Jiajing Chengming

After Yang Tinghe said this, he started coughing violently.

Seeing this, Anfu hurriedly brought a cup of hot tea and handed it to Yang Tinghe.

"master!"

After Yang Tinghe took it, he took a sip of the hot tea, and then he felt his dry and itchy throat felt much better.

At the same time, Yang Tinghe also glared at his younger brother Yang Tingyi.

In his opinion, it was Anfu who understood his needs and cared about him, while people like Yang Tingyi, like his son Yang Shen, only made him angry!

Yang Tingyi, after Yang Tinghe asked this, just gritted his teeth and said with a wry smile:

"It is not wrong for the emperor to show his kindness!"

"But no one can be as sensible as my brother."

"All the powerful families are watching helplessly as they cannot control their fellow villagers. They are even more nervous in front of the government, and they wish that this era of rejuvenation would pass quickly!"

Yang Tingyi once again mentioned the true feelings of the powerful families after the current emperor strengthened the imperial power and spread kindness to the people.

"Is it good that the world is in chaos?"

Yang Tinghe asked this question again.

Yang Tingyi said: "Of course not! But they feel that it is impossible to truly revive the country. In fact, the foreigners are richer and more powerful than the country!"

"That's just bullshit. Zhu Zichun from Nanzhi was right."

"China is in such a bad state because there are too many thieves in formal attire!"

When Yang Tinghe got to this point, he started drinking tea again and said to Anfu:
"Tell them to light the lights in the study. I want to personally present a letter of congratulations and an apology to His Majesty!"

By the way, Zhu Houcong also had spies around Yang Tinghe, watching his every move.

However, Zhu Houcong could not receive Yang Tinghe's congratulatory letter or apology letter soon.

Now, Zhu Houcong had only received the secret report from his spies about Yang Tinghe's reaction after seeing him carry out the royal family reform and military household reform.

"Yang Tinghe did not blame me for this, saying that governing the country this way would embarrass him."

After reading the secret report about Yang Tinghe sent from Shu, Zhu Houcong smiled and said to Huang Jin:
Huang Jin smiled and said, "How dare he blame Your Majesty?"

Zhu Houcong nodded: "Yes! He doesn't dare!"

talking.

Zhu Houcong picked up other memorials to read.

Although Zhu Houcong had not yet received Yang Tinghe's letter of congratulation or apology, he did receive quite a few letters of apology from officials after he issued an edict to severely punish the scholars and candidates who cried in the temple and canceled the examination.

These bureaucrats were all relatives of the Jinshi and scholars who were killed.

Naturally, they would apologize for their children's recklessness, and they could not really dare to complain, and even silence was not an option.

After all, the emperor is very powerful now. If they want to keep their careers and family businesses, they have to be very respectful.

Zhu Houcong could choose not to implicate them, but they had to take the initiative to apologize.

Even if they were unhappy, they had to honestly express their views in the memorial that "there is no king or father who is not wrong" and "it is wrong to go against the national policy and disrespect the king or father."

Zhu Houcong started reading these memorials after reading the secret report on Yang Tinghe's situation.

Looking at the respectful attitude expressed in these memorials, Zhu Houcong felt both happy and disdainful.

He was happy that these people were afraid of him after all and did not dare to complain about him.

What he disdained was that these people were cowardly and backward. They would rather swallow their anger than resist. They didn't even have the courage to question him in the memorial. They even took the initiative to find reasons for him, the emperor, to kill their own children and analyzed the reasons why the emperor was already very benevolent.

servility!
That’s right, Zhu Houcong saw the servility.

And he is openly making himself a slave.

Zhu Houcong naturally knew why they took the initiative to make him a slave.

Zhu Houcong was disdainful of them because he knew that they voluntarily made themselves servile in order to maintain the order of hierarchy and the status quo where they themselves were superior to others.

Naturally, Zhu Houcong had to admit that this would make him more and more powerful, cold-blooded, and cruel, and he would not treat others as human beings.

no way.

Because the person who was bullied by you knelt down and said that he was wrong, you are not wrong, so you are the most aggrieved person.

This makes it hard for you not to be arrogant.

Zhu Houcong knew that changing this slave mentality would not be something that could be accomplished in his generation alone.

Not to mention, as an emperor, he was the biggest beneficiary of this kind of thinking. Even if he wanted to change, it would be difficult to change a person who was willing to be a slave and give up being a slave.

