Chapter 675: Down to the Capital Battalion, Preparing to Extort Pay

Military families without children deliberately adopting three children to sponge off the Great Ming court's monthly grain subsidy for wives—things like eating empty pay will definitely happen, but Zhu Yijun doesn't care. He just wants to increase the money. It is to expand the basic base, to prevent the trend of "promoting literature and suppressing martial arts." There are still too many Jinshi from the gentry background in the court, so that the political power is completely held in the hands of these people.

To correct a wrong, one must go to the extreme. If there is a problem, solve it. But one cannot refuse to set off just because one is afraid of problems. This is Zhu Yijun's attitude.

Dai Fengxiang and Shu Hua, as well as the officials kneeling in the Great Punishment Hall, actually cannot understand—cannot understand why Zhang Juzheng, Hence Hai Rui, and these people, including His Majesty the Emperor, are tossing about so much.

Everyone is a meat-eater, everyone is the ruling class. To reach the point of public trial, to make things so difficult for each other—is it really necessary? Everyone sits together, oppressing the poor people and laborers together for so many years, haven't they all been living like this?

Why on earth? Borrowing a sentence from Liu Bei: "Nothing more than a thought to save the common people."

A goal that can never be realized and always needs to be pursued—this is the most practical thought of Zhang Juzheng, Hence Hai Rui, and these loyal supporters of the Great Ming's resurgence.

After Yuan Hongyu announced the verdict, people's emotions were finally vented, and then they began to disperse slowly.

Zhu Yijun saw Xu Bangrui's Duke Wei Mansion. Looking from the Xianmen, the Duke Wei Mansion was the most magnificent manor in the whole city, none other. The Duke Wei was the second largest powerful and wealthy family in the Great Ming; the first was the Emperor.

The entire Duke Wei Mansion covers over 250 mu, and the garden alone covers over 155 mu.

The predecessor of the Duke Wei Mansion was the Prince Wu Mansion, which was the residence of Zhu Yuanzhang when he was titled Prince Wu in Nanjing. Later, after the Imperial Palace was built, it was bestowed upon Duke Wei Xu Da.

Zhu Yuanzhang expanded his own home and bestowed it upon Xu Da.

This can actually explain Xu Bangrui's choice. He chose to offer his property, not because his bones were soft, but because this was the fate of the Duke Wei Mansion. From very, very early on, the rise and fall of the Duke Wei Mansion had already been tied to the Empire.

After Dai Fengxiang and Shu Hua were sentenced to capital punishment, the Great Ming literati also breathed a sigh of relief. This disturbance caused by breaking the bottom line of political struggle finally came to an end. And soon, a greater storm came before the Great Ming scholars.

The Great Ming Emperor actually split the Southern Capital, and it was a bizarre division method of "Jiangzuo" and "Jiang You."

It was just splitting, splitting according to convention. It should have been divided into Jiangnan and Jiangbei, but the Great Ming divided it into Jiangzuo and Jiang You, which was truly unexpected.

The Duke Wei Mansion, which had been pinned with high hopes, chose to offer its property. Coupled with the painful end of Dai Fengxiang and Shu Hua, the Southern Capital literati were a bit timid for a while, not daring to speak loudly. The splitting of the Southern Capital began to be pushed forward slowly against this background.

On the seventeenth day of the fourth month, another batch of soldiers arrived at the outer city wall of the Great Ming Nanjingcheng. They were 4,500 elite soldiers selected from the Zhejiang Nine Battalions, led by Ma Wenying, Zhang Wenyuan, and others. They arrived in Nanjingcheng. After meeting the Emperor, they would take a boat at Pukou to go to Songjiang Prefecture, and then set sail in Songjiang Prefecture to go to the Nagasaki Governor's Office.

When these 4,500 elite soldiers arrived and camped outside the Nanjing city wall, Nanjingcheng became even quieter, because these elite soldiers were the ones who had truly turned Zhejiang upside down.

