Shimabara and Amakusa were the Catholic mission centers in Saimoto. The daimyo Amakusa Tanemoto, Konishi Yukinaga, and Arima, who successively received the area, were all Catholics. From 1612 onwards, the Edo shogunate intensified its repression of Catholics (as written above) while implementing a policy of seclusion, and Matsukura Shigemasa succeeded Naojun Arima and forced his followers to convert by poisoning them with cold water, roasting them with fire, branding, needle pricks, sawing heads with bamboo saws, and boiling sulfur water toppings. He also built a large amount of construction in his domain, and in order to curry favor with the shogunate, he took the initiative to take on a huge amount of military resources and support the construction of Edo Castle, which increased the burden on the peasants. After his son Matsukura Katsuya attacked the seal, he set up a name, and the exploitation was particularly harsh. After 1634, the peasants were unable to pay the annual tribute and miscellaneous taxes, and Matsukura Katsuya inflicted various tortures on the peasants. The Terasawa clan, the lord of Amakusa Island, across the water from Shimabara, also persecuted peasants and Catholics in the same way.

On October 25, the tenth year of Chongzhen, the peasants of Kounozu were the first to revolt, and the nearby villages responded one after another, killing the officials, and the peasants and disciples of Amakusa also began to act. The rebels elected the young Masuda Tokisada (also known as Amakusa Shiro) as their leader, and Amakusa, who was only 16 years old, was considered to be an emissary sent by God to fight the shogunate because of her beauty. With Masuda Yoshidai Catholics, ronin, and samurai as staff officers, he soon took control of the southern part of the Shimabara Peninsula and most of Amakusa.

The rebels then began to attack Shimabara Castle on the peninsula and Tomioka Castle on Amakusa Island, and Tokugawa Iemitsu received the news and panicked.

Tokugawa Iemitsu asked Inaba Masakatsu to lead an army of 50,000 to suppress it, and at the same time contacted the warships of the Dutch and the Portuguese to help suppress the rebels.

and sent envoys to negotiate peace with the Ming army.

On the one hand, the Ming army conquered the Kanto region, and on the other hand, the peasant army rose up to rebel, so that Tokugawa Iemitsu's intestines were moldy.

As soon as Tokugawa Iemitsu's envoy arrived in Kanto, Wang Wenyue and Su Buheng, who were aware of the situation, immediately reacted.

Su Buheng immediately sent five armed merchant ships and two warships to Amakusa Island to contact the peasant army.

Tokugawa Iemitsu wanted to negotiate, and that was because of a fire in his backyard. Once he puts out the fire, there's a good chance it's hard again.

Therefore, it was undoubtedly the best choice to use this bargaining chip to negotiate with Tokugawa Iemitsu while supporting the peasant armies of Shimabara and Amakusa Island.

If Tokugawa Iemitsu did not know each other, he vigorously supported the peasant army and fought until Tokugawa Iemitsu became acquainted. With the peasant army as a bargaining chip, Tokugawa Iemitsu will be much more passive.

For this reason, Su Buheng personally stepped forward and led warships and armed merchant ships to Amakusa Island to contact the peasant army.

…… In the capital, the administrative work of the cabinet slowly stabilized, and the first thing Chen Zhongsheng did was to exempt the agricultural tax.

"Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces have frequent natural disasters, and they are all exempted from land taxes and all miscellaneous taxes, and forced labor for five years, and local officials and miscellaneous officials are not allowed to collect a grain of rice and silver from the people, and any collector will be beheaded, and the people can release the corrupt officials and go to Beijing on their own, and the travel expenses will be paid by the imperial court."

Chan Jong-sung read aloud the reform plan in the cabinet administration hall.

"The reason why the land tax of the three provinces is reduced or exempted is to prevent the people from being thieves due to hunger and cold, and the land tax of the three provinces is only two hundred and thirty thousand taels, if this part of the money and grain can be exchanged for the stability of the three provinces, it is a policy that benefits the country and the people." After Chen Zhongsheng finished speaking, he glanced at the cabinet members below, and the cabinet members below immediately began to discuss.

However, the Republican Party and the Ming Cook Party did not have any voices to discuss, while the Royalist Party and the Donglin Party and the rest of the smaller parties were all discussing.

2.3 million taels of land in exchange for the pacification of the three provinces.

Is it feasible?

In fact, on the surface, the land endowment is 2.3 million taels, but the people have paid more than that, if this bill is passed, whether it is the part that is handed over to the imperial court or the part that the officials embezzle, it will be gone.

"Whoever has objections can come to power." Chen Zhongsheng said after sweeping around.

"Chen Shoufu, this official has objections." Sun Chuanting stood up directly, Chen Zhongsheng made a gesture to him, Sun Chuanting did not shirk, and calmly walked onto the high platform.

"The objection of this official is that the main reason for the frequent occurrence of thieves is not the land endowment, but the continuous natural disasters, which make the people unable to pay the endowment. In addition, the officers and men in various localities were frequently short of salaries, so that the officers and men went out to plunder. Although the imperial court's land taxes, miscellaneous taxes, and forced labor were exempted, if natural disasters occurred and officers and soldiers plundered places, the scourge of thieves was inevitable, and the imperial court lost 3.2 million taels of land endowments, which was really useless. Sun Chuanting said loudly on the stage.

As soon as Sun Chuanting's voice fell, Chen Zhongsheng said: "What Lord Sun said is reasonable, but natural disasters and military disasters also have bills. ”

"I want to hear about it." Sun Chuanting said.

