The days when I ransacked the house in Jinyiwei

Chapter 354 Granting the Chang family acres of good land

The situation in the imperial court has always been one of ebb and flow.

As an emperor, it is necessary to practice balance.

Liu Jin was imprisoned, and his party members fell and dispersed. The civil servants headed by Li Dongyang immediately signed a memorial and advised Emperor Zhengde to restore the ancestral system.

The so-called restoration of the ancestral system refers to the abolition of the provincial guarding eunuchs and supervisory eunuchs; the restriction of the power of the ceremonial supervisors; the handing over of military power by the imperial eunuchs, and the Ministry of War taking charge of the troops and horses of the Beijing camp, border troops, and local guards.

Grandfather Taizu had previously set up an iron sign in the Yingtian Palace, prohibiting eunuchs from intervening in politics. Grandpa Taizu’s words are an ancestral system that cannot be shaken.

After Liu Jin's death, the civil servants all over the world had the momentum to become serfs and take charge of their own affairs. Memorials from various places demanding the restoration of the ancestral system are usually flown to Beijing. They piled up into a small snow mountain in the Leopard House.

Emperor Zhengde had one attitude towards these memorials: What do you civil servants want to do? Eunuchs are not allowed to participate in politics? There is no door!

On this day, Emperor Zhengde hosted a banquet for Chang Feng and Qiu Yue in the Leopard Room.

Qiu Yue will return to the northwest in a few days and take command of the border troops in Ningxia, Shaanxi and Gansu. This meal is considered a farewell banquet.

Emperor Zhengde said: "Qiu Qing, you are about to return to the northwest. During these days in Beijing, I have benefited a lot from studying military affairs with you. Although you are a military commander, you are considered my Taifu."

"With this glass of wine, I wish my master a safe journey to the west. He will make further contributions to the imperial court in the northwest!"

Qiu Yue said quickly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the wine."

The three of them drank it all in one gulp.

Emperor Zhengde turned to look at Chang Feng: "The civil servants have submitted a memorial asking me to reduce the power of the eunuchs. What do you think?"

This is a gift question.

If Chang Feng said that it should not be cut, he would offend civil servants all over the world.

The civil servants don't care whether Chang Feng killed Liu Jin or not. It doesn’t matter if you have been kind to us before, as long as you affect our interests, you are our enemy!

If Chang Feng said it should be cut, he would offend Emperor Zhengde again. You, Chang Feng, are my domestic slaves. When you speak for civil servants, aren’t you turning your elbows outward? Have you forgotten your book?

Chang Feng's own idea is that it is not a good thing for the court that civil servants cover the sky with one hand. It has only been four years since Liu Jian and Xie Qian took power. The lessons are vivid in my mind.

The late Emperor Xiaozong was good at everything, but his only shortcoming was that he relied too much on civil servants. As a result, the power of the civil servants remains strong, lawless, and the administration of officials becomes corrupt. Emperor Zhengde finally corrected the Ming Dynasty from its wrong path. How could he make the same mistake as the previous emperor?

Let me digress. The Ming Dynasty died more than 130 years later. There are many reasons for the collapse of the country.

The most important one is that corrupt civil servants control government offices at all levels. Emperor Chongzhen's decree could not even leave the capital, not even the palace.

The imperial edicts issued by Emperor Chongzhen were like wiping paper. No matter how beneficial the imperial edict he promulgated is to the country and the people, there are still a hundred ways for the civil servants below to misrecite the scriptures. The imperial edict was carried out by civil servants at all levels, and eventually it turned into a bad government that exploited the people.

One year, Emperor Chongzhen needed one million taels of silver as military pay in order to implement his strategy of suppressing bandits. The treasury had no money, so it could only issue an order to collect the military pay from the private sector.

The main idea of ​​Emperor Chongzhen's imperial edict on paying taxes is as follows: I know that if I ask civil servants at all levels to collect one million taels of silver, the civil servants will exploit tens of millions of taels from the people. However, the military situation is raging. For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, I can only temporarily suffer the people for a year or two.

No wonder Emperor Chongzhen once lamented that "all civil servants can be killed."

If Emperor Zhengde is a good emperor who follows the rules, he will hand over all his power to the civil servants Liu Jian and Xie Qian. I am afraid that Ming Dynasty will die a hundred years prematurely.

Back to business. Chang Feng is about to answer the question.

