On the eighth day of September, almost all the citizens in Suzhou appeared on the streets, especially the square in front of the Bao'en Temple in the north of the city. The reason why these citizens are like this is not because there is any festival in the city today, but because they want to try bandits, splashes and gentry who collude with them in front of Bao'en Temple today.

When the prison cart carrying thousands of prisoners sailed through the streets and alleys of Suzhou, the citizens standing on the side of the road closed their mouths one by one and carefully identified the characters in the prisoner cart with their eyes wide open. The order in which the government arranged the parade was also very interesting, and the people at the front of the line were not the most heinous gangsters, nor the Suzhou gentry and petty officials with some status, but the market spillers who oppressed the merchants and ordinary people on the streets all the year round.

Therefore, when someone recognized that the prisoner cart in front was the enemy of the day, he timidly followed the crowd and cursed a few words, and boldly picked up the clods, stones, or discarded garbage on the side of the road and threw them at the prisoner cart, taking the opportunity to vent his evil anger.

They controlled many tooth shops and vegetable markets, bullied and dominated the market by foreign merchants, vegetable vendors and firewood merchants outside the city, forced them to buy and sell to the small people in the market, and even set up a game to lure gambling while lending usury, embezzling the property of the common people with relatively well-off wealth, or abducting and selling beautiful girls to other places.

Under the protection of the gentry and officials, it is often difficult to find evidence for their crimes, and even a few ordinary people who know about their crimes do not dare to come out to give evidence, for fear that their families will be retaliated against by these accomplices. Therefore, on weekdays, I can only choose the strategy of staying away, even if I am bullied by someone, I have to live in silence.

But this time, the imperial court arrested the Taihu bandits, and these market splashes who acted as the eyes and ears of the bandits and the gentry thugs were naturally wiped out. In the past, the splashes who were rampant in the streets were like chickens and dogs in front of the army, and gangs were searched by the sergeants from various nests and strongholds in the city.

It was precisely because of the loss of these eyes, ears and thugs that the Suzhou gentry could not incite and organize the citizens to riot, and play the incident of the expulsion of Jinyiwei by the citizens of Suzhou again. Now these market splashes have once again become Wei Zhongxian's weapon to gather the hatred of the people of Suzhou. When the townspeople began to curse the splashes who attacked the prisoners' cars, they didn't think about whether the bandits and gentry at the back of the convoy were with these splashes.

When the prisoner car team stopped in the square in front of the Bao'en Temple, the prisoners of the prisoner car had not been attacked by the citizens of Suzhou, and the onlookers had really changed from watching the excitement to watching the wicked suffer retribution. Wei Zhongxian, who was standing in the pagoda of Bao'en Temple to watch the public trial, finally relieved when he saw this scene.

And the Suzhou gentry who were watching from the nearby high-rise buildings were either relieved and glad that they were not implicated in the end; Or they feel very lost, feeling that these citizens have no friendship with their hometowns, and it will be difficult to rely on them in the future. However, more people began to realize that the identity of the gentry was no longer their talisman, and those who opposed the imperial court had to be prepared for the destruction of their families, which made many people begin to stay away from politics and bury themselves in studies or family business.

Although the Taihu bandit case was closed, the impact of this case in Jiangnan did not end here. In order to prevent the continued deterioration of local public order, and in view of the fact that the Da Ming Law could not punish certain minor crimes, at the end of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the Criminal Department successively promulgated four laws: the Public Security Law, the Labor Re-education Law, the Exile Law, and the Poor Law.

In these steps, the imperial court strengthened the law enforcement power of the police, and regarded the existence of homeless and vagrants as a crime, and the law increased the punishment for minor crimes, severely limited the workers' right to strike, but also stipulated the responsibility of the local government to help the poor.

On the one hand, they could use these laws to strengthen their control over the local populace, and to exile the unstable homeless and unemployed vagrants overseas in the year of famine to stabilize the social order. But on the other hand, these laws were a shackle around their necks, and the private power of the gentry and local bureaucrats was greatly reduced.

However, these are all later words, in the palace city of Beijing, at this time, Zhu Youzhen is most concerned about the conversation with Gushi Khan, which will determine the political and geographical changes between the Western Regions and the Ming Dynasty, and will also determine the political ties between the Oirat Ministry and the Ming Dynasty.

Gushi Khan, who was summoned to the palace by the emperor, was a little worried at first, whether his words and deeds were a little out of line at the banquet last night. However, when he met the emperor, he realized what Chongzhen's real intention was in summoning him.

In the emperor's living room, there was a wall covered with a white curtain, and when Gushi Khan saluted Chongzhen, he was greeted by the emperor to this wall. After Lü Qi lifted the white curtain that covered the wall, Gushi Khan realized that the wall was painted with a delicate and large map of the world.

This was the first time Gushi Khan saw the whole picture of this world, which made him stunned for a long time. He was even more surprised by the intricacy of the map, even to the north of the Tianshan Mountains, which he knew well, he had only discovered that there were so many roads that he didn't know anything about. Of course, he also noticed that this map of the world was not completely completed, and most of the areas showed blank areas, only the interior of the Ming Dynasty and some areas around the Ming Dynasty were drawn in more detail.

