In the sixth year of Longwu, the twenty-eighth day of the first month.

Zhu Shuren rode on the tall and divine horse, and rarely changed into a set of silver full-body plate armor, with chiseled gold patterns on the surface, with thousands of iron horses, appeared outside the Yongding Gate.

He is cautious by nature, usually goes to the battlefield to supervise the battle, and wears dark steel armor with a frosted surface, which does not reflect light, and is very low-key.

But today is different, this is a big day to declare the complete restoration of the world, and it is to show the prestige of the Ming army in the world, of course, how gorgeous and how to come.

Although silver is still two or three times heavier than steel, it is half as light as gold. As long as the size is a little thinner, it can still be dressed.

On both sides of the Yongding Gate in the outer city, all the way to the Zhengyang Gate in the inner city, there were already the main forces of the capital that had recovered the capital a few days ago and were closely guarded along the way, hunting with banners, and riding guns and bayonets.

The soldiers who participated in the military parade into the city spent a few days changing and washing their crimson robes, and those who were damaged also borrowed from the short robes that did not need to participate in the parade.

He also polished all the forged steel cuirasses, polished the rust and scratched places, and sharpened the bayonets, so that he participated in the ceremony with full spirit.

Zhu Shuren came to Yongding Gate, took a deep breath, glanced left and right, and his heart was also fierce. Outside the Yongding Gate in front of you, there are at least 3,000 cavalry to greet you, and from the Yongding Gate to the Zhengyang Gate, it is estimated that there are 20,000 soldiers to welcome you.

The Ming army is majestic and has reached a new height, and who would have thought that only a few years ago, the situation in the Ming Dynasty was still so dangerous.

"Enter the city!" Zhu Shuren made a move casually, and the guards behind him immediately tilted Daxu forward slightly, and the thousands of troops and horses behind him naturally marched in unison.

The crisp sound of the horse's hooves stepping on the blue-striped stone stretched for a while.

After passing through the Yongding Gate, the real scene of the outer city of Beijing in front of him finally unfolded in front of Zhu Shuren's eyes. Rao is Zhu Shuren is mentally prepared, and he can't help but feel emotional.

It's so broken! There are broken walls and ruins everywhere, and there are several huge corpses that are still burning as far as the eye can see, all of which were actively dealt with by the Ming army that broke the city a few days ago in accordance with the experience and health requirements of plague prevention formed in the past few years. If it weren't for the army's increased awareness of hygiene, this level of destruction would have allowed the entire city to spread the stench of corpses for at least a few months.

It is no wonder that in the past seven or eight years, the city of Beijing has changed hands three times, repeatedly slaughtered and slaughtered, and the original social governance system has long since completely collapsed.

Li Zicheng went into the city and burned it once, but when the Tartars entered the city, they didn't burn it much, because at that time Dolgon was still counting on a long reign in Beijing.

But in the end, Haoge knew that the Central Plains could no longer be held and the capital was destined to be lost to the Han people, so he became a beast and followed Li Zicheng's example of killing and plundering for a while. After all, the city of Beijing will suffer a serious disaster every time it changes hands on average.

The last time Zhu Shuren had an impression of the city was in the 14th year of Chongzhen, when he returned to Beijing for the last time from the prefect of Huangzhou, and then he went to the local governor to serve as the governor, and then came to Beijing again.

It's been almost ten years.

"Sure enough, the people are suffering, and the people are suffering. Now that the customs have been restored, Lonely will play His Majesty and request that the people of Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu be exempted from tax for three years. ”

Zhu Shuren believed in the reins of the horse, and walked slowly according to the bridle, while casually commanding. The accompanying civil official next to him naturally called the prince benevolent and virtuous, and planned for the life of the world.

However, the tax exemption for three years that Zhu Shuren said must even include the current year, and now it is only the end of the month, and agricultural production has not yet begun. Although the city of Beijing was recovered, it would take at least a few months to clear the remote areas of the remnants of the enemy and hunt down the remnants of the Manchu armed forces who had collapsed and fled.

Therefore, it would be good for the north to completely settle down this year, and it should not have paid taxes this year. If the remnants of the Qing army were to fall into the grass in an organized manner, they might not be wiped out within a year.

Now, after the first five years of the Longwu Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has reversed the financial structure and repeatedly increased the proportion of commercial tax. Before the confiscation of the northern provinces, the south was already financially self-sufficient, and could still squeeze out money for the northern expedition.

Therefore, as long as the capital is not moved back to Beijing within a few years, and there is no artificial additional financial burden and loss of transportation, the finances of the south will definitely be enough to spend, and the status quo can be maintained.

