Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 349 Prospering the Big Case and Treating the Big Corruption
"Guochao's paintings are mainly freehand, but if you want to be realistic, you can naturally..."

On the second day after returning to Beijing, when Zhu Youjian's earnest teaching voice sounded in the backyard of Prince Qi's Mansion, it was rare for him to usher in many days of relaxation at this moment.

"Is that so?"

In the backyard, two painting tables are placed on the promenade, and the courtyard of the promenade and study room is exposed in front of the painting tables.

Standing behind the painting table, Zhu Youjian told Yang Rushi the tricks, holding the other's hand from time to time to describe.

In front of them, in the nearly half-acre courtyard of the study, more than ten wintersweet plants are already budding, the branches are covered with snow, and the courtyard is white.

Several "palace cats" are stepping on the snow, squatting under the wintersweet tree and looking up at the wintersweet that has not yet bloomed.

Snow White, Wintersweet, Rockery, Civet Cat...

When the four moving and still plants collided, a very good picture scroll had appeared in Zhu Youjian's mind.

"Paintings are divided into ten categories, namely Taoism, figures, palaces, Fan tribes, dragon fish, landscapes, birds and beasts, flowers and trees, ink bamboo, fruits and vegetables, etc..."

"The methods that can be expressed include fine brushwork, freehand brushwork, hook drawing, coloring, ink and other techniques, and coloring can be divided into gold and jade, large and small green, boneless, splashing color, light color, light crimson, etc... ..."

"When you paint, you not only pay attention to the meaning, but also use the changes of lines and ink colors to hook and crack..."

Zhu Youjian was teaching, and Yang Rushi was also earnestly learning.

Li Dingguo was studying in the Cunxin Hall in the outer court of the palace, while Yang Yuanai was busy cooking.

Right now, in the study, apart from Xiao Qiwei, there are only Zhu Youjian and Yang Rushi.

Zhu Youjian does not shy away from people coming to the inner court, because the current inner court is not worth avoiding.

First of all, he has no concubines, and secondly, unlike the extravagant and wasteful palace, Zhu Youjian also limited the servants and maidservants of Qi Wangfu to 30 maidservants in the outer court, 20 maidservants in the inner court, and ten chefs, totaling 60 people.

Compared with other palaces, the scale of slaves in Prince Qi's Palace is not even as large as some small county palaces, but it is enough for Zhu Youjian.

He told Yang Yuan'ai that if the maidservant in the mansion wants to marry someone, just say that the palace will give the dowry, and don't sneak around.

Zhu Youjian understood the power of the words "acting from top to bottom" very well. Like Chongzhen, he was very simple in life. Except for spending money on meals, he didn't spend much on other aspects.

He didn't need to buy some cloth and satin, the palace would send some imperial silk and satin almost every few days.

Zhu Youjian's salary has three aspects, one is the 1-year salary for the title, the other is the 2000-year salary for the governor of Shangzhi, and the 3000-year salary for the first-rank governor.

His annual salary totaled 5000 taels of silver, and the expenses in the palace, as well as the food of the generals and civil servants working in the outer court, were all spent on the 5000 taels of silver.

Zhu Youjian never embezzled a penny of the Yumajian's money, and he also prohibited the palace from buying land.

In addition to the maintenance of the palace, any buildings to be built in the palace also need his nod to implement.

Therefore, since the construction of Prince Qi's Mansion, there has been no change so far. The few additions are the furniture sent from time to time in the palace.

Needless to say, these furniture are basically made by Zhu Youxiao, and most of these furniture are not used by Zhu Youjian, so they basically store the furniture in the warehouse of the outer court.

The rare rest allowed Zhu Youjian to relax. While teaching Yang Rushi, he painted by himself.

Soon, he completed a picture of "Civet Cat Appreciating Flowers and Stepping Snow", and stamped his personal seal on it.

After drawing a picture that he wanted to draw, Zhu Youjian pulled the chair to the side of Yang Rushi and watched Yang Rushi paint little by little.

Her painting skills are actually not bad, at least at her age, she is considered to be the best.

Zhu Youjian accompanied her to paint from [-]:[-] to [-]:[-], when the atmosphere was broken by Yang Yuanai's footsteps.

"Your Highness, it's time to eat."

"Well, send it here..."

Yang Yuanai saluted and opened her mouth, while Zhu Youjian looked up at her and nodded slightly.

