Baidu otaku as Chongzhen

Chapter 177
The first year of Chongzhen.

April 26.

The amnesty that had been waiting for many days finally arrived. This amnesty was different from ordinary amnesties. This amnesty was still a final hammer for the Wei case.Above and below the court hall, hundreds of officials are "quietly" waiting for the amnesty.Once the amnesty is granted, the Wei case will be written off as the emperor said when he received the money. If the Wei case is not mentioned any more, it can be regarded as a typical case of spending money to eliminate disasters. For this reason, these hundreds of bureaucrats spent 500 million taels Money is used to eliminate disasters. As for whether it is worth it or not, it depends on what is said in today's amnesty.

All the ministers and bureaucrats stretched their necks outside Chengtianmen [now Tiananmen], waiting to see how this amnesty will go.

In Qianqing Palace, Yang Reform sat on the throne with a very calm expression. Today is a day of "decisive battle". Today is related to the success or failure of his future plans. He can only succeed, not fail.

The chief assistant of the cabinet led these cabinets to meet the emperor together.

After seeing the ceremony, today's main event begins, presenting the imperial edict of amnesty, and after the emperor has read it and agrees, he will use the seal, and then take it outside Chengtianmen to read it out, the amnesty will be considered successful.

"Report to Your Majesty, the ministers have already drawn up the edict of amnesty, please read it over." The leading Chief Assistant said.

"Well, buddy, let someone read it." Yang Reform is a novice in classical Chinese. Reading classical Chinese is a headache, so he can only ask people to read it for him.

"As ordered, Your Majesty." Wang Chengen agreed.Then a little eunuch who was in charge of reading the memorials began to read the imperial decree.

"Fengtian Chengyun, the emperor's edict said: Inheriting the gift of heaven and the blessings of the gods, I have the eternal foundation of the Ming Dynasty. The ancestors of Wu and Liezong worked hard to rule and create great achievements. Taizu..." First of all, starting from the achievements of Taizu, everything that can be said I have to say a few words...【No more space. 】

Next, there are a lot of incomprehensible principles, and then it comes to the substantive content.

"...The great evil Wei Zhongxian stole the favor of the late emperor, took advantage of the court's prestige and blessing, and secretly slandered the good people; if he violated the slightest taboo, he committed massacres, how much he slandered and how much he robbed for several years! The accumulation of injustice and suppression, the ups and downs, causing the stars to fall and the ground to crack, and the soldiers to fight every year. Today, Wei Zhongxian and Cui Chengxiu have been punished, and the anger of the subjects is slightly relieved; The reputation has not been extended, so how can it be the rule of Zhaozhen's reform! Now it should be commended and given, that is, it should be rewarded; , That is to say, release it: Don't be drowned for a long time, and hurt my desire to live." [Hehe, this paragraph is copied from a book, everyone read it, and gain insight. 】

Hearing this passage, Yang Reform nodded, thinking it was good, and he could understand it all. This is the Wei case!With this hammer, 500 million yuan was thrown out. This Wei Zhongxian is really valuable.

Going on, the words of the little eunuch are "traditional" projects, such as releasing prisoners from all over the world.

The last is "...announcement at home and abroad, and the salty envoys will know..."

When Yang Reform heard it, it was a very "authentic" edict of amnesty.He poked his ear and said, "No more?"

The little eunuch was baffled, and he said, "Announce to China and foreign countries, and the salty envoys will hear about it", what else?It must be gone. Seeing the emperor's question, he replied: "Report to Your Majesty, there is no more."

"No more? Well, I know." Yang Reform finished digging out his ears, thinking about his own business and how to get in.

Seeing that the edict had been read, the chief assistant said, "I would like to report to Your Majesty, does this edict meet His Majesty's wishes?"

"This, it's really well written..." Yang Reform admits that this edict is really good, at least he can't write it himself. If he practice for a few more decades, he may reach this level. Of course, if he uses 21st century methods to cheat, Search for a modification on the Internet, that is, it can be done in minutes.

"Well, I don't seem to have seen any words about rewarding money in this imperial edict! I remember that there should be rewards for the amnesty of the world, right? Why didn't I hear it? Or didn't I?" To pave the way for his own affairs, what is the amnesty, Yang Reform has asked many people, Sun Chengzong has asked a few times, the content of the amnesty, and even Baidu in his dream.

