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

The words of the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing were by no means alarmist.

After more than a year of cleansing actions, all the gentry in the world knew how cruel Zhu You樘's methods were.

The number of officials, nobles, landlords, and gentry that Zhu You樘 killed reached an astonishing figure.

Mentioning Zhu You樘's name would cause these landlords and gentry to tremble involuntarily.

Half of it was out of fear, and the other half was out of hatred.

Thinking of the possible reckoning that Zhu You樘 might bring upon them, the patriarchs of these four major families trembled all over and stared blankly.

The Right Vice Minister, seeing that the patriarchs of the four major families were all shocked, slowly continued.

"You can all rest assured. When the time comes, it won't just be your four major families who will revolt. The entire gentry of Jiangnan will respond to the call and rise up to resist the tyranny."

"When the entire Jiangnan is in chaos, will His Majesty still care about your small Xuzhou Prefecture?"

"Besides, don't you understand the principle that the law does not punish the multitude?"

The Right Vice Minister's words struck a chord in the hearts of the patriarchs of the four major families.

Upon hearing that a large number of people would participate, and that the entire Jiangnan gentry would rise up in revolt, their originally tense hearts relaxed by half.

As long as there were enough people on their side, they seemed to have the courage to do anything.

On one side was sitting and waiting for Zhu You樘 to settle accounts, not only would the ancestral property of several generations be destroyed, but there was even the possibility of family ruin.

On the other side was responding to the call and jointly opposing Zhu You樘's tyranny.

If successful, needless to say, if they failed, they might be able to escape punishment under the principle that the law does not punish the multitude…

Thinking of this, the patriarchs of the four major families finally relented.

"If that's the case, then we will follow your instructions, sir."

The four bowed and saluted to the Right Vice Minister, who accepted it calmly.

"It's good that you can make the right choice. As for how to start a revolt, I don't need to teach you, right?"

"No need! No need!"

The patriarchs of the four major families waved their hands: "We are familiar with this. We will definitely arrange it properly."

"When the time comes, not only Fengxian County, but the entire Xuzhou will be in chaos!"

With the guarantee of the four major families, the Right Vice Minister was completely relieved.

The Right Vice Minister had no doubt about the influence of these gentry in the countryside. As long as these four major landlords spoke out, this matter would be settled!

Since ancient times, imperial power has not extended to the countryside, which has led to the extremely high status and influence of the gentry in the villages.

The fundamental reason why the gentry has such great influence lies in the land distribution in rural areas and familism.

In the countryside, there are roughly three classes. First, the large landlord class, then the small landlord class and rich peasants, and finally the poor peasants.

The poor peasants have the largest number and the smallest amount of land, and are the objects of oppression.

The rich peasants do not own much land, but they have close ties with the small landlord class. Fundamentally, they are biased towards the landlord class and stand on the opposite side of the vast number of poor peasants.

These middle classes, relying on familism and land capital, threaten and intimidate the poor peasants, and control the voice of the lower-level people.

And the middle classes are at the mercy of the large landlord class.

In this way, level upon level of oppression allows the Sun, Wang, Zhou, and Li families to act recklessly in Xuzhou, like local emperors!

To break this class barrier in the countryside, there is no other way except to completely eliminate the large and middle landlord classes, confiscate all the property of the middle classes, and return them to the poor peasant class.

……

Similar dialogues also took place in various prefectures and counties in Jiangnan.

The local gentry and landlords with influence, like the four major families in Xuzhou Prefecture, almost all agreed to Zhang Peng's request.

They guaranteed that they would respond to the call and cooperate with Zhang Peng and others' actions.

At the same time, another force in Jiangnan took the initiative to seek help from Zhang Peng and others.

This force is the Jiangnan smuggling group, which is deeply involved in smuggling.

This group has a complex composition and cannot be divided by a single component.

These people include local officials, aristocratic families, wealthy merchants, landlords, and gentry.

This group of people is the most afraid now, because Zhu Que, the Deputy Commander of the Jinyiwei, is arresting those smuggling tycoons in Jiangnan who were exposed by Yu Yunzhong.

And no one knows who Yu Yunzhong, the traitor, has exposed. Everyone is afraid and just wants to quickly set sail and escape from the Ming Dynasty.

But they are afraid of alarming the enemy and suffering the same fate as Yu Yunzhong, being captured by the Jinyiwei on the ship.

Therefore, they took the initiative to seek help from Zhang Peng.

And Zhang Peng did not forget to win over these people, inviting them to conspire together.

The reason is simple, just because this group of people holds unimaginable wealth.

If things really get to the point of no return, then it will be indispensable to recruit soldiers and buy horses, and reward the army generously.

