Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 112 Closing
"Xuzhou grain merchant Liu Kuan..."

"Li Ye, a Juren of Pizhou County..."

"Pizhou County Magistrate Han..."

On November [-]th of the first year of Taichang, when the snow and ice fell, tens of thousands of people surrounded the north gate of Pizhou. In the snow.

Tens of thousands of people looked at them with hatred in their eyes, their anger was accumulating, they were swearing, and they kept throwing stones, mud, and snow in their hands.

As their names were counted, Gu Dazhang, a member of the criminal department who was in charge of supervising the beheading, suddenly tightened his expression, and ordered: "Behead!"

"Pfft..."

Hundreds of Jin Yiwei slashed down with unskilled beheading knives in an instant, hundreds of human heads rolled down the snow like scattered marbles, blood stained the entire snow, and released part of the resentment in the hearts of the people.

"it is good!"

"Good kill!"

"Feed them to the dogs!"

The insults from the common people were endless, countless common people rushed forward, Jin Yiwei hurriedly backed away, and then the corpses of these hundreds of people were trampled on by the common people like this, smashed with stones and wooden sticks, and some even grabbed the corpses and killed them. bite.

Eat its flesh, drink its blood...

Even these six words cannot describe the resentment of the people who experienced the great famine in Huaibei.

After half a sound, hundreds of corpses were covered with mud, like mud, and were directly trampled into the soil.

Immediately afterwards, their bodies were doused with kerosene by Jin Yiwei, and then burned to the ground.

The people kept staring at the burning flames of the corpse until the flames in their eyes slowly went out...

"Is this the result of the starving people who died in Huaibei?!"

At the same time as the flames of the corpse were extinguished, Yang Lian held the imperial decree in his hand and looked at the content in the Pizhou county government office. His hands kept trembling, as if he had aged a few years, and questioned Lu Wenzhao.

Faced with doubts, Lu Wenzhao could only bite the bullet and said: "This is the order of the palace. The next Jingcha in Nanzhili needs to be handed over to Zhang Zuodu Yushi."

"You and Zuoqian Capital Censor need to go to Shandong and Huguang respectively for Beijing inspection."

That's the end of the matter...

The meaning in the palace is very simple, but Yang Lian couldn't be calm for a long time.

There was no need to hasten the imperial decree, and it had been three days since the Huaibei Great Famine and Jingcha were decided.

This shows that the people in the court wanted to wait for the dust to settle before telling him and Zuo Guangdou to appoint them.

Such an approach made him unbelievable.

The serious case of the Huaibei famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people was a serious case in the Hongwu period and Yongle period, and even tens of thousands of people were prosecuted.

But right now, it has just closed the case in such a hasty way, and only a few thousand people, including officials and subordinates, grain merchants, and gentry in Huai'an and Xuzhou, were affected.

Even though the main culprit of the Huaibei Great Famine was sent to the capital this morning, and died in a lingering death according to the law, two thousand accomplices were also beheaded in various places.

However, the other officials from other places who received money only ended up being dismissed.

Yang Lian couldn't believe it, so he asked Lu Wenzhao with his last hope:
"Didn't Liu Cifu and the others say anything?"

"Both Liu Cifu and Master Han Yuhan hope that Wansui will punish the officials who reported on Yao in accordance with the law, but after thinking about it, Wansui decided to hand over Nanzhili and Zhejiang Jingcha to Zhang Zuodu Yushi and Gu Yushi."

Lu Wenzhao responded in a deep voice, and this response made Yang Lian a few years older.

He knew that if Liu Yixiu and Han Yan were both on the board, then the matter should be settled, but there is only one reason why it has not been settled now, and that is that there are also people among them who are greedy for life and afraid of death who want to calm things down.

At this time, he recalled what Zhu Youjian had said to him.

"If one day you only have courtiers left by your side, how will you deal with yourself?"

In a word, I thought it was just a joke at first, but now it seems that in the huge Qingliu, only a few dozen people such as Zuo Guangdou, Liu Yixiu, and Han Yu are with him.

