The Ming Dynasty Law: Anyone who dismembers a living person shall be executed by slow slicing, and his property shall be handed over to the deceased's family.

Although his wife, children and family members living with him were unaware of the incident, they were all exiled for 2,000 miles and their followers were beheaded.

In fact, throughout the dynasties, those in power have undoubtedly imposed very severe punishments on these human traffickers.

It's just that money is a temptation, and there are still a large number of people who go against their conscience and do this business.

They are no longer human, so there is no need to treat them as human.

This trip to understand the people's sentiments ended very quickly. The most unhappy person among them was Zhu Yunhuan. He finally managed to get out of the palace, but in less than two hours, he ate a sesame cake and it was over.

"I shouldn't have eaten this sesame cake if I had known." Zhu Yunhuan muttered on the way back.

Zhu Ying heard this and said, "There will be countless people in this world who will thank you for this sesame cake."

Zhu Yunhuan was a little confused, but his eldest brother's tone was a little cold, as if the incident with the little beggar just now made his eldest brother in a bad mood.

Therefore, I didn’t dare to ask more questions.

After returning to the palace, Zhu Ying immediately summoned Song Zhong and asked him about the Beggars' Gang in the Ming Dynasty.

"What exactly is the situation of this Beggars' Sect? Tell me in detail."

Faced with the questions from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Song Zhong naturally did not dare to hide anything and told him all the information he had learned.

The Beggars' Sect is known as the largest gang in the world. Throughout all dynasties, there have been people who have become beggars. They gather together to form gangs, fight for justice, and their behavior is somewhere between good and evil.

The Beggars' Gang in the Ming Dynasty was more violent than in previous times, and the reason for this, in the end, was actually related to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang was poor and lonely when he was young, and was sent to Yuanjue Temple to become a monk. However, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a tragic fate, was expelled from the temple and fell into the situation of begging from door to door. The current popular practice of beggars in the Beggars' Gang, pounding cow bones, started with him.

As a result, more and more beggars came to worship Zhu Yuanzhang, and the emperor of the time seemed to be the spiritual leader of the Beggars' Gang of that dynasty.

Fengyang Flower Drum is very famous, but it only appeared after Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country.

People from Fengyang, his hometown, suffered heavy losses because they followed Zhu Yuanzhang to fight in the war.

After the founding of the country, many of the people with connections came to Nanjing with their families to settle down.

As a result, Fengyang and its surrounding areas became increasingly desolate.

In order to revive his hometown, Zhu Yuanzhang moved 140,000 wealthy households in the south to Fengyang, and strictly prohibited those who returned without permission.

Due to years of war, the fields were barren and many people in Fengyang were displaced and became beggars. Therefore, the wealthy families from the south of the Yangtze River who moved here would disguise themselves as poor people every winter and return to their hometowns by begging. Over time, begging became their profession.

Among them, Fengyang Flower Drum is the most popular: Fengyang was originally a good place, but since Zhu Yuanzhang came into being, there has been famine for nine years out of ten, so people carry their flower drums and travel around.

Of course, it is impossible for all the old Fengyang people to come to the capital. Most of them choose to stay in their hometown.

The love for one’s hometown exists both in ancient and modern times.

This also led to many real Fengyang people becoming beggars.

A problem arises here. Even the government officials have to be cautious with the beggars in Fengyang.

Why?

Because among these beggars, many are related to Zhu Yuanzhang or the Huaixi civil and military officials group, commonly known as the hometown association, and they are all relatives.

The county magistrates and officials at the grassroots level dared to oppress the beggars. After a while, the beggars went to the capital to file complaints.

This kind of thing is not just talk, but there are many real examples.

What kind of mentality would the Huaixi civil and military officials living in the capital have when they heard that their childhood friends or acquaintances not only became beggars but also were bullied?

Especially since he was just a small magistrate or even a yamen runner, how could he have any scruples at all?

Once word of this spread, it naturally escalated, and the beggars became more and more unscrupulous, with many even using the name of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Not to mention the local wealthy families, even the government had to give up and spend money to avoid disaster.