Hearing the emperor's words, the chief minister of the cabinet bowed his head and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, this amnesty does not necessarily mean that there will be rewards. This amnesty is already a great gift from heaven. It is also possible not to reward money." It is also okay to avoid talking about the problem, and instead talk about not rewarding money.

"No way, other people have rewards for amnesty in the world. How come they don't give up a penny when they come to me? Others will think that I am stingy. Is I such a stingy person?" Yang Reform persisted.

The chief minister of the cabinet was squeezed out by the emperor, so he blushed and said, "Your Majesty, it is indeed possible to reward money for this amnesty. However, the treasury only has so little money. How can I reward it? If it is according to the past, it is not a few hundred thousand taels. It’s impossible.” The treasury couldn’t even get the money that was rewarded, which made the cabinet very embarrassed.

"Uh... this, no money? That's right, now that I think about it, what should I do? Can't I just give you nothing? Doesn't it make me look poor and petty? What will the people in the world say about me?" Yang Reform knew that the treasury only had so little money, so he asked this question.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, if your Majesty wants a reward, it has to be paid out of the internal funds. The Ministry of Household Affairs may squeeze out a little..." The chief minister of the cabinet made this suggestion again, asking the emperor to pay for it himself.

"This, let me pay from my internal funds? This, I have no money! Difficult! Difficult!" Yang Reform looked desperate.This is to bully these ministers. There is no money in the bureaucratic household department. As the saying goes, clothes are a person's hair, and money is a person's guts.

The chief assistant of the cabinet was extremely embarrassed, blushing, and said: "Your Majesty is stupid, please show me."

"... There are a few more things here, and they are written into the imperial edict together. It can be regarded as a reward for the people of the world, and it can be regarded as a joy and joy for me and my people. In this way, there is no need to spend a penny. , I will definitely let my people enjoy a satisfactory amnesty." Yang Reform decided to take a ride and write the abolition of the salt government and the patent law into the amnesty edict.On this day of amnesty today, how many bureaucrats are waiting for the emperor's amnesty and the finalization of the Wei case. If I don't take advantage of this time to write this "impossible thing" into the imperial edict, I may have to wait a long time in the future. There will be opportunities.

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, what are those things?" Shoufu took the lead to ask again.

"Big Companion, show this to all the cabinet ministers." Yang Reform was unwilling to waste his time talking, so he had already prepared and wrote down the content of the abolition of the salt policy and the content of the patent law in his notebook.

The chief minister of the cabinet took the notebook first, looked through it, and when he saw it, his face turned green, turned pale in an instant, and turned red again in an instant. It can be seen that this chief assistant is not light and uncomfortable.

Without waiting for the other cabinets to read the book, he took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, the minister will never agree with your majesty's abolition of the salt policy. This is, this is..." The chief minister of the cabinet couldn't think of how to say the emperor's words like this " Very naive" thought, so angry that I was going crazy.

Yang Reform sat on the throne, looking at these cabinets with a smile.

The few cabinet members first saw the complexion of Master Fu, like a singer, changing extremely quickly, from normal at the beginning, to pale green, to pale, and then to flushed.They were all surprised, what made Mr. Shoufu so pale.They all turned their heads over to read what was written in that notebook.He also heard Shoufu talk about the abolition of the world's salt policy, and at that time felt that there was a big thunderbolt on a sunny day.Boom on the top of your head!
An assistant minister glanced at the book in a hurry and came out: "Your Majesty, the salt government must not be abolished. This salt government is the pillar of the imperial court's income. How can we get rid of it? If it goes, the pillar of the imperial court will collapse. !" This minister was even more anxious, abolishing the world's salt policy, something like this, they had never thought about it.

"Your Majesty, this salt tax has more than one million taels of tax income every year. If it is discarded, wouldn't the household department be even worse? Wouldn't the annual deficit be even worse? What will the court use to make up for the deficit of more than one million taels?" Ah! Absolutely not! Your Majesty..." The cabinet was even more anxious.The emperor dared to think about and mention the matter of abolishing the salt administration.