Because such people are not forced into slavery because of the great pressure of survival, nor are they slaves because they have read too little, are too pedantic, or are too stupid. Instead, they become slaves voluntarily because they are too smart and have read too much.

Moreover, such people appear to be very servile on the surface, but secretly they are more reactionary than anyone else.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong also knew that he could be arrogant on the surface, but he could not be careless.

All Zhu Houcong needed to do was to make the country stronger and stronger, the people richer and richer, and let his power grow with all this.

In the end, he may become more and more arrogant and overbearing, and his next generation and the next generation will also become more and more arrogant and overbearing, until the people's wisdom is completely awakened, and because a strong monarch can no longer give them more benefits and dignity, they no longer need such a monarch. At that time, those who voluntarily make themselves slaves will no longer pretend to be grandsons.

Zhu Houcong didn't know when this change would come.

But his mission is indeed to make the empire stronger, the people richer, and the educated group wider. Everything else is out of place.

As for what the future holds, only God knows.

When Zhu Houcong was looking at these petitions, he specifically asked Huang Jin, "Are there any relatives of the scholars who were killed who have not submitted a petition for apology?"

"Back to your lord, no."

Huang Jin replied.

Zhu Houcong just smiled after hearing this, thinking to himself, "Is there really no one who dares to express dissatisfaction?"

Zhu Houcong said nothing more about this.

The fact that he was able to act so strongly when the expansion of the imperial examination encountered obstacles was certainly related to his current great power, but in fact, it was also because what he did was actually an open conspiracy and in line with the interests of the majority.

Because those who want to be the best and pass the imperial examination are the majority of scholars, so Zhu Houcong wants to bring benefits to the majority of people.

The minority who oppose it is simply difficult to stop it.

Zhu Houcong not only expanded the number of imperial examinations, but also expanded the number of soldiers and civilian laborers recruited by the government.

Since Zhu Houcong decided to strengthen border defenses, he issued orders to Yan Song, the governor of Ji-Liao, and Cai Tianyou, the governor of Xuan-Da, and others, asking them to organize the military households for training and land reclamation after the Qing army censors and trial censors had checked the military households and military fields. At the same time, he asked them to take the initiative to recruit or capture Tatars to form auxiliary battalions, which would be responsible for repairing the border wall and receiving assimilation training.

Zhu Houcong specifically named these auxiliary military camps composed of Tatars the Green Camp.

In addition, he also asked the Ministry of War to appoint corresponding military officers to serve as generals in these Green Camps, and the Datong governor recommended them to the governor, and the governor recommended them to the Ministry of War.

Tang Shunzhi, in his capacity as the Imperial Censor and Inspector of the Qing Army, recommended some experienced military households and common officers who treated the military households well, did not encroach on the military fields, or cooperated well with the investigation to higher-level military officers in the Green Camp when he was checking the military households and military fields.

Yu Dayou, the deputy general of the Shenji Camp who was stationed in Datong, took his personal guards and took the initiative to go out of the border and captured some Tartars.

To be precise, it is not about arresting, but recruiting.

Because many of these Tartars who were struggling on the brink of hunger and death were willing to join the Green Camp and repair the border wall for the Ming court when they heard that they would be provided with food while working.

However, after checking the military households, capturing many Tartars to form the Green Camp and repairing the border wall, the demand for food in the border towns did begin to increase significantly.

It is said that Zhu Houcong had already issued an edict, asking Yan Song to ensure the food supply to the border towns of Ji and Liao as the Governor-General of Ji and Liao.

After arriving in Beijing, Yan Song first found the Ministry of Revenue and applied to it for grain transfer.

Because the Ministry of Revenue had an obligation to allocate border grain to Yan Song.

After all, ever since the tax payment was changed to silver payment, the Ministry of Revenue began to use the salt tax collected to buy grain for the border towns.

"The Ministry of Revenue can only give you silver dollars, but not grain."

However, after meeting Yan Song, the Minister of Revenue Liang Cai said that he could only give him silver dollars.

Yan Song was a little disappointed after hearing this and said, "Now that the border towns are vigorously building border walls, the grain prices in the border towns are bound to rise. Although taking silver dollars to the border towns to buy grain can save a lot of grain transportation costs, if the grain prices in the border towns continue to rise, the extra money spent on buying grain may not be enough to offset the increased cost of directly transporting grain."

"What can our Ministry of Revenue do?!"

Liang Cai suddenly spoke in a harsh voice and glared at Yan Song.

Yan Song had no choice but to shut up, clench his fists tightly, and purse his lips tightly.

