Chapter 169 The world is really different [Seeking to read]
"Bring back eight million taels?" In the Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing's eyes almost popped out of his head when he heard the news about Yan Song brought back by the Jin Yiwei.
He seriously doubted that he heard correctly...
How much is the annual income of the national treasury now? No matter how much it is, it is definitely not as much as eight million taels.
If he had known that confiscating homes was so profitable, why would he have worked so hard to compete with maritime merchants for the silk business?
Just ransack the house directly.
"Hmph, do you think anyone can copy so much money?"
"If Xu Jie is allowed to go, there will be no one million taels!"
Zhu Yuanzhang waved the Jin Yiwei to retreat, glanced sideways at his unscrupulous descendant and said, "Now do you know why we want Yan Song to go to Zhejiang?"
"Ninety percent of the officials in Zhejiang are strict officials. Only Yan Song, who knows them thoroughly, could have copied so much money."
"What if he doesn't investigate any corrupt officials?" Emperor Jiajing felt very unconvinced.
This Yan Song had always been cunning and cunning in his hands. He only wanted to give himself half of the money he had embezzled. Why was he so obedient and obedient now that he was in Taizu's hands?
"Haha, if he can't be found out, we will cut Yan Shifan into pieces first, and then ransack his home and destroy his clan!"
A hint of coldness flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes: "Do you think what we told you before was a lie?"
Emperor Jiajing laughed dryly, knowing that Zhu Yuanzhang always meant the same thing.
"Then this time Yan Song comes back, do you really want him to be reinstated and continue to be the chief minister?" Emperor Jiajing asked curiously.
"certainly……."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Not only will we make him the chief assistant, but we will also make him a loyal minister of our Ming Dynasty."
"How can this be?"
"Who in the entire Ming Dynasty doesn't know that Yan Song is a huge corrupt man?" Emperor Jiajing shook his head.
If even he, the emperor, knows that the chief minister is a corrupt official, then everyone in the world will know it.
"Haha, whether he wants to be a loyal minister or not, if we let him be, he will definitely become one!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a sneer.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Yan Song, Mr. Yan Ge, Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Shangshu would like to see you!" At this moment, the young eunuch outside the door reported.
"Let them come in!" Zhu Yuanzhang ignored Emperor Jiajing and waited for the arrival of these two cabinet ministers.
"Kowtow to the Emperor!" The two of them saluted Zhu Yuanzhang as soon as they saw him.
"Get up!" Zhu Yuanzhang motioned to Emperor Jiajing to move stools for the two of them.
"Tell me, what have you gained this time?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Yan Song first.
"Your Majesty, I have honored my duty this time and brought back a total of eight million taels of silver from Zhejiang." Yan Song spoke first.
"good!"
"Four million taels were sent to the Ministry of Household Affairs to make up for last year's deficit!"
"Tell the Ministry of Household Affairs that the first thing they need to do is to pay the salaries owed to officials. How many years has it been since the Ming Dynasty has not raised salaries?"
"Let the Ministry of Household Affairs discuss it and come up with a practical plan to increase salaries."
"Yes... Your Majesty!" Yan Song nodded respectfully.
"Leave the remaining four million taels for us, we will be useful!" Zhu Yuanzhang said without thinking.
Yan Song nodded again.
Next to him, Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly.
Emperor Jiajing used to know how to do it secretly when he withheld tax money.
Are you all so blatant now?
He didn't even avoid people, he just said it directly.
"Zhang Juzheng, I will give you one million taels of the four million taels to reward and subsidize the guest armies from all walks of life who fought against the Japanese pirates this time except the Qi family army!"
"We will let the Jin Yiwei keep an eye on the movements of these one million taels of silver. If anyone dares to reach out and intercept even one cent, we will kill his whole family!" Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly.
"Yes!" Zhang Juzheng was overjoyed and hurriedly responded.
At the same time, most of the unhappiness in my heart disappeared.
Obviously, the four million taels intercepted by Emperor Jiajing were probably used to reward the army. The remaining three million taels were left untouched and should have been prepared for the Qi family's army.
