- Beijing, Guanmao Hutong, Zhang Siwei Mansion.

A green sedan chair was lifted directly into the house and landed steadily in the sedan chair courtyard. It was Yang Junmin, the right shì lang of the Ming household department, who came to visit his eldest cousin who was sick at home.

Zhang De introduced it into the back house and went straight into the bedroom, only to see Zhang Siwei sitting on a red velvet easy chair, wearing a small dark gray placket jacket, xxx surrounded by a thick blanket of flower checkered, and a ribbon an inch wide on his forehead, probably because of a headache.

"Big Brother ......" looked at Zhang Siwei's obviously old face, and Yang Junmin had mixed feelings in his heart.

"Sit here." Zhang Siwei patted the embroidery pier beside him, pointed to the ribbon on his head and said with a smile: "Look at me like this, don't you look like I'm in confinement?" ”

Hearing that he still had the heart to tell jokes at this time, Yang Junmin was broad-minded, and it seemed that the situation was not as bad as he imagined.

"Big brother's body, it doesn't matter, right?" Yang Junmin sat down as he said, looked at Zhang Siwei's emaciated cheeks and said with concern.

"I'm sick, half-truths." Zhang Siwei said with a bitter smile: "When I came out of the palace that day, I did feel exhausted, and my hands and feet were weak, but it was more than ten days in a row that I couldn't eat, sleep, burn my heart, spit out a mouthful of blood, and my heart was much clearer." ”

"That's good, that's good." Yang Junmin breathed a sigh of relief and said: "There is a lot of buzz outside, as if you have only one breath left." ”

"That's what I let people spread," Zhang Siwei said lightly.

"Ahh Yang Junmin was shocked: "What does this mean? Doesn't spreading this kind of news at this juncture make the Royal Bank even worse? ”

"Don't rush, speak slowly." Zhang Siwei still said calmly: "Do you know, the emperor wants to nationalize the Royal Bank, to be precise, owned by the royal family!" ”

"I know that." Yang Junmin said angrily: "At that time, the big shopkeeper of the Huilian told me that the day of the Huilian is the tomorrow of the rising sun. I didn't expect it to come so quickly, less than 100 days before and after! ”

"Don't be too angry," Zhang Siwei patted his arm and said, "Greed is not enough to swallow elephants, blame ourselves for this." After a pause, he laughed at himself: "Besides, this is not necessarily a bad thing, what I am more worried about is that the emperor will send mine supervisors to various places to open mines, and send tax envoys to various provinces to collect taxes...... Collecting business taxes. ”

"I know that too." Yang Junmin nodded again.

"Do you know what that means?" Zhang Siwei said in a deep voice.

"What?"

"The world is in chaos!" Zhang Siwei was stunned word by word.

"I'm worried, too." Yang Junmin sighed, frowned, and said: "Today's Da Ming, I have committed a sudden illness, but the roots are still quite strong, and we should focus on gentle recuperation, rather than indiscriminately taking the medicine of tigers and wolves." ”

"That's right." Zhang Siwei approvingly: "If these two doses of fierce medicine go down, I'm afraid that no matter how strong a man is, he will whine." ”

"Shilin is ready to admonish." Yang Junmin said with a solemn expression: "In this case, let's join us too, and make sure that the emperor takes back his fate." ”

"It's useless." Zhang Siwei shook his head and said: "In today's eyes, the people in the world are just dogs, his first attention is whether his power is threatened, and the second attention is whether the world's money is in his pocket. As he spoke, he rubbed the suddenly beating sun xué, and said astringently: "He has reached this point today, and I have an unshirkable responsibility." ”

"You can't say that." Yang Junmin explained: "Today, when I ascended the throne as a teenager and grew up under the shadow of the ministers, it is inevitable that I attach great importance to the threat of power. And today's greed for money is purely inherited from the dregs of the Empress Dowager Li's family, which is also helpless. ”

"Hehe, you don't have to blame me." Zhang Siwei laughed and said: "If I hadn't provoked him to fight with Shen Jiangnan at the beginning, if I hadn't secretly hindered Zhang Taiyue's recovery, the emperor would not have swelled to this point." He said with a look of shame: "But my biggest mistake was not to listen to the opinions of professionals and agreed to take over the bottomless pit of Huilian." ”

"You can't be blamed for that." Yang Junmin said: "The eight major shareholders are all red-eyed, and it is useless for you to oppose it." ”

"But someone has to take responsibility." Zhang Siwei's smile turned into a wry smile: "Otherwise, everyone will be dragged to death." ”

Yang Junmin understood and said in horror: "You mean that the emperor will definitely fail?!" "If the emperor wins, the Jin merchants will be the imperial merchants, and naturally there is no possibility of 'death'.

"I don't dare say that." Zhang Siwei smiled tiredly: "But since the sixth year of Wanli, I took the big guy to fight with the southeast, and fought viciously again, thinking that I had the chance to win, who knew that I had fallen into someone's plan of 'inviting you into the urn', and seeing that the whole army was about to be wiped out, I knew the disparity between the enemy and me......" said and closed his eyes, and regretted it: "In my life, the mistake is that the heart is higher than the sky, and I don't say anything, and I also failed your father's trust and brought the Jin Party to a dead end." ”

"Is the gap really that big?" Yang Junmin asked astringently.

