[244] Jiangnan Secret War 2

In the first month of the third year of Hongde, Daming officially promulgated the "Daming Money Law", stipulating that only one kind of coin in Daming is legal: it is the paper money of the former Liaodong currency and now the Daming treasure banknote. Merchants in various places must accept this kind of coin unconditionally, and all kinds of coins can be exchanged at various industrial banks within three months, and all of them will be invalidated after three months, and those who make, use, and sell other coins are all illegal. Once found, the decision will be made.

Together with the "Daming Money Law", there are also a series of newly promulgated laws such as "Daming Salt Law", "Daming Commercial Law", "Daming Construction Law", "Daming City Shipping Law", "Daming Education Law", "Daming Military Law", "Daming Officials Governance Law" and so on.

Among them, the salt law and commercial law most touched the interests of the Jiangnan civilian-official business group headed by the Donglin Party, and Jiangnan was the stronghold of the Donglin Party, so the salt merchants in Yangzhou and the big businessmen in Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou joined forces with some officials of the Donglin Party and the central government to launch a movement to resist the new law

First, these profiteers resisted the new law by refusing to use new money and insisting on trading in cash. The profiteers shouted that "the northern army can enter Yingtian, but the northern money cannot enter Yingtian"

The newly appointed governor of Yingtian is the famous Hong Chengchou, and in order to deal with the tricks of the profiteers, he promotes the new money as soon as possible. The method adopted by Hong Chengchou was as follows: The salaries of craftsmen in the yamen, the army's salaries, state-run factories such as the Ordnance Bureau, and the teachers and staff of government-run schools should first be paid with treasure money, and at the same time the work of exchanging old money for new money should be stepped up.

In the last years of Chongzhen, all kinds of coins on the market were flooded, good and bad, and the people demanded to get rid of bad coins as urgently as they asked to get rid of the plague. After the Nanjing Governor's Office declared the old money illegal, the work of collecting the old money went very smoothly. Between the new money and the old money, although the common people chose the new money, they believed in silver, gold and physical goods, and as soon as they got the treasure money, they hurriedly used it to buy rice and exchange it for cash, and did not dare to put it in their hands overnight. The profiteers believe that the work is not as good as the business, and the business is not as good as the tun. As long as they have the ability to eat, they can make exponential profits when the new court compromises a little

So Suzhou, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Hangzhou several major commercial banks united to refuse to use the treasure banknote, at the same time some small traders have also followed suit, in this case, the Ming treasure money has become the early out and late returnee, every morning just sent out, in the evening almost all back to the Xingye money village. The survival of Daming treasure banknotes has been threatened, the normal circulation of commodities has been destroyed, and the normal production order of some handicraft workshops has been greatly affected. In a hurry, Hong Chengchou managed to get 100,000 taels of silver, and asked his subordinates to secretly ship out, trying to make the soaring silver price fall. But the ending is that the meat buns beat the dog, and there is no return, which is a drop in the bucket.

Subsequently, the situation deteriorated further. Due to the development of commerce and handicrafts, many fields in the south of the Yangtze River are used to grow cash crops instead of food crops. Therefore, grain prices have been maintained at a relatively high level, and profiteers have taken advantage of the government's anxiety to take advantage of the opportunity to raise grain prices, causing grain prices to soar in various parts of the Yangtze River, and the people are full of complaints

Hong Chengchou is not incompetent, so he hurriedly tried to transfer a large number of food emergencies. However, more than 50 grain ships arrived at the Xiaguan wharf, but no one came to unload the goods. When I inquired, I learned that the foot ladies had to receive cash wages before they were willing to unload their goods. Hong Chengchou had no choice but to transfer soldiers and horses to carry grain.

At this time, the profiteers took the opportunity to fan the flames and spread rumors that the government only gave food to the army and officials, and the people let them starve to death. As a result, the people flocked to the Xiaguan wharf to grab food, and there were fierce clashes with the army.

