Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

"In the year of the catastrophe, the imperial court used this to fool us, can we live in this day?!"

"Collect taxes, collect taxes every day, collect taxes every month, and pay all kinds of taxes. Is it just this little bran?"

"There is no way for the common people to live in this world. The adults in the court only think about money, who cares about us?"

"In Ganshan, who hasn't been forced to have their families ruined by those elders? When the natural disaster comes, those elders are still holding on to the food, obviously they won't give us a way out!"

"These bran bark still ask us for silver and the price of polished rice. Is the imperial court just sitting back and watching these greedy and evil rampant? Is there a way out for the common people in this world?"

"In such a calamitous year, every household's money has been drained by the imperial court long ago. Now these corrupt officials still ask us for money. This obviously wants us to die! Don't forget it!"

"Fathers and folks, the imperial court will not give us a way to survive, we will find a way to survive by ourselves!"

"That's right, it's reversed! It's reversed!"

"Reverse! Reverse!"

The common people are the most patient.

Just as those high-ranking figures said, the common people are like mud legs, and when they are lowly in the mud, the common people are as cheap as grass, and there will be another stubble after one crop is cut.

The ordinary people are so tenacious, struggling, barely alive in this troubled world.

As long as there is a little hope, as long as the court gives a little something, the common people can barely survive, they will not rebel, and they will be able to endure.

But what if the common people see no hope at all?
Then the common people will launch the last resort.

Perhaps the big shots have forgotten, and those who treat the common people as nothing, have forgotten what role the common people have played in the change of dynasties.

The records in history are all emperors and generals, who are romantic figures, but under the brilliance of the few princes and generals, there are countless common people. Their power burst out, enough to shake the world.

The people of Gansu and Shanxi have rebelled!

In order to survive, for themselves, for their children, for their families to survive, and for future generations to have a good meal, the common people have already ignored other things.

In just a few days, no less than [-] people rebelled, and the people who couldn't survive rushed to the homes of those high-ranking and powerful families to snatch the food that could survive.

When the people saw the grain and gold and silver piled up in the homes of the officials and gentry, the people became even more angry.

"We can't survive anymore. You still have so much food in stock, and you lied to us that the food is gone. You don't want us to live at all!"

"These are our food and money. These people said they have to pay taxes, but in the end the money and food are in their hands!"

"Should be killed, these people should be killed!"

In October of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the entire Northwest was already full of war smoke, anti-flags could be seen everywhere in the Northwest, and the people gathered under these people in order to survive. Outside the big city of the prefecture, a large number of towns and villages fell, and even the county seat was destroyed several times.

The momentum of the people's rebellion has already made it impossible for Ganshan and other places to cover it up. Even though Ganshan is desperately trying to cover it up to prevent the court from discovering it, as the momentum of the rebel army grows, more and more The common people joined the rebel army, Fengxiang, Pingliang, and Qingyang fell, and the whole area of ​​Gansu and Shaanxi was shaken. This cover can no longer be covered!
So Ganshan had to rush to report to the imperial court, and the people of Ganshan rebelled!
The news was rushed to the capital by Babaili, and it was already late at night when they arrived in the capital.

Wen Tiren, Yang Changsi, Shi Fenglai and other cabinet elders were all asleep, but someone knocked on the door and woke them up abruptly.

"What happened, you knocked on my door in the middle of the night?!" Wen Tiren was very upset, and he fell asleep with his concubine.

"Old Ge, something serious has happened. The people of Gansu and Shanxi have rebelled. Now that half of the country has fallen, Xi'an is in danger!"

"What?!" Wen Tiren suddenly woke up.

When Wen Tiren rushed to the cabinet, he found that Qian Qianyi, Liu Hongxun, Qiao Yunsheng, and Sun Chengzong were already here. After Wen Tiren arrived, Yang Changsi and Shi Fenglai also rushed over, and the seven members of the cabinet gathered together.

Qian Qianyi handed the military newspaper to Wen Tiren expressionlessly: "Let's have a look."

Wen Tiren took the military newspaper and looked at it, and his face suddenly became extremely ugly. Yang Changsi and Shi Fenglai also came up to take a look, and the faces of the three became more and more exciting.

Qian Qianyi looked at these people with cold eyes. Now that Daming has fallen to such a point, Wen Tiren, Yang Changsi, and Shi Fenglai count as one of the three, and there is absolutely no innocent person who was killed!
The emperor entrusted them with the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Rites, and these people formed cliques for personal gain, corrupted the law, colluded with party members, and became corrupt!
The good Chongzhen Dynasty was ruined by these people!
It wasn't just Qian Qianyi, Sun Chengzong's eyes on the three of them gradually became strange.

