Brother Zhu Youxiao

"Zhang Wu, thirty essays..."

"Hey! Thank you, sir..."

In the same winter month, some people were very happy with [-] Wen wages, while others were smiling on the surface with [-] Wen wages, and kept curling their lips behind their backs.

Nanzhili Yingtianfu Nanjing City, as the most economically developed city in the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing City also has the highest wages.

Ordinary Lifu, 150 Wen a day, some craftsmen, [-] Wen a day.

However, income is directly proportional to consumption. Although wages in Nanjing City are high, consumption is also higher than other places.

Apart from the relatively cheap price of rice, other basic necessities of life can be described as expensive.

Due to the emergence of cement, the periphery of Nanjing City is also paved with cement roads, and the scale is wider and larger than that of Beijing City.

Looking down from the sky, all the prefectural and county roads in the south of the Yangtze River spread out from the center of Nanjing City.

Everyone in the north is still pale and emaciated due to the problem of insufficient food, but the people in the south of the Yangtze River are already rich and starting to seek entertainment.

In this era of lack of entertainment, one of the few pastimes of the people after they are rich is reading novels and watching theaters.

Among them, watching theater is the most popular way of leisure.

Zhang Wu, who is a force, had just taken thirty Wen wages here, and ran out of the pier there. After changing his outfit in a clothes rental shop, he ran into an open-air theater.

When he came here, he didn't just sit there and watch the play dryly, but ordered a plate of stewed vegetables, paired with a pot of sake, and started watching the play with Erlang's legs crossed.

It was just a plate of stewed vegetables and a pot of sake, and twenty Wen was already spent, but even so, Zhang Wu could only sit in the outer seat.

Going any further, it was not a place for a person of his status to sit down.

Entertainment is prevalent in places south of the Yangtze River, especially in Nanjing City, Suzhou City, and Yangzhou City.

It is obviously still outside Nanjing, but there are dozens of theaters built along the walls of Nanjing, and various banquet performances are staged every day, feeding tens of thousands of people.

If it is in the city of Nanjing, then on the banks of the Qinhuai River, it will be "Pear Garden repertoire, and the sound will resonate through the nine nights".

Literati and merchants lingered in the most famous leisure and entertainment center in the Ming Dynasty, and even talking about business became elegant amidst the singing and dancing of the romantic women in the south of the Yangtze River.

It doesn't matter if you have a lot of cash, the street performers shuttle around the towns and cities in the south of the Yangtze River, they bring their own food from house to house, performing in circles in the streets and alleys, singing songs, storytelling, acrobatics and even sumo wrestling of……

Where there are fireworks, there are endless performances, and street performances abound.

Of course, if you want to talk about prosperity, it has to be the Qinhuai River in Nanjing.

For example, at present, the flower boats on the Qinhuai River come and go, and the children of the rich families who are looking for flowers and willows on the flower boats are all holding buckets, and everyone is raising sticky poles on their shoulders.

Sitting on the flower boat, there were obviously many Yangzhou skinny horses on board, but when they saw a girl passing by on the shore, they still whistled disgustingly, they were all a bunch of idlers.

The flower boats around were afraid of them and avoided them one after another, but they deliberately let the boatman drive the boat to tease some skinny horses on the flower boat.

Faced with this situation, the soldiers and yamen servants who were in charge of patrolling the streets of the Qinhuai River could only pretend not to see this scene.

However, this kind of thing is not too much, at least not in the past, but in the future...

"Look, this group of people still don't know what the court is doing, and they still want to ask questions!"

In a tall pagoda near the Qinhuai River, when a [-]-year-old Confucian scholar in a Confucian shirt yelled at him, four or five [-]-year-old Confucian scholars in the private room behind him also had serious expressions, as if they had received some bad news.

"The new policy has been finalized. On the first day of the first lunar month, all provinces of the Kingdom except Shanxi, Shaanxi, and the three provinces outside the customs must pay the land tax of one tenth."

"This is not important. What is important is to recover the more than 470 million shimimai."

"It's easy to get rid of rice and wheat, but it's not so easy to get it back."

