Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 226: Zhili Military Farm

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Emperor Longqing lowered his head silently without saying a word.

An old man was lying on the couch, his body was haggard but he had a strong aura.

Dai Quan knelt on the ground and told him everything that had happened in the outside world, especially the incident of Fang Yong being crowned king at the court meeting not long ago.

"Asshole...Asshole."

The old man spoke weakly, pointing his finger at Emperor Longqing.

"You, what did I teach you before? You should check and balance the ministers and balance the interests. Why didn't you listen..."

Dai Quan knelt deeply on the ground, not daring to make a sound.

Emperor Longqing lowered his head, listening to the retired emperor's chatter, and gradually showed dissatisfaction on his face.

"That's enough. What's the point of saying this now?"

Emperor Longqing exploded.

The emperor was furious when he saw this:

"You are not ambitious and stubborn. How can you be a good emperor with such a character?"

Emperor Longqing was not intolerant at all and responded:

"Brother is wise and ambitious. Why don't you let him be the emperor?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the retired emperor was so angry that he sat up, and his deep eye sockets bulged outward.

"you you!"

The emperor said tremblingly.

Emperor Longqing stood up and looked at him
He told the past events without mercy.

"It was you. If you were not over 70 and still greedy for power, how could my elder brother be forced to rebel? You killed my elder brother and his followers, implicated so many innocent people. Afterwards, you were afraid of the world's gossip, so you abdicated the throne to me!"

The two eunuchs listened to these words, trembling and lying on the ground, wishing they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Emperor Longqing continued:
"I am good for nothing! I can't be an emperor! I don't know how to strike a balance! But isn't this exactly what you want to see? Of all the brothers, why did you choose me? Isn't it because of this? Plus, I don't have the power of my mother's clan to help me, so it's easier for you to continue to control the government!"

The emperor was so angry that he was speechless.

Emperor Longqing tore off the last layer of fig leaf and said with red eyes:

"It's all your fault! You were the one who controlled the White Lotus Rebellion in Suzhou, right? It was you who harmed Daxi and the country!"

When the retired emperor heard this, his body swayed, a breath of air rushed into his lungs, and he began to cough violently.

Upon seeing this, Xia Shouzhong hurried to appease the retired emperor.

Suddenly, a large amount of thick black blood was coughed out from the emperor's mouth.

Emperor Longqing was startled and quickly stopped talking, looking over worriedly.

Wouldn't he make you angry to death?

Fortunately, the emperor was not seriously injured.

Not only did the spitting out of blood not cause him too much harm, on the contrary, his eyes became more focused. However, his body became somewhat weak due to the spitting out of blood. Finally, with the help of Xia Shouzhong, he lay back on the couch to rest.

This time, the retired emperor seemed to have figured something out and no longer pursued Emperor Longqing's faults.

He turned slightly to the side, sighed and said:
"You are right. It is useless to talk about this now. What we should consider is how to take back the imperial power and get rid of the traitor Fang Yong!"

When Emperor Longqing heard the retired emperor mention Fang Yong, he slumped his shoulders weakly.

"It's useless. The enemy has already controlled the capital. They have hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses under their command. They are very powerful. They also have the rich lands of Zhili, Shandong, Suzhou, and Huizhou as their foundation. They can't be shaken at all."

The Emperor was furious when he heard this and said:
"You are the emperor, why are you acting like this? Ahem! We, Da Xi, own a vast territory and have taken over all 19 states. The rebels have risen up and are in chaos, but we only have four states. What is there to be afraid of... Ahem! Are you afraid? We only need to issue an imperial edict to invite loyal officials from all over the world to rise up and fight against the rebels. The rebels can be destroyed in no time!"

Emperor Longqing remained pessimistic after hearing this.

"We are surrounded by Jinyiwei, how can we send the imperial edict out..."

Outside Beijing, in Yongqing County, Du Mai brought Huan San here.

The two men, with the Huaiyin Army, broke into the Yongqing County Government without mercy.

"What are you doing?"

The bailiff exclaimed.

Du Mai said, "According to your majesty's order, the fish scale book of Yongqing County is confiscated. Where is the magistrate of Yongqing County?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a voice came from the back hall.

"This county is here!"

The magistrate of Yongqing County walked out from the back hall in an official robe.

"The fish scale book has already been handed over to this county. Who are you to dare to trespass into this county government office?"

Du Mai took out a bronze medal from his arms:
"I am the Imperial Envoy of the Ministry of Revenue, the newly appointed Fifth-Rank Land Officer Du Mai. You are a mere seventh-rank official, and you refuse to kneel before me!"

The magistrate of Yongqing County trembled when he heard this. He actually knew the other party's intention, but looking at the two young men in front of him, he was still unwilling to surrender, and still said stubbornly:
"I have never heard of any new land official. The fish scale book of this county has been handed in long ago. The county government is an important place in this county. How dare you barge in?"

Upon hearing this, Huan San took out a booklet from his bosom and read:

"Yongqing County, there are currently 56,530 mu of arable land? Is this the fish scale book you handed in?"

After saying that, he threw the booklet hard in the face of the Yongqing County Magistrate.

A large county like Yongqing County, which is close to the capital, has a flat terrain, abundant rivers, and at least hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land. Fifty thousand acres is really fooling fools.

The magistrate of Yongqing County looked a little panicked when he saw this, but before he could react, Du Mai waved his hand.

"Arrests!"

The Huaiyin army moved forward instantly.

The magistrate of Yongqing County was horrified and quickly hid back, saying:

"I am a seventh-rank county magistrate. According to Daxi laws, how dare you arrest people without an imperial decree? Quick, stop them!"

The yamen runners were very hesitant when they heard this, not knowing whether they should step forward.

The Huaiyin army directly took out their crossbows, and whoosh, whoosh, a few arrows instantly stunned everyone on the field.

The magistrate of Yongqing was hit by an arrow in the leg and was wailing in pain on the ground.

Du Mai took out a document and said:
"The magistrate of Yongqing has committed corruption and abuse of power, and there is irrefutable evidence that he has seized good farmland. This is a warrant signed by Cui Shu, the military council chief. Why don't you retreat?"

Seeing this, the yamen runners quickly dodged away.

Du Mai said: "Take it away!"

The Huaiyin army advanced and captured the Yongqing County Magistrate, and took him away from the county government office.

Fang Yong's methods of dealing with these small officials and noble families have always been rough. If they actively cooperate, it's okay, and they can still save some of their family property. If they don't cooperate, he will directly frame them with a crime and take them away for investigation (execution).

It is also worth mentioning that most of the time, these people who are unwilling to cooperate do not need Fang Yongan to frame them with charges, as they are already full of charges themselves.

Of course, such measures are only aimed at small families.

Those big aristocratic families cannot do this.

Those big families have often been deeply rooted in one place for hundreds of years, and their power is intertwined and complex. It is often difficult to clean them up in a short period of time by using violent means.

The people in Zhili, Shandong and other places have suffered from wars many times and are miserable. If we rashly go to war with the gentry at this time, it will only make the people's lives more miserable, which will not be worth the loss.

Most of the time, stability is what people need most.

Fang Yongnian is still a young man and has plenty of time to spend with these people. There is no need to rush.

Fang Yong sent Zhai Xun to involve these big aristocratic families and officials and put forward conditions to them.

As long as they agree to support the policy of military farming and donate half of their land, they can allow their family members to serve as officials in the land department. If they resist the policy, they will naturally not escape punishment...

(PS: The distribution map of palaces inside the Forbidden City, among which Jingren Palace is the prototype of Fengzao Palace, the setting of this book.)
(End of this chapter)