Xu Wenbi reminded that Zhang Juzheng also believed that the preparations for the Xishan Coal Bureau would never go smoothly. As expected, soon, an intensive and rapid offensive began, again starting from Wang Chonggu.
The impeachment of Wang Chonggu became more intensive, and the focus of the impeachment changed from Wang Chonggu's intimidation of the emperor and his violation of the emperor's authority to the impeachment of Wang Chonggu's ineffectiveness in doing things.
The Emperor of Ming Dynasty specifically approved not to pursue the perpetrators who overstepped the authority of the emperor. If the perpetrators were not investigated, it would be redundant to impeach the officials. Moreover, Wang Chonggu had recently become a member of the surrender faction. He surrendered to the emperor and closely followed Zhang Juzheng. Step by step to gather profits.
The impeachment of Wang Chonggu's incompetence mainly focused on the cutting of corners at the Dalongxing Temple pagoda supervised by Wang Chonggu.
At the beginning of November, businessman Zhao Deyi reported that the pagoda was cut corners in the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen. The courtiers were in an uproar, and there were more and more doubts.
Ge Shouli and Hai Rui requested an audience at the Wenhua Palace. Zhu Yijun met with the two presidents and read their memorials requesting inspection.
"Does this matter need to be investigated?" Zhu Yijun looked at the two presidents and asked with frowning eyebrows. The little emperor knew exactly that he couldn't investigate everything. If something was found in this investigation, wouldn't something happen? ?
Wang Chonggu fell at this time, and the supervisors of the Woolen Official Factory had to be replaced. The supervisors of the palace, the Royal Gemological Garden, and the pagoda also had to be replaced. The preparations for the establishment of the Xishan Coal Bureau were just a mirror.
After his fall, it will take at least half a year for the court to continue implementing these projects, and it is difficult to say that it will be as smooth as it is now.
Apart from anything else, the construction of the palace will definitely not be able to keep up with the emperor's wedding.
"Your Majesty, the current public opinion is too strong, and there are frequent discussions between North Korea and China. If there is no inspection, it may be difficult to convince the public." Hai Rui exhaled a filthy breath and bowed his head.
The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty used national funds to build a pagoda to repay Empress Dowager Li's lack of power. This matter was unanimously recognized by the court. It was a common understanding of the Ming and Qing dynasties that the harem was not allowed to interfere in politics. , maintained their inertia on this matter, proclaimed power in front of the court and listened to politics behind the curtain. Only in the late Qing Dynasty did Cixi appear.
Empress Dowager Li moved into the Qianqing Palace in the sixth year of Longqing's reign. In fact, quite a few courtiers were worried about Empress Dowager Li's desire for power, which would have unpredictable consequences.
Empress Dowager Li's return to power was an extremely benevolent act. Few people opposed the construction of the pagoda, although the pagoda was built with a malicious purpose, which was to clean up the farmland where temples and Taoism were used.
During the specific construction process, there was a problem of cutting corners and cutting corners.
Ge Shouli also looked helpless. The two presidents had tried their best to suppress this wind, but the public opinion was huge. He bowed his head and said: "The specifications of the Dalongxing Temple's Repaying Enlightenment Pagoda and the Great Repaying Enemy Temple's Glazed Pagoda They are the same, with a height of twenty-three feet, four feet and six inches, nine floors and eight sides, and a circumference of 30 feet. There are 146 palace lanterns on the nine floors. There are nine phase wheels on the top of the tower, weighing a total of 3,600 kilograms. The top of the tower The two copper plates are made of wind-milled copper, each weighing 900 kilograms, and the orb celestial disk weighs 430 kilograms."
"Eight iron cables hang from the phase wheel on the top floor, and copper balls are hung under the iron cables to prevent wind."
Both towers have a large copper ball on the top floor to prevent strong winds from blowing the buildings down. This thing is a damper that maintains the structure of the tower when the wind howls.
Zhu Yijun looked at the two presidents and said with great conviction: "It is not unusual for everyone to be involved in the construction of the Ding Ding. Once the tower is built, it will not collapse. When the water is clear, there will be no fish."
