Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 264 This is called being loyal to the country, and we must use strong and ruthless officials!
Fei Hong frowned slightly, cursed Wang Shizhong in his heart, then looked at Zhu Houcong and replied, "Your Majesty, I have indeed found out."

"This old fellow! He is really dishonest!"

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong cursed directly.

Although the emperor was scolding Yang Tinghe, Fei Hong had a feeling that the emperor was scolding him and could not help but identify himself with him, so he lowered his eyelids and dared not look directly at the emperor.

then.

Zhu Houcong asked Fei Hong again: "How did you deal with this evidence?"

"I have kept it to myself, and only the Lord of the General Constitution knows about it. I don't know whether Your Majesty wants to know it, so I have not told Your Majesty about it."

Fei Hong replied.

Zhu Houcong nodded, then picked up Fei Hong's secret report and asked: "Why did you submit a secret report so quickly to request the establishment of a supply and marketing shop?"

"I dare not hide the truth from Your Majesty, because I asked those in the court who opposed the increase in currency tariffs to continue to incite the gentry to strike, so I dare not delay the request to set up supply and marketing shops and harm the people's livelihood."

Fei Hong replied.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong stood up and walked to Fei Hong:

"This is not how you, Lord Fei, behave!"

"Why did you do this?"

After Zhu Houcong said this, Fei Hong bowed and replied:
"Because the court and your majesty both need to take this opportunity to make some money!"

"The imperial court has of course repaid a large portion of the Xingming Bank's debt."

"Your Majesty can use this to compensate the losses of those around you. After all, increasing the currency tariff will also affect the revenue of the eunuchs. Giving some favors can also reduce palace resentment and benefit the stability of Your Majesty's harem."

"also!"

"The eldest prince and the eldest daughter of the emperor have both fallen ill with fever. I think the palace servants have been very hard-working. Your Majesty needs to give them more rewards so that they can take better care of the heirs of the Ming Dynasty in the future."

"In addition, I humbly believe that we should also let those gentry who get angry because of a small loss of profit suffer a big loss!"

"So, while I asked them to continue the strike, I also asked my nephew to write a letter to mobilize the wealthy merchants loyal to the court to help resolve the unfavorable situation caused by the strike."

"Anyway!"

"I am doing this for the sake of the country and your majesty's great plan to enrich the people."

"As the Prime Minister, there are some things that Your Majesty cannot do that I need to do. Naturally, I have to do it for Your Majesty, otherwise I will be sorry for Your Majesty's kindness!"

When Fei Hong spoke these words, Zhu Houcong nodded repeatedly. He knew that this was the basis for the reform that Wang Qiong had mentioned after the canal transport was changed from official transport to commercial transport.

The basis of this reform was that Fei Hong, as the prime minister, took the lead in betraying the gentry of the world.

Of course, although the core driving force is the exchange of interests, on the surface, what Fei Hong said is naturally a big truth.

Zhu Houcong also chose to believe in such great truth.

After all, the so-called high level of civilization means making the act of "eating people" more elegant and more in line with morality.

What’s more, the next people to be eaten were not the common people, but the wealthy and powerful people in the world who attempted to stop the market and threaten the court.

Zhu Houcong was very willing to believe Fei Hong's rationale.

"Do you know what loyalty to the country means?"

Zhu Houcong looked at Huang Jin, raised his finger and pointed at Fei Hong, asked a question, and then answered himself: "This is called loyalty to the country!"

Fei Hong lowered his head and accepted Zhu Houcong's praise.

As an old official who had served several dynasties, although he knew why he was so dedicated to the country, he still had the ability to shamelessly accept praise for his loyalty to the country.

Moreover, he asked himself that he had always been considering the needs of the emperor and the interests of the country.

Huang Jin smiled slightly and couldn't help but glance at Fei Hong, his eyes full of admiration.

After all, Fei Hong took the feelings of the eunuchs into consideration, which was much better than many civil officials who only looked down on the eunuchs.

"Wang Yangming resigned and returned to his hometown. Let Jia Yong, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, take over the ministry. Tell him that the supply and marketing store must be run by an honest and upright person. I don't want the government-run store to have any problems due to administrative problems!"

Zhu Houcong's words were considered as his tacit approval of Fei Hong's approach.

Fei Hong was naturally delighted and quickly bowed in agreement.

Next.

Fei Hong also met with Jia Yong, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and gave him the imperial edict to temporarily relieve him of his duties: "Your Majesty's intention is to select an honest and upright person to be in charge of the supply and marketing shop."

Jia Yong understood what he meant, and said with a smile: "I have heard that the Prime Minister has a good eye for people. I wonder which ones are honest and upright. Please give me some advice."

"Since you ask this, I will say a few words. Apart from anything else, Xiong Jia, the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, can be considered honest and upright."

"The other is Liu Yuanqing, the Left Secretary of the Dali Temple..."

After Fei Hong briefly mentioned the names of several people, Jia Yong looked surprised and asked, "Why is the Prime Minister serious?"

Fei Hong picked up the tea, took a sip, and asked with a smile: "What do you mean by serious?" "These guys are all stubborn. Let's talk about Xiong Jia, he is a cruel official who is really inhumane!"

Jia Yong looked around and whispered to Fei Hong:
"According to people below him, he collected taxes at Chongwenmen in accordance with the imperial decree and did not collect taxes from the common people. Therefore, the various ministries, the cabinet, and even the 24 government offices in the inner court did not receive tributes from Chongwenmen!"

"Any official who understands a little bit should know that the taxes that should be registered should be returned to the treasury. Although the imperial edict states that the tax on banknotes with a value of less than one silver dollar will not be collected, it should continue to be collected. At most, it can be reduced by 10% or 20%, and the common people will be happy and will not make a fuss. Besides, they are unlikely to really make a fuss, and the taxes that continue to be collected are the regular income of the upper and lower levels!"