In the eyes of the Southern Capital literati, the Great Ming Emperor must be crazy to dare to meet these unruly people and thugs who dared to offend their superiors!

"4,500 elite soldiers who entered the city to wipe out the bandits have scared these lowly scholars to the point of stuttering. I thought their bones were how hard." Zhu Yijun changed into military uniform and said to Feng Bao beside him with a smile.

"They are actually thinking that His Majesty will eventually return to the Northern Capital." Feng Bao provided an answer from another angle. They were not submissive, nor were they scared, but were temporarily avoiding the sharp edge.

Can you, the Emperor, not go back?

"When I leave, a Southern Capital split into pieces will be more conducive to the stability of the Southern Capital, so as not to learn from the Netherlands region." Zhu Yijun didn't care much. He indeed had to return to the capital, but the Southern Capital, under the visible big hand, was directly dismembered, no longer having the previous combined force. The Great Ming's control over the fourteen prefectures of the Southern Capital was still strengthening.

Not only must one learn lessons from the long history of the Central Plains, but one must also draw lessons from the world's progress.

Spain, as the world's first empire on which the sun never sets, its decline began with the rebellion in the Netherlands region. Of course, this also could not do without England, the troublemaker, stirring up trouble.

What is more interesting is that there is a country in the East with a similar status, and that is Japan. Japan is always backstabbing its suzerain, time and time again. This is also the fundamental reason why the Zhejiang Nine Battalions are to be deployed to the Nagasaki Governor's Office—to suppress Japan's wolfish ambition.

"Your Majesty, General Qi has arrived." A small eunuch walked in hurriedly and bowed, saying.

The one who pioneered for the Emperor was Qi Jiguang. Li Rusong stayed behind in the Northern Capital to guard the Capital Battalion. Qi Jiguang, as the number one martial hero of the Wanli era, naturally had to support the scene for the Emperor. Qi Jiguang was actually a bit worried that the Zhejiang Nine Battalions would cause some trouble, which would be a big problem then. The soldiers of the Nine Battalions would not, but it did not prevent someone from fanning the flames.

For example, spreading rumors, saying that the deployment to Nagasaki is a plan to kill with a borrowed knife, using the Japanese knife to kill the mutinous soldiers of the Nine Battalions.

"Is General Qi willing to come back from Longtan Manor? Did you catch any fish?" Zhu Yijun saw the very spirited Qi Jiguang and asked with a smile.

"Didn't catch any fish."

"Your Majesty, your subject is worried that some lowly scholars will talk nonsense and speak wildly in the Zhejiang Nine Battalions, causing trouble and making everyone look bad. Your subject came out of Longtan just to tell these people that nonsense is nonsense, but if they break the bottom line again, the Capital Battalion should enter the city to wipe out the bandits." Qi Jiguang answered His Majesty's question very clearly. His appearance was to prevent some people from using the soldiers of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions as a tool for struggle.

"Your subject, have met." Qi Jiguang was not good at court struggle, because his blade never pointed inward. If the lowly scholars forced him to take action, he could also use practical actions to prove his position.

"I am looking forward to it more and more. I hope these lowly scholars can give me a little surprise." Zhu Yijun heard this and immediately expressed that he hoped these lowly scholars would be more spirited, have a firm resistance will, cause some big trouble, so that he could watch the fun.

A Great Ming Emperor who is not afraid of big things when watching the fun.

Zhu Yijun's carriage headed toward the outer city gate. In the carriage, Zhu Yijun saw a Great Ming Nanjingcheng whose prosperity was gradually fading. The further he went to the outer city, the less he could see brothels, only seeing continuous civilian houses. These civilian houses seemed to have no planning, only narrow alleys that turned and twisted. Shops were no longer lined up in an orderly manner, but were here and there, and more were markets sitting on the ground.

The Great Ming Emperor arrived at Jiangdong Gate. Qi Jiguang led a foot battalion to enter the camp first, and then the Emperor appeared on the drill ground.

