Chongzhen Wiretapping System

Chapter 209

As soon as Liu Chengye was pulled away by the soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion, another commoner from the capital rushed up and once again hit Fan Yongdou in the face with an old punch.Immediately, the already blooming face was even more unreadable. The bridge of the nose was probably broken, and the nose collapsed.

At any rate, Fan Yongdou, who was the leader of one of the smugglers, could no longer care about the severe pain on his face, and tried his best to shrink back, while shouting in fear: "Help me, save me..."

The other seven Shanxi merchants who were tied to him were frightened and wanted to stay away from Fan Yongdou when they saw Fan Yongdou's miserable condition.However, their hands were tied with the same rope and they couldn't stay away. They were all afraid and could only try their best to stay away from Fan Yongdou.

The second person who attacked Fan Yongdou was also pulled away by the soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion.

However, the third capital citizen has already rushed over, and there is a fourth, fifth...

In just a moment, a group of people from the capital had already rushed over. They didn't care that they had caused trouble. They only had one thought: to kill these traitors who were aiding the evildoers!

Soon, Fan Yongdou was besieged by the people of the capital, and he was beaten and kicked.Even the people behind couldn't squeeze through, so they rushed to other targets.

At this time, the scene was already very chaotic.Unless the soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion formed an army formation and massacred the people of the capital, it would be impossible to prevent the people of the capital from taking revenge.

And this kind of chaos started from this initial point and extended to other prisoners. In addition to the eight Shanxi merchants, there were also those civilian and military generals who were also arrested. Just like this, more and more prisoners were angrily arrested. The people surrounded and fought in groups.

The soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion quickly received military orders and stepped aside to give the people of the capital a place to vent. They retreated and guarded the prisoners and other food and supplies in the back.

It was not Hong Chengchou who led the army back this time. He stayed in Shanxi to take office formally, and was busy with the endgame arrangements after the family ransacking and extermination.

It was Lu Xiangsheng who led the army back. After paying the order in the capital, he went to Shandong to take up his post.

At this time, he was at the back of the team, looking at the chaos in front, without feeling particularly angry.

Lu Xiangsheng was a leader in battle and was used to seeing life and death.However, he also saw many people who were separated from each other, dead bodies and bones everywhere.And all of this, whether it was committed by the built-up captives or the exiled bandits, is said to be the "contribution" of these Shanxi merchants.

Lu Xiangsheng can understand the hatred of the people in the capital towards these Shanxi merchants.In fact, if it wasn't for his status, he would have personally killed the eight Shanxi merchants.He did not expect that the death of his father was caused by these Shanxi merchants.And their purpose is to not let him take the position of Xuanda Governor, just because it hinders them from getting captives, and because of the food policy, it hurts their interests.If the normal way doesn't work, let him Ding You resign.

As he was thinking about it, the general soldier Yang Guozhu beside him suddenly said worriedly: "My lord, if the imperial court is beaten to death like this, the imperial court will punish him!"

Obviously, what he meant was to suggest that Lu Xiangsheng send out follow-up troops to drive forward and drive away the common people in the capital.

However, Lu Xiangsheng shook his head and said: "The evidence of these Qin's crimes is convincing, and they were sent to the capital to be hacked to death. Now they are beaten to death by the people of the capital, and it is their retribution. The court questioned the crime, and this official also confessed!"

That was what he said, but he actually knew in his heart that the emperor would not punish him.

There was a commotion for a while, but when Lu Xiangsheng sent troops to clear the way, he found that the eight Shanxi merchants, as well as the generals and civil servants from various places, had been beaten by the people of the capital so much that not even their bodies were left, only pools of blood on the streets. There were bits of meat stuck to the ground.

Just like this, there were still people who picked up the minced meat on the ground and tried to take it away before the army came over.

The soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion escorted Liu Chengye to Lu Xiangsheng and reported that he was the one who made the first move.No matter what, there must be an explanation, so Liu Chengye did not leave.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Liu Chengye whose eyes were still a little red, and asked calmly, "Do you know the consequences of doing it?"

"Caomin knows, I heard from the notice in the morning." Liu Chengye raised his head and replied without hesitation, "But Caomin's father, mother and son died in the hands of Jianlu, and Caomin's family was ruined. The traitor was an accomplice, no matter what, the common people have taken their revenge!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a crying voice coming from the crowd nearby. Without even looking, he knew it was his wife.When he came back to his senses, he felt a little sad in his heart and lowered his head.However, just as he lowered his head, he raised his head again.

