Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 56 Mao Wenlong lacks pay

After dealing with the money and legal matters, Zhu Youjian listened to the Minister of Rites and came to Zongdao to report on the progress of the adjustment of the Rituals Department, the Rites and Music Department, and the Education Department. Zhu Youjian encouraged him and asked him to do it well.

Lai Zongdao also reported that the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination was over and that meritorious ministers should be rewarded. This is obviously not talking about Xu Shitai and Sun Zhixian, the chief examiners of the rural examination, but He Wuzou, Ni Jiashan and other Hanlin Academy officials who were sent to re-mark the examination papers.

Zhu Youjian was very happy, and as usual he promoted He Wuzuo and Ni Jiashan, who were in charge of marking, to full sixth-grade lecturers, and the others were promoted to one level in recognition of their contributions. He Wuzou, Jiang Dejing and others were also ordered to manage the imperial edict, and Ni Jiashan officially served as the living minister. Yu Huang, another living minister, was also promoted to minister by him because of his contribution to improving the living care organization, and continued to serve as a living minister concurrently.

As for the original examiners of Shuntian Township Examination, Xu Shitai and Sun Zhixian, Zhu Youjian has not dealt with them for the time being, and plans to punish them after the Cui Chengxiu incident is over.

Then came the affairs of the Ministry of War. Lu Chunru, the right minister of the Ministry of War, reported that the task of escorting King Hui to seal Jingzhou has been completed. King Hui arrived at the vassal state on the ninth day of August.

This approach of not talking about it at the regular meeting, but taking it to the Chang court, aroused Zhu Youjian's vigilance. Listening to Lu Chunru's long list of names, I guessed what was going on:

"It seems that the eunuchs want to use the merits of the three kings to establish the vassal state and launch another large-scale attack. 』

"I just want to do something like this. Isn't the official rank of Ming Dynasty too devalued?" 』

"If someone destroys Hou Jin, how will I be rewarded?" 』

He would never agree to this. Zhu Youjian pretended not to hear it and ignored it.

There is nothing going on in the Ministry of Justice. Xue Fengxiang, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, as the governor's mausoleum, plans to appoint Sun Jie, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to be in charge of stone materials, Wu Chunfu to be in charge of bricks, Li Yangde to be the assistant supervisor, and Zhang Wenyu, the minister of the Ministry of Works, to supervise Qianliang and Zhang Lingyun. Supervise money and food.

Hearing that the dignified minister only took care of things that could be taken care of by just one principal, Zhu Youjian was even more speechless about the current situation of the proliferation of official titles in the Ming Dynasty. But before he could say anything, Yang Suoxiu stood up again and believed that Li Yangde should return to his hometown to maintain the system and should not be entrusted with important responsibilities.

When Li Yangde heard about the impeachment, he had no choice but to plead with the emperor, saying that he wanted to return to his hometown and abide by the law.

Zhu Youjian looked at Li Yangde, who was in his thirties, and felt very emotional. This Jinshi in the 47th year of Wanli's reign has only been in office for eight years, and he has already been promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

The first few years when he served as the chief of the sixth rank of the Ministry of Industry were normal. After the eunuch party came into power in the fourth year of Tianqi, he was first promoted to the rank of Yuanwailang, and then to the rank of fifth rank in the fifth year of Tianqi, and then joined the ranks. The fifth rank is the Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple, the third rank is the minister of Guanglu Temple, the third rank is the official ambassador, the second rank is the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and the first rank is the prince's Taibao. It took two years to reach the first rank, and the speed of rise can be described as a rocket.

It would be no pity for Zhu Youjian to dismiss such a minister of the Ministry of Industry. Although he did not directly agree to his request to keep the system, he still put it there and went through the process just like Cui Chengxiu's.

As a result, it is impossible for Li Yangde's appointment to be approved. Xue Fengxiang thought of Zhu Youjian's preferences and chose Zhang Wenyu, who was a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi and is now the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to take charge of his duties.

This person's promotion speed can be said to be a rocket. Zhu Youjian was too lazy to pursue it for the time being and agreed to the appointment.

Then Xue Fengxiang said again:
"Among the various mausoleums, Changling, Yongling and Dingling are the most magnificent, costing more than 8 million yuan in money and food."

"The Ministry of Industry suggested that following Qingling regulations can save millions in food."

"When the Qingling Mausoleum was being built, the late emperor had allocated millions of dollars in internal funds. Please do so according to your precedent."

Zhu Youjian frowned, hearing that Xue Fengxiang wanted to take the money from internal funds. Based on his own intention, of course he didn't want to give money. But his throne was passed down by Emperor Tianqi, so it would be unreasonable not to give him money to build a mausoleum.

So Zhu Youjian used a trick, saying that he had just succeeded to the throne and he didn't know how much food he still had in his internal funds. He could only decide how much to distribute after having someone count it. Now we will give out 100,000 yuan first, and let the Ministry of Household Affairs allocate the rest after the construction of the mausoleum starts.