When everyone saw this, they thought, wow, being a beggar is pretty good, not only can you travel around, but you can also have food and drink.

If you can't beat them naturally, then join them.

There was even a wave of begging in most places in Fengyang, especially after the previous rebellion in Fengyang was suppressed.

As the team grew, more rules naturally emerged.

Among them, there were a few who could read, and they began to learn from the Beggars' Gang in the novel.

In many cities, there are even beggar's stickers.

The so-called beggar's sticker is a piece of yellow paper pasted on the right side of the door of a wealthy family or a street shop that has paid protection fees to the Beggars' Gang.

There is a document above: All brothers are not allowed to disturb each other.

When a beggar sees this paper, he will just look at it and leave. If you put a beggar's note with black words on yellow paper on your door, no beggars will dare to come to your door to extort money. It is as effective as putting up a door god to drive away ghosts.

If they encounter a family that refuses to pay the beggar's donation, the beggar leader will order the other beggars to go to their door all day long to extort money, causing unrest in the family and forcing them to compromise.

Often, even if you take the case to the government, it doesn't help.

When these beggars were caught, they stayed in jail, eating and drinking for free. There were so many of them that sometimes the county government’s dungeon couldn’t even hold them all, and the real ringleaders were difficult to catch.

Therefore, the beggar leader would bring his apprentices to collect beggar donations from house to house every season, and would ask for wedding money during weddings or funerals. The number of apprentices in the gang increased day by day, and the big beggar leader would become the gang leader, drawing boundaries and dividing the territory to prevent hungry and poor people from outside from occupying the docks.

In order to maintain good public relations with the local government, it was customary to divide the beggars' donation into five parts: one part for the head beggar, three parts for the group of beggars together, and the remaining part was of course used to honor the local government.

Of course, there is no such thing as unification in the real Beggars' Sect. If it really wants to form a unified scale, it will probably have to call in a large army to suppress it.

It depends on whether the government takes action or not. Generally, the climate will only form locally.

It could be a county, or it could be a prefecture or a state.

Everyone takes care of their own business and each family has their own way of making money.

If they had money, these originally impoverished beggars would no longer think of wearing rags and begging everywhere all day long.

Of course I don't want to do it, so I can only let others do it.

This involves the practice of cutting open living things. As it has been passed down for a long time, it has even become a family craft, which is simply horrifying.

"How did you and the Five Cities Army Division divide the tribute from the Beggars' Sect in the capital? Is the Public Security Bureau involved? Tell me about it."

After listening to this, Zhu Ying asked directly with a blank expression.

Upon hearing this, Song Zhong below fell to his knees on the ground, beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down his forehead, and his back was instantly wet.

"There's no need to be so scared. You must know something about my origins. You must be aware of these petty and shabby things. Tell me everything clearly, and I will forgive you."

Seeing this, Zhu Ying asked calmly.

Song Zhong gritted his teeth, knowing that it was impossible to conceal the truth at this point, so he gritted his teeth and said frankly: "Your Highness, the Beggars' Sect in the capital is mainly in the southwest area. The proceeds are divided into three parts, one part is shared by the Jinyiwei and the Bingmasi, and the other is 70% and 30%."

"The Public Security Department has not yet gotten involved. Most of the new recruits are from wealthy families, and most of them disdain to deal with the Beggars' Sect. Someone from the Beggars' Sect went to give a gift, but was directly beaten out."

Zhu Ying said after hearing this: "Send a message to the Jinyiwei, silver or head, choose one yourself."

"All beggars in the capital will be arrested, and the old, weak, sick and disabled will be taken care of and managed uniformly. The rest who have anything to do with sexual intercourse will be executed directly."

"Those who have no connection will be sentenced to twenty years of hard labor. My palace is building a factory and is in need of people, so this is a good place to go."

"Also, all the confiscated property will go to the imperial treasury."

At this point, Zhu Ying looked at Song Zhong and said, "Don't keep those who have dirty hands and feet."

Song Zhong said quickly: "I obey your highness' orders."

Whether it is the Jinyiwei or the Wucheng Bingmasi, the benefits are very lucrative, at least several times or even dozens of times higher than the salary.

