Why did the emperor rebel?

It has been nearly two months since winter began, and the fires in the palace have already been lit, but the first snow in the capital has not yet arrived.

The sky was gloomy, with thick dark clouds pressing on people's heads, making them extremely oppressive. Zhu Qiyu was wrapped in a thick fur robe, standing under the porch, the whistling wind seemed to affect the mood of the young emperor.

After an unknown amount of time, scattered snowflakes began to fall, falling on the soft fur, curled with ice flakes, which would not melt for a long time.

"Your Majesty, Yu Shaobao has returned to Beijing, and is waiting outside the palace!"

Huai En stepped forward lightly and spoke respectfully, which brought Zhu Qiyu back to his senses.

"Call him in."

The fire in the hall was very hot, even in winter, it made people feel very warm. Under the guidance of the servant Yu Qian, he entered the door of the hall, and when he looked up, he saw the emperor sitting on the throne.

After half a year, stepping into this hall again, Yu Qian's heart was full of emotions, he walked to the hall, bowed and bowed, and said.

"Minister Yuqian, I greet Your Majesty, long live my emperor, long live long live!"

"Stay flat, sir, you have worked hard all the way!"

Zhu Qiyu's face was as usual, and his tone was gentle.

So Yu Qian stood up and said.

"I don't dare. This time, I came out of Beijing to supervise the establishment of Huangzhuang. Now, King Zhou, King Lu, King Qin, King Xiang, King Ning, King Yi, King Min, and King Jing are entrusted with the land. According to your majesty's According to the decree, 42 Huangzhuang have been built, and these are the details, please read your majesty."

The servant took the memorial from Yu Qian and handed it to the imperial case, Zhu Qiyu opened it and read it carefully.

It has been less than half a year since Yu Qian left Beijing. During this time, it can be seen that Yu Qian did his best.

There are 42 Huangzhuangs in the land of the eight vassals. Although it is said that Yu Qian is only a supervisor, and the specific affairs are handled by the vassal princes and mining tax eunuchs, but in the past half a year, he has also been running around in various places. toil.

Of course, the effect is also remarkable. At least, as far as the current situation is concerned, Huangzhuang is operating very well, especially Huangzhuang, which is close to Jiangxi and South Zhili, has gathered a large number of refugees. It can be said that this drought in Jiangxi can be successfully overcome. , and the establishment of Huangzhuang are inseparable.

After reading the memorial, Zhu Qiyu raised his head, his eyes fell on Qian, and said.

"It's been a hard trip, sir. I have read all the memorials submitted from various places. However, there are no such details as your husband's. I will leave the memorials first. I will look back slowly."

"In the past six months, sir has traveled all over the place. Regarding the matter of Huangzhuang, do you have any opinions?"

After all, Huangzhuang is a vision of Zhu Qiyu, which was born out of the Chenghua period that has not yet come, but it is quite different from it.

So in fact, although Zhu Qiyu's attitude is very firm in the eyes of the outside world, Zhu Qiyu is not very sure about what kind of problems will arise during the operation and whether the expected effect can be successfully achieved.

Yu Qian was obviously prepared for this, he pondered for a moment, and then said.

"Returning to Your Majesty, the establishment of Huangzhuang has indeed greatly relieved the pressure on the court. During the disaster relief in Jiangxi, I happened to inspect the vicinity of Ning Fan. According to the information I checked in the local area, among the eight Huangzhuang funded by Prince Ning, the collection of About [-] refugee households were rescued, and at least [-] people survived the disaster year because of Huangzhuang."

"At the same time, according to His Majesty's will, I strictly ordered officials from all over the country to check clearly the status of land sales in the disaster year, and found that Huangzhuang also indirectly stabilized the price of land sales."

Speaking of this matter, although Yu Qian said that it was an imperial decree, in fact, it was his own credit.

Due to the drought in Jiangxi, the imperial court allocated grain from Changping warehouses in nearby places for disaster relief. As a result, local grain prices rose accordingly. Although it was still within control, one grain price rose, and the other The surrounding provinces also experienced different degrees of poor harvests, which led to many farmers having to sell their land.

Originally, in this kind of year, these lands would be bought by the local gentry at a low price. However, it happened that the vassal kings were forming Huangzhuang and replacing the land between the various areas with scattered official land.

Therefore, it became a contest between the vassal kings and the local gentry. Yu Qian saw an opportunity from this situation, and went to the capital overnight, asking Huangzhuang to buy land according to the average price of land sales in the previous three years in the county government. .

