Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 206 Chengchou is Ill, the Rebels Are Deadly (Part 2)

Zhu Jue actually granted Hong Chengchou's request to resign due to illness and return to his hometown!
Is he going to let Hong Chengchou off the hook?

Didn't he vow to use the death of the princes and royal family to exterminate the entire family of the traitor Hong Chengchou?
In fact, he did not intend to let Hong Chengchou go.

He planned to pin the blame for the deaths of the princes and members of the royal family on Hong Chengchou!

There is absolutely no problem with this.

The saying goes, "If the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die."

He was the emperor, so it was perfectly legitimate for him to hold a governor with problems accountable.

Emperor Chongzhen did something similar in history.

Zheng Chongjian, the then Governor-General of the Three Border Regions, was stripped of his official rank and sent back to his hometown. He was also brought back and executed by Emperor Chongzhen because of Yang Sichang's death!
Zheng Chongjian was truly wronged. During his tenure as governor, he had not lost any cities or suffered any defeats. He even achieved a great victory at Manaoshan, yet Chongzhen had him executed without any reason.

Hong Chengchou was a completely different person when he was pursuing Wang Jiayin, Wang Ziyong, Gao Yingxiang, and Zhang Xianzhong. He was clearly suspected of deliberately condoning the growth of Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong. Moreover, when Fengyang fell, he was the governor in charge of pursuing and suppressing the rebels. Based on these facts alone, it would not be an exaggeration to execute his entire family.

The reason he approved Hong Chengchou's resignation was actually to deal with the princes and members of the imperial family.

If Hong Chengchou were alive, he would definitely try his best to stop Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong from dealing with the princes and royal families, so as not to be implicated.

He knew very well that once Hong Chengchou left his position as governor-general, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong would act without restraint.

Without the presence of the Pan brothers, Guozhong and Yunteng, in Hanzhong to keep them in check, he wouldn't have been able to allow Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong to rapidly grow in power by seizing money and grain from the princes and royal families.

With the Pan brothers, Guozhong and Yunteng, keeping them in check, this concern disappeared.

Therefore, he simply approved Hong Chengchou's resignation, letting the guy think he was free from the entanglement, so that he would no longer stop Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong from dealing with the princes and royal family.

Of course, Hong Chengchou still had no intention of escaping; this thought had never changed.

Even if this guy fakes illness and goes back to his hometown, we still have to bring him back and execute his entire family!

He pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Zhilong, Hong Chengchou is from the same hometown as you, right?"

What bad luck! How did I end up with such a fellow villager?
Zheng Zhilong naturally knew that the current emperor disliked Hong Chengchou, and everyone else had a vague idea that the current emperor wanted to find a pretext to kill Hong Chengchou!
He naturally doesn't want to associate with that kind of person.

Unfortunately, he couldn't simply avoid being associated with this fellow villager.

He could only honestly reply, "Yes, Your Majesty, both I and Hong Chengchou are from Nan'an County, Quanzhou Prefecture. However, Hong Chengchou is from Yingdu, while I am from Shijing. We are dozens of miles apart, one in the south and one in the north. I do not know him and have no connection with him whatsoever."

I'm not saying you have any relationship with him.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then solemnly said, "Have Zheng Zhibao send a trusted confidant to secretly keep an eye on Hong Chengchou's family. The whereabouts of Hong Chengchou and his family must be firmly controlled. If they try to run away, then follow them secretly."

This means the entire family will be executed; not a single one will escape!
Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhilong nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue then asked, "Zhongxian, is it acceptable to confiscate Li Chaoqin's property?"

Of course, how could I not confidant my trusted men confiscating property?

Wei Zhongxian nodded repeatedly and said, "Chao Qin is also very good at confiscating property."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Alright, let him lead his Jinyiwei to raid Hong Chengchou's house. That guy probably has a lot of money."

okay.

The thought of raiding homes and making money is exhilarating.

Wei Zhongxian nodded with some excitement and said, "This servant understands."

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully for a moment, then decisively said, "Zhenghua, send someone to convey my oral decree to summon Pan Guozhong and Pan Yunteng to come to pay their respects."

So you mean there are some things that only you can say yourself, and you can't let others know, right?

Fang Zhenghua repeatedly cupped his hands and said, "This servant understands."

He didn't need to worry too much about dealing with the princes and royal family. Once Hong Chengchou left, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong would definitely take action, and if all else failed, there was always Pan Yunteng. However, he needed to carefully consider this high-end villa complex, because no one had ever done anything like it before.

