After Chen Yi finished speaking, the eyes of the kings present looked at him, and they became a little strange inexplicably, and there was even a faint smile on the corners of their mouths.
This unusual reaction set alarm bells ringing in Chen Yi's heart. He immediately realized that he must have said the wrong thing just now. However, no matter how much he thought about it, he could not figure out what the meaning of what he just said was. what is the problem.
Until King Zhou on the side spoke.
"Your Majesty, I have already said that the Ministry of Household Affairs has used a lot of silver in the past two years. In fact, it has been too hasty to organize the army. Now the land has been returned to the imperial court, but the silver for redemption has been delayed. Such actions , in fact, it damages the dignity of the imperial court."
"We, the clan vassals, did not talk about the power of the king, but said that it was other gentry and wealthy households. After seeing such a scene, I am afraid that they will no longer dare to believe in the government's decrees."
"The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Husbandry have ordered the military and military settlements, but now they fail to deal with them properly. This is a dereliction of duty. Your Majesty must be punished and must not be lenient!"
What's happening here?
Chen Yi was confused for a while. He originally thought that King Zhou and others were here to support King Dai, but who would have thought that when King Zhou opened his mouth this time, he did not mention the transfer of King Dai to the feudal vassal at all. Instead, he started talking about the redemption of military camps. silver. What is this going to do?
However, no matter what he wants to do, after all, he cannot afford to take the blame. Otherwise, wouldn't he become a traitor who deceives the emperor?
A trace of resentment silently arose in his heart, and Shen Shangshu couldn't help but secretly curse. This matter was obviously led by the Ministry of War, so why in the end, he was still to blame.
Thinking like this, Shen Yi didn't dare to be negligent and said.
"Your Majesty has made it clear that the rectification of the military and military affairs was decided by the court and was not arbitrary by the ministers and the Ministry of War. The land recovered by the court came from complex sources, including privately reclaimed land, some occupied military land, some private people occupied government land, and some were in the name of country gentry. However, they were actually deceitful, some were confiscated by the court after verification, and some were reported voluntarily..."
"There are so many types of things that cannot be clarified in a short time. Therefore, I do not agree with what Prince Zhou just said."
"For such a huge and complicated policy, the Ministry of Household Affairs should sort it out slowly before making arrangements. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, I will never be able to afford it."
Isn't it just a cliche? It's not just coming out of your mouth.
As he said this, Chen Yi was thinking in his heart. The rectification of military camps was a major matter of the imperial court and had nothing to do with the clan affairs. Why did the King of Zhou get the idea to interfere in the affairs of the imperial court this week?
Isn't he afraid that this move will arouse His Majesty's suspicion?
However, the next moment, King Zhou's words made him even more confused. The old prince glanced at him and said.
"Your Majesty, if this is the case, then it is really difficult for me to do this favor to Your Majesty."
? ? ?
Shen Shangshu felt more and more that he was being plotted.
What on earth are these masters talking about!
Can anyone tell him what happened?
I don't know if he saw Shen Yi's collapse. At this time, the emperor finally opened his mouth to explain with a bit of helplessness.
"Shang Shu Shen didn't know that the time for the Ministry of War to organize the army was too short. There are still many things that have not been completed. The uncle of the King of Zhou is highly respected and happened to come to the capital to visit the disciples of the sect. Therefore, I I want to ask my uncle, King Zhou, for help to convince the remaining vassal princes and clans to cooperate with the imperial government and take the initiative to submit land and land..."
"Since it is a major matter of the imperial court, my uncles did not shirk it. They just said that the imperial court must pay the redemption and purchase silver coins in full according to the previous agreement. The rest of the matter will be handled by my uncles, but..."
But something happened to him, Shen Yi!
After listening to the emperor's words, Chen Yi finally understood the current situation.
This clan is really cunning.
Everyone felt that the purpose of going to the Ministry of Revenue to cause trouble on behalf of the king was to force the Ministry of Revenue to submit and stop obstructing the transfer of seals under the pretext of demanding debts.
But who would have thought that the other party's false shot was precisely aimed at the military camp.
You know, according to past experience, it will take at least three to five years from formulation to implementation for a major policy such as the rectification of military settlements.
However, for various reasons, this process has been greatly compressed and the time has been shortened, which must have adverse consequences.
