Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 371: The wealthy businessmen and bureaucrats could not do anything to Jiajing, and Xu Jie was also punished
Xu Shouyu's words made Xu Xiangshan sigh:

"It can't be helped. Your Majesty has become so generous."

"Therefore, he can benefit all officials and clarify the administration of officials! Money makes the world go round, and this saying also applies to the emperor!"

"Clear governance and harmonious relations between the ruler and his subjects also require money to maintain. Why can't some ordinary rulers achieve both harmonious relations between the ruler and his subjects and clear governance? It's because they lack strategy and don't know how to accumulate wealth to benefit the country!"

"With a wise ruler in power, a true revival is in sight!"

Xu Xiangshan sighed again.

Although Xu Shouyu knew that what his brother said was true, he became more and more unhappy the more he listened, and he felt unhappy instinctively.

Because such a wise ruler blocked his path to becoming an official.

He had a large amount of wealth but could not transform it into power. Even if he was rich, he would still have the same status as a student in the power hierarchy. Even when he met a scholar like Tang Shunzhi, he had to call himself "little friend" and did not dare to call himself the other person's friend, even though Tang Shunzhi was as old as his grandson.

to this end.

Xu Shouyu did not talk any more with Xu Xiangshan. Instead, he asked for an audience with Wang Xuekui, a doctor of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department, in the name of his brother. He also invited Wang Xuekui to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in the capital and invited the most expensive courtesan in the capital.

The reason why he treated Wang Xuekui like this was naturally because he was unwilling to see the donation system really stopped.

Therefore, he wanted to ask the officials in the Ministry of Personnel who were directly affected by the loss of interests whether there was any better way to deal with the situation.

In his opinion, those who were successful in the two imperial examinations and who had managed to get into the Ministry of Personnel were naturally smarter than himself.

And Wang Xuekui did not refuse Xu Shouyu's invitation.

This was mainly because he was used to a luxurious life of having expensive courtesans around, drinking fine wines and eating delicacies from land and sea.

Now, his income can no longer satisfy his extravagant lifestyle, so he can only rely on these wealthy businessmen to let him relive his past.

Wang Xuekui was enjoying the courtesan's leather cup while touching her body all over and laughing. After Xu Shouyu told him the purpose of his visit, he said, "Your brother is right. The reason His Majesty can do this is because he has amassed a lot of money to enrich the country!"

"From the beginning, they took over Donglai's mineral resources, and lent money to their relatives in the south at low interest rates. Now, they have joined forces with several big families to divide up the profits from sea trade, and they are even going to Japan to extort money in the name of inspection!"

"This will allow Your Majesty to enrich the country, and in turn benefit the people as well as the officials!"

Wang Xuekui was a little drunk and was already angry, so he slammed his hand on the table when he said this: "But who wants him to benefit?! Who really wants him to enrich the country?!"

The courtesan, whose breasts were half exposed in Wang Xuekui's arms, was immediately frightened and turned pale.

Wang Xuekui couldn't help but touch the courtesan's face and asked with a smile, "Did the master scare the beauty?"

"Master, please serve you a cup of wine as an apology."

As Wang Xuekui spoke, he picked up the wine pot and poured wine into an embroidered shoe wine glass.

Xu Shouyu followed suit and said:
"Yes!"

"No one wants to truly enrich the country. Enriching a country will hurt its people! This is the truth that Sima Wenzheng and other ancient wise ministers have already determined!"

"Therefore, virtuous ministers in later generations only talked about saving money and loving the people, but not about enriching the country. When Yang Xindu was in power, he only cut down on grain and saved national expenditure. But our Majesty is enriching the country in the name of loving the people and clarifying the administration. It's so frustrating!"

"After all, we can't really disown the words of the saints and explicitly ask Your Majesty to only follow the Legalists."

"But the key is that your majesty and some people in the world must also be willing to follow only the Legalists!"

"That's exactly what it means."

"Your Majesty is not unaware that the government should be governed by the Confucianism and the law, he is just pretending not to know."

"I don't understand, Your Majesty, why do you pretend to be ignorant? But no matter what, if we really want to stop him from doing these things now, we have to cut off his source of income!"

"We must find a way to make it impossible for Your Majesty to maintain the interests of the Eastern countries and the monopoly of maritime trade."

"besides……"

"And those two uncles-in-law who are working as low-interest lenders in the south are the knives that your majesty uses to seize the profits of the gentry! The reason why the imperial merchants can import so many goods and pay so much tariffs to the court is because they are giving blood transfusions to those imperial merchants on your behalf. No one dares to risk offending the gentry and borrow your majesty's treasury to lend to the merchants at low interest rates. Even your maternal family doesn't dare to do so. Only those two fearless idiots from the Zhang family dare to do so!"