Hong Chengchou really had no choice but to use thunder methods, but considering that behind these profiteers stood many famous gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, and some of them were officials in the same dynasty as him, so Hong Chengchou could only report the situation to Song Youliang in Beijing first. Three years later, Song Youliang replied to Hong Chengchou with a letter, saying: Extraordinary things use extraordinary means, and we can't be lenient in everything, otherwise people in the world will think that we are still frightened by a few profiteers. The court has money, grain, cloth, oil, and salt, and more importantly, what we do is beneficial to the people, as long as the people are on our side, they are not afraid of anything. and also gave Hong Chengchou a Shangfang sword

Hong Chengchou, who received the support of Song Youliang, began to let go of his work, and he mobilized the troops of Nanzhili and Zhejiang to launch a round of carpet arrests in Suzhou, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other places. With the cooperation of Zai Jinyiwei, Hong Chengchou arrested more than 300 profiteers who resisted the use of Daming treasure banknotes led by various localities, and escorted them to Nanjing together to be beheaded for violating the "Daming Money Law". Most of their property was confiscated, and a small portion was distributed to their innocent family members.

Subsequently, Song Youliang personally escorted more than 700,000 catties of grain from the north to Jiangnan, although the people in Jiangnan are not very accustomed to eating wheat, but the low price and the quality of not mixing sediment still make the people of Jiangnan who are deeply troubled by high grain prices rush to it. Within ten days, the price of grain in Jiangnan had plummeted, and the profiteers who hoarded grain went bankrupt.

Immediately afterwards, Song Youliang reaffirmed the "Daming Salt Law", began to implement the salt ticket law, abolished the monopoly of commercial salt, and implemented the salt ticket law that can sell salt if all taxes are paid. Although Yangzhou salt merchants hoarded a large amount of salt, they also engaged in a strike. However, Song Youliang transferred 300,000 catties of salt from southern Liaoning and Shandong, and the quality and fineness were better than the salt in the hands of Yangzhou salt merchants. As a result, within ten days, the price of salt in Jiangnan also fell when the wind fell.

Sun Lao Liu originally went to buy salt with a small bowl, but halfway through he heard that the price of salt had fallen again, so he hurried back to get his pocket. As soon as the pocket was grabbed in his hand, Sun Lao Liu had not yet gone out, and someone outside shouted: "The price of salt has fallen!" ”

"Damn it~" Sun Lao Liu stomped his feet, pushed a wheelbarrow and went out, but when he came back, the wheelbarrow was filled with snow-white salt

After a few days, Yangzhou salt merchants lost all their money. This is not counting, Song Youliang also sentenced the top 30 large salt merchants and more than 100 small salt merchants in Yangzhou who participated in the economic turmoil in the name of disrupting the salt market and destroying the salt law.

As soon as the Donglin Party saw that the situation was not right, they immediately stood up with Qian Qianyi as the leader and accused Song Youliang of being cruel and unkind, and Liu Zongzhou and other more stubborn old ministers also accused Song Youliang of killing too much. However, Wang Fuzhi, Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi and others stepped forward in time. At the same time, the young intellectuals led by Fang Yizhi, Hou Fangyu, and Mao Bijiang also strongly supported Song Youliang's administration.

The price of grain was cheaper, the salt was cheaper, the money was stable and worthwhile, and the people got the benefits, and they also supported Song Youliang's administration.

As a result, Qian Qianyi and others came up with the old tricks that worked before, and forced the palace to resign. In the Nanjing Governor's Palace, the ministers headed by Qian Qianyi and Liu Zongzhou knelt on the ground

Liu Zongzhou still knelt on the ground: "Master Ma, Weichen is old, these days, I have been feeling dizzy and dizzy, my energy is low, and I am really unable to serve as the imperial history of the left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the minister wants to beg the emperor for bones and return to his hometown." ”

Song Youliang hurriedly went to support Liu Zongzhou, "Liu Qing's family, please hurry up!" ”

Liu Zongzhou stubbornly refused to get up, "Old minister, please beg for bones!" ”

At this time, Qian Qianyi and the others also said in unison: "The ministers also ask for beggar bones, and the old man will return to his hometown!"

Song Youliang glanced at Qian Qianyi, and then he was happy, these Donglin Party members are of different ages, and the most ridiculous thing is that many officials in their thirties and forties also jumped out to beg for bones.

Looking at the black pressure on a group of old and young courtiers who begged for their bones, Song Youliang sneered in his heart, he really thought that the court would not be able to turn around without them, Lao Tzu didn't believe it, would there be no one to be an official?

