Smuggling Daming

"Everyone, before I talk about the second thing, I want to invite someone in and let him introduce one thing to everyone!" Zhou Zhong looked around at the cabinet ministers present, and then ordered someone to call Yan Song who was waiting outside the door. Come in, the matter he wants to discuss with the cabinet today is related to the bank, and Yan Song, who is in charge of the Daming Central Bank, will naturally also come.

After a while, Yan Song, who was waiting outside, also came to this small room. Speaking of which, the central bank has been in the limelight during this period. After the integration of the central bank, commercial banks all over the country have taken on a new look, attracting many People deposit money in the bank, and banknotes issued by banks are accepted by more and more people. Every tael of silver bills issued is equivalent to an increase of one or two taels of income for the treasury. Zhou Zhong dared to boldly carry out an economic and military double invasion of the grassland, otherwise it would be very difficult to support such an action only relying on the original treasury of the Ming Dynasty.

Yang Tinghe and others here all know Yan Song, and after seeing the other party come in and salute them, he introduced: "My lords, after this period of development, the bank has completely transformed the Fourteenth Bank into a new type of bank. , and these banks are all under the supervision of the central bank. The imperial court issued banknotes through these banks before. Except for a few areas, banknotes are already in circulation in most areas, and the branches of these banks are all over the entire Ming Dynasty. Every state capital has The banks are in operation, and even some larger counties also have banks, and I believe that in a few years, all counties in Daming will also have banks!"

After listening to Yan Song's introduction, Yang Tinghe and others nodded in satisfaction.Originally, many officials had some objections to the imperial court’s establishment of a bank, thinking that it was competing with the people for profit, and even lost the imperial court’s face. However, as the central bank played its role, Ming’s currency began to be standardized, and the speed of commodity circulation also increased. Faster and faster, the tax revenue of the imperial court also suddenly experienced a big increase. These are the functions of the bank, so now most officials have recognized the new thing of the bank.

Zhou Zhong also smiled with satisfaction after listening.Banks are one of the sharp weapons for rectifying the administration of officials. Now that the banks are ready, it is time to get down to business.Wang Qiong and others also understood the reason why Zhou Zhong asked Yan Song to come in and introduce the bank, so they all sat there smiling, except that although Yang Tinghe guessed what Zhou Zhong wanted to do, he didn't know how Zhou Zhong would do it.Not to mention what role the bank plays in it?

"That's right. Now that the development of the bank has reached the expectations of the king, the first step in rectifying the administration of officials can be started. Now the king announces that the salaries of all officials in the Ming Dynasty will be distributed by the bank. Deposit their salaries in the bank, and the officials will have to go to the bank to get them in person."

Zhou Zhong paused at this point.Then he said: "In addition, the salaries of officials have not increased since the founding of the People's Republic of China, but the prices in Ming Dynasty are no longer what they were at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The salaries of officials are much higher than before, enough for officials to live a decent life. But if someone dares to be greedy in the future, then don’t blame me for being rude!”

Hearing Zhou Zhong's words.Wang Qiong and the others had already been mentally prepared, so they behaved calmly, but Yang Tinghe's expression changed drastically when he heard this, and he stood up immediately and said: "Jianguo, this veteran thinks it's inappropriate, and it's a habit in the Ming Dynasty's officialdom. It has been formed for many years, and it cannot be eliminated with a few decrees, so please think twice, Lord Jian Guo!"

"My lord understands what Lord Shoufu said, but it is also because of the long-standing abuses in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty, so this kind of thunderous method can be used to eliminate them. From today onwards, the imperial censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is of the same rank as the Grand Master of the Cabinet. The rank of the supervisory censors in various places has been upgraded from the seventh rank to the fifth rank. Jinyiwei is temporarily under the control of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. If the supervisory censors in various places find that officials are corrupt and accepting bribes, they can directly order Jinyiwei to arrest them and send them to the capital for interrogation by the Ministry of Punishment. " Zhou Zhong said again in a serious tone, his father-in-law Wang Lun has been promoted to the left capital censor, and there is also a right capital censor, the two have been informed by Zhou Zhong in advance, so they don't feel uncomfortable when they hear this. Accident.

Yang Tinghe's expression changed drastically when he heard Zhou Zhong's words. The Metropolitan Procuratorate originally had the function of supervising all officials in the world, and Daming also attached great importance to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Apart from the censors in the Metropolitan Procuratorate in the capital, there were also It is divided into thirteen supervisory censors, and there are hundreds of people in total. Although these censors are not high-ranking, they have great power in their hands. It is just that the censors can only monitor and impeach, and have no power to directly arrest people. Now Zhou Zhong raised the rank of the supervisory censor, and made Jin Yiwei from all over the country obey the orders of the supervisory censor. In this way, the power in the hands of these supervisory censors is too great. Most of them are stinky and tough, and they value reputation more than anything else. Now that these people have the right to arrest people, it is unknown how many people will be arrested because of corruption.