After Wang Xuekui's words, Xu Shouyu also understood what he meant. He knew that if they really wanted to stop the emperor from stopping donations and reforming the civil service system, they had to cut off the emperor's financial resources. To cut off the emperor's financial resources, they had to prevent the two uncles from continuing to lend money at low interest rates in the south, and they couldn't allow the court to keep going to Japan to make money and send officials and troops to stay there permanently.

Xu Shouyu also understood why Ma Lu had ignored Guo Xun's reminder and wanted Guo Xun and Zhang's two uncles to bear the crime of treason. He also understood why the South tried its best to prevent the court from sending people to inspect the East.

The essence of this is indeed conflict of interest.

Zhu Houcong asked two relatives of the Zhang family to open money shops for him to lend money at low interest rates. This was an attempt to seize the financial power that had always been controlled by the powerful and wealthy gentry, and to force the silver dollar, the official currency, to circulate completely.

Zhu Houcong formally sent official forces to intervene in Japan, which completely seized the bargaining chip that the powerful and wealthy gentry in the south used to threaten the imperial court by using Japan.

on the contrary!

The imperial court could also indirectly control the powerful and wealthy in the south by controlling Japan.

After all, the landlord class inevitably has the nature of compradors.

The emperor prevented them from being compradors, so they had no way of colluding with foreigners, and no way of carrying out reactionary activities in the country with impunity!
Whoosh!
Xiyuan.

Zhu Houcong was shooting arrows at the shooting range left by Emperor Zhengde.

Now he can shoot a crossbow.

Of course, Zhu Houcong also shot arrows from time to time, mainly for exercise and to master his riding and archery skills.

After all, it will take some time for firearms to replace bows and arrows.

Sometimes when encountering emergencies, bows and arrows are more convenient to operate than the current matchlock guns.

After shooting arrows, Zhu Houcong went to check his results and then talked about state affairs with his bodyguards Yang Yiqing and Zhang Cong.

"The disturbance caused by Zheng and Shen from the Ministry of Personnel has calmed down, so the reform will continue."

"For those official vacancies reported by the Ministry of Personnel, we will use the selection method that Zhu Xizhou had previously implemented in Nanzhi. This is also in line with the rules set by our ancestors to select officials through special examinations."

"The main candidates for recruitment are those from the Great Ming Practical Politics School. Those who pass the exam will be granted the same status as Jinshi and will be responsible for the most specific affairs as Jinshi who observes politics."

“This exam is held once a year and the number of admissions is based on vacancies.”

"The content of the exam must be different from the imperial examination. After all, it is to fill vacancies, and it does not have the function of the imperial examination to win over scholars from all over the world. Therefore, it is more conducive to practical needs. Naturally, it will also test policy essays, etc., and the examiner will also interview and ask questions to test the candidate's ability to perform and respond to emergencies."

"Besides one examiner from the Ministry of Personnel, how to determine the remaining examiners? You can discuss it in the cabinet. It doesn't have to be officials. You can invite famous scholars or retired officials who are good at governing officials. In any case, it is best to select people with real talents."

After Zhu Houcong said this, Yang Yiqing and others nodded in agreement.

They had to admit that the emperor was truly pursuing practical matters.

They were not surprised by this, but secretly sighed that the Ming Dynasty Practical School would become more and more popular among scholars.

And the status of the Imperial College is likely to be reduced.

For ministers of high status like these, it was natural that they would hope that the emperor would grant their children the privilege of entering the Ming Dynasty Practical School in the future instead of the Imperial Academy.

After Zhu Houcong's imperial will was promulgated by the cabinet in the form of an imperial edict, it indeed caused a great response.

The scholars of the Ming Dynasty Practical School were the happiest and the most nervous, and they didn't know how to prepare for the exam in order to become the Ministry of Personnel's Jinshi as soon as possible.

However, the specific content of the examination is still under discussion among the cabinet ministers.

While people in the capital were discussing this matter, Xu Jie had already finished his visit to his relatives and was preparing to go to Zhejiang and take a ship to Japan.

But just as he was about to leave Songjiang for Zhejiang by boat, Huating County Magistrate Zhou Zongming came to see him and said, "Xu Qianxian, the people have accused you of forcibly seizing women to satisfy your lust. I have no choice but to come and ask for your cooperation. Can you leave a day later?"

"I forcibly took a woman from the people?"

Xu Jie was bewildered.

But at this moment, a woman in dishevel ran out of Xu Jie's boat and said, "My dear parents, save me!"

Xu Jie was dumbfounded when he saw this.

Many of Xu Jie's fellow townsmen who came to see him off couldn't help but laugh secretly.

(End of this chapter)