Chapter 539: First Passage

In June, the weather in Jiangnan began to change. It started to rain steadily, and the air was moist and cold, but it was also mixed with a bit of weird warmth.

A group of knights rushed from Shanghai County to the vicinity of Jiading County, Suzhou Prefecture. As they approached Jiading City, their cheeks were stained with sweat and rain. A bay-red horse took the lead in approaching the city gate. The knight on the horse tightened the reins. The horse He snorted and stopped beside the wall while breathing hot air.

The knight on horseback got down, tied his horse, and went straight into the city gate.

There were still horses in the city gate. Because of the garrison regulations, they had to change their horses after entering the city gate. Not long after, the knight who had changed his horse arrived at the county government office in Jiading County and went straight to the government office.

A man who looked like a school captain stood on the steps to greet him: "Young Master, please wait a moment."

"Um."

Zhu Yong responded with a dull sound, sat down on the stone bench next to him, and waited patiently.

After the sultry summer rain, Zhu Yong felt as if he had been soaked in a steamer and taken out of a steamer. His skin was a little swollen, and his insides felt like there was a fire. Zhu Yong let the sweat mixed with the rain flow down his neck, just like that. Sit upright.

After about half a cup of tea, the military attaché hurried over from the backyard.

"Young Master, the Imperial Master has summoned you." After the man finished speaking, he hurried towards the main room.

Zhu Yong stood up and followed him up the steps.

After entering the door, he saw dozens of scribes, all kneeling and writing at the desk. There were stacks of albums next to them. Only one scribe who was rubbing his wrist raised his hand. She glanced at him with her eyelids and then lowered her head.

Zhu Yong has some knowledge of the work of these people. Recently, there are rumors among the people that what these people hold in their hands is the "judge pen", which is used to approve the fish scale book and the yellow book. If there is any discrepancy, there is something fishy hidden in it and the "judge pen" will The punishment ranged from fines to the loss of family and property, to military exile or death.

The meaning here is similar to handling cases in other places. Jiang Xinghuo brought a complete team of accounting and clerical clerks. They are all veteran officials transferred from the ministry, and they are all waiting for promotion after this business trip. , who doesn’t work hard? After all, for Jiang Xinghuo, it may be difficult to open up the channels from officials to officials on a large scale, but it is easy to do something in the existing promotion systems for officials to officials.

Zhu Yong walked through the main room, and behind it was the back hall, where Jiang Xinghuo was.

Zhu Yong saluted and said, "I have met the Imperial Master."

Jiang Xinghuo signaled him to wait a moment, and he didn't know what he was writing on his hand.

"Today, most of the taxes and military expenditures come from the southeast. The Su, Song, Chang, Zhen, Jia, Hu, and Hang prefectures transport, ship, and retain no more than millions every year, while the grain chiefs, book hands, and Xu Officials and powerful officials engage in fraud and insinuations of infringement, and the amount is no less than hundreds of thousands every year. There is nothing more harmful than the grain tax."

"While passing through the border of Su and Song Prefectures, the people on the fields once said: The people cultivated the fields and paid taxes to provide for the imperial court. This is the right principle. When there is a famine every year, the imperial court exempts the common people from some taxes and grains. This is a great kindness. However. Today, in the Qifu area, there are hundreds of thousands of money and grain every year. Neither the court nor the people can get it, but a generation of traitors in the middle are insinuating and invading the land. As a result, the traitors are getting fatter and the people are living in poverty. Is it tolerable, but who can't be tolerated?"

The dense folding system has been implemented for two years. At present, it is difficult to observe the specific effect geometry.

Anyway, the noble military ministers complained about this quite a lot.

Because they have been with the emperor for a long time, there is basically no conflict of interest. Therefore, if there is anything that needs to be said, they will either go to the palace directly to report it, or they will yell at the banquet. Very few military ministers will be willing to share it with the emperor through writing. Keeping secrets or making snitches are usually regarded as weird signs of being unsociable in the Jingnan noble group, which generally has a low level of education.

