Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 624
"Zhu Youjian!"

"cut!"

On the first day of May in the 22nd year of Apocalypse, 170 and six major Yanshan officials headed by Wang Kejian and others were dragged to Caishikou and beheaded with the order of the supervisor.

Excluding these 170 officials, more than 600 officials were beheaded in various places, and the remaining 3 officials and their 23 family members were sent to Lingbei.

Among the nearly [-] officials who were beheaded, they were charged with the following crimes:
600. Over the years, they have embezzled the taxes of the prefectures, counties, and towns under their jurisdiction, lowered the imperial tax revenue, and embezzled no less than [-] million taels of official silver from various projects in the form of collusion between officials and businessmen.

13. Colluding with gentry from all over the world for many years, the hidden land tax and autumn grain were devoured. From the 21th to the 4000st year of the Apocalypse, the drought in the south of the Yangtze River was falsely reported many times and the land tax was underpaid. After the investigation by the third department, the total underpaid land tax was no less than [-] Wanshi.

[-]. When collecting taxes, cleverly set up a name to collect various taxes such as water foot money, food money, treasury money, gods and Buddha money, etc., to exploit the people and fill their own pockets.

[-]. Under the severe drought, officials at all levels filled their pockets with disaster relief funds, and local officials supervised food in name only.

Local bureaucrats lied about the disaster situation and falsely received food relief. It was verified that more than 100 people embezzled less than 100 taels of silver, more than 1 people from 1 taels to less than 19 taels, There were 2 people with less than 10 taels, 12 people with 10 taels to less than [-] taels, and seven people with more than [-] taels.

five……

six……

seven……

Adding up one case after another, Li Demao, Zhang Maocai and other Yanshan officials' backgrounds and backgrounds have been turned upside down.

The case lasted for more than two months and involved more than 3 ministers including Li Demao, Chief Minister of Anxi, Zhang Maocai, Minister of Beiting, Wang Kejian, Minister of Rites, Zhang Xiaocun, Minister of Punishment, and Wang Zhi, Minister of Military Affairs. official.

In this case, local corrupt officials embezzled a total of more than 9000 million shi of grain, more than 670 million taels of gold, silver and copper coins, and more than [-] million and [-] million taels of grain in ink and silver.

Officials at all levels used the money from corruption to buy land and houses, so that after Jin Yiwei and the third division cooperated in the search, the results did not satisfy Zhu Youjian.

"Sing……"

"Long live Long live Long live!"

At the same first day of May, at the same time, when Caishikou was beheading officials, the voice of Shan Huan live came from the Huangji Hall in the Forbidden City.

More than 3000 Beijing officials from home and abroad gathered just to complete the grand court meeting that was not held on the Zhengdan Festival.

Of course, there is nothing in the Great Court, the most important thing is the worshipers of the Great Court.

"Pingshen..."

In the Huangji Hall, as soon as the 38-year-old Zhu Youxiao spoke, the officials in the hall headed by Zhu Youjian and Zhu Ciran got up one after another, and only then did they see the appearance of the emperor who had been away for several years.

Zhu Youxiao's beard is not dense, but a little sparse, and although he is busy with carpentry, he rarely basks in the sun, so that his skin is very fair.

With fair skin, sparse beard, and slightly obese body, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is an enlarged version of Emperor Wanli.

"Li Changgeng..."

"Your Majesty, I am here..."

At the beginning of the court meeting, Zhu Youxiao, who was wearing a crown uniform, called out Li Changgeng and asked, "What happened to the Zhang Li case?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, among the more than [-] officials involved, [-] were beheaded, and the rest were all exiled." Li Changgeng explained:

"In addition, more than [-] local gentry and powerful people involved in this case were arrested, and all their properties were confiscated."

"No less than 40 people were involved in this case. Excluding the heinous crimes that required beheading, the rest of the criminals have already been exiled to Lingbei."

Li Changgeng first talked about the results, and then the results:

"As a result of the case, the imperial court confiscated a total of more than 76 taels of gold, more than [-] million taels of silver, and more than [-] million taels of various Tongbao."

"In addition, there are more than 920 mansions and villas, more than [-] million acres of land, [-] seven boxes of rare treasures, more than [-] shops, and more than [-] million stones of grain and beans. "

"The above-mentioned many fields, houses, gold and silver treasures total more than [-] million taels of silver."

