Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 538 Oolong Impeachment
Speaking of aristocratic families, a very strange phenomenon has appeared in the court hall. Officials with five surnames and seven families basically don't take the initiative to speak out. They just silently stand on the side that is beneficial to them according to the situation, and never stand out. .

Ever since Wang Gui was dismissed from the position of attendant, there was not a single figure of the head of the hall in the seven families of the five surnames who was in power in the court, and they were actually willing to accept this status quo.

On the contrary, those from second- and third-rate families are now more active in the court. The key positions of ministers and doctors in various ministries are basically controlled by them, and yamen like the Ministry of Agriculture are no exception.

Wei Ting, who came from Jingzhao Webster, is the highest-ranking official of the Ministry of Agriculture on duty in Beijing. Sun Xiangfu, the minister, is basically a hand-off shopkeeper who only cares about technology. Li Gongyan, another main leader of the Ministry of Agriculture, is the fast After a broken leg, he wants to promote the organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture to be rolled out in states and counties across the country, and to implement agricultural-related projects in various places.

This gave many people the illusion that officials with five surnames and seven families faded out of the court and devoted themselves to development, and officials with second- and third-rate family backgrounds occupied the court.

Of course, if someone comes out to impeach the prince's young teacher, Minister of Agriculture Sun Zhengming, a senior official of this level, everyone will still be surprised, but it is more likely to be happy.

Because Sun Xiangfu himself, as well as his related households, are those top honorable groups who have done so much that the emperor has a headache how to reward them.

And this is because these people occupy the highest positions, officials at a lower level always want to overthrow them, if they don't leave, most of the officials in the court will not be able to take the position, but no one wants to be the second child of a thousand years, Always look at other people's faces.

Wei Ting, as Sun Xiangfu's spokesperson in Chang'an, naturally knew all the information that should be known, but he didn't intend to prevent some people from jumping out.

"My minister impeached Sun Zhengming, the general manager of Shannan Road, and improperly administered the government. He emptied all the food in several counties and counties affected by the severe floods in the Shannan Road area, causing disasters for the local refugees, and the state and county governance. Your Majesty, please be careful."

In the current court, except for extremely incorrect political events, generally no officials will call out the word "impeachment". Since the establishment of the Ministry of Justice, these two words have meant "accusation" in the court. Generally speaking, unless you have solid evidence, you can't "accuse" casually, because without the approval of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Criminal Justice's evidence collection and investigation, accusing others out of nothing, especially Shangguan, will be punished, ranging from Downgrading fines salary, and direct dismissal if serious.

Li Shimin knew what Sun Xiangfu did in Shannan Road after the warrior Xun returned to Chang'an. Therefore, when he suddenly heard the impeachment, Li Shimin frowned, thinking of Wei Ting looking for him before. What you play.

The people watching the impeachment seemed to have been prepared, and Li Shimin, who was also prepared, wanted to see what kind of tricks they were playing, and asked Cai Ji, the doctor of the Ministry of Justice who was on duty to impeach, "You leapfrog the impeachment, do you have evidence?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, here are the judges of the local states and counties, as well as the petition letters entrusted by the elders of the country gentry. Your Majesty will know it when you look at it."

Soon, a notebook in Cai Ji's hand was handed over to the servant. In fact, this kind of act of writing the notebook directly to the emperor in the main hall where the government is deliberated without going through the Zhongshu is somewhat against the rules, but the officials of the Ministry of Justice There is the privilege of directly reporting to work in the morning shift, but when using this privilege, the subordinates usually greet the chief officer of the hall.

Seeing Wei Zheng's bewildered expression, Li Shimin knew that Cai Ji probably hadn't greeted him. Now Wei Zheng's main task was to investigate the surrounding ethnic minorities and the customs and customs of the territory that was newly brought under the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty. The corresponding laws are too busy, but for a long time, there is no speech on the internal politics of Datang.

The content listed in the memorial is very detailed. How much food was transferred by Sun Xiangfu in each state and county, and how much it was worth? Because of the flood, there was no food relief, and how many local people became refugees and failed to return to the local area after the disaster. ,Production.As a result, how much land in each state and county is vacant because there is no manpower to cultivate it, and how much loss will be caused to the local taxation, etc., etc., are written very clearly. It may be a bit exaggerated in some aspects that cannot be calculated specifically, but the problems mentioned are almost the same. It does exist, and the memorial has hundreds of signatures of local gentry elders to testify.

After reading it, Li Shimin handed over the memorial to Fang Xuanling and others for circulation as usual. After a while, he asked the ministers with an unclear attitude, "What do you think should be done?"

When he heard the word 'dispose', Cai Ji's expression brightened. He was instructed by his family to have the courage to submit this memorial, because the family had repeatedly assured him that the matters on this memorial would not be ignored. It was true, after he played the memorial, there would be no problems. Now it seems that Li Shimin believed everything said in the memorial. After all, what was written on it can be tested.

Afterwards, Sun Wuji, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, came out of the shift first, and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that there should be a thorough investigation."

Wei Ting, the right servant of the Ministry of Agriculture, followed closely to the class and played, "The minister seconded the proposal..."

"The ministers also seconded..."

"Hey, the situation is a little smoother than expected!"