When it comes to the grand construction of the royal palace, some oil and water must be left aside, otherwise the work will drag on and never be completed. This is also the case for pagodas. Wang Chonggu did not dare to build the royal palace, and Zhu Yijun did the grand construction of the pagoda and Gewuyuan. It has been assumed that Wang Chonggu has a little bit of trouble.
If you only want the horses to run and don't let them eat grass, you will definitely not be able to do this. If Wang Chonggu doesn't take it, the general manager can't take it. If the general managers don't take it, no one can take it.
It is the normal state of administration to die when one is in charge and chaos when one is free. There is no muddy water at all and there is no enthusiasm. Zhu Yijun attaches great importance to results, and he does not require everyone to be an incorruptible minister like Hai Rui.
But now the public opinion is very noisy. From the court officials' reports to the lengthy reports in newspapers, this pressure has reached the threshold. It is necessary to dig into the belly to see how many bowls of rice noodles Wang Chonggu has eaten.
"Your Majesty, I have been entrusted by Your Majesty to supervise the fight against corruption. There have been many questions in the court. There are too many theories that this chief official cut corners and cut corners. Let's investigate. If he is innocent, I will give everyone an explanation. If the chief minister is not innocent, then corruption must be eradicated." General Hai Ruihai is in charge of investigating corruption, so he cannot violate his duties.
"The great Sikou is also weird. He was impeached and did not go to court to explain his case. The public opinion is one-sided. Alas, let's check it out." Zhu Yijun had tried his best. He had been blocking him, but the victim was immediately defeated. He refused to submit the memorial to Feng Chenqing.
Zhu Yijun can only hope that Wang Chonggu will not be greedy too much, otherwise it will not end well. Yan Guo will pluck his hair. Zhu Yijun can naturally use the ancestral system of the Eight Pips and Eight Discussions, and forgive him, but if Wang Chonggu makes Yan Guo leave his hair If a major corruption case comes, it is not something Zhu Yijun can forgive.
"What do Yuan Fu think?" Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Juzheng's opinion.
Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty is wise."
"Then let me, sir, supervise this matter." Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other and both showed emotional smiles.
It's hard to do things.
What did Wang Chonggu say? Wang Chonggu said nothing.
Regarding the prevailing public opinion in the court, Da Sikou did not refute or make any representations. Just like Zhang Juzheng responded to all the memorials to impeach Yuan Fu, Wang Chonggu did not refute.
Why did businessman Zhao Deyi break up with Wang Chonggu? Mainly because Wang Chonggu didn't give money.
To do civil work for the court, the court directly recruited civilian men, which was labor service.
But some of them have to be purchased, such as private masonry, stone, civil engineering, etc., but the payment cycle is really long.
Taking the imperial mausoleum of Emperor Longqing as an example, the court only approved the payment in December of the first year of Wanli, and then it was not until the fourth year of Wanli that the money was still owed and was not paid.
The system of the Ming Dynasty was seriously rigid. A sum of money was transferred from one level to another, and each approval and verification process went through. If you want to get the money, just wait. Secondly, the disadvantages of bribery and appeasement in the Ming Dynasty became common. This money was transferred, There is still money in the account, but it is actually gone. It was either used for other purposes, or it was stolen away by someone who got it.
The businessman Zhao Deyi must have suffered from this humiliation on weekdays, working for the court. Many businessmen had expected that they would be paid for nothing by the court. This is also true.
I, Wang Chonggu, took your money and goods from Zhao Deyi for nothing. I wanted to give you Zhao Deyi face. Why didn’t I take someone else’s money for nothing? You are so shameless.
There must be someone who is instigating Zhao Deyi to overthrow the king in the court. The public opinion has always been strong. Someone fanned the flames and refused to suffer. Zhao Deyi kept telling the matter.
The time has come to dig into Wang Chonggu’s belly.
Zhang Juzheng personally took the order and brought along Hai Rui, the general secretary of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, two members of the household department, twelve supervisory censors, Wang Guoguang, the secretary of the household department, Bi Qiang, the left minister of the household department, Cui Min, the eunuch of the internal money department, and others. , went straight to Wang Chonggu’s Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Works and the construction site of Dalongxing Temple, and seized all the account books.
"Da Sikou, I'm so offended." Zhang Juzheng said with a complicated expression.
