Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 95: On a killing spree, Wang Yangming slaughters the wealthy and powerful families!

Gu Xuezeng clasped his hands and said, "It is not the behavior of a scholar-official to arbitrarily kill a powerful family like this! We should treat them with kindness and wait until we find out whether there is any collusion with the bandits before making a decision!"

"Somebody come!"

"Drag him away, carry out the king's order, and behead him together!"

"At this point, the enemy is at hand and military law is ruthless. Anyone who dares to question me will be punished like this."

Wang Yangming said in a deep voice.

Gu Xuezeng was shocked.

Even Zhang Cong, Jiang Rubi and others were shocked.

It was also the first time for them to see Wang Yangming commanding an army, so they were inevitably surprised.

Zhou Shangwen regarded this as a normal thing.

When he was in the border town, following Yang Yiqing and others to resist the invaders, he had seen such situations many times and didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Because the military emphasizes absolute obedience.

It's just that mainland officials have not seen the use of weapons for a long time and think they can say a few words about anything.

then.

Zhou Shangwen nodded in agreement, then sent soldiers to take Gu Xueceng away.

Gu Xuezeng could not help but yell, "Wang Yangming! My uncle is a lecturer in the court, how can you just execute him?!"

"Minister, please give me another chance!"

"Bu Tang, spare me, I was wrong!"

Not long after, Gu Xuezeng's head and body were separated and he stopped shouting.

All the officials present were silent for a moment.

Even Zhang Cong and Jiang Rubi were no exception.

They didn't expect that the colleague who had been so polite to them just now and bowed to them would be so harsh in an instant.

A censor said to chop someone off and he did.

Here.

Wang Yangming waved his hand.

The swords fell on the heads of the wealthy children who were brought here.

Huang Zhao and others all saw their heads falling off the city wall like rain.

The city wall suddenly turned into a river of blood.

Zhang Cong and others were all greatly shocked.

For the first time they understood what war was.

And I found that there is really no logic here, only absolute violence, or in other words, reason only exists under the sword.

"Those of you who are providing disaster relief, do it immediately. Give the hungry people in the city porridge instead of dry rice with mud. After they are full, boil gold juice, dismantle wood and stone, and then carry all the silver up to help the government troops defend the city. At the same time, send your soldiers to monitor the hungry people. If there is any unusual movement, kill them immediately!"

At this time Wang Yangming began to give instructions to Zhang Cong and others.

Jiang Rubi looked at Zhang Cong.

Thinking of the scene just now, Zhang Cong said without hesitation:
"We'll do it!"

at this time.

There are already fifty or sixty thousand bandits outside the city, gathering in large numbers.

When they heard the news that the government troops were coming, they immediately rushed over as promised.

But after seeing the many heads that his men had picked up from the city wall, the bandit leader Shi Fu and his men could not help but stop being complacent and started to grin, "Damn it! These government troops actually killed our patron, Mr. Huang and his men!"

"So, there is no one inside the city to help. It will be difficult to attack Huai'an City."

"This chief officer guarding the city is an expert!"

The bandit leader Li Qi then said.

"withdraw!"

"We won't do anything that loses money."

"Inform the brothers that when you return, hide all your weapons, armor and salt, and work hard on the farm until you have the chance to make a fortune."

Shi Fu decisively issued the order to retreat.

In the Lianghuai area, many bandits were actually local salt-making households, with many salt cookers or desperate criminals under their command. When famine occurred, they would plunder because the profits from plundering were greater than the profits from production. They would even collude with bureaucrats and wealthy families to annex land and embezzle official profits.

As long as the imperial court is stronger and the gains from looting are less than the gains from production, they will become good citizens again.

Therefore, Shi Fu would issue such an order at this time.

"Spread all the silver from the wealthy families. When these bandits pick up the silver, General Zhou, lead 3,000 cavalry to charge out. Except for those kneeling on the ground, kill all the others!"

Zhou Shangwen nodded in agreement.

Not long after.

Just as the bandits were about to retreat, large amounts of silver poured down from the city wall.

Suddenly.

The whole city is like snow.

When the bandits saw this, their eyes lit up.

After all, many of them were poor servants who were coerced by the wealthy and powerful stove owners. They were usually severely exploited by the stove owners and had little income at all. Even if they joined in robbing the common people, the common people were too poor, so they could not rob much money.

Now a lot of silver is being poured down.

Naturally, a large number of bandits rushed to pick up the items like crazy.

Some even dropped their knives and guns.

"silver!"

"So much silver!"

