In the teahouse of Qidong County, the newspaper reader took the Dali Temple announcement of the day and read it aloud: "For the past six years, the magistrate of Qidong County, Wang Siyong, has been trying to gain fame and reputation by neither collecting land taxes from the gentry nor collecting land taxes from the poor. This move ostensibly won him a favor. Everyone applauded it, but in fact it put the entire Qidong County into trouble."
"Qidong County is almost financially bankrupt, and the roads have not been repaired. The official roads are full of potholes like quagmire. Even if there is a little rain, it will be impossible to walk for several days. The traders who come and go have to transport goods, and it takes a day to walk in Qidong County. Two or three days. Some fragile goods such as ceramics will be damaged a lot on the road, which directly leads to high prices in the county."
Teagoers in the teahouse have always regarded Wang Siyong as a rare good official, but they did not expect that the Dali Temple announcement actually started to attack Wang Siyong. And as soon as he came up, he went straight to the point and hit Wang Siyong's weak spot.
Wang Siyong has been the county magistrate for six years. Although he has won praise from the gentry and the people for his benevolent governance, Qidong County has been declining day by day, which is obvious to all. The abandoned inns, potholed roads, dilapidated towers, and clogged sewers were all seen by the common people every day. Normally no one talks about these matters due to Wang Siyong's reputation as an upright official, but the decline of Qidong County has indeed made people's lives increasingly difficult. At this time, the announcement from Dali Temple came out, which was shocking.
"Wang Siyong's corpse was a vegetarian, and he was obsessed with fishing for fame. After Qidong County paid taxes, there was basically no money left in the finances, and the county government did not do anything that it should do. The wharf on the Daqing River was dilapidated and unusable, the golden waterway of the Daqing River was completely abandoned, and the cost of commodity transportation soared Rising. Qidong County’s specialty products cannot be exported, and goods from outside the county have to be transported in by horse-drawn carriages, which further increases prices and makes people’s lives difficult.”
Prices in Qidong County are indeed relatively high, and they have been getting higher and higher in recent years. In other places, a piece of cotton cloth costs only one tael of silver, but in Qidong County this year it has risen to one tael of silver. The common people didn't know why before and could only bear it silently. At this time, when people read the newspaper, everyone realized that this was the reason why the waterway was cut off and the land road was difficult to travel.
It turned out that Wang Siyong, who was not greedy and was known as a great upright official, actually caused such a big problem. The tea guests looked at each other with surprise in their eyes. But the next headline was the most shocking. This is Qidong County after all, and Wang Siyong is the parent official of this county. The newspaper reader has been afraid to read today's front page headlines. It was not until he finished reading all the other news and comments that he reluctantly turned the newspaper back to the first page and started reading the headlines.
"Qidong County Magistrate Wang Siyong deceived the world and stole his reputation, killing sixty-two innocent people." The newspaper reader's voice became smaller and smaller after reading this. In the teahouse, a middle-aged businessman who made plates sat in the front row, but he could no longer hear the newspaper reader's words clearly. The businessman slammed the table angrily and shouted: "Louder!"
The newspaper reader was so frightened that he trembled and started reading aloud. "The embankment of the Daqing River has been in disrepair for a long time, and a slight flood will cause a disaster. The people along the river have long known about this, and some local gentry directly reported to Wang Siyong, frankly speaking about the dilapidation of the embankment."
"But how could Wang Siyong have the money to repair the river embankment because he was famous for fishing but not receiving land tax? After receiving the report, he only re-rammed the soil in a few of the most conspicuous places. But other dangerous parts were ignored, which eventually led to the third evil. The tragedy of the Daqing River bursting its banks every year. Sixty-two people by the river were buried in the belly of the fish." "In order to defraud his personal reputation, Wang Siyong ignored the lives of the people along the river. The ugly behavior underneath his majestic appearance is outrageous. ."
