Daming: Stealing Chen Yuanyuan at the beginning

Chapter 118 Nanjing Twelve Hours

At the second quarter of Mao, the early dynasty officially began.

Since the establishment of the unique Tongzhengsi system, the government orders are accessible and efficient, and the emperor is arbitrary. He rarely goes to the early court, and the early court has been reduced to a symbol of etiquette.

Whenever the general is suddenly called to the morning court, it must be that a major incident has occurred, or a nationwide decree is to be issued.

What happened in the morning court today, the officials knew it well.The scholars rushing to take the exam opposed the new policy and made a fuss for several days, and today they collectively stopped the exam, let's see how the emperor will respond.

Officials who have not been involved in the incident have the mentality of watching the excitement.Since Qian Bingdeng and others entered the Hall of Martial Arts, they have been winking at each other and colluding secretly, and they still want to cause trouble for the emperor.

Sitting on the dragon chair, Li Cunming could clearly see every move of the officials in the hall.

He looked normal and said, "You must have guessed the intention of the early court. Dongchang came to report, and the scholars collectively stopped the exam. Qian Bingdeng, as the Minister of Rites, you are in charge of the Enke exam. Do you have anything to say?"

Qian Bingdeng went out, took off his official hat, knelt down and said, "I have neglected my duty, I have no choice but to resign!"

As soon as the words fell, almost half of the officials in the hall knelt down and said in unison: "The ministers also want to resign!"

Li Cunming said calmly: "You and I resigned at the same time. What is the reason?"

"Your Majesty, since the imperial court implemented the new policy in Jiaxing Mansion, the subjects and people all over the world have complained, the scholars are arguing, and the common people have suffered greatly. The ministers are powerless to change the situation, so they can only resign." Chen Zhenhui knelt down and said, To be righteous and awe-inspiring.

Yan Ermei and Jiang Dejing glanced at each other, shook their heads and sighed silently, thinking that what should come will always come, these Donglin party members are unwilling to give up, and threatened the emperor by resigning collectively, but is the current emperor a person who can be blackmailed?

"Oh, so you are pleading for the people?" Li Cunming narrowed his eyes.

Qian Bingdeng said: "The new policy has many disadvantages, and all the subjects in the world can see it. I implore the emperor to abolish the new policy, and kill the imperial envoy Ren Qi to quell public grievances. In this way, the scholars will naturally take the exam, and the officials are willing to continue to serve The country works!"

"Okay, there are scholars outside the exam, and officials inside are resigning. You are colluding inside and outside to threaten me, right?" Li Cunming raised his voice.

"The ministers dare not threaten the Holy Majesty, it's just that the court has made mistakes in administration, and the ministers have no choice but to weep blood and remonstrate. They are painstaking, and I hope the Holy Majesty will find out!"

Li Cunming suddenly laughed loudly, the laughter stopped, and his face was gloomy: "Why, do you think I can't do without you, do you think the Ming Dynasty will perish immediately without you? Don't be self-righteous, without Butcher Zhang, I will still suffer. Hairy pig!"

"If you want to take the exam, take the exam, if you want to give up the exam, let it go, if you want to be an official, you can be an official, if you want to resign, then resign, what do you think of the court, public toilets? Come when you want, leave when you want, dreaming!"

"Come on, the guards enter the hall and surround the Hall of Martial Heroes!"

In an instant, Gong Yonggu and Wang Chengen rushed into the hall with their subordinates.Bang bang slammed the door of the hall, drew out a shining knife, and surrounded the huge Hall of Martial Arts impenetrably.

The faces of the officials changed, and Qian Bingdeng yelled: "Your Majesty, are you going to kill us? We are all loyal to admonish you. If you die, you will be a loyal minister and direct minister. Your name will be left in history, but your majesty will kill innocent people indiscriminately. Don't be afraid." Will you leave an eternal infamy?"

"Is there still a few officials I have killed?" Li Cunming slanted the corner of his mouth and said sinisterly, "Anyway, in the hearts of you Donglin Party members, I have already become a fatuous and tyrant, and I have suffered many infamy. Killing one is killing, killing one Why not a hundred?"

"But God has the virtue of loving life. The people I kill will always convince him to die clearly."

"The Master said, killing without teaching is called cruelty, not giving up is called violence, and delaying order is called thief. Since you claim to be disciples of saints, I will deal with you in the way of saints, and teach you first. , if you still persist in your obsession, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Then she nodded to Yan Ermei, and Yan Ermei said loudly: "Colleagues, open the skylight and speak clearly. The reason why you oppose the New Deal is not to plead for the people, let alone for the sake of the Ming Dynasty. You are only for your own self-interest."

"The new policy touched your interests, so you tore off your gentle and elegant faces, revealing a terrifying and ugly face! I am in charge of the Overwatch Council, and I have a clear picture of the family background of all the courtiers. Those who resigned today, how could Isn’t one a big landlord, a big rich man?”

