My uncle's name is Zhu Di

Chapter 171 The Tributary Trade That Disasters the Nation and the People

Xu Qin was furious. Noble children like them spent more money for nothing, indulged in sensuality, walked the dog with an eagle, and asked flowers and willows. There is no doubt that they were all acts of prodigal sons.

Not only did the family refuse to agree, but the outside also pointed and pointed. If it was not done well, it would be impeached by the censor for misconduct.

But the Ministry of Rites is so generous and keeps giving gifts to others, why no one blames them?
Not only did no one criticize him, but he also said that he had the spirit of heaven and the heart of the country.

Isn't this a prodigal?
No, this is the son of a defeated country!

It doesn't hurt for them to sell their grandparents!

Xu Qin couldn't help but said: "My dear brother, do you think it is possible to impeach the Ministry of Rites? Saying that they are wasting state money and people's money, wasting money beyond measure?"

Xu Jingchang smiled, "Aren't you afraid of offending people? You just entered the officialdom, and you offended the Ministry of Rites. I think you don't want to."

Xu Qin was stunned for a while, but broke the jar and said: "What can I do? In the worst case, I will resign from office and go home. Anyway, there is a prince waiting at home. I have nothing to fear!"

That's right, it's not just Xu Jingchang who has a Duke of the State, but I also have one, and it's the serious Duke of Wei, extremely majestic!
You are not afraid of offending people, and neither am I.

Xu Qin suddenly understood why Xu Jingchang was so arrogant, he was really confident.

I'm a little better than you, and I still have Tanhualang!
Thinking of this, Xu Qin said: "We are honorable, we live together with the country, and we are destined to share weal and woe with the Ming Dynasty. When we see injustice, we have to take care of it, and we have to say that we can win a point for the country. Point. Anyway, we have a clear conscience and are not afraid of harming our descendants, don’t you think?”

Xu Jingchang has nothing to say, his cousin thinks more clearly than himself!

"The words are good, but I think we can't just talk in plain language. We have to argue carefully and write things clearly. We not only have to call people as jerks, but also prove that they are jerks. This is our true skill!" Xu Jingchang said with a smile.

When Xu Qin heard this, he also became energetic.

"I thought that I could only eat and wait to die. I was a Duke of Taiping. This time, I suddenly passed the exam. I think I can do something bigger. I can't go on so plainly in my life. I want to do something. Make some noise!"

That's what Xu Qin said, and even more so... In fact, this kid's mobility is still higher than Xu Jingchang's.After he made up his mind, he went to the Hanlin Academy first.

He only inquired here about the credentials, gift lists and other items of tribute paid by foreign feudal vassals over the years... Then he went to the Ministry of Rites to check the status of the rewards, and finally he went to the treasury of the Ministry of Households to check the amount of delivery.

They usually go out before dawn and come home after midnight.

Occasionally, I have to write articles all night.

Xu Jingchang slept soundly at home, and Xu Qin next door buried himself in writing. When he was tired and sleepy, he washed his face with well water.Then keep writing.

He was so busy that Xu Huizu felt distressed when he saw him.

If I hadn't made a big mistake, the Xu family wouldn't have come to this point... First, the nephew fought against the courtiers, and then the son forgot to sleep and eat, it was all because of my incompetence as an elder!

He couldn't say anything to stop his son, so he could only order the kitchen to get some delicious food for the child, so as not to exhaust his body.

In this way, after half a month of busy work, a majestic essay with a length of [-] characters was finally written.

"Look, how do I write?"

Xu Jingchang took it over, carefully looked at it again and again, and couldn't help but glisten in his eyes.

"Your article is very powerful, the data is detailed, the analysis is in place, the summary is decent, and the concept is far-reaching...I think the Ministry of Rites is probably going to be unlucky."

Xu Qin smiled naively, "I don't really care about the Ministry of Rites, I just feel distressed. We people have suffered so much, why no one speaks for them? What are those courtiers thinking? Don't they always say they want to be the master for the people?" ? Where did they put the common people?"

Xu Jingchang snorted, "How would I know! But with your article, the suffering of ordinary people may be less."

Xu Jingchang got up, called a family general, and asked him to invite Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui.

The general turned around and left. Xu Jingchang turned his head and wanted to chat with Xu Qin again, but found that he was lying on the table and there was no movement... Xu Jingchang was startled, and moved forward, so he was relieved. Fell asleep.

Fortunately, I am young and in good health, otherwise it would be Enke, the imperial examination, and writing this article, which would have killed my life.

Xu Jingchang fetched a cloak and covered Xu Qin's body.

After waiting for a while, Zhu Gaosui hurried over.

"What's the matter? In such a hurry?"

Xu Jingchang directly handed the article to Zhu Gaosui for him to read.

Zhu Gaosui looked at it carefully, and after a while, he was surprised and said, "You wrote this? It's very good!"

Xu Jingchang shook his head, "It was written by our family, Tanhualang. Tell me, how can this thing be sent out so that it can be most powerful?"

Zhu Gaosui thought about it seriously, and after a while, he clicked his tongue and said: "If you send out the ten-thousand-character long text at once, I'm afraid not many people will be able to read it. Let's cut this article into three parts."

"Three parts? How?" Xu Jingchang asked curiously.

"This is easy to handle. The first part is the tribute trade over the years. How much is given by the foreign vassals, and how much we give away. Because the thick and the thin, we will lose a lot of money a year."

