Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 498 Hundreds of Officials Opposed to the Grand Plan of Jingcha

Zhu Qiyu stood up and made a summary of his thoughts:

"To restart Western trade, we must seize silver mines, so that at least 500 million taels of silver will flow into the imperial court from overseas every year.

Then the imperial court got the silver, minted it into silver coins, and distributed them all over the country.

In this way, the imperial court has a reasonable right to mint coins, which is neither directly robbed like the Daming banknotes, nor does it have to stare blankly at the lack of a coinage system.

Then these silver coins came into the hands of wealthy businessmen and gentry, and most of them were buried in the cellar.If silver coins are not in circulation, they are minted for nothing.

Therefore, domestic commercial tax must be reduced to allow goods to circulate throughout the country.Let everyone have cheap goods to buy, so that silver coins and copper coins will circulate, instead of being buried in the cellar and rusting.

Well, after all, Annan still needs to be brought down first.

To fight Annan, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Wang Ao, had to be transferred back to Nanjing and replaced by someone who could fight.

Who should I replace?Now there are seriously not enough important officials in the court.Both Xu Qi and Liu Zhongfu are old, and they are about to die, so maybe there will be two less people next year.

No talent, just stare, this emperor is really fucking ridiculous.

It's ridiculous and sad. Emperor Gongrang and I are really a pair of poor people: one accidentally lay down on the ground while wiping the Xuanmiao Emperor's butt, and the other was nearly fainted by the smoke while wiping the Xuanmiao Emperor's butt.

Oh, not to mention I forgot, I have to build a batch of firearms and armor and give them to Champa and Lancang for free, which is still a lot of money.Later, I have to have a good chat with the ministers and servants of the Ministry of Industry. "

The concubines stared blankly at Zhu Qiyu and talked to themselves for a while.

Zhu Qiyu was embarrassed by the look, so he had to wave his hands: "Let's go, I'm going out to find someone to play chess. In addition, you will remind me to let all the officials come up with opinions on Quanxuan, Jingcha, and Daji as soon as possible. Come."

But before noon, the officials received the emperor's approval.

The censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the staff of the Sixth Division took action one after another.

However, the focus of the speech officials is on matters involving the interests of all officials, such as the election, Beijing inspection, and major plans.

As for the emperor's plan to abolish the seven gates on the Grand Canal, how can I put it, from the founding of the Taizu to the four years before Xuande, there were no gates on the Grand Canal, and the Ming Dynasty lived well.

So whether there are these seven notes or not is really not particularly important.

Moreover, the southern officials accounted for the majority in the imperial court, and these southern officials were inextricably linked with rich local merchants, and many of them were even in business in their own families.

The emperor abolished banknotes and reduced business taxes, which was a move that benefited the entire merchant class.If southern officials object to this, it can only be said that there must be something seriously wrong in everyone's mind.

As for the high business tax in Beijing, it was purely because Jin Lian, the former Minister of the Household Department, deliberately cheated the emperor.Jin Lian applied to the emperor for an increase in business tax on the grounds that the country was troubled after the civil war.

Then in actual implementation, the Ministry of Household Affairs and Shuntian Prefecture jointly set the commercial tax rate far higher than that in the orthodox period, almost five times that of the previous one.

Jin Lian is the cronies of the emperor Gong Rang. He looked at the new emperor who didn't understand, so he deliberately made a stumbling block.

Jin Lian thought that the emperor was weak and could be bullied. In fact, to Zhu Qiyu, killing one chicken was killing, and killing two chickens was killing.Although Jin Lian has died of illness, there are many ways to settle accounts after autumn.

Gongrang the emperor's loyal ministers are always jumping out next to each other, so it's no wonder the emperor is cruel.

However, these are all small details, and the interests of all civil and military officials lie in the election, Beijing inspection, and big plans.

For civil servants of the third grade and above in Beijing, they are definitely unwilling to restore the general election and replace the nomination system.

For middle and lower-level civil servants, they don't want Jingchao and big plans.

For a whole day, all civil and military officials were panicked and were discussing this matter.

When it was almost evening, all the officials began to write notes and express their opinions.After writing the playbook, hand it up, and then go home.