Lu Xiangsheng, who was riding on the horse, looked at him for a while, then looked at the crying lady in the crowd, and suddenly said lightly: "Go away, remember, don't do it again in the future!"

Hearing this, Liu Chengye thought he had heard wrongly. Looking into Lu Xiangsheng's eyes, he realized that he seemed to have heard correctly.The soldiers from the Yongwei camp who were holding him also let go.This shows that you heard it right.Suddenly, he was very surprised.

Seeing this, Yang Guozhu next to him wanted to persuade Lu Xiangsheng to give an explanation to the court, even if the emperor would not punish him, but no matter what, the emperor would give an explanation to the officials.This is the first offender, at least it can be regarded as an explanation.

However, he remembered what Lu Xiangsheng had said before, thought about it, and decided not to persuade him.Because he knew that since Lu Xiangsheng had said it, it meant that he had made a decision, and it would be impossible to persuade him.

But no matter what, he still spoke, just said to Liu Chengye: "Don't thank you sir?"

Liu Chengye came back to his senses, excited in his heart, and when he was about to thank him, Lu Xiangsheng clamped the horse's belly with his legs and drove the horse away.

However, Liu Chengye still knelt down, kowtowed to Lu Xiangsheng's back, and said loudly: "Sir, the common man is called Liu Chengye, and the common man makes a living at Liuji Blacksmith in the west of the city. The common man will not run away."

The implication is that if Lu Xiangsheng still wants to arrest him afterwards, he has provided his name and address, and he will take responsibility for what he has done.

To this, Lu Xiangsheng didn't seem to hear it, didn't respond at all, and kept walking away.

Liu Chengye retreated into the crowd, hugged his tearful daughter-in-law without saying a word, just hugged her tightly, ignoring the presence of so many people.

No one thought that after such a sudden incident, although the official name of this street remained the same, among the common people in the capital, it was renamed "Jiaojian Street".

Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City soon knew what was happening outside.He was also taken aback by this, and then immediately understood that the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants were not only reviled by later generations, but also hated by the people of this era.

Beating to death without a whole body, I wonder if the later traitors will pay less after they know about it?

Emperor Chongzhen did not pursue this matter.He also directly refuted the criticisms made by some ministers against Lu Xiangsheng and did not ask Lu Xiangsheng to explain anything.

Subsequently, the treason criminals who were arrested in Beijing were also executed, so as not to waste food in detention.

Among them, Chen Xinjia and Liu Meicai were sentenced to death with a thousand cuts, and Yang Sichang and those grain hoarding merchants, those with Shanxi merchant background, were sentenced to be cut in half and abandoned.Of course, the crime of treason will inevitably bring harm to relatives.

Among the people in the capital, most of them did not snatch the flesh and blood of the eight Jin merchants and other civil and military officials who were killed to pay homage to their relatives, and these people became targets again.It is said that these treasoners died again without a whole body, and also made a small fortune for the executioners near the water.

The resentment accumulated by the people of the capital over the years was vented in this big treason case.Many people who hadn't smiled all year round also smiled again.The prestige of Emperor Chongzhen has also reached a very high level among the people in the capital.

"Your majesty is holy. It is said that the emperor first deduced that there must be a traitor in Ming Dynasty. In the past, he brought it up in the court, but no one believed it at that time!"

"No, the emperor's talents have finally caught these damn things who have been sent to the eighteenth level of hell!"

"Haha, without these Shanxi merchants colluding with the Jianlu, how would the Jianlu know the situation in our Daming Pass across the Shanhaiguan Pass? As for the bitter cold land in Liaodong, those Tartars don't know how to farm. Let's see how they live? "

"You still have to be careful to prevent other spies from working for Jianlu!"

"..."

While talking about this, many people inevitably turned the topic to the countless gold and silver jewelry they had seen that day.

"Have you ever counted the wealth of the Shanxi merchants whose homes were confiscated, the cartloads of gold, silver and jewelry, I looked at it, and it is estimated that there are tens of millions of taels of silver, right?"

"No, even the horse pulling the cart, I can see it, it's very hard to pull!"

"Now that's good, the court is rich, so there shouldn't be any more taxes, right?"

