Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 207 The emperor doesn’t love money?
The first "confrontation" between Zhu Changluo and Wen Chun was not pleasant.

At that time, the news of the Shanhaiguan uprising had just spread throughout the capital, and countless people impeached the ministers who were sent out to serve as eunuchs. Then Zhu Changluo lost his temper and said that the ministers were "overbearing the imperial power."

After that, Wen Chun was not severely punished.

Because of the situation at that time, Wen Chun was just in that position. How much power could he have facing Shen Yikuan and the powerful Zhejiang Party in the court at that time?
On the contrary, when Zhu Changluo had just completed the ceremony of enthroning the crown prince, Shen Yikuan and the then Minister of Rites Yu Jiden wanted to push Yu Jiden into the cabinet on the grounds that they did not know how to draft the abdication edict and the accession edict, Wen Chun, Tian Le, Li Dai, Chen Qi and others did not agree with Shen Yikuan and others.

Later, when the major case in Jiangnan in the first year of Taichang was underway, Wen Chun was generally obedient and "agreed" with Zhu Changluo.

Now Tian Le said after thinking for a while, "Wen Xiwen has always been honest and dedicated to his work. I remember that when Zhao Mengjing was in the cabinet, he wanted to change the system of the Beijing Camp and have three generals in each camp. At that time, the first candidate was Gongshun Hou, and the second candidate was two military officials without honorary titles. Gongshun Hou said that it was shameful to be in the same rank with him, so Mu Miao changed it to three honorary officials. In this matter, Wen Xiwen was in the military department at that time, and he said that we should seek generals widely, regardless of hereditary titles."

"That's just one reason." Zhu Changluo said, "I think he can be used because the Military Discipline Inspection Office is supposed to be set up under the Privy Council to inspect the military positions of the Ming Dynasty. The military selection should be fairer to avoid burying talented generals. Another point is that when he goes to the Privy Council, he has to bring some people with him. The water in the Inspection Office can also be activated, so that the strong man mentioned by Xizhi can go more smoothly."

"Your Majesty has made very thorough considerations." Tian Le said after paying his respects, "But I am not sure whether General Wen is willing or not."

"Because Shen Li is eight years older than him?" Zhu Changluo smiled, "Since Xizhi said he has always been honest and dedicated to his work, I have to ask him."

Tian Le is younger and in better health than Wen Chun.

On the contrary, Shen Li is eight years older than Wen Chun.

Since one can become a "prime minister" without a Hanlin background, Wen Chun continues to serve as the Left Censor-in-Chief, and is of course the person closest to the next actual prime minister.

Zhu Changluo did not plan to communicate with Wen Chun on the same day.

However, the imperial edict had also been issued, asking Lu Zhaoxiong to return to the court and Peng Guoguang to come to the capital to report on his work. Of course, they all had to come before the emperor first. No one outside the Privy Council knew what the emperor had summoned them for.

Zhu Changluo first went to Kunning Palace to care for Guo Lanzhi who was about to give birth.

From the good news in November last year to now in July, Guo Lanzhi was pregnant from October last year. As there is a leap February, she is already full-term and could give birth at any time.

This is naturally a top-notch event in the imperial palace, and everyone in the harem is making every effort to prepare for it.

Although the emperor has visited other palaces more frequently since this year, with great vigor and vitality, his grace is still spread evenly among different empresses.

Therefore, at a time when there was no good news of other concubines becoming pregnant in other palaces, as long as the queen gave birth to a prince, he would be the legitimate and eldest son, and the destined crown prince.

At this point in time, the memorials and petitions concerning Shu Baiqing from Zhejiang had all arrived in the capital. Li Hualong, who set out from Damingfu, arrived in the capital by land. Gu Xiancheng, Gao Panlong, Cao Xuequan and Zang Maoxun, who had arrived in Yangzhou on June 13, also arrived in the capital.

After Zhu Changluo returned to the Qianqing Palace, Liu Ruoyu, who was in charge of organizing memorials in the Yangxin Palace, did not dare to neglect him and invited Zhu Changluo there.

"...More than 270,000 taels of silver? For a county?"

Zhu Changluo was very shocked, so he asked Liu Ruoyu.

