The four major Shaanxi salt managers in Yangzhou were sent to "death row"! It's not that you will definitely die, but there is a "Death Row" sign hanging on the door of the cell, which is scary!
There are still a lot of big henchmen under the Four Mountains and Shaanxi Salt General, and they all have something to say, so now they are escorted to Zhu Cihong again to listen to what the prince has to say.
"You guys are all the stewards, accountants, and shopkeepers of the four Shanshan Salt General Managers... Anyone who can get such a position must be capable! With three hundred and sixty lines, you will be the number one scholar. Ah! In the trade and trade, you are the Jinshi, the number one scholar! The people employed by this palace are not just scholar-bureaucrats. Anyone can be appointed as long as they are beneficial to the country. Taigong said: Great farmers, great workers, and great merchants are called the three treasures. Although you have committed a crime Sins are still treasures, so I will give you a chance to make meritorious deeds! Do you want to make meritorious deeds and make meritorious deeds?"
"Yes, we want those who deserve to be punished and meritorious service..."
"We are willing to serve His Highness the Crown Prince!"
"Please give us the opportunity to make meritorious service..."
To redeem one's sins and make meritorious service, who is not willing to make meritorious service to atone for his sins, even if he is guilty of a serious crime?
Zhu Cixiang looked at these treasures with a smile, and finally his eyes fell on Yun Shangqian, who was the first to stand up.
This is a businessman in his thirties. He looks honest and loyal, but it's hard to tell that he is a profiteer.
"Yun San!" Zhu Cixiang looked at Yun Shangqian, "Tell me, how do you plan to atone for your sins?"
Yun Shangqian had pondered this question for a long time, and immediately answered: "Reporting to the Crown Prince, Cao Min is the accountant of Mr. Qiao's salt. How much cash does the Qiao family have, how much money is left outside, how much land, and how many shops do the Qiao family have?" ...The grassroots people know everything! The grassroots people can help the prince to steal the Qiao family's property!"
"Oh, really?" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Approximately how many can there be?"
"There are 1.8 million taels of silver and 70,000 taels of gold. There are three gardens, including one in Yangzhou, one in Huai'an, and one in Zhenjiang. There are 108 shops, all in big cities in the southeast. The farms are more complicated. , except for the farm in my hometown in Shanxi, the rest of the farms are in Nanzhili, with a total area of more than 210,000 acres, but most of them are under the name of Wei Guofu, and there are also many usurious loans outside, no less than two million taels. .....”
"You really have a lot of money!" Zhu Cixiang smiled and nodded, then looked at the other henchmen present, "What about you? Do you have any accounts to report?"
"Yes, yes..."
"We also have..."
Zhu Cixiang nodded, "Don't report it. I can't remember it, so write it all down...write it carefully!"
In fact, Zhu Cixiang did not intend to raid the homes of four general salt managers. Confiscating a house is very troublesome and can easily disrupt normal economic activities. After all, salt merchants are businessmen, and their business activities are indispensable for debt-related matters, such as receivables, payables, loans, deposits, etc., and perhaps bill of exchange (remittance) business. If these bad debts are not clarified and the four salt bosses inspect them, a lot of small businesses will collapse along with them?
His idea was to reach a "plea agreement" with the four salt bosses and let them hand over part of their property in exchange for immunity.
But he had to have an idea of how much punishment to give. It would be best to punish them until they could survive, and then take them as his own, and let them dig into the corners of Li Zicheng and the Qing Dynasty - they had a lot of power in the north. Thanks to his connections, he happened to sell Huai salt and grabbed the business of Chi salt and Changlu salt.
Of course, Huaiyang Yan can't let them do it anymore, they don't have the strength anymore. Zhu Cixiang's decision to spare them a breath does not mean that he wants them to maintain their current scale.
Significant downsizing and layoffs are necessary, and those people they laid off, Zhu Cixiang just hired... Huang Jiang and Su Sheng, the two imperial merchants, will definitely need to expand, and the Generalissimo's Office and the Ministry of Household Affairs will also need to People to manage the accounts.
If possible, Zhu Cixiang also plans to cultivate a new imperial merchant from among them.
...
Yangzhou, Tianning Temple, where the Ming Emperor stayed.
After moving from Shandong to the prosperous and prosperous city of Yangzhou, Emperor Chongzhen began to become "diligent". He could often attend the afternoon court, sit high on the throne, and watch his son give orders.
This is because after Zhu Cihong broke down the passive resistance of the officials in the capital headed by Shi Kefa, his power became more and more stable, so he often invited Emperor Chongzhen to attend the noon court to show his filial piety...
