In the blink of an eye, it is March of the fifteenth year of Wanli. The spring scenery is bright, the sun is shining brightly, and the warm wind makes the Ming Dynasty capital completely lose its thick white cloak.
Everyone was much more energetic, and many dignitaries and ordinary people went out for outings in the city.
Shi Xing also came to the villa outside the city on this day, stole a day of free life, and indulged in some indulgence.
But on the second day, he returned to the city and went to the Ministry of Revenue.
The reason why Shi Xing came to the Ministry of Household Affairs was because this day was a salary day.
After Wanli came to the throne, the most praiseworthy thing for the bureaucrats was that the emperor never lacked their salaries, nor did he use peppercorns or treasure notes to top up the amount. Basically, they were converted into silver dollars, and their salaries were increased. They made a lot of money, so they always felt that working for the court was not in vain, and they lived a relatively leisurely life.
"Why did you change your hair this year?"
But after Shi Xing received the silver from the Ministry of Household Affairs, he found that his salary had turned into its true nature, that is, food.
Lu Kun, the left servant of the household department who received a salary, said at this time: "Isn't your true character still good?"
Shi Xing argued: "Who doesn't know that there is a shortage of silver in the world now, so silver is expensive and grain is cheap. Therefore, not long after the silver dollar came out, one tael of silver dollar can be converted into two stones of grain. Now one tael of silver dollar can be converted into three stones of grain. This is still the case today. The trend is that silver is getting more and more expensive, and grain is getting cheaper and cheaper. If you just show your true colors, isn't it equivalent to depriving us of our salary?!"
When Shi Xing said this, Lu Kun retorted: "According to the rules, you should show your true colors. Losing your colors is just a last resort. If you show your true colors, how can you say that you are cheating?"
Lu Kun said and asked: "Besides, Duke Kui also knows that now silver is expensive and grain is cheap, and the people are short of silver dollars for trading, so they have to exchange more grain for silver dollars to barter, or because grain is becoming more and more worthless, there is a serious shortage." , I would rather go to the city to work and earn money. Since the people are short of silver, why do we bureaucrats compete with the people for profits, but strive for more silver dollars to go into our private houses? Isn't this the way to love the people?"
Shi Xing pulled his face, and then sneered: "Who knows if your household department recorded the discounted color in the account book, but actually issued the true color, and then pocketed the silver dollars saved after issuing the true color?
Miao Chaoyang, who came with him, also shouted at this time: "That's right! Is it true that the Ministry of Household Affairs is pretending to be a public charity? It used our salary money to exchange for food, and then said it was true."
The Prime Minister of Dali Temple, Zhixiang, also sneered and said: "No wonder the salary is one month late this spring. It must be for personal gain!"
Shi Xing encouraged at this time: "We want to see the account books of the Ministry of Revenue! It is a small matter that our salary is sufficient, but it is a big thing that we cannot let the officials of the Ministry of Household hide evil!"
"Yes, we want to see the account books!"
Miao Chaoyang and other civil servants responded to the incident.
For a while, the officials were furious.
Seeing this, Lv Kun, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue, shouted: "What are you checking? This year's salary will be distributed in its original form. It was decided by the Ministry of Revenue after a meeting under the orders of the cabinet, and it was approved by the Holy Spirit. What are you still making trouble?!"
"Since it has been approved by the Holy Spirit, we should not make trouble again, but how can the Ministry of Revenue not ask the court to discuss this matter first, and then implement the cabinet order?"
“I really don’t know whether the Household Department is the cabinet’s Household Department or the Household Department of the Ming Dynasty?!”
Shi Xing then questioned again.
The Ministry of Household Affairs issues real salary, which is indeed a big loss for senior officials. After all, the purchasing power of silver dollars is indeed very high at the moment, and the salary of second- and third-level officials plus bonus money is not a small amount.
Therefore, Shi Xing had to actively fight for it.
At the same time, what Shi Xing cannot accept now is that the Ministry of Revenue only obeys the orders of the cabinet and wears the same trousers with the cabinet. This will undoubtedly facilitate the cabinet to exercise power and seize the power of the court discussion. In this way, many things cannot be decided by the court council. One advantage of the court meeting is that it can effectively protect the interests of the bureaucratic group by virtue of the large number of officials participating in the court meeting. There is no need to worry that the cabinet will directly work with the six ministries to make the bureaucrats suffer for the benefit of the emperor or the country.
Therefore, Shi Xing questioned Lu Kun again.
Before Lu Kun could answer, Shi Xing was stopped by several Jin Yi guards who came over.
Shi Xing suddenly looked shocked and asked in a trembling voice: "What are you doing?"
