Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"I was on guard nearby just now. I saw this man floating on the river, his clothes were torn, and he was floating like a dead body. So I fished him ashore."

Jiang Xinghuo responded, but his eyes still stayed on the man's face.

He recognized that this guy was indeed the guy from the restaurant, but he couldn't figure out how the other guy could be hurt like this?

At this time, the news of the murder of the county magistrate had not spread on a large scale, but Jiang Xinghuo still had some suspicions.

Could it be

At this time, Wang Bin recalled what he had seen today, and a chill suddenly rose in his heart.

The two of them almost thought of going together. Of course this guy is Jin Yiwei, but I'm afraid there is something hidden in it. Jin Yiwei may be having internal strife!

But once there is internal strife in Jinyiwei, if someone wants to harm them, Jiang Xinghuo's situation will be dangerous!

Although this guess is absurd, it is not impossible if you think about it carefully!

Therefore, the top priority is to retreat to a safe place quickly to avoid a long night of nightmares.

After all, no one can say for sure whether some force will jump over the wall in a hurry.

"Where are the Second Prince's troops?"

Wang Bin hurriedly took out the Kanyu map of Nanzhili, spread it out on the stone table of the pavilion, found a place and pointed at it and said: "It takes a long time to prepare the army. His Highness the Second Prince set out later than us. Yesterday we arrived at Dantu, and today we may be Arrived between Baogang and Ligang."

"Is there any way to contact him?" Jiang Xinghuo asked with a frown.

Wang Bin replied affirmatively: "Yes!"

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the map of Kanyu on the stone table and measured the distance.

"Get in touch and let them go south quickly as planned."

"Won't the Imperial Preceptor leave?" Wang Bin was a little surprised and tried his best to persuade: "You shouldn't stay at this time. The Imperial Preceptor is a living god like a god. Thousands of people in the south of the Yangtze River are waiting for the Imperial Preceptor to save them. Nothing goes wrong."

Jiang Xinghuo only answered him with two words.

"Not leaving."

Without explaining any more, Jiang Xinghuo turned to look at Huikong.

"I heard from the old monk that you have medical skills."

Huikong was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly: "Amitabha, this young monk knows a little about the art of Qihuang."

"Then treat it quickly."

Huikong swallowed the sentence "The young monk really only understands it a little bit" and silently took out a set of silver needles.

He reached out and picked up the silver needles and inserted them into the acupuncture points on the unconscious man's body. After a moment, as he pulled out the silver needles, a few drops of black blood fell.

Jiang Xinghuo couldn't help but ask: "Although there is no bleeding anymore, shouldn't the wound be stitched up first?"

Huikong just wanted to say that this was not in line with the process.

But in the end he didn't say anything. Instead, he changed the needle and thread and carefully and uglyly sewed the unconscious man with fine stitches.

Afterwards, Huikong wiped off the blood around him and bandaged it with a cloth strip. Finally, he took out a pill, fed it into the other person's mouth, and patted his chest a few times.

Jiang Xinghuo stood aside and observed quietly.

"Okay, let's rest for a few months and we'll be back to normal."

Huikong packed up his things and said softly: "It would be better for the Imperial Master to stay here for the time being."

"okay, I get it."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded in agreement, and at this moment, a burst of chaotic footsteps suddenly came from outside.

As soon as he raised his eyelids, he saw several guards in plain clothes running from a distance.

"What happened to make you so panicked?"

"National Master, the magistrate of Wujin County is dead."

As soon as these words were spoken, as if they were more reliable than any panacea, the unconscious man struggled to wake up in a daze.

Zhao Haichuan's eyelids slowly opened, and his vision gradually became clear.

Looking at everything in front of me, especially the young man sitting in the pavilion,

He tried to recall everything he had experienced before. In the end, his memory went back to not long ago, when he had a life-and-death struggle with Cao Song in a restaurant. He was stabbed in the abdomen by Cao Song's dagger, and then jumped out of the window and escaped into the water.

But now.

Zhao Haichuan moved his neck with difficulty, grinning in pain, and turned his head to look.

"You are the national master."

Zhao Haichuan gave a weak cry.

Jiang Xinghuo nodded: "Yes, it's me."

Seeing that the clerk in front of him knew his identity, whether it was a guess or something else, Jiang Xinghuo knew that he must have some status in the Jinyiwei branch of Changzhou Prefecture.

Seeing this, Zhao Haichuan also breathed a sigh of relief. Since the Imperial Preceptor has arrived and saved him, it proves that being stabbed in the back by Cao Song has nothing to do with the Imperial Preceptor.

But soon, he realized something was wrong.

He glanced around and saw not only him and the Imperial Master, but also Wang Bin and even some various people.

The energy of the national master far exceeded his imagination.

Jinyiwei is not the only channel through which the imperial master can learn about Changzhou Prefecture.

He had soldiers, power, and intelligence. This made Zhao Haichuan feel a big stone in his heart.

"Tell me about it."

Arriving at such a field and looking at the plainly dressed warriors all around, Zhao Haichuan wanted to survive and had nothing to hide, so he recounted what had happened before.

"Well, Zhao Xiaoqi, that means you killed Yao Gongzhi, but you were attacked by Cao Song and almost lost your life."

After Jiang Xinghuo finished speaking, he twirled a piece of peach blossom with his fingertips, rubbed it into two halves, and said, "Killing an official of the imperial court will be punishable by death."

"The life of a lower official is worthless."

