Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 20, The End of the Jinhai Incident

However, after the Jinhai riot broke out, although a large number of people participated in the riot, the riot did not spread beyond Jinhai due to the lack of qualified leaders.

The Jinhai general led his troops to establish a tight defense line around the Jinhai area.

The rioters, lacking weapons and armor, could not break through the defense line with their flesh and blood and were trapped in the city.

This has caused great hardship for the common people in the city.

As the time they were trapped grew longer, the rioters became more and more brutal.

Every day, countless people’s homes are broken into by rioters.

Rape and looting, it's hell on earth.

The rich land of Jinhai has completely turned into a city of hell.

Some people wanted to flee Jinhai with their families, but they were shot by the army as soon as they walked out of the city.

The army doesn't know whether these people are civilians or rebels.

When it is impossible to ascertain the identity, all the army can do is to be prepared.

A few days later, a joint memorial from Mao Jie, the general of Jinhai, and other local affiliated officials was sent to the capital.

The memorial stated: Guo Dahai, a native of Tianjin, resisted the new policy, gathered a crowd to rebel, gathered more than 2,000 rebels, attacked the government office, and all the officials of Tianjin were killed by him.

Minister Mao Jie led his men to fight desperately. Fortunately, with the blessing of His Majesty, the generals worked together and finally pacified the rebels. His young general Mao Cheng was brave and fearless, and killed the bandit leader Guo Dahai in battle...

Now the rebels have been defeated and the people have won their support. Only a few hundred bandits are still hiding in the city pretending to be civilians, making it difficult to identify them... Your Majesty, please make your judgment.

In the capital, Emperor Longqing was looking at the memorial in his hand and was furious.

"Stubborn people! Stubborn people! My new policies are all for the benefit of these people, but these people are not only ungrateful to me, but they are also gathering together to rebel. They really deserve to be killed! They deserve to be killed!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down."

Dai Quan hurried over and rubbed Emperor Longqing's shoulders.

"Those fools are always stupid. How can they know the benefits of the new policy? You must not get upset about this."

Emperor Longqing's mood calmed down a little.

Fortunately, the Jinhai general controlled the situation in time, and apart from the death of a few officials, no major losses were caused.

Emperor Longqing then summoned his cabinet ministers to his study to discuss the matter.

After a while, four cabinet ministers hurried over.

At the beginning of this year, there were seven people in the cabinet, including the Prime Minister Zhang Tingzheng, the Second Prime Minister, and five other cabinet ministers.

Later, Zhang Tingzheng died of old age, and the second assistant and three other cabinet ministers also submitted their resignations soon after.

Afterwards, Emperor Longqing promoted two more people to the cabinet.

So now there are only four people left in the cabinet.

The remaining four people were undoubtedly Emperor Longqing's confidants. It was with the help of these people that Emperor Longqing was able to resume his new policies.

Yes, the new policy had been promulgated once before, but it was quickly suppressed by the retired emperor. Emperor Longqing endured it until the Prime Minister died of old age and the retired emperor became gradually old and sick. Only then did Emperor Longqing finally regain power with the help of several loyal ministers and resume the new policy.

I just didn’t expect that such a thing would happen shortly after the new policy was promulgated.

Emperor Longqing was very suspicious that the retired emperor was secretly behind this.

The purpose is to prevent him from reforming the court!

"Why can't he just give up the power in his hands like Grandpa Emperor? Why does he have to stop me?"

Dai Quan reminded quietly: "Several cabinet ministers have arrived."

Emperor Longqing was shocked, and quickly regained his composure and invited a few people in.

"Look at them all!"

Emperor Longqing circulated the memorial to several people.

After reading it, several people had different reactions. "Tell me, how should we deal with the Jinhai incident?"

Emperor Longqing asked.

Several ministers thought for a moment, and one of them stepped forward and said:
"Your Majesty, in today's world, customs are becoming more and more corrupt, and people's hearts are no longer the same as they used to be. Although it is enough to think about the constitution and seek goodness, it is not enough to move the masses... Without learning, there is no way to understand the truth, and without learning, there is no way to establish virtue. Therefore, we should encourage learning to transform the people, so that the people know the importance of learning, and then the customs can be changed and the country can be at peace."

"What does Mr. Cheng mean?"

"Your Majesty, I think we should allocate money to build academies and promote learning, so that we can educate the ignorant people and avoid repeating the incident in Jinhai!"

