His cold eyes wandered around the seats. The man in yellow dragon robe sitting above him seemed to be suppressing his inner anger. There were several memorials and inscriptions scattered under the desk. The attendants on the side were all looking at him intently, with expressionless faces, as if they were not interested in what was in front of them. All this turned a blind eye.
"Lu Song, tell me, why did this matter cause such a chaos?" After a while, he seemed to slowly suppress his anger, his body was slightly sideways, one arm was pressed on the pillow next to him, and his voice slowed down. Quite a few.
"Your Majesty, Zhang Jin and others have already reported this matter." He bowed slightly and said, "I thought that freezing three times did not last in one day. The Linqing civil revolution was called the establishment of the tax supervisor, which caused dissatisfaction among the business people and led to the civil uprising. They were coerced and exploited by the White Lotus Sect bandits, which eventually led to catastrophe. However, Zhang Jin and others found out through the secret investigation that there were endless remnants of the White Lotus who were preaching under various names such as the Wenxiang Sect, the Eastern Mahayana Sect, the Wuwei Sect, and the Luo Sect in various places in Shandong. Both Lunan and Luxi have the tendency to spread..."
Sitting above him is naturally Zhang Shen, the emperor of the day.
The slightly raised cheekbones made his cheeks look a bit slender. The slightly fair face and slightly sunken eye sockets made the entire face look a bit gloomy and deep under the flickering flames in the Hall of Cultivation of the Heart.
"The canal waterway is currently an important channel connecting Shandong from the north to the south. In addition to water transportation, all kinds of people's daily affairs that communicate between north and south Zhili and Shandong and Jiangnan pass through this waterway from south to north. Linqing is a must-pass,..."
There was not much emotion in Lu Song's words. Although he also knew that His Majesty arranged for Chang Hong to go to Linqing to set up a tax supervisor to collect taxes, the tax money actually recovered by His Majesty was compared with what Chang Hong himself and other members of his party received. It seems a bit insignificant.
All the criticism among the people was attributed to Chang Hong, but the accusations in Shilin and even in the court were directed at His Majesty. This is probably what makes His Majesty the most angry.
But the problem is that if we don’t use these channels and methods to collect some money, will we all rely on donations to fill the growing hole?
I'm afraid those scientific and technical officials will be even more critical.
The demand for payment from the nine sides is becoming more and more urgent. The position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue has not been taken over yet, but no one can solve the current problem.
His face was expressionless, but Yonglong Emperor Zhang Shen's eyes were a little erratic.
There is a shortage of money, there is a shortage of money everywhere, but there is a need for money both inside and outside, especially the military pay from Jiubian, which is like a noose, suffocating him.
In the past six months, tax supervisors from various places have successively brought back 700,000 to 800,000 taels of silver for him, but this amount has always been compared with the military salary needs of Jiubian.
However, the fiscal arrears from the provinces under the Ministry of Revenue and the loans from the royal family could not be collected for a long time. He naturally understood the reason. The problem was that he, as the emperor, was powerless.
And even if it can be recovered, facing the ever-increasing demand for military pay from the nine sides, as well as the increasing famine caused by floods, droughts, and locust plagues everywhere, it will lead to catastrophe if you are not careful, and things like Shandong In Zhang Shen's opinion, this kind of civil commotion and rebellion should be the last place where it should happen, but it happened exactly.
Because of this, he felt powerless.
In the morning, I had discussed with several cabinet ministers about the Linqing Civil War and rebellion, but failed to get the approval of the cabinet ministers.
The abolition of the tax supervisor is the unanimous opinion of these civil servants. Various impeachment memorials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate have been handed over like rain. They kept asking Chang Hong for questioning, but he insisted that he personally arranged the trip to Shandong, but The group of people still refused to give up. This feeling made Zhang Shen feel very tired, but unable to do anything.
Abolition of tax inspectors is easy to say, just a matter of words, but where will the required military pay come from? Without this tax revenue, how can we make up for it?
Although it is a drop in the bucket, it can still respond to emergencies. Otherwise, the Tatar cavalry might have invaded last winter.
But if the tax supervisors are not removed and something like this happens again in Shandong, I am afraid that we will not have such good luck.
