"Why can't you stop it?" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "I am the emperor, and I keep my word. I issued several imperial edicts to the Admiral of Guangxi, the Governor of Xichuan, the Governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, the Admiral of Hubei... and so on. Wouldn’t it be enough to have a eldest uncle, the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi?”
Is this enough?
Brothers Wu Sangui and Wu Sanfu both didn't believe it...
The trade routes with rogue bandits have been running for 20 years. In Guangxi, Xichuan, and Guizhou, countless powerful officials and officials have made a fortune by trading with rogue bandits. Even Huguang, where the Western Capital of the Ming Dynasty is located, has many profiteers, corrupt officials and bandits doing business.
One of the biggest profiteers is the Ming Dynasty Royal Chamber of Commerce!
How can this be banned?
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "You don't have to worry... I can ban the business with the bandits with a few decrees. Because our Ming Dynasty now has many honest and good officials!"
Of course there were honest officials in the Ming Dynasty, there always have been! It existed when Emperor Chongzhen was in power. After Zhu Cihong came to power, he rectified the administration of officials, and there were even more upright and honest officials.
However, one thing is certain, there were still many corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty.
How can a semi-feudal and semi-capitalist society be free of corrupt officials? Zhu Cixiang was a man of two generations, and his mental age was already over 60. Of course, he was not so naive as to think that his country really had clear seas and clear rivers, and the world was bright and clear.
Therefore, he never pursued absolute integrity in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty... It was simply not possible, and there was no need - because in a society lacking in wealth, pursuing absolute integrity requires paying a considerable price.
One is severe punishment!
The second is to suppress private industry and commerce!
Zhu Cixiang's method seems to be very "ineffective", which is to use corrupt officials while catching corrupt officials. Officials are careful about corruption, but the Metropolitan Procuratorate is trying their best to catch it.
Therefore, there are indeed no corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty who dare to blatantly make money, but officials who are truly as honest as water are also very rare...
In this administrative situation where cat and mouse coexist, it is very difficult to block the smuggling channels in the west that have existed for 20 years (the existence of which was allowed by the Ming court).
In addition, the current two provinces of Guangxi and Guizhou are not "full direct provinces" - all states (Zhili prefectures), prefectures, divisions, and guards are all under the jurisdiction of the governor's yamen and the imperial court. , and only some states (Zhili states), prefectures, divisions, and guards are controlled by the governor's yamen and the court, they are called semi-zhili provinces.
Guangxi and Guizhou are semi-direct provinces. Guangxi Province is bounded by Liuzhou Prefecture and Nanning Prefecture, and the east (including Liuzhou and Nanning) is under the jurisdiction of the Guangxi Governor's Yamen and the imperial court. The west is under the jurisdiction of the Guangxi Admiral, which is actually a festival town controlled by the Guangxi Admiral Jin Shenghuan, but it does not have the name of the Jiedushi.
Of course, Jin Shenghuan is not a person who follows his words in half of Guangxi. Because there have always been a large number of chieftain regimes in Guangxi, Jin Shenghuan could not destroy them all, so he could only make do with them.
The smuggling trade with Dashun has always been a source of wealth for Jin Shenghuan and the Guangxi chieftains.
As for Shizhouwei, Yongshun Division, and Baojing Division in Guizhou, Xichuan (Jiezhen), and Huguang (Hubei and Hunan), the situation is similar. The local semi-independent chieftains all have business dealings with the Dashun Dynasty.
It is almost impossible to make these comfortable earth emperors obedient with just a few imperial edicts... It is not that these earth emperors dare to openly confront the emperor of tomorrow, but they will play tricks on both sides.
However, the two brothers of the Wu family did not dare to tell Emperor Zhu that there were still many corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty - because they were not very clean either.
...
"Your Majesty, I believe that the only way to cut off the pirate trade routes is to set up checkpoints layer by layer and supplement them with severe punishments..."
"Your Majesty, I think it is necessary for the supervisory censor to go out in large numbers to strictly investigate the provinces of Guangxi, Hubei, and Guizhou, so that all officials everywhere should be alert!"
"The problem now is that the autonomous towns, capitals, and guards are not easy to manage... The Yushitai can only investigate the emperor's direct ministers, but not the lords of one side. They have to let the Jinyiwei go get them. "
"It's not easy for the Jinyi Guards to take people. Those people are all soldiers and generals. We have to let the new army of Kenan move in!"