There is another advantage of not collecting taxes from the six northern provinces, that is, you can ask the local government to be self-sufficient, and the imperial court will not collect taxes, so it is still appropriate for them to support themselves, and they should not ask the imperial court for money and grain relief.

After the repeated see-saw and purging of the Qing army, the population of the north has been sharply reduced every year in these years of war, and now the total population of the above six provinces is only seven or eight million (not considering the part of the new immigrants from the south to Henan in recent years, only the natural population is counted).

The fiercest years of the Xiaoice Age have also passed, even if the land is still barren and the output is not high, but there are few people and more fields, there is sufficient land rotation and fallow, and it is definitely self-supporting to plant as many species as you want.

During the next three years of tax holidays, the Ming Dynasty will have to consider how to find out those people who were originally exiled from the north to the south, and the government will subsidize the start-up capital and seed rations for the first year a little, so that they can embark on the road back to their hometowns and rebuild the north.

Those people who have been exiled to the south, after all, have experienced the good days of the early years of the Longwu Dynasty, received the favor of the Ming Emperor and the prince of E, and are more grateful to the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

Let them go back to their hometowns to mix sand, so as to further announce the new atmosphere of the imperial court, so that those northern people who insist on staying in their hometowns can also feel the changes in the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible. At the same time, it is also convenient to promote the policy of perpetual tenant rights, change the production mode of the people who have been living in the north, and make them realize the importance of water conservancy and sustainable development.

After all, during the previous Tianqi Chongzhen period, and even during the reign of the Qing court, the economic order in the north had been shattered, and everyone, down to the people, had the mentality of living one day at a time.

The peasants don't even bother to protect the farmland they rent for themselves, and they don't care if the fertility is exhausted and the water conservancy is in disrepair, so who knows if the land rented this year will be able to be planted next year? Without a system to protect the people from eating in peace for a long time, how can the people be willing to invest in the future?

Zhu Shuren estimates that in the future, the number of southbound refugees who return from the south to the north can at least exceed seven or eight million, so that the population that has remained in the north and the population who have been to the south and then returned to the north can basically reach one to one, and even the number of people returning to the north can surpass the number of people who have stayed in their hometowns. After this reintegration, the proportion of the population with a heart to the Ming Dynasty can account for the majority.

And even if seven or eight million people return to their hometowns, the total population of the six northern provinces will be restored to 15 million, which is absolutely affordable for arable land and productivity. For a long time in the future, we will not fall into the Malthusian trap again because of the explosion of fertility and reproduction.

……

Entering the inner city from Zhengyang Gate, and then entering the Forbidden City all the way, as far as the eye can see, Zhu Shuren saw several places where the fire was extinguished not long ago and the smoke had not dispersed.

Even in the Forbidden City, there are many palaces that were broken and burned by Haoge when he left. But fortunately, most of the places he burned have little cultural relics value.

Because many of the temples have been rebuilt by the Qing people themselves in the past six years, Li Zicheng has burned them down once before. Only those parts left in the early Ming Dynasty are of relatively high value as cultural relics.

There are also some escaped palace maids and eunuchs left in the palace, and it should be too late to take them away. The palace maids in the front hall have been directly arrested by the Ming army soldiers when they first entered the city, and there are still some women left in the inner palace.

Zhu Shuren rode his horse all the way to the bottom of the Danqi, then dismounted and walked, climbed the stairs, and entered the Taihe Palace.

Huang Degong stood beside him, guided, and waited for Zhu Shuren to stand still, then he reported some details of receiving the Forbidden City, and asked Zhu Shuren to atone for his crimes, saying that there were some soldiers who would inevitably have unclean hands and feet when they chased and killed the stubborn enemies in the palace.

However, Huang Degong also emphasized that when the Tartars were withdrawn, the valuable things that could be moved were originally moved as much as possible, and many things were scattered, and they were easy to be trampled and damaged if they were not picked up.

Zhu Shuren also knew that in the face of military merits, he couldn't be too serious, so he generously ordered: "Gold, silver, jewelry, and utensils, if you find them, you can dispose of them according to military discipline, don't suffer from inequality."

Calligraphy and painting monuments, willing to take out and return to the imperial court, the imperial court will also make compensation, will never take them in vain, you must make it clear to the soldiers. ”

Huang Degong hurriedly agreed, and then mentioned whether the woman left by the Tartars needed to be seen by the prince first.

Zhu Shuren raised his eyebrows, he didn't want to leave this kind of domineering words and deeds, so he reprimanded Huang Degong a few words, and then said: "Let there be old and stable palace maids in the palace, and give these palace maids a physical examination first."

