Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 130 The Emperor Goes Mad, the Unruly People Are Exiled (Part 1)

Wei Zhongxian, along with his Imperial Guards and pirates, plundered Suzhou Prefecture, extorting money from the land, which fueled public resentment and ultimately sparked a popular uprising.

This is what was said in an urgent report sent by a local official in Jiangnan.

The cabinet also submitted a draft proposal, requesting that Wei Zhongxian be dismissed from his post, investigated, and brought back to the capital for severe punishment in order to quell public anger.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., Zhu Jue had just arrived at the main hall of Yu Xi Palace and opened the first memorial he had ever seen, and this was it.

He finally understood why Emperor Wanli had tolerated those mining and construction tax officials.

Wei Zhongxian was sent by me to rob money, raw silk, and tea.

You want me to severely punish Wei Zhongxian?
That's out of the question!

Although I am not Wanli, I will not severely punish the people I sent out. If I were to severely punish anyone, it would be the local forces in Jiangnan who secretly instigated popular uprisings.

He had actually anticipated this.

When Zhou Yanru sent his trusted confidants to Jiangnan, he knew that it was most likely to be a ploy by local forces to incite a popular uprising.

The reason he didn't send Fang Zhenghua to intercept Zhou Yanru's confidants was to see if Wei Zhongxian had cleaned up the local power in Suzhou Prefecture.

It now appears that Wei Zhongxian was far from eradicating the local power in Suzhou Prefecture; the fact that these guys could still instigate a popular uprising is clear evidence of this.

He deliberately let these local forces emerge on their own so he could clean them up!

Sometimes you have to pretend to be stupid or even suffer a small loss in order to achieve your ultimate goal.

This is actually the famous saying in business circles, "Suffering a loss is a blessing," which means to suffer a loss in the open but gain a blessing in the dark, or to suffer a loss in the open but gain a benefit in the dark.

Those who understand that suffering a loss is a blessing and dare to suffer losses openly will be able to make their businesses bigger and stronger.

The same principle applies to dealing with officials outside the court.

Could he not know that Han Kuang was backed by the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou? Could he not know that Feng Quan, Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren, and others were all treacherous officials?
If he had been as impetuous and hot-tempered as Emperor Chongzhen in history, killing one by one when he found someone, and killing two by two when he caught them, then the ending would already be written in the history books: the Ming Dynasty would have perished, and Emperor Chongzhen would have hanged himself on Coal Hill!

Those who are truly destined for great things will not be so restless and impatient.

He pretended to be stupid and ignorant in public, while secretly sending people to keep an eye on these guys and even using despicable means to deal with them.

Only in this way can he gain blessings or benefits.

The fact that Wei Zhongxian robbed Xinglong Trading Company of millions of taels of goods and extorted millions of taels of silver from them is clear evidence of this.

If he were to seize Han Kuang and stab him to death, what would he gain?
That would leave him with absolutely nothing, and would also alert the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou, causing them to hide even deeper and perhaps even try to retaliate against him in secret.

Emperor Chongzhen in history was just like that. He knocked down a clump of grass, which startled a nest of snakes. These venomous snakes secretly attacked Chongzhen and bit him repeatedly, which he could not bear.

At this moment, he pretended to be stupid and acted as if he knew nothing. Xinglonghao was fooled and obediently paid the money. They even thought that this was something Wei Zhongxian had done to make money and curry favor with his superiors. These guys never expected that it was he who secretly instructed Wei Zhongxian to do this.

The same goes for Huang Taiji. He pretended not to know that Huang Taiji would attack from Jizhou Town, but secretly prepared tens of thousands of elite troops from the Beijing Garrison to wait for him.

As a result, this guy directly aimed his gun at the muzzle, causing the loss of several thousand elite Eight Banner troops in one fell swoop.

This is just the beginning. Next, he will use the traitors in the court to spread false information to Huang Taiji, making that guy keep running into his gun. Even if he can only kill a few thousand of the Eight Banners elites each time, he can wipe out all of Huang Taiji's Eight Banners elites after doing it ten or eight times.