"That guy Chengde has different political views from us, and this time he has His Highness's support, so we can't do without chasing him."

"Zhuzi is not human..."

A series of complaints exposed the identities of these people. Fortunately, they were in the tower, and it was impossible for anyone to hear their conversation.

However, their words also revealed a lot of problems, that is, the matter of Xinzheng and Mi Mai's recovery.

They were powerless to resist in the former, and in the latter, they followed the way of the palace, no matter where it is, as long as it encounters disasters, the whole territory will be exempted, so they are so bold.

It's just that they didn't expect that they were bold this time, and they were immediately caught by Zhu Youjian as a model.

"This time I wanted to avoid Yingtian and the gentry Tian Fu from Changzhou and Suzhou. Who would have thought that the people below would follow suit?"

An official couldn't help but speak, and his words were full of complaints. Obviously, if the officials below hadn't followed suit, then their matter would not have been disclosed.

Originally, it was only a matter of six prefectures and seventeen counties in Huguang and Nanzhili, but in the end it became more than sixty prefectures and counties in three provinces.

Things get bigger, so it's not easy to finish.

Now the imperial court did not turn against them directly, because the New Deal is imminent, not because they are too embarrassing.

They all know very well that if the land tax cannot be recovered, then they will wait to go to Nanzhou or Dongshan Prefecture or Nanshan Prefecture to see the sea!
Thinking of this, everyone's faces were ashen, and the leader held the teacup helplessly:
"Let's see if we can get it back. If we can't get it back, find someone to take the responsibility for this crime. I don't believe that Cheng De has the courage to exile more than a dozen fourth-rank officials at once!"

After he finished speaking, the others nodded, but the man standing in front of the window said with a guilty conscience:

"Chengde doesn't have it...but His Highness does..."

As soon as he said these words, everyone's faces were as uncomfortable as eating shit. Fortunately, one person stood up to appease everyone.

"This... our three prefectures only saved 120 million shi of rice and wheat. If we follow the fire consumption in previous years and various other bad rules, it will be enough to recover at most 80 shi."

"The gentry of the three prefectures are not ignorant people. If we are convicted, they will have to spend money to buy new officials. The loss outweighs the gain."

"The 80 stones can be recovered as much as possible. If we can't recover them, we will find a way."

"Alas..." The official in charge sighed, "That's the only way to go."

After saying that, he clapped his hands, and the clerk standing at the stairs saw this, immediately nodded and walked down the stairs, bringing up the Qing servant from the next floor.

A theater troupe composed of more than ten Qing people began to place musical instruments and play pipa.

Listening to the sound of the pipa and the opera sound of more than a dozen lean horses from Yangzhou, the group of officials gradually forgot the sense of oppression that King Qi's edict brought to them.

But when they were listening to the Qing courtiers singing, Zhu Youxiao in Fangshan was also tossed a lot.

"The palm seal of the king, this..."

"Okay, long live see you!"

At the gate of Fangshan Nuan Palace, when a group of officials saw Wang Tigan walking out of the Nuan Pavilion, they all bowed down to ask questions, but Wang Tigan interrupted them impatiently.

Obviously, the emperor did not want to meet them.

"Long live!"

In the crowd, a member of the staff yelled loudly towards the warm pavilion:
"Long live! Do you want to watch His Royal Highness King Qi bring chaos to the court and disturb the world?!"

Some took the lead, and others followed suit.

"Long live! Ten Fus and one, this is the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, which has never had a tyranny!"

"In the future, historians will remember that the common people will suffer in the apocalypse!"

"Ten fu and one, is it possible that the common people sell their sons to live? Long live! You think twice..."

"Long live please think twice—"

Dozens of officials knelt at the door of the Nuan Pavilion, shouting loudly...

Facing this scene, while Wang Tigan's expression was ugly, he couldn't help but look back at the window where his long live family was.

The window was closed tightly, but Wang Tiqian knew that the emperor could see what was happening outside.

"Aren't these people afraid of being punished by Uncle Qi?"

Lying on the couch, Zhu Ciran took Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong to look at the kneeling officials through the window, while behind them, Zhu Youxiao, Zhang Yan, Fan Guifei, and Ren Guifei were playing mahjong (mahjong) .