Upon hearing the news, the tea patrons in the teahouse were a little overwhelmed. It turns out that the 62 lives that drowned when the Daqing River burst its banks a few years ago should be attributed to Wang Siyong. Wang Siyong was an upright official who was not greedy nor lustful. He was famous throughout Shandong, but he caused such a result.
The businessman sitting in the front row, who had suffered from the soaring freight costs over the years, slammed the table angrily and shouted: "Hypocrite!" The tea guests in the teahouse looked at each other. But the most devastating thing is the last sentence of the headline:
"Due to lack of funds, the Daqing River embankment has not been repaired so far. As long as there is another flood, the Daqing River embankment may burst again at any time. The lives of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the river bank are in danger."
For more than ten days in a row, the Dali Temple Announcement devoted a lot of space to reporting on the affairs of Wang Siyong, the magistrate of Qidong County. Wang Siyong killed 62 people by the river for his personal honor, which is shocking. As the newspaper gradually spread, Wang Siyong's reputation as an upright official was gradually ruined, and he became a typical example of civil servants seeking fame and reputation regardless of the lives of ordinary people.
When the gentry mentioned Wang Siyong, who took the lead in opposing the court, they could no longer be as proud as before. Wang Siyong's appeal in Shandong has disappeared after more than ten days of attacks announced by Dali Temple.
The Dali Temple Announcement even organized reporters to conduct several on-site inspections of the dilapidated Daqing River embankment, and published the results of the inspections in newspapers, which caused an uproar throughout Shandong Province. On August 23, Wang Siyong came back from outside the county seat in a sedan chair, frowning in the sedan chair.
In the past ten days, the Dali Temple Announcement has openly attacked Wang Siyong. His reputation accumulated over decades has collapsed overnight. Wang Siyong is now heartbroken. I was neither greedy for money nor lustful, so I thought I had no clues that Hua Jieyu could catch, but I didn't expect Hua Jieyu to be so powerful, and just put the responsibility for the Daqing River bursting on his head.
Stand up and challenge yourself because, what will happen to you in the end? Wang Siyong was thinking in the sedan chair, but the sedan suddenly stopped on the road. There was a commotion ahead. "Master Qingtian, we cannot watch the Daqing River burst its banks again!" "Parents, please allocate funds to repair the embankments of the Daqing River!" "Master Qingtian, the embankments of the Daqing River cannot be repaired anymore!"
Wang Siyong's heart trembled when he heard the noisy shouts. He opened the window of the sedan and looked ahead, and sure enough he saw hundreds of people kneeling in front of the county government office. The people were obviously frightened by the facts reported in the Dali Temple announcement. They did not want to be drowned by the flood, so they blocked the sedan chair and asked Wang Siyong to repair the embankment.
Where does Wang Siyong have the money to build river embankments? The key to his good reputation accumulated over decades of being an official was to exempt the gentry and poor people from land taxes. Qidong County's fiscal revenue and expenditure was in a mess. Being able to provide monthly money to the government officials to maintain order in the county is already considered a prudent plan.
In the past, people thought that the bursting of the embankment was a natural and man-made disaster. Even the few people who knew the inside story would not tell it everywhere, so Wang Siyong fooled it. Now that the Dali Temple announcement is so widely reported, how will this matter end? Wang Siyong looked at the people kneeling and kowtowed, knowing that this matter would never get better. He waved his hand and said to the bearers: "How many people will be drowned before the Daqing River's embankment can be rebuilt?
A tall man suddenly stood up and shouted loudly: "You slanderous dog official, you drowned my parents last year, and you haven't built the embankment this year. I will fight with you!" On the third day of September, in Shandong In all prefectures, states, and counties, the "Dali Temple Court" has all begun operations.
At the end of August, with the continuous attacks from Dali Temple's announcement, Qidong County Magistrate Wang Siyong was attacked from both sides. Not only was his reputation ruined, he was scolded by people everywhere in Shandong and became a joke after dinner, but his administration in Qidong County could no longer be carried out. Tens of thousands of people along the Daqing River surrounded the Qidong County Government and demanded that Wang Siyong repair the river embankment, which was a matter of life and death, but Wang Siyong simply could not afford the money to do this. Finally, after Wang Siyong was detained in the county government office for five days, he escaped from the county government office in the middle of the night and resigned.