The so-called noon morning is used to replace the morning. Zhu Cixiang likes to sleep in and can't get up early in the morning, so he changed the morning to noon. It is held from Si hour to noon. The twice-monthly pilgrimage starts at exactly six o'clock at noon and ends at four quarters of noon. The rest of the time is a regular morning, which usually starts at noon and ends at eight-quarter noon at the latest, which is a full hour.
There were only a few officials who participated in the Chang Dynasty, including the elders of the cabinet, the minister, the minister, the censor of the capital, the guardsmen of the general marshal's palace, the chief minister of rites and the imperial horse supervisor, and Zhan Shi of Zhanshifu. All internal and external officials who participated in the noon court were given seats. After the noon court, Zhu Cihong would stay with everyone to have a meal together.
In addition, whether in the Great Dynasty or Chang Dynasty, Zhu Cixiang would not yell or scold, he would always smile and speak in a gentle tone, giving people a feeling of spring breeze.
Moreover, he will not use the imperial staff on the court officials, nor will he take the ministers to Jinyiwei's prison - Jinyiwei no longer has the power to discipline the courtiers!
In short, under the leadership of Zhu Cixiang, this court did not look like the Ming Dynasty, but a bit like the Song Dynasty court.
However, the officials who served in the imperial court all knew the fact that this "Smiling Prince" was actually a ruthless man who imprisoned his father, chased his younger brothers and killed his master, and was a "sacred heart dictatorship" Prince Fujun!
The reason why Zhu Cixiang was able to be a dictator was that, besides being a bit cruel and playing tricks, making people think he was the reincarnation of Emperor Taizu Gao, he was also very good at employing people.
He does not use upright gentlemen, but only slaves and villains.
Fang Gongyue, Qiu Yu, and Fan Jingwen, who were originally the more courageous members of the cabinet, have resigned from their posts as bachelors - they all stepped down in glory, and they are all loyal and meritorious officials!
Among them, Fang Gongyue paid homage to Governor Su Song, and was granted the title of Crown Prince Shaoshi (due to the reform of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the governor no longer had the title of censor, but the title of Sangu instead), and was granted the title of Duke of Kenan Valley.
Qiu Yu paid homage to the governor of Zhenjiang, became the prince's young master, and was granted the title of Duke of Nanyi City.
Fan Jingwen paid homage to the governor of Zhejiang, added the crown prince Shaobao, and granted the title of "Kenan Wu Qiaobo".
Wei Zaode, who was very soft-boned and good at maneuvering according to the wind, remained as the chief assistant and continued to serve as the bachelor of Zhongji Palace and the minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Hou Xun, whose edges had been smoothed away by his time in prison, was promoted to be a bachelor of Jianji Palace and Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, a lecturer in the East Palace, and a prince's young master, becoming the second assistant in the imperial court.
"The Water Is Too Cold" Qian Qianyi, who had meritorious service for betraying Shi Kefa, is now a bachelor of the Wenhua Palace, a minister of the Ministry of Etiquette, a lecturer of the East Palace, and the crown prince's Shaobao. Not only was he the elder and minister, but he was also Zhu Cixi's teacher.
Chen Rui, Zhu Cihong's teacher, has now also joined the cabinet, serving as a scholar of Wuying Palace, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and a lecturer in the East Palace.
Another teacher of Zhu Cixiang, Lin Zengzhi, also joined the cabinet and served as a bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, a lecturer in the East Palace, a young prince and a young master, and Feng Kenan and Ruianbo.
Song Quan, the original governor of Shuntian, was appointed Minister of the Ministry of Punishment and granted the title of Kenan Yucheng Bo, while the post of Dongge Bachelor was temporarily vacant. In addition, Li Shichun, another lecturer who followed Zhu Cixiang to the south, served as Zhan Shifu of Zhan Shifu and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. He was also a lecturer in the East Palace and was granted the title of Kenan Meizhou Bo.
Now the five cabinet ministers are all relatively weak and obedient civil servants. Even Hou Xun and Qian Qianyi, the two Donglin bigwigs, were weaklings in the Donglin Party. They might have had some ambition when they were young, but now they have been depleted due to wasted officialdom.
In addition, the Metropolitan Procuratorate was also reorganized. Li Banghua, who fled with Zhu Cixiang, became the governor of Jiangxi, joined the prince's young division, and was granted the title of Ke Nanji Shuibo.
He was replaced by the sickly Feng Yuanyang, and the post of censor of Youdu was temporarily vacant.
Of course, none of the four newly appointed governors by Zhu Cihong have yet to take office. Susong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian are not easy to win.
However, these four governors cannot attend the court meeting now. Therefore, the current high-level officials are almost all officials who are unable or unable to speak against Zhu Cixiang. Therefore, Zhu Cixiang can implement his own policies very easily!
Even if this policy will greatly shrink the pockets of many people...