His body couldn't help but hunched up, and at this moment, Zuo Guangdou also came back from the outside.

"what happened?"

Seeing Yang Lian's appearance, Zuo Guangdou had a bad premonition in his heart, he walked to Yang Lian's side, took the imperial decree and quickly read it.

Seeing this, the anger in his heart was provoked, but soon subsided, giving birth to a sense of sadness.

Does getting angry solve problems?cannot……

Compared with Yang Lian, he is less stubborn and knows how to analyze the pros and cons, but it is this kind of analysis that makes him feel lonely at the moment.

During the period of Beijing inspection, they clearly controlled the direction of the court, but in the end, even the few leaders who were the leaders went to the echelon to ask for a strict investigation with corrupt officials.

Right now, Zuo Guangdou felt that his "colleagues" who used to talk and laugh happily with him now had such hateful faces.

"Oh... clean up..."

After finishing speaking, Zuo Guangdou put the imperial decree on the table, turned around and walked into the side room next to him, ready to pack his luggage and go to Huguang.

Yang Lian was silent, and so was Lu Wenzhao.

It was only after a while that Yang Lian suddenly asked in a slow voice, "Your Highness...did you say anything..."

Yang Lian put his last hope on Zhu Youjian, but Lu Wenzhao couldn't bear to see him like this:
"His Highness said that there is nothing he can do about this matter. If you want to save the people, you have to be patient until the time is right."

"The time is ripe..." Hearing these four words, Yang Lian laughed at himself, turned around and walked towards his side room, muttering to himself in a low voice:
"The time is ripe...but, how much time do I have..."

Yang Lian went back to the house, only the imperial decree was left on the table.

Lu Wenzhao looked at his hunched back and couldn't bear it, but the next second, Shen Lian walked into the house with a confused look on his face:

"Why did your lord call me back?"

Shen Lian was very puzzled. He set off four days ago and arrived in the capital the day before yesterday. He hadn't found any news yet. Yesterday Lu Wenzhao asked him to return to Pizhou, leaving only one member of the general banner to continue the investigation.

As for why he was asked to come back, Lu Wenzhao signaled him to follow, then led Shen Lian out of the county office, and after calling the other guards at the back door to be alert, he sighed and said:
"Long live means that the Nanjing officials involved in the Huaibei famine can only be investigated, and there is no need to arrest them and bring them to justice."

"In this case, it would be too wasteful to transfer you to Nanjing. I asked you to come back to measure the acres of fields together and set up a new south court for the Imperial Horse Supervisor."

"Thanks to my lord for trusting my subordinates, I will definitely do my best..." Shen Lian wrote back the gift, but after returning the gift, he took a careful look at Lu Wenzhao, and said again:

"However, this matter, after the subordinates are done, they have to go to my elder brother."

"Well, don't worry, I won't stop you when the time comes." Lu Wenzhao patted Shen Lian's shoulder with a smile, and then told Qianhu next to him:
"A thousand people from the Fusi of Beizhen were transferred to Shen Lian to measure the acres of fields of officials involved in the case in Xuzhou and gentry grain merchants."

"The other houses and mansions don't have to wait for Mr. Gu from the Ministry of Punishment. Let's ransack the house first."

"Yes!" Qianhu edited without asking a question.

To put it bluntly, the people in Huai'an and Xuzhou have become outcasts that no one cares about. Maybe some of them have been wronged, but most of them deserve what they deserve.

What's more, what they have to do is to help their highness, to help Long live set up a new south field of the Royal Horse Supervisor. The better the south field is done, the higher their status will be, and the easier it will be to be taken seriously.

Therefore, in the next period of time, under the command of Lu Wenzhao, Jin Yiwei began to ransack the house, compiled all the most basic things into a document, and ordered people to rush to the capital.

When Zhu Youjian got this booklet, it was already November [-]th of the first year of Taichang.

He stayed in the capital for twenty days, just because the Jingcha and Huaibei Dahun cases made him inseparable, and he was deeply afraid that his good brother accidentally killed someone by mistake.

