The imperial power is not lower than the county, which is why there is a saying that the emperor and the scholar rule the world together in the feudal society.

It is true that all townships and villages below the county level are basically controlled by the local gentry.

This also lays a hidden danger for how long the two policies of apportionment into the mu and the integrated payment of grain by the gentry can be implemented.

After the turmoil in Jiangnan was suppressed, the gentry in all parts of the Great Zhou would definitely be honest for a few years.

But how many years later?

What happened after Zhang Lingyang's death?

Whether these two policies can be truly implemented is a big question.

Because there are clear examples of his past life placed there, Zhang Lingyang has to worry.

In response to this problem, Zhang Lingyang has already made corresponding arrangements.

After the war in Western Xinjiang stopped last year, Zhang Lingyang issued an order to let the disabled soldiers who participated in the war in Western Xinjiang return to their hometowns, and appointed them as township chiefs and pavilion chiefs of each township and pavilion.

It's just that at that time, it was only for the northwest Yong and Liang provinces, and as for other provinces, Zhang Lingyang did not make corresponding arrangements.

Now a year has passed, although the northwest Yong and Liang provinces are still barren.

However, judging from the official documents submitted by the Criminal Department, there was a marked decline in civil and criminal cases in Yong and Liang provinces last year.

Otherwise, in the evaluation of the Ministry of Officials, most of the officials in the prefectures and counties of Yong and Liang provinces would not have been rated above the average.

It is precisely for this reason that in mid-February, Zhang Lingyang issued an order to Feng Zuoliang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, asking the Ministry of War to count the meritorious soldiers and disabled personnel in the foreign wars of the Great Zhou Dynasty over the years.

This is undoubtedly a complicated task.

After all, in the past 20 years, there have been a lot of foreign wars in the Great Zhou Dynasty, especially the five expeditions of the former Emperor Yongkang Emperor, and the number of soldiers used before and after was no less than one million.

It's been so long, and there are so many people.

How many people are alive today is still unknown.

After all, in this era, the average life expectancy of people is only about thirty or forty years old.

The files of that year were called up, and the officials of the military department flipped through them one by one.

Just counting the list, it took the military department three months.

After that, the Ministry of War also issued a document to the local health centers, so that the local health centers could once again count the old soldiers who were still alive in the local area.

This work will take at least half a year.

When the list of veterans from all over the country is handed in, the military department will count it again, but I am afraid that it will take a bad time.

In other words, the military department will spend at least a year on this matter.

However, Zhang Lingyang did not find it cumbersome.

Even if it takes another year to do this, Zhang Lingyang feels that it is very worthwhile.

After all, what Zhang Lingyang will do next is related to the future of the Great Zhou.

Compared with the busyness of the Ministry of War, the Three Law Divisions headed by the Criminal Department are not much better.

The gentry who participated in the Jiangnan rebellion this time were not one or two, nor thirty or fifty, but hundreds of local gentry and clans participated in it.

Who of these gentry families doesn't have a few hundred people?

As a result, the trial of the matter becomes cumbersome.

However, fortunately, in addition to the Criminal Department, the Inspectorate and Dali Temple were also involved in this matter, which undoubtedly reduced a lot of the burden on the Criminal Department.

Compared with the trial and verdict of the three law divisions day and night, the most relaxed and beautiful is Jinyiwei.

Since the war in Jiangnan was pacified, Han Xiao, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, did not return to Beijing, but took his Jinyi Guard to various places in the south of the Yangtze River every day.

What is Han Xiao doing?

Naturally, it's a raid!

With so many gentry involved, it was only natural that their family property would be confiscated.

And raiding the house is undoubtedly Jinyiwei's forte.

In addition to confiscating the belongings and land of these gentry, Han Xiao's greatest pleasure every day is to extract confessions from the families of these gentry.

It is also said that even the gentry who participated in the rebellion knew the truth of the three holes of the cunning rabbit, so how could they keep all their money at home?

Han Xiao understands that the family property he has confiscated these days is just a drop in the bucket of these gentry's property.

As for the vast majority of the property, it must have been transferred elsewhere by these gentry.

But this can't help Jinyiwei.

Under the forced confession of Jin Yiwei, these usually pampered wives, young ladies, young masters, and old men finally revealed the location of their own silver.

Naturally, the Jiangnan area, which has just calmed down, is jumping again.

In the blink of an eye, it was March, and the three legal divisions headed by the Criminal Department finally finished handling the matter in hand.

Next, it is natural to hand it over to Zhang Lingyang to personally see, so that the three law divisions can convict these gentry.

Because there were too many gentry involved in the rebellion this time, when the report was announced, Gao Pei, the secretary of the Criminal Department, admonished Zhang Lingyang: "Your Majesty, there are more than 500 gentry who participated in the rebellion this time, and if you include the families and clansmen of these people, I am afraid that there will be 70,000 or 80,000 people.

With the meaning of Wei Chen, Your Majesty might as well only punish the evil ......"

Next, Gao Pei talked a lot of words, and his words were all about interceding for these gentry.

But Zhang Lingyang didn't think about it and said, "No! These people are not afraid of virtue, and if I let them go, they will not be grateful to Dade. ”

"But Your Majesty, there are too many people involved this time, and it is ominous to kill!" Gao Pei persuaded hard.

Li Guangtai also persuaded: "Your Majesty, what Gao Shangshu said is extremely true, involving so many people, if you really kill them all, I am afraid that the entire Jiangnan will be filial piety, and everyone will cry."

Now that Jiangnan has finally settled down, if Your Majesty loses the hearts of the people in Jiangnan because of this, I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses. ”

"This ......" Seeing Li Guangtai say this, Zhang Lingyang hesitated a little.

Seeing this, Gao Pei struck while the iron was hot and said: "Your Majesty, now that several nobles in the palace are pregnant, if all these people are beheaded at this time, they will definitely be full of blood in the capital." In case you collide with the nobles in the palace because of this, I'm afraid that the gains outweigh the losses! ”

Li Guangtai echoed: "What Gao Shangshu said is extremely true, Your Majesty might as well issue an order to pardon the crimes of these people, which can be regarded as accumulating blessings and longevity for the princes and sons of several nobles." ”

Seeing this, Zhang Lingyang couldn't cry or laugh a little.

He didn't expect that Li Guangtai and Gao Pei would involve this matter in several pregnant concubines in the harem.

Although Zhang Lingyang didn't believe this, he couldn't keep that even the disciples of Sage Kong would inevitably be a little superstitious when faced with such a thing.

"Rong Zhen think about it again!" Zhang Lingyang said with a 'headache', and sent away Gao Pei and Li Guangtai.

Gao Pei and Li Guangtai walked for less than an hour, and Sun Sheng entered the palace to report: "Long live Qiyu, Zheng Yongji, the first assistant of the cabinet, asks to see you!" ”