After Wang Xijue gave such an order.
Under the rain curtain, at the gate of the government office, a large number of officers and soldiers rushed in under the leadership of the commander-in-chief Zhang Yuanxun, and they all surrounded the lobby with guns.
Zhang Yuanxun himself was wearing a ring armor, majestically leading a group of generals and two teams of firearmsmen, holding swords and fighting before Wang Xijue's death, and handed over to Wang Xijue: "I have been ordered by the Ministry to obey the elder Ge's temperance! Please show me the elder Ge. Down!"
At this time, Lin Bin, the governor of Guangdong, stood up immediately when he saw this, looked at Zhang Yuanxun, and asked in surprise: "Why are you here? The commander-in-chief of Guangdong is now Zhang Zao!"
turn out to be.
Since the eighth year of Wanli, Zhang Yuanxun, the former commander-in-chief of Guangdong, realized that the era of arrogant officials was coming due to the completion of the Qing Dynasty, and there would be great opposition to reformist civil servants such as Zhang Juzheng who were not so protective of military commanders. After a large-scale liquidation, he chose to retire after his success and resigned from the post of General Soldier of Guangdong. He also wrote a letter to persuade Qi Jiguang to retreat bravely.
However, subsequent developments surprised Zhang Yuanxun. Instead of persuading Qi Jiguang to retire after his success, Qi Jiguang persuaded him to come out again and serve the country.
Zhang Yuanxun was a famous anti-Japanese general during the period of Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou. Among them, his achievements in fighting the Japanese and quelling the rebellion in Guangdong were the most significant. He was deeply loved by the people of Guangdong, and later generations of Guangdong people even built Zhanggong temples for him.
Because of this, the most important thing Wang Xijue did when he followed Liang Menglong south in the past few days was to persuade Liang Menglong to appoint Zhang Yuanxun as the commander-in-chief of Guangdong, and also asked the court to allow him to do whatever he wanted.
Therefore, after Lin Bin said this, Wang Xijue said: "Zhang Zao has been impeached and removed from office by the servants and Liang Budang for condoning the private manufacture of arms by the Western Yi people, and he has been replaced by Zhang Gong!"
Lin Bin's expression changed drastically after hearing this.
Du Huisheng and other Guangdong gentry also changed their expressions.
"What do you want, Mr. Ge?"
Du Huisheng couldn't help but ask Wang Xijue at this time.
Wang Xijue looked at Du Huisheng: "I should ask you, what do you want to do? Isn't it true that if I really insist on patrolling the sea trade, I will die on the way soon?"
Du Huisheng blushed and did not answer.
"Not long after the two Dukes Ma and Shen visited the country, they implemented the idea of officials and gentry paying taxes and serving as errands to the whole country. This aroused the alarm among the Dukes and worried that the system of maritime trade would be changed in the future due to this inspection of maritime trade. "
"So, according to your plan, either I am willing not to look at anything, not patrol anything, and only travel around the mountains and rivers. It is best to accept your money and become yours; or I can only die suddenly on the way."
When Wang Xijue said this, he said: "Therefore, I had to pretend to promise you the day before yesterday that I would only visit the mountains and rivers in Guangdong and not inspect the sea trade! But do you really think that you can scare me with this? Scared the court? Are there any other scholar-bureaucrats in China?"
Snapped!
Wang Xijue suddenly slammed the table and yelled: "How dare you die for your country, how can you not do it?!"
Wang Xijue chuckled as he said this: "I have found someone to prepare a coffin for myself, and I have also prepared a coffin for you. The next step will be to see whether you die or I die!"
Lin Bin looked at Wang Xijue: "How does Mr. Ge know these things?"
"Who is so despicable and shameless!"
Inspector Zhang Yingzhao also asked loudly at this time.
Guangdong Inspector Chen Younian stood up at this time and said: "No matter who said it, how can the person who said this be considered despicable and shameless? And if the cabinet minister does not consider the people's sentiments and insists on inspecting maritime trade, let him die on the road. Aren’t these people despicable and shameless?”
After Chen Younian said this, Lin Bin and Zhang Yingzhao both looked at Chen Younian with even more ugly expressions, and then smiled helplessly.
Commander-in-Chief Zhang Zao knelt down at this moment: "Please be kind to me, Mr. Ge. How can a low-ranking warrior dare to resist Fu An and allow the Western barbarians to secretly build fire guns? He is also acting on Jun's orders from Fu An!"
Du Huisheng and other Guangdong gentry looked at Wang Xijue: "What exactly is Mr. Ge going to do?"
"Report truthfully the actual gold and silver you each earn from sea trade with Xiyi each year."
"Is it true that Guangdong only has a tax rate of 10,000 taels per year, and even as many ships as Haojing come and go, why do they only pay the imperial court a full 500 taels per year?"
Wang Xijue said.
"The benefits of sea trade are not great. They are only enough for the small people at the mouth of the lake. How could Mr. Ge not know this?"