The four of them were rubbing and playing cards, Zhang Yan and the two noble concubines looked worried, but Zhu Youxiao ignored the lives of officials outside the palace, and laughed and chatted to himself.

Wei Zhongxian listened to the sound outside the house, and his already unhappy mood because of the "ten gifts and one" new policy got worse.

It should be known that he also has 20 mu of arable land in his hometown. In the past, he was also exempted from miscellaneous and corvee labor.

It's a good thing now, after ten Fu and one, it is estimated that he will pay several thousand taels of silver more every year.

If Baiguan could really threaten King Qi to change "Ten Fu One", then Wei Zhongxian would definitely laugh.

But right now these guys dare not go to King Qi, but come to bother the emperor, which makes Wei Zhongxian unhappy.

This group of guys came to put pressure on the emperor and made the emperor unhappy. Wouldn't it be me who will be angry at that time?
Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian took a step forward and said with a flattering smile: "Long live, do you want someone to drive them away?"

"Well...you can figure it out, Yaoji!" Zhu Youxiao responded, playing cards in one hand, and appointed Wei Zhongxian without even looking at him.

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhongxian immediately straightened his back, walked out of the Nuan Pavilion to the door, looked at dozens of officials kneeling in the snow, and waved his hands directly:
"Come on! Give them to our family and I will fork them out!"

"Yes!" Hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Wei Liangqing, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately waved his hands, and the hundreds of big Han generals guarding around the warm pavilion immediately stepped forward and kicked out these dozens of officials one by one.

"Long live!"

"Wei Zhongxian! You eunuch! How dare you lay hands on me!"

"Fork out!"

There was a lot of noise, but after the abuse, all they got was a mess of sticks.

Dozens of officials were kicked out of the Nuan Pavilion, and Wei Zhongxian finally felt quiet in his ears.

He glanced at Wei Liangqing: "Except for His Royal Highness King Qi, Mr. Gu Ge, and Yuan Cifu, no one else is there."

"Yes..." Wei Liangqing responded, and Wei Zhongxian returned to the warm pavilion with Wang Tiqian.

They walked back, but Zhang Yan could not help but look at Zhu Youxiao worriedly when he heard the sound of the ministers being beaten with sticks just now:

"Long live, is it not good to do this? Over there..."

Zhang Yan looked at the corner of the Nuan Pavilion, and saw a Pentecostal living note officer with a cat in the corner, recording the daily notes with a pen.

Sensing Zhang Yan's gaze, the living officer raised his head and looked at him, then bowed his head to salute, then lowered his head and wrote down what Zhang Yan said to Zhu Youxiao just now.

"Let him remember."

Zhu Youxiao rubbed the horse crane, not caring about these things at all.

"Yes..." Seeing that Zhu Youxiao said so, Zhang Yan couldn't continue talking, but continued to rub the horse hanging.

On the other hand, Zhu Ciran saw that there was no play to watch, so he immediately jumped off the couch, walked all the way to the side of Zhu Youxiao, and asked by the way:

"Father, are the second and third brothers also studying in the East Palace?"

"Huh?" Zhu Youxiao paused when he heard the question, and then said after thinking for a few seconds: "No, let them go to government schools to study."

"What about me?" Zhu Ciran's eyes widened, and he pointed at himself.

"You are the prince, and besides, you are almost nine years old. It's time to study government affairs."

"Isn't Chengde teaching you all the time? Then you go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to study."

Zhu Youxiao threw Zhu Ciran, who was only nine years old, to the Metropolitan Procuratorate with a flick of his hand, regardless of the fact that he was still playing with wood in the East Palace when he was nine years old.

"Long live, Ran'er is still too young..."

Zhang Yan heard Zhu Youxiao's off-kilter words, and couldn't help complaining, Zhu Ciran also nodded repeatedly.

"What's so small? My younger brother rectified the Imperial Horse Prison when he was ten years old, and Ran'er just went to watch and study... [-]!"

