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

Xu Pu was the first official to enter the capital branch. He glanced around, taking in the entire layout of the capital branch.

A long row of counters resembled a pawnshop, but much shorter.

The counters were separated by wooden fences to prevent excessive contact between the parties.

Dozens of West Factory agents stood in the branch, holding Liang knives, responsible for the branch's security.

In addition, dozens of eunuchs from the Directorate of Palace Affairs and the Precious Note Bureau were busy handling the transfer of silver notes.

“Chief Assistant Xu, this way, please.”

He Yong personally greeted him, and the young eunuchs drove the carriage directly to the branch's warehouse, then moved the silver while counting it.

Soon, the branch secretary gave the specific amount.

“Chief Assistant Xu, you have a total of one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six taels of silver here, and you can go to the front office to withdraw the corresponding amount of Great Ming Precious Notes.”

Xu Pu nodded and went to the front office without saying a word, receiving one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six strings of Great Ming Precious Notes from the eunuch inside.

This Great Ming Precious Note was similar in style to the previous Great Ming Precious Note, but the reign year on it had changed from black “Hongwu” to red “Hongzhi.”

Moreover, each note had a special anti-counterfeiting code.

Xu Pu left with a heavy heart, and Liu Jian entered with a heavy heart.

Following the same procedure as Xu Pu, Liu Jian also exchanged more than six hundred strings of notes.

Officials exchanged notes one after another, and the silver in the branch's vault increased in piles.

The white silver piled up together quickly filled one silver vault, and then immediately used the second silver vault.

Hundreds of officials drove carriages, lined up on the long street outside the capital branch.

Such a scene quickly attracted the curious gazes of a large number of capital residents.

“Huh? Why are these officials all lining up here?”

“I don't know, and they don't seem to be in a good mood.”

“How can they be in a good mood? Let me tell you, did you hear the scary noises outside the city a few days ago?”

“I heard it, it scared me so much that I ran home.”

“Don't you know? That was His Majesty the Emperor ordering the execution of a large number of corrupt officials.”

“Really? That's amazing!”

“Why would I lie to you! Our current Emperor is really courageous! He killed so many corrupt officials as soon as he said so, our lives will definitely get better and better in the future.”

“……”

A group of capital residents gathered together, and after a few words, the topic turned to the execution of corrupt officials by Zhu You樘 a few days ago.

Speaking of Zhu You樘's courage and means to execute corrupt officials, the capital residents all applauded.

The voices of the capital residents were slightly louder, mixed with hearty laughter, which disturbed the officials who were queuing.

Fei Ju, a Secretary of the Ministry of Justice who was already full of fire, heard the laughter of the people at this moment.

In his opinion, this was the people's ridicule of them.

Suddenly, a surge of anger rose in Fei Ju's heart.

Fei Ju turned around and stared fiercely at the group of people.

“What are you laughing at! Do you want to go to the Ministry of Justice!”

The people were frightened and panicked, breaking out in a cold sweat, and repeatedly apologized to Fei Ju.

“Sorry, sir, we didn't mean to disturb you!”

“Sir, please have mercy and spare us, we will never dare to do it again!”

“Sir, I was wrong, I was really wrong, please spare me this time!”

“……”

Although Fei Ju didn't dare to fart in front of Zhu You樘.

But in front of the weak Ming people, he could still show off his power.

He had been feeling aggrieved these past few days, and now listening to the begging of ordinary people, he felt a different kind of comfort in his heart.

Fei Ju enjoyed this begging, he looked at the innocent people, gritted his teeth: “You group of troublemakers…”

“Who are you calling troublemakers?!”

Before Fei Ju could finish his words, he saw a group of people walking out of the capital branch, looking at him with unkind expressions.

These people all wore pointed hats, white leather boots, and straight uniforms.

The leader was even more fair-faced and bald, with a hideous scar on his face.

Just seeing this scar, Fei Ju's legs began to soften.

“Ji… Sir Ji…”

Fei Ju stammered, cupping his hands and saluting the person who came.

Ji Sheng, the third leader of the West Factory, walked up to Fei Ju, stared at him condescendingly, and asked again.

“Who did you just call troublemakers?!”

“I think you want to follow this leader back to the West Factory prison for a while!”

Fei Ju's face turned pale, cold sweat broke out, and the fear in his heart reached its peak.

His stomach contracted, making him want to vomit.

He waved his hands in horror: “No, no, no, Sir Ji!”

“I am a troublemaker! I was saying that I am a troublemaker just now!”

“Please, Sir Ji, have mercy and don't bother with me!”

“It's my fault, I'll slap myself!”

After Fei Ju finished speaking, he publicly slapped himself on the street in front of everyone.

Seeing this scene, all the officials in the queue felt sad in their hearts.

They had a feeling of rabbit dying and fox grieving, and their hearts were filled with sympathy for Fei Ju.

When would their dignified Ming officials be forced to slap themselves just because they insulted a few civilians?

This is all because of the West Factory, all because of Zhu You樘!

Ji Sheng glanced at the officials in the audience with a stern tone.

“Director Wang expected that today's exchange of notes would not be peaceful, so he ordered us to come here to stand guard.”

“As expected, I caught it on the spot. I didn't expect you officials to be so arrogant and domineering in front of the people.”

“What is written in the 《Great Ming Law》 formulated by Emperor Gao, have you all forgotten it?!”

Then, Ji Sheng glared fiercely at Fei Ju: “Today, let's just give you a little lesson.”

“If there is a next time, the West Factory will really have to investigate you, the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice.”

Fei Ju was relieved and nodded repeatedly: “Thank you, sir, I guarantee there will be no next time.”

After dealing with Fei Ju, Ji Sheng assigned a West Factory agent.

“Go, and tell the people what's going on.”

“Yes, Third Leader.”

The West Factory agent came to the people and told everyone about the Ming Emperor's plan to re-implement the new Great Ming Precious Notes.

The necessary publicity for the new Great Ming Precious Notes to be promoted must not be lacking.

This is an excellent opportunity for publicity and promotion.

When the West Factory agent talked about promoting the new Great Ming Precious Notes, everyone present changed their colors.

They also thought that the Ming Dynasty court was going to search for a wave of people's wealth again.

When the West Factory agent said that the emperor did not force the people to use the new Great Ming Precious Notes.

And that the new Great Ming Precious Notes could be exchanged for the equivalent amount of silver at the Great Ming Bank at will, they finally felt relieved.

When the West Factory agent said that the emperor forced the officials of the capital to use the Great Ming Precious Notes.

If anyone reports that a Ming official is using silver, they can be rewarded with ten taels of silver, the eyes of the people lit up.

Looking at the comment area, many readers and bosses feel that it is incomprehensible that the ransacking of the house only exceeds tens of thousands of taels of silver. I have revised Chapter 17 again to explain this part. If you are interested, you can take a look. In short, before the opening of the Longqing Dynasty, there was not much silver in the Ming Dynasty, and it was very valuable. The Ming Dynasty's tax revenue was also mainly in kind. Tens of thousands of taels of silver is really very, very much. Yan Song and his son only embezzled two million taels of silver.