Chapter 664: Opening an Opium Den, Kill Without Mercy!

The Yuejiang Tower, the Ming Dynasty's second-largest unfinished project. Although Zhu Yuanzhang had a great desire to build it, he was unwilling to spend the money. He initially used death-row prisoners to lay the foundation, but after calculating the costs, due to a shortage of timber, Zhu Yuanzhang personally issued an imperial decree to halt construction.

And now, there is still a shortage of timber, but the meaning behind the words of Li Le, the Provincial Governor of Yingtian, is to forgo timber and use concrete pouring instead, painting the exterior with a layer of lacquer to make it look like wood.

The Ming Dynasty's lime factories need some orders to maintain their scale. Likewise, the Southern Yamen also needs a proper bell and drum tower to keep time. For various reasons, Li Le submitted a memorial requesting approval.

Like emperor, like subject; Li Le is also a great miser. He could have chosen to build it elsewhere, but the Yuejiang Tower already has a foundation—it would be a waste not to use it. Moreover, Lulong Mountain, where the Yuejiang Tower is located, is closer to the Ming Longjiang Shipyard, the lime factories, the coking and steel transport coal bureau, and the Weaving Bureau. Thus, Li Le chose this location.

"Counting every penny, it won't exceed 230,000 silver; it can also be considered fulfilling a long-cherished wish of the founding Emperor Taizu," Feng Bao said in a low voice. "Back then, because of the need to repair the Yingtian city walls and the Fengyang Central Capital palace, construction had to be stopped."

Zhu Yuanzhang fought his whole life, winning and losing. What later generations talk about most is the naval battle at Lake Poyang, where Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the strong with the weak, borrowed the east wind, ignited the small ships, and defeated Chen Youliang's large ships that were chained across the river.

In fact, what Zhu Yuanzhang himself was most proud of was the Battle of Longwan—the ambush at the foot of Lulong Mountain—which was a matter of life and death.

In the 20th year of the Zhizheng era of the Yuan Dynasty, Chen Youliang, who had already killed Xu Shouhui and declared himself emperor with the state name 'Han', led a naval force of 100,000 straight toward Yingtian, preparing to achieve his goal in one battle and thoroughly annihilate Zhu Yuanzhang.

At this critical moment, inside Yingtian city, some were panicked and advocated retreating to defend Zhongshan, while others advocated surrender. Because on paper, Chen Youliang's troops were strong and his horses sturdy, while Zhu Yuanzhang was attacked from the front and back, as Chen Youliang had united with Zhang Shicheng to attack Zhu Yuanzhang together.

Unable to win, coupled with being attacked from the front and back, people's hearts were filled with panic.

At this juncture of life and death, Zhu Yuanzhang personally took command, ordering Chang Yuchun to lead 30,000 troops to ambush at Shihuishan, ordering Xu Da to deploy troops at the South Gate, ordering Zhao Desheng to garrison Hukou City, ordering Yang Jing to go to Dasheng Port, and personally leading troops to ambush at Lulong Mountain, using red and yellow flags as signals to lure the enemy deep.

Chen Youliang was greedy for merit and advanced rashly, falling right into Zhu Yuanzhang's trap. Zhu Yuanzhang won this life-and-death Battle of Longwan.

The Battle of Lake Poyang was indeed the decisive battle, but the scene was absolutely not as critical as the Battle of Longwan. Even if he had lost at Lake Poyang, Zhu Yuanzhang could have regrouped and continued to maneuver with Chen Youliang. But in this Battle of Longwan, if he had lost, given Chen Youliang's character, he would certainly have killed Zhu Yuanzhang, and there would have been no future.

This is also the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang kept thinking about building the Yuejiang Tower; that was the most dangerous moment.

But due to various reasons, it was never completed, leaving only a foundation, witnessing the rise and fall, the sorrow and glory of this land of the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, what Provincial Governor Li said is not without reason. Planning for the sake of settling the people and strengthening the capital to suppress the far and near is necessary. The state treasury is heavily in deficit, and at that time, the wealthy and powerful in Jiangnan all had a heart of looking down on the imperial court. Now, times have changed; it is time to build the Yuejiang Tower well, to prevent these Jiangnan gentry from forgetting that this world is still the Ming Dynasty's world." Feng Bao still believed it needed to be built.