"Your Majesty is really different!" Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Jiajing next to him was a little pity, so much money was enough for him to build a palace!
Zhu Yuanzhang naturally did not know what Emperor Jiajing was thinking. If he knew, he would probably be beaten.
"Mr. Yan Ge, don't you have Hu Zongxian's memorial to be submitted? Submit it!" Zhu Yuanzhang turned to look at Yan Song again.
Regarding the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang knew about the conversation between himself and Zhang Juzheng on the carriage, Yan Song did not have any trouble in his heart. He slowly took out the memorial from his sleeve and presented it to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang read it with an expressionless face, put down the memorial and said, "What do you think Mr. Yan Ge should do about this matter?"
"Of course we will investigate thoroughly!"
"I am willing to take charge of this matter," Yan Song said seriously.
Next to him, Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but vomit again: "This Lao Yan is really thick-skinned. He said he wanted to resign in the car, but now he changed his mind instantly when he saw the Holy Emperor."
"never mind!"
"You don't need to handle this matter personally. We will let Chen Hong from Dongchang take charge of this matter." Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Those little eunuchs have been practicing the "Sunflower Collection" for half a year and have already made some achievements.
It's time to let this bad wolf out and try it out.
"Factory guard...!" Zhang Juzheng's expression changed and he immediately tried to persuade him.
Zhu Yuanzhang, however, seemed to have known what he was going to say, and waved his hand directly: "We know what you want to say, but you'd better leave this matter alone. We must use evil methods to deal with evil people, and we know this well."
"If there is a bad reputation for this matter, we will take full responsibility for the bad reputation, so you don't have to worry about it!"
The Emperor Jiajing next to him almost spat out a mouthful of blood when he heard this.
"This bad reputation seems to be my own!"
"Taizu, has he forgotten? Now he is still carrying his own identity!"
Soon Chen Hong received Zhu Yuanzhang's order.
Chen Hong was a little disappointed when the Supervisor of Ceremonies' right to approve red awards was taken away, but he didn't expect that happiness would come so quickly, and that he would have the opportunity to become famous so soon.
"You have full authority to handle this case!"
"We have only two requirements for you. First, you must rely on real evidence when doing things. You must not slander or frame up things. We must find all the gentry who really colluded with the Japanese pirates."
"Second, bring us fifty million taels of silver!"
"Is there any problem?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
"No!" Chen Hong replied respectfully without any hesitation.
"very good!"
"Take this big blood-replenishing pill. After you take it, you will be promoted to the ninth-grade martial artist. This will give you some added protection for your profession!"
"If things are settled, I will give you three more when I come back!" Zhu Yuanzhang said.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will definitely handle things properly and beautifully!" Chen Hong banged his head on the ground, his voice changing with excitement.
Now all silver and gold are nothing to him, only cultivation is real.
He is also looking forward to cultivating the "Sunflower Manual" to the extreme so that the roots of his descendants can grow!
After Chen Hong left, Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and then said: "Mao Xiang sent a few clever guards to protect him personally. At the same time, we also need to know his every move."
"Yes!" came a reply from the dark, and then silence returned again.
Emperor Jiajing looked on and grinned.
He is really incomparable to the power he can wield and the means to control people's hearts!
He could only say that there was a reason why Taizu became Taizu.
Yan Song returned to the cabinet again and was still the chief minister.
This momentarily shocked Qingliu, who was waiting to see the complete collapse of Party Yan.
But as Zhu Yuanzhang said, there is no such thing as a strict party now.
Yan Song personally took action and had all the strict party members in Zhejiang dismissed from their offices and their homes confiscated. The news had already been spread back to the capital.
This kind of Mr. Yan deeply frightened all the Yan Party members.
In addition, Yan Shifan, the de facto core leader of the Strict Party, was arrested and more than 60 people were killed. The ship of the Strict Party was already riddled with holes and had lost its cohesion.
However, Yan Maoqing and Luo Longwen, the two other core members of the Strict Party, still came.
