Chapter 93: Disaster and calamity, fire burns the imperial envoy

The news that the central tax inspector and the head of a province had met with misfortune had concerned countless people.

Censor!
Second rank official!

How dare you? Who is so cruel! ?
Anyone with a little status and power in the capital city sent people to inquire around, wanting to know what exactly had happened.

Then the news came from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Public Security - Linxiang County was attacked by miners!

The so-called mine thieves are bandits who gather together from the public and open mines privately.

According to the subsequent investigation by the governor of Huguang, this group of miners were the miners in Luonan County, Shaanxi Province in the third year of Longqing.

At that time, the leader of this group of miners, He Shu and eight others were beheaded, and the remaining 19 people including Shi Chaofeng were also exiled.

After that, Shi Chaofeng and other exiled bandits somehow escaped back and now are fleeing to Huguang.

All in all, this was a seemingly normal crime committed by bandits - it was all too normal to have mine thieves in the Ming Dynasty.

After this group of miners made a comeback, they gathered thousands of people and acted recklessly and wildly in Huguang.

At the end of March, they dared to break into Linxiang County at night, robbed officials and looted the treasury, and burned down the county office!
Unfortunately, late at night, Zhang Chucheng, the Censor of the Criminal Department, and Tang Bin, the Right Governor of Huguang Provincial Administration, were staying in the county government office to investigate a case when they were trapped inside by the fire.

A case of arson by miners shocked Huguang and burned the entire Huguang officialdom.

All the provincial governors, councilors, councilors, provincial inspectors and deputy provincial inspectors from Huguang went to Linxiang County in person to deal with the situation on the spot.

Qiu Qiao, the garrison commander of Dongting Lake, and Chen Xiao, the river patrol commander, were terrified and chased them all night long. After a night of fighting, they captured and killed Shi Chaofeng and others in the hope of redeeming themselves for their crimes.

Zhao Xian, the Right Censor-in-Chief and Governor of Huguang, and Shu Ao, the Inspector-General of Huguang, jointly submitted a memorial to explain the whole story and requested that they be punished.

This happened at the end of last month, and the memorial has only just arrived in the capital.

This is roughly what happened, but the finer details cannot be known in a short time.

However, as the saying goes, a small detail can reveal a big picture.

Even if they only knew the general idea, the court officials understood that this was another huge case!
Bandits burned down the county government office?

It may be reasonable to throw it out as an excuse, but if you want to deceive the central government, that is wishful thinking!
In particular, Hai Rui was summoned into the palace overnight, and Wen Chun, the former right councilor of Huguang, was also brought in, which further illustrated the emperor's attitude.

The incident in Nanzhili had just been settled, and the court officials did not want any more trouble to arise at this time, but who would have thought that such a thing would happen.

Who is so brave?

Don’t you know how cruel and ruthless the emperor is?
If this were to be discovered, I dare not even think about what the consequences would be!

Tonight in the capital, too many people are destined to remain awake all night.

……

April 16th.

The atmosphere in court today was particularly strange.

The throne was empty, and neither Hai Rui nor Wen Chun came to the court meeting, which made people even more curious - was the emperor keeping his composure, or simply swallowing his anger?
Zhang Siwei looked up at the three cabinet ministers standing in front of him.

The Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng was seen with a blank expression and his eyes closed.

The deputy minister Gao Yi looked solemn and fell into deep thought.

The assistant Lu Diaoyang lowered his head and his face could not be seen.

And the colleagues behind Zhang Siwei exchanged glances or whispered from time to time.

Another moment passed.

The people who were going to the court meeting today gradually arrived. Zhang Juzheng presided over the meeting and said, "Let's have the court meeting."

Coincidentally, all the court officials kept silent, and the hall fell into silence for a while.

Silence is always short-lived, and someone always has to speak.

Minister of Works Zhu Heng was well aware of the strange atmosphere today, but he pretended not to know.

He stepped aside and got straight to the point: "Yesterday, Wang Zongmu's memorial about re-trialing sea transportation arrived."

"There were sixteen ships carrying two hundred thousand stones of wood and stone. One of them ran aground, but the remaining fifteen made a smooth return trip."

"Governor Wang, please try shipping again, using a better route to avoid the reefs."

"The Ministry of Works will follow your request."

"In addition, the Ministry of Works also thought that since the sea route had just been opened, Huai'an and other places had already set up patrol ships. It was probably not enough to defend the more than 2,000 miles of Shandong route, so it was proposed to add patrol ships to Shandong for sea transportation."