Hearing that the matter fell on him, Guo Yunhou hurriedly complained, saying that the Ministry of Revenue had no money, and asked the emperor to allocate internal funds according to precedent.

Of course Zhu Youjian didn't want to spend more money. If his internal funds were empty, he would be held hostage by his officials if he wanted to use the money. So he frowned, stared at Guo Yunhou and said, "I didn't say I wouldn't allocate money for food. It's just how much food there is in the internal funds. How can I know now?"

"Let's do this. The Ministry of Finance will advance the money first, and then I'll talk about it after sorting out the internal treasury."

Guo Yunhou still wanted to fight, but when he heard that the emperor had ordered Xue Fengxiang to start construction as soon as possible, he had no choice but to comply. However, it was impossible for him to come up with 900,000 taels of silver at once. He had to think of a way to raise money from other places.

After deciding this matter, Zhu Youjian did not see other officials from the Department of Science and Technology coming out to impeach, so he could only continue to wait. He wanted to wait for the enemies of the Eunuch Party to gather together, take advantage of the internal strife in the Eunuch Party to launch an attack, and overthrow the Eunuch Party in one fell swoop.

The next day, Emperor Tianqi's mausoleum was under construction, and Zhu You sent the prosecutor to pay tribute to the gods of the mausoleums, Houtu, and Tianshou Mountain.

Seeing that the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs did not make any more troubles and delay this matter, Zhu Youjian was finally satisfied. And because Li Yongzhen resigned, Zhu Youjian chose Tu Wenfu, the eunuch in charge of the Royal Horse Supervisor and the admiral of Taicang Bank and Jieshen Treasury, to take charge of this matter, asking him and the Kedao officials to keep an eye on the expenses of the mountain tomb and try to save money and food.

However, he was not very confident about Tu Wenfu. In addition, Tu Wenfu had many things to do, so Zhu Youjian chose Wang Yongzuo, whom Xu Yingyuan had mentioned, to give him the additional eunuch to be responsible for the mountain mausoleum.

Another day later, on September 11th, the imperial court received another message from Mao Wenlong, saying that there was a lack of food and wages, which caused all the camps to be trapped and complained. Hearing Mao Wenlong's words such as "soldiers must live", the ministers who heard it at the regular meeting could not sit still and advised the emperor to withdraw his intention to summon Mao Wenlong to Beijing to prevent this man, who they regarded as very domineering, from rebelling.

However, the person who delivered the order had already set out for a few days, and it was impossible for Zhu Youjian to take back the order. Considering that Mao Wenlong was tied up in history and was easily chopped down by Yuan Chonghuan with Shang Fang Sword, Zhu Youjian felt that he would not rebel and had no money or food:

"If you want to rebel, you must first have money and food. Soldiers without money and food don't have much fighting power."

"Besides, even if Mao Wenlong rebels, he will not threaten the capital, so there is no need to worry so much."

After thinking about this clearly, Zhu Youjian severely reprimanded the ministers for changing orders at night and making fun of the imperial decree. He also asked Guo Yunhou, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, why the gap in food and salary in Dongjiang Town was so big.

Guo Yunhou was so worried that he could only report to the emperor:

"Dongjiang's salary originally only amounted to more than 578,000 taels, but it has increased to one million taels. It is often said that it is not enough."

"I don't know why Mao Wenlong is so short of pay?"

Zhu Youjian was even more angry and asked Guo Yunhou:
"It's nominally one million. How much was actually allocated? How much did Mao Wenlong receive when he arrived in Dongjiang Town?"

"What is the total number of soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town? How much is the average salary per person?"

Guo Yunhou couldn't answer some of these questions, and some didn't dare to answer them, so he could only apologize.

Of course, what Zhu Youjian wanted to hear was not an apology, but someone to help him solve his financial problems. Now it seems that Guo Yunhou cannot bear this important task, so he can only hope that Ting will introduce a capable Qianfa Minister to help him solve the problem.

As for the matter in Dongjiang Town, no matter what happened before, Zhu Youjian ordered that the real amount should be allocated now. Although Guo Yunhou knew he couldn't do it, he had no choice but to agree.

Then, Zhu Youjian saw the report from Ge Jiusi, the eunuch of Xuanda University, who cleared more than 40,000 taels of silver from deserters. This finally made him feel a little better, and he ordered Ge Jiusi to be rewarded and asked him to leave the money to Mangui to buy horses and reorganize the defense of the Great Wall.

Thinking of the Great Wall, Zhu Youjian thought of Kong Zhenyun who was sent by him as an envoy to the grassland. I wonder how he is doing with his affairs and whether he can complete the tribute. If the tribute payment does not go as expected, he will have to adjust his actions in court to prepare for the war in the north.

(End of this chapter)