These all require a huge amount of silver.

Now Zhang Peng and the others have soldiers, people, and food.

Plus these smuggling groups, plugging the last gap of silver, Zhang Peng and the others have gathered all the factors for doing great things.

When Zhang Peng extended an olive branch to these people in the smuggling groups, these people agreed more readily than those landlords and gentry.

One reason is that those who engage in smuggling are inherently bold and are doing things that can cost them their heads.

The second reason is that they have indeed been forced to a dead end by Zhu You樘.

Illegal annexation of land, private concealment of land, these crimes may still have a way out.

Violating the sea ban and smuggling goods, this crime, at best, is beheading and public display, and at worst, confiscation of property and extermination of the family!

Without any hesitation, all kinds of merchants, clans, and nobles in these smuggling groups joined Zhang Peng's plan.

During this period, Zhang Peng and others united local officials, local military institutions, landlords, gentry, nobles, and other almost all local forces in one go.

They received an unprecedented response, and all parties expressed their strong support for Zhang Peng.

This is not because Zhang Peng is popular or has great appeal.

This is entirely because Zhu You樘 has offended all the upper classes in Jiangnan in the past year!

The contradiction between Zhu You樘 and the local forces in Jiangnan has reached an irreconcilable and irreversible point.

Except for hot war, there is no second way to resolve this conflict.

Of course, the factory guards lurking all over the country also detected some rumors about Zhang Peng's large-scale conspiracy.

The factory guards did not dare to neglect and quickly reported the abnormalities in the Jiangnan area during this period.

Due to the importance of the matter, Wang Zhi, the Director of the West Factory, Liu Jin, the Director of the East Factory, and Mu Bin, the Commander of the Jinyiwei, rushed to the Hall of Mental Cultivation at the first time after receiving the news.

They were going to report this matter to Zhu You樘 as it was.

……

Forbidden City.

Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Zhu You樘's dragon desk was filled with official documents.

At that moment, what Zhu You樘 was reviewing were two memorials concerning the war in Annam.

One was a document from Mu Cong, Duke of Qian and General Officer Commanding of Dianzhou, requesting to participate in the war to incorporate Annam as a prefecture and county.

Mu Cong had proactively volunteered, requesting to participate in this war to annex Annam.

The other was a battle report from Wang Yue, detailing the battles the Ming army had experienced within Annam.

Of course, it also included the news of Mu Cong entering Annam without authorization and joining forces with Wang Yue.

Currently, Wang Yue's offensive in Annam was generally smooth, and the logistics supply was not a problem.

Although the common people of Annam had strong anti-Ming sentiments, the Annamese court officials, noble gentry, wealthy merchants, and landlords were very pragmatic and mostly willing to surrender.

Most importantly, the Annamese soldiers' combat capabilities were extremely low, not even a match for a single blow from the Ming army.

According to Wang Yue, recovering Annam was only a matter of time.

"Preposterous! How can a general officer commanding of a prefecture leave his post without authorization and bring troops into the country privately?!"

The Mu family, Dukes of Qian, had guarded Dianzhou for generations, and Zhu You樘 had no doubt about their loyalty.

However, this kind of behavior of disobeying orders and acting without authorization was a major taboo in military affairs, and Zhu You樘 was very dissatisfied.

Just then, Xiao Jing suddenly reported, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Wang Zhi, the director of the West Depot, Liu Jin, the director of the East Depot, and Mu Bin, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, are all outside the hall, requesting an audience with Your Majesty."

It was rare for the leaders of the three major secret agencies to request an audience at the same time.

Zhu You樘 put down the memorials in his hand and took a sip of ginseng tea: "Let them in."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Xiao Jing withdrew from the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and after announcing the message outside, the leaders of the three major secret agencies entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation at the same time.

"Your臣, Your职, This old servant greets Your Majesty!"

After the three men bowed to Zhu You樘 in turn, Wang Zhi spoke first: "Reporting to Your Majesty, there is unusual activity in the Jiangnan area. A large number of Nanjing officials are privately contacting local wealthy gentry and landlords."

"Your Majesty, do you think it is necessary for the secret agencies to step in and stop them?"

In feudal dynasties, the imperial court was very wary of large-scale private gatherings among the people.

Because you couldn't guarantee that someone among these people wouldn't come up with a brilliant idea, which would lead to another disaster.

Large-scale private gatherings among the people were already a very serious matter, let alone the collusion between officials and landlords, two classes with vested interests.

During the Qing Dynasty, because the Aisin Gioro clan's acquisition of power was illegitimate and their virtue did not match their position, the control over private gatherings among the people reached its peak.

Emperor Kangxi, fearing that the Han people would unite and overthrow the Qing Dynasty, prohibited private gatherings of more than twenty Han people.

