Chapter 243: A One-Stop Shop

Yu Zhaoan's release from prison and promotion was a one-stop shop.

He was promoted from Right Assistant Zhang Yushi-in-Chief to Left Assistant Zhang Yushi-in-Chief. 'Left' is noble; with a 'Left' title, it was a proper promotion. As for the original Left Assistant Zhang Yushi-in-Chief, he was transferred to another department, with the excuse being dereliction of duty in the Censorate.

Yu Zhaoan's reinstatement began a vigorous campaign of both flattering the old Emperor and suppressing dissidents, swearing to seize the position of Jiang Tu's favorite minister. But his methods were far superior to Jiang Tu's; after all, he had a family heritage, deep foundations, and quite a background.

Unlike Jiang Tu, who was from a grassroots background, hadn't read many books, and had spent all these years busy with crooked paths, never learning proper orthodox strategies.

The difference was clear at a glance.

Yu Zhaoan gradually gained importance before the old Emperor and finally had some say. Although he couldn't yet compete with Jiang Tu, he had already caused Jiang Tu to feel intense unease, regarding him as his greatest competitor.

"Once a scholar becomes shameless, they are truly hard to deal with!" Jiang Tu sighed.

In August, the cult bandit riots in Dongzhou gradually subsided. Without even mobilizing the imperial army, the local garrison forces combined with the surrounding stationed troops resolved this civil unrest. It could be seen that the cult bandits' military organizational ability was extremely weak, but their ability to bewitch village men and foolish women was extremely powerful, and they would sooner or later make a comeback.

Chen Guanlou paid attention to the Dongzhou civil unrest and tried every way to find the imperial gazettes to read, and also inquired about news through his connections in the Ministry of Justice. He had no other thoughts, just to verify his own guesses.

After searching through all the information, he didn't see the name Zhang Daohe, and he once suspected he had guessed wrong.

It wasn't until he heard that the cult bandit saintess and the big leader had escaped during the suppression that he vaguely felt a bit of certainty.

In September, in Pingzhou, adjacent to Jinzhou, the border army commander Guo Dachun, dissatisfied with his superiors embezzling military pay and whipping soldiers, and erasing his own merits, angrily killed his official, led a group of soldiers to rush out of the barracks, robbed the countryside, coerced the common people, and killed officials to rebel! In just one month, the flames of war swept through the entire Pingzhou.

The Jinzhou rebel 'Great Ming Prince,' who had been quiet for two years, made a comeback, suddenly killing out from the mountains and taking three cities in one breath. This time, he changed his previous style of killing officials, clerks, and big landlords, and instead opened granaries to distribute grain while winning over officials and big landlords for his own use. Even if the officials and big landlords didn't comply, he didn't kill them at will, but instead sent them silver and escorted them out of the territory. As for their wealth and goods, naturally, they were all confiscated.

With the territory of three counties as a foundation, he expanded and trained his army while managing his territory.

This time, the Great Ming Prince clearly learned from the experience of his first rebellion, listened to the advice of a high-ranking expert, and didn't act as a wandering bandit, but as a sedentary bandit, managing his own territory to be able to attack and defend. He absolutely couldn't act recklessly like before, killing everyone; who would manage for him and collect taxes and grain for him?

Without tax revenue, and not wanting to exploit the small people, he could only kill big landlords all the way. If he kept killing like this, it was equivalent to pushing the big landlords and scholars to the side of the imperial court, and even some rich farmers and city dwellers with small assets didn't recognize him, thinking he was a murderous demon, losing the hearts of the people.

Whoever controls the right to speak controls the hearts of the people.

The right to speak was in the hands of scholars, in the hands of landlord masters, and in the hands of the gentry.

However, the Great Ming Prince didn't treat officials and big landlords with blind tolerance; all those with bad reputations were executed on the spot to vent the people's anger, thereby buying the hearts of the people.

This style of acting was indeed more capable of uniting hearts than the first rebellion. The team finally had its own platform, had a basic administrative yamen structure, and when they collected taxes next year and had money and grain, they could expand their territory and move forward steadily, sooner or later eating up the entire Jinzhou, and even the neighboring prefectures. The premise was that they could block the imperial court's first two waves of offensives.

