When Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, petitioned to reinstate the Nurgan Dusi last year, almost everyone thought that this was just a means for Li Xianzhong to please His Majesty.
Liaodong alone cost Ming Dynasty millions of taels of silver a year, not to mention the barren lands in the north.
But soon the courtiers discovered that the Duke of Liao was really not joking.
At the beginning of the year, Li Xianzhong re-established the "Three Jurchen Guards".
That is, Ye He's left guard, Ye He's right guard and Jianzhou's left guard.
These are not just three guardhouses.
Among them, the Yehe two guards almost included the vast area previously occupied by the entire Haixi Jurchen, and its territory was almost larger than the entire Liaodong.
The capital commander of the guard station still conferred local officials, but Li Xianzhong sent several Ming officials to station there, which was considered to confirm the central government's jurisdiction.
Although these areas are still autonomous by the Yehe tribe, the Yehe tribe sent people to offer ginseng, furs, Dongzhu and other things. Although there were not many things, these were not tributes from the vassal, but "taxes" from Yehe's left and right guards. tribute".
"Tax tribute" was also created by Li Xianzhong, that is, paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty in the form of taxes every year, and the Ming Dynasty does not need rewards. This is a unilateral obligation.
In other words, the loss-making "tribute" trade of the Ming Dynasty was banned by Li Xianzhong.
To put it bluntly, this "tax tribute" is the "protection fee" paid by the younger brother to the older brother.
Although the Ministry of Rites objected on the grounds that it violated the ancestral system.
However, the Ministry of Household Affairs strongly supports it. This will not only reduce unnecessary annual rewards but also increase the income of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Of course, compared to Ye He's left and right backs, the most controversial one is the Jianzhou left back.
Because the Jianzhou Left Guard established by Li Xianzhong directly included the two Koreas.
Adding the territory of the tributary country North Korea to the Jianzhou Zuowei of the Ming Dynasty is tantamount to letting North Korea directly cede territory.
Officials from the Ministry of Rites headed by Sun Ruyou believed that the Ming Dynasty, as the suzerain state, should not forcibly seize the territory of the vassal states.
The Ministry of Rites even presented the letter of credence submitted by the North Korean envoy.
Protest against the Ming Dynasty's transfer of the homeland of Korea to Jianzhou Zuowei, and demand that Emperor Qi of the Ming Dynasty uphold justice and return the two lands to Korea.
Zhu Youxiao had never received formal education, and he barely knew that North Korea was to the east of Liaodong.
So he asked: "Have these two lands always belonged to North Korea?"
Han Xu, a scholar, said: "During the Hongwu and Yongle years, North Korean envoys asked the late emperor for land. In the end, the late emperor considered that the two roads had always been the homeland of North Korea, so he gave it to North Korea. This place should only be regarded as the homeland of North Korea!"
Xiong Tingbi, the Minister of War, had already prepared. He said: "Mr. Han Ge only knows one thing, but not the other."
"These two places are not North Korea's solid territory, but the North Korean envoys deliberately deceived the late emperor. At that time, our Ming Dynasty was mainly focused on dealing with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, so the late emperor withdrew the Jianzhou left guard to the north."
Soon he asked someone to bring a wooden frame over.
Xiong Tingbi pointed to a map on the shelf and said: "As early as the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowu Liu Che established the 'Four Han Counties' in Liaodong and North Korea after occupying this place. From then on, this place has been controlled by our Central Plains Dynasty."
"After that, Goguryeo rose up and occupied this place. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Datang and Silla jointly destroyed Goguryeo. Although Silla has been encroaching on Datang's territory in North Korea since then, it only advanced as far as the Datong River."
"After that, no matter in the Liao, Jin, Mongolia or Yuan dynasties, this area has always been occupied by our Central Plains dynasty. After Wang's Goryeo replaced Silla, they only took advantage of the vacuum period between Jin and Mongolia to briefly control this area. The total was less than Within two years, they were driven away by the Jurchen tribe here."
"The claim that this is the hometown of North Korea is pure nonsense. It was the North Korean envoy who deliberately deceived the late emperor!"
Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao was furious and said: "This small North Korean state is respectful to me, the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it harbors evil intentions!"
Han Xu said: "Although the North Korean envoys made untrue statements about the late emperor, after all, the late emperor had given this place to North Korea. Now that we, the Ming Dynasty, have gone back on our word, we have lost the prestige of the heavenly kingdom!"
