The emperor issued an imperial edict and promoted Wang Jia and Wang Jizhi to the cabinet, and then he deliberately kept a low profile and was not seen for a long time.
In fact, everyone in the outer court was anxious to find a way out, so they lined up to look for Wang Hao, which seemed to mean that fewer people were handing in notes to enter the palace.
Others didn't know it either, they just thought that the new words "company" and "shareholding" were all thought up by Meiji's boss. Originally, Mei Kejia had been in contact with Westerners overseas for several years, and he might have heard about it from those places.
These new words were combined with the traditional "Wanjin Account" of Shaanxi merchants, and a new account book was specially formulated for Meiji, which was renamed Ming Nanyang Company.
On the ledger, people were divided into many blocks from the perspective of shares.
An acre of good farmland in North Zhili costs 25 taels per acre. But that was before, and now the property has become a knife hanging over the head. Once someone is caught, the family may be destroyed.
So now the price is naturally falling again and again, to the point where there is one price in the morning and another price in the afternoon.
It wasn't that Zhu Houzhao wanted to cut their leeks, but that he wanted to be more efficient. How to be more efficient? The prices of things you have to sell decrease and the prices of things you have to buy increase. Most people cannot handle these two things. Unless you have strong judgment and determination, you will always be fooled.
Mei Kejia also boasted everywhere that in the third year of Zhengde, Haimao could let all the company's "shareholders" get 10 million taels of silver.
Yes, shareholders.
They are all new words that I have never heard before.
Of course, this doesn't matter, the key is how to get the money.
On March 22, the second year of Zhengde's reign, the first transaction was completed, involving two thousand acres of land, priced at thirty thousand taels of silver, and exchanged for three thousandths of a share of dry stock.
The person who did this 'business' was Cui Yuan, the Prince Consort, the commander-in-chief, who was Zhu Houzhao's uncle.
Princess Yongkang and Cui Yuan were both well-known people. According to the 'conventional practice' at this time, their two thousand acres of land was considered a small amount.
But from the perspective of ordinary people, two thousand acres of land is a huge fortune.
So while Wang Hao was presiding over this work, he felt that the emperor's note was really wonderful.
Also on March 22, the second year of Zhengde, the second transaction was made by Min Xiaoren, a doctor in the Qing Dynasty Department of Ceremony of the Ministry of Etiquette. He was from Zhuoxian County, and his hometown owned more than 8,000 acres of farmland. This seemed very problematic.
Wang Hao directly lowered the price when entering the account, erasing the fraction, and only priced it at 80,000 taels of silver, in exchange for eight thousandths of the dry stock.
Min Xiaoren was a short and fat man. He didn't dare to say anything after getting this result. He went home after feeling depressed.
He was really distressed when he was asked to sell so many good fields for less than ten taels of silver.
But what can be done?
Jinyiwei and Dongchang have already started arresting people in Wanping County.
The Shenwu Guards also asked Zhu Houzhao to carry them out. This team of more than 1,700 people had been training near the capital in the past few days. I also wandered around the capital a few times, not to mention the good guys, the bad guys were all shrinking their heads at this time.
Probably because land prices have fallen sharply.
By March 23, the British Duke, the leader of the ministers, finally couldn't hold it in any longer, but he took action and took out the land deeds for more than 110,000 acres!
So he can't just go to Wang Hao for this matter.
I have to go see the emperor.
Zhu Houzhao still met with him in order to keep this matter going and for the sake of the people. But the disappointment in the British father's heart was written on his face.
“There are no less than a hundred influential families like the British Dukes in Beijing. Although their land holdings are not as good as those of the British Dukes, they add up to a small amount. They do not pay even a cent of tax on these properties. On the contrary, the common people have no land to cultivate. But the taxes from the imperial court are all burdened on them. My throne is really sitting on fire.
If you, the Duke of the Kingdom, want to pass it on to several more generations, you should be grateful to me. Otherwise, the landless people in the world will kill the officials and rebel. If I cannot hold on to my country, I am afraid that the title of the Duke of you will be given to the next dynasty. Those who made the contribution to the founding of the country. "
Especially considering that he had previously said that he would donate 100 acres of land, Zhu Houzhao had completely denied this.
"I am a humble minister. I am ashamed. I have no shame in taking charge of the Central Military Governor's Mansion anymore. Please, Your Majesty, remove me from my position as a minister."
The old man fell to the ground. But Zhu Houzhao no longer believed that these people could really repent.
"How many children and grandchildren do you have?"
"Your Majesty, I have three sons and five grandchildren."
"Pick two people to go out to sea with the caravan on Nanyang Company's ship."
The British Duke instantly lost his composure, "Your Majesty! Please calm down. Overseas barbarians..."
"Your Majesty, I am already magnanimous." Zhu Houzhao looked slightly impatient.
Of course, going to sea is life-threatening, so what should we do? It is an established policy to transfer the interests of honorable ministers and clan members overseas.
Moreover, he did not have the idea that the children of ordinary people could die, but the children of the Duke of Guo could not die.
The Englishman did not dare to say any more words.
The emperor didn't want to see him at all.
The reason why he was not killed was simply because killing him would hinder the overall situation and cause more losses.
As for taking charge of the Central Military Governor's Mansion, he will never have this opportunity again in the future.