Wang Chonggu held his hands and said: "It's nothing. It has to go through this round. Zhang Siwei implicated me, so His Majesty cut off a strand of my hair. He must be dissatisfied. Sooner or later, it won't matter if we investigate now or in the future." The difference is that I should always be called the same person."
"Your Majesty refuses, but the wind and public opinion are too strong, and His Majesty is also in a difficult position." Zhang Juzheng looked around and said in a low voice: "Da Sikou, tell me how much you took, so that Your Majesty and I can be prepared , we still have eight discussions."
"I said I didn't take it, do you believe it?" Wang Chonggu's expression was particularly strange. His Majesty still wanted to protect him. This was the most surprising thing to him.
If the king asks his minister to die, he must die.
In Wang Chonggu's view, the emperor must have been holding back his anger because of the leniency shown in the Huangji Palace. However, for the sake of stability in the northwest, Wang Chonggu himself and his family were spared to prevent further intensification of the conflict.
Zhang Siwei and the twenty-four convicts have been imprisoned, and more than 700 people have been beheaded. The third lady went to Beijing again to discuss the price of horses. Not only the courtiers felt that the time had come to kill Wang Chonggu, but also Wang Chonggu. I think it's time for me to die.
"Since the chief minister didn't take it, why didn't he submit a petition? You don't say anything yourself, how can your majesty be a guarantee?" Zhang Juzheng was very angry when he heard what Wang Chonggu said!
If you don’t take it, you don’t take it. When you go up to the memorial to criticize those officials, what are you afraid of?
The emperor intends to be partial, but you, the old king, don't tell yourself, so only one side is acting, which makes your majesty very passive and can only listen to one side and believe the other.
Isn't this the result of a fierce pursuit on the one side and a silent attack on the other side?
Zhang Juzheng soon brought a large pile of documents and began to make an accounting. This time the accounting was very detailed, and the emperor's uncle Zhu Zaiyu brought out his eighty-one abacus.
As a disciple of Zhu Zaiyu, Wang Yaozhuo was also in the process of setting the abacus, and was audited by the Internal Supervision Bureau, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Institute of Geosciences.
Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Yaozhuo's hands flying on the abacus and felt particularly wonderful. These hands could not only do the abacus but also play the piano. It was really eye-catching.
Within two days, the audit results were submitted to the emperor. The answer was that there were no problems with the accounts of the Gewuyuan, the pagoda, and the imperial palace.
Just because there are no problems with the accounts does not mean that there are no problems with the project. Soon, the backfill earth required at the pagoda construction site will be excavated to check whether the foundation is built according to the original specifications of the Dabaoen Temple Glazed Pagoda.
In mid-November, the construction site was dug into a big hole.
Zhu Yijun personally came to the construction site of the pagoda. The earth around the pagoda has been backfilled. This time the foundation was excavated to see the depth of the ground piles.
"It's just backfilling with construction waste. It's made of Sanhe soil. Just digging it out will take more than ten days." Zhu Yijun's tone was unkind, and he had a deeper understanding of the misbehavior of ignorant scholars.
In fact, when Sanhe soil was excavated, some people realized something was wrong. According to the confession of businessman Zhao Deyi, they were the ones who did the backfilling of the earth. Because it was a steel-concrete structure, it was all garbage backfilled at will, but after the excavation, At that time, it was discovered that it was all filled with Sanhe soil backfill.
When the digging reached a depth of eleven feet, the answer was revealed. No corners were cut.
Zhu Yijun came over to take a look and confirm this fact.
"Da Sikou's design exceeds the standard. Isn't such a thick pillar a bit too conservative?" Zhu Yijun naturally did not go into the pit, but just looked at the ground piles in the pit. According to the construction specifications of the Yongle Glazed Pagoda, it was twenty-three feet four feet. The foundation of a six-inch-high pagoda only needs three feet, but it exceeds five feet by visual inspection.
Wang Chonggu said calmly: "Isn't this a lot of money given by the imperial court? If you don't take it, you can only build better."
Five hundred thousand taels of silver were used to build a pagoda without greed, so what is the quality of the building? It's solid and solid for three hundred years? It won't collapse for five hundred years.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. Zhao Deyi arranged for the earthwork to be backfilled. He didn't use the Sanhe soil, so he was driven away. The reason why I didn't give him money was because he backfilled it, and I found someone else to dig it out and fill it in again." Wang Chonggu finally agreed to tell the story of the incident.
