Zhu Houzhao's meaning is very clear, the behavior of patrolling the imperial Shi Hu is already tantamount to rebellion.

But Zuodu Yushi Jin Xianmin was also very shocked that Zhu Houzhao treated Hu Shi in this way, he didn't expect that His Majesty the Emperor would think that Hu Shi was tantamount to rebellion.

However, Jin Xianmin did not dare to intercede for Hu Shi at this time, he knew that His Majesty had already treated Hu Shi like this, and if he went to intercede with Hu Shi again, he would only implicate himself.

In any case, Zhu Houzhao is still the emperor of the Ming Empire, his words still work, and soon after Zhu Houzhao issued his order, the Dongchang Inspectorate sent a special person to Nanzhili, ready to let Hu Shi explain the problem.

At this time, the Nanzhili patrol according to the imperial history Hu Shi did not know that his killing of Xiong Hu had been known by the emperor Zhu Houzhao, at this time he was still patrolling the Nanzhili under the banner of patrolling the imperial history and patrolling the state capitals of Nanzhili.

The emperor is far away, Beijing is far away from Nanzhili, and there are many affairs in the south that are managed by many officials in Nanjing.

Therefore, this Hu waiter relied on the fact that he had the support of the officials of various ministries in Nanjing, and he still unscrupulously exercised his power to patrol the imperial history when he inspected the state capitals of Nanzhili, and completely forgot that Zhu Houzhao had already stated that the power of the imperial history had been changed.

South Zhili Jurong County.

The patrol press Hu Shigang and the magistrate of Jurong County walked out of the county office with a smile, and were about to board the sedan chair, when the special personnel of the East Factory Inspectorate Department appeared in front of this Hu Shi:

"Nanzhili patrols the imperial history Hu Servant, we are from the East Factory Inspectorate, come with us!"

Hu Shi couldn't help but freeze in place, although, because the news in this era is often difficult to convey in time, he can also guess that it is not a good thing for people from Dongchang to come to him.

Hu Shi suddenly panicked in his heart and asked, "Dare to ask, why is this?" What did the subordinate commit? ”

"This is His Majesty's decree!"

The people from the East Factory Inspectorate Department did not answer this Hu waiter, but only lit up the approval document of the East Factory, and immediately, a Da Jue of the East Factory Inspectorate Department ordered: "Take it away!" ”

Thereupon.

This Hu waiter was dragged down by the two servants of the East Factory Inspectorate, and walked directly to the carriage with his arm between his arms.

The magistrate of Jurong County and other officials were dumbfounded.

Even the inspector Hu Shi's entourage, staff, and even officers and soldiers were dumbfounded.

In the entire Nanzhili, except for the governor, the patrol of the imperial Shi Hu who did not take any local officials in his eyes was taken away by the three Dongchang people!

No one dares to question anything, and no one can question anything, after all, Nanzhili is still the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and Hu Shineng can be arrogant and domineering in front of Xiong Hu, but in front of the people sent by the emperor, he is also the same as ants.

Hu Shi was sitting in the car at this time, his whole body was cold, his heart was painful, and he was about to stop breathing in a trance, but his head was still running rapidly, thinking about what happened above and why he was taken away by the people of the East Factory Inspectorate.

"Wait, the official reply of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, please check it by the Inspectorate!"

At this time, a hurried sound of horses' hooves came, and when he heard that it was the official document of the Metropolitan Procuratorate that came to find him, the Hu servant suddenly opened his eyes, and hurriedly took the official document of approval excitedly, but saw that it was the Imperial Palace of the Imperial Court of the Imperial Prefecture that asked him to come up with the empirical evidence of accusing Xiong Xun of perverting the law for partiality.

Hu Shi suddenly understood everything, understood why he was suddenly taken away by the people of Dongchang, and knew that he had angered the above by disposing of Xiong Hun according to the intention of Shangshu Zhou of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing.

