Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 140 was cut off

Seeing Gu Beixin, the son of Gu Hanlin, crying so miserably, Yin Qian couldn't help but be moved by his filial piety. Of course, more importantly, he also knew that if Governor Wang Shouren arrested Jiangnan gentry so unscrupulously, it would not be a good thing for himself and other Jiangnan gentry.

Therefore, Yin Qian hurriedly helped Gu Beixin up: "Good boy, don't worry, I can't ignore your father's affairs! You go back first and prepare for the exam. Leave this matter to me!"

Gu Beixin thanked him profusely and went back. At this time, someone from Yin Qian came over and said, "Master, there's news from Jiangbei that the emperor has come to Jiangnan and wants to offer sacrifices to the Xiaoling Mausoleum!"

"What! The emperor is coming to Jiangnan! What's wrong with the officials in the court? They actually let the emperor leave the palace and go south. No one in the court dared to stop him! This is ridiculous! The emperor came to Jiangnan, no matter what he did, it was not a good thing!"

Yin Qian could not help but sigh, thinking: "Since Emperor Taizong moved north, no emperor has come south again, in order not to hurt the gentry in the south, so as to gain the respect of scholars. Now His Majesty has suddenly come south, what a ridiculous and foolish monarch! No wonder there was the incident of executing ten clans of the gentry, and even the incident of letting Yang Tinghe harm Mr. Wang!"

Of course, Yin Qian could only say this in his heart. He could not stop the emperor from coming to Jiangnan, and he could not turn a blind eye. He even had to take the initiative to welcome him. But because of this, he thought of Gu Xiantong and the arrest of Governor Wang Shouren. He wanted to use his status as a high-ranking official to influence the government and intimidate the local officials in Jiangnan, so he hurriedly asked:

"Hurry up and get ready. Your Majesty will come to Nanjing and will definitely pass through Dantu. I will go to welcome him then!"

……

Zhu Houzhao and his entourage did stop when they arrived in Dantu, preparing to travel to Nanjing by land.

At this time, Yin Qian had been waiting here for a long time with a group of officials and gentry. When they saw Zhu Houzhao appear, they immediately shouted "Long live Zhu Houzhao". There was a loud noise of gongs and drums, and deafening salutes, which was quite lively.

Zhu Houzhao also saw Yin Qian, but he did not have much impression of the ministers in Hongzhi's early years. After all, he was still young at that time. Therefore, he could only ask the chief minister Ma Wensheng: "Who is this person?"

"Your Majesty, this person is Yin Qian, the Minister of Revenue who retired in the fifth year of Hongzhi. The old minister has always been very favored by the emperor. Now he must have known that you are coming to Jiangnan, so he specially came here to welcome you."

Ma Wensheng replied.

Zhu Houzhao only smiled slightly when he saw this, but he felt that Yin Qian must have other purposes for being so attentive. However, no matter what, Zhu Houzhao could not refuse Yin Qian's kindness now. When he saw Yin Qian was about to salute him, he hurriedly shouted "No thanks" and asked:
"How is the old minister's health?"

"Your Majesty, I am still in good health. I heard that Your Majesty will visit Dantu, so I came to welcome you. Now it is getting late, I would like to ask Your Majesty to stay in my humble home," Yin Qian said.

"It's rare that the old minister has such a kind intention. I approve it!"

Zhu Houzhao wanted to see what Yin Qian was up to, so he agreed and asked Yin Qian to lead the way for him.

Yin Qian also took this opportunity to say to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty is so busy, yet you still took the time to come to the capital to offer sacrifices to Taizu. This shows your majesty's benevolence and filial piety. But your majesty doesn't know that some officials don't appreciate your majesty's kindness. For example, Wang Shouren, the governor of Nanzhili, acted arrogantly as soon as he came to Jiangnan, and arrested many gentry, causing public resentment!"

Zhu Houzhao stopped following Yin Qian, glanced at Yin Qian, and thought that this old minister indeed had a purpose.

When Yin Qian saw Zhu Houzhao stopped, he asked hurriedly, "Your Majesty, why did you stop so suddenly?"

Zhu Houzhao smiled coldly and asked Yin Qian: "Minister Yin, are you a minister in the court or a retired minister?"

"Your Majesty, what do you mean? I have been back home for more than ten years!" Yin Qian replied.

"You know you've been brought back home, so why do you still dare to interfere in government affairs, slander me, and comment on the officials in the court without authorization?!"

Zhu Houzhao asked coldly, and then said: "Come here, confiscate Yin Qian's house and property, and send his family members to exile in the east!"

Yin Qian was shocked. He was just about to explain that he criticized the court officials because he could not sit idly by and watch wise and virtuous people being arrested at will. But now he did not expect that the emperor would search his house before he finished speaking. So he asked with a hint of confusion: "Your Majesty! What crime have I committed?!"

"Your Majesty, Lord Yin is also an old minister. Although he criticized the government, he was probably asked by others. I hope Your Majesty will forgive his crime!"

The chief minister of the cabinet, Ma Wensheng, then tried to persuade them.

Zhu Houzhao snorted, "Mercy? Why should I?
Today, he, a retired Minister of Revenue, can use his status to slander court officials in front of me and interfere with government affairs;
One day, his descendants and servants of Yin Qian will be able to rely on their status as descendants of Yin Qian to confuse right and wrong in front of officials and abuse the people! Since you have retired and returned to your hometown, you should take good care of your old age. Who gave you the power to slander the court officials! Intent on influencing the government! If you are not punished this time, the officials of Nanzhili will definitely think that the officials and gentry who have returned here must not be provoked!

For this reason, severe punishment must be imposed!
But considering your old age, hang yourself, so as not to continue to cause trouble to the village in the future!"

"Your Majesty! I am only begging for mercy. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me!"