Before he had time to recover from the shock, Zhu Youzhen had already said to him: "Last night, Gushi Khan said to me, you can make greater contributions to the Ming Dynasty, I think about it, but there is one thing that you have to do." ”

After hearing the emperor's words, Gushi Khan finally calmed down, looked away from the map with difficulty, bowed his head and said to the emperor: "Please give your majesty's orders, the minister will definitely die." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him and smiled and said, "There is no need to die, the important thing is whether you are willing to do it." As he spoke, he turned to face the map of the wall, although the map in Gushi Khan's eye was beyond his imagination, but in Chongzhen's eye, it was still too rudimentary, but it was enough to explain the current world situation.

After staring at the map for a while, Zhu Youzhen stretched out his hand and pointed to the west of the map and said, "The Earth Sea and the Black Sea separate Europe and Asia, but what separates Europe and the country is the entire Heavenly Sect world.

As far as we know, the three most powerful states in the Celestial Sect were the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the Safavid Persian Dynasty, and the Mughal Empire, which occupied most of the Indian continent.

Sultan Murad IV of the Ottoman Empire was 23 years old, Safavi Shah Safi was 24 years old, and the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan was 43 years old. The strength of the three countries is almost identical, but of the three, Safi is the most incompetent, and since he ascended to the throne six years ago, he has been constantly ostracizing the court's important ministers, causing domestic turmoil.

After Safavid succeeded him, the Ottoman Empire began to attack the western part of Persia in an attempt to protect the two rivers, but Safi has not come up with any effective methods so far.

Persia's territory stretches from Khorasan in the east, to the Euphrates River in the west, to the Karakum Desert and the Aral Sea in the north, and to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea in the south. It not only controls the trade route from India to Europe, but also controls the Asian trade route from China to Europe, which can be described as the crossroads of land transportation between the East and the West.

At the time of the decline of Persia, if I did nothing about it, it would be a crime against history. However, there is no border between our Ming Dynasty and Persia now, and there is a whole Western Regions in between, with three sub-forces: Uzbeks, Kyrgyz and Kazakhs.

This is what I hope you will make for the Ming Dynasty, and hand over the Western Regions region to the Ming Dynasty, will you do this? ”

A fine cold sweat broke out on Gu Shi Khan's forehead, he was not afraid of the ambition of the Ming Emperor, but afraid of the future of the Oirat Department, and after more than a minute, he said with difficulty: "Your Majesty wants to take the entire Western Regions, so what should we do in the future of the Oirat Department?" ”

Zhu Youzhen turned his head and looked at him again and said: "There are places in Asia and West Asia where the Oirats can gallop and graze, as long as the Oirats can ensure the safety of the Daming caravan, the Daming will naturally support you to seize these places." I think the Kazakh place is very suitable for you to live and develop, as for the Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the south, the Ming Dynasty only needs the Kashgar-Fergana Basin-Samarkand passage. ”

"But I, Oirat, have lived in Moxi for generations, how can I easily abandon my homeland and move west? Don't your majesty think that this is a difficult thing for a strong man? After being silent for a long time, Gushi Khan finally resisted.

Zhu Youzhen said disapprerovingly: "During the Han Dynasty, we Han people settled in the Western Regions, and the population of various ethnic groups in the Western Regions came and went frequently. In the end, it's just the powerful who live in it.

If some Oirats are really unwilling to migrate, then as long as they swear allegiance to the Ming and become a member of my Ming, I will accept it. But I don't want to be loyal to Daming, but I want to occupy the land of Daming, hehe. ”

Gu Shi Khan's face changed several times, and finally said: "I, Oirat, am also willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, and he has no second thoughts. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him and said unwaveringly: "It's a pity that you can't be the master of Oirat, Batur Hun Taiji of the Dzungar Department and your nephew are suppressing your power in the Heshute Ministry, if it weren't for your brother Hanak Tushetu and Seleng Hatan Batur struggling to support, it is estimated that when you return to the Heshute Ministry, you will be left alone."

If I were you, we should be thinking about the future of the Heshute Department now, not the future of Oirat. Otherwise, no matter what you do for Oirat, only the Dzungar Ministry will benefit in the end.

Batur Khuntaiji of the Dzungar tribe was ambitious, resisting the Russians and Kazakhs while trying to subdue the Yarkand Khanate and Mobei Mongolia. After all, what he wanted was to restore the glory of the Mongol Empire, so how could I leave such a hidden danger for the Ming Dynasty?

The Oirat tribe withdrew from the Western Regions, and I don't mind if you establish an Oirat kingdom in Asia, but don't make any plans to establish a Mongol empire. Mongolia is also a country, there will be no more independent Mongolian empire in the future, and those who dare to establish a country with Mongolia are challenging the Ming Dynasty. ”

Gu Shi Khan's heart was finally in turmoil, and seeing that he was unable to make up his mind, Zhu Youzhen sent him away from Xiyuan, and asked him to go back and think about what choice he had to make.

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