Seeing this, Yang Yuanai also turned around and ordered a maidservant behind her to deliver the meal, while she came forward with another maidservant.

The maid was holding a tea tray and tea set in her hand, while Yang Yuanai stepped forward, skillfully put away Zhu Youjian's painting, took the tea set and put it on the table, then took away the paper, brush and ink, and handed it to the maid to take it back study.

Standing in front of the table, she arranged several tea sets with blue and white pine, bamboo and plum patterns from the Xuande period, and then boiled water in a small copper stove to make tea.

After a smooth operation, she handed the teacup to Zhu Youjian with both hands, and Zhu Youjian took a sip after taking it, then put it back into the teacup, and continued to watch Yang Rushi paint with his head down.

After about a quarter of an hour, Li Dingguo walked quickly to the corridor, and there was a long queue following him.

A copper pot and a plate of vegetarian dishes, raw pork slices were served, and a dozen kinds of condiments were also placed on the table.

The copper pot was poured with water, the copper pot was ignited, and the coals ignited the flames, and a relatively plain hot pot feast appeared in front of Zhu Youjian.

He put his own condiments, among which chili is naturally the most important spicy product.

"Stop drawing, eat first."

Zhu Youjian explained to Yang Rushi, and then sat in the main seat, while Yang Yuanai and Li Dingguo also sat down and prepared dipping dishes for themselves, and Yang Rushi did the same.

Finally, the water started to boil, and the bottom of the clear soup pot made with big bones and the bottom of the red oil pot made with chili butter were presented in the form of mandarin duck pot.

The two maidservants were in charge of pouring and serving the dishes, and it seemed that all Zhu Youjian had to do was to eat.

It's a pity that he hadn't experienced the enjoyment that he had worked so hard for half a year before the sound of footsteps came from the end of the corridor.

Lu Wenzhao came with the memorial, Zhu Youjian didn't say anything when he saw him, and he didn't ask until he walked up to him, "How is it?"

"Long live for one day, the palace will be closed for one month..." Lu Wenzhao showed a bit of helplessness on his face, and Zhu Youjian was at a loss for words.

In order to avoid Zhu Youjian's questioning, Zhu Youxiao really couldn't bear it.

"Forget it, don't worry about it, let's sit down and eat together." Zhu Youjian shook his head, and he didn't intend to force his brother anymore, but greeted Lu Wenzhao to eat.

"I've already had a humble job." After Lu Wenzhao said that, the maid also brought the stool.

He sat next to him, took the tea handed by the maid and began to rest, but Zhu Youjian didn't say anything after hearing the words, and ate in silence for a quarter of an hour, then rinsed his mouth with tribute tea, wiped his mouth and got up.

Seeing this, Lu Wenzhao followed, apparently Zhu Youjian knew that Lu Wenzhao had something important to say, and he couldn't say it in front of everyone.

He deliberately walked away, and Lu Wenzhao also knew it well and followed.

The two went back to the study, and then Lu Wenzhao took out three military newspapers.

"Xu Xiake and others have already returned to Persia, and according to your highness, they bought a lot of livestock in various countries and returned. They will probably arrive at Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner in early December."

"In addition, the European merchants who traded saltpeter and cloth with our dynasty brought the big white pigs and Shirmas, Simmental cattle, Charolais cattle, and Limousin cattle that your Highness mentioned. Wait for the livestock."

As Lu Wenzhao spoke, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but nodded.

Large white pigs are an important pig breed for breeding large Yorkshire pigs. This is very familiar to Zhu Youjian, who helped the poor in his previous life and often went to poor households as a veterinarian.

British native large white pigs, adult boars can weigh about [-] jin, and sows can reach about [-] jin. Among the local pig breeds in Ming Dynasty, the largest boar weighs less than [-] jin, and sows only [-] jin. less than a catty.

Once the large white pigs are successfully selected and bred, they can completely breed large Yorkshire pigs in future generations, and the adult weight of large Yorkshire pigs can reach more than 600 jin, and sows can reach more than 500 jin.

The introduction of large white pigs to breed is an important means to solve the people's livelihood. After all, the residue of wine brewing in various wineries of the Daming Wine Division can be directly used as feed.

As long as the government promotes breeding, one large white pig can be paired with 25 sows, and can give birth twice a year, with eight to ten cubs each time.

