Among the crowd of "righteous indignation", there are some people who have other opinions.
No, after the voices became quieter, one person said with insufficient confidence: "Have you forgotten what happened to Duke Cheng Guo of the capital?"
Upon hearing this, the meeting hall suddenly became quiet.
Although Cheng Guogong was not granted the title by Emperor Taizu, he was also granted the title by Emperor Chengzu! My ancestors also made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty and helped Emperor Chengzu seize the throne!
However, wasn't Duke Cheng Guo's family confiscated and his family exterminated the year before last? Only two years have passed!
However, Xu Wenjue quickly retorted: "Can we be the same as Duke Cheng? He was plotting to kill the prince. This is a serious crime of treason. He deserves to have his family confiscated and exterminated. The pill book and the iron certificate don't care about this! And what about us?
, we are just sitting in the palace, and disaster comes from the sky, are we plotting against the prince? What have we done? How can this be compared!"
As soon as he heard what he said, the atmosphere in the meeting hall immediately became high again. Many people felt that what he said made sense.
"Yes, that's the truth. Can we be the same as Duke Chengguo?"
"Yes, yes, Duke Cheng is really treason. At most, we are just making some money. This is a fundamental difference!"
"That's right, you can't compare what you can't compare!"
"Besides, how many do we have here? Those factory guards and damn Ma Shiying are messing around here and forcing so many of our founding heroes. This is arousing public outrage. As long as we unite and resist together, the current emperor can still
Have we dealt with them all?”
"No, with more people and greater strength, an arrow is easy to break. A bundle of arrows depends on how they break it. Who has the ability and courage to break it? Wang Dehua, Li Ruolian, or Ma Shiying? I don't think they dare!"
"..."
Some mature and prudent people saw that Duke Xu Hongji of Wei State was silent, so they asked, "What do you think of this?"
After hearing this, the meeting hall became quiet, and everyone looked at Wei Guogong, waiting for him to speak.
Xu Hongji looked at them, his expression was not very good, and he said slowly: "It is not impossible if we start moving together in Nanjing, at least to echo the literati's troubles in the north. In this way, the emperor's side must be
The pressure will be even greater!”
"That's right!" Upon hearing this, Xu Wenjue immediately agreed, "Isn't there a Gongyuan case going on in the capital? The emperor didn't know what he thought, but he actually copied the Confucian family, and all the scholars flocked to the capital.
It’s just that our Jiangnan side is too far away from the capital, otherwise it would overcrowd the capital!”
In excitement, he continued: "I guess the emperor is really having a headache right now! If we add in the merits of our generations and make trouble, look at what the factory guard and that bastard Ma Shiying have forced us into.
!”
After hearing his words, the atmosphere in the meeting hall suddenly became lively again.
When they thought about it, the emperor had a problem with his head before he touched the Confucius family in Qufu. Didn't he just stoke the hornet's nest of scholars?
At this time, Xungui once again complained about the injustice, saying that the factory guard and Ma Shiying had framed Zhongliang. Maybe the emperor would have to punish the factory guard, and it would be best to put Ma Shiying in prison.
"That's right, we have so many emperors in the Ming Dynasty, which one can withstand such great pressure. The Emperor Jiajing back then was just a group of civil servants who made trouble. How long did it take to smooth things over? This time, as long as the scholars are
We all want to cry out for the Kong family and see how the emperor will deal with it?"
"That's right. In the current situation, even if Emperor Jiajing were alive, he would definitely have to give in! This is completely different from the time when we were just arguing about etiquette!"
"The civil servants are all fighting with the emperor. Now the only one the emperor can rely on is us. However, we are being framed by the factory guards. If the emperor wants us to stand up for him, he must give us an explanation!"
"That's right, now is the time to start a riot. After passing this village, if we make a quarrel, I'm afraid the pressure will be a little greater. Our emperor is indeed a little stunned."
"..."
They all were shouting their own ideas, but they never thought that Emperor Jiajing might not be able to cope with the pressure from civil servants and nobles, but what about the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty?
Xu Hongji didn't speak, just listened to what they were talking about. On one point, he quite agreed.
Today's emperor's behavior cannot be judged by common sense.
Who among the ordinary emperors would let the factory guards come to Nanjing to cause trouble? Who among the ordinary emperors would take action against the Confucian family? It would be great if they could at most replace the Duke Yan Shenggong. But this emperor actually confiscated the Confucian family in Qufu.
, so much so that scholars all over the world complained about the Confucius family in Qufu and gathered in the capital to demand an explanation.
No matter how powerful your emperor is, what can you do about this kind of thing? You can't kill all the scholars, right?
Do you really think that the emperor can do whatever he wants?
Look, the current emperor will definitely give in to what happened to the Kong family in Qufu and return the stolen money. This would be a slap in his own face.