"I have asked Zou Yi, and there is also the memorial." Liu Ruoyu said, "I checked the numbers, and the memorial is true. Now the Grand Secretaries and the three judicial officials don't know what to do with the memorial. Not only in Zhejiang, but also in many places, there are complaints about the actions of the Changxing County Magistrate. There are also censors who impeached him, saying that although he was working for the country, he took advantage of the loophole of turning himself in to avoid punishment. Since he is an accomplice in so many cases that harm the people, he cannot be tolerated."

Zhu Changluo understood.

How could the terrible situation in the local areas of the Ming Dynasty be exposed so blatantly for the emperor to see?

It can be concluded that even with the huge sum of more than 270,000 taels of silver, it cannot be said that Shu Boqing has completely exposed the bad conditions in Changxing County for so many years.

But his efficiency, which is much higher than that of the mine supervisor and tax collector, cannot be encouraged, even by Zhu Changluo.

Zhu Changluo wanted to open a window so he pretended to lift the roof, while Shu Baiqing dug the foundation and changed Changxing County into a frame structure.

If the whole Ming Dynasty is designed like this, it will be easier to rearrange it in the future, but the time is not right yet.

At least the Privy Council system has not yet been firmly established.

"...Since you are asking me to make a ruling on this matter...Summon Wang Xijue and the heads of the three judicial departments to the Yangxin Palace."

There is no time to rest. This matter really needs to be decided as soon as possible.

Shu Boqing's approach was destructive after all. Zhu Changluo knew that he had only dealt with a few companies at the beginning, and later, including Zang Maoxun who was summoned to Beijing this time, he lowered his head, but he did not expect that he would continue to work non-stop to achieve such a great result.

Zang Maoxun, who had just arrived in the capital, was not brought to the capital for any crime. After all, he "surrendered himself" and could be exempted from punishment.

There are still some old friends and acquaintances, so they also heard the contents of the public question book.

Knowing that so many people were impeaching Shu Baiqing, he couldn't help but feel a little excited and wanted to vent his anger.

But the chiefs of the three judicial departments did not think so. This was a dilemma. When they heard that the emperor had summoned them, they naturally went to the palace immediately.

In the Forbidden City, Wang Xijue was summoned, but Shen Shixing, the Grand Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, continued to stay in the Wenhua Hall.

This is the new change after the major reform of the central government offices: for many important events, there will never be more than two grand secretaries present at the same time.

When they arrived at the Yangxin Palace, Zhu Changluo got straight to the point: "Many memorials have been received regarding Shu Baiqing, the magistrate of Changxing County, Huzhou Prefecture. I'm afraid you are also in a dilemma. Let's first listen to the opinions of the three judicial officials on how to deal with it."

So Wang Xijue, Wen Chun, and Guo Zhengyu, who was promoted to the position of Dali Temple Minister, all looked at Zhao Canlu, who was transferred from the Nanjing Ministry of Justice to the Beijing Ministry of Justice at the end of last year.

Zhao Canlu was certainly "promoted" to be transferred to the post of Beijing's Minister of Justice. The transfer of the Left Vice Minister of Beijing's Ministry of Justice, who was originally the acting Minister of Justice, was a reward from the Emperor for the cooperation of the three judicial officials in Nanjing last year with Xiao Daheng, and also a further strengthening of the Emperor's control over Nanjing.

Zhao Canlu himself had served as an official in Nanjing for a long time. Now, as one of the three judicial officials in charge of criminal law, he should indeed be the first to express his opinion.

However, Shu Baiqing turned himself in as an accomplice, and this "case" was not an ordinary case.

"...I think that even if Shu Baiqing is not punished, he should not serve in Jiangnan anymore. He should be relocated to a border area or given another idle position." He looked at the emperor, hesitated for a moment and said, "It may be okay to do this in some places in Jiangnan, but after all, the customs of some places are different. It is not appropriate for all places to follow suit after hearing about the punishment."

Zhu Changluo did not comment and looked at Wen Chun again.

Wen Chun hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I think this man can be promoted to a censor. Since he already has a reputation as a cruel official, why not make full use of him? As for whether other places will follow suit, I think we can work on disposing of the stolen silver."

Zhu Changluo finally looked at Guo Zhengyu.

