Chapter 958: Duke Wei
Jiang Qingzhi arrived in Nanjing.
The news quickly spread throughout the city of Nanjing.
Those who know don’t speak, those who don’t know talk nonsense, and distorted news often happens in the market…
"It is said that he brought an army of 100,000."
"They are all vicious and evil, saying they want to massacre Songjiang Prefecture!"
"No, the Ming Dynasty has been established for more than a hundred years. After Emperor Taizu Gao, no one has ever dared to mention the word bloodbath. You are spreading rumors!"
A group of women were discussing this matter in the vegetable market and were refuted by a man.
"Hey! It looks like you know the truth? Then tell me! If you don't tell me... I'll tell you that you're a spy."
The women laughed as they carried their vegetable baskets.
Women in the capital are very reserved, but women here are much bolder.
The closer you are to the capital, the more rules there are. There are many advantages to being under the emperor's feet, but there are also many troubles. But it is different in the south. When people are in a good mood, they gossip about the emperor, and even make a dirty joke about him. Who dares to say it is inappropriate?
This is the south, the emperor is far away!
The man was a little thin. He smiled and said, "I only brought a thousand cavalrymen."
"A thousand cavalry? This is the south. Not to mention a lot, there are at least tens of thousands of soldiers in and around Nanjing! With a thousand cavalry, isn't Lord Wei afraid that he may never come back?"
The man chuckled, "Who dares to move?"
The women were startled, and one said, "If he starts killing people, are we just going to bow our heads and let him chop us to death?"
"Yes."
"They say that Long Wilbur is here to seek revenge, to avenge those tax-collecting dogs. He will definitely massacre Songjiang Prefecture with blood!"
"Oh! That's not right." The man shook his head and sighed.
"What's wrong?"
The man said, "First, there were only three or five people who set the fire, plus the instigators behind the scenes, there were at most dozens of people. A major case would involve more than just these people, right?"
The women were stunned and all felt that it made sense.
"Secondly, those are not dogs, but officials from the court. They were ordered to go south to investigate the land. Even if they collect taxes later, they are not collecting our taxes, but the taxes of those nobles."
The man held up his third finger. "Third, those who say there was a bloodbath are fools. They don't even know they've been deceived. This is the Ming Dynasty, and there are laws. Chang Wei Bo is the prime minister, and he must take the lead in abiding by the law. Even if he wants to touch someone, he must act according to the law. Those who deserve to be killed will not get away. Those who don't deserve to be killed, even if they jump in front of him, he will at most kick them."
The women all thought that what he said made sense, but it was very different from the rumors in the market.
"Then why is he here?"
"Let's not talk about that for now, let's talk about taxes." The man said with a smile: "Previously, scholars with official titles did not have to pay taxes, and now those with some connections do not have to pay taxes either.
Those people annexed so much land and took in so many people that the government collected less taxes, but the annual expenditure increased.
We can’t let the officials be without food and clothing! We can’t let the officers and soldiers fight with Altan’s cavalry on an empty stomach, right? In the end, we have to increase taxes. Who has taken on the taxes that have been increased over the years? "
The women looked at each other.
"It seems...it seems to be us?"
"It's not like, it's us!" The man said confidently, "Why did those people in Songjiang Prefecture set fire? It's to stop this. If this succeeds, the court will have money and food, and our lives will be comfortable, right? Isn't that right?
We are here to say that Long Weber and the New Deal are bad in this and that way, but we are helping the evil and digging a hole for ourselves! "
The women were stunned, then fell silent.
No one is a fool, even if they are uneducated, but these women are in charge of the daily necessities of the family and are most sensitive to prices and taxes.
"Yes! This is a good thing for us!"
"But...but those who donated will have their good days over."
"They have made offerings to the nobles in the hope of lowering taxes. If this is successful, taxes... Hey! If it is successful, can the court reduce our taxes?"
"Unless there is a natural disaster, it is impossible to exempt them." The man said, "Lighten taxes and levies. This is what your majesty said when he ascended the throne. But when he was about to do this, he was stopped by that... Elder Yang. Otherwise, we could have lived a good life decades earlier."
"Everyone says that Lord Yang is wise and His Majesty is foolish!"
"Nonsense. Who said that? Was it the scholars who said that? Your Majesty wants us to live a good life, so he has to cut flesh from them. They are in pain, so they confuse right and wrong."
The women did not understand the affairs of the court, but they all vaguely felt that something was wrong.
"Don't forget, that... biogas digester was built by Long Wei Bo and Mo Jia. The world's grain output increased by 10% because of it. Has the grain price dropped a bit in the past two years?"
"Yes!"
"Did Long Wei Bo brag about what he did?" The man sighed, "He never boasted. Those nobles never talked about profit, and never talked about propriety, righteousness, and shame. But what did they do? They annexed land and absorbed population. They were sucking blood from the Ming Dynasty!
Long Weber once said that the people are not stupid, they are just out of touch with the news. But they will watch and see who is really doing things, who can make our rice jars full and our pockets fatter.
Look at who only talks but does not act, who only talks about morality but is actually full of thieves and whores..."
The man saw the women in deep thought and said with a smile, "I have a cousin in the capital, who runs a stall at the entrance of the alley near Long Wilbur's house. He has said a lot about Long Wilbur. These are just some of the things."