Song Youliang deliberately said with a look of embarrassment: "Do you really want to beg for bones? But as soon as you leave like this, Nanzhili's yamen will be half empty! ”

Song Youliang deliberately said to Qian Qianyi again: "Qian Qing's family, you are still young, do you also want to beg for bones?" ”

Qian Qian Yichen deliberately hung his head and said: "The ministers are shallow in their studies, and they will only have a vegetarian meal if they stay in office, and they will ask for their grandfather's permission." ”

Song Youliang still said with a look of embarrassment: "Everyone~~ really don't think about it anymore?" This is not a trivial matter, you should think twice! ”

Qian Qianyi said affirmatively: "This is the decision after thinking twice~"

"Well, this grandfather is approved, today you can take off your court clothes and return to your hometown to live a free life." Song Youliang smiled slyly

Liu Zong was stunned, his face twitched, and he slowly got up and said, "The old minister thanked Grandpa for his success!" ”

The ministers who followed Liu Zongzhou and Qian Qianyi were dumbfounded, of course they didn't really resign from the government, they studied hard for ten years, I don't know how many of the same scholars and talents were squeezed out, and they worked hard for many years to stand on top of the court, how could they be willing to take off this official uniform easily, everyone thought that so many people were old, and Song Youliang would definitely keep them under pressure, but they didn't expect that people didn't follow common sense at all, and a few younger officials regretted that their intestines were blue, and they looked left and right to see if they got up quietly when people weren't paying attention.

However, Song Youliang didn't give them time and opportunity to ride the wall, he shouted: "What's in the matter of the officials? ”

"The minister is here." I saw a young official in his thirties quickly get up from the crowd of kneeling on the ground

"What's your name?" Song Youliang was not familiar with the officials in Nanjing

"The Ministry of Ministers will benefit Guo in the matter!" The young officer replied

Song Youliang said loudly: "From today onwards, Guo Shouhui will take over the post of Zuo Shilang of the original Ministry of Officials, count the list of officials who are kneeling on the ground and want to sue the old man to return to his hometown, and take back their official documents as soon as possible." ”

"This~" Guo Shouhui glanced at his colleague kneeling on the ground in embarrassment

"What? Don't you want to say that you also want to beg for bones, tell the old man to return to his hometown, and then let his own country choose another meritorious, right? Song Youliang asked with a smile

Jumping from the ministry to the left servant of the ministry at once, this is a jump of eight levels in a row, it can really be said that he fell in the clouds, and his ancestral tomb was smoking, Guo Shouhui was willing to let go of such an opportunity, he hurriedly said: "Grandpa, Weichen is young and strong, it is the time to serve the country, how can he want to beg for bones." ”

"That's good, then hurry up and make statistics, lest these old and frail ministers kneel on the ground for a long time, making people think that this grandfather is not close to people." Song Youliang said with a smile: "Oh, by the way, these old ministers have served the court for many years, and now they are begging for bones, and the court can't treat them badly~~ Each person will be paid half a year's salary." ”

Many people who didn't think of resigning were remorseful, but no one dared to get up secretly in front of everyone. Everyone knows that the Ming officials are meager, relying on the following respect, without the official body, who will pay respect, three months of Yu Lu can spend a few days, not to mention that the money issued is treasure money~~ Whether it can be used is still a question

Most of the people who resigned this time were members of the Donglin Party, and as soon as they left, the strength of the Donglin Party in the court was gone. Of course, Song Youliang did not let go of the Donglin Party because of this. Under the efficient interrogation speed of Jinyiwei, those salt merchants and rice merchants confessed to the Donglin Party officials who supported them one after another. So, Song Youliang announced the confessions of these people to the world

The people of Jiangnan were stunned for a moment, and then gritted their teeth and hated

"These scholars who flaunt their loyalty and patriotism all day long can't imagine that their hearts are blacker than ink!"

"Yes, in order to fight for power and profit, I don't care about the life and death of our people!"

"How clear and lofty I am all day long, it turns out that there is so dirty behind it!"

As a result, many Donglin Party officials who have been "begging bones" and Donglin Party officials who have not yet begged for bones but have participated in creating turmoil have been dismissed, and Qian Qianyi and others also thought that the business under their names was involved in tax evasion and evasion, and was invited by Jinyiwei to Jinyiwei's yamen for investigation.

At the same time, the propaganda department immediately went full swing, facing the Donglin Party on the one hand, and publicizing the benefits of paying taxes according to law.

With the immediate closure of Donglin Academy, which had misled the country, the party struggle that lasted for decades at the end of the Ming Dynasty finally came to an end. Stimulated by a series of new policies, Daming finally embarked on a path of benign development