Speaking of appeasing Ganshan and Shanxi, and various tax policies, Wen Tiren, Shi Fenglai, and Yang Changsi are all working together. The three of them hold great power, and they can even compete with Qian Qianyi, the cabinet chief Auxiliary to hard.

There are many times when Qian Qianyi has to compromise.

But what was the result?
All kinds of exorbitant taxes caused turmoil in various places in Ming Dynasty, and common people rebelled and uprising everywhere.

If it is said that the rebellions of the people in various places were forced to rebel by some people who could not survive, it was considered a minor disturbance, but this time, the people in the entire Gansu and Shanxi rebelled, then it was not a minor disturbance, it was possible A big problem that shakes the foundation of Ming Dynasty!
Wen Tiren naturally also saw the eyes of Qian Qianyi and Sun Chengzong, and he naturally knew that the chief minister and second minister of the cabinet had a lot of dissatisfaction with him.

After all, everyone wants to be the chief assistant of the cabinet, and Wen Tiren is no exception. He controls the Ministry of Rites, Shi Fenglai controls the Ministry of Households, and Yang Changsi controls the Ministry of Industry. It's real power.

In the past few years of the Chongzhen Dynasty, the two sides have fought openly and secretly with various stumbling blocks, which can be said to be almost torn apart.

Fortunately, the emperor trusted them and entrusted them with various important errands, and they were able to do almost everything. For example, this time, the disaster relief in Gansu and Shanxi was also entrusted to them.

But this time, a big scam was revealed, and it was such a shocking big scam, Wen Tiren couldn't believe it.

Wen Tiren didn't want Daming to perish even if he said nothing about it.

His status as an elder of the cabinet was based on the foundation of the Chongzhen Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty. It was the Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty who trusted him that he was able to hold the high position of an extremely human minister today.

As a senior member of the cabinet and minister of rites, Wen Tiren has already become an extremely human minister. At the same time, he has also used the imperial examinations in the past few years to be a disciple of the party members all over the world. Now the Wen family in Huzhou can be a first-class powerful family in the world. There are hundreds of thousands of mu of fertile land and millions of family wealth.

If there is a problem in Daming, people with vested interests like Wen Tiren are the last to want to see it.

The same goes for Yang Changsi and Shi Fenglai.

Their power and interests are closely related to the Ming Dynasty, and they are linked to Emperor Chongzhen. How could they deliberately cause such a big disturbance in the Northwest?
What good would that do them?
That's why the people in the northwest rebelled and the news of the turmoil in Gansu and Shanxi surprised the three of them.

It stands to reason that it shouldn't be. Didn't they send all the 300 million taels of grain to Ganshan?
How can the people rebel?

"The grain of 300 million taels was taken to Ganshan, why would the people rebel when they had grain?" Yang Changsi didn't understand.

Qian Qianyi snorted coldly: "The food has been escorted to Ganshan, but has the food reached the hands of the people?"

Wen Tiren said: "But the inspector censor who was sent out said that the people have all received food?"

Qian Qianyi laughed even more ironically: "So, the common people have long been dissatisfied with the imperial court, and they just used this as an excuse to rebel?"

"Do you believe this, Mr. Wen Ge?"

Sun Chengzong even said in a deep voice: "It was originally a year of catastrophe, but now there are people rebelling. This must be a big problem in the locality! In my opinion, we must strictly investigate!"

Qian Qianyi said: "There are a few other people's notebooks here in this pavilion, which are also about Ganshan, please take a look."

These brochures were delivered to Wen Tiren and the others, and after flipping through them, the faces of the three became more and more exciting.

These excerpts describe the situation in Ganshan in detail, including how the disaster relief food turned into bran and bark weeds, including the high price at which these things were sold by those officials, and the situation in Ganshan. How outrageous the taxes are, etc.

Wen Tiren looked at the news. Although he didn't want to admit that it was true, he told him in his heart that it was true. If it wasn't so, the people would never rebel!

Shi Fenglai's face was even more ugly, he closed the booklet fiercely: "These damn bastards! They have done us a terrible job!"

"Think about how to explain it to His Majesty, everyone!" Qian Qianyi said, turned and left.

He also understood now that the emperor's appointment of him as the chief assistant was only temporary, and in fact the emperor didn't trust him at all.