Emperor Longqing listened and tapped his fingers.

Academician Cheng below was quietly looking at Emperor Longqing, and he found that there was a hint of regret on Emperor Longqing's face.

Oh no, it’s too obvious, the emperor has seen through it!

At this moment, Emperor Longqing's eyes fixed, and Cheng Daxueshi's heart skipped a beat, and he almost kowtowed to apologize.

"Mr. Cheng said it well!"

Emperor Longqing said with a happy expression.

This advice was reasonable and well-founded. Why didn't he think of it earlier?

If this clause had been included in the 18 new policies earlier, perhaps the rebellion in Jinhai would not have happened!
Cheng Daxueshi had no time to wipe the sweat off his forehead, and quickly echoed: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Others echoed.

Afterwards, the other two cabinet ministers, seeing that Grand Secretary Cheng had succeeded, also submitted memorials.

One person said: Tianjin and the sea have suffered losses and the people are suffering terribly. We should reduce local taxes and commercial taxes on merchants to and from here to appease the people.

One person said: The traitors who have infiltrated the people should be investigated strictly immediately. If necessary, they can be killed as a warning to the rest, so as to prevent anyone from misleading the people to rebel again.

Emperor Longqing was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately agreed.

Good, that’s great, you are truly a loyal subject of Daxi!
What the three cabinet ministers said was clear and logical, and every word was for the country. If they continue like this, there is no need to worry about the coming of a prosperous era!
It so happens that the tax revenue deposited into the treasury under the new policy this year is nearly double that of previous years, which is a good time to take drastic measures!

At this time, the last cabinet minister said with a heavy face.

"Your Majesty, I think the Jinhai incident should not be taken lightly. We should appoint a Minister of War as soon as possible and send military officials to supervise the matter. In addition, the commander of the Jinyiwei should be restored as soon as possible."

Emperor Longqing's face darkened instantly.

The person who was speaking was named Yu Lian, who held the title of Grand Tutor and was the teacher of Emperor Longqing, and was highly trusted by him.

The new policy was first presented by Yu Lian to Emperor Longqing. There were six new policies in total, covering land, taxes, salt, iron, officials, and firearms.

Emperor Longqing approved of this very much, and later added ten items to the new policy based on his own ideas, and now it has been increased to eighteen items.

What Emperor Longqing couldn't understand was that it was Yu Lian who first proposed the new policy reforms, but now he was repeatedly obstructing him with various reasons.

Something like the new policy is too hasty, too drastic, and should be implemented only after a thorough investigation.

Is this the reason?
If the reform is carried out slowly, when will we be able to see results?
And now Yu Lian doesn't care about the overall situation at all. He even asks himself to be restored to the position of Minister of War and Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

The positions of Minister of War and Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were once held by the retired emperor. Currently, Emperor Longqing does not have suitable people to fill these two vacancies, so they are temporarily vacant.

Yu Lian is not unaware of these situations, but now he is in a hurry to restore these two positions. What is his intention?
Could it be that he secretly surrendered to the emperor?
Emperor Longqing's eyes gradually became dangerous.

The last time, the retired emperor controlled the Ministry of War and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to sideline him. Once bitten, one will be afraid of the rope for ten years. Now he will never allow the same mistake to happen again!

The incident at Tianjin was minor, and Emperor Longqing guessed that the memorial might contain some water. But since it was a joint memorial by many people, what could they hide? It was nothing more than reporting some small things like gains and exploits, which were not a big deal.

But the Ministry of War and the Embroidered Uniform Guard are different. Once he lets down his guard and allows the retired emperor to regain control of these two departments, all his efforts will be ruined!

Cheng Daxueshi had been secretly observing the expression of Emperor Longqing. Seeing that the emperor looked unhappy, he immediately stood up and said:

"What the Grand Tutor said is wrong. The position of Shangshu is the pillar of the country, and Jinyiwei is the eyes and ears of the court. We should carefully choose them. How can we grant them lightly?"

The other two cabinet ministers also echoed.

Yan Yulian's trip was for his own selfish gain. He wanted to form a clique and promote his own people to the position.

Yu Lian was so angry that he could not breathe. Looking at these three people impeaching him with a common hatred of the enemy, who was the one who was truly forming a clique for personal gain?
(End of this chapter)