Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Even if the person above farts, the people below will try to figure out the angle, volume, and smell of the fart...

Gong Xiu, the hero of Conglong whose whole family surrendered to the army, can be sentenced however Ju Ming says, but there is no need to convict his sons.

So the emperor's intention is to make the sentence more lenient, but it must be within the legal limits.

So, someone secretly helped Gong Xiu make up his mind.

First let him hand over the gifts he received and the land given by others, actively return the stolen goods and strive for leniency.

Then he was asked to perform meritorious service and confess everything he knew.

After a series of operations, he was finally sentenced to exile, his property in Jiangxi was confiscated, and the Gong family's mines in Yang County were confiscated, and he was deprived of the earl title he had received last year.

Although he was exiled to Hehuang, his second son was serving as a garrison general there, so he was actually sent to his son for retirement.

When investigating his sons, the result must be that they are honest, loyal and courageous.

Afterwards, Ju Ming also gave Gong Xiu's eldest son and second son a promotion in military rank as compensation.

No way, this bastard is too special.

At that time, Ju Ming was raising troops in Jinzhou and could not take care of Yangzhou for the time being. Zhu Guoxiang raised an army in Yangzhou and had only more than 2,000 people under his command. Gong Xiu directly joined several hundred people with him.

This is already considered a shareholder. If the punishment is too ruthless, many veterans will complain.

For generals in the army, one should neither be too indulgent nor too ruthless, and must maintain a certain balance.

But those civil servants are not treated so well.

Because the stallholders in Jiangxi were brought into their own homes, they made a mess!

According to the confession of Jiangxi Governor Xie Dan, he did not engage in corruption for the sake of corruption.

The main reason is that the gentry clans in Jiangxi are too stubborn, and many wealthy families have people serving as officials. They didn't know how to resist, but secretly resisted. It was impossible to implement the idea of ​​renting the land from the tenants, and even the clearing of the land was a failure.

But the imperial court also issued a death order, and officials at all levels had to deliver orders.

So the grassroots officials fooled the county officials, the county officials fooled the state capital, the state capital fooled the province, and the province fooled the court.

Across Jiangxi Province, only a handful of local officials have completed their tasks, most of them have fooled themselves, and some officials have even taken advantage of the opportunity to commit corruption and accept bribes.

The Chief Secretary and the Inspector General were at a loss as to what to do. If they pushed forward the process, the prefecture and county officials would have no choice but to mess around. If they don't push forward the progress, prefecture and county officials will keep delaying it.

Gradually, everyone began to mess up and reported to the court that the reform was successfully completed.

In fact, Zhai Ruwen's in-law Xie Dan, as the political envoy to the left of Jiangxi Province, did not embezzle too much money and was relatively an upright official. But he helped local officials fool the court. If civil unrest broke out, he would have to cover it up, otherwise the actual situation in Jiangxi would be exposed.

…

Imperial meeting.

"The case in Jiangxi is still being tried." Ju Ming took out a secret notice he had just received. "This is from the new Jiangxi Governor Li Bing. He said that the gentry in Jiangxi are too stubborn and are intertwined with each other. This major case should break up the large clans. Without splitting up the clans and moving them, it would be difficult to implement even the clearing of land and land in Jiangxi. "

As Prime Minister, Liu Yao was the first to receive the secret memorial and read it.

As he watched, Liu Yao admired Li Bing endlessly. Because Li Bing also suggested that the Zhang family should be split up first.

The natal family of the current empress is Zhang Gen, the Zhang family of Zhang Gen, the retired prime minister and Duke of Gan!

Zhao Quan was the second to read the secret memorial. After reading it, he remained silent and handed the secret memorial to Zhang Shuye next to him.

They passed it on one by one and didn’t say anything after reading it.

There are too many officials from Jiangxi, who not only marry each other, but also marry with wealthy families from other provinces. Once the province breaks up the big families, it will not only involve the queen's natal family, but also countless officials.

