Sometimes the palace is sunny

Chapter 34 Drinking Tea
The second day after the Double Ninth Festival was Xiumu. Early in the morning, Ergou stood outside the Qianqing Palace with a few memorials in his sleeves, and joined him when Yiji came out.

"Boss Chicken, the emperor doesn't look like he's going to get angry today, does he?"

Yiji ordered a young eunuch to send a message to Changchun Palace on behalf of the emperor, and then turned to look at Ergou's sleeve.

"But what's wrong with it?"

Ergou nodded lightly: "The Jinyiwei sent to Dengzhou has returned, and it is indeed as Chen Shouzhang said. Many people in Dengzhou Prefecture abandoned their fields and fled their homes because they had no way to pay the food tax in full."

When speaking, Er Gou pointed down with his left hand, and first gestured for "two" and then for "seven".

A chicken immediately understood, and those gangs of dogs actually set up 27 kinds of exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes.

He turned around and glanced at the emperor who was reading a book in the East Nuan Pavilion, and felt a little hesitant in his heart. It is rare for the emperor to relax for a while these days. If his good mood is ruined again, it may be another bloodbath.

Before Yiji could think about what to say, he saw Ergou bent down and took out a roll of silver notes from his boot.

"Who gave this?"

"Yesterday afternoon, the soldiers of the Prince of England sent me to the house outside the palace, put it down and left, and scared my mother to death."

Of the four eunuchs, only Ergou's parents are still alive. Two years ago, Ergou made a contribution when he captured Zhang Wan. The emperor specially graciously allowed Ergou to bring his parents into the palace and gave him a mansion. .

"4000 taels of silver." Flicked his finger on the roll of banknotes that smelled like his own socks, "This is for each of the four of us, chicken boss, do you think we can take this money?"

Er Gou was born with a powerful face, but his eyes were not small. He stared at Yi Chicken desperately, rather like a big dog.

Yiji knew that this silly-looking dog had a lot of heart, and he was obviously asking him if he would accept the money, but secretly he was asking the emperor what he thought about the King of England.

As the leading eunuch, the emperor did not hide from him the fact that the emperor summoned the four mice alone. Even if Yiji didn't know what the emperor ordered the four mice, he knew in his heart that several times it must be for the palace of the British county.

It's just that he can't say these words to Ergou.

"A few days ago, the emperor dismissed Jiangxi from the position of supervisory censor, and sent Yao, the most famous supervisor among the censors, to move to Jiangxi. Do you think we will receive the money?"

Hearing what Yiji said, Ergou suddenly felt that the banknote in his hand was hot: "Then I will quickly find a grandson and send it back."

"There is no need to send it back." Yiji glanced at the emperor from afar again, "How to deal with the money must be decided by the emperor."

When Ergou heard this, he quickly stuffed the bank note into Yiji's hand, but Yiji raised his hand to block it.

The handsome eunuch leader couldn't hide his dislike on his face: "Next time you wash your feet, use more soap balls. If you can't do it, just sprinkle some scented dew. You dare to serve in front of the emperor with stinky feet!"

As he spoke, Yiji raised his hand and fanned the wind with his sleeve.

Er Gou, who had a pair of stinky feet, immediately turned bitter.

Without talking to him, he found a little eunuch and took a small incense burner burning white sandalwood to smoke a few silver bills, and then sent them to the imperial court together with the money.

Looking at the results of Jin Yiwei's investigation of Dengzhou Mansion, Shen Shiqing was really surprised even though she had expected it in her heart.

A total of 27 kinds of exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes with clever names forced the people of Dengzhou to be sucked to the bones, but Jin Yiwei searched all the homes of Zhou Shu, the governor of Dengzhou, and only got 3 taels of silver.

Speaking of greed, these people are indeed greedy, but the amount is far from matching.

Zhou Shu and the others knew that they were bound to die when their personal affairs came to an end, and under Jin Yiwei's means, they confessed all the crimes they committed, but they all said that they were only greedy for the money and had nothing to hide.

