If this happened before, it would definitely cause an uproar.
Apart from anything else, let’s not talk about how powerful Shilin is here in Jiangnan. The salt merchants also have a lot of pens. When the time comes, they can criticize the court with verbal and written criticism. Believe it or not, they can scold the court into shit. If that's all, it doesn't matter, you scold you and I'll copy mine.
However, there will be civil unrest in Jiangnan. If you dare to attack the interest groups represented by salt merchants, they can incite civil unrest and drive desperadoes selling smuggled salt to cause trouble. It's hard to say what kind of chaos Jiangnan will be in when the time comes.
In fact, even when inspecting Shanxi merchants in the north, they were very cautious. It was only after Emperor Chongzhen had a direct army that he could truly control and laid a big plan that he dared to attack Shanxi merchants.
However, it is precisely because of the examples of Shanxi merchants in the north, which more or less demonstrate the methods of the imperial court.
Later, the Changshu uprising was suppressed by the Nanjing garrison eunuch and others. Donglin leader Qian Qianyi and others, no matter how big your connections and background were, were directly labeled as treason by the emperor, and more than a hundred others were subsequently dismissed. Wu Sha Mao, this is a completely different result from the popular uprising during the Wanli period.
In addition, during the floods in the south of the Yangtze River, the imperial court did its best to provide disaster relief, which greatly enhanced the imperial court's prestige among the people. Even if some people want to confuse people, it is impossible for people to follow them.
Most people can tell the difference between good and bad.
As a result, the officialdom and the people were either frightened or out of gratitude, and not many people opposed the imperial court's large-scale action against the big salt merchants.
Just like this, the operation in Jiangnan did not touch the elite troops under the Yuma Supervisor. It was only the Jin Yiwei who dispatched to coordinate the local army and it was implemented.
It can also be seen from here that the imperial court's control over the local area is slowly recovering again.
Of course, for such a big matter, some people must have doubts. How come the salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River are so far away from Liaodong and become captives?
Before these doubts could spread, Jinyiwei issued an announcement, explaining exactly how Le Qingsheng and Jianlu's people colluded, finally reached an agreement, and shipped the first batch of goods. There was a complete explanation and a copy of the covenant. As evidence. The relevant people involved, including Wu Zhong, were naturally captured by Jin Yiwei one by one.
The salt merchant's affair with the captives progressed very quickly, and the relevant memorials were quickly delivered to the imperial court. Then Emperor Chongzhen became angry and said that the salt merchants and the Salt Road Yamen were taking advantage of the people's wealth. The old salt policy had to be reformed. A signal was sent to the whole country, and the salt policy was quickly reformed.
In the past, a large part of the revenue of the imperial treasury came from salt tax. Therefore, most emperors would not have the courage to do this, for fear that even the original amount of salt tax would be lost. However, this obviously does not include Emperor Chongzhen.
In fact, he had already thought about how to reform the salt policy. However, if the big salt merchants were immediately released as soon as they were arrested, then everyone would think that the emperor had planned it in advance, and then infer that those big salt merchants were actually scapegoats, just blocking the emperor's salt policy reform.
Therefore, if you want to make the food look not ugly, you cannot rush it out and let the ministers have a discussion process. Finally, Emperor Chongzhen will guide him and launch the salt policy he wants.
While people all over the Ming Dynasty were speculating on what the new salt policy would be like, on the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, Lushun, which was famous in later generations, was very calm and seemed no different from usual.
In the past, when Ming Dynasty wanted to pass through Liaodong, all the materials supplied to Liaodong were shipped by sea. They would start from Dengzhou or Tianjin and then land in Lushun.
Because of the importance of Lushun's location, the Ming Dynasty set up many military strongholds on the Liaodong Peninsula during the Hongwu and Yongle years, among which a defense system was established with Jinzhou and Gaizhou as the core.
In Jinzhou, it was the headquarters of the Liaodong Capital Command and Envoy. Later, it became the headquarters of the Jinzhou Guard Command and Envoy.
Lushun is a thousand-household settlement under the Jinzhou Guard. Originally, it was just a fence of trees, and a wooden fence city was built for defense. Later, due to the defense against Japanese pirates, Lushun's position became more and more important. In the 10th year of Yongle, under the auspices of Xu Gang, the commander of the Jinzhou Guard, Muzha City was changed into a brick city and divided into north and south cities.
