The eighth year of Wanli!

In the eyes of later historians, it is a watershed and a watershed in the reform of the Ming Dynasty. It even marks the end of an old era and of course the arrival of a new era.

The coup, called the "Gengchen Incident" by later generations, is the boundary of this watershed. Although the "Gengchen Incident" is a ridiculous farce from any perspective, full of interpretations of the so-called "a scholar's rebellion for ten years" ancient saying. However, this farce is not completely meaningless. The "Gengchen Incident" is undoubtedly the most direct collision between the court's reform forces and the conservative forces. Before this, Zhang Juzheng, as the chief minister, has been cautious in dealing with the external reforms.

In the face of others' resistance to reform, he sometimes even had to choose to retreat, but with the occurrence of the "Gengchen Incident", everything changed. Once upon a time, the Jiangnan Gentleman Group, which was so powerful that Zhang Juzheng was afraid, played the role of "rebellious" in the incident, gave him an excuse to clean them up, thus paving the way for comprehensive reform. As the conservative forces faded, the Ming Dynasty was destined to usher in its new chapter in reform.

However, for the people of all kinds who are in the watershed and deeply trapped in the incident, they do not know how people in future generations will evaluate them. They do not realize what changes this incident will bring to the Ming Dynasty. But one thing that is certain is that the planners are only implementing their plans based on their own interests. They obtain everything they need in this "coup" based on their respective positions and needs.

Success and defeat the enemy!

In this coup, this scene was staged again, some people would become heroes, while others would become rebellious. All the changes in roles are actually just a difference between victory and defeat.

In the "Gengchen Incident", Zhang Juzheng seemed destined to play the role of a winner. No matter how he faced all this "passively", when he realized the danger, he immediately made the most decisive decision. Of course, with the support of the emperor and the empress dowager, he asked for an order to transfer Qi Jiguang into the capital. Although less than 2,000 Qi's army arrived in the capital that day, they still broke the fantasy of the conservative forces with a devastating momentum, and successfully completely disintegrated the coup just as it was just staged.

In the early morning of February 18, when the people of the capital were still waiting for the dawn to arrive in panic, nearly 20,000 well-equipped Qi family officers and soldiers rushed to the capital overnight and took over the Beijing camp in the early morning. Duke Cheng Guo, the "governor of the Jingying Rongzheng", conveyed the imperial edict. The Qi family army entered the capital and brought alerts to the outside of the capital. At the same time, the Ti cavalry of the Jinyiwei went out everywhere. With the cooperation of the Qi family army in the Beijing camp, more than 2,000 Beijing officials were imprisoned on the imperial prison on that day. For a time, the imperial prison was overcrowded, so they had to lock these people in the yard.

On this day, Zhang Juzheng, as the chief minister, finally truly got rid of the constraints of others. The price was that a large number of opposition parties were imprisoned in the imperial prison. It was not important whether they were involved in a coup. What was important was that this was a great opportunity to deal with political enemies. Zhang Juzheng naturally would not miss such an opportunity.

However, even so, Zhang Juzheng also took time to meet those "rebels". When the lost Zhang Siwei was led into his public room, he looked at the chief minister sitting in the hall. When Zhang Siwei was about to beg for mercy, he heard the chief minister say.

"Oh, thank you Ziwei for your hard work, thank you Ziwei for your hard work!"

Zhang Siwei looked at the prime minister in confusion.

"Prime Minister, you,..."

Without waiting for him to speak, Zhang Juzheng walked forward and bowed to him.

"If Ziwei hadn't gone deep into the enemy camp and used counter-espionage plan, how could Zhang realize the unjust intentions of Shen Xingshi and others? Ziwei made great contributions to our Ming Dynasty this time!"

ah!

Zhang Siwei suddenly opened his eyes wide. He stared at Zhang Juzheng, who was already in a state of dismay and said in horror.

"You, you, Jiangling, Jiangling, you and I have been friends with each other for many years. Why do you harm me like this?"

"I'm sorry!"

Staring at Zhang Siwei, Zhang Juzheng sneered.

"If I want to harm you, why do you say these words to you? Do you know what crime you committed? Even if you kill your nine clans, it is the lightest. Is it true that you, Zhang Siwei, really want someone Zhang to ask for an order to kill your nine clans?"

Although the Prime Minister's reminder made Zhang Siwei sweat on his back, he still said in panic.

"Jiangling, what kind of virtue is I, Zhang Siwei, can I use counter-espionage plan? If this matter is spread, how could the Shilin in the world have my place? Even the Shilin in Shanxi may also..."

"What will happen? I will not be tolerated by Jiangnan Shilin? Humph, Zhang Ziwei, if you were not so confused, how could you be like this when you are now?"

Staring at Zhang Siwei, Zhang Juzheng scolded angrily.

"In the beginning, you did not hesitate to kill Zhang's daughter to cover up, and Zhang did not care about you, but you repaid your kindness and revenge for your own selfishness. You colluded with the rioters and plotted against them. But even so, Zhang still kept you a life. Do you really think Zhang didn't dare to kill you?"

"Zi Wei thanked the chief minister for not killing him first!"

Facing Zhang Juzheng who was angry, Zhang Siwei, who knew that he could only be at the mercy of others, said in response to the gaze of the chief assistant.

"It's just that Ziwei doesn't know why the Prime Minister left my younger brother's life, is it..."

With a long sigh, Zhang Siwei spit out two words.

“Salt Tax!”

Then he smiled bitterly as if he had figured out something.

"If I expected it was OK, the Prime Minister would definitely want to borrow my hand to rectify the salt tax. Now I am no longer tolerant of the Jiangnan Shilin. If I interfere with the salt tax, I will definitely not be tolerant of the villagers. At that time, the only thing I can rely on is the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is really easy to plot..."

Shaking his head and sighing at Zhang Juzheng's cleverness, Zhang Siwei sighed.

"The reason I was involved in that day was the salt tax, but today the Prime Minister wanted to borrow my hand to rectify the salt tax. This... this is really a fate to make people!"

"You can refuse!"

Zhang Juzheng, who had a cold face, said casually.

"You Zhang Siwei refused, and there are other people who can do this for Mr. Zhang. You are not the only one who understands the salt tax. When the "Chinese and French" was opened, the salt merchants sent grain for salt intake and had to provide nine borders with tens of millions of stones of rice and grain. But now? Every year, only a few hundred thousand taels of salt tax are paid. The salt law is corrupting this way. It has an inseparable relationship with your Zhang family and Wang family. Humph, now Mr. Zhang is giving you a chance to wake up. Are you willing or not..."

While sneering, Zhang Juzheng stared at him and said.
Chapter completed!