After the meeting, all the military and political dignitaries rushed back to their yamen. Duke Xingguo announced that a severe crackdown would begin tomorrow, starting in Guangzhou and expanding to the entire province.
The time was tight and the intensity was strict. Failure to seize the time to arrange the arrangements was a hindrance. No one suspected that the Duke's Shang Fang Sword was just a decoration.
If he is cut down by Shang Fangjian then, he will be cut down, and there will never be a situation like the previous situation where Governor Yuan killed Mao Wenlong to settle accounts.
Because these are two completely different situations, and the former Governor Yuan is far from comparable to Xingguo Gong. Whether it is the influence of officialdom, the status in the heart of Emperor Chongzhen, or his own achievements, they are all very different.
Other differences.
Among these officials, only Sun Chuanting was retained by Zhong Jinwei and asked: "Bo Ya, has the woman's matter been settled?"
"I'm ashamed of myself. I bothered the Duke to worry about this matter. After getting the silver last night, I immediately gave the pension to the woman and... also apologized to her." Sun Chuanting's face
She blushed slightly and bowed to answer Zhong Jinwei.
Among ancient officials, it was basically impossible to apologize to ordinary people. If it weren't for the fact that the government paid attention to this matter, maybe it would only be a matter of condolences after paying money, and it would be impossible to apologize.
In the past, when young women came to ask for pensions, if they were ordinary people, they would probably give them some amount because they were orphans and widowers, with no food or clothing.
But Sun Chuanting's decisive and decisive character lacked the so-called benevolence of a woman. In order to maintain the basic operation of the Shipping Department and the existing anti-smuggling soldiers, he concentrated all the money on use without giving a penny.
.so that the woman thought that Sun Chuanting had swallowed up her husband's pension, which led to the previous events.
Zhong Jinwei has already figured out what happened, and he did not ask Sun Chuanting for anything from a moral standpoint. After all, everyone has different principles of life. From the perspective of the court, especially in this ancient society, Sun Chuanting did this
, there is nothing wrong with it.
We no longer care about the past, we have to strictly follow what we have to do now. Just listen to Zhong Jinwei say to Sun Chuanting: "I won't stay in Guangzhou for too long, but during my stay in Guangzhou, I will always supervise the progress of the anti-smuggling situation. You
We need to use this period of time to put the Shipping Company on the right track, do you understand?"
Sun Chuanting's expression turned excited. He stood up straight and loudly assured Zhong Jinwei: "Since the Duke is here, I will let the Shipping Department fully operate in accordance with the wishes of the imperial court. If not, please ask the Duke to remove the official.
Brain.”
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he laughed. After a while, his smiling face suddenly dropped, he stared at Sun Chuanting and said seriously: "You said this yourself, I didn't think you were joking, so I won't be polite to you!
"
"I'm serious, please ask the Duke to supervise you." Sun Chuanting's face also became serious and he answered seriously.
Zhong Jinwei nodded and said to Sun Chuanting: "Okay, then go and do your work."
Finally, only Zhong Jinwei and his guards were left in the lobby. Zheng Zhilong was not there either, and went to find his own people to contact Nanyang.
Yu Changjian hesitated for a moment, looked at Zhong Jinwei who was stretching and said: "My lord, since they are so inactive, why don't you arrest them directly, or at least arrest a few and kill them as a warning?"
Zhong Jinwei smiled after hearing this and looked at the other guards in the lobby, including Gu Baichuan, who had this doubt. He asked Yu Changjian directly: "Well, it's okay to arrest him, but what to do after he is arrested?"
Yu Changjian was stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect Zhong Jinwei to ask this question instead.
Zhong Jinwei did not let him answer, and went on directly: "Even if these officials are replaced and new officials are transferred from other places, there is no guarantee that the new officials will be better than the current officials. This is one of the reasons.
.”
"Secondly, because there was so much inaction in the past, people now think that if you don't smuggle, you would be a fool to pay taxes. In such a context, if you just arrest a few officials, it won't make much difference.
Effect."
"Thirdly, if I catch a few, they will definitely pull out the carrots and bring out the mud. The entire officialdom in Guangdong Province is not clean. The entire officialdom in Guangdong will really have to be replaced. The current court is still not happy to see it.
This situation has occurred because, after all, the imperial court’s main energy is now focused on feudal North America and nationwide disaster relief.”
Speaking of this, Zhong Jinwei explained to Yu Changjian and the guards present: "What I am doing now is to let them see that if this situation continues, then the court may do things that will kill everything. At least I
As an imperial envoy and Duke of Xingguo, I can do it well."
"After making them aware of this threat, we can urge them to jointly combat smuggling. This will have the lowest time and labor costs and should have the best effect."
When Gu Baichuan heard this, he interrupted and reminded: "My lord, among those smugglers, I am afraid that many of them are inextricably connected with them, and may even be their people. If they are asked to arrest smuggling, even though
It’s a joint operation, but they will notify those people in advance, so will the anti-smuggling effect be obvious?”
Upon hearing this, Zhong Jinwei turned to Gu Baichuan and asked him with a smile: "Do you think the effect I mentioned refers to how many smugglers were caught?"
As soon as Gu Baichuan heard Zhong Jinwei's question, he immediately realized that he had misunderstood.
"The effect I want is that there is no smuggling in Guangdong. No matter whether the original smugglers were caught, escaped, or changed careers. As long as there is no smuggling in Guangdong, all import and export cargo ships will pay customs duties according to the rules of the Municipal Shipping Department. This
That's my purpose." Zhong Jinwei said it directly without waiting for Gu Baichuan's answer.
After hearing this, Yu Changjian suddenly realized: "So this is the solution that the master said last night!"
Zhong Jinwei smiled but said nothing.
Starting from Guangzhou, the government suddenly launched an all-round anti-smuggling operation on the day after this day. Personnel from various government offices were all over the streets and alleys, inside and outside the city. Whether it was official roads or small roads, or even remote ones, only smuggling was carried out.
On the roads that the personnel knew, there were officers and soldiers from joint operations setting up roadblocks to stop people.
Smugglers who encountered armed resistance were killed on the spot, and their bodies were then taken to various crowded places in Guangzhou for public display. Those smugglers who did not resist were gathered from various places at the dock. They were also paraded through the streets first and then loaded onto ships.
shipped to the north.
Suddenly, an atmosphere of terror and killing began to spread throughout Guangdong Province, starting from Guangzhou. Those who were involved in smuggling fled or went into hiding, and no one dared to compete with this severe crackdown.
There are also a small number of people who are blinded by money and find that the government only cracks down on land. Knowing that this is the reason why the government lacks navy, they are very happy because they are going to get rich.