Chapter 133 What is this (Part 2)
Zhang Jue was a person from the Eastern Han Dynasty (around the 2nd century AD) in China. He was the founder of the early Taoist sect Taiping Dao. He and his two brothers Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang all believed in Taoism.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the three brothers promoted the Taiping Dao, combined with the earlier popular "Huang-Lao" thought, and turned this thought into their own doctrine, which was widely promoted to believers. The doctrine of the Taiping Dao claimed that there were ghosts and gods in heaven who monitored people's behavior and increased or decreased their lifespans according to the good or evil of their behavior, requiring people to do more good deeds and less bad deeds.
After more than ten years of hard work, Zhang Jue's Taiping Dao spread to many parts of China, with the number of believers reaching hundreds of thousands. Zhang Jue preached as the leader of the sect. According to historical records, his preaching method was mainly to cure people's illnesses to expand his influence. Zhang Jue also called himself "the great virtuous teacher" and regarded himself as a forerunner of the masses. He organized the believers of the whole country into a military-political organization called "Fang" according to the region. There were 36 Fangs in total, and the leaders of each Fang were called "Qu Shuai", which had a great influence on the people.
Because the society was corrupt, the politics was dark, and the people were living in poverty, Zhang Jue took advantage of the situation and put forward the slogan "The blue sky is dead, the yellow sky should be established, the year is Jiazi, and the world is auspicious" , and launched the Yellow Turban Rebellion. After the uprising failed, the Taiping Dao basically disappeared.
Yongzheng defined Huo Chong's personality, and the Thirteenth Brother had exactly the same ideas as his brother. After comparing them, the two brothers realized that this was correct.
Huo Chong was able to provide relief, and it was real relief, not just saving lives in this era. This was enough to prove that Huo Chong not only had financial resources, but also had sufficient operational capabilities.
The ability to operate does not rely on one person, but requires a large number of people who can implement Huo Chong's ideas. This proves that Huo Chong can gather people.
Huo Chong was able to use people and established a system of "planting blessings". This can no longer be described as "gathering people".
According to what Magistrate Dong wrote, Huo Chong was not the kind of person who would travel with hundreds of followers. If Huo Chong really did this, those who attacked Huo Chong would have used this as his crime.
Yongzheng even sighed, "This kind of thief actually managed to escape the secret report, he deserves to die! It shows that the secret report should be more careful!"
The Thirteenth Elder nodded and said, "Your Majesty is wise, these people really have ulterior motives!"
One person can mobilize money and manpower to organize disaster relief without gathering people or making a scene. This is the ability to use people.
Just like the Qing Dynasty, if the emperor personally assigned everything, he would be too busy to handle it. And every time he had to make various arrangements, the country would not have so much manpower and material resources.
Being able to use people is like the emperor giving an order, and officials operating under the system will solve the problem. All the emperor needs to do is to ask those people how far the work has been done and what they have encountered.
Huo Chong is a man who can use people. Not only can this guy use people, he has also built a "platform for cultivating blessings", which is a little higher than using people. He has a system, and he uses this system to organize the people.
Planting blessings refers to the blessings that Huo Chong has planted. Since it is the blessings that Huo Chong has planted, the people who have received the blessings from Huo Chong have benefited, so they naturally have to give back a part of it to Huo Chong.
If such a system is allowed to expand, where should the imperial court be placed?
The Thirteenth Prince Yi was usually considered a tolerant person, a prince who could forgive others. At this time, he did not mention that Huo Chong had not harmed anyone until now, so whether he could be forgiven. Instead, he directly asked Yongzheng which team to send to capture Huo Chong, the contemporary Zhang Jue.
Yongzheng thought for a moment and said, "Let the governor of Shandong handle this matter."
After saying this, seeing Prince Yi's disapproving expression, Yongzheng asked, "Thirteenth brother, is there anything wrong?"
"Your Majesty, I will supervise the clearing of the debts. Officials from all over the country are in a state of panic. Huo Chong has been running the business for several years and has accumulated a lot of wealth. If the Shandong governor is allowed to supervise this matter, I'm afraid the Shandong officials will only want Huo Chong's wealth."
When Yongzheng heard this, his brows were already furrowed, and he said bitterly: "These officials only think about these trivial matters. They don't take national affairs to heart at all. Seeing that Huo Chong can pay taxes, they indulge Huo Chong. Humph! Even those who sued Huo Chong are thinking about money. This is how Huo Chong became so powerful! It's just that the court sent an imperial envoy, and they think too highly of Huo Chong, that bastard!"
Having said this, Yongzheng was unable to continue and became sullen.
The Thirteenth Prince said quickly, "Your Majesty, this is no small matter. Huo Chong has some reputation in Shandong. If the Shandong Governor is allowed to supervise this matter, Huo Chong has no evidence of rebellion. Arresting him will only confuse the officials. We should give Huo Chong a face and send the imperial envoy to Shandong to arrest Huo Chong together with the Shandong government and send him back to the capital. Otherwise, if the Shandong officials take action , they will probably alert the enemy."
Yongzheng thought about it and felt that what his thirteenth brother said was right. The nature of Shandong officials must be that they want Huo Chong's property, and some of them might even extort money from Huo Chong by tipping him off.
Huo Chong was a big thief, so he would definitely run away after hearing the news. Although Yongzheng knew that he was not just making up stories and killing people indiscriminately, his subordinates did not know that if Huo Chong ran away, there would be all kinds of unfavorable statements against Yongzheng.
Now that Yongzheng was relying on real evidence to collect the debts, there were all kinds of confusing statements in the court. Some even said that Yongzheng was a tyrant and a confiscated emperor.
Thinking of this, Yongzheng sighed, "I'll just follow my Thirteenth Brother's instructions!"
After saying this, Yongzheng became angry again, "After this case is handled, we will ask those who made secret reports to investigate these people strictly! If I had known that Huo Chong was such a person, I could have dealt with him with just one imperial decree two years ago!"
After listening to this, the Thirteenth Brother nodded repeatedly and discussed with Yongzheng how to improve the secret reporting system. As for Huo Chong himself , the two brothers did not actually take it to heart.
I think these two people thought that Huo Chong was just a local tycoon at this time, at most a tycoon in official guise. Dealing with Huo Chong was as easy as taking something out of a sack.
But is this really the case?
Probably.
The next day, Yongzheng personally issued an edict, ordering his personal bodyguard Zhang Wei to lead several guards and go straight to Shandong with the imperial edict.
This action was swift, showing the importance of speed. Although there were only a few of them, they met the governor of Shandong after arriving in Shandong. The governor immediately sent fifty people to follow the imperial envoy to investigate the case.
The crowd rushed all the way to Zibo County, took out the imperial edict and the official documents from the Governor of Shandong, and began to investigate the case.
