The salt official system of the Ming Dynasty set up salt envoy departments in important places. In addition to Lianghuai and Liangzhejiang, there were also Changlu, Hedong, Shandong, and Fujian. In border areas, there were salt transfer and promotion departments, a total of seven They are Guangdong, Haibei, Sichuan, and Yunnan. Among them, Yunnan has four salt class promotion departments.
The Salt Transportation Department and the Salt Class Lifting Department are in charge of different numbers of salt farms, batch laboratories and other yamen.
There are of course more complexities involved.
But generally speaking, the imperial court managed the national salt through this salt official system, and salt introduction also came from these institutions.
Now that the Lianghuai Salt Transport Department has discovered this kind of corruption, there is actually no need to investigate the other salt transport departments and salt class promotion departments. To have a good official is to find gold in the sand.
The Lianghuai Salt Farm was in such a state, it was a disgrace to the court.
The emperor was furious at Long Yan, but no matter how angry he was, he could not get rid of this yamen.
From the cabinet down, the six ministries, nine ministers and Ke Dao Yanguan were all shocked by this 'willful' move.
Zhu Houzhao flipped through several memorials, but they all talked a lot.
In particular, several old bureaucrats in the Ministry of Rites could not accept this kind of 'deviant'.
The emperor was originally listening to the arrangements for the imperial examinations in the fall, determining the chief and deputy examiners, and the candidates to worship the Confucius Temple on the emperor's behalf, etc. These were not practical in Zhu Houzhao's view, but in this era, some procedures still had to be followed.
We should not think that offering sacrifices to Confucius Temple is useless, so we should not send people there.
These are not bad. For example, Lin Shangshu didn’t talk too much because he had many contacts with the emperor.
Some old scholars from the Ministry of Rites gave him advice with great satisfaction, always calling him words like "ancestral system" and "turmoil".
Zhu Houzhao told them that his head hurt.
"The Salt Law of the Ming Dynasty has not changed at all from the Hongwu Dynasty to today. Can you say that the Salt Law of the Ming Dynasty is completely the same as that of the Hongwu Dynasty? Some outdated systems and necessary adjustments have been insisted on since I came to the throne. That’s the point. Whether the changes are good or bad does not depend on my words or your fierce speeches. The key lies in the effect of implementation. "
"You are all veterans of the imperial court, and you have been reading the books of saints for a long time. The people are the foundation of the country, and the foundation is the foundation of the country. I am not suitable to teach you at my age. Nowadays, the Lianghuai Transportation Department has become a corrupt organization. It is a hotbed, and the common people and kitchen households are all harmed by it. What is the use of keeping such a thing?"
Both ministers from the Ministry of Rites knelt before the emperor.
They have gray hair, heavy bags under their eyes, and look like an old man in appearance. According to the Jin Yiwei report, the two ministers Cao and Liu are not usually troublesome, but they are just seniors who rely on their reputation in the literary world or the protection of their relatives. , after all, I got a high-ranking official, so I can do normal things anyway.
"Your Majesty, I have something to say from the bottom of my heart, and I am going to write it down with all my blood."
Zhu Houzhao took a deep look at the thin old man with a long face and said, "Shilang Cao, if you have anything to say, say, although I have the reputation of being a strict king, if I was really a king who was guilty of words, the Ming Dynasty should have punished me long ago." ”
This was said with some complaint.
Many of the emperor's political measures were not understood, and he also imposed a series of orders and even killed people, which had some impact. Even the Jin Yiwei would report to Zhu Houzhao. Some dissatisfied officials often had "complaints about women" in private. Sometimes they were not respectful enough, which was really hateful.
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But Zhu Houzhao did not order a strict defense unless these people started to act openly and aboveboard. In fact, how can he have a completely good reputation after killing so many people? It's just that the emperor is indeed diligent and loves the people, so he also has ministers who agree with him.