Therefore, he missed Qin Liangyu leading the army to go north. Fortunately, Qin Liangyu will lead his people to go south in two days and come to the capital to collect the salary for recruiting new troops.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but blush a little, after all, it meant that he was going to squeeze the emperor's brother's wool again.

So in order to make up for it, he can only hope that the corrupt officials and unscrupulous merchants in Huai'an and Xuzhou can give some help.

In Xuqin Palace, he looked at the preliminary statistics file in his hand, took a deep breath, and then slowly opened it.

Skipping the long list of superficial words in front, Zhu Youjian directly set his sights on the last few pages of the proceeds from the house raids.

[On November [-]rd of the first year of Taichang, the stolen silver was five hundred and sixty-seven thousand two hundred and sixty-three taels and eight cents and three cents. 】

[Thirteen mansions in Shandong, totaling [-] mu, fourteen mansions in Henan, totaling [-] mu, thirty-six mansions in Nanzhili, totaling [-] mu, six in Zhejiang, counting One hundred and nine acres, five places in Jiangxi, totaling eighty-nine acres, North Zhili...]

[A total of ninety-eight mansions, totaling [-] mu, worth about [-] taels of silver...]

[Fifty-six dirty fields in Shandong, with land deeds of [-] mu; Lease [-] million mu, dirty fields in Jiangxi...]

[A total of [-] dirty fields and [-] acres of land deeds. 】

[A total of [-] stone and [-] catties of stored grain were seized. 】

[The case involved ninety-six officials, three thousand six hundred and seventy-five subordinate officials, forty-seven grain merchants, and two thousand five hundred and forty-one relatives. 】

The eloquent summary of more than [-] words is not finished, and after the end, Lu Wenzhao added.

In Huai'an, Huai'an Guard, Pizhou Guard, Xuzhou Guard, Xuzhou Zuo Guard and other four guards and three guards have not dealt with it, and the six guards who intercepted hungry people in Fengyang Mansion and Yanzhou Mansion have not been dealt with by two guards.

In other words, there are a total of ten guards and five offices, and a total of [-] military households.

According to the number of [-] mu of guards per person in the early Ming Dynasty, these ten guards and five guards involved [-] million mu of army farmland.

Even if only counting the four guards and three institutes in Huai'an Mansion and Xuzhou, [-] military households and [-] million mu of military farmland were involved.

Lu Wenzhao asked at the end of the document whether he needed to do anything for five of the ten guards.

When Zhu Youjian saw this question, he already had an idea.

verb: move!Must move!

As long as these ten guards and five houses are eaten, plus the people's fields in Xuzhou and Huai'an, there will be more than six million mu of cultivated land in the south field of Yumajian. The remaining five million shi grain income.

These ten guards and five offices must be moved, but before moving, Zhu Youjian needs to visit someone.

British public Zhang Weixian...

Thinking of this person, Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes slightly.

The British Duke Zhang Weixian, he controls the five armies' governor's mansion and the men and women of the Beijing camp.

Although in Zhu Youjian's own opinion, the so-called Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies and the Beijing Camp are nothing more than chickens and dogs, he doesn't want to turn his face against Xungui yet.

But in order to have a clear discussion with Zhang Weixian, one thing needs to be clarified.

In the Huaibei famine case, is there any figure of Nanjing Xungui?
If there is, then this is undoubtedly the best way to peacefully abolish the guards in Shuntian Mansion, Yongping Mansion, Xuzhou, Huai'an, Fengyang, and other places.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian closed the document, handed the document to Wang Chengen and said:

"Tell Lu Wenzhao to investigate for me whether there are honorable figures in the Huaibei Great Famine."

"In addition, give the document to the emperor, and let the emperor see how to deal with these things."

"Your servant takes orders." Seeing His Royal Highness speak, Wang Chengen quickly took the document, and then personally sent the document to Qianqing Palace.

