Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 150 Abolition
Li Banghua was very dissatisfied with Chongzhen's words.It is the duty of the Procuratorate to impeach officials for wrongdoing, and now it has become a task occupied by Jin Yiwei. It is not a blessing for civil officials to rely so heavily on Jin Yiwei.

Officials who violate the imperial court's rules and regulations should be investigated and punished by the imperial court. Jinyi's army is the emperor's private army, how can he intervene in everything?How will the Procuratorate deal with itself in the future?

He opened his mouth to retort: ​​"Your Majesty puts brocade clothes and the army as the first priority. Isn't it suspected that there is a vacancy in the imperial court? Is it a long-term solution to use private things for public use? Please think twice!"

Chongzhen waved his hands and said with a smile: "Li Qing, don't be impatient! This matter involves a third-rank official of the imperial court. I mean Shi Qing, the censor of the right capital, went to Yangzhou to sit in the town. I hope that Shi Qing will handle it impartially and not show favoritism! Today's meeting in Huai'an I have thought about this matter, and I will tell you about it.”

After Shi Bangyao, the imperial censor of the right capital, went out to give the gift and received the order, all the officials returned to the column to silence and wait for Chongzhen's instruction.

Chongzhen opened his mouth and said: "I am shocked by the number of officials involved in the case of Huai'an's promotion of the Secretary! I am even more astonished by the amount of corruption! A small yamen with only three court officials, and no one who is innocent. This is the Ming Dynasty. What has never happened since the founding of the country is really a disgrace to the court! As important ministers, shouldn't you reflect on your mistakes?"

All the ministers bowed their heads in silence, Wen Tiren and Li Banghua came out and bowed to salute: "This is the fault of the ministers and others, please appease your anger!"

Chongzhen sighed: "Zhu Qing is responsible for the leadership of the ministers, and when he is strict with himself, he should also shoulder his own responsibilities! Huai'an's crimes of corruption of ink amounted to a million taels. What about a government office with greater power like this? I really dare not think about the result! What I don’t understand is, what is the use of so much money? As far as I know, an ordinary family of five in the capital spends a year With only 30 taels, a family can live comfortably; and an official from the ninth rank can be greedy for 30 taels! It’s enough for 1 families of five to spend a year!"

All the ministers just marveled at how greedy that ninth-rank official was, but didn't figure out what was so amazing about him. After Chongzhen said it, he realized that this person's greed is indeed outrageous.

Chongzhen continued: "If you operate properly, even if you are worth millions, I would be happy to see it succeed. But what makes me unbearable is that the money should have been the property of the imperial court! Last year, the Lianghuai Salt Class received a total of more than [-] yuan. Two, if there was no such thing, I would have thought it was a constant. Now it seems that I and all the ministers have been deceived by others and do not know it!"

All the ministers know that there are a lot of tricks in the salt class. Lianghuai is the most important salt class in the whole Ming Dynasty, and the people in the department will definitely use their hands to gain personal wealth.After seeing the Huai'an case now, I can't help but start to figure out how many people have been pocketed by the salt class.

Chongzhen then threw out a big cake: "Last month, I used internal funds to increase the salary of the capital's yamen. Calculated, the annual cost is 30 taels; I planned to wait for Taicang and internal funds to have more income, and then launch another batch The new policy, increase the amount of rewards. But the incident in Huai’an made me feel chilled! I don’t want some greedy people to receive rewards while harming public welfare!”

Li Banghua went out and said: "The Holy Majesty is very worried. At the end of the year, when the various government offices are assessed, the minister will ask the Inspectorate to strictly review, so that the Holy Grace will never be let down!"

how?You just raised everyone's salary, do you want to go back on your word?You must know that many officials are just about to live a good life.Aren't you just afraid that people will take your reward after being greedy for your money, are you feeling aggrieved?Then the Inspectorate will help you solve this problem.

Chongzhen nodded and said: "I can trust Li Qing. For the end-of-year assessment, the Inspectorate is the head and the Ministry of Officials is the assistant. Anyone who violates the laws and regulations of the court will be severely punished!"

