"Cui Ming, this mission is a bit dangerous!"
"Mr. Ge, just say it and make sure it's completed!"
Looking at Cui Ming who was patting his chest in assurance, Yuan Keli was silent for a moment: "Cui Ming, you lead a few skilled guards to follow the rebels' retreat and check out the rebels' situation."
"no!"
Cui Ming became anxious when he heard this: "Mr. Ge, it's not that I'm afraid of death. I'm ordered to protect you. If I leave, what will you do?"
"What are you afraid of?"
Yuan Keli's face darkened: "It's not like you have taken away all the royal guards. Besides, in Baishui City, are you still worried that something will happen to me?"
"If we wait two days for the army to arrive before we go to spy on the news, it will be too late. Now, while the traces are still there, bite them."
"You don't want to see the people's uprising team suddenly attack again, causing the death of soldiers and civilians!"
Cui Ming was silent, feeling very entangled in his heart.
His mission is to protect Yuan Keli, but the mission assigned by Yuan Keli is also extremely important. He still understands that the opportunity must not be missed before it comes again.
After hesitating for a while, Cui Ming nodded heavily.
After some arrangements, Cui Ming left.
With Yuan Keli in charge, the entire disaster relief work was carried out in an orderly manner.
Two thousand miles away in Beijing, Chongzhen also received the first letter sent back by Yuan Keli. Looking at the contents of the letter, Chongzhen slammed the table.
"Okay! Killing is good, but cutting them down would be too advantageous for them. If it were me, I would have delayed them!"
Wang Chengen, who was waiting on the side, was frightened, and then he heard Chongzhen's words: "My dear friend, Sun Chengzong and Li Guopu have come to see me!"
"In addition, go to the clan's mansion to get the jade certificates from the princes and princes, and count the number of people in the clan."
In just a quarter of an hour, Sun Chengzong and Li Guopu, who were handling official business in the cabinet, hurried over.
Seeing Chongzhen's livid face, their hearts suddenly sank.
Without waiting for the two to salute, Chongzhen handed the letter over: "Dear dear friends, this is the letter Yuan Keli sent back urgently from six hundred miles away from Shaanxi. Take a look at it!"
With doubts, the two people gathered together and quickly scanned the contents of the letter.
The more they looked at each other, the heavier their hearts became. In the end, their eyes were full of solemnity.
There are three things in the letter. The first is that Mengyuan disaster victims colluded with government officials and businessmen to resell grain depots. Wei Zhongxian's power turned out to be behind it.
Second, Yuan Keli suspected that the Qin Palace had done something disgraceful during the drought in Shaanxi, and requested that a group of tribute students be transferred from the Imperial Academy to Shaanxi to fill the vacancies in various counties in Shaanxi.
Third, taking Tongguan Station as a typical example, it describes the problems of the station along the way from Suizhou to Shaanxi, and puts forward some suggestions;
"Your Majesty, Wei Zhongxian..."
"There's nothing wrong with him, just speed up the cleanup!"
Chongzhen waved his hand. Wei Zhongxian and the remaining prisoners in Beijing were all dead. The rest were nothing, they were just a long way away, otherwise they would have been killed long ago.
"Do you two have any ideas about the inn?"
Sun Chengzong said: "Your Majesty, some time ago you asked the Ministry of War to thoroughly investigate the affairs of the post station. I have also followed up after taking over the cabinet. The specific results will take time.
The ultimate causes of the problems such as the destruction of post facilities, defection of post workers, and poor sanitation mentioned in Mr. Yuan Ge's letter were corruption and lack of money. "
Is not this nonsensical? Chongzhen complained secretly, and then said: "Do you think it is feasible to turn the post station into an inn and open it to the common people and officials to pay for themselves?"
Sun Chengzong and Li Guopu were stunned. The emperor's proposal was too bold.
From the time the inn appeared until now, they have never heard of or seen any records in books about it being open to the common people.
"Your Majesty, many officials are unwilling to stay in inns when traveling now because the food and hygiene are poor. Officials can pay for themselves at their own expense. It's just that inns are mostly used for military and state affairs. It seems a bit inappropriate if they are opened to the common people!"