It's just that when he arrived at Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youzheng was dealing with the memorial, and Wei Zhongxian smiled at Wang Chengen:

"Wang's palm seal wait a moment."

Wang An was not approved by Zhu Youxiao to go south, so Wei Zhongxian's rights were still limited to Dongchang, and he still needed to maintain his relationship with Xuqin Palace, so it was naturally impossible to show any face to Wang Chengen.

Seeing this, Wang Chengen didn't say much, but just saluted and thanked him.

After Wei Zhongxian returned the gift, he walked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation in Qianqing Palace, and said to Zhu Youxiao who was reviewing memorials:

"Long live, Wang Cheng'en, the eunuch who is in charge of the imperial horse supervisor, asked to see him, and said that His Royal Highness, the fifth prince, was found out by the Nanchang investigation of the imperial horse supervisor."

"Huh? Tell Cheng En to come in." Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao put down the pen in his hand and sighed.

Seeing this, Ke Shi, who was behind him, quickly pinched the acupuncture points for Zhu Youxiao, which made him feel much more comfortable.

"Xuanyu Majian's handprint eunuch Wang Cheng'en~"

Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian sang to the outside world, and Wang Chengen walked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation with small steps, then knelt down and handed out the document:
"My servant Wang Cheng'en sees Wansui, this is the Nanchang document that His Highness the Fifth Highness asked this servant to send to Wansui."

"En." Zhu Youxiao responded, and Wei Zhongxian also took the document and handed it to Zhu Youxiao.

While enjoying the Ke's massage, Zhu Youxiao opened the document in his hand, and frowned and read the document at a glance.

Finally, Zhu Youxiao said:

"The silver taels were confiscated in Nanchang, and all of them were filled into internal funds, and transported northward together with the autumn tax and additional silver."

"As for the guards involved in the Yanzhou Mansion and Fengyang Mansion, you don't need to pursue it if you tell my brother."

"The four guards and three guards in Xuzhou and Huai'an were abolished respectively. I will let someone tell the Five Army Commander's Mansion about this."

Zhu Youxiao understood very well that his younger brother wanted to abolish all the guards involved in the case in one go, but he also knew that his younger brother's thoughts were too impatient.

As an elder brother, he needs help, but he also needs to protect Zhu Youjian.

Abolishing ten guards and five institutes in one go will inevitably cause panic among the nobles.

It's just that the Four Guards and Three Institutes involved in the case were abolished. For the Xungui involved in the case, it seemed that the matter was over.

No matter whether it is the nobles of North Zhili or the nobles of South Zhili, they will not talk too much.

And if he speaks, the British government and others will not have too much hostility towards Zhu Youjian.

To put it bluntly, Zhu Youxiao Zaizhong and Zhu Youjian's impatience may seem to him that he is only sixteen years old and still has a good time, and he can slowly change the situation of Daming.

"The servants lead the order..." Seeing the emperor speak, Wang Chengen immediately sang back, and Zhu Youxiao continued:

"By the way, this time, in the ransacking of the house, [-] taels were allocated as Qin Liangyu's salary for recruiting new troops, and asked Lu Wenzhao to send someone to Shizhu, so that Qin Liangyu would not have to go to the capital again."

"After the silver arrives in the capital, another [-] taels will be allocated as the opening silver and sent to Changping for the Zhejiang and Sichuan soldiers to set off."

"Yes..." Hearing this, Wang Chengen responded obediently, and Zhu Youxiao also waved his hand and said, "Back off."

Seeing this, Wang Chengen slowly exited the Hall of Mental Cultivation and brought the news back.

When Zhu Youjian heard that he could only move Huaianwei, Pizhouwei, Xuzhouwei, Xuzhou Zuowei, and the other three institutes of Donghai, Yancheng, and Haizhou, he frowned.

But after reacting, he still realized that he was too impatient.

At present, Qi Yuanfu's soldiers have not been fully trained, and the seven guards and one battalion of Yanshan Camp have only trained for one and a half months.