Xiong Tingbi took an agreement and said: "This is the agreement just sent by the Duke of Liao. North Korea has long secretly colluded with Jianlu behind Ming Dynasty's back and ceded two lands to Jianlu."
"Now that Ming Dynasty has transferred the land of Jianlu to Jianzhou Zuowei, what does it have to do with North Korea?"
As soon as Xiong Tingbi's words came out, Han Xu and others knew they were in the wrong, so they shut up completely.
Soon after, Li Xianzhong escorted the bandit chief Daishan to the capital in the name of Azig.
Although Jierharang had been sent to the capital before, after all, it was the Great Khan of Jianzhou who was doing good deeds, so the weight was obviously different.
The Tatars had been causing trouble to Liaodong for many years, and now they can be said to have been completely pacified.
In particular, Daishan was caught in the capital even after he hid in North Korea, which shows how powerful the Ming Dynasty is, and those who offend the Ming Dynasty will be punished no matter how far away they are!
Emperor Apocalypse Zhu Youxiao even named Azig the title of Gui Yibo, which was regarded as recognition that the two lands in Korea belonged to Jianzhou Zuowei, and that the Ming Dynasty annexed these two lands in disguise.
The originally illusory Slave Gandusi has now expanded a lot due to the jurisdiction of the Jurchen Three Guards.
Especially after Yuan Chonghuan was ordered to build Vladivostok, it officially became the seat of Nuergandusi.
In order to commend Li Xianzhong for his contribution in restoring the Nurgan capital, Emperor Tianqi sent Li Xianzhong, Duke of Liao, to the Zuozhu Kingdom, and the crown prince and grand master showed his gratitude.
Zhu Youxiao even issued an edict that Daishan would be executed in Lingchi, West City, three days later!
And ordered all officials to go and watch the execution.
At this time, the West Market was already surrounded by countless people.
Ling Chi actually did not have so many knives before the Ming Dynasty. The earliest one was the "eight-knife cutting", which first cut the head and face, then the hands and feet, then the chest and abdomen, and finally the head.
Later, more and more cutting methods were gradually derived, such as 24 knives, 36 knives and even 120 knives.
It was not until the great eunuch Liu Jin that it reached its peak of 3,357 knives, and then there was a trend of more and more knives.
Xu Hongru, the leader of the White Lotus Sect who proclaimed himself emperor last year, was stabbed 3,600 times.
It is said that this time Daishan had to be beheaded with 3,700 knives, so there were a lot of people watching.
I saw Daishan being tied to a torture stake and wearing a net-like clothes. The executioner pulled the fishing nets hard and embedded them into his body, breaking the flesh into pieces. .
At this time, Shi Shan's mouth had been gagged, and the money rat tail on his head was tied to the torture stake, unable to move at all!
First, the executioner slaps the prisoner's heart hard, and then turns the knife dexterously. This knife will just turn off the protruding position of Daishan's right chest.
Then with the second knife, he unscrewed the protruding part of Daishan's left chest.
On Daishan's chest, there were two holes the size of copper coins. There was blood, but very little.
The reason was that the sudden palm before the operation had already tightened Daishan's heart, which greatly slowed down the blood circulation.
Then, the executioner used a clean sheep belly towel dipped in salt water to dry the blood on Daishan's chest, leaving the knife edge like a brand new slash on the tree.
Sun Chengzong said: "Now that our Ming Dynasty has completely put down the Jianzhou Rebellion, and the Duke of Liao has continued to expand territory in Liaodong, why is Mr. Han Ge so depressed?"
Han Xu sighed and said: "Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, is not a law-abiding person. Ever since he became the commander-in-chief of Kaiyuan, he has been constantly provoking border troubles, conquering Mongolia without permission, establishing a state, and now he has brought the war to North Korea. This It’s definitely not a blessing to my Ming Dynasty!”
Sun Chengzong said: "Although the Duke of Liao was good at fighting, his martial arts skills were rare in our dynasty. It took only a few years to pacify Jianzhou."
"Not only Jianzhou, but also the Mongolian tribes now dare not invade the border. Now that all the Jurchen tribes have surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong is stable!"
Han Xu said: "This is what I am worried about. Now the Liao Town is more powerful than the Ming Dynasty. If the Duke of Liao wants to rebel, who can stop him?"
"What's more, all the Mongolian Jurchen tribes are at his disposal. This is clearly another Anlu Mountain?"
To be honest, Sun Chengzong felt that Mr. Han Ge was a bit alarmist.
