At the court meeting, when Huang Liji and Li Biao raised the Sea-Opening Order, it caused a commotion.
Through the actions of the officials in the court, Zhu Youjian had a rough understanding of the situation.
Although the Northern Group's lackeys had been eliminated, the Southern Group's influence was not that great.
The Dong Lin Party had an absolute advantage in the fishing boats. This was the fundamental reason why the Southern Group was willing to cooperate with Dong Lin.
Donglin wasn't the one who was truly influential in the government, but Jinling Xungui Group.
Its leader was the Duke of Wei, who had existed since the founding of the Ming Dynasty!
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he decided to move the capital to the north, and Jinling became the secondary capital.
Jinling, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, had become a secondary capital, and its status had fallen.
In order to maintain the stability of the south, Zhu Di decided to leave behind a noble like the Duke of Wei as the highest officer of the five armies.
After more than 200 years of management, the Duke of Wei had long made Jinling into an iron plate that was impervious to water and fire.
The true core figures of the Southern Group were undoubtedly the Duke of Wei and the wealthy merchants along the coast.
This was a rather powerful force, and the disparity between them and the Northern Group was huge!
The entire south of the Yangtze River had fallen into the hands of this group of people!
Zhu Youjian concluded that Donglin was most likely the target of this group!
The true masterminds behind the scenes were undoubtedly the Duke of Wei and the merchant family. Dong Lin was merely a pawn in the vanguard.
After Wei Zhongxian told Zhu Youjian the information he had sorted out, he exclaimed,""Emperor, I really didn't expect the Duke of Wei to be so bold!”
"According to the secret investigation of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Xu Hongji has been confirmed to be one of the leaders!" Tian Ergeng said. He was extremely ambitious and had close ties with Jin merchants!”
"This is expected. Don't make a fuss!" Zhu Youjian said indifferently.”
Wei Zhongxian said," Currently, the Northern Group has suffered heavy losses. Their leader, Duke of Cheng Zhu Chunchen, has fallen. However, Duke of Wei of Jinling did not let go of this opportunity and has already made his move.”
"If it weren't for His Majesty's wisdom to throw out the Sea-opening Order, I'm afraid we wouldn't have discovered that this old fox is the real head of the Southern Group," Tian Ergeng echoed.”
"My Ming Dynasty was destroyed by these greedy people. According to the investigation of Cao Huachun in Jinling, Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, has begun to make efforts to impeach the Second East and West Plants and the Jinyi Guards for their misdeeds in Jinling.”
"Emperor, this old fox didn't impeach Sun Chuanting?”
Wei Zhongxian did not contact Cao Huachun. His main task was in the north, and he shifted his focus to the Jin merchants according to Zhu Youjian's request.
Tian Ergeng placed his focus on the capital's nobility and began to investigate the fish that had slipped through the net.
However, Wang Chengen followed closely behind the two people's investigation. He picked up the grass and hunted the rabbits. Whoever had more land, he would investigate!
After several rounds of rectifications, the local tyrants and evil gentry in the north had all ceased their activities.
Moreover, the three of them did not make a big move. They did not touch the officials above the fourth rank in the court. Instead, they attacked the officials below the sixth rank.
Officials above the fifth rank were all checked by the anti-corruption inspection team, Huang Liji, Li Biao, and the others!
With the two cabinet leaders attracting the attention of all the officials and gentry, the Second East and West Depots and the Embroidered Uniform Guards kept a low profile and focused on the influential gentry. It did not cause too much turmoil and disturbance!
Zhu Youjian handed over the memorial of the Duke of Wei and said contemptuously,""The old fox is testing my attitude so that he can assess my strength in reorganizing the south.”
All along, Zhu Youjian had thought that Donglin was the leader of the south. Who would have thought that the so-called tiger was just a paper tiger? The real tiger was watching the show from the side. It must be very proud!
This made Zhu Youjian very unhappy. Moreover, Zhu Youjian now had more than 40 million points of value a month, so he wasn't afraid that Jinling would succeed.
In terms of the power controlled by the group of dignitaries in the south, they were not very strong. The true elites of the Ming army were all in the important towns on the nine sides.
Although Xu Hongji, Duke of Wei, could make a decision in the south with a single word, the number of troops he controlled was huge, but they were a motley crew.
Now, Sun Chuanting was the commander of the Fengyang Military Governor's Office. He had the power of the Eight Guards and could directly threaten the existence of Jinling.
Xu Hongji didn't have the guts to jump out and threaten the emperor!
They could only use official rules and methods to suppress the people that Zhu Youjian had planted in Jinling!
Throwing out the Sea-Opening Token now was a warning!
If Xu Hongji wanted to be aggressive, Zhu Youjian wouldn't mind sending one of the newly built three guards south to Jinling.
He would directly hand over the 100,000 elites to Sun Chuanting to take over Jinling, reorganize all the guards in the south, and cut off their sea trade. The so-called great sea merchants of the south would become a joke.
As for the Duke of Wei, he could just purge the nobles in Jinling and give him back whatever he had eaten in the past 200 years.
It was not so easy to take advantage of the empire. Their days as local emperors would be gone forever.
At the same time, Zhu Youjian also planned to cancel Jinling's status as the capital within five years. Nan Zhili was once the capital, and it was not what Zhu Youjian wanted.
Nan Zhi Li, this alternative capital, had a set of leadership. Although it was a place for retired officials, it was also troublesome when it came to doing things.
Zhu Youjian didn't like this group of people who ate the empire, used the empire, enjoyed the high-level treatment and power of the empire, and did everything that betrayed the interests of the empire.
More than 90% of the officials in the subsidiary capital of Nan Zhi Li were working for the Nan Fang Group.
As for the Emperor of the Ming Empire, they did not care about him at all.
"Your Majesty, will the impeachment memorial jointly submitted by the Duke of Wei and the other dukes of South Zhili be passed through tomorrow's court meeting, or…" Wei Zhongxian asked.
Zhu Youjian sneered,"Keep this memorial and pretend that you don't know!" I won't deal with it or object to it!"
After saying that, Zhu Youjian hesitated for a moment and said,""As for cutting off the source, temporarily cancel it. We can weaken them, especially the cotton and silk. We can buy about five million taels of silver for the internal use of the royal family!”
It seemed right to purge Jinling's nobility and control the Jiangnan silk, but Zhu Youjian still felt that it was not the right time.
First, he would control the northern cotton, then the southern silk.
If he acted hastily, it would trigger a backlash from the southern gentry, which was not conducive to the current stability.
Zhu Youjian was most worried about Slave Jian next year. According to historical records, Slave Jian would definitely go south next year.
If they were to reorganize the south now, it would be easy for them to pull their eggs if they took a big step forward.
If it wasn't for the fact that the Northern side was advancing too quickly and the purge was too big, the number of talents needed would have been too much, and the system soldiers he had exchanged for would have been delayed.
All the points of value were used to exchange for talents in various fields. Zhu Youjian could proudly say that he had complete control over the entire Northern Zhili region.
Only the south was not yet under his control, but the south was a heavily taxed area. There were many local tyrants, and it was extremely difficult to rectify them.
It wasn't just a one-shot kill!
What he wanted was to reorganize, not to kill for the sake of killing!
At the very least, they had to prepare a reserve of talents. Only when all aspects were fully prepared would it be the time to make a move on Jiangnan.
Currently, it would take another two years or so to complete the reorganization of the northern government. At the same time, he had to deal a heavy blow to Slave Jian and establish the emperor's prestige.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。