"What's wrong?"
Chongzhen asked in return: "Take the Tongguan Inn mentioned in Yuan Aiqing's letter as an example. There are 120 guest rooms. How many people can live there in normal times?
I'm afraid that more than half of it is empty every day. Instead of leaving it empty, it would be better to open it to the people and collect silver coins, so that the post station can be self-sufficient and profitable. With money, the post soldiers will not defect and can maintain the post station.
At the beginning, it may not be used nationwide. Choose a route to try it first. If it works, then promote it nationwide. If it doesn't work, think of another way. "
"Of course, you need to plan how many rooms to open, how to open them, and how not to affect the normal functions of the inn. This matter has been decided. I will give you half a month to refine it."
Chongzhen gave them no room to object and made the decision directly.
Seeing that the emperor had made up his mind, the two of them could no longer object.
In Chongzhen's view, it was simply too wasteful for the post station to just transmit information and so on. It was completely unreasonable not to mention that the existing transportation network could not make any money, but it was still losing money.
Now he is just trying to open it to the common people. When he matures, he will build the post station into a three-way connection for future generations.
In an industry monopolized by the imperial court, if it is operated well, money will flow in.
"Alright, let's talk about what Yuan Aiqing mentioned that Prince Qin's palace may have done some disgraceful things. What do you two think about this?"
The two of them were shocked and finally mentioned this matter.
But this matter is the royal family’s own business. What do the two outsiders say?
Whether it is according to Ming law or according to the clan's regulations, if the Qin Palace really does these things, it will be a serious crime.
"Forget it, go and get busy!"
Seeing that the two were silent, Chongzhen waved his hand, saying that it was a bit difficult for the two cabinet ministers to participate in royal affairs.
"Go to the Imperial College and the Ministry of Civil Affairs to check to see who are the candidates. Pick 100 first and have them go to Shaanxi immediately to report to Yuan Aiqing. Keep as many as you can and treat the rest as studying."
Sun Chengzong and Li Guopu breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this, saluted and left.
In Dongnuan Pavilion, Chongzhen was pacing slowly with Yuan Keli's letter, his brows furrowed, the clan affairs were difficult to deal with.
But there was a feeling of surprise in his heart. He was still worried about how to reform the clan, but this happened. It was as if someone gave him a pillow when he fell asleep.
"Your Majesty, according to the statistics, as of now, there are 30 princes and 224 county princes, and the number of clan members is more than 200,000."
After listening to Wang Chengen's report, Chongzhen let out a long sigh and lamented the fertility of Lao Zhu's family.
After Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang conquered the world, he didn't want his descendants to have a less miserable life, so he came up with a system of "one son inherits the throne, and the remaining sons are demoted". The emperor's sons are all crowned princes, and the prince's sons are county princes...
What’s even more frightening is that even if the prince gives birth to 50 or 100 children, they will all be hereditary and will not become county kings. If they give birth to children, they will have a salary, so why not give birth to them?
Forget about the title, there are also salaries, the prince's annual salary is 10,000 dan, the prince's annual salary is 2,000 dan... the worst lieutenant of Fengguo has 200 dan, all of which require national financial expenditure.
Comparison of Ming Dynasty clan fees and other expenses
In addition to titles and salaries, when a prince is granted a title, he will also be rewarded with a large area of land. Wanli gave King Fu 20,000 hectares of land at one time. If there was not enough good land in Henan, he would go to Huguang and Shandong to capture the best farmland.
King Jing, King Lu, King Gui, King Hui, and King Rui each had more than 30,000 hectares of farmland. What an exaggeration.
There were a total of 67 princes in the Ming Dynasty. Not all princes could be rewarded with 30,000 hectares, but 10,000 hectares per capita was not a big problem, which converted to 670,000 hectares.
This is still just a reward. After the princes arrived in the fiefdom, they colluded with the government to seize the people's fertile land. It is estimated that there are three to four hundred thousand hectares, and the total is more than one million hectares.
"If the Qin Palace is also involved, should we kill him or not?"
