Being targeted by Princess Liao, Zhang Zhen could only cry out in pain.
Fortunately, although Mrs. Mao was very dissatisfied, she was not angry at this obedient guard.
Zhu Zhige is already the prince. If he wants to do something, no one in the palace can stop him, and it is impossible for Mao to arrange directly with the palace officials.
As a result, I found that the palace had already handed over many memorials, begging for favors and asking for land.
Now she could only look at Zhang Zhen and said: "Escort the prince back to his house!"
After saying that, he turned around and stared at the two trembling girls kneeling on the ground in the courtyard, then rolled his sleeves and left.
Zhu Zhige was "caught" in the middle of his excitement. At this moment, he felt a little uneasy.
Mao was furious, so he obediently left here and returned to the palace.
In the bedroom, Mrs. Mao had adjusted her mood and was ready to have a good talk with her husband.
Zhu Zhige was okay at first, listening to her talk about the current situation and the stakes of many things.
He was relieved, after all, he didn't talk about what he did in the side courtyard.
This made Zhu Zhige even more aware of the difference after formally attacking the prince. After thinking more and more, he became serious: "Why don't I understand these things? I was over there just now, in front of the servants. , how can you reprimand me like that? Where is my majesty?"
He had the courage to say these words, but he was still quite uneasy in his heart, wondering if this temptation was considered a suicide attempt.
However, Mrs. Mao really saluted and said seriously: "I am impatient. Your Majesty, please forgive me."
Zhu Zhige was stunned: She actually admitted her mistake!
Is this the status of a real prince?
So he straightened his chest and was about to say something when Mao said sternly: "Your Majesty cherishes your majesty, and you can't let your subordinates look down upon you. You must behave appropriately! Now the favor and honor of Liao Fan are tied to you, Your Majesty." Your Majesty will pay attention to how you act! I often hear that Your Majesty is diligent, studious, and unpredictable. Just look at how the important ministers in the court are working hard to help Your Majesty implement the new law, and you will know that Your Majesty is truly majestic! Your Majesty should set an example for you! "
Zhu Zhige felt a little pain in his head.
After so many years, this princess has always been so serious and always preached to him.
Now taking Zhu Houcong as his role model, Zhu Zhige only thought of one thing: "If I follow your Majesty as an example, will I have to have two concubines and nine concubines?"
Mao was very angry: "Can there be something else in your mind?"
However, Mao could not refute: His Majesty the Emperor indeed set a precedent in the Ming Dynasty and selected one queen, two concubines and nine concubines at once.
Despite the fact, Mao's expression suddenly changed: "The emperor has only twelve daughters. If the prince says this outside, it will be a disaster!"
"...The nine daughters of the princes!" Although Zhu Zhige didn't learn well at all, he knew these things.
Faced with her husband, a powerful prince, Mao felt tired.
Don’t you know what your body is like?
She burst into tears: "I am not a jealous woman! I have many relatives in the Liao vassal, and I am at the forefront among all the vassals. Jingzhou Prefecture has repeatedly reported that the Liao vassal has a heavy annual salary burden. Previously, I advised the prince to stay away from him. The reason for the womanizing is firstly for the sake of the prince's health, and secondly because I am worried that the court will feel that the Liao Fan clan is overburdened and will find an excuse to remove the Liao Fan. Is it possible that the prince is unaware of all my painstaking efforts?"
"I have been granted the title of king, but I am over thirty but have no heirs. Aren't I anxious?" Zhu Zhige cried when he saw her, and felt panic and a little happy in his heart.
"First there is the ceremony of enthronement, and there are many etiquette and government affairs. The prince spent some time to deal with them, and then he asked the court to invite the second concubine to have heirs. This is in line with etiquette! If you don't stay in the clan's mansion, Name, even if someone can conceive a child for the prince, he will not be able to ask for a name or a title in the future. Doesn’t the prince know these things?"
Of course Zhu Zhige knows, but now he just wants to fight for "power" for himself!
"When it comes to the foundation of the Liao vassal, the most important thing is that I can have an heir as soon as possible. I...I have learned the secret method, so I need to practice it more!"
