As soon as Liu Chengye was pulled away by the soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion, another commoner from the capital rushed in and hit Fan Yongdou in the face with an old punch. Suddenly, the face that was already blooming became a bit unsightly. The bridge of the nose was probably broken and the nose was collapsed.
Fan Yongdou, who was the smuggling leader after all, could no longer care about the severe pain on his face. He tried his best to shrink back and shouted in fear: "Help me, help me..."
The other seven Shanxi merchants who were tied to him were frightened and wanted to stay away from Fan Yongdou when they saw Fan Yongdou's miserable condition. However, their hands were tied with the same rope and they couldn't stay away. They were all afraid and could only try their best to stay away from Fan Yongdou.
The second person who hit Fan Yongdou was also pulled away by soldiers from the Yongwei Battalion.
However, the third capital citizen has already rushed over, and there is a fourth, fifth...
In just a moment, a group of people from the capital had already rushed over. They didn't care that they had caused trouble. They only had one thought: to kill these traitors who were aiding the evildoers!
Soon, Fan Yongdou was surrounded by people from the capital, beating and kicking him. Even those who came later couldn't squeeze through and rushed to other targets.
At this time, the scene was already very chaotic. Unless the soldiers of the Yongwei camp formed a military formation and started killing the people of the capital, it would be impossible to prevent the people of the capital from taking revenge.
And this kind of chaos started from this initial point and extended to other prisoners. In addition to the eight major Shanxi merchants, there were also those civil servants and military generals who were also arrested. Along the way, more and more prisoners were angrily arrested. The people gathered around and started fighting.
The soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion quickly received military orders and stepped aside to give the people of the capital a place to vent. They retreated and guarded the prisoners and other food and supplies in the back.
The person who led the army back this time was not Hong Chengchou. He stayed in Shanxi and officially took office. He was busy arranging the endgame after confiscating the family and exterminating the clan.
It was Lu Xiangsheng who led the army back. After paying the order in the capital, he went to Shandong to take up his post.
At this time, he was at the back of the team, looking at the chaos in front, without feeling particularly angry.
Lu Xiangsheng was a leader in fighting and was used to life and death. However, he also saw many people who were separated from each other, dead bodies and bones everywhere. And all of this, whether it was committed by the built-up captives or the exiled bandits, is said to be the "contribution" of these Shanxi merchants.
Lu Xiangsheng could understand the hatred of the people in the capital towards these Shanxi merchants. In fact, if it weren't for his identity, he would have killed those eight Shanxi merchants with his own hands. He didn't expect that his father's death was actually caused by these Shanxi merchants. Their purpose was not to let him take the position of governor of Xuanda, just because it would hinder their access to the captives, and the food policy would harm their interests. If normal channels don't work, let Ding You resign.
While he was thinking about it, General Yang Guozhu beside him suddenly said worriedly: "Sir, if the imperial prisoner is beaten to death like this, the court will hold him accountable!"
Obviously, what he meant was to suggest that Lu Xiangsheng send out follow-up troops to drive forward and drive away the common people in the capital.
However, Lu Xiangsheng shook his head and said: "The evidence of these imperial crimes is conclusive. They were originally sent to the capital to be cut into pieces. Now they are beaten to death by the people of the capital. This is their retribution. When the court questioned them, I admitted it!"
That was what he said, but he actually knew in his heart that the emperor would not punish him.
There was a commotion for a while, but when Lu Xiangsheng sent troops to clear the way, he found that the eight major Shanxi merchants, as well as the generals and civil servants from various places, had been beaten by the people of the capital so much that not even their bodies were left, only pools of blood on the streets. There were bits of meat stuck to the ground.
Here, before the army came, there were still people picking up the pieces of meat on the ground and trying to take them away.
The soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion escorted Liu Chengye to Lu Xiangsheng and reported that he was the one who made the first move. No matter what, there must be an explanation, so Liu Chengye did not leave.
Lu Xiangsheng looked at Liu Chengye, whose eyes were still a little red, and asked calmly: "Do you know the consequences of taking action?"
"The Cao Min knew it. I heard it on the notice this morning." Liu Chengye held his head high and replied without hesitation, "But the Cao Min's father, mother and son all died in the hands of the Jianlu, and the Cao Min's family was destroyed. The traitor was an accomplice, no matter what, the common people have taken their revenge!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a crying voice coming from the crowd nearby. Without even looking, he knew it was his wife. When he came back to his senses, he felt a little sad in his heart and lowered his head. However, just as he lowered his head, he raised his head again.
