Nanjing, Wei Guogong Mansion.
The Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji, was wandering around anxiously.
As the only remaining hereditary prince among the six founding princes of the Ming Dynasty.
The Xu family can be said to be the most powerful family under the royal family.
As a family that has existed for hundreds of years, time has already corroded this general family.
Xu Hongji was the main initiator of the southern Zhili civil uprising.
It's not that Xu Hongji is stupid and doesn't understand what the emperor means.
In fact, Xu Hongji knew that the foundation of the Ming Dynasty lay in the landlords and tycoons, and the emperor's move would only completely turn against these landlords and tycoons.
Influence the foundation of Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the damage to the Xu family's interests is the main reason.
"How about it? Did the people who went out get any information? Who is so bold and dares to seal the city?"
"I don't know, more than a dozen people have been sent out, but none of them have come back. They must have been detained by those Qiu Ba."
Butler Xu Can said.
"This group of Qiu Ba are really bold and reckless. They dare to detain people from our Duke's palace. They really don't know whether to live or die."
"Forget it, go down. Clean up. We will enter the secret passage immediately and leave Nanjing."
For some reason, Xu Hongji always felt that something big was going to happen.
Although his power is not as powerful as that of his ancestor Xu Da, ordinary generals would not dare not give him face.
Even if the city is closed and their servants are out, no one dares to make things difficult.
Now more than a dozen slaves have been sent out to find out the news, but no one has come back. Other nobles have not sent anyone to tell them what happened, which shows the seriousness of the problem.
"Master, are you too worried? This is the Duke's Mansion. As long as the Ming Dynasty is still there, there will be no problems in the Duke's Mansion."
"Shut up, just clean it up when I ask you to do so. Where did all this nonsense come from?"
"Yes Yes Yes!"
"I hope my worries are unnecessary, otherwise I won't be able to face my ancestors after death."
Looking at Xu Can walking away, Xu Hongji murmured to himself.
.....
"Open the door, open the door!"
There was a rapid knock on the door.
"What's the fuss about? Do you know where this is?
The Duke's Mansion!
Is this a place where you and Qiu Ba can cause trouble? "
A small opening was opened, and a servant of the Duke's Mansion cursed loudly with his head exposed.
"Your Majesty has issued an order to abolish Wei Duke Xu Hongji's status as Duke and seize all property!"
"What are you searching for? The Duke's house!"
The handyman said in horror.
In ancient times, a house raid was not just about confiscating all family property, but also meant killing all the adult males in a family.
The old maid was locked up.
Seriously, it will directly affect 9 tribes.
"It's over, it's over! I'm done."
.....
A moment later, a group of soldiers escorted the gold, silver and jewelry confiscated from Xu's house and slowly drove towards the county government office.
Except for a few core members of Xu Hongji who escaped, most of the servants of the Xu family were detained in the Duke's Mansion.
The same scene appeared in various places in southern Zhili.
Under the leadership of the secret guards, a large number of soldiers rushed into the homes of various nobles and officials in Nanzhili.
"Your Majesty, you are confused."
"Go away, do you know who I am?"
"Woo, ow! Let go of my mother!"
Suddenly, the mansions of various dignitaries and officials in Southern Zhili turned into a mess.
"Master Zhang, please think carefully about whether money is more important or life is more important."
"Let me go. I don't know what you said?
Ever since I took office, I, Mr. Zhang, have followed Bao Qingtian as an example. How could I accept bribes?
Look at my clothes.
These, these, so many patches were sewn by my wife herself! "
While talking, Zhang opened the official door, pointed at a patch on the white clothes he had washed, and cursed.
"
Look at the mansion again
Are you looking at my hands, do they look like the hands of a corrupt official? "
"Is it really true that someone like Zhang is a good official? Didn't someone say that all crows in the world are as black as black? Could it be that you really met a good official? What should you do? Should you continue to investigate or just hand him over?"
The leading secret guard couldn't help but mutter in his heart.
Although the secret guards have never stopped investigating officials, the time is still too short and it is impossible to find out the morality of every official.
The initial move was to deceive these people.
If you can come up with money, you are guaranteed to be a corrupt official.
If you can't get it out, just check it carefully later.
Since they are all ordinary people from now on, is it easy to conduct a thorough investigation?
But the situation before me was indeed beyond my expectation.
However, unexpectedly, the secret guard leader did not panic.
"Whether you are a good official or not is not up to you or me. We will wait for the investigation results to come out. If you are really a good official, His Majesty will definitely reuse you. If you are just pretending, don't blame us then." Cruel and ruthless."
"snort"
...
Because the blockade of the city came relatively suddenly, many noble and senior officials in South Zhili did not expect that one day someone would dare to attack them.
There is no time to transfer assets.
This operation of the secret guards and guardsmen can be said to be a slow harvest.
For the sake of the stability of the Ming Dynasty, this operation also included salt merchants and hundreds of families with relatively poor reputations.
The proceeds from the confiscation of houses alone amounted to a full 1 billion taels of silver, and nearly 10 million shi of grain. Although the gold was relatively small, there was still a full 10 million taels.
Other calligraphy and paintings, antiques, shops, and land were roughly estimated to be harvested this time. The total value is no less than 3 billion taels of silver.
You know, even the current Ming Dynasty's annual tax revenue is only 10 million taels of silver. The harvest from this house raid is equivalent to 300 years of income.
The main reason why there was such a big harvest was because Jiangnan was the richest place in the Ming Dynasty. The accumulation of hundreds of years of hard work by these nobles, aristocratic families, and businessmen all benefited Zhu Youjian.
Far away in the capital, Zhu Youjian was so excited that he couldn't sleep for two days after hearing about the harvest.
When I went to court, I looked at the officials. They were no longer individuals one by one, but mountains of silver.
The officials were so frightened that they either claimed to be ill or did not dare to express their anger in the court.
"calm down!"
Zhu Youjian, the more he tries to calm down, the less he can calm down.
30 billion taels of silver, that’s 30 billion taels of silver.
If we had this money tomorrow morning, would the slaves be able to jump around?
"With so much financial and material resources, history has allowed Jiannu to conquer the world, and he did not copy it excessively."
But what should we consider next about how to deal with those whose homes have been ransacked?
According to the current tradition, a house raid is not just about confiscating all family property, but also refers to killing all the adult males in a family. The maids, young and old were imprisoned again.
Zhu Youjian would definitely not choose such a cruel behavior. After all, although they were wrong, for the sake of money, Zhu Youjian did not intend to punish them particularly severely.
