On the first day of the new year, Zhu Cixi issued an order to mobilize troops, and all armies in the south of the Yangtze River were dispatched. In just a few days, all conspiracies and some opposition forces were eradicated like a whirlwind.

The Crown Prince's thunderous attack shocked the people, and the entire Jiangnan provinces became silent. No one expected that the Crown Prince would be so unscrupulous and dare to swing his sword at the gentry, businessmen, and officials at the same time.

In this strong suppression, tens of thousands of people were killed, which was close to the total number of the four major Hongwu cases in the early Ming Dynasty.

The Four Major Hongwu Cases are the four famous events or massacres planned by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, to eliminate those who were considered threats to the court, rectify the administration of officials, and punish corruption.

Among them, hundreds of relevant officials were killed in the Blank Seal Case, the Guo Huan case is unknown, a total of more than 30,000 people were killed before and after the Hu Weiyong case, and more than 15,000 people were killed in the Lanyu case.

By the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, various armies had taken complete control of several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. During this half month, I don’t know how many people were frightened and how many people applauded and praised.

For the scholars and students who went on strike, they were even more terrified. Almost all the tens of thousands of scholars who rushed to the Jinling Conference were slaughtered. Zhu Cixiang suppressed them in the name of rebellion and rebellion, and his descendants were prohibited from serving as officials in the court for eighteen generations.

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I heard that the Crown Prince issued an edict that all students who participated in the strike to protest taxes would not be allowed to serve as officials within five generations. Not only would they lose their official career, but their descendants would also be barred from becoming officials.

Although he was luckier than those scholars who were killed, such a rule was more painful than killing them.

Zhu Cixiang's unreasonable and thunderous tactics turned all the forces that resisted the New Deal into ashes, and the previous massive tax resistance movement turned into a joke.

During the Lantern Festival, peace was restored throughout Jiangnan. The streets of the various prefectures that had been massacred were clean, and the blood stains on the ground were cleaned by the government officials. From time to time, there were teams of soldiers patrolling the streets.

To the surprise of all the people, those closed shops reopened, and the prices were twice as low as before the turmoil. I heard that the Crown Prince ordered all merchants to reduce their prices, and those who dared to increase their prices would have their shops confiscated.

The remaining merchants were not worried but overjoyed. The Crown Prince not only paid double the price to compensate for their losses in the turmoil, but also ordered all governments to build monuments to commemorate the merchants who were killed by the mob during the turmoil. He also awarded them "Outstanding Merchants of the Ming Dynasty".

"The title.

Zhu Cihong's various efforts to appease and deal with the aftermath made the affected businessmen feel that their support for the New Deal was not in vain.

Zhu Cihong had confiscated the homes of so many gentry and wealthy businessmen, and these compensations were nothing in his eyes!

Everywhere in every city and street in Suzhou Prefecture, there are shouting shop assistants, who loudly solicit business in front of their shops.

The surrounding people flocked to buy meat products for the festival, and everyone was smiling happily. Some people even yelled from time to time: "Those stupid profiteers still dare to drive up prices. Don't you think your home will be ransacked?"

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These days, profiteers who resist taxes not only openly go on strike, but also secretly sell goods, driving up prices dozens of times, and some even have high prices but no market.

The New Year requires a lot of food. People usually have a hard time due to natural disasters, so they have to be careful when buying rice and salt. After being put through such a hassle, even the New Year is no longer enjoyable, so naturally they complain a lot.

Now that the chaos has subsided, and there is a sufficient supply of cheap goods, the hearts of the people everywhere have suddenly calmed down, and they have praised the crown prince's decisiveness. As for those scholars who care about it, they should die if they die. Anyway, it will have an impact on ordinary people like themselves.

Not big.

In Yangzhou City, Shi Kefa, who had just returned from his hometown to report in Nanjing, was looking at the surrounding environment with a confused look on his face.

Hearing about the turmoil in various places in Jiangnan, and that Yangzhou Prefecture was also the center of the turmoil, Shi Kefa hurried from his hometown in Henan to Yangzhou, thinking along the way whether to support the New Deal or the resistance of Donglin colleagues.

When he came to Yangzhou City, he thought that the anti-tax demonstrations were still going on, but he saw the streets full of smiling people. Everyone was lining up to shop in an orderly manner, without any competition, and from time to time they would scold those people. The scholars in Donglin did not know the heights of the sky and tried to fight against the New Deal.

Shi Kefa is still curious. He has been to Yangzhou several times. Why are the people's quality so high now? It's really strange.

When he saw groups of strutting Tianwu troops patrolling past from time to time, he finally understood. However, he still didn't know what was going on here. Where were the groups that resisted the tax?

After some inquiring, it took Shi Kefa a long time to react. After sighing for a long time, he suddenly made up his mind and ordered his servants to arrange a boat to cross the river to Nanjing.

Nanjing Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The moon was sparse and it was not yet dawn, but the sound of the five drums was already echoing throughout the Forbidden City.

Zhu Cixiang woke up from his sleep, pushed Dong Xiaowan away from his side, who was as smooth as jade, and stood up. As the prince of the Ming Dynasty, he was destined not to sleep in late. He had developed the habit of getting up early after he left the cabinet.

Dong Xiaowan was wearing a robe with sleepy eyes, changing Zhu Cixiang's clothes and tying up his hair, looking at Zhu Cixiang with a hint of coquettishness in his eyes from time to time.

Zhu Cixiang looked at the originally aloof ice beauty in front of him, and was secretly satisfied. No matter how aloof the woman was, after some training by him, she was like a docile kitten.

Zhu Cixiang is fourteen years old this year. Two days ago, he received a letter from Empress Zhou, saying that she was preparing to arrange the selection of a concubine for him, and that she had fallen in love with a woman named Ning.

Zhu Cixi directly replied and refused, stating that he wanted to raise the age of marriage for men in the Ming Dynasty to eighteen years old, and he wanted to set an example.

Zhu Cixiang's idea of ​​raising the age of marriage was to alleviate population pressure in the Ming Dynasty and to improve the survival rate of newborns. He was still aware of the negative effects of early marriage.

Of course, what he is doing now is only out of precocious physiological needs. He has no plans to have children with Dong Xiaowan and others, nor does he have the idea of ​​making one of them his queen, or at most a concubine.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not have high requirements for the harem. As long as civilian women with an innocent family background could enter the palace through auditions, several emperors' biological mothers were born to palace maids. Empress Zhou's father was Zhou Kui, a fortune teller, and Wanli. The emperor's biological mother was also Li Wei, a mason.

Although Dong Xiaowan and others had been hanging out by the Qinhuai River, they had never combed their hair and were always worshiped as big stars. Now Zhu Cixiang has deposed Lehu and named them as palace ladies, so they can be regarded as innocent people. .

There is a big difference between prostitutes and prostitutes. Prostitutes only sell their skills, while prostitutes sell their bodies. In ancient times, brothels were elegant places where many literati and poets went. Among them were geishas who performed arts. Influenced by later generations of film and television, many people confused geishas and prostitutes.

Zhu Cixi also felt awkward sometimes, which was why he was unwilling to accept one of Qinhuai's eight beauties as the crown prince.

Of course, it is inevitable that some people who oppose him will take the opportunity to make irresponsible remarks, but Zhu Cixiang doesn't care. He has done so many things that touch the bottom line of official circles and scholars, and this is not the least. As long as I am comfortable, you Love it no matter what, if you don't like it, just jump out.
Chapter completed!