Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

Chapter 102: Skinning, Stuffing, Dismemberment, and Immediate Execution! (Part 2)

Wang Zhi had a plan in mind, knowing what to do.

He returned to Fengtian Gate Square and waved to the Embroidered Uniform Guard of the West Depot.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard immediately seized Zhang Hai and Wang Yuan, who were kneeling on the ground, and escorted them to the execution grounds at Caishikou!

Along the way, Zhang Hai and Wang Yuan cried and screamed themselves hoarse, wishing they were dead.

But no one cared about their lives or deaths anymore.

After the wailing pair were escorted out of Fengtian Gate Square,

the civil and military officials in the court, who were shocked, terrified, and numb, gradually came back to their senses.

Their first reaction was that the sky had fallen!

If Zhu You樘 really wanted to govern strictly according to the "Imperial Edicts", then the most important thing for these officials to do was to immediately submit their resignations.

However, Zhu You樘 had already blocked this escape route of resignation early on.

All resigning officials had to accept investigations by the Embroidered Uniform Guard to find out the source of every penny of their assets.

Which official in the court dared to let the Embroidered Uniform Guard investigate their property?

But if they didn't resign, under the constraints of the "Imperial Edicts", being an official was really suffocating and frustrating!

Every decree in the "Imperial Edicts" was forcing them to be good officials, honest officials!

This was simply turning things upside down and bullying officials too much!

But from now on, if they weren't careful, the lives of their entire families might be in danger.

Was it going to be like the Hongwu era again, where officials wrote their wills before going to court, and every household prepared a coffin in advance?

The civil and military officials felt miserable. Suddenly, they saw the four Grand Secretaries, Xu Pu, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, at the front of the line, and the anger in their hearts swelled uncontrollably.

It was all the fault of these four Grand Secretaries of the cabinet!

Why did you have to revise the constitution?

Now it's good, the revision directly returned to the Hongwu Dynasty!

All the great efforts made by the Four Gentlemen of Jianwen were wiped out by these treacherous, sycophantic, and villainous ministers of the cabinet!

The officials of the court flocked to Xu Pu and the others. In their anger, they had long forgotten about the distinction between superiors and inferiors, and regardless of the fact that they were still in the court, they sternly questioned Xu Pu and Liu Jian and others.

"Grand Secretary Xu! What do you mean by this?! Do you have to force us officials to death before you are willing to give up?!"

"We are officials in the same court. If we don't say we should understand each other, we shouldn't be showing our butcher knives to our colleagues so quickly, right?!"

"Yes, Grand Secretary Xu, you are from Southern Zhili, and your family doesn't lack silver. You can be an honest official, a good official! But have you ever thought about us officials from the inland?!"

"The efforts of the Four Gentlemen of Jianwen for many years have been wiped out by a single sentence from you, Grand Secretary Xu. You, Grand Secretary Xu, really have great power!"

"Xu Pu! You are acting against the trend and restoring the 'Imperial Edicts'. You will not die a good death!"

"..."

The officials of the court were extremely angry. They didn't dare to scold Zhu You樘, so they could only vent all the anger in their hearts on Xu Pu.

They recklessly uttered all kinds of nasty words.

Xu Pu himself was still dazed.

When he heard Peng Shao utter the four words "Imperial Edicts", he felt terrible.

He had painstakingly tried to make the "Great Ming Law" more lenient.

As a result, Zhu You樘 lightly said a sentence, restarting the "Imperial Edicts", and turned all his efforts over the past few days into bubbles.

Now, the punishment for officials was not only not reduced, but also increased several times.

This result was completely contrary to his purpose.

Xu Pu was still immersed in the disappointment of his failed plan and unable to extricate himself. The scolding of the officials in the court was like a head-on blow, waking him up.

Hearing the officials scolding him, Xu Pu's face turned green with anger.

Xu Pu was trembling with anger. He racked his brains and persuaded Zhu You樘 to agree to revise the constitution with the determination to die. Wasn't it for the benefit of all the officials in the world?

As a result, Zhu You樘's casual remark made Xu Pu the target of public criticism.

Not only did these officials in the court not thank Xu Pu, but they also cursed him.

This made Xu Pu feel very wronged, and this grievance turned into anger after a sentence from a certain official.

"Before you speak, you have to think carefully about whether you can say these words!"

"What this official does has nothing to do with whether this official is from Southern Zhili!"

"Don't slander this official!"

A disdainful sneer came from the circle of officials surrounding Xu Pu: "Forget it, Grand Secretary Xu. Which official in the world doesn't know that the Jiangnan gentry are making a lot of money from sea transportation..."

"Who! Who is slandering this official!"

"You stand up and say it in front of this official!"

Xu Pu roared angrily. This matter made him extremely angry, and he would never forgive anyone who talked about the sea ban!

"Words cannot be spoken carelessly! You have to be responsible for whatever you say!"

"The sea ban was a national policy personally set by Emperor Gao of the Great Ancestor back then. For more than a hundred years, no one has dared to disobey the imperial decree!"

"Who is slandering the Jiangnan gentry? You stand up, and this official must argue with you clearly!"

"..."

Xu Pu seemed to have been stepped on a sore spot, clamoring for someone to stand up and argue with him.

And this sentence was like water falling into a hot oil pan. The officials who were originally targeting Xu Pu were instantly divided into two factions.

Officials whose ancestral homes were in the Jiangnan region turned their guns and cursed the person who spoke just now.