But Hu Shi didn't expect that a local four-rank official who was the deputy envoy of the military garrison and the prefect could actually make the above notice, and he could only be sure that there was a so-called Jinyi Guard who reported the news, Hu Shi now regrets it, regrets that he only cared about meeting the requirements of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry Shangshu Zhou Yong to take revenge on Xiong Hu, but he completely forgot that Daming still has the ubiquitous Jinyi Guard.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is not what Hu wants to do, Hu is also helpless! All of this was made by Lord Zhou of Nanjing, who asked Hu to do this, and he wanted to take revenge on the Xiong prefect! ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, please intercede for Hu at Your Majesty, Hu really has no choice, Hu can give you filial piety, as long as you are willing to help Hu, you can say as much as you want!"

Hu Shi said in a panic, and for a while he pushed his responsibility on Zhou Yong, the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, saying that he was very aggrieved and had to obey the order, and then tried to use money and beauty to buy the people of the East Factory Inspectorate.

The people of the Dongchang Inspectorate Department did not pay attention to Hu Shi, and they did not dare to accept Hu Shi's bribes, after all, the capital had just dealt with the cabinet scholars who had accepted bribes, not to mention that His Majesty also directly characterized Hu Shi's crime as a rebellion, so they naturally did not dare to be implicated by Hu Shi, and they did not even dare to say a word.

At the same time that Hu Shi was taken away, the officials of the Criminal Department also took a team of officers and soldiers of the Criminal Department to the mansion of Shang Shuzhou of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing.

Although the authority of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry is much smaller than that of the Ministry of Industry, it is not that he is really a powerless and powerless idle official, after all, Nanjing's six departments are still in charge of some southern affairs, and he, the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, also has some authority in his hands, at least his status is not low, not to mention that there are many protégés and former officials.

Zhou Yong, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, never thought that a person in his position could be severely punished for some trivial things, after all, he did not rebel or act against His Majesty the Emperor.

But what Zhou Yong ignored was that the Ming Dynasty was no longer the Ming Dynasty of the past, and the current Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao did not want the law to become a dead letter in the empire.

However, what people didn't expect was that when the officials of the Criminal Department came to Zhou Yong's mansion, the concierge did not let them in, and they asked the officials of the Criminal Department to bring stickers, and even had to ask for door bags.

The officials of the Criminal Department were not polite, and directly ordered the officers and soldiers to forcibly break in, and directly arrested Zhou Yong from the bed of his concubine.

Zhou Yong didn't expect that he would be arrested suddenly, so he yelled hysterically: "What are you guys going to do!" This official is the secretary of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, you have led troops to break in without authorization, and the old man wants to tell Your Majesty! ”

"This is Your Majesty's decree agreeing to approve your arrest! You are now dismissed on suspicion of bribery to Wang Qiong, the first assistant of the cabinet, and you have been officially arrested, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has filed a case, Wang Qiong has recruited herself, and confessed the physical evidence of your bribery! ”

After the official of the criminal department finished speaking, he shouted: "Take it away!" ”

Zhou Yong raised his head in surprise after hearing this: "Impossible! No way! It's absolutely impossible! Lord Shou has always been quite favored, how could he be punished for the crime of greedy ink! Your Majesty will not do this, you are fake, you are fake officials of the Criminal Department, besides, even if this official commits a crime, it will not be your turn to take it from the officials of the Criminal Department, it should be the Metropolitan Procuratorate or Jinyiwei! ”

After all, Zhu Hou gave a strict order, and Zhou Yong, a corrupt element who took the initiative to bribe, was the most unforgivable person and must be immediately detained and brought to justice within three months.

Zhou Yong roared angrily for a while, but it didn't work, and finally he had to stop and start talking to himself: "Why is this, why is this happening, when will greedy ink be punished like this!" The law of the country is very strict, the law of the country is very strict! ”

In Zhou Yong's worldview, greedy ink is nothing, and sending filial piety to Beijing officials is also an unspoken rule of officialdom, but he didn't expect that he would one day be punished for this incident.

So much so that after Zhou Yong was escorted to the capital this week, Zhou Yong directly said that if he was also punished with death, then most of the officials under the Tomorrow would have to be punished with death.

"No matter how he shouts, everything will be dealt with according to the law, since the evidence is conclusive, and it doesn't matter if he pleads guilty or not, you, the secretary of the criminal department, can directly pronounce the sentence!"

Zhu Houzhao was very disgusted with this kind of person who committed something but felt that he should not be punished because other people had committed the same thing, so he did not directly order Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, to immediately execute Zhou Yong's sentence because of Zhou Yong's sophistry.