Mao pursed his lips and gritted his teeth and looked at him: Why don't you come to practice with me?
Also, I didn’t want to mention this troublesome matter now, so why did I start arguing about it?
She took two hard breaths to calm down, and returned to the topic: "Now that those memorials have been delivered to the capital, the prince needs to give another memorial. This time, we should not beg for favors, but find people who do not accept the prince's discipline as soon as possible. Clan relatives, I am requesting your Majesty to issue an edict to punish you. If you punish your Majesty for some minor mistakes, the court will be able to follow the trend and refute the previous request. We also understand the complexity and difficulty of the prince's handling of Liao vassal affairs, and even more clearly understand that the prince is willing to accept rewards and punishments. By God’s grace!”
Zhu Zhige shook his head and said stubbornly: "Since I am the leader of the Liao vassal, how can I ignore the kindness of my family? Those people are really not living a good life."
Mao's head was dizzy and his steps were unsteady: "If your life is not going well, you can still find a pair of beauties to give to the prince?"
"...The dignified general who serves the country can only give me two slaves who have learned the secret method with all his money!"
Mao was exhausted both mentally and physically, but she could only endure and explain the pros and cons to him again.
Unable to appreciate Mao's painstaking efforts in hoping that he could stand up and deal with His Majesty and the court, Zhu Zhige just felt that Mao's attitude towards him was different now.
He didn't realize how he should deal with the affairs of the palace, but he realized his supremacy within the Liao vassal.
"I have my own plans. The princess doesn't need to teach me how to do things all the time!"
After Zhu Zhige swelled up, he put down these words, then waved his hands and went to the front hall.
But what Mao said still makes sense. If there are more mistakes to be made by some clan members to report, those people should give themselves more things or beauties, right?
Zhu Zhige was excitedly preparing to ask Zhang Zhen and the others to go on a visit to see if their relatives had made any mistakes recently and could figure out some of them.
Zhu Zhige, whose limited IQ was mostly in his lower body, began to act nonsense, and the real burden of Liao Fan fell on Mao's shoulders.
But she is a woman. If Zhu Zhige is strong and persistent, can she handle everything in the palace on Zhu Zhige's behalf?
The people sent by the Chu Palace to celebrate did not expect that they did not need to persuade him. The King of Liao was already begging for favors for the clansmen who had given him big gifts and pulling the pigtails of those clansmen who did not give him gifts.
In this case, it is natural to add another fire.
Whatever the King of Liao likes, he will naturally do what he likes.
And some other people sent by the Huguang vassal king were equally unambiguous.
If the emperor really intended to cut down some vassal kings, then those vassal kings with the most clan relatives would probably be the main targets. Naturally, it is impossible to eliminate all vassals. As long as there are "ignorant" ones who come to the fore, the remaining vassal kings should be appeased - just like after the death of King Chu, the court so quickly decided on Zhu Xianrong as the prospective heir. Same.
They did not make it obvious, but "helped" many clan members of the Liao vassal except the King of Liao to show their kinship.
Next, at the request of the King of Liao, many clan members of the Liao vassalage, some in order to avoid disaster, and some in order to get a smooth salary or even more in the future, visited beauties in Jingzhou Mansion for a while. After that, I either forced or bought it, all with the purpose of giving it to Zhu Zhige.
In a blink of an eye, the day came when the new King of Liao's conferment ceremony came. When Zhu Zhige appeared in front of everyone, he looked haggard and in a trance, with four words written all over his face: excessive indulgence.
Zhu Zhichen was in a conflicted mood at the sealing ceremony: This brother Wang was a bit over-brained and hard to work with.
It is good to indulge in lust and harm the body.
But it would not be good if many clan members complained and caused such harm to the village.
What if the imperial censor reported to the court that the emperor not only punished the King of Liao, but used the people's complaints to eliminate the Liao vassal?
He felt that when the ceremony was over, he had to persuade Brother Wang: There are already a lot of beauties received.