"Your subjects pay respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty." Ma Wenying, as the Commander, led all 4,500 elite soldiers to kneel and salute. The sound of drums gradually stopped, the sound of horns no longer blew, and the drill ground was very quiet.

Zhu Yijun did not speak for a long time. He was stunned for a long time before he opened his mouth and said: "All soldiers, you have worked hard."

This was a sentence without a beginning or an end, not in the previous rehearsal.

According to the rehearsal, if the Emperor said "rise," the soldiers would thank His Majesty. If the Emperor said "Great Ming army is mighty," the soldiers would answer "His Majesty is mighty."

Now that His Majesty said "hard work," the soldiers were somewhat at a loss for a moment.

"His Majesty works harder!" Ma Wenying, as the head of the Nine Battalions, held it in for a long time and finally squeezed out a sentence that was neither fish nor fowl.

Zhu Yijun did not laugh. He stretched out his hand and said calmly: "Exempt from courtesy. All soldiers are going to expedition to Japan. I have nothing to reward you with. First, distribute the silver. After distributing the silver, then eat. I brought wine and food. Today is a big banquet."

Zhu Yijun did not have a long speech, let alone any instructions. He was actually prepared. There were literary imperial edicts, and there was vernacular, but he did not speak them, but chose to distribute silver, and after distributing silver, then eat.

Because he saw a different Great Ming army. The soldiers of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions were all sallow and thin, with a vegetable complexion, forming a sharp contrast with the elite soldiers of the Capital Battalion.

Zhu Yijun did not doubt at all that the elite soldiers of the Great Ming Capital Battalion, with bare hands, could fight three Zhejiang soldiers.

Zhu Yijun had never seen such a Great Ming army. He had seen the Capital Battalion, Li Chengliang's retainers, the guest soldiers led by Ling Yunyi, and the Great Ming navy, but he had never seen a Great Ming army like beggars.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ma Wenying was also a bit confused, not knowing why the Emperor gave up speaking, but still chose to agree.

Zhao Mengyou and Luo Bingliang led the Embroidered Uniform Guard to lift boxes of silver to the drill ground. The clerk began to record, and the soldiers of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions began to receive silver. Everyone had a share, ten silver coins per person, and the scene was orderly.

Zhu Yijun called Ma Wenying to his front.

"How much is the military pay for the soldiers of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions?" Zhu Yijun inquired about the treatment of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions.

Ma Wenying hurriedly bowed and said: "One shi and four dou per month, converted to five mace of silver."

"So little, is it enough to eat?" Zhu Yijun's brows twisted into a knot, asking calmly.

Ma Wenying also didn't know why the Emperor wanted to ask, but he still answered truthfully: "If it is just one person, it is enough to eat. But if there are wives and children, it is not enough to eat."

"How many months do you eat meat?"

"Three months. If on patrol, you can eat better, because you can catch some fish along the way to improve your food. It has been better in the last few years, there are sweet potatoes to eat." Ma Wenying told the Emperor why the Zhejiang Nine Battalions would patrol. Besides flood prevention, it was catching fish.

Zhu Yijun asked a lot, until it was time to eat, Zhu Yijun let Ma Wenying take the elite soldiers selected from the Zhejiang Nine Battalions to eat, and stopped asking.

Through Ma Wenying's answer, Zhu Yijun comprehensively understood the life of the Great Ming soldiers from clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

If they didn't patrol, they only ate meat once a year, and it was very, very bad meat, the kind that was almost rotten. If the Emperor had seen these soldiers five years ago, he would have seen soldiers who were skin and bones, not sallow and thin.

And now, because of the promotion of sweet potatoes, the soldiers of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions could be considered to have food to eat, but it was also boiled rotten sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines.