With [-] Large White pigs and [-] fattening sows in Ming Dynasty, it is absolutely possible to breed more than [-] hybrid pigs within a year. This is the advantage of Large White pigs.

As long as there are enough sows, the government can allow hybrid pigs to occupy a place in Daming's market within a few years.

Zhu Youjian has everything right now. There are more than 300 million fattening pigs in Huangzhuang and officialdoms in the two capitals and [-] provinces all over the country. Now what he lacks is large white pigs.

Not to mention the Sharma, which is the largest and most famous harness horse in the world. It can pull more than 8000 kilograms of cargo at its limit, with a shoulder height of about five feet five and a weight of [-] to [-] Eight hundred catties.

As a stallion, it can be used to improve the quality of Daming's draft horses. Even if the second-generation horse breed is only half as capable as a Shire horse, it can still be of great help to Daming's agriculture.

However, compared with pigs, the introduction of draft horses is naturally not fast enough. Not to mention the number of breedings, but the number of litters bred alone, Large White pigs can be said to be the best.

Not only Sharma, but also several other large beef cattle and dairy cattle. Zhu Youjian knew that their introduction and promotion would not be fast.

It's just that for Zhu Youjian, he still has a long time to adjust the national policy and improve people's livelihood.

To introduce species that can be introduced, even if it takes more than ten or twenty years to make these species spread all over Daming, it is still worthwhile.

What restricts Daming right now is actually productivity.

If the Sharma is promoted by the government, although it is not as good as the big white pig, it can grow to millions of horses from the current number of millions of draft horses in the officialdom in more than ten years.

This speed is not slow. According to a three-year mature batch, five batches can be fully matured in 15 years. As a stallion, Shire horses need to be continuously introduced, and hundreds of thousands of mares in the officialdom are still waiting for them.

Zhu Youjian doesn't feel ashamed, as long as Sharma can promote and enter the agricultural market, then Daming's agricultural production capacity can be greatly improved.

The Ministry of Household Affairs has already calculated that the current per capita arable land in Daming is six mu, and this per capita needs to be subdivided.

The lower class people are divided into two capitals and thirteen provinces and outer ones. The ordinary people in the two capitals and thirteen provinces usually have only one to three mu of land in their hands, while the people outside the two capitals and thirteen provinces have five to twenty mu of land per capita. .

This is actually a huge gap between the rich and the poor. If the court doesn't care about it, the people in the two capitals and the thirteen provinces will only get poorer and poorer.

Zhu Youjian remembers very clearly that the total population of Ming people in Jiugang, Jiaozhi, Xiaoxiyang, Liuqiu, Taining, Yingzhou and other places is less than 800 million, and the amount of cultivated land is more than 400 million mu.

In contrast, after the traditional two Beijings and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty were added to Hexi and Liaodong, the population on paper reached more than 900 million, and the amount of arable land was more than 4000 million mu.

It seems that there is no problem, but in fact, among the more than 4000 million mu, the gentry occupies more than half of the land, and the highest per capita of the common people is only three mu.

"Two capitals and eighteen provinces..."

Zhu Youjian murmured softly about Daming's territory, knowing very well in his heart that Daming urgently needs to release the population.

Right now it is only the first wave of drought, and most of the places affected are in the north. If the second wave of drought comes and the south is also affected, the three or four provinces in the north with the largest population in the southeastern province will be difficult to rely on the power of the imperial court alone. Come to the rescue.

"Promote a big case, move the people..."

Zhu Youjian, who had six words flashed through his mind, looked up at Lu Wenzhao: "Is there one more thing?"

"Another thing is that Jianlu has frequently deployed troops since the winter, obviously in preparation for our northern expedition." Lu Wenzhao bowed in response, but Zhu Youjian didn't care about Jianlu.

Right now, Jianlu is just suffering from skin moss, and the real enemies of Ming Dynasty are natural disasters and corrupt officials inside.

If it hadn't been for the corrupt officials and corrupt officials who were greedy for food for disaster relief, maybe Zhu Youjian would be able to organize a sweep of the North next year and put Jianlu down.

Right now, this group of officials is dragging his hind legs. If he is disturbed by the outside world, who knows if they will stir up a civil uprising and create hundreds of thousands of peasant rebels to rebel against Ming Dynasty.

"Tell Cui Yingyuan to cooperate with Sun Chuanting in governing the world, and find out those officials who are dragging their feet one by one!"

