Chapter 156 These civil servants are indeed evil
On this day, Zhu Houzhao had just started to deal with government affairs. Ma Yongcheng, the admiral of the East Factory, hurriedly came to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty! The ministers are guilty! The craftsmen who killed the important officials of the imperial court were imprisoned and died suddenly yesterday. The stall owner on duty at Dongchang also committed suicide! There is also a stall owner named Qiu Ye who is extremely suspicious, but he has escaped! His family members have also suddenly disappeared!"
"What's going on? These craftsmen are the key to finding out the truth behind this case. If they die like this, wouldn't it become a headless case!"
Zhu Houzhao asked with a trace of anger. He did not expect that such a mistake would occur in Dongchang.
"Your Majesty, forgive me! It's the minister who was careless. It seems that there is a thief in the East Factory. Please give the minister a chance. The minister will clean up the house and rectify the East Factory so that nothing like this will happen again!"
Ma Yongcheng replied with some fear. He didn't expect that something like this would happen if he just left a little late.
"No matter how you investigate, people have hanged themselves! It seems that the people behind these are also very skillful. You can go to the Supervisor of Ceremonies yourself to receive the punishment. But, next, if I know that Dongchang has messed up, you Just pay for your own pension! Your participation shares will also be deprived of it by then!”
Zhu Houzhao said in a very stern tone.
Although Zhu Houzhao knew that it was inevitable for the reform opposition to infiltrate his Dongxi Factory and Jinyiwei, he also had to put some pressure on those around him to prevent them from relaxing and making it easier for the enemy to infiltrate.
"According to the decree! The ministers guarantee with their heads that this kind of thing will never happen again in Dongchang!"
Ma Yongcheng gritted his teeth and said, he couldn't help but swear to himself, if anyone wants to take advantage of his Dongchang and take away his wealth, he will smash that person to pieces!
At this time, Ma Wensheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty! These people can bribe the people in Dongchang to do such a cruel thing. I thought that the power behind them must not be underestimated, and I also felt that they would not let it go. It was clear that they wanted to prevent Your Majesty from abolishing the craftsmanship. I have the courage to ask, is Your Majesty still determined to abolish the craftsmanship system? ”
"Cancel! Must be cancelled! You Ma Wensheng was the Minister of the Ministry of War, you Xu Jin is now the Minister of the Ministry of War, and you Jiao Fang also served as the Minister of the Ministry of War. You should know better than me what the weapons made by the forced craftsmen are. Like! Firearms can There are only six out of ten users; the armor is even thinner than paper! Even the number of craftsmen is getting smaller and smaller. They are fleeing and hiding. If things go on like this, how can our Ming Dynasty have weapons that can fight and weapons that can be made? Craftsman!”
Zhu Houzhao scolded loudly.
"Your Majesty, calm down. I understand your Majesty's painstaking efforts, and I also know that the craftsmanship system must be reformed. Your Majesty's move is indeed an act of love for the people, but I want to say that your Majesty's move has indeed blocked other people's financial paths. These people are so bold. Once Your Majesty refuses to compromise, based on my understanding of them, they will definitely continue to commit crimes! The imperial official who died today will be the one who will be killed tomorrow..."
Ma Wensheng didn't say it directly, but Zhu Houzhao also understood what he meant. He laughed angrily and said: "I understand what you mean, but since ancient times, there have been no sacrifices in reform. I believe that all of you who love me are here. As long as I, the Ming Dynasty, can still do it." No one dares to challenge the people's hearts in the world I dare to do anything to you! We can't be intimidated by some small-time people. We urge the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works to quickly complete the transfer of the place of residence of the craftsmen and the reward of Lumi. Recruiting craftsmen! ”
“Since ancient times, there have been no unyielding victims of reform!”
For some reason, when Ma Wensheng, Jiao Fang, Xu Jin, Liu Jin and others heard these words, they couldn't help but burst into tears. For a moment, Ma Wensheng choked up and said: "The outside world says that His Majesty is very violent, but no one knows that Your Majesty is... He is an eternal wise king who does not care about personal life and death, honor and disgrace for the sake of the people of the world! Just draw up the decree!" So, at Zhu Houzhao's insistence, the Ming Dynasty continued to insist on abolishing the craftsman registration system, and Ye Heng, the Minister of Household Affairs and the Left Minister of the Ministry of Industry, had to follow the decree and began to convert the place of birth of all craftsmen to civilian registration. , and summoned all these craftsmen to prepare the Lumi rewarded by the court.
These craftsmen did not expect that the imperial court would suddenly grant them freedom and give them Lumi. They even didn't believe it at first and asked an official directly: "Dare you ask this great master, from now on we will really You can do whatever you want to make a living? You can also get one stone of rice!”
"Yes! You have caught up with the good times. In the peaceful and prosperous times, the emperor has mercy on you and allows you to be treated like ordinary people. You can farm and do business. You can also continue to do your job and make money by your skills, or you can study and start a career. , I will be an official in the future! Go get the rice! Don’t delay the people behind you!”
A head of the Household Department said impatiently.
These craftsmen were not angry at all. After all, they were used to being insulted and beaten by officials. Now they just had a harsher tone, which was nothing to them. Instead, they smiled even more and sighed:
"What a wonderful emperor I met! Fortunately, I didn't pay the men at the Ministry of Industry to redeem my life first, otherwise I wouldn't have the chance to receive Lumi as a citizen today. Long live my emperor!"
The craftsmen were very grateful for this policy of Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and they began to have a good impression of the Ming Dynasty. They began to feel that the court not only wanted to squeeze them, but also sometimes benefited them.
However, at this time, Zeng Jian, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, was naturally very unhappy when he learned that the imperial court still ignored the memorial in the engineering department and the fact that the craftsmen killed the imperial officials and continued to cancel the craftsmanship system and restore the freedom of the craftsmen. ：
"Since these craftsmen have been silenced, they should know the stakes involved. Is it Zhu Houzhao who doesn't know, or Ma Wensheng and other cabinet ministers who don't know how to dissuade them! Don't you know that the gentry in the world are very dissatisfied with them and even intend to cause harm to them? Are you going to die! Since I just killed the imperial officials today, I will kill them tomorrow! At this time, I don’t want to stop letting the craftsmen serve the people, but I still insist on taking away people’s wealth! Do you really not know how to write the word "death"?
Although Zeng Jian, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, felt that he was getting a salary, he had to pretend to be ill on the surface. After midnight, he quietly met with his confidants in secret: "Let them do it again, so that the court will fully understand the stakes! This time, Xun Xun will be killed." You nobles, please join me. I will see if the court dares to return these craftsmen to the people by force!”
……
At the same time, Zhu Houzhao also received a report from Gu Dayong on the second day: "Your Majesty! Our people came to report that Zeng Jian, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, has been complaining of pain. After sending the imperial doctor, no clues could be found. But yesterday At the end of the night, he suddenly disappeared! The spy we placed in his house took a look, and there was no one on the bed, and there was no cry of pain! ”
"There is indeed something wrong with these civil servants. Continue to monitor closely and try to find evidence, but remember not to alert the enemy!" Zhu Houzhao ordered.
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(End of chapter)