Early the next morning, when Zhu Qiyu got up to check, there was not a single note in the room today.

Zhu Qiyu asked curiously: "Where is the memorial? What happened today?"

Qianxue said with a smile: "You can go to Fengge to read it yourself, there are too many memorials, and you can't bring them back."

Zhu Qiyu had no choice but to come to Fengge after breakfast.

As soon as he entered the door, he met He Yi's eyes full of resentment.Zhu Qiyu asked with some embarrassment: "Is it so serious? Have I stirred a hornet's nest?"

He Yi replied: "Because the Holy Majesty has already let the wind out, he wants to resume the general election, and carry out the Beijing inspection and the big plan this year. Therefore, the officials have been planning for a long time. Yesterday, the Holy Majesty formally raised this issue. Why don't all the officials just write a letter?" Have you given me some advice?"

"What did they say?"

He Yi replied: "First of all, it is the general election. The officials of the Ministry of Officials naturally support the resumption of the general election without exception. Others, most of them support the parallel selection of the general election and the nomination, and support that officials of the third rank and above in Beijing continue to be eligible for nomination."

Zhu Qiyu nodded: "It's normal, it's all human nature. What about Jingcha and Daji?"

He Yi replied: "There are a lot of people who oppose it, accounting for the majority. As for the reason for the opposition, if the Beijing inspection and the big plan are concentrated, there will be thousands, even tens of thousands, of Beijing officials plus local officials.

The officials of the official department, facing thousands of people, may not even recognize them.It is too childish to determine the performance of an official through a few documents.

And such an assessment will only make officials more eager for quick success.For example, more emphasis is placed on taxation in the assessment, and officials will concentrate on tax collection.

As for water control, river repair, flood control, and disaster relief that the imperial court did not pay much attention to, officials naturally had no motivation to pay attention. "

Zhu Qiyu nodded: "Actually, what they said makes sense. To govern the region, we still need to give local officials a more relaxed atmosphere and greater autonomy.

Those who know about taxation all day long are cruel officials.Those who don't care about anything and just dawdle are mediocre officials.

How to urge these thousands of local officials to not only serve the country but also seek benefits for the people is a big problem.

What do they say about commercial tax and banknote customs? "

He Yi smiled and said: "No one cares about the abolition of the banknote customs. As for the high business tax in the capital, the Ministry of Household Affairs has already given a reply. It was Xu Jing, the doctor of the Ministry of Household Department, and Liu Shi, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture. After receiving the order from the imperial court, Responsible for restatement of tax.

At that time, these officials overestimated the price of goods, so the tax was too heavy.

Jin Lian, the former minister of the Ministry of household affairs, ordered him to do it before he had time to think about it.

The opinion of the household department is to punish Xu Jing and Liu Shi. "

Zhu Qiyu snorted coldly: "Put all the responsibility on a Shuntian Fu Zhizhong, what about the Fu Yin? What about the Fu Cheng? They pretend not to know, right?

Shuntian Fu Yin, Fu Cheng, Zhizhong, and Xu Jing, a household doctor, were dismissed from office for the crime of dereliction of duty.

The late Minister of the Household Department, Jin Lian, committed the crime of deceiving the emperor and disregarding his superiors. He should have been punished by his family, thinking that he had made great contributions to the country, and he was dead. "

"Is this punishment a bit heavy?"

"What's the matter? He's cheating the emperor. It's good if he didn't kill his whole family. The point is that he didn't do it once. I ordered the tax reduction and exemption for all provinces, but he still obeyed the law. I don't know after looking at him. I just ignored him before.

No matter what I say, he always obediently obeys and disobeys. Such a loyal minister is really unflattering. "

……

But it was said that Xu Youzhen came to the Ministry of Industry early in the morning, and just arrived in the lobby to have a sip of tea, but saw another Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhou Chen, appeared in the lobby of the Ministry of Industry very rarely.

Xu Youzhen asked curiously: "Duke Zhou, why are you here?"

Zhou Chen cheerfully fiddled with dozens of silver coins and copper coins on the table, and said with a smile: "I am also the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, shouldn't I appear in the lobby of the Ministry of Industry?"

(End of this chapter)