Zhu Youxiao looked heartless, but Zhang Yan didn't agree to him when he heard the words, but said stubbornly: "Then you have to wait until Ran'er is ten years old, not to mention how can Ran'er compare to Uncle Fifth?" ?”

"People have to be trained to become good... [-]!" Zhu Youxiao played cards on his own, and Zhang Yan didn't say anything more when he saw this.

It was Zhu Ciran, who was looking at Zhu Youxiao with a resentful expression at the moment, and Zhu Youxiao could only feel the wind blowing behind him.

He glanced at Zhu Ciran with a mocking smile on his face, then turned his head and continued playing cards.

Zhu Ciran was thrown to Cheng De just like that, without any strength to resist.

By the time the news reached Chengde's ears, it was already three days later.

"Cheng Zuoqian Capital Censor, according to Long Live's words, after the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, His Royal Highness will follow you to study and observe in the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Department of Justice for three years."

"The minister leads the decree..."

At the gate of a five-entry courtyard in Changning Square next to Guanli Square in the capital, Cheng De met Li Yongzhen who was sent by Zhu Youxiao to deliver a message.

In this regard, he respectfully accepted the order and sent Li Yongzhen away.

However, looking at Li Yongzhen's back after leaving, he frowned tightly and never let go.

It took a long time before he closed the courtyard door and returned to the courtyard.

In order to avoid suspicion, he moved out of the official square where he had lived for several years, and bought a simple five-entry and five-exit yard next to the official square.

Since it is a courtyard in the inner city, Chengde spent more than half a year's salary on the two-acre courtyard.

He didn't need to pay this sum of money, as long as he wanted to, there were some people in the capital who wanted to give him money, houses and farewell gardens.

However, he still spent money, and simply hired twelve maidservants from the tooth shop to take care of his life, and wrote letters to people in his hometown, planning to let his cousin be in charge of his mansion.

Walking into the courtyard, Chengde immediately felt that someone was watching him, probably one of the twelve maidservants.

Buying people from Yahang, Chengde had already made preparations for Jin Yiwei to infiltrate the mansion.

It can even be said that he deliberately went to the tooth shop to buy someone, and deliberately let Jin Yiwei have the opportunity to spy on him...

Walking back to the study in the backyard, Cheng De sat on the chair he had only been familiar with for a few days, closed his eyes and rested his mind, and there were volumes of local memorials waiting to be processed in front of him.

Counting it, he has been Zhu Ciran's teacher for almost three years. However, as a teacher, he seems to have only stopped at the level of imparting the knowledge of "Yanshan Textbook".

He couldn't teach Zhu Ciran like Jin Xuan's precepts and deeds. In the final analysis, it was because he didn't regard Zhu Ciran as his successor.

"Mantle..."

Cheng De, who was pretending to sleep, murmured these two words, he didn't like Zhu Ciran who was lively and playful by nature.

When you meet someone who is too amazing when you are young, you will never see others again.

In Chengde's view, only those who are as majestic and talented as King Qi, or who have similar personalities to King Qi, can be liked by him.

Zhu Ciran was too lively, just like Zhu Youxiao, and in Chengde's heart, he instinctively hated Zhu Youxiao.

He once also admired Zhu Youxiao, thinking that he was a holy son of heaven.

It's just that when he walked out of the Yanshan school and began to gradually understand the character of the Holy Son of Heaven in the official circles of the capital, he began to gradually go in the opposite direction.

Holy Son of Heaven...

If it wasn't for his close friend Jin Xuan to wake him up, I'm afraid he is still eating, drinking and having fun, leaving all the government affairs to King Qi, and just concentrate on balancing the court.

balance...balance...

Cheng De hated such political methods, and he preferred Zhu Youjian's method of severely punishing all corrupt officials.

Chengde hated corrupt officials, and when he built his own strength within the Yanshan faction, what he had to do was to get rid of those who were holding back.

Thinking of this, he slowly opened his eyes, and looked at the memorial on the table.

Those memorials are all the memorials of many censors who have neglected to defend themselves. The direction of self-defense is this time that the southern provinces of Beijing and six provinces owe more than 400 million shimimai.

