Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 275 Detain Dang Chongya, the Left Servant of the Household Department

After Dang Chongya, the left servant of the household department, handed over the matter of changing the tax invoice registration book to a trustworthy head of the household department, he took a sedan chair to Shuiyue nunnery in the city.

Although it is a nunnery, it is just a romantic place for literati to meet privately. This phenomenon is very common nowadays, especially for gentry with official titles. Going to the Qinhuai River is easy to be discovered by people from the imperial court. It's not as safe as this Buddhist pure land.

Zhenyuan Hou Gu Mingjiao, Xin Chengbo Zhao Zhilong, Nanjing Ministry of Industry Shangshu Li Qiao, Zuo Fudu Yushi Yao Sunju and other bureaucrats greeted Dang Chongya with their hands: "Wait until the Dangbu hall is almost dawn, The Party Headquarters is long overdue."

"Forgive me, everyone. Naturally, the first day of tax collection will be a bit busy. Fortunately, there is nothing wrong." Dang Chongya sat down as he said that, touched a young nun's leg with his hand, and then smiled and let the young man The nun poured the wine, and when the young nun filled the wine glass, he hugged the young nun into his arms and rubbed it vigorously. Clothes, hand wine to Dang Chongya.

However, Dang Chongya didn't dare to really drink it, he just took a sip, after all, he had to wait for his people to hand over the tax receipt register.

At this time, Li Qiao, Shangshu of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, spoke first: "Now the guards have defeated the Qing army's two armies going south, and even Prince Yu Duoduo has been captured alive. The Ming and Qing Dynasties have basically formed a situation of dividing the north and the south. Daming is like the Southern Song Dynasty back then, the general trend of the world is already the same, why is your majesty obsessed with the Northern Expedition and the great taxation, so it is not intentional to sacrifice the interests of our scholars and people in the south of the Yangtze River. Although the tax collection is now a vigorous one, what your majesty doesn't know is that this It's just wishful thinking of him and his gang of northern ministers."

"What Da Sikong said is true. Song Gaozong did not want the Northern Expedition back then. Naturally, there is a reason for the people's aspirations. The common people don't want to fight anymore. You can't force them to continue fighting. That is to let the people's livelihood continue to wither. Well, Yue Wumu's death was not without a reason. It was not so easy for His Majesty to take the silver dollars from us. When the people change, your majesty may understand what is the way of governing by doing nothing," Yao Sunju said with a smile.

"Then let's wait for His Majesty to realize the difficulty here. You and I have already left our original positions. Even if His Majesty intends to pursue it, we will not be able to be held accountable. Moreover, there has never been a reason to punish the crime of corruption of the predecessor. The only one present here is The Dangbutang is still serving as a hall official in the household department, so the Dangbutang should be more careful."

Zhenyuan Hou Gu Mingjiao had a drink with Dang Chongya, and Dang Chongya laughed: "Thanks to the consideration of Lord Hou and all colleagues, although I am an official of the Ministry of Households, the chief assistant is in charge of tax collection, and the accident is also caused by the chief minister." The assistant is responsible, this official is only acting according to the intention of the first assistant, so why is there a mistake."

"That's right, it's time for Mr. Fan Ge to move his position. In the future, half of the Ming Dynasty will be stable. We can't let him be the chief assistant of Nanming all the time. I have to have one or two people from the south to get by." At this time, When Xin Chengbo Zhao Zhilong said this, Li Qiao laughed:
"What His Majesty values ​​most today is the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households. Ma Shiying of the Ministry of War is from the eunuch party. Naturally, we can't tolerate it. We have to get him down sooner or later. The Dangbutang happens to be the left servant of the Ministry of Households and moved south with His Majesty. In Li's opinion, the position of the chief assistant in the future will probably belong to the party hall."

When Li Qiao said this, the other officials burst into laughter, and they all toasted Dang Chongya, and even some young nuns who accompanied the wine also echoed.

Dang Chongya also became interested, and quickly thanked him. The reason why he was willing to join forces with these southern officials and jointly engage in this tricky tax collection work was not only greedy for money, but also wanted to use this to bring down Fan Jingwen, and at the same time win over southern officials, so that he could Sit on the plan to enter the cabinet as the chief assistant.

……

Fan Jingwen endured the jolting of the carriage, and brought Qu Shixu, the governor of Yingtian, to the yamen of the Ministry of Household Affairs: "Qu Futai, have all your people been summoned? If there is something wrong with the Huang family, it's better to take care of it first."

"Don't worry, Shoufu, the lower officials have sent officers and soldiers to Huang's mansion, and also sent a team to the yamen of the household department. If there is any change, you can immediately follow your orders, Shoufu," Yingtian Governor Qu Shixu replied.

Fan Jingwen, the chief assistant of the cabinet, nodded: "Very good, let them surround the office of the Ministry of Households with me first, and at the same time, send someone with my gold medal to inform Mr. Can send guards to cooperate, prohibit anyone from leaving the city, and wait for His Majesty's will!"

Qu Shishi, the governor of Yingtian, got out of the car after taking orders, and began to make arrangements.

And here, Fan Jingwen, the chief assistant of the cabinet, came to the yamen of the household department fifteen minutes later with a livid face, but no one answered when he knocked on the door.Fan Jingwen directly ordered the people who came with him to break open the door, but at this time, the night watchman from the household department came out and cursed: "Who told you to break into the household department in the middle of the night, do you want to live!"

Fan Jingwen slapped him with a slap: "Get out of the way, control the people inside, don't allow anyone to move, those who disobey the order will be beheaded first!"

After finishing speaking, Fan Jingwen went to the inner hall of the household department, and saw a head of the household department holding the tax receipt registration book, and the tax receipts collected before his case, Fan Jingwen directly grabbed it and examined it carefully.

Although Fan Jingwen is nearly sixty years old, his memory is still very good, and he has not reached the point of being old and faint. It didn't take long before he threw the tax stamp register directly on the face of the head of the household department: "The figures in the tax stamp register are obvious. It doesn’t match the number on the tax receipt, who asked you to fill it in like this, do you really think that this official and His Majesty only look at the registration book and not the tax receipt! Do you want to deceive the world?”

……

At this time, Dang Chongya, the left servant of the household department, was approached in a daze by two officials. As soon as he came in, he couldn't help asking in surprise: "What's the matter? The door is wide open, what if a thief enters here?"

As he said that, Dang Chongya stepped forward: "Wang Ruyu, have you filled out the registration book yet? It's been a while since you handed it in, so I have to come and get it myself!"

At this time, Fan Jingwen turned around and gave Dang Chongya, the left servant of the household department, a cold look: "Send Dang Chongya, the left servant of the household department, to this officer!"

Dang Chongya, the left servant of the household department, heard what seemed to be the voice of Fan Jingwen, the chief assistant of the cabinet, and shook his head quickly, and then he became sober: "Mr. Ge! You, when did you come? Why didn't anyone inform the next official? Qu Futai, haven't you returned home, what's going on?"

(End of this chapter)