Not to mention other things, just talking about the reorganization of the military settlement itself left many problems. The Ministry of Household's failure to keep up with the money is one of the problems. In addition, there are many other problems, the most serious of which Yes, as the emperor just said, in some places it is difficult to make progress because time is too tight and implementation is too difficult.
The more typical ones are the Qin Fan, the Jin Fan, the Zhou Fan, and the Lu Fan. Either because the power of the vassal vassal is too strong, or because Yu Qian was recalled too hastily, in short, so far, these vassals have The local process has been slow and difficult to advance.
Although I don’t know what method the emperor used to make King Zhou and others relax, it is obvious that judging from the current situation, King Zhou and others are not willing to cooperate, but they cannot refuse directly, so they have The farce in front of the household department.
Their purpose is very simple, which is to use the Ministry of Household Affairs to block the emperor. The redemption policy was originally established by the imperial court in order to reduce the resistance to reorganizing the military settlements.
At this time, the Hubu said that he had no money, which was tantamount to slapping himself in the face. With his words, the kings naturally had reasons not to cooperate.
After all, your dignified Minister of Household Affairs cannot implement the imperial decree, so how can you expect them to cooperate?
At this thought, Chen Yi secretly thought something bad. The rectification of the army has always been a major policy that the emperor valued very much. If this was really because of him, then his life would probably not be easy in the future.
But now that the matter has come to this, what should we do? You can't shame yourself and say that the Ministry of Finance has money. Even if he dares to say it, he can't get it out!
For a moment, Chen Yi couldn't help but feel anxious. After thinking for a moment, he spoke.
"Your Majesty, it is true that the national treasury cannot provide so much silver at the moment. However, there are already regulations on this matter. With the gradual advancement, the silver will naturally be paid slowly. I think that all the kings are clan members of the imperial court, so it is natural for them to do so. Those who can understand the difficulties of the imperial court will not resist the imperial government's policies."
After saying this, the eyes of the kings present fell on Shen Yi, with different expressions, but no one spoke.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the palace couldn't help but feel a little awkward.
After a while, King Min on the side spoke.
"Then I don't know how long the gradual advancement mentioned by Shen Shangshu means? Is it one or two years, or three or five years?"
this……
Chen Yi couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, why did this come back again.
How could he decide the time? There was really no other way. Shen Shangshu had no choice but to look at the emperor above him and said.
"Back to my lord, this matter involves complicated matters, and I dare not speak hastily. I'm afraid that the specific time will require His Majesty's Holy Judgment."
From the perspective of being an official, what he said now is undoubtedly a very stupid approach.
But now that the matter has come to this, he really has no other options. He only hopes that His Majesty can be as helpful as ever.
You know, when faced with this kind of dilemma, His Majesty is always able to come up with a solution that has the best of both worlds. I hope it will be the same this time...
Facts have proved that the emperor did not disappoint. Looking at Shen Yi's helpless look, the emperor sighed softly and said.
"This matter is indeed complicated. The main reason is that in the past two years, Qintian has monitored that there will be disasters in various places. The money in the national treasury must not be touched lightly. I have not considered this matter carefully. However, the matter of rectifying the military camp is now coming to an end. It would be a shame to stop here.”
"In my opinion, the silver for the redemption can be offset by the taxes on the land in the next few years. As for the imperial village mentioned before, the imperial court set aside 30% of the taxes to offset the silver for the redemption. What do you think?"
Huangzhuang?
What the hell is this?
Shen Shangshu had a question mark on his face, and felt that his heart was full of doubts.
He did know that the emperor had many farms in the suburbs of Beijing, called Huangzhuang, but what did this have to do with the organization of military villages?
However, he was confused, but the vassal king was not surprised. King Zhou pondered for a moment and said.
"But, Your Majesty, in this case, it will take several years or even ten years to pay off the redemption money. I am afraid it will be quite difficult for one person to convince other clan lords."
This is clearly a bargain.
So, the emperor followed the conversation and asked.
"What about my uncle's wishes?"
"Returning to Your Majesty, I believe that before acting as king, I was very upright and the first among the vassal kings to cooperate with the court, clear the land and return the private land, which is actually a contribution to the court."
"Now if the imperial court wants the vassal kings to cooperate, it should treat the meritorious officials well. Otherwise, the vassal kings will be chilled when they see the meritorious ministers acting like this!"
King Zhou said this to the emperor, but his eyes fell on Shen Yi intentionally or unintentionally.
Okay, now Shen Yi finally understands that the vassal kings want to have both ends.
