Humph, if I hadn't just taken power and had to communicate with the six departments and other yamen, if it were Zhu Yuanzhang, he would let you eat as much as you want at the Meridian Gate in a while, until you are stuffed to death!
Of course, Zhen Shu will not look for trouble. This kind of thing must be cut quickly: "I will report to His Highness the Crown Prince. The ministers have no objections. As long as the Metropolitan Procuratorate files a report and His Highness writes the verdict, the Ministry of Punishment will carry out the execution."
The matter was so important that forty-one nobles and their families had to be dealt with, and the oral judgment would eventually be turned into a memorial or a formal edict.
Except for the Taizu period of this dynasty, there are rare cases of punishing such a large number of high-ranking nobles. If the prince tells the world about this, it will definitely cause a big shock.
Before the prince could start another topic, Li Daiwen, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, suddenly stepped forward and interjected: "To report to His Majesty the Crown Prince, I believe that the confiscated property should be counted by the Ministry of Revenue and returned to Taicang."
As the war became more intense and costly, the imperial court was already unable to make ends meet. Officials from the six ministries were eyeing this huge sum of money, and the Ministry of Household Affairs was the first to bear the brunt. If they could obtain the property of the nobles, it would greatly alleviate the current embarrassing dilemma.
If the prince gets it first, it will be even more difficult to send this batch of silver into the royal family's internal funds and the Ministry of Revenue to ask for it. It is unknown whether the prince is stingy with money, but anyone who spends dozens or even millions of taels of silver will think twice about it.
Chen Xinjia, the newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of War, also came out to support Li Daiwen's suggestion: "Wei Chen reviewed what Li Shangshu said. If he enters the Ministry of Household Affairs, it will be easier for the various ministries to withdraw money, and there will be no need to ask for internal funds. It can be said to be twice the result with half the effort."
Liu Zunxian, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhuang Qinlin, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Lin Yuji, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, all came out to express their agreement with their statement. Only Zhen Shu, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, stood still and did not express any opinions for the time being.
Now that the prince wants to waive the "three wages" from various places in Jiangbei, his annual income will inevitably drop by more than half. For the imperial court, especially Taicang, the noble family property was one of the few huge sources of income, and all of it could not be transferred to internal funds.
Even if one family has 50,000 taels of property, the total of the forty-one families is as much as 2 million taels. Looking at the situation of the three princes, the actual amount is far more than this, at least more than three million taels, which may be able to solve the urgent needs of the six ministries.
Seeing the collective opposition of the ministers, Yao Ji did not remain stubborn and took a step back: "Since all my dear friends insist on this, then I will do what is good. However, whether it is gold, silver, or the proceeds from the auction of other items, Repayment must be made in real terms, if there is a thief in custody, once it is found out, his head will be killed within three days, dear sirs, do you dare to make a name for yourself on behalf of this department?"
With this thing, don't say that I will become ruthless when the time comes. This is equivalent to letting the weasel watch the henhouse. It will be strange if nothing happens.
Just wait and see how it will end then!
"Ji Zhou, draft a brief edict and have all the ministers sign it!"
This is version 2.0 of the petition. Those who signed version 1.0 this morning are now prisoners.
Li Jizhou, the eunuch of the East Palace Bingbi, took the order and quickly wrote a gambling document. Even the servants around him could see that this was more like a trap set by the prince for the courtiers.
"Li Shangshu, please!"
Li Jizhou walked up to Li Daiwen with what he had written. Everyone was surnamed Li, and they all worked for the Ming Dynasty, but the people they relied on were completely different. One was a minister of the prince, and the other was a subordinate of the emperor.
Now the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance was in a dilemma. He took the lead in this matter, but he did not expect it to reach this point. Thinking of the scene of the nobles signing, Li Daiwen couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine.
When the matter came to a close, Li Daiwen couldn't hold back his dissatisfaction and asked the prince directly: "Your Majesty, it is a common practice to seize property and return it to Taicang. Why is it so? This is actually a rare thing in our dynasty, and it is definitely not something done. Tsuna, I hope Your Highness will think twice!"
Asking for money has to be signed and pledged, which is no different from gambling on life. From now on, the government will behave like this. It is a situation where the monarch and his ministers are alienated from each other. How can the prince win the trust of his ministers?
The last sentence is that criticizing this kind of behavior is not the way to be a king. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty have never done this. You, a prince, forced the ministers to sign on the first day of supervising the country. It is really too much.
Yao Ji smiled slightly and began to teach the guy gently: "Li Aiqing is really overly worried. This is a special method in a special period. There is a famous saying in the fairy world that trust comes from supervision. This official document is my supervision method, and it is not just a means of supervision." Shall we divide it? Moreover, if the officials of various ministries fulfill their duties and are honest and upright, everything will be fine. If someone is timid and dare not sign, it can only mean that they have something evil in their heart and they are too ashamed to accept it~!"
If you dare to join my army, I will kill you in one step!
Madan!
Anyone who doesn't sign today is undoubtedly a mole!
Li Daiwen was choked to the point of speaking, holding the brush tremblingly, and fell into a dilemma.
The six ministers were all shocked. Could it be that the prince would take action on them next?
This is really terrible. You must be careful, because three princes are about to be beheaded.
Seeing this situation, Yao Ji said very considerately: "In this case, why not let the East Palace allocate it, so Li Aiqing doesn't have to be in such a difficult situation."
I've given you a chance, but you guys have started to be trembling and timid again, which is really despising to others.
