Early in the morning of May 1 of the third year of Chongzhen, in the Metropolitan Procuratorate located in the west of Xi'an, Shaanxi, Shaanxi Governor Yang He, Jinyiwei Commander Tian Ergeng, and Eunuch Wu Jun were talking in detail behind closed doors in the back hall.

Eight or nine days ago, after Tian Ergeng, Wu Jun and others arrived in Xi'an quickly, they hurriedly came to see Yang He, mobilized several teams of officers and soldiers from him, and disappeared from Xi'an City. Early this morning, he reappeared in front of Yang He, and as soon as he saw him, he asked for a detailed discussion behind closed doors, which made Yang He a little surprised and a little unhappy.

However, thinking of the current crisis in Shaanxi, Yang He still endured it and wanted to hear what these two wanted to say. As a civil official, Yang He was not happy to have intersections with Jinyiwei and eunuchs in their work, but the Qincha team sent by the imperial court was still in Shanxi at the moment, and it would take at least six or seven days to arrive.

Although the decree issued by the imperial court before temporarily pacified the gentry and people in Shaanxi, the contradictions between them did not continue to worsen. However, the will of the imperial court is not so effective for the relatives and clans. These relatives and clans should continue to intercept water sources, and those who want to seize fertile land have no intention of stopping.

Yang He originally hoped that Tian Ergeng and Wu Jun would frighten the King of Qin and several county kings in Xi'an City, so that they could restrain their actions, ease the local contradictions, and wait for the official disposal after the arrival of the imperial court. But when these two people arrived in Xi'an, they disappeared when they saw him, just like Pang Tianshou, the eunuch who guarded the town of Shaanxi, saw the turmoil in Xi'an, so he found an excuse to go out to patrol the border army.

This made Yang He's expectations for the two of them suddenly drop to the minimum, so he was quite indifferent to the so-called closed-door secret talk. However, Tian Ergeng and Wu Jun did not pay attention to Yang He's expression, the two discussed it in a low voice, and decided that Wu Jun would read the situation they had investigated these days.

Wu Jun cleared his throat and said to Yang He: "The commander of the miscellaneous family and Tian came to Shaanxi on the order of His Majesty, just to deal with one thing, that is, about the violations of law and discipline of the local relatives and clans. As for the contradictions between the common people and the gentry in Shaanxi, or the problems of land and water sources, we ignore them all. Thank you for your understanding. ”

Yang He's face remained unchanged and replied: "Gonggong Wu, please say, if there is anything that requires the cooperation of this official, as long as it conforms to the laws of the imperial court, this official will naturally not interfere with the two." ”

Wu Jun glanced at Tian Ergeng on the side, then withdrew his gaze, opened a booklet on the side and read it, "I have twenty-eight relatives in the Ming Dynasty, and there are four domains in Shaanxi: Qin, Han, Qing, and Su. In previous years, Shaanxi's summer tax revenue was more than 690,000 stones, and the autumn tax was more than 1.04 million stones, totaling only more than 1.73 million stones, but the amount of rice supplied to the clans of the four feudal clans in Shaanxi reached more than 970,000 stones..."

Wu Jun read it slowly, and it sounded very pleasant. And after Yang He listened to it for a while, his face began to become serious, because he heard that the investigation of the Shaanxi clan in this booklet was very credible, and he was a little convinced at this time that these two people were not from Shaanxi and the mud.

The pamphlet recorded: Among the four feudal domains of Qin, Han, Qing, and Su, in addition to the 9,000 stone of rice in the two feudal domains of Qin and Su, they also have nearly 10,000 dumps of Zhuangtian under their names. Although the Han and Qing feudal clans are only 3,000 stones, the royal mansion and Zhuangtian also have four or five thousand tilts each.

Among the four feudal domains, the Han domain in Pingliang had the largest population, so the amount of rice supplied by the local government was also the largest, and the amount of rice owed by the imperial court to the Han domain also exceeded that of the other three feudal domains. Because of its large population and poor location, the Han clan was the poorest of the four feudal clans, and it was also the most fond of making trouble with the Shaanxi region. Next, the population ranked after the Han domain was the Qin, Su, and Qing domains.

Among the four feudatories in Shaanxi, the status of the Qin domain is the highest, because the Qin dynasty is the son of Taizu, so under the accumulation of savings, the Qin Wangfu is also the richest. King Qin not only built the Famous Garden of Four Seasons in his royal city, but also built a large number of annexes outside the palace. In the northwest of Xi'an City, the lotus pond and lotus pond temple in the north of the Duchayuan are owned by the King of Qin; The most paradise in the northwest of Chang'an County, the Jiulong Pool in the Xingqing Palace in the east of the city, and the Banzhu Garden in the east of Zhouzhi County, these famous garden resorts that cover an area of more than ten are also the industries of King Qin.

In order to build a beautiful garden for their own play, the Longshou Canal, Tongji Canal and the newly dug water diversion channel outside the city were mostly introduced into the palaces in the city, becoming the source of living water in the gardens of these palaces. However, the living and cultivating water of the people inside and outside Xi'an cannot be guaranteed, because the personnel sent by the palace are stuck on the canal all year round.

Although the Ming royal family was very strict with the prohibition clauses in various places, it was extremely tolerant of the clan's violations of ordinary criminal law and civil law, so the illegal things committed by the clan were not uncommon. For example, forcibly taking the children of soldiers and civilians and killing people; He who seeks the son of a stranger as a child; Calling prostitutes into the house and raping them; There are even roadblocks that rob and kill people.

