Zheng Chenggong had no reservations about Shen Shuren, the elder brother who had been protecting him all the way. Shen Shuren asked him to bring all the evidence, and he did it within minutes and immediately asked his men to cross the boat to get it.
Zheng Chenggong also did not consider at all whether "my eldest brother did this because he intended to use the deterrent power of the official weapon of the imperial court to seek personal interests."
This is not because Zheng Chenggong is disloyal to the Ming Dynasty, but it is rare for the Ming Dynasty bureaucrats he sees today to be trustworthy and loyal to the country.
Zheng Chenggong is just about to turn eighteen now, and he feels that he has not yet seen through the true nature of people, so he will treat whoever his elder brother says is a bad person.
As for the eldest brother himself, he must be the number one Ming Zhongliang. Helping the eldest brother do things means being loyal to the court.
A quarter of an hour later, Shen Shuren looked at the new materials he had just received and roughly sorted them out.
Even though he was mentally prepared, after seeing the details, he couldn't help but be shocked by the seriousness of the matter.
The evidence in Zheng Chenggong's hands can at least prove that at least six or seven business trips controlled by local gentry and prominent families in Jiujiang Prefecture, Nanchang Prefecture, Raozhou Prefecture, and Yuanzhou Prefecture in Jiangxi Province are suspected of being gangsters raised by Lin. There are material transactions.
Moreover, this is only the most recent transaction. According to the confessions of Lin Chengcheng’s subordinates who were tortured, this type of transaction lasted for at least nearly three years.
The original trading partners were not limited to Lin Chengcheng, but also Liu Xiyao and He Jin, who are now dead.
The trading time ranged from before they were surrendered by Xiong Wencan in the 11th year of Chongzhen, to after the surrender, and then in the twelfth year of Chongzhen when they were coerced by Zhang Xianzhong to rebel again.
Strictly speaking, among these transactions, only the period between the second half of the 11th year of Chongzhen and the first half of the 12th year of Chongzhen was considered legal.
Because at that time, Lin Chengcheng and Liu Xiyao had temporarily surrendered to the imperial court, which could be regarded as clearing their identity. They were local generals of the Ming Dynasty who "enclosed their territory and defended themselves". Of course, Ming merchants could do business with them in a legitimate manner.
However, before these bandits were imprisoned and after they rebelled again, they still maintained material trade with them. This is definitely a conspiracy with bandits and there is no way to clean it up.
Finally, Zheng Chenggong’s evidence also showed that the reason why these Jiangxi tycoons and wealthy businessmen took risks and insisted on trading was basically because they were greedy for the huge profits——
When Liu Xiyaolin was still a legal general of the Ming Dynasty, the prices were relatively cheap when they purchased supplies that were in short supply for the winter every year.
Because it was a legal business, competition was fierce and more people entered the market. At that time, there were at least 20 or 30 Jiangxi businessmen sharing the cake, so prices could not go up.
After Lin Chengcheng and others revolted, they became gangsters again. If they continued to trade, the seller's risks would be much greater, so the original twenty or thirty suppliers dropped sharply to six or seven of the most powerful remaining ones. Down.
These people often have strong backings, and when they are inspected by the imperial court, some people will tip off the information, so they have the courage——
This is easy to understand. Just like in the early 21st century, when opening Internet cafes that allowed minors was a legal business, there were many people doing this business and everyone's profits were small.
When this matter is subject to surprise inspections every three days, then only people with strong backgrounds can do this business. With fewer people involved, wealth can be gained through danger.
To be honest, these acts of banditry and profiteers were not mentioned in the "History of the Ming Dynasty", and it was impossible for the Chenshu people to know about them relying on the foresight of those who traveled through time.
When he read history in his previous life, he only heard that among the Shanxi merchants in the late Ming Dynasty, there were "eight major locust merchants" who were traitors to the Tartars. As for those who collaborated with thieves, they were indeed inconspicuous.
Now that I think about it, it may be that there are too many such people. Every province has profiteers who are unscrupulous for money, so there is no need for regional discrimination.
Chen Shuren even saw the family of Yuan Jixian, the former Huguang soldier, in the list again, on the list of wealthy businessmen who were involved in bandits in Yuanzhou Prefecture.