Senior civil servants are quite happy to go to the secret service, but Zhu Di generally does not have high trust in them, so many things have fallen into disarray and there is no news. It is basically impossible to kill political opponents by this method. Or in other words, If the evidence is conclusive, there is no need to go through the secret test at all, just find a younger brother who dares to charge and go through the normal impeachment procedures.

But this thing may not be of much use to the emperor, but it cannot be left out, because it bypasses the traditional reporting process and has a certain secret nature.

And Jiang Xinghuo didn't write it for himself, but for Li Jinglong. From Li Jinglong's perspective, he would confirm this matter from the side, and just ask Li Jinglong to copy it when he comes back.

"How about it?"

"The evidence is basically conclusive."

Zhu Yong took the taxmen to investigate the land tax issues in Changshu County. Longping Marquis Zhang Xin had a large amount of land here.

It can be seen from the literal name "Changshu" that as a land of fish and rice with a long history, it is located in the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta. The terrain is slightly higher in the northwest and slightly tilted to the southeast. It has excellent rain and heat conditions, and its grain output ranks first among the counties in the south of the Yangtze River all year round. It was in the forefront, so it was also loved by the landowners.

Who doesn’t like more productive acres?

Dear Honorable Jingnan, regarding the matter of buying real estate, because the time is short, most of them are in Zhenjiang Prefecture and Changzhou Prefecture around Nanjing, while not many people buy real estate in Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture.

Therefore, working in Qingtian in the south of the Yangtze River is actually not a big workload for the nobles. Most of them are around Nanjing, which has been cleared up. There are only some Hongwu founding nobles with a relatively long history. There are many places in Jiangnan. , but most of these lands are not illegally occupied, but are rewards from Lao Zhu.

For example, Cao Guogong Li Jinglong simply asked Li Zengzhi to withdraw all the illegally occupied fields in Jiangnan. With Cao Guogong taking the lead, other Hongwu nobles also followed suit. Anyway, all the fields around Nanjing were withdrawn, which is not bad. That's it.

Only Longping Hou Zhang Xin, this "En Zhang", was as stubborn as ever.

After the Lianghuai salt tax case last year, all the transportation envoys, political advisors, and prefects were thrown into prison. Only the chief envoy and the governor of water transportation were safe and sound.

According to the default rules, if such a big thing happens, the future of these officials in the Huanghuai Chief Envoy Department will be affected.

However, Zhang Xin, who originally served as the governor of water transportation, was not dismissed or demoted. It can only be said that his situation is relatively special. After all, his past contributions were too great, so he temporarily kept this position.

But in fact, Zhang Xin also knew that although he was not implicated when this incident happened, he would have little chance to gain important authority.

After all, although Zhang Xin is very brave in combat, it is doubtful whether he can be made a count based on his combat ability.

And Zhang Xin also heard the news - many people in the imperial court have determined that the power of the entire Ming Dynasty's old salt affairs system will suffer a devastating blow, and even affect the reshaping of the entire system, because everyone can predict that, The big bosses in the DPRK will never tolerate people from this group continuing to make trouble. The interests involved in the salt tax are not trivial.

But even so, Zhang Xin was still safe, at least on the surface.

Perhaps Zhang Xin felt that his contribution was so great that he did not need to care about such things, and it was impossible for Zhu Di to punish him. Therefore, the governor of water transportation, who was making money every day, simply ignored the president's reform. The stewards of the farm below him also imitated the writing style of the affairs office. Once the door was closed, they were not allowed to go in for inspection.

Zhu Yong took out a document bag wrapped in oil paper from his arms, took out the documents and handed them to Jiang Xinghuo. All of them were evidence of Zhang Xin's illegal land occupation.

"got it."

Jiang Xinghuo put away the documents and picked up a pen to write a note: "Xunqi Zhuangtian, as usual, the department levied three cents of silver per mu, and the Ministry of Finance will verify the payment. If you allow your family to go to the countryside to occupy private land, and levy it privately, you will be punished." Those who want to rent silver should listen to the garrison censor and investigate."