Zhao Haichuan and Zhao Xiaoqi were very self-aware, and he said directly: "Xiaoguan has evidence of Cao Song's crime. He is a secret guard of the Jinyi Guards and is not disclosed to the public. However, some officials in Changzhou Prefecture know his identity. In order to silence him, they gave him He received a lot of money from him, and among them was Yao Gongzhi, the magistrate of Wujin County, and Yao Gongzhi's backer was Ding Meixia, the prefect of Changzhou Prefecture. In this position, Prefect Ding took over from Zhang Du in the 25th year of Hongwu and served until Now, in Changzhou Prefecture, it can be said that one hand covers the sky, and no one is not afraid of him or afraid of him."

In fact, since the Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu cases during the Zhu Yuanzhang period, in order to stabilize the civil service system that had been greatly reduced, Zhu Yuanzhang has acquiesced in this long-term appointment system. "His position", for example, in a place like Qiongzhou Prefecture, which everyone regards as a place where no one can shit, Wang Boxhen, the prefect, served for sixteen years. As for the record-breaking post of Yicheng County Magistrate, it is even more outrageous. Yin Xiwen served for twenty I haven't moved my home for years.

As soon as Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen came to the throne, he was busy cutting down the vassals, and had no time to engage in the normal promotion, promotion and dismissal of civil servants, so officials from all over the country generally stayed in office for another four years.

This situation of local chief officials occupying a certain position for a long time will inevitably lead to their power combining with local forces locally, and then becoming intertwined, becoming local emperors who are parasitic on the Ming Dynasty.

This situation is particularly serious in the prosperous areas south of the Yangtze River, and this is also the first target Jiang Xinghuo will take action against.

If we don't drive out these local emperors, how can we carry out reforms? They will not just watch the world change in a way that is not conducive to them.

"Can you still move your arms?"

"able."

"Write down everything you know. Make a written list."

Jiang Xinghuo lit the incense burner in the Buddhist temple, and the fragrance curled up.

After burning the incense and looking at the list in his hand, Jiang Xinghuo chuckled.

"I didn't expect that it would involve so many things."

Zhao Haichuan looked at the Imperial Preceptor nervously. Everything he knew had been revealed. If the Imperial Preceptor was a person like Cao Song, he would definitely have no way out at this time. The teacher really wanted to kill him but could not save his life.

Unless the Imperial Master still lacks a witness, of course he alone is not enough.

"Your stuff is very useful, I'll accept it."

Jiang Xinghuo folded the list, put it in his arms, and then said: "No matter what you did, Zhao Haichuan will die, but you won't. Let's rest peacefully in this temple."

Hearing this, Zhao Haichuan pondered for a moment and then nodded: "Then I'll bother the Imperial Master."

Jiang Xinghuo waved his hand, indicating that it was okay.

Zhao Haichuan was carried down by the monks in the temple. At this time, Wang Bin came forward, lowered his voice, and whispered: "I am afraid that there is insufficient evidence based on this person alone. If there is no decent evidence, even if His Highness the Second Prince brings The soldiers came and took control of the situation, but they were unable to convict Ding Meixia. Of course, the National Preceptor could kill him with one blow of Shang Fang's sword, but he would not be able to convince the crowd."

"I know."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the green smoke floating in the incense burner and said softly: "I have an appointment with Shopkeeper Chen to inspect the goods at dusk today."

"Guess, his warehouse that can hold 20,000 kilograms of rice, will it be his own warehouse, the Changping warehouse in Changzhou Prefecture, or will he take me directly to the Japanese army's grain transfer warehouse?"

"You must know that after announcing the formation of the Japanese Army last year, the imperial court established several large storage stations along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. Changzhou Station is one of them. These storage stations are not new. They were all used by the Southern Army during the Jingnan period. The bad debts at the old station used for transporting military rations from the south of the Yangtze River to Xuzhou Camp and then to the Dezhou Camp on the front line have probably been piled up for four or five years, right?"

Wang Bin looked at the sharp eyes of the Imperial Master and felt solemn for a moment.

Bad debt means that it cannot withstand inspection.

——————

Charter port, wharf.

Countless foot soldiers in neat cowhide armor stepped off the ship carrying long spears and old-fashioned firecrackers.

These infantrymen all wore hoods, and under the sunlight, the light reflected from their dark and shiny skin looked like they exuded murderous intent.

Not only are the uniforms of these soldiers uniform, but if you look closely, you will find that each soldier also wears one to several medals of different materials on his chest. The medals are painted with different vivid scenes to commend them for their past experiences. He participated in different battles such as Baigouhe, Dongchang, Jiahe, Gaocheng, and Lingbi.

Every word Jiang Xinghuo said in prison was slowly becoming reality.

In fact, the soldiers recruited by the Tax Guards were veterans with rich combat experience and had generally participated in the Jingnan Campaign.

They are the Ming Dynasty's first purely firearms experimental unit. After completing their experimental tasks, they will become the most powerful weapon for the Ming Dynasty court to collect taxes from the gentry.

Now, Zhu Gaoxu will lead this thousands-strong full bodyguard to their first stop, Changzhou Fucheng, according to his master Jiang Xinghuo's prior plan.

Riding on a majestic sweat horse, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the city in the south and smiled widely.

"Gentlemen from Changzhou Prefecture, it's time to check the tax returns."

PS: [Important reminder (there is no charge for this content)] Chapters 316 to 356 are about the rectification of officialdom and the suppression of rebellions in Jiangnan. They do not contain any theoretical knowledge. They are all practical content. If you are not interested, you can jump directly to Chapter 366. "Class" will contain theoretical knowledge content from now on.