Chapter 490: A Big Move That Costs Tens of Millions of Silver
I have to say that during this grand meeting, an official suddenly jumped out and shouted such a voice, which really attracted everyone's attention.
Especially when the other party openly questioned the emperor's reward for Li Huan in front of so many people.
You must know that when Qiu Ju read out the imperial edict just now and announced the emperor's reward for Li Huan, although all the officials said they were surprised that the emperor would confer such a distinguished title as Duke of Qin to Li Huan, at least in the eyes of most officials
, based on Li Huan's meritorious service, it is indeed well-deserved to be named the Duke of Qin.
Therefore, although many officials were quite dissatisfied with Li Huan being made Duke of Qin, they did not come forward. After all, with Li Huan's contribution, it was hard for everyone to say anything.
But the fact that most officials don't respond doesn't mean that all officials don't respond.
Just like this person who openly stood up to oppose at the court meeting, not to mention other officials, even the emperor who was sitting there with a smile on his face couldn't help but avoid being changed and looked at him.
"Master Su, this is..."
As a member of the Ministry of Industry, Sulu's rank is not high among the officials. It can even be said that under normal circumstances, he would not have a chance to speak in this big meeting.
Now Sulu shouted loudly and suddenly became the focus of the scene, even the emperor looked at him sideways.
Some people couldn't help but look surprised when they recognized Sulu. It seemed that they didn't expect that Sulu, who usually seemed honest and amiable, would have the courage to stand up and question the emperor's reward at this time. This was simply life-threatening.
ah.
Any fool can see the emperor's trust and reliance on Li Huan, but Sulu questioned the emperor's reward at this time, not to mention whether it would have any impact on Li Huan. First of all, he hated the emperor.
Zhu Houzhao, who looked gloomy, naturally did not recognize Sulu. Zhu Houzhao just glanced at Sulu lightly, and then turned his attention to Wang Yangming, Yang Tinghe and other important ministers.
Generally speaking, it is unlikely that this kind of thing will happen on such occasions. After all, the cabinet must do its job well, otherwise it will cause trouble for the emperor.
Wang Yangming, Yang Ting and a few others also looked at Sulu with expressions of concern. Obviously, what Sulu did was beyond their expectations.
Take a deep breath. As the chief minister of the cabinet, Wang Yangming naturally cannot stay out of the situation when something like this happens.
Then Wang Yangming stepped forward and walked out of the courtiers, looked at Sulu and said: "Sulu, the champion has made outstanding achievements and made great military exploits for our Ming Dynasty. Your Majesty deserves to be the Duke of Qin. Why do you question your Majesty?"
!”
Sulu seemed to have known that this would happen. He glanced at Wang Yangming and bowed to Wang Yangming. Then he bowed to the emperor and said, "I impeached Li Huan for corruption, perverting the law, and self-stealing. Such conduct.
How can I be worthy of the position of Duke of Qin, and I will not submit..."
Yang Tinghe on the side raised his eyebrows and said with a frown: "Why did Sulu say this? How could the Champion Marquis guard his own thief, take bribes and pervert the law!"
Sulu looked at Li Huan with a bit of pride on his face and said: "I think the champion knows it very well. I just want to ask the champion about the box of rare treasures that the champion brought back to your house in the evening a few days ago."
Where did it come from? Could it be that it was not the stolen goods that were not recovered from this trip south?"
Suddenly the eyes of all the officials fell on Li Huan, and many officials showed excitement.
At this moment, just looking at Sulu's expression, I knew that Sulu must have some substantial evidence, otherwise he would not dare to be so sure and expose Li Huan in front of so many people.
Now it depends on how Li Huan explains it, so everyone is staring at Li Huan.
Li Huan, on the other hand, looked calm and indifferent, and did not have any unusual reaction at all because of Sulu's words.
But at this moment, the emperor sitting there suddenly laughed.
The emperor's sudden laughter naturally attracted everyone's attention.
Under the stunned gazes of all the officials, Zhu Houzhao chuckled and said: "It turns out that what Su Qing's family is referring to is the box of treasures that Li Qing brought back to the house!"
All the officials looked at the emperor in confusion. Listening to the emperor's wishes, Li Huan really brought a box of rare treasures back to his home. In this way, Li Huan was really stealing for himself and was corrupting the law.
I don't know how many people showed excitement, and they were eager to stand up and impeach Li Huan.