So, not long after, Zhou Yong was officially sentenced, and the head was shown to the public, peeling the skin and grass!

For the officials of the imperial court, this incident shocked them greatly, some officials could not accept this way of ruling the country by law, and always felt that it was too cruel and prepared to resign.

However, some officials applauded this loudly, believing that it would help to eliminate the rule of officials and avoid corruption of the atmosphere.

This is the result of the parallel development of the old education and the new education of the Ming Dynasty.

Most of the officials who received the new-style education came from poor backgrounds, and they also accepted the idea of the state and the idea of seeking the well-being of the people, and the influence of Zhu Houzhao's own idealism made these officials highly respect this idea of governing the country by law.

However, because of the influence of Confucian benevolence, coupled with the instinctive sympathy for people of the same class, and for the sake of the stability of the Ming Society, many officials did not advocate the rule of law with severe punishment.

"The law can be changed, but Tang believes that the law should be strict, that is, the law should be changed more strictly, in order to put an end to corruption, in order to attract people to good, at least before the people's wisdom is opened, the Ming Dynasty has not been able to reduce the intensity of the law," said Tang Bohu, Zhu Houzhao's mouthpiece, in a speech at Beijing Normal University on how to change the law.

Immediately, a Confucian scholar Xie Zhen asked rhetorically: "Dare to ask how Minzhi is considered to have been opened, and can Mr. know that the death of Qin II was caused by too strict laws?" ”

"When the people no longer kneel in front of the yamen to shout grievances, when the people can spontaneously resist the tyranny of a certain official, when the people can know that they can organize and negotiate and communicate with the government instead of hiding it to the point that they can't bear it, they will rise up and tell the government that it has done too much", Tang Bohu said and then said: "As for the death of Qin II, although the law is too strict, but my Ming law is not strict, you can compare it, the Ming law will not punish the crime for lost work, not to mention, Tang believes that Qin did not die because of the strict law, but because of tyranny, The laws of the Qin State have been in place for a hundred years, and they are not only in practice! ”

Confucian Xie Zhen just smiled after hearing this, and immediately continued to argue with Tang Bohu.

Zhu Houzhao also has no control over this, whether the laws of the Ming Dynasty should be changed, how to change it, is the business of the whole world, he doesn't mind these people quarreling, in his opinion, this can at least let the whole world have a sense of participation in the Ming Empire, and in this sense of participation really have feelings for the country.

No matter what happens to the law in the future, at least the law in the future is in line with the interests of the majority of the people in the world, so that the majority of the people in the world will realize that they are participating in the governance of this country, and they are also the masters of this country, so that they will have a sense of belonging and national feelings for this country, and will take the initiative to abide by the laws and regulations of this country.

Zhu Houzhao believes that if the whole world really discusses a legal code suitable for the current national conditions of the Ming Dynasty, even if there is an invasion of foreign forces in the future, it will arouse the resistance of all the people of the entire Ming Dynasty, because once the empire becomes a country that he participates in governance, then he will not want her to be taken away by foreign tribes.

But.

Zhu Houzhao had to admit that this seemed to be difficult, the scholars of the empire were noisy and noisy, and they held speeches and forums everywhere, but they never reached an agreement, while ordinary peasants and workers did not seem to have the intention of participating in this activity, and the officials did not dare to express their stance for fear of being accidentally pulled down from the political arena.

Even the representatives of the provinces who were ordered to enter Beijing began to be bribed by some people with ulterior motives, and were exposed by Jinyiwei, and then punished again, which made the entire Da Ming Shilin extremely angry and disappointed by this.

Zhu Houzhao can also see that if this continues, it will be impossible for the people of the empire to successfully change the laws of the Ming Dynasty for decades if they want to make themselves, the emperor, first of all, you have to establish a system to prevent representatives from being bribed, and secondly, you have to let the noisy people reach an agreement.

Despite this, Zhu Houzhao is still willing to accept it, after all, whether the law is changed or not will have little impact on him, the emperor.