"Mr. Ge, the Teochew opera is weird now, what should we do?" Yan Maoqing asked with some anxiety.
He can still dream about the scene of Zhu Yuanzhang killing people in public every night. Deep down in his heart, he is really frightened to the extreme.
"The world is different."
"From now on, just abide by the rules set by His Majesty and run your own errands safely!"
"The money in your family is enough for you to spend a lifetime. To be a good official in the future, remember not to stretch out your hands again!"
Yan Song looked at his two godsons and sighed.
He can only say so much. Whether he can understand his deep meaning depends on the fate of these two people...
The storm is coming and the wind is filling the building.
This is Xu Jie's judgment on the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.
With the collapse of the Yan Party, the so-called Qingliu Party naturally disappeared.
In fact, Qingliu cannot be considered a party at all in the strict sense.
They are just a group of scattered people in the officialdom who have to stick together to keep warm in order to deal with the strict party.
Now that the behemoth Yan Party has collapsed, the Qingliu Party will naturally lose the meaning of its existence.
Xu Jie feels very clear about this.
Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, who had been on the same side with him before, also started to make their own little moves and thoughts.
Of course these are nothing.
The most important thing is that the Holy Master who lives deep in Xiyuan is no longer something he can figure out.
He was really unprepared for Yan Song's return as chief assistant.
He endured it for twenty years, thinking that he would finally have a chance to sit in that position, but his hope was still in vain.
And most importantly, news has been sent back from his hometown that eunuch Chen Hongchen, who supervises the East Factory, secretly went to Jiangnan with a large number of factory guards. His intuition told him that this must be another major case that His Majesty is about to cause.
To be honest, he was already a little disheartened and wanted to resign and return home.
But when I heard the news, I stopped dead in my tracks.
He decided to wait and see what the situation was like. If His Majesty was really going to Jiangnan, he might still be able to play some role in the court.
And it was at the same time that Chen Hong went to Jiangnan.
The same two people were taking a boat north to the capital under the personal escort of Jin Yiwei.
"Hu Butang, has our Majesty always... been so resolute?" In the cabin, Hu Zongxian and Hai Rui sat opposite each other, and it was Hai Rui who spoke first.
To be honest, after seeing the darkness of officialdom and the insignificance of personal power, he was really discouraged and wanted to resign and return to his hometown.
But before he could hand over the memorandum of resignation, several imperial guards came to his door and handed him an imperial edict.
Emperor Jiajing asked him to pack his bags immediately and go to Beijing to meet the emperor, and clearly told him that this time he was asked to be the censor of Zuodu.
To be honest, Hai Rui was a little surprised by this decree. He didn't expect that he would actually fall under the eyes of the Holy Emperor and ask Jin Yiwei to send him the decree just for his own sake. Moreover, he was a high-ranking official of the third rank.
This is simply a step to the sky!
With such a great favor from the emperor, Hai Rui didn't dare to delay, so he had no choice but to pack up and set off.
Then he met Hu Zongxian, who was also lifted up from the hospital bed by Zhu Yuanzhang's order.
Upon hearing Hai Rui's question, Hu Zongxian shook his head and said, "In my impression, His Majesty has always been enigmatic and has never had such a straightforward will."
"But no matter what, we have no choice but to go. His Majesty clearly stated it in his decree. If we don't go, we will be cheating!"
"My old bones can't bear it."
Although Hu Zongxian was smiling bitterly, he could not hide the joy in his eyes.
The so-called four realms of Confucianism and Taoism are self-cultivation, family order, country governance, and world peace. How could he not have the expectation of becoming a general or a prime minister after being an official for half his life?
It's just that the government didn't allow it before.
Originally, after Yan Song left the imperial court, his worst plan was to go to jail, but unexpectedly, the development of things was completely beyond his expectation. Not only did he not have any chance of being jailed, he actually had to go to Beijing to meet the saint.
To be honest, to be so favored by the Holy One, he still felt the joy of being taken seriously.
I can only say that happiness came a bit too suddenly.
"Maybe the world is really different!" In the end, Hu Zongxian could only look forward to this.
