Bai Yutian shook his head and sighed, slapping the two letters on the table, his anger rising.
"It's not that I'm anxious, it's that these people are forcing me!"
The two secret letters came from Jiangbei Erzhou and Mingzhou respectively. The prefects of the three states withheld grain and increased taxes, which made the people miserable. Many people inevitably flocked to Dashun and Dachuan, becoming a force in the two countries to resist the imperial court.
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Although under the governance of Bai Yutian and the implementation of Yuncheng and others, the people's livelihood in Tailin City, including Qizhou and Yongzhou, has been greatly improved and began to prosper.
However, in places far away from the capital, there are still people who work both openly and secretly, taking corruption and bribes for their own selfish desires, and governing at will, leaving the people in dire straits without any improvement at all.
These places have suffered from natural disasters to some extent before, especially in the past few years. In severe cases, tens of thousands of people could die in a day.
Now we have finally survived the natural disaster period, but these officials have not woken up at all and still do what they should do.
People finally escaped from the period of frequent natural disasters, but now their lives have not improved at all. They were also bewitched by the Dashun and Dachuan countries, so many people chose to join the Dashun and Dachuan countries.
These common people even formed tens of thousands of troops to resist the Zhou Dynasty.
The local officials used absolute violence against these people, which in turn aroused people's anger and caused these people to completely break with the Zhou Dynasty.
If Long Wei hadn't told Bai Yutian that these people had no connection with Dashun and Dachuan countries, Bai Yutian would have thought that they were colluding.
If this continues, Jiangbei and Mingzhou may fall into the hands of their enemies.
"This, this..."
Except for a few people such as Yuncheng and Yan Chong, the remaining ministers were furious when they saw the contents of these two secret letters. Their anger surged, and they were so angry that they could not speak for a long time.
If Bai Yutian hadn't organized the Dragon Guards long ago and sent them out to find out the news, he might not have known about it until Jiangbei and Mingzhou were occupied by Dachuan and Dashun.
Instantly, many ministers demanded that the local prefecture officials be severely punished and punished in accordance with the laws of the Zhou Dynasty.
Qiao Che, the Minister of Punishment, was the first to bear the brunt. He once wore the same pants as Gu Taizhong, and he was one of the few ministers who could survive Bai Yutian's purge.
In order to become Bai Yutian's confidant, he has been showing off himself.
Moreover, he has completely put an end to corruption. Now he is simply more upright than an upright official and lives an extremely simple life.
However, some people still hold different opinions.
"Your Majesty, what Jiangbei and Mingzhou did is indeed inappropriate, but I believe that the overall situation should be the most important thing now. For them, they can give priority to warnings and give them a lighter punishment."
What this person said was not unreasonable. Some ministers' eyes flickered, as if they were thinking about the pros and cons.
These people were far away from Tailin City, and too close to Dashun and Dachuan Kingdoms, so the Zhou court was out of reach and difficult to manage.
These people have been developing in the local area for a long time and have a strong foundation, just like the Gu family in Tailin City back then.
With the decline of the national power of the Great Zhou Dynasty, starting from the time of the first emperor, many states supported their own troops, obeyed the imperial court, and governed independently.
Dashun and Dachuan were able to expand rapidly because the governors of these prefectures and cities never informed the court and made their own decisions and surrendered directly.
However, these three places were strategically important for the Zhou Dynasty to block the two major rebel armies. One occupied the natural danger of the Genjiang River, and the other was mountainous and forested.
If these three places are lost, the two major rebel armies can march straight in. After crossing Qizhou and Yongzhou, they can directly approach Tailin City.
Therefore, these three places cannot be lost easily.
"What Liu Aiqing said makes sense, but I have already discussed this matter with the Prime Minister and others, and have considered all the pros and cons. These people must be severely punished, and at the same time, the territory must be reintegrated."
"When we asked them to send troops to suppress the rebels, they all failed to do so and did not want to send troops. As a result, the rebel forces gradually grew stronger. Now, how can I tolerate them if they want to damage the strength of the Great Zhou Dynasty."
Bai Yutian announced this today just to make everyone prepare in advance, and it is best to hand over all the work in time so that all parts of the Great Zhou can continue to operate.
When the Nanchuan Army and the Tianyi Army first started to rebel, Bai Yutian ordered the governors from various places to send troops to suppress them.
However, they did not obey Bai Yutian's rule at all. They all shirked their responsibilities, looked for excuses, refused to send troops, and conserved their own strength, which led to the growth of the two rebel armies.
After going to court, Bai Yutian personally issued an imperial edict, requiring the governors from various places to enter the palace to meet the saint.
Tailin City originally belonged to Qizhou. Since the capital was moved, Tailin City has been regarded as an independent city and separated from Qizhou.
Tailin City is also directly under the jurisdiction of the royal family.
The ten states in the southeast are far away and extremely dangerous, so Bai Yutian plans to summon the governors of the thirteen states in the hinterland of the Zhou Dynasty first and let them enter the palace to meet the saint.
From very early on, the Zhou Dynasty's rule over these prefects became weaker. Except for rare occasions such as the emperor's accession to the throne, the Zhou royal family rarely summoned these prefects.
This time Bai Yutian suddenly summoned the governors from all over the country, which made many people very confused.
However, they were confused because they were still nominally under the control of the Zhou Dynasty, and they did not have much troops in many places, so they did not dare to really challenge the imperial court.
Five days later, the prefects of the thirteen states except Tailin City gathered at the palace.
In addition to He Kang, there are two other prefects of the Thirteen Prefectures with different surnames.
They were all canonized by the Zhou Sheng Emperor and have continued to this day. They have the highest ruling power here, just like a small vassal state.
These two men were the governors of the two Jiangbei states. They not only owned a large territory, but also had many troops.
This place was once plagued by floods. Bai Yutian mobilized most of the manpower and material resources of the imperial court to save the two prefectures of Jiangbei from the flood disaster, and finally repelled the flood.
The two prefectures in Jiangbei are Huaizhou and Chanzhou respectively. The prefect of Huaizhou is Zhang Cunxian, and the prefect of Chanzhou is Zheng Kaiji.
The ancestors of both of them had followed Emperor Zhou Sheng and made great contributions to the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. The two states in Jiangbei were the territories personally sealed by Emperor Zhou Sheng.
The governor of Mingzhou is called Bai Yuxiao. He is the descendant of King Chong and has been in Mingzhou for three generations. He is very difficult to deal with.
Apart from these three people, the others were fine, but they were not so obedient and did not maintain enough respect for the royal family.
Until Bai Yutian arrived, everyone stood up one after another to meet Bai Yutian.
"Long live your majesty!"
Everyone knelt down to salute and shouted in unison.
However, after they finished shouting, they didn't hear any answer. Bai Yutian seemed not to hear and just kept looking at them.
"Long live your Majesty! Long live your Majesty!" Everyone was puzzled, so they shouted again, but Bai Yutian still ignored them.
Now they saw that Bai Yutian was deliberately targeting them.