There is a practical need for a bell and drum tower to report the time, and it fulfills the founding Emperor Taizu's long-cherished wish. Most importantly, it settles people's hearts.

Zhang Jin has been the Regional Military Commissioner serving as an internal official in Yingtian Prefecture for twelve years and knows the Southern Yamen extremely well. Many people climb Lulong Mountain every year to mock Zhu Yuanzhang's grandiosity back then; such poetry gatherings happen every year.

Once a person dies, they turn to dust. Mocking you in the place where you were most proud is the perverse hobby of these base scholars.

The Ming Emperor does not like these flashy spectacles.

The Ming Dynasty's first unfinished project is not the Yuejiang Tower, but another one. During the Yongle era, Zhu Di, for the sake of the world's number one stele he created for Zhu Yuanzhang—the Xiao Ling stele material weighing over 30,000 tons—worked on it halfway before discovering it was simply too large and too heavy to transport, so he gave up.

"Your Majesty, there is a matter that perhaps requires your perusal." Provincial Military Commander Zhao Tishuai walked in hurriedly and handed His Majesty a court gazette.

Every time he went on a southern tour, Zhu Yijun would release all his Night Scouts to visit and investigate the sentiments of the people. This time, Zhao Mengyou discovered something that surprised him: opium dens.

That is, opium houses, dens specifically providing venues, opium, and tools for smoking opium.

This is Yizhou, not along the coast, yet there are opium dens in Yizhou. The proliferation of this opium can already be imagined.

"Go and take a look." Zhu Yijun immediately stood up, changed into casual clothes, and followed the Night Scouts to the place where the opium den was located.

Yizhou has one axis, four sections, and ten wards; it is considered a medium-sized city in the hinterland, with a perimeter of no more than 30 li and a population of no more than 700,000. Looking at the whole world, Yizhou is a top-tier super-large city. Even the capital of Philip II, Madrid, is only half the size of Yizhou. But in the Ming Dynasty, Yizhou is just an ordinary prefecture city.

Zhu Yijun rushed to Huimin Ward. He did not enter the opium den, but rather a three-story restaurant one street away. This restaurant had been completely cleaned out; there would be no danger for the Emperor to enter. The Night Scouts even cleaned up the hygiene to prevent His Majesty from seeing anything unsightly. After lighting sandalwood incense, His Majesty could enter.

"Over there." Zhao Mengyou pointed in the direction of the opium den.

The Ming Emperor climbed high to look into the distance, took out a telescope, and looked at the place Zhao Mengyou pointed to. From here, one could see the full view of the opium den.

The opium den looked like an ordinary civilian house, with a main room and left and right side rooms. But climbing high to look into the distance, one could see the problem within. This area of civilian houses was cleverly connected through various secret doors. It was still daytime, but people inside were coming and going in an endless stream. One could even see scantily clad women walking around in twos and threes, talking and laughing.

From some open doors and windows, one could clearly see rows of large beds, each with a bed table, and on the bed table, there was a tray containing candle lamps, opium pipes, tweezers, as well as teapots and teacups, and so on. On the beds lay people, leaning on pillows, puffing clouds and spitting mist.

There were also some women sitting on top of these men, moving up and down. This scene was incomparably decadent.

And everyone entering and exiting this place was dressed in brocade and silk, looking rich or noble at a glance. Even those wearing hemp clothes were servants serving these rich people. Moreover, in many places, there were sentry posts. These people on guard were squatting in small compartments on the second floor or similar places, with a bell placed beside them.

"There is a nauseating, sweet, and greasy smell." Zhu Yijun put down the telescope. Even from a distance, he could still smell the sweet and greasy scent of opium being ignited. He knew this smell because he had truly smelled it before.

