Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 779 Conflicts between prison guards and officials highlight the official lifting of the ban on the first batch of seaports

The problem now is that there are always more difficulties than solutions.

Zhu Qiyu ignored the southwest issue and said he would go back to study it and discuss countermeasures with the Ministry of War.

Seeing the emperor sighing repeatedly, He Wenyuan, the official minister, gave a simple soothing question:

"Your Majesty, recently many members of the public have committed the crime of marrying a wife while in mourning and taking prostitutes to drink alcohol, for example, they are officials.

However, after discussions between the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Punishment, they believed that the reason was that these students had no ambition to study and often committed crimes deliberately in order to escape.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Punishment proposed that from now on, students who commit minor crimes and serve as officials will be exempted from the penalty.

If someone commits crimes such as taking stolen goods, committing adultery, pretending to be a member of the imperial examination, holding a prostitute to drink, taking a wife and concubinage during a funeral, etc., the Zhili in the north and the south will be charged as a custodian of the princes of the two capitals, and the chief envoys and ministers will be charged as a baker of a nearby Confucian scholar.

Manri's native place was a citizen, and the rice he received was recovered. "

Zhu Qiyu and Zhu Wenfang sat on the dragon chair, both stunned.

Zhu Qiyu understood to some extent that there were many students who felt that there was no hope of further advancement in the imperial examination, so they deliberately committed crimes and were assigned to be officials by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Being a petty official in a local government office may not necessarily lead to a worse life than being a student official.

Zhu Wenfang saw that his father was also confused, so he asked He Wenyuan: "I still don't understand why the students deliberately committed crimes. Please explain in detail, Taifu."

The Taifu in Zhu Wenfang's mouth refers to his Crown Prince Taifu, not the Emperor's Taifu.

Generally, those who become official or pass away will be given the title of Third Duke.

There are no Taishi, Taifu or Taibao standing in the court now.

There were no Shaofu and Shaobao, only Wang Wen, who was the Shaofu and the Crown Prince's Grand Master, and served as Zhan Shifu of Zhan Shifu.

Zhu Qiyu gave Wang Wen great dignity as the first important civil servant to follow the throne.

Wang Wen now holds many positions, receiving three salaries as a bachelor of Huagaidian, the prince's grand master, and the minister of the Ministry of punishment.

He Wenyuan replied: "According to the imperial system, students who have been in school for ten years and have achieved nothing in their studies or have made mistakes will be sent to the ministry as officials. Those who have made serious mistakes will be sent to the nearby Confucian schoolboys and vegetarians, and they will serve the people all day long. Chasing rice.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty treated scholars the best and the priests were also the strictest.

Some students did not want to study hard for another ten years, so they deliberately committed some minor crimes, and then the Ministry of Personnel arranged for them to work as minor officials in local places. "

Zhu Wenfang nodded repeatedly, now he understood. The students were just trying to exploit loopholes in the law, and they were really good at playing. No wonder his father always emphasized that formulating laws and policies must be simple enough and stupid enough.

If your policy is a little more complicated, if you express it a little more elegantly, these troublesome civil servants will be able to find loopholes for you, and then they will do whatever they can to exploit them.

In order not to study, in order to become a petty official early, I married a wife in mourning and took prostitutes to drink.

Especially this one of holding a prostitute to drink alcohol, which is both harmless and achieves the purpose of a petty crime.

Zhu Qiyu sat on the dragon chair in a daze, sighing in his heart: The Ming Dynasty was really lenient in management. Officials only received a few small salaries, and were not allowed to enter or leave brothels or associate with prostitutes.

Forget it, even the students are so strictly controlled, and it is considered a crime to coerce prostitutes to drink, so it is really better to be a petty official.

Wouldn't it be much more comfortable and happier to be a Song Yasi who takes both black and white than to be a laborer?

Zhu Qiyu has become more and more aware that the most he can manage is the magistrate and magistrate level, and further down, the county magistrate level will be completely out of control.

Zhu Wenfang saw that his father was still in a daze, so he replied to He Wenyuan: "Just do what the officials say."

He Wenyuan accepted the order and stepped down. Wang Wen continued to play: "Your Majesty, Your Highness, Dong Yingzhen, the Inspector of the Fujian Coast Guard, said the old rules:

Coastal residents who liaise with foreign barbarians, trade goods, leak information, and lead pirates to plunder border areas are guilty of capital punishment, and their families guard the border.