Seeing this, Liang Cai suddenly said to Yan Song: "All the grain that the capital can allocate has been given to the Ministry of War as food and wages for the nine border areas, so I can only give you silver dollars. If the price of grain really rises too high, you can continue to ask the court for more!"

Yan Song only opened his mouth halfway, but in the end he just stood up and bowed in agreement.

As soon as Yan Song left, Liu Ye, a subordinate of Liang Cai, the Minister of Revenue, smiled secretly, walked quickly to Bai Qi, the Inspector of the same department, and said, "Yan Song has taken the silver and left, they can increase the price!"

"okay!"

Bai Qi agreed with a smile and quickly walked out of the Ministry of Revenue.

Yan Song arrived in Changping with 170,000 silver dollars.

According to the Ministry of War, the Governor-General of Ji-Liao was to be stationed in Changping.

This is because Changping Prefecture is the location of the imperial tomb, and is naturally a top priority for protection.

After Yan Song arrived in Changping, he met the Liaodong Governor Pan Zhen, Shuntian Governor Zhou Qiyong, and Baoding Governor Zhang Yanqing who were already waiting for him there.

This is because he, as the Governor-General of Ji and Liao, was a high-ranking official in the imperial court who was in charge of these three governors.

Therefore, the three of them rushed to Changping from their own bases in advance.

When Yan Song saw them, they exchanged greetings and then walked towards the Governor's Office. He asked, "How is the grain price in the lands you are in charge of now?"

Pan Zhenxian, with a worried look on his face, replied: "The price changes every day, and now it has risen to 1.9 cents per stone."

Zhou Qiyong also said: "The capital is better, but the prices in Jizhou and Zunhua are so high that they are already 1.8 yuan per stone. The annual allowances are almost not enough to support the monthly rations of the border troops!"

Zhang Yanqing then asked Yan Song: "Baoding is 1.6 yuan. I saw that the ministers brought silver dollars instead of grain?"

"The Ministry of Revenue said there is no food."

Yan Song replied.

After hearing this, Pan Zhen snorted and said, "I'm afraid they deliberately said there was no food so that merchants could earn more money from the government."

Yan Song did not respond to Pan Zhen's words. He just calculated in his mind and said, "It seems that the increase in grain prices in Ji and Liao compared to the past can no longer offset the grain transportation losses saved by transporting silver dollars to the border towns."

"Just as the minister said, they saw that the imperial court needed more food because they were repairing the border wall, so they took the opportunity to monopolize the food and drive up the price."

Pan Zhen replied at this time.

Yan Song nodded and said, "You can make money, but you can't be too greedy! At this price, the court can't stop spending no matter how much money it has. You can talk to these wealthy merchants and ask them if they can lower the price of grain so that it doesn't exceed the price of 1.7 yuan per stone of grain during the lean years."

"Yes!"

Yan Song knew that the wealthy businessmen who sold grain in the border towns all had powerful backgrounds, so as long as these people didn't eat too badly, he didn't want to offend them.

However, within ten days, the three governors came to Yan Song one after another and told him that the wealthy businessmen were unable to lower their prices because they were also having difficulty supplying grain.

After hearing this, Yan Song sighed, "You are deliberately trying to make fun of me! With such a high price, the 200,000 silver dollars I brought won't be able to buy enough grain. Then I will have to ask the court for more silver. Then the Ministry of Revenue will definitely blame me for wasting silver and not being able to raise grain!"

Pan Zhen took the initiative to say, "This is also because the minister was specially appointed by Your Majesty as the governor. Without the recommendation of the court, the wealthy and powerful families would naturally be unwilling to cooperate with you."

Yan Song nodded without saying anything. The next day, he went to the market in Changping Prefecture in disguise, took a stroll, and then asked the people who bought salt: "Where is the salt you eat?"

The Ming Dynasty implemented a salt and iron monopoly system, and each salt-producing area had a sales area designated by the court.

Therefore, if some local salt merchants do not sell salt in their designated sales areas, they are breaking the law.

"I heard it's Huai salt!"

The man who bought the salt replied.

Yan Song did not say much after hearing this. He only summoned Zhou Yong, the governor of Shuntian, and asked him, "What kind of salt is sold in Jizhou and Changping?"

"It's river salt, of course."

Zhou Qiyong replied with a smile.

Yan Song suddenly shouted: "Nonsense! Go get the salt permits that the merchants got from the Ministry of Revenue!" (End of this chapter)