However, the rebellion of the Wenxiang Sect and other reforms that needed to be gradually implemented forced him to be cautious.

If we analyze in depth the reasons why the Wenxiang Sect was able to incite the common people to rebel, it was precisely because of the serious land annexation and collusion between officials and gentry that made life too hard and tiring for the common people.

The officials and gentry were a complex group with great power and connections, but they were more difficult to deal with than the Wenxiang Sect.

Zhu Youxiao's thinking and method is to break down and analyze complex things, form simplified units, and then deal with them one by one.

Officials and gentry are separated into officials and gentry.

Officials who commit corruption are punished according to the law, and those who work hard are promoted and given salary increases. To put it bluntly, this is a problem of official administration, which has been a major problem for thousands of years.

If the government is not governed properly, good policies will not benefit the people. And the people also resent the government.

The gentry are an intellectual group that holds certain political and economic privileges. They are the real controllers of power in the village and have become a special class and stratum.

The so-called imperial power does not extend to the countryside, and the gentry are a powerful tool for the feudal court to maintain grassroots rule. With their cooperation, taxes and corvee labor can be guaranteed.

Officials and gentry had many intersections. For example, when a retired official returned to his hometown, he became a gentry; if someone in a gentry's family passed the imperial examination, he would become an official's family member.

For such a group, Zhu Youxiao really cannot deal with it with simple and crude means when the foreign enemies have not been eliminated.

Unless the situation has become so bad that it cannot be made any worse, Zhu Youxiao would choose to torture himself to death.

Now, Zhu Youxiao also has a way. Although the action is not too big, it is a two-pronged approach, removing corrupt officials on the left and eliminating bad gentry on the right.

Without online reporting, without friends circles betraying their parents and husbands, and without fast and smooth information transmission, it would be impossible to eliminate all corrupt officials in one go.

However, it is feasible to maintain a high-pressure stance against corruption and keep cracking down on it. The effects will accumulate over time, so they will inevitably become apparent.

As for the evil gentry, Zhu Youxiao would strike with precision, one by one, rather than in droves. Hoping for luck and selfishness are inherent human traits, but they are also human nature. How many people would risk their lives to care about others unless disaster strikes them?

As long as there are convincing reasons or charges, and others don't think it is a large-scale crackdown, who would stand up for those who commit crimes by raiding their homes?

As long as they didn't join forces to resist, Zhu Youxiao wouldn't be afraid. Moreover, this was a good way to make money and acquire land.

Spreading out paper and picking up a pen, Zhu Youxiao ordered the factory guards to start with the gentry in Jiangnan who owed the most taxes, and secretly investigate their property and land, as well as their crimes against laws and disciplines.

Simply charging them with the crime of arrears obviously would not satisfy Zhu Youxiao, and would make the gentry realize that the court intended to launch a full-scale crackdown.

Recovering the overdue taxes was only one of Zhu Youxiao's goals. The ultimate result he wanted to see was to make the gentry in Jiangnan fear the law and pave the way for the implementation of the "equalization of land tax and capitation".

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao was willing to impose severe punishment to serve as a warning to others, even if it meant fabricating or exaggerating the charges.

The rebellion of the Wenxiang Sect gave Zhu Youxiao the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

The so-called bad turns good and good turns bad, this is dialectical materialism, you don’t understand.

"Your Majesty, an urgent report from the Pacification Office." Wang Tigan hurried into the hall and knelt down to present the urgent report.

Zhu Youxiao knew without even looking at it that it was about arresting the core members of the Wenxiang Sect, so he reached out and took it, opening it to take a look.

Following Wang Haoxian, Yu Hongzhi, a core member of the Wenxiang Sect, was arrested in Wuyi, followed by Kang Fufu from Ze County and Li Enxian from Gushi County, Runing Prefecture, Henan.

Shandong Governor Zhao Yan also began to mobilize troops. He first appointed the retired former Datong General Yang Zhaoji as the General of Shandong and gave him full command.

Then he ordered Shandong Dusi Yang Guosheng and Liao Dong to recruit soldiers and gather local militia to protect the safety of the canal transport route.

Denglai Governor Yuan Keli also sent 3,000 soldiers, led by guerrilla general Zhang Bang, to rush to Yuncheng.

The Imperial Household Department also concentrated its forces in Shandong, either mobilizing local government officials and militiamen, or acting on its own, and captured Wenxiang Sect backbone members such as Shen Zhi, Xia Zhongjin, Zhang Jianbai, and Hou Wu.

Obviously, even if Xu Hongru escaped, or even raised the flag of rebellion in an attempt to gain his own way, he would never have caused such a shock in history, nor would he have attacked several counties, disrupted half of Shandong, and resisted for half a year.

Relying on his foresight, he once again seized the initiative and reduced the harm to a minimum, or even completely resolved it. However, Zhu Youxiao did not feel proud or proud.

This was a wake-up call, reminding him that if he failed to cheer up and reform, this was only the beginning and there would be more uprisings.

Moreover, he could not completely relax until Xu Hongru was caught.

"Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from the Ministry of War." Wang Tigan saw the palace servants outside the hall delivering another report, and hurried out to get it and present it.

Zhu Youxiao reached out and took it, then frowned when he unfolded it.

Xu Hongru, he finally took action. The Wenxiang Sect's rebellion was finally nipped in the bud.

………………

The arrests by the Imperial Guards and government officials still failed to completely block the news. This was understandable; there would always be believers who slipped through the net, and it was only a matter of time before the news leaked out.

In view of the fact that the backbone members were arrested one after another and the news of raising the flag of rebellion had leaked, Xu Hongru made a last-ditch effort and took action in advance.

On April 16, Xu Hongru led the people to revolt in Liujiatun, Yuncheng in advance. The believers in the Caozhou area, together with the farmers and common people in the countryside, numbered thousands. They first captured Weijiazhuang, then Liangjialou, and successively occupied four villages.

Then, Xu Hongru proclaimed himself Emperor Zhongxing Fulie in Xujialou, changed the reign title to the first year of Dacheng Xingsheng, appointed Chen Canyu as the right prime minister, and appointed his younger brother Xu Heyu as the King of Yinglie. He also set up posts such as governor and general, and sent troops to Yuncheng.

Rebellion and proclaiming oneself emperor were already the most serious crimes of treason in feudal society.

This is not just a civil uprising. Both the Ministry of War and local governments can no longer take it lightly.

As the newly appointed Minister of War, Sun Chengzong felt a great deal of pressure and issued a series of letters, mobilizing officers and soldiers from Henan and Nanzhili to suppress the rebellion.

Compared to the heavy and shocked officials in the court, Zhu Youxiao behaved quite calmly. He neither pressed nor got angry, leaving the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue with complete authority on how to deploy troops and collect silver.

Zhu Youxiao knew he was an outsider when it came to military operations. Especially in ancient times, mobilization, assembly, and action all had relatively fixed patterns, and he couldn't speed things up just because he wanted to.

But Xu Hongru's rebellion would definitely not cause much trouble. Zhu Youxiao was sure of this and would not stop his reform efforts.

Still addressing the long-standing issues of civil service, Zhu Youxiao introduced salary increases for officials. These increases were to be made twice a year, equivalent to mid-year and year-end bonuses, doubling the total amount.