However, before Yang Tinghe could object, Zhou Zhong proposed several reform proposals again. The most important one was to break down the barriers between officials and petty officials, and allow petty officials to be promoted to officials. Most Jinshi are still students in the Imperial College, and they all need to serve as small officials for a certain number of years in the local area. Only when they are qualified in the position of small officials can they be promoted from small officials to officials.

In addition, Zhou Zhong also proposed to expand the tax department of the household department, not only to set up tax departments in the state capitals, but also to set up special tax departments at the county level. In the future, Ming's taxes will be collected by these special tax departments. , it will no longer be collected by the local government, and the tax department will also be linked to the bank, and all the taxes received will be deposited in the bank. At the same time, the tax department will also be supervised by the supervisory censor. Officials in the country basically have no chance to touch the tax revenues that are most prone to corruption. As for the finances that local governments usually need, they must be reported to the state government. Although the state government can make a decision, it must be reported to the imperial court for the record afterwards. Whoever approves it will be responsible , although the process is a bit cumbersome, it can strengthen the central government's supervision of local governments.

Zhou Zhong spoke very fast, and from time to time he instructed some people to be in charge of certain things. For example, Yan Songlai was in charge of the bank, Wang Lun was in charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Zhang Cai was in charge of the taxation department of the Ministry of Household Affairs. These people They had been called by Zhou Zhong alone to discuss for a long time beforehand, and all differences and details had been supplemented, so they all agreed very simply, which also gave Yang Tinghe no chance to intervene.

It was not until Zhou Zhong gave all the instructions on rectifying the administration of officials that Yang Tinghe finally had the opportunity to stand up and said, "Jianguo, although there are some disadvantages in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, we should not act too hastily. Don't act rashly!"

"Your Excellency Chief Assistant, you are overthinking. Regarding the matter of rectifying the administration of officials, I have already thought about it for a long time, and I have made countless preparations for it. I will definitely not fail!" Zhou Zhong said very confidently. Before the Xuanfu, he had already started to prepare for changing the status quo of Daming, and now it was finally time for the actual implementation, so it was naturally impossible to give up easily.

"This..." Yang Tinghe saw the resolute look on Zhou Zhong's face, and then looked at the confidence on the faces of Jiao Fang, Wang Qiong and others around him, which made him sigh secretly. I was mentally prepared, but I couldn't help feeling a little flustered when things were about to happen. After all, I wanted to wipe out all of Daming's bad habits. This required not only superhuman talent, but also extraordinary determination. I didn't have such talent and determination. , maybe these people in front of him will really bring some changes to Daming.

"Ah~, even so, the old minister has nothing to say, I just hope that the supervisory country will put the overall situation first, and don't act too hastily. In addition, God has the virtue of good life. I hope that the supervisory country can observe the heart of heaven and make less killings!" Yang Tinghe finished speaking After these words, a look of ashes suddenly appeared on his face, because he knew that if Zhou Zhong's thunderous method was used to rectify the officialdom, he might not know how many people would commit crimes because they stretched out their hands that shouldn't be stretched out. In order to threaten other officials, Zhou Zhong will definitely deal with it severely. I am afraid that Daming will be overwhelmed by then. This may be the biggest massacre in the officialdom since Daming established itself.

Yang Tinghe's guess is indeed correct. If Zhou Zhong wants to carry out reforms, he must first rectify the administration of officials. This is related to the interests of all Ming officials, so at the beginning of the implementation, there will definitely be strong resistance. He made psychological preparations, so when he implemented several reforms to rectify the administration of officials a few days later, even though there were countless officials in the court who objected every day, Zhou Zhong kept a cold face and did not give in at all. Only then did most of the officials realize that the usually smiling and unassuming King Zhao was actually much tougher than His Majesty the Emperor.

Zhou Zhong wanted to make the reform go smoothly, so naturally it was impossible for the court to continue to quarrel like this, so after a few days, Zhou Zhong started his own counterattack. First, the ministers who opposed the most fiercely were corrupt* The incident of * was brought to light, and the witnesses and physical evidence were conclusive. As a result, all these people were arrested and brought into Dali Temple to await trial.These are not Zhou Zhong's framing, but the real facts. In fact, none of the officials of Ming Dynasty is clean. As long as they are seriously investigated, even Yang Ting and the cabinet minister are guilty. The key is Zhou Chong's wish. Don't want to check? (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)