"That's a war... It's not appropriate to start a war over something like this, right?"
"Yes, those chieftains' territory is a place with high mountains and dangerous waters. If it were to be directly controlled by the imperial court, I would probably lose a lot of money to enter it, right? And it would be difficult to manage it well."
East Lake Palace, Chongzheng Hall, Zhu Cixiang is holding a regular court meeting between the two governments here.
Different from the battle when he returned to Wuhan Mansion last time, this time Emperor Zhu made a big plan to stay in Wuhan Mansion for a long time and moved the entire imperial court to Wuhan Mansion. Moreover, he also had someone build a Chinese and Western-style office building in the East Lake Palace far away from the waterfront, called Chongzheng Hall, as a place for him to work and hold court meetings in the East Lake Palace.
At today's court meeting, a group of important ministers from the two governments argued over how to ban the rogue trade routes.
At the end of the debate, it actually came down to the idea of returning home.
Zhu Cixiang's court was not very interested in the matter of reforming the land and returning it to the locals - Emperor Zhu liked to settle economic accounts, and the courtiers he used were all good at settling accounts. Of course, they knew that large-scale reforming the land and returning them to the locals would be a loss for the court. Buy and sell.
Moreover, after the reform, the loss-making officials sent by the imperial court had far less control over those areas than the original chieftains. If they were not careful, they would cause civil unrest, which was really not worth the gain.
So as soon as someone mentioned this matter, the noise in the court gradually became silent, and everyone turned their attention to Zhu Cixiang.
"Forget it, just change the soil and return to local status," Zhu Cixi said with a smile, "I just don't want them to do business properly, but I have no interest in controlling the place for those chieftains."
He paused, glanced around, taking in the expressions of the important ministers, and then said with a smile: "The Jin Yiwei and the new army of Kenan must be sent. Without sword handles, those people don't know how to be afraid. . But I always do things with kindness and kindness. The handle of the knife must be placed on someone's neck, and the fruit must be delivered to someone's mouth. Those who don't know how to behave will have their heads cut off, and those who know how to do it should still give some benefits. "
"Your Majesty," Zheng Zhilong, the Minister of Revenue, asked hurriedly, "Where will the benefits you want to give come from? The Ministry of Revenue doesn't have much money left!"
Of course Hube is rich! However, Zheng Zhilong still has to cry for poverty as usual... But we can't let people know how strong the foundation of the Ministry of Household Affairs is, otherwise there will be more people asking for money.
Zhu Cixiang nodded repeatedly: "Of course we can't pay from the Ministry of Household Affairs! The money from the Ministry of Household Affairs has already been budgeted, and we can't spend it indiscriminately.
And the Sichuan we are going to recover this time can be called Tianfu... How much fertile land does the Kingdom of Tianfu have? "
I’m thinking about Sichuan land coupons again!
The ministers present understood immediately. It has been 20 years since the fall of Sichuan, and the local forces have long been tamed by rogue bandits. Those who escaped in time and were not rectified have also been poor for 20 years, and they have long lost their former strength.
"At least 50 million acres, including about 15 million acres of paddy fields!" Chief Assistant Wei Zaode said immediately, "The bandits have inspected the land at least eight times in Sichuan over the years, and they have checked every bit of it. And none of these lands are The Sichuan people were awarded to the so-called government soldiers of the rogue bandits. These government soldiers were all bandits. After the imperial court regained Sichuan, of course they would confiscate their land. Some of the land had original owners and should naturally be returned. But Sichuan's There are only more than 10 million acres of registered land, and many of them are official land and equalized land. Even if it is private land, there may not be a land deed to prove its owner. Therefore, in the end, the land that can be distributed is at least 40 million mu."
Zhu Cixiang smiled and nodded: "With these 40 million acres, are you afraid that you can't command the people in the towns? Now we have to block trade roads and transportation! The Ministry of War and the Generalissimo's Office will draw up a plan on how many land coupons are needed to appease the frontline towns. ? How many Tiqi and new troops need to be sent to intimidate the enemy? There must be a plan. By the way, the land coupons given to the frontier towns are all promissory notes and are not allowed to be listed and traded. They must wait until Sichuan is restored before they can be given to them. A real ticket!"
