Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 527: Massive Arrests

The Qingluan Guards arrested maritime merchants, salt merchants, and mine owners according to the list in various places in Jiangnan. For a time, the gentry in Jiangnan were uneasy and the officials were unable to make a living.

Many officials have connections with those who were arrested. Although they may not be in collusion with them, many people are still worried that the Qingluan Guard will take the opportunity to expand its scale.

As more people were arrested, the more uneasy the officials became. This special organization that did not go through the civil service system would naturally arouse fear among the civil officials.

Therefore, as time went by, more and more impeachment memorials against Lu Ping and Qingluan Guard flew to the capital like snowflakes. However, Meng Jun was not in the capital at that time. Meng Jun went to Liaodong to prepare for a meeting with the Mongolian tribes.

The financial collapse of the early Ming Dynasty and its consequences were laid bare before Meng Jun. One of the main reasons was that officials and gentry colluded to conceal the scale of land and evade taxes. The other reason was that the royal family occupied a large amount of land, which was not subject to tax.

However, by the Qian Dynasty, all the lands formerly occupied by the princes of the Ming Dynasty had been taken back by the imperial court. The problems that the former Ming Dynasty could never solve were easily solved by the Qian Dynasty.

At present, Meng Jun is just trying out his own ideas, damaging the interests of those wealthy merchants, and has not yet taken action against the landlords and gentry. Meng Jun knows that reform is difficult, and any reform that touches the vested interest groups will face strong resistance and opposition.

As Nurhaci once compared the Ming Dynasty to a big tree: "If you want to cut down a big tree, how can you cut it suddenly? You must use an axe to cut it gradually until it becomes thin and small, and then you can cut it."

Therefore, Meng Jun believes that the pace of reform cannot be too big, and we cannot declare war on all interest groups at the same time. We must start with the easy and then move on to the difficult.

Lu Ping's actions in Jiangnan shocked the people of Jiangnan. For a time, some people even portrayed Lu Ping as the Wei Zhongxian of the past.

There are endless jokes, such as that Lu Ping is actually a eunuch, that Lu Ping can become the deputy commander of Qingluan Guard because of his looks, and that Lu Ping and Meng Bian have some unspeakable affair.

This made Lu Ping very angry. Lu Ping knew that this was done intentionally by some gentry, but he really couldn't do anything about these people now. He could only write down the suspects in his little notebook.

The arrest process was not smooth sailing. The three maritime merchants Gao, Xu and Wei jointly sent out desperate criminals to openly resist the arrest operation of Qingluan Guards. Although Lu Ping did not want to use the right given to him by Meng Jun to mobilize the garrison in Jiangnan, it was impossible not to mobilize the garrison when hundreds of people were taking up arms to resist the law.

With the dispatch of the garrison, the Gao, Xu, and Wei families were no match for the army. The leader of the Gao family was killed on the spot, and those who resisted were not only beheaded on the spot, but the rest were all arrested.

For a time, prisons across Jiangnan were overcrowded, with thousands of people imprisoned.

As the trial progressed, more and more dark secrets were uncovered. Almost every one of these wealthy merchants had committed illegal acts, such as robbing women, taking human lives, forcing farmers to sell their land, and colluding with officials to evade taxes.

The more the case was tried, the deeper it became, like a big net. Because of the salt and iron monopoly, it was no longer just the businessmen who were implicated, but many officials were also involved.

Lu Ping had already made plans to arrest a large number of people, but now the involvement is getting deeper and deeper. Even the prefect has arrested three people, the county magistrate has more than ten people, and there are hundreds of petty officials in various government offices.

For example, Pei Chun, the prefect of Kunshan, took advantage of the fact that Kunshan had been massacred by the Qing army in the past, resulting in a large number of empty houses and tens of thousands of acres of ownerless land. Although the shogunate had distributed the land to refugees and meritorious soldiers in the army, Pei Chun took advantage of the situation, colluded with salt merchants, tampered with the land registers, and made huge profits.

Lu Ping also received letters from some officials one after another, all of which hoped that Lu Ping would not expand the scale of the campaign, as he would seek out many followers and make too many connections, thus causing unrest in Jiangnan and causing unrest among the people.

At the beginning, Lu Ping read it carefully, but later, he simply instructed Liang Sanjin that except for the emperor's decree and the letter from Commander Meng, no other letters were allowed to be sent in, as these useless letters would only affect his mood.

After receiving the emperor's order, Lu Ping felt relieved. No matter who it was, as long as the crime was enough to punishable by death and the evidence was conclusive, the case would be sealed and stored immediately. There would be no need to wait for the execution in the autumn, but the execution would be carried out immediately.

In the following period of time, killings took place every day throughout Jiangnan. At the beginning, the people watched with great interest, but as time went on, fewer and fewer people watched.

The incident that Lu Ping had caused in Jiangnan had spread all over the capital and beyond, with many people saying in private: "The Qingluan Guards are nothing but hawks and dogs!"

The opposing officials were not opposed to the arrest of wealthy merchants who resisted reform, but to the Qingluan Guard's right to arrest, sentence and execute.

Therefore, many officials jointly wrote a letter and sent it to Liaodong urgently. The most important statement in the letter was "According to the rules, all matters related to criminal law must be carefully examined by the Supervisory Office and the Ministry of Justice must make a final decision before they are in accordance with the Constitution. The Qingluan Guard should also follow the established rules and not be arbitrary..."

However, by the time the petition reached Liaodong, Lu Ping had basically solved the problems of the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan, and the salt and iron monopoly, the biggest obstacle, had been wiped out.

Meng Jun commented on this: "This case involves reform and does not follow the usual practice. It should be handled according to expediency rather than by law."

During this period, although Lu Ping was somewhat restrained, the Qingluan Guards were still bloodthirsty and more than 900 people were executed one after another. Liang Sanjin, who was in charge of the property confiscations, seized countless properties from the homes of wealthy merchants, evil gentry, and corrupt officials.

Among them are not only gold, silver, and copper coins, but also antiques, treasures, jade, famous paintings, and even some unique copies and precious cultural relics that have flowed out of the imperial palace, whose value is inestimable.

In terms of money alone, the Qingluan Guards seized more than 18 million taels of silver from these people's homes, and many fields, houses, and shops were not included.

Looking at the sealed carts filled with gold, silver and treasures, Lu Ping opened a box, took a look, shook his head, and closed it again.

Lu Ping couldn't help but feel a little emotional. He had borrowed money to buy several houses in Beijing, and made a lot of money by selling them. However, compared with these wealthy businessmen, it was like a beggar picking up a penny.

Lu Ping had already resolved the affairs in Jiangnan and urgently sent a fast horse to write a letter to Meng Jun, informing Meng Jun in detail of his actions in Jiangnan during this period, the number of people executed and imprisoned, and the confiscated property.

The big moves made by Qingluan Guard in Jiangnan thoroughly established their reputation. To the gentry in Jiangnan, the only difference between Qingluan Guard and Jinyi Guard was their name.