Song Songgong's initiative to plead guilty was something that had long been expected, and it was also part of the tacit understanding between Zhao Junchen and the "Zhou Party".
Zhao Junchen will comprehensively rectify the Xingzhou officials and gentry, but he will not kill them all, but still have to leave some leeway.
It's not that Zhao Junchen is worried that he will arouse the hostility of the world's gentry if he does something too ruthless - after a series of arrangements and foreshadowing, Zhao Junchen has now roughly resolved this concern.
It's because in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the next year, Xingzhou cannot do without these Jin gentry.
Whether it is to maintain the stability of the situation or to help the people of Xingzhou successfully survive the food shortage in the next year, the efforts of these gentry are needed.
Therefore, as long as the Xingzhou Jin gentry behaved more intelligently, Zhao Junchen could be accommodating instead of sweeping them away.
Of course, Zhao Junchen would not let them go easily.
*
Although he had expected Song Songgong's voluntary apology, Zhao Junchen still looked surprised on the surface and asked: "Why did the head of the Song family say this? What is your crime? Did you also participate in the Li family's rebellion?"
"
Song Songgong couldn't help but trembled, and quickly shook his head and denied: "Like the Li family's group of traitors, the common people have long been disgusted with them. They have always been strangers, and they have never been in harmony with each other. They have never had deep friendship with them.
, and repeatedly warned the children of the Song family to stay away from them, how could they participate in the Li family's rebellion... Zhao Gechen, you must not joke about this kind of thing! I can't stand such a joke!"
"Oh? Then why do you want to apologize?"
When asking again, Zhao Junchen turned his head and glanced at Niu Fude seemingly inadvertently.
Niu Fude immediately nodded lightly to Zhao Junchen, and then quietly left the Xingzhou Mansion Office.
At the same time, Song Songgong was full of remorse and blamed himself: "The reason why the people are asking you for forgiveness is... the people should not be greedy and shameless, selling food to the people while earning the subsidy difference from you! The people
Since we are opening a grain store, it is only natural to sell rice to the people! If the price of rice per stone is one or two taels of silver, you have already made a profit! How can there be any reason to subsidize the price difference from you? It is still three taels.
Eight coins as much?"
Having said this, Song Songgong slapped himself in the face, and then said: "It's just that the little people were so obsessed that they did such an unkind and stupid thing! But now the little people have woken up and dare not
Do it again! Therefore, I want to return all the gold I earned from Zhao Gechen to Zhao Gechen. I don’t dare to make money from you unscrupulously anymore. I hope you will be magnanimous and accept it!
"
After saying that, Song Songgong bowed his head and said nothing. It seemed that if Zhao Junchen did not agree to take back the gold, he would never get up.
After hearing Song Songgong's words, the other Jin gentry were stunned for a moment, and then they all reacted quickly.
Yes, one of the reasons why Zhao Junchen killed all the Xingzhou Jin gentry was that the Xingzhou Jin gentry sold grain at a sky-high price of five taels of silver, thus making Zhao Junchen's advantage.
But Zhao Junchen’s advantage can also be earned by Xingzhou Jingentry?
Naturally, I want to return it in full and try to calm Zhao Junchen's anger!
What's more, as long as all the gold is returned to Zhao Junchen, the accounting gentlemen of the Jin gentry will have no reason to stay in the Xingzhou government office overnight, and Zhao Junchen will not be able to use these accounting gentlemen to trace the crimes of the Jin gentry!
Gold is certainly tempting, but under the current situation, seeing that Zhao Junchen may have to kill all the Jin gentry in Xingzhou, naturally it is more important to save his life.
Thinking of this, the Xingzhou Jin gentry imitated Song Songgong one after another, and they all threw themselves in front of Zhao Junchen and kowtowed and begged!
"Zhao Gechen Mingjian! Xiaomin was blinded by lard in the first place, and he was also blinded by the gold! Now he regrets it! I hope Zhao Gechen will never forget the faults of villains, and take back all the gold now !”
"Yes, I hope you, Minister Zhao, will forgive our greed, and we are willing to return all the ill-gotten gains!"
"Zhao Gechen, you generously donated money for the sake of the people of Xingzhou, but we and the Xingzhou Jin gentry were only thinking about making money and taking advantage! I feel so regretful! I feel so ashamed!"
Hearing the Xingzhou gentry pleading with him to take back all the gold, Zhao Junchen spoke uprightly, shook his head and refused: "I said I would subsidize the price difference for you, how can I go back on my promise afterwards? If I do such a thing, in the future I will Does anyone dare to do business with me? That batch of gold is indeed valuable, but how can it be more valuable than our reputation? What’s more, the contract with black letters on a white background has been signed, so there is no reason to regret it!?"
