Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 158

The Forbidden City is dazzling under the setting sun, which is the yearning place for countless people.

"Who, stop!"

When Zhu Ji saw the person coming in a hurry, he immediately shouted.

Although Zhu Youtang likes the scenery of lakes and mountains in Xiyuan, he also likes the palace of emperors, so most of the time he chooses to return to the Forbidden City to spend the night.

Although going north from Xiyuan, you can go back to the Forbidden City via the Xuanwu Gate in the north, but the Xihua Gate is opposite Xiyuan Gate, so Zhu Youtang has always taken this convenient path.

Every time you want to go from the opposite Xihuamen, martial law will be imposed on the south side.

After being left out in the cold by Zhu Youtang, Zhu Ji became very attentive now, and often personally led the Jin Yiwei here to enforce martial law, and naturally he had to stop Song Cheng who came in a hurry.

Zhu Youtang was sitting on the dragon chariot. Hearing the commotion from the south, he turned his head to look at Song Cheng who came out of breath. He didn't expect the case to progress so quickly.

It's just that Song Cheng is not a person who is eager to claim credit, and now that he has come so quickly, it is impossible to solve the case, and he may have to create a problem for himself, so he gave Liu Jin a wink.

If this case were to fall on Wu Xun, it would be a good harvest.

It was already the end of March, and the temperature in the capital had risen significantly.

Zhu Youtang entered from the Xihua Gate, which was the area of ​​the Outer Dynasty, and usually returned to the Qianqing Palace from the Outer East City, which naturally had to pass through the Renshou Palace.

Ordinarily, the queen mother should go to the spring festival with her, but she still gave up on the grounds of being unwell.

Zhu Youtang knew that it might be because he just happened to be unwell, but I'm afraid the main reason was that the Queen Mother and Zhu Jianshen really didn't have any husband and wife relationship. After all, Zhu Jianshen didn't even touch each other.

It's just that I am in this era, and I am already a trend-setter in the era.He naturally knew that it wasn't because the queen dowager was ugly, but because her appearance was higher than that of Concubine Shao, and she was more likely to be a victim of political struggle.

If Zhu Jianshen was as cowardly as Zhu Youtang in history, the Queen Mother might even be the monogamous creation of emperors in history, but she happened to meet an emperor who wanted to get rid of the control of civil servants.

"Your Majesty, how do you feel about this trip?" Although the Queen Mother is not a beautiful woman, she is still a great beauty, and her charm is still the same as before, and she looks very elegant and concerned.

Zhu Youtang has not been here for a long time, so he said sincerely: "The scenery of Longevity Mountain is indeed very good. I think you can go there together next time. It is also very good to relax outside!"

"Is the place of the imperial mausoleum a place to relax? Your Majesty should pay attention to what you say. If it gets out, some of your ministers may directly admonish you!" The queen mother smiled slightly when she found that the emperor in front of her was occasionally ignorant. typical.

Zhu Youtang knew that it was still difficult for him to become an emperor who followed the rules, so he said bluntly: "No problem! A while ago, there was a hailstorm on Longevity Mountain, and there were dozens of memorials, but I let Liu Jin burn them all! This time I went to Wanshou Mountain. Shoushan, apart from being a bit tired during the sacrifice, the scenery is really good!"

"The Ai family has heard very well. If Your Majesty does not mind the Ai family delaying the trip, you can come with me next time!" Seeing Zhu Youtang's sincere invitation, the Queen Mother nodded lightly and said.

Zhu Youtang realized that the empress dowager's refusal to travel might be because she was afraid of causing trouble to herself, so she decided to correct herself: "That's it, I'll invite you next time!"

After chatting for a few words, the Queen Mother saw that Zhu Youtang was about to leave, and she was going to pretend to be sick after all, so she ordered the maid beside her: "Qingyue, send your majesty to Ai's family!"

A young court lady named Qingyue was thin and plump, she was very charming, she was dressed in green clothes, especially her eyes were like Qiuyue, she saluted politely: "Yes!"

The first time Zhu Youtang saw this court lady, she had a fresh and refined feeling, so she couldn't help but look at the seventeen or eighteen year old court lady curiously.

There are too many court ladies in this palace, maybe it is because of his majesty, that many court ladies seem a little dumbfounded.

When Zhu Youtang was on the dragon chariot, he couldn't help asking: "Why have I never seen you in Renshou Palace?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the maidservant has been in the Shangfu Bureau earlier, and the Queen Mother thought that the maidservant's clothes were well sewed, so she sent the maidservant to Renshou Palace!" Although Qingyue didn't meet Zhu Youtang's eyes, she replied generously and decently.

Zhu Youtang found that the court lady really made him feel very comfortable, and noticed the hands holding the silk handkerchief, he couldn't help but nodded slightly: "There are a pair of skillful hands!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your compliment!" Qingyue first clenched her fists nervously, then thanked her with a smile.

Zhu Youtang admitted that this court lady is beautiful, especially she has a rare kind of intelligence, but the most important thing in the palace is beautiful court ladies, and he will not meet one and love the other.

It just made him puzzled, the queen mother has been in the palace for more than [-] years, why did she suddenly want a young and beautiful maid to serve her, and let this maid send him off?

Liu Jin had already been waiting outside the Renshou Palace, but seeing no one around, he immediately followed the dragon chariot and told the truth about the progress of Song Liangcheng's hasty report.

"Xing'an Bo's mansion?" Zhu Youtang frowned slightly when he learned that Tie Xiangshan was the Xuefeng knife that was thrown away by Xing'an Bo's invitation to a banquet.

Liu Jin observed Zhu Youtang's reaction, and said seriously: "Your Majesty, this matter seems to have nothing to do with Xing'an Bo! Tie Xiangshan still had a knife when he left, but he lost it when he had a dispute with someone on the way back. That knife just happened to be sold to someone from the Annan Mission by a gangster in the capital!"

