Ming Dynasty: pacifying the rebellion and defending the border, dominating the world

Chapter 361 Everyone is in danger
Time flies like water, and several days pass in the blink of an eye.

The capital city had just experienced the Jingnan Rebellion and the change of power in the court, so the atmosphere was already tense.

The Eastern Depot, Western Depot, and Embroidered Uniform Guard joined forces to carry out a large-scale confiscation and extermination of families throughout the capital. At first, this caused great anxiety among the people of the capital, who feared that the executioner's blade would fall on their heads.

Fortunately, after several days of observation...

It was only after the imperial court issued a proclamation that the people gradually understood what was going on.

The morning mist at Xuande Gate had not yet dissipated when two old men carrying vegetable baskets squatted down by the wall and started chatting.

Old Wang breathed white vapor onto his frostbitten hands and said in a low voice, "Have you heard? Last night, the Western Depot surrounded the home of Vice Minister Zhou of the Ministry of Personnel!"

Old Man Li dropped the steelyard in his hand with a clang, startling several sparrows into flight: "Vice Minister Zhou? Is that the same Zhou Xian, the Vice Minister of Justice who shouts 'honesty and integrity' at the yamen gate every day? Zhou the Skinflint?"

He glanced towards the imperial city and saw that the patrolling Cangyun Army was far away and that no one who heard him would look in his direction. Only then did he dare to continue, "Last time I delivered vegetables to the government office, I heard the servants talking about how Zhou Bapi and his men steamed lamb with cow's milk. But because they steamed it for a while, the milk wasn't fresh, so they just poured the whole dish into the swill bucket!"

"Tsk tsk..."

"That's truly a case of being poor and having no desires?"

"Extravagance and debauchery?"

Among the people around who heard the commotion, one who seemed somewhat educated gave a somewhat uncertain reply.

"Yes, yes, that's it."

"I understand what you're saying, but why is that Vice Minister Zhou called Zhou the Skinflint?" someone asked curiously from the lively crowd, seemingly not quite understanding.

"You do not know?"

Old Wang didn't want to talk about it, as he understood the saying that trouble comes from the mouth. But thinking that Zhou Bapi had been imprisoned and his head was about to be beheaded, he decided to speak frankly: "You don't know, Zhou Xian was a Jinshi during the Hongzhi era. At first, he was said to be an honest and upright official, but somehow he gradually changed."

"Anyone who breaks the law and has no powerful connections will have their family thoroughly investigated and exploited if they want his help to get out of jail. There's no guarantee that they'll be saved in the end."

"Some people say that once you're in the Ministry of Justice's prison, the first thing they do isn't make you confess and sign a document, but rather ask about your wealth. If you're wealthy and know how to be filial, Zhou Xian won't let you die."

"Over the years, it is said that many wealthy and powerful people have used Zhou Xian, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, to change their identities and escape justice."

Old Wang's words drew sighs from those around him.

The person who asked the question, seeing that not many people refuted him, had a strange look in his eyes.

"It seems that Zhou Xian is truly powerful as the Vice Minister of Justice!"

"Humph!"

The man snorted coldly and made a note of it.

He continued listening to the common people chat about things happening in the capital.

"It's not just Zhou Bapi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice! This morning at dawn, three heads were hung up at Yongding Gate. People who recognize them say that one of them is Yang Tan from the Ministry of Revenue, and his nephew who is a doctor!"

The porters squatting in the corner immediately erupted in chaos.

"Yang Xing? That bastard took advantage of the Yellow River dike construction last year to embezzle three months' wages from us river workers! My uncle died of cold, hunger, and illness on the construction site around that time!" A porter said, angrily cursing, "He deserves to die! He should have been killed long ago!"

For ordinary people, the most direct impact of the Ministry of Revenue's problems was on their wages.

Labor service was a tough job, and people usually had to bring their own food. However, even though the court allocated the wages, they often didn't actually receive them.