"As soon as you mentioned it, I remembered it. It is said that Yang Sichang, that thief, even suggested that the emperor should add some training salary. What a fucking thing!"

"The emperor is wise, didn't he agree!"

"By the way, I saw that all the gold, silver and jewelry were shipped to the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank."

"I've seen it too, haven't you noticed? The Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty is now guarded by factory guards and Yongwei battalion soldiers on three levels, inside and outside!"

"What, you don't know what the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank does? It's the old money bank! I heard that all banknotes in the future must be the ones printed by the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank."

"Yes, the military salaries of the three battalions under the Royal Horse Supervisor are all paid with those silver notes. If anyone wants to exchange money back, they can go directly to the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank to exchange it."

"I've seen the bank note. It's really beautifully printed, and it's very convenient to use."

"Yeah, I'll change some banknotes later, otherwise, it'll be really inconvenient!"

"..."

In the past, all the gold, silver and jewelry obtained from ransacking houses were opened for people to see. This was actually the purpose.In front of everyone, countless gold, silver and jewelry were deposited in the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank.It was like a shot in the arm, giving the people of the capital confidence in the strength of the Ming Royal Bank.

By this time, Emperor Chongzhen also sent factory guards to secretly publicize the matter to let more people know about the Ming Royal Bank.After all, the decision was only made in the court before, and relatively speaking, the news coverage was still too narrow.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the matter related to the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty has indeed spread very smoothly and quickly.It was also because of this incident that the Daming Royal Bank's banknotes invisibly gave people a lot of confidence.

The salaries of officials in the capital, the army, and nobles were also sent to the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty after the confiscated gold, silver and jewelry were sent to the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty. They were no longer distributed in kind, and there was no discount. Instead, they were issued directly to the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty.

However, there is a problem.At this time, official salaries were all calculated in terms of grain.Therefore, those used for salary distribution cannot actually be called banknotes, but food stamps.What is printed on it is not the number of taels, but the number of stones.

That is to say, official systems such as officials, nobles, and the army stipulated that the amount of shi was issued with food stamps, and that with a two-month salary in silver, they were issued with silver stamps.At this time, there is no way to forcefully stipulate that one tael of silver can be exchanged for one stone of grain.

Because the food in the capital is still restricted by the imperial court, even if you have food stamps, you cannot exchange them for food immediately and can only give them in limited quantities.For the officials in the capital, there is not much change for the time being, they just got a voucher for receiving food.The exchange will not be allowed until the capital's food supply is sufficient.

Of course, if there are capital officials who insist on exchanging food stamps for silver, they can also go to Daming Royal Bank to exchange them. The official rule is that one stone of grain stamps is exchanged for one tael of silver.As for the way of buying and selling in private, Emperor Chongzhen had no control over it.But with this official buying and selling line that the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank can control, it is equivalent to having a control on the grain price in the Ming Dynasty.When there is a good harvest, the price of food will not be too low; when there is a bad harvest, the price of food will not be too high.

Emperor Chongzhen took advantage of this major case of Shanxi businessmen's rebellion and conspiracy to promote all these things in one fell swoop.On the court officials' side, few people dared to question it because of Emperor Chongzhen's large-scale arrests; on the other hand, the people of the capital had full confidence in the Ming Royal Bank because they had witnessed it with their own eyes.Not only were few people going to exchange their banknotes for silver, there were even many merchants who deposited their silver at the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank to exchange for some banknotes.

Many merchants are even discussing that it will be more convenient if the face value of the imperial court bank note is lower and can replace the most commonly used copper coins.There is no need to worry about the fineness of copper coins and cause problems.

It can be said that the bank note promotion of Daming Royal Bank went much smoother than expected.Seeing that the timing was right, Emperor Chongzhen announced the establishment of branches of the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty in the provincial capitals of the two capitals and the thirteen provinces, allowing inter-regional exchange.In other words, you can deposit silver in the capital, get a deposit certificate, and withdraw the silver in other provinces.Of course, if there is enough trust, you can also get a large amount of banknotes corresponding to the amount.For this kind of thing, only the Daming Royal Bank has this strength, including the original bank opened by Shanxi merchants, which also does not have this strength.With the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty opening branches in various places, it is conceivable that it will greatly facilitate doing business in different places.

After finishing these things, Emperor Chongzhen announced another important news, which once again aroused the attention of all Ming people.

(End of this chapter)