Chang Feng's answer was very cryptic: "Your Majesty. The Haihe River irrigates thousands of miles of fertile soil in Beizhili. I heard Bai Ang, the best water control expert in the Chenghua and Hongzhi dynasties, said that the rivers in the world nourish the land and nourish the people when they are docile. When flooding occurs, homes will be destroyed and people will be harmed."

"Therefore, there are no rivers between heaven and earth. When rivers overflow, they must be cured."

Emperor Zhengde said: "Cunning. Chang Qing, you are talking about rivers. You are clearly talking about civil servants. You want me to govern civil servants."

Chang Feng said: "Back to the emperor, what I am talking about is indeed Jiang He. As for what you asked me about whether to restore the ancestral system and weaken the power of eunuchs, I am crude. I am a man who only knows how to kill, torture, frame, kidnap, A bad martial artist who beats sap."

"In recent years, I have gotten older and become more and more confused. It seems like there is a ball of paste in my head. How can I answer clearly such a big question that concerns the imperial court and the country?"

Emperor Zhengde said: "Oh, you are not confused. You are smart and have thought of the same place as me."

"Zhang Yong."

Zhang Yong, who was standing at the side, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty."

Emperor Zhengde said: "Tell Yang Tinghe to draw up a decree to restore the powers of the governors and the third division of the provinces. The guarding eunuchs and supervisory eunuchs are not allowed to interfere with the government affairs of the local governors and the third division."

"However, the yamen of the eunuchs who guard and supervise in various places cannot be abolished. They will still perform their old duties."

"Another edict has been drafted. The Secretary of Ceremonies and the Royal Horse Supervisor have their duties as before. The Cabinet is in charge of voting, the Secretary of Ceremonies is in charge of approval, and the Royal Horse is in charge of the Beijing camp."

"Draft an edict again. Liu Liu and Liu Qi of Beizhili rebelled. The local guard army failed to clear them up. Order Bingbigu Dayong, the director of rituals, to be the imperial envoy to counter the rebellion. He also transferred the border troops from the four towns of Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong and Yansui. Ten thousand people each entered Zhili to put down the rebellion, and were brought back to the commander-in-chief Gu Dayong."

Emperor Zhengde's will included compromises and concessions, as well as adherence to principles.

Do civilian officials want military power? impossible! Military power is my most important thing, and I can only hand it over to the people closest to me—the eunuchs! This is a general principle and cannot be changed.

Chang Feng put down his wine glass and was about to shout, "Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

Emperor Zhengde accurately predicted and waved at him: "Stop calling Shengming! Did you know that recently the civil servants gave you a nickname, 'Shengming Governor'. In their mouths, you are almost becoming the Long Live Pavilion of Chenghua Dynasty." Lao Wan is safe."

Chang Feng smiled and said, "Ah, it is a great honor for me to be praised so highly by a civil servant."

"When I was young, I also hated the Long Live Pavilion Elder, the Clay Sculpture Minister, and the Washing Censor. I complained every day that a group of incompetent and mediocre officials made the court a mess."

"But now that I am forty-five years old, I have figured out some things. If the monarch is a promising and holy king, the minister will naturally appear incompetent."

"Famous and capable ministers who turn the tide and leave their names in history usually appear in dynasties where the monarch is ignorant."

Chang Feng praised Emperor Zhengde in a different way as a "mighty saint king", which made Emperor Zhengde feel happy.

Emperor Zhengde smiled and said: "You can understand this level, which means that you are now worthy of the four words of 'mature and prudent'."

"I'm very relieved that Jin Yiwei is in charge of you."

Chang Feng has confiscated a huge amount of wealth for Emperor Zhengde in the past month or two. Emperor Zhengde was not stingy, so he naturally wanted to repay Li.

Emperor Zhengde said: "Chang Qing, you have really contributed to the investigation of Liu Jin's rebellion case. The Neiyuan Treasury has just taken over the eunuch party's 530,000 acres of land and turned it into an imperial village. I think the fraction will go to you, Chang Qing. I I’ll give you thirty thousand acres of land.”

During the Chenghua period, one acre of land in the Ming Dynasty was worth about one tael of silver.

After eighteen years of Hongzhi Zhongxing, the commodity economy between counties has developed rapidly. As time goes by, the population continues to increase. The price of land per acre has also risen to five to ten taels of silver.

The price difference between five and ten taels depends on the fertility and barrenness of the land.

