On the New Year's Day of the 22nd year of Hongzhi, the entire Jiangnan gentry, big families, and big businessmen were all on tenterhooks, the day before the New Year.
The entire Jiangnan officialdom almost collapsed, from the state capital's palace, the river censor, to the local magistrate, etc., the originally empty cells were almost filled.
Liu Jin, the Minister of Civil Service who came from the capital, went on a killing spree. Liu Jin, who had the power to kill first and then report later, almost swept the entire Jiangnan officialdom. There were only a few officials from other places, and at the same time, he was fighting with the local big families, businessmen, and gentry.
There is nothing involved, and there is no corruption or personal gain by using the power in hand.
Suddenly, the whole Jiangnan was trembling, and even the atmosphere of the New Year was gone. Compared with previous years, the big households in Jinling City were much more low-key. They even did not dare to set off fireworks for fear of disturbing whoever was holding them.
Mr. Liu wearing Shang Fang's sword.
After severely punishing officials of all sizes in the Jiangnan officialdom, Liu Jin and Wang Shouren had no intention of stopping.
The government officials, yamen servants, policemen, etc. have canceled the New Year holiday, and they are all waiting for dispatch in the yamen at any time. At the same time, the 30,000 garrison in Nanjing are also at the dispatch of Liu Jin at all times.
The first day of the Lunar New Year is supposed to be a day for families to reunite and celebrate the New Year happily. Many places even hold activities such as temple fairs and ancestor worship to celebrate.
As for the always lively Qinhuai River, it is also very lively on the New Year's Day. In the past, flower boats would be moored at the piers on the bank of the Qinhuai River, and the smell of rouge and gouache could float ten miles away, even
Even the fish in the Qinhuai River were dyed with rouge and gouache.
But this year, on the first day of the lunar new year, groups of officers and soldiers marched in neat steps, followed by a large number of officials, yamen and police officers. The troops were divided into many routes and quickly moved towards every large household in Nanjing.
People drive away.
In each of the high-profile houses, with the arrival of the officers and soldiers, the sound of whining and wailing could be heard all of a sudden. A big businessman, big gentry, big landowner, etc. who had been in a high position in the past was tied up and escorted by these officers and soldiers.
Entered the prison car.
The huge mansion was also searched and sealed. What's more, the entire family was taken away. All of a sudden, they were all prisoners and imprisoned. The entire mansion was also sealed with a white seal.
, a box of gold and silver jewelry, real estate title deeds, pearls and jade, agate and jade, etc. were transported out by a four-wheeled carriage.
At the port on the Yangtze River in Nanjing, a large number of officers, soldiers and government officials also came to the docks. They quickly sealed up and detained the ships on the docks. A large number of gangsters and bullies who were running rampant on the docks were pressed into prison cars.
In big cities such as Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Songhu, many large local trading houses in the south of the Yangtze River were directly seized by the army, government officials, and police officers. The shopkeepers and clerks were impounded, and a large amount of goods were seized.
The entire south of the Yangtze River seemed to have been hit by the most violent cold current, and it was extremely cold.
Everyone is on tenterhooks, fearing that the next moment officers, soldiers, government officials, and police will come to their door, put them in jail, and seize their property.
Of course, it is only the big businessmen, big landowners and big gentry who are worried. As for the ordinary people, whether they should celebrate the New Year or continue to celebrate the New Year, it will not be affected at all.
A large number of local businesses and factories were sealed, which would have had a huge impact on life in Jiangnan, but Liu Jin made arrangements in advance.
In the past, those large commercial banks that could not enter Jiangnan to do business seemed to have prepared in advance and quickly replaced these large local commercial banks, transporting large quantities of goods to various parts of Jiangnan to meet the daily needs of the people.
Although the whole Jiangnan is in chaos, order is still there. For ordinary people, they should eat and drink. In their spare time, they can also talk about the big shots who were suddenly imprisoned.
In a factory building in Nanjing, Liu Jin and Wang Shouren arrived on horseback. Behind them, there were officers and soldiers pressing down a wealthy middle-aged man.
"Liu Jin, there are really so many problems in Jiangnan."
"I didn't conduct a thorough investigation before. This time, after a thorough interrogation of these people, many problems were discovered."
"Monopolistic operations, local protected trade, and these factories in front of us."
Wang Shouren sighed as he spoke,
This time we carried out a ruthless raid on Jiangnan and struck hard at the big businessmen, gentry, and big landowners in Jiangnan. We also discovered too many problems.