As the lecturer who had taught Zhu Changluo when he was still the eldest son of the emperor, Guo Zhengyu said without hesitation: "I think he should be dismissed and questioned! This person is not wrong in pushing forward the decree, and he is not wrong in making Changxing officials and gentry confess their crimes or surrender themselves as an accomplice. However, since his evil deeds have been exposed to the world, it will be harmful to the administration if he is not held accountable. Moreover, this person is scheming and wants to use the opportunity of surrendering to avoid punishment and become a loyal and brave minister. His morality is worrying!"

The Dali Temple is in charge of the review. If Guo Zhengyu has this attitude, it means that the Ministry of Justice’s opinion will not pass muster with him.

Zhu Changluo did not like overly absolute statements, so the saying that there were only harms and no benefits did not apply to him.

But for the local areas, Shu Baiqing would put the officials and gentry of other prefectures, states and counties under great pressure.

Even for the people of Changxing, although Shu Baiqing made decisions for some of the people, in the minds of more people it would probably only leave one impression: the county magistrate had colluded with so many gentry to harm us so much in the past.

It's just dog eat dog.

"Yuan Yu, what do you think?" Zhu Changluo finally asked Wang Xijue.

"I think what Premier Wen said makes sense."

After Wang Xijue said this, Guo Zhengyu couldn't help but look at him solemnly.

"Your Majesty allowed him to surrender and be pardoned because you know that local officials are always unavoidable to be in the same league with the public. If Shu Baiqing is severely punished, other local officials will inevitably be cautious. Now we need to look at it separately: the local officials are afraid that your majesty will use Changxing County as a standard, but the local officials are also worried that things will be difficult to do in the future. Therefore, I think Shu Baiqing should be pardoned and reused, but the stolen silver must be clearly told to the local government that the court does not intend to plunder it."

Zhu Changluo sighed, and then said: "The amount on the petition was omitted. There is another 100,000 taels."

The four people's faces changed and they confirmed: "A total of more than 270,000 taels?"

"Yes. The Yingtian Inspector and the Huzhou Prefect who went to Changxing to ask Shu Baiqing about the amount reported that it was too large. They requested to keep 100,000 taels, so that Shu Baiqing could make up for his crime and benefit the people. The 100,000 taels could be used up slowly through many good policies in the next few years." Zhu Changluo looked at Wang Xijue. "The court doesn't want to plunder, so how much should be sent to the various treasuries? In that case, wouldn't Changxing have to keep more than 200,000 taels?"

"...What a cruel official!" Guo Zhengyu was filled with righteous indignation, "Your Majesty, how can such a corrupt official be allowed to stay?"

Zhu Changluo had a very weak impression of this "teacher", and now there was no need for him to win over the so-called "young and strong imperial teachers" to obtain the court's direct lineage.

Guo Zhengyu and Wen Chun have completely different opinions, the only difference is that Guo Zhengyu is younger.

Born as a Hanlin, he is already the Chief Justice of Dali Temple. After Shen Li and Wen Chun, he will naturally be the third most important person in the Inspection Institute in the future.

Now after listening to Guo Zhengyu's words, Zhu Changluo realized that he was too young and too arrogant.

"He was greedy. Last year he returned 10,000 taels as a wedding gift to me, but this year he has nothing to return. Wang Dewan has reported that he has investigated Shu Baiqing and sold all his land and treasures." Zhu Changluo looked at Zhao Canlu and Wen Chun. "As an official in Jiangnan, you have to entertain guests and see them off. Even if you receive a lot of gifts every year, you can't save much silver unless you embezzle a lot, right?"

Zhao Canlu lowered his head. Wen Chun was the governor of Zhejiang before Liu Yuanlin. Hearing this, he only said, "He has been the magistrate of Changxing for so many years. He even sold his land and treasures to raise ten thousand taels. He really did return most of the tributes he received every year."

"So it's hard to deal with all the stolen silver now!" Zhu Changluo was a little angry. "It's just a county, but it took some real action and found so much stolen silver all at once. The suffering of the local people can be seen! How much should all places use Changxing County as a standard? The half on the surface is nearly 100,000 taels, and the actual half is nearly 140,000 taels! Even if Huzhou Prefecture is a wealthy place, how much should the entire Ming Dynasty have? No matter how much it is, how should we deal with the huge amount of stolen silver that suddenly appeared, millions of taels?"

Wang Xijue looked at him, and the first thought that came to his mind was: If the Supreme Emperor heard this, he would probably use 270,000 taels as the standard.

Now His Majesty is worried about having too much money.

(End of this chapter)