Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 130: The people have complaints, His Majesty's majesty
Xu Guangqi also participated in such a celebration.

He was born in Songjiang Prefecture. The person who organized this banquet today is Tang Wenxian, the top scholar in the 14th year of Wanli, a native of Huating, Songjiang, who is now a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy.

What an attraction the top scholar and his fellow townsman have for the new candidates on the eve of the palace examination.

But Xu Guangqi and others here cannot feel the extraordinary enthusiasm like Wei Yunzhong, Cheng Qinan and Meng Xikong over there.

It was said that they were celebrating the tribute scholars from their hometown, but when we arrived at the restaurant with a separate courtyard, we found that not only was the entire courtyard booked, but some of the tribute scholars who came were from Suzhou and Changzhou.

The seniors came out to congratulate, offer some advice, and then went to a detached pavilion.

So, under the pretext of this matter, officials from the five ministries in the court gathered together to discuss something?

"Now we are fortunate to have been selected by the elders. Many of us who were born in the south of the Yangtze River have served in the court. However, the six ministers, the Grand Official, are from Yanjin, Henan, and the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan is from Zhejiang, but was specially appointed by Your Majesty. The Grand Minister of Agriculture is from Yingcheng, Huguang, the Grand Minister of Works is from Anyi, Shanxi, the Grand Minister of Justice is from Tai'an, Shandong, and the Grand Marshal is from Hejianfu."

Someone in the pavilion came to sort out the details one by one, and then sighed, "The six heads of the ministry all ignored the heavy taxes in Jiangnan. Today, Wang Taicang's son also avoided attending the banquet, and the Zhejiang Party echoed the Northern Party's proposal. How can we face the elders in our hometown?"

"Every year, the white grain is transported thousands of miles away!" Some people were indignant. "The newly added gold and silver are purchased by the prefectures and counties in Nanzhili. How can they compete with the combined strength of the three provinces? Shen Jianwu is worthy of the people of Zhejiang. Jiaxing and Huzhou belong to Zhejiang! Since the five prefectures have to pay the white grain, they should work together to convert all the grain payable into gold and silver!"

"Land tax is the foundation of the country. How can we have it auctioned and paid?"

The new imperial edict was already on its way south, and they could no longer stop the implementation of this policy.

Overall, the ministers did manage to secure another 200,000 taels of gold and silver for the South, and it was still collected by the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue.

Linqing and Tongzhou, the two most important nodes in the north of the canal, are extremely bustling at this time.

In March, it is almost Qingming Festival and the rainy days are increasing.

In Linqing City, Qin Yongtai stood up in a store and slammed the table: "What did you say?"

"...Master, that's what they said. Half of our ships were robbed and another one sank on the way. This year, we can only get half of the new rice we sell to you. The price will also increase by one cent per stone. The same goes for other goods."

Qin Yongtai's face darkened: "I'm afraid their leader doesn't want to continue to sit in that position! Every member of the Wei Yun Army said so. Do they think we are fools?"

"Master, I sent someone to see it. When we moored overnight, there was another family buying it."

"Have you found out the background?" Qin Yongtai knew that he would make arrangements himself.

"This is what I don't understand. After buying the grain, they actually used horse-drawn carriages to transport it directly to the north. The people I sent have almost followed them to northern Zhili. Master, what do you think they want?"

I bought new rice in Linqing, but I used a horse-drawn carriage to transport it to the north. If I sold it nearby, I might as well open a rice shop in Linqing and sell it wholesale to nearby grain merchants; if I had to transport it further north, would I still make money?

Qin Yongtai stood there with a look of surprise and doubt.

Cao Jun, with whom they had cooperated for many years, was only willing to sell them half. This meant that, firstly, they were not afraid of offending their big customer, and secondly... the other buyer might only offer a higher price to tempt them.

Are you going through all this trouble just to rob my business in Linqing?
After a while, his eyes lit up: "I know! Tell them not to rush to sell the new rice they harvested this year! Go to Tongzhou in person and see if the market there is the same as the grain ships that have already arrived in Tongzhou!"

After saying that, he went out and prepared to go find Li Yangyu.

In fact, in Linqing, many people who have cooperated with the Cao Army have had this experience this year.

Or you may only receive half of the share of previous years, or even less, and the cost price will be slightly higher.

The Caohe River is not peaceful this year. It seems that someone is hoarding grain. If the price of grain in the capital does not rise a lot, who can make money?
In Tongzhou, Zhang Zhizheng is in charge.

Looking at the account book in front of him, his brows were tightly knitted together.

How much loss will be incurred from this matter alone?

"How is the quality of the grain collected?"

"There are a mixture of good and bad goods. There are quite a few that need to be turned over, dried and screened." The shopkeeper who brought the goods reported truthfully.

Zhang Zhizheng sighed, "Hire more people in the village... No, let's hire some young and strong people from Shanxi. Once we have more food, we won't be able to hide it from others. We need to be wary of bandits."

In order to cooperate with Changming's future plans, Changming spent a large sum of money to purchase a property owned by a meritorious official in the Tongzhou and Tianjin areas.

Although it was an imperial order, it was good enough to buy it at the market price. Did it really make that meritorious official bleed?

It would cost a lot of money to transform it into the Changming, a private warehouse that could go west to the capital, take over the canal to the north, and go east to the sea to Korea.

And then you have to take good protection.

After Zhang Zhizheng finished making the arrangements, he said to the other accountants, "Regarding the report from the south, no matter what percentage the grain transport troops say, you should all calculate according to this number first. What I want is the approximate number of new grain and other various goods that the grain transport troops smuggled to Linqing and Tongzhou every year."