Just because I racked my brains but couldn't deal with you, it doesn't mean that I can't deal with you.
Just when Li Daiwen was in an embarrassing situation, Lin Yuji, the Minister of Rites, came out to help: "I would like to inform Your Highness the Crown Prince that it would be prudent to confiscate the nobles' property and send it to Taicang. There are internal funds in the palace, so there may be no conflict with the Ministry of Household Affairs." The dilemma is exactly the same. What Li Shangshu said is really helpless. I hope Your Highness will think twice."
To this day, officials still think that the emperor is a local tycoon, a very wealthy man who has accumulated a large amount of gold and silver in his internal funds, probably reaching tens of millions of taels, but they are just unwilling to use it to subsidize the expenses of the court.
Not only in the late Ming Dynasty, but also in later generations, some people thought this was the case.
A famous scholar said that after Li Zicheng captured the capital, he discovered that there were 3,700 ingots of silver in Chongzhen's treasury, each ingot weighing 500 taels!
Then its total weight should be 18.5 billion taels, equivalent to more than 680,000 tons of silver!
Have you dug into the mantle?
That must be using mining equipment from the planet Cybertron!
To transport the silver, Li Zicheng would need 18.5 million mules and horses!
The most bizarre thing is that many brainless guys actually believe it...
From the founding of the Ming Dynasty to the fall of the country, "defying the dynasty" counts as three hundred years of national prosperity.
The annual tax revenue of 5 million taels is all locked up in the inner treasury, and the total is only 1.5 billion taels.
Your 18.5 billion taels will probably have to be mined starting from the time of Emperor Pangu...
No wonder aliens in movies frequently invade the earth!
In addition to the "Extreme Edition", there is also a "Reduced Edition"!
That's what Zhao Shijin, the author of "Jiashen Chronicles" said: There are still more than 30 million taels of silver and 1.5 million taels of gold in the inner treasury! After breaking into the city, the Japanese underwear was transported to Xi'an by mule cart...
Zhao Shijin himself was a wailang from the Ministry of Industry of the fifth rank. He neither had the authority to have regular contact with the emperor nor was he qualified to manage internal funds. His content all comes from "hearing", that is, hearsay in the early stage and fabrication in the later stage.
Looking at it this way, this person is really the first science fiction writer in the Ming Dynasty!
Yaoji almost saw green light coming out of the eyes of the ministers. He sighed softly and then told Wang Chengen: "My dear companion, tell everyone how much money there is in the internal funds!"
What's the point of pretending to be poor? I am really poor now!
Dad is such a cheat, leaving me an empty shell with money inside!
Wang Chengen stepped forward after receiving the order, and announced to everyone with a frown on his face: "My ministers, let me tell you the truth, our family was ordered by His Majesty to count the money three days ago, and there is only 140,000 taels of silver left in the treasury. You have been officials in Beijing for a long time. Everyone should know that the silver taels stored in the internal funds have already been paid to the household department in installments. Before His Majesty's journey to immortality, he also ordered his ministers to sell the wine utensils and even Liao ginseng, and the silver taels obtained were used as military pay. In addition, I should not say, Prince Your Highness stopped receiving the annual salary yesterday. From now on, when you dine at Kunning Palace, the meal expenses for Her Royal Highness the Queen will be reduced to 200 taels per month, and the meal expenses for the two noble concubines will be reduced to 100 taels per month. For lunch today, everyone. The food served is the meal served to Her Royal Highness the Queen, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and the two noble concubines last night. After listening to this, you will now understand the situation in the White House!"
This is a tragedy!
If this continues, these people in the Forbidden City will really form a group to eat fried soybeans!
Wang Chengen dared to make the affairs of the palace known to the public not because he made the decision without authorization, but because the prince ordered him to do so. Even as a slave beside the emperor, he didn't have such courage. If he said something he shouldn't have said and offended His Highness the Crown Prince, all the 50,000 taels of purple gold bonds he had purchased would be wasted.
Lin Yuji, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, was shocked when he heard this and couldn't help but ask: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, according to the rules, there are many receipts such as Huangzhuang's land, gold flowers and silver, Yunnan tribute, etc. If they were accumulated, the palace interruption would not be like this embarrassment."
In the impression of the courtiers, the internal funds are like a rich gold mountain, and digging out some of them is enough to fill the deficit of the household department. In order to deceive the courtiers, the emperor had been pretending to be poor, and now he finally had the opportunity to let the prince tell the truth.
Yao Ji snorted and did not answer directly. Instead, he ordered Li Daiwen, the Minister of Household Affairs, to ask, "Can Li Aiqing tell Lin Aiqing the ins and outs of these incomes, so that all the Aiqings can understand clearly!"
Madan!
Do you want to silence me with this kind of question? Go ahead and dream!
The three princes are pretending to be poor. I am really poor. If you don’t believe me, just listen to yourself.
When Li Daiwen received the order, his heart suddenly tightened, because he knew these things well, and now he had to say: "I obey, Mr. Lin, the Huangzhuang property was managed by the Ministry of Household Affairs during the Wanli period, and the gold tribute paid by Yunnan It is already less than two thousand taels every year, and these two items are included in the gold, flower and silver taels. This year, the gold and silver taels submitted from the internal funds amounted to one million taels. However, hundreds of thousands of taels must be allocated to the expenses of the Forbidden Army officers and soldiers, and the remaining part was returned to Support in the palace."
