"I didn't expect that those Jiangnan gentry would rather endure the riots than enter Jiangnan with a large army. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info "Li You distributed the news of Cao Wenzhao, Dongchang, and Jinyiwei to Sun Chengzong and others, "Do you all tell me whether the gentry in Jiangnan think that they can quickly resolve the turmoil, or do they not want the imperial court to interfere too much in the affairs of Jiangnan?" ”

These words were a bit damaging, and the ministers didn't dare to respond, Li You continued expressionlessly, "In the past, the scholars expelled the county order, and the merchants beat the court tax officials, but now they don't even welcome the army of the imperial court, what does this Jiangnan gentry want to do?" ”

"Your Majesty, this Jiangnan Wei has been peaceful for a long time, and the soldiers and horses have long been in tatters, and I am afraid that they alone will not be able to quell the turmoil." Sun Chengzong felt that he could no longer let His Majesty say this, so he hurriedly replied, he reiterated his point of view again, "Even though there are a lot of gentry in Jiangnan, the people in Jiangnan are always innocent, and please let General Cao calm down the turmoil first, and then deal with these gentry in Jiangnan in the future." ”

"At this time, it was all because of the greed of the gentry in Jiangnan and their disregard for the people's livelihood, even if General Cao quelled the turmoil this time, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no greater chaos in the future; Not to mention anything else, it is this waste rice to cotton, how many people will starve to death in Jiangnan next year? These people keep saying that they don't deviate from the sage's scriptures, but they do such things, and all those scriptures are read into the dog's stomach? Li You calculated the time, it shouldn't take long for Cao Wenzhao to quell the turmoil, and if he sent people now, it seemed that he could just reach Jiangnan when the turmoil subsided, so he set his eyes on a relatively young official in the palace, "Hong Chengchou, I plan to let you go to Jiangnan to rectify it, you might handle this matter well?" ”

Hong Chengchou is just 40 years old this year, and he is at the peak of his energy as an official; When Li You went to Shaanxi to pacify the displaced people, Hong Chengchou was serving under the trilateral governor Yang He, in the original historical plane, Yang He was later imprisoned because he was unable to quell the turmoil in Shaanxi, and Hong Chengchou replaced him as the trilateral governor, but Li You's arrival changed history, Hong Chengchou because of his meritorious service in this matter, and Li You also found that this person was indeed talented, so he was transferred to Beijing to serve, and now he is one of the cabinet members, although he is only the last cabinet member, But judging from his age, the future is bright.

The reason why he asked Hong Chengchou to deal with the affairs of Jiangnan, Li You thought about it like this, he knew that in the original history, Hong Chengchou took refuge in Jiannu in the future, which proves that Hong Chengchou's temperament is relatively low, and the heart of fame and fortune is extremely heavy, and after returning to Jiannu, Hong Chengchou spared no effort to help Jiannu unify the world, and played an important role in it, which shows that this person is still very capable, a relatively low temperament, fame and fortune are extremely heavy, and a very capable official, his concerns are usually less, As long as he was sure that something would help him to be promoted, he would definitely go out of his way to curry favor with the emperor and gain his trust.

If such a person is used well, it is a sharp blade, so Li Youcai decided to hand over this matter to him, if Sun Chengzong is allowed to go, firstly, it is a little inappropriate for him to be implicated in the Donglin Party, and secondly, he is old and seeks stability for the government, and he will definitely not carry out drastic reforms in Jiangnan; And to let other people go, they don't have the ability of Hong Chengchou.

"Since Your Majesty has entrusted this important task to Weichen, Weichen will do it for Your Majesty even if he is broken to pieces." Hong Chengchou is a clear-minded person, of course, he can see Li You's dislike of the Jiangnan gentry and the importance of this matter, the emperor's attention means opportunity, and the emperor's attention means his future, even if there are many dangers in this trip, he will face the full counterattack of the Jiangnan gentry, Hong Chengchou doesn't care, his heart is now full of benefits that this matter can bring him.

Li You has also been an emperor for many years now, he will no longer simply look at the problem from the point of view of traitors or loyal ministers, even though Hong Chengchou has many shortcomings, but he is the best candidate to solve the Jiangnan problem, the rest of Sun Chengzong, Sun Yuanhua, Wang Qia and others are not suitable, then he should be reused, as for if he commits a crime in the future, it is another matter, besides, Hong Chengchou's harm to the daimyo is probably far less than those Jiangnan gentry.

"I will give you the sword of Shang Fang, the flag of the king's order, you can dispose of the civil and military officials below the third grade in the south of the Yangtze River, you don't need to report to the court first, if the officials above the third grade commit a crime, you can also restrain their actions, and then report to the court, if there is indeed something illegal, I will make the decision for you." Since you have to be willing to delegate power if you want to employ people, Li You suddenly gave Hong Chengchou a lot of power, "In addition, if you want to use soldiers, I can also ask Cao Wenzhao to help you." "But Li You will never give him the military power, he doesn't want to repeat the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, the nobles and the lowly.

Then he arranged some military generals, Jinyiwei, Dongchang, Sanfa Division, Hubu and other capable generals of the yamen to join Hong Chengchou's Qincha team, and asked them to help Hong Chengchou handle this matter; Since in another world, Hong Chengchou can easily solve the gentry in Jiangnan with Jiannu, then he should be able to do it this time.

"Wechen obeys the order, and Wechen remembers His Majesty's teachings." With the great power in his hands like this, Hong Chengchou's body began to tremble slightly with excitement.

"You should remember that this time I went to Jiangnan to do these things for me, first of all, thoroughly investigate the acres and acres of land in Jiangnan, but where there are hidden fields and hidden households, they will be severely punished and will not be loaned, and if there are gentry who do not pay taxes because of their strength, they will be severely punished and will not be loaned." According to the practice of the Ming Dynasty, scholars have some preferential treatment for tax-free fields, but these have limits, and not all the land under their names can be tax-free, but these people rely on their power to refuse to pay, and the magistrates have no choice but to put the taxes on the heads of others.

"Also, Jiangnan's commercial tax, salt tax, tea tax, etc. also need to be re-examined." Li You still remembers the record of seven taels of silver in the tea tax that year, which is simply a slap in the face of the Ming Dynasty, "You have to remember that Jiangnan is the Jiangnan of my Ming Dynasty, not the Jiangnan of those gentry......"

"Wechen understands, but if someone dares to disobey the orders of the imperial court, Wechen will be severely punished." Hong Chengchou was ready to use the blood of the Jiangnan gentry to pave the way to Shoufu for himself.

After going to the next dynasty, Li You called Hong Chengchou to the study and discussed it carefully for more than two hours, and told Hong Chengchou about the current situation in Jiangnan and his thoughts, and then let him leave, believing that with Hong Chengchou's ability and his ambition to establish meritorious service, he will definitely be able to teach these Jiangnan gentry a profound lesson.