"Your Majesty! Those two ungrateful people dare to chew their tongues in the palace. I will cut off their tongues now!"
The emperor no longer walked as slowly as before, but now he was rushing all the way to Qianqing Palace with the wind.
As for what happened in the back garden just now, he didn't say or do anything, let alone reveal his identity in front of the eunuch in charge of the Shangshan Supervisor.
People who don't know the emperor think it's no big deal, and it's as if they didn't hear anything.
But Liu Jin knew that not only was something going on, but it was also serious!
"No one is allowed!"
When the emperor heard what he said, he turned around and said fiercely, "If what the chief eunuch said is the truth, why should he cut out someone's tongue? If what he says is not the truth, then there must be something inside. If you cut out his tongue, he will still How to explain?"
"Then..." Liu Jin thought again, "Then I'll find someone to capture him first and keep him under strict supervision!"
The old eunuch was panicking!
He is the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, and after all, it is his responsibility to take care of all the people who have no roots in the palace. It is not known how big the storm is now, so he is naturally worried!
Zhu Houzhao frowned tightly.
In fact, he is not worried about these troubles in the palace. Tens of thousands of eunuchs are gathered here. There are many complicated and bad people in the world, and he does not expect these people to be honest people.
But Gu Zuo was different. He put a lot of hope into Gu Zuo.
In fact, as an emperor, when encountering such an official, it is difficult not to put hope in him. If such a talent is not reused, I really don't know who else should be reused.
Can……
Similar things have happened many times in history.
Just like Emperor Yongzheng, he liked Nian Gengyao so much at first, but later tortured him to the point of death.
"Liu Jin, you are the eunuch in charge of the Ceremony Supervisor. I know that everyone in the palace and outside the palace must give you face. You may know more than me. I won't mention anything else now. Tell me the truth. As far as you know, what kind of person is Gu Liqing in private? Do you believe he is greedy? "
Liu Jin knelt down with a pop.
The so-called companionship of the king is like companionship of the tiger, which is similar to these questions. If the answer is incorrect, the head will be in a different place!
"Your Majesty, I serve Your Majesty wholeheartedly and have no other thoughts. I have very little contact with foreign ministers. Furthermore, the literati in the outer court are arrogant and arrogant, and they themselves look down on this rootless person. Apart from Your Majesty, I have no other thoughts in my heart. Don’t think about anyone else!”
Zhu Houzhao looked a little impatient, "I'm not asking you to show your loyalty, I'm asking you whether you believe that Gu Liqing is greedy!"
"This..." Liu Jin's mind was racing, "Knowing people but not knowing the heart, I can't say whether Shilang Gu is greedy or not. However, I heard that in private, Shilang Gu has an excellent official reputation and is definitely not a coward. Greedy official. If...if His Majesty is really doubtful, I can call those two people here and ask them to explain everything exactly."
Zhu Houzhao was still impetuous, so he rejected the proposal, "I think this matter is a bit strange. And I haven't thought about it clearly yet. It's not appropriate to make a decision at this time, so I won't care about them for now. You can't scare the snake away, wait until I think about it." .”
"My slave obeys the order." Liu Jin's heart was still trembling.
For an emperor, when he is confused and angry, he does not make decisions easily. This is his habit.
So he went back to Qianqing Palace to lie down quietly.
There have been a lot of things going on recently. Zhou Yanzhang doesn’t know if he can win the battle, and the salt law needs to be changed...
He is a soul from later generations and has reached this level in this era. In fact, he has no control over many things. The road ahead was vast, and no one could give him similar experience, and the resistance to reform was huge. When he himself had doubts about whether the path was right, he only relied on the belief that "never give up halfway."
Of course, his desire to restore the prosperity of the Central Plains Dynasty has never changed.
No matter how many people he wants to kill on this road.
At a certain moment, he thought again, no matter what, he was still the emperor after all. In the feudal era, the emperor had the power of life and death, and was the person who stood at the top of the world.
Yes, he is the emperor, and he should not be the one who is depressed. According to his own ideas, to strengthen a country, he should be the one to do such exciting things!
And returning to this incident,
After all, Gu Liqing has two possibilities: being greedy or not being greedy.
If you are not greedy, nothing will happen naturally.
If you are greedy, you will be punished.
Whatever, the world belongs to him, not Gu Liqing. In the past, everything was fine without this person, so what?
And he estimated that the sudden news in the palace was very likely to be true.
But...if it is false, what kind of logic is there?
Thinking of this, Zhu Houzhao's eyes suddenly widened: There is indeed one.
Gu Liqing will definitely offend a lot of people this time because of the Salt Law, and naturally some of the people he offends will try their best to kill him.
If there is such a motive, then it is not surprising that anything will be done.
But these are all his guesses. In any case, the possibility that the eunuch dares to speak nonsense is smaller, so the possibility of him being greedy is still higher. But the possibility of Gu Zuo being framed is not zero.
As the emperor, he holds great power, and this power should sometimes be used with caution.