With the Jinzhou and Pingzhou rebels rising and the flames of war burning, the news reached the capital, causing an uproar in the imperial court.

The Great Ming Prince's comeback was expected.

What kind of thing was Guo Dachun, and where did this person crawl out from? He was actually a border army commander. Why did the imperial court's soldiers and generals kill officials to rebel? What kind of problem was there? The Ministry of War must be asked properly.

Ministry of War:...

None of my business!

The military pay was given; although it was insufficient, it was indeed given. Last year, taking advantage of the Jinzhou rebels being wiped out, they scraped a sum of silver from the old Emperor, which not only solved the rewards for the Jinzhou suppression army but also benefited the neighboring Pingzhou, which had a re-equipment.

So, what responsibility did the Ministry of War have?

Guo Dachun's rebellion was clearly caused by the local government's excessive embezzlement and the border army generals treating the soldiers under their banner as family slaves. This was a chronic illness of many years, not the responsibility of the Ministry of War, but a problem with the border army system since the ancestors.

The Ministry of War shirked responsibility, the Ministry of Revenue accused the Ministry of War of embezzling military pay, the Ministry of Personnel accused the Ministry of War of loopholes in the general selection system and said the Ministry of Personnel should be involved to avoid thousands of Guo Dachuns. The Ministry of Works accused the Ministry of War of dragging its feet and delaying the old Emperor's construction of palaces and gardens, and the Ministry of Rites impeached the Ministry of War for playing the lute randomly and not understanding education.

In short, Guo Dachun's rebellion must be the responsibility of the Ministry of War.

As for the Great Ming Prince, that, this, it still depended on Marquis Pingjiang. Marquis Pingjiang could wipe out the Great Ming Prince once, and naturally could wipe him out a second time, and incidentally wipe out Guo Dachun as well.

The old Emperor wasn't panicked at all and was still practicing Daoism and seeking longevity in an orderly manner.

He wore a Daoist robe, his chest exposed, holding a whisk, his gray beard hanging to his chest, walking barefoot in the Taiji Palace. Don't say, he really had a bit of an immortal air, provided one ignored the viciousness in his eyes.

"A mere Great Ming Prince, and that..." The old Emperor's memory was a bit confused.

"Guo Dachun," Qiu Defu reminded in a low voice.

The old Emperor snorted coldly, "Just these two people, I can kill them once, and I can kill them a second time."

Qiu Defu hesitated for a moment and cautiously reminded, "The Ministry of Revenue is having a money panic again."

"Absurd! The autumn taxes have just entered the treasury; how can the Ministry of Revenue be out of money again? Where did the money go?"

The old Emperor was furious.

Fighting a war is about money.

Were Guo Dachun and the Great Ming Prince hard to suppress?

Actually, not hard. They were both small rebels without a climate.

The premise was that the troops were strong, the horses were sturdy, and the grain and grass were sufficient. As long as the military pay was sufficient, the officers and soldiers would be howling, and they could wipe out these thieves in a day or two.

However, the hardest thing about suppressing thieves was giving sufficient military pay. If the military pay were truly sufficient, Guo Dachun wouldn't have killed officials to rebel.

If the army is dissatisfied with the pay, a fully paid army is invincible. This is no joke.

With the foundation of the Great Gan, there were so many good men in the army; if given sufficient grain and military pay, the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers would increase tenfold. Never mind one Great Ming Prince, even ten more Great Ming Princes wouldn't be a problem.

But the difficulty was that there was no money!

The old Emperor's private treasury had money, but with his stingy and greedy nature, he would never be willing to take out silver unless it was a last resort.

"Your Majesty, the court officials are still waiting to respectfully listen to the holy teachings!" Qiu Defu had to remind him in a low voice. With such a big thing, the court officials were all waiting for the old Emperor to make a decision.

The court officials did give a solution: don't bother two masters with one thing; still let Marquis Pingjiang command the army to suppress the thieves. The key was how to solve the money and grain? ===== CHAPTER 244 =====