Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 267 Yan Song used the clean stream approach to guide reform!

On the Tonghui Bridge outside Chongwenmen, Wu Yipeng and his fellow villager Xu Jie looked at the large number of sailboats appearing on the Tonghui River with very grim expressions.

Other dignitaries and officials also had the same grim expressions as them.

Because Fei Hong deceived them all!

While they were actively calling on the gentry across the country to strike, his Fei family secretly teamed up with the Jinxi Wang family, the Yuyao Wang family and others to take on the role of transporting goods to the capital and even the nine northern borders, and earned the money that should have belonged to them!
Among them, the Fei family naturally made the most money, because they had the largest capital and the strongest foundation, and could buy more goods from the south.

"Zisheng, you must remember this!"

"Everyone who enters the cabinet, except those from the same hometown, will become bad and cannot be trusted!"

Wu Yipeng even frowned and gave instructions to the young Xu Jie.

Xu Jie nodded solemnly: "Junior will remember this!"

talking.

Xu Jie glanced at the lantern with the word "Fei" hanging on a large sand boat that was coming towards him.

This made Xu Jie fall into deep thought.

When he saw that the Fei family was very active in paying taxes and moved a large amount of silver dollars that had been prepared long ago to the Taxation Office when passing by the Chongwenmen Taxation Office, he pondered more seriously.

Subsequently.

Xu Jie said to Wu Yipeng: "Grand Master, I think that Fei Qianshan's suggestion to set up a supply and marketing shop and let his family transport goods to Beijing may not only be for the money from trade, but also to take away our grain transport rights and change the system of transporting grain and goods!"

"Because, even if he is greedy for money, he would not offend all the nobles just for a single benefit and choose to collude with Wang Qiong and others."

Wu Yipeng frowned after hearing this.

Xu Jie's words forced him to think seriously.

"You're right!"

Wu Yipeng suddenly looked enlightened and echoed Xu Jie's words.

then.

Wu Yipeng murmured to himself: "If this is the case, it is too terrible!"

"Yes, but how should we deal with it?"

Xu Jie looked at the city gate in front of him with a serious expression.

Wu Yipeng smiled bitterly at this time, then followed the crowd to walk under the bridge and said:

"There is no way to deal with it. Standing behind him is the emperor! He is the people of the country!"

Then, Wu Yipeng took Wang Ao's letter out of his sleeve and handed it to Xu Jie: "Take a look, this is a letter from Mr. Zhenze."

Wu Yipeng only asked his fellow townsman Xu Jie to come to Chongwenmen to check out the situation, but he had not shown Xu Jie the letter from Wang Ao, so he showed it to Xu Jie now.

After Xu Jie received the letter, he read it carefully, then looked up at the cloudy sky at the end of Tonghui River and said with emotion:

"Mr. Zhenze is really far-sighted!"

"That's right!"

"Mr. Zhenze is a true gentleman. He never thinks only of the private interests of his own village or clan!"

"And just as Mr. Zhenze said, let the villagers remember this lesson. Sometimes, it is better to teach people through experience than through human experience. Otherwise, they will really think that they spent two million to win a cabinet position for Mr. Zhenze, and that Nanzhi can take whatever benefits the world has and do whatever it wants, and then make too high demands on us officials in the court!"

Wu Yipeng put his hands behind his back and smiled.

Xu Jie then turned around, looked at Wu Yipeng, and said again very seriously:
"What Mr. Zhenze and the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan said has benefited me a lot! But since that's the case, we can only accept the reality of the successful increase in the currency tariff, and also accept the reality that the canal transportation system may be greatly changed! In this way, the losses of the villagers will be much greater. It is true that every time the imperial court makes a reform, it will inevitably harm the interests of Nanzhi!"

"So, you must have the ambition to enter the cabinet, or even become the Prime Minister!"

"Only in this way can you truly influence national policy in the future!"

Wu Yipeng suddenly turned around, looked at Xu Jie with burning eyes, and said very seriously.

Xu Jie nodded and bowed: "I will do my best!"

Wu Yipeng smiled slightly, then turned around and looked towards the city gate, saying:
"Let's go back. There's no point in continuing to watch the Fei family get rich here."

then.

Wu Yipeng entered the city with Xu Jie, and chose to take a detour through Xuanwu Gate, rather than squeeze with the tax-paying caravans going to Chongwen Gate.

It is said that the capital city in the first month of the lunar calendar is more lively than that in the twelfth month, not to mention that today is the Lantern Festival, so even at the Xuanwu Gate, the flow of people is very dense, and it is not so fast for the two to enter the city.

Wu Yipeng was walking too slowly into the city, so he stopped and looked elsewhere. Suddenly, he saw a large number of porridge factories and sighed to Xu Jie: "Your Majesty really loves the people like his own children!"

"Yes!"

"It can be said that his virtue shines brightly, and the people are delighted to see him!"

Xu Jie also looked at the large number of new refugees living in huts outside the city and drinking porridge from bowls. He sneered, and worry appeared between his brows again.

……

……

"Please ask the court to put an end to the malpractice of smuggling that harms the army and the people, and change official transportation to commercial transportation!"

"Please ask the court to put an end to the malpractice of smuggling that harms the army and the people, and change official transportation to commercial transportation!"

"Please ask the court to put an end to the malpractice of smuggling that harms the army and the people, and change official transportation to commercial transportation!"

When the two men entered Xuanwumen Street, they suddenly heard a large number of scholars standing outside the Censorate. These scholars were holding memorials and shouting loudly, demanding that official careers be changed to business careers.