"Then how do we know who is good and who is pregnant?"
"Simple!" the man said, "It's the same as before. Look at a person, not what he says. Take the nobles in Nanjing for example. What have they done for the country and the people?"
"Eh! It seems like... I didn't do anything."
"Done."
"What have you done?"
"When a noble travels, no one should stop him. Every time a noble travels, the vendors are in trouble. At the very least, their stalls are smashed, and at worst, they are beaten up."
"Yeah! They...seemed like they didn't do anything."
The man quietly left the vegetable market and arrived at Jiang Qingzhi's residence later.
"Old Sun!"
Sun Chonglou came out, "How is it?" "Damn it, those people are really spreading rumors, saying that the Lord wants to massacre Songjiang Prefecture." The man was Sun Bu Tong, "Is the Lord here?"
"The young master is fishing in the backyard."
That day Chen Ji said the back garden was luxurious, so Jiang Qingzhi had some free time today, so he went to enjoy it. There were many pavilions and waterside pavilions, which were extremely beautiful. What was amazing was that there was actually an artificial lake.
The artificial lake is not big, but for Jiang Qingzhi, who grew up in a pigeon cage in later generations, it was unimaginable.
There are fish in the lake. As winter passes and spring comes, the temperature rises and those fat fish come out to look for food.
"Damn it, you're not afraid of people?"
For anglers, there is no sense of accomplishment in catching fish that are not afraid of people.
What made Jiang Qingzhi speechless was that after he pulled up a big fish, there were actually a bunch of big fish following him...
The group of big fish on the shore shook their heads and tails at him, as if begging for food.
There's no way to catch this fish, you might as well hit it with a stick.
"Uncle!"
Sun Bu Tong walked to the side.
"Hmm!" Jiang Qingzhi threw the big fish into the fish basket and swung the rod casually.
"Those people are spreading rumors that you are planning to massacre Songjiang Prefecture."
"This is to incite officials and people in the south to unite against the common enemy. The person behind this does know a little about military tactics, but his methods are too direct." Jiang Qingzhi smiled.
“In addition, people outside say that the new policy is intended to plunder the people.”
"This is calling a deer a horse." Jiang Qingzhi sighed, "Wang Anshi of the former Song Dynasty used this method to carry out reforms. Hundreds of years later, their descendants have not made any progress at all?"
Sun Bu Tong smiled and said, "After I refuted it, those women obviously came to their senses."
"It's useless. The North and the South have been separated for many years. It can't be changed overnight. Only interests can change everything!"
Jiang Qingzhi smiled and said, "Go and urge the people at the East Factory to get the evidence of Wang Hui's corruption as soon as possible."
"Yes." Sun Bu Tong went out and found Xu Wei who had just received a guest.
"I know about this." Xu Wei frowned slightly and hurried to the back garden.
"Fuck!" When he saw Jiang Qing, he was watching the fishing rod being dragged away by a big fish and jumped up and down, "You're going to eat it even without bait?"
"Uncle."
"Old Xu!"
Jiang Qingzhi pointed to the side and sat down first. Xu Wei did not sit down, but bowed his head slightly. "Just now, an old acquaintance came to visit and repeatedly hinted that if Lord Earl changed his ways, then the officials and people in the south would open up a loophole..."
"What hole?" Jiang Qingzhi asked.
"Mo Family!"
"Allow the Mohists to enter the South?"
"Yes." Xu Wei said, "In exchange, they hope that the Lord can raise thunder and send spring rain."
"Loud thunder, little rain." Jiang Qingzhi laughed, "A bunch of corrupt scholars, their words are sour."
"Master, that person also hinted that if Master refuses to do so and insists on coming up with a plan, then the spring rain in the south will also turn into frost."
"Is this threatening me?"
"Yes."
Jiang Qingzhi smiled happily.
"What is Xu Chengzong doing?"
"In the Duke's Mansion."
"Is this Duke of Wei going to sit on the fence?" Jiang Qingzhi stood up. "I've been here for two days and it's almost time for me to rest. Those people are waiting to see me perform monkey tricks. They are all guessing who the monkey is..."
"It is widely rumored that it was the Minister of Justice Zhang Quan." Xu Wei said with a smile: "Zhang Quan seemed calm, but Ye Bu Shou reported to the other side. Zhang Quan secretly asked to see Wang Yan, but was rejected. Then he asked to see Xu Chengzong, but was rejected..."
"No one has a clean bottom. If we take all of them, there might be some innocent people. If we take every one of them, there will probably be a lot of people who slip through the net!"
"Xu Chengzong is not moving. Is he confident?" Jiang Qingzhi raised his eyebrows. "Spread the word. Nanjing is in turmoil. Xu Chengzong is to blame!"
Xu Wei asked, "Are you going to warn Duke Wei?"
"He is the biggest monkey. If Old Zhu hadn't said before he left that Xu Chengzong could be won over, I would have ruined his reputation today!"
Not long after Jiang Qingzhi delivered the message, Xu Chengzong arrived.
"Duke Wei, what are you doing here?"
Jiang Qingzhi was still by the lake.
He didn't even stand up.
Logically, this attitude would anger Xu Chengzong.
Xu Wei watched coldly from the side.
Xu Chengzong stepped forward and bowed.
"I'm here, at the behest of Long Wilbur!"
(End of this chapter)