In addition, should we come forward to talk to some clan members and ask them to restrain themselves? And then send someone to the Jingzhou Prefecture to pay some money to the Yamen Palace, and ask the Jingzhou Prefect to appease some villagers on his behalf, so that he can gain more reputation as a virtuous person?
This is what Zhu Zhichen thought and did.
After the Jingzhou magistrate received the two hundred taels of silver, he sneered and asked his master: "To date, how many cases have been reported in various counties against the Liao clan clan for harming the people?"
"Master Fu, there are fourteen pieces in total."
"Okay!" said the prefect of Jingzhou, "help me send this letter to the Wang Inspector's Office."
As he spoke, he put down his pen and checked the memorial he had just written again.
How much of the annual grain reserves of Jingzhou Prefecture needs to be paid to Liao Fan?
Now, the new King of Liao is so debauched and immoral, Jingzhou Prefecture is here to relieve his father's worries! As for what problems His Majesty would cause if he attacks Liao Fan, it cannot be said that Jingzhou Prefecture does not understand the general situation.
After checking the memorial, he asked again: "Has the written document from the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs also been signed and issued?"
"We clarified the errors in the tax code and arranged for each county to inform officials to make preparations for clearing land and re-creating the yellow records. All of them have been signed and issued."
The Jingzhou magistrate nodded: "Then I'll urge you a little more!"
Jingzhou Prefecture was just following orders. Since the Chief Envoy of Huguang has no objections, who can say that the Jingzhou Prefecture did not do the right thing?
In Yangzhou Prefecture, a few days after Liu Zhenyuan took down many important officials such as Meng Chun and the Minister of Household Affairs of Nanjing, and a few days after Jiang Mian initially summoned a circle of officials from Southern Zhili related to water transportation, salt law, water conservancy and other duties, He only learned about the official document that was sent to the southern prefectures of Zhili and the three provinces of Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang from Hu Zan, the former Censor of Caojiang who had just taken over as the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing.
He was furious and immediately wrote to Yan Song, the governor of Zhejiang, Sun Jiao, the governor of Huguang, and Wang Shouren, who had accepted the order and was about to take up his post in Jiangxi after Ding You.
Afterwards, Hu Zan also quickly issued another official document in the name of the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs to stop this matter.
However, the exchange of official documents takes time, and officials and gentry in many places are keenly aware that the previous official document may be the last chance.
In the tacit understanding of many places in the four provinces, officials worked harder than ever. They all looked like pioneers of the new law, mobilizing in advance to support the imminent implementation of the new law.
Many prefectures and counties also posted notices: If there is a person who has escaped from his family, he should report to the county government as soon as possible, otherwise disaster will be imminent.
Huizhou Prefecture, which Meng Chun had missed, is located at the junction of South Zhili, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces.
Huizhou Prefecture initially belonged to the Zhongshu Province established by Zhu Yuanzhang, and later came under the jurisdiction of Zhejiang. During the Yongle period, it was changed to Nanzhili.
In addition to She County attached to Huizhou Prefecture, there are also Xiuning County, Wuyuan County, Qimen County, Yi County, and Jixi County.
Throughout the Ming Dynasty, Huizhou Prefecture had a great reputation.
First of all, this is the "authentic" place of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. The two brothers Zhu Xi, Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao were both originally from Huizhou.
After that, Huizhou's literary style flourished, and after years of accumulation, there were many famous families. Except for the eight surnames of Cheng, Wang, Wu, Huang, Hu, Wang, Li, and Fang, all other large clans have a strong clan concept.
Thirdly, Huizhou is not ashamed of doing business, and Huizhou’s reputation as a “Confucian businessman” has spread throughout the world. Salt industry, Keemun tea, Jixi ham... In addition to doing business, Huizhou merchants also attached great importance to culture and education and had close contacts with literati. Once you have money, setting up social studies and academies is also a trend in Huizhou. In Huizhou, there is a pragmatic saying like "If you study well, do business well, and if you are efficient, you will be better." Huizhou merchants have never been stingy in funding their students' imperial examinations.
