I'm really not doing business

Chapter 652 It has always been like this, is it right?

Ma Wenying and others were standing in front of the magnificent Wuying Tower. He felt a little helpless and confused, as he should have been on the road to the underworld.

He didn't understand. He didn't understand why Yan Shixuan let him go back to Luomu Camp, why the Ming Navy didn't attack Hangzhou City, why the Emperor's edict gave such protection to the soldiers, why he was not wearing shackles, and why he was standing under Wuying Tower.

Until he saw His Majesty coming from a distance, surrounded by a group of people, and walking across an arch bridge.

Ma Wenying suddenly felt that it was not so important to figure out what all this was for.

Ma Wenying recognized His Majesty at the first moment, because His Majesty was in high spirits, striding forward while saying something to the gray-haired general in military robes beside him. Beside His Majesty and the generals followed a group of people. These people had very young faces, and they followed closely, seemingly discussing something. Two of them had flushed faces, but they kept their voices down for fear of disturbing the people in front.

Ma Wenying just felt that this scene was so natural, as if it should be this way.

Ma Wenying felt that something was wrong, because he had seen Wu Shanyan traveling, and all the people behind Wu Shanyan were terrified and dared not say a word, and even very few of them looked around.

Every time Wu Shanyan traveled in Hangzhou City, the ceremonial procession was like a lifeless zombie. Everyone was walking according to certain rules. They seemed to be alive, but in fact they had already died. However, His Majesty was full of vigor and vitality, and everything was so vibrant.

The scene may seem a bit noisy, but it does not affect His Majesty's majesty at all.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Your Majesty is so majestic!" When the four captains saw His Majesty coming, they hurriedly bowed five times and kowtowed three times to perform the great ceremony.

Zhu Yijun smiled and took two steps forward, helped Ma Wenying up from the ground and said, "No need to be polite, the Ming army is mighty!"

The Ming army always said that Your Majesty is mighty, and Zhu Yijun would say that the Ming army is mighty.

"General Qi, this is Master Ma Wenying from our Luomu Camp." Zhu Yijun introduced these captains to Qi Jiguang. Zhejiang was where Qi Jiguang started his career, and even now when recruiting soldiers from the south, Qi Jiguang would still look for them in Zhejiang.

Ma Wenying was stunned. Why did people everywhere call him by this nickname? It would be fine if he was just calling him by this nickname in Zhejiang, but now it has even reached the ears of the emperor!

"Qi Jiguang, nice to meet you." Qi Jiguang said with a smile on his face, "I have seen you, the brave man who killed 22 Japanese pirates. In the second year of Longqing, I was passing through Hangzhou Prefecture on my way from Fujian to Nanya. I saw you when I went to visit the wounded. You were injured. When I went there, you were sleeping. I guess I don't have much impression of you."

Ma Wenying's heart was really full of excitement! He had never met Qi Jiguang! No one woke him up at the beginning.

"Let's go in and talk." Zhu Yijun stepped onto the platform of Wuying Tower, walked into the palace, and went directly to the warm room next to the parade ground.

After everyone was seated, Ma Wenying and other captains were really nervous. They had half of their buttocks touching the stools because their seats were next to Qi Shuai, which was an honor, but Ma Wenying also felt a lot of pressure.

"Wu Shanyan is worse than you think." Zhu Yijun took out a memorial and handed it to Ma Wenying, saying with some anger: "He used his power to keep forty concubines in Hangzhou. These concubines lived on the same street and were discovered by Shen Shixing."

"He found 1,400 women and held a grand selection of concubines in Hangzhou Prefecture. The number 40 has a meaning. There are four concubines, nine concubines, and 27 imperial concubines. The selection of concubines has been going on since the beginning!"

Yan Shixuan really did not list the charges, because after Shen Shixing arrived in Hangzhou, he found out more crimes of Wu Shanyan, including mistresses, underground money houses, and the outflow of silver.

It would be fine if it was just a matter of selecting a concubine. Wu Shanyan was already like this, so his lifestyle issue didn't really matter. But the most crucial thing was that Wu Shanyan violated a ban and the silver from the underground banks flowed out.

