Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 147 Rebellion
Zhu Houzhao did not expect that the Jiangnan gentry would give in so quickly. He thought that he had not yet come up with the ultimate trick of beating the landlords, dividing the land and allowing the proletariat to rule the country.

But no matter what, since these Jiangnan gentry were willing to admit defeat and compromise, Zhu Houzhao, as the emperor, would not refuse to give them the opportunity to be good citizens.

After all, Zhu Houzhao did not want to force the gentry to rebel, and unless it was absolutely necessary, his goal was not to launch a top-down revolution, which would also have cost him his life as the emperor.

In Zhu Houzhao's view, we are all rulers, and no one wants to be ruled unless it is absolutely necessary. However, as rulers, we cannot let only the emperor sacrifice his interests to revitalize the empire or even ease class contradictions. You gentry must also fulfill your obligations.

Therefore, when Zhu Houzhao saw the great scholar Cheng Jian kneeling down to pay his respects to him, he hurriedly asked Liu Jin to help him up and said, "Mr. Cheng, there is no need to do this. You were once a minister of the Ming Dynasty and a great scholar of Neo-Confucianism. I have never asked the scholars to kowtow to me and become my slaves. I only ask you to pay taxes according to the rules.

After all, the court needs money and food to support the army, and supporting the army is to maintain this peaceful and prosperous era. Peace in the world is not only good for me and the common people, but also for you gentry. But you can't just let me be frugal and let the people pay taxes. You are not fulfilling your responsibility for the rise and fall of the world, don't you think?"

Prosecutor Cheng thanked him quickly, then stood up and said:
"Your Majesty is right. It is many gentry who do not understand this truth. They only know how to sit in their study and read books by sages, and do not know the difficulties of the court. Fortunately, everyone now understands the court's painstaking efforts. Now, please rest assured, Your Majesty. We, the subjects, are willing to serve Your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty at our utmost!"

Cheng Jian came today to seek peace on behalf of the gentry of Jiangnan. Now that Zhu Houzhao said this, he naturally would not sing a different tune and just hurriedly agreed.

"If all the gentry in Jiangnan were as sensible as Mr. Cheng, there would be no need for such a big fight." Zhu Houzhao then asked, "I heard from Master Ma that you are a descendant of the two Chengs?"

"Your Majesty, I am a descendant of the Great Cheng (Cheng Hao, a Northern Song Dynasty thinker)," Cheng Jian replied.

"No wonder he is so tactful, worthy of being the descendant of a famous family. I have drafted an imperial decree to confer the title of Doctor of Five Classics in the Hanlin Academy on Chengmen."

Zhu Houzhao nodded and issued an edict.

The reason why he did this was naturally to show it to the Confucian scholars all over the world, to let these people know that compromise and concession also have their benefits, and not to think about confronting the court head-on.

As for the position of Doctor of Five Classics in the Hanlin Academy, it is naturally worthless, but scholars value it, especially those from Neo-Confucian families.

After all, anyone who can obtain this official position now means that he is a descendant of a saint, such as Mencius and Yan Zi, which is a great honor.

Even after Confucius, the court conferred a title of Yansheng Duke on them, which was a much higher status, so high that Qufu became an independent kingdom. However, the Confucian family was also more shameless, which other families could not compare to, so their title was so high.

When Cheng Jian saw that Zhu Houzhao had granted him the title of Doctor of Five Classics in the Hanlin Academy, he was so moved that he burst into tears on the spot. He sobbed and bowed again, and knocked his head heavily to the ground: "The Cheng family is grateful for your majesty's grace! The Cheng family swears to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty until death! Woo woo!"

Although Zhu Houzhao knew that the promises made by these so-called Jiangnan gentry, especially those from the Neo-Confucian family, were like farts, he had to admit that it still sounded comfortable when he was in their situation. He had to admit that there were only two kinds of people in the world who were most easily moved when they cried: one was a bitch, and the other was a scholar.

"Stand up, there is no need to do this." Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "I have also approved your suggestion to Master Ma. I will order the abolition of the warning period after the signing of the "South Zhili Convention". Based on the Ming Dynasty law, you gentry and the Southern Zhili Governor Wang Yangming will be responsible for this matter. The gentry will use you as a representative to sign a convention on how to punish those who default on taxes, the distribution of power between clans and local officials, and other rules."

Although in the early stage, the police agencies had not deteriorated and were indeed maintaining public order, Zhu Houzhao could not guarantee that these policemen would only play the role of punishing evil and eliminating evil in the future. They might rely on the law enforcement and execution powers granted by the court to kill innocent people for profit. It could even be said that this was certain, and I was afraid that this phenomenon had already occurred.

Therefore, even without the gentry's request, Zhu Houzhao actually wanted to abolish the alert period. After all, this kind of military-style ruling method was not a long-term solution. A society needed laws. Even in today's monarchy, as the emperor, he had to ensure that local officials and the people had a set of laws to follow, so that the government could be restrained from killing people indiscriminately and the people would have rules to abide by.

In addition, Zhu Houzhao also wanted to take back the execution power of the Police Department. After all, human life should not be taken lightly. After the alert period, that is, after the end of the military control zone, the death row prisoners in the Nanzhili region would still have to be executed personally by himself, the emperor, as in other places, and no one else had the right to do it on his behalf.

The gentry began to continue flirting with the government, and Cheng Jian was even more active in singing praises for Zhu Houzhao after he was appointed as the Doctor of the Five Classics. However, for the rogues, clerks and common people at the bottom of society, as well as some gangsters and even bandits who had been instigated by these gentry, they felt that they had been deceived.

