Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 233 The nine ministers compromised and resigned madly!
Wang Yangming didn't expect that the emperor would want to see him so late at night.

This made him further surprised at the emperor's diligence.

"I want to use Wang Qiong!"

What Wang Yangming did not expect was that the emperor actually wanted to employ Wang Qiong at this time.

Wang Yangming naturally would not prevent Wang Qiong from being appointed.

Although many bureaucrats and gentry in the world hated Wang Qiong, Wang Qiong had done Wang Yangming a favor and they had many similar political views, so he naturally would not prevent Wang Qiong from being reinstated.

Of course, Wang Yangming also knew that reinstating Wang Qiong would inevitably lead to opposition, so he never took the initiative to ask for an imperial decree to reinstate Wang Qiong.

Moreover, Wang Yangming also took the initiative to say: "Your Majesty, the upright officials in the court may not want to see Duke Jinxi reinstated!"

"It is precisely because the Qingliu people are very reluctant to see me use Wang Qiong that I should use her!"

"This way, they won't have to complain when I urge the gentry to pay their autumn grain taxes, and they won't have to complain when you prioritize the use of a large number of military personnel next time."

"Let them focus on reinstating Wang Qiong!"

Zhu Houcong said.

Wang Yangming was full of admiration after hearing this, and hurriedly asked, "I wonder how Your Majesty plans to use Duke Jinxi?"

"Let him join the cabinet directly! He will be responsible for unifying the ideas of all officials, that is, advocating the same ideas!"

Zhu Houcong replied.

Wang Yangming couldn't help but open his lips.

"If it weren't for this, it wouldn't be enough to shock the government and the public!"

Zhu Houcong said.

"Best regards, Your Majesty!"

Wang Yangming immediately bowed.

Zhu Houcong smiled slightly and said, "I'll let you handle this matter."

Wang Yangming bowed and said yes.

The next day.

Wang Yangming did not immediately do what the emperor asked him to do, but went to the cabinet with the nine ministers first.

Because the cabinet wants to persuade the nine ministers to persuade the gentry of the world to be loyal to the country and actively pay taxes. Now that the emperor has already made concessions, the officials and gentry of the world should also be grateful for the emperor's benevolence and prove to him their sincere desire to serve the country.

"That's the truth, so please tell your students and friends about this, and write letters to your family to persuade them, so as not to make the rift between the monarch and his subjects even wider!"

After all the nine ministers arrived at the cabinet, Mao Ji explained the reasons why he asked these people to come to the cabinet.

Wang Yangming, the Minister of Personnel, spoke first: "I have written a letter, I hope it will be useful."

The new Minister of Revenue Xi Shu said: "Me too, but the current situation is that the autumn grain is basically collected by the gentry themselves, and the clerks in the government office are also their people. They can say that they have paid the tax and that those who owe taxes are ordinary people. What should we do?"

"If the court really demands that the people pay the full amount of taxes, they will simply double the taxes and put the blame on the court, saying that the court is demanding that the people pay the full amount of taxes. There is nothing we can do about it!"

"So, Your Majesty did not strictly require local officials to complete the tax payment, but only asked them to check and find out which gentry had not paid the full amount of taxes. If they really want to frame all the unpaid taxes on the people, then the local officials will naturally be guilty of negligence!"

"The central government should naturally trust the local officials and bureaucrats who are close to the people first, and then punish them according to the frauds investigated by the censors, instead of directly assuming that the local officials and bureaucrats who are close to the people are unable to investigate corruption or have been bribed by the gentry."

Yang Yiqing said at this time.

Xi Shu nodded: "What the elder said is correct."

Minister of Rites Wu Yipeng followed up by saying, "As for Nanzhi, Mr. Zhenze and I in the village have long advised them not to go against the court. Besides, after so many things happened in Nanzhi, the remaining people are all loyal and honest families, and they will not default on the autumn grain on a large scale."

