Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 5: Sacrifice relatives for the sake of justice, half of the city is Xu family!
"March Qingge Lao, a million silver coins!"

Zhu Houcong, sitting on the throne, looked at Zhang Juzheng, who was at the bottom, and said calmly: "Zhang Juzheng, you are worthy of being the cabinet minister."

The market price of good farmland in the south of the Yangtze River is fifty dan of grain, and the market price of grain is seven cents of silver per dan, which means one mu of good farmland is thirty-five taels of silver.

Thirty thousand acres of top-quality farmland is worth 1.05 million taels of silver, but there is no demand for it.

The people cherish their fields and land and will not sell them unless they really can't make ends meet.

of course.

These fertile fields did not come from ordinary people, but from the flattery of officials and merchants in the six counties of Jingzhou Prefecture.

Jingzhou Prefecture was an important tax collection area for the imperial court, with annual taxes usually being around 200,000 taels of silver. However, last year, the entire Jingzhou Prefecture only received 30,000 taels of silver.

This is inseparable from the Zhang family’s contribution.

In addition, there were 1,500 acres of high-quality official farmland, which was the property of the Ming Dynasty court. It was given to the Zhang family by Zhao Qian, the magistrate of Jiangling County, Jingzhou Prefecture, and the Zhang family accepted it openly.

Not only did Zhao Qian not receive any punishment, but he rose rapidly to the position of prefect of Jingzhou Prefecture.

The Zhang family also had a hand in this.

"Your Majesty, I have been in the capital for a long time and have neglected my hometown. I never thought that my father would be so dissolute. I really didn't know it."

Zhang Juzheng was stabbed in the back by his father who was thousands of miles away. He barely managed to keep himself from fainting. He knelt on the ground with a pale face and made weak excuses.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Taizu Gao, the imperial court's laws have always favored collective responsibility, and the sons are absolutely not free from responsibility for the father's misdeeds.

Old Master Zhang took advantage of Zhang Juzheng's power to openly amass wealth in Jingzhou Prefecture, and was corrupt and abusive. This cannot be explained clearly and cannot be explained.

Xu Jie, who was preoccupied with his own affairs, couldn't help feeling a bit reluctant as he watched his most proud student about to fall from grace despite his fear.

Gao Gong, holding the account paper in his hand, looked at Zhang Juzheng with a look of pity for him.

Everyone in the court knew that Zhang Juzheng was honest, but the old man of the Zhang family, whose full name was Zhang Wenming, was not well known.

Yan Shifan suddenly raised his head. Zhang Juzheng was not only a disciple of Xu Jie, but also a mainstay of the Qingliu. If he fell, it would be like breaking an arm of Xu Jie or a leg of the Qingliu.

Yan Song immediately looked at him with a restraining gaze.

A smile appeared on Zhu Houcong's face, "I believe you."

Everyone froze.

Your Majesty, do you believe that the dirty deeds of Jingzhou Prefecture and Old Master Zhang have nothing to do with Zhang Juzheng?

Xu Jie and Gao Gong showed their joy, Yan Shifan looked as if he had lost his parents, and Yan Song's expression remained the same.

"Thank you, Your Majesty..."

"If you don't hurry to thank me, you can escape the death penalty, but you can't escape the punishment of life. Zhang Juzheng, I will fine you half a year's salary. Do you have any complaints?"

"Your Majesty, I have no complaints!"

"A thousand miles apart separates the father and son. Zhang Juzheng, you are now an elder in the cabinet. It is time to bring your old father and the elders of your family to the capital to enjoy a peaceful life. I will ask the Imperial Household Department to choose a house for you to fulfill your filial piety."

The holy order was issued again.

In the name of loyalty and filial piety, Zhang Juzheng asked the old man of the Zhang family and the elders of the clan to leave their hometown and come to the capital to live in the designated house.

Although it is not confinement, it is better than confinement.

From now on, the life and death of Zhang Juzheng and his family will all depend on the emperor's decision.

If they don't agree, the Zhang family will be wiped out immediately.

"Thank you, Your Majesty for your grace."

Zhang Juzheng praised the emperor's teachings without any hesitation.

After this incident, he also realized the ability of his father's clansmen to stir up trouble in Jiangling, and it would be a good thing to bring them to his side to keep an eye on them.