But there are also many selfish officials who hope that Emperor Zhu Houzhao can be like an emperor, use the imperial power to forcibly change the law, or take the lead in not obeying the law, or not strictly abide by the law, at least not to punish those who are greedy for ink, but they can't make it clear that the emperor don't take the law seriously, be the master of the whole world, treat us as slaves, and be tolerant of the slaves.

Zhu Houzhao, as a modern person, believes in the rule of law is far greater than the rule of man, let him give up the rule of law, to be the master of tens of millions of people, and then turn the entire Ming Dynasty into his own private property, and the people of the Ming Dynasty become their own slaves, and then the slaves are divided into three, six, nine and so on, and the high-level slaves go to enslave the low-level slaves, Zhu Houzhao can't do it, he is not the emperor of the Qing Dynasty of the Yuan Dynasty, he doesn't want to treat the Ming Dynasty as his own private property.

But because of this, Zhu Houzhao knew that there must be big bureaucrats and big landowners who wanted to obtain the privilege of "not being punished by doctors" could not bear an emperor like him, and wished that he would die early.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao knew that he could not relax his vigilance at any time, he wanted to continue to popularize education for all, and then more people would get rid of ignorance and pursue the most basic dignity, and at the same time, he would continue to accumulate the wealth of the empire, and then more people would have more needs for interests in other aspects in addition to meeting the living conditions.

However, the entire Ming Empire is now very complicated, and many political and economic activities can only be played by Emperor Zhu Houzhao, so no one really dares to frame Zhu Houzhao at the risk of the world's disapproval, and now the princes are still young, and no one wants to change the emperor at this time.

Because of this, Zhu Houzhao can still sit firmly on his throne as the Ming Emperor, and the Ming Empire continues to advance rapidly because he is still at the helm.

Xiong Hun's suspension arrangement was declared invalid by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Officials, and Xiong Hun continued to be in charge of Songjiang Mansion, and the first thing he did after restoring his freedom of authority was to continue to make decisions for the people, arrested Zhou Jiansheng, and this time he was directly sentenced to beheading! After all, Zhou Jiansheng committed homicide.

Zhou Jiansheng's whole body trembled when he was pushed to the execution ground, and he felt the fear of death for the first time, but the people outside the execution ground were excited, they felt the justice side of the government for the first time.

At this time, Xiong Xun ordered the execution after looking at the hour.

So, with a click, Zhou Jiansheng was hit by his head!

For the Ming Empire, the execution of a prison student may not be nothing, but in Songjiang Mansion, in this historical period when the gentry broke with the people because of the emergence of steam power, the execution of a prison student means that the era of the gentry manipulating the government is gradually coming to an end, and the people began to defeat the gentry in the competition for interests for the first time.

You must know that in history, this kind of relying on the support of the government to let the workers and peasants defeat the gentry only appeared after the twentieth century of the Western calendar, and now this phenomenon can occur in the Ming Dynasty, first, because the empire did not experience the three hundred years of slave rule of a certain dynasty, second, the result of Zhu Houzhao's implementation of national education, and third, the people of Songjiang Mansion have a high level of education and have the attributes of the modern citizen class.

Luo Xiang's new weaving bureau is like a beast without natural enemies, frantically devouring the textile market in the entire Jiangnan region, and also rapidly expanding the foreign textile trade market.

And when Luo Xiang reported on his work a year later, he brought two million silver dollars to Beijing, and the entire Ming court even caused a sensation, and he did not expect that a new weaving bureau opened by Luo Xiang could bring such a big profit.

Meanwhile.

Luo Xiang also proved his strength to Zhu Houzhao, and at the same time, Zhu Houzhao himself was secretly glad that he didn't listen to Wang Qiong's advice and chose to change generals.

However, after the end of a series of incidents involving the Jiangnan gentry due to the use of the most advanced steam technology to open a new weaving bureau in Songjiang Prefecture, Zhu Houzhao also had to deal with the corruption of the army in Xuanhua.

Although the Ming Dynasty began to gradually emphasize the literature and suppress the military force in the middle and late periods, the military generals of the Ming Dynasty are not really pure white rabbits in many cases, and it is very common to eat empty salaries and even raise self-respect, and it is a malpractice of the Ming military system to use military soldiers as serfs.