The accounting clerks had no idea why their boss had suddenly become so bold this year and was going to use this method to estimate the total amount of smuggled grain and goods transported along the entire canal every year.

Zhang Zhizheng looked at the account book in his hand, which recorded how much goods were purchased from a certain type of goods on a certain day of a certain month and at what price.

This account... will probably cause a bloody storm among the Cao army.

That's not what he could care about.

The canal troops still headed northward out of habit, without neglecting their business.

Those who had special connections with the grain transport troops also boldly did a lot of tricks. They didn't know the emperor's new decree, and even if they knew it, they would only think it had nothing to do with the grain transport. Those who saw the pros and cons could only see that the emperor's additional 200,000 taels of gold and silver and the collection by Nanjing was just a way of appeasement.

The grain from the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changjiang, Jiaxing and Huzhou has finally entered the canal north of the Yangtze River. It is just ahead after passing Yangzhou and Huai'an, and it may be able to cross the Huai River before the end of March.

At this time, Luo Sigong had just arrived in Wuchang Prefecture.

In his early years, his ancestors followed Emperor Jiajing to Beijing to ascend the throne. It can be said that Luo Sigong's ancestral home is here, but he only came back with his father to pay homage to his great-grandfather and others when he was a child.

Now that they had arrived at Wuchang Prefecture, Luo Sigong simply instructed, "Old Third, go to Changsha Prefecture and wait. Bring a hundred taels with you to buy some food first."

In Changsha Prefecture, one hundred taels of silver could buy about one hundred and fifty shi of grain.

For young and strong soldiers, one liter and a half of food a day is enough. For a thousand soldiers on the march, fifteen shi of food a day is just enough.

One hundred and fifty shi of grain can sustain for ten days.

He arranged for the support and supply along the way from Changsha Prefecture to Wuchang Prefecture, and also planned the route from Wuchang Prefecture along the south to Nanjing.

At this time, the decree set on February 27th had reached Gou Rong as quickly as possible.

The office of the Yingtian Governor was not in Nanjing City, but was moved here in the second year of the Wanli period.

"...I...thank you for your grace, Your Majesty!"

Now that the emperor has approved the resignation letter he wrote himself, Yingtian Governor Chen Weizi has officially retired.

The result of the reappointment of officials in the two capitals actually came earlier, but Chen Weizi was still "standing his last shift", rushing around in various prefectures to inspect the grain transportation work and spring plowing arrangements.

He doesn't look like he is too old or sick to do anything.

But once you come back and receive the order, you have to retire.

Also rushing over from elsewhere was Yingtian patrol officer Niu Yingyuan.

He is from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. He became a Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli and is now 43 years old.

Although being a provincial inspector was already a very good position, given his reputation in the Jiangnan officialdom, if no one in the court recommended him, he would probably become an idle censor in the Nanjing Censorate.

Unexpectedly, he was promoted directly to the post of Left Censor-in-Chief and Governor of Yingtian.

Its full name is: General Manager of Grain Reserves, Commander in Chief of Military Affairs, and Inspector of Yingtian and Other Prefectures. The word "etc." includes Yingtian, Chengtian, Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Taiping, Chizhou, Huizhou, Ningguo, Anqing and other prefectures and states, depending on the time period.

Now there is a new division in the decree given to Niu Yingyuan.

In addition to Chengtian Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, Anqing Prefecture, Chizhou Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, and Huizhou Prefecture, Jiaxing and Huzhou were added. The governor's office was also to be moved to Suzhou.

Niu Yingyuan was very surprised and excited, but after expressing his gratitude, he could not help but ask: "I am also the governor of Jiaxing and Huzhou, what about the governor of Zhejiang..."

"The court has another order, Governor Niu, please accept it."

The appointment decree reached Niu Yingyuan. Having stayed here for several years, he naturally knew the heavy weight of it.

In this way, the governor's focus will be on the core areas of Yingtian Prefecture, Zhenjiang Prefecture, and the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Lake.

The northerner's governor, Yingtian, had his duties arranged in this way, and the emperor had high hopes for him!

Naturally, Nanjing had known about this appointment change long ago.

But now that matter is not so important because a new will has arrived.

"Bidding and paying?" Ye Xianggao was stunned when he heard this, and then blurted out, "The land tax is heavy, how can it be like this? There are many high bidders, and in the end, isn't it harming the people?"

He seemed very sympathetic to people's livelihood.

Zhang Yi felt that the road ahead was full of thorns.

He said quietly, "Your Majesty is telling us that you know the secret of gold and silver. If we lose money, who will be willing to pay it back? It is better to continue to transport the regular grain."

Ye Xianggao remained silent.

"Did the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue and the local governments that collected the tax privately during the bidding and subscription? Based on the number of orders, will the prefectures and counties complain and report to the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue for unfairness?" Zhang Yi was extremely solemn. "The barbarian generals and soldiers are their personal soldiers, and the white-pole soldiers are passing through Nanjing!"

He exhaled a depressed breath, clasped his fists and bowed to the north, but his upper body did not shake: "Your Majesty is wise and wise!"

The tone was very cold and hard.

Now that they have seen the emperor's strong attitude, what choice should they make?

In various parts of Jiangnan, the disposal plan for the 200,000 taels of additional gold and silver has been finalized, and there are many things that need to be discussed.

For example, should we take down Mr. Zhayang?

(End of this chapter)