Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 113 Changlu
A few days after Li Rui went to the book, Jinyiwei Beizhen Fusi suddenly dispatched a large number of school lieutenants to Hejian Mansion to transfer Changludu to Yanshi and Sidu to transfer dozens of officials below to imperial prison. There was quite a commotion in the hall.

Hubu Shangshu Hou Xun rushed to the cabinet with two servants, and after discussing with the cabinet ministers, he handed over the book to see him.

Chongzhen summoned all the cabinet members in Qianqing Palace.

After paying homage, Wen Tiren cupped his hands and said, "Report to Your Majesty, I now know that Jin Yi went to Hejian and arrested dozens of people from the Changlu Salt Envoy and sent them to prison. Has Your Majesty heard about this?"

Chongzhen nodded and said: "A few days ago, I heard that Changlu Salt envoy was corrupting ink, so I sent Jinyi to verify it, and it was true! At a time when the country is in crisis, when the imperial treasury is exhausted, those people disregarded the interests of the imperial court. I don't want to serve the country with all my heart, but instead use my hands to pick chestnuts from the fire, I can't bear it!"

As the chief assistant, Wen Tiren was just starting.Of course he knew that Jin Yiwei was acting according to the order, and the person he arrested had nothing to do with him.But as the head of the courtiers, he had to take the lead in negotiating with the emperor, but he would not do anything that offended the emperor.

After Wen Tiren heard the words, he folded his hands and stepped aside, while Wang Yingxiong, Zhang Zhifa and others were also silent.

Hou Xun went out and clasped his hands and said, "I would like to report to the Holy Majesty that I don't know the inside story of Changlu's affairs, but as the Minister of Household Affairs, I have to ask the cause and effect of the affairs related to the Ministry. This time Changlu's self-transportation sent all the following people to prison. How will the saltworks operate? With the national treasury empty, how will the loss of Changlu be compensated? If everyone in Changlu is guilty, who will make up the vacancy?"

Although the officials of the Changlu Salt Field belonged to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and although the main officials continued to show courtesy, they were not Hou Xun's people, so he was more concerned about not cutting off one of the court's financial resources.For Hou Xun, not to mention 10,000+ taels a year, even a few thousand taels is a big amount for him.

Changludu's transfer envoy is a high-ranking official from the third rank, and the main officials below him, such as co-prefects, judges, deputy envoys, and promotion divisions, are not well-known but lucrative positions.Now Jin Yiwei took it away, and the vacancies were all coveted positions.

Wang Yingxiong hurriedly went out to play and said: "Your Majesty, I agree with Hou Shangshu's words! The Changlu Salt Field has always been an important source of the imperial court's annual revenue, and its importance is especially important when the imperial court is in financial constraints! I heard that the capital transferred Sun Mou Known for his incorruptibility, has an investigator verified whether his corruption of ink is true?"

The transfer envoy Sun Zuoren is Wang Yingxiong's protégé, he got this lucrative job after bribing Wang Yingxiong heavily, now that something happened in his job, as his teacher Wang Yingxiong still tried to save him.

Chongzhen did not answer Wang Yingxiong's question, but asked, "How many salt cookers are there under the Changlu Salt Field? What is their annual income?"

Zhou Zhiqian, the left servant of the household department, came out and reported back: "My lord, there are 360 kitchen households in Changlu Salt Field, 6000, 38 kiosks, 650 and three brine pools, and 710, 11 pots. Four people, more than [-] taels were put into storage last year!"

Chongzhen glanced at Zhou Zhiqian approvingly, and said: "Zhou Qing is very familiar with such small numbers, which shows that he is extremely diligent in daily affairs, very good!"

Zhou Zhiqian was proud of himself, showing his face in front of the Holy Master today is quite beneficial to his future career.

He hastily cupped his hands and thanked him: "Don't dare to be praised by the sage! Master Shangshu is busy with important affairs in the department and has no time to care about him; I like to read the data reported from various places in my spare time, so I can remember clearly!"