Yuan Jixian himself and Shen Shuren have always wanted to be friends with each other. After all, they are loyal ministers. Historically, they were also an important helper against Zuo Liangyu.
But it can only be said that in the late Ming Dynasty, the families of wealthy gentlemen and officials had to maintain their fortunes and were greedy for money by any means. It was too common for them to collaborate with Tatars and bandits.
Zhu Dadian, who was killed by Chen Shuren before, was considered a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty in terms of his integrity and would rather die than surrender to the Tatars in the future, but he was just as greedy for money.
Among the scholar-bureaucrats in the late Ming Dynasty, greed and loyalty to national integrity were often not contradictory.
It can almost be said that at least 80% to 90% of people are greedy, just greedy for more and greedy for less.
And maybe a small half of them are greedy while also taking national integrity into account.
The remaining half are greedy and have no national integrity.
…
After Chen Shuren sorted everything out, he put away his things, considered his response strategy, and then said to Zheng Chenggong in a persuasive manner:
"Damu, I really want to report this matter directly to Shangdatian and clear away the accumulated evil. But the matter is too big and I will offend too many people at once. I'm afraid it will only cause trouble.
We have no choice but to pay attention to some strategies, try to divide and disintegrate them, draw one faction to fight another, and we cannot offend all the wealthy families behind these Jiangxi profiteers at the same time."
Zheng Chenggong didn't understand it very well, but he also knew what the Ming Dynasty's officialdom was like now, and he knew what trouble would happen if he made too many enemies at once.
He took a deep breath and stated his position bluntly: "Brother, tell me what to do."
Chen Shuren touched his nose: "These confessions should all be true, but they are not detailed enough. Let's ask a few more questions and change from different angles -
For example, ask, among the Jiangxi gentry who colluded with them, which of them originally only took the Xianqianhe trade route in Huangzhou Prefecture, Huguang, and Huangmei County? And which ones took the Anqing Prefecture, Susong Prefecture, Nanzhili Lei Shui from the county, or Malu River?
Then, keep those who only went to Qianhe in Huangzhou County and committed relatively minor crimes, and count those who also went to Qianhe in Huangzhou County and Leishui in Anqing and committed more serious crimes."
After all, Zheng Chenggong was still young and didn't understand conspiracy, so he didn't realize what the difference was.
Although those who master a large number of bandit trade routes will definitely commit more serious crimes than those who control a smaller number of bandit trade routes, they should not accumulate qualitative changes, right?
But he had no choice but to agree, saying that today he would go and catch those who had grown up before the torture, and get the more detailed confessions that his elder brother wanted.
Only Shen Shuren himself knew what he wanted to do: he had just improvised the plan to suppress his political opponents.
Now, as the censor of Qiandu, he is only one step away from officially adding the title of governor.
When Chongzhen was promoted to the Huguang Military Preparation Department and the Censor of the Capital City, his main task was to ensure the complete eradication of the bandits in the Dabie Mountains and prevent them from causing harm. That's why Zheng Chenggong came to intercept and blockade the bandits.
Now that the blockade has been in place for more than two months, several syndicates and profiteers who came from Jiangxi via Huguang to supply Lin cultivation supplies have been secretly tracked down.
Is it possible that there are no profiteers in Jiangxi Province who pass through Nanzhili and then move to Linyang to cultivate their territory?
Obviously impossible.
There is no way to directly reach the Dabie Mountains from Jiangxi. To communicate with the bandits in the Dabie Mountains, you only need to exit Poyang Hukou from Hukou Town in Jiujiang, turn west to Huguang, and turn east to Nanzhili.
Although the river flows upstream from the mouth of Poyang Lake to the mouth of the Xianqian River, or from the mouth of Poyang Lake to the mouth of the Leishui River, it only takes a few dozen miles.
But within a few dozen miles, it can make a big fuss from a legal point of view.
As long as there are traitors and profiteers passing through these dozens of miles of the Yangtze River, and the regulatory authorities fail to catch them and are found out in the future, it will be a serious dereliction of duty!
This shows that the officials in Southern Zhili who collected lijin, levied tariffs, and conducted anti-smuggling and patrols on the Yangtze River all received benefits from top to bottom. Some of them should be held accountable!
