Domineering Daming

This is the report from the Ministry of Industry, saying that the new warship is progressing rapidly, it will be launched in October, firearms will be installed and training will be carried out on October [-], and it can be handed over to the Southern Navy before the end of the year.

Zhu Xu nodded slightly. The South China Sea is also a heart problem for him. Without powerful warships, it is difficult to compete against the increasingly powerful Dutch. Without the support of sea trade, the Ming Dynasty can only be a big offshore country. The age of sailing will be completely missed.

"Your Majesty." Feng Zhu took ginger soup and quietly brought it to Zhu Xu.

Zhu Xu looked up, smiled, and said, "Well, if you have a heart, this ginger soup comes at just the right time. You should also go to rest, just leave two people to listen to it."

Feng Zhu bowed slightly when he heard this, stepped back quietly, did not dare to leave, and stood waiting outside the side door.

Zhu Xu flipped through a few more notebooks, feeling dizzy and unable to open his eyes.He held on for a while, looked up at the pale sky outside, stood up and said to the attendant not far away: "I'll go in and sleep for a while, wake me up in two hours."

The inner eunuch quickly responded, "Yes."

Zhu Xu went out the side door, entered his bedroom, took off his clothes, and fell asleep.

Although it was raining heavily, fortunately, manpower and material resources were easy to operate at this time. Sun Chengzong temporarily commanded the six ministries, mobilized the army, and used more than [-] manpower. At the same time, he ordered all the prefectures along the river to dredge the river and drain water.

The flood near the capital was temporarily brought under control. Although it did not ease much, it finally did not continue to expand.

Outside the capital, Yunwu Mountain, a Taoist temple.

A group of wealthy people gathered here with their families and nearly a hundred people. While sheltering from the rain, they scoured each other for news.

"Shopkeeper Liu, I heard that more than 2000 catties of your tea leaves have been soaked in water?" A middle-aged man with a goatee looked at a fat man and said.

The fat man couldn't cry anymore, and said: "Not only that, the imperial court's new policy makes it easier to do business, and I also stockpiled 3000 taels of new silk cloth, which was also washed away by the flood!"

A tall and thin old man shook his head and sighed softly: "The treasurer Liu is fine. I worked hard to get a 'permission to practice medicine' from the Liaodong Governor's Yamen. I just bought a batch of precious wild ginseng, and now I have thrown them all into the water."

The eyes of the middle-aged man with a goatee who spoke at first twitched. The old man was afraid that the loss would cost tens of thousands of taels, and he felt sorry for him. Fortunately, he was doing "glass reservations", similar to a contractor, and there was no backlog, otherwise he would have suffered a big loss. .

Shopkeeper Fatty Liu glanced at the crowd of people around him, as well as the group who had just been sent up by the officers and soldiers, and said with some emotion in his eyes: "The imperial court is really different. If it was in the past, I am afraid that we will be left to fend for ourselves. gone."

The old man was also deeply touched, and said: "The biggest change is in the north. The bustling and bustling almost catches up with the south of the Yangtze River. The most important thing is that now not everything is under the control of the prefect and magistrate. Much more convenient."

The "convenience" he said refers to whether he relies on the yamen for everything, and goes out of his way to give gifts and curry favor. The various newly established yamen have strict systems posted outside the door. If you encounter bribes or make things difficult, you can go to Yamen informed that you can also go to the Sansi Yamen to complain, and you can even go to Dongchang to report anonymously. The gradual clarity of the bureaucracy is a good thing for the world, especially these traders.

It's just that this also cut off the benefits of countless people, the invisible privileges were restricted and disappeared, and the dissatisfied crowd continued to expand.This group of people is also the largest group in Ming Dynasty: the official group.

It's just that these are not visible to ordinary traders, and even if they see them, they don't care. What they care about is whether it is beneficial to the merchants.

The middle-aged man with a goatee also nodded. Although there was almost no business tax in the past, there were quite a few who could be handed over in a disguised form. Now that there is a business tax, he earns more.

Although the three of them suffered losses, none of them was discouraged. This was a natural disaster, and manpower was irresistible. As long as these few days passed, they still had the capital to start all over again.

The Taoist temple was crowded with people, and it was almost impossible to move around. Fortunately, the Shuntian government officials brought food and drink from time to time, so they didn't go hungry.

Not far from the foot of the mountain, a group of masked people gathered quietly, staring at Yunwu Mountain with cold eyes.

The masked person was a tall middle-aged man, and a person beside him said in a low voice: "Brother Zhang, I have already checked. There are many rich people living on this mountain, and all their wealth is here. There are not many officials, really. If you want to succeed, let alone tens of thousands of taels of silver!"