Lu Xiangsheng, who was riding on the horse, looked at him for a while, then looked at the crying lady in the crowd, and suddenly said lightly: "Go away, remember, don't do it again in the future!"
Hearing this, Liu Chengye thought he had heard wrongly. Looking into Lu Xiangsheng's eyes, he realized that he seemed to have heard correctly. The soldiers from the Yongwei camp who were holding him also let go. This shows that you heard it right. Suddenly, he was very surprised.
Seeing this, Yang Guozhu on the side wanted to persuade Lu Xiangsheng to give an explanation to the court. Even if the emperor would not punish him, the emperor would still give an explanation to the ministers no matter what. This is the first offender, at least it can be regarded as an explanation.
However, he remembered what Lu Xiangsheng had said before, thought about it, and decided not to persuade him. Because he knew that since Lu Xiangsheng had said it, it meant that he had made a decision, and it would be impossible to persuade him.
But no matter what, he still spoke, and just said to Liu Chengye: "You haven't thanked me yet?"
Liu Chengye came back to his senses and was excited. Just when he was about to thank him, Lu Xiangsheng clamped his legs on the horse's belly and drove the horse away.
However, Liu Chengye still knelt down, kowtowed to Lu Xiangsheng's back, and said loudly: "Sir, the common man is called Liu Chengye, and the common man makes a living at Liuji Blacksmith in the west of the city. The common man will not run away."
The implication is that if Lu Xiangsheng wanted to arrest him afterwards, he would have provided his name and address, and he would be responsible for what he had done.
Lu Xiangsheng didn't seem to hear this, and kept walking away without any reaction.
Liu Chengye retreated into the crowd, holding his tearful wife in his arms without saying a word, just hugging her tightly, regardless of the fact that there were so many people there.
No one expected that after such an unexpected incident, although the official name of this street remained unchanged, among the people in the capital, it was renamed "Hoe Rape Street".
Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City soon learned of what was happening outside. He was stunned at this, and then immediately understood that the eight Shanxi merchants were not only reviled by future generations, but also hated by the people of this era.
Beaten to death without a whole body, I wonder if the later traitors will suffer less if they find out?
Emperor Chongzhen did not pursue this matter. He also directly refuted the criticisms made by some ministers against Lu Xiangsheng and did not ask Lu Xiangsheng to explain anything.
Subsequently, the treason criminals arrested in Beijing were also executed to avoid being imprisoned any longer and wasting food.
Among them, Chen Xinjia and Liu Meicai were sentenced to death with a thousand cuts, and Yang Sichang and those grain hoarding merchants, those with Shanxi merchant background, were sentenced to be cut in half and abandoned. Of course, the crime of treason will inevitably bring harm to relatives.
Most of the people in the capital did not grab the flesh and blood of the eight Shanxi merchants and other killed civil and military officials to pay homage to their relatives, so these people became targets again. It is said that these treason criminals once again died without intact bodies, which also made the executioner near the water tower a small fortune.
The resentment accumulated by the people of the capital over the years was vented in this major rebellion. Many people who had not smiled for many years also smiled again. Emperor Chongzhen's reputation among the people in the capital has also reached a very high level.
"Your Majesty, it is said that it was the Emperor who first deduced that there must be a traitor in the Ming Dynasty. He mentioned it in the court before, but no one believed it at that time!"
"No, the emperor's talents have finally caught these damn things who have been sent to the eighteenth level of hell!"
"Haha, without these Shanxi merchants colluding with the Jianlu, across the Shanhaiguan Pass, how would the Jianlu know the situation in our Daming Pass? In the bitter cold land of Liaodong, those Tatars don't know how to farm, how will they survive? "
"You still have to be careful to prevent other spies from working for Jianlu!"
"..."
While talking about this, many people inevitably turned the topic to the countless gold and silver jewelry they had seen that day.
"Have you ever counted the properties of the Shanxi merchants who were confiscated? I looked at the carts of gold, silver and jewelry. I guess there are tens of millions of taels of silver, right?"
"No, even the horse pulling the cart, I can tell, it's very difficult to pull!"
"Now that's good, the court is rich, so there shouldn't be any more taxes, right?"