Although on paper, the Seven Guards and One Battalion plus Zhejiang soldiers and Baigan soldiers have a total of [-] soldiers and horses standing on his side, but the division of these soldiers and horses is still not enough to quell the panic of abolishing the guards. .

Only when a solution is found, like this Huaibei famine, can the guards be completely abolished.

The guards in the southeast and central plains, northwest, and Hebei are different from those in the southwest.

The guards in Yunnan and Guizhou lacked sufficient background, so they were abolished as well. After all, they were relatively barren and there was not much oil and water.

But other places are different. For example, the current Four Guards and Three Battalions involve a total of [-] million mu of land. How to abolish and how to divide the land after abolishment is a relatively important matter.

If one fails, Qi Yuanfu's [-] men and Lu Wenzhao's [-] Jinyiwei will have to stay there.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian frowned, and made an analysis based on the strength of the Four Guards and the Three Institutes and the possible population.

Four guards and three offices, a total of [-] military households, according to the minimum of five people in a household in the early years of Hongwu, they are at least [-] people.

This is still the first year of Hongwu, and now it is the first year of Taichang, the number of people may have doubled or tripled, that is to say, they have to face up to [-] people.

With [-] people and [-] million mu of military farmland, it seems that it is easy to divide, and each person with three mu can get an extra [-] mu.

But it is not really possible to divide them in this way. Whether it is difficult to divide them up, whether it will cause noise, and whether Lu Wenzhao in Huai'an can stabilize the situation has become something he needs to consider.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youjian said to Wang Chengen:

"Tell Qi Yuanfu that there is no need to divide the troops, and directly take the Zhejiang soldiers to Nanjing to escort Fushui to the north. When they arrive at Huai'an Mansion, ask Lu Wenzhao to send a thousand Jinyi guards to continue escorting Fushui to the north."

"Qi Yuanfu led the Zhe Bing to measure the land of the army and the people's land in the southern field of the Yumajian. After all the measurements were completed, the land was divided from Xuzhou to Pizhou."

"Divide according to four acres per person, and the extra will be kept as a horse farm."

"Before allocating the fields, it must be made clear that they are tenants of the Yumajian, and they share [-]/[-] with the Yumajian. The Yumajian pays taxes for them, and they can farm the land honestly. Sell ​​it to the Horse Supervisor."

The food from Xuhuai and Xuhuai is the top priority in Zhu Youjian's plan. Whether it is directly transported to Haizhou to Liaodong, or to Huaihe River to Luoyang, and then transferred to Shaanxi for disaster relief, it can relieve the pressure on Daming.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian had a headache again.

He originally wanted to take advantage of the establishment of the South Field to transfer Wang An away, let Wei Zhongxian take over, and let Wang An help him manage the South Field by the way.

But right now, because of his own sake, Wang An seemed to be favored a little bit. It was difficult for Wei Zhongxian and Ke Shi to get Wang An away or kill him.

Without such a large plate as Wang An and Yumajian Nanchang, Cao Huachun had to be sent.

It's just that if Cao Huachun goes, then only Cheng En can be used by his side.

"Ugh……"

Sighing in his heart, Zhu Youjian could only say to Wang Chengen:
"Cheng En, if you are asked to go to the South Field, what will you do?"

"Slave?" Wang Chengen was stunned for a moment, and then said without hesitation: "Your Highness will do what your servant wants."

Wang Chengen's strategy and political struggle are not very good, which makes Zhu Youjian a little worried.

If the south field of the Yumajian is pulled out of the four guards and three offices, there will be more than [-] million mu of arable land, and it will become the economic leader of the Yumajian.

Among them, if someone played tricks and corrupted them, with Wang Chengen's means, they might not be able to deal with it.

"Forget it, you just need to stay in Beijing." Zhu Youjian gave up on asking Wang Chengen to manage the South Field.

In this way, Cao Huachun is the only candidate for him.

However, it was impossible for him to ask Wang Chengen to tell Cao Huachun, and he had to tell the other party about this matter when he went to Yanshan Camp, otherwise it would easily cause conflicts between the two parties.