As soon as Wang Siyong escaped, the morale of the gentry in Shandong was greatly reduced. Officials from all over the country were afraid of Dali Temple's announcement and the army did not dare to come forward, and the gentry was even more afraid of King Yan's bloody methods. In the end, thousands of horses and horses gathered together, and no one dared to stand up to oppose Hua Jieyu's court in Shandong.
Hua Jieyu sent court personnel to various places, put up signs in the houses that she had bought a long time ago, and opened the court. These courtyards used as courts must be in prominent locations in the county, and the land must be of a certain size to accommodate court staff. Including various equipment and decorations, these office spaces cost Tianjing New City more than 100,000 taels of silver. The local court in each county is equipped with five judges, thirty clerks, and fifty bailiffs. These personnel were all hired by Hua Jieyu from Tianjing New City. In particular, the judges were all outstanding talents selected by the King of Yan from among industrial workers and soldiers, and they took more than a year of legal training before taking up their posts.
There are not many bailiffs, but fifty people are enough to deal with ordinary families or forces. If there is a larger armed force resisting the French, Yang Peng's soldiers from the Huben Division stationed in Shandong will be dispatched to suppress the resisters. Although officials repeatedly ordered Yang Peng to withdraw his troops from Shandong to Hebei, Yang Peng never listened. Yang Peng now has nine thousand troops stationed in Shandong, enough to intimidate the entire province. The laws of the Song Dynasty include "Song Xingtong", whose full name is "Da Song Code Collection and Additional Regulations", which is a code formulated by Emperor Taizu Gao. This code established various orders in the Ming Dynasty and was a highly regarded law in the history of law. Yang Peng is now a minister of the Song Dynasty. The implementation of laws different from the "Song Xingtong" will not only make officials suspicious, but also make the people confused. Therefore, the law used by Yang Peng's court is still the "Song Xingtong" for the time being.
As Yang Peng's power develops in the future, if the people's lifestyle and culture change under Yang Peng's management in the future, Yang Peng will naturally modify the Song Dynasty laws and develop his own set of new laws. Across Shandong, Yang Peng's court system employs nearly 10,000 people. The bailiffs and clerks all earn 20,000 yuan a month, including three meals a day, while the judge's salary is higher. These personnel consume a lot of Yang Peng's money every month, which is also a big expense.
Yang Peng planned to make up for this expense from future commercial taxes and land taxes in Shandong. Of course, one has to eat one bite at a time, and matters such as business taxes and land taxes directly touch the interests of various groups in Shandong, and face even greater resistance. It must be carried out step by step only after the court has taken control of judicial power.
On the third day of September, newly decorated courts everywhere put up huge signs and began accepting lawsuits. After experiencing so many difficulties, the Dali Temple Court in Shandong finally opened. From then on, the judicial system of Shandong Province was controlled by Hua Jieyu, which was considered a major event. On this day, Tianhua Jieyu came to Shandong specifically to check the operation of the courts in various places. The first stop, of course, is the Jinan District Court.
In the Iron Man Alley in the east of Jinan City, a several-story-high flag stands outside a large courtyard with four entrances. The big flag had the characters "Jinan City Dali Temple Local Court" written on it, fluttering in the wind. Hua Jieyu and her bodyguards rode lightly to the front of the court. When they arrived at the entrance of the alley, Hua Jieyu found that people who had come to file a lawsuit were already lining up in a long queue outside the court. There were at least a hundred people waiting in the queue, waiting to enter the court compound to register and accept the case.