Seeing that Zhao Junchen was unwilling to take back the gold in their hands, the Xingzhou Jin gentry all became more and more frightened, as if the gold in their hands were poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, so they kowtowed and begged again.
"If you, Zhao Gechen, are not willing to take back the gold, I will kneel down and die here!"
"Zhao Gechen, even if you take back the gold, you are not breaking your promise, but covering up the shame of the common people and others! I hope Zhao Gechen will be able to help you!"
"Please take back the gold. This is the collective intention of us and the Xingzhou Jin gentry. It is also our active request. If anyone dares to accuse Zhao Gechen of breaking your promise, Xiaomin and others will fight them desperately!"
What's more, two Jin gentry took out the contract they signed with Zhao Junchen from their pockets on the spot, swallowed it whole, and then said loudly: "There is no contract! Xiaomin has never done anything. I’ve never seen the contract!”
Looking at the various ugliness of the Jin gentry, Zhao Junchen only felt that it was extremely funny.
But before Zhao Junchen could continue to tease them, Zhang Su, the commander-in-chief of Jizhen who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "Zhao Junchen, just accept your gold. If you let a few of the gentry be frightened to death by nightmares tonight, , I’m afraid there will be some trouble.”
Later, Li He also nodded in agreement and said: "Chairman Zhao, if you accept your gold, it will be a righteous help to the Xingzhou gentry! If you don't accept it, it will make the gentry bear the infamy. Since the gentry are all enlightened, If they are asking for help, you can help them reluctantly."
The Jin gentry in Xingzhou, especially the Liu family in the north of Xingzhou, have a very close relationship with Jizhen, and the "Zhou Party" is the interest representative of the official gentry group, so they are not willing to see Zhao Junchen forced to death like this All the Xingzhou Jin gentry.
In the eyes of Li He and Zhang Su, Zhao Junchen wiped out the Li family, the nine Li family clans, and all the gentry in the east of Xingzhou. This was enough to scare the monkeys, and they should have stopped immediately.
Considering that Li He and Zhang Su had helped him openly or covertly in the past few days for their own reasons, allowing him to realize the overall plan, Zhao Junchen was not willing to refute their reputation at this time.
So, after Zhao Junchen pondered for a moment, he finally said reluctantly: "In that case, I will reluctantly take back these golds! But I can no longer be unfaithful to the people, so the people accept
When I come down and use my grain purchase voucher to buy grain from you, you still have to sell rice grain at a price of one or two cents! At the same time, the price of grain in Xingzhou must return to normal immediately!"
After hearing this, all the Jin gentry present cheered loudly, thanked Zhao Junchen repeatedly, and hurriedly agreed to Zhao Junchen's conditions.
But at this moment, Zhao Junchen used the excuse that the gentry had given for refusing to lower the price of grain, and asked: "But in this case, what will happen after the grain reserves in Xingzhou City are quickly exhausted? Xingzhou's grain shortage
The predicament will last for a long time. If you don’t have more financial resources to buy grain from nearby state capitals, won’t everyone in Xingzhou starve to death?”
"There is no such thing! In fact, the common people still have 10,000 shi of food stored in Sheshui County, and they can still hold on for a while!"
"The common people are the gentry of Xingzhou. They should follow the example of Cabinet Minister Zhao and take the initiative to set an example. Even if they lose money, they must provide affordable rice for the people! No one will be unable to buy food again!"
"Zhao Gechen clearly knows that the people's wealth is quite rich, and they have close relations with several grain banks in the surrounding prefectures. They can definitely find a way to solve the food shortage dilemma in Xingzhou."
Upon hearing Zhao Junchen's doubts, the Xingzhou Jin gentry all gave their guarantees one after another, and all of them were upright and upright.
Next, the Xingzhou gentry were worried that Zhao Junchen would suddenly regret it, so they couldn't wait to rush back to their respective positions, personally holding the gold they had earned not long ago, and quickly returned all the gold.
While the Jin gentry were scrambling to return the gold, another aide of Zhao Junchen, Li Chuanwen, showed up and stood aside to check the accounts.
However, just when the gentry thought that the matter was finally over, they saw Li Chuanwen hurried into the government office lobby with a serious face and reported to Zhao Junchen in a deep voice: "Zhao Gechen, the number is wrong!"
"What number is wrong?"
Zhao Junchen seemed to have not expected another accident to happen, and asked after being slightly stunned.