Li Banghua and Zhou Yun, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, returned to the train after saluting.Since Wang Yongguang was dismissed from the post of Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Chongzhen has never thought of a suitable candidate for the Minister of the Ministry of Officials. The affairs of the Ministry of Officials are in charge of Zhou Yun, who is also working secretly to fight for rectification.Zhou Yun didn't see the direction of the wind for today's matter, so he didn't express his position.

Chongzhen took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and then said: "I deduce from the Huai'an incident that the salt benefits of the two Huaihe Rivers must be an astonishing amount. I will never allow the interests that should belong to the imperial court to be snatched by individuals! Transfer all the salt envoys! Abolish the salt import and salt class ancestor system! From now on, there is no need to use salt import to sell salt, and the salt in the whole territory of Ming Dynasty will be sold at a unified price by the imperial court!"

Almost everyone in Qianqing Palace was stunned by Chongzhen's words.

It has been more than [-] years since Taizu founded the dynasty and inherited the Song system to open Yanyin. Yanyin has become a symbol of money, and even in certain areas, Yanyin can be circulated and used as silver taels.

Salt class is one of the important sources of tax revenue for the imperial court. Although it has been decreasing year by year, it is still a great income for the imperial court who is seriously short of money. How can the emperor abolish it?
Among the people present, only Hou Xun knew what was in his mind, and he now became more and more convinced that the new salt that appeared in the market was the emperor's own property, or who could order Jin Yiwei to escort him?This time, taking advantage of the Huai'an incident to abolish the salt envoys in various places and abolish the salt introduction and salt department, it is nothing more than taking advantage of the trend.In order to fill up the internal funds, the emperor also worked hard.

Wen Tiren hesitated for a moment, but still came forward and said: "The Holy Majesty abolished Changlu earlier because it produced very little salt, and leaving it in the government office was just a waste of the country's children, and caused tens of thousands of households to be impoverished. Because of hidden dangers; the two Huaihe Rivers have been in operation for 200 years, and they have a wide influence in the south of the Yangtze River, and countless people rely on them to support their families. Is there anything wrong with the sudden abolition of the Holy One? I think that punishing corrupt officials is enough, and abolished The matter still needs to be considered in the long run.”

Wang Yingxiong said: "What the chief assistant said is true! I also feel that the abolition is inappropriate! Today, the Holy Majesty has sent Jinyi to go there, and there are also important officials like Youdu Yushi who are in charge of the eradication of corruption. The Lianghuai issue should be properly resolved; However, if according to what the Holy Majesty said, cancel the salt introduction and salt class, there are many people who have interests involved in it, and if their self-interest is damaged, it may cause unforeseen disasters! I also hope that the Holy Majesty will not make a hasty decision because of a momentary mood!"

After all, he is the elder of the pavilion. Although he lacks ability, he must consider everything from the perspective of the court. Wang Yingxiong naturally thought that the emperor's actions might cause unnecessary troubles.

Yang Sichang, Minister of the Ministry of War who had been watching coldly, came out and said: "I don't agree with the words of the two elders! The disadvantages of the Lianghuai River and the Huaihe River have been made very clear by the Holy Majesty! Nowadays, the suppression of bandits and the safety of the people require a lot of money and food, and the Lianghuai salt class only pays for it. 50 taels of silver is barely acceptable in peacetime, but the Huai’an case shows that its benefits are far more than that! If you want to get the benefits, you need to be decisive! Troubled times need heavy codes! Your Majesty must know the inside story in detail, otherwise, how could you have made such a decisive move! I agree with the abolition of the abolition of Huaiyan!"

Yang Sichang is also Qiqiao Linglong's darling, his Yang family has no conflict of interest in Lianghuai, it has nothing to do with him whether it is abolished or abolished, so he intends to just watch the fun from the sidelines.