In fact, it is not complicated. Zhao Deyi cut corners when backfilling the earth. After Wang Chonggu heard about it, he immediately drove Zhao Deyi away and replaced it with a group of people using Sanhe soil backfill. Of course, Zhao Deyi could not get the money, and he was driven away without doing much.
The reason why Wang Chonggu insisted on backfilling with Sanhe soil was because when the emperor inspected the construction of the palace, he said that the steel-concrete structure building was extremely strong and could be backfilled with garbage.
When it comes to cutting corners, His Majesty's methods are even more professional than his!
If this is cutting corners, wouldn't it mean that Wang Chonggu is playing tricks on his class?
Since Wang Chonggu had opened his stomach and really only ate a bowl of rice noodles, these officials who were making noise would have to pay a price, but they were not easy to punish. After all, they were an important correctional force in the dynasty.
Punishing the ministers of ears and eyes may be too harsh to block the flow of speech, but too harsh to correct the trend.
Zhu Yijun frowned, then his eyes lit up and he said to Zhang Juzheng, "I have an idea."
"Your Majesty, do you have another idea?" Zhang Juzheng was immediately startled and looked at His Majesty as if he were facing a formidable enemy, with full vigilance. Your Majesty was becoming more and more like a scholar. With a turn of his eyes, he had an idea.
Zhu Yijun put his hands on his hips and looked at the big hole in front of him and said: "This earthwork backfilling is still a troublesome matter. Sir, please gather together all the officials who impeached the great minister Kou's memorial and the editors who created the public opinion. Let them gather together. Come here and fill the hole you dug for me!"
"Yan Guan must do it himself and cannot ask others to do it."
"When I have nothing to do, I go to the brothel to listen to music. I have been trying to find faults all day long. It's embarrassing."
Zhu Yijun asked the scholars to take off their long robes and run to the earth pit to fill it in. Zhu Yijun would not let them forget the delayed construction period and losses. However, these science and education officials and those pen editors had to fill in the pit themselves. .
"Da Sikou, keep an eye on it and make sure it is completed with quality and quantity." Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu and said meaningfully.
These guys have all fallen into the hands of Wang Chonggu. Wang Chonggu can be as picky as the Kedao Yanguan. This one is not doing well, that one is not doing the right thing. But on the physical level, he can toss these Kedao Yanguan. .
"Ah... I obey the order." Wang Chonggu's eyes widened and he was extremely surprised. Of course he heard the subtext of His Majesty.
Let the scholar-officials take off their long robes and work on the construction site. In terms of humiliation and physical punishment, it is definitely much stronger than the imperial staff. They are useless scholars. How many officials have no power to tie a chicken and take off their long robes. Wearing short browns and going directly to work in the fields is more uncomfortable than killing them.
But I can’t stop doing it.
If you don't follow the emperor's will, you will have no choice but to go home. If you want to continue serving as an official in the government, you must do it.
This has been dug up, proving that Wang Chonggu did not take it, and the party that loses the struggle must be punished.
Corporal punishment is a good choice.
Regarding the first round of the struggle at Xishan Coal Bureau, Wang Chonggu really only ate a bowl of rice noodles. As the referee, Zhu Yijun did not let go of the booing ministers, humiliated them severely, and threw all their dignity at the stake. There was constant friction on the ground, and he spat viciously.
The second round of struggle soon began, and this time the struggle was full of gunpowder, because the rural gangsters began to exert their strength. They warned the woodcarriers among the woodcarriers not to carry coal to the official kiln.
This matter has been brewing for a whole month. When the coal piled up in the official kiln, Wang Chonggu immediately realized that someone was making trouble. Autumn and winter are the peak periods for coal consumption. During this period, coal can actually be piled up in the factory. If it can't be transported out, it's obvious that someone is deliberately causing trouble.
Wang Chonggu, who is responsible for supervising the Xishan Coal Bureau, is the Minister of the Ministry of Justice.
