Daming: Wanted to be a small landlord, but was forced to ascend the throne

Chapter 399 The Emperor's New Year

"what happened?"

"I brought people to interrogate the mother and son. They are farmers nearby. The family used to be an official in the capital, but they have declined in recent years. However, they have benefited from the hundreds of acres of land purchased by their parents. The family is living well. It's just that the land was confiscated and seized last year, and her husband and eldest son were also beaten to death in a fight. The woman and her youngest son were displaced. It must be that someone felt sorry for them and revealed that there are people living in Huangzhuang. I'm coming to report to the imperial court..."

"Did they report it?"

"Report, the government only arrested a few people who beat people to death, that is, some servants, involving Jianchangbo, Shouninghou, Queen Zhang and some nobles, and those servants only admitted what they said, and had nothing to do with the master's family. , and arrested those people, let’s let it go.”

Wang Yin sighed.

The woman and child were really pitiful.

"Comfort them first."

Qin Shao warned, tell Wang Yin to go down to rest, and eat something better, and they will go back to the palace.

When Qin Shao sent the old concubine to Huangzhuang, he had already discovered many problems.

The area of ​​this Huangzhuang is really too big, even the place where the old concubine lives is only a few tenths of this Huangzhuang.

Because the royal family took the lead, there are more and more manors in the suburbs of Beijing. There are no civilian farms or military settlements within a few dozen miles of their place. No wonder the Ming treasury is empty, and the land tax is getting less and less. After all, it is a deficit from top to bottom. Imperial land.

The capital Huangzhuang started from Zhu Di.

At that time, it was Zhu Di's private field, and the income was completely controlled by Zhu Di alone.

At the beginning, the area was not very large, mainly in the vicinity of Beizhili, and then the area became larger and larger.

Because the emperor took the lead and acted from top to bottom, the royal relatives, including all powerful officials and even eunuchs, began to seize land for manors. Today, such manor fields have reached 20 hectares.

Those fields were originally civilian fields or military settlements, but now they are all privately owned.

What's even more exaggerated is that these fields are owned by these powerful people, and they are all tax-free. The more they seize, the less land tax the court can collect, and the country is being depleted step by step by these people. of.

Grandma, these things really happened more and more, and it really complied with Zhu Youzhao's words, defeating Yang Ting and them was just the beginning for him, the emperor.Qin Shao and Wang Yin returned to the palace.

Today's imperial palace has been streamlined, except for necessary departments and positions in the palace, all of which have been diverted to other places to work.

There are 10 internal officials, such a huge number, these people still have a special status, if they are directly driven away, many of these people are actually hard-working people, and it is really pitiful.

Some manors in Nanhaizi also needed people, and some people were sent there.

These days, Qin Shao is thinking about how to lay off and retrain these people and send them to suitable positions.

After all, the population in this era is not very large, and people are still the most precious resource.

Back in the palace, Qin Shao went to bed to rest first, and arranged for someone to call him when the time came. the ji
In the first year of Jiajing, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi's New Year's Day was like this.

Yes, the year name set by Qin Shao is Jiajing.

The reign name is a code name. Zhu Houcong's choice of this reign name was also the result of brainstorming and the afterthought of the officials in his hidden residence.

When Qin Shao was considering the year name after he came to power, he listened to the opinions of Yuan Zonggao and Zhang Cong. As a result of the discussion, this is the year name he got!

Qin Shao didn't want to completely reverse history, and this year name also represented a beautiful meaning. Since everyone agreed with this result, he let nature take its course and continued to use this year name.

At exactly the right time, Qin Shao was awakened by Zhang Zuo.

In his dream, he dreamed about the trivial life of his previous life. When he woke up, he saw the interior decoration and the sound of firecrackers outside the door, and then he was sure that he was still in Daming, and he had become Emperor Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi during the Jiajing period of Daming.

When Qin Shao arrived at the East Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Zhang Zuo had already put the prepared almanac, paper and pen on the table.

Rows of jade candles were lit on the imperial case, illuminating the Dongnuang Pavilion very brightly.