"How was it discovered?" Zhu Yijun asked with some curiosity. Without climbing high and without a telescope, it was hard to see the situation inside. This place was extremely secretive, and there were many entrances, and the personnel were not dense. The Night Scouts have great ability in investigating cases, but they shouldn't be that great.

"The common people passing by here could always smell a cloying smell, and many rich and noble families kept entering. The common people just took it as a gambling den and told it to the Night Scouts as an interesting story. The Night Scouts paid attention to this matter and discovered that something was wrong here." Zhao Mengyou told the Emperor how he found out.

Zhu Yijun looked at those gentry dressed in gorgeous clothes entering and exiting the opium den and said with quite a bit of emotion: "From the results of the land survey, 4% of the Ming Dynasty's people control 40% of the land, and 10% of the people control 80% of the land. That is to say, counting everyone in the gentry families, there are no more than a million people, yet they control over 6.5 million qing of land in the Ming Dynasty."

"The lives of these gentry seem to be fixed. Their biggest expenditure is donating for students, donating a scholar's title for every child in their family. Passing the provincial or metropolitan examinations naturally brings glory to the family; if they don't pass, they don't pass. The second expenditure is spending money to settle various lawsuits at the yamen, bribing local officials, and occasionally needing to satisfy the apportionments of local officials."

"Besides these three items, it is marrying concubines, keeping mistresses, and then living a noisy life until the end. When the time comes, find a physician, find some large ginseng or fleeceflower root to prolong their life. Whether it's useful or not, nobody knows, but everyone does it, so they have to do it too."

Zhao Mengyou thought for a moment, then gave up thinking and shook his head, saying: "Your Majesty, your servant is dull."

His Majesty was right. Over these years, Zhao Mengyou had seen many gentry. These gentry were indeed exactly as His Majesty said. Their lives were basically fixed. Not many could pass the provincial examinations; most were donating titles, settling lawsuits, marrying concubines, and getting ginseng, and then their lives reached the end. It was mostly like this.

Zhu Yijun sighed and said: "Eating, drinking, and relieving oneself actually doesn't cost much money, and wearing clothes to shield from the wind doesn't cost much money. Even buying a maid to warm the feet doesn't cost much money. They can't even go to the brothels a few times in their lives because it's not rare. This opium can be said to be a flash of light in a boring life."

"They hold the vast majority of the Ming Dynasty's wealth in their hands but don't take it out for exchange. In this way, the things produced by the poor people, the hard laborers, and the family workshops of men farming and women weaving, simply no one wants."

"So, this is where the Ming Dynasty's ills lie."

When Zhang Juzheng was giving lectures to His Majesty the Emperor, he had mentioned the threshold of human pleasure.

The threshold of pleasure, in a long-term life of luxury where one is fed and clothed by others, will pile higher and higher, eventually entering a state of transcendence, feeling that one can defeat death head-on. That kind of self-cognition, self-transcendence, is commonly known as courting death, because nothing can stimulate their nerves anymore.

Transcendence, being different from the ordinary, is a kind of self-satisfaction of standing on one's own two feet.

Other things can no longer stimulate their nerves, but opium can.

"Raid and confiscate it." Zhu Yijun put away the telescope and said calmly: "Follow this line and keep digging. Find everyone who dares to open an opium den. If they dare to resist, kill without mercy! After investigating and supplementing clearly, send them to the capital for beheading."

"Anti-drug, this is a war we must win. If we can't win, no matter how much silver is piled up in my inner treasury, it is meaningless."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Zhao Tishuai had long been prepared; he had already made all the arrangements and was just waiting for His Majesty's order.

The Night Scouts began to take action. Squads of Night Scouts surrounded the entire Huimin Ward so tightly that not even water could trickle through. Their bright iron armor and hook-sickle spears reflected the midday sun, making everyone feel terrified. And at all entrances, sub-mother cannons were pushed out, and tiger-crouching cannons were placed on the ground by the Night Scouts.

The sentries of the opium den were shocked when they saw the Night Scouts and struck the bronze bell in their hands with force, warning everyone that the yamen people had come.