On March 26, the second year of Zhengde, another major event happened in Beijing.
Dongchang did not go through the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, but directly broke into the door and captured Guan Ting, the young minister of Taichang Temple.
When asked about it, they only said that he was involved in the Zhuangtian case.
Now arresting people in the Zhuangtian case is authorized by the imperial power.
That day, more dignitaries and officials at all levels came to Mei Kejia with their land deeds. This ten thousand gold account is one page at a time, and within a few days it will be three palms thick.
In fact, there are many words in the world that are meant to scare people. If the world is going to be chaotic, why is it chaotic? The emperor surrounded three and one was missing, but didn't he drive them all into this corner?
Some people are timid and have never thought of rebelling for this reason. The remaining people cannot gather the strength when the people's hearts are unstable, so there is nothing to do. Moreover, the imperial court is already mobilizing people from the academy and the Imperial College to support states and counties. To assist in allocating the fields, people from the city and the countryside came and went from Jinyiwei and Dongchang.
For the first time, the common people helped the government. At this juncture, why should we kill officials or rebel? Which family is not waiting for the division of land, but will follow you to do such unreliable things?
Despite this, Zhu Houzhao also paid more attention to military affairs and announced the twenty-four commanders of Shangzhi's personal guards to the palace in three batches.
There are also people occupying fields here. Anyway, this is the custom when it comes to being an official these days.
Zhu Houzhao didn't treat them differently. The courtiers in the outer court and the group of idle ministers could exchange their fields for shares. Of course, his direct personal guards and commanders could even more so!
Not only is it possible, but the land price will not be reduced, it will be at a unit price of thirty-two yuan.
As an emperor, he can't just praise people without giving them money.
This is true from the command down to the generals and generals in the bodyguard.
This is different from the cabinet.
In this way, the palace was very happy and happy.
The emperor took these young commanders to shoot arrows and perform martial arts in the palace, gave them royal meals, sat down with them to talk, and told them stories about Huo Qubing drinking from Ma Hanhai to express his ambitions and inspire their ambitions to make achievements.
emperor,
In the hearts of many people, it is still an incredible and untouchable existence.
Being able to gain the emperor's trust and follow the emperor is such a promising thing.
With these actions, the palace and the imperial city are like iron barrels.
To put it bluntly, if there is a new emperor, whether these people can be so respected by the new emperor is another matter.
On the 27th, Jin Gui's memorial came up.
Should those squires in Wanping County be killed or not?
There is almost no doubt about this, that is, the cabinet votes all agree to kill him. If he does not kill him, the matter will not be done this time.
…
"Jizhi, how's it going?"
Li Dongyang came over tremblingly.
Wang Hao put the brush on the pen holder, stood up and greeted him, saying, "I remember too much. There are more than 800,000 acres of land. It is impossible to clear all of it before spring plowing this year."
"Anyway, it's quite effective."
"Yes. Although there may actually be more than two million acres that cannot be divided, not all fields have problems."
Li Dongyang pondered. He had recently developed two more age spots, which made him look even more aged. "We must divide it up. We must catch up with autumn planting before spring plowing. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and His Majesty has already done the most difficult thing."
"Students in the Academy and the Imperial College have already mobilized. I just asked Shuhou (Liang Chuzi) yesterday that there have been many Jinshis lining up in the Ministry of Civil Affairs over the years waiting to be conferred. At the end of the first year of Zhengde, there were dozens of Jinshi who had not yet been conferred. , there are about 250 people in total. Including the 600 people from the Academy and the Imperial College, I am going to send all of these 800 people."
These people were all literate, so it was not difficult for them to register, explain court policies, and grasp the key points of land distribution.
"Should I report this to His Majesty?"
"I'll hand over the note in a moment."
If more than 800 people can do this, then on average each person will be allocated 1,000 acres of land. If one person has 3 acres of land, then 333 people will have to share the land. If 10 people are allocated a day, it will take more than a month.
This does not include the travel time from one piece of land to another, and the fact that more than 800,000 acres is not the final figure, this will still increase. In addition, only one Jinshi cannot divide the land, and he must be equipped with various auxiliary personnel.
There will also be various unexpected events during the process, such as rain, etc. The level of organization is still very low these days...
All in all, we can do this within four to five months.
Therefore, we had to apply for special money and food to pay these more than 800 people.
When Wang Hao arrived at Qianqing Palace, Han Ziren, the deputy envoy of Jin Yiwei, happened to be there.
The emperor held a memorial in his hand and said without hesitation: "The Duke of Baoguo Zhu Hui refused to hand over the land. The Jinyiwei Internal Guard found out that he occupied more than 80,000 acres of land inside and outside the capital. I sometimes I don’t understand, why do you always have to give me questions?”
"Baoguo Gong?"
Wang Hao also met him a few times, but he was not impressed by him, and his involvement in government affairs was very limited.
Then he looked at the deputy envoy of Jin Yiwei standing next to him. He seemed to understand something, "Your Majesty, do you need me to go find him again?"
With a snap, Zhu Houzhao threw the memorial on the imperial desk and said, "No, sir, he is already a cabinet minister and has many things to do. There is no need to spend time trying to persuade such a person."
Duke Baoguo had no foundation in the court. As a powerful emperor with civil servants, military generals, and confidants in the capital and borders, it was more than enough to deal with him.
(End of chapter)
