Ding Shiqing and others brought a big official to the emperor, Governor Wu Shanyan.

But in addition to him, there are only Shen Yu, a gentry from Hangcheng Township, Huang Shangyan, a big weaver businessman, and others, by the way, there is also Jiang Zhao, the magistrate of Qiantang County, but such a small official as the magistrate is obviously nothing in the eyes of the emperor, and he is almost the same as the citizens.

The civil rebellion in Hangzhou City was naturally because of the interstitial tax and the fire armor law, but the real cause of the civil rebellion was because of this squire Shen Yu.

They were all taken to the Qinghua Garden of the Wanli Emperor, and the bound bureaucrats and squires were arranged by the emperor to sit on the right, while Ding Shiqing and the people were arranged by the emperor to sit on the right, and the emperor sat in the middle, and behind each of them were his well-trained royal guards.

The old man Xu Xuemo, the secretary of the criminal department who was specially assigned by the emperor, thought that this trial would be carried by him, and he specially put a shocking wood in his pocket from the ministry case, but the emperor assigned him to sit at the door with the subordinate officials of the criminal department, and moved a big chair out for him.

In the shade of a tree farther away, the noisy battalion generals Ma Wenying and Yang Tingyong waited quietly with their veterans.

"I don't know anything about this turmoil, you say in turn, don't mess with anyone, just say something, first of all." The emperor leaned back in his chair, his eyes swept over everyone and asked, "Wu Shanyan, as a governor, you were beaten by the officials and soldiers who demanded wages, I thought Zhang Wenxi was right, saying that you were begging for a beating, and now you are being escorted into Beijing by the people, do you know why you were escorted here?" ”

Wu Shanyan has seen the emperor, but he has never seen the emperor with a helmet and armor.

"Your Majesty, the old minister is guilty, when the money is used today, all provinces are cutting expenses for the imperial court, and the minister is useless and makes the wrong way, but this Hangzhou City Fire Armor Law and the interstitial tax have nothing to do with the minister, and the minister doesn't know why they carried the statue of the grandfather and brought the guilty minister, and they beat the guilty minister on the road, even if they want to beat, they shouldn't beat it."

Han Jin, who was sitting on the right side, wanted to say something, but was held down by Ding Shiqing, a down-and-out literati who had been teaching for twenty years, was looking at the unconventional emperor's actions with his own eyes.

Wanli ignored Han Jin, he bowed his head slowly at Wu Shanyan, and said with emotion: "You still know that you are a mediocre minister, and the reduction of expenditures can be reduced by reducing military spending?" ”

He has read the report that the most beautiful thing Wu Shanyan has done as a governor is actually to reduce military spending, because military spending is indeed a big problem that needs to be solved urgently in Zhejiang, and even unceremoniously said that the deep cause of this mutiny and civil couphem is this military spending.

Just like this small Hangzhou Mansion, the number of soldiers in the Tun Ninth Battalion is 45,000, and this is the number of soldiers left over from the Hu Zongxian era, unlike the shortage of the guards, all of them are full, and the annual military expenditure is nearly 486,000 taels.

With a huge military salary of nearly 500,000 taels, where did Hangzhou City come from? It comes from the people, so the tax collection is complicated, and the government embezzles the intershelf tax but does not hire people to still practice the fire armor law.

Wanli didn't notice this at first, until he found out that Wu Shanyan cut the military salary by 30% and even looked forward to the veterans returning to their hometowns to farm, and checked how much money Wu Shanyan left for the Hangzhou government, only to find that he had saved 162,000 taels of silver, and then realized the seriousness of the problem.

It is precisely this huge amount that is the reason why Wu Shanyan dared to cut military spending.

Now that Haiphong is a little quieter, recruiting troops and reducing salaries is a normal measure, in Wanli's view, Wu Shanyan's fault is really too radical and inappropriate; This is also the reason why the imperial court let him go home and rest after the incident and do not do other punishments.

