Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 604 Good News

That day, Qin Ji took his few followers and first went to the Jinyiwei Beizhenfu Yamen, and then went to Shuntian Prefecture.

No one was sent to arrest the suspect, and it even seemed that they were just there to listen to the case report, without any substantial action.

That afternoon, Qin Ji did not return to the palace, but went straight home.

It was not until sunset that he returned to the palace and went straight to the Qianqing Palace without reporting to the Silijian duty room.

Originally, Huai'en wanted to give some advice to Qin Ji on how to report to the emperor, but he had to give up when no one showed up.

the other side.

Zhang Luan had a rare day of free time, so he went to have a drink with his old friend Li Zisheng.

Li Zisheng was very enthusiastic in receiving guests. He dragged Zhang Luan to the dining table with his arm around his shoulder. He also asked someone to prepare a "small gift" for him and insisted that Zhang Luan take it back.

"Hey, that's no fun."

Zhang Luan scolded, "I was just doing my job impartially before and didn't help you much. Why are you so kind? Can't we just drink today?"

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "Laizhan, I heard that you have been feeling depressed these past two days. If you have anything to say, you can tell me... How about this? If you think that the Zhang family has a bad reputation for beating people, you can say that the person was beaten by the people I brought with me. I can even find the perpetrators for you and let them take the blame!"

Zhang Luan shook his head and said, "Hey, why should I be afraid of damaging my reputation? Do I have this thing? At this critical moment, don't make trouble!"

"I didn't cause any trouble."

Li Zisheng said seriously, "I did go to the scene yesterday, and I left some people behind to help your son beat people up!"

"What!?"

When Zhang Luan heard this, his eyes immediately widened and he looked at Li Zisheng straightly.

Li Zisheng said, "It was my negligence that I didn't ask for your opinion in advance. But at that time, I felt that since our nephew Yanling was personally in charge of the overall situation and making plans, it made no sense for me, as his uncle, not to support him... I took people to help."

"you you……"

Zhang Luan was speechless for a moment.

Li Zisheng sighed, "In fact, my original idea was to help the people on the other side to smash your house, so that I could turn around and say that I was in the same group with them. In this way, we would be in the right with the government! But my nephew said, "I have been bullied to such an extent, how can I suffer in silence?"
"I thought, that's right. Sooner or later, the Zhang family will establish its prestige among the dignitaries in the capital. This is a perfect opportunity. Let Bingkun take people to help clear the place! The results are really impressive!"

Zhang Luan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "So I should thank you for that?"

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "I thought you would blame me and say that I was fooling around with your son."

"No no."

Zhang Luan shook his head and said, "I knew about this in advance, and we agreed long ago to let my son Yanling handle it himself. Minister Li can help, so I think it will help him get twice the result with half the effort, which is a great benefit."

"It's not as exaggerated as you said."

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "However, since you don't blame me, I have to tell you some good news."

Zhang Luan asked in surprise: "Is there a solution to the problem?"

Li Zisheng asked curiously, "Are you talking about the beating? Is there any other problem? I heard that His Majesty sent Eunuch Tan Jitan to the Northern Pacification Office to handle the case. It involves insulting the queen, so no matter how big the case is, it won't be too much... I guess those people who want to attack you will suffer a big loss soon, right?

"But that's not what I'm talking about..."

"That is……?"

Zhang Luan looked at Li Zisheng carefully.

Li Zisheng picked up the wine pot and filled the glass in front of Zhang Luan. Then he smiled and said, "There is a shortage of food in the northwest this year."

Zhang Luan was immediately discouraged: "Ah, how can this be called good news?"

Li Zisheng said, "Listen to me first. The northwest is short of food... and also short of warm clothes. After the beginning of winter this year, the capital didn't feel that cold, but there were several heavy snowstorms in the northwest, and the roads were blocked. Goods couldn't go in or out. The Tatars were particularly restless this year, and they raided the border many times, cutting off trade routes, causing many places to lack food and clothing, and the soldiers were miserable." "As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, I didn't do this well... Alas! I'm incompetent." Zhang Luan said with a bitter face, "But how can you say this is good news?"

Li Zisheng shook his head and said, "I know you care about the soldiers on the front line. I understand your sadness, but can you please be a little patient? The salt was not released in time this year. No one from the Huizhou merchants went to the border to exchange for grain. Many places stopped trading, leaving large tracts of wasteland. It was unbearable.