At this time, the Minister of War Wang Xian said: "Of course we need to persuade them, but it is indeed not possible to persuade the gentry of the country to pay the full autumn grain with just a few words of righteousness."

"I want to ask, is it the Cabinet's intention or your Majesty's intention for us to go and persuade them?"

The Minister of Justice Zhao Huang asked at this time.

Mao Ji was about to speak, but Yang Yiqing suddenly raised his head and asked Zhao Huang in a deep voice: "Is there a big difference between the two?"

"No difference, no difference!"

Zhao Huang smiled awkwardly, leaned back and said, "I will go and persuade him, I will go and persuade him!"

Minister of Works Tong Rui said at this time: "The reason for the failure to pay autumn grain is that the people are too resentful and the court is too frequent in the local areas. For example, Huguang and Fujian are the reasons. So, I think we should also look for the reasons in ourselves. Are we rushing into some things too hastily?"

"This is not a matter of haste, and today is not the time to reflect on our own problems."

"Today I just want you to go and persuade them."

Yang Yiqing continued at this time.

Tong Rui said: "Okay, I will persuade them according to the cabinet's instructions!"

At this time, Dali Temple Minister Zhang Cong followed Tong Rui's topic, ignoring Yang Yiqing's attempt to redirect the topic, and said, "The root cause is not that the scholars are too resentful, but that the power to collect taxes has changed from the people collecting taxes themselves to the gentry and wealthy families collecting taxes themselves! What's the difference between this and tax farming?"

"In order to prevent the big families from monopolizing the taxation power, Emperor Taizu established the system of grain chiefs, and let each village and each village take turns to be the grain chief to collect taxes. As a result, the grain chiefs became the servants of the big families, or the big families served as clerks in the government office to collect taxes directly in the countryside. The ancestral laws have been destroyed to this extent. We should also discuss whether to continue to correct the ancestral laws or restore them." Yang Yiqing looked at Zhang Cong and said unhappily: "I only asked you to persuade, not to discuss tax reform here."

Zhang Cong wanted to speak again, but then he shut up: "Okay, I'll go and persuade him. I'll report the tax policy to the emperor myself."

At this time, the Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Shizhong said: "We will go and persuade them even without the cabinet's reminder."

"Yes, no matter how resentful you are, you shouldn't refuse to pay the autumn grain. The autumn grain collected by the imperial court is not high, totaling only more than 20 million dan."

Tongzhengshi Zheng Yue also said something at this time.

Wang Yangming, the Minister of Personnel, suddenly interrupted Zheng Yue and said, "The autumn grain is in arrears. Instead of hoping to persuade the gentry to pay it voluntarily, it is better to ask for an imperial decree to reinstate the Duke of Jinxi!"

Everyone was startled and looked at Wang Yangming.

"When the previous emperor was alive, the people were resentful, but Duke Jinxi was one of the Nine Ministers at the time, and he was able to use good strategies to ensure that the autumn grain supply would not be cut off."

"What Bingyong said just now is correct. The reason for the arrears of autumn grain payment is that the tax policy has not been determined. Although the National Taxation Bureau has been set up, it has only been implemented on a pilot basis in Shandong and has not been promoted nationwide. Whether this National Taxation Bureau should be promoted nationwide and how to promote it, perhaps Duke Jinxi knows better!"

"I mean, please invite Lord Jinxi to the cabinet."

After Wang Yangming said this, he looked at everyone.

Zhao Huang immediately said: "How can this be done? Wang Qiong is in league with the traitor Jiang Bin and everyone in the world knows it..."

"I not only want to invite Lord Jinxi to join the cabinet, but because my father's condition has not improved, I also need to return home to recuperate due to my serious injuries, so I want to resign and return home after a while. At that time, I also want to submit a petition to ask Lord Zhao to take charge of the Ministry of Personnel."

Wang Yangming responded to Zhao Huang with a smile.