However, martial arts such as Li Xianzhong were indeed out of the control of civilian officials, and Sun Chengzong decided to support Han Xu's actions.
Soon after, Han Xu and others met with Zhu Youxiao and requested that Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, be transferred back to the capital.
Their reason is simple. Now that Liaodong has stabilized and there are no more border troubles, it is no longer necessary for the Duke of Liao to continue to stay in Liaodong.
Although the Duke of Liao himself was indeed loyal to the Ming Dynasty, there was no guarantee that his subordinates would not have other ideas.
In order to avoid the emergence of feudal separatist regimes or the recurrence of "yellow robes".
Uncle Ning Yuan should still be recalled to the capital and re-entrusted with important responsibilities. This is also a kind of protection for the Duke of Liao!
This matter is no small matter, and Zhu Youxiao naturally cannot listen to what the family says.
Soon Wei Zhongxian, Xiong Tingbi and others were also reported to Qianqing Palace.
When Han Xu and others met Zhu Youxiao, he thought that the Donglin Party was doing it for the "Beijing Prosecution" matter, but he did not expect that they actually bit Li Xianzhong.
Especially when he heard that Han Xu would rather give up his position as chief minister to the Duke of Liao, Wei Zhongxian was even more shocked!
Is Han Xu going crazy with convulsions?
This year is the year of Beijing inspection every six years.
Now Feng Quan, the Minister of Personnel, and Cui Chengxiu, the censor of Zuodu, have already prepared black materials about the Donglin Party members.
Soon they will take advantage of this opportunity to drive the Donglin Party members below the fourth rank out of the court.
However, Zhu Youxiao personally inspected officials of fourth rank and above. Based on Eunuch Wei's understanding of His Majesty, he would definitely not read the self-examination of all officials.
At that time, except for a few cabinet ministers and the position of chief official of the six ministries, it is estimated that I will take over the position for myself.
Donglin Party members must have been cleared out of the court in large numbers.
Could it be that the Donglin Party members knew that their power in the court was in jeopardy and wanted to bring Li Xianzhong back to muddy the waters?
It is true that Wei Zhongxian and Li Xianzhong are allies, but this is based on the fact that they are under one rule and do not interfere with each other outside.
Li Xianzhong's power is not small. Behind him are the Xungui Group, Liaodong generals, and Xiong Tingbi's Ministry of War.
To be honest, I really want Li Xianzhong to be the chief minister. With his methods, I am afraid that most of the courtiers will be won over soon.
After all, the Duke of Liao wants means and money, so he is much more difficult to deal with than the Donglin Party.
Eunuch Wei definitely did not want to see Li Xianzhong return to the capital.
Wei Zhongxian said: "Your Majesty, I think this matter is inappropriate."
"Liaodong has just settled down now. Although the 'Three Jurchen Guards' have surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, this is all based on the premise that the Duke of Liao is in charge of Liaodong. If the Duke of Liao suddenly returns to Beijing, I am afraid these people will be ready to take action again!"
Xiong Tingbi also said: "Liaodong is only stable on the surface, but in fact there are still undercurrents surging around it. If the Duke of Liao leaves Liaodong, it will have a huge impact on both the Jurchen Mongolian tribes and the soldiers of Liaodong. It is absolutely not feasible!"
"Currently, Nurgan Dusi has just been reactivated. Your Majesty must not give up halfway!"
Even several neutral cabinet ministers believed that the imperial court was too hasty in transferring the Duke of Liao back to Beijing at this time. It was inevitable that people would say that the imperial court was trying to kill the donkey.
Even if we want to prevent minor changes, we should wait until Liaodong is completely stable and stable before taking measures.
Li Xianzhong opened up territory and expanded the territory for the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youxiao was on the rise at this time, so naturally he was unwilling to recall Li Xianzhong back.
Seeing that the transfer of Li Xianzhong back to Beijing failed, Han Xu added: "Since there are no captives raging in Korea now, it seems that there is no need to set up a governor of Korea, and the Ming troops stationed in Korea can return home."
This suggestion still made Zhu Youxiao quite excited.
It's not like he didn't know the dangers of Li Xianzhong being in Liaodong.
Although he promised not to touch his Liaodong strategy, now that the North Korean issue has been resolved, it is indeed possible to remove the North Korean governor.
Just when Zhu Youxiao was hesitating, another shocking news came from the Ministry of Rites.