Obviously, after several months of publicity for the Dali Temple announcement, the people of Jinan are looking forward to the Dali Temple Court. The people who were bullied by the powerful in the city and treated unfairly by the local officials all came to the court to file lawsuits. Hua Jieyu was riding towards the gate of the court when she saw a short middle-aged man dressed as a farmer and several relatives, friends and village elders happily walking out of the court. To say he walked out is a bit inaccurate. He actually jumped out excitedly.
Behind him, a fat middle-aged man wearing a cocoon silk round collar with a livid face walked out with two servants. The middle-aged man glared hard at the farmer in front of him, and then walked quickly out of the alley. Seeing this attitude, Hua Jieyu knew that the plaintiff and defendant had finished the lawsuit. Hua Jieyu smiled, rode up to the farmer, and said to him, "Farmer, what kind of lawsuit are you here to fight?"
Hua Jieyu was not wearing an official robe today, and she couldn't tell what kind of official she was from her appearance. The farmer looked at Hua Jieyu's horse in surprise. He didn't know who Hua Jieyu was. He thought for a moment and said, "Miss, my family's 13 acres of dry land is beside the Zhaojia River outside the city. Last year, there was a flood in Zhaojia River. , flooded my family’s farmland. After the flood receded, the powerful Lu family in the village occupied my family’s farmland in the name of terra nullius.”
"The Lu family has some friendship with the officials in the government office. Those officials helped him without conscience and insisted that my family's dry land was terra nullius. I had no way to complain and could only watch the fertile land being occupied by others." "Fortunately. The court of King Yan's Dali Temple made the decision for me and other common people. The master in the court, no, the judge only took a few glances at my home's land deed, and listened to a few fair words from the three old men in the village. The land was returned to me. The judge also said that the Lu family had occupied 13 acres of land for a year and would have to compensate me for thirty-two taels of silver and a fine of sixty-four taels. The Lu family paid the money and the judge let them go. Walk."
Hua Jieyu nodded, said no more, and rode forward. Li Han, who was next to Hua Jieyu, said: "That man, you are standing in front of a minister of Dali Temple. Why don't you thank Mr. Hua for upholding justice for you?" The farmer was stunned, his face became panicked, and with a pop Kneeling in front of Hua Jieyu's horse, he shouted loudly: "The little people don't know that the adults are the adults! The kindness of the adults will be repaid by the little people in the future!"
The relatives, friends and village elders behind the farmers also quickly knelt on the ground one by one. Hua Jieyu smiled and said: "Get up, everyone. Since I hold the Dalian Teacher's Court in Shandong, I will naturally make decisions for the people. What do you mean by being a cow or a horse?"
The farmer and the relatives, friends and village elders behind him got up from the ground. Li Han said loudly: "Wuna man, remember clearly, if the Lu family causes trouble for you in the future, you will go to the Dali Temple court to sue him. Don't let these little bastards think you are weak and can be bullied."
The farmer nodded and replied: "Young people know that from now on, your life will depend entirely on the protection of the court." On the ninth day of September, in the morning court of Huangji Hall, the officials were in a hurry. News from Shandong reached the capital yesterday. As expected, Yang Peng secretly set up the Dali Temple Court in Shandong and took control of the judiciary in Shandong Province. The people welcomed King Yan's court very much, and people came to file lawsuits one after another. The local gentry, who had always been favored by local officials in lawsuits, lost their power in King Yan's Dali Temple court. Nine out of ten cases lost when sued by poor people who made false statements.
King Yan expanded his power again. Not only did he control Hebei, he also extended his power to Shandong. This is what the princes in the court do not want to see. If the judicial power of Shandong was taken away by King Yan, what would be left for the civil servants of Shandong? Can we just immerse ourselves in construction? Is that still an official? The civil servants in the court were the most powerful group in the Ming Dynasty. How could they watch the power system of the Ming Dynasty collapse under the attack of King Yan?