But when he saw that Chongzhen first threw out the Huai'an nest case, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the officials with Lianghuai, and then pointed out implicitly that there could be more salt textbooks in Lianghuai, and after the internal funds and Taicang benefited, the treatment of officials in the capital would be different. He made even greater improvements, and after taking advantage of the trend to release the policy of abolition and abolition, he suddenly understood in his heart that the emperor wanted to completely control Daming Salt Power in his own hands.

Now that he knew the emperor's purpose, of course he had to perform according to the holy will.

Chongzhen nodded approvingly at Yang Sichang, and said warmly: "Yang Qing's words are very in line with my wishes. After you took office as a soldier, I have been diligent and diligent, and I have seen in my eyes; you can rely on your talents, and the Ministry of War is in your hands. I am very relieved!"

Of course Chongzhen didn't know what Yang Sichang was thinking, but Yang Sichang's words were in line with his wishes.

I came from a later life, so of course I know how rich the salt profit is. When the finances are stretched, I deliberately want to take all the salt profit into my own.

But Yang Sichang was in the middle of the situation, and he could come to the conclusion that he knew the inside story. This made him have to admit that he must not underestimate the wisdom of the ancients. He just had more knowledge and vision than them.

If you really want to talk about IQ, if you are a native of Daming, you will never be able to reach the height of others in your life.

Yang Sichang returned to the class contentedly, the emperor's praise is the basis for promotion, no matter how big other people's opinions are, it doesn't matter.The whole family secretly stinks of old Wen's scolding, but they still stay in the chief assistant's seat.The key is that Old Wen can understand the holy will, as long as the holy family does not decline, the position of chief assistant will be unanimously stabilized.

As for people who can climb to high positions, they are really elites, and they are all better than monkeys with sticky hair.

Zhou Yun, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, also stood up. He saw Chongzhen's gentle reassurance to Yang Sichang, which meant that Yang Sichang guessed the emperor's intentions correctly.

He made an impassioned statement: "I agree with the words of my own soldiers! The benefits of Huaiyan cannot be held in private hands! Huai'an's promotion department officials are corrupt, and the official department lacks effective supervision on them. The minister bears the unshirkable responsibility! At present The management of officials in the capital has become clear, and this is all thanks to the great efforts of the sage! The Ministry of officials is formulating relevant regulations to try to spread the experience of managing officials in the capital to the whole of the Ming Dynasty! So that the people of the sage will not be harmed by the cruel officials!"

This kind of blatant sycophantic behavior naturally caused everyone to secretly despise, but Chongzhen felt that Zhou Yun was a good person, and he could bring the topic of Huaiyan to the administration of officials, which had a bright future.

Chongzhen said: "Since Zhou Qing has the ambition to change the administration of officials, then do it well, and communicate with the cabinet when there are difficult things; as long as it is beneficial to Ming Dynasty, I will fully support it!"

Now that people have chosen sides, of course I have to have an attitude, I can't let people's hot faces stick to cold butts, right?

Zhou Yun was secretly complacent, and bowed back with a solemn expression.The emperor's ability to respond to all of them showed that he had guessed correctly, which left a good impression on the Holy Majesty and made another step forward on the road of rectification.It's just that I haven't seen who my competitor is, and I can't take the opportunity to give the opponent eye drops, which is really a pity.

Chongzhen looked at Hou Xun, who was silent at the side, and asked, "The household department has the most say in the matter of Huaiyan, what is Hou Qing's attitude?"

This is forcing the old Hou to express his opinion. As long as the Minister of the Household Department agrees, the rest of the laymen will not be very convincing.

Hou Xun hesitated for a moment and went out to play: "The Holy Majesty's action is indeed feasible. As long as there are more salt classes in the future than now, it will be a good thing to benefit the country and the people; but I also feel that Wang Ge is old. His words are very reasonable, and I think that for the sake of stability, it is better to plan slowly!"

Chongzhen selectively ignored his Xu Xuzhi, and decisively said: "Okay! Since the Ministry of Households also agrees with my strategy, then it is so decided! From now on, the Department of Transferring Salt Envoys will be abolished, and the salt introduction department will be abolished! "

(End of this chapter)