The primary consideration when building a house is, of course, that it can be sold, and the faster it is sold, the better. If it is left unsold and no one buys it, then all the work will have been for nothing.

Therefore, the price is very important. He must first determine that wealthy people can generally afford the price and dare to pay it.

After all, many people in the capital don't have money from legitimate sources, and even if their sources aren't too problematic, they might still have other concerns.

Zhu Jue glanced around at everyone and then asked, "Cheng'en, if you wanted to buy houses for your two younger brothers in the capital so they could settle down and start families, how much would you roughly spend on a house?"

Why is Your Majesty suddenly asking me this?
How do you say this?

Wang Chengen thought about it carefully, and then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, if this servant wants to buy houses for my two younger brothers in the capital so that they can start their own families, then I will naturally do my best."

"I have received many gifts from His Majesty over the past two years, and with my own savings, I have over 20,000 taels of silver. If I were to consider treating my two younger brothers equally, I would choose to buy each of them a house worth around 10,000 taels of silver."

Hmm, you're really something. You've held power for over two years, and even with the eight thousand taels I've given you each year for the past two years, you only have a little over twenty thousand taels in savings.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "Zhongxian, what about you? You have so many nephews and grandnephews, and those who haven't been granted titles or ranks probably don't have much money, right? If they grow up and start their own families, how much do you plan to buy them for their houses?"

I have to be honest about this.

Wei Zhongxian thought carefully for a moment before cautiously saying, “Your Majesty, although I have a lot of money, I dare not be too conspicuous. My nephews and grandnephews who have not been granted titles and ranks are not worthy of living in a very nice courtyard. The price that Cheng En just mentioned is quite reasonable. I think it would be good enough to buy them a courtyard with a value of around ten thousand taels of silver so that they can settle down and start a family.”

Well, it seems that things are similar to the previous life. The truly wealthy don't dare to flaunt their wealth too much. Villas aren't necessarily better the more expensive they are; around 10,000 taels is probably the most suitable.

If it were to be built something worth tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands or millions of taels, even someone as rich and powerful as Wei Zhongxian might not dare to buy it.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Shi Gao, what do you think of a price of around ten thousand taels? Would those big merchants who have made a fortune dare to buy it?"

These days, having around 10,000 taels of silver isn't considered particularly wealthy. There are plenty of big merchants with hundreds of thousands of taels in assets, and some even have millions or tens of millions of taels.

The legendary three powerful clans of Puzhou and the Shanxi merchants from Shanxi were all worth millions of taels of silver.

Bi Maoliang thought about it carefully before slowly nodding and saying, "Your Majesty, I think there are still many merchants who would dare to buy it for around ten thousand taels of silver. Anyone with a little bit of background would dare to buy it."

That'll do.

Zhu Jue pondered, “This area is roughly four miles in circumference. Excluding Fazang Temple, Fahua Temple, and these ponds and lakes, there are about four thousand acres left.”

We used most of the flat land to build ordinary houses and shops, one thousand of each, which is two thousand acres. The remaining two thousand acres were used to build villas along the mountainside.

Don't build this villa too big. About ten acres is enough. The key is that it must be fully functional. It must have all the buildings that a wealthy family should have. Don't be stingy with money. Use the best materials possible.

Anyway, this land didn't cost any money, so don't be stingy with labor. Try to hire as many people as possible, and start clearing it when the snow melts. Try to get this area built before spring planting.

Shi Gao, you must remember that our main purpose in making money is to develop the Ming Dynasty and make the common people rich. This is what we call a prosperous and peaceful world.

If only a very small number of people are rich, while the vast majority of ordinary people are still dirt poor, then it is a false prosperity, and such a system will inevitably run into problems sooner or later.

Therefore, we should try our best to let ordinary people earn wages, no matter how much they earn. When people have money, commerce can flourish, business can be easier, and money can be more active.

Only in this way can the Ming Dynasty continue to develop. If money is tightly controlled by a very small number of people, there will be no development, only regression.

Uh, this seems a bit too advanced.

Bi Maoliang pondered for a while before slowly nodding and saying, "Your Majesty, I understand. In fact, we can now conscript able-bodied farmers to clear the area."

It's a bit cold here in this freezing weather, but poverty is worse than the cold. If we could offer two taels of silver a month for wages, I reckon most of the able-bodied young men from impoverished farming families would come and work.”

Okay, you understood.

Zhu Jue nodded without hesitation and said, "Alright, I'll leave all of this to you. Just do what you think is best."

(End of this chapter)