The land occupied by corrupt officials is naturally fertile and good farmland.

Thirty thousand acres of good land can be worth three hundred thousand taels of silver!

The emperor of Ming Dynasty had two sides in terms of rewards. The rewards for the clan members of Zhu Ming's royal family and the relatives of the concubines' families have always been generous. He was very stingy about giving rewards to civil servants and generals.

When a meritorious minister like Wang Shu of the previous dynasty became an official, the former emperor only gave him five hundred taels of gold and silver.

Emperor Zhengde's gift was three hundred thousand taels. This surprised Chang Feng.

To put it harshly, Emperor Zhengde was dividing the spoils. Emperor Zhengde once heard from Liu Jin that farmers in Fengyang, the hometown of the Zhu Ming royal family, asked butchers to help kill New Year pigs during the twelfth lunar month. After the killing, everything such as pig bristles, pig hair, and pig waste must be taken away by the butcher as a reward.

Chang Feng helped him collect such a large sum of money this time, so he naturally wanted to express his gratitude.

After all, in ten or twenty years, when the treasury is no longer short of money, Emperor Zhengde will still have to count on Chang Feng when he wants to gather wealth.

Emperor Zhengde is not a fortune teller, and he will definitely not be able to calculate it. Will he live another twenty years? Just a wish!

Chang Feng knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Majesty rewards me so generously, I am terrified. Thank you so much Your Majesty. Your Majesty, you are so wise!"

Chang Feng did not refuse this reward. The emperor gives face to his ministers, and the ministers must follow suit.

By refusing the reward, does it mean that I won't take the job of killing New Year pigs in the future?

Emperor Zhengde said: "Wei Bin."

When Liu Jin fell, Wei Bin not only was not implicated, but was promoted to an official position, becoming the director of etiquette and writing and in charge of the internal transportation warehouse. He is not a bad person in nature, he is peaceful and kind. Of course, he also had the common problems of eunuchs who were greedy for money and held grudges.

Wei Bin raised his hand: "Your Majesty."

Emperor Zhengde said: "Go to Changfu this afternoon. Send the inventory of 30,000 acres of land to my imperial aunt."

"It would be more appropriate for the imperial aunt to manage the rewards I give to the Chang family."

Wei Bin said: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Chang Feng finished the banquet in the Leopard Room and returned to Jinyiwei for business. Returned home in the evening.

Chang Ponu asked himself to be demoted and went to Daxing County on the outskirts of Beijing as the magistrate. His wife Li Ping'er and their young son Chang Qingyun followed him to Daxing. Changfu became quite deserted.

As soon as Chang Feng entered the house, Liu Xiaoyan greeted him: "What's wrong with the emperor? He rewarded our family with 30,000 acres of land."

"When Taizu founded the country, he only saw the emperor reward vassals and relatives with tens of thousands of acres of land. Is there ever a precedent of rewarding ministers with 30,000 acres of land at a time?"

Chang Feng said: "Thirty thousand acres of land is a big amount. If we hire grain for the farmhands, our family can get at least 20,000 dan of grain a year. This is a huge fortune."

"Let's do this. We will use 60% of our income every year to fund volunteer schools in Beizhili and open a home for widows and widowers."

"Save the remaining 40% and leave it to our eldest grandson. If our eldest grandson wants to pursue an official career in the future, let him study and become an official. If he does not want to enter the officialdom, let him become a wealthy man in the capital."

"Remember, sponsoring volunteer schools and opening a home for widows and widowers must be done in secret. Don't let others know that our family uses money to do charity."

Liu Xiaoyan said: "I don't see that you still have the legacy of the ancient sages, doing good deeds without leaving a name."

Chang Feng smiled bitterly: "I'm not Wang Shouren. Think about it, let's use the land granted by the emperor to do good deeds. What's going on if it reaches the ears of the emperor?"

"Ah, you, Chang Feng, are using my land to buy people's hearts? To put it another way, buying people's hearts means you have evil intentions!"

Liu Xiaoyan suddenly realized: "That's what happened. Come on, don't worry, I will never let out a word about doing good things."

Chang Feng added: "By the way, in a few days it will be the birthday of Qingyang Boxiaru, Queen Xia's biological father. Don't be stingy with your money and give him a generous gift."

Liu Xiaoyan said: "The wool comes from the sheep. After all, it is spending the emperor's money to do favors for our family. I will not be stingy and appear petty."