The bandit leaders Shi Fu and Li Qi were horrified when they saw this.

Shi Fuxian shouted, "Let them all come back! Don't try to rob. Whoever tries to rob will be killed!"

Li Qi even rode over on horseback and hacked and killed the bandits who were trying to steal the silver: "Stop stealing!"

But this time.

The gates of Huai'an city are wide open.

The well-trained and well-equipped cavalry of the government army rushed out and began to hack and shoot the bandits.

The bandits were defeated.

Li Qi himself was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Shi Fu turned around and was about to run.

However, the government cavalry was too fast, and the bandits under his command could not withstand the fierce attack of these cavalry, which resulted in him being caught up by the cavalry behind him and killed on the ground soon.

"Kneel down and don't kill!"

Simultaneously.

The government troops also shouted loudly that they would not be killed unless they knelt down.

then.

A large number of bandits were captured alive.

The entire siege of Huai'an was quickly resolved within a day.

The bandits were also quickly suppressed.

But this is not the end for Wang Yangming.

Because Zhu Houcong gave him the task of rectifying the salt business after suppressing the bandits, and he also told Wang Yangming to correct the wrongs when he was too strict, but he could not correct the wrongs when he was too strict.

then.

Wang Yangming ordered the arrest of salt officials such as the Salt Inspector and the Salt Transport Commissioner on the grounds that a large amount of private salt without salt permits had been seized from merchants who colluded with bandits. He also demanded that the salt taxes owed by the salt households be collected and the surplus salt taxes be imposed. He also stipulated that if the salt households did not pay the unpaid salt taxes in full, their salt and salt fields, and even their farmland and grain, would be directly confiscated.

The so-called regular salt is the official salt that the kitchen households should pay to the Capital Transport Commissioner's Office.

The so-called surplus salt is the surplus salt that the stove owners are allowed to sell directly to merchants after paying the full amount of regular salt. Although this salt is not handed over to the Capital Transport Commissioner, a surplus salt tax must be paid.

In addition, many salt-producing households have transformed into large landowners and started to turn salt fields into farms. Many have begun to pay money and grain in exchange for the equivalent value of regular salt that needs to be paid, which is called salt tax. Naturally, many of these households already have their own fertile land and a large amount of grain income.

What Wang Yangming did now naturally harmed the interests of the stove owners.

Naturally, the cooks would not obey.

To know.

Many kitchen households have now become big landlords and wealthy gentry. Many of their families have relatives who are officials in the court, and some have even served as ministers.

Therefore, it is naturally difficult to get them to pay off the salt and taxes they owe.

Since the big stove owners are not active in paying, the medium and small stove owners naturally follow suit and do not take it seriously.

Some big kitchen owners even directly instigated the kitchen servants to cause trouble, surrounded the Salt Transport Office, and demanded that Wang Yangming release the official they considered a good official - Ye Yu, the Inspector of Salt.

Because Ye Yu did not pursue the unpaid salt and salt tax, the kitchen workers were able to survive.

"Release Censor Ye!"

……

Wang Yangming listened to the shouts outside, which were getting louder and louder, and couldn't help but look at Ye Xi who was being held: "Ye Fengxian, you are very popular among the people, right?"

"Shouldn't an official love his people like his own children?"

"Your Majesty treats the people with kindness, let alone us, the disciples of the Emperor."

"You are the only one who has repeatedly implemented harsh policies as a minister. I don't know how many great families have been wiped out. Now you want to seize the property of the kitchen households. You will not stop until the people of Huaibei and Huaibei rebel."

Ye Xi sneered and raised his head arrogantly.

“Then why don’t they rebel?”

Wang Yangming asked.

Ye Yu's breathing became heavy.

Wang Yangming suddenly asked Zhou Shangwen: "Have you invited the local chef?"

"Everyone has arrived."

Zhou Shangwen replied.

Wang Yangming nodded: "Let them in!"

"Yes!"

Soon.

The heads of the big kitchen households in Lianghuai came to Wang Yangming.

Because many of them were local gentry, and some had even served as high-ranking officials in the court, they were not afraid of Wang Yangming.

among them.

Bai Hongtu, who had been the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, asked Wang Yangming directly: "The minister asked me to come here, I don't know why."

"You have been slow to pay the salt and salt taxes you owe, so I can only regard you as disrespectful to the court and plotting against the law, so I have no choice but to arrest you all and confiscate your property."

Wang Yangming said at this time.

Bai Hongtu and others were shocked after hearing this.