The other cabinets didn't even dare to look at the emperor, they lowered their heads, thinking about the reason in their hearts.They are all imagining that once the Salt Administration is abolished, officials who rely on this chain to benefit, I don't know how many people will have to drink the northwest wind!The emperor's move, I don't know how many people's jobs have been ruined!I was taken aback by this fearless way of acting.

Yang Reform has long been prepared to become a "public enemy of the bureaucracy", and the abolition of the salt administration is only the beginning.When I cut it down with my own knife, I have to cut a hole like cutting sugarcane, and then follow this hole, use ingenuity, and peel the sugarcane to the end in one breath, so that I can eat sweet and delicious sugarcane.

"I know that this household department has no money to reward, so I specially prepared this gift, as a gift for me to ascend the throne and amnesty the world, and give it to the people of the whole world, so that the people of the whole world can truly benefit from my grace." , how, can’t it?” Yang Reform is pretending, pretending to be pure, pretending to be innocent, pretending that he is pretending to be the common people of the world.

The cabinet members were so angry that they were going crazy. They didn't know how to refute the emperor. You must know that everyone knew what happened in the salt class, but they absolutely couldn't put it on the table. Say, once you say it, it must involve the shady scenes in the salt class. This is the "public enemy of the bureaucracy". The emperor dares to speak out and do it because he is the emperor. Public enemy of the bureaucracy", Xu Guangqi said before, but he vomited blood in the end.

"A few Qings don't talk? Then I will take it as no objection, so I will write my meaning in the imperial edict." Yang Reform realized that the fighting power of these cabinets was quite weak, so he didn't say much. In a word, they couldn't stand it anymore.Yang Reform didn't know that others were not speechless by what he said, but were afraid of the huge bureaucratic interests and didn't want to get involved in the entanglement of these interests.

"I would like to report to Your Majesty that I absolutely do not agree with His Majesty's abolition of the salt administration. This will surely cause the imperial court to lose more than 100 million taels of silver every year. How to make up for this loophole? Besides, the salt class has gradually been established in the past two years. It is getting better and growing gradually, Your Majesty, the salt government must not be abolished!" A cabinet can be regarded as responsible, guessing that the emperor might be dissatisfied with the million taels of salt tax silver every year, so he changed Fang's demands What about the salt tax hike?Therefore, he made a decisive decision and decided to speak on behalf of those salt merchants and bureaucrats who had profited from the salt industry, and taught the emperor a salt increase lesson.

Other ministers also heard the mystery.Immediately agreed aloud.

"Your Majesty, I think that Mr. X Pavilion is right. How to make up for the annual deficit of more than 100 million taels? The household department already has a huge deficit every year. If the 100 million taels are missing, This household department transfers less than 200 million taels of silver every year. This is really a bit shabby. How can it afford such a huge expense? What's more, the salt department is also increasing every year, and this year I'm afraid it will receive 50 Salt lesson for ten thousand taels! Your Majesty, the salt government must not be abolished. If this is the case, the household department will be even more in short supply, and it will not be able to pay for it. Relief!" The minister heard the "mystery" in it and decided to give it to the emperor. Increase the salt class to 50 million taels of silver.This, according to the current statistical data, can be said to be explosive growth, with a growth rate as high as 50.00%.However, they never mentioned how much salt tax money they could collect every year.

When Yang Reform heard people talk about the salt tax, he became angry. MD, with a population of more than 1 million, if one person eats five catties of salt per year, the tax is more than 1000 copper coins per catty. After a year, how much is that?This salt lesson, which should be more than [-] million taels a year, gives me less than a fraction every year, and I want to thank you, it is really annoying.Yang Reform decided to give these bureaucrats a good look.

"It's simple, isn't it just 150 million taels? I paid it out, from my internal funds, in order to give a gift to the people of the world, to let my people bathe in my grace, this time, I will be a big family. How about it, it's okay now." Yang Reform threw out his own prevarication strategy.

150 million taels of internal funds were used to pay the national treasury to pay for the salt lesson.The emperor's words shocked these ministers!Act dumb!Crazy!daze!Dazed!faint!

Strange things happen every year, and this year is especially strange. It is always the emperor who picks up money from the internal treasury.The cabinets were really confused and couldn't figure out what the emperor was thinking.