Among them, the perimeter of the North City is one mile and one hundred and eighty paces, with a wall one and two feet high and two feet wide. There are two city gates, "Jinghai" in the south and "Weiwu" in the north.
The south city is slightly larger than the north city, with a perimeter of one mile and three hundred paces. The wall is one foot and two feet high and two feet and five feet wide. There are also two city gates, "Tongjin" in the south and "Renhe" in the north.
However, as time went by, corruption prevailed in the Ming Dynasty Guards and military households fled. Therefore, by the 44th year of Jiajing, Nancheng had to be abandoned. When Beicheng was captured by the Qing Dynasty a few years ago, it was demolished by them.
In other words, Lushun, which is located in such an important location, actually does not even have a city. To be more precise, not only was there no city, there were no people. There was an order from the Manchu and Qing Dynasties that no piece of armor was allowed to go into the sea.
However, this order was loosened after King Zhishun Shang Kexi arrived in Jinzhou. At least the warships that were almost abandoned in Jinzhou have begun to be repaired again, and the sailors have been regrouped to start training.
No, even Lushun, which has been empty of people for many years, has many people here.
Most of them were migrant workers, or Han slaves. There were about a thousand people. Under the supervision of Tatars, they were cleaning up the ruins of the northern and southern cities of Lushun. Among them, North City has been tidying up for more than a month, and the city can be seen again.
On a section of the city wall that had been restored, a Tatar general, surrounded by a group of his men, scanned everything in front of him. Suddenly he sighed and said: "This manpower is still too few!"
This man was none other than Ban Zhifu, one of Shang Kexi's most trusted generals, who was sent by Shang Kexi to rebuild the city of Lushun. Because Shang Kexi, as the naval commander of Dongjiang Town, naturally knew the importance of Lushun. Since we are going to accomplish something in the future, the city of Lushun must be rebuilt.
"My lord, I don't know what the imperial court is up to. Why did it demolish a good city in the first place!" One of his men heard this and complained.
Before Ban Zhifu could answer, another person had already replied with resentment: "What else could there be, other than being afraid of the sea! Who among them would dare to go into the sea!"
Although he did not say clearly what he was referring to, everyone present knew that he was referring to the Jurchens in Jianzhou.
After hearing this, Ban Zhifu frowned and immediately scolded: "That's enough, don't talk nonsense anymore!"
These are naturally his confidants and his old subordinates. It is impossible for him to punish his master just because he complained.
After a pause, he continued: "You have to have a sense of what you should say and what you shouldn't say. If the prince hears it later, he won't let you go so easily. Do you understand? "
When his men heard this, they immediately became awe-inspiring. Because they knew that Ban Zhifu was not trying to scare them. Back then, their commander was named King Zhishun by the emperor. Such a huge favor also made their former commander and now the prince burst into tears of gratitude. If you speak ill of your master in front of him, even if you don't mean it, you might be severely punished.
In fact, they realize this, so they hold back some of the anger they usually receive in their hearts, and now they just take the opportunity to vent it out for a pretext.
Shang Ke is happy to be valued by Huang Taiji, but it does not mean that they, ordinary Han soldiers, will not be discriminated against by the Jurchens and Mongols in Jianzhou.
Ban Zhifu obviously knew this. After explaining, he changed the subject and said with a frown: "I will go back to Jinzhou tomorrow. I must need more manpower. Otherwise, it will be difficult to complete the construction of Lushun City." We know how long we have to postpone it. The prince has said that the navy will be transferred here before July, after the city of Lushun is built."
Hearing this, his men became a little curious and asked: "Sir, seeing that the prince is rebuilding warships, training navy, and rebuilding the city of Lushun, is it possible that the Ming Dynasty Navy Are you going to call me?"
"Nonsense!" When another subordinate heard this, he denied it without hesitation, "Dongjiang Town is gone. Do you think there is any navy left in the Ming Dynasty? If there really is a navy, will there be no movement? This is all in the past. how many years?"