"The second bill is the disaster relief bill. Today, natural disasters are frequent, and there are also Daming provinces, but the three northwestern provinces have the weakest ability to resist disasters. Therefore, it is urgent to set up disaster relief agencies in these three provinces. On the premise of exempting the people from land endowments to improve their ability to resist disasters, disaster relief bureaus were set up in Shaanxi, Shaanxi Xingdu Division, Shanxi, and Henan. ”

"Where does the rice come from?" Sun Chuanting asked on the stage.

"Rice and grain can be transferred from Shandong, and General Jianwei is willing to produce 1 million stone of flour and 5 million stone of dried sweet potato flour every year, which is enough to cope with the general famine." Chen Zhongsheng said: "In addition, the imperial court can also pay part of the finances, if these three provinces encounter a famine, it is enough to deal with it, if it cannot be coped, it can immigrate to Liaodong." ”

"The plundering of places by the officers and soldiers of the imperial court is caused by a lack of salary, and the lack of pay is caused by the inability of the imperial court to pay salaries and silver, and the second is caused by the yamen and military attachés drinking the blood of the soldiers. Under the condition that the salary and silver can be guaranteed, a special person can be sent to the hands of the soldiers, instead of the hands of the yamen and military attachés of the military department, so that the military disaster can be solved. Chen Zhongsheng gave solutions one by one, and then asked Sun Chuanting: "Does Lord Sun still have objections?" ”

"Nope." Sun Chuanting nodded, said no more, walked off the stage directly, and sat back in his place.

"Okay, since Master Sun has no objections, do you still have objections?" Chen Zhongsheng asked below, and the officials below saw that the Republican Party, the Ming Cooking Party, and the Royalist Party had not spoken, and knew that there was no point in opposing it, so they stopped talking.

"Now let's start voting on the tax-free bill......" Chen Zhongsheng announced loudly.

As soon as the words fell, the cabinet members of the Mingzhu Party and the Republican Party raised signs of agreement one after another, and no one disagreed, and within the Royalist Party, Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting also raised signs of agreement, and among the other royalist members, nearly half of them also raised signs of agreement, and a small number of people disagreed.

There were also some people in the Donglin Party who held up signs of agreement, and Qian Qianyi also held up signs of agreement. Many officials in other parties disagreed.

Be an official! If you can't collect taxes, you can't be decent servants, and you can't collect miscellaneous taxes, then you're still a fart! This bill has already affected the interests of officials in the three provinces.

Therefore, it is not surprising that many cabinet members disagree, but even if they disagree, the number of votes for approval is already overwhelming.

"According to the statistical results, 78 people agreed with this bill, 20 people rejected this bill, and two abstained from voting, and the majority agreed with this bill, and this bill took effect in a timely manner. Any member of the Cabinet may disagree in the voting, but once the bill is passed, anyone who obstructs the implementation of the bill will be tried. Chen Zhongsheng announced loudly.

"Let's vote on the disaster relief bill......"

…… After a day of discussion and voting, the Cabinet decided on three bills, one being the "Three Provinces Tax Exemption" bill, the second being the "Three Provinces Disaster Relief Bill", and the third being the "Salary Payment System Bill".

The first bill, Shaanxi, Shaanxi Xingdu Division, Shanxi, Henan Province, and one capital division, implement comprehensive exemption from land tax, miscellaneous taxes, and forced labor.

In the second bill, Zhao Yan produced 1 million stone of flour and 5 million stone of dried sweet potato flour every year, and the imperial court also produced 3 million stone of rice and wheat every year to ensure that each province had 3 million stone of grain reserves. If the reserves are insufficient, the people will be moved to Shandong and resettled by Zhao Yan.

The third motion is a change in the way the salaries and silver are distributed by officials and soldiers from all walks of life, and Chongzhen also sent a representative in the voting of this bill. For military reforms, Chongzhen has the right to transfer militarily under the premise that it has nothing to do with the administration, but when it comes to the administrative side, Chongzhen sends a representative, who has 30 votes, and when voting, it is counted as 130 votes.

The representative of the Chongzhen faction was Cao Huaol, and in terms of the method of military salary, it was finally determined that the personnel assigned to verify the officers and soldiers of each road, and then the cabinet sent a special personnel to accompany a eunuch to the various roads to distribute the salary, and the salary was distributed according to the official and military rosters, without going through the hands of the military department and the military attaché. The rest of the military expenses are up to Chongzhen himself to decide how to distribute and use them. At the same time, an article was issued, saying that any officer and soldier who had been impersonated to receive a salary could come to Beijing to petition, and half of the travel expenses should be borne by the state treasury and the internal treasury.

Originally, there was no eunuch to follow the article, but Cao Huaol joined this article under the opposition on the spot, but the military salary was in charge of the distribution by the personnel selected by the cabinet, and the eunuch only personally handed the military salary to the soldiers when it was issued.

Chongzhen's intention is very simple, just to avoid the military heart being bought by the cabinet. But he supported changing the method of issuing military salaries, and Chongzhen wanted to reform the military, and eating and drinking soldiers' blood was the first problem to be solved.

In the end, with the consent of Cao Huaol, the third bill was successfully passed.

The meeting ended in the evening, and when Zhu Dadian returned to the courtyard he had purchased in Beijing, he received a letter from Zhao Yan to him, and after reading the letter, Zhu Dadian immediately replied to a letter, readily agreed to Zhao Yan's request, and decided to leave for Shandong immediately three days later.

After Chen Zhongsheng received Zhao Yan's letter, he immediately approached the leaders of various parties the next day to discuss the matter of rehabilitating some wronged officials.

The decision was immediately supported by all parties.

Every party and every official had some friends or comrades from the same camp who were beaten down, and there were more than 200 officials in the prison.

These officials were all brought in by Chongzhen.

At this time, when Chen Zhongsheng mentioned the matter of reversing the case and rehabilitating him, he naturally won the support of all parties.

(To be continued)