Li Chuanwen turned his head and glanced at all the gentry, and said slowly: "The amount of gold is wrong! We have taken out a total of 14,000 kilograms of gold, which is 224,000 taels, but after this day's expenditure
After recycling, only 13,000 kilograms of gold were left, which is 28,080 taels! A whole thousand kilograms of gold was missing! As much as 16,000 taels of gold, this is not a fortune
small amount!"
Zhao Junchen was stunned again and said: "How can it be possible that there is so much gold missing? Did you make a mistake? Go and calculate it carefully!"
However, before Li Chuanwen turned around to do the calculation again, Liu Jiahe loudly stopped him and said: "Zhao Gechen, there is no need to do the calculation! Xiaomin suddenly remembered that he sent part of the gold home in advance and forgot to return it to you! There must be others
The gentry are in a similar situation... Please give me one day of grace, and the common people will definitely make up for the gold for you!"
"Yes! Yes! I also sent part of the gold home in advance and forgot to return it to the ministers, but you don't have to worry, we will try our best to make up for it for you!"
"That's right! Mr. Li couldn't have made a mistake in his calculations. It was us who remembered it wrong! But we will definitely find a way to make it up!"
When expressing their stance, the gentry all swore firmly without any hesitation, but deep in their hearts they were constantly bleeding and throbbing.
They knew very well that they had undoubtedly returned all the gold to Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen definitely only took out thirteen thousand kilograms of gold today. He said that there were originally fourteen thousand kilograms of gold, but now only thirteen thousand kilograms are left. Another thousand kilograms of gold is missing. It is definitely in
Telling lies with open eyes is actually just trying to extort a sum of "interest" from them.
But what can they do if they know the truth? Now, as long as Zhao Junchen, the God of Plague, can be appeased, all the Jin gentry must find a way to come up with a thousand kilograms of gold to "pay it back" to Zhao Junchen, which will save them money and avoid disaster.
One thousand catties of gold is sixteen thousand taels of gold, which can be exchanged for one hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver...
If it is only 160,000 taels of silver, it is not too much for the Xingzhou Jin gentry. If everyone shares it, at least it will not hurt their muscles and bones.
But in fact, one thousand pounds of gold and one hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver are completely different things.
Silver is very common, but gold is scarce. After generations of accumulation, the families of the Jin gentry all hoarded a lot of silver, but the amount of gold they hoarded was not large.
Therefore, if they wanted to collect a full thousand kilograms of gold, the Xingzhou Jin gentry's family gold reserves would have to be reduced by more than half.
Thinking of this, the Xingzhou Jin gentry forced their faces to smile, but all of them felt heartache.
"Although I lost most of the gold my family had accumulated over the generations, at least I managed to keep a greater amount of silver..."
In spite of the pain, several Jin gentry comforted themselves like this.
But this kind of thinking really underestimates Zhao Junchen and does not understand Zhao Junchen's acting style at all.
Zhao Junchen really did not intend to take away the money of the Jin gentry in Xingzhou, but he also would not let the money of the Jin gentry stay in the cellar and grow moldy.
Money has to be spent to be meaningful. Being a miser is meaningless to the Ming Dynasty. If the Jin gentry is unwilling to spend the money, then Zhao Junchen will help them spend the money.
Just as the Jin gentry promised Zhao Junchen that they would replenish the gold, Niu Fude, who had left the Xingzhou government office not long ago, hurriedly returned to the government office lobby with a serious face and loudly reported to Zhao Junchen: "Zhao Gechen, something bad happened.
It’s over! Something bad is going to happen!”
Zhao Junchen was stunned again and asked quickly: "What's going on?"
Niu Fude explained with a grimace: "The people in the city are making trouble again!"
Zhao Junchen looked dissatisfied: "What are the people making trouble? Haven't they been allowed to buy low-priced rice? Are they still not satisfied?"
"It's not the same group of people who are making trouble! After those people who still have a little money left in their hands have bought rice at low prices, their public sentiment is stable and they will not make trouble again, but now it is the people who are even poorer and penniless.
We are making trouble!" Niu Fude shook his head repeatedly and smiled bitterly: "Minister, the reason why the people have calmed down and the situation has been stable in the past few days is not only because you issued grain purchase vouchers to the people, but also because you opened porridge sheds to help those who have been displaced.
The common people could receive two bowls of porridge every day, so as not to starve to death on the streets, but seeing that the porridge shacks were about to be removed, those poor people thought they had lost their way of survival, so they started to riot one after another!"
Zhao Junchen seemed to have not expected such a situation at all. After being stunned for a long time, he shook his head and sighed: "This is not worrying about scarcity but inequality! People who still have a little money left in their hands are certainly happy after buying cheap rice.