So the current situation is that the emperor has grievances, and the ministers also have grievances. Minister Cao trembled, kowtowed his head, and asked sadly: "Your Majesty is proficient in the art of controlling ministers, but what about the art of controlling people?!"
Zhu Houzhao's eyebrows sank.
"What do you mean by this?"
"When the people are strong, the country is weak, and when the people are weak, the country is strong. The way to govern a country is to weaken the people first. In the pre-Qin period, there were five skills to control the people: foolish people, weak people, tired people, poor people, and humiliating the people. Your Majesty is merciful and loving to the people, and all ministers know it. , but there are good people and traitorous people in the world, and Your Majesty treats them all very well. As a result, the people are strong and the country is weak..."
"Servant Cao," Zhu Houzhao interrupted him directly, "the five skills of controlling the people were already the words of Lord Shang. Didn't you hear that Emperor Taizu said that the people are easy to bully, but the heaven is hard to bully? The poor people and humiliating the people you mentioned, Doesn’t it violate the ancestral system?”
The person named Cao still wants to talk.
But Zhu Houzhao stopped him. He could tell the five skills of controlling the people, which meant that many words could not be said together. If we continue to argue with each other, it will be meaningless.
In fact, from the perspective of rulers, oppressors, and exploiters, these five techniques cannot be said to be without some truth. It seems that the Qing Dynasty had the so-called thirty-three taels of silver policy.
That is to say, the average annual expenditure of an ordinary person is thirty-six taels of silver, and the court uses various methods to limit people's income to about thirty-three taels of silver.
You can't starve to death, you can't be strong, and there seems to be hope. Ordinary people can only be busy from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and the happiness and satisfaction in life are only the difference between 3 taels of silver. However, throughout their lives they are just camel Xiangzi, pulling a rickshaw all their life, and they all think that they are not working hard enough.
Later, the so-called Fangnu also had the same purpose but the same purpose.
In the current Ming Dynasty, all the people were busy running around to have enough food. Naturally, no one would think about whether the court had bullied them or whether the emperor was really the Son of Heaven. Corresponding rebellion activities could not be organized. Woke up.
But Zhu Houzhao did not agree with this technique of controlling the people.
There's no reason, I just don't agree. If there is one reason, it is such a court, he will rise up and overthrow it first.
"His Majesty!"
"Servant Cao," Zhu Houzhao also raised his voice a little more, and his tone became more and more severe, "I will listen to some of your advice. If I don't listen to some of your advice, don't hold on any longer. That's all I have to say. As for the Even if I understand your loyalty to Shang Yang's Five Techniques of Controlling the People, you don't have to mention it again in the future. Emperor Taizu was born at the end of Qingping. If he heard these Five Techniques of Controlling the People, I believe he would be furious. .”
The emperor did not listen to the advice of the officials of the Ministry of Rites.
This does not mean that all these civil servants have given up on the ideas they previously believed in.
A few days later, at the morning court meeting, some officials still went to the emperor to ask for the order to be withdrawn and the Lianghuai Transportation Department to be reestablished.
"His Majesty's Holy Spirit, civil and military, has inherited the mandate of heaven and won the hearts of the people. Since he came to the throne, things have been peaceful and the people are safe, and everything is happy. Ministers who listen to the people, so they consolidate the foundation of the country, and the responsibility of managing the people lies in nurturing materials and writing. I am the Ming Dynasty. , uphold Confucianism and Taoism, and uphold morality and reward merit. Although most of the officials who run the department are bribed, it is the fault of the person, not the fault of the department..."
Zhu Houzhao remembered watching some Ming Dynasty TV dramas in his previous life. The emperor sat on the dragon throne and just listened to the chatter of the ministers below. He has truly experienced it now, so he is more willing to handle government affairs in Qianqing Palace.
But no matter what, he had already made up his mind and that was what he would definitely do.
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I have something to do at the moment, so I will post a short chapter tonight.