What surprised Zhu Yijun was that the Night Scouts actually dug four pits in the encirclement, each containing a vat. This was to listen to whether anyone was traveling underground, whether this opium den had tunnels, secret passages, and the like.

Whistling arrows began to rise into the sky with sharp hissing sounds.

"Kill!" The Night Scouts buckled their helmets, their voices somewhat muffled. Hook-sickle spears moved forward, and they began to charge the entrances. If there was resistance, the sub-mother cannons and tiger-crouching cannons would be triggered, but it didn't happen.

Zhu Yijun saw the use of a door-breaking device for the first time. After a burst of gunpowder smoke, the doors at several entrances collapsed in response, and this scene happened simultaneously.

The Night Scouts rushed in. There was crying everywhere, and even firelight, but it was quickly extinguished. The poisonous insects on the beds were dragged out like dead dogs and concentrated in the middle of the courtyard, while those scantily clad prostitutes were all holding their heads, squatting on the ground, covering their bodies.

The commotion only lasted for a quarter of an hour. Everyone was captured, including those who wanted to follow secret passages or hide in dark rooms. Before taking action, Zhao Mengyou had already sent Night Scouts to figure out all the layouts of the opium den, just to prevent any fish from slipping through the net.

A total of seven opium dens connected by three-entry civilian houses were thus wiped out in one nest by the Night Scouts.

"Since the gunpowder has been withdrawn, just let it off. Watch the fun; otherwise, I have to go through the accounts when I go back, which is troublesome." Zhu Yijun gave the final precautions. Even for Night Scouts, the procedure for withdrawing gunpowder is extremely cumbersome, requiring the Emperor's vermilion approval, specifically writing out the purpose. It's better to just let it off cleanly.

"Your servant obeys the decree." Zhao Mengyou chose to agree with His Majesty's statement; it was indeed troublesome.

Besides, the Night Scouts were dispatched; if they didn't make a big scene, who would know the Night Scouts had been dispatched?! If no one knew, they couldn't achieve the effect of deterrence.

Amidst the roar of cannons, Zhu Yijun's carriage left Huimin Ward.

Qi Jiguang arrived soon. Anti-drug was defined as an anti-drug war from the very beginning, so Qi Jiguang, as the Grand General, naturally had to ask for details. Soon, the accompanying Capital Battalion helped the Night Scouts handle the case, because the scale of the case was relatively large, requiring the Capital Battalion soldiers to take action.

On the ground of Yanzhou Prefecture, they once again felt the Emperor's heavenly might in a physical sense, because there were neat teams of soldiers walking on the street. After the Night Scouts investigated and supplemented clearly, these soldiers immediately launched arrests.

After the Provincial Governor of Shandong, Wang Yie, learned of this, he immediately came to the imperial presence to plead guilty.

"Exempt the courtesy. You don't have clairvoyance or clairaudience. Could it be that because you, Wang Yie, are the Provincial Governor, there are no problems at all on the ground of Shandong? I am in the capital, and aren't there many rebels in the capital? Alright, stop kneeling. It is not terrible for any problem to appear; what is terrible is not daring to face these problems." Zhu Yijun did not overly blame Wang Yie.

In fact, even the common people living in Huimin Ward only thought it was a gambling den. The Night Scouts also investigated repeatedly before discovering the truth.

Wang Yie didn't notice because the problem wasn't too big, and the scale hadn't reached the point of alarming him. If it had truly become a disaster, Wang Yie hadn't even heard of it. If it had to reach the point of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions mutiny, Zhu Yijun wouldn't need to issue a decree to investigate and handle it; Wang Yie himself would have found a tree to hang himself on.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great grace." Wang Yie stood up. It was only spring, but he was already sweating profusely. He heard that something had happened and kept saying he was finished. He was really nervous.

"The source of the opium is still the sea market privately set up by the Hejian Zhang clan in Tianjin. In fact, every time I arrive at a place, these demons and monsters will choose to hibernate, waiting for me to leave before coming out to make waves." Zhu Yijun signaled Wang Yie to sit down before explaining the details of the case.

