The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 523: The Princes and Imperial Clan Always Seek Death
Luo Sigong was on duty in the palace at this time.

He arrived quite quickly.

However, his expression seemed as if he was worried about something.

Seeing this, Wanli couldn't help but ask, "Sigong, what's wrong? Is there something wrong at home?"

Oh, how do I put this?

It's not my family that's having trouble, it's your family that's having trouble.

Luo Sigong hesitated for a moment, but still said with a brave face: "Your Majesty, we have found some clues about the lamp oil."

After all this time, you finally found some clues.

But your expression doesn't seem to be a good thing.

Seeing that this guy still seemed to be hesitant to speak, Wanli could not help but frown and said, "What did you find out? Just tell me. How can I blame you?"

Hearing this, Luo Sigong said carefully: "Your Majesty, we have been mainly investigating the whereabouts of the lamp oil during this period.

They did it very covertly. From the oil refinery to the river port, and then to loading onto the navy speeder for transportation, there seemed to be no problem at all.

Our secret guards followed the navy speedboats transporting lamp oil for countless times before they finally discovered something was wrong.

Those naval speedboats rowing to the fiefdoms of the vassal kings seemed to have problems, and the rowers did not seem to be naval officers at all.

Although they were all wearing the uniforms of naval officers and soldiers, those uniforms seemed fine without a telescope, but if you looked closely with a telescope, you could see that the workmanship was a bit rough, and it was probably not made by Wanshengtang Cloth Shop.

It turned out that they were taken to the fiefdom of the vassal king and sold!

How dare these princes collude with the three major families of Puzhou?
Upon hearing this, Wanli's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Who are those people pretending to be naval officers? Where did their speedboats come from? Have you found out?"

This is naturally something I found out.

Luo Sigong said carefully: "Your Majesty, now several major shipyards of the Ministry of Industry are building centipede boats, but the Longjiangzhou Baochuan Shipyard and Xinzhou Shipyard build them for the navy, while the centipede boats built by other major shipyards are sold to private boat owners to transport goods.

I ordered people to check carefully. Although they had polished off the original logos and engraved the navy logos, it can still be seen from the details that their centipede boats were bought from Shandong Beiqinghe Shipyard and Huai'an Qingjiang Shipyard.

As for those who impersonated naval officers, we have only discovered the identities of a few of the leaders, and they all seem to be relatives of the princes or even vassal kings."

These princes and royal family members are really seeking death!
Upon hearing this, Wanli's brows furrowed even deeper.

It is obvious that the reason why these princes and royal family members are still colluding with the three major families in Puzhou is for money.

He withheld the rice allowance from the vassal states, and these guys made money by selling lamp oil!
What's even more hateful is that these guys let their in-laws bring people to impersonate naval officers and soldiers, and even purchased a lot of centipede boats.

How many centipede boats are needed to transport the tens of millions of taels of lamp oil this year?

There are two kinds of lamp oil. One is kerosene which costs 20 jin for one tael of silver, and the other is high-grade lamp oil which costs 10 jin for one tael of silver. On average, one tael of silver costs 15 jin. If we calculate one million taels of silver for lamp oil per month, that would be 15 million jin.

If the centipede boat wants to run fast, it can only carry 50,000 to 60,000 kilograms of cargo.

If we calculate that they make one trip per month on average, these princes must have bought at least two or three hundred centipede boats.

The centipede boat is not very expensive, and they are doing a business with no capital investment. They can make a few hundred taels of money for each trip of the boat. The money spent on buying the boat is quickly recovered, and the rest is all profit.

It's only been over a year, and these princes have already developed two or three hundred centipede boats, with at least tens of thousands of young and strong rowers.

If we allow these guys to continue developing like this, buying thousands of centipede ships and recruiting hundreds of thousands or even millions of young and strong men, we will be in big trouble.

Do these guys want to rebel?
If there is nothing wrong, these guys will naturally not rebel.

The problem is that he always has to deal with the rice and salary of the vassal states, their fiefdoms, and even the common people enslaved by them.

It’s hard to say whether these guys will rebel at that time.

The three powerful families in Puzhou are really vicious.

For the sake of profit, these guys specifically cultivate forces that can change the dynasty!

The disaster caused by the northern barbarians in the Jiajing period was caused by them.

If they had not sold grain and various contraband materials to Altan Khan at that time, the Tumed tribe would never have been able to develop to that level.

