The good news came to the capital. Emperor Longwu Zhu Ciyang laughed with gratitude. With the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty, it was actually not difficult to recover Taiwan. It didn’t even need the Jingying and Tianjin Navy to take action. Just one Zheng Sen and the Fujian Navy were enough. However, Zhu Ciyang was still very excited, so even Sun Chuanting could not understand why His Majesty cared so much about a deserted island?

In the eyes of the scholar-officials of this era, Taiwan is not only a deserted island and is not suitable for farming. It also has typhoons all year round and earthquakes from time to time. Such places are far worse than anywhere in the inland, even the Mongolian grasslands. Why has Your Majesty always been concerned about Taiwan, and has been mentioned since the year of ascending the throne, and has been instructed to order the Fujian Navy to mobilize troops, spend money and food, and attack and occupy such a wild land?

But in Zhu Cixuan's view, Taiwan's significance is too great, not only because of its excellent strategic position, but also because of its eternal knot in the recovery of Taiwan and the unification of China in its previous life.

"One word, sea!"

"My Chinese dynasty has never attached importance to the ocean, and only looked at the mainland. But I don't know that in the future, the ocean is the key to the rise of a country!"

"First set up Tainan Prefecture."

"Like Liaodong, the cabinet should also set preferential policies to encourage the people to move to Taiwan. When the population reaches a certain number, it is planned to establish a Taiwan province. In the future, the Fujian Navy will also change to Taiwan!"

The imperial edict was issued, and it was surprising inside and outside. A wild island was so important to His Majesty that he had nothing, so he was established as a palace and would set up a province in the future.

...

"Your Majesty, the gentry of Suzhou is plotting to protest against the work of one person and pay for food!"

Before the joy of reviving Taiwan had passed, Zhu Cilang received a secret report from the Jinyi Guardian sent by Li Huang himself.

After reading the secret report, Zhu Cilang's face was as deep as water, and there was a rare murderous aura in his eyes.

Resistance to taxes in Suzhou was a very important event during the Wanli period. Because of the strong opposition from Suzhou textile merchants, they gathered to attack the tax envoy and the official office sent by Emperor Wanli to Suzhou. The eunuch of the tax collector was beaten to death on the spot, and the official office was damaged, and dozens of people were killed and injured. The entire Suzhou was almost invaded. Faced with such opposition, Emperor Wanli had to compromise, withdraw the tax envoy, and no longer collect commercial taxes. As for the disposal of the rioters, he finally found a scapegoat and was imprisoned for ten years, leaving nothing to do.

The failure of Suzhou's commercial tax completely cut off Emperor Wanli's efforts to collect commercial tax. Later, he could only focus on the land tax, which led to the financial dilemma of the Ming Dynasty becoming more and more uncontrollable and eventually turned into a dead end.

It is not the Wanli period, and Longwu was not the Emperor of Shenzong. The tax-resistance incident in Suzhou would never allow it to happen again, and he would not allow the national policy of working together to pay food together. He was threatened and blocked by the people below, resulting in failure.

"Transfer to Li Huang!"

"yes."

Soon, the Sili Superintendent walked, and Li Huang, who was named the commander of the Jinyiwei, came to the Qianqing Palace.

Half an hour later, Li Huang left Beijing and quickly headed towards Suzhou.

At the same time, a secret decree was sent to Jiangnan, and the first town of Jingwuying in Nanjing was moved to Suzhou to prevent accidents.

...

Suzhou.

Wuxian.

An article "Volume Tangwen" is circulating.

"On July 29, 2018, the magistrate of Wu County, Ren Weichu, had a deer-headed and rat-eyed look, deceived his subordinates and concealed his superiors, and ignored the benevolent government of the Holy Dynasty, and openly practiced scholars, regarded Jinshi, Juren, and students as slaves, scolded and even whipped them at every turn, and drove scholars to participate in corvee service. Alas, scholars who eat the country's food and eight virtues should be used as rituals. Unexpectedly, they took the charm of the people in the clothes and animals, and the students were ashamed of their priests, so they went to the Confucian Temple to cry..."

So on July 30th, the whole city of Wu County was sensation, with hundreds of scholars lined up in neat rows to gather at the Confucius Temple.

The one who walked in the forefront was the most famous scholar in Wu County, named Jin Shengtan.

Jin Shengtan, whose name is Cai, was Ruocai. It is said that his original surname was Zhang, but after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he changed his name to Ren Rui, whose name is Shengtan.