Zhu Heng did not want to get too involved in the storms brought about by the court's reforms. He wanted to do the job at hand well.

Harnessing the Yellow River and opening up sea transportation were his only two obsessions.

This is the second time we have tried shipping by sea. It is inevitable that something will run aground, so we can only optimize the route slowly.

Of course, it is inevitable that there will be voices of opposition when something goes wrong.

As expected, Jia Sanjin, the chief official of the Ministry of Revenue, stepped out and questioned, "Minister Zhu."

"In the past, the shipping channel was blocked, so we decided to resume shipping."

"But since you took over the Ministry of Industry, you have opened new roads, calmed the Yellow River, dredged the canal, and the canal is unobstructed again. Why do you still insist on sea transportation?"

“The situation of sea routes is different from that of river routes. The things that can be relied on in river routes are permanent, while the things that can be relied on in sea routes are temporary.”

"Stormy waves, Japanese pirate invasions, reefs and rocks, even if you are lucky once or twice, you will eventually encounter them. Isn't this reef crash a clear proof?"

"Since the canal transportation has been improved and is very different from the past, why should we open up the sea again? People have ginseng, lingling, ginger and cinnamon to maintain their health, so why should we try to save our lives with crows and aconite?"

"I think we should stop shipping!"

Although what he said was contradictory, his tone was extremely polite.

Zhu Heng can now be regarded as the best in river management, and all the officials have always respected him.

After hearing this argument, Zhu Heng did not argue much, and only said: "The Ministry of Works has not changed its mind, and will submit the memorial to the Cabinet and Your Majesty later."

He knew clearly that with the Ministry of Works advocating, the Grain Transport Office allying, the Cabinet supporting, and the Emperor standing by, there would be no resistance to sea transportation, and there was no need to explain too much to laymen.

Lu Diaoyang stepped forward to second the motion: "I agree with the Ministry of Works and propose to Your Majesty that, for their contribution to the restoration of maritime transport, Liang Menglong, the governor and the chief censor, and Wang Zongmu, be promoted one level in salary, rewarded with thirty taels of silver, and two pieces of silk. Pan Yunrui, the councillor, be promoted one level and rewarded with ten taels of silver. The chief transport officer will also be promoted and rewarded."

When Jia Sanjin saw that the cabinet had spoken and decided on the rewards, he knew that he had encountered the consequences of the big bosses' secret meeting again, so he returned to the ranks in disappointment.

As soon as this was said, there was silence for a while.

Seeing this, Honglu Temple Minister Tu Xiying observed the situation and stepped out to take over the conversation: "Yesterday, we reached an agreement with the envoys of Duoyan Guard. As usual, we will give preferential treatment to the governor Chang Ang, but...from my point of view, Dong Huli's cronies don't seem to be satisfied."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Chonggu, who had also listened in yesterday, interrupted and said, "In my opinion, Dong Huli may invade the border again. The Ministry of War has decided to order Qi Jiguang to strengthen the defense."

Gao Yi turned his head away and nodded: "The cabinet has already drafted a bill this morning, and it will be sent to the Ministry of War later, instructing Qi Jiguang to guard against Dong Huli, and to send the additional recruits and guest officers to the two entrances of Jieling and Taolin."

The Ministry of War pointed out many narrow passes, but Gao Yi only emphasized Jie Ling Kou and Tao Lin Kou - he didn't know why the emperor seemed to have remembered something and insisted on strengthening the defenses at these two places.

Wang Chonggu was somewhat surprised at the quick response of the cabinet. The vote had even been drafted. It seemed that the matter had already been discussed with the emperor.

He returned to the train silently.

Soon after, another court official impeached Li Yingchen, the Earl of Xiangcheng.

After Li Yingchen's family committed a crime, the detectives went to their home to investigate.

The former even openly shouted "The law is the law", arrested the constable, and imprisoned and tortured him for several days.

Now that the constable has been released for several days, he still looks dazed, which shows how lawless and domineering Li Yingchen is.

The three judicial officials all sought justice for their own officials and demanded severe punishment for the illegal nobles.

The censors followed closely and impeached Mu Chaobi, Duke of Qian, and Zhao Zuzheng, Earl of Xincheng.

The crowd was furious.

It was not until Zhang Juzheng stepped forward and said that he would send the memorial to the emperor and comfort him that the ministers stopped talking.