It was exactly the same process as what Chief Justice Chen Mo had discovered in Tianjin. Both used gold as collateral and carried out internal and external convection in the form of goods. The silver, the hard-earned money of the people, was being lost.

This was something Zhu Yijun could not accept in any way.

"He also deceived the emperor. In the ninth year of Wanli, he reported to the court that the Ninth Battalion of Zhejiang had an Experience Department to specialize in military pay affairs. But the Ninth Battalion of Zhejiang did not have an Experience Department at all. Maybe there was, but it was probably in Wu Shanyan's pocket." Li Yougong reported what he had just learned.

"How audacious!" Qi Jiguang's face changed when he heard this!

The Experience Office was one of the important achievements after the establishment of the Beijing Camp Army. It was a government office to ensure that military pay and rewards were paid in time. It was even built in Yunnan!
After Wang Xiyuan returned to Beijing from Yunnan, he also specifically reported on the situation of the Yunnan Experience Office in various prefectures.

Ma Wenying, Yang Tingyong and others looked at each other in bewilderment. They didn't know why they had aroused the general's anger.

"Don't be so reserved, just say what you want to say." Zhu Yijun suppressed his anger. The place where his anger should be directed was definitely not his own people.

"Hasn't it always been like this? It has always been like this." Ma Wenying said in confusion. It has always been like this.

Zhu Yijun said very calmly: "It has always been like this, is it right?"

"If they don't pay the soldiers' salaries, it's wrong and they should protest. Even the soldiers holding the swords can't get the pay they deserve, let alone the poor laborers."

"Didn't anyone explain the imperial edict to you? You should know that in Suiyuan, Governor Pan Jixun announced the government order to the soldiers." Qi Jiguang, such a gentle man, could not suppress his anger and asked.

You should know that Xuanfu and Datong, where rebels gathered, had very complete experience offices. Jiuying, Zhejiang, where Qi Jiguang started his career, did not even have an experience office! In the ninth year of Wanli, an edict was issued, and four years had passed, but it was in name only.

"No." Ma Wenying said with certainty: "I have never heard of such an order."

Qi Jiguang briefly talked about the policy of improving the military pay distribution of the Ministry of Experience in the ninth year of Wanli, which was part of the Beijing Camp Experience and the revitalization of military power.

The Experience Department pays the soldiers in advance, that is, at the beginning of the month, before the 5th. The soldiers must get the pay, whether it is money, food, or in-kind, to the soldiers. If it is not paid in time, the soldiers can go to the town's pacification office to sue the Household Department and be dealt with by military law.

Military law is not civil law, and the court where the case is heard is not the local county or prefectural government office, but the town’s pacification office. The pacification offices in various places are directly under the jurisdiction of the Northern pacification office. The Southern pacification office is at the same level as the Northern pacification office, but officers at all levels in the Southern pacification office are half a level lower than those in the Northern office.

This is to ensure to the greatest extent possible that soldiers receive the rewards they deserve.

Even in Suiyuan, a newly opened place, the system of the Experience Office was established most thoroughly. In the words of His Majesty: "Go all the way to the bottom" and "hit the whole boat with one stick". The first sentence refers to the payment of military pay and the inspection of the six books and one account, and the second sentence means that those who withhold military pay will be punished collectively.

The entire Experience Department is responsible for its own accounts, and once it is audited at the end of the year, it will be interrogated by the Pacification Department.

Although the Five Poisonous Punishments of the Pacification Division have not been used for a long time, but after taking a look around the dismemberment hospital and looking at the room full of Zhang Siwei, few people can withstand the fear in their hearts. People are much more cowardly than they imagined and will confess everything directly.

If the crime was more serious than the third level, it would be easy to behead, so officials at all levels in the Experience Department cared more about whether they received their salaries than soldiers did.

"So this is what the Experience Department is like." Ma Wenying said with a bit of envy. If the Experience Department system in Zhejiang could really be built and completed, the Ninth Battalion in Zhejiang would not have caused such a big commotion. Ma Wenying and Yang Tingyong's life was very hard, and so was the life of the soldiers in the Ninth Battalion.

