Li Ruolian was shocked.
He remembered that on the day Wei Zhongxian died, the emperor told him to rectify the Jinyi Guards as soon as possible and to entrust them with major cases.
Asking this now, naturally I can’t wait.
But he was a little strange. Although Jin Yiwei had been leaning toward Wei Zhongxian in the past, his intelligence capabilities were still there.
During this period, he read through all the files that Jin Yiwei had investigated in the past few years, but he didn't see any major suspicious cases.
"Your Majesty, the total number of Jinyiwei reported is more than 50,000. After a thorough investigation, I found that there are actually only more than 15,000. Excluding the old, weak, sick, and some servants from thousands and hundreds of households, there are currently only more than 8,000 Jinyiwei. .
After the establishment was adjusted, it was considered complete. Among the eight thousand people, there were more than four thousand people who were originally under Chen Chen, Wang Guoxing, Gao Wencai and others. These four thousand people can be used at any time, and the remaining four thousand people are It takes some time to train. "
"Four thousand people?"
Chongzhen muttered to himself: "Barely enough."
It was impossible to send all four thousand people to Shaanxi, but Ma Xianglin went to Shaanxi. After the civil uprising was completely suppressed and the matter in the Qin Palace was resolved, he could lead his army to attack Shanxi, which was only a few hundred miles away.
There are many guards in Shaanxi, such as Xi'an's front, rear, left, right, middle, and rear five guards, Yan'an guard, Suide guard, etc., with a total of twenty guards.
There are three reasons why these guards were not mobilized to suppress the civil uprising.
First, the people involved in the civil uprising were local people, and the guardsmen were also local people. Maybe there were fellow villagers among them, and it would be over if they tipped off the news;
Secondly, the guard army's combat power is insufficient, so it can handle a small number of people. For this kind of popular uprising involving nearly ten thousand people, they are just delivering food;
The third is for the eight major Shanxi merchants.
"Big companion, ask everyone to exit the main hall. No one is allowed to approach within ten feet of the main hall. Anyone who dares to approach will be killed!"
After a while, Wang Chengen returned to the main hall, and Chongzhen took a deep breath.
"Li Ruolian, I have received a secret report that Shanxi Jiexiu Fan family, Luliang and Xinzhou Wang family, Datong Jin family, Hongdong Liang family, Qixian Tianjia, Qinxian Zhai family, Huang family and other eight families secretly communicated with the slaves and transferred tea, salt , iron, firearms, food, intelligence, etc. were sold to the Jian slaves.”
"This this……"
After hearing this, Li Ruolian was shocked and completely stunned.
These eight major families were quite famous in the Ming Dynasty, and he never expected that they would do such a traitorous thing.
To him, this news was like ten thousand enemies exploding in his mind. Compared with Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian was nothing more than a child.
If the charges against these eight families are confirmed, they will be punished by the Nine Clan. The eight families are extremely wealthy, and the nine clans combined have at least 20,000 to 30,000 people, which is no worse than the cases during the Taizu and Chengzu periods.
After a while, Li Ruolian woke up, his face full of anger: "How dare they!"
"That's a good question!"
Chongzhen sneered, his eyes full of killing intent.
Merchants traveled thousands of miles just for money. The laws of the Ming Dynasty did not impose any special trade prohibitions. Without prohibitions, there was freedom. From this point of view, it can be said that the eight major Shanxi merchants did business with Jiannu.
However, the Ming Dynasty had regulations that prohibited the trading of arms, intelligence, etc.
The Ming Dynasty's trade ban with the Jurchens and Mongols clearly stipulated that no iron items were allowed to be traded, let alone swords, even a hoe would be a capital offense.
Grain and salt are also trade bans, otherwise how could the Ming Dynasty have made Mongolia a docile people.
As for later generations saying that the eight major Shanxi merchants did not betray the Ming Dynasty, it is purely a whitewash.
It is a bit nonsense to blame Shanxi merchants for the demise of Ming Dynasty, but Shanxi merchants definitely played a role in the demise of Ming Dynasty.
First, the Jiannu were a backward, small tribe with no fixed abode. Where did the tens of thousands of soldiers equipped with heavy armor and weapons come from? At this time, Shenyang, Liaoyang, etc. were still in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
Second, before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Jiannu could accurately grasp the timing and avoid the route of heavy troops during his five raids. You must know that information transmission at this time was extremely troublesome and lagging. Without local cooperation, how could it be so accurate?
Third, there are many merchants in various places who are stronger than Shanxi merchants. Why did Jiannu only list the eight major Shanxi merchants as imperial merchants after entering the customs?
Also awarded nearly half of the shops in Zhangjiakou to the eight major Shanxi merchants? Would a slave-builder do this if he had not contributed to the establishment of slaves?
As for these three questions, those people can't explain them.
Some people say that the Ming Dynasty is destined to perish, and that the eight Shanxi merchants abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side. This is simply a shameless statement.
Destruction to destruction, but this is not the reason for you to betray your country and become a traitor!
Anyway, no matter what kind of remarks, Chongzhen believed that the Shanxi merchants must be traitors. How much is a question.
No matter who persuades him, he will confiscate the homes of these eight Shanxi merchants and exterminate them.
"You really deserve to be killed!"
I and others were 'fighting' in front, but this group of people didn't work hard, but they were still lagging behind.
Li Ruolian suppressed the anger on his face and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, please show me!"
"Send your most trusted confidant to Shanxi, not to investigate their crimes, but to find out the relationship between the eight major families and the nine clans. When my decree comes, no one will be left behind!"
"By the way, I will send someone to Zhangjiakou. I remember that before the Battle of Sarhu, the transactions of the eight major Shanxi merchants were completed there. I will send someone there to keep an eye on it to see if anything can be found.
Remember, even if you find something, you can only pretend not to see it, and you are not allowed to make any substantive actions, so as not to alert the snake. "
"Only you and I know about this matter. Don't even tell the guards sent out."
"I accept the decree!"
Li Ruolian walked outside with a solemn expression.
In the main hall, Chongzhen stood for a while and then returned to Dongnuang Pavilion, sitting behind the dragon case and lost in thought.
It's hard to say exactly when the eight major Shanxi merchants began to collude to build slaves, but it was at least before April of the 46th year of Wanli.
Because this year was April of the third year of the founding of the slaves (1618), Nurhachi vowed to heaven with the "seven great hatreds" and sent troops to conquer Ming Dynasty.
Without stable sources of food, iron, etc., just a few hundred thousand people in Jiannu dared to go to war against the Ming Dynasty. How crazy is this?
You must know that Shenyang and Liaoyang were still in the hands of the Ming Dynasty at this time, so it was impossible for Jiannu to obtain ironware, salt, etc. from Liaodong.
"There must be other people behind the eight major Shanxi merchants, otherwise it would be impossible to ship such large quantities of things directly."
Thinking of this, Chongzhen stood up, walked to the map, and stared at the location of Zhangjiakou on the map.
After looking at it for a while, he drew a few more strokes on the map with his pen, and then his face turned completely gloomy.
"If you want to inspect the eight major Shanxi merchants, you still need to make some preparations."