Xu Jingchang nodded, "This is a clear account. It's not difficult to calculate. Tens of thousands of pieces of silk were rewarded alone. Even if those local products were deducted, there were tens of thousands of taels. The loss of Ming's wealth was very serious."

Zhu Gaosui nodded, and said through gnashing of teeth: "It's the first time I know that it costs so much money to dare to love all nations to come to court. It's really a shame."

Then Zhu Gaosui introduced to Xu Jingchang that the second part of the article was to harass several coastal cities and the people along the way.

For example, in Ningbo, where foreign missions often come, there are as many as 300 people in a Champa mission. After they come, the local yamen is responsible for the post, food and daily life they live in.

And the local yamen will apportion it to the common people, and let the common people bear the expenses.

That's hundreds of people, and they need to supply rice, meat, chicken and duck... The common people tighten their belts, empty their stomachs, and give the good things they can't bear to eat to outsiders.

Who is the state of etiquette, the kingdom of heaven, there must be a way of hospitality!

This is not over yet, the local products sent by the overseas vassals still need to be recruited and sent to the capital... The states and counties along the way will all contribute their husbands, chariots and horses, and send them to the capital in a lively manner.

The meals of those missions must not be bad, it would be bad if they make outsiders laugh at them.

After all this tossing, the common people and local officials along the way suffered unspeakably.

The second part of the article is about this.

Seeing this is already too much, wait until you read the third part, and your blood pressure will explode.

Because most of the products sent from overseas are local products... There are gold, pearls, ivory and so on, but these things are rare after all, and they are usually sent to the palace, and then every new year, they are used to reward important ministers... These things are not bad.

But the bulk of the tributes are serious local products, such as pepper!
Although as a spice, anyone can use it, but poor people buy some salt at most, and they are not willing to buy pepper.

Only a few wealthy families will buy a little bit, and the result is a large amount of pepper tribute from outside, piled up in warehouses.

I couldn't bear it anymore, so I took these peppers as salary and distributed them to all officials.

At the end of the year, many officials hoped to get a salary to celebrate the New Year in a happy and prosperous way, so they gave out two liters of pepper to compensate the salary.

Wanting to have a full meal, I ended up giving you a belt to make you tighten your belt...

What is this?

Xu Qin concluded at the end that in this tribute trade, the court lost money, the common people suffered, and the officials did not get benefits... To sum up, it is three losses.

But such a tricky thing is still going on and on, and I never get tired of it.

I really don't know what the court and people of insight are thinking?
Zhu Gaosui really understands how to play newspapers. On the first day, he published Xinke Tanhualang's political observation masterpiece... the first part was released.

As soon as this article came out, people immediately criticized Xu Qin, saying that he didn't understand etiquette and that it was a joy to have friends coming from afar.There is no atmosphere in the country, small belly, caressing about every detail.

Zhu Gaosui unceremoniously published these articles scolding Xu Qin together with the novella.

Here comes the fun.

You scold Xu Qin, and Xu Qin is speaking for the common people. Could it be that you just watched the people in Ningbo, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and other places suffer?

Is your face important, or the livelihood of ordinary people more important?
Moreover, Xu Qin also discovered that in order to transport local products, civilian husbands were recruited, and sometimes even women were not spared.The Yamen servants were watching from the sidelines, and beat the people of Daming with whips.

And those foreign missions also watched helplessly.

Watching Daming abuse his own people!
How can you make outsiders fear Daming if you don't even care about your own people?
Will those envoys from foreign vassal states tell them that when they go back to the country, they will do whatever they want to kill the people of Ming Dynasty and capture them as slaves.

After this article was sent out, those who scolded Xu Qin immediately changed their tone, they could not continue scolding, and quickly changed their minds.

They began to criticize local officials, saying that they were not good at scheduling, that they were not careful in their arrangements, that they disturbed and harmed the people, and that they needed to be severely punished.

On the third day, the last article of the article came out.

Let you scold the officials, and see what benefits the officials have gained in this matter?

The treasury kept a lot of pepper, and when the imperial court was short of expenses, they even used pepper to pay their salaries, and all the officials complained endlessly.

Good boy, direct good boy!
It turns out that even officials are victims.

This kind of three-lose national policy, who is so clever came up with it?

Those who were still scolding Xu Qin two days ago will be speechless after reading this article.

Let's put the facts aside, so no one makes mistakes?

On the fourth day, all the firepower was concentrated on the Ministry of Rites, we need an explanation!
Why is the court still insisting on such a thing that harms the country and the people?
Could it be that the Ministry of Rites has some unknown benefits?

Thoroughly investigate the Ministry of Rites, find out the corrupt officials who have harmed the country and the people, and give an explanation to the people of the world.

"Congratulations, just one article made the Ministry of Rites fall into a passive position. As expected of my cousin, it's just a little bit worse than when I just became an official and won two ministers." Xu Jingchang laughed.

Xu Qin didn't have his thick skin, on the contrary, he was worried.

"Your Majesty ordered me to enter the palace to confront you."

Xu Jingchang smiled and said: "It's okay, I'll follow, we brothers are of the same heart, and our profits can cut through gold!"

Hearing this, Xu Qin inexplicably shivered, gaining confidence.

What a good brother!

At this time, Hou Xian came to announce the decree, and Zhu Di called them two brothers.

(End of this chapter)