Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 232
Zhu Youjian gave Dong Bingquan a cold look, and then scanned all the ministers in the hall.

Naturally, he would not personally defend Li Jing, he is the emperor, if he goes to the battle to defend himself with a spokesperson, if he fails to argue, his majesty will be demolished, and there is no room for turning around the matter.

As a high-ranking person, unless it is absolutely necessary, he will never go into battle with others in person.

It's a pity that Zhu Youjian waited for a long time, but no one defended Li Jing. On the contrary, more and more people impeached Li Jing.

Zhu Youjian sighed helplessly, and was about to order Li Jing to be imprisoned for questioning.

At this moment, Luo Yangxing suddenly said: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, all the Jingji companies in the capital are Li Jing's property. Your Majesty will take Li Jing, and these properties will just go into the national treasury."

Luo Yangxing's words were like a hornet's nest, and there was a sound of exclamation in the hall.

After a while, all the ministers remembered that this was a court meeting, how could it be proper to make a noise and lose your composure in front of the emperor?

Looking up at Zhu Youjian on the dragon chair, he saw Zhu Youjian's face was livid, and he was looking at the ministers coldly.

At this time, one of the courtiers stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I believe that although Li Jing crossed the border to provide disaster relief, he violated the laws and regulations, but Li Jing was originally a businessman, so I am afraid he did not know that the Ming Dynasty stipulated that generals are not allowed to leave the country without a military order. What's more Li Jing used his own money to help the court this time. If all the officials in the world were like Li Jing, how could the victims rebel? Therefore, I believe that Li Jing can set an example for all the officials. meritorious service."

As soon as the man finished speaking, Huang Ruliang, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, stepped forward and said, "Master Qin's words are reasonable, and Li Jing should indeed be commended. Your Majesty may not know that over the years, Jingcheng Jingji Company has paid more than [-] taels of taxes every year. In my Ming Dynasty, there has never been a firm that can pay so much tax."

After a pause, Huang Ruliang continued: "Your Majesty, according to Yuan Shu, the head of the Shanxi Department under the minister, the amount of spring Fu paid by Pingyang Prefecture in Shanxi this year has increased several times compared to previous years, and most of them are paid by the Jingji firm that Li Jing belongs to. .”

"Oh?" Zhu Youjian heard it strangely: "Since the Taizu, the business tax has been set extremely low. Why does Jingji Company pay so much tax?"

Huang Ruliang said: "Your Majesty, I was very surprised when I first saw the taxes paid by Jingji Company. Later, I sent someone to inquire. I found out that the owner of Jingji Company said that taxes are the lifeblood of the imperial court. How can I be greedy for profit?" And forgetting the country’s foundation, the so-called taking from the people and using it for the people, Jingji Company has made a lot of money in these years, so it should pay more taxes to the country.”

Zhu Youjian heard and sighed: "This Li Jing is a person who knows the general situation!"

Huang Ruliang continued: "Your Majesty's words are true. Li Jing's actions can be said to be dedicated to the country. I think that after Li Jing learned of the flood in Henan, he didn't have time to think about it, so he allocated food to Henan for disaster relief. He didn't even know about it. You have broken the law."

As soon as Huang Ruliang's words fell, Dong Bingquan said: "Master Huang also said that Li Jing violated the law, so he should be brought to justice, not to mention paying taxes in business is a matter of course, why pay more taxes just to say that he is wholeheartedly for the country? What's more, Jingji Company pays so much tax in a year, the family property must be rich, and the current treasury is empty, just use it to fill the treasury."

Huang Ruliang glanced at Dong Bingquan coldly, and said with a sneer: "According to you, as long as people in this world pay a lot of taxes, they have rich wealth and should be charged to the national treasury. Is there any rule in the court for doing this? Who dares to pay taxes?"

"Master Huang's words are true. According to what Dong Yushi said, why don't the merchants close their doors immediately? At that time, who will do the material circulation? Dong Yushi, are you going to do it?" That Lord Qin just now Said.

Speaking officials are known for being eloquent and eloquent, but when it comes to professional issues, that is not their strong point, and they are speechless when asked by Huang and Qin.

But the officials have always been in the same group. Dong Bingquan was devastated, and someone came up to help him.

And this time the weight of the helper is very heavy, it is Chen Yuting, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Presumably Chen Yuting saw that Dong Bingquan was not Huang Qin's opponent, so he personally came up to help.

Shaking his head, Chen Yuting said: "Master Huang's words are wrong. Li Jing violated the law. It is a matter of course to search his family property. How can he implicate other businesses? Could it be that because he pays a lot of taxes, he can set the king's law Don't care?"

As soon as Chen Yuting finished speaking, someone immediately refuted it.

For a while, the court was divided into two camps, one was the thirteen inspectors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the other was the six important ministers.

And the topic got farther and farther away, what Confucius and Lao Tzu were all brought out, and the palace was full of words like Zihu Zheye.

The group of people in front of him couldn't stop arguing, and Zhu Youjian was dizzy when he heard it. Seeing that the topic was about to involve the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, Zhu Youjian said angrily, "Enough, now I don't want you to talk about the past and the present, but to let you think about it." Find a way to help the victims, even if you invite all those sages out now, you still have to find a way to feed the common people!"