Zhu Yijun said with a serious face: "The whole thing, from the beginning to the end, since the new money was issued in the fourth year of Wanli, the soldiers of the Ninth Battalion have been giving in! It is these officials who deceive their superiors and hide the truth from their subordinates. For their own interests, they continue to exploit the subordinates, keep increasing the stakes, and even force the soldiers to die. Even at this point, the soldiers of the Ninth Battalion, Luo Muying, and Ma Wenying are still giving in!"

"Ma Wenying was even willing to die in exchange for peace, so that the bureaucrats headed by Wu Shanyan would not embarrass the soldiers of Luo Muying and the Ninth Battalion."

"But these cheap scholars are always so greedy. If you take one step back, they want to take three steps forward!"

"Ma Wenying, Yang Tingyong, Zhang Wenyuan, and Yang Zhi, I hereby promise to the soldiers of the Ninth Battalion that Wu Shanyan must be killed and his head must be beheaded in front of the Yongchang Gate! Wu Shanyan and his lackeys also have 1,200 people, and they will be beheaded before the end of the year! Give an explanation to the people of Zhejiang!"

"Similarly, the Ninth Battalion's Experience Department must be fully implemented before the end of the year. If Shen Shixing can do a good job, I will restore his rank. If he can't do it, I will replace him with Ling Yunyi. If Ling Yunyi can't do it, I will ask the Luzon Governor Guo Xing Zhengmao to do it. This must be done, and it must be done well."

"This is my promise!"

If the emperor's edict is not executed, he is not the emperor.

"We bow down to thank Your Majesty for His Grace." Ma Wenying kowtowed hurriedly to express his gratitude. Even though they were far away in Zhejiang, they knew very well that His Majesty's promise would definitely be fulfilled.

Promises are meant to be fulfilled, not just empty promises.

Zhu Yijun motioned for everyone to skip the formalities and started talking about the plan of selecting 4,500 men to go to the Nagasaki Governor's Office to supplement the troops and enhance the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going projection capabilities. He asked for the opinions of the soldiers from the Nine Battalions. Ma Wenying and others stated on the spot that they must go to kill the Japanese. They must go!

After the four captains left, Li Yougong reported Hu Zongxian's ambitions for the Nine Battalions of Zhejiang, and analyzed Xu Jie's other motive for killing Hu Zongxian, that opening the sea affected the interests of some bastards.

"The security of the Ming Dynasty's maritime borders lies not in the land infantry camps, but in the sea waves." Zhu Yijun repeated what Hu Zongxian had said. Hu Zongxian did it, but he did not finish it and he also lost himself. If he could be elected again, would Hu Zongxian choose to collude with Yan Shifan, frame Zhang Jing and Li Tianchong, and seize the positions of Governor of Zhejiang and Governor-General of the Suppression of Japanese Pirates?

I think so.

"Your Majesty, I have discovered that I was wrong." Qi Jiguang said sincerely, looking at the backs of the four captains.

"Ah? General Qi, what do you think you did wrong?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously. What did Qi Jiguang see in them?
Qi Jiguang said solemnly: "Your Majesty, I have always believed that the eight words "reporting to the emperor and saving the people" were due to the military pay of 18 taels of silver. For so many years, I have always believed that all the combat power of the Beijing camp comes from the military pay of 18 taels of silver."

"But now it seems that I was terribly wrong. It was only because the soldiers truly agreed with these eight words that they were able to do this."

Luomu Camp and Jiuqu Camp did not have the annual military pay of 9 silver coins, and even the cents of silver coins per month were deducted and some of them were extorted. However, the Zhejiang Jiuying Camp, which was established in the th year of Jiajing, had been working diligently for years. They built the dams too well, blocking the financial path of some miscellaneous forces, which is why they were repeatedly harassed.

Zhu Yijun obviously disagreed with Qi Jiguang's statement. He said with certainty: "No matter what, the military pay must be guaranteed to be paid in place. People need to eat, and we can't rely on willpower alone. I also have money to give to the soldiers. As the old saying goes, the emperor has no shortage of hungry soldiers." "Your Majesty is wise." Qi Jiguang stopped the topic and sang a song of praise. The Ming Dynasty's military expenditure was 1200 million silver coins a year, which was very expensive and could be saved a little, but Your Majesty was unwilling to save, and the general naturally would not ask for trouble.