There is a huge network of relationships involved here. In fact, to many extents, the Beggars' Sect also provided a large number of sources of information for the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

However, Zhu Ying has decided to give it up completely.

Clean up the filth of the Beggars' Gang completely.

The existence of the Beggars' Gang is a cancer. They are unproductive and love laziness. Maybe they did have some sad past, but that is no reason for them to eat for free now.

The Ming Dynasty was now in a state of disrepair. With the emergence of large quantities of grains such as sweet potatoes and a full treasury, it was possible to begin supporting initial infrastructure construction.

Now, due to the lack of a large number of manpower, it is a good opportunity to clean up the Beggars' Gang.

Just as Zhu Ying issued the order, a large number of Beggar Gang elders gathered in the southwest of the capital.

"What is going on? Why did someone just report that something terrible is going to happen to the gang? It seems like a disaster is about to happen!"

The leader of the Beggars' Sect in the capital was a scholar who dressed in fine clothes and looked quite talented. He was about forty years old and had a strong physique.

If someone said he was the leader of beggars, no one would believe it.

In this somewhat shabby house, there were more than a dozen people, all high-ranking members of the Beggars' Gang in the capital. None of them were dressed shabbily, and several of them were plump and white, and their smiles were as kind as Maitreya Buddha's.

"Boss, has the Public Security Department made any moves? A few days ago, Duke Liang was making a large-scale arrest, and many of our gang's best men were also arrested. We still don't know where they are, and the Military Department hasn't given any response either."

"Compared to heroes like the Duke of Liang, our gang's relationship with the Military Department is not worth mentioning. I'm afraid that no matter how much money we spend, it will be useless."

A thin man with narrow eyes spoke clearly.

He also had a long beard, like Guan Yu in the Three Kingdoms period.

If you look closely, you can see a half-opened copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in his arms.

This remark also caused a stir of discussion in the house.

"I've said it before, how could a figure like the Duke of Liang be interested in us?"

"It's fine for the Duke of Liang, but those yamen runners are all from wealthy families, arrogant and domineering, and simply don't behave like human beings."

"Elder Zhang was beaten so badly that his left eye is swollen. No wonder he is so resentful. I think it's because he didn't spend enough money. How can those little bastards understand the difficulties of this world?"

"As the saying goes, money is the key to success in life. Money can make you a god, and it can also drive away evil spirits. As long as we have enough, they will naturally pay attention to us."

"The world is really difficult to navigate nowadays. If we look at the Jinyiwei and Bingmasi, 30% of the gang members will be taken away. Now there is another Public Security Bureau, which is directly under the Crown Prince and is in front of the current general, the Duke of Liang. I'm afraid their appetite is not small."

When we talked about this, there was a sigh in the room.

The expenses that have to be handed over are really not small, so it is obvious that the money that is distributed will have to be reduced.

Seeing this, the gang leader frowned and said, "Be quiet, don't think I'm joking with you. I summoned you all this time because the Jinyiwei sent a secret letter."

"Around noon today, a noble from the capital came to investigate the neighborhood and seemed to be causing trouble."

"Tell me quickly, who has offended you and brought trouble to our gang."

Hearing the name Jinyiwei, everyone suddenly quieted down.

Although the Jinyiwei received the lion's share of the tribute, in fact, the relationship between the Beggars' Sect and the Military Commission was much warmer. On the Jinyiwei side, those who had a little power were all at the level of a hundred households and were difficult to collude with.

Speaking of the Jinyiwei, everyone's eyes were cast to the left of the gang leader, an old man who was quite old with half-closed eyes.

"Mr. Chen, I have no choice but to ask Mr. Chen to come forward and inquire about the news from the Jinyiwei. I'm afraid that our status and position are not worthy of the Jinyiwei's attention."

At this time, the gang leader bowed slightly and spoke to the old man next to him.

This behavior shows that the old man has an extraordinary status in the gang.

The old man opened his eyes slightly, pondered for a while and then said: "In the past few years, whenever there was a message from the Jinyiwei, it was no small matter, and this time is no exception."