And once King Yan controls the judiciary, he will have the real power in Shandong. With such power, any subsequent commercial taxes and land taxes will be imposed on Shandong without any suspense. Such consequences are intolerable to civil servants. On the tenth day of October, Wang Yongji, the envoy of Shandong Xuanwei, was sitting in the Yamen of the Qingzhou Prefecture magistrate, looking at the gathering of Shandong civil servants and military generals, smiling and stroking his beards. Officials mobilized soldiers and horses to garrison Xianghe County, more than a hundred miles north of Cangzhou, and mobilized 130,000 border troops, which shocked the government and the public. When sending troops this time, the officials only asked the army to gather in Xianghe County, but did not explain what to do next. The border soldiers were stationed in Xianghe and built a stronghold. Since they were paid, it didn't matter. But outside, the purpose of this troop deployment was aroused.
Xianghe and Cangzhou are so close. Most civil servants looked at the map and felt that this action was targeted at him. Yang Peng had just disobeyed the imperial edict and invaded Shandong, and the officials mobilized such a large army to go south. The civil servants and gentry were very excited. These days, wars often last for half a year, and it is common for large armies to stay in a certain place for a period of time before the decisive battle. Rumors that the officials wanted to get rid of Yang Peng's cancer spread rapidly across the country.
The civil servants celebrated with their crowns and kept urging the officials to use troops quickly in the court. They all said that they would fight quickly before Yang Peng's defense in Hebei was complete. In response to this huge change, Yang Peng responded by gathering troops and horses to defend Cangzhou, hoarding grain and grass in Tianjing New City, and seemed to be ready to abandon other places in Cangzhou at any time. In Shandong, Yang Peng's five thousand soldiers and horses originally scattered in various places gathered in Jinan City and assumed a defensive posture.
The literati and gentry in Shandong were very excited when they heard the news. They lamented that the officials finally woke up and no longer protected Yang Peng, and rushed to tell each other. When Wang Yongji, the envoy of Xuanwei in Shandong, learned the news, he was so excited that he didn't sleep all night. Early the next morning, he took his seal, family members and servants out of the city in batches. He quickly left Jinan City controlled by Yang Peng and rushed to Qingzhou Mansion where there was no Huben division.
In Qingzhou Prefecture, Wang Yongji urgently contacted Liang Fengchun, Denglai Xuanwei's envoy, and summoned generals from all over Shandong to take advantage of this good situation to recapture Jinan City by force and drive Yang Peng out of Shandong. There are two Xuanwei envoys in Shandong. The east one is under the jurisdiction of the governor of Denglai, and the west one is under the jurisdiction of the governor of Shandong. Liang Fengchun, the envoy of Denglai Xuanwei, also hated Yang Peng. After receiving Wang Yongji's letter, he rushed to Qingzhou to join Wang Yongji as soon as possible. The two gathered soldiers from all over Shandong and soon gathered all the generals from Shandong in Qingzhou.
Nowadays, there are rumors everywhere that the officials are attacking Yang Peng, and Yang Peng has become a hairless phoenix. At this time, two Xuanwei envoys jointly mobilized Shandong soldiers and horses to attack Yang Peng. Which general would dare not listen? There were originally Dengzhou Camp, Laizhou Camp and other battalions in Shandong. In only fifteen days, Wang Yongji gathered a force of more than 30,000 troops.
In the lobby of the Qingzhou Prefecture's Yamen, Wang Yongji and Denglai Xuanwei's envoy Liang Fengchun were sitting at the top, while more than twenty generals stood below. Although the Shandong Military and Horse Supervisors and the Denglai Military and Horse Supervisors are considered to be the Military and Horse Supervisors, they have little status in inland provinces like Shandong and can only stand in front of the Xuanwei Envoy.
Wang Yongji smiled while stroking his beard and said loudly: "Everyone, the Yang thieves first surrounded the capital and then moved to Shandong. The rebellion is clearly exposed. The officials have been furious and have vowed to kill Yang Peng and his party. The scholars in Shandong can't Regain the clear sky.”