The opium in Shandong did not come from the Mizhou Shipping Commissioner. Wang Yie watched very closely. Opium did not flow in from the Mizhou Shipping Commissioner. Coupled with the completion of the coastal defense system, it ensured that opium would not flow into Shandong from the sea surface of Shandong.

But he guarded against it day and night, yet he missed this inflow on land, especially the route flowing from north to south, from Tianjin to the south, which also caught Wang Yie somewhat off guard.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "It's not that I'm being pretentious. I am the Emperor, after all. And I am also visiting everywhere with Night Scouts. These are all things on the surface. I arrived in Mizhou along the post road. Walking along the way, wherever I went, if there were opium dens in the city, they would avoid my edge, close their doors and stop business, for fear of being discovered by me."

"As a result, when they reached this ground of Yizhou, they actually dared to open for business so openly while I hadn't left yet!"

"I have to say, the rebels have guts. I admire them!"

The Northern Suppressing Commissioner's office was bright and clean, and the brick joints were all clean, because His Majesty the Emperor was going there. Such things as inspection preparation, no matter how detailed, are not considered excessive. Obviously, Yizhou also made preparations for welcoming the Emperor, even the tiles on the roof eaves were washed, and the streets were even cleaner. But this opium den actually dared to climb on the nose and face to operate before the Emperor had left. It truly had the courage of heaven.

"People who smoke opium cannot be reasoned with by ordinary logic." Wang Yie wiped the sweat on his forehead and said hurriedly.

The pork tenderloin in Shandong is one qian and six fen of silver per jin, while the capital is two qian of silver per jin. Chicken, duck, fish, beef, mutton, cotton cloth, red dates, paper umbrellas, etc., are all much cheaper than in the capital.

Wang Yie said hurriedly: "The iron shovels in the capital are cheap; you can buy five for two qian of silver. But in Shandong, one costs one qian of silver."

"My meaning is, you are doing well, just keep doing it. How could it be so clean?" Zhu Yijun saw that Wang Yie didn't understand at all and chose to speak clearly.

Zhu Yijun's meaning was that the prices in Shandong are cheap, which shows that under Wang Yie's governance, the overall situation in Shandong is quite good, not particularly chaotic. For some problems he didn't notice, the Emperor would not overly hold him accountable.

Wang Yie is not a god, omnipotent.

But Wang Yie didn't hear the subtext in the Emperor's words at all. He just felt that he had been promoted only after His Majesty overcame all opposition, and now he was personally questioned by His Majesty about problems, which made Wang Yie quite panicked.

"Your servant thanks Your Majesty for your great grace." Wang Yie realized this and thanked him hurriedly.

In the Shandong opium den case, Night Scout Zhao Mengyou followed this line and conducted a comprehensive investigation, wiping out the entire drug network in Shandong. In total, more than 980 people were arrested, and more than 3,000 poisonous insects were exiled to Java. It can be called a major case without any discount.

When Zhu Yijun left Yizhou, the Night Scouts were still active on the ground of Shandong. They would not stop until the entire drug network was pulled out by the roots.

The Provincial Governor of Shandong, Wang Yie, personally sat in command, dispatching the Inspection Division, yamen runners, and constables to cooperate with the action. Later, the yamen runners and constables were forbidden by Wang Yie from participating in this matter, and it was specifically handled by the Night Scouts and the Inspection Division soldiers, because these yamen runners and constables actually tipped off the news, which made Wang Yie furious. He took the opportunity to sort out the officialdom on the ground of Shandong.

Without the protection of officials, how could these insects be so rampant?

Soon, the Yizhou Magistrate Lei Shizhen was thrown into prison. Starting from the opium den, the earthquake in Shandong's officialdom also began. This time, Wang Yie changed his face as a good person, his methods were spicy and vicious, and he even used torture on several officials who were scholars, investigating the people who protected them behind the scenes.

