Back to the end of the Ming Dynasty when the emperor

Chapter 29 Collective resignation

Zhu Yousong hurriedly asked for details. Fortunately, according to Zhu Yousong's instructions, Lu Jiude had dispatched a few days earlier to inquire about the movements of the officials. He found these people and quickly found out the inside story.

Now Zhu Yousong was relieved, it turned out that he was squeezed out by Ma Shiying's party and lost confidence in his blind compromise and tolerance as an emperor, so he didn't plan to quit. That's easy.

Zhu Yousong went through the dozens of memorials one by one, and walked back and forth a few steps with his hands behind his back. Lu Jiude and Han Zanzhou looked at the master's expression. Zhu Yousong didn't ask them, and they didn't dare to intervene. The serving maids and Xiao Huangmen didn't dare to make any noise, as the needles could be heard in the room.

According to the routine of one emperor and one courtier, the central institutions such as the six departments of the cabinet and the Hanlin also had to make adjustments. They originally planned to eradicate the Ma Party and then change their blood. I didn't expect that now they have a problem for themselves, and there is a way to deal with them.

After making up his mind, Zhu Yousong sat back in front of the imperial case, took up a bamboo pen and wrote a red approval on Zhang Shenyan's notebook in his hand, allowing him to retire and return to his hometown, with leisure and recuperation, and his salary would not be reduced, because Zhu Yousong knew that the National People's Congress The time limit has come, and he doesn't have the art of returning to heaven to prolong his life. The natural law of birth, old age, sickness and death, it is the best of humanity to let him go home with pay to recuperate.

Then he issued an order to see the remaining few people in the Wenhua Palace, but the resignation papers were not approved, and these people were still courtiers, so how dare the emperor not come when he summons them.

Zhu Yousong sat down in the Wenhua Hall, and there were eleven kneeling below, three in a row and four in a row.Taking advantage of the opportunity of kowtowing, these eleven officials saw Zhu Yousong's imperial case with a tall booklet from the corner of their eyes, and they knew that the emperor summoned them today must be for this matter, but so This is the first time for a large-scale collective resignation and such a large-scale collective summons.Will the emperor anger us?
But seeing the calm expression on the emperor's face, they didn't know what the intention of this move was, so after they kowtowed to the mountain and shouted long live, they lay down on the ground and wondered what the ending would be.

"Dear dears, please stay calm." Zhu Yousong said, and turned out from behind the case, and the eleven courtiers stood up after thanking each other, their heads drooping slightly, and they remained silent.

"I have read all your notes carefully, and I agree with what you have written in a compromise," Zhu Yousong deliberately paused at this point.

The hearts of the eleven ministers sank. They thought that the emperor would not approve the collective resignation of so many people, at least they had to ask the reason, but they didn't expect the emperor to agree without asking a word.

But if this is the case, what are you calling us for? Let the cabinet announce that from now on, the monarchs and ministers will be passers-by, you will be your emperor, and we will be our little people. As for the fate of Ming Dynasty, it has nothing to do with us. Could it be that the emperor has moved to show mercy? The heart is reluctant to part with us, after all, there is a farewell ceremony for the monarch and his ministers, the emperor is too leisurely, we have no time to waste time with you, all eleven courtiers have whatever they think in their hearts at once.

At this time Zhu Yousong continued: "But I still want to ask you one more question, do you think you are honest or dirty officials?"

As soon as this remark came out, it was unexpected. Some experienced the four emperors, and no emperor ever asked his courtiers like this. Let us say for ourselves, even if we are corrupt officials, can we tell the truth?I don't know why the emperor asked this question at this time.These people looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing how to answer for a moment.

Zhu Yousong walked up and down in front of them with his hands behind his back, and suddenly waved his hands, "Well, since you don't say anything, I will assume that you are all upright officials. There is a saying that you have heard before, three Nianqing magistrate, one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver. My Ming Dynasty is experiencing the difficulties of the Southern Song Dynasty. The wind and rain are turbulent, the steps are difficult, the national treasury is empty, and the refugees are everywhere. You all know this. The rise and fall of the world is everyone’s responsibility. Sir, there must be a lot of savings in the family, let’s share my worries at the end, each person will hand over 100 taels of resignation silver to the Ministry of Accounts before resigning. This money should not be handed over to the Ministry of Accounts in vain. Registration, I personally nominated the imperial government to grant Bian, and his name will go down in history."

When Zhu Yousong said this, the eleven ministers were all dumbfounded. It turned out that the emperor asked them for money, and each of them had to pay 100 million taels of silver to resign. I had never heard of "retirement money". After paying so much money, the emperor regarded us as a cash cow after making trouble for a long time. Isn't this terrible?
One million taels is not a small amount, and there are a few honest officials who can't afford it, such as Wu Weiye, who was young and had just been restored by Emperor Hongguang, and Zuo Maodi, a national hero who was hailed as Wen Tianxiang by later generations. Even if a few people went bankrupt, they still couldn't get together 100 million taels.

How many of these eleven ministers are really rich, and 100 million won’t bother them, but do you dare to take it out at this juncture?At this time, if you want to be caught by the emperor for showing off your wealth, and then you will be accused of corruption and sent to jail, then you will lose a lot!
But if they don’t hand over, it’s difficult to resign from the post if the matter is small, and if they are suspected of rebelling against the decree, the emperor can still put them in jail.

Therefore, the eleven ministers were all sweating, shaking their heads, Zuo Maodi frowned, and even Wu Weiye, a great talent in Jiangnan, grinned. They never dreamed that the emperor would come to them like this After a while, they began to regret that it was nothing to do to ask for resignation.

Zhu Yousong was amused to see them committing hardships, so you resign if you want to?Is my officialdom a vegetable market? I can come and go whenever I want, is there such a cheap thing?

"Why are you silent, is it because you don't want to serve the country and share my worries?"

Zhu Yousong pulled his face down, added in a deep voice, and all eleven ministers knelt down again.

Wu Weiye and Zuo Maodi first said that even if they went bankrupt, they would not be able to get the 100 million taels of resignation silver, and asked the emperor for forgiveness.As soon as the two of them took the lead, the rest of them hurriedly kowtowed up, expressing with one voice that they could not come up with so much money.

Zhu Yousong secretly smiled in his heart, I knew you couldn't get it out, even if someone could get it out, he wouldn't take it out at this time, this is what I want.

So the corner of Zhu Yousong's mouth showed a curve that is difficult for ordinary people to find, "Since you can't come up with the money, please go back. When you have enough money, you can leave the job after handing over the resignation money and registering it in the account department. There is no need to say goodbye to my majesty again. But I still want to remind you that your resignation money must be clean, if you use your position to extort money and seek people's fat and anointing, I will definitely kill you without mercy!"

As soon as Zhu Yousong's seemingly plain words came out, they were not only shocked, they all hit the ground with their heads...

　The second one was delivered, thanks to book friend 1634205257 for his recommendation and support.

　　


(End of this chapter)