The inner court was the territory directly controlled by Emperor Zhu Youxiao himself.
Increasing the functions and power of the inner court is naturally to strengthen the imperial power and strengthen Zhu Youxiao's control over all aspects of the Ming Empire.
Now that the inner court is strengthening its control over foreign trade, it is natural that Zhu Youxiao wants to control Ming's foreign trade in the hands of himself, the emperor.
"Zhu Youxiao is so ruthless. All the Shanxi merchants who were reselling in Zhangjiakou Fort were confiscated! Now he asked the inner court to set up a shipping department in the border town. From now on, the vassals, dignitaries, military towns, and gentry will sell goods Food has to be controlled by the inner court!"
Tongzhou.
After learning that Shanxi merchants had been confiscated, the official and gentry in scarlet official robes immediately waved his sleeves and gritted his teeth.
"Who says otherwise, but now that he is the emperor after all, it is impossible for the generals from all over the Nine Borders to really rebel for the sake of Shanxi merchants. After all, they can support their families and have so much land and live on empty wages because the emperor gave them. power, if any of them rebelled, the emperor would cut off their military pay, not purchase the food in their hands and sell it to the Mongols, and then gather the military forces loyal to the Ming court to fight for peace! This time, if it weren't for Qin Liangyu, Qi Jin and other guest troops Xiangzhu, the imperial court cannot copy the Shanxi merchants."
Xu Shilin echoed.
"You are right. There are still many people loyal to the emperor in this world, and there are also many of us scholar-bureaucrats. It is they who have fostered Zhu Youxiao's arrogance to do whatever he wants, but I still don't understand why Sun Chengzong is willing to pay Zhu Youxiao three thousand dollars. One million taels, is he not afraid of being criticized by the courtiers, and is he really willing to give up his family wealth and offer it to the emperor? Three million taels is not a small amount! The reason why Sun Chengzong is willing to do this must be something I don't know about, otherwise he will be considered If you are loyal to Zhu Youxiao, it is impossible to make so much money for Zhu Youxiao."
As he spoke, the official asked Xu Shilin: "Did I ask you to send the people to Susong to find out anything?"
"We found out some clues. Sun Chengzong himself was honest and self-responsible in office, but in Songjiang Prefecture, we found that among the several prominent families in Songjiang Prefecture, the Xu family had the largest purchase volume of cotton and the largest number of cotton yarn shipments last year, but the top five local wealthy businessmen Except for the Xu family, the shipments of the four families of Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhou have not increased. Judging from the small amount, the huge sum of three million taels paid by Sun Chengzong to the emperor must have come from the Xu family, Xu Guangqi's own family in Shanghai. .”
Xu Shilin started talking.
After hearing this, the official was silent for a while, and then suddenly swept a porcelain vase to the ground with his sleeve, ignoring the sound of the porcelain breaking, and shouted: "Why should the Xu family give so much silver to Zhu Youxiao! Zhong! Not so loyal! Why do you use so much of your family's wealth to support the emperor? Are you so loyal that you lose your family's wealth to raise soldiers for the emperor? Do you want to be a dog for the emperor's family? Do you have the backbone of a scholar-official like me?!"
"The younger one is also very puzzled. This is almost equivalent to Taicang Yin's annual income. Even if Xu Guangqi wanted to, his family would not come up with so much at once. Judging from the scale of their cotton purchase this year and the amount of cotton yarn exported overseas, From the looks of it, they should have made a lot of money from business, but making three million taels can only be the majority of the Xu family’s profits this year, and they don’t have to give most of their profits to the emperor!”
Xu Shilin frowned and replied.
"So we have to figure it out, why the Xu family is willing to pay millions to the emperor! I can't understand it now, I really can't understand it! But I don't believe that the Xu family, a family of merchants, can be full of merchants. Zhongliang! We must find out clearly!
Zhu Youxiao must have some imperial skills that we have not thought of, which makes Xu Sun and others so loyal. If we don't figure it out, there will be more scholar-bureaucrats willing to become the lackeys of the imperial family in the future! If that were the case, it would be terrible. We, the scholar-bureaucrats, would be slaughtered at will just like in the early Ming Dynasty!
And it has already started. Zhu Youxiao now has the confidence to raid Shanxi merchants and torture corrupt officials in the military department. This is because he now has lackeys such as Fang Congzhe, Wei Zhongxian, Sun Chengzong, Xu Guangqi, etc.! "
As he spoke, the official asked again: "How did you go about what I asked you to do to Xu Guangqi before?"
"I guess there will be news soon."
Xu Shilin replied.
"That's good. Now that the Shanxi merchants have been copied, the Ministry of War and other officials have been tortured, and the resentment of the people of the world has already boiled. By then, Xu Guangqi's incident will just force the emperor to completely break with the people of the world, and then the people of the world will be anxious. , maybe the incident of the martial arts temple falling into the water will happen again."
The official gentry said with a sneer.