Starting from October of the 12th year of the Wanli reign, the Ministry of Revenue began to plan for national affairs and the year-end review began. This time of year was the busiest time for the Ministry of Revenue.

Sanniang brought five good horses and a cart of wool and arrived in the capital again. After the transaction was completed at the Yongding Woolen Factory, she received the acceptance bill and went to purchase the things needed for the winter on the grassland.

The grassland is already very cold, and the caravan will rush back before it snows, while Sanniang will stay in the capital to celebrate the New Year.

Sanniangzi's stay in the capital will not affect the distribution of commercial goods in Huiguihua City, because there are rumors on the grassland about the little story between Sanniangzi and the emperor. Sanniangzi's presence in the capital can ensure that the distribution is fully in place according to the established rules.

Leaning against the big tree is good for the coolness.

Sanniangzi returned to Huitongguan Inn. Most of the foreign envoys lived in Siyi Pavilion, but Sanniangzi was the governor of Suiyuan, so she lived in Huitongguan Inn.

"It's really an honor to be a dog of the Ming Dynasty, unlike some wild dogs running around." Sanniang said casually to the visiting Wang Chonggu.

Wang Chonggu went to see Sanniangzi to settle the account of wool.

"What nonsense! What dogs of the Ming Dynasty? They are all Ming people! Where is the distinction between humans and dogs? Sanniang, stop talking nonsense. The Ming Dynasty and Suiyuan are one. No one can destroy this, not even the people of the grassland!" Wang Chonggu righteously corrected the mistake in Sanniang's words.

The third lady looked out the window and said leisurely, "There is a weapon on the grassland called a cannon stone. It is made of black and white cow wool, twisted into fine and even yarn, and carefully woven into a hook rope shaped like a colorful snake. The middle piece is woven a little wider, called a cannon nest. When the hook rope is thrown up, the stone whistles in the air. Then, when you let go, the stone whistles out and hits the wild wolf on the head, driving the wolf pack away."

"Legend has it that it was invented by Genghis Khan to drive away wolves. Sometimes a bone whistle would be woven into the cannon nest, and the sharp whistle could scare away the wolves."

"Almost all children know how to play with cannon stones, because there are many wild animals on the grassland, such as wolves, bears, tigers, etc."

"Well, a Ming Dynasty scribe said that people on the grassland like wolves very much, because they like the wolf's nature and martial virtues." Wang Chonggu talked about the article he had read. The Ming Dynasty scribes have always been like this, and they like to ignore the facts.

"Which grassland people like wolves? Wolves are the most evil. Once they enter the pen, they will kill the entire flock of sheep. They don't eat, they just bite. They can kill several at once and drag one away. The scholars in the Ming Dynasty are really weird. If you let them herd sheep on the grassland for a few days, they won't say such nonsense." Sanniang was almost laughing out of anger!

"Nowadays, children on the grassland finally don't have to play with cannon stones from a young age. In the Western Regions, this thing is called Wuga, which means to drive away wolves. Now people use muskets instead of cannon stones to drive away wolves." Sanniang leaned back in her chair. The grassland is very good now, really very good. Children don't play with cannon stones anymore.

"I came here specifically to ask for your opinion as the governor. Many Hetao people and the Lu people have come to the government to complain that merchants should not pay wages monthly, but annually. Do you think this matter should be taken care of?" Wang Chonggu talked about the real reason he came here. As the Minister of Justice, the salaries of the grasslands are paid annually, not monthly.

How did this phenomenon come about? What are the reasons behind it? Does it require strong intervention from the imperial court? How should it intervene? To what extent should it intervene?
"No matter." The third lady said with certainty: "It should be paid annually. The annual payment is a sign of the kindness of the Han merchants. It's fine as it is."

"Han merchants are kind-hearted?!"

"Sister San, what we are discussing is the long-term stability of Suiyuan. Don't talk nonsense to fool the court. This is obviously extortion. How can you only pay wages at the end of the year?" Wang Chonggu knocked on the table. He was not here to listen to nice words, but to solve the problem. The more you fool around, the more serious the problem will become.

"Wang Ci Fu, you have been in the capital for too long, and you feel that this is plunder." Sanniang said helplessly, "The people of the grassland used to live a life of uncertainty. Do you have any plans as a grassland person? You get paid and start eating, drinking and having fun. You will only continue to work when you spend all the money."