However, at this moment, Zhu Houzhao's words sounded: "If it is just because of this box of rare treasures, I can testify that Li Qing is not corrupt and perverting the law!"
Hearing this, Sulu couldn't help but said anxiously: "Your Majesty, how can you protect Li Huan like this..."
Zhu Houzhao said calmly: "That box of rare treasures was given to Li Qing by my secret decree. Could it be that you members of the Qing family have any objections?"
In fact, by now, especially after seeing the emperor's reaction, anyone who is not a fool has already reacted.
Li Huan indeed took bribes and perverted the law, but who made the emperor favor Li Huan?
The emperor himself spoke up to testify for Li Huan, so what if Li Huan was really corrupt and perverting the law? How could they still accuse the emperor of lying and deceiving them?
Sulu was about to say something when he heard Zhu Houzhao say coldly: "If Su Qing has nothing else to do, please step back."
The pale-faced Sulu was pulled back by his colleagues, while Qiu Ju on the side saw this situation and immediately continued to read out the imperial edict.
In one day, there were more than a dozen new nobles in the court. Li Huan was even named the Duke of Qin, and he was implicitly the leader of the noble group. As the officials dispersed, the news spread at an extremely fast speed.
Come on.
It can be said that in less than a day, the news that Li Huan was named Duke of Qin spread throughout the capital.
When the Li family received the news, they immediately fell into joy.
From the champion to the Duke of Qin, Li Huan's title has been upgraded to a higher level. It can be said that he is a highly respected minister and is extremely noble.
The Li family has since become the most distinguished family in the capital.
Here, before Li Huan returned home, officials who responded quickly enough came to the door in person and presented a large gift to congratulate Li Huan.
If many officials were jealous of Li Huan before, then now that Li Huan's power in the court has become more and more powerful, it has naturally attracted many officials to have the idea of depending on Li Huan.
Although there are rumors that Li Huan Gong is a powerful master, looking at the emperor's reaction at today's meeting, they only saw the emperor's favor for Li Huan, but they did not see that the emperor had any fear of Li Huan.
The rumors were naturally disproven because of the emperor's attitude.
As some officials changed their ways and chose to attach themselves to Li Huan, the power of Li Huan's family in the court increased greatly. If the officials attached to Wang Yangming, the chief minister, were added, the two parties combined could already defeat the conservatives.
The civil service group competed with it.
Many people regard Li Huan and Wang Yangming as comrades, but whether it is Li Huan or Wang Yangming, the two of them are very clear that they are like-minded at best. To say that they are comrades is really unfair.
The reason why Wang Yangming so unswervingly chose to side with Li Huan and supported Li Huan in implementing the New Deal reforms was because Wang Yangming was very aware of the current situation in the Ming Dynasty.
Given the current situation in which the Ming Dynasty is gradually declining, if reforms are not implemented, once there are any natural or man-made disasters, the country may be in danger of collapse.
As a generation of sages who have concentrated their minds on learning, Wang Yangming can be said to be a figure that only emerges in hundreds of years, both in terms of vision and ability.
Perhaps Li Huan's methods were a bit cruel, but I have to admit that Li Huan's methods were of great benefit to the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Yangming may not be able to have his hands stained with blood like Li Huan, but this does not prevent Wang Yangming from recognizing what Li Huan did.
Precisely because of this, there was a tacit understanding between Li Huan and Wang Yangming in the court, and the two forces were definitely on the same side at least in terms of New Deal reforms.
Because Li Huanping rebelled abroad and did not return to Beijing for more than half a year, Li Huan returned to the court with his troops. After receiving the title, the emperor granted Li Huan permission to rest in the palace for a period of time.
Time flies and a month or two passes. The five years of Zhengde have passed and the new year has arrived.
The first imperial meeting in the sixth year of Zhengde was held as scheduled.
The Spring Festival has just passed and the officials, who had been resting for a few days, seemed to be in a pretty good mood.
Even the emperor has a smile on his face, which shows that he is in a good mood.
Looking at the officials below, Zhu Houzhao nodded to Gao Feng beside him.
Then I heard Gao Feng say in a sharp voice: "If something happens, we will start to fight, if nothing happens, we will retreat!"
It is said that the New Year brings a new atmosphere, the Yuan Dynasty begins again, and everything is renewed. This is the first major court meeting in the sixth year of Zhengde. If the court does not take any big actions, it would be a bit regretful for the great gains made by the court last year.