If it weren't for Zhu Houzhao's fear of forcing these military landlords who used soldiers as serfs, he would have abolished the military registration system at the beginning of his reign, and now the corruption problem in Xuanhua has undoubtedly made Zhu Houzhao find an opportunity.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has basically been fully weaponized, and the standard production of firearms and gunpowder is controlled by the imperial court, Zhu Houzhao now no longer has to worry about abolishing the military registration system and forcing these military landlords to rebel as long as he blocks the guns and ammunition.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao decided to take advantage of the current Xuanhua corruption problem to achieve the goal of reforming the military system.

Zhu Hou issued an edict demanding that the Xuanhua Border Army conduct a one-month military exercise, and that all officers and men must participate, and that live-fire training should be carried out to maximize the consumption of the Xuanhua Border Army's logistical reserves.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao asked the military department to temporarily supply the Xuanhua border army with firearms, ammunition, winter clothing, and even medicine for the Xuanhua border army on the pretext of building a cement road from Xuanhua to Beijing, and at the same time ordered the British Gong Zhang Lun to lead four divisions of the Guards Army north to Zhangjiakou Fort to approach the area of Xuanfu Town in the name of coordinating with the border army's military exercises.

The military exercise was commanded by Wang Shouren, the chief manager.

Wang Shouren decided to come up with a hypothetical plan, and at the same time, according to the military exercise method that Zhu Houzhao had told him before, he directly ordered the border army under the command of Chen Rui, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, and the guards under the command of the British Duke Zhang Lun to be the enemy, and the guards played the role of foreign invaders, transferred to Zhangjiakou Fort, and was responsible for attacking Zhangjiakou and Xuanfu to improve the ability to attack fortification, while the border army continued to stick to Xuanfu and Zhangjiakou Fort for training and defense.

Chen Rui, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, was still a little suspicious and felt that something was wrong, after all, he didn't expect the imperial court to suddenly hold any military exercises, but when Wang Shouren only asked him to stick to Xuanfu and other places, and said that the guards went north only as a prisoner to enter the pretended enemy and did not enter the city, he didn't feel that there was anything wrong, and he could only follow Wang Shouren's arrangement and prepare for defense with peace of mind.

However, after the main forces of the four divisions of the Guards began to form an encirclement of Xuanfu and other castles, Wang Shouren suddenly summoned Chen Rui, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, and other military attachés, as well as civilian officials such as Song Bin and Ji Gong, who patrolled Xuanda, on the grounds that they were discussing the arrangements for defending the city for this military exercise.

Chen Rui and the others didn't feel cheating, and they all thought that Wang Shouren was their own person, so they all believed it, and they all came to Wang Shouren's Yuanmen to discuss it.

Wang Shouren had already ambushed the crossbowmen at this time, and as soon as Chen Rui and other officials sat down, Wang Shouren directly attacked and took out the holy decree: "By order!" Xuanfu General Soldier Ping Jiangbo Chen Rui...... Yu Shi Song Bin, Ji Gong Yu Shi Puquan...... and other officials suspected of corruption and corruption, mixing gunpowder with mud and sand without asking, only colluding with officials in the inner court to plot the empire's military expenses! His heart can be punished! Immediately escorted to Beijing and interrogated strictly! ”

Chen Rui couldn't help but be shocked, and hurriedly stood up and asked, "General Wang!" What are you doing here?! ”

Wang Shouren smiled coldly: "Naturally, I was ordered to take you!" ”

Wang Shouren waved his hand as he spoke, and a team of crossbowmen rushed out, directly aiming at Chen Rui and other officials.

Chen Rui's officials were all shocked, and they never thought that the general system of Wang Zong, the big man who had been so painstakingly recruited by them, actually wanted to harm his own people, so Chen Rui was also very angry, and laughed angrily: "You want to take me!" Then dare to ask why you dare to take me, aren't you afraid that I, Chen, will take the opportunity to organize soldiers to raise righteousness?! ”

"Grain, grass, guns and ammunition, the imperial court has temporarily suspended the transportation to Xuanfu, and the four divisions of the Guards have now all been replaced with real ammunition, and have surrounded the three Davids of Xuanfu, General Chen, dare to ask, will the imperial court worry about your rebellion?!"

Wang Shouren asked rhetorically.