Anyone who has been defiled by the Tartars will definitely not be able to stay in the palace, and will be given to the meritorious soldiers according to their ranks. Those who have not been defiled by the Tartars are first locked in the inner palace for several months, and no outsiders are allowed to enter or leave, and they will perform the will of His Majesty alone. ”

After receiving the palace affairs, Zhu Shuren asked about the slaughter losses in the capital before the Tartars left, and Huang Degong and others could not make detailed statistics, so they could only roughly estimate from the data collected from the corpses.

It is said that there are about 200,000 or 300,000 dead, and the population of Beijing has plummeted by at least 70 or 80 percent, and now there are not even 100,000 people alive in the city.

Zhu Shuren: "When the Tartars withdrew, did they take away the traitors and puppet officials?" What do you do with these people? There are other royal merchants and other gentry who take the initiative to rebel, what about the situation? ”

Huang Degong: "Those hardcore traitors and puppet officials, especially those who raised the flag and had high grades, all followed them to the outside of the border. However, there are also some who are not reused, and they were originally given to some high-quality idle jobs in order to invite people to buy people's hearts, and there are also those who are not eye-catching, all of which are left. ”

When the Qing army entered the customs, as long as the Beijing officials who stayed in Beijing in the Ming Dynasty escaped Li Zicheng's torture and did not die, they would be given some official positions out of the hearts of the people.

It's just that some people don't have any ability, and they are just a waste of talent, it's nothing more than that the original grade in the Ming Dynasty was already very high, and the Qing court didn't want to press them too low, so they only gave the rank and didn't give real power. Now that they are going to escape, of course the traitors with real talents and hard work will be taken away, but those wastes that are just used to whitewash the peace will be left behind.

Zhu Shuren touched his beard and had already decided the fate of these people: "Anyone who has worked for the Ming Dynasty before, and who took the initiative to serve when the thieves and Tartars entered Beijing, will all be imprisoned for punishment."

If it is after the martyrdom of the first emperor, he retired to live idle, and was forced out of office by the Tartars, he can be exempted.

If the first emperor was an official and has insisted on not breaking through or clearing since then, find out and give the title of Yulu according to the original grade. In the future, it will be slowly planned, and it will be hired again if there is a real vacancy. If he is already old, or if he insists on not being honest and has died of old age within the past seven years, he will have one of his heirs to show his loyalty.

Of course, the above-mentioned strict orders are only valid for civilian officials, and military generals can be pardoned as long as they participate in the killing of Tartars in the end anyway and do not actively rebel against the Ming in the first place.

For civil officials, if there are technical civil officials who are proficient in arithmetic and skillful, they can also be compared with the exemption scale of military generals, and they can be retained for meritorious service. Those who can only dance and write ink should ask for more blessings. ”

Zhu Shuren knows very well that in such a world, it is enough to stabilize the hearts of the generals, and in the future, he needs to chase the poor and completely solve the Manchurian threat.

After hundreds of years of baptism in the imperial examination, civil officials have long been full of sweat and talents, and there is a surplus of talents hundreds of times. Who can't read the Four Books and Five Classics, and who can't do what they can learn to do by reading the Four Books and Five Classics.

Don't give those traitors a chance, there are enough old-fashioned talents, why leave the fat shortage to those wastes to buy people's hearts, if you want to buy Zhu Shuren, there are better options worth buying.

After Huang Degong and others heard this, they were really moved, and felt that the generosity and kindness of the prince of E were even deeper than those of the previous dynasties of the Ming Dynasty.

After explaining these general handling opinions, Huang Degong revealed another piece of news to Zhu Shuren, saying that when the Ming army took over the Criminal Department and other departments a few days ago, it also found that some prisoners were imprisoned in them, and some of them may need Zhu Shuren to personally give advice on how to deal with them.

Zhu Shuren didn't have a lake, so he took the time to go to the criminal department, and actually accidentally saw Hong Chengchou there.

Zhu Shuren was also a little emotional, Corporal Lixian crossed the cell door and asked, "Isn't this Inspector Hong, don't come to harm?" I heard that you also wanted to ask for a late festival at the last moment, so that Lone instructed the historian who cultivated Chongzhen's record to delete all the follow-up records about you? ”

A decrepit old man in the cell, with pale hair and withered roots, heard Zhu Shuren's voice, he was still a little strange and sluggish at first, and it took a long time to react:

"You are the national surname? Lord E? It is really a talent of heaven and earth, Han Gaoming ancestor is eloquent, and the Ming Dynasty has fallen to the extreme, and it has been turned back by your ten years of work, and the criminal has studied all his life, and he has never seen such an ancient. ”

Hong Chengchou had seen Zhu Shuren twelve years ago, but he only had a few faces, and he had no impression, when Zhu Shuren had just entered the two rankings of Jinshi, and he stayed in the capital as a Hanlin editor in the first few months, which was what he saw at that time. In the second year, Zhu Shuren went south to become a magistrate, and Hong Chengchou went to Liaodong to supervise the division, and he never saw him again.

