Banditry?

Zhu Houzhao received not only the incident of Fang Changding being killed by bandits, but also the incidents of grassroots officials being killed by bandits or bizarre killings from other regions.

This gave Zhu Houzhao a lot of reason to suspect that these incidents were definitely not simple accidents, but a series of social security incidents caused by the incident of collecting mining taxes.

The grassroots backbone composed of veterans and students of the Zhongjun Society was the foundation for Zhu Houzhao and the Ming court to put the reform of the government into practice, after all, it was difficult for the civil officials and gentry to implement the new policy thoroughly, and it might even be disobeyed by the yang.

But now, it is obvious that there are local forces destroying the foundation of the Ming court.

"Your Majesty, at present, the Criminal Department has strictly ordered all provinces to investigate in detail a series of killings of officials below the county level in accordance with the judges, but in the opinion of the ministers, these things are still related to the collection of heavy mining taxes, and I am afraid that if the collection of heavy mining taxes is not over, there will be such killings," Wang Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, said when reporting such cases.

After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao looked at Wang Shouren: "What do you think?" ”

"Returning to Your Majesty, what Da Sikong said is naturally right, but the minister believes that no matter whether the government is lenient or strict, the law cannot be abolished, and the local bandits are all caused by the people's disregard for the law, or there are local forces behind the support, I am afraid that there will be collusion between officials and bandits, if the local bandits are serious at this time and abandon the policy of mining tax, it will only appear that the court is cowardly, and these local forces and local bandits will be more fearless, and if the court wants to reform in the future, I am afraid that it will be more difficult!"

"Now that the conflict between the imperial court and local forces has broken out again, we might as well make another effort to suppress these bandits, affirm the law, punish the murderers and eliminate evil, not to mention that it is the officials of the DPRK and China who are killed, even if it is the civilians who are killed, whether it is a bandit or an official, once they are implicated in the case, they must be dealt with strictly!"

Wang Shouren expressed his opinion at this time, he hoped to directly come to a campaign to suppress bandits, and he also guessed that these bandits were frequently committing crimes at this time, and it was obvious that there were local forces secretly supporting them.

Therefore, he believed that the imperial court should take this opportunity to exterminate all the bandits, and even severely execute them, so that the people would realize the serious consequences of being bandits, and let the local forces lose the ability to secretly resist the imperial court's policies.

Zhu Houzhao very much agreed with Wang Shouren's proposal, and he also knew that the source of bandits was the people, and even in many cases, bandits were people, and the people were bandits; in a good year, the benefits of agricultural production would be greater than those of bandits, and the bandits would go down the mountain and become common people, and in disaster years, the benefits of agricultural production would be smaller than those of bandits, and the people would become bandits.

In the barren mountainous areas where agricultural production is underdeveloped, the number of bandits is naturally larger, and many of them even collude with the local powerful squires, and among them, the most beneficial are undoubtedly the squires.

These squires and landlords colluded with the government when they needed to crack down on bandits, colluded with the government or bandits when they needed to embezzle people's property, and looked for bandits to protect their interests when they were oppressed by the government, and went to the government when they were oppressed by bandits.

"Regardless of whether these local forces collude with bandits to kill people, the bandits in these places will naturally be suppressed, and since today's Ming Dynasty is an unprecedented prosperous era, then there should be no so-called bandits! The existence of bandits is a disgrace to the imperial court! ”

Zhu Houzhao said directly at this time, and said: "First of all, it is to suppress bandits, comprehensively suppress bandits, and use the army to suppress bandits!" Don't let the last bandit of the Ming Dynasty disappear, and the matter of suppressing bandits will never stop! ”

Zhu Houzhao remembered that the first thing he did after the establishment of Xin0 China was to eliminate bandits, and he also set up a special Gong0'an.

Zhu Houzhao also decided to do this now, and instructed: "Wang Shouren obeys the order, establishes the police department, and you personally serve as the secretary, implement the police department system in the southern Zhili region to the provinces of the Ming Dynasty, set up police soldiers, and then recruit a group of veterans of the guards and border troops to serve as special officers and soldiers to suppress bandits!" Gui Yong is the left attendant of the police department, and Qi Jingtong is the right attendant of the police department!

I ask you to exterminate all the bandits of the Ming Dynasty within three years, and thirty years before Zhengde, I don't like another bandit! ”

Wang Shouren received the order: "The minister obeys the order, please rest assured, the minister will do his best to exterminate the bandits in the world!" ”

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and then instructed: "I will immediately establish regulations for punishing bandits related to the suppression of bandits, and anyone who kills officials will be punished!" ”

Hearing this, Wang Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, couldn't help but persuade him: "Your Majesty, the punishment is a punishment of cutting the flesh and bones, is it too harsh." ”

"The basic officials who were killed are the veterans and outstanding students of my Ming Guards and the border army, these people are either loyal and brave people who have protected the frontier for the country, or they are the pillars of the prosperity of the country, and now they are killed by the evil bandits and stubborn people because of their official affairs, how to respect the heroes and how to protect the future of the empire if they are not severely punished!"