This incident will inevitably trigger the writings of scholars, and it will leave a strong mark on the poems, songs, and history books at that time.
The reputation of the current emperor is probably going to be ruined!
Here in Nanjing, if we unite with the squires and start a fight with the factory guards, this should be the last straw, right?
Thinking about this, Xu Hongji thought carefully for a while, and felt that there was no problem, so he finally said: "For the sake of the legacy left by our ancestors, let's do another one!"
When they heard him speak, everyone else looked at him.
"Let's not show up now, let's let the factory guards and Ma Shiying make trouble there!" Xu Hongji said, "Let them arrest more people. After the culprits are caught and the public is outraged, we will stand up one by one. When necessary, Dan Shutie
The coupons will open the way. Let’s see if these factory guards and Ma Shiying have the guts to ignore the iron coupons written in the elixir!”
"Okay, this is a good idea, sir! Seeing how hard they are forcing it, if the emperor doesn't give an explanation, he will definitely be a general without a country!"
"That's right, we all have iron certificates of alchemy books. How dare they touch the iron certificates of alchemy books sealed by Emperor Taizu?"
"When the time comes, we will surround their mansion and prevent them from entering or exiting. As long as they don't shout disobedient words like those scholars, will they still dare to use the army to suppress us?"
"..."
With the approval of everyone, a rough countermeasure was formulated. Then, these nobles began to discuss the specific details.
…………
On Ma Shiying's side, a notice was quickly posted, asking those who surrendered to avoid being held responsible; if they were caught, they would have to serve hard labor.
At the same time, Ruan Dacheng and Chen Yuanyuan also began to coordinate their propaganda efforts to encourage those in hiding to surrender. There were acting, singing, and sketches.
This was discussed in advance. The first stage was to arrest a group of people and create a tense atmosphere;
Now is the second stage, the main thing is to let the hidden people surrender. After all, there are too many hidden people in Jiangnan. If we really want to arrest them, they won't be able to catch them.
The third stage is when the land surveyed by the hidden households is almost complete, and the land begins to be re-measured. At this point, the surrendered households are very important. The land information they provide is very useful.
Of course, since all the land account books were burned, when we look back, it will be Ma Shiying who has the final say. As for what private property cannot be invaded, under the imperial power, that is nonsense!
However, what Ma Shiying and others did not expect was that the wind direction in Nanjing suddenly began to change.
First, scholars began to gather. Of course, you can also think that these are actually local squires, there is not much difference.
They could not go to the capital, so they supported the capital inside and outside Nanjing, shouting slogans and demanding justice for the saints. Opposing the court was actually opposing the emperor's harsh treatment of the saints.
Nanjing has a strong community atmosphere, so many literati have gathered here.
These literati probably learned the lesson from the capital, and did not dare to occupy the Gongyuan Palace to obstruct the government's work. They protested more abiding by the rules and submitted petitions to the government.
On the government side, there were also civil servants. Naturally, they all vented their anger and comforted each other. They even joined their ranks and wrote memorials to write to the emperor and bring justice to Duke Yan.
In other words, those people in the government did not deal with these matters at all, and reported them directly to the superiors, who would take care of them. Reporting level by level, they reported to the Nanjing garrison, the Nanjing garrison eunuch and Ma Shiying. Because the three of them are now
A powerful official in Nanjing City.
Lu Jiude came to Ma Shiying to complain. He didn't have the guts to arrest someone for such a big matter.
Even Ma Shiying was in a bit of a dilemma. Because he was also a scholar and was very rational, so he wanted to avenge the Confucius family in Qufu.
Fortunately, Wang Dehua woke him up and told him not to worry about these miscellaneous things and just focus on the previous matters. It would not be too late to wait until the capital has a conclusion on the matter of literati making trouble.
"Don't even think about it. Although the literati protested before, they were too far away from the capital, so they just shouted. But now they are gathering in groups? Why is this? They are definitely trying to divert our attention! Ignore it.
that is!"
Ma Shiying was convinced by Wang Dehua's words, so he listened to Wang Dehua's words and continued to investigate the hidden houses and advance the second phase.
However, the effect was not good. There were not many inmates who surrendered. On the contrary, there were many inmates who had been caught before and escaped from prison. Upon further questioning, it was found that there were not enough manpower, and it was not known whether the local authorities had deliberately let them go.
Also, whether it’s Ruan Dacheng or Chen Yuanyuan
Here, everyone encountered troublemakers.
These people are basically local scoundrels who just want to make trouble for you so that you can't publicize them. They are not afraid of being detained or beaten. It's such a trivial matter, so you can't kill people for it, right?
After several days, Ruan Dacheng and Chen Yuanyuan came to see Ma Shiying helplessly.