After months of fierce fighting, the city of Nanjing finally returned to peace, and all the gates of the inner and outer cities were opened, and the people were no longer restricted from going out of the city and entering the city. Every gate is full of traffic, and the people of vehicles are endless.

A large amount of material was transported into the city, and the people on the outskirts of the city carried dried firewood, vegetables and vegetables into the city to sell. Sanshanmen on the banks of the Qinhuai River is the busiest, with a large number of boats anchored in the Qinhuai River, waiting in line to enter the inner city through the water gate.

The shipwrecks in the Qinhuai River have been cracked out, and the three stranded ships have been pulled back to the Yangtze River by hundreds of slender men, and the road from the Yangtze River to the inner city through the Qinhuai River is now unimpeded.

And to say that the busiest is the outer city, the tens of thousands of Xiangyong who were previously requisitioned have not been disbanded, but are cleaning up the outer city under the order of the Jiangnan Governor's Palace.

In the previous battle, the rebels built too many barricades and forts in the outer city, and all the streets in the entire outer city were blocked by barricades, and if these barricades were not demolished, not to mention that the materials outside the city could not be transported in, even the people's travel would be affected.

The construction of barricades demolished so many people's houses that tens of thousands of people lost their houses, and thousands of people froze to death because of the cold after more than a month of fighting, and the vehicles carrying corpses on the streets continued one after another.

Removing the barricades and helping the people rebuild their houses is what the villagers and the peasants are doing.

Zhu Youzhen has already issued an order that the war in Nanjing has ended, and from now on, not a single Nanjing citizen will be allowed to freeze to death or starve to death, and he will help the people repair their houses free of charge, and give porridge to help the poor who cannot eat. This move made the people of the entire city of Nanjing grateful to Dai De, and they all called the emperor merciful. Many people have volunteered to join the ranks of cleaning up and rebuilding their homes.

Treat the people well, this is the biggest harvest of Zhu You's soul tour in the past four hundred years. Those who win the hearts of the people win the world, as long as they can be loved by the people of the world, they don't have to worry about all obstacles!

Of course, Zhu Youzhen's benevolence is not aimed at everyone, for those gentry who surrendered to the thieves, and to those nobles, civil officials and military generals who opened the city and let the thieves into the city, Zhu Youzhen's attitude was even colder than the harsh winter!

The entire outer city was recovered, the Praetorian Guard completely controlled the inner and outer city defenses, and the escaped Yuan Chonghuan and his party were captured by Li Dingguo, and the civil officials and nobles abandoned by Yuan Chonghuan had no way to escape, except for a few people who knew that they had reached a dead end and chose to commit suicide in order to avoid humiliation, and other noble civil officials such as Fu Zhenshang, Xiong Mingyu, Zhang Gongri, etc. were all captured.

The prison of the Nanjing Criminal Department, the cells of Yingtianfu, Shangyuan, and Jiangning counties were all stuffed to the brim, and they were all filled with these former gentry and magnates.

In the emperor's palace, Zhu Youzhen also held court meetings many times to discuss how to deal with these people. The final decision is to be strict and fast!

After the interrogation of Jinyiwei overnight, a large number of confessions were asked, and all those involved in the thieves were arrested as long as they did not escape from Nanjing City. There are more than 20 nobles in Nanjing, and as many as 18 are involved in the reverse case, only a few nobles are Chang Yanling, the Marquis of Huaiyuan, who resolutely refuses to surrender and rebel against the thief, and several other nobles died in battle, and Chang Yanling, the Marquis of Huaiyuan, was ordered to guard the Guanyin Gate in the outer city, killed the anti-thief messenger who persuaded him to surrender, and led his subordinates to guard the Guanyin Gate, and waited until Hong Chengchou sent troops from the inner city to support. Among the many city gates in the outer city, only the Guanyin Gate located on the riverside in the north of the city is still under the control of the imperial army, so that the reinforcements can enter Nanjing City from the Guanyin Gate, and Chang Yanling has contributed a lot.

Almost all the officials of the six departments in Nanjing were involved in the reverse case, from the six departments in Nanjing to Yingtianfu, all the officials above the fourth grade were arrested, and the charges were all rebellious, and there may be wronged among them, but no one cares.

As for the gentry in Nanjing, led by Qian Qianyi, most of them chose to rebel, and many gentry were included in the shogunate by Yuan Chonghuan, or served as officials at all levels, and were sent to various prefectures and counties. For these gentry who were dispatched, when the provinces were recovered, no one could escape. The gentry who remained in the city of Nanjing were all arrested and tried by the Jinyi guards.

"Yuan Chonghuan, as the governor of Jiangxi, was deeply favored by the country, but he did something rebellious, and the reason why there was such a rebellion in Nanjing was caused by this person. The minister thought that he should be dealt with severely and sentenced to be beheaded! Yuan Keli suggested.