They didn't understand why it was the gentry who were dissatisfied with the court, and it was the gentry who asked them to smash, loot and burn, but in the end they were the ones beheaded and imprisoned, while the gentry got official positions and even sang praises of the prosperous times, helping the court to criticize them for not abiding by the laws.

These people at the bottom of society couldn't figure out the key here, but they knew that it would be better for them to be obedient citizens in the future and work honestly on the farm. It would be foolish to listen to the gentry's nonsense and think that they could make a fortune without working for it.

Of course, not all the gentry in Jiangnan could see the current situation clearly and wisely turn to the court to help the court deal with their former allies, the ruffians. There were also radical gentry who still wanted to fight against the court. Gu Xinlei was such a person. With the evidence that Tian Zheng, the general of Zhenjiang, was colluding with the Japanese and selling firearms to King Ning, and tempted by the conditions that the gentry would cooperate with him, Tian Zheng, the general of Zhenjiang, was persuaded by Gu Xinlei to start a rebellion. He sent troops to Nanjing in the name of clearing the court of evil, with the purpose of punishing Ma Wensheng and burning Zhu Houzhao to death.

"Kill corrupt officials! Exempt the gentry from paying taxes! Give them rice as a stipend!"

Under this name, Zhenjiang General Tian Zheng and student Gu Xinlei led more than 8,000 officers and soldiers to Nanjing City.

However, the slogans they shouted were not about overthrowing the Ming Dynasty or killing the emperor. After all, the officers and soldiers did not want to rebel in their hearts, and they did not hate the emperor that much. If the two wanted to encourage the officers and soldiers to follow them, it would be better to say "kill corrupt officials", as some people might not be willing to follow them to kill the emperor.

It is worth mentioning that the demand for distribution of rice as a stipend was more like a demand rather than a slogan of rebellion, but it had the best agitation effect.

The common people on the road from Zhenjiang to Nanjing looked indifferently at the army that was heading to Nanjing to rebel.

At this time, Fang Dacai, an ordinary citizen in Dantu Town, was confused about what these more than 8,000 soldiers were going to do, and couldn't help but ask his father: "Dad, what are they going to do?"

"Is there any food at home?" asked Fang Dacai's father.

"Yes, a lot. I helped the government repair the river some time ago and earned six dou of rice, which I can exchange for some cloth to make new clothes," Fang Dacai said with a smile.

"Why should we care about them when we have food to eat? They can rebel and we will farm our own land. We don't believe they can turn the world upside down," said Fang Dacai's father.

Many people, like Fang Dacai's father, turned a blind eye to the rebellion of Zhenjiang General Tian Zheng. It was more like watching a play. They didn't even understand why the Zhenjiang General wanted to rebel, or whether he couldn't afford food or clothes.

Not only the common people thought so. At this time, Bai Jingshan, a captain under the command of Zhenjiang General Tian Zheng, did not understand why Zhenjiang General Tian Zheng wanted to rebel. He even felt that rebellion had no future. So he took his troops without hesitation and took a shortcut to Nanjing City. He reported the rebellion of Zhenjiang General Tian Zheng to the Governor Wang Yangming.

Not only Bai Jingshan, but also the gentry of all sizes from Zhenjiang to Nanjing also came to report with great "loyalty" that someone had risen up in rebellion. After all, they had now admitted defeat and realized that the imperial court still had the support of the people.

Even the gentry near Nanjing city finally had a reasonable reason to organize the people, and the reason was naturally to serve the king and protect the emperor.

The people responded positively to the call to support the emperor. After all, if the emperor was gone, there would be chaos in the world. They had just experienced a riot and did not want to experience another one.

All of a sudden, more and more militia groups gathered outside the city of Nanjing, including the troops of Zhenjiang General Tian Zheng.

……

At this time, Zhu Houzhao also learned from Wang Yangming and the informer Bai Jingshan that Zhenjiang General Tian Zhengqi had rebelled. Zhu Houzhao was quite surprised by this. He was not surprised that there would be a rebellion, but he was surprised that the one who rebelled was a military officer!
Zhu Houzhao thought that he had not yet reformed the Wei Suo system or abolished the military registration, and now he was just being harsh on the gentry in Jiangnan. How come the military officers were the first to rebel?

But in any case, this was the first time that Zhu Houzhao experienced a rebellion not far from him, so he was quite serious about it.

But Zhu Houzhao was not panicked. First of all, in addition to the local army in Nanjing, he also had a division of the Imperial Guards with tens of thousands of soldiers. Secondly, he had three officials who were more knowledgeable about military affairs, Ma Wensheng, Wang Yangming, and Qiu Yue, so it would not be easy for a general to successfully rebel.

However, it was still a serious incident for civil servants such as Ma Wensheng and even Jiangnan gentry like Cheng Jian. They all looked solemn and began to discuss how to mobilize troops to defend the emperor. Even Wang Yangming did not dare to underestimate it. After all, the emperor was in Nanjing City, and it was the first time he faced such an incident. The same was true for Qiu Yue.

Zhu Houzhao first asked the cabinet to issue an edict, asking Qiu Yue to lead the First Division of the Guards out of the city to annihilate the enemy, and asked Wang Yangming to be responsible for organizing officers and soldiers to defend the city, while Ma Wensheng and others, together with Nanjing Minister of War Wang Shi, began to mobilize officers and soldiers from the surrounding areas to serve the king.

Thanks to the book friend Chao Xue Chi for the reward of 100 Qidian coins

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(End of this chapter)