The same approach was used to deal with the Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party. On the surface, he pretended to know nothing, but in the shadows, he would find ways to make these guys expose all their forces. He would expose them one by one and then wipe them out completely before taking them all down in one fell swoop!
To deal with these guys, you have to nip them in the bud. If you don't nip them in the bud, they'll grow back in the spring. If you just cut them down one by one, you'll never be able to get rid of them all.

He had to pretend, he had to use a scheme to make these guys expose their forces so he could eliminate them one by one.

This time, the local forces in Suzhou Prefecture took matters into their own hands.

He had to play dumb for a while, otherwise he would alert the enemy, and this one-off deal would be lost forever. A fool can't pretend to be smart, but a smart person can easily play dumb.

He thought for a moment, then handed the memorial and the draft cabinet proposal to Liu Ruoyu, and said calmly, "Reply. What exactly is the situation? What kind of popular uprising is it? How big is the popular uprising? I need a detailed report."

This seems to indicate a lack of understanding of the situation, and we cannot draw any conclusions prematurely.

In reality, he was stalling for time, waiting for Wang Yingchao to return and understand the situation there before secretly instructing Wei Zhongxian on what to do.

Wang Yingchao returned two days ago, and he's probably almost at Suzhou Prefecture by now. His return speed is definitely faster than the urgent dispatches from the outer court.

However, he can't just wait around; he needs to make a few preparations.

The Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party were not to be trifled with. Wei Zhongxian alone was not enough to deal with them. If Wei Zhongxian were capable of dealing with them, then he would not have been purged in history.

He thought about it carefully, and then decisively said, "Summon Jian Dou to come and pay his respects."

Lu Xiang-sheng wasn't in the capital, so he had to wait. He could use this time to review the remaining memorials.

About half an hour later, Lu Xiang-sheng strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "How's the moat to the north coming along?"

Uh, it's only been a few days?
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng cautiously replied, "Your Majesty, only about 400,000 able-bodied men from the Jingying Garrison have arrived. Those who arrived first have only cleared the area outside the city walls. The moat was only recently dug, and it has only been dug less than a foot deep so far."

Oh, so you mean you've only dug a shallow hole, right?

There's no other way; we can't wait any longer, or something bad might happen.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then decisively said: "Start selecting chariot soldiers from today. Select 10,000 every day. In five days, select 50,000 chariot soldiers and start training them immediately."

A popular uprising has already been instigated in Suzhou Prefecture. This is the work of those officials in the outer court. They probably have more tricks up their sleeves, so we must be on guard.

what?
A popular uprising in Suzhou!
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng was secretly taken aback. He paused for a moment before nodding repeatedly and saying, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue then instructed in detail: "When you are selecting young men, be careful not to let them all rush to the barracks in the east city. Have them walk along the moat that is being dug and sneak into the barracks in the northeast city, and then go to the barracks in the east city."

The barracks in the northeast city haven't even had time to be built yet, but thankfully, the surrounding walls have already been completed.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "I don't need to tell you about this closed training, do I?"

This is natural.

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty knows that once the newly recruited young men of the garrison have entered the barracks in the East City, Your Majesty will not allow them to run away without permission."

As long as you know.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, thought about it carefully, and then waved his hand and said, "Go, quickly assemble and train just in case."

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly bowed and took his leave.

At this moment, in the cabinet office, Feng Quan was frowning as he looked at the red-inked approval on the draft document.

What does the young emperor mean by this?
The Suzhou prefecture has already provoked a popular uprising. Instead of dealing with it quickly, why do we have to report it in detail?
Could it be that the popular uprising was fake?

Or perhaps the young emperor thought it was just a small uprising by a few dozen or a few hundred people, and there was no need to rush?
Looks like I'll have to go to Zhou Yanru's house tonight.

(End of this chapter)