Jiangnan people tend to stick together. To put it nicely, they are united. To put it poorly, they have a strong sense of small groups. Everything is done only for the benefit of this small group, without regard to the overall situation.
Of course, this is not right or wrong in itself, but they often start to violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty after they become powerful. Moreover, Jiangnan places great emphasis on education, with numerous literati and officials. They use their power to provide support to small groups behind them.
The pursuit of personal gain led to the emergence of the famous Huizhou merchants, salt merchants, grain merchants, and the Donglin Party members who were deeply hated by later generations and were characterized by regionalism.
“What’s happening to these factories in front of us?”
"Have you not paid workers' wages yet, or are they still operating during the Chinese New Year?"
Liu Jin looked at the factory in front of him. The factory in this area was very large. It was not small in scale. It was a big factory, and at this moment, the big chimney inside the factory was still billowing thick smoke.
Obviously, this factory is still operating normally even during the Chinese New Year, and even though Jiangnan is already so turbulent, it doesn't seem to have much impact on it. spanstyle>Valley/spanstyle
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"Master Liu, Master Wang~"
"I, Lu Daquan, have always been law-abiding and have never done anything harmful to nature."
Liu Jin, the wealthy middle-aged man who was being escorted next to Wang Shouren, saw the factory in front of him and said anxiously.
"If you had obeyed the law, we wouldn't have detained you here."
"Although we have arrested many people, every one of them is a person who deserves to be arrested. We have not touched any businessmen or gentry who truly abide by the law and operate legally."
Wang Shouren looked at Lu Daquan, smiled and replied: "During the Chinese New Year, all other factories have stopped working to give everyone a holiday to go home for the New Year. Why is your factory still in operation until now? There is no holiday to give back to the workers.
Celebrating the New Year at home?”
"I, I, the people in my factory don't need to go home for the New Year, so I don't give them a holiday."
Lu Daquan didn't know how to answer for a moment, so he could only say hesitantly.
"Don't you need to go home for the New Year?"
When Liu Jin heard this, he immediately became more interested. He rode his horse and quickly arrived at the gate of the factory.
The gate of this factory is also different from other factories. The gates of other factories are basically open to facilitate the entry and exit of carriages, but the gate of the factory in front of me is tightly closed even during the day.
At the same time, I looked at the factory walls. These walls were built very high and had sharpened bamboo pieces on them. It seemed to be to prevent people inside the factory from escaping.
"Open the door~"
With the arrival of the government troops, many people also appeared in the factory. Each of these people looked fierce. Many of them looked ruthless at first glance, and their hands might have been stained with blood.
But when they saw the heavily armed officers and soldiers coming, and when they saw their boss Lu Daquan being pressed over, a look of panic flashed across their faces.
Wang Shouren shouted angrily, and these people had no choice but to open the door obediently, then stood together obediently, and were taken into custody by the officers and soldiers.
Seeing this, Liu Jin had already guessed something. He frowned and strode towards the factory.
The factory is very large, and the doors of each factory building are closed tightly, but the roar of machines and the busy voices of workers can be heard inside.
When the door of the factory was opened, the stench of sweat mixed with various unspeakable smells came to the face. At the same time, the scene inside was also revealed in front of everyone.
I saw a large number of machines rotating in the huge factory building. On the assembly line-like production line, a large number of workers were working non-stop like numb machines. On top of the factory building were whale oil lamps, providing lighting. It looked very
dim.
"Kunlun slave!"
Taking a closer look at these numb workers, Liu Jin couldn't help shouting.
When I walked into the factory, I looked up and saw that the entire huge factory was full of Kunlun slaves, numbly doing their jobs.
Someone saw the factory door being opened, and when they saw Liu Jin and others, there was a look of fear in their eyes, and they did their work faster, as if they were like little ghosts who had seen the King of Hell, for fear of being punished.
generally.
"Sir, this factory has a total of twelve factories, nine of which are all made of Kunlun slaves, and three of which are all made of White slaves."
Officials hurriedly came to Liu Jin and Wang Shouren to report the situation.
Liu Jin originally thought that this continent had imprisoned a large number of ordinary people, using local gangsters, bullies and the like to forcibly imprison ordinary people and let them work for their own factories, just like the bullies in Huairou County imprisoned ordinary people to dig coal mines.
But he didn't expect that although Lu Daquan imprisoned people to work for him, he actually used them all as slaves.
Liu Jin looked inside each factory and found that they were almost the same. The slaves inside looked numb and were working tirelessly. When he saw Liu Jin and other people wearing gorgeous clothes, they were even more frightened and did not dare to work hard.