Yangzhou, Tianning Temple Palace.
It’s midday time again when fathers are kind and sons are filial.
Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty seems to be in a good mood today because he is going to be a father again! Wei Qinghui, who is already in her early thirties, has just been diagnosed with a happy pulse.
If he could give birth to a son, Zhu Cixiang's "only son" status would be gone...
On the same day, he also received news from Datong. The acting king Zhu Cijiong is still well in the palace in Datong City. He is protected by three loyal ministers Wang Yongji, Gao Di and Jiang Quan, as well as tens of thousands of Datong elite soldiers! If Zhu Cixiang dares to commit treason, he should wait until he raises an army on behalf of the king to appease Jingnan!
In addition, there is no news from Nanjing - no news is good news!
Now the emperor and the prince are stationed in Yangzhou. Zhao Zhilong, who is in charge of Nanjing's garrison and is also in charge of the Nanjing Dudu's Office, Nanjing garrison Xu Hongji, Nanjing garrison eunuch Han Zanzhou, and former imperial horse supervisor Pang Tianshou, who was ordered to go to Nanjing to handle affairs, have not arrived. Come to Yangzhou to welcome you...
What does this mean? This shows that there are still loyal ministers in Ming Dynasty!
In addition to the eunuchs and ministers guarding Nanjing who did not bow to the traitor, Chongzhen also knew that Zuo Liangyu and He Tengjiao of Huguang, Huang Degong and Ma Shiying of Fengyang also did not surrender to the prince.
Liu Zeqing, who was stationed in Shandong, and Liu Liangzuo, who was stationed in Runing, Henan, only dealt with Zhu Cihong on the surface.
Now the ministers who have truly taken refuge in Zhu Cixiang, the rebellious son, in addition to these treacherous ministers in Xingxing, are Su Guansheng and Li Ruolian in Denglai, Lu Fan and Li Shiyuan in Qingzhou, Gao Jie in Xuzhou, Lu Zhenfei in Huai'an, and Tang Fan in Runing Waiting for a few rebellious officials and traitors.
So in Chongzhen's view, he still has hope. But now we still need to keep a low profile so that we can continue to deceive the prince...
Chongzhen glanced at Zhu Cihong, who was surrounded by enemies, and saw the traitor holding a memorial with a smile, his face almost shining. Seeing that all the ministers had finished paying homage, he smiled and said: "The four major salt managers of the Hui Gang here in Yangzhou and Su Sheng, the emperor's businessman who has been following the imperial court, jointly submitted a memorial, requesting that after the Salt Law and Salt Policy are abolished, the two Huaihe Rivers will be taken over. The Salt Service...gives the court a tax package of 6 million taels of silver every year! Although more than half of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen has passed, they still give the court 3 million taels!"
What! ? Give 6 million taels of silver a year...
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, his cerebral blood vessels almost exploded.
He has been emperor for 17 years, and the money he received from the Lianghuai Salt Service in 17 years was less than 6 million taels! When Zhu Cihong came to Yangzhou, he first said that he wanted to abolish the salt policy and salt law, and then arrested four salt bosses, so it was 6 million taels a year... What does this mean? This shows that the Lianghuai Salt Industry was originally rich, but it was all swallowed up by corrupt officials and profiteers!
Just for the Lianghuai Salt Bureau, 6 million taels are lost in a year. There must be corrupt officials in other yamen. How much money did they embezzle from the Ming Dynasty in a year? As an emperor, I am so miserable. I don't want to give up food, and I have no money to pay for the army. I was almost beaten to death by Li Zicheng, but you ministers are so greedy... Have your consciences been eaten by dogs? ?
“However, these 6 million taels of salt tax do not need to be disbursed. They are stored in the Salt Merchant Bank jointly run by the five major salt federations in Yangzhou... The Salt Merchant Bank is a business that specializes in banknotes, loans, and exchange transactions. Huaiyang Salt Industry is the guarantee, which is enough to make people feel at ease. If the money is deposited in the Salt Merchant Bank account, it will not be managed by the Accounts Department. When you need money, just go to the Salt Merchant Bank to pay it. And there is a five-cent annual interest. There are two to three hundred thousand taels a year. What does the Ministry of Household Affairs think?"
After hearing this, Hou Xun, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, stood up and said with a smile: "Reporting to Your Highness, the Ministry of Revenue thinks that this method is very good. In the future, all the money received by the Ministry of Revenue can be deposited in the Salt Merchant Bank, and it will save the small officials in charge of the treasury from being greedy. "
What? Even with the few dollars in the household department, there are still people who want to be greedy! ?
Chongzhen was almost heartbroken after hearing this. He was already so poor, but the clerk in the Ministry of Revenue was still greedy...