Wang Chonggu was not used to these ruffians at all. He went around arresting people. When he was caught, he was sent to the coal field to dig coal. He was forced to use bribery and inducement to do three years of hard labor. Those who smashed people's homes were sentenced to ten years of hard labor. Those who hurt others were punished. For a time, the public security environment in Xishan was greatly improved.
At the beginning of December, twelve gangsters were questioned and executed with great intensity. After this round of rectification, coal from Xishan Coal Bureau began to be transported smoothly to Xizhimen.
The timelines of the first round of the struggle and the second round of the struggle surrounding the Xishan Coal Bureau are not completely separate, but mixed, but they both ended with Wang Chonggu's victory.
"It's snowing heavily today." Zhu Yijun, wearing a big cloak, and Wang Chonggu came to Meishikou, Xizhimen.
Heavy snow is a solar term. On the same day of heavy snowfall in the fourth year of Wanli, heavy snow fell from the sky. In normal years, coal from Xishan could not reach the capital smoothly, and the price of coal would skyrocket several times.
"In order to allow the coal to reach the capital smoothly, I have specially built a coal road, and please move forward." Wang Chonggu led His Majesty out of Xizhimen and saw the coal road.
In order to reduce the impact of wind and snow on coal prices, Wang Chonggu specially designed a coal road with gravel roads and sleepers and wooden rails. The gravel is the roadbed, the sleepers are responsible for maintaining the level, and there are table-sized coal cars on the wooden rails.
When it snows, the firewood carriers can continue pushing coal on the coal road. The problem of slippery roads is solved. When encountering a downhill road, the brakes on the coal truck are two iron rods inserted into the gravel road, which can effectively Slow down, Zhu Yijun is very interested in this thing.
"These sleepers can be made of lime road sleepers, and the wooden rails can be replaced with railway rails. Railway rails seem to be a big investment, but wooden rails are easy to break, and long-term operation and maintenance are cheaper than rails." Zhu Yijun studied coal trucks and coal roads and put forward his own instructions.
The sleepers and wooden cabinets can be replaced with stronger lime road sleepers.
"Your Majesty, wood in the capital is extremely expensive, and lime road pillows are indeed cheaper. We can only make do with it for now. After the construction of the tripod is completed, the lime from the lime factory can be used here. I will pay attention to it." Wang Chonggu sincerely accepted His Majesty's request. Views.
Timber in the capital was expensive.
In the Xishan Coal Kiln, during the Zhengtong years, there was a big incident like disturbing the imperial mausoleum due to coal mining, and water seepage in the imperial mausoleum. However, the Xishan Coal Kiln repeatedly prohibited it. In the end, the court turned a blind eye and acquiesced. He learned about coal mining in Xishan.
Because most of the trees in Gyeonggi Province have been cut down long ago. Without coal mining, there won’t be many trees at all. How can we maintain our daily life?
This is also a common predicament for cities with more than one million people in the Ming Dynasty. A city has accumulated energy for a hundred years. There are twelve cities with more than one million people in the Ming Dynasty. They either use coal or firewood, or they can only use coal and no firewood at all.
Timber is expensive, and sleepers and wooden rails are indeed expensive. However, the current capacity of the lime factory on the bank of the Yongding River can only be used by Dingjian.
"It's not impossible to stop Dingjian for a while. It should be used for people's livelihood first." When Zhu Yijun heard that it was due to production capacity issues, he immediately decided to stop Dingjian and repair the roads first.
Wang Chonggu immediately said: "Your Majesty, please allow us to open a few more kilns in the lime factory, but the construction work cannot stop."
As soon as he heard that the Dingjian construction project was about to be stopped, Wang Chonggu immediately chose to increase production despite all difficulties. The Dingjian construction project could never be stopped.
"Yes." Zhu Yijun tightened his cloak and said, "Then increase production."
Due to limited transportation capacity, the coal road can currently only be used by official kilns, so to a certain extent, Wang Chonggu spent three months to realize part of his story, which was to ensure the supply of coal in Gyeonggi.
Zhu Yijun was very optimistic about the story told by Wang Chonggu. The preparations for the establishment of the Xishan Coal Bureau had been completed, and all that was left was to fight with the folk kilns.
This is another cut-and-dried battle, and the market is the only touchstone. Whether it can work or not needs time to be verified.