Once discovered, the organizer would be beheaded and displayed to the public, and the other participants would be exiled or forced into labor, and so on.

Wang Zhi's suggestion to Zhu You樘 to intervene and control the situation at this time was reasonable and not an overreaction.

Zhu You樘 frowned slightly and muttered in a low voice: "Nanjing officials, colluding with major landlords in private..."

Zhu You樘 revealed a sneer: "It seems that the actions of Wang Yan and Yang Jizong have deeply stimulated these landlords in Jiangnan, and they are going to take desperate measures."

Mu Bin, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, cupped his fist and said: "Your Majesty, it's not just Xuzhou Prefecture, which Wang Yan and Yang Jizong are investigating. Our Embroidered Uniform Guard has also discovered similar situations in Yangzhou Prefecture in Southern Zhili, Hangzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang, and Jiujiang Prefecture in Ganzhou."

"I am afraid that all the landlords and gentry in Jiangnan have been secretly contacted by the Nanjing officials."

"These landlords have a huge influence in the countryside. If they are maliciously incited, there may be great chaos in Jiangnan, which must be prevented!"

Zhu You樘's heart sank, and he nodded slightly: "I know."

The Jiangnan issue had always been a major concern for him.

Logically speaking, the Jiangnan problem should be dealt with gradually, slowly eroding it.

But now, the local forces in Jiangnan had taken the initiative, and Wang Zhi was right, Zhu You樘 had to guard against it.

Zhu You樘 pondered for a moment, and then ordered: "Order the nine border towns to immediately carry out war mobilization. Each town selects 10,000 elite soldiers and is ready to go south at any time!"

"Transfer 300,000 shi of grain from the northern prefectures and transport them all to the capital. The canal transport soldiers are on standby at any time to transport the grain!"

"The regional military commissions of Luzhou, Yuzhou, and Ezhou will immediately lead the garrison troops and deploy troops on the border to cut off land transportation into Jiangnan!"

"All maritime trade offices are also prohibited from entering Jiangnan by sea!"

Zhu You樘's order was undoubtedly a war mobilization.

But the deployment he made was still mainly defensive and vigilant, not a large-scale proactive attack.

If the Jiangnan rebellion could be resolved without resorting to arms, it would be best not to.

If it had to be done, the impact should be minimized as much as possible.

As soon as Zhu You樘 finished speaking, Wang Zhi and the other two immediately cupped their fists and accepted the order.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Thinking of the possible war, they also felt a little excited in their hearts, and their emotions were difficult to calm.

But this was not the end. Zhu You樘 then ordered: "Where is Jia Jun? Summon Jia Jun to me!"

Xiao Jing, who was waiting outside the door, heard the order from the Hall of Mental Cultivation and immediately obeyed: "Your Majesty, this old servant will summon Lord Jia immediately."

Xiao Jing immediately ordered a minor eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial to go to the Ministry of Works to invite Jia Jun, the Minister of Works.

After Jia Jun received Zhu You樘's summons, he rushed to the Hall of Mental Cultivation without stopping.

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, after Jia Jun finished paying his respects, Zhu You樘 asked: "Jia Jun, how many flintlock guns has the Ministry of Works manufactured now?"

Jia Jun cupped his fist and replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works has manufactured 5,000 flintlock guns, 2,000 short guns, and 100,000 rounds of gunpowder bullets."

Zhu You樘 was relatively satisfied with the efficiency of the Ministry of Works: "Not bad, your Ministry of Works' speed is so fast."

Jia Jun said humbly: "This is still thanks to Your Majesty's factory concept. After the Ministry of Works successfully built the factory's so-called... flow... assembly line, the production speed increased by a large margin, which greatly accelerated the efficiency of our Ministry of Works in manufacturing firearms."

Zhu You樘 nodded and continued to order: "Your Ministry of Works will immediately distribute these firearms to the Divine Engine Battalion and the Vanguard Battalion without delay!"

Jia Jun cupped his fist and accepted the order: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Finally." Zhu You樘 looked at the two memorials from Annam on his desk, and then issued an order.

"Appoint Mu Cong as the Left Deputy General of the Pacification Expedition, assisting Wang Yue in governing Annam as a prefecture and county."

"Let Wang Yue resolve the matter quickly. Those who sincerely surrender to the Ming can be given a chance to live, and those who resist stubbornly will be killed without exception!"

"If they are really stubborn, just turn Annam into a wasteland. I want the land, not the people!"

Zhu You樘's murderous words made everyone present feel a chill.

Xiao Jing did not dare to say much, only bowed his head and accepted the order: "Yes, Your Majesty!"