Cai Ji was very surprised to see that the princes of the Manchu Dynasty expressed their approval of his memorial, and suddenly felt a little smug, and was waiting to come forward and say a few words!But Li Shimin, who was sitting high on the dragon chair, pointed at himself and said, "Those who cause disasters should be investigated. It seems that this kind of person only cares about his own interests, and those who sit on top of his corpse should be punished. Come on, he has lost his crown and court clothes." , Detained by the Ministry of Punishment, obtained evidence and convicted."

"What's the situation?"

Cai Ji was still in a dazed state, when he saw a guard standing in the hall approaching him, didn't he say he wanted to investigate thoroughly?Why, in turn, you want to arrest me, the one who went up?
"Your Majesty, the minister is just bluntly speaking, expressing his feelings to His Majesty on behalf of the local officials' clan, what is the crime? Why did you dismiss the minister from his official position without any reason and go to jail? The minister refuses to accept."

"Dissatisfied?"

"Then I will let you be convinced, Changsun Shangshu, Wei Shilang, how to convince him is up to you."

After Li Shimin finished speaking, Changsun Wuji and Wei Ting looked at each other, meaning you should speak first, or I should speak first. In the end, due to the difference in official ranks, Wei Ting asked Changsun Wuji to speak first.

He looked at Cai Ji, who had been removed from his crown and robe by the guards, and pressed down on Cai Ji who was kneeling on the ground, "Cai Langzhong, right! I have a question from the household department. The Cai, Huang, Deng, Ying, Fu, etc. mentioned in your memorial The states affected by the disaster along the Yangtze River are all Zhongzhou with fertile land, more than one million acres of fields, and a population of more than 10,000+. But why, in the past, whether it was a disaster year or a good year, the tax revenue they created was not enough. , is it not as good as many other lower states in Shannan Road?"

"Uh, this..."

"The old man is above this court, waiting for you to make up, let's see what reason you can make up." Seeing Cai Can's eyes rolling around on the ground, Changsun Wuji gave him a contemptuous look.

This is really hard to compile. There are many people, a lot of land, and fertile land. After Datang’s new tax system is gradually implemented, your central state’s taxation will not be as good as that of Xiazhou. This is a bit unreasonable. After all, In all respects, there is a gap of one, two, or even more between the size of Zhongzhou and Xiazhou.

Seeing Cai Ji who was silent and silent, Li Shimin was very angry, so he gave Wei Ting another look.

Wei Ting, who received instructions from Li Shimin's eyes, also walked up to Cai Ji and said, "You can't make it up! Then let me give you an example, let's take Cai Zhou as an example!"

After last year's autumn harvest, the Secretary of Agriculture who was in charge of the Changping warehouse forced the grain from the people under his control to enter the Changping warehouse at the price of 160 cents a shi for rice and 140 cents a shi for millet. The price on the account book is actually [-] Wen per Shimi and [-] Wen per Shimi, which are several percent higher than the market price in Chang'an.

With this alone, the secretary of agriculture in Caizhou's Changping warehouse can take away more than 20 yuan of money from Caizhou's finances and taxes.

How much is the total tax for a whole year in a central state?
It's only 30 million guan.

Just this one transaction can use up [-]% to [-]% of the annual tax, plus other things, it would be strange to have a surplus.

Who approved such a large transaction?How did so much money flow out from the treasurer?Needless to say, you should also know.The princes of the imperial court, and His Majesty, are not fools.

If you are only corrupt, that’s fine. The imperial court had wars on all sides before, and needs internal stability, so it can temporarily not deal with you.

But after you have embezzled, you still want to exploit and squeeze the people. The food in Changping warehouse in Caizhou will be taken away by Cai’s people in the name of lending every year when floods occur. According to the regulations of the court, Changping warehouse When disasters occur and the people are in urgent need of food, they are borrowed interest-free.

You loan out all the food without interest, so that the people who really need it have no food to borrow, so they can only buy it from you at a high price, or ask you to borrow money at a high interest rate, forcing them to have no way out.

You said, those people, if there is a way out, will they stay there and be exploited by you? "

Wei Ting told the tyrannical operation methods of these places in the court hall, and immediately caused some people's faces to be cloudy, and Cai Ji, who was kneeling on the ground, was also ashamed to hear it. , then the emperor absolutely has no reason to continue letting go.

Sure enough, after Wei Ting finished speaking, Li Shimin spoke up, saying, "I actually don't object to the people in the world finding ways to obtain more benefits, because I hope to see everyone have enough food and clothing and live a better life.

However, a gentleman loves money and needs to get it in a proper way. People like Sun Qing, Feng Qing, Zhang Sunqing, etc., can promote some projects. While seeking benefits for themselves, they also seek benefits for the country and the people. I will even In terms of policy, give some support.

However, I will never allow people like you to harm the common people by any means for profit, because you are digging the foundation of the Tang Dynasty.

I know that above this court, there are still many families behind the officials who are using similar means to harm the local people, such as Chang Sunqing and Wei Qing said. Unstable, I choose not to deal with it for the time being.

However, now that the world has been settled, it is not the surrounding barbarians that can shake my country, but these moths in the country. I hope you will take this matter as a limit and correct your mistakes in time before it is too late.

There are many ways to seek benefits, and actions that harm the people must never be done. From now on, I will never forgive those who dare to hinder the development and stability of the Tang Dynasty. I hope you will be careful. "

(End of this chapter)