Chongzhen nodded and said: "Of course we should praise you for doing well! Zhou Qing still needs to guard against arrogance and impetuosity. Hou Qing is already old, and you and Zhang Qing are in the prime of life. You must help Hou Qing take care of the household department! The court's money The bag is the most important thing, if you do it well, I will reward you!"

Zhou Zhiqian quickly bowed to his right servant Zhang Xiong to thank him, Zhang Xiong was naturally jealous of Zhou Zhiqian's big limelight.

Chongzhen continued: "Since all the ministers have mentioned the importance of Changlu, and Wang Qing even said that the transfer made Sun a clean and honest man, then I will show you how clean and honest the chief official in such an important position is! "

After saying that, he raised his chin, Li Erxi picked up a few pieces of paper from the imperial case, walked down the imperial steps, and handed them to the Chief Assistant Wen Tiren.

After Wen Tiren took it, he watched it intently, and Shaoqing's face was full of surprise.After reading the first one, he handed it to Wang Yingxiong. After taking it, Wang Yingxiong looked it up, and his face immediately became extremely ugly.

These few sheets of paper recorded the detailed data obtained after Beizhen Fusi inspected Changlu's prisoner's family property. The first page was the inspection of the family property of the capital transfer envoy Sun Zuoren.

After everyone passed it on for reading, Li Erxi took back the paper and put it behind the imperial case and stood beside the emperor.

Chongzhen looked at the important ministers playfully, and said with a chuckle: "Just now, Zhou Qing said that last year, Changlu put in more than 11 taels of silver, and the ministers have also seen that they copied eight of the silver from Sun's mansion alone. More than [-] liang! He has only been in office for more than two years! Hehe! This is a Ming official with a reputation for incorruptibility!"

Wang Yingxiong lowered his head and did not dare to look at the emperor. He just said that Sun Zuoren had a reputation of incorruptibility and wanted to mitigate the crimes of his disciples, but he was slapped in the face by the iron-like facts.

Wen Tiren made an impassioned memorial: "Qi Zou Shengshang, when the country is in turmoil, Sun and others are ignorant of the grace of the saints and only care about their own interests. Such a bad behavior will never be forgiven! If there is any involvement, it should be dealt with together! To rectify the court Tsunaki!"

Sun Zuoren is not his old protégé, since the family has been copied, the ending is obvious.Of course, I have to show my attitude with a righteous and dignified attitude, so as to win the favor of the emperor.As for who is behind Sun Zuoren, it doesn't matter, anyway, Wen Tiren doesn't have a good relationship with anyone.

Wang Yingxiong was angry and anxious.According to Wen Tiren's words, Sun Zuoren's matter is not over, and the person behind it should be held accountable. He and Sun Zuoren's teacher-student relationship can be found out after checking, so wouldn't it implicate himself?What's even more frightening is that I don't know if Jin Yiwei used torture. Once torture was used, Sun Zuoren couldn't bear it, and then brought out the matter of bribing himself to get this position. According to the emperor's suspicious and impatient character, he didn't know what the end would be. But he couldn't speak out to refute it. Could it be that Wen Tiren killed himself?
In desperation, he winked at Zhang Zhifa who was on the side. The two had a good relationship on weekdays, and they also ganged up against Wen Tiren in the cabinet.

After Zhang Zhifa understood, he went out to play and said: "Qi Zou Shengshang, I agree with the old man Wen Ge's words! Sun and others are absolutely unforgivable! But I do not approve of being implicated! At this time when the court employs people, if this case is used to implicate people wantonly, it will be a big deal. The officials of the Manchu Dynasty are in panic, and everyone is in danger! All the government orders of the court are stagnant! The most urgent thing is how to deal with the aftermath, how to select suitable officials to enrich Changlu, so as to prevent the salt farm from being abandoned!"

