Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 27 The minister has ambitions, and the king's light first appears

As the sun rose, the entire square was dyed a layer of light gold.

Zhu Youtang was sitting on the imperial couch, protected from wind and rain, holding a copy of today's early court reports from various ministries. When he saw Ni Yue, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, come out, he knew what this person was going to say.

Ni Yue has a burly figure and a stern and serious expression, giving him the appearance of a loyal minister and good looks.

In fact, there is a bad habit of "judging people by their appearance" in the officialdom of Ming Dynasty, and no matter what your personal talents are, the better your appearance, the easier it is to be promoted, so it is unlikely that "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" will appear.

Ni Yue is now in his prime, and he is resolutely one of the future leaders of the Ming Dynasty officialdom. He coughed in advance, walked from the end of the class to the front of the imperial court, and then knelt down and said: "Ni Yue, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, played together with his colleagues in the Ministry of Rites: Your Majesty first ascended to the Great Treasure , the amnesty will be kind to the world, and the gift of enthronement can be united with the court of the capital. Now please bestow it on the civil and military officials and military and civilians in Beijing: public officials, marquises, son-in-laws, uncles, people give 20 taels of silver; 15 taels; third rank, ten taels of silver; fourth rank, eight taels of silver... Officers first rank, second rank, six taels of silver; third rank, four taels of silver; fourth rank, fifth rank, three taels of silver; sixth rank to ninth rank, silver Two liang; miscellaneous job, record young army, silver one liang..."

Although the monarchs and ministers already knew the content of the memorandum, the necessary procedures were not sloppy at all, not to mention that the essence of the early Ming Dynasty was "a thousand officials listened to the government".

Officials who participated in the early court not only could not make a sound, but also could not spit, let alone go to the latrine.In order to avoid disgrace, courtiers usually do not come to breakfast, but with a piece of ginseng in their mouths.

Except for the officials who came to play in front of the imperial court, the vast majority of officials only needed to come with their ears, and even some officials who were far away and had poor hearing actually came to join in the fun.

The meaning of the early Ming Dynasty was to "listen to government" rather than "deliberate on government affairs". Therefore, when the comfortable sunshine came from the east, many low-level officials were unwilling to listen to Ni Yue's chanting, and had already begun to desert.

The years are quiet, but that old man is so nagging.

Xu Pu, who was wearing a second-rank official uniform, was probably the most serious senior official, and the corners of his mouth could not help but rise slightly.

He knew that if he wanted to become a real civil servant leader, his status and prestige were far from enough, and he also needed to have certain "political achievements".

Why are Wan An, Liu Jue, and Liu Ji of the Chenghua Dynasty called "Paper-pasted Sange Laos"? It is precisely these three people who are nothing but vegetarian meals in the face of factory guards. profit".

Since you don't think about everyone, why should everyone support you?

After Ni Yue read a long list according to the memorandum, he asked Zhu Youtang for an order: "Your Majesty, please follow Taizong's actions, and allow you to take the throne, so as to create a ZTE situation!"

"Your Majesty, please follow Taizong's example, and allow you to ascend the throne, so as to create a ZTE situation!" Zhou Hongmo, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, immediately led all the officials of the Ministry of Rites to agree.

Wan An and Liu Ji, as cabinet ministers, were able to be on the Yuntai. Seeing Ni Yue petitioning with officials from the Ministry of Rites, they couldn't help looking at Zhu Youtang curiously.

As long as Zhu Youtang adopts their draft proposal yesterday, enthronement enthronement will be promulgated.

In fact, the two of them are also belatedly aware. If they can think of enthronement to make profits for the civil society, the two of them will definitely gain a lot of points.It's just that Xu Pu was the first to react, and His Majesty will not easily make the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty happy, and the two cabinet ministers are even less likely to stop Enthronement from enthroning.

"Ni Aiqing, do you have statistics, how much does the Ministry of Rites' plan cost?" Zhu Youtang looked at Ni Yue who had finished his work, and asked indifferently.

Ni Yue didn't seem to think that Zhu Youtang was concerned about money, so he vaguely gave an amount and said: "I roughly calculate that the consumption will not exceed 30 taels!"

When the officials present heard that 30 taels of state funds were to be used to bestow favor on the enthronement, and it would still be permanent, they could not help but silently exchanged glances.

Now under the rule of Emperor Chenghua, the national funds are abundant, but the money may have to be calculated carefully, such unrestrained spending will not last for many years and will be stretched.

