After hearing this, Zhu Di pondered for a moment, and then said slowly: "Guo Qing, do you know that my father has issued a decree that strictly stipulates that the four people must abide by their own profession... and if there is someone who does not farm and only works as an author, then If they are regarded as refugees, they will be arrested.”
Guo An sighed softly in his heart. This was the last thing he wanted to face, but he had to face it.
Lao Zhu's household registration system is really too strict.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is wise, and we must abide by His Majesty's will.
However, if those farmers can still have some work and earn more money after planting their fields, this will be a great blessing.
If His Majesty blames it, His Majesty will understand it if he explains it carefully. "
Zhu Di nodded slightly, "Father will definitely understand this matter."
Guo An said thoughtfully: "Then His Highness is worried that the gentry will cause trouble in order to maintain their status?"
"Um!"
Zhu Di looked at Guo An and said slowly, "We just discovered today that all Guo Qing's actions in the past few years are to prepare for improving the status of craftsmen and merchants!"
Guo An was startled and said: "Your Highness is wise.
However, Weichen is not dedicated to improving their status.
Wei Chen directly felt that if he wanted the horse to run fast, he had to feed the horse grass.
Craftsmen and merchants are of great benefit to the country and cannot be suppressed all the time.
If their status is slightly higher, the country can develop faster and better. "
Zhu Di said solemnly: "Guo Qing is not afraid that if this word gets out, he will be suppressed and abused by the scholars and officials all over the world?"
Guo An smiled and said: "May I ask Your Highness, is the farm's good rice good? Is the cement effective? Is the grenade bomb effective? Is the transparent glass effective?"
"It's easy to use!"
Zhu Di nodded slightly, "However, in the eyes of those wealthy scholars, these objects are far less important than their status."
Guo Andao: "Your Highness, I would like to ask you if these items are easy to use?"
Zhu Di frowned slightly, "Each of these objects is extremely important to us."
"
That’s right! "
Guo An smiled softly, "Then in His Highness's heart, which one is more important, those aristocratic families or these objects?"
Zhu Di was stunned for a moment, and then pointed directly at Guo An, laughing and scolding: "What a thief Guo!
Don't worry, if any aristocratic family dares to cause trouble for you, we will destroy them directly. "
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Guo An bowed gratefully, and then said: "However, please rest assured, Your Highness, I am just giving it a try first to see if there are any gentry from Beiping Mansion who want to start doing business with Prince Yan's Mansion.
However, I didn’t expect there to be several more.
In this way, Wei Chen felt relieved.
Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. As long as there is a gentry family that can accept the idea of a humble minister, there will be more gentry families..."
"Guo Qing wants to moisturize things quietly and slowly assimilate those gentry?"
"Your Highness is wrong. The minister is just using Prince Yan's Mansion as an example to set an example for the gentry and small clans."
"It's just that the root of this matter still lies with my father. My father valued the gentry more than merchants and craftsmen."
"Your Majesty, it's just that your Majesty didn't see how much contribution craftsmen and merchants could make to the Ming Dynasty.
If Your Majesty really despises craftsmen, there will be no Tao Wanhu, nor will there be the eighth-grade Di Gonglang such as Guo Bingyong and Guo Zhi. "
"In this way, Guo Qing can do whatever he wants. Our Prince Yan's Mansion is entrenched in Beiping. There are no big gentry families in Beiping Mansion, and we are not afraid of any big gentry family."
"Thank you for your trust, Your Highness."
…
Return to Prince Yan’s Mansion.
Zhu Di then summoned He Zhong, the general manager of the house, Gong Zhengxu Yun, Chang Shisi and other officials.
In fact, the biggest manager of all the caravans in Prince Yan's house now is He Zhong.
Most of the people who keep accounts are scribes in the Department of History.
This combination of accountant and cashier does not lead to any big corruption.
However, cases like Sun Chengdu's case of defrauding corrupt farmers are still unavoidable.
When everyone saw Zhu Di with a livid face, their hearts sank subconsciously.
Immediately afterwards, when he saw Sun Chengdu kneeling on the ground with a scared face and a bruised nose and face, his expression suddenly changed slightly.
"I am here to meet you, Your Highness!"
"Meet your Highness, little man!"
"snort!"
Zhu Di looked at He Zhong and Chang Shisi and the other scribes, and asked coldly.
"Do you know this person?"
A clerk quickly replied: "Reporting to Your Highness, this matter is about the caravan manager who went to the villages below Wanping County to purchase various goods, Sun Chengdu!"
"Where are this person's account books?"
"Go back to your highness, the Changshi Division!"
"Take it quickly!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
As the clerk ran out quickly, Sun Chengdu collapsed to the ground, his eyes full of despair.
Soon, the scribe came in holding two account books.
"Your Highness, these account books are from Sun Chengdu's purchase of various goods in Wanping County this year."
Zhu Di gestured to Guo An on the side: "Guo Qing, give us a good review."
"Follow the order!"
The scribe quickly handed the account book to Guo An.
Guo An was not interested in reviewing the two account books one finger thick and turned directly to the last few pages.
Sure enough, all the crushed peppers and pepper seeds were collected according to Yiguanqian and Siguanqian.
"Your Highness, Sun Chengdu has collected more than 400 kilograms of crushed peppers and 16 kilograms of pepper seeds in the past few days.
The purchase price of these crushed peppers is one yuan per catty, and the pepper seeds are four yuan. "
"Heart-rotten bitch!"
Zhu Di cursed angrily at Sun Chengdu who was standing aside, and asked, "Guo Qing, can you calculate how much money this black-hearted thief has embezzled based on today's prices in the village?"