The middle-aged man listened, turned his head to look at the young man on the left, and said, "Bingzhong, what do you think?"

Zhang Bingzhong spent a lot of time in the Royal Military Academy and learned a lot of military art. He heard the words: "Father, leave a few people from the foot of the mountain to the mountain. If there is any movement, we will use the sound of wolves as a sign. Let's go up the mountain and kill him. , and then transported all the things down the mountain and hid them, and then we mixed up with the victims of the disaster, left the capital, and came back to get them after this matter passed! At this time, the court is in chaos, and no one can take care of it. This money is enough for us to be prosperous for a lifetime Wealthy!"

Fortunately, Zhang Bingzhong's father said that everyone else looked at each other in blank dismay. They just wanted to grab money, and they didn't want to kill people unless they had to. Zhang Bingzhong actually wanted to kill them all!

Zhang Bingzhong's father sensed the uneasiness of his brothers, and quickly said in a deep voice: "Stop talking nonsense! We are only seeking money, we have no choice but to not kill people!"

Now this group of people became quiet and echoed.

Zhang Bingzhong listened, and anger rose in his heart. What they did was decapitation. Robbery is decapitation, murder is decapitation, and killing can erase traces. Why can't they kill?

But he also knows that he is a soft-spoken person, so he can only bite the bullet and admit it.

Seeing a group of officials delivering meals from Shuntian Mansion leave, Zhang Bingzhong's father growled and said, "Let's go!"

A group of more than 30 men in black sneaked up the mountain.The sky was just white, and there were few people, so they went straight to the Taoist temple.

There are yamen servants who come and go here from time to time. When they saw the man in black, they were shocked, pulled out their swords, and shouted at the same time: "Who is it, come quickly, there are culprits!"

His loud roar immediately alarmed the entire Taoist temple.

When Zhang Bingzhong saw it, his eyes turned red immediately, and he rushed forward, stabbing the official servant to death three or two times, and shouted at the same time: "Kill the official servant first!"

When his father saw it, he swung his knife and shouted, "Come on!"

At this time, no one would be timid and rushed in. There were only a few people on the official post, and they were all killed on the ground in a short time.

Zhang Bingzhong raised his bloody sword and said angrily, "We only want money, and whoever dares to mess with it, don't blame us for being ruthless!"

The people here are either from wealthy families or women's family members, all huddled together in fear, and few dared to resist.

When Zhang Bingzhong's father saw it, he immediately waved and said, "Quick, do it!"

Chapter 448 Goddess Catch

More than 30 people masked and dressed in black rushed over and forced these people to hand over money.

The fat, middle-aged man, the old man handed over the last bit of capital with trembling hands, regretting deeply in his heart, if he had deposited the money in the firm, where would he be today!

Not long after, a man in black ran over and said excitedly in front of Zhang Bingzhong's father, "Brother, there are 3 taels in just one bank note!"

Big boxes were carried out one by one, as well as cash, gold, silver and jewelry, and the total was approaching 10 taels!

This is a huge sum of money that they have never seen before. They have never seen so much in their lifetime for digging rivers, repairing embankments, and building roads!

Everyone was extremely excited, persecuting the people in the Taoist temple more and more fiercely, not even letting go of anything worth a little money.

In less than half an hour, Zhang Bingzhong counted the time and said in front of his father: "Father, the time is almost up, the next wave of officers and soldiers is coming."

There were five big boxes. Zhang Bingzhong's father was satisfied when he saw it, and said, "Lock them all in the house, and we will go down the mountain! Tell them, we will watch from the bottom of the mountain, and whoever goes down the mountain will die!"

The group of people in black were overjoyed, controlled the people in the Taoist temple well, carried the boxes and went straight down the mountain.

As soon as they arrived at the foot of the mountain, one of the men in black asked, "Brother, where is the box hidden?"

Zhang Bingzhong's father heard the words and turned to look at Zhang Bingzhong.

Zhang Bingzhong said: "Just find a place to bury it and make a good mark. Now that there is heavy rain everywhere, all traces will be hidden, and those police officers will definitely not find it."

Zhang Bingzhong's father nodded and said, "Okay, let's go!"

This group of people avoided people, walked eastward for five miles, found a few trees as signs, dug a big pit in the middle, and buried all the big boxes in it. Each person only carried a dozen taels of silver. After agreeing on a good time, he left in a hurry.

Now the capital is under martial law, and officers and soldiers are walking around. This group of people took off their black clothes and mixed with the victims, and disappeared without a trace.

The matter of Yunwu Mountain soon spread to the Yamen of Shuntian Prefecture.