This is the record he made based on the actual work of clearing the fields. These records will be added and deleted in the future and will officially become part of the Ming Dynasty Law in the form of supplementary laws.

"Do you want to do it now?"

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and said, "Don't worry, you should understand what Zheng Burke and Duan Yuyan mean, so what if you allow him to be arrogant for a moment? Let's finish the matter in Jiading County first."

Zhu Yong couldn't help but ask: "How is the situation here in Jiading?"

Jiang Xinghuo put down his pen, stood up, and said: "Not killing is not enough to shock people's hearts."

Zhu Yong was shocked.

"Can you please go beat the drum and call all the subordinate officials and servants from Jiading County?"

After the three-way drum, the subordinate officials and servants of the county government arrived together. These people had just experienced going to the countryside to clear the fields. They usually live a comfortable life. This time they were just clearing the fields in the countryside with a radius of hundreds of miles, braving the rain, and their backs were so tired. Back pain makes it difficult for many people to even stand up straight, let alone regain their energy.

"Master Imperial Master, all the officials and the three squadrons of government officials have arrived."

At this time, an old man sitting at the bottom on the left spoke: "Master Imperial Master, the subordinate officials and servants are here, but what are your orders?"

This old man is called Chen Fu, and he is the county magistrate of Jiading. He has worked in Jiading for more than 20 years, and the county magistrate is a Jinshi who has been ignored. In addition, he fell ill with wind and cold, so he escaped this time. It was all planned by Chen Xiancheng, who was considered the leading figure here.

"Today, I want you to know what the laws of the country and the dynasty are."

Jiang Xinghuo glanced at Chen Fu and then said.

Hearing Jiang Xinghuo's words, many people's expressions changed slightly, while some looked indifferent.

Jiang Xinghuo said this, but did not announce anything immediately. Instead, he looked around, his eyes finally resting on Chen Fu's face, and said: "Chen County Cheng, I will leave this matter to you. You can first hand over this document." Tell it in detail."

Chen Fu's heart trembled, he took the document and read it in a dry voice.

"The method of clearing the fields, even if the palm official follows step by step, holds the pen in his left hand, and calculates in the right hand, it still cannot clear ten acres of land. It all depends on the subordinate officials and servants to measure it. However, let's talk about the plain land: the tightness of the elastic rope, There are tricks in the inclination of the corners, the height of the terrain, and the obstacles in the garden."

"The number of people holding the ruler has increased, while the number of people holding the pen has decreased. The ambiguity of those who calculate and report the numbers is really difficult to predict. The situation includes the ruggedness of the hills, the fragmentation of the paragraphs, the uneven shapes, and all kinds of cunning and stubbornness, to name a few."

"The old custom in Jiading County is that one acre is divided into two hundred and forty steps, and one step is three feet and five inches. However, many people changed the three feet and two inches into one step during the Qing Dynasty. So, one acre of field becomes one step. The acres are more than one cent, and the grassy moats at the water's edge are all empty bows; the ancient houses are desolate, and all kinds of real taxes are paid, turning the clear fields into a child's play, and cheating on top and bottom, and the blame is hard to blame."

As Chen Fu narrated what happened in Qingtian these days, the faces of the subordinate officials gradually became ugly. Not only that, their expressions also showed a hint of fear and panic. They were obviously very afraid of the little trick being made public.

In fact, even if Jiang Xinghuo is accompanied by accountants and clerical clerks, and there are tax guards and guards in the townships below, let alone a government as big as a county, even a county with a radius of hundreds or hundreds of miles, the real main force The work of going to the countryside to clean up the abbot still has to be done by subordinate officials and servants. This kind of thing cannot be done by soldiers or petty officials in Beijing. There are too many complicated things in the fields, not only land disputes, but also various The terrain is complex and it is impossible to clear the fields if you are not familiar with the local conditions.