"But he just didn't do that. He strictly followed the imperial edict. Even if the emperor trusted him and couldn't depose him, he should be promoted to another government office. How could he continue to work in a government office that deals with money and grain?"

Snapped!
Fei Hong slammed the cup of tea in his hand heavily on the table in front of Jia Yong, causing the tea to splash everywhere.

"Jia Minghe!"

"Don't forget, you are a Hanlin, and you are also a lecturer in the Zhengde Dynasty. You may enter the cabinet and rule in the future!"

"People like you shouldn't be focusing on these petty things, but should focus on doing more practical things for the country and the people!"

Fei Hong reprimanded Jia Yong.

Look very serious!

Jia Yong opened his mouth for a long while without realizing what was going on. After a while, he gritted his teeth and bowed, "What the Prime Minister taught me is that I now understand that as an upright official, I should be more upright and impartial! I should appreciate Xiong Jijian and others from the perspective of the court and the people, and promote them, instead of harboring personal grudges like a villain!"

"As long as you know."

After Fei Hong said this, he left first.

Jia Yong looked at Fei Hong's departing back and stood there for a long while, his expression full of confusion and puzzlement.

However, Jia Yong still followed Fei Hong's advice and recommended Liu Yuanqing, the Left Secretary of the Dali Temple, as the Cabinet Scholar and Right Censor-in-Chief, and Governor of the Supply and Marketing General Store, and Xiong Jia, the Chief Secretary of the Household Department, as the Junior Secretary of the Guanglu Temple and Censor of the Jingji Province, and the Chief Supervisor of the Beijing Supply and Marketing General Store.

Let’s talk.

After learning that the nobles' attempt to prevent the implementation of the new tax policy at the customs had failed by making a scene in front of the emperor, the powerful and wealthy people who opposed the new tax policy forced the imperial physician Liu Yinghuai to poison the imperial physician Zhou to put pressure on the emperor, while secretly carrying out a strike, that is, not transporting grain and other bulk goods into Beijing.

You know, the capital has many dignitaries and troops stationed there, and it is also a transit station for the supply of all kinds of military supplies to the nine borders. Therefore, there is a huge demand for all kinds of commercial goods, and it is the location of the largest domestic demand market in the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the capital is located in the north, while the rich products of the Ming Dynasty are mainly concentrated in the south. Therefore, the capital's goods are not only in great demand, but also mainly rely on supply from the south.

Now, if no goods are shipped from the south, it will be easy for prices in the capital to soar due to high demand and low supply.

First came food, then cloth, and then even writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones also skyrocketed in price!

"We really can't afford to buy paper. The tariffs on the new banknotes have made it so difficult for us poor officials in the Imperial College to even buy some paper to write our articles and notes!"

After Guo Weifan, the director of the Imperial College, came out of a bookstore, he met his colleague, the Hanlin reviewer Chen Huan, and started complaining to him.

Chen Huan said: "The price of paper has gone up, but now the price of food has also skyrocketed. I don't know how many more hungry people there will be in the capital. What I am most afraid of is that the soldiers will starve. That will lead to mutiny!"

After Chen Huan finished speaking, he pointed to a grain store that just appeared in front of him and said to Guo Weifan: "Look, the price has increased again. If it continues like this, I will have to go to Xingming Bank to borrow money to buy grain before the New Year!"

"You have to submit a petition!"

"Report this situation to the court. We cannot ignore the lives of the people just for the sake of the new tax policy!"

Guo Weifan said.

Chen Huan nodded: "We have to submit a petition. It would be best to persuade the court to stop and stop fighting with the gentry and wealthy merchants. The world's most important materials are in their hands. Unless the court abandons the rules and allows soldiers to become bandits and rob with knives, it will be impossible to collect money and customs duties from them!"

Therefore, the two of them began to write memorials after returning to their respective homes.

at the same time.

At Suzhou Hushuguan, Wei Shangchen, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, saw that the once busy river was now deserted with only a few fishing boats passing through, while a large number of merchant ships were hoarding in the area of ​​Wenchang Pavilion a few miles away and refused to pass through. As a result, many of the silver cabinets at the banknote customs were still empty. He was very anxious and said to Ji Tang, the Imperial Censor of Taxation:

"Feng Xian, the currency and customs duties are so low, will the court not even pay our salaries and bonuses this year? Will it be impossible to have a good New Year?"

"I have already sent the memorial urgently. You should go and persuade those merchant ships to pass through. If the strike really causes chaos in the north, it will not be good for the south!"

Ji Tang also had a sad face and was walking on the Guandao with his hands on his hips as he spoke.

Wei Shangchen actually came to Wenchang Pavilion, took the initiative to bow and kowtow to these wealthy businessmen, put himself in a very humble manner, and persuaded these wealthy businessmen to pass through.

"Whether or not to cross the border, we only follow the orders of the master above. Don't say that you bankers come to persuade us. Even if the governor comes, we won't listen!"

Wei Shangchen couldn't help but look pale.

"Mr. Yue, when I saw these treacherous officials jumping up and down like that, I knew they were right to stop the market."

Xu Jin, Wang Ao's son-in-law, who was reinstated as Hanlin lecturer and went to Beijing to take up the post together with Wang Ao, couldn't help but laugh and say something after passing Hushu Pass with Wang Ao.

Wang Ao frowned and said, "This is not good!"

"Weng Yue, why is this bad?"

Xu Jin asked in confusion.

At this time, the two saw a large number of ships heading south, with lanterns with the word "Fei" hanging on them, which were particularly eye-catching in the twilight.

Wang Ao frowned and asked Xu Jin, "Is that the boat of Lord Fei's family?"

(End of this chapter)