Thinking of this, Zhang Shen couldn't help but be afraid of the future, if the Cao Army hadn't decisively attacked. In one fell swoop, the rebel army of religious bandits that had not yet been fully integrated was defeated. If there was a slight delay, the consequences would be disastrous.
Both sides of the canal are the essence of the Northland. Once destroyed, it will not be able to recover in a year or two. Moreover, if the victims caused by this kind of war flee and disrupt the surrounding areas, they may be invaded by those who taught them. The bandits took the opportunity to cause chaos, and the consequences were unimaginable.
"Lu Song, is this Shandong Civil Service so unbearable?" Zhang Shen's eyes became softer and softer, but there was a certain tendency in his tone.
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the situation in Shandong can be regarded as good in the North. I am afraid that the situation in Northern Zhili and Shaanxi has been even worse in the past two years."
As a fellow commander of Long Jinwei, Lu Song knew his position very well. He was an old friend of Qiandi and a personal minister of His Majesty, so naturally he would not speak in the same roundabout way as ordinary civil servants and generals. Even if it was a bit unpleasant, he would not be taboo. Because he knew that what His Majesty wanted to hear was the real side behind these clouds and fog.
His Majesty made few changes to the ministers in the court after he became emperor. However, some old ministers among the ministers proposed to serve. This should have been a matter of course, but in order to show favor and favor to the old ministers of the Supreme Emperor, His Majesty When encountering any problems, they were all ordered to retain him. However, he was specially promoted to the position of commanding officer of the Longjing Lieutenant, which speaks volumes.
The current Commander Long Jinwei has been bedridden at home for half a year due to illness. He is actually in charge of the daily affairs of Long Jinwei. If he is still covering up the information His Majesty wants to know, I am afraid there will really be no one. I can relieve His Majesty's worries.
"Oh?" Although he sounded upset and unhappy, Zhang Shen knew that this was something he had to face.
If you can't get the real situation from Lu Song, then you will lose control of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.
In addition to forming cliques and fighting for power and profit, the civil servants in Dazhou would only constantly raise troubles and problems, but they could not come up with solutions to the problems. When they came up with solutions, there would always be people who would question and criticize them from other aspects, and finally they would Falling into endless quarrels.
Zhang Shen really misses the imperial staff system of the previous Ming Dynasty. Although the Great Zhou Dynasty did not abolish the imperial staff system, his father never used the imperial staff in the forty-two years of his reign. If he had to activate the imperial staff as soon as he ascended the throne, I'm afraid The criticism of him from the scholar-officials will become even more fierce, which he cannot accept and dare not bear.
"Shaanxi has been intertwined with floods and droughts in the past two years, especially the constant drought of locusts. The people are suffering and there are many refugees..." Seeing that the emperor did not want to hear any more, Lu Song sighed inwardly.
I am afraid that the emperor has known this for a long time, but the most urgent thing before us is not Shaanxi, but the impact of the civil unrest in Shandong. Even the core hinterland of the North has become like this. How can we not make people shudder?
"The situation in Shandong is quite good, with prosperous merchants along the canal, and stable income from the Ministry of Household Affairs..." Lu Song could only pick up some topics that could make the emperor feel better. According to the full cooperation between Mr. Qiao, the imperial censor, and the general officer of the water transport, there was no shirking and blame-shifting in the past. They came to Linqing in one day, and the bandits were defeated in one blow. It can be called a great blessing for the emperor..."
"Lu Song, why are Li Sancai and Qiao Yingjia so compatible this time?" Zhang Shen asked slowly, rubbing his temples.
Restrictive laws are the regulations that have been established since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. The civil and military ministers are governed by each other. The six cabinet ministries are governed by the governor, the governor, the governor, the provincial governor, and the censor. These are all regulations. They are to prevent One family was the dominant one, and even the disputes between different families among the civil servants in the DPRK were actually a form of conflicting opinions.
It's just that there are gains and losses. Before sitting in this position, Zhang Shen still felt that the situation between the DPRK and the Central Government was very good, and his father could control the situation with ease. But when he sat in this position, he felt that the situation was very good. Understand that control is not that simple, and there is a price to pay for conflicting opinions.