Li Changgeng reported the answer, but the answer was jaw-dropping.

There are less than [-] officials and gentry in total, and their family property can reach more than [-] million taels of silver, which is almost the tax of the Ming Dynasty for three years.

In the Wanli period, this is the eight-year taxation of the Ming Dynasty.

This group of people has not been an official for more than 20 years. As a result, each of them has accumulated a family property of no less than 5000 taels of silver, and even the local gentry and landlords have less property than them.

For a moment, everyone couldn't help sighing, even Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren and other conservative officials felt that the current Yanshan was not as good as that of Donglin back then.

At least Dong Lin and their food will not be so ugly, more than 2 million taels of silver, how many years will it take...

"The fields were distributed to the local people, the shops, mansions and villas were handed over to the imperial store for sale, the rare treasures were sent to the internal funds, and the grain and beans were handed over to Datong and Taiyuan as food for disaster relief."

"Gold is deposited in the Finance Department, and silver and various coins are handed over to the Account Department."

Zhu Youxiao didn't wait for Zhu Youjian to speak, so he sat on the dragon chair and announced his thoughts to the public.

Zhu Youjian didn't find it strange that he suddenly had his own opinion, but was very calm.

On the contrary, Li Changgeng, who is the Minister of the Household Department, was a little hesitant, and after glancing at Zhu Youjian, he bowed in response: "I take orders..."

"How about the issuance of the national debt?" Zhu Youxiao saw Li Changgeng's actions, but did not show any uncomfortable expression, but asked him about the situation of the national debt.

"As of now, the national debt has been issued for a month. The state of Qi took the lead in purchasing 200 million national bonds, the people of the state and the court purchased more than 360 million national bonds, and the officials purchased 160 million and [-] million national bonds."

"As of yesterday, more than 720 million taels of treasury bonds have been sold."

After Li Changgeng finished speaking, many people couldn't help looking at Zhu Youjian.

They didn't expect Zhu Youjian to support Daming's national debt so generously. After all, Qi State pays Daming several million taels every year to buy machines. It is really surprising to spend an extra 200 million taels.

"The national debt is the national debt of the country, and the internal money should also be used to buy the national debt with 100 million taels of silver."

The internal funds and the national treasury do not interfere with each other. This is the rule established by Zhu You, but after the national debt appears, the royal family can also provide money to support the court in disguise.

Just Zhu Youxiao's opening, the ministers couldn't sit still.

"Father, my son is willing to pay 10 taels of silver to buy national bonds."

Zhu Ciran stood up and bowed to speak, which made the other officials look embarrassed, so they could only stand up and bow to each other:
"Your Majesty, I am willing to pay 1 taels of silver to buy national debt."

"Your Majesty, I am willing to pay 2 taels of silver to buy national debt."

"Your Majesty, I am willing to pay 5000 taels of silver to buy national debt..."

"His Majesty……"

The emperor, the king of Qi, and the crown prince gave out money one after another, and if all the officials didn't give out money, they would appear to be a little less courtiers.

After all, among the officials who can stand in this Huangji Palace, which one is not a senior official whose annual salary exceeds a thousand taels of silver?
Usually he is so happy with his salary, but now the imperial court does not support the payment of national debts. Isn't that a face to the imperial court...

So, in just a few minutes, all the ministers in the palace asked to buy national debt.

Due to the large number of people, Zhu Youxiao could only ask Li Changgeng to count them after the court meeting.

"Your Majesty, I have questions about Zhang Li's case!"

After discussing the national debt issue, the question still came.

The person who stood up was Liu Shou, a student of Yanshan's first class. He was pushed out by the Zhang Li faction in Yanshan to Qin as the chief historian of Qin. It is impossible for him not to take revenge when he comes back this time.

Like him, there are a large number of officials above the temple.

"Chengde, as one of the masterminds in the Zhang-Li case, why didn't he be sentenced to death?"

Liu Shou questioned the emperor, but Zhu Youxiao who heard the words looked at Zhou Yanru, Shangshu of the Ministry of punishment.

In this regard, Zhou Yanru, who felt the emperor's gaze, stood up and replied to Liu Shou:
"Chengde has no money left. Jin Yiwei searched his home from top to bottom, but found [-] mu of rice fields in his hometown, a six-separated courtyard, and more than [-] taels of money he had when he was an official."