Zhu Yijun asked himself that he was already very grounded, down-to-earth, but in his impression, sweet potato vines were used to feed pigs. But it was this sweet potato vine that, for the poor people and laborers, was not something they could eat for three meals a day.

When patrolling and catching fish to improve food, fish scales and fish gills also had to be eaten, and eggs were a very expensive thing.

Even if it was not a disaster year, they would eat grass, which was bracken. Bracken was grave grass, mixed with coarse salt. If they encountered a disaster year, they would eat tree bark, eat coal, eat Guanyin soil.

Every time the Nine Battalions patrolled, the common people welcomed them along the way, but these gentry and wealthy families hated them to the teeth, because the common people would follow the Nine Battalions soldiers to catch fish. Usually, these lakes, ditches, and rivers were occupied by gentry and wealthy families. Only when the Nine Battalions soldiers came could the common people follow suit and catch some fish to make salted fish.

And these Nine Battalions were hated by the gentry and wealthy families, besides because the dams they built were of such good quality, there was another point: the Zhejiang Nine Battalions had scales.

When these gentry and wealthy families collected rent, they all used fake scales. They should have collected one hundred catties of grain, but this fake scale could collect one hundred and thirty catties. And the Zhejiang Nine Battalions' scales were famous for being accurate, so these common people looked forward to the Nine Battalions patrolling. When the Nine Battalions arrived, the common people borrowed the scales to weigh the grain well.

Nine Battalions soldiers who got sick would not see a doctor, they all looked at fate. If fate was hard, they would survive; if fate was not hard, they would be taken away by Heaven.

"General Qi." Zhu Yijun looked at Qi Jiguang and said in a low voice: "When resisting the Japanese pirates before, was it also eaten so poorly? Or is the scene I see just 'using people when facing forward, not using people when facing backward'? When not needed, they shout and kill?"

"Your Majesty, when resisting the Japanese pirates, it was also eaten so poorly. At that time, there were no sweet potatoes. Now the soldiers of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions can use sweet potato flour to thicken the soup. Your subject thinks that the Zhejiang soldiers are much stronger than before." Qi Jiguang answered this question truthfully.

It was equally poor, not that it became poor only after the Japanese pirate menace gradually stopped.

Qi Jiguang actually didn't like His Majesty saying that he had no military talent and didn't know soldiers. In his view, farming and war are one. Without farming, where does war come from?

His Majesty has been farming himself for so many years, and the promotion of sweet potatoes by the Baoqi Division is the greatest knowledge of soldiers, and it is the greatest military talent. Being able to let the soldiers eat their fill is logistics talent.

"Pickled vegetables and tofu, the Emperor is not as good as me" is the norm.

"So it has always been very poor." Zhu Yijun said somewhat lost: "Zhejiang and the Southern Capital are already the richest places in the Great Ming, and it is still like this. It seems that I have not done well enough. The road is long and the burden is heavy, the road is blocked and long."

Qi Jiguang was stunned. His Majesty saw the appearance of the soldiers of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions and made a self-criticism, but Qi Jiguang felt that this criticism was wrong. He felt that His Majesty had done well enough.

The world is the world of the people of the world. Does His Majesty have to carry the rise and fall of the world alone?

"How is good, good? To what extent is it good? Compared to the days when soldiers couldn't eat, now is a good day." Qi Jiguang very rarely refuted His Majesty's point of view. He was well-versed in the theory of contradictions. He hoped that His Majesty would not deny himself.

"At the very least, soldiers, craftsmen, and farmers can eat food and eat their fill, that is good." Zhu Yijun gave his own standard.

Qi Jiguang smiled and didn't speak. He actually wanted to say that some Commandery Princes might not even be free from worry about food and clothing. His Majesty's goal is a bit high, but it is good to have a high goal. If the goal is high, it is worth pursuing this goal for a lifetime.

