Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 195 Civil servants must be stopped from playing tricks

"Your Majesty! Ma Wensheng has submitted another memorial, requesting the court to allow military settlement in Hetao to reduce the increase in national consumption caused by the recovery of Hetao!"

"Your Majesty! The military officer Xinde reported that the recovery of Hetao is expected to require an additional 30,000 shi of military rations per year, plus the supply of military equipment and horses, etc., which will require more than 400,000 taels of silver per year! Therefore, it is suggested that the court first implement military settlements and re-establish garrisons in Hetao. In this way, after one or two years, the court can save 200,000 taels of military expenses every year."

"Your Majesty! Liu Ji, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, reported that the Ministry of Revenue has transferred 1.5 million taels of silver to supply the repair of the Hetao border wall, but there is still a shortage of more than 600,000 taels! Therefore, it is suggested that the court cultivate land on the border to avoid excessive consumption of the national treasury."

……

Recently, Zhu Houzhao received memorials from ministers suggesting that military farms be established in Hetao.

Zhu Houzhao had to admit that in this era, these suggestions were reasonable, and even wise. After all, Hetao had just been recovered and there were a large number of unowned fertile fields that had not yet been annexed by powerful people. Therefore, now was undoubtedly the best time to implement military settlements. The income generated would undoubtedly greatly reduce the increased military expenditure of the Ming Empire due to the defense of Hetao.

Even with the prosperity of Hetao, it might be possible to supplement the military supplies of other border towns.

However, Zhu Houzhao did not want the border troops sent to Hetao to be transformed from elite soldiers with rich experience in fighting the Tartars into farmers with rich experience in farming. Although it would not be a big deal in the short term, a hundred years later, if a powerful neighbor rises, the Hetao area will have no strong soldiers to defend, and it may even evolve into an independent military landlord kingdom, such as Li Chengliang in the Wanli period and Wu Sangui in the Chongzhen period.

Zhu Houzhao discovered that people of that era still thought of turning fields into farmland after obtaining new land, but he did not blame these people. After all, there were limitations of the times. A small Yulin City could not make most officials of the empire realize in the short term that there were more ways to avoid increased financial pressure due to the expansion of border towns than just farming.

"It's not that I don't want to establish farmland in Hetao, but I don't want to implement military settlement. You all know that the guard system has been corrupted. The generals don't know how to command, but only know how to eat empty salaries and servitude soldiers, while the soldiers don't know how to use swords and guns, but only know how to farm. Now that Hetao has been restored, the original guard system no longer exists. It is the best time to set up officials and distribute land to the people. Why do we still need to send elite soldiers who have experienced many battles to farm! If the empire wants to maintain a strong army capable of defending its territory, it must let this army only use swords!"

Zhu Houzhao had to express his true thoughts.

The cabinet chief Jiao Fang understood Zhu Houzhao's thoughts and knew that the emperor did not want the military strength of the Ming Dynasty to weaken, so he stood up and said:
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the ministers' proposal to establish military settlements is not just to reduce the burden on the court and increase the treasury's revenue. They are not unaware that military settlements will weaken the combat effectiveness of the border troops, so that the border troops will only be able to farm in the future and not fight. But they actually want to use this to dissuade Your Majesty or future kings from engaging in military affairs!"

Zhu Houzhao suddenly realized what Jiao Fang had reminded him of. He thought that the civil servants were indeed beyond his comprehension. He had always believed that these civil servants were simply trying to reduce the burden on the people, which made him quite understand them. However, he did not expect that these civil servants would have such thoughts.

However, even if Zhu Houzhao knew about it after Jiao Fang's reminder, he would not do anything to these civil servants. After all, this was an open conspiracy, not a secret conspiracy. They were indeed thinking about the people. The reason why they wanted to use this to prevent themselves and future monarchs from engaging in war and aggression was also for the sake of the people.

This idea, which is deeply rooted after Confucian education, cannot be changed.

These scholars and officials in the empire no longer had the desire to expand territory as in the Qin, Han and Tang dynasties. They were only willing to accept a prosperous era in which all nations came to pay tribute.

But even though he understood, Zhu Houzhao would not fulfill the wishes of these civil officials and would not turn the border troops, whose ranks had not yet declined, into professional farmers, especially the border cavalry. It should be known that it takes many years to train an excellent cavalryman, but it is very easy to train an excellent farmer.

"We cannot abandon the military! I believe that the fertile land in Hetao can only be used for settlement by civilians, and can even be directly distributed to the people who are willing to go to Hetao to reclaim wasteland. In order to encourage the people to move to Hetao, all the land in Hetao will be taxed as civilian land. In addition, in order to make up for the military supplies of the Hetao border troops, the Hetao area can be allowed to keep the taxes for three years for its own use, without having to transport them to Taicang.
In addition, the reform of the salt administration must be carried out as soon as possible. The cost of transporting grain should still be transferred to the merchants, both for the sake of immigration and to curb the grain prices in the border towns. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty has always taxed merchants lightly and farmers heavily, so the merchants should also bear some of the burden! Moreover, this is the system at the beginning of the country!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, the cabinet chief Jiao Fang said:

"I have already drafted a proposal to change the salt system with Wang Hua, who is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. The system of paying grain instead of silver can be implemented six years before the Zhengde reign. Now we are waiting for Wang Qiong, the Minister of Revenue, to come back from Huaiyang to discuss how much the salt price should be raised to prevent salt farmers from being unwilling to produce salt because the price is too low. We also need to discuss how many salt vouchers should be issued so as not to affect the people's consumption of salt. It is expected that Wang Qiong will be able to return to Beijing within half a month, and then we can directly issue an imperial decree to the whole country!"

