Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 617: The Army Arrives

Yang Zhongliang took the letter casually, unfolded it and read what was written in the letter. His expression changed slightly.

The general meaning of the letter was that the emperor was still in Nanjing, but two thousand garrison troops were transferred from Nanjing recently. It was rumored that this transfer was to send these garrison troops to Songjiang. At the end, the letter specifically reminded Yang Zhongliang to pay more attention.

Yang Zhongliang frowned. He had known about the emperor's southern tour for a long time. In fact, he hated this. Although he could do whatever he wanted in Songjiang, it would be a troublesome matter if someone was so blind as to cause trouble at this critical moment.

As for the matter of mobilizing troops, it was irrelevant to Yang Zhongliang. It was most likely that the taxes in Songjiang Prefecture were increasing, and the court mobilized troops to Songjiang for the sake of safety just in case.

After reading the letter, Yang Zhongliang put the matter behind him and strolled leisurely in the room. After a while, the two maids applied the longevity cream...

On the other side, Meng Jun was stunned when he saw Lu Ping with nothing in his hands. He asked, "Didn't you go to redeem the ring? Where is the stuff?"

Lu Ping said with a sad face, "Your Majesty, this Yang family is too arrogant. The pawn ticket clearly says redemption, but the pawnshop insists that it is a dead pawn. If I wasn't afraid of delaying your Majesty's important event, I would want to beat this person up."

Meng Jun was speechless after hearing this. The Yang family really wanted to make money in any way they could. Their greed was too ugly. They wanted to sell a casually written calligraphy and painting for 12,000 taels. If they took it to the Yang family pawnshop, it could be redeemed and turned into a dead pawn.

Meng Jun shook his head and said to Lu Ping, "Forget it, let them be arrogant for two more days."

Afterwards, Meng Jun ordered Lu Ping to meet Zhang Youcai, the general of the Zhenjun Army who was about to arrive in Songjiang. Meng Jun ordered that as soon as the Zhenjun Army entered, the city gates should be closed immediately, and then the prefectural government office should be taken control and all the account books inside should be checked.

The problems in Songjiang are too serious. Only by overturning the table can we completely eliminate these evildoers.

........................

Two days passed quickly, and everything was peaceful in Songjiang Prefecture. Mr. Yang's daily income continued to rise without any sign of decline.

Today is the day when the Jinling Town Army will enter Songjiang Prefecture City. Many officials have made preparations to welcome them. The leader of the army is a man named Zhang Youcai. As soon as Master Yang heard this name, he knew that he was a country bumpkin who joined the army by chance and got a job as a government official.

Master Yang had no intention of participating in the welcoming banquet. He was just a warrior. It was said that he was a refugee from the Central Plains. When he fled to Suzhou, he happened to join the rebel army of the current emperor. However, after so many years, he was still unknown. It was obvious that he had no future. How could Master Yang be in the mood to meet such a person?

However, what surprised Yang Zhongliang and officials at all levels of Songjiang government was that as soon as Zhang Youcai entered the city, he ordered the four gates to be blocked and no one was allowed to enter or leave. Even the Yang family mansion was surrounded by the garrison troops.

Later, he sent troops to arrest all the officials at all levels in the government office. When the prefect Zhou Wentong was arrested, he was so wide-eyed that he shouted angrily, "Zhang Youcai, how dare you block the city gates and arrest court officials privately? Do you want to rebel, you thief! You thief!"

Zhang Youcai laughed and said, "I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm just following orders."

When Zhou Wentong heard this, he was stunned. By imperial decree? Would the emperor order a military man to arrest a civil official? Zhou Wentong thought this was impossible, so he cursed loudly: "Nonsense, Zhang Youcai, you are falsely conveying the imperial decree, adding to your crime!"

At this time, Meng Jun had also arrived at the government office and happened to see this scene. Meng Jun said in a deep voice: "He is indeed following my order!"

Zhou Wentong had never met Meng Jun, but he also knew that the emperor had arrived in Nanjing. Zhou Wentong's mind worked quickly and he figured out the situation immediately. The emperor must have come to Songjiang secretly, found out some problems, and came to punish him.

But what puzzled Zhou Wentong was why the emperor wanted to dispatch troops from Nanjing? Did he think he had the intention of rebellion?

Thinking of this, Zhou Wentong's legs and feet suddenly became weak. He fell to the ground and cried to Meng Jun, "Your Majesty, I am innocent!"

Meng Jun smiled and said, "Oh, what injustice did Governor Zhou have?"

Zhou Wentong's forehead was sweating, and he said quickly: "I have been governing Songjiang with great trepidation, and I dare not slack off for even a moment. Your Majesty, I... I don't know what I have done wrong."

Meng Jun didn't want to pay attention to him, and just said casually: "The Yang family is rampant in Songjiang, plundering people's land and taking people's lives. Do you, as a local official, really know nothing about it?"

Zhou Wentong's face turned pale, and he was about to speak in defense, but he heard Meng Jun say coldly: "Think carefully before you speak."

Then Meng Jun waved his hand to signal the soldiers to escort him aside. After a while, dozens of clerks accompanying the army began to file into the government office. Their mission was to check the account books of Songjiang Prefecture.

Time passed minute by minute, the scene was silent except for the sound of papers flipping, and to Zhou Wentong, this sound was simply a death warrant.

When the prefect Zhou Wentong saw this, he could no longer bear the pressure and fell to his knees. He cried bitterly to Meng Jun, "Your Majesty, I am guilty. I will report Yang Zhongliang!"

Hearing this, Meng Jun asked in a cold voice: "Tell me, what crime have you committed, and what are you going to report against Yang Zhongliang?"

Zhou Wentong kowtowed and said tearfully, "Your Majesty, I am also forced to do this. Many government officials have been dismissed or demoted to Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan because they refused to obey Yang Zhongliang. If I do not give them the convenience, I will also be demoted."

When Zhou Wentong said this, he saw Meng Jun's face was gloomy, so he quickly made up for it: "However, although some of my actions were not in accordance with the imperial court's orders, under my rule, the taxes paid to the imperial court every year are getting higher every year!"

Although Songjiang is only a prefectural city, due to the booming maritime trade, the income of the Maritime Customs has increased dramatically, and its tax revenue ranks first in the whole Jiangnan region. Even if compared with central Sichuan, the tax revenue of an entire province is not as much as that of Songjiang prefecture.

Therefore, if you are an official in Songjiang, you can easily be promoted to the province, or directly go to Beijing and be promoted to a Beijing official. Therefore, being an official here can be said to have a bright future.

After Zhou Wentong became the prefect of Songjiang, for the sake of his future, he opened the door wide to the Yang family in order to gain Yang En's favor, which would make his future career smoother.

Meng Jun became more annoyed after hearing this. From Zhou Wentong's words, Meng Jun knew that even if an official did nothing, someone in the family could still use their power to commit illegal acts.

(Wish all my friends a happy Chinese New Year O(n_n)O)