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Volume 13 Reviving the Ming Dynasty Chapter 638 Taking Advantage of the Situation

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    The news of Gansu's quelling the chaos was delivered to Tang Feng a few days later.  Although he is still just a prince, he is also equivalent to supervising the country. All major affairs of the Ming Dynasty are decided by him. The good news presented to the emperor is naturally delivered to him through Yousi Yamen.

    To be honest, Tang Feng was still very confident about defeating the rebels, but he didn't expect everything to go so smoothly. In just over half a month, the rebels were completely suppressed, which really made Tang Feng feel better.  happy.  Now that the financial power of the Ming Dynasty was in Tang Feng's hands, he immediately made a decision to let the treasury take out the remaining money. After the army returns in triumph, he will reward the soldiers who have made meritorious service to the country.  []

    Although the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were really reluctant after learning what Tang Feng meant, after all, once the national treasury was completely emptied, it would be very detrimental to the court. If something happened in other provinces, the court would be in a hurry.  .  However, Tang Feng's attitude was very tough and he told them that he had his own way to replenish the treasury. Now that he had made up his mind, those officials did not dare to go against him and had to follow his orders.

    There is another point about the story described in this victory report that Tang Feng is very concerned about, and that is the rebel leader Chuang Wang Li Zicheng who was captured alive.  Tang Feng was still a little afraid of the terminator of the Ming Dynasty in history, but he didn't expect that it would fall into his own hands now.  He really wanted to see what this historical celebrity was like, so he ordered Man Gui and others to take him with him when they returned to Beijing in triumph. As for the surrendered soldiers, Tang Feng was not sure what to do with them. After all, they were all from the Ming Dynasty.  Most of his people were forced to embark on the road of rebellion. He didn't want to really kill all these people, so he could only let them go first.

    Now Tang Feng is most concerned about the country's financial affairs. When you are not a family, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are. After learning more, Tang Feng realized that Ming's finances could no longer be described as stretched.  Tang Feng couldn't believe that a big country with a huge population of one to two hundred million people had less than one million silver in its treasury.

    Although the Ming Dynasty has been plagued by internal and external troubles in recent years, either natural disasters occurred here or there were riots, Tang Feng firmly believed that this was not the reason why the imperial court was so poor.  We must know that in the Manchu Qing Dynasty in later generations, even if the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, the wealth owned by the imperial court was still far greater than that of the Ming Dynasty in its own hands.  So what's the crux of the problem?

    Tang Feng knew the problem without thinking about it carefully. It was due to the old conservative ideas and the clan.  It is precisely because of the policy of suppressing business in the early Ming Dynasty that the commodity economy was extremely underdeveloped. As a result, private capital was completely stagnant. At most, it was just buying some land. In this way, the country could not collect enough taxes at all.  Coupled with the closure of the sea ban, there is basically no contact with overseas countries, and the foreign trade aspect has naturally disappeared, and the open source has completely disappeared.

    The royal family has made the court's expenses extremely huge. Over the past two hundred years, the Zhu family has hundreds of thousands of sons and grandsons. They are not engaged in production and have to rely on the court to support themselves. They also rely on their status to occupy  Land and no taxes were paid, which caused the people to become homeless and eventually embarked on the path of rebellion.  In fact, Tang Feng had understood this a few years ago, and had made suggestions to Chongzhen to reduce the expenses of these clans, but in the end the emperor rejected him for the sake of stability.

    As for the opening of the sea to trade, although Chongzhen made a breakthrough and opened Suzhou to the sea, which also contributed a lot to the continued operation of the imperial court, long-standing concepts made it extremely difficult to reopen the sea ban.  Later, as big troubles continued to occur in the country, no one focused on opening up the sea for trade.

    Now that Tang Feng is in power, he naturally does not want to continue on the same path. He must make changes. Otherwise, even if he has the advantage of knowing the future direction, it will be difficult to completely change history. At best, it will only prolong the Ming Dynasty.  It's just life span, this is not what Tang Feng wants to see.

    How can he alone change a concept that lasts only two hundred years?  Even if he now holds the power of the country, if he really becomes an enemy of the entire class, he will only fail.  Wang Mang at the end of the Western Han Dynasty was one of them, because his reforms were too radical, which put him completely on the opposite side of the ruling class. In the end, everyone betrayed him and even his own life could not be saved.  Tang Feng didn't want to do this, so the only way was to boil the frog in warm water.

    But the current situation in Ming Dynasty does not allow him to use mild means to reform. However, more people will come out to oppose it, and nothing will be achieved by then.  In this way, a breakthrough point must be found. After winning the battle in Gansu, Tang Feng decided on this breakthrough point, which was the clan.

    The empty treasury is a matter of concern to all officials in the government, because it is related to their salaries.  Originally, officials' salaries were low, which forced many people to engage in corruption. Now once the national treasury is completely empty,, they will definitely be very interested.  At this time, if Tang Feng proposed to reduce the expenses of the clan, for the sake of their own interests, many people would definitely agree with his proposal.

    ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? did not give in easily. In their view, the money of the Ming Dynasty is theirs, the life and death of the people and officials are not at all in their consideration.  When the time comes, someone will inevitably take the lead in making trouble, and this will be an excuse for Tang Feng to further eradicate them completely.

    As long as they dare to challenge the imperial court, Tang Feng will deal with them in the name of the imperial court.  It turned out that Tang Feng was still a little worried about whether his prestige was enough to deal with them, but Gansu's victory made his doubts disappear.  Because of this victory, Tang Feng's position became stable and no one dared to speak out anymore. In the army, Tang Feng also gained a very high prestige, which was enough to mobilize the officers and soldiers of the guards in other provinces for his own use.

    So in mid-December, Tang Feng made it clear to the world that from next year, the fees for the children of the Ming Dynasty clan would be reduced by half.  This time it can be said that one stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the whole city of Beijing was boiling with excitement.

    Because of Chongzhen¡¯s funeral, many clans from other provinces came to the capital to attend the funeral. Of course, this was not because they respected and cherished the emperor. They came here just to spend money in the capital.  In addition, the new year is coming soon, and the clan members have just received next year's money and materials from the clan mansion, which can be regarded as being able to catch up with one fell swoop.

    But I didn¡¯t expect that within a few days, things would suddenly change and something like this would happen.  The majestic son and grandson of the dragon actually let a young man who had just become the Duke of the country make a trick and cut his own expenses. How could the arrogant clan endure this?  Immediately, these people jointly filed a complaint against Tang Feng to the court.

    However, this is obviously impossible to hurt Tang Feng. Although there is an emperor, a queen mother, and a cabinet, in the current court, Tang Feng already controls everything. How can the real leader be because of these people?  What if you complain and are held accountable?  This joint bullet was sent to the General Affairs Department, and officials there took it to Tang Feng's case.

    In response to this, Tang Feng just smiled contemptuously and did not care too much about it. It was not because he was magnanimous, but because he knew that once things failed to work out, these clans would not just let it go. They would definitely have descendants.  With his hands, he might do something bigger, giving himself enough reason to deal with them.  However, not caring does not mean that there is no preparation. In the past few days, all Jin Yiwei's men have been dispatched and began to monitor every move of the clans. If there is any change, the information will be sent to Tang Feng as soon as possible.

    Seeing that the joint impeachment campaign that they had been waiting for suddenly disappeared, these clans with high ambitions but low intentions felt that something was wrong.  They obviously had not noticed the changes in power in the DPRK, and thought that their status was still so noble that no one dared to mess with it.  The reality severely awakened them, which made those clans with some brains begin to carefully examine Tang Feng, and soon they got many half-truths and half-false opinions from the people.

    It turns out that this Tang Feng actually has so much past, but these are not the focus. The focus is the role he played when the new emperor died. This is a very suspicious figure.  Now the clan members found Tang Feng's fault. Regardless of whether it was true or not, they immediately ordered their servants to spread this statement and described Tang Feng as the sinner who disturbed the world.  At the same time, these people personally led their servants straight to the Zongren Mansion, forming an extremely rare protest team at the yamen gate.

    Although the clan government is in charge of all the sons and grandsons of the world, as well as the emperor's relatives and relatives, its power is actually very small. There are only twenty or thirty soldiers available in the yamen, and now they are given over to hundreds of clan members.  They surrounded them, which made the officials inside suddenly feel uneasy.  Those men are not something that little people like me can handle. They can even kill me, but I don't dare to hurt a hair of these men. This makes the officials of the Zongren Mansion complain about the court. How could it happen?  Why come up with such an offending will?

    Fortunately, these royal disciples also knew the king's law, and this was the city of Beijing, so they didn't dare to be too presumptuous. They just surrounded the sect's mansion and threw rocks and bricks inside from time to time to vent their anger, but they didn't really make a fuss.  Something big is coming.  But this is already chaotic enough. The whole street where this sect's residence is located has no one left. Who dares to stay here? Isn't this looking for a fight?

    News is constantly being sent to the duty room where Tang Feng currently works. In order to facilitate the handling of political affairs, Tang Feng, like cabinet officials, has his own duty room outside the palace, and has been handling affairs here for the past few days.  After reading the secret report from Jinyi's secret agent, Tang Feng showed a disdainful sneer: "I thought they could use any methods, but they were just the methods used by students during the May Fourth Movement."?.  In terms of momentum, they simply cannot compare with the May Fourth Movement.  "

    Even though he was so disdainful, Tang Feng couldn't think of a way to deal with these people.  Although it is very inappropriate for them to do this, their identities are still there. If they are taken down by force, even if they can cover the sky with one hand, some people will inevitably be dissatisfied.  These people still have considerable influence in the local area. If you can't find a justifiable reason, it will be difficult to attack them.