At this time, Zhang Maoxiu, a royal guard, came over and said: "Zhao Nanxing, Gu Xiancheng and others exposed that you ordered Ma Wenqing to arrange for people to poison An Xifan, Yue Yuansheng and other court officials. Now His Majesty has issued an order to remove you from your official title and put you in jail for questioning. Come with us." Let’s take a walk.”
Shi Xing didn't speak for a long time after hearing this.
"Mr. Wo Su, were you, Shi Dongquan, the one who killed them?"
Miao Chaoyang came over and asked Shi Xing.
Other civil servants who came to collect their salaries also looked over.
Wang Zhixiang even rushed over at this moment and grabbed Shi Xing's clothes, stared at him and asked, "Why did you do this?"
Shi Xing only lowered his head.
After a while, Shi Xing looked up to the sky and shouted excitedly: "Uncle Gu! You villain, how could you betray me!"
Shi Xing said nothing more after shouting, and just let the Jin Yiwei take him down.
Not long after, Zhang Jingxiu saw Shi Xing and said: "Shi Dongquan, I didn't expect you to be so careless about other people's lives. Fortunately, His Majesty has always cared about the people behind the killing of An Xifan and others, otherwise it would be really difficult for him. It’s on your head.”
Shi Xing also smiled helplessly after arriving at the Jin Yiwei interrogation room: "Aren't they very disgusting to His Majesty? Logically, they will be gone if they are gone. Why does Your Majesty still care about them so much?"
"That means you don't know His Majesty well enough."
After Zhang Jingxiu said this, he continued to interrogate Shi Xing. Shi Xing did not offer much explanation and confessed to all the crimes he had committed.
The Three Law Division also finally sentenced Shi Xing to death.
Zhu Yijun approved this.
At the same time, Gu Xiancheng was also impeached by the censor because he had agreed with Shi Xing to assassinate Zhao Nanxing and was suspected of having evil intentions and killing colleagues. However, because of his meritorious service in exposing him, Zhu Yijun agreed to the cabinet's request and only demoted him to a commoner. Never use it.
As a result, Shi Xing was hanged in the city not long after.
And Gu Xiancheng also lost his official title.
One month after Shi Xing was strangled, Gu Xiancheng learned about Shi Xing's strangulation from Gu Yuncheng.
"Don't mention him to me!"
"If he hadn't been so messy, I wouldn't have the reputation I have now of being denounced by scholars all over the world as someone who harmed my colleagues!"
"Now the emperor is favored by scholars. First he has a reputation for not killing his direct ministers Qian Qixin and others, and now he has a good reputation for respecting the lives of his ministers An Wosu and others. Even Zhang Siwen, the imperial guard, has a reputation for not using torture. good name."
Gu Xiancheng shouted sternly, then complained to Gu Yuncheng with a stern face.
Gu Yuncheng said: "Brother is right, but fortunately you had expected it in advance and knew that a villain would take the initiative to expose Shi Dongquan, so you took the initiative to expose him Shi Dongquan, otherwise he would just be relegated to the common people."
Gu Xiancheng smiled helplessly and said: "Now I just hope that the war against the Japanese will not be won, and that there will be no more good governance like Shaanxi's permanent freedom from corvee. The upright ministers we support have not yet dominated the government. How can the court have already started to destroy the country?" The great achievements of good governance continue! In this way, when the government is in full swing in the future, how can we say that it is bringing order out of chaos?"
Gu Xiancheng was saying his instructions: "Notify me, from now on the rent at home will only be collected in silver dollars!"
Gu Yuncheng asked: "Why is this?"
Gu Xiancheng smiled and said: "You should also pay attention to practical matters. Silver dollars are becoming more and more valuable than food. Therefore, the opportunity to control the world's situation is not to kill people, but to use the current situation to add fuel to the flames."
With that said, Gu Xiancheng added: "Not only do we have to pay silver dollars for rent, we also have to push up the price of silver dollars and prevent the emergence of good governance by manipulating silver dollars and force Shenwu County to step down! Because as long as the number of silver dollars on the market increases, The less it is, the more people will be unable to survive. If there are more people who cannot survive, the emperor's popularity will inevitably be damaged."
…
Zhu Yijun has also been paying attention to the silver dollar issue, and after hearing about the riot in the Ministry of Finance due to his dissatisfaction with his sudden appearance, he even came to the Shiyu Department to discuss the silver dollar deflation issue with Shen Shixing and others.
That's right.
The Ming Dynasty does still have a serious silver dollar deflation problem.
Although Zhu Yijun has been decreeing to increase the production of silver coins, the industrial level is limited, and the production of silver coins still cannot keep up with the expansion of commodity trade.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty was originally a country short of silver. Basically, it had to earn a lot of silver from foreign trade first, and then it could increase the number of silver coins so that more of them could be circulated in commodity transactions.
Sorry, something was delayed today, so I’m just updating now
(End of chapter)