I want to curse, but I don't dare.

Want to file a lawsuit?
Stop joking, do you really think it's still the time when Zhu Yuanzhang was in power?

A high-ranking official, whether a junior official in the Ministry of Revenue, the Minister of Revenue, or the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, would have his property confiscated and beheaded if the allegations were verified, as a warning to others.

However, the information they revealed caught the eye of some shrewd individuals among the crowd.

……

In a silk shop on Zhuque Avenue.

The accountant was working on his abacus, but his ears were perked up, listening to the sounds outside. The Xue family manager stroked his goatee, his brow furrowed deeply: "Strange. At this time of day, the stewards of those officials' families would have already come to select materials. Why haven't we seen a soul today?"

The accountant lowered his voice: "Manager, yesterday the Eastern Depot raided Zhou Xian's house and found twenty boxes of gold bricks in the cellar, as well as three rooms full of silks and satins!"

Upon hearing this, the manager of the Xue family couldn't help but roll his eyes at the other party:
"Are you kidding me?"

"He's just a vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, not the Ministry of Works. Where did he get so much silk and satin?"

"Shopkeeper, you don't know!"

After glancing outside a few times, the accountant lowered his voice and said, "Do you remember the case of the Vice Minister of Works two months ago? It is said that Zhou Xian directly took 60% of the tribute from the Jiangnan Textile Bureau that the other party had embezzled."

Seventy percent?

The shopkeeper of the Xue family stared wide-eyed, and the abacus beads scattered all over the ground.

"No wonder, no wonder..."

He was certainly aware of the uproar in the capital.

I've always felt that no matter how much they raid and exterminate their families, as long as the Xue family didn't commit any crimes, they can continue to do business and make money as usual. The sky won't fall.

However, Zhou Xian's case led to the exposure of corruption within the Ministry of Works and the tribute items from the Jiangnan Textile Bureau.

At this time, the officials and nobles in the capital were already in a state of panic and were too busy to take care of themselves, so how many people would dare to buy silk again?

……

In the capital, waves surged.

It swept through the cabinet, the mansions of dukes and marquises, the six ministries, and even all the nobles and officials.

Normally, ordinary people in the capital rarely see high-ranking officials, but these days at the Wumen Gate and Caishikou, you can see piles of people being beheaded and displayed in public, cut in half at the waist and left to rot in the marketplace, being subjected to slow slicing, and being executed by being put on a straw mat.

Those implicated included the Minister of Revenue, two Vice Ministers of Works, and two Vice Ministers of Justice and Personnel.

Not to mention the cabinet ministers and vice ministers, such as Yang Yanhe.

There was even a Zhu who ignored it.

The case of treason and regicide.

The Ministry of Revenue embezzlement case.

Salt tax, the case of tribute goods from Jiangnan.

It was as if the entire capital city had changed overnight.

Everywhere, agents from the Eastern Depot and Western Depot, along with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, were arresting people, and they showed no sign of stopping.

It's not that no one has thought of rebelling.

The "vicious dogs" kept by powerful and wealthy families in the capital are not kept for nothing.

Not to mention, snakes have their paths and rats have theirs.

Although Beijing was the capital of the Ming Dynasty, it did not mean that it was truly an impregnable fortress without any weaknesses.

Unfortunately, they thought they were fighting to the death, a desperate act of resistance that would result in mutual destruction.

What they got in return was the most ruthless suppression.

Faced with the Cangyun Army and Tiance Army guarding the entire capital, the so-called experts in the capital couldn't even stir up the slightest trouble. What kind of people could those so-called powerful and wealthy families afford to hire and support?
At best, one can only reach the level of a Grandmaster of Celestial Phenomena.

At this time in the capital, with Zhu Jinzhen's arrival, Masters of the Pointing Profound Realm were practically everywhere, and you could meet two Grand Masters of Celestial Phenomena just across the street.

Revolt?

nonexistent!

(End of this chapter)