Chapter 436 The Growth of Taoist Demons
What Zhang Juzheng did not expect was that the ones who launched an attack on him were not other ministers of the capital, not censors, relatives, or eunuchs, but several dismissed government officials in Shanxi.
Guanzhong is no longer a granary due to climate change, desertification and aging water conservancy facilities.
Among the provinces under the Ming Dynasty, it is good for Shaanxi to be self-sufficient, and sometimes it needs help from other provinces.
The past two years have been difficult for Shaanxi.
First, there was the Guanzhong earthquake, which displaced a large number of people. Even Shaanxi officials were killed in large areas. The Ming court's disaster relief work was slow and corrupt. The Huazhou area at the center of the earthquake is still in ruins.
Immediately afterwards, the emperor moved to Xi'an. The king of Qin exhausted his family wealth to support the emperor. After Jiajing left, the king of Qin stepped up his exploitation of the people of Shaanxi.
Natural disasters and man-made disasters have made it difficult for the people of Shaanxi to survive.
The entrance examination method promoted by Zhang Juzheng requires that yamen in all provinces, prefectures and counties must eliminate a certain number of "redundant staff" and eliminate some low-end officials.
Wang Eryong is a native of Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province. He is a man of justice and wealth and has great prestige in the county.
There was another severe drought in Guanzhong last year, and Wang Er failed to harvest any crops from his own farmland.
Wang Eryong spent all his family wealth and donated himself a position as a county government official.
According to the normal development trajectory, Wang Eryong might have been dyed black by the big dye vat of the county government, and turned into an evil government servant who exploited the people.
It's also possible that he stayed true to his original intention and eked out a living in the county government office.
But Wang Eryong ran into the exam method.
As soon as Wang Eryong went to the Yamen today, he was called to the room of his boss Ding Dianshi.
"Wang Yamen, someone has accused you of accepting bribes."
Ding Dianshi handed a signed document to Wang Eryong. Wang Eryong was illiterate and could not understand the words on the document at all.
He immediately argued: "Sir, I am unjustly accused!"
But Ding Dianshi said seriously: "Prime Minister Zhang has repeatedly issued orders asking local officials to be honest and honest. People like you ruin the reputation of the government. It is considered a favor of the county magistrate that he did not put you in jail. You still dare to cry out for injustice!"
Wang Eryong looked at the upright Ding Dianshi, and then thought that in order to open up his relationship, he had given him so much money, and even married his sister to him as a concubine, and the more he thought about it, the more he thought about it. gas.
Ding Dianshi thought to himself and said:
"The county magistrate is merciful. I only need you to return the stolen money to the county government, and I won't pursue it anymore."
Wang Er gritted his teeth and held back his anger and asked: "I don't know how much the villain has to return ." Stolen money?"
Ding Dianshi pretended to look at the confession and said, "It's not much, just ten taels of silver."
Wang Eryong held back his anger and asked, "What if the villain can't hand over this silver?" "
Then we can only do it first. He is in custody."
Wang Eryong bowed to Ding Dianshi and said, "Master Dianshi, can you let me go back and prepare money?"
Ding Dianshi said in embarrassment: "One day at most."
"One day is enough, thank you sir. "
After Wang Eryong came out of Ding Dianshi's room, he did not go home directly to raise money, but came to his public house.
Wang Eryong felt criticized by his colleagues, but he was very popular within the yamen, and he also made a few friends.
Wang Eryong secretly grabbed a few colleagues with whom he had good relationships and quickly inquired about the situation from them.
It turned out that the dismissal of officials was regarded as a task by the superiors, and Chengcheng County was required to eliminate several officials. However, Wang Er was listed on the list because he did not have a strong relationship with him and had no powerful local officials. .
Wang Eryong has already guessed the reason. Among the yamen, he is the most serious person in doing things, but he is not there every time when benefits are distributed.
Who told him not to be tough backstage?
Those yamen servants with strong backgrounds do not come to the yamen to attend the yamen on weekdays, and the benefits are still quite numerous.
Wang Er, a government servant with a weak background, is exhausted every day, doing dirty and tiring work. If something good happens, he will definitely not be there, and if something bad happens, he will definitely be thought of.