There were too many people arrested, and the interrogation and disposal work was too complicated, and it was okay for Jin Yiwei to command Liu Wenbing, who was also aware of the arrest, to extract confessions, but it was difficult for him to convict the criminals.

"Is it too light?" Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly. In another time and space, Yuan Chonghuan was sentenced to Ling Chi for indulging Jiannu into the customs, to be honest, the punishment was too heavy at that time, and it cannot be said that it was all Yuan Chonghuan's fault that Jiannu detoured to Mongolia to enter the customs and loot, but because he was in the position of Jiliao Governor, he had to take responsibility.

And now, Yuan Chonghuan, as the governor of the imperial court, colluded with the thieves, supported Zhu Yousong, the son of the abolished Fu Wang, as the prisoner of the country, tried to compete with himself for the country, and led 200,000 troops down the river to attack Nanjing, so that the Jiangnan was devastated, and committed a heinous crime, and it was too cheap for him to be cut in half for such a serious crime!

"Yuan Chonghuan's crime is extremely heinous, and he should be sentenced to Ling Chi, otherwise it is not enough to deter people's hearts, and it is not enough to prescribe for the rebellious ministers and thieves!" Zhu Youzhen said loudly.

"Your Majesty is very true!" Yuan Keli nodded and didn't say much. Kindness is from above, punishment is also from above, he set Yuan Chonghuan to cut down, there is room for turnaround. If Zhu Youzhen thinks that the punishment is too severe, it can be reduced to beheading or hanging, and if it is considered too light, it can be elevated from heavy to Ling Chi.

In the Battle of Nanjing, Yuan Chonghuan was the first crime, and it was decided first, and as for the others, most of them were dealt with severely. Zhang Gongri, Marquis of Longping, surrendered to the thief, opened the Fengtai Gate to lead the thief into the outer city, and was sentenced to beheading for the crime of rebellion. Xu Wenjue, the prince of Wei, led the crowd to surrender and was sentenced to beheading. Even Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, who had been staying in the inner city, was also sentenced to death by hanging for the crime of secretly colluding with thieves, and was removed from his family. The Wei Mansion, which has existed in Nanjing for more than 200 years, and the first contributor of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da, has ceased to exist.

As for the other nobles who surrendered to the thieves, they were also sentenced to beheading, removal from their families, and their families were all exiled to Hainan or Taiwan Island.

The next is the Nanjing officials who surrendered to the thieves, since Fu Zhenshang, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, all the officials who rebelled were sentenced to beheading, and Zhu Youzhen had no doubt about this. When he saw Qian Qianyi's name, Zhu Youzhen was slightly stunned.

Qian Qianyi, the former waiter of the Ministry of Rites, the leader of the Donglin Party, has been staying in Nanjing after being dismissed during the Apocalypse, this time he took the initiative to join the anti-thief, deeply valued by Yuan Chonghuan, and gave advice to Yuan Chonghuan many times, and was caught by Li Dingguo's subordinates when he escaped with Yuan Chonghuan, and after the trial, he was also sentenced to rob his home and behead him.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen personally took up the pen and changed the verdict.

"Sentenced to the punishment of drowning in Shen Jiang......" Yuan Keli looked at the changed sentence, raised his head and looked at Zhu Youzhen in puzzlement.

According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, there is no such punishment at all, Shenjiang has always been the punishment of the clan for those women who do not abide by women's morals, could it be that the emperor hates Qian Qianyi and deliberately humiliates Qian Qianyi with such a punishment?

"It's the first month now, and it's not a cold winter, I hope Mu Zhaigong won't be afraid of the cold water." Zhu Youzhen had a smile on his face.

"......" Yuan Keli couldn't figure out the emperor's intentions, but he didn't ask too much.

In accordance with the principle of severity and severity, the convicts who are caught will be sentenced soon after they are convicted.

On the twenty-third day of the first month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, at the entrance of the vegetable market in the outer city of Nanjing, a group of heavily armed Praetorian Guard soldiers formed a circle, guarding the high platform behind them.

On the high platform, a group of rebels were tied up and knelt in front of the stage, each with a long wooden sign inserted behind their necks, on which their names and crimes were written, and behind each rebel stood an executioner dressed in red and holding a ghost-headed knife.

Hong Chengchou sat behind the table with a serious face, looking up at the sky from time to time. The level of the rebel minister who was beheaded this time was too high, and as the governor of Jiangnan, he personally served as the supervisor and beheaded official.

"Bastard!"

"A group of sky-killing swordsmen, they should have been slaughtered a long time ago!"

The people in the audience shouted one after another, and the rotten vegetable leaves were thrown onto the stage like raindrops, and smashed on the rebels. The charges of these rebels have long been published in the newspapers, and the people hate them to the core.