Afterwards, they discussed the candidate for the assistant minister of the Ministry of War to assist in the military affairs of the Beijing camp.

Finally, the cabinet decided to recommend two or three people and reported them to the emperor for selection. Then there were matters such as rewards for the Jurchens and pardons for the heavy prisoners in the Ministry of Justice.

Today's court meeting was somewhat dry, and there wasn't even any quarreling where there should have been.

Everyone knew that something interesting was about to happen, and they just wanted to watch the show and had no interest in the court debate.

Once everything has been discussed, according to convention, everyone should return to their departments to handle government affairs.

But there seems to be a tacit understanding.

The Minister of Works, the Minister of Rites, the Imperial Censor and others left the court one after another, while several ministers in the cabinet all stood quietly in their places.

After all those who wanted to leave had left, Zhang Juzheng put down his hands and looked around before speaking: "Your Majesty is in Chengguang Hall, waiting for us to make a comment."

After saying this, he put the tablet into his sleeve and walked straight out of the Wenhua Hall.

The crowd followed closely behind.

……

This was Zhang Siwei's first time stepping into Xiyuan.

Now he is temporarily taking over cabinet affairs from Yang Bo, and his status is only below three people in the cabinet, so the feeling is naturally different.

Especially when he was specially summoned to Xiyuan and was not left behind, he experienced a different feeling from before.

This is what it feels like to have half a foot in the cabinet!
On the way to Chengguang Hall, perhaps because everyone was in a heavy mood, no one said a word.

Zhang Siwei knew that this was because the matter of Huguang was so huge that no one could take it lightly.

In fact, based on his understanding of the emperor, he thought that the emperor would get furious in the court meeting today and then appoint Hai Rui to conduct a thorough investigation.

The result was that several important officials came to Xiyuan to discuss the matter.

It seems that the emperor also finds it difficult.

There is no way. This is the disadvantage of a vast territory. When something happens, we are unable to do anything.

Even if the emperor wanted to vent his anger, he couldn't do it - he had no idea who did it.

This is a place that is as solid as an iron plate. Water cannot splash in and a needle cannot penetrate it.

While guessing the emperor's response, Zhang Siwei looked up and found that he had already arrived at the entrance of Chengguang Hall.

He collected his thoughts a little, followed Lu Diaoyang and walked in.

As soon as I entered the hall, I saw several tables gathered in the center of the hall.

The desk was covered with memorials, manuscripts and other items.

There was also a screen next to it, which seemed to be filled with people's names.

Zhang Siwei took a closer look and saw the Right Provincial Governor Chen Rui... the Huguang Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Du Si... the Dongting Garrison Commander Qiu Qiao... and the Jiang Patrol Commander Chen Xiao.

They are all officials from Huguang!
He retracted his gaze and looked at the emperor standing in front of the desk, and followed Zhang Juzheng in saluting: "Your Majesty."

Zhu Yijun signaled everyone to stand up, and then waved his hand, signaling the son-in-law Wu Jinghe, who was in charge of the Ministry of Clan Affairs, to go down first.

Wu Jinghe bowed and took his leave.

Zhang Siwei took a look at the prince consort who was in charge of the clan affairs office, his mind raced, and he vaguely grasped something.

At this time, the emperor slowly said, "Prime Minister, I didn't expect the people in your hometown to be so fierce."

"I just wanted to find out the truth. I didn't do anything, but they actually rebelled!?"

When the last two words were spoken, the shock and anger expressed were truly empathetic.

A dignified imperial envoy from the Central Government and the head of a province was cremated in such a blatant manner! ?

This was something Zhu Yijun couldn't understand no matter how hard he tried - weren't they afraid of death? Investigating a case required evidence, but suppressing a rebellion only required coordinates.

Even corrupt officials can't do this, right?
In the previous life, those who fell from buildings, died suddenly, or died of illness within 37 days of taking office are all understandable things, at least they can be attributed to accidents.

But what is the difference between blatantly leading troops to attack the county government office and setting fire to the county government office and directly rebelling! ?

This is really trampling the reputation of the emperor into the ground!

Zhang Juzheng skipped the hometown talk and talked about the matter at hand: "Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to find out the cause and arrest the culprit."

This time, he did not correct the emperor's words, or rather, he also thought that these people were rebelling together.