But this will lead to the fact that the entire clearing work, obviously with accountants, clerks, troops, and tax collectors, is extremely fair on the surface, and many people are indeed fined or punished, but these punished people are, to put it bluntly, People whose hands and feet were not usually clean enough were just used as "sacrifice" to satisfy Jiang Xinghuo's appetite.

These people hoped that Jiang Xinghuo would be satisfied with these gains, and felt that not letting Jiang Xinghuo return empty-handed would be considered a deal.

In fact, this work is still secretly controlled by the local gentry. They collude with the subordinate officials and servants, and bully them through the tricky methods such as "shrinking the bow" just mentioned by Jiang Xinghuo. These methods are very covert and careful.

However, the work of clearing fields along the hills and acres is inherently a very specific and tedious task, and it must go through many links and use a number of people. Even if the county magistrate is selfless and goes to the scene to supervise, it is impossible to remove the subordinate staff. The police officers were aware of these methods, not to mention that most of the county officials were either as bad as the Jiading magistrate, or they turned a blind eye.

Therefore, Huating County and Shanghai County in Songjiang Prefecture are fine places where the reformists can basically control them. Once they reach places where the control is not that strong, there is a lot to talk about.

And if you want these subordinate officials and servants who are familiar with the local situation to work seriously and not use these little tricks to deceive superiors and conceal inferiors, then there is only one way.

--kill!

These people are used to being cunning down there. Favors are useless, threats are useless, rewards are useless, and punishments are useless. The only thing that can touch their hearts is human heads.

"Read the list."

With a trembling voice, Chen Fu read out the names one by one. They were all subordinate staff and servants present, and even officials with official status.

Every time a name is read out, the heavily armed soldiers next to him will escort him down.

"Wang An."

"Zhao Baoshan."

"Li Qing."

Chen Fu called the names one by one, and soon, a total of more than 30 people were arrested.

Most of these subordinate officials and servants were born and raised in Jiading County. They had stayed in Jiading for a long time, so they naturally knew some of Jiading's rules and how to deal with them. However, at the battle in front of them, their faces suddenly turned pale. Even more chilly.

They are all minor officials and servants, and they don't have any official positions. They usually just hang around and wait to die. Even if they really do bad things, it is not expected that they will be blamed. But this logic is obviously not the case this time.

When the last name was read, there was silence.

Because the last name is none other than Chen Fu.

The county magistrate's heart beat violently for a few times, and then he fell to his knees and said, "Imperial Master, spare your life!"

"Spare your life?"

Jiang Xinghuo asked calmly: "When you people interfered and secretly hindered Qingtian, why didn't you think about the consequences?"

Chen Fu was so frightened that he was weak. He knew very well the character of this imperial master. He really dared to kill people. Not to mention that he was an eighth-grade county magistrate. Even Ding Meixia, the fourth-grade magistrate of Changzhou Prefecture next door, was also killed. , and now the grass on the graves is growing tall.

"The National Master clearly shows that we will not stand in the way."

Chen Fu hurriedly argued.

Jiang Xinghuo sneered: "You said it's not the case?"

After that, several subordinate officials, officers, and accompanying tax collectors pointed out what these people had done.

"National Master, look, I'm going to drag them out and chop them up right now?"

In the Ming Dynasty, beheading was not the most severe punishment. For many criminals, beheading was a kind of luck, because there were many more cruel punishments, and this was only for individual criminals. If we expand the scope, Look, the punishment for fancy connections is even more severe, including punishing the Nine Tribes, the Ten Tribes, and even the Three Yi Tribes.

As long as he is found implicated, his family members will also be implicated. Not to mention the confiscation of his family property, the whole family will suffer, and his wife and children will become prisoners and even enter the Jiaofang Division.

Jiang Xinghuo is not such a cruel person. If it were normal, the behavior of these people would not be enough to behead someone. At most, they would slap dozens of big boards on them and then live or die.

But it's different now.

Now is a critical period to promote the land clearing work. South Zhili and Zhejiang are the pilot projects. The land clearing work should be completely completed in the entire Ming Dynasty within five to seven years.

If you make a mistake at the beginning and tolerate this kind of thing, it will be impossible to implement it seriously in the future.