, but for those people at the bottom who can’t even afford low-priced rice, seeing an advantage but not being able to take advantage of it, the resentment in their hearts naturally deepens, so it’s no wonder they make trouble!”
In fact, the leader who is leading the poor people to protest at this time is the leader of the guard under Zhao Junchen, Jiang Quan of the Forbidden Army!
And all these things were deliberately arranged by Zhao Junchen.
After Zhao Junchen shook his head and sighed for a moment, he looked up again at the Xingzhou gentry, his expression once again full of goodwill, and said: "It seems that before the people find a way to survive, the food shortage in Xingzhou will be completely resolved.
The porridge sheds cannot be stopped before! Dear gentry, I would like to spend another sum of gold to buy rice grains from you to open porridge sheds in various places in Xingzhou to help the penniless people to survive.
In order to overcome the difficulties in the coming year, I wonder if you gentlemen are willing to sell grain to me?"
Do you want to use gold to buy food from yourself?
Again?
After hearing Zhao Junchen's proposal, all the Jin gentry were frightened for a moment.
Now they would rather face the savage beast than dare to collect Zhao Junchen's gold.
Zhao Junchen's gold interest rate is too high, and it may cost his family and life, so they can't afford it.
Therefore, after Song Song took a deep breath, he immediately forced out a smile and said enthusiastically: "This is a matter within our territory of Xingzhou. You don't need to spend money to open the porridge shed, we will leave it to Xingzhou."
Just let the Jin gentry take charge! I promise you, the people, that before the food shortage in Xingzhou is completely solved, there will be porridge sheds opened by my Song family in every county and township in southern Xingzhou to provide relief to the people!"
Liu Jiahe also managed to hide the pain in his expression, and said with the same righteousness: "It's the same for the common people! Before the food shortage in Xingzhou is completely solved, there will be people from my Liu family in all the counties and villages in northern Xingzhou."
The porridge shacks we set up will never sit back and watch people starve to death on the streets!"
In this way, under the leadership of Song Songgong and Liu Jiahe, the Jin gentry promised to open porridge shacks within their own spheres of influence to provide relief to the people.
At the same time, because all the Jin gentry families in eastern Xingzhou were involved in the Li family's rebellion, and their entire army was wiped out, several more Jin gentry stepped forward and stated that they would take over the relief work in eastern Xingzhou.
.
In this way, although Xingzhou experienced a civil unrest and many fields were delayed in farming, with the money and food provided by the Jin gentry in the territory, the people would not starve to death on a large scale.
Of course, the price is that the silver accumulated by the Xingzhou gentry for generations will inevitably shrink significantly.
Seeing that these Xingzhou Jin gentry appeared to be Kang's promises, but in fact they were heartbroken, Zhao Junchen finally nodded with satisfaction and said: "In this case, as long as this news is notified to the people, they will probably not make trouble again.
, and the food shortage in Xingzhou requires the efforts of all the wise men! I am very relieved to leave this matter to you, and I believe that everyone will not let me down."
After giving a slight warning, Zhao Junchen gave the Xingzhou Jin gentry another sweet date and said: "After the people's hearts in Xingzhou are restored, there will be only one thing left, which is the rebellion of the Li family.
Further investigation! This cabinet can also see that all the wise men are loyal to the emperor and love the people. They must have nothing to do with the Li family's crimes. The Li family's rebellion should not involve you...
However, you also need to prove your innocence. If you know the relevant crimes of the Li family and their associates, you must actively report it to Lu Zhizhou and help Lu Zhizhou settle the case as soon as possible to show your intention to draw a clear line between you and the Li family.
And the properties of the Li family and their accomplices cannot just be abandoned, we still have to find a way to take over and maintain them!"
The implication of Zhao Junchen is that as long as the Xingzhou Jin gentry is willing to add insult to injury to the Li family and fully prove the Li family's crimes, Zhao Junchen will not pursue them and even acquiesce to them carving up the Li family and the
Various industries of the Li family’s relatives and cronies.
After hearing this, the Xingzhou Jin gentry, who were grieving because of the heavy loss of their family savings, were all overjoyed.
Zhao Junchen was finally willing to promise to let them go! He also gave them a chance to recover their health.
Before this, the Xingzhou gentry had been worried that Zhao Junchen would pursue them for inciting civil unrest.
But now, they can no longer have any scruples and put all the blame on the Li family.
As a result, the Xingzhou gentry thanked Zhao Junchen one after another, and their expressions finally showed a hint of sincerity.
In this way, all Zhao Junchen's layout and plans in Xingzhou were finally fully realized.
…
The second update is still a big chapter of 5,500 words. A total of 11,000 words will be updated today, and the Xingzhou plot will end tomorrow.