Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 258 Civilian: Are we too friendly to the Zhang family? !

"My Lord, I heard that you went to His Majesty to complain about Xiong Jia. What was the result?"

Yang Dun, the head of the Ministry of War, who had a good relationship with Marquis Zhenyuan, took the initiative to walk towards Marquis Zhenyuan, bowed and asked.

Gu Shilong suddenly replied solemnly: "My emperor is kind and virtuous!"

Yang Dun was quite surprised.

The other court officials who gathered around also looked surprised.

“Are you going to withdraw the new tax policy?”

Yang Dun asked another question about this.

"no!"

Gu Shilong waved his hand to deny it, then pointed at Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling and said, "Why do I say that? You can ask the two uncles-in-law."

talking.

Gu Shilon left with a malicious smile.

Yang Dun and other court officials were naturally disappointed.

But they also became more curious.

Because what they couldn't understand was that, since His Majesty had no intention of abolishing the new tax policy at the banknote customs, why were these nobles so happy and it seemed that they had not been punished at all.

"If the new tax policy has not been withdrawn, then why are these nobles so happy?"

"Could it be that your Majesty bribed them with some other benefits?"

"It can only be this reason! If Your Majesty wants to seize the benefits of the people and the rich and powerful, then we must dissuade him!"

"Of course I have to dissuade them, but before I do, I have to ask these nobles what the reason is."

"Go ask the Earl of Changhua and the Earl of Yutian first. These two families are your Majesty's closest relatives. If you want to offend the powerful, you should offend these two families first. That's the true nature of a loyal minister!"

"Makes sense!"

then.

Yang Dun and other court officials did not listen to Gu Shilon and came to Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling. Instead, they aggressively stopped Changhua Earl Shao Xi and Yutian Earl Jiang Lun.

Although Shao Xi and Jiang Lun acted very impressive in front of Xiong Jia's individual civil servants, they were still a little afraid when they met this large group of court officials.

"How many promises of benefit to the people did the two uncles get from His Majesty to be so happy?"

Yang Dun even relied on the fact that he was Yang Tinghe's younger brother and asked first.

Jin Chengxun, the Imperial Secretary, also said, "That's right. If you compete with the people for profits, please be sensible and return the profits!"

Shao Xi hurriedly replied: "His Majesty has never asked us to take away the food of the common people. He just bought us his own royal land in the western and southern suburbs so that we can build houses and sell them to the rich people in the world!"

"That's right. Even if you don't believe us, don't you believe His Majesty?"

"Your Majesty is a good emperor who loves the people. How could he allow his relatives to compete for the interests of the people? They only use their own pockets to support us, and they only know how to stare at us!"

Jiang Lun also started talking about these court officials.

Yang Dun, Jin Chengxun and other court officials could not help but shut up and said nothing more.

"Your Majesty, it is a proper move to give your own land to your maternal relatives to develop and profit from. This will not only prevent maternal relatives from competing with the people for profits, but also benefit the peace of the royal family!"

"There is really nothing much to say about this. Your Majesty is a holy and benevolent ruler after all. You can actually come up with such a solution that has the best of both worlds."

The court officials couldn't help but whisper to each other.

And that time.

Yang Dun also said: "Could it be that the nobles are so happy because Your Majesty wants to buy the royal land?"

"Just now, Marquis Zhenyuan asked us to ask Marquis Shouning and Marquis Jianchang. Why don't we go and ask them?"

As he spoke, Yang Dun began to ask about Jin Chengxun and other court officials.

After thinking about it seriously, Jin Chengxun said, "Forget it. It's best if we don't know about the affairs of those two uncles!"

"Yes, let's check the Imperial Gazette to see what favors the emperor has granted them. Otherwise, they won't be able to pretend they don't know when the time comes."

Other court officials also followed suit and none of them supported taking the initiative to provoke these two foreign relatives.

At Chongwenmen, Xiong Jia had just learned from his colleagues and friends the news that the nobles and relatives had gone to cause trouble.

But Xiong Jia didn't care too much about it, and just continued to carefully monitor the collection of customs duties.

In his opinion, as long as the emperor did not remove him from office or punish him, he would have to implement the new policy seriously for one day.

Because the implementation of the new currency and tariff policy was the common ideal of him and Zhang Cong.

He felt that it would be worth it even if he persisted for one day.

Whenever he saw an ordinary small vendor leaving Chongwenmen with a smile on his face, he felt a sense of accomplishment from the bottom of his heart.

However, precisely because the nobles chose to go to the palace to file a complaint against Xiong Jia, many bureaucrats in the court and gentry in the capital became emboldened again. Thinking that Xiong Jia was about to fall, they delayed their own caravans and did not rush to pay taxes.

In the next few days, Xiong Jia discovered that many caravans would rather park their goods outside Chongwenmen than enter Chongwenmen to participate in the trade, resulting in a sharp drop in Chongwenmen's customs duty revenue.

Xiong Jia personally walked towards the caravans and asked the leader of one of them, "Why don't you go into the city these days?"

"Is it your business whether we go into the city or not?"

The person in charge of the caravan was named Xue Fang, the younger brother of Xue Hui, a doctor in the Ministry of Examination. Naturally, he was not afraid of Xiong Jia, the Imperial Censor, so he asked with a sneer.

