Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 386: Afraid that Jiajing would use the imperial examination weapon again, he took the initiative to be despicable to his colleagues!

Zhu Houcong knew that the officials and wealthy gentry who stood on the side of the gentry were hoping that the two brothers Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling would die suddenly as soon as possible.

After all, these two funny guys have caused serious losses to the wealthy and powerful in the financial lending business!
Especially the wealthy and powerful families in the south.

Therefore, the news of Zhang Heling's murder is naturally good news for these people.

But Zhu Houcong couldn't help but smile because he had learned from the report of the Jinyiwei that Zhang Heling was not successfully killed, but was protected by the Jinyiwei.

Even so, Zhu Houcong couldn't help but frown and look frosty after raising the corners of his mouth slightly.

The price of Zhang Heling's protection was the sacrifice of a backbone from his own palace.

These people from the Qiandi are the foundation for him to exercise power arbitrarily now.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong felt quite distressed about this.

He didn't want more and more of his people to sacrifice.

If Zhu Houcong wanted to prevent more and more of his people from being sacrificed in order to maintain the foundation of his imperial power, he had to expand his base and get more people to support him.

In order to get people's support, he must be correct in his thinking and make profits from the perspective of "the world for the public", that is, make profits for the majority of people at all times. At the same time, he must also make the group that is willing to make profits for the majority feel that their value and income are increasing. Only in this way can they and their relatives and friends behind them support him and be loyal to him as the emperor.

In fact, bringing benefits to more people is what Zhu Houcong has always been doing.

Otherwise, he would not have sent inspectors to inspect the East Ocean after imposing a strict maritime ban, and demanded that the Japanese daimyo pay compensation, cede territory, and develop their mines.

By now Zhu Houcong had received the report about Iwami Silver Mine sent back by Huo Tao.

According to what Huo Tao reported, there is indeed a silver mine in Iwami, and it was only in the spring of the fifth year of Jiajing that Hakata merchant Kamiya Shouzheng and copper mine owner Mishima Seiuemon began to mine it. Now that it has been incorporated into the Ming Dynasty, the ash blowing method has been adopted, and the silver output has increased greatly. If there are enough miners, the annual output of silver can reach 10 million taels.

This made Zhu Houcong particularly happy, because so much silver meant that the problem of "silver shortage" in the Ming Dynasty could be greatly solved, allowing more people to grow in wealth, and thus further consolidate Zhu Houcong's rule.

But the prerequisite is that the silver must be used correctly. If it is concentrated in the hands of a few large landlords and bureaucrats, Zhu Houcong's goal will still not be achieved.

What Zhu Houcong needs to do now is to use better systems and methods to allow the large amount of silver that will flow back into the country in the future to flow across the land of China, just like the Yangtze River and the Yellow River flow across the land of China, irrigate a large amount of arable land, and allow people from all walks of life to benefit from them, so as to bring welfare to all classes, especially the broad working people.

One of the solutions Zhu Houcong could think of was to continue to instigate some courageous nobles, relatives of the emperor's wife, and even members of the royal family and retired civil officials who were loyal and reliable and were willing to benefit the people to open money shops, and let them borrow money from the imperial treasury and the national treasury at low interest rates.

However, Zhu Houcong had no intention of allowing the government to open state-run money houses to lend money.

The reason is naturally that the "Qingmiao Loan" in the Northern Song Dynasty has already shown that if the government is directly responsible for lending, it will lead to officials forcibly allocating targets for profit and forcing local people to borrow money.

By only allowing nobles and royal family members who are not directly in power, as well as retired civil officials, to open money shops, a check and balance could be established between the bureaucratic groups, because officials could monitor whether these people were lending money at low interest rates as required by the court.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that these people will collude with officials to oppose the will of the court and harm the people. However, the appointment of officials is based on a system of floating officials, and there is also a system of serving as officials outside of one's native place. Therefore, it would be very difficult to cause collusion, and even if there is collusion, the impact would be limited.

Unless the emperor himself indulges in corruption.