Otherwise, why were all those who traveled to Huguang from Jiangxi Province investigated by Zheng Chenggong, while those who traveled to South Zhili in Jiangxi Province were not investigated at all?
We cannot think deeply about this issue.
When the problem was not exposed, hello, me, everyone, hello, but once Zheng Chenggong, the thorn in the side, highlighted the problem, it was exposed in broad daylight.
A comparison with colleagues can immediately highlight the incompetence and corruption of the relevant personnel in South Zhili!
It all depends on the support of peers.
Then, Chen Shuren can use this time to return to Nanjing to hunt rabbits and take the power of patrolling the river between South Zhili and Jiangxi and the supervision power of Lijin collection in his own hands!
It's not impossible to do this, because the "governor" official function in the late Ming Dynasty was not strictly based on provincial boundaries.
When Shi Kefa took office as the "Governor of Anlu" or commonly known as "Governor of Anhui" five years ago, he actually governed the four prefectures of "Anlu Chitai" in southern Zhili, plus Jiujiang Prefecture in the north of Jiangxi, because the court believed that
These five prefectures are all related to the area plagued by bandits in the fifth camp of Gezuo.
If the traitor situation is assessed to be relatively weak now, when Shen Shuren takes over the governorship that once belonged to Shi Kefa next year, will he be able to include Chizhou and Taiping Prefecture (Wuhu and Ma'anshan, both near the upper reaches of Nanjing) on the south bank of the Yangtze River?
It’s hard to say what the scope of the governorship is.
After all, Shen Shuren is different from Shi Kefa. He started his business in Huguang, and today he still has the Xiangyang-Wuchang line as his core sphere of influence.
If when he is promoted to governor, the original core sphere of influence remains unchanged, and other prefectures in the Dabie Mountains north of the Yangtze River are added to him, the territory will already be quite large, and it is fully qualified as a governor's jurisdiction. If you want to think about Jiujiang, Chizhou
, Taiping Mansion also added that it is difficult to do without any reason.
Even if it's already the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, the officialdom is extremely corrupt, and you can do a lot of things if you spend money, you still have to make a name for yourself.
Now, Zheng Chenggong has taken off the lid and is hunting rabbits, proving that there are at least some people in Jiujiang Prefecture in Jiangxi Province and Chizhou Prefecture in South Zhili Province who are collaborating with thieves and others who are derelict in their duties.
Moreover, Shen Shuren controlled the evidence in his hands and divided the criminals into two waves:
The first wave was at the junction of Jiangxi and Huguang, and the junction of Jiangxi and South Zhili. There were illegal trade routes.
The other wave is that there are illegal trade routes only at the junction of Jiangxi and Huguang, and there is no energy to reach the junction of Jiangxi and South Zhili.
Shen Shuren only focused on beating the first wave of more serious crimes, but he won over and stabilized the later wave of relatively minor crimes. At the same time, he thought of a clever plan to hint to them: as long as they help Shen Shuren, they will fight the first wave of wealthy gentry with more serious crimes.
, then they can turn a blind eye to their own problems.
Under normal circumstances, no one would dare to believe Chen Shuren's promise. People with a little bit of brains would worry that this was just Shen Shuren's delaying tactic, and they would be held responsible for this for the rest of their lives in the future.
But the problem is, Shen Shuren still has a backup plan - he is sure that Lin Cheng will make a complete crash landing.
After Lin Yang and Zhaoan surrendered, some things had to be revealed.
Now that Lin Chengcheng has been cleansed, it’s hard to completely hold on to those who have done business with Lin Chengcheng, right? Otherwise, wouldn’t this stimulate Lin Chengcheng? Aren’t we afraid of Lin Chengcheng’s third rebellion? ?
Therefore, Chen Shuren's threatening materials to those he threatens have a shelf life.
Chen Shuren couldn't rely on this deterrent to eat people for the rest of his life. He could only choose to either exchange some official chips before Lin Chengcheng surrendered, or detonate it directly.
Anyway, as long as Chen Shuren is not benefited, he will definitely choose to detonate it. This deterrence is still guaranteed.
If you are given benefits and get through this period, it will be over.
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