"It's really not at the same level," Zhang Siwei said: "It's like sumo wrestling between adults and children, children do their best, and all the moves are made, but they can't resist the adult's hand and push, the gap is too big!" ”

"Hey......" Yang Junmin said a little unconvinced: "This is not like what the eldest brother said, you are too popular with others." ”

"When you are an official in Beijing, you are like sitting in a well and watching the sky, and you can't feel the strength of the southeast." Zhang Siwei said: "I also gradually realized it after I left the capital. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have taken the risk of annexing the Connection. Saying that, Xiao Suo smiled and said: "Since it is a risk, I must bear the fate of failure, and now I have been defeated, and even with Rishenglong, I have lost it, how many township parties have lost their property because of this?" Ten years of Yangzhou dream, the bell to the passenger ship in the middle of the night. It's time to wake up from a dream, I have to keep the rest of my strength, otherwise our Jin Party will really be doomed, and I won't see your father and my father without seeing my face. ”

"Big brother......" Yang Junmin had a premonition, and his eyes were red.

"I will bear all the blame." Zhang Siwei took a deep breath, stared at Yang Junmin and said, "My seat, you come and sit!" ”

"Me?" Yang Junmin was shocked and said: "Big brother is joking, even if you want to let Xian, you should take over from Nanlai, how can I do it?" "To the south is Wang Jiaping.

"He is too upright to Nan, his xìngzi, and he can't do anything to compromise." Zhang Siwei said softly: "Don't shirk, the leader of the Jin Party for a long time in the future has nothing to do with pride and glory, it is difficult and humiliating." Only by enduring humiliation can we lead the Jin Party through this cold winter. You will be misunderstood by history, but you are the hero of the intermittent survival of our Jin Party! As he spoke, he slid down from the easy chair with great difficulty, knelt directly in front of Yang Junmin and said, "Bozhang, I kowtow to you, please take over this burden for your father's sake!" ”

"......" Yang Junmin hurriedly bowed back and cried: "Big brother, does it really have to be like this?" ”

"Who knows what the outcome will be until the results come out?" Zhang Siwei shook his head and laughed miserably: "But if you wait for the results to come out, who will be afraid of your sincerity?" This time we can't afford to be desperate anymore, I will continue to play the role of the reactionary, you secretly contact the South, and when the situation becomes clear, you will be passive if you want to talk again. ”

"Big brother......" Yang Junmin burst into tears, but did not say 'no' again.

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On September 22 of the 11th year of Wanli, the people of Wanli Dynasty will never forget this day. On this day, Li Tai, the son of the Marquis of Wuqing, that is, the uncle of the Wanli Emperor, asked for the opening of the mine to relieve the people's hardship, and the Wanli Emperor immediately ordered one of the officials of Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and Hubu to preside over the mining together with Li Tai.

Since then, the inner prison is noble, and the mine prison is out, and the poison flows in the sea!

In just a few months, under the personal arrangement of the Wanli Emperor, the eunuchs who were ordered to open the mines quickly spread all over the world - Wang Zhongjian Changping; Wang Hu Jian Zhen, Bao, Ji, Yong; Tian Jinjian Changli; Lu Kun supervised Kaifeng, Zhangde supervised Wei Hui, Huaiqing supervised Ye County, Xinyang; Chen Zeng, Yang Xinjian, Shandong; Zhang Zhong, Zhang Hu, Hao Long, and Liu Chaoyong supervised Nanzhi; Cao Jin supervised Hang, Yan, Jin, and Qu; Hu Yunjian Hunan; Liu Zhongjian Hubei; Zhao Jian, Zhao Qinjian Xi'an; Qiu Chengyun supervised Sichuan; Gao Huaijian Liaodong; Li Jingjian Guangdong; Shen Yongshou in Guangxi; Pan Xiangjian Jiangxi; Gao Yinjian Fujian; Yang Rongjian Yunnan ...... None of the two capitals and thirteen provinces were spared.

In addition, Emperor Wanli also ordered the two general soldiers of Guangdong and Guangxi, each with 5,000 elite soldiers, under the command of the great eunuch Qian Deyong, to go to Luzon to supervise the mines.

In October of the same year, Wanli ordered the eunuchs to tax Tongzhou. Since then, all provinces have set up tax envoys, all the capitals and Dayi have set up tax supervisors, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have silk supervisors, Susong has weaving supervisors, Lianghuai has salt supervisors, Guangdong has pearl supervisors, some are specialized, and some belong to concurrently, thus forming a network of tax envoys all over the world.

In order to provide convenience for the mine tax collectors and facilitate their efforts to complete their tasks, the Wanli Emperor not only gave them the right to perform affairs and report at any time, but also gave them the privilege of moderation, assassination, and arbitrariness, so that their power was completely above that of the local governors.