Ju Ming smiled and asked: "What is the Prime Minister's opinion?"

Hearing this, Liu Yao almost cried and regretted being such a bad prime minister.

Unless Liu Yao strongly objects to this, regardless of whether he agrees or not, as long as this decree is issued, he will be sprayed to death by countless officials.

Because it is impossible for everyone to scold the emperor, then they can only scold him as the prime minister!

Of course, Li Bing, who initiated this matter, will definitely have a bad reputation.

Liu Yan replied: "This is indeed the best time to deal with the situation in Jiangxi, but we should still act cautiously."

It seemed that something had been said, but it seemed as if nothing had been said.

Absolutely correct nonsense.

Zhu Ming glanced at Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, Meng Zhao, Bai Chongyan and others. As a result, these old friends did not dare to speak randomly at this moment.

If the Queen's natal family was not involved, they could still voice their support.

But now the queen's family is also involved, and what should we do if we offend the queen and the prince?

In the silence, Chen Dong stood up suddenly: "I support the splitting up and relocation of the big families in Jiangxi!"

Ju Ming smiled and praised: "Excellent."

Liu Yao hesitated to speak, struggling repeatedly in his heart, and finally sighed and said: "I also support it."

"I second the proposal." Other important ministers also supported it.

In addition to the cabinet members, there were also top leaders from the Tongzheng Yuan, the Supervisory Yuan and the Six Ministries who came to attend the imperial meeting.

After Zhang Gen and Xiao Chu retired one after another, no officials from Jiangxi could participate in the imperial meeting.

On the contrary, there are a total of four ministers from the six provinces, as well as ministers from various temples, who are from Jiangxi.

As long as they are not afraid of offending the queen, everyone here has no psychological burden on Jiangxi's surgery!

Zhu Ming asked again: "Li Bing is a man who dares to take on responsibilities. He submitted two secret memorials, one exposing the civil uprising and the other advocating the dismantling of the clan. I am very relieved that he will be the left governor of Jiangxi. But he is too inexperienced and may not be able to control the situation. Who of you is willing to go to Jiangxi to take charge?"

"I am willing to go to Jiangxi to supervise this matter." Wei Liangchen, the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Inspectorate, stood up.

In the last major national corruption case, Wei Liangchen was almost implicated by his own brother, and he has been more diligent and cautious since then. Even Qin Hui, his classmate and friend, Wei Liangchen deliberately kept his distance.

Since he has decided to be a lone minister, this trip to Jiangxi is an opportunity to make merit.

"Good!"

Zhu Ming praised Wei Liangchen very much and said: "Confer Wei Qing the title of Prince's Junior Tutor, and immediately go to Jiangxi to serve as the Governor of Qingtian."

"I will not fail in your mission." Wei Liangchen bowed upright.

He was the Right Censor-in-Chief, and now he has been conferred the title of Prince's Junior Tutor, and has obtained the qualifications to enter the cabinet. Even if he just muddles around in the future, as long as he doesn't make any mistakes, he can get into the cabinet within ten years.

When he gets into the cabinet, Wei Liangchen may not even be fifty years old!

Qin Hui was extremely envious, but he didn't dare to take this job.

Because it would offend people, he would definitely become the target of public criticism.

Wei Liangchen dared to stand up because he was upright and was not afraid of any official's criticism.

If Qin Hui were to do it, he might be impeached one day.