Zhu Shuren has an impression of the other party, and that is because the other party took up a high position of power twelve years ago. And where did Hong Chengchou take a little Hanlin seriously at that time.

At this moment, one is in power all over the world, looking down condescendingly from outside the prison, while the other is extremely depressed, and the contrast between the rise and fall of fortune and misfortune is so strong that people have to sigh at the vicissitudes of life.

Zhu Shuren playfully observed this old traitor before asking: "Could it be that you secretly communicated the military information to Brother Cangshui that time, and was discovered by Haoge, so you were imprisoned here?" ”

Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly: "If it is discovered, I am afraid that I will be martyred a long time ago, then it is okay, it will be a hundred." The old man didn't understand it at the time, and felt that Da Ming must be hopeless, and there was nothing to say.

This time, it was just that Haoge wanted to slaughter the city and plunder, and the old man saw that there were still so many old things in Beijing, and he couldn't bear it, so he persuaded him to pay attention to the people's hearts. Haoge thought that I was going to dedicate the city after he left, so he asked people to temporarily detain and interrogate, but before the inquiry came out, the imperial court entered the city, so he didn't do it. ”

Hong Chengchou finally persuaded Haoge not to slaughter the city and plunder, not necessarily out of kindness, but because he had been an official in Beijing for so many years, and there were too many Han gentry and friends, so he had to persuade him not to let others suffer.

But regardless of his deeds, Zhu Shuren saw that he finally persuaded him, and left him a dog's life.

"For the sake of informing Brother Cangshui of the Tartar army before the battle of Neihuang, it is okay to leave you a dog's life! Don't you want the history books not to write about your deeds after fifteen years of Chongzhen?

Hehe, it's impossible to let Gu tamper with the pseudo-history, at most I will write you 'Chongzhen fifteen years...... It is rumored that Hong Chengchou died in the chaos, but since then there are many folk legends that it is clear and difficult to distinguish the truth from the false', as for the truth, let the descendants judge for themselves!

If you want to keep your reputation, you have to expose other traitors and hidden Qing court officials, after all, they have worked with you, and those people are alive and running around outside, so it is not easy for you to hide your affairs.

As for you, anyway, you are already a dead man in the history books, and seeing that you are old, I will give you a clean yard and be confined for life! ”

Even if Hong Chengchou does not die, the treatment is equivalent to a lifetime imprisonment. And Hong Chengchou himself needs to be imprisoned for life, otherwise he will not be able to make it up if he continues to show up.

Zhu Shuren gave him extrajudicial favors, which was nothing more than better food, clothing, and accommodation when he was imprisoned for life, similar to the convalescent prisons that specialized in holding high-level prisoners in later generations.

Hong Chengchou kowtowed like pounding garlic, thanked him again and again, and said that he would cooperate with the court to confess the inside story of the Qing court, and fight other traitors with dog-eat-dog.

……

After dealing with the traitor and demoting the official, a few days later, Zhu Shuren continued to ask about the handling of the traitor and the gentry.

Later, he was told that those Eight Great Emperor merchants in Beijing had been controlled.

But their main clansmen are still in the Datong and Zhangjiakou areas of Shanxi. Jiang Hao on the Datong side detained those people when he raised his troops, and those in Zhangjiakou had to be sent back to the capital later.

Zhu Shuren was not in a hurry, so he waited slowly and let the generals keep an eye on it.

Later, after more than half a month of tossing, the traitor Jin merchant group in Datong and Zhangjiakou and other places was finally carefully combed by melons and vines, and all of them were caught in Beijing.

Of course, there is nothing to say about the Fan Yongdou family and other eight locust merchant families, all of them are pulled to the entrance of the vegetable market outside Xuanwu Gate, and they are all executed in line, and the eight locust merchants themselves are all sentenced to Ling Chi to death, and their immediate parents and children are sentenced to be beheaded in half, and the rest of the side branches are ordinary beheading.

They were executed with a bunch of well-known traitors and civil officials who had just been cleaned up, all of whom took the initiative to give advice to the Tartars and had irrefutable evidence of mutilating their compatriots. Depending on the severity of the crime, they range from Ling Chi to hanging death.