Zhu Yijun gives him the support he can give. Whether he can do it depends on Wang Chonggu's ability. It doesn't matter if he can't do it. Contradictions are explained one after another. The development of all things follows the law of quantitative change leading to qualitative change. If Wang Chonggu can't do it, then someone else can continue. manage!
Zhu Yijun did not return to the palace immediately. Instead, he went to the first Gouji Office jointly established by the Ministry of Revenue and the Gewuyuan to be responsible for auditing. The Gouji Office was open to all private merchants and was responsible for assisting in auditing accounts and documents, and was responsible for assisting major businesses. Audit the books.
Although Zhang Siwei died, the lessons he left behind still made the bosses shudder. The boss of the family whom the bosses trusted actually kept most of the profits in his own hands. This made the bosses have no confidence in their own family. The accounts all gave rise to a kind of doubt.
However, there were not many arithmetic talents in the Ming Dynasty, and most of them were controlled by the imperial court.
Therefore, the Gouji Institute was established to solve this dilemma.
In fact, the court officials did not have much confidence in the establishment of the Gouji Office, because merchants would definitely not choose the Gouji Office to audit their accounts. The Gouji Office was the official government office of the imperial court, and the accounts would definitely be sent to the tax office for tax auditing. The merchants would run away. If you come to Gouji, isn't that asking for death?
But when Zhu Yijun's car came to Goujisuo Street, he saw the long queue and was somewhat confused.
"Zhang Daban, sir, didn't you say that no merchants will come to this Gouji office? Why are there so many people here?" Zhu Yijun's car was parked far away. He asked Zhang Hong with a little puzzlement. There is such a huge demand for auditing accounts. Of?
"Your Majesty, sir, you are not a businessman." Zhang Hong said very confidently: "Sir's ideas are completely different from those of merchants. The first thing a merchant considers is profit. When the tax collection office issues a reminder, as long as it is paid on time, The tax office will not be too embarrassed, after all, the tax office is only responsible for tax collection."
"These bosses can calculate the accounts. The court's tax is not very high. They draw 6% if the value is 100. But if these shopkeepers take it, it is not 6%, but at least half of it. Defense by day and night. , it’s hard to guard against domestic thieves.”
Zhang Juzheng looked at the problem by looking at where his butt was sitting. In his opinion, merchants did not want their secrets to be known to the court.
But for most merchants, this is a matter of interest. The imperial court wants 6%, but these shopkeepers who are cheating and cheating may not be able to fill 60%.
The Ming court once specifically checked the account books of Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu's homes. After the news spread, the owners finally realized the seriousness of this problem.
"Is that the car that belongs to Duke Ding Xu Wenbi's family? Is he here too?" Zhu Yijun's eyes were sharp and he saw Xu Wenbi's car. The Duke's government also needed to worry about this problem.
Xu Wenbi did not come in person, but sent his confidants to check the documents he had compiled.
Zhu Yijun looked at the long queue and did not intend to disturb the accountants' work. He went over now. Tiqi still had to clear the place and the officials had to meet. All the accountants had to stop their work and salute. He went over to give People look for trouble.
The fees charged by the audit office are not cheap. The fees for auditing and producing reports are based on the number of people and the hours used. The accounting and audit office work on a 50-50 basis.
The most ordinary accountant is worth one tael of silver per hour, while a second-class accountant is worth 2 taels of silver per hour. If you want to hire the divine fortune teller specially hired by Prince Zheng and Gou Ji, you need at least one tael of silver per hour.
You must know that a Ming Dynasty soldier can only receive eighteen taels of silver in one year, and an accountant certified by the imperial court only needs to work for 360 hours to obtain these eighteen taels of silver.
There are only two specially appointed divine fortune tellers, one is Zhu Zaiyu and the other is Cheng Dawei. If you want to hire these two, you will not have to be rich.
According to the expectations of the courtiers, when the court needed to do accounting, the accountants of the Gouji Office were responsible for the audit. As a result, the Gouji Office was extremely popular, and even the business of the Household Department had to queue up.
This made Wang Guoguang very displeased, and the Ministry of Household Affairs set up a yamen! If you want to use it yourself, you have to queue up!
Is there any more royal method!
Please give me a monthly ticket, wow! ! ! ! ! ! !
(End of chapter)
