Chapter 1273: Why Are There Always Unruly Commoners Rebelling?

"Why are there always unruly subjects wanting to rebel?"

The one who uttered this sigh within East Lake Palace was none other than Zhu Cilang, who had been a wise and sagacious Son of Heaven for twenty years!

Upon learning that in the four prefectures of Jingzhou, Chengtian, De'an, and Xiangyang, the common people had colluded with roving-bandit spies and wanted to rebel, the wise and sagacious Son of Heaven Zhu Cilang was truly at his wit's end!

Under his governance, the Great Ming could be said to be prosperous and at peace, thriving day by day, with a territory far surpassing the Han and Tang! It could even be called an empire on which the sun never set.

If the sun never set on it, why were there still people wanting to rebel? Did they not look at the world map? Were they not proud of the Great Ming's sun-never-setting empire?

"Your Majesty, do not worry. Our dynasty's national strength is at its peak, rarely seen in all history. Our two hundred million people all have ample food and clothing. A few jumping clowns and arrogant bandits cannot possibly harm the greater situation." The one speaking so truthfully was Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode; judging by his confident expression, one could tell every word was sincere.

Zhu Cilang nodded in agreement. The Great Ming was already so good, and yet you still rebelled—you were jumping clowns, arrogant bandits!

"Your Majesty," the Minister of War Li Yan submitted, "since the founding of our dynasty, popular uprisings have emerged in endless succession, cumulatively numbering in the thousands, and there were quite a few during the reigns of every Son of Heaven. By comparison, Your Majesty's reign is the most peaceful and joyous. From the first year of Hongxing to the present, excluding the lands occupied by the roving bandits and the eastern barbarians, the total number of popular uprisings and rebellions has not even reached one hundred. Counting this one, there have been only ninety-six in total."

Only ninety-six?

Zhu Cilang rolled his eyes. Rebellions! Were ninety-six rebellions few? He had only been emperor for twenty years! And there had already been ninety-six rebellions. How could there be so many unruly subjects under heaven?

"There really were ninety-six?" Zhu Cilang's face darkened. "How is it that We do not remember?"

Li Yan smiled. "Most of the rebellions occurred in the early years of Hongxing, and their scale was not large; they rose and fell in an instant. Your Majesty handles ten thousand affairs daily, so perhaps you have forgotten."

By this time Emperor Zhu had recalled some of them. He nodded and said, "We remember now. They were mainly slave revolts and disturbances caused by high grain prices. After the tenth year of Hongxing, very few people rebelled."

In the early period of Zhu Cilang's rule, the situation was still very chaotic. Even in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, the core of his rule, dozens of popular uprisings occurred. The causes of these uprisings were, first, slave revolts triggered by the abolition of slavery, and second, famished people rebelling because of grain shortages!

And the abolition of slavery and the grain shortage were often entangled together. In fact, the abolition of slavery was not because Zhu Cilang wanted to protect human rights, but because the southeastern gentry, having lost their privileges, could no longer afford to keep slaves, and so had no choice but to free them in large numbers. In the process, many conflicts arose. To maintain stability in the southeast, Zhu Cilang simply issued an "Edict on the Abolition of Slavery," which could be considered following public sentiment.

But while abolishing slavery, Emperor Zhu firmly defended the private property of the slave-owning gentry and landlord class (he was not Li Zicheng; he wanted to develop capitalism, so he could not but defend private property). He did not allow slaves who had gained personal freedom to seize the means of production of their former masters, nor was he willing to distribute state-owned means of production to these liberated slaves.

As a result, many freed slaves fell into hunger and cold.

However, after the tenth year of Hongxing, with the further development of industry and commerce in the southeast, the development of Jin'ou and Jinghai, and the successful management of the Yellow River and Huai River, the directly administered provinces of the Great Ming became relatively calm. But rebellions still occurred every year! It was only in recent years, because the development of the northern Central Plains, the Northeast, and the United States of New Continent across the ocean had all gotten on track, giving the poor within the Great Ming more outlets, and at the same time driving the further development of southeastern industry and commerce, that Ming society truly stabilized.

"Your Majesty," the Minister of Justice Ma Shiying also said, "although there are unruly subjects rebelling in the four prefectures of Jingzhou, Chengtian, De'an, and Xiangyang, there are also many righteous citizens who have reported the rebels' plots to the authorities. The local police patrol officials and the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard officials have also been quite effective. In the first month alone, eleven cases of secret rebellion plots were reported, of which six have already been wrapped up with arrests made, and five are still being played with a long line to catch big fish."

"How many rebels have been captured in total?" Zhu Cilang asked.

Ma Shiying replied, "At present, there are 286 rebels in custody awaiting trial, plus 18 roving-bandit spies, all held in the Ministry of Justice's celestial prison and the Military Justice Department's cells."