While Zhu Houcong was releasing more silver dollars to the people, the ministers in the court were still discussing the murder of Zhang Heling and had all kinds of fantasies. On this day, at the court meeting, Ren Weixian, the left chancellor of the Dali Temple, took the initiative to say: "Your Majesty, Shouning Hou was murdered in Hangzhou. I request that the officials in Zhejiang Province conduct a strict investigation to enforce the law."

Finished.

Ren Weixian, with his head lowered, raised the corner of his mouth slightly and sneered secretly.

Some officials in the court, like Ren Weixian, were dissatisfied with Zhang Heling's low-interest loans in local areas to seize profits from the gentry and wealthy families in the south. For example, Wang Xuekui, a doctor in the Ministry of Literature, also laughed secretly in the court with his mouth slightly twisted.

However, Zhang Cong, Xi Shu, Xiong Jia and other members of the imperial party noticed the smug looks of these people and became indignant for a moment.

Xiong Jia was about to step out and ask for punishment in Zhejiang Province in the same way as the murder of imperial envoys in Henan and other places, when Zhu Houcong said:

"Marquis Shouning was not killed. I have received a report from the Royal Guards. The person who was killed was a Royal Guard pretending to be Marquis Shouning. The local Royal Guards Zhu Wu and others were also worried about Marquis Shouning's safety, so they asked for Marquis Shouning's consent and had the Royal Guards pretend to be him to contact some officials and gentry in the south."

When Zhu Houcong said this, Ren Weixian couldn't help but be surprised, with disappointment in his eyes.

Wang Xuekui and other court officials who wished Zhang Heling would die immediately were also greatly disappointed and stopped secretly twisting their lips.

Zhang Cong, Xiong Jia and others smiled.

"Those despicable and evil people who don't want to see the two uncles help the people and enrich the country in the south, never think of using such despicable means as assassination to stop the two uncles from doing good deeds for the country and the people."

"If they keep doing this, they will eventually shoot themselves in the foot!"

Zhu Houcong continued speaking here.

However, court officials such as Ren Weixian and Wang Xuekui who stood on the side of the gentry no longer had the heart to listen to Zhu Houcong's speech, and even began to feel a little annoyed when they heard Zhu Houcong's insinuation that they should not use conspiracy to stop the two uncles-in-law.

However, there were also sober opposition officials who had long ago associated the murder of Zhang Heling with recent events in Henan and other places, and began to worry that the emperor would restrict the imperial examinations in the place where the incident occurred and blame the gentry and wealthy families in the place where the incident occurred.

Especially officials from Zhejiang.

Therefore, Zhu Liang, a doctor of the Ministry of Justice in Zhejiang, decided to expose the case himself. He then made a direct report at the court meeting:
"Your Majesty is right. You can't stop things that are in line with the right path by using despicable and shameless means!"

"As far as I know, someone plotted to murder Shouning Hou because he lent money at low interest rates for the Xingming Bank in the inner court, which caused dissatisfaction among many wealthy families in the south. This led to this result. It's not just people in my hometown who are dissatisfied, but also people from other places!"

"Moreover, Wang Xuekui, the Selectman, told me yesterday that he had secretly met with a wealthy businessman named Xu Shouyu, and mentioned something that hinted at Xu Shouyu to take action against the emperor's uncle. I have written down these words and am preparing to submit them to Your Majesty! I ask Your Majesty to order the officials to investigate, and I am willing to bear the guilt of making a false accusation!"

then.

Zhu Liang said again with tears in his eyes:
"However, I beg Your Majesty not to blame Zhejiang people for the murder of the King's uncle, restrict the imperial examinations in Zhejiang, and force the gentry in Zhejiang to serve as officials and pay taxes. You should know that the despicable rich are not just Zhejiang people!"

Wang Xuekui was shocked and looked at his good friend Zhu Liang who was the same age as him.

He didn't expect that Zhu Liang would be so afraid of the emperor's punishment on Zhejiang that he would sell him out!

(End of this chapter)