At the beginning of May in the first year of Hongzhi, Zhu Youtang suddenly ordered the minister to go to the palaces of various courtiers in the evening to inform them that there would be a morning meeting in Wuying Hall the next morning. Although he took the words out, Zhu Youtang did not stay alone in Qianqing Palace at night, but continued to go After visiting Kunning Palace, according to his words: "This is called striking while the iron is hot."

After a night of attacking and fighting, Zhu Youtang didn't know when he fell asleep, until Queen Zhang pushed him and woke up leisurely.

"Your Majesty, it's time for court early."

Zhu Youtang didn't want to get up, so he turned over and went back to sleep. Unexpectedly, Huaien, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, had already shouted outside the house: "Your Majesty, it's time to get up. Your Majesty, it's time to go to court early."

"I know, please step back first!" Zhu Youtang sat up reluctantly, looked at Huai En who was kneeling outside the door to invite him to court, and said vaguely: "Yu'er, change my clothes. "

Empress Zhang saw that Zhu Youtang was still awake and said resentfully: "I said that twice last night would be enough, but Your Majesty didn't listen and doesn't know how to exercise restraint. If it doesn't work, will the court meeting this morning be cancelled?"

"No, it doesn't matter. I used to stay up all night at the Internet cafe and it was fine..."

"Internet cafe? lol? Your Majesty, are you okay?"

"It's okay, this is a man's happiness. Even if I tell you, you won't understand..."

After not sleeping well all night, Zhu Youtang was a little depressed. Before the ministers came, Zhu Youtang did a few rounds of old-age Tai Chi outside. He broke out in a hot sweat and his sleepiness had already disappeared. At this moment, he sat down In the carriage, facing the cool morning breeze blowing in my face, I suddenly felt much better.

When they arrived at Wuying Hall, they saw two rows of civil and military ministers kneeling under them, with Liu Ji, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Xu Pu, the second assistant, as the leaders.

When the ministers saw that the emperor had arrived, they were led by the assistant ministers of the cabinet, and everyone went to the mountain to salute.

"Long live my emperor! Long live!"

"No gift."

Zhu Youtang waved his hand, looked at the ministers below, and said: "I called you here today to discuss many important matters. Liu Ji, you are the chief assistant, you go first."

There are three matters in the memorial that have not yet been decided. As usual, Liu Ji, the chief minister of the cabinet, reported: "Returning to Your Majesty, there are three matters that have not yet been decided. The first is to request an exemption from the land tax that has not been paid for 23 years in Chenghua, Huguang. ; In addition, the Li Dynasty sent envoys to pay tribute this month, and the Tatars sent envoys to Beijing to apologize for invading our Lanzhou Guard. The last one came from Zhejiang, Ningbo, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Jianning, Yanping and other places. There are pirates out and about, disturbing our land and killing our people. Kang Yuan, the governor of Zhejiang, wrote a letter asking for help."

These two things, tax and tax, are often called together by others, but they are essentially different.

The taxes collected from local governments were paid into the royal treasury, and then became the emperor's private money. They were generally used to reward meritorious ministers, while the taxes went to each yamen's treasury and were used for "official affairs."

The tax money used for "official affairs" in the imperial court, which prided itself on being a clean and honest civil servant, would do everything possible to get it into their own pockets. This is why although the officials of the Ming Dynasty had low salaries, everyone had something to live up to in the future. In the house in the royal garden. But after all, the money belongs to the emperor, and not many people dare to take it seriously. Therefore, you have to ask the emperor about this kind of unavoidable matter. After all, it is your royal money.

Zhu Youtang took a sip of warm tea and said, "Why didn't Chenghua turn over the land tax in the 23rd year of Huguang?"

Yin Qian, the Minister of Household Affairs, came out and reported: "Returning to Your Majesty, there was a famine in Huguang in the 23rd year of Chenghua. The imperial court sent people to provide disaster relief. At that time, freight transportation from north to south and local prices were affected."