The former North Korean leader Jin Zidian accepted the abdication of the former North Korean king Li Zhu in Hanyang. Jin Zidian became the new North Korean king. The envoys he sent have arrived in the capital and asked the Ming Dynasty to canonize him as the new North Korean king!
After hearing the news, everyone in Qianqing Palace was shocked!
Doesn't this mean that North Korea's leader Jin Zidian usurped the throne? We are all old people in the world, who is Zen trying to fool with this trick?
The most important thing is that Kim Zidian is not from the North Korean royal family. This coup in North Korea is equivalent to a change of dynasty!
Chief Assistant Han Xu said: "Your Majesty, Jin Zidian is treason and usurping the throne. We, the Ming Dynasty, will never recognize him as the king of Korea!"
"Instead of recognizing his throne, we should immediately send troops to North Korea to force Kim Zidian to return the throne of North Korea to Lee!"
Sun Chengzong also said: "If I, the Ming Dynasty, confirm such a rebellious act, wouldn't that mean that everyone in the world can rebel and seize the throne at any time?"
"I'm afraid that if this happens, more Xiaoxiao people who covet the throne will take the opportunity to rebel, and then the world will be in chaos!"
Zhu Youxiao felt that what these two people said was quite reasonable, so he looked at Wei Zhongxian!
Wei Zhongxian hurriedly said: "We don't know the specific situation in North Korea right now, and I don't think there is any need to rush to conclusions. We should wait for the report from the Duke of Liao first, and then make a judgment after understanding the specific situation!"
Soon after, Li Xianzhong's report also arrived.
Li Xianzhong believed that the reason why the Korean people rose up to overthrow the King of Korea Li Jie this time was that Li Jie was unpopular and made the Korean people miserable. The people could not bear it anymore, so they rose up and supported Jin Zidian.
This is North Korea's internal affairs. Although Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state, it should not interfere too much.
You can not confer gold on Zidian for now and wait and see what happens.
In this way, whether it is the restoration of the Li family or the change of the Jin family, they will ultimately seek help from the Ming Dynasty, and it will also make it easier for the Ming Dynasty to gain more benefits.
Although Han Xu shouted loudly: "This is ridiculous, the Li family is the orthodox of North Korea. How can I, the Ming Dynasty, turn a blind eye to this treason for the sake of a small profit?"
Wei Zhongxian said: "Han Ge's old words are serious. After all, Jin Zidian accepted the abdication, and he did not rise to power by regicide. People in North Korea support Jin Zidian. Why do I, the Ming Dynasty, need to be such a villain?"
In the end, under the leadership of Wei Zhongxian and others, Emperor Tianqi decided to wait and see.
As a result, the Ming army stationed in North Korea naturally could not be disbanded.
Soon after, the Eunuch Party took advantage of the opportunity of the Beijing Police to expel a large number of Donglin Party members from the capital.
A large number of officials obtained official positions by paying bribes or currying favor with Wei Zhongxian.
Although Zhu Youxiao retained the cabinet and the chief and deputy chiefs of the six ministries.
However, due to the loss of the backbone of the middle and lower classes in the capital, the Donglin Party has gradually lost its right to speak in the court.
The first assistant, Han Xu, hated the current "collapse of etiquette and music" and complained a little.
It is believed that Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao, instigated by Li Xianzhong and Wei Zhongxian, ignored truth and justice and only focused on immediate interests. This was a way to cause disaster.
Naturally, the eunuchs will not let go of this golden opportunity.
Gu Bingqian, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, reported directly to the chief minister Han Xu for his treason.
Although Zhu Youxiao did not delve into the matter, Han Xu, who was already frustrated with the court, still submitted his resignation.
In the end, Zhu Youxiao approved Han Xu's resignation after rejecting it twice.
After Han Xu resigned, the few senior Donglin officials who still insisted on serving in the court also resigned.
As a result, the entire Donglin Party was almost completely driven out of the court.
Among the Donglin Party members, only Sun Chengzong, the teacher of Emperor Tianqi, remained in the court.
And Gu Bingqian successfully became the third chief minister of Tianqi Dynasty with the support of Wei Zhongxian.
The Eunuch Party had a unique reputation for a time. Originally, "Nine Thousand Years Old" was just a private name for the flattering eunuchs and members of the Eunuch Party.
Now, as long as they are not in front of Zhu Youxiao, they all directly call Wei Zhongxian "Nine Thousand Years Old".
In order to please the "Nine Thousand Years Old", the feudal officials from various places built many shrines to Wei Zhongxian across the country.