Huang Ruliang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, Li Jing, Zhou Wang Qiansui and local officials in Henan are helping the victims. According to reports from Henan, the hearts of the people in Henan are stable now. Your Majesty does not need to worry. But what Dong Yushi means is that Li Jing violated the law. , to take it down, if this is the case, then please ask Dong Yushi to go to Henan for disaster relief."

"You..." Dong Bingquan was run over by Huang Ruliang, and was immediately speechless.

Huang Ruliang is the Minister of the Household Department, even if Li Jing's property is confiscated, it will be under the jurisdiction of the Household Department. If he receives a disaster relief mission, Huang Ruliang might not give him a penny.

At that time, if something happens in Henan, he won't be able to afford to walk around.

Seeing that Dong Bingquan was speechless, Zhu Youjian's face turned pale, but he always felt that something was wrong with today's affairs.

Shaking his head, Zhu Youjian looked at the ministers in the cabinet, but in fact he only looked at two people.

These two people are the chief assistant of the cabinet Zhou Yanru and the second assistant Wen Tiren.

From the beginning of the meeting to the present, Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren have not said a word.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian is not surprised. These two never speak until others have finished speaking, or wait until he asks.

What is the identity of the chief minister and the second minister of the cabinet, so naturally they will not go into battle with others in person.

Moreover, the officials below are all under their command, so what they want to say will naturally be spoken for them, so there is no need for them to speak up themselves.

Sometimes Zhu Youjian was envious of the people in the cabinet. As the emperor, he couldn't find anyone who could speak for him.

Fortunately, Zhou and Wen didn't deal with each other, otherwise, in this court, it's not sure who has the final say.

But what happened today is a bit strange, it seems that Zhou Yanru's people and Wen Tiren's people teamed up to fight with the people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which made Zhu Youjian a little confused.

In the past, Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren were fighting each other. Why does it seem to have changed today?
Zhu Youjian thought for a while, and finally remembered what he had missed.

The origin of today's incident lies in Luo Yangxing, the commander of Jin Yiwei.

It is said that Luo Yangxing is the commander of Jin Yiwei, how could the following secret report be brought to the court?
Isn't this telling others that Jin Yiwei is watching the place?Although everyone is aware of this.

Luo Yangxing didn't report the report early or late, but he waited until the local officials in Henan made the report. Is it as simple as exposing the local officials in Henan to lie about their achievements?

After the report, people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate impeached Li Jing. At that time, no one spoke for Li Jing. absolve.

What does this mean?
This shows that these officials have taken advantage of the Jingji Company, and before that they did not know that Li Jing was the owner of the Jingji Company, so they did not speak for Li Jing at first, when they knew that Li Jing was the owner of the Jingji Company The boss behind the scenes only started to excuse Li Jing later.

Why did they excuse Li Jing?It was because they were afraid that after Li Jing was taken down, the Jingji firm would be searched and their source of income would be cut off.

But why did Luo Yangxing tell the contents of the secret report in public?

Zhu Youjian pondered for a while, then sneered secretly in his heart.

Naturally, this Luo Yangxing also took advantage of the Jingji firm, maybe even took the advantage directly from Li Jing.

Therefore, Luo Yangxing did not want officials in Henan to take credit for Li Jing, or wanted to claim credit for Li Jing, but when he saw Dong Bingquan impeaching Li Jing, no one spoke up for Li Jing, so he hurriedly revealed the owner of the Jingji firm It's Li Jing.

So those who took advantage of Li Jing excused Li Jing one after another.

Good method, good strategy!

This Li Jing has made friends with so many ministers, what exactly does he want to do?
After thinking about it, Zhu Youjian said to Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren: "How do Zhou Xueshi and Wen Xueshi think this Li Jing should be dealt with?"

Zhou Yanru took a step forward and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that Li Jing has made some contributions and demerits in this disaster relief. Everyone knows the credit. Naturally, it was Li Jing who provided food relief, and the fault was leaving the country without authorization."

Seeing Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, Zhou Yanru continued: "My minister thinks that Li Jing's credit is great, but his fault is not small, but considering that he is a businessman, he may not know the rules of the court, so the merits and demerits can be ignored. On balance, I wonder what His Majesty thinks?"

Zhu Youjian nodded and turned his gaze to Wen Tiren.

Seeing Zhu Youjian looking at him, Wen Tiren hurried forward and said, "Your Majesty, I agree with Chief Assistant Zhou Lord's opinion. Li Jing has merits and demerits, and merits and demerits can be offset. And since Li Jing is willing to help the disaster, why don't the emperor give it to Li Jing?" The next decree is to let him help the victims in Henan, and order Li Jing not to resettle the victims, otherwise, the two crimes will be punished together, and the crime will be increased."

Zhu Youjian heard that Wen Tiren said the same thing, and knew that nothing could happen to Li Jing today.

Although Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren disagreed, they remained in agreement on the issue of Li Jing. Naturally, they didn't want to cut off the money of these people under them.

If these people's money is cut off, who will serve as pawns for them in the future?
Zhu Youjian sighed, and said to himself: "Everyone is for their own interests, how can anyone take Daming's interests at heart? How can Daming be rejuvenated with such officials?"

(End of this chapter)