Therefore, in the end, Huizhou has a large number of candidates and scholars who have passed the imperial examination, ranking among the top three among the prefectures in South Zhili for a long time, with an average of ten people passing the examination in each subject. Nowadays, in Huizhou Prefecture, there are Tang Gao, the number one scholar who is still alive, and Wang Biao, who has become an official and served as deputy envoy to Yunnan. Wang Biao's son Wang Qin was also a Jinshi in the twelfth year of Zhengde's reign and currently serves as the head of the Ministry of War.
These are a corner of the strength of Huizhou Prefecture's government and opposition parties.
But now, a storm is brewing in Huizhou Mansion.
This storm was not a big one. After all, it was just an old problem left over from the founding of the People's Republic of China. It was just a silk silk tax of more than 3,000 taels per year. Given the wealth of She County, which had to bear this tax on human silk and silk, this amount of money accounted for less than 5% of all taxes in She County in a year.
If it were to be shared evenly by the other five counties, each county would have a maximum of four to five hundred taels and a minimum of two to three hundred taels.
In fact, all six counties in Huizhou are rich. As far as the amount of silver is concerned, it is light for any county.
But after all, the new law has not yet been implemented throughout the Ming Dynasty. Many of these local laws and regulations are only undertaken by ordinary people.
Now, in the work of the Huizhou government office to "according to orders" to investigate the fallacies in the tax code, the fallacy of the human silk silk tax has been exposed.
"Since it is the silk tax for the entire Huizhou Prefecture, why should it only be borne by our She County?"
"Fu Zun has done a great thing! Have the people from the other five counties arrived? We must make this matter clear this time!"
In Shexian County, where Huizhou's government is located, there are people from Shexian County as well as people from other counties.
The prefect sent a letter to all counties to discuss the matter, and the gentry and common people in each county were also discussing the matter.
At this moment, in Wang Biao's mansion, Wang Biao, who was only enthusiastic about cultural and educational matters in his hometown after returning to his hometown, was receiving other gentry from the same village.
"According to the wishes of the prefect, the six counties will naturally share the responsibility." said this sentence by a local scholar in Huizhou who served as a master in the Huizhou magistrate's yamen.
Wang Biao nodded: "Since this person's silk silk tax is assigned to Huizhou Prefecture, it should be like this. Although the people in other counties are unwilling, the general outline of the new law of the imperial court is to unify disciplines and principles, and the rich and poor should share the burden."
"Mr. Baishi, this man Ding Sijuan Tax has some inside story!"
"Oh? If there is something inside, we should definitely tell it clearly." Wang Biao smiled slightly and looked at them.
Wang Biao already knew about the arrest of Meng Chun, Fang Dingchang and others.
But this time, it was just about doing things seriously.
There are many evils in the world that have accumulated over a hundred years of right and wrong.
The content of the imperial edict from Yangzhou Prefecture stated that water can both carry and capsize a boat. The deep water of ordinary people is actually easier to stir up.
Now, Jiang Mian's secret message is heading north at a high speed.
After Zhu Houcong sent seven advisers and ordered the capital camp to select 30,000 soldiers, many places in Nanzhili, Huguang, and Jiangxi provinces, which accounted for nearly half of the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue, began to stir up the common people's water in a tacit understanding, borrowing some original resources. It's nothing important, but words that are thoughtful on the surface but actually inspiring.
Yan Song was the governor of Zhejiang, and he could clearly see the intention of this official document, and Sun Xiu did not dare to act rashly.
But he knew that was not the case elsewhere.
So he rushed to Wang Shouren's house: "Bo'an, you have to prepare early!"
"...There are still seventeen days left."
"Then I have to go to Jiangxi to write some letters first!"
Wang Shouren smiled: "It's not a big deal if you're not in a hurry."
Then he stopped smiling: "If someone really provokes a civil uprising and harms the people, this time he will have the power of thunder!"
After more than twenty-six months of Dingyou, Wang Shouren was finally leaving the mountain again.
Go and take office as governor of Jiangxi!
(End of chapter)