Zhu Houzhao slapped the table as he spoke: "There is no need to discuss this matter again, for the most vicious, you can report it and deal with it again!" ”

At this time, Qi Jingtong, the new governor of Jinyiwei, stood up: "Your Majesty, the killing of the head of the house in Fujian and the National Taxation Bureau, our people in Jinyiwei have been detected, and there is definite evidence that it was done by the prisoner Qian Zhai, this is the confession of Qian Jianshu, the nephew of Qian Zhai, and it is one of the evidences, Your Majesty, please take a look." ”

Zhu Hou took a look at it, and couldn't help but slap the table: "Hmph! You personally went to Fujian, since this Qian Zhai dared to burn the head of my Ming Guards veterans, then he was burned to death in the bronze bull, and all the officials and gentry of Jianning watched the execution, listened to their miserable howls, and understood the consequences of harming the soldiers of the Guards! ”

"Obey the order!"

Qi Jing informed what is the punishment of the Bronze Ox, the punishment of the Bronze Ox is a kind of torture mentioned by Leonardo da Vinci when he came to the Ming Dynasty to tell the history of the West, which is more shocking than Ling Chi, mainly because it can amplify the pain of the tortured person into a huge bull roar, which makes the viewer feel the deepest.

And Qi Jingtong, as a member of the Guards, now sees that his veteran brother of the Guards was cut off by the local prisoner and burned directly, so he naturally wants to punish the prisoner like this.

In less than a month, Qi Jingtong rode his horse and whipped up Jianning day and night, in order to naturally prevent the perpetrators from going unpunished.

Qian Jiansheng here because of the collusion with the bandits of Wuyi Mountain killed the head of the house and the officers and soldiers of the State Taxation Bureau, so that his mine can still continue to be mined, and he can still rely on the mining to receive countless copper ores, and because of the coastal areas of Fujian, the copper ore he mined is specially smuggled overseas and sold to Westerners, so the profits are very rich.

On this day, Qian Jiansheng was counting the silver, when he heard one of his housekeepers hurriedly running in: "Master, Jinyiwei is here!" ”

Jin Yiwei?

Qian Jiansheng stood up, he didn't expect that he would be found by Jinyiwei one day, but at this time, he could also guess that he might be found by Jinyiwei because of something, and he was a little scared for a while, but what he didn't understand was why things like this deep mountain and old forest in Jianning County, Fujian Province could also be noticed by Jinyiwei.

Qi Jingtong walked in directly, and ordered the Jinyi guards to surround Qian Jiansheng, and then asked: "Qian Jiansheng, you don't need Qi to say much, you should understand why this official came to you, since you have done it, you have to bear the price!" ”

Qi Jingtong waved as he spoke: "Take him down!" ”

Qian Jiansheng suddenly yelled at this time: "You Jinyi Guard, this is disturbing the law!" Although Qian is not an official, he is also a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, even if you are a Jinyi guard, you can't be arrested at will! The bandits of Wuyi Mountain, you don't go to suppress them, but you frame loyal people here! You are a troubled dynasty! ”

"This official is the left governor of Jinyiwei, and now he is the right servant of the newly established police department, this is the arrest warrant of the police department, this is the prosecution order established by the Metropolitan Procuratorate based on the evidence provided by my Jinyiwei, this is the judgment and execution order issued by the criminal department, everything is in accordance with the law of the imperial court! Qian Jiansheng, this official and the court have been abiding by the law, but you scholars talk about the law in everything, but you don't follow the law! ”

As Qi Jingtong spoke, he ordered Jinyiwei to arrest Qian Jiansheng on the spot, and then took him directly to Jianning County.

Then, Qi Jingtong asked the master of the Jianning County Legal Bureau: "Master Qiu, has the bronze bull been built?" ”

Master Qiu replied tremblingly: "Back to Qi Dudu, the copper ox has been built, please take a look." ”

Qi Jingtong was led by Master Qiu to the high platform near the county government prison in Jianning County, and also saw that a hollow buffalo statue made of brass had been lifelike placed on the high platform.

Qi Jingtong asked again: "Have all the people with heads and faces in Jianning County arrived?" ”

"Back to the governor, it's all here."

Master Qiu replied.

Qi Jingtong nodded again and ordered: "Then bring the prisoner Qian up and let him be punished!" ”

Thereupon.

Qian Jiansheng was brought up and imprisoned in the bronze bull.

Qian Jiansheng didn't know what punishment he would face at first, so he only knocked on the copper wall desperately: "Let me out!" Let me out! Lord Qi, Qian is guilty, is it not okay to know guilt! ”

Qi Jingtong and the Jinyi guard behind him only had the intention of avenging their brother and head of the guards, so naturally they did not choose to be tolerant because of Qian Jiansheng's begging for mercy.

