Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 305 The Rebound of the Gentry Group

The memorials flew into the Qianqing Palace like snowflakes. Some impeached Wu Jiayin, the prefect of Songjiang and the governor of the city, to take advantage of the opening of Shanghai to occupy the land of the gentry and common people. As a result, ethics collapsed, public opinion boiled, and there were even impeachments of Huangzhuang, imperial businessmen and officials and businessmen for bullying the market.

Zhu Youjian didn't really want to read these memorials. In fact, as early as the 17th year of Chongzhen, when Zhu Youjian began to collect commercial taxes, countless officials submitted memorials to prevent the New Deal.

However, because of the Qian Qianyi case and the Zhang Shenyan case, Zhu Youjian almost completely suppressed the gentry class in the south of the Yangtze River, enabling the smooth implementation of commercial taxes. Even so, Zhu Youjian still came with a buffer to determine the tax amount first and then actually collect it. When Chongzhen levied the commercial tax in 18, he used the heads of dozens of officials to force the commercial tax to go on.

Although Ming Dynasty has never lacked people who are willing to be officials, the relationship between Zhu Youjian and the gentry class in the south of the Yangtze River is indeed getting further and further away, and there are still memorials to impeach the officials who worked for Zhu Youjian and even expressly prevent Zhu Youjian's New Deal. More and more officials have resigned or even retreated to the mountains.

If the conflict between Zhu Youjian and the gentry class in the south of the Yangtze River was not sharp enough in the 17th and 18th years of Chongzhen, it became completely acute in the 19th year of Chongzhen.

Chongzhen Zhu Youjian's New Deal in the 19th year of Chongzhen did not touch the interests of the gentry class in the south of the Yangtze River.

The port opening of Songjiang Mansion was not all smooth sailing, although Zhu Youjian only appointed Wu Jiayin, an official who is not afraid of power, to preside over the matter in Songjiang Mansion, but what Zhu Youjian can be sure of is that there must be many obstacles, but as the emperor Zhu You Jian can't see the twists and turns in the memorial.

Only Dongchang's report was more detailed, saying that the officials of Songjiang Mansion didn't listen to Wu Jiayin's words at the beginning, but listened to the words of the Xu and Lu families, the local big families.

According to Wu Jiayin's vision, the government land near Shanghai County should be taken back and the private land purchased to open a commercial port. However, the first problem Wu Jiayin encountered was that almost all the official land and private land in the local area had been taken over by the local tycoons Xu and Lu. home merger.

And the Xu family here is said to have served as the chief assistant.

In other words, if Wu Jiayin wants to successfully open a commercial port in Songjiang Prefecture, he can only clarify the acres of land and take back the land that was swallowed up by the wealthy family.

Fortunately, Zhu Youjian has now transferred a group of loyal and administratively capable military officers from the guard system and guards to Wu Jiayin, who recommended to the Ministry of Officials to dismiss all disobedient low-level officials, and let these Military officers and some scholars acted as local officials in Songjiang Prefecture.

Moreover, Wu Jiayin also secretly requested to mobilize Gao Jie's army, so that the decree of Qingzhang Tianmu could be implemented, and the port opening of Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture was completed in the 19th year of Chongzhen.

In addition, even the construction of water conservancy by the Ministry of Industry and the appointment and dismissal of transferred military officers as local grassroots officials also caused dissatisfaction among the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

Although the construction of water conservancy by the Ministry of Industry is for the benefit of the people, it is competing with the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River for the hearts of the people. There are also people who break the embankment or directly and secretly cause obstacles.

Most of the transferred military officers are officers and soldiers of the guards who obey Zhu Youjian. These people have a heart of blind worship for Zhu Youjian. Their appointment as local county magistrates, chief bookmen and other officials undoubtedly let the imperial power go to the countryside and let the local gentry control The basic administrative power of the government has been greatly reduced.

Therefore, there are more and more memorials to impeach and transfer military attaches for violating local laws and regulations.

It even happened that local people smashed the county government office and demobilized military officers were assassinated, and some local officials also disliked these military officers as their subordinate officials, and began to impeach them.

In addition, it stands to reason that the expansion of social studies and the encouragement of ordinary people to study, even at the expense of official positions and fame to attract low-level scholars to actively participate in the cause of education, should be good governance praised by the whole people, but there are also officials who have impeached that this move will delay the farming season. , so that a large number of scholars do not want to study and so on.

In fact, according to the Dongchang Report, once the local social studies were expanded, the three-year free education and the policy of attracting low-level scholars to study social studies with official positions and fame were implemented, which made many low-level people unwilling to rent land from landlords. This led to a reduction in the income of the landlords who exploited the people at the bottom. Many talented scholars at the bottom began to refuse to be the private school teachers of the rich and powerful for their personal fame and fortune. inside.

Zhu Youjian's move inadvertently touched the local gentry's monopoly on education, and even touched the local gentry's control of government affairs through the relationship between teachers, students and fellow villagers formed through education.

It is not a good thing for the local gentry that a large number of common people's children enter the school. After all, the more books people read, the more reactionary it is. It is naturally more difficult for some wealthy families who have dominated the village all the year round to control the local people.

Zhu Youjian felt a headache. Looking at the mountain of memorials, he didn't know how to deal with them. In the memorials, his series of New Deal criticisms were bloody. Wu Jiayin, Chen Zizhuang, Tang Xiangtai and other local officials were said to be evildoers. official.

However, Dongchang's report was so terrible that some people began to surround and smash the government, and even assassinated the officials.

Therefore, although Chongzhen's 19 years were peaceful, it was not really peaceful, and there were even some undercurrents, turbulent, although the income of the imperial court and Zhu Youjian's own income increased significantly, and the local government also reported its own treasury income. Increasingly, food production has also begun to rise steadily.

However, Zhu Youjian did not collect agricultural taxes any more, and even once again ordered all localities to reduce or exempt taxes until 20 years after Chongzhen, but why did they still cause so many unrest among the people?

"Your Majesty, according to reports, Wu Jiayin, the prefect of Songjiang and the secretary of the city, died suddenly after eating a piece of Western cake in the afternoon. The report from the mansion at the meeting place will be submitted later. This is the express report from Dongchang. According to investigation, the western cake It is mixed with a drug that is compatible with Wu Jiayin's illness!"

Wang Chengen, the admiral of the East Factory, came in. When he told Zhu Youjian the news, Zhu Youjian stood up suddenly. He didn't expect that even a high-ranking official like Wu Jiayin, the prefect of Songjiang, would be assassinated. How bold it is!
Zhu Youjian kicked Wang Cheng'en: "How did your Dongchang do such a poor job? The dignified third-rank official of the imperial court was poisoned and assassinated in his own mansion!"

Zhu Youjian couldn't help being angry. Chongzhen's 19 years were about to come to an end, and the New Deal was about to see results, but suddenly discovered such a thing. This will undoubtedly scare some local officials who are still insisting on doing things for the emperor. And this is undoubtedly the biggest provocation to the emperor Zhu Youjian.

"Your Majesty, forgive me! I have ordered the local Dongchang people to immediately arrest everyone in the government office, including the shops that provide western cakes. I will definitely give justice to the prefect of Wu, but the most urgent task of your majesty is to send a new one." to the magistrate."

Wang Chengen reported.

(End of this chapter)