"I have approved the exemption from the land tax, and there is no need to pay it back. In addition, all ministers in the Daotai Yamen of Huguang Prefecture have ministers, and they will be exempted from the tax for another three years."

As soon as Liu Ji heard this, he immediately took the lead and shouted: "Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty is blessed!"

Although these young people can stand up and talk without pain, being exempted from taxes for three years is a good deed that everyone can praise, but when I ordered them to be tax-free for three years, these people immediately stopped doing it. But I have to admit that the later Emperor Kangxi played this

One-handedness is indeed a good way to win people's hearts.

Xu Pu came out and said: "Now that the first thing has been said, let's discuss the second thing. Li paid tribute and the little Tatar prince sent envoys to pay tribute. According to the Shanxi capital commander Zheng Yu, the Tatar prince came to report.

The prince led his tribe to sneak into the vicinity of Datong and set up camp for more than thirty miles. He also requested that more than 1,500 envoys be sent to the capital to pay tribute. I believe that sending envoys to pay tribute is a lie, and that there is another conspiracy that is true."

As soon as Xu Pu finished speaking, Zhang Peng, Minister of the Ministry of War, immediately retorted: "Mr. Xu Ge's thinking is too complicated. The Tatars are just asking to come to Beijing to pay tribute. What kind of conspiracy can there be? According to Mr. Ge, all tributes are there."

Conspiracy, then the Li Dynasty also sent more than 1,500 envoys this time, is there also a conspiracy?"

"You are confusing black and white. The Li Dynasty is the Li Dynasty, and the Tatars are the Tatars. How can they be discussed together? Then why did the Li Dynasty not invade our border? The Tatars often invaded? The Tatars have wolfish ambitions and must not relax.

alert."

Zhang Peng was about to argue. At this time, Liu Ji stood up and smoothed things over with a smile: "Don't argue. Since the Tatars say they want to come to Beijing to pay tribute, let them come. Otherwise, it will be obvious that I, the Ming Dynasty, are a bit stingy, but Xu

Mr. Ge is also right, we must be on guard against the Tatars, and we should send a letter to all parts of Shanxi to instruct all commanders to cheer up, reorganize their armaments, and guard against the Tatars."

Xu Pu saw that Liu Ji, who usually opposed him everywhere, was actually neutral today, while Zhang Peng, the Minister of War, who was usually neutral, had been constantly opposing him these days. It was really strange.

The ministers below all turned a blind eye or closed their eyes. But they all knew clearly in their hearts. Seeing this situation, Zhang Peng, the Minister of War, must have surrendered to Liu Ji, the chief minister of the cabinet.

Zhu Youtang glanced at the ministers, and when he saw the people behind him winking at each other, he knew there must be something fishy here. He said:

"Tribute is a big deal. Let the Ministry of Rites handle the matter of tribute from the Li Dynasty. The Ministry of Rites must come up with a charter to plan the route of the tribute from the Li Dynasty and the amount of silver it will cost. As for the tribute from the Tatars, let's

Come on, they came. I want to ask them for an explanation regarding the invasion of our Lanzhou Guard and the killing of our people in the Ming Dynasty two months ago. However, sending more than 1,500 envoys is too much. If you reduce it, I will allow it.

Five hundred people can enter Beijing."

Upon hearing that Li Chao's tribute was in charge of the Ministry of Rites, all the officials' eyes lit up. Liu Ji said: "Your Majesty, since the last time Zhou Hongmo, the Minister of Rites in the Qianqing Palace, was dismissed, the post of Minister has not been filled and is still vacant. Now he is in charge of paying tribute.

For such a big thing, we have to find a new person to take charge of everything.

"Do you have anyone to choose?" Zhu Youtang asked.

"I recommend Li Guang, Minister of Dali Temple. Li Guang has both virtue and talent, profound knowledge, and is qualified for a big job."