"I was wrong. I cannot accept that some lowly scholars use the soldiers of the Nine Battalions as a tool for struggle." Zhu Yijun suddenly remembered the conversation when he met Qi Jiguang at the Nanhu Villa. He admitted that he was wrong. The Zhejiang Nine Battalions were already very bitter. If they were used again, they would be even more miserable.

Under Ma Wenying's command, there was a little soldier named Ge Erzhu. He had an older brother named Ge Dazhu. One year there was a famine, and both of them were sold by their own father. They originally thought they were sold to be cattle and horses for others, but the two brothers were locked up and realized they were sold to be "rice meat."

Rice meat is the meat on the bodies of people who eat rice, that is, Dazhu and Erzhu were both treated as livestock to be slaughtered. Ge Dazhu used his own life to exchange for his younger brother's chance to escape. Later, Ge Erzhu joined the Nine Battalions. During the last mutiny of the Nine Battalions, Ge Erzhu killed the human trafficker of that family human trafficking agency with his own hands and saved three children.

Zhejiang was tossed about by the Nine Battalions like this, and it really turned out to be a clear world.

Zhu Yijun did not make any speech, but used practical actions to express his support for the deployment of the Nine Battalions soldiers to Japan. Whether it was killing with a borrowed knife or not, it was self-defeating.

Qi Jiguang came out of the Longtan Fishing Villa. The guys who originally had some ideas immediately went into hiding. This is Qi Jiguang's deterrence. The censors in the Northern Capital dared not accuse Qi Jiguang of holding heavy troops and possibly rebelling, because Qi Jiguang really had the strength.

"Splitting the Southern Capital will still cause some waves. I have already shown my violence, but they are not afraid at all." Zhu Yijun returned to the Nanhu Villa and received a memorial from the Ying Tian Governor Li Le. After reading it, Zhu Yijun said this to Feng Bao.

The Emperor is very angry, and the consequences are very serious.

Li Le wanted to take advantage of the Emperor's presence to check the grain in the Great Ming Ever-Normal Granary. As a result, in this early summer weather, it started to catch fire.

Fire dragon burning the granary—this kind of thing has never been rare, but this time it was exceptionally fierce, because the splitting of the Southern Capital was imminent.

The fourteen prefectures of the Southern Capital had already split out a Songjiang Prefecture, and now the thirteen prefectures were split into three parts. When splitting, naturally, the silver and grain in the treasury had to be checked clearly. The first to burn was the treasury of Ying Tian Prefecture. The Great Granary of Nanjing did not burn, which was the place directly managed by Li Le.

But the Ying Tian Prefecture treasury burned, and the thirteen prefectures of the Southern Capital immediately all burned.

Splitting the Southern Capital, right? Directly dividing the family property.

Zhu Yijun rubbed his temples and thought for a long time before saying: "These lowly bones, if I don't give them something ruthless, they won't take me as the Emperor. I want to split the Southern Capital, and they burned the treasury, finally making a profit!"

"Down to the Capital Battalion, prepare to extort pay."

The Great Ming Emperor lost the patience to continue fighting and chose to flip the table. Following Yin Zhengmao tearing down the gate, Ling Yunyi killing people, Wang Jiaping being confused, Wang Yie erecting a monument, Shen Shixing parading in the street, and Zhu Yiliu's public trial, the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun finally brought out his own method: extorting pay.

"Reward?" Feng Bao thought he had misheard and asked blankly.

"Extort pay. Take my imperial edict, the Son of Heaven's sword, down to the Capital Battalion. Those who disobey will be killed without mercy." Zhu Yijun wrote the hand-written order and handed it to Feng Bao.

"Your subject obeys the order." Feng Bao took the imperial edict and ran toward the Capital Battalion in a puff of smoke! As a fun-seeker, he felt that the fun of the public trial was not enough. This extortion of pay was the real big fun!

Qi Jiguang returned to the Longtan Villa on the front foot, and received the imperial edict on the back foot. He was stunned for a moment and said to Zhang Juzheng who received the edict together: "Sir, are you not going to the Nanhu Villa to persuade His Majesty?"