The brains of the cabinet members have been short-circuited, and they don't know how to think about this problem. Can't the child of the Zhu family produce a normal child?This person is the most unreliable and outrageous, and dares to agree to this kind of thing, this... the figure of the emperor, in their minds, the impression has become more and more blurred, and they can't see clearly...

Yang Reform looked at the group of idiot-like cabinets on the ground, and became angry. MD, this matter was originally a matter of mutual benefit from cooperation, and harm from division. Once the salt government is abolished, in fact, he will not please himself. To lose more than 100 million taels of silver in vain, save a little, enough to train 1000 elites.This is much more confident when fighting a war, but unfortunately, these stupid bureaucrats are too greedy.The salt class that should have been more than [-] million taels, until now, I have given myself a million or so, and I am really eating the leftovers. Others eat meat, but I gnaw the bones, so I can’t eat meat myself. Don't feel bad, don't eat.

The eyes of Yang Reform, inspecting the cabinets on the ground, the cabinets and the emperor looked at each other, and immediately retracted their eyes. This matter, the cabinets actually knew it in their hearts and knew what was going on, so they dared not look at the emperor. , I don’t have the confidence, this matter, isn’t it that everyone eats too much meat, and when they arrive at the emperor’s place, there are only bones left. Don't eat it, the cabinet has already understood the emperor's mind.However, this matter, how easy to say?Some people have already mentioned the matter of raising salt for the emperor. It seems that the emperor is not only dissatisfied, but even very angry.

The cabinet that first proposed the salt increase just now thought for a long time, with anxious faces, and after thinking again and again, finally said: "Your Majesty, I still firmly disagree with your majesty's abolition of the salt policy. Although your majesty can use internal funds to pay for the salt tax, but, Your Majesty, this salt tax is recorded in the account every year, does your Majesty pay the Ministry of Households every year? If so, how long can His Majesty's internal funds last?" The official was short of a showdown with the emperor.

These elites are very sophisticated, knowing that the emperor's income is only a little money every year, only 10 taels, sometimes even not enough.With this little money, you need to support your family, tens of thousands of eunuchs, court ladies, officers and men in the capital camp, and hundreds of officials in the palace. You also need to reward border gates from time to time, provide disaster relief from time to time, and even prepare some money to fight wars. Therefore, life is tight Damn, it's impossible to have much money, so I took the courage to drop the salt lesson that should be paid again and again. Even if I bully the emperor, I know that everyone is corrupt and there is nothing I can do. The emperor is also a poor man. We have to weigh up what to use to make up for the annual income from the salt class. If there is no money, people will have no courage. As the same saying goes, clothes are human hair, and money is human guts. Without money, people have no courage to use salt classes.This is the confidence of salt merchants.The emperor has no money and no courage.

"It's okay, how much money I have in my internal funds, I don't need to worry about your family. Every year, I support the household department with 150 million taels of silver. It's just that I make up for the shortfall in the salt class for the people of the world. My people, feel my favor." Yang Reform looked indifferent, his heart was bleeding, it was all white money! 150 million taels, just in vain.These are all the goddamned elites. If they eat better and save themselves more meat, they won't be able to deal with this matter in such a way of killing each other.

There are really not many things to say on the table, too many are unspoken rules, they are all said in secret, and they are all said under the table. How can they be said in the main hall of Qianqing Palace now.

The cabinet members were also surprised by the emperor's determination. What happened to the emperor? How much money is there in the treasury?Dare to boast of such a sea?Sending 150 million taels of silver to the Ministry of Households every year, the money that the Ministry of Households releases to internal funds every year may not reach this amount.How crazy is this emperor?The ministers began to calculate how many years the emperor could last, how many years he would become a pauper, and how many years he would be able to resume the salt class.

Soon, the cabinet came to a conclusion that the emperor was a fool and that the emperor had gone mad.

[I really can’t understand the salt class in the Ming Dynasty. Hehe, more than 1 million people eat salt, and pay 100 million taels of salt class every year. An individual eats five catties of salt every year, and each catty of salt is only two copper coins... Why is the tax so low in a brutal feudal society? 】

(End of this chapter)