"You pay him a monthly salary, but he spends it all in three days. In addition, grassland people love gambling. Governor Pan even sent out soldiers from military garrisons to crack down on gambling, but it was still useless. You pay him a monthly salary, but he loses it all in one day. Then he starts borrowing money from everywhere. If he can't borrow, he robs. If he can't rob, he kills and burns people. He becomes a bandit."

The people of the grassland are not Han people, especially in the past when their lives were so hard that they didn’t know if they could live to see the sun tomorrow, so the people of the grassland generally just muddle along. Under this situation, Sanniang felt that the Han merchants were really kind-hearted. They didn’t pay wages but gave in-kind compensation, and they were paid once a year.

"Is that so?" Wang Chonggu was stunned for a moment and said, "Merchants are really kind-hearted?"

"If there were any problem, I would have written it and sent it to the court long ago. This is also part of the king's rule." The third lady said with certainty.

Wang Hua is a process of complete transformation. Sanniangzi believes that the path of complete reconciliation is the right one ever.

Sanniangzi really thinks that being a dog of the Ming Dynasty is not a bad thing. The Ming Dynasty has its own high moral disadvantages. Being a dog for the Ming Dynasty is really ten thousand times better than being a wild dog. The high moral disadvantages of the Ming Dynasty are specifically reflected in the fact that the Ming Dynasty has consistently promoted that everyone in the Ming Dynasty is a subject of the king. The identity given by the Ming Dynasty to the Northern Tartars is human, not a vassal state, nor a dog.

In Hetao, Jining Haizi, Guihuacheng and Womagang, it is difficult to distinguish the difference between the Hu people and the Han people based on their appearance, because the difference is really not that big.

"Okay, then let's not intervene for now." Wang Chonggu originally prepared three plans, a three-pronged approach to target the behavior of merchants paying annual wages on the grassland, but now it seems that none of them can be used.

"There is another thing. I heard that Sanniangzi presided over the movement of the various Oirat tribes who stayed in Helin to go south to Hetao and naturalize?" Wang Chonggu asked a very serious question. Sanniangzi was an Oirat. She brought the various Oirat tribes to the Ming Dynasty, not for rebellion. If it was a rebellion, she would have gathered these Oirat people in Guihua City to form a joint force.

But Sanniangzi dispersed all the Oirat people who moved south and mixed them with the Hetao people. It would only take twenty or thirty years for the Oirat people to disappear.

The third lady nodded in acknowledgment and said, "Well, the Wala people who still stayed in Khorin and refused to move west envied the life of the people in the south of the desert. Under their strong request, I transferred them all to Hetao and handed them over to Governor Pan."

"There is an old Chinese saying that a man who knows the current affairs is a hero. At least the Oirat people know the current affairs. There is also an old saying that if one person succeeds, all his family members will benefit. I am a Oirat. When my poor relatives come to me for help, I will always do something for them."

"The grassland is getting colder and colder. These Wala people are still staying in Khara-Khara. The Ming mining area in Womagang is always being harassed by people, and Shengzhou Factory also needs miners."

The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty would also wonder why our mining area is always disturbed by barbarians.

"You bring your poor relatives to Hetao and let them go to Shengzhou to dig coal and make alkali in the alkali pond?" Wang Chonggu asked with a frown.

The third lady looked at Wang Chonggu in surprise and said, "Wang Ci Fu, please stop being so kind!"

"Where is your former vicious self? Where is Wang Chonggu, who made Shanxi merchants run to the grasslands to lend money at high interest rates, and caused people to be ruined? For the grassland people, finding a job as a miner is already a gift from heaven."

"It is impossible to rebel. If they rebel, who will teach the people? If they rebel, who will promote forage? If they rebel, who will organize coal mining? Unless you are kicked in the head by a donkey, you will think of going back to the days of burning cow dung without even a pot."

"Look at the life that the Outer Khalkha tribes are living now. Is that the life that people should live?"

Sanniang shuddered in disdain. Although the past life of the grasslands and the seven tribes of Outer Khalkha was similar, it was different now. Now all the Tatars in the southern desert were Ming people! There were 17 Confucian schools in Hetao! There were 11 military settlements.