The Censorate therefore had to dispatch soldiers from the yamen to surround these scholars.

Li Yue, the deputy chief censor of the Censorate, was also frowning and asking the scholars, "How does the smuggling of official information harm the army and the people?"

"Because the powerful families often collude with the canal transport officers to force the transport troops to carry more heavy goods, regardless of the dangers on the road. Not only do the transport troops fall ill from exhaustion, but if there is any damage, they have to pay for it. Isn't this harming the army?"

"And the powerful families would team up with the transport troops to harass the people transporting grain along the way, forcing them to flee in large numbers, leaving a large amount of land along the canal uncultivated. Isn't that harming the people?"

At this time, a scholar spoke resolutely.

The Imperial Censor Liu Qi, who came out to investigate the situation, was furious: "How dare you! Taizu has long ago issued a precept that students are not allowed to discuss politics! If you don't leave quickly, I will punish you severely!"

"We are not students, we are filial and honest people!"

At this time, a scholar replied loudly.

"You can't discuss state affairs. The government's military transporting grain is a national policy! How can you slander us at will?"

Liu Qi said as he bowed to Li Yue and said, "Du Tang, I think that you should order the arrest of all the scholars who are causing trouble and their official titles should be revoked! Ask them who is behind this!"

Li Yue frowned and said nothing.

And this time.

Yan Song came out from a teahouse in the back, holding a teacup in one hand:

"No!"

"I am the Right Vice-Censor-in-Chief and the Northern Inspector of Public Order and Morality. I believe that the Censorate should respond to your Majesty's call and let people speak!"

"Since they have come to the Censorate to file a petition, we should immediately forward it on their behalf!"

After hearing this, Liu Qi clenched his fists, glared at Yan Song angrily, and said nothing.

Li Yue instructed Ren Luo, another imperial censor on duty, "Then collect their memorials."

Ren Luo bowed and said yes, then came among the scholars and collected their memorials.

After seeing this scene, Xu Jie couldn't help but say to Wu Yipeng: "I didn't expect that he is Yan Fenyi!"

"This person should not be underestimated!"

"Also, this person cannot gain power!"

"I say this to myself and to you as well!"

Wu Yipeng suddenly spoke to Xu Jie in a serious tone.

Xu Jie said: "But he has already gained power!"

"Then we have to take him down!"

"He took money to organize scholars to discuss national policy. He used the good opinions of the clean stream in the opposite way. This is simply trampling on the morals of the scholars!"

"Remember, only those who don't care about the means to climb up the ladder will be willing to use the methods of the Qingliu to deal with the Qingliu!"

Wu Yipeng said with gritted teeth.

Xu Jie nodded, and he could also feel that the Grand Master's dislike for Yan Song obviously exceeded his dislike for Fei Hong.

But for Xu Jie, he actually envied Yan Song's speed of promotion.

Then I thought that Fei Hong was now also seeking to maximize his own interests by catering to the emperor.

This gave Xu Jie some new insights into being an official.

He felt that Yan Song actually had things worth learning from him.

Let’s talk.

After Yan Song saw that the Censorate had received the scholars' petition to change the grain transport system, he took the scholars away from the Censorate and came to the Lingji Temple in the capital, where he smiled and said to the scholars:
"The Censorate has accepted your petition, which means that the reform of grain transport has made a good start. You have done a great thing for the ordinary soldiers and grain transport households who have suffered so much in the world!"

"For this reason, I, in the name of the envoy for observing customs and rectifying social practices, will grant each of you a special reward of fifty silver dollars for loyalty and righteousness!"

"Deputy Governor, I am the son of Wang Zong, a captain of the transport army. My father hanged himself because he could not bear the burden of transporting the army. Therefore, I am sincerely willing to respond to the Deputy Governor's call and ask the court to change the official transport to commercial transport, so that the court will no longer let the military households bear the burden of transporting grain, but only let the gentry and civilians along the canal benefit! Therefore, I don't want any reward, I just hope that the court can really change this system!"

At this time, a military scholar named Wang Shi stepped forward resolutely, bowed and made a speech.

"So do we!"

"Yes, we requested to change from official business to commercial business because we sincerely believe that this will benefit the country and the people, not for anything else. So the purpose of taking the money is different. Gentlemen are concerned with righteousness, while villains are concerned with profit. We should act like gentlemen, not villains!"

Several relatively simple young scholars followed suit.

Yan Song couldn't help but smile. He was touched by the words of these scholars, but at the same time he couldn't help but ask:

"Haven't you heard that a gentleman loves money but gets it in a proper way? These silver dollars are what you deserve and must get. You can be upright, but if you really want to do things for the country and the people, sometimes you have to take what you deserve. Otherwise, if you don't take it, how can others take the benefits gained by doing such loyal and righteous things? Doesn't that mean that except for true saints, no one is willing to do such loyal and righteous things? How can you convince the majority of foolish people to support the new policy?"

After Yan Song said this, Wang Shi and others took the silver dollars, and the other scholars also happily took the silver dollars.

Zhu Houcong soon learned about the petition and summoned Yan Song to say, "You did a great job!"

"It is because of your majesty's grace that I can easily mobilize some scholars to petition."

Yan Song replied with a smile.

Zhu Houcong said: "But we must continue to organize people to petition, not only scholars, but also the people, especially those military households who suffered from the burden of transporting grain and fled with their families. Let them cry and complain to the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Censorate. We must make this change in the grain transport system the will of scholars, the military, and the people. We must not let people think that this is just the intention of me and the cabinet."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)