Speaking of which, he hadn't been to Yanshan Daying for [-] days. Now that the good emperor brother directly transferred the dirty silver from Huai'an to the stone pillars, Qin Liangyu would not come to the capital, so there was no need for him to wait any longer.

The sooner the troops of the Yanshan Camp had formed their combat effectiveness, the better the Ming situation would be.

Although with the South Field of the Yumajian, the pressure on him to raise troops is much less, but the tax of the Southfield of the Yumajian can only be collected after at least two years.

So Zhu Youjian asked Wang Chengen to call Jin Yiwei, and asked with a frown:

"What is Lu Jianxing doing?"

"Return to Your Highness." Jin Yiwei Qianhu replied:
"Lu Jianxing is currently planning to buy grain from Huguang and Jiangxi, and prepares to transport it to Huaibei for sale."

"According to the people below, he is planning to come back in the coming year after the sales are over."

"Half a month ago, he had earned nearly [-] taels with interest."

"[-] taels..." Zhu Youjian breathed a sigh of relief, with the [-] taels, the seven guards and one battalion of Yumajian would be guaranteed.

Thinking of this, he continued to ask:
"What's going on outside the Great Wall this year?"

"There is nothing unusual, just like in previous years, except that Nurhachi exchanged an iron pot and some sea salt for the cattle and sheep of the Tuman and Horqin tribes."

The news that Nurhachi exchanged iron pots and sea salt for horses, cattle and sheep is not new.

The current Nurhachi occupies the Mowen River Wei, a natural ice-free port, which is later known as Vladivostok.

With the addition of manpower, things like cooking salt can still be done, and this kind of thing is also one of the few trading methods Hou Jin currently uses to obtain external materials.

The old guy is now in exchange for horses, which means that he doesn't have too many horses.

He is expanding his strength, so he can't be idle.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian confessed to Wang Chengen:
"Talk to Brother Huang, tomorrow I will go to Yanshan Camp, hope Brother Huang will take care of himself."

After finishing speaking, he turned around and returned to the bedroom, and Wang Chengen told Zhu Youxiao according to his intention.

When he heard the news, Zhu Youxiao was still processing the memorial, but when he learned that Zhu Youjian was leaving, he lost his mind immediately, so he confessed to Wang Chengen:
"This time I'm going to Yanshan Daying, you remember to go to the imperial dining room to pick up ten bear's paws, ten catties of bird's nest, three catties of tribute tea..."

"In short, you know what my brother likes to eat and drink, and you should take them away."

"Long live, don't worry, this servant will take good care of His Highness." Wang Chengen responded obediently, and Zhu Youxiao also waved his hand and said: Then step back.

"Yes..." Wang Chengen retreated slowly, but Zhu Youxiao frowned after he retreated, then looked at Wei Zhongxian and confessed:

"Go to the Supervisor of Rituals and tell Wang An, tell him to go to the British government in person, and say that the Four Guards and Three Institutes in Huai'an and Xuzhou are too involved, and they will be merged into the south court of the Yumajian after they are abolished. Gentlemen."

"Slaves lead the oral instructions..." Wei Zhongxian walked out of the palace gate with an oral instruction with a smile, but he was too lazy to find Wang An by himself, but asked Wang Tigan to pass on the message.

When Wang Tiqian went to deliver the message, the imperial city was already under curfew, and only Huben Zuowei was patrolling the imperial city.

When Wang An received Zhu Youxiao's oral order, it was already three quarters of the day.

He left the imperial city overnight and told the British Duke Zhang Weixian what Zhu Youxiao meant.

When the old man heard Zhu Youxiao's words, he was silent for a long time, and then he said he knew it, so he stopped talking.

Seeing the other party's appearance, Wang An also knew that the other party was thinking about how to explain to the nobles, so after saluting, he withdrew from the British government.

In the huge study room, only the silence of Zhang Weixian frowning slightly remained...

　I'm late, so I'm late, sorry

　　
　
(End of this chapter)