Therefore, after being instructed to delay for a while, when the soldiers who came to suppress the White Lotus Sect arrived at Xiping Mansion, the White Lotus Sect and those who were willing to go with the White Lotus Sect had already run away.
There are only some people left in Xiping Mansion who are unwilling to leave their hometowns, people with family businesses and a few officials and gentry.
and large tracts of unclaimed land, mansions and shops.
There was no way. Those local tyrants, evil gentry, corrupt officials and the like were basically killed by Qu Jie in cooperation with the White Lotus Sect. The number of officials and gentry left who did not deserve to die was too small, so they were called a small number of officials and gentry.
And people died.
The land, mansions and shops would not be left without owners.
At this time, Marquis Wanping, who was responsible for leading the troops to suppress the White Lotus Sect rebels, was actually at a loss. He could only send his soldiers to maintain order in the government office, take over the ownerless land and shops in the government, and then take advantage of it.
Then he hurried back to Beijing to report.
Wait for the next notification instructions above.
After all, the superiors only sent him to Xiping Mansion to suppress the White Lotus Sect. Now that the White Lotus Sect has gone elsewhere, he has no choice but to pursue them without an order.
Naturally, we can only report it first and wait for the next step.
This time, it will take at least half a month.
However, Marquis Wanping was not in a hurry at all. After all, he didn't have to fight for half a month, and he could still take the opportunity to do some tricks on the local unowned assets and collect them into his own hands.
Don't be too happy, don't worry.
Half a month later, Qu Jie and the others had already raided the nearby Xijin Mansion and changed places again.
When Marquis Wanping received the order and rushed over.
It was still a waste of money, so I could only continue to be excited inside and grieved on the outside, taking over the government office, the land and property without an owner, and greedy for a few hundred million dollars more along the way.
Although theoretically speaking, he has the power to act expediently when sending troops abroad, and it is reasonable to directly pursue and kill the White Lotus Sect who have gone to other counties without worrying about being impeached, but because those ownerless lands and properties are too greedy, It's too easy to be greedy, and the soldiers under him are more or less greedy.
Therefore, the team led by Marquis Wanping suddenly became extremely disciplined, even to the point of being rigid and picking on words. They always insisted on reporting everything and would not move without instructions from above.
How to describe it?
It's hard for civil servants to find fault with themselves.
The direct result of this situation is that Qu Jie and the others swept almost all the way. They basically did not have to worry about encountering any large-scale suppression. At most, they had to deal with the local armed forces of some counties, as well as some local powerful and local vassal kings. Soldier or servant.
In addition, they also deliberately avoided the county government where a large number of soldiers were stationed nearby and could easily be dispatched.
The whole sweeping process should not go too smoothly.
Marquis Wanping and the others had been lagging behind, waiting for instructions from above, which made the already rigid civil servants chase the White Lotus Sect almost to death.
And kept chasing, but could never catch up.
Although they had no military exploits in the process, and even the imperial court had begun to withhold their food and military pay, they were still chasing after them happily. After all, they had no casualties, and they had earned so much land, real estate, and small farms along the way. Where would they go? Looking for such a good thing?
We must really wipe out the White Lotus Sect.
How could they have a chance to continue doing this?
However, they are not anxious at all, and are even quite happy. Those officials and gentry whose whole families have been wiped out or most of them have been wiped out, and many of their assets have been divided up or cannot be recovered, as well as the officials and gentry in their hometown are already in some danger, and there may be danger at any time. How can those officials and gentry who may be attacked by the White Lotus Sect not be anxious?
Some of them were already anxious and angry.
Impeachment memorials were even piled up in the Qianqing Palace.
What surprised them was that Emperor Xuanwu didn't seem to be in a hurry. He was neither angry nor sent more soldiers, nor did he urge Wanping Hou to be punished.
Capital City, Qi Mansion.
This is the current residence of Mr. Qi, the chief minister of the cabinet.
Officials born in Jiangnan Mansion, Huaiyang Mansion, Nanshang Mansion and other counties, as well as Qi Lao's disciples, specially found an opportunity to take a break and secretly went to Qi Mansion one after another. While holding a meeting, they discussed what to do. .
After all, the White Lotus Sect is about to harm them.
Of course they are in no danger in the capital, and they don’t have to worry about being harmed by the White Lotus Sect for the time being. However, most of their assets and relatives are still in their hometown, and their ancestral graves are also in their hometown. Judging from the past operations of the White Lotus Sect, it is necessary to If it really harms their hometown, let alone saving their assets, whether they can save their lives is a question.