Anyone who knowingly commits a crime shall be guilty of the same crime.

In recent years, people tend to be greedy for profit and forget about prohibition.

Whether the Ministry of Punishment should declare a severe punishment, or whether the sea ban should be completely lifted, please ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. "

Zhu Qiyu shook his head helplessly: "We have been clamoring for the complete lifting of the sea ban for several years. In the past, it was because Japan could not be defeated and the old port could not be taken back, so the sea ban had not been lifted.

It has taken ten years. I would say that the sea ban should be officially lifted now. For Fujian, Quanzhou should be opened first and free trade allowed. Try the effect and then talk.

Also, have you not sold out all the pepper, sappanwood and other spices you brought back from your previous voyages to the West? "

Chen Yi replied: "Yes, there is a lot of peppercorns brought back from the Western voyages. In the past during the Xuande Dynasty, peppercorns were still used to earn salaries.

Our Jingtai Dynasty’s treasury is full and overflowing with money and food. Therefore, the official salary was only paid in grain, rice, silver coins, and copper coins, and no longer in the form of peppercorns and wood.

Until now, there are still many peppercorns piled up in warehouses. "

"Put it on the market and sell them all. Good things are hidden for the common people.

Our Jingtai Dynasty's voyage to the West was to allow the people to use foreign goods and get benefits and convenience.

Don't just think about hoarding and making a high price difference.

The imperial court is not short of money recently, so it has to hold on to everything else. "

Shen Yi accepted the order happily. The emperor didn't care, so naturally the household didn't care either. According to the emperor's method of opening up the sea ban, a large amount of foreign goods would soon enter the Ming Dynasty for circulation, and there was little point in hoarding so much peppercorns.

Neither the emperor nor the ministers wanted to talk about the war in Mongolia, so He Wenyuan stood up and continued: "Your Majesty, there are twenty-one people including Qiu En, the Imperial College student, who are all over fifty years old and have been in prison for many years.

If you wait for it to be used for a second time, you will become older, unable to do things, and spend a lot of money on your maintenance.

Therefore, he begged to become an official and be awarded a position in order to make up for his reward. "

Zhu Qiyu didn't know what to say. Logically speaking, it was not easy for a prison student to study in the Imperial College for more than fifty years.

From a human and sophistication point of view, it would be appeasing to be given a small official position.

But there are too many people in the Imperial College, so it would be quite troublesome for people over fifty to come and ask for an official position.

After hesitating for a long time, Zhu Qiyu was about to speak, but Yang Zhong stood up during the etiquette department: "Your Majesty, I have something to say.

The imperial court established the Imperial College, so that the world's talents could be nurtured and prepared for appointment. It is not specially designed for the families of Jin gentry and the children of Liang.

In recent years, many people whose grandfathers have been appointed officials in Beijing have been sent to prison to study.

When he entered prison, he didn't know the principles and principles, and he couldn't read sentences clearly. He didn't sit in court for a long time, and he once again asked for help from Yu Yuan, and he wrote a book of historical events and was accepted by the official.

They don't understand the difficulties of farming and the current political tasks, so many people are defeated by their own hands.

This is nothing more than an insult to Confucianism.

I beg your ministers to order, and if there are ministers who have performed meritorious deeds on the people, or who have a privileged birth, it is not necessary to send their children to prison.

The rest who are imprisoned for begging for favor shall be punished.

In this way, talents will be put to practical use, and Chinese studies will have no false reputation as education. "

Zhu Qiyu was shocked. Everything in the etiquette department was in trouble, and the court sent the Minister of Personnel back.

Zhu Qiyu glanced at Zhu Wenfang. Zhu Wenfang's eyes were particularly innocent, and he said to himself: You see, this group of people are giving things to Shizhong, and that group of Du Yushi have been slandering me a lot recently.

This group of grandpas dare to criticize anyone and show no mercy at all.

In the past, officials were still very cautious because their words could be involved in the struggle for imperial authority if they were not careful.

But now that there is no suspicion of a dispute over the imperial line, the officials have become fearless again.

Just know that the emperor and the prince will not easily challenge the officials.

This time the officials guessed it right. As long as military and political affairs were discussed normally, Zhu Qiyu would not do anything to the officials.

(End of this chapter)