"Someone is coming."
There are sounds in the house,
Liu Jin hurriedly came closer and said, "Your Majesty, my servant is here."
After some careful thinking and calmness, Zhu Houzhao had returned to his original appearance at this time.
There is something he wants the Supervisor of Ceremonies to do...
But...Liu Jin is actually not honest. At this particularly critical time, he has some doubts about this person.
So I temporarily changed my mind and said, "Go and call You Zhi."
"yes."
Liu Jin grumbled in his heart, but he was not sure whether the emperor's anger had subsided, so he didn't dare to say any unnecessary words at this point.
】
You Zhi also moved quickly and didn't dare to delay even a moment.
After arriving, according to the decree, no one else could enter except him, and no one could even approach him.
"Your Majesty, you are here to see me!"
Zhu Houzhao dragged his long clothes and stepped down from the dragon chair, "The eunuch in charge of the Shangshang Supervisor in the palace... you should get to know this person secretly, and remember not to let him notice. It is best to put someone next to him. See who he comes in contact with on a daily basis and whether he has any connections with the outer court. If necessary, as the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch in charge of rituals, you can also arrange for him to leave the palace without anyone noticing."
You Zhi listened carefully, "Your Majesty, do you need Eunuch Liu to know about this matter?"
"If I want him to know, what should I do with you?"
"I understand. I will make arrangements now."
Zhu Houzhao's idea was that if what the eunuch in charge said was true, then Gu Zuo could be arrested. If what he said was false, Gu Zuo could also be arrested.
Catch him... and see how the eunuchs in the palace will react, and whether they are colluding with anyone outside.
In fact, a few days ago, the memorial in Korean was also a bit strange, which may be related to this matter.
Anyway, everything is unusual now, which gives Zhu Houzhao a somewhat ominous premonition.
…
…
Yangzhou,
What Gu Zuo received was a letter from the Supervisor of Ceremonies, ordering him to return to Beijing.
That's not bad.
The main reason was that Liu Da and Liu Er, whom he had sent out before, had not returned yet, so he had to wait one more day.
After Liu Da and Liu Er came back, they went straight to report the situation to him.
Liu Da said: "The two of us checked along the way and found that nowadays there are very few regular salts among the people, at most 30%, and the proliferation of illegal salts is unstoppable. Some salt merchants passed down from their ancestors clearly have several generations of experience, but because of the salt in their hands It was difficult to pay for the salt and went bankrupt. According to them, "
"Originally, the imperial court stipulated that adults of fourth rank and above, as well as noble families such as kings, dukes, and earls, were not allowed to receive salt citations. However, since the orthodoxy, this rule has gradually become ineffective. There are a hundred ways for adults and nobles to obtain salt citations. Moreover, they are afraid of hard work and refuse to go through all the hard work to do business. They just want to sell salt to ordinary people at high prices, so that they can make a lot of money."
"Furthermore, the price of the salt sold by noble people is also different. If someone with enough energy comes forward and goes to the salt field to support the salt as soon as possible, the price of the salt will be higher. If the grade is lower, the price of the salt will naturally be lower. So every day A successful salt merchant has nobles from the imperial court behind him."
Liu Er continued, "Most of the officials in the salt transport department set up by the imperial court were not good people. After the imperial court recognized the existence of 'surplus salt', some officials would use rice and wheat to purchase 'surplus salt' in the early years, and then resell it to holders." A salt merchant in Yanyin; later, the rice and wheat reserves were insufficient, and no one wanted to use the Ming Dynasty treasures. The exemption from tax and service enjoyed by Zao households was in name only. There were regulations by the Secretary, and only Zao households were allowed to pay silver in lieu of salt."
"But Zao households were already short of food and clothing. How could they have any money to pay for taxes and servitude? They had no choice but to sell the salt they produced privately to private salt dealers in exchange for the money they needed to live, and part of it was The money was handed over to the boss, and it was difficult to survive. Even so, many Zao households were destroyed and their families were destroyed, and Zao households fled from time to time."
The more Gu Zuo listened, the angrier he became. Speaking of which, the salt class in the imperial court had become a place with no rules at all. People at high and low levels focused on the small amount of money from salt classes. Everyone decided the amount of income based on their own power. In the end, the salt classes in the court became less and less.
People with greater power live a more prosperous life, while ordinary kitchen households have been oppressed to the point of having to flee in order to survive.
boom!
Gu Zuo couldn't help but slam the table, "The dignitaries and officials are asking for excessive amounts. The salt policy is so corrupt. If we don't rectify it, our Ming Dynasty will be destroyed!"
I think back then, when Taizu and Emperor Taizong opened the Salt Law, it was such a good system. However, after more than a hundred years, it has completely changed. The internal order has been completely lost. It is basically done whatever you want.
Now that the Ming Dynasty is about to revive, what else can we call ZTE with such a salt law?
"Let's go back to Beijing!"
Gu Zuo made up his mind. Even if he was shattered to pieces this time, he would report the matter clearly to the emperor!