For this reason, the elders and peers in the clan.
I don’t know how many letters have been sent.
"Mr. Qi, what do you think His Majesty is thinking? I can understand why Marquis Wanping did this. After all, it was to get more land and assets. But His Majesty is so laissez-faire and does not seize the time to exterminate the White Lotus Sect. Where is the majesty of the imperial court? Where is your majesty’s face?”
"I don't care what your Majesty thinks, or what Marquis Wanping thinks. What I care about is that if this continues, the White Lotus Sect will bring disaster to my hometown, and also to the hometowns of all of us here. Although The White Lotus Sect does not burn ancestral halls or dig ancestral graves, but if the family property is robbed and all members of the clan are killed, it is even possible to kill them all.
What's the difference between burning ancestral halls and digging ancestral graves?
It would be better to burn the ancestral hall and dig up the ancestral graves!
After all, it can be rebuilt after burning and digging, but if the clan members die or die, when can they recover? "
"Mr. Qi, we are waiting for you to make up your mind!"
"If we continue like this, we will be drowned by the saliva of the elders in the clan, and the saliva of the clan members. They say that we will not save us, and the whole clan will support us as officials in the capital. As a result, the clan members will not be able to protect us."
"We must let His Majesty make a decision. This matter cannot be delayed any longer. Those White Lotus followers do not respect martial ethics!"
Mr. Qi didn't say a word, not even a word. The officials below became very anxious and talked about their own worries.
Urging Mr. Qi to come up with an idea.
It's really urgent and I have to hurry.
After a long time, the noise of the crowd calmed down after Mr. Qi tapped the table lightly, and they all looked at him.
"The key to the problem now is not what the attitude of Marquis Wanping is, but what is His Majesty's attitude. If His Majesty is resolute, no matter how courageous Marquis Wanping is, he will not dare to deceive the emperor and resist the decree for a small gain.
I'm a little worried that His Majesty has tasted the sweetness.
Deliberately letting the White Lotus Sect go! "
As soon as Mr. Qi said these words, some officials present were stunned on the spot. Some officials were thoughtful, while others were confused and at a loss. They had the nerve to ask:
"How is that possible? What sweetness can Your Majesty enjoy?"
"Forget it, you are stupid. The vassal king has always been a thorn in the heart of your majesty and even the late emperor. However, apart from the direct rebellion, the rest can only be reduced to military power and given some other favors.
Otherwise, they will make trouble and cry at the Qiankun Mausoleum.
Some vassal princes had more land than the imperial village.
He lived much more luxuriously than the emperor.
The White Lotus Sect has only been struggling for less than half a year and has already wiped out six vassal kings and countless other princes. Based on the current number, the clan will be able to save at least one-third of the money it will spend next year. one.
In addition, the land was vacated after the death of the feudal kings.
Not all of them were basically admitted to the Imperial Mansion.
There is still a lot of unowned land left, which has been directly distributed to people with little or no land. It seems that those counties have been harmed, but in fact it is just to restore those counties to the way they were at the beginning of the founding of the country. .
This is probably a good thing for today.
After all, most of the remaining people already have land. As long as nothing unexpected happens, they should be able to maintain stability and create a prosperous era in the next 30 to 50 years. "
None of the officials present were stupid, they just didn't expect certain directions. At this time, when Mr. Qi pointed him out, some smart people immediately understood Xuanwu
Emperor's thoughts.
Apart from natural disasters and foreign enemies, the most important factor in the demise of a dynasty is land annexation. As long as the land annexation problem can be solved, the country's destiny can be restored. This operation of the White Lotus Sect will naturally be of great benefit to the officials and gentry whose actual interests have been harmed. I hate it to the core, but if you look at it from a national level, from a long-term perspective and from the perspective of inhibiting land annexation, it is actually beneficial to the country.
After all, the population was reduced, and the land was taken away from the officials and gentry and distributed to the people, which was equivalent to a land redistribution similar to that at the end of the dynasty.
Although Emperor Xuanwu was young, he was not stupid. He could even be described as very smart. He might have been a little angry at first, but when he came around, he came around.
After discovering the benefits of this situation.
Naturally, he was willing to cooperate.
Hearing this, a few officials who had not understood it before finally figured it out, and then they turned blue and muttered how could this be possible? How could the emperor team up with the White Lotus Sect to deal with officials and gentry like them?
"Why did your Majesty rebel?"