5000 taels of silver, [-] acres of rice fields, six separate courtyards...

It sounds like Chengde is a corrupt official, but Chengde's previous official position was the second-rank Youdu Yushi, with an annual salary of 2000 taels of silver.

This family property is not too much for an official like him.

Officials who are also of the second rank, basically most of them have more than ten thousand taels of wealth.

Therefore, these things pay attention to prove that Chengde is not corrupt, and when the officials in the palace heard it, although they all felt unbelievable, they still stood up and bowed:
"Your Majesty, although Chengde is not corrupt, but as the censor of the capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he has not noticed that there are so many corrupt officials in the world, so he cannot escape the crime of covering up."

The official who stood up was also one of the officials who were persecuted by the Yanshan faction. Now that the wall is being pushed down, everyone wants to return the humiliation.

"The crime of covering up should be dismissed, and the Ministry of Punishment has already removed Chengde's position."

Zhou Yanru knew that the king of Qi wanted to protect Chengde, so he told Chengde's crimes and punishments separately.

"Isn't it a crime not to be strict with your subordinates?" Another person stood up and questioned Zhou Yanru.

"The emperor is not strict, and the third rank of Cheng Dezheng Zizhi Yin has been cut off." Zhou Yanru talked eloquently, but soon another person stood up and asked:

"Isn't it a crime to persecute loyal ministers and good generals?"

"Chengde did not persecute loyal ministers and good generals." Zhou Yanru retorted to those who stood up, and bowed to Zhu Youxiao:
"Your Majesty, the three divisions will investigate. Cheng De kept many of Zhang, Li, Wang and Zhang's memorials for persecuting officials. Therefore, Cheng De did not persecute loyal ministers and good generals, but the four persecuted without authorization."

"Even so, then Chengde can be regarded as sitting idly by!" Another official stood up, which made Zhou Yanru feel a little tricky.

He couldn't help looking at Zhu Youjian, but Zhu Youjian was indifferent.

Zhu Ciran, on the other hand, could not help standing up and bowing to each other when he heard the people in his ear constantly saying bad things about Chengde:

"Father, the ministers think that Chengde is guilty, but the crime does not amount to death. You can confiscate his family property and cut off his rank and official position as a warning."

Zhu Ciran came out to stand in line, which made many people who wanted to impeach Chengde cast a rat's hand.

After all, Zhu Ciran is the crown prince, if both the crown prince and King Qi don't want Chengde to die, then no matter how much they impeach him, it will be a waste of words.

Therefore, after Zhu Ciran stood up, there was no one in the hall to impeach Chengde any more.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao also made a decision: "In this case, let's do it according to the prince's words."

"However, it is a fact that Chengde's command is not strict. It must be wrong to watch him face the wall in prison for two years."

"Minister, lead the decree..."

Zhou Yanru bowed immediately when he heard the words, heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that the hot potato problem of Chengde had been solved.

"Start playing if there is something to do, retreat to court if there is nothing to do..."

Zhu Youxiao asked the officials, but the officials looked at each other in blank dismay. Obviously, apart from the Chengde incident, the others had nothing else to report.

Seeing this, the minister of Honglu Temple hurriedly rang the bell and sang: "Sanchao..."

"Long live Long live Long live……"

As soon as the sound of beating the bell and dismissing the court appeared, all the officials shouted long live, and Zhu Youxiao also got up and walked to the back door of Huangji Hall.

Seeing this, Zhu Ciran followed, while Zhu Youjian walked towards the back door leisurely.

As for the officials, they dispersed one by one, very satisfied with the result of handling Yanshan this time.

Although Yanshan is still a big force at the moment, many courtiers still trust Jin Xuan and Yan Yinshao.

As long as Yanshan does not take the initiative to oppress the parties, the peace above the temple can still be guaranteed.

Therefore, after the court was over, many officials chatted away happily, but Jin Xuan and Yan Yinshao, who were the current leaders of Yanshan, felt the pressure was great.

"This time it's a family banquet, so relax."

A quarter of an hour later, when Zhu Youxiao's voice sounded, he was holding a baby under one year old, smiling and looking at everyone in front of him.

This is Qianqing Palace, and sitting in the palace are Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youjian, Zhu Ciran, Zhang Yan, Zhu Shu'e, Zhu Shumoo, Fan Guifei and Crown Princess Zhou Shi.