"What Hou Qing said is very good," Zhu Cixiang smiled and nodded, "but it cannot be managed by the Salt Merchant Bank. Later, we will have to set up a Maritime Merchant Company to specialize in customs duties and South, North and Eastern franchise taxes. The Ministry of Household Affairs Let’s split the money between the two major commercial banks!”
Customs duties and...South, North and East franchise taxes? Emperor Chongzhen was stunned again and again. What are the Southern, Northern and Eastern franchise taxes? How much can we collect from this tariff and the South, North, and East franchise taxes? Not a few million again, right?
"His Royal Highness is wise!" Hou Xun sent a heartfelt flattery in time.
He is now on the same boat as Zhu Cixiang, and Zhu Cixiang does treat him well. He was the second assistant to the cabinet, the official in the East Palace, and the minister of household affairs. He also promised to make him the uncle of Kenan Shangqiu after arriving in Nanjing, and would also give him a house and land in Nanjing. In short, you can be prosperous and wealthy without corruption!
Moreover, Zhu Cixiang checked the financial accounts very strictly, and there was no chance for him to be greedy...Since he didn't have to be greedy, it would be better to do less than to do more.
Zhu Cixiang nodded and said: "I have drawn up the decree on the salt contracting and the opening of the salt bank myself. The cabinet will take a look back and draft another decree."
"I will accept the order."
The five pavilion elders stood up together to receive the order.
Zhu Cixiang waved his hand and motioned for them to take a seat, and then said in a calm tone: "Not all salt merchants and officials in Yangzhou are good, there are also some people with ulterior motives, who not only evade salt taxes, take bribes, but also collude with the captives. Suspect!
There were also some traitors whose crimes were exposed and wanted to escape. Fortunately, the Jin Yiwei did their job well and did not let them escape! Zhu Chunjie, tell me, how was the trial? "
"Reporting to Lord Chitose, I personally interrogated the four captured salt merchants and did not find out that they had colluded with the bandits. However, they all confessed to crimes such as selling illicit salt, evading salt taxes, and bribing officials! "
Zhu Cixiang nodded. He had no intention of investigating the Yangzhou salt merchants' collusion with Liu bandits and Donglu - Yangzhou could not fight against Liu bandits and Donglu, so how could they collude? As for the four unlucky old Western Salt Managers, they can't escape the blame for selling illegal salt, evading salt taxes, and bribing officials.
Because Zhu Chunjie’s brother Zhu Chunchen also accepted bribes from them...
Zhu Cixiang asked: "Who did they bribe?"
"There are officials from the Salt Administration, local officials from Huaiyang and the Second Prefecture, as well as officials and nobles from the Northern and Southern Capitals..."
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "I know, you did a good job. But Jinyiwei doesn't care about this matter. Since it's not a counter-case, let's transfer it to the Metropolitan Procuratorate! Zuodu Censor!"
"Old minister is here!" Feng Yuanyang stood up tremblingly.
"Can the Metropolitan Procuratorate handle the case now?"
"It's impossible to do anything anymore," Feng Yuanyang said. "When Qiansuiye was in Dagokou, he said that he would reform the Metropolitan Procuratorate and let the Metropolitan Procuratorate focus on investigating official corruption. He also laid off many imperial censors. , and the Metropolitan Procuratorate lost a lot of people during its southern tour, and then many censors were transferred to other posts. Now there are almost no censors who can do anything..."
"That's it..." Zhu Cixi said with a smile, "Then let's find a few censors who can handle the matter first!"
The reform of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is a process of boiling frogs in warm water. What has been completed so far is to abolish the original Metropolitan Procuratorate system!
It cannot be destroyed or established!
The Metropolitan Procuratorate in the Ming Dynasty had too much control, but did not pay much attention to official corruption and bribery. Zhu Cixiang's idea is to let the Metropolitan Procuratorate focus on anti-corruption as its main business, and it is best to ignore other matters as little as possible.
There is no need for caring for the elderly, inspecting warehouses, checking money and food, encouraging schools, praising good people, eradicating beetles, correcting customs, promoting discipline, correcting court rituals, supervising sacrifices, political gains and losses, benefiting soldiers and civilians, etc. Just take care of it and just catch corrupt officials professionally.
In addition to asking the Metropolitan Procuratorate to take on the important task of catching corrupt officials, Zhu Cihong also wants to make the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the yamen that regulates officials, obedient and listen to himself!
So he first turned the Metropolitan Procuratorate into an empty yamen, and now it's time to fill it with people.
Zhu Cixiang said with a smile: "Let's fill in the vacancy of the censor of Youdu first! After the British Duke Zhang Shize was a hero in overcoming the difficulties, he was loyal and prudent in his work and could weather the difficulties. He is a rare kind of loyal and good man, so he can serve as the censor of Youdu!"
. m.