Zhang Juzheng asked suspiciously: "Persuade what?"

"Persuade the way of benevolence and forgiveness." Qi Jiguang said as a matter of course. The Emperor had already issued an edict to extort pay, and Zhang Juzheng was still able to sit still. The student you taught, you don't manage, you don't persuade, he, Qi Jiguang, really has to execute the imperial order.

Zhang Juzheng said very confidently: "They have already burned the treasury. This is defying the imperial order. This is rebellion! His Majesty is just extorting pay, letting them spit out what they ate. Is this not benevolence and forgiveness? His Majesty is reasonable enough not to issue an edict for the Capital Battalion to kill them all. If this is not benevolence and forgiveness, what is?"

"It's not the early years of the dynasty, when literature and education were not prosperous, and there were no scholars to be officials, so everything had to be accommodated."

Wang Chonggu poked his head to look at the imperial edict and immediately ordered his followers to pack their bags. His expression was a bit hurried.

"Is Vice Minister Wang going to persuade benevolence and forgiveness?" Qi Jiguang looked at Wang Chonggu leaving in a hurry and asked curiously.

"He, Zhang Juzheng, can sit still, and I persuade a fart? That is his, Mr. Zhang's, job. I have to hurry back to Nanjingcheng. This time, I have to prepare the arrest warrants!" Wang Chonggu said angrily: "These Southern Capital bureaucrats really don't have any brains. As long as they are not blind or deaf, they should have seen it clearly since the case of Chen Wuyin. I don't know what they are testing!"

"Is it not good to have a head on your neck! A bunch of idiots!"

Wang Chonggu wanted to return to Nanjingcheng to prepare the arrest warrants. His Majesty had been in the Northern Capital for twelve years and had always been a very obedient Emperor. Killing Chen Youren on the street also had arrest warrants. Everything is about rules and processes.

Forcing His Majesty to the point of not following the rules—these Southern Capital bureaucrats are guilty of heinous crimes!

But His Majesty absolutely cannot not follow the rules. Wang Chonggu must prepare all the arrest warrants before the Capital Battalion arrives!

Wang Chonggu left, and Qi Jiguang began to mobilize the Capital Battalion. Three Assistant Regional Commanders were responsible for going to Luzhou Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, and Suzhou Prefecture to sit in town, while Qi Jiguang himself was responsible for guarding Ying Tian Prefecture.

The process of extorting pay was not the Great Ming Capital Battalion elite soldiers directly breaking into houses and hanging people up to torture and extort, but the Great Ming Capital Battalion was responsible for pressing the formation, and the Northern and Southern Depots were responsible for arresting people, and then asking for the property that should have been in the treasury. As for how much there should have been, it required the Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang to sort it out.

The role of the Capital Battalion was still to prevent rebellion, not to arrest people directly.

Zhao Mengyou received the imperial edict, immediately summoned all the Embroidered Uniform Guards, read the imperial edict, and first took all the officials in charge of the Ying Tian Prefecture treasury.

Extortion of pay officially began.

This extortion of pay scared the literati of the entire Southern Capital. They never expected that the Emperor didn't treat them as subjects at all, but as rebels. The fire in the treasury had just started, and the Emperor issued an edict to extort pay!

And looking at this posture, the Emperor had long been prepared for a combination of punches, waiting for them.

Zhu Yijun was indeed like this. He was a bit "expecting the enemy to be generous." The worst result he expected was that when splitting the Southern Capital, there would be civil unrest, civil chaos, and even clear rebellion and "clearing the Emperor's side." To deal with the various situations of splitting the Southern Capital, Zhu Yijun made sufficient preparations.

Extorting pay was a method in his toolbox that was not too drastic.

Now even the Southern Capital bureaucrats hoped that the Emperor would return to the Northern Capital soon! When His Majesty was in the Northern Capital, he was really principled. When he arrived in the Southern Capital, he didn't follow principles everywhere. He said he would do it, and he did it, without any hesitation.

