I, Jiajing, successfully cultivated immortality

Chapter 111 Yan Maoqing's Hesitation
Tomorrow is the day when Yan Maoqing officially sets out to collect the salt tax, but tonight, Yan Maoqing is lying on the bed, tossing and turning sleeplessly.

Not long ago, Yan Maoqing was very excited when he learned that Yan Song, the chief minister of the cabinet, personally recommended himself to His Majesty as the person in charge of collecting salt tax by the court, and his filial piety for so many years was finally rewarded!
There is no other reason, there are too many movable hands and feet!During the Hongwu period, the imperial court was able to collect more than 1000 million taels of salt tax, but since the Hongwu period, the salt tax collected by the imperial court has become less and less, showing a trend of decreasing year by year.

Especially last year, the court collected a total of 120 million taels of salt tax.

As far as Yan Maoqing knows, the actual salt tax collected each year is about 900 million taels!And the 900 million taels of silver were exploited by officials along the way, and after they were sent to the capital through the Grand Canal, only 120 million taels remained.

At the beginning, when Yan Song warned everyone that they were not allowed to tamper with the salt tax this year or even in the future, Yan Maoqing, like those officials, dismissed it.

And soon, under the instruction of Yan Song, an extremely bloody cleansing campaign was launched vigorously!During this process, the scandals of those officials who wanted to sway their minds were constantly exposed, and they were quickly impeached by everyone.

And the governor of Kaifeng is an excellent example. After he was imprisoned, his family members were not spared, and were soon approached by his enemies.

During the whole process, His Majesty turned a blind eye to this, and even encouraged him, as long as he took out part of the property and put it into the national treasury after the house was raided.

But the emperor's acquiescence further fueled the trend. Those officials who were pushed out by the superiors and frustrated also joined the impeachment army. It only took a very short time for Yan Song to remove all those disobedient officials from the team. Cleared out.

And Yan Song's series of operations also frightened Yan Maoqing. He was often glad that he was not as impulsive as those officials, and at the same time, he became more loyal to the Yan family.

And just now, the Yan family specially sent someone to send news to Yan Maoqing, telling him that no matter what method he uses, he must collect a full amount of salt tax for the court!And this is not in a negotiating tone, but in a commanding tone.

And Yan Maoqing naturally knew that if he could not handle this matter well, he would be abandoned by the entire strict party to welcome him!

Yan Maoqing knew that she had been greedy for ink a lot in recent years, and she was even going to make a scene that everyone in the court would know about!At that time, if there is no one to protect him, he will be a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered, and his fate may be countless times worse than that of the Kaifeng governor.

"Yan Maoqing, Yan Maoqing, why do you think you can't control these hands?"

Thinking of this, Yan Maoqing completely lost sleepiness, got up from the bed, poured herself a cup of tea, but kept thinking about the solution to the situation in her mind.

If the salt tax is strictly levied according to Yan Song's request, it will inevitably offend a large number of officials at that time, which is absolutely unacceptable to Yan Maoqing, who is smooth and experienced as an official.

But if enough salt tax is not collected, maybe his head will have to be hung on the city wall at that time, as a warning to others.

The two evils are the lesser of the two evils. After thinking for a while, Yan Maoqing decisively chose the dead friend rather than the poor. Yan Maoqing drank the tea in the cup and said quietly: "Comrades, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Yan Maoqing also wants to live!"

……

Late at night, Yan Mansion.

When Yan Shifan came out of his concubine's room and was about to return to his own room to rest, he accidentally saw that the light in the study was still on, and the light reflected Yan Song's figure.

Seeing this scene, Yan Shifan suddenly remembered what he told his father Yan Song during the day, shook his head, and prepared to go to his father Yan Song's study, let him rest early, so as not to burn himself out.

"Dong dong dong!" There was a knock on the door.

Yan Song put down the brush in his hand, frowned, his face was full of displeasure, and asked, "Who is it?"

"Father, it's me." Yan Shifan's voice came from outside the door.

"Come in." Yan Song sighed helplessly, and then called his son into the house.

"Father, it's already so late, you should go to rest." Yan Shifan bowed and saluted as soon as he entered the door.

"Hmph, how can I sleep? There are so many things going on recently. As the chief minister of the cabinet, I don't deal with it. Who will deal with it?"

Yan Song glanced at his disappointing son with a cold gaze, and asked back.

"Father is diligent in official duties, which is great, but you have to pay attention to your body! Right now, none of us can do without you. If you have any troubles, we will..." When Yan Shifan said this, he suddenly Realizing that he had said something wrong, he quickly knelt down and begged his father Yan Song for forgiveness.

"Say it, why don't you say it?" Yan Song looked at his son kneeling on the ground and said.

"The child said something wrong, please punish him!" Yan Shifan said in a deep voice with guilt on his face.

"Hey, get up, you're right, neither His Majesty nor you can do without me right now, and I, Yan Song, have to hold on for a while longer." After Yan Song finished speaking, there was an indescribable sense of loneliness in his tone feel.

"Father." Seeing this, Yan Shifan prepared to comfort him.

"Go back, I'm going to rest." After Yan Song said, he returned to his seat and put away the completed documents.

"Yes, I hope father will take care of his health!" After Yan Shifan finished speaking, he left the study very reluctantly, and not long after Yan Shifan left, the lights in the study were completely extinguished.

……

The Forbidden City, the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

At the same time, Jiajing didn't sleep either. On his desk, there was a brochure handed over by Jin Yiwei, which recorded in detail the crimes Yan Maoqing had committed since he became an official, as well as his income from corruption of ink.

"Hmph, let the heroes check the heroes, let the good guys check the good guys, let the corrupt officials check the corrupt officials!"

"Yan Maoqing, you have to give me your heart, otherwise, I will let you move your head tomorrow."

Jiajing caressed the dragon head carved on the dragon chair with his hand, and said silently to himself.

And Jiajing's idea is that after Yan Maoqing collects the salt tax, he will also be dealt with by the way. After all, Yan Maoqing's family property is quite rich, which can greatly enrich the national treasury.

Immediately afterwards, Jiajing arrived at the roof of the Hall of Mental Cultivation without alarming a single guard.

"It turns out that this is the scene above!"

The Hall of Mental Cultivation where Jiajing is located is the highest place in the Forbidden City, so you can have a panoramic view of the entire Forbidden City from here.

There are stars in the sky, a full moon hangs in the sky, and the bright moonlight falls on the ground, providing light for animals looking for food.

At this moment, a column of forbidden soldiers in armor passed by near the Hall of Mental Cultivation. They were responsible for patrolling the area.

In the team, someone raised his head habitually. When he saw the figure standing on the roof of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he couldn't help but turn pale with fright. He pointed to the roof of the Hall of Mental Cultivation and said, "Look, there are people on the roof!"

"what!"

Seeing this, the remaining companions hurriedly looked in the direction it pointed, only to see that it was empty and there was nothing there.

"You read it wrong, such a high height, unless he is a god! Otherwise, it is absolutely impossible to climb to the roof of the Hall of Mental Cultivation without relying on any external objects."

"Continue to patrol, if you disturb His Majesty, even if you have ten heads, you won't be able to cut it off!"

"Oh, maybe I was wrong."

(End of this chapter)