At that time, a charcoal fire had begun to burn under the belly of the copper bull, and the boiling fire was burning the copper ox getting hotter and hotter, and the money prisoner in the body of the copper bull finally began to be unbearable, and had to put his mouth against the tube that stretched from the cow's mouth to the abdomen to breathe air, and at the same time, because of the high temperature, his screaming voice also came out of the tube, turning into the cow's wail.

The representatives of the local forces in Jianning County who were present were naturally extremely shocked when they heard this, and they had to be even more afraid of Jinyiwei, of course, these people couldn't help but secretly rejoice, fortunately, they didn't choose to assassinate the grassroots officials, and they didn't expect the imperial court to be so protective of the veterans of the Guards and the members of the Zhongjun Society!

Extreme disposition of the most vicious local evil forces is one aspect of Zhu Houzhao's efforts to let Wang Shouren and others crack down on local forces, in addition, suppressing bandits and making the Ming Dynasty no longer have bandits is the top priority.

Why in the history of later generations, before the middle of the 20th century, there have always been bandit forces in China, whether it is to rule the world or troubled times, has not been eradicated, as a traverser Zhu Houzhao actually does not understand the truth in this, but he can be sure that according to the model of later generations, bandits can still be banned.

As long as bandits can be banned, there is no doubt that social security can be greatly improved, and it is also conducive to promoting commercial prosperity and allowing the people to produce with peace of mind.

But banning bandits is not a simple project, but because of the difficulty, Zhu Houzhao asked Wang Shouren to do it, after all, as long as Wang Shouren is the most versatile.

Even later, Zhu Houzhao considered the purpose of training mountain soldiers to prepare for future expansion to the south, so he simply directly ordered Shangshu Guixu of the Ministry of War to temporarily form an armed police force by transferring active recruits from the border army and the guards army in the border towns and guards, which would be directly managed by the police department and be specifically responsible for suppressing bandits in the mountains.

The order Qi Jingtong received was not only to deal with Qian Jiansheng, but also to organize the local armed forces in Jianning County to suppress the Wuyi Mountain bandits in Jianning County by the way.

Qi Jingtong directly asked Qian Jianshu to be a guide, and took Jinyiwei into Wuyi Mountain, and also successfully copied the lair of the bandits in Wuyi Mountain, winning a big victory.

In fact, in the early days when Zhu Houzhao asked Wang Shouren to organize active and retired troops to form an armed force to comprehensively suppress bandits, these bandits actually did not realize that the imperial court would directly use the main army to suppress them, which caught these bandits off guard, and these bandits were also unscrupulous and unprepared because of the connivance of the local government and the nourishment of local forces.

However, with the deepening of the suppression of bandits, some bandits who have not yet been successfully eliminated have also caused the imperial court to lose a lot of troops, but on the whole, it has achieved remarkable results, and after two or three years, the bandit problem has been greatly reduced.

Because of this, the local gentry power also lost the support of bandits, and the imperial court could better control the local forces, and the veterans and students of the Zhongjun Society who were officials at the grassroots level could also do better work for the imperial court, so that the political purpose of the imperial court to transfer the mining industry began to bear fruit.

At the cabinet meeting in the 29th year of Zhengde, Zhang Xuan, the first assistant to the cabinet, said excitedly: "Your Majesty, since the heavy tax on mining was levied in Guannai, the imperial court has collected more than 360 million silver dollars, which has been offset by last year's tariffs and overseas colonial income. ”

Zhu Houzhao nodded after hearing this, he had to admit that the Ming Dynasty is indeed strong now, and the national property is so rich that it is no longer measured in tens of millions, but in 100 million silver dollars, according to the current exchange of silver dollars and silver in the Ming Dynasty, it is almost 100 million taels of silver.

"Although this money has been taken away by coercive means, most of the profits of the people from mining have been taken away, but I don't really want to enrich myself according to the people's wealth, and fatten corrupt officials and corrupt officials, but in order to control the people's property and regulate it reasonably, the money still has to be repaid through low-interest and interest-free loans! The Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry calculate the following, and how much more money can be invested to encourage the people of the Ming Dynasty to develop outside the border and even Mobei. ”

Zhu Houzhao asked as he spoke.

Wang Tingxiang, the head of the household department, stood up first and said: "Your Majesty, you can also lower the low-interest loan by one point for the development of areas where the temperature is not very cold in the area of Monan and Saibei, and you can invest another 30 million silver dollars in low-interest loans!" In addition, to develop Mobei and even Liaodong and Nuer Gandusi, you can also invest another 10 million silver dollars as an interest-free loan! ”

"According to Wang Butang, in addition to the new investment in these loans from the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Industry can also invest another 20 million yuan to build a cement road from Guihua City to Helin, and can also directly build a cement road extending from Suzhou to Shenyang Zhongwei!" Ye Heng, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, replied.

Zhu Houzhao smiled with satisfaction after hearing this, thinking that it is really easy for the imperial court to do things if it is rich, according to the secretary of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry, the tax revenue received so far is enough to make the mining industry outside the customs more active in terms of economic investment and engineering construction.