Due to the violation of the law by the clan, except for rebellion, other crimes can only be tried by the Zongren Mansion in the capital, and after the local law department discovers the crime of the clan, it can only report to the imperial court, and cannot be arrested and questioned. As a result, the culture of clan crime in the local area has become worse and worse. Like Zhu Huaiqi and Zhu Huaijing of the Qin clan, the rogue bandits who gathered in the local area on weekdays and robbed houses in the city, and the behavior was so bad that the King of Qin couldn't stand it, but they couldn't punish the two either.

As for the royal palace honor guests beating civilians, causing injuries; The lieutenant of the auxiliary country killed two members of the family; Several clans of the Han clan traveled, and after getting drunk, they killed passers-by they met; The auxiliary generals of the Leping Palace, openly entangled with their henchmen and murdered people; or other clans harboring thieves and sharing the spoils, and there are countless illegal and disorderly acts.

After listening to Wu Jun and Tian Ergeng's investigation report, Yang He looked at the two of them suspiciously and asked, "Since Wu Gonggong and Tian Commander are here to deal with the clan problem in Shaanxi, and now they have investigated such detailed information, what are the two of you going to do next?" ”

Wu Jun put down the booklet in his hand and looked at Tian Ergeng, who was sitting on the side, as if waiting for him to answer Yang He's question. Facing the eyes of Yang He and Wu Jun, Tian Ergeng finally couldn't be silent.

After he coughed, he finally spoke: "When this official and Wu Gonggong left Beijing to bid farewell to Your Majesty, Your Majesty once said to the two of us, the current world is between the ruling world and the troubled times, if the government and the opposition are united and overcome the current difficulties, then the Ming Dynasty can still enjoy decades of peace; If everyone is centrifuged up and down, and everyone only cares about their own small family, ignoring the right and wrong outside the door, then the chaotic world may not be ahead.

Therefore, His Majesty finally instructed the two of us: In troubled times, we should use heavy codes. Shaanxi has a vast area under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi, Yansui, Ningxia and Gansu provinces, but except for the Guanzhong Plain and the Ningxia Hetao area, the rest of the land is barren. In the past, emperors such as Taizu divided the kings here in order to let them guard the frontier and resist the invasion of foreign enemies.

But more than 200 years have passed, and few of the kings' guards have been removed, and the duty of guarding the frontier has become a dead letter. However, the four feudatories of Shaanxi Province that have survived to this day have become the heaviest burden on the local government because of the multiplication of population. Shaanxi is a border land, and it is also the first barrier for the grassland people to enter the Central Plains.

Shaanxi is already stretched thin just to bear the needs of the border army, and now it has to support an increasingly large number of feudal clans, which makes the local people breathless. If there is another year of famine like the previous two years, Shaanxi will definitely be like a lit * barrel, blowing up the northwest frontier of the Ming Dynasty.

In order to solve the problem of Shaanxi, we must first solve the problem of the four feudatories in Shaanxi. How to solve the problem of the four feudatories in Shaanxi, His Majesty thought that there were only three ways: withdrawal, transfer, and reduction. How to exercise these means, Your Majesty has handed it over to us for investigation and disposal.

In the investigation of the past few days after arriving in Shaanxi, we found that among the four feudatories, the Su Wang family, who lived in Lanzhou, had always been thin and did not have much evil, so there was no need to alarm him for the time being.

Although the Qingwang family of Ningxia has done some illegal things, because of the scarcity of people, the local people are not very angry. However, if Shaanxi is the border wall of the Ming Dynasty, then Ningxia is the border wall of Shaanxi, although the Qingwang Mansion is not evil, but he occupies the best land in the local area, and the grievances of the military and civilians in Ningxia are still not small. Therefore, we intend to ask Your Majesty to transfer King Qing to the throne in order to alleviate the dissatisfaction of the Ningxia military and civilians with the imperial court.

The next two feudal domains, the King of Han and the King of Qin, the former had the largest population, and the latter was more powerful, and when it came to their local reputation, they were all on par.

For example, the auxiliary lieutenant of Yongxing Palace, Huai Xuan, Huai Yong, Huai Jian and other four people, are known as the four murderers by the people, and are known for their arrogance and talent. The Qin Wangfu supported Zhang Qing and the school captain Pan Fu, relying on the power of the royal palace, blackmailing other people's money, or robbing other people's property, or committing murder, and even setting up a yamen in private to exploit the small people of the clan. There is no end to all kinds of evil deeds.

Therefore, we believe that the Han and Qin feudal domains should deal with it seriously and quickly, so as to appease the hearts of the people of Shaanxi and create conditions for the imperial court to solve other problems in Shaanxi. Therefore, we have come to see your lordship today in the hope that your lord will cooperate with us and take down the Han and Qin domains. ”

Tian Ergeng's words made Yang He's eyelids jump when he heard it, but he finally didn't interrupt the other party's words, and listened to Tian Ergeng's words from beginning to end, then he swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked, "How do you want this official to cooperate?" How are you going to take down the two vassals? ”

Tian Ergeng hesitated, and the eunuch Wu Jun on the side finally couldn't bear his mood anymore, and said to Yang He: "Dealing with the two feudatories on other charges is not something that can be concluded for a while. Now if you want to cut through the mess quickly, only the crime of rebellion is the most appropriate, which can not only wipe out the two feudatories, but also block the mouths of others. ”

Yang He's face finally changed, and he asked in a slightly raised voice, "Could it be that this is also His Majesty's order?" Do you know what false decrees are guilty of? ”

Wu Jun was questioned and couldn't answer for a while, but Tian Ergeng on the side finally adjusted his mentality and said to Yang He: "Don't you know the past of the lower officials? How dare the following officials deceive you with their current status?

Of course, this is also said in front of adults. If this matter is revealed in the future, it will naturally be me and Gonggong Wu to deceive you, and the adults can put the blame on the two of us. ”