Allowing bandits to kill officials! It's simply horrifying!
Not only the emperor, but anyone in power at the core cannot tolerate such provocation!
Zhu Yijun sneered: "The bandit leader Shi Chaofeng, who resisted stubbornly, has been executed on the spot. He really is willing to share your worries!"

Is this a murder to silence the witness or a real last-ditch resistance? Anyway, the central government is out of reach and no one can tell for sure.

Zhang Juzheng bowed again and said in a loud voice, "Your Majesty! Then bring Qiu Qiao, the garrison commander of Dongting Lake, and Chen Xiao, the patrol commander of the Yangtze River, to Beijing for interrogation!"

At this point, if anyone still wants to talk about evidence, he must have read too many books and become stupid.

Zhu Yijun refused with a wave of his sleeves, and said in a deep voice: "Let's investigate on the spot! If this matter is not investigated thoroughly, I will not be able to sit on the throne!"

There is no way to compromise on this matter.

No matter who is behind this, whether they are high-ranking officials or noble relatives, don't even think about saving face this time. He will definitely kill everyone!
Let’s save the dignity of water heater fire for the next life!

At this time, Gao Yi interrupted and asked, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask, what did Zhang Chucheng find out when he went to Huguang?"

It's not a life-threatening place, it's impossible for such a cruel thing to happen.

If it was true as said before, to conduct a survey on mining taxes, they would not be so cruel.

Therefore, the content involved here is also an important clue.

Zhu Yijun restrained his expression, pointed at a table, and said coldly: "Those on the table are the memorials submitted by Zhang Jieshizhong after he went to Huguang. You can take a look at them yourself."

"At first, he urged the governor, Tang Bin, to rectify the mining tax in his jurisdiction."

"Later, it was discovered that the local government colluded with the gentry and instructed the miners to open the mines privately."

The scope of Huguang probably includes most of Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi, Hainan and Guizhou in later generations.

There are naturally many minerals. For example, there is Xishan in the south of Tongcheng Prefecture, which used to produce silver and tin.

For example, in Daye Prefecture, there is Tieshan Mountain and Baizhi Mountain in the north, which both produce copper mines; there is Weilu Mountain in the east, which produces iron; and there is Tonglu Mountain in the southwest, which used to produce copper.

Not to mention the mine thieves.

If the central government wanted to open a mine, it would either damage the dragon vein or not make back the investment - Sejong spent 30,000 taels and dug out 28,500 taels of ore, but he has been nailed to the pillar of shame ever since.

But private businesses are flocking to them, and I don’t know why they are willing to do this business at a loss.

In fact, this kind of thing is not too serious, and it is impossible to say that it is a desperate resistance.

The worst that can happen is that you just vomit out what you ate too much, and the miners offer sacrifices to the gods, and that's it. That's what they did in the past.

Even if the miners pay taxes, their mines may be transformed into government-owned ones.

So when Zhang Chucheng was sent to find out the situation, he never expected to encounter such fierce resistance.

So, you really can’t check everything, because if you’re not careful you might find out something.

Several ministers had already walked to the desk and were reading the memorial that Zhang Chucheng had previously submitted.

Zhu Yijun suppressed his emotions and continued, "That's all."

"I will have Zhang Chucheng return to the capital in February to report back, and I will prepare to slowly rectify the situation later."

Zhu Yijun's eyes were deep and his tone was inexplicable: "As a result, Zhang Chucheng changed his mind on the way back to Beijing and requested to investigate for another two months, saying..."

"He found traces of privately minted copper coins and weapons!"

　Note 1: On the nd day of the th month of the rd year of the reign of Emperor Longqing, He Shu and other miners in Luonan County, Xixi, gathered more than people and stole from caves in Baihualing. They pursued and arrested them for a long time but failed to catch them. Then, they were captured. The case of Wu Jin, the chief censor of Yunyang, was investigated and the thief leader Shu and eight others were sentenced to death. His accomplices Shi Chaofeng and others, Liu En and others were sent away with some errors, and the rest were all killed. - "The Veritable Records of Emperor Muzong of Ming Dynasty"

　　Note 2: The Ministry of War replied that the governor of Huguang, Zhao Xian, reported that Linxiang County was robbed, officials were looted, and the county office files were burned. He asked Qiu Qiao, the garrison commander of Dongting Lake, and Chen Xiao, the commander of the Jiang patrol, to ask the imperial censor for questions. ——The Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty

　　
　
(End of this chapter)