Under the governance of Wei Zhongxian, the Ming Dynasty not only quelled foreign aggression in Liaodong, but also reduced the "Liao pay" for the people.
For a time, Eunuch Wei's temple was very popular!
Although the Donglin Party members were gradually driven out of the court.
But there is another emerging force on the rise.
Zhang Pu, the leader of Fushe, was very sympathetic to the suffering of the Donglin Party members. As early as when they were convicted and imprisoned by the imperial court, Zhang Pu began to complain for them.
This time, the eunuch party used the Beijing Police to drive a large number of Donglin party members out of the court.
Zhang Pu saw the hope of the rise of Fushe, and soon he contacted these Donglin Party members who had returned to their hometowns and asked them to join Fushe.
Especially after the resignation of Han Xu, the chief minister of the cabinet, the slogan of the restoration of society was to inherit Donglin's mantle.
In July of the third year of Tianqi, Zhang Pu received an invitation from Wujiang County Magistrate Xiong Kaiyuan and came to Yinshan, Wujiang County to hold the first social restoration meeting.
At the conference, Zhang Pu and others took advantage of the current dissatisfaction with Wei Zhongxian's taxation in the Susong area and put forward the slogan of "armed resistance to taxation and drive the eunuch tax supervisors out of Suzhou".
The Yinshan Conference announced that the restoration of society has officially entered the stage of history. It caused great repercussions among the scholar-bureaucrats, and some people with lofty ideals joined Fushe one after another.
Fushe's social activities were strongly sponsored by the Wu family and the Shen family, Wujiang's giant businessmen.
Because at this time, in the Susong area where the Ming Dynasty had the heaviest taxes, the gentry and businessmen's patience with the eunuchs had reached the limit!
Originally, Suzhou and Songjiang had the heaviest taxes in the world.
Suzhou was Zhang Shicheng's capital Pingjiang at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
It took Zhu Yuanzhang more than a year to finally conquer this place.
In order to repay the people of Suzhou for their support to Zhang Shicheng, Zhu Yuanzhang imposed the heaviest taxes in the world.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the total tax revenue in the country was more than 29.43 million shi.
Among them, Zhejiang Province has more than 2,752,000 stones, Suzhou has more than 2,809,000 stones, and Songjiang has more than 1,290,000 stones.
You must know that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Suzhou's tax revenue was only 360,000 shi, and in the early Ming Dynasty, it increased to 8 times the original amount.
Suzhou's 1 prefecture and 7 counties have a total of 96,500 hectares of land, accounting for 1.1% of the country's total land of 8.496 million hectares, but they bear nearly 10% of the country's total taxes.
Even worse than Suzhou is Songjiang Prefecture. Songjiang only has 2 counties. If calculated based on the average land tax, the tax borne by Songjiang is even more than 1.5 times that of Suzhou.
Zhejiang is a major tax province, but Suzhou actually has more taxes than the entire province of Zhejiang. This shows how heavy the taxes in Suzhou are.
With less than 1.5% of the world's land, Su and Song prefectures bear nearly 15% of the country's taxes, which shows how heavy the taxes in these two places are.
In front of the Xushuguan Pass in Suzhou, Wei Zhongxian's minion Zhou Kuiwen levied various miscellaneous taxes such as industrial taxes, gate taxes, dam crossing taxes, ship taxes, etc. on the passing ships, which caused extreme dissatisfaction among the people.
Encouraged by Fushe, wealthy businessmen bribed the Taihu water bandit "Langli Fei".
"Langli Fei" and others directly used merchant ships filled with kerosene to set fire to Xushuguan.
Then "Langli Fei" led hundreds of water bandits and thousands of servants and common people gathered by wealthy businessmen to kill at Xushuguan.
In the panic, Zhou Kuiwen fell into the water and died, and most of his tax collectors were killed by these water bandits.
"Langli Fei" and others even robbed thousands of taels of silver from Xushuguan.
The next day, textile workers in Suzhou City were also dissatisfied with the tax supervisor's increased taxes on looms, causing tens of thousands of people to surround the tax official and beat several people to death.
Soon the flames of Suzhou people's resistance to taxes spread throughout the south of the Yangtze River. Armed attacks occurred in Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and even Nanjing and Yangzhou.
As armed resistance to taxation escalated, Fushe's influence continued to grow.
Zhang Pu even put forward the slogan of "mobilizing the masses and driving out the eunuchs by force!"
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(End of chapter)