This is how identity is established.

The seven Outer Khalkha tribes are a good control group.

The work is indeed hard, but you have to have work to do. Wang Chonggu had been away from Xuanfu Datong for too long and had forgotten what the grassland was like before, nor was he very clear about what the grassland was like now, so he felt there was a possibility of treason.

Wang Chonggu's impression of the grassland still remains in the era of Altan Khan, when the situation was tit-for-tat. Now it has changed a long time ago. Since the day when the Ming Dynasty's Beijing camp broke through the board, the world has been turned upside down.

"I have to say, Your Majesty is truly a heroic ruler. Now that the highway has been built to Hetao and Womagang, there is no possibility of separation." Sanniang was not fooling Wang Chonggu. The Ming Dynasty had a governor and military garrisons on the grasslands. Even without cavalry, the Ming army could be deployed quickly today. The centrifugal force had been curbed.

The emperor has worked hard for twelve years, and now the time has come to reap the rewards.

Sanniangzi described the changes in the grassland, and when the day comes when the Western Regions are reopened, the strategy of complete reconciliation will be as solid as Mount Tai.

"The King of Korea has been cut off from paying tribute several times a year. Hasn't he come to Beijing to apologize yet?" Sanniang asked about the changes on the Korean side. The last time she left, the emperor was lecturing Korea about the Ming Dynasty's intention to destroy Japan, which was clearly understood even by the children on the street.

"No." Wang Chonggu nodded.

"It's Daming's fault. If a son is not well educated it's the father's fault. We have been too good to them. If we teach them a lesson they will behave themselves." said the third lady.

The Ministry of Revenue, which was responsible for auditing all the account books submitted to the capital, discovered something strange: the local governments were crying poor while at the same time building large-scale projects. It was understandable that they were crying poor, as the crying child gets the milk, but they were also building large-scale projects and even hoped that the court would relax restrictions and allow the local governments to build their own highways. The Nan Ya and Zhejiang provinces were the loudest in their calls, and when they saw that Songjiang Prefecture could build its own highway, the voices became louder and louder.

The question is, where did this silver come from?
Wang Guoguang and Zhang Xueyan have been unable to find the source of the silver. This time, Wu Shanyan's government office was attacked and Yang Ting knocked out three of Wu Shanyan's teeth with a punch. Shen Shixing finally found a breakthrough in Zhejiang, got the account book, and helped the court solve the mystery.

"So, all the money comes from miscellaneous officials?" Zhu Yijun asked Wang Guoguang who came to Tonghe Palace to report.

Wang Guoguang took out an account book and handed it to Feng Bao, saying, "Take Wuyi County in Jinhua Prefecture, Zhejiang Province as an example. There are tax collection offices in places like Tieniu Gate, Shuxi Sanqiao, Dujiachang Wharf, and Liujiayuan Wharf. In the 11th year of Wanli, the land tax and commercial tax paid by Wuyi County were only 23,000 taels of silver. Just these six tax collection offices collected more than 70,000 taels of silver. The river transport, water transport, wharf shops, etc., added up to 114,000 taels of silver."

“This is still Wuyi County.”

There are two types of miscellaneous officials in the county government. One type is on the imperial court's list, including the Inspection Office, Water Horse Post, Express Delivery Shop, Taoist Monk Association (in charge of religion), Huimin Pharmacy, County School Instructors, etc. The other type is not on the imperial court's list, including the delivery office, sluice officer, river and lake office, warehouse, storehouse, inspection office, iron smelting office, tax office, etc.

There are complicated reasons why this type of miscellaneous officials are no longer on the imperial roster. For example, the Iron Smelting Office is an ancestral law. In the 18th year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Gao abolished the official factories to allow the people to recuperate. However, the imperial court needed iron science and the local areas needed iron materials, so the Iron Smelting Office was set up secretly, or simply abolished on the roster.

Therefore, although the local governments are crying poor, they are not really so poor that the government offices cannot survive. If these miscellaneous officials who are not on the roster are abolished, they will really become poor to death.

"So that's how it is." Zhu Yijun suddenly realized that it turned out that from the beginning to the end, the imperial court was the only one that was poor in the Ming Dynasty!

(End of this chapter)