When Li Guang heard that Liu Ji recommended him to be the Minister of Etiquette, he was immediately overjoyed. Facts have proved that choosing to hang out with Liu Ji was the right decision. If he eats meat, he will not just give you soup, and he will not be pawned by Liu Ji in vain.

After so many years of being a bitch, Li Guang raised his head and looked at Zhu Youtang, now waiting for the emperor's approval.

As soon as Liu Ji finished speaking, many people came out and said in unison: "I second the proposal."

Xiao Jiujiu in Liu Ji's heart, Xu Pu naturally knew that being the governor of the Ministry of Rites and paying tribute to others was a fat job. And Li Guang was Liu's party, so by pushing him to take office, he was obviously trying to make money for himself. He immediately stood up and opposed it.

: "I object."

When the ministers heard this, they were like, what? It was Xu Pu who objected again. In the last court meeting, Xu Pu came out alone to impeach the former chief minister Wan An, and this time he came out to oppose the current chief minister Liu Ji. This old man is deliberately not making it easy for us, right?

?However, the last time Xu Pu stood up, he was still the left minister of the Ministry of official affairs. Now he is the minister of the Ministry of official affairs and the second assistant of the cabinet. The weight of his voice is no longer the same as before.

Wang Shu was also indignant when he heard that Liu Ji recommended Li Guang as the Minister of Rites. Ever since Li Guang and Zhou Qing went to the posthouse where he lived to work as lobbyists, he asked himself to join Liu Ji to deal with Xu Pu, and he was full of Li Guang.

I was disgusted. Now that I saw Xu Pu carrying all the ministers alone, I decided to stand up and help Xu Pu.

"I object!"

After Wang Shu finished speaking, all the ministers looked back, but Xu Pu's eyes were grateful and appreciative, while Liu Ji, Li Guang and others had hateful and fierce eyes.

No matter how the officials below protested, the real decision-making power still rested in the hands of Zhu Youtang. Zhu Youtang was wondering why Wang Shu did not stand up today and why he was silently diving. Seeing Wang Shu stand up to speak for Xu Pu, he thought to himself: "This

This is your Wang Zongguan style of not fearing power!"

But this time I may not follow the words of Xu Pu and Wang Shu. Letting Li Guang serve as the Minister of Rites is not all bad...

"Just follow Liu Qing and promote Li Guang to the position of Minister of Rites."

Upon hearing this, Li Guang hurriedly came out of the queue to kowtow: "I thank you, Lord, for your kindness!"

Xu Pu silently closed his eyes and stopped talking, while Wang Shu didn't understand. How could the wise emperor suddenly become confused?

When Liu Ji saw that his goal had been achieved, he smiled slightly and stood up and said: "Okay, we can get over the second thing. Now let's discuss the third thing about pirates invading our country.

When the Minister of War saw Liu Ji winking at him, he immediately went out and said: "Your Majesty, Zhejiang is the gateway to the southeast of our Ming Dynasty and cannot be lost. I think it is necessary to go to Zhejiang to help, and Governor Kang Yuan's memorial and payment of salary must be agreed to."

."

"Yes, there was an invasion of Tatars from the northwest, and one hundred thousand yuan was paid out afterwards. Now there are pirates intruding along the coast of Zhejiang, so it is necessary to pay out money to calm the morale of the army." Wei Zhang, minister of Dali Temple, said.

When Xu Pu heard this, he immediately became angry and objected: "Can pirates compare with the Tatars? Even if pirates invade, they will only have a few hundred people at most, and it will not become a problem. For such a small local matter, Kang Yuan, the governor of Zhejiang, will write a letter

Asking for help and salary. If he can’t even defeat pirates, then why does the Ming Dynasty still need him as a governor?”

Kang Yuan was Liu Ji's protégé. This time he wrote a letter asking for pay and reinforcements, which was obviously because he wanted to make money. Xu Pu couldn't stand Liu Dang's greedy behavior at all.
Chapter completed!