GBP Chapter 1040 We're going to force them to rebel; they'll have no choice but to!
Chapter 1040 We're going to force them to rebel; they'll have no choice but to!
Emperor Zhu was like a donkey pulling a millstone, going around in circles.
However, the donkey didn't bray much while pulling the millstone, while Emperor Zhu went around in circles and cursed.
"What's wrong? You think we can't lift a knife anymore?"
"Do you still want to turn our Ming Dynasty into another Yuan Dynasty?"
"Damn them, with their skills, they're still too green!"
"I am Zhu Yuanzhang, who crawled out of a pile of corpses, not an iron pot raised in the deep palace!"
"You want to kick our nest too?"
The more the Emperor Zhu cursed, the angrier he became.
Damn it, did we dig up their ancestral graves?
Or should we completely cut off their source of income?
No, neither.
We don't go around digging up other people's ancestral graves.
We didn't completely cut off the sources of income for officials and gentry—we allowed them to do business and open textile or other miscellaneous workshops, as long as they didn't touch the mines and land.
Even so, it didn't work.
They are truly single-mindedly oppressing and harming the people.
What, do ordinary people deserve to die?
Emperor Zhu suddenly stopped and turned his gaze to Xia Yu: "Take the Embroidered Uniform Guard to Gaoyou."
"Show us what your Embroidered Uniform Guard skills are all about."
“Start with Guo Huai. If there’s one, arrest him; if there are two, arrest them both.”
“All the officials and gentry involved, along with their entire families, except for those over seventy and under seven years old, were all sent to Liaodong.”
Xia Yu bowed and accepted the order. Emperor Zhu then turned his gaze to Yang Shaofeng: "Later, you, together with Mr. Shanchang, Mr. Qingtian, and Minister of Personnel Li Xin, will select a prefect of Gaoyou from Dengzhou and a magistrate of Xinghua for us."
So, you old bastard, even after killing someone, you still covet my cattle and horses?
Emperor Zhu then turned his gaze to Xu Da and Chang Yuchun: "You two should discuss it and see who should be stationed in Zhili and who should lead the troops to Gaoyou."
"With Xia Yu's help, we'll start the investigation from Gaoyou and force those officials and gentry who hoard medicinal herbs to rebel."
"Since they don't care about the lives of the people of our Great Ming Dynasty, then we won't care about their dog lives either."
"This time, we're going to force them to rebel; they'll have no choice but to!"
Xu Da and Chang Yuchun immediately accepted.
Emperor Zhu then looked at Li Shanchang: "Mr. Shanchang, in addition to selecting the prefect of Gaoyou and the magistrate of Xinghua, I would also like to trouble you to arrange for the Ministry of Rites to revise the 'Hongwu Great Proclamation' for us. After the dust settles, this case should also be included in the 'Hongwu Great Proclamation'."
"In addition, have the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review send people to Yangzhou together with the Censorate."
"The Embroidered Uniform Guard arrests people, the three judicial departments conduct on-site trials, and the Embroidered Uniform Guards listen in."
Li Shanchang also bowed in agreement. Emperor Zhu then said to Liu Bowen with murderous intent, "Mr. Qingtian, your Censorate should remember to send out inspecting censors, group them according to the Provincial Administration Commission, and begin inspecting each province."
"We only have one thing to say."
"Discover one, impeach one, and punish one."
"No matter how high or low the rank of the official, arrest and kill them all!"
At this point, Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to Zhu Biao: "Biao, go and draft an imperial edict. It shall be decreed that anyone who dares to intercept people from coming to the capital to file a complaint shall be beheaded, and the mastermind who instigates such interception shall be executed along with his entire clan. Anyone who dares to intercept and kill people shall have their entire clan, regardless of whether they are the mastermind or the accomplice, executed along with their entire nine generations of relatives. This edict shall be issued to the whole country, and the newspapers shall also emphasize this matter."
……
Yang Shaofeng never imagined that the household registration book and ID card he obtained in Ningyang County would actually make things easier for the Imperial Guards—
You want to arrest Guo Huai, the magistrate of Xinghua County, right?
This one is simple.
Go to the Ministry of Personnel and directly look up the file of Guo Huai, an official in Xinghua County, Yangzhou Prefecture, Zhili Province. Then go to the Ministry of Revenue and directly retrieve the household registration books of Guo Huai and his relatives. Based on the change information in the household registration books, find the corresponding nine generations of relatives.
So, is this fucking right?
Yang Shaofeng blinked and looked at Xia Yu, asking, "According to Commander Xia, even if Guo Huai escapes, his entire family will be caught and brought back within the next few days?"
Xia Yu nodded in agreement: "Your Highness, please rest assured, Guo Huai and his entire clan will be captured and brought to Yangzhou in ten days at most."
As Xia Yu finished speaking, Zhu Biao said, "Have someone tell the people in the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate that everyone involved in this matter, no matter who they are, will be dealt with severely."
"Those who are punishable by beheading or slow slicing shall be executed by slow slicing."
"Those who are fit to be imprisoned or exiled will be exiled."
Xia Yu immediately bowed and accepted the order.
Zhu Biao then turned his gaze to Yang Shaofeng: "Brother-in-law, my father said he wants to force those merchants and gentry who have hoarded medicinal herbs to rebel. What do you think we should do to force them to rebel?"
Yang Shaofeng shook his head and said, "There's no need to force them to rebel anymore."
"Once my father-in-law's imperial edict is issued to the whole country, those officials, gentry, and merchants who truly harbor rebellious intentions will jump out on their own."
There is no need to put pressure on them specifically.
There is no need to prepare evidence in advance for framing someone.
When the emperor issued that decree, "Anyone who intercepts a commoner from going to the capital to file a complaint shall be executed... Anyone who dares to intercept or kill a commoner, regardless of whether they are a master or a servant, shall have their entire family, up to nine generations, executed," the officials, gentry, and merchants would be completely uneasy.
After this imperial edict was issued, the peasants who were originally oppressed by officials and gentry had the confidence to "rebel".
With Emperor Zhu backing them up, they would no longer obediently endure the oppression.
They might even use the "imperial edict" as a weapon to "threaten" those so-called "family scholars" and "virtuous officials."
For officials and gentry, this kind of harm was far greater than land redistribution, progressive taxation, the construction of community schools, the abolition of the imperial examination system, or the banning of piracy.
Throughout history, which emperor didn't rely on military men to conquer the world and on scholars, aristocratic families, gentry, and local gentry to govern it?
Has Your Majesty, Emperor Zhu, never heard the wise saying, "Share the world with the scholar-officials, not with the common people"?
We have lived a life of high status today only after years of studying hard and accumulating wealth through generations. Why should Emperor Zhu allow us commoners to sit on equal footing with us?
It is simply a rebellion against Tiangang!
Therefore, officials, gentry, and merchants who truly harbor rebellious intentions will absolutely not tolerate this any longer.
Yang Shaofeng smiled sarcastically and said, "These officials and gentry are used to being high and mighty, and they all think they are more noble than ordinary people."
"But they completely forgot that the Hundred Family Surnames originally consisted of Ten Thousand Family Surnames."
"They've forgotten the old saying that poverty doesn't last three generations—even beggars on the street, if their ancestors weren't wealthy, their lineage would have ended long ago, so how could it have been passed down from generation to generation to the present day?"