"We Jiangnan people have always abided by the national policy of sea ban for many years. Not a single sail can go to sea. How did it become that we eat sea transportation in your mouths?"

"Where is there any sea transportation?! Where is there any sea transportation?!"

"Those are all bulk goods transported from the Liangguang area by water!"

"The records on the Maritime Trade Bureau are clear and clear. Why are you slandering us out of thin air?!"

Xie Qian, the Grand Secretary who was usually relatively low-key, was flushed with anger and roared angrily.

He was from Yuyao, Zhejiang, and like Xu Pu, he was also from Jiangnan.

In addition to Xie Qian, there were hundreds of other officials who jumped and roared, and the court was immediately so frightened that there were no other voices of opposition.

Xu Pu cleverly seized on a careless slip of the tongue from an official and successfully turned the cannon fire aimed at him to the sea ban dispute in the Jiangnan region.

The Jiangnan economy is developed, the educational resources are abundant, and the Jinshi on the Southern List have always been occupied by the Jiangnan people by 70% to 80%.

If the Ming Dynasty had not divided the examination into the Southern List, the Northern List, and the Central List, I am afraid that the scholars in the North and Southwest would not have had the opportunity to enter the officialdom at all.

The entire officialdom of the Ming Dynasty would have been monopolized by the Jiangnan scholars.

It is worth mentioning that Zhu Yunwen also listened to the words of Fang Xiaoru and others after he ascended the throne and abolished the North-South List system created by Zhu Yuanzhang.

At the same time, he also closed the official schools in the north, which once made the scholars in the north basically lose their channels to become officials.

And Yu Qian, the Shao Bao from Jiangnan, also abolished the North-South List system after he came to power.

It was not until Emperor Yingzong restored the throne that the North-South recruitment system was restored.

Because of the great explosion of southern Jinshi during the Jingtai Dynasty, even though thirty-one years have passed since the Jingtai Dynasty.

The southerners in the Ming Dynasty court are still overwhelmingly more numerous than the northerners and southwesterners.

Among the southerners, the Jiangnan people are the most numerous.

In the entire Ming Dynasty court, the officials from the three places of Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, and Ganzhou alone accounted for 40% of all officials.

And during the Jingtai period, this data was even more terrifying.

In the imperial examination in the second year of Jingtai, a total of 201 Jinshi were admitted, and Ganzhou alone occupied 42 seats, accounting for more than 20%.

And the number of people admitted in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang will only be more.

So when the Jiangnan officials in the court got angry, the entire court was silent, and no one dared to say anything about the Jiangnan sea ban.

At this moment, a small eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial brought a tray covered with red cloth and came to Xu Pu.

"Grand Secretary Xu, this is His Majesty's special decree to reward you."

Xu Pu was puzzled, but he didn't dare to be careless in his actions. He quickly saluted Fengtian Gate: "This humble minister Xu Pu, thanks His Majesty for his holy grace."

After saluting, Xu Pu dared to lift the red cloth on the tray, and what he found below was fifty strings of Hongzhi Baochao.

Xu Pu looked at these fifty strings of Baochao, and his mind was buzzing.

The little eunuch also urged with a smile: "Grand Secretary Xu, please accept these fifty strings of Baochao quickly, so that I can go back and report."

Xu Pu tremblingly stretched out his hand and accepted the fifty strings of Baochao.

As long as he accepted these fifty strings of Baochao that Zhu You樘 rewarded him, then this pot would really be like yellow mud falling into his pocket. If it wasn't shit, it was still shit.

Looking back, the originally tense north-south officials once again unified their battle lines and opened fire on Xu Pu.

"Grand Secretary Xu, just for these fifty strings of Baochao, you have really been working hard for His Majesty and doing your best!"

"Grand Secretary Xu is indeed deeply trusted by His Majesty. I am afraid that you are the only one who has been rewarded with Baochao by His Majesty?!"

"Grand Secretary Xu, it seems that you are the only loyal minister, good minister, and virtuous minister in the Great Ming court!!!"

"..."

Xu Pu held the Baochao bestowed by Zhu You樘 in his hand, looking at the excited civil and military officials, at a loss and unable to defend himself.

...

On the other side, Zhang Hai and Wang Yuan were also dragged to the execution ground at Caishikou.

Unlike Wang Yuan, Zhang Hai, as the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, was still somewhat well-known in the capital.

Moreover, the yamen of Shuntian Prefecture was located in the capital, so there were countless people in the capital who knew Zhang Hai.

Along the way, countless people followed along the street, spontaneously applauding.

"Governor Zhang, greedy and insatiable, the governor is here and cannot eat enough!"

"Kill corrupt officials, eliminate in-laws, and the people are good during the Hongzhi period!"

I don't know who started it, but this limerick began to spread throughout the streets and alleys.

Zhang Hai and Wang Yuan were pushed to the execution ground at Caishikou by the Embroidered Uniform Guard of the West Depot, shackled and in a mess.

The people along the way cheered, mocked, and some even spat at them and threw away the waste at hand.

The two felt a pang of regret in their hearts, regretting that they had not been able to be good officials.

But regret was useless, and the Caishikou execution ground was already close at hand.

I can't hold on anymore, I will post the second chapter in the afternoon. From now on, the update time will be changed to 10:30 am and 4:30 pm. At the same time, I ask for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets, and I ask for full subscriptions! If you don't read the previous foreshadowing, the爽感 will be much worse, and the plot and emotions will not be so coherent. Dear readers, if you are爽 while reading, please vote more to support me!