Jin Shengtan was poor and lonely in his childhood. He entered a private school at the age of nine. He worked hard and loved reading. He was especially addicted to "Water Margin". He was wild and unruly, able to write and write poems. He was a famous madman in Suzhou. In addition, he was quite bold in political thought, criticizing the harsh government of the late Ming Dynasty and even advocated that officials force the people to rebel.

In history, in the 17th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi read Jin Shengtan's comments on "Water Margin" and admired them very much, saying, "This is a master of ancient Chinese, don't look at him with the eyes of the time." After hearing this, he immediately "cried and kowtowed northward."

This time, Wuxian Crying Temple was famous because Jin Shengtan was the first crazy student in Suzhou. In addition, his uncle was the great scholar of Donglin, which is Qian Qianyi, the current cabinet master of the cabinet, so everyone pushed him forward. He took the initiative and led the army without hesitation.

After arriving at the Confucius Temple, hundreds of people cried in a mess, told Saint Confucius, loudly accusing Ren Weichu of the crime of practicing scholars, saying that he was a traitor who thought about the best intentions and a cruel official who harmed the country and the people!

As the person involved in the incident, the magistrate of Wu County Ren Weichu was frightened by the overwhelming "public anger". He was afraid that Jin Shengtan was the nephew of the current cabinet master. He hurriedly hurriedly sent someone to ask for help from the magistrate of Suzhou Ding Yunyuan.

However, Suzhou magistrate Ding Yunyuan was unable to rescue him, because not only Wuxian, but also scholars from other counties and districts in Suzhou, influenced and encouraged by the Wuxian trend, began to brew one after another, want to cry, go to the streets, and even boycott the evil policy of "working together and paying food together".

The entire Suzhou area is filled with storms.

The tax-resistance change in the Wanli period seemed to be about to break out again.

While trying his best to comfort him, Ding Yunyuan urgently reported the emergency in Suzhou and requested rescue and decision.

...

Capital.

Qian Qianyi's face changed drastically when he heard the news, and he stamped his feet in anger: "Silly, you are looking for death!"

...

Nanjing.

Ministry of War.

Scarlet robes and gauze hats, a group of officials,

Wan Jizheng, the Minister of Personnel, stood in the hall and spoke passionately, believing that the danger in Suzhou should never be suppressed by troops, otherwise it would cause civil unrest and would be out of control.

All the officials nodded.

Only the Minister of War of Nanjing, Gao Hongtu, who was sitting in the middle, frowned and said nothing.

As one of the three wise ministers in the South Central China, Gao Hongtu did not agree with the court's strategy of "working in one's job and paying food together", believing that it would hurt the gentleness and dignity of scholars too much. But at the same time, he also knew that "dedication" was rampant and the harm caused to the Ming Dynasty's finances and taxes. He knew that this stubborn disease must be dealt with, otherwise the decline in the Ming Dynasty's finances would eventually be irreversible.

He really couldn't make a decision between taking and giving, so he remained silent.

Last year in Henan, since the comprehensive promotion of "One Working in One and One Grain" nationwide this year, His Majesty Longwu has an order and the cabinet has ordered that all regions should carry out the work without fail. However, those who are slacking off will be dealt with strictly. As the deputy capital of the Ming Dynasty, the focus of finance and taxation is also the area with the most gentry and wealthy people. Every move of Nanzhili attracted attention. For this reason, the Ministry of Revenue of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, together with the Hanlin Academy of the Censorate, made arrangements after receiving the order from the capital and sent the censor to supervise in various places.

His Majesty's imperial edict and the cabinet's orders were issued, and the censor also supervised it, but the execution of the officials below was quite different.

The most active one is probably Ren Weichu, the magistrate of Wu County, who caused such chaos, which affected the entire Nanzhili. Now, facing the turmoil in Wu County and Suzhou, it is difficult for the officials in Nanjing to make a decision for a while. Some people proposed to mobilize troops, but more people opposed it. Among them, Wan Ji, the Minister of Personnel, opposing the most resolutely.

Gao Hongtu was unsure of his mind for a moment, so he could only think about controlling the situation first and not allowing the situation to escalate, and then urgently reported to the capital and requested the cabinet to make a decision.

Just as he was about to give such an order, suddenly the footsteps were heard quickly, and a seventh-rank official from the Ministry of War rushed in and shouted:

"Ministry Hall, it's not good. Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Jiayu suddenly led their troops out of the military camp and were going to Wuxian..."

"What? Without the orders of the Ministry of War, how dare Jingwu Camp dispatch troops?"