The battle of Nanjing, which lasted for more than a month, the entire outer city was a mess, and there were hundreds of thousands of people in the outer city, and at least tens of thousands of people died in the war. Robbery, murder, adultery, and all kinds of crimes happened almost every day in the outer city.

In the eyes of the people, all this was brought by these rebellious criminals on the stage, and they naturally hated them to the core, and now is naturally the time to vent.

Countless blocks of mud and even bricks and stones were thrown onto the platform, and the rebels who knelt there were smashed to their heads and bled out, and some of the mud were still facing the executioners, but they were blocked by the shields of the soldiers who guarded them.

Hong Chengchou and other high-level Janissaries naturally knew in their hearts the anger of the people, which was why the execution ground was set up at the entrance of the vegetable market in the outer city, that is, they hoped that the people would vent their anger on these rebels, so as to win the hearts and minds of the emperor and facilitate the reconstruction of Nanjing and the reform in the future.

"My lord, it's three o'clock in the afternoon!" A scribe observing the corona stood up and bowed to him.

"Execution!" Hong Chengchou reached out and grabbed a token and threw it out.

"Your Excellency the Governor has an order, execution!" As the herald shouted, the executioners raised their ghost-headed knives and slashed down with swift swings.

A cold light flashed, blood suddenly surged up like a fountain, and human heads rolled down the stage, some of the people watching the audience covered their eyes in fright and screamed, while others showed excited looks.

Many people suddenly rushed to the high platform to compete for the heads of those who had rolled off the stage. When the Praetorian Guards guarding the high platform tried to stop it, suddenly the whistle sounded, and they evacuated the high platform one after another.

After a moment of chaos, the commotion slowly subsided, and only a pile of bones remained in the audience.

At this moment, most of the criminals on the high platform were executed, and only one person was still alive, that is, Yuan Chonghuan, who was naked and tied to a pillar, and in the next three days, Yuan Chonghuan would be punished by Ling Chi. The so-called Ling Chi, also known as a thousand cuts, is also described in the newspapers, and many people know about it.

In the next three days, many people spontaneously came to the entrance of the vegetable market to watch the execution, and many children were so frightened that they howled all night after seeing it.

For Zhu Youzhen at this time, dealing with these rebels was just a trivial matter, and there were too many important things in Nanjing City at this time that he needed to deal with.

After the end of the war, the people need to settle down, although a large number of materials are transported from Jiangdong and Jiangbei, but the materials in Nanjing City are still in short supply, and the price of grain on the market has doubled compared with previous years, and the price of rice per load is as high as three taels of silver!

Many people could not afford to buy food at all, so they could only wait for the imperial court to provide relief. Zhu Youzhen had already ordered relief to the people, and a total of 24 porridge farms were opened in the inner and outer cities, and thousands of people were waiting for soup kitchens in each porridge field every day. But the soup porridge only ensures that these people will not starve to death, and it is impossible to eat enough to eat.

According to Yuan Keli's suggestion, Zhu Youzhen decided to implement the cash-for-work scheme, summoning 50,000 or 60,000 young and strong people in Nanjing to repair the city wall, dredge the river, and dig irrigation ditches outside the city. Giving these young and strong more than a dozen catties of grain every day can not only build some large projects, but also prevent their families from going hungry, and also reduce social security problems, which is really a triple win.

In addition to the problems of people's livelihood, the disposal of the captives also gave Zhu Youzhen and his subordinates a headache.

In this battle, 200,000 rebels were annihilated and tens of thousands, and the rest either surrendered or were captured. More than 100,000 captives were confiscated and placed in a military camp north of Qingliang Mountain in the inner city. How to deal with these more than 100,000 captives is really a headache.

It is impossible to kill, after all, it is more than 100,000 people, and Zhu Youzhen claims to be a holy monarch on weekdays, so it is naturally impossible to kill prisoners. Moreover, in Zhu Youzhen's view, most of the captives were just ignorant peasants, or forced to join the thief army as a last resort or bewitched by others, and their fault was not at all.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen decided to first separate the generals and leading officers among the captives from the ordinary thieves. Then let the ordinary thieves expose the crimes of the generals and officers. The most heinous generals and commanders, whether they surrender voluntarily or not, will be put to death! As for the ordinary thieves, they are exempt from their crimes.

After some screening and interrogation, about 1,000 anti-thief officers and generals were found out and executed, and the rest were just ordinary thieves. The disposal of the remaining 100,000-odd people is also a problem.

It is impossible to release them directly, and more than 100,000 people will be released and let them return to Jiangxi by themselves, not to mention whether they will be re-recruited by Jiangxi thieves after they go back, and then on the way back, it will inevitably cause many social problems. The rebels who lost control could do anything on the way back.

After careful consideration, Zhu Youzhen decided not to release these people for the time being, but to recruit troops from these people and form the Jiangnan Praetorian Guard in Nanjing, and initially decided to recruit and form 100,000 Praetorian Guards!