Poisonous insects, opium den owners, wandering bandits, gentry, officials, and other criminals were sent to the capital in batches. The Northern Suppressing Commissioner's prison was not enough, and the Ministry of Justice's prison was also about to be filled.

"Can't finish swimming, really can't finish swimming!" Zhu Yijun looked at the large pile of case files, somewhat despairingly. More street-parading carts needed to be made to hang all these insects up!

"His Majesty sent a letter." Li Yougong presented the Emperor's letter to His Highness the Prince of Lu.

"Hmm?" Zhu Yijun held the letter, his eyes widened, and he made a sound of doubt with his nasal cavity in great shock. There was only a ' ' on a piece of paper.

"What does the Imperial Brother mean!" Zhu Yijun said fiercely.

"Did Your Highness hold it upside down?" Li Yougong looked at Zhu Yijun, who was already furious, and said tentatively.

"Your Highness, it's time to process the memorials." Li Yougong reminded His Highness the Prince of Lu. The memorials were seriously backlogged. If His Highness the Prince of Lu didn't read the memorials, they would pile up like a mountain.

Zhu Yijun lay back on the grandmaster chair and waved his hands repeatedly, saying: "Tomorrow, read it tomorrow. Scolding people is also tiring."

"It has been pushed for four days. All ministries and yamen are urging. The Ceremonial Secretariat has been asked many times." Li Yougong did not retreat a step and still forced the Prince of Lu to read the memorials. The Ming officials, who were used to memorials not staying overnight, had not had this sense of relaxation where memorials were not approved for a long time.

The officials of the Six Ministries did not want this kind of relaxation at all, because many things involved performance evaluation. No one evaluated him, Zhu Yijun, but Zhang Juzheng would evaluate the officials. This involved the major matter of promotion, so it could not be sloppy. But the Prince of Lu, this living ancestor, had accumulated four days of memorials and hadn't read them!

"Sigh." Zhu Yijun knew he couldn't hide, so he sat up straight reluctantly, lazily picked up a memorial, and began to approve them one by one, holding the seal and stamping it non-stop.

"I don't know how the Imperial Brother persisted. I've only been reading for a month, and I'm already annoyed. The Imperial Brother has been reading for twelve years and hasn't gotten tired of it. It's really... Hey, this one is interesting." Zhu Yijun suddenly noticed a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue.

The major Shipping Commissioners of the Ministry of Revenue pulled out a list, organizing the annual export goods by category. Twelve years after opening the sea, various goods have had different growth situations, but the situations are different.

For example, in the second year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty exported a total of 450 boxes of tea, with a total value of about silver, and last year, the Ming Dynasty's tea export settlement reached boxes, with a total value of silver, accounting for 10% of the Ming Dynasty's export goods, and the proportion is increasing rapidly. Another item is coffee beans from Yunnan, which appeared on the list for the first time in the tenth year of Wanli and has reached 700 boxes, with a total value of about 30,000 silver.

"Oh my, is this tea also becoming a bulk commodity?" Zhu Yijun looked at the goods on the list. Among bulk commodities, silk and cotton cloth firmly occupy the first place, ironware the second, and tea firmly occupies the third.

"Li Yougong, are these barbarians so willing to watch silver flow into the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Yijun frowned and said: "Look at this difference between exports and imports. Last year, including the global trade fleet led by Liu Ji, a total of 11.89 million silver worth of goods were exported, and imports were less than 3 million silver. This is still the result of counting the transport of the Governor's offices like Lu Song back to the hinterland as imports."

If the Governor's offices like Lu Song were all removed, the 3 million silver imports would directly drop to less than 1 million.

Li Yougong also looked for a long time before saying with certainty: "Indeed, looking at it this way, the barbarians doing business with us have indeed never seen their money return. If I were a barbarian, I wouldn't be reconciled either."

"A huge trade deficit will definitely make these barbarians take risks, because they are really far away, and the Ming Dynasty cannot reach them."

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xs007zhuikereadw23zw ===== CHAPTER 665 =====