The property confiscated by Li Huan in the south of the Yangtze River and entered the national treasury alone was worth hundreds of millions. Especially when the imperial court personally took charge of the disposal of some of the rare treasures, antique calligraphy and paintings, etc., a considerable amount was recovered.
For part of the funds, it can be said that the current treasury of the Ming Dynasty has definitely reached the highest level in all dynasties.
With sufficient money, the cabinet ministers and the six ministries and nine ministers are not fools. They naturally realize that their opportunity to leave their names in history is right in front of them. It just depends on whether they can seize such a good opportunity.
Not to mention other things, if the officials of their current generation can make good use of the huge amount of gold and silver in the national treasury to do things, it is hard to imagine that there is anything they can't do.
The affairs of the court are nothing more than related to people's livelihood, the most common of which are repairing rivers and providing relief to local areas, and the most important thing about these things is that the court has money. As long as there is money, these things are really not difficult.
The first wave of cabinet ministers headed by Wang Yangming came forward to write to the emperor, asking the emperor to please repair the Yellow River, Canal, Huaihe River and other rivers. The imperial court was prepared to spend three years and spend tens of millions of taels of silver to solve the problem of the world's rivers.
We do not seek to completely solve the hidden dangers of many rivers in the world once and for all, but we must at least ensure that the world's rivers can be stable for ten to twenty years without overwhelming flood disasters.
Repairing the river is definitely a big project, especially under the new law, taxes, labor and labor are unified, and the court has abolished the labor system. This means that if the court wants to repair the river now, it is impossible to directly levy taxes as usual in the past.
Labor.
Nowadays, if the imperial court wants to collect labor, it must use real gold and silver to recruit labor. It is conceivable that for the poor people at the bottom, the pain of labor may be inevitable, but it will not be as hard as before.
Months passed but nothing was gained.
To a certain extent, through infrastructure projects such as overhauling rivers, the money concentrated in the hands of the court will flow into the hands of the people at the bottom, which can be said to be a good thing for both the people and the Ming Dynasty.
Naturally, Zhu Houzhao directly agreed to the cabinet's request.
The cabinet has put forward a lot of plans. Although I dare not say that they are spending money lavishly, if you add them up, it means that in the sixth year of Zhengde, the imperial court will have to spend at least 30 to 40 million taels of silver.
So much. Oo
If this were the case in the past, let alone asking officials to petition the imperial court for funding, I'm afraid they wouldn't even dare to think about it.
The nobles on the side looked at the civil servants one by one asking the emperor to allocate money, and they couldn't help but feel jealous.
After the civil servants calmed down a little, they saw Li Huan, who was vaguely the head of the nobles, stepped forward, bowed to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty, I have this memorial!"
Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Huan with a smile and said with a chuckle: "Oh, I wonder what's wrong with Li Qing?"
Standing next to Li Huan were the British Duke, the Duke of Dingguo, the Duke of Chengguo and other distinguished nobles. There were dozens of people in total. They were also a force that could not be ignored in the court.
Especially now with the rise of a group of new nobles, it can be said that the noble group that was suppressed by the civil servant group in the past has risen again.
Nowadays, the nobles who have united around Li Huan have enough confidence to face the civil servant group.
Naturally, with confidence, the Xungui Group will naturally make its voice heard in the court. The first step is to take back the rights that have been misappropriated by the civil servant group in the past.
Li Huan also held the official position of the Central Military Governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. The power of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion was not small at all. However, due to the decline of honors, the rights were usurped too much by the civil service group through the Yamen of the Ministry of War. Over time, almost
It became a decoration.
But now that Xungui has returned strongly, and with the name of the Fifth Army Commander's Palace, it is naturally not difficult to get back the power that belongs to Xungui.
Then I heard Li Huan say: "Your Majesty, please inspect the Jiubian military towns, eliminate the old and weak, replace the armor and weapons, and revive the military affairs in the border towns!"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao nodded without any hesitation and said: "I agree to this matter, and I will take charge of supervising it personally with Li Qing as the leader."
Li Huan had no intention of backing down and responded immediately.
I thought that Li Huan should step down after asking for this, but the next moment I heard Li Huan speak again. As a result, this speech made everyone present open their eyes in shock, with astonishment and disbelief on their faces.
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