In the area south of the Yangtze River, the power of the local gentry and landlords was entrenched and entrenched.

Moreover, these forces are not only in Jiangnan, but have actually radiated to the whole country, and among the officials of the various yamen in Beijing alone, there are many from Jiangnan.

But the Ming Dynasty has a good one, unlike the gate valve families before the Sui and Tang dynasties, their protégés are all over the world, and they even have military strength. In the Ming Dynasty, if any family raised private soldiers in captivity, the skin could be picked up for him in two layers.

But then again, this matter is getting bigger, and it is still necessary to take risks, because there will be Jiangnan children in the court and the army.

This is not an eye, the dignified cabinet leader Wang Wang Pavilion is a native of Wu County, Suzhou!

Of course, it doesn't mean that he deliberately confronted the imperial court with the officials in Jiangnan, he didn't have that heart, let alone the guts, the Qingtian of the imperial court made him completely aware of the inside story, but Zhang Xuan's approach made him unacceptable.

Since then, he returned to Beijing from Shandong to preside over the affairs of Qingtian, and after only two days of sitting in the cabinet duty, he began to punish people's crimes!

This made Wang Wei, who had always been mild-tempered, frown.

"Changzhou magistrate, Wuxi prefect, Songjiang prefect...... Zhang Ge Lao was really powerful, and it only took two days to collect the guilt of three people. Does Zhang Ge Lao want to spread the disasters in Shandong to the south of the Yangtze River? ”

On the bright side, Wang Wei is still his boss, Zhang Xuan can't indulge too much, he bows his head and arches his hands, "Don't dare." These criminal officials are not under investigation, but by the factory guards, and now the evidence is conclusive, and the officials are just acting in accordance with the laws of the imperial court. ”

"Do things according to the laws of the imperial court? I'm afraid it's not revenge and venting personal anger, right? ”

Zhang Xuan said neither humbly nor arrogantly: "The things they committed are not investigated by the lower officials, and the second is not judged by the lower officials, but they are just presented to the emperor to reach the heavens, where can we talk about personal enmity and personal anger?" ”

Yang Tinghe also didn't like Zhang Xuan, he said: "In this way, Zhang Ge is very warm-hearted, and he is so dedicated to things that have nothing to do with him. ”

Zhang Xuan raised his eyebrows, and his expression was only such a slight movement, "Yang Ge Lao, what are these words." As a Ming official, shouldn't he go all out to expose those who hide dirt and misbehave? Or is it to hang high? The lower officials have just done a jealous and hateful thing, and they have to be asked why here, is the cabinet going to give the emperor such an officialdom? ”

Yang Tinghe immediately felt a pain in his feet, this Zhang Xuan was sharp-tongued, very difficult, and it was shameful to act like this, why did the cabinet come in with such a guy!

"Not only are you loyal to the emperor, but we are also loyal to the emperor, you are acting like this in Qingtian, Jiangnan, to provoke the rebellion in Jiangnan, when the officialdom is shaken, how can it be a good thing for the imperial court?"

Wang Wei also knew that he couldn't say anything to him.

blamed him for not having the ability of Liu Jian and Yang Yiqing, and he couldn't match the current three people together, so it was inevitable that the two parties in the court would attack.

At this time, it is still necessary to ask the emperor to take an idea.

So they ignored Zhang Xuan and handed a note into the palace.

Zhu Houzhao, of course, met them according to the courtesy.

After listening to the accusations of the two old ministers, he only asked one question, "So are there any problems with those three people?" ”

Wang Wei and Yang Tinghe, they are very experienced, and the emperor began to focus on the problem, that is, to defend Zhang Xuan, I am afraid that this matter will not be good.

In fact, some stunned young people will insist that there is a problem, but both of them are veterans of officialdom, and they will never dig this pit for themselves, and they don't know the specific situation, what if? How can you make a random statement in front of the Son of Heaven.

"Back to the emperor, the old minister didn't know much about the three people, and whether there was a problem still needs to be found out. It's just that Zhang Xuan acted recklessly and was too strong, this is not a move to seek the country, and the emperor is also invited to learn from it. ”

"Since you don't know, let's go and find out. It is common for courtiers to disagree with each other, but I use Zhang Xuan to have my reasons, you can't see the way he acts, and if you want me to punish his crimes, there must always be a real crime, just like I did with the three people Zhang Xuan wanted to join. The Son of Heaven acts uprightly. As for saying that you think he is loyal, I believe that you are loyal, but that is not the same thing as using him. ”

The implication is that I can't withdraw whoever the two of you ask me to withdraw, right?

Wang Wei and Yang Tinghe have eased up, and it seems that this scene has to be sung for a long time.

In fact, the officials of the Ming Dynasty really wanted to investigate his crimes, first focusing on a crime of greedy ink, and basically checking one accurately. So sometimes Zhu Houzhao will turn a blind eye.

But some things are not weighed as two or two, and they can't be beaten by a thousand catties on the scale.

The imperial court wants to implement the Qingtian Order in Jiangnan, how can it not make some preparations in advance? All those who oppose these local magistrates have been touched in the past six months.

In this way, it is just to kill people to open the way.

……

……

However, the Jiangnan forces are intertwined and deep-rooted, not only because of the elders of the pavilion, not only because of the influence of officialdom, but also because the big clans themselves are also the foundation of the imperial court, in fact, it can be said that way.

In other words, some literati admonished the emperor not to touch the root of the country, and this sentence is true.

Because in the traditional concept, Jiangnan taxes accounted for nearly half of the annual revenue, and the tax collection mechanism of the Ming Dynasty relied heavily on these people who had some local power.