Zhu Youjian was a little ruthless. After all, it is more difficult to track down corruption in this era. Things like gold and silver running water are a ledger, but if there is a fire, the so-called evidence will be gone.

The handle of the Sanniangzi case has been used, and the Shaanxi civil uprising has also been used. Zhu Youjian no longer has too many officials' criminal evidence in his hands.

It is precisely because of this that he wants "Officials' Fixed Salary" to stop the income from bad rules.

As long as the illegal income is stopped, new officials who enter the officialdom will be polluted within a few years. Not to mention, those corrupt officials who have become accustomed to illegal income and extravagance will never stop.

Without "moisturizing the pen" and without "rule rules", it would be corruption to collect money, and Zhu Youjian can also take people openly.

"Your Highness, even though Governor Sun is in charge of the world, so many people are involved in the two major cases. Corrupt officials from all over the world should restrain themselves a lot. This case may not be easy to investigate."

Lu Wenzhao carefully expressed his concerns. He knew very well that His Royal Highness wanted to immigrate to the real border with a big case to enrich the national treasury.

But from his point of view, the two major cases have already killed so many officials, and the major case of the civil uprising in Shaanxi has killed countless people in the three northern provinces.

In this situation, no one should stand up again...

"You underestimate them!" Zhu Youjian leaned on the chair and said calmly:
"If they can control themselves, they will not become corrupt officials. It is precisely because they cannot control themselves that they have become the current situation."

"It would be great if they can hold on to it. There will be no problems with disaster relief. The people will have a good year, and so will the court."

"It's just that in Gu's opinion, wanting them to control themselves is no less than letting Deng Tuzi sit still!"

Zhu Youjian has long been disappointed with the corrupt officials of the Ming Dynasty, or he has been disappointed with the officialdom.

It is impossible to expect a clean and honest officialdom, all he can do is to keep bloodletting and transfusions for the officialdom to keep the blood clean.

"Your Highness..."

When Zhu Youjian was talking with Lu Wenzhao, Wang Chengen walked in, bowed and said:
"Old Gu Ge and Bi Shangshu are asking to see..."

"Let them come in." Hearing that it was Gu Bingqian and Bi Ziyan who came, Zhu Youjian also knew that the two should have come for "Official Officials" and other things.

After all, he has not been in the capital for more than half a year, and the capital probably has a backlog of things waiting for him to deal with.

"Yes..." Wang Chengen replied, then turned around to summon Gu Bingqian and Bi Ziyan.

After a cup of tea, Wang Chengen brought Bi Ziyan and Gu Bingqian, who were dressed in official uniforms, into the study, stood in the meeting hall of the study, and bowed to Zhu Youjian.

"Watching the seat" Zhu Youjian asked people to watch the seat, and after the three of them sat down, Bi Ziyan also said:

"Your Highness, the matter of "Officials' Dinglu" has been raging a lot recently, and the government and the opposition are discussing it. If it is delayed, it may change later."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youjian responded, and looked at Gu Bingqian: "What do you think?"

"I think..." Gu Bingqian responded first, then continued after pondering for a few seconds:

""Officials' Salary", must first solve the problem of officials' salaries, let some people shut their mouths, and then cancel various bad rules and income and pen system."

Giving a sweet date first, and then hitting a stick seems to be a good method, but it depends on whether the people below will take this trick.

Zhu Youjian glanced at the two of them, and then said: "With the income of tens of thousands of taels of bad practices, do you think they still care about these hundreds of thousands of taels of silver?"

"Then hit a group, pull a group, and kill a group." Gu Bingqian said the most ruthless words in a flat tone with a submissive gesture.

When he said this, Lu Wenzhao, Wang Chengen, Bi Ziyan and others were silent for a moment.

Are they greedy?Naturally they are greedy, but they know what to be greedy and what not to be greedy.

Just like the Qi royal party and Yanshan officials now, there are many people among them who are greedy for money, and Zhu Youjian didn't deal with them because they needed people to use them.

Although most Yanshan officials who have just graduated for two years have not been polluted, their methods are not as vicious and sophisticated as this group of people.

What's more, most of the corrupt officials in the Royal Qi Party and Yanshan officials know what to take and what not to take.

Among the major corruption cases in the Shaanxi civil uprising, the low proportion of Yanshan officials was not because they were not corrupt, but because they were not corrupt.