No wonder Dai Wang, who had always kept a distance from other feudal kings, suddenly came together with these feudal kings this time.
But it turns out that they each get what they need!
The vassal king benefited, and the Dai Wang used his strength to complete the transfer of the title, getting the best of both worlds.
Quickly going over everything today in his mind, Shen Yi finally had a rough guess about the current situation.
Now that the matter has come to this, it is certain that they have been plotted, but the people behind this are probably not just these vassal kings...
After pondering for a moment, Shen Yi raised his head and spoke.
"May I ask, Your Majesty, what happened to the Imperial Manor that I just mentioned? I don't seem to have heard anything about it?"
Up to now, Chen Yi had understood the whole situation, but he was still confused about the so-called Huangzhuang.
Therefore, Chen Yi had a hunch that the crux of everything was probably this. As long as this matter was clarified, everything would be clear.
At this point, there was no need to hide anything. Therefore, Zhu Qiyu thought about it, took out a memorial from the side, ordered Huaien to hand it over, and said.
"I was negligent in this matter."
"The Imperial Village System is about how to arrange the military villages and official fields that were taken back by the imperial court. I accidentally talked about it with several of my uncles. Later, after the uncle of King Min perfected the matter, he and several uncles jointly wrote a memorial Please, it was just submitted two days ago and I haven't approved it yet, so Shen Shangshu naturally doesn't know that this matter involves the Ministry of Revenue, you can take a look."
There is indeed something fishy!
Although the emperor said it casually, after having been with the emperor for so long, Shen Yi knew a little bit about the emperor's character.
His guess was indeed correct. The emperor was behind this matter. Even if it wasn't his own idea, at least he acquiesced to it.
No wonder he was still wondering why this generation of princes, who had always been cowardly in character, dared to take people to block the door of the household department. Isn't he afraid of being impeached by officials from all over the court?
But it turns out that there is such a great god behind him!
Thoughts swirling in his mind, Chen Yi's eyes fell on the memorial in front of him.
The memorial was written in the name of the Zongren Mansion and was written by King Min himself. It was followed by appendices by King Zhou and others.
However, according to Shen Shangshu's experience, it is very likely that Prince Min will ghostwrite. Nine times out of ten, it is the emperor's intention.
After going around in such a big circle, I'm afraid this is not a good thing.
With such a mood, Chen Yi opened the memorial and read it carefully. However, the more he looked down, the more sad he became.
Sure enough, as long as the emperor looks for him, nothing good will happen!
Doesn't this so-called imperial village actually return the income from these fields to the vassal king?
From Chen Yi's perspective, he could naturally see the reason why the emperor wanted to do this.
The first thing to bear the brunt is the issue of redeeming silver. It is true that the court cannot afford such a large expense.
To solve this problem, we can only save a little bit on food and clothing in the next few years, but there is no other way.
But the problem comes back again. There are many places where the court needs to use money, and no one can tell when it will be repaid.
If it is delayed for too long, it will easily cause many new problems. This is how many long-term malpractices in the court arise.
Huangzhuang's method was obviously formulated to solve the problem of silver redemption.
To put it bluntly, this method is that the court first buys back the fields, but does not pay for them, and then asks the vassal king to buy oxen, improved seeds, iron plows and other items. On the premise of giving priority to ensuring the court's taxes, the annual income will be It was returned to the feudal king in the form of land rent.
This move can be regarded as an example of a white wolf with empty hands, but for the vassal king, the benefits are also obvious, that is, all management matters of the farm will be taken care of by the court. In addition to paying upfront, they will only pay in the future. Just sit back and wait to receive the money.
Moreover, there is no need to worry that the court will make a fuss about this matter again, which is equivalent to transferring these untitled acres that may be confiscated at any time to the bright side.
It is also beneficial for the court, that is, it can greatly alleviate the financial pressure. At the same time, because the land submitted by these vassal kings is directly reorganized into the imperial village, it will not bring new financial pressure to the local area.
At the same time, it can also alleviate the problem of refugees, which can be said to serve multiple purposes.
but……
Just be afraid of everything!
With Chen Yi's eyes, he could see the biggest problem at a glance. He could imagine that if this memorial reached the court, it would definitely cause an uproar.
No wonder the emperor went around in such a big circle and tricked him. With a wry smile, Chen Yi said.
"Your Majesty, you really have posed a big problem for me!"