In this way, the common people are naturally more willing to sell their land to Huangzhuang. Although it is said that Huangzhuang has to pick and choose when buying land, and the main body is still mainly official land, the total amount purchased in the end is not special. However, when this wind blows, it actually raises the price of land that has fallen to the bottom.

Zhu Qiyu nodded and said.

"To be able to achieve this effect, there is still a gentleman who will watch over the place for me, otherwise, I am afraid that Huangzhuang will become an evil government that oppresses the people!"

This is not a lie. There are advantages and disadvantages. The most difficult reform has always been the problem of how to implement the plan.

The idea of ​​Huangzhuang is good, but there is a crucial problem in it, which is also the biggest reason why Yu Qian firmly opposed it.

That is, the two main bodies of Huangzhuang are the vassal king and the eunuch, both of which are separated from the imperial court system.

In other words, ordinary local officials can't control them at all, so Huangzhuang can easily become a tool for them to collect money.

In the half a year that Yu Qian was out of Beijing, his main job was to monitor these illegal things. Today, just because of the Huangzhuang incident, Zhu Qiyu has killed three mining tax eunuchs, and lowered five edicts and repeatedly ordered all localities Do not use Huangzhuang as an excuse to oppress the people. Most of them were impeached by Yu Qianqi.

Among them, Ning Fan, the most serious one, had already been cut off by Zhu Qiyu by a full thousand shi because of this incident, so he was considered honest.

"I dare not..."

After going out of Beijing, Yu Qian's temper was still the same as before, and his emotions and anger were not displayed. He bowed and saluted, and Yu Shaobao followed the words and said.

"Your Majesty, this is something I want to discuss with Your Majesty."

"There are many people involved in Huangzhuang, and the affairs are complicated. Although His Majesty has strict orders, there are always lawless people in the local area. When I am in the local area, I have seen many eunuchs and royal palaces relying on power and oppressing the people. The same is true for the purchase of cattle, planting grain, agricultural equipment, etc. Many people in the Huangzhuang wantonly lowered the price in order to save costs. What's more, they practiced plundering."

"I am ashamed. Although I have tried my best, the land of the eight vassals is too large. I know that there are still many places that have not been checked. If things go on like this, Huangzhuang will become a burden for the people. If this is the case, it will go against your majesty's intention."

"Therefore, I think that besides Huangzhuang, there should be another governor and minister in charge of the affairs of Huangzhuang, with the help of mining tax eunuchs and royal officials. This is appropriate. Please also learn from your majesty!"

"Governor Minister?"

Zhu Qiyu looked at Yu Qian below, pondered and did not speak.

It can be seen that Yu Qian's view of Huangzhuang has changed somewhat after supervising the handling of Huangzhuang matters this time.

At least, he no longer opposed so fiercely, but instead began to think about how to make Huangzhuang operate normally and play the greatest role.

However, this raises another problem, that is, Yu Qian is a civil servant after all, and his thoughts are also considered from the standpoint of a civil servant.

Reflected in the matter of Huangzhuang, it is the distrust of the vassals and eunuchs. Of course, this cannot be regarded as prejudice. In a sense, Yu Qian’s idea is correct. The vassals and eunuchs are outside the court, but, Civil servants are in the court.

Therefore, if civil servants are allowed to preside over the affairs of Huangzhuang, it will be much more convenient to manage. Of course, this does not mean that civil servants will not cheat for personal gain and oppress the people, but that if such a thing happens, the imperial court has a complete set of Codes and procedures can be handled in a timely and appropriate manner.

but……

"The first establishment of Huangzhuang, let's talk about it later!"

At the end, Zhu Qiyu still shook his head and did not agree to Yu Qian's request.

It is true that what Yu Qian said is reasonable, and Zhu Qiyu actually knows in his heart that he will definitely go in this direction in the future.

After all, most of the Huangzhuang is the official land of the imperial court, and the eunuchs are indeed unstable. Among other things, Zhu Qiyu can't guarantee that after his death, the next emperor will restrain the eunuchs in this way.

Today's Huangzhuang is a system in which eunuchs are in charge of specific affairs, local yamen assist, and royal officials participate in supervision. Under this system, local yamen are in a weak position, which means that if Zhu Qiyu wants to, he can completely The taxes that should have been distributed to the local yamen were received in the internal treasury.

Of course, Zhu Qiyu himself would not do this, but such an obvious loophole, the next emperor may not be able to bear it...