In order to incite the generals to attack Yang Peng together, Wang Yongji told a big lie. However, the generals were not as well informed as Xuanwei, and rumors were flying all over the sky at this time. How could the generals tell whether Wang Yongji's words were true or false? When the generals heard Wang Yongji say that Yang Peng was about to be destroyed, they all hurriedly fawned over Master Xuanwei, fearing that they would be left behind at this critical moment.
"What Lord Xuanwei said is absolutely true. A few years ago, I heard that the Yang thieves were exploiting the gentry in Hebei, and I knew that the Yang thieves would be destroyed." "We are willing to follow the Xuanwei envoy and drive Yang Peng's forces out of Shandong. Wang Yongji laughed loudly and said: "There are only 5,000 thieves in Jinan City. I have 30,000 people to lay siege to the city and storm it. I believe we can take it in a few months. At that time, my troops from Shandong will march north and join hundreds of thousands of border troops." Let’s attack Cangzhou together. Once the low wall of Tianjing New City is breached, you will all be great contributors to suppressing the rebellion.”
After listening to Wang Yongji's words, the generals bowed down one by one and shouted: "It's all up to Xuanwei to make the decision."
On October 15th, Yang Peng received a report from Han Jinxin in Yanjing and learned that Wang Yongji, the envoy of Xuanwei in Shandong, had mobilized troops to attack Jinan. Nowadays, the official Chen Bing is in Xianghe County, and hundreds of thousands of troops are eyeing Cangzhou. Although Yang Peng still lives in Yanjing, he is always paying attention to Xianghe's reports. As long as Xianghe's border troops approach further south, Yang Peng will be ready to retreat into Tianjing New City to defend.
At this time, Yang Peng was very annoyed when he heard the news that Shandong Xuanwei sent Wang Yongji to fish in troubled waters. Yang Peng's men gathered at the Prince's Mansion to discuss countermeasures. Zhou Dayong is still a little afraid of the imperial power and is very nervous these days. At this time, he was sitting on a chair and his face was not very good. He probably didn't fall asleep at night. He looked at Yang Peng, raised his hands and said, "Your Majesty, if we really wait for 130,000 border troops to besiege Tianjing New City, things will be irreversible. Why not withdraw the court of Dali Temple in Shandong and have a good word with the housekeeper. After all, we are the heroes of the Shanxi War. As long as the Dali Temple court is withdrawn, the housekeeper will definitely withdraw his troops."
Ye Qi Hanyu glared at Zhou Dayong and said, "Zhou Dayong, don't talk nonsense. How can there be any reason to spit out what King Yan has eaten?" Zhou Dayong looked at Ye Qi Hanyu and then at Yang Peng. He swallowed what he wanted to say and stopped talking. Han Jinxin said: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, the housekeeper is just showing off and will not really attack Tianjing New City."
Lin Qing'er became interested when she heard this, raised her head and said: "Han Jinxin, please tell me why the housekeeper won't really fight." Han Jinxin said: "It's very simple, the housekeeper can't fight this battle. We have accumulated a lot of experience in Hebei now. With enough food and supplies to fight for two years, how can the government's army of 130,000 fight with us for two years? If we only need to fight for one year, the government will have no money to pay for the army."
Hearing Han Jinxin's words, the generals under Yang Peng laughed. Everyone has always found the poverty and embarrassment of the Song Dynasty court very ridiculous. Seeing everyone laughing so happily, Zhou Dayong also laughed a few times. Han Jinxin waved his hand and said: "I don't think it will take two months before the officials will feel sorry for the money and order the withdrawal of troops."
Yang Peng nodded and said: "Han Jinxin is right. The government has no determination to fight a protracted war with us. I am not worried about the border troops in Xianghe." When the conversation changed, Yang Peng said again: "But this Wang Yongji, the envoy of Xuanwei in Shandong, made me unbearable." "It was Wang Yongji who took the lead in making the announcement of Dali Temple. I had spared him to die, but I didn't expect that he would go further and now he dared to mobilize troops to attack Jinan." If I don't kill this Wang Yongji, everyone in the world will think that I, Yang Peng, are weak and can be bullied!"
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