Gao Hongtu was shocked and stood up.

Wan Ji and others were even more shocked, especially Wan Ji. He and Zhang Jiayu, the current counselor of Nanjing Jingwu Camp, had a teacher-student relationship. Before today, because he was worried about the court's dispatch of troops, he sent someone to remind Zhang Jiayu, but unexpectedly, Zhang Jiayu still dispatched troops.

After the officials were surprised, they became angry, and then they moved and rushed out of the lobby one by one, shouting and cursing, and they wanted to stop Zhang Jiayu and Zhang Mingzhen.

At this moment, a rosy official holding a yellow silk, suddenly walked in from the entrance of the military department and shouted: "Is there an order!"

Everyone was stunned and looked closely and found that it was the new Anhui Governor Cai Daoxian.

After Cai Daoxian, he followed two Jinyiwei with swords on his shoulders.

--Since His Majesty Longwu succeeded to the throne and restricted the power of the literati supervisor, issuing the privilege of eunuchs in the palace. Governors and ministers from all over the country have also had this power, and it has become increasingly common. This was originally a welfare for civil servants, and civil servants have celebrated each other, but today I saw Cai Daoxian, who was the new governor of Anhui and his confidant, and brought in the imperial edict, but all the officials in Nanjing all had an ominous premonition.

Cai Daoxian stood on the steps, looked around everyone, and said majesticly: "Don't you accept the order?"

Hula, all the officials knelt down.

Cai Daoxian launched the imperial edict and read aloud.

The officials in Nanjing all turned pale when they heard this, and cold sweat broke out on Gao Hongtu's forehead.

His Majesty Longwu severely reprimanded Nanjing officials for their inaction and asked them to reflect on themselves and make up for their past mistakes, otherwise they would be punished with both crimes.

After reading, Cai Daoxian received the imperial edict.

The officials stood up and Wan Ji asked, "Cai Futai, Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Jiayu secretly dispatched troops. Does the court know?"

"Of course I know that it was His Majesty's secret decree."

Cai Daoxian handed the imperial edict to Gao Hongtu, and then bowed: "The mission of the lower official has been achieved, so let's leave."

After saying that, he left with great strides.

Gao Hongtu looked at the imperial edict in his hand and was stunned, but the other officials were filled with a burst of hope. His Majesty avoided them, mobilized the Nanjing Jingzhan, and ordered the Anhui governor to send the edict. Did he no longer trust them?

In panic, Wan Ji and several officials discussed it together and ran out together.

"Where are you going to Shaozuangzai?" someone asked loudly.

Wan Ji didn't look back.

Gao Hongtu was panicked for a while, suddenly came back to his senses, and stomped his feet: "It's broken, Wan Ji must be stopping Zhang Jiayu, hurry up, go and chase him back!"

...

The troops are leaving the city.

In front of the official road at the gate of the city, Wan Ji and several officials stopped Zhang Jiayu, the counselor of the Jingwu Camp, who was dressed in military uniform. Wan Ji was heartbroken and said that the turmoil in Wu County was because the court vigorously promoted "one job and one job to pay food together", which damaged the vitality of the world. His Majesty was deceived by the traitor today and insisted on implementing it will surely wake up in the future. Therefore, he advised Zhangjiakou to think twice when facing matters and never use weapons to the people, otherwise, it will not only mislead himself, but also mislead the court.

Zhang Jiayu saluted Wan Ji respectfully, and then said solemnly: "The teacher once taught me to establish my heart for the heaven and earth, establish my destiny for the living and the people, and to inherit my unique knowledge for the past sages."

"The gentry did not pay food, did not pay taxes, and used the offer to make themselves rich and the court poor. Which one of them is to establish a mind for the heaven and earth, establish a life for the people, and carry forward the unique knowledge for the past sages?"

“Shouldn’t such a ancestral system be changed?

"The poor have no place to stand, and the rich have rich people who are smelly of wine and meat. Is this the purpose of reading?"

"Although the gentry has gone to the privilege of exempting taxes, the court has also increased the integrity and raising money. Wouldn't it be nice to replace the old policy that was unclear and criticized for being reborn with an open and upright salary?"

"If it is for the sake of the people of the world and for the sake of justice of the world, the student immediately resigned and went to Suzhou with his teacher to protest. Even though he was heartbroken, he would not regret it!"

"But if you only want to make the selfish interests of scholars, you will never let go of your own interests and ignore the crisis of the country."
To be continued...