Great Qing Xiangguo

Chapter 74

The money market has finally stabilized, and the emperor is still worried, fearing that there will be repetitions.In the past two years, the money market has experienced ups and downs, making the court overwhelmed.At noon that day, the emperor came to the South Study Room, and when he entered the door, he asked Baoquan Bureau if there was anything going on recently.Before Chen Tingjing could open his mouth, Gao Shiqi rushed to speak: "Your Majesty Qizuo, I have received a note from the Ministry of Accounts. The Baoquan Bureau is in a hurry. The warehouse is almost out of copper. The money factory is about to stop the furnace. It was the thirteenth pass." The management of copper is not effective, and Chen Tingjing has ordered that the purchase of private copper materials and bronze wares is not allowed, and Baoquan Bureau cannot continue.”

The emperor then asked Chen Tingjing, "Why did this happen?"

Chen Tingjing said: "The ministers are discussing the bill just now, and I wanted to ask the emperor: [-]. From now on, all coppers will be closed. No matter whether it is a piece of copper, old copper or bronze wares, as long as it is good copper, it will be sent to the warehouse; [-]. Order The places where copper is produced in the world listen to the people's mining, give benefits to the people, and reward officials."

Gao Shiqi said: "Your Majesty, at first Chen Tingjing forbade the purchase of lump copper, only copper wares, but later even copper wares were not allowed. Now he said that lump copper, old copper, and bronze wares can all be bought. It is capricious and the people are at a loss what to do, so where is the majesty of the court?"

Xu Qianxue and others also had their own opinions and played one after another.Several people were arguing, Mingzhu said: "Chen Tingjing must have thought about it himself. But the mining of copper mines has become a bad government because the local government has increased taxes too much, and the people are overwhelmed!"

The emperor thought that Chen Tingjing must have his own ideas if he could straighten out the money law, so he said, "Tingjing, I want to hear from you."

Chen Tingjing said: "Show the emperor, the purchase of copper materials, one time and another time. At first, money was heavy, and it was profitable for profiteers to destroy money, so it was forbidden to buy copper blocks; since profiteers can destroy money to cast copper blocks, they can also destroy money. Old bronze wares are made, so old bronze wares cannot be purchased; the minister once deliberately encouraged the purchase of old bronze wares in order to find out the profiteer Su Ruzhai. Now that the price of money has stabilized, it is not profitable for profiteers to destroy copper. As long as it is good copper, treasure Quanju can buy it!"

The emperor nodded and said: "Ting Jing makes sense!"

Chen Tingjing continued: "But old copper among the people is limited after all. The most important thing is to mine copper mines and increase copper reserves. As Mingzhu said, mining copper mines is just an excuse for the local people to blackmail the people. This is indeed the case. Therefore , Your Majesty, please cancel the tax on copper mining, and let the people mine by themselves!"

Gao Shiqi immediately retorted: "Your Majesty, Chen Tingjing's theory is pedantic! Canceling the copper mining tax will lead to a shortage of tax and silver for the court!"

Chen Tingjing was not in a hurry, and said slowly: "Qizou Emperor, it stands to reason that if the copper mining tax is high, copper should be mined more. But the copper sent to the warehouse from various places has not increased. What is the reason? Because The tax is too heavy, copper mining is not cost-effective, and the people do not mine copper. The government does not care whether your people mine copper or not, and the copper tax is collected, which is actually squeezing the people.”

The emperor clapped his hands and said: "I thought Ting Jing had hit the point. Ting Jing, please continue."

Chen Tingjing said: "What's more, there are [-]% copper in the world, and Yunnan accounts for [-]%. The abolition of copper mining tax will only affect Yunnan's tax revenue, and it will not seriously affect other provinces."

The emperor clapped his hands again and said: "In this case, I will approve what Chen Tingjing said: [-]. Each customs office will handle copper, no matter whether it is a piece of copper, old copper, or bronze ware, only select good copper and send it away; Copper mining tax, local officials supervise the records of meritorious copper mining and rewards. Zhu Mingzhu and Chen Tingjing will come up with the Jiuqing meeting to propose detailed rules."