But here, Wanli thinks that Wu Shanyan has a new fault: "As a governor, you are a feudal official in the local area, and you are the eyes and ears of the local court in the imperial court, but you think that what happened in the subordinate local Hangzhou Mansion has nothing to do with you, so it is really right for me to let you go home and rest." ”

"In the difficult period of the Japanese rebellion, the people and the court were asked to share weal and woe, and the people were reduced to join the army to enlist, pay taxes for the court, and establish a system of guaranteeing armor, no one said anything; But the difficult period has passed, the court is willing, and the people are still suffering, so won't my court be worse than the Japanese cowards. ”

"Do you know how much this will affect the Southeast?" Wanli said and raised his hand to sweep over Ding Shiqing and the others, and said: "The people of Hangzhou demolished the curfew, destroyed the barricade that prevented them from traveling, and burned down the mansion of the gentry, causing the surrounding counties to shake. ”

"The people of Lin'an have changed dramatically and the city gate, the people of Haining gathered in Anguo Temple to discuss the incident, and the people of Fuyang simply took dry food to help Ding Shiqing, do you know these things as a governor? Did the people's anger form in a day? Or do you know but don't care? ”

"I don't want to blame you for this incident, you are also old, and this ordeal is enough to punish, take the time to go to Beiyang Medical Academy to see, people are angry because of liver problems, go home to recuperate, don't lose your temper again."

It seemed that Wanli had made a conclusion about Wu Shanyan's matter, he turned his head to look at Ding Shiqing and the others, as if he thought that the people were also waiting for him to say something, and said: "The Qiantang Governor is not doing well, and the Hangcheng Governor is unfair, I can blame the governor of Zhejiang, but I am the biggest adult in the world, and I can't be angry with villains, their fault is my fault." ”

As he spoke, Wanli pursed his lips: "I will issue an edict against myself, because I am outward-looking, and I can't be sympathetic to the feelings of the local military and civilians, and I will seek more benefits for the people, the military and the people in the future...... No need to say more, no need to bow down. ”

Wanli obviously cared about this guilty edict, but he pretended to laugh lightly, and said: "I didn't do anything more when I was a young man, and forced the eunuchs in the palace to cut off a strand of hair, and the teachers all drafted the guilty edict on my behalf, and now the common people and soldiers are suffering from cold and starvation, which is far more serious than that." ”

"I want to make the world more enlightened, but this can't be solved by you social studies teachers and weavers who set fire to their houses, and I can't expect the old minister to suddenly be as considerate as the roundworm in my belly."

"Maybe it's the soldier, the first thing I thought of when I encountered this kind of matter was to kill people, not to kill you, but to kill the officials and thieves, it doesn't matter if you kill dozens, hundreds, thousands, etc., grandpa Taizu said, there are so many people in the world, I am not afraid of killing no one to be an official."

The grumpy old man Wu Shanyan cried for some reason, every fold of his old face with a blue nose and swollen face was twitching, and the people were so frightened that they turned pale and didn't know what to say, Ding Shiqing sighed silently, but his face showed a little relieved.

"Kill people, the problem is still there, the 45,000 battalions still have to be solved in Hangzhou City, and the people still have to deal with all kinds of taxes if they don't cut their salaries; If the salaries are cut, there is no way for the soldiers to make a living; What can these 45,000 veterans who were recruited into the army when they were young and strong make a living? ”

When Wanli said this, he paused, raised his hand and told the guards of the Imperial Forest to let the generals Ma Wenying and Yang Ting use it, and he said: "If it had happened earlier, I could have bought a loom for each soldier, but it is too late now, and I don't have half a tael of silver in my inner treasury." ”

"So I want to ask you, the 45,000 warriors of the 9th Battalion of the Luomu Battalion, if I allow you to cross the sea with your family and go to the East to open up, the East will not be able to do the South Sea, and the West will also be fine, how many people do you think are willing to go?"