"His Majesty!"

Zhang Zuo unfolded the paper, handed the pen to Qin Shao, and ground the ink a few times before putting it in front of Qin Shao.

At Zizheng, that is, at 0:00, the emperor generally has the habit of writing blessings, and many emperors have learned this habit.

It's just that Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao ran around and didn't live in the palace. Since he took office, he has only written a few times before stopping.

Qin Shao didn't understand this kind of rule, but Zhang Cong and Yan Song were very familiar with it.

Especially Gui E, who has worked in the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing for a long time, and knows the ritual system of the Ming Dynasty by heart.

When a newcomer works in the Ministry of Rites, the first step is to endorse the royal regulations.

Qin Shao didn't care about this kind of thing at first, but there are no rules, and this is also a kind of encouragement and record.

He has a different status now, just like the top leaders have to make New Year's speeches, which is also a kind of instructions and condolences to the people, which has a very good publicity effect.

The messages he is going to write today will be published in tabloids tomorrow morning, not only spread in the capital, but will gradually spread to many cities in other provinces and the Nine Borders.

Sanyang Qitai, Vientiane is renewed; Harmony leads to auspiciousness, and a good year is auspicious

Jiajing New Year's Day, it is appropriate to enter the New Year, and everything goes well
Zhang Zuo gently moved the written New Year's message to the side to dry.

Qin Shao is fortunate that he still has some calligraphy foundation in his previous life, and then after arriving in Ming Dynasty, for the scientific examination, Qin Shao has practiced calligraphy a lot these days. Although the calligraphy he writes today is not wonderful, at least he can show his hand.

Thinking about the things I wrote, I have to keep them. If the words are too ugly, they may not be complained about by future generations.

ugly time.

Qin Shao rested for a while in the East Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and under the guidance of Zhang Zuo, he went to the Hall of Fengxian to pay homage to his ancestors.

Here, Qin Shao also saw the real portraits of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and others.

The Zhu family all have typical long faces. Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance is not good-looking, but he is not as ugly as the shoe-top face in the legends of later generations, and Zhu Di is also included.

However, the emperors of later generations were all good-looking. After all, after becoming an emperor and gaining power, the daughter-in-laws chosen were all good-looking.

In particular, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the royal daughter-in-law, especially the empress, should not be famous and famous. Since she could not choose power, she had certain requirements for her appearance, which also improved the genes of the old Zhu family by the way.

At least the original body that Qin Shao occupies now, Zhu Houxi, looks pretty good.

Including Zhu Houcong, although his eyes are gloomy and his body is thin, he is actually a handsome guy.

After all, although Zhu Youzhao's wife, Jiang Shi, is a woman with no idea, she has nothing to say about her appearance, otherwise Zhu Youzhao would not like her.

Ugly moment.

After resting for half an hour, Qin Shao went to the place where Confucius was the priest of Qianqing Palace, and paid homage to Confucius.

Ugly is a moment.

Then he went to Xiwu Yaowang and paid homage to Xia Yaowang.

Bless yourself to live a long life, and bless the common people in the world to be free from disasters and diseases.

After it was over, Qin Shao went back to his residence, and Zhang Zuo ordered the imperial dining room to order dumplings.

Wang Yin also came over now, and ate dumplings with Qin Shao in his subordinate position.

Seeing that Zhang Zuo has been busy for a while, Qin Shao asked him to pass some to eat together.

After eating, Zhang Zuo suggested that everyone go to rest and sleep for a while.

It is said that there is still a formal breakfast at Yinzheng time, and after the meal, he will start to follow the officials to participate in the court celebration.

After hearing this, Qin Shao thought, Grandma, isn't this a tosser?
In his previous life, his hometown also attached great importance to the day of the New Year's Eve and the first day of the junior high school.

For example, on New Year's Eve, many people have to stay up late to pray for blessings, usually at least past twelve o'clock in the night.

And after twelve o'clock, dumplings will be served, and everyone has to eat some.

Before they ate dumplings, Qin Shao thought it was a meal after twelve o'clock, thinking that the customs of that time in the previous life were passed down at this time.