Elimination at the bottom looks great, but in fact, it is not the person with the lowest ranking who is eliminated, but the person with the least connection.
The reason is naturally very simple. It is difficult to objectively evaluate the quality of administrative work.
All you do are difficult tasks such as hunting down criminals, managing land, and patrolling the streets. Every day, you will be criticized by your superiors for not doing well.
What everyone does is the easy task of sorting out information and writing official documents, and they can do it for a year without making any mistakes.
Who did it well and who did it poorly?
Even if they do the same thing but are assigned to different places, the results will be completely different. There are good and bad in Shangguan's mind.
For example, when it comes to collecting taxes, it is most difficult to complete the task in poor and disaster-stricken areas. The common people in large households have no money, let alone taking advantage of the opportunity to exploit, even completing the tasks of the county government is difficult.
It is easiest to complete tasks in a place where the weather is good. Anyway, everyone has food in their hands. Even if they are filial to you, they will not starve to death.
Wang Eryong had to do dirty and tiring work when he joined the county government, and he also showed a lot of respect to Ding Dianshi, but in the end he couldn't compete with his deep connections.
Yes, how can the efforts of one generation be worth the accumulation of several generations of others?
Wang Eryong looked at these friends from the same yamen, and they all looked worried. This time, Wang Eryong, the one with the least connection, was dismissed, and it might be them next time.
Wang Eryong left the Yamen, but did not go home. Instead, he went directly to all the banks in the county.
Nowadays, trade is developed, and banks of all sizes have been opened in Shaanxi. However, the main business of these banks is not to facilitate commercial circulation, but to usury.
Wang Er went to all the banks that were about to be established, and used his status as a county government official as a guarantee, and each borrowed a loan at a high interest rate.
These banks did not know that Wang Eryong had been fired by the county government, so they all lent him money because of his status as an official. Wang Eryong took the money and found the fellow villagers who had fled the famine. He treated them to a delicious meal. Then he took out a knife and stuck it on the table and said, "It's too much to bully someone! I want to rebel
against this son of a bitch." Court, what do you think?"
Wang Eryong's cronies had already closed the door, and everyone had been drinking, and now they were a little drunk.
They are all refugees who suffered from the drought last year. Most of them have sold their wives and children and are already penniless. They often receive help from Wang Eryong on weekdays.
It's not that they don't work hard, it's that the entire Chengcheng County is full of such disaster victims, and no one wants to work.
This group of people was already starving to death, and after eating Wang Eryu's banquet today, they also had the idea of destroying everything.
On weekdays, I see the officials and wealthy households in these counties having a lot of money and having beautiful wives and concubines at home, but I don't even have a place to stay.
"Guan Gu! If you kill two, you will gain, but if you kill one, you will not lose!"
Wang Eryong saw that people's hearts could be used, and immediately asked them to lurk at the gate of the county government late at night.
Wang Eryong carried wine and made the yamen guarding the gate of the county government drunk, and put the group of people into the county yamen and hid them.
When he went to the government office the next day, Wang Eryong was familiar with the terrain of the county government office. He first led people to open the arsenal and distributed the weapons to his subordinates.
Then he sneaked into the county government office and kidnapped the county magistrate who had just sobered up.
Wang Eryong asked the county magistrate to convene a meeting with all the officials in the county. The magistrate was so frightened that he wet his pants and naturally did not dare to disobey.
When all the officials gathered in the county government hall, Wang Eryong locked the door directly and massacred all the officials in the government hall.
When Ding Dianshi saw Wang Eryong holding a knife, he immediately knelt down to beg for mercy and called "uncle brother", but Wang Eryong ignored his begging for mercy and stabbed him directly in the abdomen and hung him in the court. .
Wang Eryong slaughtered all the officials in the county.
After all, he had worked as a government servant in the county. Although he was illiterate, he had some knowledge. He first took control of the county's granary and issued the slogan "Kill officials to provide disaster relief", and soon gathered a large number of victims.