All the supervisory censors are saying that their supervision is ineffective, but whether it is the real ineffective supervision, or helping to cover up after accepting bribes, Chengde needs to send someone to investigate.

"My lord, Li Yuanwailang from the Ministry of Officials has someone send me a memorial from the Ministry of Officials."

A maidservant opened at the door with a memorial, and Chengde nodded when he heard the words: "Bring it in."

The maid lowered her head, walked into the study respectfully, then put down the imperial edict, and skillfully made tea for Chengde.

Cheng De didn't avoid her either, but opened the memorial openly and read the general content at a glance.

To put it bluntly, this memorandum is the result of the Ministry of Officials' selection and placement of the students selected by Enke in October this year.

More than 8 officials were selected, and Yanshan officials only had a quota of 3. Not only that, they were also sent to the township and township levels to serve as the most basic village officials.

On the contrary, a large number of local officials selected by self-examination were assigned to the localities, and there was a small group of people, that is, more than 2000 people mixed in Yanshan and local people, who chose to go to Qi.

Seeing the number of more than 2000 people, Cheng De smiled unconsciously. He didn't know if he was thinking of his best friend Jin Xuan, or he was happy for Qi.

He got up, silently put the memorial in the bookcase, then returned to the chair and sat down again.

It is a very simple method to establish counties with villages, but it is also the most difficult method, because it requires most people to work at the grassroots level.

In the Ming Dynasty, the taxes in the villages and towns were collected entirely by the local gentry and powerful, but now it is collected by the village officials.

In other words, the village officials don't need to mobilize the people to do anything, they just need the people to pay taxes honestly, and then hold the local taxes in their own hands.

This is different from encircling cities from the countryside, because the village officials are still officials of Ming Dynasty, and they are still collecting taxes for Ming Dynasty, but the problem is that the delivery time of this tax is determined by the locality.

Today, the town said that the rainy season came late, and the harvest was ten days late, so the tax payment of tens of thousands of stones for tens of thousands of acres of land in the whole town and its subordinate villages would be delayed.

Daming has more than 3000 such towns, and Daming has tens of thousands of villages.

All townships withhold taxes for one day, which has little impact on the people, but has a great impact on the court.

At that time, Fang Congzhe, Sun Ruyou and other party officials only delayed the tax payment in Jiangnan for a few months, so the imperial court had to threaten the Zhejiang gentry with soldiers and horses, and stationed soldiers and horses in the hometown of Zhejiang gentry.

Chengde learned his lesson, broke it up into parts, and distributed it to the village officials.

The Yanshan faction is not a gentry, they only have power and no economic base, but as long as they control the locality, they have an economic base.

The Ming Dynasty has more than 80 troops, but more than 50 of them are distributed in the border areas, and Zhu Youjian also ordered 17 veterans over the age of 45 to be dismissed in the coming year.

The 17 veterans were dismissed, and with the addition of more than 50 border guards, the imperial court had only 10,000+ troops in the interior.

10,000+ soldiers and horses, how can they threaten hundreds of thousands of village officials scattered all over the world?
The time consumed by their actions is enough to count as a unit in a month, and the village officials have their own voice in the village and town.

People would rather trust village officials than outsiders.

For the village officials, if the policy given by the imperial court benefits the common people, then they are the direct persons facing the common people. If the common people are grateful to the imperial court, then they can spread false news.

The common people have no other sources of news, so they can only choose to trust the village officials.

If it is delayed for a few months, there will be serious financial problems for Ming Dynasty.

"Alas..." Chengde sighed, and at the same time he was thinking about one thing.

The method he is using now was played by His Royal Highness Qi Wang before. According to common sense, His Royal Highness Qi Wang has Jin Yiwei by his side, so he should know what he is doing and can analyze what he wants to do.

But why, he doesn't seem to care about all of this?Could it be that he has other plans?
Thinking of this, Cheng De opened his eyes, he skillfully studied the ink, and then opened the notebooks that needed to be processed.

Looking at these memorials, his brows seemed to be glued together and could never be separated.

"Your Highness, how many tricks have you hidden from the students..."

Afternoon update around 05:30