Zhu Houzhao knew that the Minister of Revenue Wang Qiong was good at accounting and had studied at the Imperial University of Peking for half a year. After so much preparation, he should have a clearer understanding of how to reform the salt administration.

"That's great. Ye Qi's reform of the salt policy benefited merchants but not the people. Although Wang Qiong's reform of the salt policy is not beneficial to merchants, it is beneficial to the country and the people. However, if the salt production can be increased, it will benefit both merchants and the people, and even the country. I will issue an order to the salt transport envoy to set up a salt research and development department and hire experienced salt farmers to develop a high-yield salt production method. I will grant him an official title and set a reward for him."

After Zhu Houzhao said this, the chief minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang, hurriedly agreed. At this time, the eunuch Gu Dayong, the governor of the Western Factory, appeared hurriedly outside the duty room. Zhu Houzhao noticed him and asked him to come closer and whisper in his ear.

"Wang Qiong's father passed away fourteen days ago?!"

After Gu Dayong whispered in his ear, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but say it out loud in surprise.

When Jiao Fang heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous and said hurriedly:

"Your Majesty! According to the rules, when parents die, one should resign from office and observe mourning! But now Wang Qiong has just returned from inspecting the salt administration and has just figured out the ins and outs of the salt administration. He is just about to reform the salt administration. If he is allowed to return home to observe mourning at this time, he will have to start all over again! In this way, the salt administration reform will be delayed for a long time!"

"The father of the Minister of Revenue Wang Qiong passed away at the right time! He passed away at this time," Zhu Houzhao said meaningfully. Zhu Houzhao also knew that this was a common phenomenon in the court of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to the emperor falling into the water, it was also the parents of important officials who died!

After all, according to the rules, when parents die, one must resign from office and return home to observe mourning no matter what the reason. This is undoubtedly the most effective and best way to attack political opponents.

All the cabinet ministers present knew what Zhu Houzhao meant, but none of them said anything, because they could not persuade the emperor to give up his love, nor could they deprive Wang Qiong of her filial piety. Not to mention them, even if he was the emperor, according to Confucian etiquette, he could not stop his subjects from fulfilling their filial piety.

"Wait for Wang Qiong's memorial. Also, find a few ministers to come forward and ask for a memorial to deprive Wang Qiong of his love! You can observe mourning at any time, but the reform of the salt administration cannot be delayed!"

Zhu Houzhao then asked the Western Factory Governor Gu Dayong: "Why did Wang Qiong's father suddenly die? Do you know the truth?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, according to Taiyuan, Wang Qiong's father was quite healthy the day before he passed away. He was still able to lift the stone lock in the backyard and his appetite had not decreased. But the next morning, he was found dead by the servants of the palace, but his expression was peaceful, as if he had died of old age!"

Gu Dayong replied.

"Check it more carefully," Zhu Houzhao said as Wang Hua came over and said, "Your Majesty! The resignation letter of Wang Qiong, the Minister of Revenue, has arrived!"

Zhu Houzhao hurriedly opened it and saw that it was indeed a request to resign and return home to mourn his father.

……

The Minister of Revenue Wang Qiong himself was very reluctant to return to his hometown to observe mourning.

He could see that the current emperor was an unconventional emperor who wanted to accomplish great things. Because he was proficient in mathematics, he directly ordered the cabinet to recommend him as the Minister of Revenue. He also wanted to turn the salt administration back to a situation that was beneficial to the court and do something big.

Moreover, he had his own selfish motives. As a native of Shanxi, he naturally wanted to change the salt administration back to the system of paying taxes to obtain salt. This would not only benefit the imperial court but also the interests of northern merchants like himself, and would not allow the Hui merchants to reap the benefits alone.

But Wang Qiong didn't expect that her father would suddenly pass away at this time!
As a man with rich experience in officialdom, Wang Qiong was also worried that his father would pass away suddenly, so he told his father countless times to take good care of himself and even paid attention to his father's health almost every moment. In addition to fulfilling his filial piety as a son, he also did this to ensure that his official career would not be delayed for a few years due to the death of his parents.

But Wang Qiong still didn't expect that his father would die at this time! When he was about to cooperate with the emperor and the cabinet to fight against the Huizhou merchants.

Wang Qiong was very angry, but he could not do anything to his political enemy behind his back, because he had no evidence to prove his guess, and he had to immediately submit a memorial to resign from his post and observe mourning. As a civil official who was trained in Confucianism, he knew how important mourning was in terms of etiquette and law.

Therefore, Wang Qiong submitted a memorial of resignation and mourning without hesitation, and passed the buck to Zhu Houzhao.

……

At this time, in a teahouse, two scholars dressed in ordinary Confucian robes were communicating with each other.

"Do you think Wang Qiong will return to his hometown to mourn his father's death?" asked a scholar.

"Of course not. If he doesn't return to his hometown to observe mourning, both the Emperor and he will be blamed!" another scholar replied with a sneer.

……

Coming back to the topic, after Zhu Houzhao received Wang Qiong's memorial requesting to return home to mourn his father's death, he was not only angry, but also felt helpless. He found that the officials of the empire were still keen on infighting, and their motives were still so impure. At the same time, they used very noble reasons to cover up their impure motives.

"If this continues, the Ming Dynasty will eventually be worn down by their endless internal strife! This must be stopped!"

Thanks to my book friend Joseph Brinovich Stalin for the 100 starting coins reward

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(End of this chapter)