Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 45 Beijing Branch Opens!
At midnight, all the officials walked out of their homes and headed towards the palace.

Everyone walked unsteadily, as if they were carrying a thousand pounds of weight under their feet.

Since Zhu Youtang ordered all officials in the capital to clean up the battlefield the day before yesterday, many of them have fallen ill.

They couldn't bear to think about that nightmarish experience.

But as soon as they closed their eyes, all those images reappeared in their minds.

Zhu Youtang’s rule was to have a morning meeting every three days, so these two days were just right for them to recuperate.

Now it is the day of the court meeting again. Some officials are frightened at the thought of seeing the emperor again.

At three quarters past the hour of Mao, all civil and military officials had arrived at Hou Chao Shi, waiting for the palace gate to open.

When Zhu Youtang opened his eyes, the sky was already bright and the sun was shining brightly.

With the help of palace maids, Zhu Youtang put on court robes, sat on the dragon chariot, and headed towards Fengtian Gate.

When he arrived at the Fengtian Gate, Zhu Youtang sat on the dragon throne amid the court cheers of "Long live the emperor!"

"If you have a plan, report early. If you don't, leave the court."

"Your Majesty, I have a report to make."

"Accurate."

"..."

The long and tedious court meeting was quietly halfway through, but none of the four cabinet ministers was willing to bring up the issue of currency reform first.

Zhu Youtang looked at the figures standing in the front on his left hand, frowned, and felt dissatisfied.

Xu Pu and Liu Jian were both thick-skinned. They lowered their eyes and stared at the stone bricks on the ground, as if they wanted to see flowers in them.

Xie Qian and Li Dongyang were thin-skinned, and being stared at by Zhu Youtang felt like a thorn in their backs or a fishbone stuck in their throats.

In the end, it was Li Dongyang who couldn't stand the pressure first and took the initiative to stand out of the team, with a heavy face: "Your Majesty, I have something important to report."

Seeing Li Dongyang standing up, the other three elders secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Youtang smiled and said, "Lord Li, your request is approved."

Li Dongyang took a step forward and raised the tablet in his hand high.

"Your Majesty, I think it is inconvenient to use the same currency today."

"When Emperor Taizu was in power, he stipulated that the Ming Baochao was the only currency of the Ming Dynasty. However, because the Ming Baochao depreciated severely, the court repeatedly promoted it, but the effect was mediocre."

"I ask Your Majesty to re-issue the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes!"

As soon as these words came out, the whole place was in an uproar.

All the civil and military officials in the court stared at Li Dongyang with wide eyes, their faces full of confusion.

Zhu Youtang looked at Li Dongyang approvingly: "Lord Li, what you said is absolutely right. I approve it!"

"But according to Mr. Li Aiqing, how can we quickly promote the new Ming Dynasty treasure notes so that the people will actively accept the new notes?"

Li Dongyang swallowed his saliva, his heart beat faster, and he felt as if his body weighed a thousand pounds.

"As the backbone of the Ming Dynasty, officials of the Ming Dynasty should naturally set an example."

"I...I think that Ming officials are only allowed to use new Ming treasure notes and are forbidden to use silver and money..."

brush! ! !
What was originally just a look of confusion instantly turned into anger.

Li Dongyang suddenly felt that the gazes falling on him seemed to have condensed into substantial swords, cutting him to pieces one by one.

"Hahaha! Good!"

"I think Mr. Li's advice makes a lot of sense."

Zhu Youtang smiled and clapped his hands, and immediately ordered: "In this case, let's start with the capital city as a pilot."

"Five days later, I will open a branch of the Ming Bank in Beijing. Officials in Beijing can go to the branch and exchange their silver for banknotes."

"I don't care how much money you change."

"But from the fifth day onwards, any official in the capital or his family who uses silver will be beheaded!" "Dismiss the court!"

After solving the most important issue, Zhu Youtang was too lazy to argue with these officials at the court meeting and immediately announced his withdrawal from the court.

Zhu Youtang was the first to walk back to Fengtian Gate, leaving behind only the civil and military officials who were filled with anger.

These officials, who had spent half a day cleaning up the battlefield outside the city and then went home to recuperate for two days, heard this deadly news as soon as they returned to court.

Suddenly I felt like the sky had really fallen!
Li Dongyang had cold sweat on his forehead and was about to go home in disgrace, but he was stopped by angry civil and military officials.

"Li Dongyang! What do you mean by this? Are you trying to drive all of us to death?"

"Lord Li, you must give us an explanation today! What is your cabinet trying to do?!"

"Lord Li, why are you carrying out currency reform? You also forbid officials from using silver. What a vicious policy! How did you come up with this?!"

"..."

Lord Li was surrounded by a large number of angry officials. If there were not a large number of Jinyiwei around him, I am afraid they would have taken action on the spot.

Seeing that the situation was not right, Xu Pu and Liu Jian quickly ran away.

Xie Qian was worried about Li Dongyang's safety, so he stayed and accompanied Li Dongyang.

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian felt bitter, as they were determined to put Zhu Youtang under the blame!

Both sides persisted and surrounded the Fengtian Gate Square, unwilling to leave for a long time.

Finally, the matter was brought to the attention of Zhu Youtang, who ordered the Jinyiwei to escort Li Dongyang and Xie Qian home, allowing the two of them to escape safely.

In the following five days, the Beijing Branch and the Treasury Department were busy preparing for the opening of the Beijing Branch.

Officials in the capital were also not idle. Memorials like snowflakes flew to the Qianqing Palace, all of which were from officials in the capital requesting Zhu Youtang to stop the currency reform.

Zhu Youtang didn't even look at them and directly asked Huai'en to burn them all, so that out of sight, out of mind.

Amid the wailing of officials in the capital, the Beijing branch was finally listed on time.

That morning, before the hour of Chen, an official, accompanied by his servants, arrived at Qianmen Street in a horse-drawn carriage.

The first few people to arrive were the four elders of the cabinet.

"Xu Shoufu, are you here to exchange banknotes?"

"Master Liu, you are here too."

After Xu Pu and Liu Jian got out of the car and exchanged a few words, they waited in front of the Beijing branch with heavy hearts, not in the mood to talk much.

Soon two more carriages arrived, and Li Dongyang and Xie Qian got off the carriages respectively.

Li Dongyang half covered his face, fearing that he would be recognized by other officials.

As the sky grew brighter, more and more officials came driving their carriages.

Wang Shu, the Minister of Personnel; Jia Jun, the Minister of Works; the Vice Minister of War; the Minister of Justice; the Junior Minister of the Honglu Temple; the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate...

All the ministers from the six ministries and nine ministries who could come came.

Although they were unwilling in their hearts, as Zhu Youtang said, the battlefield outside the city was still vivid in their minds.

No one was willing to openly disobey Zhu Youtang's wishes at this time.

No one would doubt the truthfulness of Zhu Youtang's words, "Officials in the capital and their families who use silver and money will be beheaded!"

After the officials got off the car, they bowed to their colleagues around them and said no more. They looked gloomy and waited for the Beijing branch to open.

Not long after, at three quarters past noon, the eunuchs from the Internal Affairs Bureau opened the door of the Beijing branch.

The first president of the Beijing branch, He Yong, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, walked out with a smile and bowed to all the officials.

"My Lords, sorry for the wait."

"Please come in!"

(End of this chapter)