Bai Hongtu hurriedly asked, "Wang Yangming, why are you like this? It's not that we don't want to pay, it's that we can't pay."

"I gave you time to give your reasons, but you didn't come. Now it's too late for you to give your reasons!"

Wang Yangming shouted, "Take them all away and wait for your punishment!"

"Yes!"

As a result, Bai Hongtu shouted as he was being escorted away: "Minister, we can talk it over!"

"Post the notice about the court's salt policy reform!"

"In addition, the salt inspectors of the Capital Transport Commissioner's Office should be paid out with the money seized from the rich households, and they should be instructed to publicize the latest salt policy for the court."

After Wang Yangming took control of these big salt cookers, he formally carried out salt administration reforms in accordance with Zhu Houcong's instructions.

His salt administration reform mainly consisted of five points.

First, they promised to pay the stove workers and increase the salary for the salt workers. At the same time, they encouraged the stove workers and salt workers to report the stove owners who were selling the surplus salt privately.

Second, all the salt fields and farmlands of the offending households were confiscated and distributed among the cooks.

Third, the imperial court no longer collected salt by force, but instead collected salt at a unified price.

Fourth, low-interest loans will be provided directly by branches of Xingming Bank to small kitchen households that are experiencing operational difficulties.

Fifth, for salt merchants who have not been able to draw their salt permits for many years, as long as they agree to draw official salt with 80% of the salt permits they received in the past, they can get priority in obtaining the salt.

The first two reform measures were to unite the salt producers, the salt cookers, and the salt order maintainers and transporters to reorganize the salt business and give them benefits.

The third and fourth items are to help the middle and lower-level kitchen households improve their business operations so that they will not be opposed to the court's salt policy reforms, or even support them.

The fifth item was to solve the problem of salt permits being backlogged because the Capital Transport Bureau received less and less official salt, and many salt merchants had legal certificates to withdraw salt permits but were unable to withdraw salt.

In this process, the salt merchants have to bear a little loss, that is, the amount of salt they withdraw is not as much as they actually get, but one advantage is that they don’t have to wait any longer.

Since the salt merchants had already spent money but still could not get the salt, they would continue to lose money. Many ordinary salt merchants even had to take out loans to buy salt.

Therefore, this is actually a favorable policy for salt merchants.

This means that most salt merchants, at least ordinary salt merchants, will support this reform.

The only ones who suffered were the big cooks.

Not only will they have to hand in all the regular salt they have not paid, but they will also have to watch all their salt being confiscated, and even their means of production will be taken away, and they may even be punished.

But their family heads had all been captured by Wang Yangming at this time, so these big kitchen owners were leaderless for a while, and even if they resisted, the effect was limited.

The heads of these large salt stove households and corrupt officials in the entire salt industry, including those in the waterways and canal transport, were successfully taken to the canal on October 20th to await punishment.

Prime Minister Li Zun, Grand Canal Governor Shen Dong, and General Lu Gang were also ordered by Zhu Houcong to be dealt with on the spot.

"Zhang Fujing! You will die a miserable death if you deceive the officials!"

"Wang Yangming! You have slaughtered the gentry, and you will be punished by heaven!"

Before being beheaded, Li Zun cursed the canal. He felt really aggrieved because if it weren't for Zhang Cong's move, he wouldn't have ended up like this.

And Shen Dong just cried.

Lu Gang said nothing.

As the sword fell.

Their heads, along with those of the heads of the big kitchen households and other corrupt officials, all fell into the frozen canal.

Make a thumping sound.

The canal seemed to suddenly thaw and begin to flow again, but the water flowing was blood.

"Alas!"

"You are a disciple of the saint, and also my colleague!"

"How can I bear to kill you?"

"It is only for the sake of conscience, and the light is there!"

"It is not my intention to kill you. It is because you have abandoned your conscience, not followed your heart, and turned away from good and followed evil!"

While Wang Yangming was raising his butcher knife to kill these people, he sighed with a serious expression and talked about the doctrine of benevolence and forgiveness to his disciples who followed him.

His disciples all understood this very well.

Many scholars and gentry also understood it, and of course they had to understand it.

And they all looked solemn.

Under the sunset.

Looking at the river water that was as red as the sunset, Lu Xiaoya, who was drinking hot porridge in the government-run shack, actually smiled at this scene.

And many hungry people like her also had the strength to laugh at this moment.

I couldn’t stop in this chapter and wrote a lot, almost 4,000 words, so don’t think the following chapters are short, they just seem short compared to this chapter.

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(End of this chapter)