Chang Feng nodded: "Yes. Currying favor with the father-in-law of the dynasty will only benefit our family, not any harm. Speaking of which, back in his family's courtyard, I even became my godbrother with him."

At this time, Lu Song from Prince Xing's Mansion came to Chang Mansion.

Lu Song came to say goodbye. He said to Chang Feng in the living room: "Master Chang, my subordinates have finished the tribute errands. I will go back to Huguang tomorrow. I came here to say goodbye."

Chang Feng was surprised: "Leaving so soon?"

Lu Song replied: "Before my subordinates left, His Highness King Xing told me that the capital city is a place of disputes and disputes. I will not allow my subordinates to stay for a long time. They should return immediately after completing their errands."

Chang Feng smiled and said: "His Royal Highness Prince Xing is really a sensible person. Xiao Yan, when I went to the northwest to suppress the rebellion, Qiu Yue gave me more than a dozen high-quality wolf skins."

"Although wolf skins are not uncommon in the northwest, they are rare in Huguang. Go get them and let Commander Lu take them back."

Lu Song thought Chang Feng was going to give him something. Lu Song cupped his hands and said: "This subordinate has no merit and no salary, how dare you accept such a heavy gift from Master Chang?"

Chang Feng was extremely embarrassed: "You misunderstood. I asked you to take these dozen wolf skins back and present them to Concubine Jiang."

Lu Song was so embarrassed that he wanted to dig his feet into the courtyard: "Ah, that's right. Then I would like to thank you for your kindness on behalf of the princess."

Chang Feng said: "Xiao Yan, you go to the mansion's warehouse to get the wolf skin, then go to the accounting office to get one thousand taels of silver notes and twenty taels of red gold from the Jiaojia Mine in Ye County."

This time Lu Song didn't dare to thank him rashly. Because I am not sure who Chang Feng gave it to.

Chang Feng smiled and said: "The money is for you. We all know that Prince Xing's palace has strict rules. His Highness Prince Xing strictly prohibits you generals and generals from accepting the gifts from local officials."

"You just gave birth to a child. This thousand taels of silver will be used by me as your boss to help you support your family."

"In addition, the twenty taels of red gold from Ye County are of good quality. I'll give five taels to your son Lu Bing. You can take it back and give him a longevity lock. The other fifteen taels will be given to your wife. A set of gold bracelets, gold slides, Gold earrings.”

Chang Feng is now a military attache of the imperial court and a first-grade commander. When Guan'er realizes this, he naturally already understands how to win over people's hearts.

Lu Song quickly said: "Ah, my subordinates will not be rewarded for their merits."

Chang Feng said: "Serving His Royal Highness King Haoxing in Huguang is your greatest contribution."

Lu Song added: "How can a humble and crude person be worthy of using your gold to make jewelry?"

Chang Feng said: "Nonsense. The wife of the dignified commanding officer of Prince Xing's palace guard and a fourth-rank official of the imperial court, why doesn't she deserve to wear some decent gold jewelry?"

Jin Yiwei has eyes and ears in every vassal palace.

Chang Feng had known for a long time that Lu Song's wife's hammer was quite big and the shape of the hammer was quite straight. After giving birth to Lu Bing, the girl became fragrant and full of food.

Concubine Jiang doted on the prince very much. Before she weaned him at the age of three, she made Lu Song's wife his wet nurse.

Emperor Zhengde had been married for five years, doting on this and that every day, but he did not have any children. As the common saying goes, "if you have too much wealth, you will have no descendants."

If Dazong really died. After a hundred years of Emperor Zhengde, the court was not allowed to choose a new emperor from among the cousins ​​of the previous emperor?

If you don't plan for the future, you won't be able to plan for a while. Winning over the people in Prince Xing's Mansion only has advantages and no disadvantages.

Lu Song received the silver and gold, thanked him profusely, and left.

After Lu Song left, Liu Xiaoyan sighed: "You are indeed a person who has received 30,000 acres of land. Your hands and feet are getting bigger and bigger."

Chang Feng smiled and said: "I am from the general banner of Jinyiwei's family raiders. How much gold and silver have been confiscated over the years?"

"Corrupt officials always think that the most reliable thing in the world is gold and silver. In fact, they are totally wrong. The most reliable thing is the human heart."

“Only by exchanging gold and silver for people’s hearts can peace and security be exchanged.”

(End of this chapter)