However, the eunuchs completely failed the emperor's expectations - this was doomed from the moment Wanli handed over the power to draw up the list to the big eunuchs around him......

After the sixth year of Wanli, the ranks of eunuchs were repeatedly expanded, and although the Dongchang and Neiying camps had absorbed a lot of manpower, there were still a large number of idle officials who had nothing to do. The eunuch's fortune is low, and he can't get an errand that can make oil and water, so he can only struggle at the bottom without being a ghost or a ghost. Therefore, they all regarded this assignment as the only chance to change their fate, and they all tried their best to tie up with the two great eunuchs, hoping that they could be on the list.

No matter what it is, if you win more people, it will be worth the money. What's more, it can justifiably search for the fat difference of the people's fat and people's ointment? There are too many people to compete for, and the guest and xxx are forced to have no choice but to use the bidding method, which one has the highest bid, which one has to do an errand, and the position of the mine supervisor and tax envoy is sold in one go.

The competition is too fierce, and the high price is also generated. Speaking of the 36 provincial-level mine tax envoys, the lowest winning bid price was 400,000 taels of silver, and they were still remote and backward Yunnan tax envoys with strong border people. As for the most sought-after tax envoys in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and the posts of mine supervisors in Shandong and Fujian, they were all sold for 2 million taels.

Of course, even if the eunuchs were sold, they would not be able to come up with such money, but the eunuchs were not afraid that they would repay their debts, so they were allowed to make white slips, but they had to pay eight times the interest of the bank...... It's almost usury. But the eunuchs couldn't take care of so much, wrote IOUs, took the official seal, and rushed to the jurisdiction non-stop. If you delay for a month, you will have to pay an extra month of interest, so you can't do it if you're not in a hurry.

As soon as the mine tax collectors with huge debts came to the locality, they left the emperor's instructions behind, and they begged for no need for mines, no need to negotiate taxes, and how to get money, and wholeheartedly scavenged for the people's fat and ointment. Relying on their status as Qincha, they recruited jiān disciples, mobilized thousands of them, and almost absorbed all the local hooligans and evil forces.

A group of villains got together, and naturally devoured the wolf, made unwarranted accusations, searched far away, and were not tortured...... Almost overnight, the land of Shenzhou was plunged into a state of terror.

For example, the original imperial horse supervisor served Yu Chen Feng, spent 800,000 taels of silver, got the errand of going to Jingzhou store tax, and spent another 1 million taels to be able to rejuvenate the national treasury and be responsible for the drum casting of the money factory. After arriving at the place, he recruited more than 1,000 villains, hooligans, ruffians, and people in his own territory. Under the leadership of these people, he always made excuses to make inspections, blackmailed officials, and robbed the traveling brigades, even if he was a county magistrate, he would be whipped and beaten if he disobeyed.

All the rich giants who were targeted by him were falsely accused of stealing mines, and all the good fields and beautiful houses that were favored were pointed out that there were mineral veins underground, and led the crowd to round up. In daily life, cutting down graves and destroying houses, drowning babies, cutting off people's hands and feet, throwing themselves into the river, and doing all kinds of evil. Once, the people of Xingguo Prefecture were painted with light, falsely accusing the squire Xu Ding of digging the tomb of Yang, the wife of Tang Prime Minister Li Linfu, and getting a million gold, Wanli immediately ordered Chen Feng to confiscate the gold in the inner treasury, Chen Feng knew that it was not true, but he did not say it, but took advantage of the trouble to extort the people, not only will the false people be tortured and punished, but also all the graves in the state are dug up, and even make a threat to open the tomb of King Xiang of this dynasty, and the palace of Xiang Wang was proudly stopped after heavy bribes.

Another example is Liang Yong, the former imperial horse supervisor, who got an errand as a tax envoy in Shaanxi. In Shaanxi, there are many tombs of the emperors of the previous dynasties, all of which were looted by Liang Yong. The governor of Shaanxi, the governor and other local officials jointly wrote a letter of impeachment, but the Wanli Emperor ignored it.

And Liang Yong accused several officials of colluding and rebelling, but Wanli immediately ordered the ministers to be promoted and other officials, and they would be investigated together with Liang Yong, so angry that Yang Hongke shouted according to the imperial history: "The provincial officials and gentry jointly played, don't listen to it today, and act alone, how can the eunuch's words be believed, and the ministers of the feudal territory are all false?!" But Wanli still let Liang Yongfei do it.

Another example is Gao Yin, a mining supervisor in Fujian, who presided over the mining of gold and silver, not first asking whether there were mines or not, but first finding out whether the mining point was connected to the houses and graves of the rich, as long as it was connected, he ordered the excavation, and then extorted until the owner was bankrupt.

Gao Yin, who had done a lot of evil, was worried that the people of Fujian would be fierce and encounter accidents, so he wantonly recruited bandits and bandits, set up a teaching ground outside the city of Fuzhou, and was trained by the guards and soldiers, and at the same time purchased all kinds of firearms. With such sharp minions, his atrocities have intensified, and the land of Fujian, where people are raging, and the former prosperous port city can no longer live peacefully. RO！。