Besides them, the most important person in this palace is the emperor's grandson Zhu Heyin.

Except for the first generation, the princes and grandsons of the Ming Dynasty all have their own character generations.

Zhu Yuanzhang not only named his son, but also formulated the rules for naming the descendants of later generations, with each branch drawing up a twenty-character generation.

Zhu Di's character generation is "Gao Zhan Qi Jianyou, Hou Zai Yi Chang You, Ci He Yi Bo Zhong, Jian Jing Di Xian You".

After the character generation of Ci is the generation of He character, and the rules for naming after the character generation are also set by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The first criterion for the naming of princes in the Ming Dynasty was to respect the "theory of mutual generation of the five elements", that is, the five elements between father and son must be in a "mutual generation" relationship.

For example: Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi's father and son are wood to make fire, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji's father and son are fire to make earth, Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Qizhen's father and son are earth to make gold, Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Jianshen's father and son are metal to make water, Zhu Jianshen and Zhu Youtang's father and son It is aquatic wood.Perfect fit, no deviations.

Therefore, in the generation of Zhu Ciran and his son, the name is naturally for fire to give birth to earth, so they were named Zhu Heyin.

Speaking of which, after Zhu Ciran got married, Zhu Youjian not only never met his niece and daughter-in-law, but also never met his nephew and grandson.

Meeting in such an environment today, he felt a little strange.

"Does my brother want to hug Brother Yin?"

Seeing that Zhu Youjian had been looking at Zhu Heyin all the time, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help asking.

But Zhu Youjian shook his head and said with a smile: "Grandpa hasn't hugged enough, so there's no reason for uncle to hug him."

When Zhu Youjian said this, Liu Ruoyu had already ordered someone to pass the meal to the table.

Those dishes, a total of thirteen dishes, dazzled people.

In terms of royal status, if it was before, it would definitely have prepared 28 dishes. However, although the drought has subsided now, it has not passed after all, so everything is kept simple.

Zhu Youxiao watched the food come to the table, so he handed Zhu Heyin to his daughter-in-law Zhou, and started the family banquet with chopsticks by himself.

"Haven't Zhongxian and Wang An come back?"

Zhu Youjian looked around, but he didn't see Wei Zhongxian and Wang An, so he was a little confused.

But Zhu Youxiao paused for a moment, then hesitated before saying:
"Zhongxian and Wang An retired from their posts in March and went home to take care of themselves."

As soon as Zhu Youxiao's words came out, the atmosphere at the dinner table froze for a moment.

Zhu Youjian didn't expect that he didn't receive any news about this kind of thing. It seems that his brother deliberately concealed it.

What is he afraid of?Afraid to clean up Wei Zhongxian by himself?

Indeed, if he knew, then Wei Zhongxian might be included in this Zhang Li case to be settled together. After all, there are not a few people who are greedy for money.

Now that my elder brother is willing to cover up, then I don't have to force him.

Anyway, Wei Zhongxian is an eunuch after all, and his family property after death is easy to put on hold, and it will be fine for Zhu Ciran to find an excuse to take it back when the time comes.

However, since he wants to enjoy his old age in peace, he has to pay some price.

"National bonds are a good student to make money, and Zhongxian can buy some."

Zhu Youjian spoke, which made Zhu Youxiao heave a sigh of relief.

According to what he said, Wei Zhongxian's life was saved, and at least his money was saved in front of him.

It's just that my younger brother needs to use slaves to take out the silver to tide over the difficulties for Daming.

"I will let someone tell Zhongxian about this matter."

Seeing that Wei Zhongxian could be saved, Zhu Youxiao took the initiative to take on this responsibility, and Zhu Youjian also told Zhu Youxiao about his interesting things in Nanjing after hearing the words.

During this period, Zhu Youxiao inevitably talked about the lives of the people in Jiangnan.

"Although the people in the south of the Yangtze River live in prosperity, none of this prosperity belongs to them. They are just working part-time to survive, and finally return home exhausted."

"I've seen many people who came to Nanjing to work for a year or so, but when they finally returned home, they couldn't even afford the travel expenses."

Zhu Youxiao sighed and said about Tianmu this time by the way:

"The harvest of more than [-] million mu of cultivated land this time will benefit many people."

"It's just that these lands are nothing compared to the migration."

"My younger brother Qi's national policy of developing fields has been spread throughout the south of the Yangtze River, and many people are scrambling to go to Qi."

