave. Why do you have to keep fighting with them?"

"It's better for the princess to give up on her own initiative than for them to force His Majesty to give up on you."

"I know that what I said is a big taboo, but you and I have been friends for many years, so I have to be so bold as to say these words that only close friends would say to you!"

"You can impeach me for this, accusing me of disloyalty or of bending the law for personal gain. It's all fine! I won't complain!"

"But others may not know you, Zhu Maozhong, but don't I know you?"

Wang Jun continued to speak, and while he spoke emotionally, he kept observing Zhu Xizhou's expression, and said:

"Besides, I also know that you didn't want to change the system, but you were forced to this point!"

Speaking of it.

Wang Jun could not help but sigh and said, "Thinking back to the past, you and I, as well as Jiang Quanzhou (Jiang Mian) and Mao Laizhou (Mao Ji) in the cabinet, as well as Mao Kunshan (Mao Cheng) who died suddenly, and Peng Lanzhou (Peng Ze) who was dismissed, we were all under the tutelage of the Grand Tutor, presiding over the government with him, correcting the gains and losses of the court, and even preparing to set a grand ceremony to ensure that the system of Emperor Xiaozong would continue and that the world would finally be peaceful and harmonious!"

"But who would have thought that the clean stream headed by the Grand Tutor would fall apart, some were just sitting there doing nothing, some were killed, some were dismissed, and even you were labeled a member of the traitorous party without knowing why."

"Why are you saying all this? Wasn't it the Grand Tutor himself who first claimed to be ill and gave up power instead of saving the people, and who first supported the discussion of rituals?"

Zhu Xizhou also said with some regret.

Wang Jun waved his hand: "Let's not talk about this anymore."

Zhu Xizhou stopped talking about this and just asked, "If they don't want to change, why don't they just give money to the court?"

talking.

Zhu Xizhou walked towards the sedan chair hall and said, "After all, it is the court that is short of money, not me, Zhu Xizhou!"

Wang Jun couldn't help but get angry after hearing this: "You know very well that our purpose of Qingliu Huli is to serve the world with one person, not to serve one person with the world, why do you still say these sarcastic words?"

"If they were willing to give money to the court, none of this would have happened!"

After Wang Jun said this, Zhu Xizhou didn't say anything else.

"Please remember to bring that wealthy businessman to the Governor's Mansion to prevent his crime from being aggravated!"

But after a while, Zhu Xizhou added another sentence.

Wang Jun bared his teeth, but still held back and asked, "Sir, are you really not going to consider it?"

"Mao Zhong!"

Wang Jun even solemnly called out to him and walked up to Zhu Xizhou: "You should understand that if you don't compromise with them, your fate will be to be forced to death by them!"

"They can kill me, but they can't defile me!"

Zhu Xizhou replied, then got into his sedan chair, looked at Wang Jun with a smile and said, "I have to keep some pride for myself, right?"

For Zhu Xizhou, he had admitted in front of the emperor that he had been disloyal and betrayed his fellow countrymen because he was afraid of death. If he wanted to keep something in his heart that he could be proud of, the only way was to remain honest.

After all, he at least felt that he had not lived in vain in this world, and that he had at least achieved the integrity he had dreamed of.

Wang Jun was very disappointed that he failed to persuade Zhu Xizhou to compromise.

So, when he was invited to see the garrison eunuch Liao Tang, Liao Tang noticed that he looked very bad and asked, "Did you fail to persuade him?"

"He seems quite willing to believe that your majesty will protect him."

Wang Jun replied.

"Then let him wait!"

"Wait till you die!"

Liao Tang suddenly responded in a harsh voice and slammed the table.

"How's it going at the Crying Temple?"

Wang Jun asked at this time.

Liao Tang said with a sullen face: "Many scholars died!"

Wang Jun stood up suddenly and stared at Liao Tang.

"How can it be?!"

"Marquis Baoding failed to stop the Yongwei Battalion!"

"The Zhous are still as brutal as ever. Now we can only wait and see whether the scholars who escaped can stir up a bigger storm."

"I thought it would be a brilliant counterattack. The local officials set up the stage, the scholars performed, and we received the reward money. Then the court would think that the scholars were lawless, the local officials and gentry were obstructing, and the corrupt officials were doing bad things, while we, the high-ranking officials, were in the same mind as the court. Then, those who deserve promotions will be promoted, and those who deserve important positions will be given important positions."

"But something went wrong right from the start."

"I will have no choice but to let Chen Pan leave Nandu early."

After Liao Tang said that, Wang Jun pondered for a long time and said, "There will probably be more storms. The scholars in Jiangnan are always very proud. How can they admit defeat so easily?"

Liao Tang recalled how the scholars from the south of the Yangtze River all looked down on him for being vulgar when he first came to Nanjing, so he smiled and said, "That's right!"

"Master, the latest decree from the cabinet has arrived in Nandu."

At this time, Liao Tang's servant came outside and shouted.

After hearing this, Liao Tang said, "What decree?"

"The regulations on employees rebelling against their employers have been changed to employment disputes, so they will no longer be treated as treason, but only as civil disputes. If there is a criminal offense, it will be dealt with according to the specific criminal law."

The servant replied.

Liao Tang’s eyes suddenly widened and he looked at Wang Jun.

"What a vicious plan!"

"This is to cut off the roots of the powerful and aristocratic families in Nanzhi! Everyone knows that there are many employers in Nanzhi!"

"How could Liang Shunde allow such an order against the old system of filial piety temples to be issued?"

(End of this chapter)