What about the money?
Where has the people's fat and people's anointing of Dengzhou people gone over the years?
Shen Shiqing twitched her fingers, with a sudden smile on her face:
"Chen Shouzhang wrote a letter asking me to cut taxes and disarm the army, but he didn't report Zhou Shu and others for corruption. One chicken, you ask someone to bring Chen Shouzhang... No, you two pack up and accompany me to Beizhen Fusi. "

Hearing that His Majesty was leaving the palace again, the two eunuchs knelt down quickly.

Ergou took the opportunity to take out the bank note sent by the Prince of England: "My lord, the Prince of England has sent so much money to the servant, and the servant really doesn't know how to deal with it..."

Looking at the roll of banknotes emitting a faint fragrance, Shen Shiqing waved her hand, she made Zhao Qinyang's face so bad yesterday, he would naturally try his best to please the people around her:
"Since he is willing to give it away, you can ask for more, and use them to make firearms."

After finishing speaking, Shen Shiqing stood up and planned to change the straight robe with the cloud dragon pattern on her body. After walking two steps, she stopped again and looked at the two eunuchs who had been serving her all the time:

"The kings of the British county are domineering in Jiangxi, and all they get is some ill-gotten wealth. I will make them spit it out sooner or later. He is like this with a vassal king named Zhao. When you see the money, you will feel the same. Weigh it too."

The emperor's tone seemed to be just casually speaking, but there is no doubt that this is the most straightforward warning.

One chicken and two dogs wish they could bury their faces on the ground.

"Don't worry, my lord, give the slaves a few hundred more guts, and the slaves don't dare to take what they shouldn't!"

After finishing speaking, Yiji glanced at Ergou.

Er Gou's face was already covered with sweat.

Seeing this, Yiji frowned deeply.

When he was called out from the prison, Chen Shouzhang was even a little happy. Since he was brought to Fusi of Beizhen like a dead dog by Jin Yiwei, except for the first few days when someone came for interrogation, he was arrested day after day. Locked in a dark cell, there is not even a person who can speak.

If he had known that the corner of the sky he was looking up at the gate of Beizhen Fusi was the last time he stood under a sunny sky in the past few decades, he would have looked twice more at everything he said.

But to Chen Shouzhang's surprise, the jailer didn't take him to the dark room used for interrogation, walking along the black corridor, Chen Shouzhang suddenly felt a pain in front of his eyes.

Several jailers quickly took out the black cloth bag and slammed it on his head:
"I haven't seen the sun for so many days, be careful to be blind."

Chen Shouzhang struggled, but his eyes were still covered after all.

But even so, he could still feel the sun shining on his body, with a slight warmth.

The jailer led him all the way forward, walked here and there for a while, and someone took over him again. This time, the two of them walked solidly and well. Hearing their footsteps, Chen Shouzhang knew that these people must be Jin Yiwei. .

"My lord, the person has already been brought."

The room was silent, only the sound of closing the door could be heard.

Chen Shouzhang tentatively took a step forward, but heard another crisp sound coming from the room.

It was the sound of the teacup being placed on the table.

"I heard that Mr. Chen is from Huzhou. I specially prepared some purple bamboo shoot tea. How about this tea, Mr. Chen?"

Chen Shouzhang listened intently, only to feel that the speaker was extremely young, with an official accent, but he was not like the Jin Yiwei he had seen before.

"I'm just a prisoner of criminals, how dare I sit and drink with my lord? I don't know why my lord is looking for me?"

There was a sound of water pouring into the teacup, and Chen Shouzhang turned his head again.

After staying in the rotten and rotten prison for so many days, just the smell of tea made him feel saliva.

"Master Chen, to be honest, I'm here to inquire about something, not to interrogate, so you don't have to be restrained, Master Chen."

Jin Yiwei had no lack of sons of princes. Hearing this man's tone, Chen Shouzhang only thought that this was some kind of dandy who was coming to play with him. He paused for a moment, and he finally took another step forward. :
"Since this is the case, the next official will be disrespectful."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone immediately came forward and led him to sit down, first rolled up the black cloth bag on his head to expose his mouth, and then handed a three-inch high lamp to his palm.