Mingzhu and Chen Tingjing received the decree, and the emperor said again: "Chen Tingjing is very effective in managing money, and the strategy he played for copper is also in line with my wishes. You are careful in doing things, and you are very clear about your accounts. I will send you a letter from the Ministry of Industry. "

Chen Tingjing knelt down to thank him in fear and fear, and would not hesitate to do anything.The emperor asked Chen Tingjing to get up, and said: "I know you usually like piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, today I will give you a pair of glass chess made in the West!"

Zhang Shande had prepared a plate and stood beside him, and immediately handed it over.Chen Tingjing took the glass chess and knelt down again to thank him.Seeing that the ministers and workers were envious of the glass chess, the emperor said: "I am very satisfied with the efforts of all the ministers and workers. Mingzhu is my chief and assistant minister, so it goes without saying. Chen Tingjing's talent, Xu Qianxue's literary talent, Gao Shiqi's I value your words very much!"

After hearing the emperor's words, all the ministers knelt down and thanked him.

It was getting late when the emperor moved back to the palace, and the ministers and workers dispersed.Xu Qianxue is on duty today and has to sleep here at night.Gao Shiqi lived in the Forbidden City and left later.Gao Shiqi saw that there was no one there, so he said: "Master Xu, you are the first minister, and now Master Chen is about to go ahead of you!"

Xu Qianxue said: "Mr. Gao, what are you talking about? Mr. Chen's character and talent are well-known, and it should be natural to be favored by the emperor. In terms of seniority, I am still Mr. Chen's successor!"

Gao Shiqi said: "Master Xu was a prime minister in his life, he has a big belly! Today the emperor said one by one, I can only write a few words, your Master Xu still has a good article, but Mr. Chen Talent! As the saying goes, a scholar who is useless is a scholar, no matter how good the article is, no matter how good the handwriting is, it is not as good as being able to do things!"

Xu Qianxue said: "Having the emperor's approval, Ganxue is already very grateful, why do I think so much!"

Gao Shiqi said: "I'm thinking about the emperor's thoughts, because Chen Tingjing is already as important as a rock to the emperor when he supervises Qianfa this time! Isn't what the emperor said today just to give us a few places? I just use the supervision of students It's fate to learn erudition, but to be underestimated by those scholars in private. What about you, Mr. Xu? You came from a dignified Jinshi!"

Xu Qianxue said, "Shiqi, let's not talk about this, let's not talk about this!"

Gao Shiqi still smiled and said: "Master Xu, there is no one else here. Shiqi just wanted to talk to you a few words. You think Chen Tingjing is good at both writing and work, why is the promotion of officials slow? ? Master Zhang Ying and you, Master Xu, are both Jinshi behind Chen Tingjing, but Shang Shu is ahead of him!"

Xu Qianxue said: "The emperor employs people, how can we as ministers guess?"

Gao Shiqi smiled and said: "I think you Mr. Xu also saw it, but his tone was tight. Let me tell you, he, Chen Tingjing, is not good enough for friends and loyalty! Back then, because of the scientific examination, Chen Tingjing got into a lawsuit and was almost beheaded Yes, it was all thanks to Ming Xiangguo's secret help that he saved his life. But what do you think of him treating Ming Xiangguo?

In the past few years, Xu Qianxue has skyrocketed, and his reputation is known to both the government and the public.He is willing to help Chen Tingjing in everything, partly because of the friendship between teachers and students, and partly because of his own position which is already superior anyway.Today, hearing the emperor talk about several ministers, but put Chen Tingjing's name first, Xu Qianxue felt quite uncomfortable.It's just that he is not as restless as Gao Shiqi, and he keeps everything in his heart as much as possible.Now that Gao Shiqi talked left and right, he couldn't help it anymore, and said with a smile: "When Mr. Chen becomes the chief minister, let's all listen to him."

Gao Shiqi heard that what Xu Qianxue said was angry, and knowing that the heat was enough, he stopped talking and said goodbye politely and went home.

(End of this chapter)