Zhu Ming advised: "Hunan is vast and sparsely populated, and it is close to Jiangxi. The big families in Jiangxi should keep some of their land in their hometowns and move some of their land to Hunan. The vacated land in Jiangxi should be sold at a low price to local tenants with no land or little land. Don't divide the land directly. Let the tenants pay an extra land tax every year to offset the debt, and it is best to pay it off in five to eight years." Wei Liangchen asked: "How to deal with the debts of the landlords who moved out and the tenants who redeemed the land?" "All accumulated debts over three years will be invalidated. All debts exceeding the legal interest rate will be invalidated." Zhu Ming said. How can landlords not lend money at high interest rates? Even if the Ming Dynasty court was strict, landlords could circumvent the law when lending money at high interest rates, and it was nothing more than the same old rule of nine out and thirteen back. Now that the court has sent a governor to support them, the tenants will definitely collectively accuse the landlords of lending money at high interest rates in order to get rid of the shackles. All debts can be invalidated! Zhu Ming added: "I will grant you a royal banner, and you can mobilize the garrison troops and the transport troops in Jiangxi at will."

Wei Liangchen was overjoyed: "With the army in hand, if I can't cure Jiangxi, I will bring my head back to see Your Majesty."

...

After the meeting, Zhu Ming left work early and went straight to the courtyard of Queen Zhang Jinping.

"Your Majesty came so early?" Zhang Jinping said in surprise.

Zhu Ming was a little embarrassed to speak, so he said, "I have an important matter that I need your help with."

Zhang Jinping had a feeling that it was a big matter, so he asked hurriedly, "What is it?"

Zhu Ming elaborated on the situation in Jiangxi, and then said, "The gentry in Jiangxi are so intertwined that it is extremely difficult to even survey the land. The Ming Dynasty has not been able to do this for nearly ten years. This time, taking advantage of the civil uprising, we can split up and relocate the clan. As a royal relative, Zhang should set an example. I will write a letter to my father-in-law. You'd better write one, too, to persuade Zhang to split up and move to Hunan."

"The country is greater than the family, so it should be so." Although Zhang Jinping was a little unhappy, she was still willing to listen to her husband.

Twenty days later, before Wei Liangchen arrived in Jiangxi, the private letters from the emperor and the queen had already arrived at the Zhang family.

Zhang Gen, the Duke of Gan, was in poor health and had to stay in bed from time to time in the past two years.

After reading the letter from his daughter and son-in-law, Zhang Gen sighed, "It's hard to disobey the emperor's order."

He invited all the elders of the clan to come, and before he finished speaking, each branch and branch reacted violently.

It's nothing more than thinking that the emperor is cold and ruthless, and as a foreign relative family, they have to suffer losses.

Although according to the number of acres of land in the hometown, moving to Hunan can be compensated in equal amounts, and even more can be occupied as compensation. But can land be the same as land? Jiangxi is all cultivated land, and moving to Hunan will have to reclaim wasteland. Moreover, the land there is vast and sparsely populated, so it must be difficult to recruit tenants, and the Zhang family may have to cultivate the land themselves.

Zhang Gen patiently persuaded him with both coaxing and intimidation: "Other provinces can all pay taxes on land, but Jiangxi has a hard time even measuring the land. Now there is even a civil uprising, and the emperor is already furious..."

"This time, the Right Censor-in-Chief came to Jiangxi to supervise the work, and he brought the royal flag that can mobilize the army. If the governor Wei Liangchen is pushed to the edge, he will really kill people."

"I am very familiar with Wei Liangchen. He was a student of the former Song Dynasty, and planned to knock on the palace to rescue the current emperor. The emperor was exiled to Guizhou, and he took the lead in following him thousands of miles away. He followed the emperor all the way to Guizhou, and then followed the emperor to Jinzhou, and joined the emperor when he occupied Hanzhong."

"Such a person really dares to attack our Zhang family. If he can't make a breakthrough in Jiangxi, I'm afraid the first to suffer will be the Zhang family!"

The elders of the Zhang family looked at each other.

When Wei Liangchen's resume was displayed, they were all scared.

So what if the Zhang family has a duke and a queen? Wei Liangchen is the real confidant of the emperor!

Zhang Gen said, "The court has issued an order that when each tribe splits up and migrates, half of the tribe members can be left behind. We will draw lots to decide which family will move away and which will stay. I will also participate in the drawing of lots. If I win, I will be carried to Hunan."