Yin Qian never thought that he was just using his status as an official to comment on the matter in front of Zhu Houzhao, so as to persuade the emperor not to let Wang Yangming treat the Jiangnan gentry so rudely. However, he did not expect that Emperor Zhu Houzhao was even more ruthless. He had just expressed his opinion, and the emperor wanted to confiscate his house and force him to hang himself on the grounds that he had interfered with government affairs!
This is even more cruel than Wang Shouren, the governor of Nanzhili!
But Zhu Houzhao still did not let Yin Qian off easily.

Because Zhu Houzhao knew that the gentry in Jiangnan relied on their privileges to run rampant in the countryside and undermine the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and local officials like Yin Qian were the representatives of these gentry. It could even be said that they had the greatest privileges and were the most fearless. They could even directly use their power in the court to threaten the government and even the emperor. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had to teach Yin Qian a lesson. He wanted to let all the officials and gentry in Jiangnan understand the consequences of interfering with the government.

Yin Qian eventually chose to hang himself, but what Zhu Houzhao did not expect was that his people seized nearly five million taels of silver in Yin Qian's home, and a lot of it was Western silver, indicating that Yin Qian's family also made a lot of money from maritime trade.

Zhu Houzhao had to admit that although he had not yet opened the sea, these Jiangnan gentry seemed to have begun to enjoy the benefits of maritime trade. Because in Zhu Houzhao's impression, it was these Jiangnan officials who had the most silver confiscated. The amount of silver confiscated from Xie Qian's family was three or four times that of Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others.

What a terrible thing this is. Most of the gold and silver in an empire is controlled by the gentry and financial tycoons in the south of the Yangtze River, which means that this group can control the world!

……

Zhu Houzhao didn't know how rich Jiangnan was, but he knew that Ming Dynasty was still the richest country in the world, and most of Ming Dynasty's wealth was still concentrated in Jiangnan. If he didn't control the wealth of Jiangnan, he couldn't control the entire Ming Dynasty and couldn't launch foreign wars.

The important purpose of Zhu Houzhao's trip to the south this time was to ensure his legal income in Jiangnan and not let this rich land become a paradise for tax evasion by the gentry groups!

Because of this, he brought along the chief minister of the cabinet Ma Wensheng, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department Liu Jin and other central officials this time, in order to control Jiangnan in a short period of time and express the presence of the central court to the gentry in Jiangnan.

"From now on, you will immediately take over the taxation, soldiers, money and grain affairs of the southern provinces, especially the southern Zhili, and at the same time immediately re-plan;
Since Taizong still retains the status of Nanjing in Jinling, it cannot just be used as a place for retirement. We must re-evaluate the Nanzhili region! For those who owe taxes, let the governor Wang Shouren recover them. Those who commit crimes and fail to meet the requirements will all be dismissed!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Ma Wensheng, Liu Jin, Wang Shu and others immediately went to the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of War in Nanjing.

At this time, Wang Yangming also got the result of the interrogation. He followed the clues and wiped out the water bandits entrenched near Zhenjiang and the pirate den in Chongming County. He even obtained a lot of new evidence. Wang Yangming did not hesitate and arrested everyone he found!
On this day, Zhu Houzhao had just arrived in Nanjing and asked Wang Yangming: "Have all the Jiangnan gentry who have committed crimes confessed now?"

"Your Majesty, they have all confessed. They were all very cowardly. They all confessed as soon as they were tortured. Now we have arrested nearly fifty gentry. However, they are officials after all. How to deal with them, please give your order."

"Behead them all, and exile their families 3,000 miles away to Yunnan and Guizhou to reclaim wasteland! The main culprit will be torn to pieces by chariots! To serve as a warning to others!"

Zhu Houzhao ordered.

"According to the order!"

Wang Yangming responded and immediately followed Zhu Houzhao's instructions. Early the next morning, he ordered Jueshengwei to escort all the Jiangnan gentry who had colluded with the water bandits and pirates, as well as the captured water bandits and pirates, to the gate of Nanjing city and prepare to execute them in front of the people of the city!
However, the main culprit Yuan Zhong'an would naturally be severely punished because he owed a huge blood debt to the Taxation Bureau.

Yuan Zhong'an himself had never expected that within less than half a year, he would be torn to pieces by chariots because of this incident. What he had never expected was that secretly instigating bandits and pirates to make profits for him and other Jiangnan gentry would one day lead to his execution!

Gu Xiantong had never expected that he would also die at the hands of his so-called nephew Wang Shouren. He could not help but curse: "Wang Yun, how dare you treat the gentry of Jiangnan in this way! You will not have a good end in the future! You are breaking off relations with all the gentry in the world! You are betraying the Confucian scholars! You are being disloyal and unfilial! Your father will be disgraced because of you! The emperor will be cursed because of you!"

Wang Shouren didn't bother to pay attention to this. He only knew that the current Ming Dynasty belonged to him, not an era where these Jiangnan gentry continued to enjoy privileges.

Wang Shouren, the governor of Nanzhili, threw away the command arrow and shouted, "Behead him!"

Suddenly, there were sounds of heads being chopped off by knives.

Thanks to my friend SSGO for the 1000 starting coins reward. Thank you to my friend I am a lolita lover Momoda for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to my friend BUCK for the 300 starting coins reward. Thank you to my friend 20181121154845686 for the 100 starting coins reward. Today, the book friends gave very powerful rewards. Thank you! The third update has been delivered. A total of nearly words have been updated today. Each chapter is a long chapter, which may have affected the quality. But this update is also worthy of understanding. Since I don’t have enough talent, I will use updates to make up for it. But I will try my best to improve my level. Tomorrow, the weekend, I will take the time to sort out my thoughts and study. Have a happy weekend!

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(End of this chapter)