"Yes, the imperial court is corrupt..." Another subordinate immediately continued the topic. When he saw Ban Zhifu's sideways eyes, he immediately woke up and quickly defended, "I am explaining that the imperial court is corrupt, the emperor is fatuous, and treacherous ministers are in power. , where did the money come from to build ships? As bad as the Ming Dynasty, aren’t we all so determined? How can we still fight it? Every time we are snatched away by the Qing army who enters the pass, it’s all Amitabha!"
Hearing this, remembering the past, these Liaodong Han people who were once soldiers of Dongjiang Town were silent for a while: the past is too painful to look back on!
But then, a person standing a little behind stepped forward, showed a gossipy look, and lowered his voice and said, "It is said that this time the Qing army entered the pass and suffered a huge defeat."
"Don't talk nonsense, how is it possible!" Someone immediately retorted, "Didn't you see that so many people and animals were robbed of supplies? More than ever before! Oh, by the way, the feudal kings were also brought in one pot. How can this possibly lead to losing the battle!”
"Yes, if we really want to lose the battle, the emperor will definitely be furious, and I haven't seen anyone punished!"
"I really heard that the battle was defeated. Those Jurchens have many more widows. Don't you know?"
"You think too much about women, it's all nonsense!"
"..."
Ban Zhifu's status is higher than these people, so he naturally knows more than these people. From the information he learned, it should be true that the Qing army was defeated. However, he didn't know the specific situation. The reason why no one below knew was because the emperor deliberately kept a low profile.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but frown. Regarding this, he couldn't understand. How could the Qing army lose the battle when it was so powerful? Could it be that the fight was too smooth and that we got carried away?
Ban Zhifu thought about it and couldn't think of any other possibility. Because in his impression, Daming's incompetence was actually similar to what his subordinates said.
At the beginning, Shang Kexi was just the naval commander of Dongjiang Town, his status was even lower, and he was only in Liaodong, so his horizons were naturally limited. Although Shang Kexi was later granted the title of king, he was also restricted. Shang Kexi basically had no way of knowing the news about the Ming Dynasty, let alone him.
In fact, at this time in Liaodong, most people's impression of the Ming Dynasty still remained in the past.
Most people don't know what's going on in the pass. Only the leaders among the captives could understand that the Ming emperor suddenly became powerful, and that the Qing Dynasty was in trouble without the Shanxi merchants.
Ban Zhifu listened to their chatter for a while, then interrupted them and said: "That's enough, don't care about things that you shouldn't care about. Keep an eye on all of you. There are just a few people. If someone escapes and delays the construction period, Those are all going to get a military stick!"
As soon as his men heard this, they immediately agreed. Then, another man said with a playful smile: "Sir, even if they are allowed to escape, where can they escape?"
"Yes, if possible, they can swim to Dengzhou, haha!"
"Even if someone escapes, it is not normal to report death or loss due to illness. Your Excellency, I will go see the prince tomorrow and ask for more manpower."
"..."
Seeing that they didn't seem to care, Ban Zhifu said with a serious face: "The population and materials allocated by the imperial court to the prince this time are not very large. The prince said that he should budget carefully. When I go back this time, I don't know how much I can get. . If you dare not be careful, believe it or not, I will use military law to deal with you!"
Seeing that he was angry, these subordinates did not dare to smile playfully and quickly promised that they would be serious.
But looking back, looking at those skinny Han people, and remembering the little food they had set aside, many of them lost confidence. They didn't believe how much these people could survive if Lushun City was to be repaired.
In fact, if you have to carry out heavy physical labor, the little food you have is actually not enough to eat. A team of soldiers was also divided to catch fish at the beach to replenish food. But even so, people still die every day.
Time passed slowly, and soon it was evening. The sun sets and dyes the western sky red.
The Han slaves who were working were driven back to the half-built city in groups by these fake Tatars. It was surrounded by a city wall, which made it much easier to guard.
However, not all the Han slaves were driven back. A group of them carried the corpses to a nearby low cliff, preparing to throw their companions who had died from exhaustion today into the sea. Another group of Han slaves were driven to the beach to take advantage of the low tide in the evening to pick up more edible seafood.
The day passed before my eyes, and it was no different from usual.
After the light got darker, one of the Han slaves who were gathering seafood in groups at the beach suddenly whispered to his companion in front of him: "Brother, do you really want to escape tonight?"