    "But this is not a problem for Tang Feng. Since he can't attack them through legitimate means, then he should use some dirty tricks. There are a lot of dirty tricks for Tang Feng to choose from in the history of the country.  He looked at Bai Liangfeng who had sent the message and said, "Admiral Bai, are there any loyal and capable people in the Jinyi Guard who are good at martial arts?"

    "Yes, as long as the Duke orders it, there are many brothers in our Jinyiwei who are willing to share the worries of the Duke. I wonder what the Duke wants us to do?" Bai Liangfeng answered without any hesitation.  In fact, he had already guessed what Tang Feng meant, but it was difficult to point it out in front of Tang Feng.

    Tang Feng smiled with satisfaction, asked him to come closer to him, and then gave instructions in a low voice.  Bai Liangfeng nodded repeatedly, and finally asked: "My lord, do you need to inform the people from the Military and Horse Department of the Five Cities to take care of you?"

    Tang Feng nodded slightly: "That's fine. Those people don't take me seriously, so don't blame me for not showing mercy to them."

    The sky was gradually darkening. In front of the Yamen of the Zongren Mansion, the people in the clan were also a little tired. Their throats were hoarse from the constant shouting and scolding.  The followers of the clan were so tired that they might not even be able to raise their hands. There was nothing they could do about it. They had smashed a lot of things into the clan's mansion in the past day.  I really can't keep an eye on him.

    Seeing that it was getting late, everyone had no interest in yelling anymore. Several familiar royal relatives greeted each other and agreed to go to the Ministry of Etiquette tomorrow to make another fuss before leaving.  Obviously, they were very satisfied with the court's silence. They thought they were on the right track and were not afraid of anyone settling the scores.  Moreover, no one came to interfere with their behavior all day long, which further showed that the court was aggrieved, or that Tang Feng was already afraid of the rumors he would spread.  This made everyone despise the imperial court even more, and they only thought about how to force the imperial court to change its mind, and even get more benefits from there.

    At this moment, no one noticed that several people dressed similar to their servants suddenly walked in.  After a tiring day, these servants dispersed and sat on the ground very casually. In addition, these servants were not familiar with each other, so they sneaked in easily.

    Seeing that those people already had the intention of leaving, the few confused people each glanced at each other, and they quietly leaned against the wall of the sect's mansion.  This action was very inconspicuous to others. Perhaps these people were ordered by their master and planned to give others a taste of suffering before leaving.  The followers rubbed their sore shoulders and arms, feeling somewhat glad that their master did not have such a request. If he did it again, there would be nothing they could do.

    At this moment, those people suddenly waved their hands and ignited the object in their hands, and then threw it into the wall with force.  When everyone looked at the wall in surprise, those people suddenly turned around and ran out, leaving only a group of goose-like clan members and followers.

    Those fireballs made of unknown things were actually very powerful. They immediately ignited the debris inside the walls of the sect's mansion. The fire quickly rose up, and waves of shock soon came from inside.  Yelling, the door that had been closed suddenly opened, and dozens of officials from the Zongren Mansion escaped.

    At this time, the clan members were shocked to realize that something big had happened. After looking at each other, they wanted to leave.  Although the Zongren Mansion is not a big government office, it is an official government office after all. Now that it has been set on fire, this is no small matter.  Although these people's identities were all ordinary, they also knew that this was something they could not afford, so after they woke up, they wanted to leave and not let the evil happen to them.

    Just when they were about to leave, suddenly a large number of footsteps came from all directions, and thousands of soldiers rushed over with water dragons and weapons.  Under the command of the leading general, some soldiers holding water dragons went to put out the fire, while more people surrounded the clan members and their followers who had not yet left.

    "Youhow do you want to stay?" Someone stepped forward to negotiate.

    The general who came with his troops seemed to have a layer of frost on his face. In fact, he was also nervous. After all, these were not ordinary unruly people he was facing.  He remained silent, and those clan members felt a little scared.  Most of them were around the age of twenty, and they had not experienced any major disturbances. Although they had noble status, they were still a little frightened at this time.

      But those ordinary soldiers didn't have so many scruples. They had already received orders not to let anyone here escape. The sergeants didn't say much. They just showed their weapons and attacked the fierce-looking clan members and their subordinates.  The entourage looked at it thoroughly. When those people looked at the shining weapons, they immediately did not dare to say anything else.

    "Come here, take these suspects who dare to burn down the clan's mansion to me and escort them back to me. I'll make a decision after I report them to the superiors!" the general ordered in a cold voice. Seeing that the other party had surrendered, he became a little more courageous.

    Immediately, the sergeants stepped forward, tied the hands of the people behind their backs, and took them outside. The fire that had just started over there was also extinguished, but the black smoke did not dissipate for a while, and it still looked a bit scary.  .

    It wasn't until these people left that a few cold-looking people walked out of the darkness. After looking at their backs with a sneer, these people went straight to Beizhen Fusi. They had to report the situation to the top in time.  Report, I have made a lot of achievements this time, I believe you will be rewarded.

    ?????????????? The officials of the Zongren Mansion had a sad face, not knowing what to do
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