Now the emperor is far worse than Emperor Tianqi, and the officials in the court look respectable, but in fact they are full of male thieves and prostitutes. Apart from intrigue, they are corrupt and extort bribes. Do you expect these people to govern Daming well?

Qian Qianyi was tired of being able to persist for the past few years. He planned to resign and return to his hometown.

The next day, the Ganshan urgent report was delivered to Zhu Youjian's desk. Zhu Youjian, who was going to court with a positive attitude, suddenly lost his mood: "The people of Ganshan and Shanxi rebelled?! What is the situation?!"

"What's wrong with Ganshan!"

Wen Tiren immediately knelt down and cried, saying that he did not know anyone, and that the governor of Gansu and Shanxi lied to his superiors and colluded with local governments to embezzle disaster relief food and money, causing the people to rebel.

Wen Tiren knew very well that if Zhu Youjian wanted to investigate this matter, he would not be able to hide it. Instead of waiting for Zhu You to find out, he should take the initiative to explain the situation. After all, he was innocent. Big, have you swallowed all the disaster relief food of 300 million taels of silver?

Shi Fenglai and Yang Changsi also knelt down and cried bitterly, saying that they were also responsible. After all, the three of them were responsible for the Ganshan disaster relief. Now that such a problem has happened, they cannot avoid it.

Zhu Youjian was not very angry when he saw the three pleading guilty with tears of tears.

After all, in Zhu Youjian's view, his cabinet elders are really not to blame for this incident. After all, they gave a solution from the beginning and implemented it quickly. In the final analysis, it was the fault of the governor of Gansu and Shaanxi and local officials!

So Zhu Youjian looked at Qian Qianyi: "Qian Shoufu, do you have anything to say?"

???

Qian Qianyi looked confused, I am the chief assistant of the cabinet and minister of the Ministry of officials, but the emperor, are you really blind?
How many of the governors are mine?
But the emperor asked this question, and Qian Qianyi had no choice but to plead guilty: "The minister is guilty."

Zhu Youjian snorted coldly. He doesn't want to talk to Qian Qianyi too much now. After all, Qian Qianyi is his elder brother Zhu Youxiao's courtier, and he was also promoted by his elder brother to the position of the cabinet elder, and he carried the Donglin Party. The banner came.

What's more, Qian Qianyi and Zhang Haogu's fellow party members are too close, and their thinking still cannot avoid the new policies and new laws.

Once the emperor and courtiers, Zhu Youjian had long wanted to depose Qian Qianyi and replace him.

"Hmph, immediately send Tiqi to arrest the governor of Ganshan and all the prefects and counties involved in the case. I want to hold them accountable!" Zhu Youjian quickly made a decision, and first sent people to arrest the culprits in the capital to kill them. Let's talk!
Having decided the fate of the governor of Ganshan and those magistrates, Zhu Youjian looked at Wen Tiren and the others again: "Now that the people of Gansu and Shanxi are rebelling, the cabinet must come up with an idea quickly. Time waits for no one."

After the court was over, Wen Tiren, Shi Fenglai, and Yang Changsi discussed for a while, and then rushed to the Hall of Martial Arts.

Speaking of which, Wen Tiren, Shi Fenglai, and Yang Changsi are Zhu Youjian's cronies. Zhu Youjian trusts them more than Qian Qianyi and Sun Chengzong, otherwise the three of them would not be able to fight Qian Qianyi.

When they arrived at the Hall of Martial Arts, the three immediately knelt down and pleaded guilty: "Your servant is guilty."

Zhu Youjian said calmly: "Let's make peace, the three elders."

In Zhu Youjian's view, the rebellion of the people in Gansu and Shaanxi was really not a big deal.

It's just the people rebelling.

Over the years of the Ming Dynasty, how few people rebelled?
What's more, the people's rebellion this time was forced by those corrupt officials. Zhu Youjian believed that as long as the news of those corrupt officials being ransacked and beheaded by him spread out, and the court gave some comfort, the people in Ganshan and Shanxi would be obedient. Go home and continue to be a good citizen.

What's more, it was really easy for the imperial court to quell the rebellion. Can a group of ordinary people with hoes and plows compare with the elites of the imperial court?
Wen Tiren, Yang Changsi, and Shi Fenglai obviously thought so too. The solution the three came up with was to appease the common people. Except for those who broke the county, they had to be killed as an example, and the rest of the rebels should be pardoned as soon as possible, showing the emperor's will. Kuanren and the kindness of the court.