The Great Ming Imperial Teacher, Grand Secretary, and Earl of Yicheng Zhang Juzheng not only did not stop it, but also submitted a "Memorial on Extorting Pay to Prevent Moths," detailing the rationality of extorting pay.

Yes, Zhang Juzheng not only did not persuade benevolence and forgiveness, but also argued for the rationality of the Emperor using violence to exercise imperial power. From the first year of Wanli, the first sentence of Zhang Juzheng's New Deal was "serving the master's power," which is the power of the master's prestige and fortune.

Now the Southern Capital officials had a choice: money or life.

Money without life, life without money.

Actually, behind this choice, the Emperor was forcing all officials in the Southern Capital to collectively express their stance on whether they agreed with splitting the Southern Capital. If they agreed, they would spit out what they ate. If they didn't agree, they would die, and then the Embroidered Uniform Guard would raid their homes to find the silver, money, and grain.

This was what the Emperor said to Zhang Juzheng before leaving. He wanted to see if his strong dragon could suppress the local snakes.

"It seems that the bones of the bureaucrats are not that hard. I thought there would be a few who wanted money but not life, stiffening their necks to prove that I am a muddled emperor. But in just three days, the money and grain burned by the fire dragon in the Ying Tian treasury have returned in full." Zhu Yijun saw Zhao Mengyou's memorial and said to Zhang Juzheng who came to see him with a smile.

Extorting pay for only three days, the money and grain in the treasury returned.

"Your Majesty, is there no penalty?" Zhang Juzheng asked with some confusion. Was just chasing the arrears enough? If you don't take the opportunity to punish a little, who treats you as the Emperor?

"Ah?" Wang Chonggu was stunned. Is this human language?

He finally knew that the Emperor and the Imperial Teacher were truly close teacher and student. Look at Zhang Juzheng, he actually complained that the Emperor's means were not drastic enough!

"Indeed, there must be a penalty. How about this: pay another portion of the same scale, and I will let them go. If they don't pay, I will exile them to Java. There is a severe shortage of people there. Nine harvests in two years. If Java can be opened up, how many fewer Great Ming people will starve to death." Zhu Yijun approved Zhang Juzheng's suggestion. Besides extorting pay, he chose to punish with money. Take how much, spit out double.

Struggle has always been like this. If you take one step back, don't blame me for taking three steps forward.

"Did no one in the Northern Capital scold me?" Zhu Yijun was a bit strange. He left the capital, and the memorials that usually scolded the Emperor in long-winded and insinuating ways were not seen at all.

Zhang Juzheng said with a smile: "The officials in the Northern Capital are now hoping that Your Majesty can return early."

This is the benefit of the control group. The Emperor should still sit on the dragon chair. Look at the things Prince Lu did. The officials in the Northern Capital began to miss the Emperor's goodness.

"Did Liu cause trouble again?" Zhu Yijun's brows furrowed, realizing that things were not simple.

"Prince Lu has extorted 500,000 silver from the wealthy families in Xitucheng." Zhang Juzheng explained that it was not a big deal, just fighting for jealousy.

Prince Lu likes beauties from all countries, which is known to everyone. A beauty from all countries who was originally going to be presented to Prince Lu was snatched away by a wealthy family in Xitucheng.

How could Zhu Yiliu endure this kind of grievance? Besides asking for the person back, he also extorted an additional 500,000 silver.

"Prince Lu is really making trouble! Where did the silver go?" Zhu Yijun said with feigned anger.

"Entered the inner treasury." Feng Bao hurriedly explained the whereabouts of the silver. Prince Lu had no interest in silver; he just liked beauties from all countries.

Zhu Yijun heard this and nodded, saying: "Hmm, in this case, Liu made trouble, I will definitely reprimand him severely when I return to the capital!" ===== CHAPTER 676 =====