Immediately afterwards, Wang Eryong captured the surrounding counties of Luochuan and Baishui. Wang Eryong ordered all the revolting soldiers to paint their faces with ink, calling himself the "Black Face Army", massacring officials, robbing big households, and quickly caused huge chaos in Guanzhong. Momentum.
When this incident reached the capital, Shen Mingchen, the editor-in-chief of the "Beijing News", was very happy. He took the news to his nephew Shen Yiguan and said excitedly: "Guanzhong is in chaos!" Shen Yiguan had always been cold-blooded, and he was not impressed by his uncle's
excitement
. There was no response, and he just said lightly:
"I'm afraid my uncle may be happy too early. After Zhang Juzheng came to power, he organized and trained new armies in all provinces. The new army in Shaanxi has not yet been dispatched, and the result is still unknown." But Shen
Mingchen He did not agree with his nephew's judgment, but said:
"The Shaanxi New Army has only been established for less than half a year. This time Wang Eryong's uprising was huge, sweeping across two prefectures and three counties from the beginning. According to the experience in history books, such an uprising will sweep across Throughout Guanzhong, even if Mingting survives, his vitality will be severely damaged."
Shen Yiguan shook his head and did not agree with his uncle's words.
Sure enough, new news from Shaanxi came five days later.
Shaanxi Bingdao Wei Yunwen heard the news of Wang Eryong's uprising and immediately led the Shaanxi New Army to quell the rebellion.
The Shaanxi New Army, which used muskets and artillery, captured Chengcheng County in just one day, and Wang Eryong was driven out of his hometown in the county.
Immediately after Wei Yunwen sent musketeers to clear the countryside, Wang Eryong was betrayed by his traitors and was besieged on a hill on the edge of Chengcheng County.
In the end, Wang Eryong was betrayed by his personal guards and his head was cut off and presented to the Ming court. Wei Yunwen passed his head to various counties in Shaanxi for public display.
This uprising that should have been vigorous was completely extinguished in less than ten days.
Shen Mingchen was also dumbfounded. His nephew Shen Guanyi said:
"History is an upward spiral. The so-called road is always higher." "
If the Ming court in the past encountered Wang Eryong's behavior, it would have spent a lot of financial and material resources to put it out. But things are different now."
"Muskets and artillery not only increased our power in the southeast, but also strengthened the strength of the reactionary rulers like the Ming Dynasty. The rebel army with only swords and guns could not resist the new army equipped with advanced weapons."
Shen Mingchen said weakly: "So, our Southeast has made Mingting stronger?"
Shen Yiguan nodded and said: "The Governor's article a few days ago already talked about 'technology diffusion'."
"Don't talk about muskets and artillery. This kind of thing that has appeared for a long time, even things like telescopes, Ming Ting has begun to imitate." "The
principles of some things are not complicated, but no one has thought of using these things in war."
" It is almost impossible to prevent the spread of technology." "
The Governor has already said that the forces that do research first often need to invest more financial resources and force in order to develop usable products." "
Then develop products later. The forces only need to simply imitate and invest in the right direction to catch up with the first movers." "
If you want to stay ahead, you can only continue to research and develop and promote reforms."
"Ming Ting is the first. A force that benefits from the diffusion of technology in our Southeast will also benefit from the surrounding countries. We in the Southeast cannot stop and can only stay ahead by constantly moving forward."
Shen Mingchen sighed and said: "You mean, never again in the future . Without Chen Sheng and Wu Guang? The world has become so boring!"
Shen Yiguan said coldly: "Uncle, every step of the way is as high as the devil, and everything is spiraling upward." "The
reactionary forces in the Ming court are rising. Strengthening, the power of progress is also strengthening. What is accumulated under reactionary high pressure is a stronger resistance force, and that is a force more powerful than Wang Er's uprising." Shen Mingchen asked doubtfully: "What is this force you are talking about
? Where?"
Shen Yiguan showed a rare smile and said: "In the printing factory, in the workshop, among the grassroots of the New Army."
Shen Yiguan said: "Uncle, I have written to the Governor, asking him to strengthen the control of the new army. The infiltration of the Ming court's new workshops and the hired workers who are organized, skilled, literate and able to use new weapons are the key forces that will lead the resistance against the Ming court in the future." (End of this
chapter)