When Altan Khan led the Tumed tribe to flee to Hetao, he had less than 10,000 troops. Only twenty years later, he led more than 100,000 cavalrymen to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

The three great families of Puzhou wanted to use the power they nurtured to change the dynasty and thus seize the interests of the whole world! How similar is the Wuxu Change in the 29th year of Jiajing and the Jisi Change in the 2nd year of Chongzhen? How similar is the development of the Tumed tribe and the development of the Jianzhou Jurchens!
It is obvious that the three major families in Puzhou specialize in nurturing this kind of force that is capable of changing the dynasty.

Moreover, they become more powerful as they are raised.

In history, the Ming Dynasty was eventually destroyed by the Later Jin Dynasty, which was supported by the three major powerful families of Puzhou!

At this moment, these guys must want to raise vassal kings to quell the rebellion and use this method to change the emperor!
It would be disastrous if the princes and royal family members were supported by these guys.

It seems that the problem of the princes and royal family must be solved as soon as possible.

The problem is that his men now have to deal with the hidden danger of the Jiannu, and prepare to seize Spain's overseas territory. The problem of the three xuans and six wei in the southwest has not been solved.

If he incited the princes to rebel at this time, there would inevitably be chaos in the world, and the peaceful and prosperous era he had worked so hard to create would turn into a chaotic era again.

However, from the perspective of eliminating the remnants of the three major powerful families in Puzhou, the problem of the princes and royal families cannot be solved hastily.

If he wanted to take this opportunity to dig out the remnants of the three major families in Puzhou, he couldn't do it now.

If he takes action now, it will probably be the same as last time, and he won't even be able to find the remnants of the three major families in Puzhou.

The princes and royal family members are not powerful enough to cause chaos at the moment. The external problems have not been solved yet, and the Ming Dynasty cannot be in chaos internally. It is better to track down the remnants of the three major families in Puzhou first.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "What's going on at the refinery? Even if the people delivering the oil to the river port don't know these navy soldiers are imposters, they must know at the river port. Who is delivering the goods to these guys?"

Alas, there must be a traitor here.

My dear uncle, there is something wrong with your brain.

Luo Sigong sighed secretly, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, it seems that all these are the responsibility of the brother of one of your uncle's wives and concubines."

Humph, the three great families of Puzhou, you are so vicious!
All I found after searching were my relatives, right?
You just want me to deal with my own relatives, right?

Can I fall into your trap?

Don't let me catch you, or I'll cut you into pieces!

Upon hearing this, Wanli snorted inwardly, then nodded slightly and said, "Well, that's right. Keep investigating, but be careful not to alert the enemy."

He seemed to have forgotten all the important matters when he was interrupted by this group of princes and royal family members who were seeking death.

Luo Sigong also thought that he just wanted to ask about the matter of his uncle Wang Bing.

At this moment, he seemed to have finished asking all the questions, and Luo Sigong was ready to leave.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun hurriedly pulled his sleeve.

Wanli finally reacted and quickly raised his hand and said, "There is another thing you can do as well.

You should send secret guards to closely monitor Dong'an Gate, Xi'an Gate, Chang'an Left Gate and Chang'an Right Gate. Do not let go of any eunuchs or palace maids who leave the palace. Follow them all and secretly investigate what they do outside the palace.

From now on, this will become a custom. You will assign someone to be responsible for reporting every month the names of the eunuchs and maids who left the palace, along with who they met and what they did.

This problem is not a big one.

It is not easy for the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace to get out. Moreover, the gates of the imperial city are closed at night, so the eunuchs and palace maids cannot get out at all. They only need to guard the city during the day.

Upon hearing this, Luo Sigong bowed without hesitation and said, "Your humble servant understands."

Wanli thought about it carefully again, then waved his hand and said, "Well, go down."

Luo Sigong quickly bowed and took his leave.

Little Zhu Changxun watched the guy disappear through the doorway and couldn't help but ask, "Father, is this enough? Can the Secret Guards really find out everything?"

The secret guards are naturally not that powerful.

Wanli shook his head slowly and said, “The secret guards may not be able to find out everything, but they can record all the eunuchs and maids who leave the palace.

It is not easy for the eunuchs and maids in the palace to leave the palace. If they are not sent out by us, but they often find ways to leave the palace, there must be a problem.

We can order further investigations into those with questionable circumstances, and then decide whether to remove them from our entourage, demote them to guard the imperial mausoleum, or even execute them outright. It all depends on what they did outside the palace."

Oh, so the first thing to do is to find out the problems.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun slowly nodded and said, "I understand."

(End of this chapter)