Of course, they hoped in their hearts that Zhu Youtang would agree to the enthronement plan of the Ministry of Hospitality and Rites. After all, even officials who were not in the ranks of the eighth or ninth rank could get four taels of silver, and four mu of silver could buy an acre of high-quality land.

"My country is nothing more than Fengtian, and nothing is more important than the patriarch. The Taizu was alive, and gold and silver were prohibited in favor of treasure banknotes, so today's gold and bank rewards are against the law of the ancestors!" Zhu Youtang faced the expectations of all the officials present. The gaze is to lightly point out the shortcomings.

There are many problems in the Ming Dynasty. Although the official currency is still the Daming Banknotes, the Daming Banknotes have already existed in name only. The main currency in circulation among the people is gold and silver, and even copper coins have been replaced by broken silver.

It's just that Zhu Youtang intends to rectify the country well, so naturally he can't recognize the status of gold and silver so hastily, and even introduce new official banknotes in the future.

Huh?
Only then did the officials look at Zhu Youtang belatedly, foreshadowing had already been laid in the edict just now, and now they directly rejected the gold bank reward in a grandiose manner in the name of their ancestors.

Wan An and Liu Ji were secretly shocked. If these two things were not a coincidence, then the new king's thoughts were really too deep, even worse than the previous emperor's.

Xu Pu looked at the disciples in the center of the gatehouse in shock, but he never expected that Zhu Youtang would use this reason to directly veto his long-planned move.

"Your Majesty, there has been a flood of precious banknotes this morning, and two hundred coins are not worth one or two. Please take it back!" Li Min, Minister of the Household Department, glanced at Xu Pu who was not far away, and immediately stood up to object.

"Li Shangshu, I didn't say that I would reward you with precious banknotes!" Zhu Youtang said with a bit of displeasure when he saw the Hubu Shangshu jumping out so quickly to openly object.

Huh?
Li Min knew the situation of the treasure banknotes very well, and was about to explain the dangers of excessively issuing treasure banknotes, but found that this was not the case. After seeing Liang Fang's stern gaze, he retreated in despair.

Facing the puzzled eyes of the officials, Zhu Youtang turned his head and glanced at Liang Fang beside him.

Liang Fang nodded lightly to Zhu Youtang, then took out an imperial decree and read it out: "Now that I am the first to ascend the Great Treasure, I will bestow it on the civil and military officials, soldiers and civilians in Beijing: Dukes, marquises, son-in-laws, uncles, and others. Three quotations of salt; serving civil servants and generals, two quotations of salt; young officials, widows, widows, old and sick, supervisors, doctors, officials in Beijing, Zhiyin, Chengcha, elders in workshops, craftsmen, cooks, and musicians. One quotation for salt; another special gift, one quotation for stove households registered in the world! The kindness is not limited by three thousand quotations, and can be resold to salt merchants, and can also be resold at the official price to the emperor's shop, I respect this!"

Since the enthronement proposal cannot be vetoed, Zhu Youtang does not intend to be led by the nose by the civil society, but decides to use this opportunity to rectify the salt administration.

It is said that the current salt administration is caused by the excessive distribution of Yanyin, and now all Beijing officials are asked to hold Yanyin, let's see if the Yanyin in their hands is worthless or is it being looted by others?
"Your Majesty, today's salt imports have become flooded and the salt method is not smooth. Now the salt merchants refuse to transport grain to the side warehouses. Please take it back!" Li Min, Minister of the Household Department, learned that Zhu Youtang wanted to use salt to lead the way. Rewarded, he stood up again to petition.

"Your Majesty, please take it back!" A group of officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs followed Li Min's lead and echoed immediately.

Wan An and Liu Ji silently exchanged glances, then looked thoughtfully at Xu Pu below, and chose to watch the fire from the other side.

"The matter of Yan Yin was the last wish of the late emperor! The late emperor said something, not because of excessive rewards, but because local officials and businessmen colluded to steal salt profits! Now that I am in charge, I should respect the last wish of the late emperor. There is no need to discuss this matter again! The minister went to Huaibei Prime Minister Yanzheng, what do you love about Wang Yue?" Zhu Youtang immediately mentioned that Emperor Chenghua vetoed these voices of opposition, and then directly threw out his own plan.

Looking at the whole dynasty, only Wang Yue, who was relegated to Anlu by Emperor Chenghua, was the most suitable.

Wang Yue made good friends with the eunuch and cut himself off from the civil service group, and he already had the upright temper of a soldier.Once Wang Yue is reactivated, he will most likely hit the key point of the Yanzheng for himself and clean up the maggots seduced by the officials and businessmen.

(End of this chapter)