Now there was no longer an Embroidered Uniform Guard imperial prison system. There were only three prison systems: the cells under the Ministry of Justice, the cells of the Ministry of War's Military Justice Department, and the Censorate's tribunal prison. The Embroidered Uniform Guard was under the jurisdiction of the Military Staff Office, so suspects captured by them were sent to the Ministry of War's military prison. The Eastern Depot nominally belonged to the Grand Secretariat Office, so captured criminals were sent to the Ministry of Justice's prison. And the Censorate mainly arrested corrupt officials—punishments did not extend to the high officials, after all, so they always had to be given preferential treatment—and thus they were sent to the Censorate's prison, also known as the Censorate Tribunal Prison.

"About how many more can be captured?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

"Approximately between three and four thousand!" The one answering this question was the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Zhu Chunjie.

"That many?" Zhu Cilang was startled. "Will it not provoke too great a disturbance?"

"It will not," Zhu Chunjie said. "In Yiling Prefecture, two righteous citizens not only reported the rebels' plot to the authorities, but also sent people to infiltrate the rebels' side and learned that the rebels plan to strike in force on the second day of the second month, at Tiger Fang Mountain! At present, the rebels in the four prefectures of Jingzhou, Chengtian, De'an, and Xiangyang who have not yet been captured are all converging on Tiger Fang Mountain. It is said that a great bandit chieftain of the roving bandits will personally come to Tiger Fang Mountain to preside over the rebellion!

Your subjects are preparing to wait until this great bandit chieftain arrives, and then catch them all in one net!"

"That would be excellent!" Zhu Cilang nodded. "What are the names of these two righteous citizens?"

"One is called Ding Shixiang, and the other Zhang Haoran."

So it was Ding the Flayer and Zhang the Drunkard!

"Good!" Zhu Cilang said. "Tell them that if the matter succeeds, they will both be richly rewarded!"

"Your subject receives the decree."

"Rebellion! Rebellion! Damn it all, they've all rebelled."

The one roaring in fury was none other than the number one great rebel under heaven today, the Shun's "Eastern Prosperity Son of Heaven" Li Laiheng.

At this moment, Li Laiheng was in the imperial study on Wuhua Mountain in Kunming. He was not sitting upright behind his desk, but pacing back and forth in the study, looking somewhat frantic and uneasy.

And what had him so frantic was the peasant uprising that had broken out at Great Sword Mountain!

It was not that no one rebelled under Shun rule, but unlike the Great Ming, where most uprisings were by poor peasants, here in the Shun the rebels were usually the tusi—the Shun's territory lay in the southwest, where tusi were everywhere, so of course it could not tolerate the existence of numerous tusi regimes the way the Great Ming did.

Therefore, from the time the Shun ruled Sichuan and Yunnan, this peasant regime had become the mortal enemy of the southwestern tusi! For twenty years, the struggle between the two sides had been a matter of life and death!

But the peasants under Shun rule had always been relatively docile. Even when their fields were "equalized away," they had never launched a single uprising. The reason for this was actually related to the Shun's fubing system—600,000 fubing households were stationed across the land, and their ability to suppress was beyond doubt. So under Ming rule, ninety-six uprisings had occurred in the past twenty years. But under Shun rule, if one did not count the wars with the southwestern tusi, the Great Sword Mountain uprising that had just broken out was the first peasant uprising of any scale!

Although this uprising was most likely instigated by White Lotus Sect demon cultists, in the end it was still a peasant uprising!

"Imperial Lord, calm your anger. The Prince of Jin, the Prince of Sui, and the Prince of Chu have already dispatched troops to Great Sword Mountain to encircle and suppress them. I believe it will not take long before these demon cultists are all wiped out!"

"Imperial Lord, rest assured. These demon cultists and disorderly people are not worth fearing—they are no match for our Shun dynasty's fubing! And we can take this opportunity to sweep away the petty villains everywhere!"

The speakers were Liu Wenxiu and Liu Fangliang. At present, among the eight deliberative princes, only Sun Kewang, Liu Zongmin, Liu Wenxiu, and Liu Fangliang remained in Kunming; the other four princes were all outside supervising the army.

And Liu Wenxiu and Liu Fangliang were the princes responsible for the Shun dynasty's military affairs, so it was they who reported the Great Sword Mountain uprising to Li Laiheng.

"But a great battle is imminent in Shaanxi!" Li Laiheng said through gritted teeth. "And Great Sword Mountain blocks the vital pass of Jiange."

Liu Wenxiu smiled. "Imperial Lord, do not be anxious. The Prince of Jin already has a clever plan—he will use the chaos at Great Sword Mountain to lure Wu Sangui into the trap!"

(End of Chapter)