People in Hangzhou are saying that they haven't seen such heavy rain in many years. It has been gloomy for several days in a row, and the sun is hiding behind the dark clouds, not wanting to come down.
Many scholars do not understand why the officials and people in Hangzhou, even the traders and lackeys, lived a peaceful life before, so they continued to torment Zhejiang in the 17th and 18th years of Hongzhi. Those royal guards came and left, and came again. What on earth did the emperor want to do to Zhejiang?
Many of them have never seen such a big change in their lives.
So in the end, the fierce resistance was not nipped in the bud. People poured into the government, hoping that the governor, the inspector... or anyone would be fine. Can someone come forward to make a decision for them?
There was also the powerful Jin Yiwei. People were angry and frightened towards him. But when the scimitar was really revealed, the air became solid again.
"Zhongcheng!"
Next to Mao Yuwen, Wang Qiong finally stood up. As soon as he appeared, many people started calling his name.
Then Peng Ze and Tan Wenyi both appeared.
What happened today is of a bad nature, but the scholars hate the factory guards, not them, and they are not bad enough to kill officials. These people are more or less educated. If they are country folk, they may not be really serious. It's about killing people and grabbing money. Anyway, let's do it first.
"Ji Wu Gong!" A tall scholar stood out from the crowd. He was wearing a square scarf and looked majestic. "In the past few days, the Jin Yiwei has been searching Hangzhou City. Mr. Huang and Mr. Li have been arrested successively. I We are all students from various prefectural and county schools, and we had the honor to listen to Huang and Li's lectures in the past. Now the court is arresting people like this. If there is no treacherous minister to deceive the Holy One, we really can't believe it!"
The so-called traitorous ministers are naturally the factory guards.
Peng Ze knew in his heart that these young people did not understand the real court. They thought they had grievances, but the emperor did not know. But in fact, if the trouble continues, it may become the biggest case since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
"What's your name?"
"Xiao Miao, who was born late, is from Jiaxing Prefecture. He was lucky enough to be elected the year before last."
The fact that things in Zhejiang have evolved to this extent are due to the opposition of the gentry class to the opening of the sea, rather than a matter of a few smugglers. Because of the symbiotic interests, coupled with Jin Yiwei's somewhat bloody actions in the past few days, this entire class has been angered.
Because Mao Yuwen killed all those who had a good reputation.
Objectively speaking, the Ming Dynasty treated scholars quite favorably. As long as they were a civil servant, they did not have to pay taxes, do no hard labor, and did not have to kneel before the magistrate. Everyone knows this.
In addition, Juren also has a share of grain. It varies from about 12 to 18 taels per year in different regions. This is basically twice the income a farmer earns from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
Furthermore, once a person encounters Enke, the court will pay another sum of money, which is travel expenses. This money is included in the local tax system, which means it is a government expenditure.
The matter of travel expenses is actually very interesting. It can clearly illustrate the meaning of government orders not leaving the Forbidden City and the fact that public opinion is in the hands of scholars.
First of all, there is a clear record of travel expenses for people to be promoted in the 17th year of Hongwu: the Chinese style of promoting people is to give official certificates, and the officials go to the Ministry of Rites to print papers in order to cope with the labor and legwork. Among them, "lingai" refers to money and grain subsidies such as rice.
However, during the Jiajing period, a man named Huo Tao recorded that: before Chenghua, there was no provision for travel expenses.
What's the meaning?
The imperial court has already made it clear that there is this expenditure, so why does it still say that there was no payment before Chenghua?
It seems inconsistent, but anyone with life experience can understand with a little thought that the money the government stipulates to give you cannot be taken just by saying you can.
So after a long time, the gentry and the government had actually formed a symbiosis of interests.
On the other hand, since Zhengtong and Chenghua, the issue of travel expenses for people to be elected has gradually come to light. Officials have continuously reported to the court, saying that we have 'great scholars' and 'local sages' here, and they cannot participate because they do not have travel expenses. I hope the imperial court will pay attention to the imperial examination.
In the following Hongzhi and Zhengde years, there were always such voices, and the Jiajing year also reiterated the rules set in the Hongwu period. The famous Yang Jisheng received thirty taels of traveling expenses to attend the examination after he won the imperial examination, but he used the money to donate a casual official to his brother.
By the middle and late Ming Dynasty like Wanli, the cost of this part had increased several times compared with before. Of course, in terms of absolute amounts, the difference is only between a dozen taels and hundreds of taels, which cannot overwhelm a country, but in fact, a problem can be seen.
Why is it that even the issue of travel expenses can be solved by the imperial court, and as time goes by, this problem is solved better and better, while the life and death problems of so many tenants and poor peasants are solved worse and worse?
The essence of this problem is that different classes have different abilities in the game of social resources.
That is to say, the stronger the richer, the weaker the poorer.
Back to business.
The gentry were a relatively powerful group in the Ming Dynasty system, and for hundreds of years they had continuously won victories in struggles, even if it was a matter of travel expenses.
To put it bluntly, they themselves believe that it is still up to them to govern the country.