Xiong Jia's face darkened, and he returned to the Chongwenmen Xuanke Division. As soon as Xiong Jia left, Xue Fang called on all the merchants, "Don't go into the city, just stay here! Because the Lord Changhua and his men have already gone to the palace to see His Majesty, and this Xiong will be dismissed from office within ten days. At that time, the Lord Changhua and other nobles will no longer have to pay the customs duties, so we can naturally follow suit and not pay!"

"Then we will listen to Brother Xue and wait here!"

"That's right, then we'll just stay here and wait for good news!"

The caravans outside Chongwenmen echoed the sentiment one after another, and all looked at Xiong Jia and other tax collectors with unfriendly faces.

……

……

“Who said we don’t pay customs duties?”

But at this time.

Shao Qing and Zhang Heling's family member Zhang Song drove several mule carts out of Chongwenmen, and Shao Qing asked loudly.

Xue Fang and others were stunned after hearing this.

Shao Qingze walked up to Xiong Jia and said, "We are taking the ginseng to the south. Please send someone to check quickly. We will accept the tax. Just don't delay us for too long."

Zhang Song also came over and said, "We also brought ginseng to the south. Please check it quickly and don't waste our time!"

Xiong Jia himself was also surprised, but since the two in-laws were so cooperative now, he naturally welcomed it and hurriedly asked Xu Song and others to inspect the goods for the two in-laws.

Xue Fang and others saw this and guessed that the nobles' rebellion must have failed, so they had to bring the goods into the city in disappointment, paid the customs duties honestly, and hurried to find out what had happened.

The court officials quickly learned through the imperial edict that Gu Shilon would be the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, that he would buy royal land for Shao, Jiang, Xia, Yao and other relatives, and that the brothers Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling would be given the privilege of opening money shops in the south.

The first court officials to know about this were naturally the cabinet ministers.

"It is acceptable to let the Marquis of Zhenyuan guard Liaodong so that he will not oppose the new policy of currency and tariffs. It will not affect the people's livelihood in the interior anyway."

"It's OK to let the nobles like Shao and Jiang get the royal land to run their business. Those lands need to be developed anyway."

"But how can we let the Marquis of Shouning and the Marquis of Jianchang open a bank in the south?"

First Minister Fei Hong came to the Imperial Study immediately after seeing Zhu Houcong's latest imperial edict and made a statement to Zhu Houcong:
"Your Majesty, I think it is not appropriate to send the Marquis of Shouning and the Marquis of Jianchang to the south to open a bank!"

"reason!"

Zhu Houcong smiled slightly and looked at Fei Hong.

"Because if Your Majesty lets them go to the south to help the people lend money at low interest rates, it may cause the people of Shouning and Jianchang to be resented by the world, and it may also make them resentful of Your Majesty, and cause discord in the royal family! And if the royal family is not harmonious, it will also cause unrest in the royal family! So please think twice!"

"I didn't ask them to go. They chose to go to the south."

"I have also asked them if they are afraid of offending the gentry. They said they are not afraid. They are willing to help the people for the court and crack down on the usury that exploits the people too much!"

"I am very pleased to hear this, and naturally it is difficult to refuse. After all, if I refuse, it will be detrimental to the peace of the royal family."

Zhu Houcong smiled and asked Feihong: "Right, Prime Minister?"

Fei Hong's anger escalated after hearing this, but on the surface he could only smile in surprise:

"I never thought that the two uncles-in-law would become so courageous now, and dare to fight for the people of the world without fear of the world's complaints."

"Yes!"

"I was also surprised. It turns out that they are not as hateful as those censors said during the two previous emperors."

"For this, I also gave them the golden plaque that is kind and loving to the people."

Zhu Houcong said.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

Fei Hongze could only bow his hands and flatter, and said: "I think this is all due to your majesty. Because your majesty is diligent in governing and good at guiding, the habits of the two uncles of the state have changed greatly!"

"What you said, isn't Xiao Miao good at guiding?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Fei Hong said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. It is not that I am disrespectful to the late emperor. To be fair, Your Majesty really loves the people more than the Filial Piety Temple and the Martial Temple. That is why the two uncles of the emperor were also influenced by Your Majesty and became kind and loving to the people. This is truly a blessing for the country!"

"In that case, let's draft an edict!"

"Yes!"

Fei Hong responded and returned to the cabinet.

Now, among the cabinet ministers, Yang Yiqing went to the Naval Academy, Wang Ao and Lin Jun have not come to Beijing yet, and only Wang Qiong is still there.

The relationship between Fei Hong and Wang Qiong is not very good either.

Therefore, after returning to the cabinet, Fei Hong did not tell Wang Qiong about this matter, but only asked the Zhongshu Sheren in the Imperial Edict-Drafting Office to draft the decree according to the order.

But Wang Qiong still came to the imperial edict-making room and asked what the imperial edict was.

After asking, Wang Qiong laughed without paying attention to Fei Hong's ugly face: "These two uncles of the emperor are really speechless!"

After the edict was drafted and copied to the six ministries, the officials in the six ministries were also very angry about the edict. None of them were as calm as Fei Hong. Official Jin Chengxun slammed the table and stood up on the spot:

"Does this uncle really think we are too friendly to them now?!"

"Then go and report them!"

"I will report them even if it angers the Queen Mother!"

Chen Guang, a member of the Ritual Discussion Party, just wanted to watch the fun and add fuel to the fire.

(End of this chapter)