However, after eating dumplings after twelve o'clock in the previous life, the next day's breakfast is usually eaten at around eight or nine o'clock in the morning.

In the northern part of the winter, the morning light is late, and it is normal to have breakfast at eight or nine in the morning, especially in some rural areas.

I ate dumplings at one or two o'clock, and had breakfast at three or four o'clock, which was really tossing.

But thinking about those ministers going to the court hall at three or four o'clock to wait for the court to attend the congratulations, Qin Shao finally felt a lot more balanced.

Thinking about getting up at that time, Qin Shao lay down directly in the rest room to catch up on sleep.

About Mo Yinzheng's time, Qin Shao was awakened again.

A little dazed, Zhang Zuo brought water for washing, Qin Shao told him to add more cold water, after washing, his mind cleared up a lot.

When we arrived at Hongde Hall, we started the first meal of the new year on the first day of the new year.

Zhang Zuo and a small internal official set up the Kebao table where Qin Shao was sitting, and put out a sweet and sour side dish, a nutritious soup, and a hot boiled dumpling.

Qin Shao hasn't digested what he ate before, so he doesn't have any appetite at the moment.

But seeing that there were only four dumplings when I opened the lunch box, I knew it was just a formality, so I felt relieved.

After eating some side dishes and drinking some soup, Qin Shao started to eat those dumplings.

"Your Majesty, this is stuffed with radish that you like!"

Zhang Zuo pointed to a bulging dumpling on Qin Shao's right.

Qin Shao picked it up and put it in his mouth and took a deep bite. With a "click", Qin Shao was stunned.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty, you have bitten the treasure! Your Majesty is really blessed!"

Zhang Zuo and the internal officials around him bowed down together.

Only then did Qin Shao remember that the dumplings he ate on the first day of the new year seemed to contain coins, and whoever ate them would represent good fortune and prolong life.

Unexpectedly, the Daming Palace also has such rules.

Immediately, a coin was spit out, and Zhang Zuo hurriedly put the coin away. The precious coin bitten out by the emperor should be kept well.

After eating three dumplings, Zhang Zuo ordered someone to bring them to the Buddhist hall and enshrine them on the ancestral tablet.

Qin Shao thought it was a bit funny, he ate only one dumpling left, and then showed the ancestors of Daming to see the leftover dumpling. With Lao Zhu's temper, if anyone knew about it, he would probably jump his feet!

It was already the second quarter of the eighth day after eating and drinking this meal. .

Qin Shao looked at the hourglass, and Zhang Zuo reported that the civil and military officials were already waiting outside the Meridian Gate.

Wang Yin also came over after dinner, and reported that everything was ready outside.

At the right moment, the court celebration ceremony was officially held in Fengtian Hall.

Qin Shao and Wang Yin returned to Qianqing Palace and talked about some recent events. The two wanted to discuss other issues in detail when the bell at the Meridian Gate suddenly rang.

"Your Majesty, the congratulations are about to start, you must get on the sedan chair and drive away now!"

Zhang Zuo trotted over.

Qin Shao got up, and everyone was busy arranging his clothes, he sat on the bus and drove him to the Huagai Hall.

The ministers, guards, cabinet officials, Zhan Shifu, inspectors, and officials from the Ministry of Rituals had already arrived. When everyone saw Qin Shao, they knelt down and worshiped the emperor to celebrate the new year with the emperor.

It's not over yet.

After a brief salute in the Huagai Hall, Qin Shao went to Fengtian Hall to take his seat under the guidance of the internal officials. As soon as he sat down, there were three whips from outside.

Immediately, the music started loudly, and all the officials took their positions and followed the commanding officials to kneel and salute.

Kneeling three times and prostrating nine times is a complicated etiquette.

But in such a serious scene, no matter how favored and powerful officials are, they must respectfully respect and solemnize their expressions. That kind of atmosphere makes people feel the shock of imperial power again.

After all the officials knelt down and worshiped, the high officials of the court entered the Fengtian Hall, and Qin Shao gave them seats and asked the inner officials to serve tea.