"Even so, according to Song Cheng's request, let Zhu Ji immediately send someone to recover the Annan Mission!" Zhu Youtang didn't expect that the matter would still come back to the Annan Mission, and Dang Shi conveyed the order.

He felt that things couldn't be as simple as they seemed on the surface, like Tie Xiangshan's throwing of the knife had nothing to do with Xing'anbo on the surface, but the cause of everything was Xing'anbo's banquet.

Now that the clues have pointed to the Annan Mission, once it can be confirmed that Li Guangdu of the Annan Mission bought the Xuefeng Knife and used it to kill the Champa envoy Wen Jin, then severe punishment will naturally be imposed.

It's just that things have developed to this point, and there are more and more suspects.

For example, Liu Jian, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites who agreed to release the Annan mission, Xing Anbo, who hosted a banquet at Tiexiangshan, and even Wan An, who first proposed to send the Annan envoy to leave Beijing, were all suspects.

After receiving the order, Zhu Ji immediately arranged for people to leave before the city gate was closed.

Fortunately, due to the delay in the case of Champa envoy Wen Jin, the time for sending Annan's envoy to leave Beijing was delayed.

The Qianqing Palace is brightly lit.

After all, Zhu Youtang was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. What he faced was not one city and one pool, but two capitals and thirteen provinces.This trip to Tianshou Mountain naturally accumulated a lot of government affairs to deal with.

After bathing, he no longer thought about the case, nor did he have the time to figure out the Queen Mother's intentions, so he came to Dongnuan Pavilion to continue handling the government affairs of the two capitals and thirteen provinces.

The Transshipment Envoy of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River has three branches under its jurisdiction: Taizhou, Huai'an, and Tongzhou, as well as two inspection offices in Taizhou and Huai'an.

The Taizhou branch has ten supervisory divisions, namely: Fu'an Field, Anfeng Field, Heduo Field, Liangduo Field, Dongtai Field, Biancha Field, Jiaoxie Field, Dingxi Field, Caoyan Field, and Xiaohai Field.

There are 11 inspection departments under the Transshipment Department of Huaihe River and Huaihe City: Baitahe Inspection Department, Andongba Inspection Department, Xichang Inspection Department, Xixi Inspection Department, Anfeng Inspection Department, Haian Inspection Department, Excavation Inspection Department, Shigang Inspection Department, Miaowan Inspection Department, Changle Inspection Department, Linxing Inspection Department.

"He is in charge of the Taizhou branch and the judge Liu Ming of the transfer department of the two Huaihe capitals!"

"The Baita River Inspection Department inspects Li Shi!"

"An Dongba Inspection Department inspects Chen Sheng!"

"The West Field Inspection Department inspects Zhang Changchun!"

……

"Fu'an Field Ambassador Lin Zhu!"

"Anfeng Field Ambassador Sun Peng!"

"He Duochang Ambassador Zhao Beidou!"

……

"Fu'an Yancangcang ambassador Tie Sanjin!"

"Yang Donglai, Ambassador of Anfeng Salt Cangcang!"

"Li Yongshou, Ambassador of Heduo Yancang!"

……

Zhu Youtang saw that Wang Yue had just submitted a memorial that listed many official positions, with many people's names on it, and listed many numbers. It was not until the end that he understood Wang Yue's intention.

It is clearly the end of March, but today the weather has turned warmer, but it seems to have suddenly returned to the cold winter months.

Among the three salt fields under the jurisdiction of Lianghuai, Taizhou can be said to be the most authentic portrayal of salt abuse.

There will always be many interesting things in history. Some officials who are obviously doing things seriously, as long as they are "not of the same kind", they will often be slandered wildly.

Yan Maoqing was most criticized during his prime minister's Yanzheng period. The local censor pointed out that he had a luxurious personality, using brocade quilts for toilet beds, platinum decorations for drowning vessels, etc., and using twelve women to carry bridges, etc.

It's just that many people don't know that Yan Maoqing may be a person who enjoys extravagance, but it is the thorn in their eyes that everyone scolds and beats, but it pierces a layer of window paper.

While history is easy to gloss over, data does not lie.

After Prime Minister Yan Maoqing's salt administration, Taizhou's salt production ushered in a substantial increase, exceeding half of it in one fell swoop, becoming the well-deserved leader of the Huaiyan Third Division.

In the Yongzheng period, Gao County under the jurisdiction of Taizhou was placed under the jurisdiction of Tongzhou, while Dongtai County under the jurisdiction was placed under the direct jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture, and the corresponding salt fields were naturally taken away.

Even so, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the output here doubled, accounting for 58% of the Huai salt, but this is the amount after the reduction of the salt field!
The crux of the Ming Dynasty’s salt administration was that apart from the collusion between the government and businessmen, the bigger problem was that some people deliberately concealed the real production of salt, and these salt productions not only did not benefit the court, but disrupted the salt market through their smuggling channels.

Zhu Youtang repeatedly looked at the crimes of these officials listed in Wang Yue's memorandum, and looked carefully for a long time before he saw the words between the words.

There are many officials in Yangzhou, and there are also many officials in Taizhou.

Zhu Youtang didn't know these officials, but he knew that they were probably people who liked to "share the blessings of peace".

He can think of the excited faces of these people when they are greedy for money. It is probably arrogant to burn Gou Huowang's house to death. Even if he knows that Gou Huowang's old lady is in the house, he is also rampant, but since they are all a bunch of people who should be killed, why should he bother? What about mother-in-law?
Zhu Youtang felt that he was crazy tonight, and on the list of [-] names presented by Wang Yue, Nian Xiu wrote a word: "Quite!".

(End of this chapter)