Therefore, at the end of the development of Huangzhuang, it must still be incorporated into the imperial court system. From this point of view, civil servants can play a greater role.

However, not now!

Huangzhuang is not on the right track yet. To a large extent, it still needs to rely on the vassal king. If the civil servants are allowed to intervene, then, with the attitude of the civil servants towards the vassal king, it is easy to cause trouble in the end.

Furthermore, the opening of the Huangzhuang is closely related to the reform of the suzerain vassal. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a foreshadowing. Therefore, before the follow-up measures are completed, this matter cannot be handed over to civil servants to preside over it.

However, what Yu Qian said is not unreasonable. Although it is said that civil servants are still not allowed to come to the governor's affairs in Huangzhuang, but...

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Qiyu said.

"How about this, send one or two more censors to each of the vassals to supervise the illegal things in the operation of Huangzhuang. If you find any oppression of the people, favoritism and malpractice, you can immediately report to the governor. Situations, trivial matters are resolved, and major matters are repeated, how about it?"

It's true in private, but there are not such strict rules. These remarks are for consultation, not for express purpose. Therefore, for Qian, if he has a different opinion, he can actually raise it.

However, after the edict to prison, Yu Shaobao seemed to have figured it out during these days, and restrained his sharpness a lot. Hearing this, he pondered for a moment and then said.

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

Zhu Qiyu was quite surprised by this attitude. He thought that he would have to talk again, but he didn't expect that Yu Qian was so easily persuaded this time.

In this way, it saved him energy, so Zhu Qiyu thought about it and continued to speak.

"The Huangzhuang matter is now slowly on the right track. I will discuss the matter of dispatching the censor with the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Officials later."

"Recalling Mr. back to Beijing this time, in fact, there is another matter that I want to discuss with Mister."

"Your Majesty, please tell me..."

Hearing the emperor's tone of consideration, Yu Qian didn't dare to neglect, and immediately cupped his hands.

So, Zhu Qiyu pondered and said.

"Half a month ago, Zhangzhou handed over the memorandum, saying that Dai Wang's mansion had already been built. I don't know about this, sir, have you heard about it?"

Since he had a discussion with Dai Wang last time, Dai Wang set off for Zhangzhou. On the one hand, he was doing business, and on the other hand, he was also personally supervising the construction of the palace so that no one would make any crooked ideas.

Even so, the construction of the palace was inevitably affected by the disaster, and it was not really repaired until half a month ago.

Now that the palace is completed, it's time to prepare for the next step...

"Slightly heard!"

Yu Qian didn't expect that Zhu Qiyu would mention this matter, he was slightly taken aback, then nodded and said.

"It is said that the Dai Wangye got a new sea chart. In order to verify the authenticity, he sent many ships to visit the sea. There are also rumors that..."

At this point, Yu Qian also hesitated, and then said.

"Your Majesty, there are rumors that those ships carrying a lot of rare things seem to be going out to sea for business."

When he said this, Yu Qian quietly observed the emperor's reaction, and as expected, upon hearing this, the emperor's face unconsciously became a little unnatural.

The fact that Huangdian was involved in Zhangzhou was actually not a secret in the court. After all, with such a large group of troops and the transfer of the imperial army, it was impossible for the court to not know about it.

However, Zhu Qiyu's reason on the surface was to escort Dai Wang to the south, and the reason later was to suppress the bandits, but in fact, the role of these officers and soldiers was to protect the safety of the Huangdian's supplies.

However, since we have come to this point, Zhu Qiyu doesn't need to hide it anymore. After pondering for a while, he opened his mouth and said.

"Sir, you are right. Those ships are indeed going out to sea for business!"

Hearing the Son of Heaven's straightforward admission, Yu Qian was quite surprised, subconsciously frowned and said.

"Your Majesty, Emperor Taizu has rules..."

However, Zhu Qiyu interrupted him halfway through the conversation.

"Sir, listen to me!"

So, Yu Qian had no choice but to swallow the words back, and then Zhu Qiyu spoke and said.

"To tell you the truth, when Uncle Dai Wang moved his domain before, I discussed this matter with him. This time, it is considered an attempt. Uncle Dai Wang went to Zhangzhou this time to verify the authenticity of the chart. In other words, I also want to see whether this sea ban policy does more good than harm, or does the harm outweigh the good.”

"I know that sir is not a pedantic person. Although the sea ban was established by Taizu, Taizu has always been benevolent in governing and loving the people. If it is beneficial to the people and the society, I think Taizu will not hesitate to follow the trend!"