What does that sentence say? Creating peace for all generations is the ultimate ideal of literati.
And now they also have a request,
If Mao Zedong could not count on them, they counted on Wang Qiong and Peng Ze. The one named Xiao Miao said sincerely, "Gong Dehua and Duke Jiwu. Yesterday, four people including Gongsun Dao, Yan Zixiao, Yu Ruifeng and Ren Qing were killed in the street. ! This matter is really appalling. We have nothing else to ask for. We sincerely ask you to appeal to the court to plead grievances for the four of them, and ask the court to punish the traitors! Give us a bright and bright future!"
At this time, the matter of opening the sea seems to be not so important.
The struggle itself becomes the protagonist, the content of the struggle has disappeared.
This is a sign of intensification.
Both Wang Qiong and Peng Ze found it difficult to say this. They could neither agree nor refuse.
In the end, it was Peng Ze who spoke: "The court will decide whether this matter is right or wrong. But you should not gather people to cry and break into the government office without permission. If you report to the capital, what will the capital think? If you can still trust me, then Listen to what I say, and go home and live in peace. The imperial court has never issued an imperial edict to kill anyone."
Upon hearing this, Mao Yuwen realized that this last sentence was too conciliatory and should not have been said.
Sure enough, someone said, "Since the imperial court has no intention of killing people, how should the lives of these four people be calculated?"
"We can't go back, we have to stir up trouble and let the court know!"
At this moment, Gu Dayong had already appeared here one after another with Jin Yiwei. When more than 80 Jin Yiwei and 500 Dongchang fans appeared with swords,
The expressions of many scholars changed drastically.
Peng Ze was anxious, "Deputy Envoy Mao, what do you want to do?"
Mao Yuwen's expression did not change, "Mr. Jiwu has a really good temper, and he can forgive people who forcefully break into the government. If you still send him home like this and pretend that nothing happened, where is the majesty of the imperial court and where is the majesty of your majesty?"
Peng Ze said: "How dare you commit murder here?"
"I didn't say that I committed murder, but I won't let anyone go!"
Peng Ze couldn't help it, "Zhongcheng!"
He knelt down, right in front of Wang Qiong.
Seeing Peng Ze kneeling down, all the other officials in the yamen also knelt down, "Zhongcheng! Hundreds of people's lives depend on your thoughts. If a major case of killing a scholar occurs in Zhejiang, the whole country will be shocked, and the world will be shocked. It’s not stable!”
Xiao Miao, who had spoken before, also started to get nervous. He and several classmates were clinging to each other. At this time, he started to be scared, but he still had to pretend to be calm. After all, if you are scared, you will lose face.
Wang Qiong was caught in a desperate struggle.
Some of the people who asked him for help were doing it for themselves, and some were doing it for the country and the country of Ming Dynasty. For my own people, I will not have any political future in this life. Even if I keep hanging around in this yamen, I will not care about my political future for the people of the Ming Dynasty.
But he cares.
This incident in Zhejiang will undoubtedly come into the emperor's sight.
He had to consider his position in the emperor's heart.
To put it bluntly, should we go with these literati or the emperor? The former will leave his name in history, while the latter will rise to the top.
"Please Zhongcheng redress the injustice of the four people in Zhejiang Province!"
"Please Zhongcheng redress the injustice of the four people in Zhejiang Province!"
…
These noisy, chaotic cries deeply upset Wang Qiong.
"quiet!"
Mao Yuwen narrowed his slender eyes. His people had already arrived at this time. Controlling this place was not a problem at all, and time was not urgent, so he wanted to see what Wang Qiong would choose at this moment.
No matter how many conspiracies there were in the past, it still boiled down to the choices made at this time.
What kind of person is Wang Qiong?
Wang Qiong, courtesy name Dehua, was a native of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. He was a famous official in the mid-Ming Dynasty. He was very effective in regulating rivers and being in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War. However, his reputation is not good, and Qingliu is ashamed to make friends with powerful people, but he is good at making friends with powerful people. He was also good at scolding people, such as the famous Sanyang Cabinet, Li Dongyang, Yang Ting and other Qingliu ministers, he scolded them fiercely. Because he felt that these people had high moral standards and did not have the level of officials. For example, he criticized Li Dongyang for not reducing or exempting money and food when facing floods and droughts, but did not take any measures to deal with the aftermath.
"...No matter what, this is also my governor's office!" Wang Qiong spoke slowly, with a fire in his eyes for some reason. "I am the governor of Zhejiang appointed by the imperial court! Scholars from all over the country study Confucius on daily basis. Meng, you should know more about the superiority and inferiority of superiors and inferiors..."
The corners of Mao Yuwen's mouth curled up.
"...The following offenses are unacceptable to Heaven."
"...The king is the guide for the minister, and it is for the great righteousness!"
Peng Ze and others began to turn pale.
There are so many people! What is this for?
Mao Yuwen raised the knife in his hand. There was no need to say anything else. He would not kill so many people because it was unnecessary, but none of these people could escape.
"Jinyiwei obeys the order and takes them all!"
(End of chapter)