Du Huisheng asked with a smile.
With that said, Du Huisheng said: "Since Mr. Ge wants to know the details, then we will tell Mr. Ge."
"You must report truthfully. If you do not report truthfully, you will be punished on the spot on the grounds of deceiving the court! The servant is ordered to patrol on behalf of the emperor, and he still has the right to kill first and report later."
Wang Xijue said and looked at the disciples of the officials and gentry present: "You can supervise whether the report of your family head is true. If it is not true, you will be considered as a meritorious exposer and you can be appointed as the head of the family on the spot!"
"Wang Taicang!"
"What you're doing is ungentlemanly!"
Du Huisheng was shocked when he heard the expression behind him, pointed at Wang Xijue and shouted.
"Currently cursing at a servant is a sign of disrespect to the emperor, so behead him!"
Wang Xijue knew that he had to show his prestige to these sons of Guangdong officials and gentry, so he took advantage of Du Huisheng's words and said it.
"yes!"
Zhang Yuanxun said yes, and personally asked two generals to drag Du Huisheng out of the hall and kneel down at the foot of the steps.
Du Huisheng panicked and shouted: "Wang Taicang, I am a heavenly official. If you are so good at being an official, you will be looked down upon by the world!"
Uh-huh!
Only one knife fell.
Du Huisheng's head rolled in blood in the courtyard, staining the weeds in the courtyard red.
All the officials and gentry's disciples couldn't help but take a step back and started to tremble.
Du Ruojia, the grandson of Du Huisheng, had a serious face at this time, and then shouted: "The children of the Du family will fight with them!"
As Du Ruojia said this, she pulled out the scribe's sword and rushed towards Zhang Yuanxun with several Du family disciples.
boom!
boom!
boom!
A row of firearmsmen under Zhang Yuanxun appeared in front of them at some point and bombarded these people.
As a result, Du Ruojia was shot several times and died.
Wang Xijue said in a deep voice: "The Du family rebelled and ransacked the entire family!"
"yes!"
Then, Wang Xijue looked at the other Guangdong officials and gentry: "Report it, if you don't want the court to slaughter you all."
"Master, please report it!"
Yuan Yupei, a member of a wealthy family in Guangdong, pushed his head Yuan Shiying to the front.
Yuan Shiying trembled hurriedly and said: "My Yuan family earns about 300,000 taels of silver annually by shipping goods to Haojing, Champa, Java, etc."
“My Zeng family earns one hundred thousand taels per year!”
"My uncle said it was less! It's actually around 260,000 taels. Every year he buys a large amount of raw silk, saltpeter, gunpowder, sugar, and iron materials for Luo Mingjian and the others! Because I'm good at arithmetic, I'm basically the one It’s settled, so I know it!”
"There are thirty-six iron shops in Foshan that he owns exclusively, and he and Fo Langji make firearms privately and bring them to Japan for profit!"
At this time, Zeng Quan'an, the nephew of the Guangdong tycoon Zeng Yiyao, who had served as the salt transport envoy to the Huaihe River, loudly refuted Zeng Yiyao's words.
"Then he will be charged with deceiving the emperor! Drag him down and kill him!"
Wang Xijue said indifferently, and then looked at Zeng Quan'an: "What's your name?"
"Students from Xiangshan County Zeng Quan'an have met Mr. Ge!"
Zeng Quan An hurriedly bowed to Wang Xijue.
"Give him a set of seventh-grade crowns and belts and the official seal of Grand Bachelor and Deputy Counselor."
After Wang Xijue gave instructions to his subordinates, he looked at Zeng Quan'an: "From now on, you will be the seventh-rank deputy counselor in the counselor's office of the Dongge University Scholar's residence, assisting the servants in inspecting maritime trade."
】
Zeng Quanan hurriedly kowtowed his thanks: "Thank you, Mr. Ge, for your trust!"
According to the new system established by Zhu Yijun, the ministers in power could directly appoint scholars of all ages and above as their subordinate officials to handle confidential affairs for themselves.
The Ministry of Personnel will give each ruling minister a number of official documents and a number of crowns and ribbons after he takes office. The ruling minister will choose his own appointment, and he only needs to report to the Ministry of Personnel within one year.
The appointed subordinate officials can continue to participate in the imperial examination.
In this way, Zhu Yijun not only reduced the burden of raising staff for the ruling ministers, but also wanted to achieve supervision by bureaucratizing the staff, so that the court would know what staff these officials used. Sometimes the court would also directly select Jinshi or appoint people to serve as ministers. Counselor.
Back to the topic.
As soon as Zeng Quan'an defected, Zeng Quangao, Zeng Yiyao's legitimate son, looked angry and immediately scolded Zeng Quan'an: "You are the son of a cheap servant. You relied on my Zeng family's education to gain fame, and now you are eating everything in!"
Uh-huh!
At this time, Zeng Yiyao was brought to the court.
Zeng Quangao immediately shut up and turned pale.