The top-quality porcelain was warm and moist in the hand, like jade, Chen Shouzhang took a deep breath, until the aroma of tea filled his lungs, he raised the teacup and drank the tea inside.

Comfortable!

He couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, and he felt much more relieved.

Putting the teacup on the table, he was about to ask the other party why he came, but he heard the sound of tea being poured.

Unable to hold back, Chen Shouzhang picked up the tea again and poured it into his stomach.

So again and again, the other party poured three cups of tea in a row, and he drank three cups in a row.

After drinking, Chen Shouzhang smiled.

"My lord, feel free to ask if you have any questions. For the sake of these three cups of tea, even if I, Chen Shouzhang, die in Yanjing this time, I will accept your gift of tea!"

The other party still filled his teacup, and finally spoke:

"A group of more than 3 people from Jin Yiwei went to Dengzhou. After investigating for so long, it was found that the people of Dengzhou had to pay more than [-] taels of exorbitant taxes this year, but only more than [-] silver was found in all officials in Dengzhou. I just want to ask Mr. Chen, where did the rest of the money go?"

After hearing what this person said, Chen Shouzhang laughed first:
"Why did your lord come to ask me? Is it because I, Chen Shouzhang, dared to write such things as tax cuts and disarmament in the memorial, so there must be nothing I dare not say?"

"No." The young man who sat across the table from him also poured himself a cup of tea, "I came to ask Mr. Chen not because Mr. Chen was grateful for tax cuts and disarmament, but because Mr. Chen only wrote about tax cuts and disarmament." , but did not write about the greed and accumulation of money in Dengzhou Prefecture."

Chen Shouzhang was silent.

After a while, he picked up the fourth cup of tea:

"When the country was founded, in order to guard against the two regions in the northwest, the central government made a policy of raising horses in various places. Five families along the Yellow River raised one horse, and ordered Taipu Temple to take charge of the horse administration in each region. Since Shenzong's defeat in the northwest, successive dynasties Dare not to mention the war again, but still let the people raise horses, and the young horses bred by the stallions will have to pay fines to the Taipu Temple if there is any difference. He became a money manager again. Since the first emperor, the government has repeatedly allocated money from the Taipu Temple to defend against Japanese pirates in the east, against the two northwestern provinces in the west, floods in the south, severe drought in the north, and money in the state capital. The Mujian stretched out his hand, and even the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War extended their hands to the Taipu Temple when they ran out of money. The money for the decades of peace and prosperity in the Yong Dynasty came from it. Until His Majesty went north and west and asked for horses from all over the place..."

Using his fingers as a pestle, he rapped on the table vigorously, and Chen Shouzhang's voice stirred up the anger in his chest even more.

"Your Majesty abolished the South Taipu Temple, and no one dared to touch the old accounts after many years. The emperor's order must not be violated. The Ministry of War asked the Taipu Temple for horses, and the Taipu Temple asked the herdsmen of the state capitals for horses. No one dared to say a word to His Majesty. Over the past few decades, the income of the horse government has long been a money bag to fill the deficit everywhere. There is no way, the state governments can only try their best to raise money and horses for their own heads. The horses are sent to the northwest, and the money is After adding the hole in the Taipu Temple, they recognized that corruption is nothing more than one person's head falling. If they shake the entire battered Mazheng in front of His Majesty's eyes, they will drag their nine clans to die together. Sir, if you ask me where the money has gone, I can only tell you that the money has been used as medicine, but it cannot cure the chronic diseases accumulated in the Yong Dynasty."

After speaking, Chen Shouzhang drank all the tea.

He heard a soft sound coming from the opposite side of him, someone stood up from the chair.

Looking out from the lower edge of the cloth bag that only covered his nose, Chen Shouzhang vaguely saw a corner of the embroidered robe.

"Thank you Master Chen for clarifying the confusion."

plop.

It seemed that someone was kneeling on the ground.

Chen Shouzhang didn't know that standing in front of him, the young man in the splendid flying fish suit bowed to him.

And behind this young man, a group of people had already knelt on the ground in fear.

　First update today.

　　To put it bluntly, Dayong has no money.

　　We modern people are well aware of this, and it is because of financial constraints caused by land mergers.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)