"It's not impossible to reinstate Wang Jinxi!"

"Just like Li Chaling had to endure humiliation and attach himself to Liu Jin in order to protect the loyal and good people, Wang Jinxi must have had his own unspeakable secrets at the time!"

Zhao Huang immediately changed his words.

If the Minister of Personnel is replaced, and then the Minister of Justice is replaced, then except for the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Revenue, everyone will be able to move up a level. Even those who do not agree with Wang Yangming's proposal will no longer have any objections at this time.

The Minister of Rites Wu Yipeng now only wanted to cooperate with the emperor and get the emperor to agree to let people from Nanzhi join the cabinet as soon as possible. He had already guessed that Wang Yangming's intention must be the emperor's, so naturally he did not dare to sing a different tune.

The Minister of Revenue Xi Shu was originally a disciple of Wang Qiong, so naturally he would not care too much.

Therefore, the other nine ministers did not say anything else.

Cabinet ministers Mao Ji and Yang Yiqing also knew that Wang Yangming must have been appointed because the emperor wanted to reinstate Wang Qiong, so naturally they had no objection.

Among the court officials other than the cabinet ministers, many are still immersed in the indignation over the dismissal of Shandong Governor Zhou Jifeng, Jiangxi Governor Sheng Yingqi and others. Some even complain that the cabinet did nothing because it only voted that "it knew" about it, and that it was misleading, isolating China from the outside world, and excluding virtuous people.

In addition, many of them were still discussing the issue of making a slight concession to the emperor and saying that the gentry would be exempted from the revocation of their official titles if they paid 80% of the tax.

"As expected, Your Majesty still doesn't dare to force it. In my opinion, this decree that says that if the unpaid autumn grain is not paid in time, the official title will be revoked is definitely a threat! Otherwise, there would not be a decree saying that paying 80% can exempt the official title from being revoked."

"That's right. I have written to my relatives and friends, telling them not to be afraid. Not only should they continue to owe the money, but they should also owe more so that the court will know that the people are deeply resentful!"

"We should also continue to submit petitions, asking them to directly revoke the harsh order that those who fail to pay the autumn grain on time will be stripped of their official titles!"

However, as Mao Ji and others expected, even many officials in the court felt that Zhu Houcong made concessions at this time because he did not dare to deprive the gentry of their honors and titles just because they owed taxes.

But just as these officials were discussing this, they heard the news that Wang Qiong was going to be reinstated into the cabinet.

So, these people began to shift their attention to this matter.

"This must be the remnants of Wang Qiong taking advantage of the opportunity to build momentum for Wang Qiong!"

"Reinstating Wang Qiong and letting him join the cabinet, isn't this giving the treacherous minister another chance to be reused?"

"Then the life of the gentry in the world will only become more difficult!"

An Pan, the Left Secretary of the Military Department, was the first to disagree with this, and raised his arm and shouted: "We should submit a petition to dissuade this matter! Let Your Majesty see how much the world despises Wang Qiong, so as to prevent Wang Qiong's remnants from succeeding!"

"Submit a petition!"

"Submit a petition!"

……

Many officials responded.

then.

Memorials denouncing Wang Qiong and advising him not to be useful flew into the palace like snowflakes.

On the contrary, no one mentioned anymore that if the gentry failed to pay their autumn grain on time, their official titles would be revoked.

Wang Yangming took the opportunity to frantically dismiss the corresponding disobedient governors and replaced them with people with military backgrounds. He also promoted a large number of military personnel, and no one paid attention to it.

Jiangxi Governor Sheng Yingqi was very surprised and disappointed when he learned that he had been dismissed and ordered to retire, and that his successor was Fang Lin, the former Right Governor of Huguang who was a Fujian military officer:

"Is there no one in the court to stop it?!"

"I am speaking for the gentry of the country, after all. Besides, do they really want to see the governor of Jiangxi become a military household?"

(End of this chapter)