"this……"
Guo An quickly started doing mental calculations.
Around him, He Zhong and all the scribes looked shocked and angry. How dare this bitch Sun Chengdu be greedy for ink? And they didn't even notice it!
After a moment, Guo An bowed his hands towards Zhu Di and said, "Reporting to Your Highness, this person has spent almost ninety dollars in purchasing chili peppers in the past few days!"
"Ninety Guan?"
Zhu Di was immediately furious.
He Zhong and all the scribes even widened their eyes with disbelief.
Just over 400 kilograms of chili peppers, plus 16 kilograms of chili pepper seeds. The total cost is only 470 guan, which is 20% over.
As for Sun Chengdu, he struggled quickly and argued with dissatisfaction: "Your Highness, the villain took money from those farmers, and he definitely did not corrupt a penny from Mo Mansion!"
Zhu Di angrily scolded: "You, a black-hearted thief, still dare to quibble?"
Sun Chengdu cried out that he was wronged, "Your Highness Mingjian, those goods were bought by villains at low prices, but the villains handed them over at the price of the house. This is not considered as greed for money from Mo's house. It can only be regarded as collecting the money given to those farmers." Errand fees.
Because the original purchase price of the house was just that much!
If the villain was really greedy for the family's money, how could he not notice it based on the shrewdness of several scribes and the general manager? "
Zhu Di was startled. According to what this guy said, it seemed that he was not greedy for the money of Mo Mansion.
"You still dare to quibble, Guo Qing said you are greedy..."
"..."
Guo An was speechless.
However, looking at Sun Chengdu's dissatisfied look, Guo An still said: "When you purchased these peppers, you used the name of Prince Yan's Palace and also used the money of Prince Yan's Palace.
Then, the price at which Prince Yan's Mansion purchases these peppers must also be the price you purchase from the farmers.
However, you received the salary from Prince Yan's Mansion, and also used the name and money of Prince Yan's Mansion to harm the farmer and ruin the reputation of Prince Yan's Mansion.
After you harmed those farmers, you actually came to deceive Mr. He and these scribes again!
Isn’t this considered greedy for ink? "
"Hmph, according to my opinion, what you did is even more abominable than greedy His Highness Mo's money!"
Sun Chengdu suddenly turned pale.
A clerk directly cursed: "What Guo Changshi said is absolutely true. Thief Sun not only covets the property of Prince Mo Yan's palace, but also steals and harms the people of the same town. He is a wolf-hearted dog, worse than a hog and a dog..."
"Thief Sun, I didn't expect you to be such a beast. For such a small amount of money, you would even harm the folks in the village. How dare everyone trust you so much!"
"If this matter gets out, not only will you be scolded to death by the people in the village, but your entire Sun family will be unable to hold their heads high in Wanping County..."
It was not necessary for Guo An, He Zhong and others to curse loudly, just those few scribes were enough to scold He Zhong to the point where he couldn't hold his head up and his face was filled with fear.
In this age of powerful clan villages, Sun Chengdu could imagine what would happen to him if word of this incident spread!
"This villain has made such a big mistake and has no face to face all the elders. He should die to apologize!"
With a loud shout, Sun Chengdu looked fierce and hit the big pillar on the side.
Guo An looked shocked, why do these people like to commit suicide by hitting their heads against pillars?
However, Li Wang, who had been standing by Sun Chengdu's side, kicked Sun Chengdu directly before he hit the big pillar, sending Sun Chengdu flying far away.
After pressing Sun Chengdu under him, Li Wang said with disdain: "You have made such a big mistake, don't pay back the money, don't accept His Highness's punishment, and want to die? How can there be such a good thing to make it easy for you?"
Sun Chengdu closed his eyes in despair.
As for the scribes on the side, a trace of disappointment flashed in their eyes.
They and Sun Chengdu were all fellow villagers. Since Sun Chengdu made such a big mistake, they naturally hoped that Sun Chengdu could die.
In this way, their Wanping County's reputation can be better.
On the side, Guo An quickly suggested with sincerity: "Sun Chengdu, and all of you, no matter who makes a big mistake in the future, please don't keep thinking about committing suicide by hitting the pillar.
You have already caused losses to Prince Yan's Mansion, so please don't continue to damage the pillars of the main hall of Prince Yan's Mansion.
It doesn't matter if your head blossoms, but if you pollute the pillar or crack it, who will compensate for the loss? "
"If you really want to commit suicide, you can wait until you are imprisoned and bang your head against the wall of the cell, or you can go on a hunger strike or take poison...
But please don’t damage other objects. Prince Yan’s Mansion did not harm you, but you are harming Prince Yan’s Mansion..."
Around them, Zhu Di, He Zhong, and all the scribes all looked strange.
Guo Changshi, are you speaking in human language?
However, what surprised Zhu Di, He Zhong and others was that Sun Chengdu responded very sincerely: "Thank you Guo Changshi for your teaching!"
"It's good to know!"
Guo An nodded slightly and said, "However, this guy made such a big mistake. Although the crime may not lead to death, he must not be forgiven lightly.
According to the wishes of this official, anyone who is corrupt in ink must take back the money he or she has spent in ink, and be fined twice as much.
If the family does not have that much money and no one is willing to pay the fine to you, their home and land will be confiscated, and their descendants will not be able to enjoy the benefits of the Yan Palace for three generations.
If you are exiled to Goryeo again, your punishment will be complete when the debt is paid off! "
…
(End of chapter)