…
"Will the people of the world be dissatisfied with my handling of corrupt officials? I'm afraid it's not the people of the world who are dissatisfied, but the corrupt officials of the world! Refute these memorials pleading for Zhang Heming and Wang Zuo! And publish the details of their corruption in Huangming Pao I will leave it to future generations for comment! At the same time, I will engrave the details of their corruption into inscriptions and erect them in the Xiaoling Mausoleum, other imperial mausoleums and the Ancestral Temple. Then write them into memorials, keep one copy in the Ancestral Temple and burn one copy. I will not I believe that the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, especially Taizu and those who came after him, really feel that these corrupt officials should not be killed!"
After Zhu Youxiao received memorials pleading for Zhang Heming and Wang Zuo and requesting him to forgive these people's capital crimes on the grounds that they were not worthy of punishment and were sympathetic to important ministers, he immediately rejected them and asked the cabinet to consider these memorials when drafting the vote. refute.
Naturally, the cabinet ministers did not dare to disobey.
And for this reason, civil servants such as Zhang Heming and Wang Zuo were still taken to the execution ground for execution.
Zhang Heming felt like crying over this. He didn't expect that he would really die.
"Your Majesty! Why are you so ruthless and cruel! I am just greedy! Who in this world is not corrupt, and who in this world does not love money! You are so mean and ungrateful, and you still leave us with the reputation of being greedy in future generations. It's really Aren’t you afraid that people in the world will be alienated from you?!”
Zhang Heming shouted as he spoke: "Aren't you afraid!"
Wang Zuoze, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, was crying all the time. Even after he knelt down on the execution ground, he was still crying: "Your Majesty, please forgive me! Everyone in the Ministry of Industry falsely reports false claims for project funds. This is what everyone does, and I can't do anything like this." It's just a routine matter! Your Majesty, my crime will not lead to death! I am willing to return all the money I embezzled, and I just ask your Majesty to spare my life. I just deposited the money back to my hometown, and I didn't dare to take any of it. Flowers!”
Wang Zuo said and yelled again: "Your Majesty! If it doesn't work, you can kill me. Don't write the bad things I did on a stele and erect them in the imperial mausoleum and the Ancestral Temple!"
"The time has come, kill!"
Huang Kezuan, the Minister of Punishment, had already pleaded for these civil servants, but Zhu Youxiao refused. He had no choice but to carry out the emperor Zhu Youxiao's will.
Therefore, Huang Kezuan still issued the execution order when the time came.
Click!
Click!
Click!
Immediately, the guillotine fell, and high-ranking officials such as Zhang Heming and Wang Zuo were cut in half, while other officials who had embezzled less than sixty taels were also beheaded.
For a moment, blood flowed like a river.
Then, these officials who were more corrupt would be skinned and made into straw, and placed in the yamen of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry to become a new sight.
The officials who then reorganized the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry did not dare to stretch their hands after seeing the new scenery of their yamen. As a result, military salaries and project funds basically fell into the hands of the officers, soldiers and craftsmen below.
…
"Hmph! How can this tyrant be so mean and unkind!"
Zhou Shunchang, an official of the Donglin Party, looked at the scene of Zhang Heming and others being executed and spoke.
"Why don't God accept him!"
Lian Guoshi also echoed.
When Zuo Guangdou saw this, he said: "Be careful, gentlemen! Today our emperor relies on his servants Wei Zhongxian, Xu Xianchun, etc., and outside he has lackeys Fang Congzhe, Xu Guangqi, etc. Even Sun Chengzong paid three million to him! It can be seen that today, our emperor, we have already You can’t do anything to him.”
"That's right. If it's really just corruption and collusion, it would be fine. What Qian is worried about now is that this tyrant is not satisfied with these things. Today's world is not only cruel but also has Yang Guang's ambition. Now he is replacing Shanxi merchants in the shipping department. There is obviously continuous With the purpose of holding the financial road in his own hands, he also established a foreign trade bureau, and he even has the ambition to control the world's money laws! It will be difficult for us scholar-bureaucrats to threaten the emperor by controlling the world's food and crops!"
Qian Qianyi started talking at this time.
"Yes! I'm afraid that the emperor will repeat the New Deal at the beginning of Wanli, introduce the method of examination, clear out the land, and even be more ruthless than Zhang Juzheng at the time, such as increasing business taxes and taking the benefits of our gentry for official benefits! Do you know this? The second grandson Chengzong was able to pay the emperor three million yuan was the silver that Xu Guangqi's family donated to the emperor behind his back! Although Zuo didn't know why the Xu family donated the silver, it is a fact that the profits of the people of the world have flowed into internal funds!"
Zuo Guangdou agreed at this time.
"How can the emperor compete with the people for profit! How can the Xu family do this!"
Zhou Shunchang stood up excitedly after hearing this.
"No matter what the reason is for the Xu family, whether Xu Guangqi is willing to use his family wealth to please the emperor for personal power and position, we must stop the Xu family from doing this. If the Xu family insists on benefiting the emperor, then the Xu family is not worthy of our Jiangnan noble family. ! They are not worthy of doing business and making profits in Jiangnan! The Xu family should be expelled from the Jiangnan gentry! Don’t let them gain a foothold in Jiangnan!"
Zuo Guangdou started talking and asked everyone: "What do you think?"
"Very true!"
Qian Qianyi and others nodded.