"Mr. Qi, I have a bold guess that Princess Jiahe and Your Majesty are not in a cooperative relationship. If the White Lotus Sect has the ability to dig so many underground passages underground and steal the assets of so many noble officials, then Your Majesty should also have it. Ability, this is terrifying!"
"I even wonder if the White Lotus Sect has also been corrupted and controlled by others. The status of the current White Lotus Sect is not the same as that of the Jinyiwei, or Dongchang or something like that!"
"Your Majesty, do you think we are enemies?"
"Mr. Qi, this is too scary. What should we do? Can we just sit back and wait for death?"
"That's enough, please just be quiet for a while. You can just think about some of your thoughts. Don't say them out loud. It won't do us any good if we completely break up with each other.
Let's do this, let's continue the memorial tomorrow.
I'll contact you again.
And the clan side.
We can't let His Majesty continue to act like this. If we continue to act like this, the world will inevitably be in chaos. I just hope that Your Majesty will not be too short-sighted and only see the advantages and not the disadvantages. You all go back and think carefully about how to publish tomorrow and analyze more. The dangers of the White Lotus Sect.
Even to death.
The White Lotus Sect must also be wiped out quickly. "
Mr. Qi slapped the table and waited for the room to quiet down before he talked about his detailed plan. In fact, it was not much of a plan. It was nothing more than contacting more people to achieve his own goal in a way that was close to forcing him to uterus.
There was no way, Emperor Xuanwu had gone too far.
It's almost driving them to a dead end.
If it doesn't succeed this time, then changing the emperor is actually not unacceptable.
If you are going to be forced to death, what else can you not dare to do?
In the afternoon of the same day, Qi Lao, the capital of the cabinet, sent people to contact the Yushi doctor, Yushi Zhongcheng, as well as many nobles and clans whose interests had been damaged or were about to be damaged, and told them his speculations. once and successfully reached a cooperation agreement.
Then, there was the big court meeting the next day.
The officials and the clan once again made a rare concerted effort to impeach and make demands.
The main objects of impeachment are Marquis Wanping and the governors from various places. They are impeached for being useless and incompetent. Of course, the content of the impeachment is not actually important. What is important is how to completely solve the problem of the White Lotus Sect. Read the book
"Your Majesty, I suggest that we must send out a team that can act randomly and in accordance with the times. It will not care about any local affairs and will only be responsible for annihilating the White Lotus Sect."
"I suggest that if your Majesty really cannot exterminate the White Lotus Sect, then it is better to delegate power to the local governor Yin Haoqiang and let them form their own troops to fight. This will prevent them from serving the country loyally for decades, but the country cannot protect them and become thieves. He was killed, but there is no way to avenge him.”
"I second the proposal!"
When the ministers spoke very fiercely and made some suggestions that were so pertinent that Emperor Xuanwu's blood surged just by listening to them, the members of the clan were not idle either.
They all burst into tears directly in the court hall.
The main reason is to cry. When my father or grandfather held military power, they guarded the border. Not to mention the White Lotus Sect, even the Southern Barbarians and the Northern Rong did not dare to invade the border at all. When the late Emperor and the First Emperor took away their military power, they were still happy. , I felt that I could finally enjoy peace from now on, but I didn't expect that the country was now so weak that even the royal family, princes and princes could lose their lives at any time, and it was really hard to control my grief.
That's why I started crying in the court hall.
I don’t know how I can face my ancestors after death.
Anyway, it’s so disgusting that Emperor Xuanwu came.
As for Emperor Xuanwu, of course his face turned purple with anger, and in the process, apart from a few rebuttals, he delegated power to the governor and local powerful people. This was not something that happened only when the country was about to be destroyed and separatist regimes were formed in the past dynasties. What are your intentions? Other than that, it’s really hard to argue with anything else.
In the end, the court meeting naturally ended on bad terms.
However, the officials and the royal family refused to end there. After all, their goal has not been achieved yet. The emperor can delay it, but they cannot. So the next move is of course to cry to the Imperial Ancestral Temple and kneel to the Imperial Palace. Kneel down in the main hall of the government and remonstrate to the death.
There are also students from Imperial College and Imperial College.
Come to the palace gate to sit down and protest.
In addition, private propaganda and public opinion were not spared. Although they were not too angry, they were already openly and secretly accusing Emperor Xuanwu of being fatuous and incompetent.
In short, at this time, the relationship between the emperor and the noble clan was no longer a cooperative relationship, but a tit-for-tat relationship.
Even the Queen Mother who has always been indifferent.
They were all alarmed by this.