So these people must die.

"kill."

Jiang Xinghuo uttered one word expressionlessly, and the wolf-like soldier pulled out his sword, pressed his neck and stabbed him down.

When these subordinate officials and servants saw their colleagues being killed, they didn't care and struggled hard.

But the outcome was obvious. These subordinate officials and officers came back from the countryside panting. Wherever they could resist, the soldiers who were responsible for killing people on the battlefield were all killed in less than a few breaths.

Seeing this scene, everyone who survived was dumbfounded. How could this national master be so vicious?

At this moment, all the subordinate officials and servants present no longer dared to have any objections.

However, there are also many subordinate officials and servants who are not convinced. After all, although this matter is in collusion with the gentry, it is actually an unspoken rule by default. How can they die?

But they quickly shut up, because these people were just minions and not worth worrying about.

When the last body was dragged out, Chen Fu raised his head and looked at the bloody traces on the ground, feeling a little sad and a little angry in his heart.

They were used to kill chickens to scare monkeys.

After all, in his opinion, even if the court pays attention to these matters, everything that should be dealt with has been dealt with. Isn't it normal to make some small moves during the measurement and favor the gentry?

However, he never dreamed that things would turn out like this, with all these subordinates, servants and petty officials being executed.

However, he had no room for regret.

"I'll read out a list to give you a good time, so as not to hurt my family."

Chen Fu's last trace of luck was gone. He collapsed on the ground and tremblingly read out a list.

As for whether there is any biting here, someone will investigate clearly when the time comes.

Jiang Xinghuo waved his hand, and Chen Fu was also escorted down.

"Hang it on the city gate tower?"

"Published to all the prefectures south of the Yangtze River."

After dealing with these people, the remaining subordinate officials and servants were already frightened.

"Go to clean up the fields in Jiading County again. If you commit fraud again this time, you know the consequences."

Jiang Xinghuo stood up and left.

It is impossible to establish power without bloodshed such as Qingtian. Let's take Hai Rui as an example. Hai Rui not only put Qingtian into practice, he even did not hesitate to offend his former chief assistant Xu Jie. There is no doubt that he was determined, but he failed to achieve it. It has achieved real results, tried it in one corner, but failed again and again. It is so difficult and the resistance is so determined, let alone promote it nationwide?

In fact, if we don't really kill people, this kind of thing that touches the fundamental interests of the gentry will not be able to withstand the counterattack of the powerful gentry and subordinate officials and other forces. Once it fails, the people's land that has just been recaptured will be retaken. This situation was by no means accidental when it was returned to the powerful hands of the gentry. Rather, the vested interests of the gentry were colluded with the subordinate servants at the bottom. Not only were they able to influence the public opinion of the government and the opposition, but they also went deep into the countryside and were absolutely able to shamelessly engage in all kinds of things. A conspiracy.

Without the power to control the overall situation, the ability to implement the policy to the end, and the soldiers who are ready to come, even a stubborn minister like Hai Rui will inevitably be at a disadvantage in a contest with the powerful gentry.

This is because the clearing of land is the illegal benefits obtained by clearing out the hidden possessions and eliminating the powerful gentry. Once the clearing is completed, it will not only mean that the burden of the common people will be relieved, but it will also mean that the burden that was originally passed on to the common people will return to that of the powerful gentry. This is a zero-sum game of "contracting one thing and extending another, benefiting the east and harming the west", so they will inevitably resist law enforcement and even incite public opinion.

In fact, the number of memorials to impeach Jiang Xinghuo has been piled high in the current cabinet.

But it's no use.

What can the cabinet do? Passed to the Emperor of the Northern Expedition, do you hate Jiang Xinghuo or do you hate Zhu Di? For Zhu Di, this feeling is like returning to his hometown on weekends and having to work on the road.

Returning to Houya, Jiang Xinghuo thought over and over again and decided that since he was following the story of Zheng Burke and Duan Yuyan, it would be better to do the whole trick.

"Write another official letter to the governor's office of water transportation."