Among the old ministers, Qin Shao specially asked Wang Qiong and Peng Ze to give tea.

Wang Qiong seemed very calm. After expressing his gratitude to Qin Shao, he drank it with peace of mind.

Peng Ze seemed to be a little surprised with a little panic, but he was considered a veteran minister for many years, and he was also considered a battle-tested man. After being surprised for a few seconds, he returned the courtesy and drank tea.

Qin Shao knew that although many people showed support for him, they might have some thoughts behind their backs, but since the other party didn't show it, he could use it for the time being.

Even though they replaced a lot of thorny officials before, but there are so many Beijing officials, it is unrealistic to replace them all.

As long as they don't overdo their positions, there's always a transition period.

Of course, there are also some old ministers, such as Shi Ping, Yang Tan, Qiao Yu, etc. After Jiang Mian and the others retired, many of them handed in their resignations.

Qin Shao sent someone to make a simple recovery.

However, he used some strategies to redeem.

The time difference between the submission of the three resignations was not too long. Shi Ping directly annotated and asked Yang Tan to stay. As for Qiao Yu, he pretended not to see it after delaying for a while.

After a while, when everyone was about to forget, they directly endorsed Yang Tan's resignation, and later approved Qiao Yu.

After approving the resignations of several people intermittently, the court continued to operate normally without much fluctuation, and gradually those acts that seemed to be intentional to resign disappeared.

At least Qin Shao had originally heard that Jin Xianmin and Peng Ze also intended to submit their resignations, but they all disappeared afterwards.

Wang Qiong and Peng Ze have been at odds with each other. After Wang Qiong was transferred to the Ministry of Households as Minister, Peng Ze's position in the Ministry of War has not changed.

Since Yang Tinghe was dealt with, Peng Ze's behavior was very low-key, and he never collided with Wang Qiong again.

The reason why Qin Shao was able to gain a firm foothold in the capital quickly was that although Wang Qiong did not show his face directly, he did exert a lot of strength behind it.

After he came to power, Wang Qiong met Qin Shao twice in private, and they always talked about the Nine Borders issue and water transportation issues. He was so proud of being favored, and he never gave Peng Ze eye drops. Add a few points.

As for Peng Ze, Qin Shao knows that this person is also very capable, but the team is different!

In the final analysis, the dispute between him and Wang Qiong was due to different masters and different positions, but their abilities and contributions could not be concealed.

Although Zhang Cong, Yan Song, Gui E and others have good abilities, they can be regarded as their own ministers, but it will take a while for them to be truly worthy of great responsibilities.

"Toffees, are they ready to come back?"

After the celebration ceremony, Wang Yun was kept by Qin Shao.

Yesterday's New Year's Eve, Wang Tu's family also went to the manor to celebrate the New Year's Eve with the concubine. Early in the morning, Wang Yun rushed to the palace.

"Early in the morning, the empress made preparations, and it is estimated that she will enter the palace in a while."

Wang Yun replied.

The Asahi ceremony is over, and the officials all go home to spend the New Year with their families.

On the palace side, the emperor's business is not over yet.

There will be a banquet in the afternoon, and the emperor wants to have a banquet with the queen, queen mother, old concubine and some relatives of the emperor, that is, to invite his family to have a meal together.

Seeing Qin Shao's tired face, Wang Yun knew that he didn't have much rest all night.

It's not easy being an emperor. People who celebrate the Chinese New Year don't rest, and they have to invite people they don't like to eat.

Wang Yun knew that even though the emperor didn't treat Empress Dowager Zhang's family badly, he really didn't like this queen mother very much. If there were no accidents, Empress Zhang and her natal brothers would attend the banquet this afternoon.

"Your family members are also coming here, so we can take care of the old concubines then!"

"Yes!"

Wang Yun responded.

"Father!"

As soon as the two finished speaking, Wang Yin hurried in.

"what's up?"

Qin Shao saw that Wang Yin's expression was not good.

"Master, the Han family is blocking the entrance of the palace and wants to enter the palace!!"

(End of this chapter)