Chongzhen had read Jin Yiwei's interrogation records long ago, and Sun Zuoren had brought out the matter of bribing Wang Yingxiong.But the most important thing now is to abolish the functions set up by the imperial court in Changlu. If it is forcibly abolished without reason, it will dissatisfy the courtiers who wanted to pick up the leaks, which will affect the normal operation of the imperial court, so the cabinet needs to cooperate.If murder could solve the problem, he would have killed most of the officials long ago.He can't do the kind of Sabi who travels through the past and kills people of the nine tribes at every turn.If they really want to start killing, they will soon betray their relatives, and those local officials who are responsible for guarding the land have already opened the city gates to welcome King Chuang.

He smiled and said: "What Wen Qing and Zhang Qing said are all reasonable, it doesn't matter who or what Sun Mou recruited, maybe it was because of his impatience to make false accusations, I just know it in my heart. But there is one thing I don't understand after thinking about it There are tens of thousands of salt households in Changlu, and hundreds of officials and soldiers. Why is the annual output of salt only a few million catties? As a result, the salt in the north still needs to be supplied by the Huaihe River. The efficiency is so low, is there any need for it to exist?"

Wen Tiren knows the elegant meaning by listening to string songs, trying to figure out the meaning is his specialty, otherwise how could he win the emperor's trust?

He immediately went out and said: "What the Holy Majesty said is true! I heard that the officials in Changlu are very exploitative, Yanhu is miserable, and sometimes people flee with their families! More than ten thousand people are indeed a force that cannot be ignored. If they are manipulated by someone with a heart , Yanhu, who cannot be oppressed, will gather together, and there is a danger of disaster and chaos in the capital! Based on this, I think that Changlu can be abandoned!"

Chongzhen nodded approvingly at Wen Tiren.It's still old Wen who is so easy to use. He can understand what he means by opening his own mouth.

Wang Yingxiong was tired of it, Yanhu was very bitter, but at least he had something to eat, as long as he had something to eat, who would dare to gather a crowd to fight against the court?Even if he dared to resist, the land of Gyeonggi would be suppressed by the army before the chaos.

The meaning of the emperor just now, Sun Zuoren seems to have sold himself, but the emperor has the idea of ​​letting himself go.

Although old thief Wen knew how to flatter, Wang Yingxiong had to admit that he had a thorough understanding of the emperor's meaning and responded quickly.It seems that the emperor intends to abolish the Changlu saltworks, and he does not intend to take the blame himself. The cabinet has to take the blame.Well, since the emperor's attitude is ambiguous, let's use the scapegoat in exchange for the emperor's not being held accountable.

Wang Yingxiong went out to play and said: "The minister seconded the proposal! The salt households are suffering, and the amount of salt produced is a drop in the bucket for the north, and Changlu is like a chicken rib. If so, why not abolish it to lighten the suffering of the people!"

Zhang Zhifa also played: "The minister seconded the proposal!"

Chongzhen looked at the three members of the household department who had been silent all the time and said: "Changlu is the responsibility of the household department. The words of Qing and other three people are the most important. Hou Qing, what should we do about this matter?"

Hou Xunxin said, the topic you raised about the abolition of Changlu has been agreed by the cabinet, and I have to agree no matter how I think.

So he said: "Since it is the intention of the elders, the old minister has no other thoughts. It is just that the national treasury has reduced more than [-] taels of income every year, and the minister is very reluctant. And how to arrange the Yanhu, I ask the Holy One to consider it properly!"

Zhou Zhiqian and Zhang Xiong also played: "I have no objection!"

Chongzhen said: "Since the cabinet proposed, I will follow the good advice! Wen Qing and others went back to draw up an order to abolish the Changlu Salt Transshipment Envoy and related officials! This time, the property of Sun and others was confiscated. A total of 43 taels of silver was confiscated, and the household part received half of it. Every mouthful in Yanhu is five taels of silver, waiting for the imperial court to send personnel to resettle it! All Sun and others beheaded and abandoned the market! The family members are exiled to Dabianguan!"

　Rarely ask for tickets, can you recommend a collection?

　　


(End of this chapter)