"yes."

The clerk next to him picked up a pen, and Jiang Xinghuo dictated: "I inquired about the land of Marquis Longping, and checked the Ming Dynasty law: 'In addition to the public land allocated to the meritorious officials, if they have land, they should report all the land to the officials, and pay the grain as errands'. Therefore, the land of the meritorious officials, It is unreasonable not to accept the grain given by the emperor. The land and fields of Xi have been generously plentiful. If you buy your own land, you should work with the people to pay the grain. In addition to the land granted, the rest should be found out. To rectify the law.”

Dozens of heads quickly caused a sensation throughout Jiading County.

As the parties involved, these subordinate officials looked at the tragic situation in front of them. Everyone was scared, but no one dared to persuade them easily. They knew very well that if they spoke, their heads might also fall off. After all, their butts None of them were clean. This time it was because someone in Qingtian was committing fraud, but it does not mean that those who were not beheaded had not done bad things or broken the law.

Jiang Xinghuo also quickly brought the matter under control, promising that as long as there were no problems with clearing the land for the second time, no one would pay the price with their lives for this matter. This sentence was very important and quickly calmed people's minds.

After all, if it is not made clear in advance, if rumors really spread, it will be too late to rectify the situation. Moreover, so many subordinate officials and servants will be executed at once, and the entire county government will be upset. No one can say whether there will be anyone. It is no joke to incite the common people to cause small-scale riots. Once a riot occurs, should we use weapons at that time? If it were moved, the entire Jiading County would bleed, so it was better to nip it in the bud.

In short, this matter is a vicious case and must be dealt with seriously!

But after handling it, the remaining people have to be allowed to work, and they cannot be left in danger.

At the same time, Fan Dengfeng, the magistrate of Jiading County, was lying on the hospital bed. He also learned about this and immediately felt that he was half recovered from his illness.

Fan Dengfeng had always been depressed before. Although he was the county magistrate, he theoretically managed the county government and everything in the entire county. He was the county magistrate and Bailihou, but he had never been able to control the subordinate officials and servants in the county, because These subordinate servants are all people who have worked here for more than ten or twenty years. They are all local gangsters, and they stick together with each other and get involved with the local gentry. This is very difficult for Fan Dengfeng, a new scholar in Jiashenko Said, there is really no way to start.

After all, these people all have a certain degree of influence, and may even be able to control the situation of the entire county to some extent. In this case, some of the people below have a strong protective umbrella.

Under this situation, the subordinate officials in the county became more and more arrogant and domineering, and sometimes even ignored Fan Dengfeng. This situation also resulted in Fan Dengfeng having little authority in the yamen.

"Quick, I have to go see the Imperial Master."

Fan Dengfeng didn't care that he was indeed seriously ill. At this time, his energy and blood were rising, so he stood up covered with a quilt.

Of course Jiang Xinghuo didn't see him, and Jiang Xinghuo wasn't sure whether this kid had a viral cold or a cold. What should he do if he infected himself? As for Fan Dengfeng being sidelined, Jiang Xinghuo didn't pay much attention to it. A scholar like this who has been studying for more than ten years has just passed the Jinshi examination and been sent to work as an official. It's unreasonable to expect him to be able to fight these local snakes alone. Practical luxury.

And Jiang Xinghuo helped him remove these nails that hindered Qingtian, which of course also greatly reduced the resistance to Fan Dengfeng's future governance.

At the same time, based on previous feedback, Jiang Xinghuo found out that among the first batch of Songjiang Prefecture officials who cleared the fields, some of them had a perfunctory and sloppy attitude. He also directly issued orders ranging from warnings, fines, suspension of directors to demotions. punishment.

Soon, the second clearing of fields in Jiading County yielded tangible results. All the things that had been concealed through various deceptions came to light, and the dozens of bright heads began to appear in the counties of Suzhou Prefecture. The spread of the exhibition instantly shocked the entire Suzhou Prefecture. This shocking atmosphere began to permeate the other prefectures in Jiangnan as the heads passed.