Chapter 209 Nine ethnic groups are not guaranteed, and the scholar-bureaucrats feel very defeated!
After Tang Tong spoke, Zhang Gui asked, "What about the three outhouses you raised, and your natal family? Are there any officials in the court?"
Tang Tong replied: "The superintendent is wise! Both their fathers and brothers are officials in the court."
Zhang Gui felt tense after hearing this, and asked: "Who are these people, tell the truth one by one!"
Tang Tong didn't dare to hide anything, so he told Zhang Gui everything he knew: "There is a soldier named Zhang Fengxiang who married his niece and granddaughter to a lowly position as a side room; ..."
Zhang Gui nodded, and told the civil official school of the inner factory who made the record: "This must be written down!"
Then, Zhang Gui asked Tang Tong again: "Did they ask you to do anything?"
"No! I don't dare to lie in a humble position!"
Tang Tong replied.
Zhang Guiliang Tang Tong, as a guerrilla general of the Guards, would not willingly follow the orders of these gentry. After all, the guerrillas of the Guards had more status than the commander-in-chief of the battalion.
The military system of the Ming Dynasty was divided into the Weisuo system and the battalion system.
The Weisuo system has long existed in name only.
Everyone knows this.
In the battalion system, the military officer with the most status is the chief soldier.
However, due to lack of pay, many general soldiers actually have not many soldiers to command.
Although Tang Tong is just a guerrilla, he is in command of thousands of elite guards, and his income is not low. The key is that he has a bright future;
But what Zhang Gui had to admit was that although these gentry did not let Tang Tong be their lackey, they were already corrupting the entire guard army by sending women to marry them, causing the internal guards to have a relationship with them. This is also a way of moistening things silently.
It is conceivable that after a few years, many middle and high-level generals of the Guards will become their relatives, so that their interests will be protected.
Next, Zhang Gui conducted an investigation on other suspected high-ranking officials of the Guards.
Most of them were more cooperative and answered truthfully about their own situation.
Fortunately for Zhang Gui, the current internal investigation of the Guards is still timely, and not many people have been corrupted. Not a serious breach of discipline.
Even so, these people were then transferred away from the inner circle of the Guards.
Either they will be sent to southern Liaoning to commit crimes and meritorious deeds.
Or be transferred to local officials.
In any case, the interior of the Guards must be sufficiently pure, and anyone's ideas and family conditions must be clear without any concealment. Not only must they be clear, but they must also ensure that they will not have any conflicts with big bureaucrats and big landlords. implicated.
After all, this is the basis for the implementation of the New Deal.
While Zhang Gui was carrying out a large-scale cleansing of the Guards, Wei Zhongxian also carried out a large-scale cleaning of the courtiers of the foreign court.
Liu Ruozai and Wei Guangwei, the ministers who forced the queen to hand over the prince because they mistakenly thought that the emperor had fallen into the water, have already been sentenced to prison.
In addition, because of the closure of the city and martial law, they didn't even have a chance to escape.
After Liu Ruozai was sent to prison, he met his nephew Liu Yumo.
Because of this, Liu Ruozai asked Liu Yumo angrily: "What's the situation, Ye Chengxue, didn't you say that you have successfully let Zhu Youxiao fall into the water and died? Why did Zhu Youxiao suddenly return to Beijing?!"
"What?!"
Liu Ruozai sat on the pile of straw in horror, looking at the dark cell, and remained silent for a while.
Then, Liu Ruozai cried and said, "Then it's over! The Nine Clans will lose their lives!"
Seeing this, Wei Guangwei, who was also in the cell, couldn't help shouting angrily: "Why are you crying! The one who should cry should be the servant, and the servant should not believe Liu Yinping's words! Why do you believe that His Majesty has indeed fallen into the water and died! In the end, he will also end up The nine clans are not guaranteed."
Liu Yumo said at this time: "I thought it was foolproof at the time, but no one thought that Uncle Zhang Guo had already prepared for this! Now we can't even let His Majesty fall into the water, and we gentry are completely hopeless."
"At least there's no hope for those of us."
Wei Guangwei sighed helplessly.
The entire case of the emperor falling into the water is indeed nothing to go to trial, because Liu Yumo took the initiative to explain everything, Liu Ruozai and Liu Yumo will naturally wipe out the nine clans, and Wei Guangwei and others who participated in the forced palace also cannot escape the death penalty.
These people were then escorted to the execution ground after being verified as righteous, and then executed.
For the scholar-bureaucrats, this was their failed attempt.
But what made many scholar-bureaucrats even more frustrated was that they placed informants in the Guards, and even became relatives and friends with the officers of the Guards, and realized their plan to gradually assimilate the Guards into a community of their own interests. This matter will be destroyed by Zhang Gui.
So, they had to deal with that.
However, Zhang Gui has already taken action first.
After he submitted the investigation results of the inner guards to Tianqi, he suggested to Tianqi: "Your Majesty, I believe that all civil servants and honorable families who have already started marriages between guards and generals should not be in the Ministry of War. , The Five Armies Commander's Mansion, especially the Ministry of War! Only in this way can we ensure that the soldiers and horses of the imperial court will not become the private soldiers of several families."
Tianqi nodded: "It must be done this way. For example, Zhang Fengxiang, Minister of the Ministry of War, actually married his grandniece to Tang Tong as a concubine. It is hard not to guarantee that there is no other intention in it!"
Therefore, Zhang Gui began to prepare to order the officials to impeach Zhang Fengxiang.
But when Zhang Gui just returned to his residence, he saw Zhou Neng walking over with a solemn expression: "Master Hou! Someone lost a head in our residence, and this head is a student of my Xilin Academy, named Lu Cheng!"
After Zhang Gui heard this, he was stunned for a while, and then he lowered his face and said, "This is a provocation!"
"If Uncle Guo really thinks so, it should be considered a provocation. But in fact, this can only be regarded as a reminder."
At this time, a red-robed official came out of a sedan chair, and stroked his beard under his chin calmly.
Zhang Gui looked back, his face was full of anger, he gritted his teeth and asked, "What did you do?"
"Why did the old man do it?"
This red-robed official is none other than Zhang Fengxiang, Minister of the Ministry of War.
Because Yuan Keli was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Zhang Fengxiang also served as Minister of the Ministry of War.
Because Zhang Gui asked this question, Zhang Fengxiang replied with a smile.
Then, Zhang Fengxiang said again: "This old man is here to ask Uncle Guo. If Uncle Guo wants to keep thousands of students from your Xilin Academy from being slaughtered by Jiangnan thugs, I should invite this old man to your residence for a cup of tea."
Zhang Gui asked with a cold face after hearing this: "You secretly organized private soldiers to slaughter me Xilin?"
"Uncle Guo, we are also forced to do nothing by you. If you do this in the Guards, won't our years of hard work go to waste?"
Zhang Fengxiang said after returning: "As long as Uncle Guo promises not to transfer Tang Tong and other official schools who are married to us from the imperial guard camp or the main guard camps, Xilin Academy will be safe and sound!"
"Everyone knows that Xilin Academy is the place where Uncle Guo trained officials for the New Deal. In order to implement the New Deal throughout the country, the imperial court will first need many officials who support the reform, and these officials basically have to be trained by Xilin Academy. So, presumably the thousands of teachers and students of Xilin Academy are very important to Uncle Guo, right?"
(end of this chapter)