"The stalls go to the mu, and the officials and gentry pay the grain and do the errands. Are the poor people suffering, or you big landlords? Huh, don't pull the tiger's skin and pull the banner, full of benevolence and morality, and a belly full of flies. Leave a name in history? What a big joke!"

It was Yan Ermei who knew how to deal with scholars best, and Qian Bingdeng and the others were speechless when she made some harsh words.

After a pause, Yan Ermei continued: "I am a scholar just like you, so I won't play tricks. Considering the low salary of officials in my dynasty, the emperor specially decreed that from now on, the fire consumption will be returned to the public and given to the officials. Let us distribute the money for the maintenance of honesty. This official, together with Jiang Shangshu, has drawn up the relevant regulations, and you will see clearly."

As he spoke, he took out a stack of manuscripts from his sleeve and threw them on the ground.Qian Bingdeng and others picked it up and passed it around to each other.

Zhang Juzheng implemented the "One Whip Law", stipulating that all taxes should be collected and turned over to the state treasury.Since most of the tax silver paid by the common people is broken silver, the process of melting the silver ingots is depleted, and this depleted part is called fire consumption.

In order to make up for the loss caused by fire consumption, the imperial court established the fire consumption tax.However, the fire consumption tax was not collected uniformly by the imperial court, but was collected by local officials themselves, which caused many corruption problems.Officials pocketed their own money, and the court still had no money.

The so-called return of fire consumption to the public means that the imperial court sets the fire consumption rate, and coordinates the collection of fire consumption silver by all provinces, which is included in the court tax.Simply put, the return of fire consumption to the public is a new legal tax, and taxpayers must pay the fire consumption tax.

The imperial court added new types of taxes, and then took part of the money from the increased taxes to serve as money for maintaining integrity and increasing the salaries of officials.

Yan Ermei and Jiang Dejing combined the current prices and calculated the amount of money that officials, big and small, needed to maintain honesty each year.

For example, a regular seventh-rank county magistrate has an annual salary of 90 shimi, which is indeed pitifully small.Moreover, with such a small salary, in addition to supporting the family, part of it has to be used to pay the staff, master and others.

Now that the Nourishing Bank System has been promulgated, the annual salary of Zhengqipin county magistrates remains unchanged, but there are 1000 to 2000 taels of Yanglian silver each year, and the county magistrate's income has suddenly increased several times!
The bigger the official, the more money to raise honesty.The most are officials of the first grade, and they have 15000 taels of money to support honesty every year, which is not unreasonable!
Once the system of returning fire consumption to the public and distributing honest money is implemented, it can not only improve the treatment of officials, but also prevent corruption to a certain extent. At the same time, it will make officials grateful and consolidate the imperial power.

The officials in the palace circulated the manuscript, gradually beaming with joy and discussing it everywhere.

The officials who did not participate in the resignation event said that they were "blessed by God", and could not hide their joy; the officials who participated in the resignation event had their own thoughts, some showed regret, while others hesitated.

"Have you finished reading it?" Li Cunming finally spoke, and said with a serious look, "Are I a cold-hearted person? The New Deal will indeed cause losses to officials, gentry and scholars, so I will create a system of supporting honest banks to compensate. But to be clear, my benevolent and virtuous government is only implemented for those who have the heart of the country and the court, and those who are wolf-hearted and dog-hearted should not think about it, and those who are disloyal and disrespectful are waiting for you. Severe punishment!"

"In the Tang Dynasty, there was a poet named Li Shen who wrote a very famous poem "Sympathy for Farmers". The line 'There is no idle land in the world, and the peasants still starve to death' is widely circulated. After reading this poem, people all think that Li Shen He is a person who cares about the country and the people, but in fact, he is a corrupt official!"

"So, I would like to advise you that worrying about the country and the people is not just talking about it, nor is it a matter of writing a few innocuous poems. Want to take advantage of everything, is there such a good thing in the world?"

"Qian Bingti and Chen Zhenhui, I think you two have the same virtues as Li Shen of the Tang Dynasty, and are extremely hypocritical! Come on, tie these two people up and take them to Hongwumen to be punished."

Several Jin Yiwei rushed up and tied up Qian Bingdeng and Chen Zhenhui.

Li Cunming looked at those who resigned with a smile, and asked, "Do you still want to resign?"

Without giving them a chance to speak, Li Cunming suddenly got up, and said coldly: "Don't rush to answer, follow me to watch a big show. Huh, do you think that collusion between inside and outside can scare me? I can fight with you Bet, within twelve hours, I will definitely let the scholars take the exam obediently. If they can't, I will abolish the New Deal!"

Walking down the imperial steps step by step, he said loudly: "Wang Chengen, drive Hongwumen, I want a big military parade!"

(End of this chapter)