At the same time, Wen Tiren and the others also believed that the imperial court should send a large army to clear the payment by means of thunder, so as to avoid the growing momentum of the people's rebellion, which would eventually sweep several provinces and corrupt half of the country.

Zhu Youjian also agrees with this, but the next problem comes, whether it is necessary to send troops to suppress the rebellion, or to appease the people, money cannot be avoided.

It takes money to mobilize the army to counter the rebellion, and it takes real money to appease the people.

Now that the imperial court is still in debt, where can I pay for it?

Zhu Youjian looked at Shi Fenglai, the Minister of the Household Department, and now it is impossible for Zhu Youjian to pay for it himself.

Shi Fenglai thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, after ransacking the houses of those corrupt officials, the gold and silver obtained should be enough to appease the people. What needs to be considered now is the silver for sending troops to counter the rebellion."

"In the land of Gansu and Shaanxi, half of the province has been corrupted. Now it is getting worse and there is a risk of sweeping the whole province and even other places. If the imperial court wants to send troops, it must have tens of thousands of troops."

Zhu Youjian made a calculation in his heart, tens of thousands of troops, at least a few 10 taels of silver, and the entire suppression of the rebellion, there is no one or two million taels of silver as a base, which is not enough.

What's more, the land of Gansu and Shanxi was destroyed later, and it will take time to recover, which requires money to make up for the local trauma.
After all the calculations, Zhu Youjian frowned, it cost too much money!
Wen Tiren saw what Zhu Youjian was thinking, and immediately made a suggestion: "Your Majesty, the imperial court now spends a huge amount of silver taels every year, most of which are local expenditures."

"And the local yamen has too many unnecessary expenditures. The minister thought that by streamlining the staff and reducing these additional expenditures, this would save the court a lot of money and food."

Zhu Youjian's eyes lit up when he heard Wen Tiren's words.

Yes, the imperial court wants high taxes, so it is indispensable to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

Nowadays, open source is not easy to handle, but saving money is very easy.

Take the yamen servants as an example, how many yamen servants are there in various places, and how many are those servants?

With a regular worker and a group of temporary workers, can the cost of this local government be low?
This is just a yamen servant, not counting other things. The local yamen of the Ming Dynasty is full of all kinds of temporary workers. If all these temporary workers are hired, it will definitely save a lot of money.

Wen Tiren said again: "Your Majesty, during the Tianqi Dynasty, the provincial governments built official roads and post stations. The official roads connected the entire Ming Dynasty, and there were countless post stations. The postmen raised in these post stations all eat official food."

"Such a large number of postmen is also an extra expense for the imperial court. It is better to reduce the number of postmen, cut most of the huge postmen in various places, and lay off all the bloated personnel, so as to maintain normal operation."

Zhu Youjian nodded again after hearing this. In this way, he could save a lot of money.

Calculated in this way, the court can save a lot of money every year.

After thinking about it, he felt that this matter could be done, so Zhu Youjian immediately issued an order. One was to require local yamen to reduce their personnel, abolish a large number of unnecessary manpower, and simplify the operation of the yamen.

The second is to abolish the postmen, streamline the postmen who are now huge and spread all over the Ming Dynasty, and keep the three levels of province, prefecture, and county. The only thing is to save money and food.

After the news reached Ganshan, Li Zicheng, now 31 years old and a postman, was stunned.

Why was he streamlined by the court?
The imperial court wanted to streamline the yamen and post stations. Li Zicheng was originally diligent and conscientious, thinking that he was an irreplaceable laborer in the post station. Although the money and food allocated by the court are very small, he can at least make ends meet.

But now that the imperial court has cut him off all of a sudden, how can he eat?

Later, Li Zicheng asked someone to inquire and found out that if the postman wanted not to be abolished, he had to pay the big shots in the yamen. In order to feed himself, Li Zicheng barely scraped together the money and even borrowed a sum of money to hand it over to the yamen. , hoping to keep his post pawn position.

But Li Zicheng never expected that the entire postmen in Ganshan and Shanxi were within the scope of the abolition of the imperial court, and the so-called paying money to keep their positions was also made up by the masters in the yamen to collect money.

Li Zicheng, who had not kept his status after paying the money, asked the yamen for an explanation, but was kicked out of the county yamen by twenty slaps.

In his thatched hut with air leaks everywhere, Li Zicheng who was recovering from his wounds suddenly realized: This world is already rotten, and the court officials are all like birds, so it's the other way around!

In November of the same year, Li Zicheng led an uprising with those postmen brothers who had also paid the money and were dismissed!