Confinement?

It's fine, my father is old and doesn't go out much on weekdays.

Zhu Houcong slowly turned his head and looked at Gao Gong who was standing in front of the table: "Everything that the Zhang family has in Jiangling will be counted by the Ministry of Revenue and put into the national treasury."

"Yes." Gao Gong's answer was full of helplessness.

"Yan Shifan, the prefect of Jingzhou Prefecture, Zhao Qian, will be re-investigated by your Ministry of Personnel. If there is any foul play, they will be severely punished."

"Yes!" Yan Shifan's answer was full of excitement, and seemed to reveal a little pride.

The Zhang family’s matter is over, but what about the Xu family?

In the second account paper, the Zhang family of Jiangling is just a small corrupt family, or it can be said that they have not had the time to become big corrupt families, while the Xu family of Songjiang Prefecture is a family with a long tradition of being extremely corrupt.

How do you explain the use of various means to seize people's land and annex land?

Just like Zhang Juzheng who was ignorant?

For the same reason, the first one is a genius and the second one is a fool.

Xu Jie knelt on the spot, but he felt like he was sitting on a wax candle. Being stared at by the dragon, his chest and back were soaked.

"Your Majesty, Lord Xu is not in a position to speak, let me say a few words." The one who broke the silence was Yan Song, who was standing in the first position.

After years of tacit understanding between superiors and subordinates, Xu Jie knew that Yan Song was not asking this question just to take advantage of his misfortune, and he couldn't help but look at him with gratitude.

"explain."

"Shaohu, the money used to buy the land of the people in various places should be paid to the people in full. The people have worked hard and rely on the land for their livelihood. You can't delay it any longer."

Yan Song turned to Xu Jie and both reprimanded and excused him.

The collusion with local officials to seize the people's land turned into defaulting on the people's payment for the land.

"Yes." Xu Jie said immediately.

Yan Song ignored Xu Jie's gratitude and continued, "In our Ming Dynasty, the people can only cultivate ten acres of land, whether it is fertile land or mulberry fields. Everyone in the Xu family can keep ten acres of land, and the rest will be counted by Su Qing (Gao Gong, whose courtesy name is Su Qing) and put into the national treasury."

Xu Jie suddenly felt uncomfortable.

The Xu family's fields, not to mention those spread across the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, but also in the provinces of Jiangnan, every province has fertile land. If all were counted, I'm afraid that the land would be comparable to half of the land in Songjiang Prefecture.

That’s hundreds of thousands of acres of land.

The Xu family consists of only about 180 people, ranging from an eighty-year-old man to a newborn baby.

Each person has ten acres of land, and even if you add them together, it's less than a thousand acres, which is not even a fraction of previous years. Who will eat it?

"Lord, most of the land owned by me and my family was acquired through honest management and diligence. It is family property and ancestral property. It is not something I can decide on my own."

Xu Jie did not respond, but his words showed both firmness and wisdom.

We cannot completely deny the Xu family’s years of management and diligence just because of what they did in the 39th year of Jiajing.

With life and death hanging by a thread, is there still time to ask for more land?

Yan Song was very impressed by Xu Jie's generosity and said mercilessly, "So that's the case. Then let the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, the Censorate, the Imperial Guard, and the East Factory go to Songjiang Prefecture to see how much land the Xu family has honestly managed and diligently earned. How much land the Xu family deserves, the court will not take a penny more, and those who have taken the people's land by trickery will not be forgiven by the court's laws. Shaohu, what do you think?"

The Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, the Censorate, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Eastern Depot, such a lineup came to Songjiang Prefecture. Even if there was nothing wrong with the Xu family, they would be able to find problems. What's more, everyone in the Xu family has a dirty record?

Xu Jie quickly replied: "The Xu family is willing to obey the orders of the elder."

"Shaohu, you entered the cabinet in the 31st year of Jiajing, right?"

"Lao Ge Lao remembers it, it is true."

"For so many years, the Xu family has cultivated so much land that it is difficult to calculate all the illegal gains. Let's take Zhang Juzheng's Jiangling Zhang family's one million silver coins as an example. How about the Xu family in Songjiang Prefecture take out the silver from the 31st year of Jiajing to the 39th year of Jiajing?"

"Nine million taels of silver?"

(End of this chapter)