Zhu Youjian has a bright mirror in his heart. He actually knows how corrupt Yanshan officials are.

It's nothing more than tampering with some materials when using work as relief.

The loss of a hundred catties of cement transported is less than half a catty, but they just say it is one catty, three catties, or even five catties.

The tools used for infrastructure construction cost an average of ten cents each, but they just offered eleven or twelve cents.

Relief with work affects more than [-] million people, and each tool is corrupted with two coins, which is thousands of taels of silver.

This is just tools, and materials, food.

There are two free meals at the construction site where the work is used as relief. The meal supply is calculated as one catty of rice per person, and two meals a day.

If you deduct one or two meters, you will get thousands of taels of silver every day, and tens of thousands of taels a year.

In short, there are all kinds of means of corruption. Yanshan officials have learned the way of managing the world, so they naturally know how to feed themselves in the way of managing the world.

This time the officials of the three provinces have changed their blood. Maybe they can be clean for a few years, but they will still have to continue to be corrupt after a few years.

Zhu Youjian is aware of what they have done, but he does not move them because Daming needs to maintain stability at the moment.

Right now they can eat enough, it is Zhu Youjian who allows them to eat, once Zhu Youjian is not sure, then all the money they eat will have to be spit out with interest.

There was dead silence in the study, and everyone was waiting for Zhu Youjian to speak.

Zhu Youjian leaned back on the chair, closed his eyes, as if he was falling asleep, but he was actually measuring.

After a long time, he said meaningfully:

"The follow-up of this three-province major case, you can see clearly in your eyes."

"Yu thinks that there are drowning people in the world, and I drown them myself. Ji thinks that there are hungry people in the world, and I let myself starve them..."

"The people's livelihood is suffering beyond words."

"However, officials in the three provinces are still greedy. They have to force the people to put knives on their necks before they know how to open warehouses to release grain and exchange their lives with money."

"You two, one is the elder who makes decisions about the world, and the other is the secretary of the household department who is in charge of the state's money."

"You have seen clearly the tragic situation of the people a long time ago."

"The money from the imperial court is in your hands, but you already know it in your heart. You know better than Gu."

Obviously, Zhu Youjian sensed the reason why the two came to ask him.

To put it bluntly, "Officials Set Salary" is an offending matter.

Regardless of what Gu Bingqian said just now is good, what Bi Ziyan said is not bad, but in fact they don't want to take responsibility.

They came to Zhu Youjian just to ask Zhu Youjian if he could take the responsibility. After all, if Zhu Youjian took the responsibility himself, they would naturally dare to do it, because Zhu Youjian would keep them safe.

As for what Zhu Youjian said, although he didn't make it too clear, he was actually telling the two of them that they had already seen clearly whether he would protect the people below, and whether he was responsible or not, they also saw it. It's clear.

If I ask again now, I'm somewhat pretending to be confused.

The two were beaten, and immediately began to express their opinions:
""Officials' Order" is the beginning of solving corruption. If you can't even make a decision at the beginning, the follow-up anti-corruption will naturally not go on."

"The lower officials thought that at the moment, Wansui should be asked to issue a decree quickly, the cabinet and the supervisor of rituals will approve the redemption, and the Ministry of official affairs and the Ministry of household affairs will implement it immediately."

Gu Bingqian's statement was very good, while Bi Ziyan said worriedly:
"None of the cabinet, the supervisor of ceremonies and Long live will obstruct this will. The Ministry of Households has sufficient money and food, so naturally they will not refuse, but this matter of the Ministry of Officials..."

After saying this, everyone pricked up their ears, waiting for Zhu Youjian to speak.

Everyone knows that the Ministry of Officials is currently under the control of the Eunuch Party, and the person in charge is Wei Zhongxian's disciple Cui Chengxiu.

The implementation of "Officials' fixed salary" is not only their business, but also related to the eunuch party.

However, after several major cases, the eunuch party has long hated Qi Wang's party to the bone. Even if Cui Chengxiu and Wei Zhongxian agree now, I am afraid that the officials in the official department will not agree.

"You don't have to worry about the matter, just carry it out."

Zhu Youjian opened his mouth to determine the nature of this matter. Although the tone of his words was not serious, everyone could hear it. If someone stood up to obstruct this matter, it would not be as simple as ransacking the house and exile...

　Update at [-]pm

　　
　
(End of this chapter)