"As soon as you mentioned it, I remembered it. It is said that Yang Sichang, that thief, even suggested that the emperor should add some training salary. What a fucking thing!"
"Your Majesty is wise, didn't you agree?"
"By the way, I saw that all the gold, silver and jewelry were shipped to the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank."
"I've seen it too, haven't you noticed? The Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty is now guarded by factory guards and Yongwei battalion soldiers on three levels, inside and outside!"
"What, you don't know what the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank does? It's the old money bank! I heard that all banknotes in the future must be the ones printed by the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank."
"Yes, the military salaries of the three major battalions under the Royal Horse Supervisor are all paid with those silver notes. If anyone wants to exchange money back, they can go directly to the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank to exchange it."
"I saw the banknote. It's beautifully printed and very easy to use."
"Yeah, I'll change some banknotes later, otherwise, it'll be really inconvenient!"
"..."
In the past, all the gold, silver and jewelry obtained from ransacking houses were opened for people to see. This was actually the purpose. In front of everyone, countless gold, silver and jewelry were deposited in the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank. It was like a shot in the arm, giving the people of the capital confidence in the strength of the Ming Royal Bank.
By this time, Emperor Chongzhen also sent factory guards to secretly publicize the matter to let more people know about the Ming Royal Bank. After all, the decision was only made in the court before, and relatively speaking, the news coverage was still too narrow.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, matters related to the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty were indeed spread smoothly and quickly. It is also because of this incident that the banknotes from Daming Royal Bank have invisibly increased people's confidence.
After the confiscated gold, silver and jewelry were sent to the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty, the salaries of the officials of the capital, the army and the nobles were no longer distributed in kind, and there was no discount. Instead, they were directly issued with silver notes from the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty.
However, there is a problem. At this time, official salaries were all calculated in terms of grain. Therefore, those used for salary distribution cannot actually be called banknotes, but food stamps. What is printed on it is not the number of taels, but the number of stones.
In other words, officials, nobles, the military and other official systems, if the stipulated amount of shi is paid, they will be paid with food stamps; if the stipulated is a monthly salary of 2 silver, they will be paid with silver stamps. At this time, there was no way to force one tael of silver to be exchanged for one stone of grain.
Because the food in the capital is still restricted by the imperial court, even if you have food stamps, you cannot exchange them for food immediately and can only give them in limited quantities. For the officials in the capital, there is not much change for the time being, they just got a voucher for receiving food. The exchange will not be allowed until the capital's food supply is sufficient.
Of course, if there are officials in the capital who insist on exchanging food stamps for silver, they can also go to the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty to exchange them. The official rule is that one stone of food stamps can be exchanged for one tael of silver. As for the way of buying and selling in private, Emperor Chongzhen had no control over it. But with this official buying and selling line that the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank can control, it is equivalent to having a control on the grain price in the Ming Dynasty. When there is a good harvest, the price of food will not be too low; when there is a bad harvest, the price of food will not be too high.
Emperor Chongzhen took advantage of this major case of Shanxi businessmen's rebellion and conspiracy to promote all these things in one fell swoop. On the court officials' side, few people dared to question it because of Emperor Chongzhen's large-scale arrests; on the other hand, the people of the capital had full confidence in the Ming Royal Bank because they had witnessed it with their own eyes. Not only were few people going to exchange their banknotes for silver, there were even many merchants who deposited their silver at the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank to exchange for some banknotes.
Many merchants are even discussing that it would be more convenient if the face value of the imperial bank note was lower and could replace the most commonly used copper coins. No more worries about the quality of copper coins causing problems.
It can be said that the promotion of banknotes by Daming Royal Bank went much more smoothly than imagined. Seeing that the time was right, Emperor Chongzhen announced the establishment of branches of the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank in the capitals of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, allowing inter-local exchanges. In other words, you can deposit money in the capital, get a deposit certificate, and withdraw the money from other provinces. Of course, if you have enough trust, you can also get a corresponding number of banknotes. For this kind of thing, only the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty has this strength, including the banks originally opened by Shanxi merchants, which do not have this strength. With Daming Royal Bank opening branches in various places, it is conceivable that it will greatly facilitate business in different places.
After doing these things, Emperor Chongzhen announced another major news, which once again aroused the attention of all the people of the Ming Dynasty.
. m.