"You must be aware that the situation of salt concessions being taken over has become increasingly serious recently... In addition, the dignitaries in the capital all want to exploit merchants, and right now... their confrontation is also very fierce!"

The History of Ming Dynasty said: "Every year, when the Ministry of Revenue collects taxes, before the documents arrive, the powerful families inside and outside the country hold letters and entrust them to the governor. The governor is afraid of their power and dares not resist. The powerful ones give one or two thousand taels to those who pay several thousand taels." This activity is called "occupying a nest". The purpose of occupying a nest is to resell it. When reselling, each thousand taels is sold for more than 100 taels, or 70 or 80 taels. This money is called "buying nest money".

The powerful and wealthy could use their privileges to get salt first when they needed it with a permit. This meant that even though ordinary salt merchants had obtained salt permits, they could not get salt for a long time. As a result, they had no interest in sending grain to the border in exchange for salt permits, which led to a vicious cycle and increasingly tight food supply at the border.

Zhang Luan asked, "I wonder what the relationship is between the two?"

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "Laizhan, you are really good at playing dumb... Isn't it obvious? The situation on the northwest front this year is not optimistic. Salt permits cannot be exchanged. The court can only use the grain in the Beijing warehouse and Tongzhou warehouse to transport it to the northwest. The treasury is insufficient. Doesn't this reflect your value?"

"I can't conjure silver out of thin air."

Zhang Luan said helplessly, "I can't use it even if I have the strength!"

"Hey, why are you being so modest in front of me? The palace weaved so much cloth, how much pressure did it relieve the inner government? In addition, Your Majesty has always advocated thrift, so where did the money saved go? Didn't it all go to fill the hole in the northwest?"

Li Zisheng had a very confident smile on his face.

Zhang Luan stared in astonishment: "So... I have to raise money and food again?"

Li Zisheng glanced at him and said, "Right now, people in the court are accusing you of abusing your power for personal gain, and even accusing you of bullying the market and competing with the people for profits. And right now, the court is in urgent need of money and food, but most of the profits you have earned have been used to fill the holes of the court... Let me ask you, in this situation, can His Majesty do without you? Or can the Ming Dynasty do without you?"

"This one……"

Zhang Luan frowned and asked, "Before I was gone, why didn't the court have so many holes waiting to be filled?"

Li Zisheng sighed, "How could there not be holes in the past? It's just that you didn't need to fill them! Why did I gain the trust of the late emperor in the past few years? The right way won't work. Relying on taxes from all over the country and taxes from salt, tea, etc. is only enough to cover the most basic expenses of the court. If there is any deviation, the court will be at a loss."

"be thrown off balance?"

Zhang Luan was stunned and looked like he had no idea at all.

"I'm not a polite person, I just speak directly."

Li Zisheng said, "The means I used before, to put it bluntly, were called selling official positions and titles, while you made money by producing and selling products that had never been on the market before. His Majesty relied on you to compete with the people for profits and enrich the inner treasury. In this way, those upright officials who were dissatisfied with you would definitely accuse you of unpleasant crimes.

"Whether I was there before or you are now, we are both indispensable to your majesty and the court. It's just that those nobles don't agree with us."

Zhang Luan said with emotion: "It seems that the world has many misunderstandings about Minister Li!"

Li Zisheng said with a smile: "If you are not in the position, you should not meddle in other people's affairs. Those upright people can do nothing and only report things based on hearsay. Of course, they cannot understand our suffering.

"The person who understands me the most in the world must be you. Because what you are doing now is what I did before, just in a different way."

Zhang Luan thought to himself, how come I became the same as you, Li Zisheng?

Does that mean that the shots fired at you now will fall on me in the future?

My son told me to be a good official and never told me the pressure would be so great!

"Laizhan, I have sent people to investigate the Yellow River works. The detailed report will be submitted to the Ministry of Works." Li Zisheng said, "There is no other way. If you report this matter, it may affect the start date."

"Ah? What do you mean?"

Zhang Luan scratched his head in confusion and asked, "Am I drunk? Why do I seem to understand, but also seem to understand nothing?"

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "It seems that you still haven't reacted. After all, you are in the Ministry of Revenue, which means that half of the financial power of the court has fallen into your hands. As long as you use a little trick, the salaries of officials in the court will not be paid... They want to fight with you? They have to touch their own empty pockets first."

(End of this chapter)