"Only the number of people I saw and heard on the way back to Beijing this time is probably no less than 30."

Zhu Youxiao spoke, and Zhu Ciran interjected after hearing the words:

"The information given by the Migration Department seems to be 67, but most of these people are people who have suffered disasters."

"Keep them in Daming, and the imperial court will have to spend several million shimimai to wait for them to resume production."

"Moving to Qi State will benefit both Qi State and the imperial court."

Zhu Ciran is based on the idea of ​​governing the country based on the people. In his opinion, relocation is not a bad thing. As for the so-called "Qi threat theory", he mostly laughs.

With the size of the Qi State, if it wants to cross thousands of miles of sea and territory and threaten the rule of Ming Dynasty, it will probably be a hundred years later.

Not to mention the vast territory of Qi State, it is not so easy to integrate the interior.

In Zhu Ciran's view, without 200 years of hard work, it would be difficult for the Qi State to pose a fatal threat to Ming Dynasty.

As long as Daming stops emigrating to Qi State, the millions of people in Qi State will be assimilated by the local natives in no time, and the local ethnic conflicts will be enough for Qi State to have a drink.

"By the way, uncle!" Zhu Ciran suddenly asked Zhu Youjian;
"I heard that the Franji people have given up North and South America. Doesn't the Qi Kingdom have no opponents in North and South America?"

Zhu Ciran's words attracted the attention of many people, including Wang Tiqian and Liu Ruoyu standing at the door.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian drank a glass of wine and said with a smile:
"It cannot be said that there is no opponent. At least there are no less than 1000 million natives in Central Asia and South Asia."

"If you want to assimilate them, you need at least two or three generations of hard work."

"Back then, the Zhou royal family entrusted Qi to serve as the Ping Fan, and it took a hundred years of hard work for Qi to clean up Dongyi."

"This was the case in the Qi State in the past, and I am afraid that it will be the same in the future Qi State."

Zhu Youjian's words had a little deep meaning, he was telling Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Ciran that Qi's goal was mainly within.

At least when the two of them were alive, it was impossible for Qi to solve the internal population problem, even if Daming insisted on emigrating.

"My younger brother has paid 200 million yuan to buy national bonds this time. Will Qi be affected?"

Zhu Youxiao was a little worried about the problems of Qi State. He didn't want Qi State to be too strong, nor did he want Qi State to be too weak.

Qi State is too strong, he is worried that Qi State is a threat to Daming, Qi State is too weak, he is afraid that his brother will not live well.

He is very contradictory, but in the face of his contradiction, Zhu Youjian comforted him and said:
"Two million taels will naturally have an impact, but right now Xia Yunyi and Yang Bingwen have begun to lead troops to take over all the places left by Franji."

"Wait for the new year's machines to be sent to Qi State, and relying on Qi State's gold, silver and copper mines, it can produce no less than tens of millions of taels of gold and silver every year."

What Zhu Youjian said is actually a little conservative. With the strength of Qi, if we continue to immigrate, then assimilate the local race, and use machines to develop American silver mines, we can mine gold, silver and copper mines worth 2000 million taels a year. Not a problem at all.

However, it is not a good thing to mine so many gold, silver and copper mines under the condition of sparse population. It will only accelerate the disintegration of the silver standard and plunge Daming and Qi into inflation.

The annual output is tens of millions of taels, which is already the amount of silver that Zhu Youjian thinks Qi and Daming can digest.

After all, Daming himself produces more than 900 million taels of gold and silver every year, and the sum of the two is 2000 million taels.

Such a huge amount of gold and silver mining must rely on the help of the feudal clans in Xiaoxiyang, Levia and other places to help digest it.

"In that case, then I don't worry about it..."

Hearing that Zhu Youjian said that Qi's annual revenue could reach tens of millions of taels, Zhu Youxiao breathed a sigh of relief.

He always felt that he was ashamed of Zhu Youjian. If Qi State could be strong without posing a threat to Daming, then the current situation could make Zhu Youxiao feel better.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao picked up the chopsticks, put the meat and vegetables in Zhu Youjian's bowl:
"My brother is thin, eat more."

　I started a business trip for a week today, so the updates for the next week may be one update.

　　During this period, I will try my best to make two updates, but the details still depend on the situation.

　　Today is an update, sorry sorry
　　
　
(End of this chapter)