"Although the streets are noisy, they are where we live. As a result, rabbits do not eat grass near their nests. Most of our gang's activities take place in the northeastern part of the capital, where merchants gather."

"Those who act here in the market are mostly people under Elder Li."

"Elder Li, please tell me, what happened this afternoon?"

The elder Li who was named was a skinny man with a pointed face and monkey cheeks, looking quite wretched.

Even when he wears those gorgeous clothes, he gives people the feeling of being a monkey in a human form.

Before Elder Li could reply, a sturdy man stood up and shouted, "Could it be that your dirty and despicable deeds have been discovered? I have long told you that there will be trouble under the feet of the emperor in the capital one day."

As soon as these words were spoken, several people looked at him unfriendly.

However, most people just watched from the sidelines and did not express their opinions.

The skinny Chinese man called Elder Li heard this and said in a somewhat exasperated voice: "Butcher Zhang, this has nothing to do with me. The proceeds from my business have earned a lot of money from the gang."

"Don't take someone's money and then humiliate him."

"Besides, those who can stay in the capital to make a living are generally not very good at it, and the important ones have already been sold."

The gang leader shouted, "That's enough, stop arguing."

"Elder Li, this news said that it happened at the dyeing factory. The dyeing factory is indeed your territory. Think carefully about whether there is anything unusual."

"The Imperial Guards are always sending messages, but they never take small matters lightly. If something really happens to you, I will skin you alive."

Elder Li shuddered suddenly.

The gang leader said this lightly, but that was real skinning, and it was not a joke.

Following the example of the current emperor, the Beggars' Gang in the world now punish traitors and those who violate the gang rules by skinning them alive, dumping them into the grass, slow slicing, and burning them to death.

Elder Li immediately prepared to refute.

However, suddenly a picture flashed through his mind. It was about a certain disciple who complained to him today.

It just happened in the dyeing workshop, and seemed to be related to the noble person mentioned by the gang leader.

Thinking of this, Elder Li trembled and said, "The noble person that the gang leader is talking about, is it one person or two people?"

When the gang leader heard this, his eyes suddenly became fierce and he shouted, "Li Laosan, is it really you?"

"Tell me, has that despicable thing been discovered by someone?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. Most people had gloomy and frightening expressions, and they looked at Elder Li, also known as Li San, with eyes as if they were selecting someone to devour.

The Ming Dynasty had extremely severe punishments for live mutilation. Once it happened, no one could protect them and there was no possibility of mercy.

The entire Beggars' Sect will be implicated, and they will be the first to bear the brunt.

Even if he could get away with it by then, given the temperament of the Jinyiwei Guards and Ma Si, he would probably have to drain all his family assets before he could survive.

Seeing this, Li Laosan hurriedly explained: "I guarantee with my life that I have absolutely nothing to do with the harvesting and cutting of live animals. Now that winter has just arrived, there is no need to accept goods from outside. I simply processed that batch of goods and it's gone. I will deal with it again when spring comes tomorrow."

The gang leader asked, "Then why were you hesitating just now?"

Li Laosan did not dare to hide it and continued to explain: "Two young men in fancy clothes did pass by the dyeing workshop at noon. They had some contact with the little kid and ate a sesame cake. There was nothing serious and there was no conflict."

"This kind of thing is too common. I think it has little to do with what the gang leader said."

After hearing this, everyone's morale dropped a little. Indeed, such things, in this industry, were a bit paranoid.

The gang leader also breathed a sigh of relief, but his frown deepened.

"I'd better send someone to investigate. If any action is taken in this matter, it will not be a trivial matter." The old man called Mr. Chen said slowly with his eyelids drooping.

Hearing what Elder Chen said, the gang leader bowed like a scholar and said, "Thank you Elder Chen for everything. We are so reckless and have offended some noble man. If you need anything, please speak up."

Old Chen nodded slightly. He understood the gang leader's intention of losing money to avoid disaster. At the same time, he was calculating in his mind how much benefit he could get from this matter.

Just as he was thinking and preparing to speak, there was a sudden loud noise outside the door, and a group of people broke in, shouting in panic:

"Boss, something terrible is happening!!!"