There is a classic saying in "Iron Tooth and Bronze Tooth Ji Xiaolan" and adults, the official word has two mouths, and only when the upper mouth is fed can the lower mouth be fed.

For thousands of years, the common people have been unwilling to pay taxes, but the tax collectors in a county town, even if they add all the 'fast and strong soap three classes of officials', can there be dozens of people?

Therefore, the collection of taxes in the Ming Dynasty can be understood as 'outsourcing'.

Under the tax package system, every official of the prefect and county has the pressure to pay taxes, and the upper side is a tax package, that is, no matter what method you take, you have to make up the tax for one year.

Looking back, what can the county do?

Personally bring seven or eight people to catch the tax collection of one household at a time? If you encounter some ruthless people, they may gather together and beat people, but don't say that our nation is not martial, it does not involve land and money and food.

Therefore, in most cases, local officials do not dare to completely break with the local wealthy families, otherwise people will secretly resist taxes, and you, the flowing official, will not be able to continue.

At the same time, the wealthy families will not consciously be the first in the world, of course, they are still afraid of the government, so they often respect filial piety, so that it is convenient for them to hide the land, Tibet, desertion, etc., not only that, but also in the children's education, employment and so on can be convenient.

In this way, the two sides hit it off and used each other, and the official gentry and the gentry came together in this way.

Therefore, the difficulty of carrying out this matter lies in the fact that the field of the gentry is the field of the officials, and as soon as the surveyor arrives at the place, he naturally encounters all kinds of resistance.

The day Jin Gui arrived in Nanjing was July 23, and he did bring the emperor's will in Qingtian in the counties south of the Yangtze River.

It's just that Jin Gui doesn't do things like Zhang Xuan', he still follows the normal path of the government, and gradually advances in accordance with the process of issuing official documents.

In fact, it is also relatively cautious.

In addition, of course, he also went to the Wei State Mansion, the Wei State Duke was different, the emperor 'threatened' him in private, he only dared to hide at most, but did not dare to resist.

When the news came out, from Nanjing to Changzhou to Suzhou and Songjiang, I don't know how many people secretly spit on it.

And Jin Gui's real trouble soon came.

On 26 July, the surveyors of Jiangning County reported that several local students had deliberately provoked them, first stirring up trouble and provoking them, then provoking incidents, and then sending a piece of paper to the county office.

In the final analysis, most of the surveyors are people who can't pass the Jinshi exam, and they do this because of the lack of money at home, and it will be difficult to achieve success in the future.

And these students, not to mention that there are also officials in the family, are they still afraid of them?

On July 28, the magistrate of Yixing County, the capital of Changzhou, reported that the surveyors sent by the imperial court despised the government and went to the township to act, completely ignoring the respect of the magistrate, as if he had arrived on a mission to be arrogant and domineering, so that the big households and the people in the county were disgusted, and it was extremely difficult to carry out the matter of clearing the fields.

On 1 August, the Zhenjiang Prefecture reported again, saying that more than 400 local fellow students such as Liu Guangxi were openly marching on the streets, shouting slogans, and demanding that the clearing of acres of land be suspended.

Because it was easy to bring out the hidden field, they used this as a reason to incite the people to resist the imperial court surveyors, which made the affairs of the field difficult.

……

……

Governor's Yamen.

Jing Shaokui could see that Qin Cha's face was full of sadness, and in the face of such opposition one after another, even the emperor's attendants probably felt quite stressed.

First of all, these people can't be killed directly, and Jin Gui himself is a scholar, he didn't think about killing all the Jiangnan gentry at all, then he wants to leave a notoriety in the history books, and there must be a reason to kill people, although it can be seen that these people have ulterior motives, but they don't commit any serious crimes on the surface, why kill people? This realm is not up to him.

"Shangcha, otherwise, it's better to call all these people like Yang Ge Lao did in Shandong at the beginning, right?" Jing Shaokui proposed.

Jin Gui felt that it was also, "It is a national policy to clear the acres of land, and now these people do not care about obstruction, once they provoke the anger of the Son of Heaven, it will be a million corpses." Originally, I thought it had been emphasized clearly, but now it seems that I still have to say it face to face. It is understandable that the states and counties have difficulties, but the government wants to do everything possible to promote this matter, rather than asking for a postponement all day long. ”

"Then the lower officer will go and give the order."

Jin Gui pinched his fingers, he was not an incompetent person who didn't understand it at all, "If it doesn't work, you still have to shake it with thunder." Jiangning County is very close, and those few people who are in trouble want people to scare and scare them, but if the scare fails, then they can only arrest people. ”

In fact, Jiangning's students do have the confidence not to be afraid of these surveyors, they are confident that their plan will succeed, even if they lose the lawsuit, it doesn't matter, anyway, this thing can't be done, so it's done.

Not only that, but in the place where the literati gathered, someone said, "Have you heard? The Son of Heaven decreed that he would choose a good place outside the capital and build a palace to escape the heat. It's really the way of heaven that doesn't pity the people, and it's only been stable for a few years, and there is a big construction project! ”

"Brother Zhao said cautiously, it is about the emperor, if this is spread out, it will be a crime of killing the head!"

"Oh, not only do you have to say it here, but you also have to write about it! Today, he has been considered virtuous for several years, but now he has appointed traitors to provoke the rebellion in the south of the Yangtze River, and he wants to build a large number of buildings, which is a sign of chaos! When a husband reads the books of the sages, he should put the world first, and death is death, so what is there to fear? ”